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New Listing: 1281 Auburn Grove Ln, Reston, VA, 20194

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New Listing! 4 bd | 3 bath | 4,531 sqft. - Priced at $875,000 Click Here for more details.

Building a Successful YPN Strategy

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Leanne Goff

Leanne Goff

By Leanne Goff

Standing on the edge of doing something big, especially when you have never been there before, is a daunting task. It may feel insurmountable and possibly even dangerous. Because who wants to fail? Nobody! We all want to see our passions and our dreams flourish, especially when leading others.

I felt that uncertainty and confusion when the Boulder Area REALTOR® Association asked me to lead their fledgling YPN in 2012. We didn’t know where to begin or what our priorities would be. How we overcame this initial confusion and disorganization is what I hope to share with the readers over the coming months.

I want to offer you tips that can be implemented at your associations to help your newly established YPN and long-standing networks thrive. I hope you will find some tips here that you want to implement with your YPN teams. I also welcome your e-mails, tweets, and comments if you have something to share. If you want, I would be thrilled to present your feedback about successes and challenges overcome in future messages.

So what did our YPN group do when we were standing on the edge of the preverbal cliff trying to figure out our next move?

Boulder YPN members in a planning meeting. Photo courtesy of Leanne Goff.

Leanne Goff speaking to members of the San Antonio Board of REALTORS® YPN.

First, we determined what our goals would be. Using to the YPN Mission statement, we found our core values, which focus on leadership at our board, as well as community service in our area, and, of course, social activities – because that’s what REALTORS® do best!

After we outlined our goals, we did what well organized and methodical business people do best; we made a plan. This took form as an annual outline that lays out our goals on a monthly basis. We hope to engage the larger group of REALTORS® at our association in activities that are led by the YPNers.

The Boulder Area REALTORS® system starts in January with a meeting about business plans for the agents. Then February is a social event. Each month we rotate between business development activities that YPN leads the greater association of REALTORS® through. Then the next month we have a fun social activity.

Another awesome activity that I recently learned about and participated in comes from the San Antonio Board of REALTORS® YPN group. They reach out to other boards to bring in YPN speakers. Rick Alcorta sets up Skype-style speaking engagements with YPN leaders from around the nation to inspire their local network of YPNers.

If you have a well-established YPN group, it would be great to hear from you with regards to what is making you successful. Please post below, tweet me, or e-mail with what has been successful for your group. Likewise, if you are a new YPN group and have questions, or want to see our annual plan for the year, I welcome your comments as well.

Leanne Goff is a managing broker with TrailRidge Realty in Boulder, Colo. She has been licensed since 2008, and is active with the Boulder Area REALTOR® Association. Her work with BARA’s YPN led to achieving NAR’s Small Network of the Year Award in 2014. Connect with Leanne on Twitter: @leannegoff, or on LinkedIn.

Source - Realtor.org

Top 10 Stupid Staging Ideas

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By Justin Riordan, Spade and Archer Design Agency

Not all home staging is created equally. Staging Darwinism is real and only the smart survive. Below we countdown the top 10 “stoopidest” home staging ideas.

#10. “Bake cookies right before your open house.”

Our sense of smell is very closely related to our sense of memory. True enough, for some people, the smell of freshly baked cookies may bring back fantastic memories of days past when their loving mother baked cookies every Saturday afternoon. However, I use to work at Mrs. Fields, and my boss was a real jerk. Whenever I smell freshly baked cookies … I get slightly nauseous and a bit angry. Your house should smell like nothing when it is being shown. Scented homes lead to one of two reactions:

  1. Buyers who are chemically sensitive get headaches, irritated eyes, or nausea and want to leave immediately.
  2. Buyers wonder what you are trying to cover up and immediately become suspicious that you are a shyster.

#9. “My house won’t sell unless it has plants in it.”

