Dan Cummings - The Running Realtor: February 2008

Before I get whipped by the disappearing dominatrix that was recently reeled back into the Rain and tagged me I decided to buckle down and make my Hidden Gem selection.

Since I've been here about a year I don't know many hidden people, my subscribed list includes plenty of posters that consumes my reading time and the dashboard goes by so fast that I miss quite a bit.  One sweet little blogger that caught my eye with her FIRST POST was Barbara Hershey.

Since I have a special interest in Maine I instantly subscribed to her blog and have watched her develop.  Maine is known as Vacationland and for me it was the only vacation I ever saw during childhood.  Most of my relatives are still living in the small town we used to visit for two weeks every summer and sporadically throughout the year. 

Barbara has settled down along the mid coast of Maine where the ocean water etched in my memory feels bone chillingly cold all summer long.  Most of my time in Maine is spent near interior lakes but I did get the the coast a few times last year. Reading Barbara's Blog is giving me the inside scoop on some adventures I'll be taking during the upcoming summer months. 

Most of her writing is geared towards Localism and offers advice on where to stay, good places to eat & activities to enjoy.  Anyone considering a Maine Vacation will find her blog is a great resource.

Beyond vacationing her posts contain plenty of information for Real Estate Buyers and Sellers.  Her series on government benefits for military personnel affected by base closings is great for sellers. She also has step by step instructions for first time buyers looking to purchase a home in Maine.  

Now that I have outed a gem the second phase of my task calls for passing the torch... Of course in my warped mind that torch instantly reminds me of fire, which is hot and causes me to think of hell.  To get to hell you need to die which reminds me of an old Jewish guy that retired about 10 years ago.... Someone asked Eliot if he'd be moving to Florida, his response was hell will come soon enough, I'm not going to Florida for practice... All this leads me to the realization that I should try to revive a few "dead rainers" from Florida!

 My two long lost Florida Tags are Susie Roscoe & Tom Weiss

My first month with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training has been hectic.  Being in the Real Estate Business gave me one big advantage over some of my other teammates.  Since being a Realtor involves a fair amount of marketing I already had systems in place to deal with mass mailings.  The first week I spent composing a letter and printing my initial mailing to 150 friends and past clients.  Concurrently I submitted a press release to a few local newspapers and both acted fast in publishing the news.

Since I am so heavily involved in on-line activities I was surprised by the reluctance of some people to contribute using a credit card on the secure donation site but learned during my second week at the TNT fund-raiser workshop that we should include a return envelope in our mailing.  My second batch of letters went out to 150 relatives, neighbors and acquaintances along with a return envelope but the response rate was not substantially different.

With all this fund-raising activity and the rainiest February on record I have managed to run 100 miles since joining the team.  I also finally learned how to produce a YouTube show.  Hope this inspires donations!

Anyone with questions about the Team in Training can contact Dan Cummings - The Running Realtor via email ( Dan@CummingsTeam.com ) or call my 24 hour access line : 203-672-2455

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Welcome to this weeks edition of Tee'd Off Tuesday!

Suzanne Sands, founder of the Active Rain Fit Club should be proud of me because I have managed to suppress my appetite for donuts for several months.  Recently I have begun training for my first Marathon and as I increased the miles I run each week my need for more