Live plants or flowers in a vacant house tend to become dead plants very fast. Unless you are dedicated to checking on these plants regularly, you need to skip them, because nothing stops a house from going pending like dead plants. Fake plants are just that, fake. When it comes down to it, staging is creepy. You are in a house that appears to be occupied and yet, it is not. Every time you add something fake, it is one more reminder that this is not real and thus adds to the creepy factor.

#8. “If they can’t see past that ‘__________’ then they don’t deserve to buy my house.”

The truth is, if they can see past “____________” then you did a poor job preparing your house for the market. If you find yourself saying this, think again.

#7. “I can just lightly stage this room and it will work.”

Light staging or, as I call it, “the placing of random objects in a room,” like a chair and a rug in a bedroom, does not help sell houses. It will actually slow the process down. Staging is only meant to do three things:

  1. Show the room’s purpose
  2. Show the room’s scale
  3. Add light to the room

Random objects in a room serve only to draw attention away from the house. Light staging is like hiring a clown to dance in front of a rack of dresses to help sell the dresses. Your buyers end up paying more attention to the clown than they do the dresses. Either stage the room completely, or don’t stage it at all.

#6. “I am paying for the staging, you should only stage with things I like.”

You are correct in that you are paying for the staging, but you are incorrect in that you think you are the customer. Really when it comes down to it you are now a retailer, trying to sell a product. You have hired a stager just as a department store would hire a visual merchandizer to display their items to sell to a customer. Your stager is concerned about what the potential buyer will like. You should be too.

#5. “The style of the staging should match the style of the house.”

Nobody has an entire household full of mid-century modern furniture. When staging a home we want the house to look obtainable. We want our clients to say, “Hey, I could do that!” By staging with an eclectic mix of furniture that does not necessarily “go” with the house, we prove to people that their mis-matched, rag-tag lot of furniture could look good in the house as well.

#4. “We should make everybody take off their shoes before they enter.”

Why in the world would you ask people to be uncomfortable in their new home, the first time they see it in order to protect floors that will no longer belong to you in a matter of weeks? Regardless of how or if you ask, thoughtful people with dirty shoes will remove then before coming through; thoughtless people will leave them on.

#3. “We should pull out the staging as soon as the house goes pending.”

Uh-oh! You pulled out your staging before the inspection period ended in order to save a few bucks on rental furniture. Now your sale has failed because the buyer didn’t like the condition of the water heater. I see that frowny face. Next time leave it in through the inspection period, better yet, through the financing contingency.

#2. “Staging can fix anything.”

I so wish this was true, but often, it is not. Sometimes things are so bad. They need to be fixed prior to, or in lieu of, staging. If your entire house is painted in rainbow tie-dye, no amount of staging can help you.

And the #1 “stoopidest” idea … “Staging is easy.”

It is amazing how many sellers I meet on a daily basis. Nearly every single day somebody calls me to explain to me why they don’t need staging services. They say they know exactly what their house needs in order to sell, and how they have a lot of experience doing what I do and they could just do it themselves. I always wonder to myself, “Then why are you calling me?” The truth of the matter is, home staging is not as easy as it looks.

I often compare it to women’s gymnastics. You know you are doing it right when it looks effortless. If you get a chance Google “Nadia Comaneci, perfect score” and watch the video. I don’t think she even broke a sweat. Good home staging looks like that.

What it all comes down to is that “staging is easy” is the No. 1 biggest myth we would love to perpetuate.

In the end, “stoopid” staging does nothing to help you and could actually hurt your sale. You need a competent staging professional if you want top dollar for your house.

headshot_JustinRiordanABOUT THE AUTHOR: Justin Riordan, LEED AP, is founder of Spade and Archer Design Agency based in Portland, Ore. As the creative energy behind Spade and Archer, Riordan fuses his formal training as an architect with his natural design savvy to create beautiful and authentic spaces for clients. Prior to opening Spade and Archer in 2009, Riordan practiced interior architecture and interior construction for 12 years, bringing an esteemed skillset and diverse background to home staging. Since founding Spade and Archer, he has personally prepared more than 2,100 homes for market.

Source - Realtor.org

Starting a Leadership Journey

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John Blom

John Blom

By John Blom

Most, if not all, of my original thinking takes place in the shower. Between being a dad of two kids under the age of four, managing an office, running my own sales business, and other community stuff I’m involved in, it’s the one time that I can get 10 uninterrupted minutes to think. My one-year-old just figured out how to open doors, so I may soon be losing that as well.

This particular morning, I had received an e-mail from NAR asking for feedback on the Leadership Summit in Chicago (which was awesome, but I’ll get to that). It started me thinking about keeping a “leadership journal” for the next year when I have the privilege of serving as president of my local association.

@pippalou, 2013. MorgueFile

@pippalou, 2013. MorgueFile

Right about this time, my wife opened the door and informed me that one of our kids had thrown up all over his room, so I had to push my mental “pause” button on my thoughts.

When I came back around to the idea later that day, I realized it would be nice as an incoming president to have the opportunity to learn from someone else’s experiences, mistakes, and victories in their term. If I was going to journal my experiences, it made sense to do so in a way that might allow others to benefit from those. I ran the idea past the cool folks in charge of the YPN Lounge and they shared my vision.

One of my goals in life is to be deliberate and intentional with my actions. So many people live life by accident, spending too much time reacting to situations and not enough time creating better situations. Agents do this all the time by spending their day “putting out fires” in a transaction rather than put in the effort to create and execute systems that would make those fires less likely to break out in the future.

So what’s my intention for these posts? My hope by the end of the next year is to have accomplished three things:

  1. Provide practical takeaways for other leaders.
  2. Encourage leadership involvement, particularly from the YPN audience.
  3. Start a dialogue about leadership recruitment and development.

There is a tremendous need in our communities for new leaders to step up and start making an impact. It’s amazing to me how many organizations have a need for board members. Some of my friends who are involved with local non-profits serve on four or five different boards because there is a greater demand for people willing to serve than there is supply. In my opinion, leadership development should be on the strategic plan for every organization.

I’m passionate about leadership – but I’m not an expert. My internal goal for this journal is that by taking the time to reflect on the year as it goes by, I’ll come out of 2016 with some thoughts I might not have had otherwise. And who knows, maybe some of them will come outside of the shower.

John Blom is a broker for the Hasson Company REALTORS® working in the Portland/SW Washington market. He is also the 2016 president for the Clark County Association of REALTORS®. You can find him on Twitter: @johndblom, LinkedIn, on his website http://www.johnblom.com, or e-mail him at [email protected].

Source - Realtor.org

Add Some Romance to the Master Bedroom, Survey Says

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By Melissa Dittmann Tracey

It’s time to add more romance into your designs. One-third of home owners say they’re renovating their master bedrooms to create a more romantic or intimate space, according to the 2015 U.S. Houzz Bedroom Trends survey of more than 1,500 home owners.

What does that entail? Contemporary finishes, soft neutral color palettes, more pillows, and no strong patterns, the survey finds as the top preferences.

Home owners are being drawn toward shades of white, cream, gray, and blue for their updated master bedrooms.

Also, more than a quarter of home owners are opting not to include a strong pattern in the décor of the master bedroom (27 percent). However, some owners will use floral and geometric prints (21 percent and 17 percent, respectively).

The more pillows, the merrier, the survey finds. Sixty-seven percent of home owners who are updating their bedding say that decorative pillows are a top update. On average, home owners say they’ll accessorize with four decorative pillows, and 40 percent will have five or more decorative pillows. What’s more, of the home owners replacing their beds, one in five are choosing a platform style. (See an example at Houzz.) Another top accessory choice for decorating master bedrooms is adding mirrors.

More home owners are making their traditional bedrooms into more contemporary-styled spaces. Forty-five percent of home owners say they’re redecorated bedrooms are contemporary, modern, or transitional, according to the survey.

Houzz survey

In their own words, renovators say the master bedroom must be “stylish and beautiful” (73 percent) and “feel like a sanctuary” (54 percent). Home owners also say they’re looking for a room that promotes quality of sleep, comfortable, and easy to clean.

For some home owners, they also want to add square footage. One in five home owners say that through their renovations they are increasing the room’s size, and more than half of those are focusing on their closets to add square footage.

These additions certainly are coming at extra costs. Twenty-six percent of the 1,500 home owners surveyed say they plan to spend $10,000 or more on master bedroom renovations, while one in five are spending $5,000 or more on decorating projects.

Contemporary Bedroom by London Interior Designers & Decorators Blanchard Ltd

Source - Realtor.org

Working With Hispanic Clients

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Erika Villegas

Erika Villegas

By Erika Villegas

Are you leaving money on the table by not working with Hispanic clients?

I am still surprised to hear an answer of “no” when I ask agents from different parts of the country whether they work with Hispanic customers. I help buyers and sellers from all walks of life and with many different backgrounds and ethnic groups, but at least half of my business is comprised of Hispanic clientele. This is, in part, due to my office being in a heavily Hispanic populated neighborhood of Chicago. But I am also a bi-lingual Mexican-American who has lived both in the U.S. and in Mexico. I can relate to many of my clients.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be Hispanic or speak Español to work with such clients. There are many Latinos who only speak English or who prefer to do business in English since it is the primary language of many first- or second-generation immigrants.

Hispanics are the largest minority in the United States. As of 2013, there are an estimated 54 million Hispanic people living in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau.

@dharder, 2008. MorgueFile

@dharder, 2008. MorgueFile

The 2014 State of Hispanic Home Ownership Report, published by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, finds that four out of 10 new households between 2010 and 2020 are expected to be Hispanic. And Hispanics are expected to comprise 50 percent of all new home buyers by 2020. NAHREP has published this report for five consecutive years and it’s a must-read if you want to be better informed about the Hispanic market. It can be downloaded at nahrep.org/report.

The 2013 Fannie Mae National Housing Survey found that nearly half of all Hispanics (48 percent) say this is a good time to buy a home and that they are more likely than the general population to prefer owning, particularly for lifestyle reasons. At least 84 percent see home ownership as the best investment plan, a way to save for retirement, or a way to build wealth.

I know that many Hispanics have home ownership at the top of their goals, and are very optimistic about one day achieving this goal. The challenges that I see are similar for buyers across the board, a lack of affordable housing inventory and credit hurdles.

If I can give you one piece of advice about working with Hispanic families, it’s be prepared to work with the “whole” family. If a daughter is buying a home, she will most likely bring her parents and her siblings and vice-versa. It’s a common practice, especially if they’re purchasing their first home. Working with multi-generational families was especially challenging early on in my career because I had to explain terms that were not only new to them, but new to me as well. I didn’t know many of the real estate terms in Spanish. I took the time to translate terms and make a glossary both in English and Spanish, which I now have readily available as reference that my clients can take home, read, and discuss with their families.

I have helped many clients since becoming licensed 10 years ago, and my Hispanic clients refer me at least three times more often than other clients. I have gained their trust, and because of that I will be their practitioner for life. Yes, you will be invited to share a meal at their home, or even attend a wedding or quinceañera; then you will know you are part of the “familia.”

Hispanic clients will always be grateful because you helped them with the most important purchase of their lives, which will allow them to build wealth, or send their kids to college, or maybe even open a business.

How will you grow your business by working with the Hispanic market?

Erika Villegas is a broker associate with ERA Mi Casa Real Estate in Chicago. Connect with Villegas at http://www.erikavillegas.com.

Source - Realtor.org

HGTV Star Shares Chic Solutions for Empty Walls

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By Christina El Moussa, HGTV’s “Flip or Flop”

phpM903LUPMWhen I look at blank walls, I see a fun opportunity to brighten up a room and make it all yours. Of course, if you aren’t super experienced with interior design and décor, you might see a blank wall and think, “Oh my … what am I going to do with this?” In my experience, creating attractively designed rehabs and updates for old, distressed homes with my husband on our show “Flip or Flop,” you don’t need to fill your house with tons of art or photographs, but blank walls are kind of boring. A little touch of décor can go a long way.

Here are some fun, creative, and inexpensive ways to spruce up an empty wall and bring new life to any room.

Creative Shelving

First of all, I love killing two birds with one stone with my wall décor. With this tip, you can add more storage and display space while breaking up an empty wall and creating more style, too. Instead of shoving a big, bulky bookshelf against your wall, install modular shelves in a color that complements the color of your walls.

With modular shelving, you don’t have to place your shelves directly in line with each other in a vertical stack—you can offset them in attractive groupings to create a display out of books, vases, framed pictures, and/or anything you’d like to place on them. The possibilities for storing and displaying small items are just about endless, and you get rid of your empty wall problem at the same time.

Wall Decals

If you don’t want to add shelving, and you aren’t sure about punching holes in your wall to hang pictures, you might want to consider an attractive wall decal. Most of these are made of vinyl, and you can remove them if you decide to redecorate, but they look like you had a scene or silhouette painted onto the wall. I really love decals that look like silhouettes of trees and forests climbing the walls, but there are all kinds of other options to choose from too. And because they’re removable, you can even change them with the seasons or for special occasions.

I don’t necessarily recommend getting a decal for every wall or every room in the house, but they do make a fun alternative to the classic accent wall and can add dimension to a room without a lot of effort or cost.

Unconventional Wall Hangings

You can turn your heirloom jewelry into wall art by framing different pieces of jewelry (an earring here, a broach there) and hanging them in a cluster over the side table in your foyer. You can also search through antique stores for unique frames and hang them up in a cluster fitted closely next to each other without anything in them. The effect is really cool and creates its own work of art without any paintings or pictures at all.

Decorative Mirrors

Finally, mirrors make great wall décor. You can find them in all kinds of fun shapes and sizes, and you can even create a mosaic effect by clustering a collection of small mirrors on the wall over your couch or mantel. Mirrors reflect light, so they can add the illusion of more space and increase the effects of natural light in just about any room, depending on where you place them.

Don’t get intimidated by a blank wall. Think of it as an opportunity to express your personality through a fun décor project.

ChristinaABOUT THE AUTHOR: Christina El Moussa is the co-star of HGTV’s real estate reality TV show “Flip or Flop,” along with her husband and business partner Tarek El Moussa. The couple started Success Path Education and teach students from all over the country how to successfully find and flip houses and invest in real estate. Please visit http://www.SuccessPathEducatio.com for more details.

Source - Realtor.org

Work Your Website, Not Your Nerves

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Lee Davenport

Lee Davenport

By Lee Davenport

Approximately 65 percent of REALTORS® report having a website for at least five years but only 2 percent of their business come from those sites, according to the National Association of REALTORS® 2015 Member Profile. Yet more than 90 percent of home buyers start their search online. Does anyone else see the problem with these numbers? They do not add up.

I am all for referrals and repeat business, but what if you could connect with home buyers more frequently and in better ways? The numbers don’t lie: Home buyers and sellers are online, and it may be easier to get them on your website than you think.

I coach agents, and one of my favorite ways to get real estate buyers and sellers to visit an agent’s websites is by using Facebook ads. Why?

Image courtesy of Lee Davenport.

Image courtesy of Lee Davenport.

Since more than 70 percent of adults online use Facebook, and Facebook ads can target whomever you want for as little as $1 a day, it would be a flagrant foul not to use Facebook ads to drive traffic to your website.

You can target Facebook ads based on a person’s hobbies, alma mater, city, career, or employer. You can even target Facebook users searching about home remodeling (because they may want to sell), and anything else that suits your fancy. More importantly, ads are not limited to your friends list. You can connect with people across the world who use Facebook; people who may be moving to your town in the near future.

If you have ever been on Facebook, then you know that most people over-share about their lives. Facebook tracks that information and makes it available for marketers to sort through (I know, this is too much like Samaritan in Person of Interest). It’s there and someone will use this data, even if it’s not you. Why not use it while Facebook is selling it so cheaply – at a minimum of $1 a day? This really is a no-brainer! Watch how easy it is:

Not sure what your Facebook ad should feature? Click here to request complimentary access to our idea guide.

If you have traffic flowing to your site but you’re still only getting about 2 percent of your business from online leads, then there may be a secondary problem with your website. It might be ineffective on a usability level. Does it have outdated listings? Does it look like a site that was created when the internet first became a thing? Your website may not offer engaging reasons for people to contact you or leave their information. And your site must be mobile-friendly, bottom line.

This brings us to my next tip: Get website visitors to leave their contact information by creating a fun and compelling offer that is tied to a prominent data-collection form. Why? This will help convert site surfers into actual leads.

None of us like spam, and most home buyers and sellers are savvy enough to know if they complete your contact form, then they may never get off your e-mail list. As shocked as we may be when it comes to prospects’ reluctance to sign up on our business’ lists, we know this is the very reason why we do not sign-up on most retail websites (mmmm hmmm, you know I am telling the truth). Unless, of course, the website offers us something we want. This is intuitive when we visit various retail sites, so why do we expect our real estate site visitors to think or act any differently?

Hopefully it is now settled that you need to have compelling offers on your website. Create offers that you think will resonate with your ideal clients. The key is to connect the offer to a contact form (such as one that can be made in MailChimp).

Need ideas to give your site visitors an offer they can’t refuse? Click here to request complimentary access to our exclusive infographic to help you get started creating your own attention-grabbing offers.

Have more questions about real estate technology? Ask away by following me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Google+, or by visiting LearnWithLee.REALTOR. And if you sell real estate, get a copy of the five-star rated workbook, Plan to Win, to transform your real estate sales game plan. Here’s to your success!

Lee Davenport is an Atlanta-based real estate broker and business doctoral candidate who trains agents and brokerages on how to use today’s technology to work smarter. Join Lee’s free RE Tech Insider’s Club by visiting http://www.LearnWithLee.REALTOR.

Source - Realtor.org

6 Tips for Planning Ahead for an Eye-Popping Spring Bulb Garden

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Contributed by Longfield Gardens

Fall is the time to plant spring-blooming bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, crocus and alliums. Before ordering your bulbs, here are a few tips to guarantee great results come spring.

1. Pick a color theme.

longfield1Interior designers often work with a color palette – a selection of colors chosen to give a room or a home a particular look, mood or style. This technique is equally effective in gardens and landscapes.

“One option is to choose a single color scheme,” says Marlene Thompson, creative director at Longfield Gardens. “The effect is simple and always has a big impact.”

Thompson says that you can also build your design around a pair of colors such as pink and white, red and yellow or orange and purple. Another approach is to use the color wheel and choose a harmony of several related colors, such as pink, lavender, burgundy and purple or cream, yellow, orange and red.

2. Include different bloom times.

From early-blooming crocuses to late-blooming tulips and alliums, the spring bulb season can stretch for as long as 8-10 weeks. When choosing your bulbs, be sure to include a few from each bloom time: early, midseason and late season. This way you’ll have flowers in bloom for as long as possible.

groups3. Plant in groups.

Fall planted bulbs look best when the plantings are generous and the bulbs are spaced just a few inches apart.

Small bulbs such as scilla or chionodoxa should be planted in groups of at least 25 bulbs. Tulips look best in groups of at least a dozen bulbs. Daffodils and alliums can be planted in threes, though groups of seven or nine bulbs look even better.

repeat4. Repeat shapes and colors.

Landscapes are more pleasing and cohesive when the same plant or grouping of plants appears in multiple locations.

“Our eyes connect these similar shapes or colors into one scene rather than a collection of separate elements,” says Thompson.

In a formal setting, plant in squares, rectangles or circles. For a more natural or informal look, use ovals, triangles, kidney shapes or a free-form shape that fits the location.

5. Plant both annual and perennial bulbs.

Many spring bulbs, including daffodils, scilla, chionodoxa, alliums and muscari, can be considered perennials, as they will return and bloom again every spring. In fact, most of these hardy bulbs will naturalize and multiply over time.

Tulips and hyacinths are often treated as annuals because they usually put on their best show the first spring after planting. In the right growing conditions (full sun, well- drained soil, hot dry summers), some tulips, such as Darwin hybrids, will re-bloom for several years. To ensure the most dramatic spring display, treat these bulbs as annuals and plant a fresh batch every fall.

6. Shop for large, high quality bulbs

When you are shopping for flower bulbs, pay attention to bulb size. Larger bulbs will produce bigger plants with more or larger flowers. Also remember that bulbs are perishable, so it’s important to purchase the freshest bulbs possible and store them in a cool, dry place until planting time.

Longfield Gardens is an importer of flower bulbs. For more information, visit the company’s website at longfield-gardens.com, or for more planting tips, visit Longfield Gardne’s blog at blog.longfield-gardens.com.

Source - Realtor.org

Leadership is Like Mortar

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Nico-Hohman

Nico Hohman

By Nico Hohman

When you look at a brick wall, what do you see? You probably see the bricks first and the mortar second. In fact, you might not even notice the mortar at first glance. You might only notice the mortar if there is something wrong with it, or if you know what to look for.

The same can be said for leadership.

Leadership is like the mortar in a brick wall. You should never notice that it’s there, yet the mortar is the most crucial part of the wall. Without mortar, the bricks would simply be stacked on top of one another with no support. A gentle push of the wall or the removal of a handful of bricks would make the wall come tumbling down.

The same can be said for leadership.Leadership is like a Mortar

Without leadership invisibly holding the pieces of a family, a classroom, a team, or an organization together, then the slightest push can cause the entire family or team structure to implode.

Without mortar, a brick wall fails. Without leadership, your organization will fail.

Let’s imagine you see another brick wall, but this time the first thing you notice is the mortar. That usually means there is something wrong with the mortar or there was something wrong with the way the mortar was installed. The masons may have put too much mortar on one brick, or not enough mortar on another. This might cause the mortar to overflow on to the front face of the brick wall. Or, over periods of time, the elements may have simply eroded away the mortar. Either way, the mortar is no longer invisible.

When it comes to leadership, the best leaders are invisible.

A good leader knows that for his or her team to succeed, he or she must do everything within their power to place the team above themselves. They must set aside their own ego and let the agents or employees shine. When you look at an organization and the first thing you see is the leadership, you might as well be looking at a brick wall with the mortar overflowing the bricks. While the brick wall may be standing, it certainly doesn’t look right.

Finally, unlike the bricks, the mortar is pliable and easily molded to fit whatever shape it needs to fit.

The same can be said for leadership.

The individuals on your team, in your classroom, or within your company are the bricks in the brick wall. While one brick by itself may not be remarkable, as a whole, all of the bricks can make up something remarkable. However, the bricks can only make remarkable things when the mortar has the flexibility and pliability to fit into the areas where the bricks cannot. Together, the bricks and the mortar can make remarkable things.

The leader within you must be forced to take various shapes – invisibly – in order to make your group stand out and be the best it can possibly be.

So the next time you look at a brick wall, consider what will you see.

Nico Hohman is a Tampa-based real estate pro with an emphasis on renovation and rehab properties. Learn more about Nico at hohmanhomes.com or connect on Twitter: @thenicohohman.

Source - Realtor.org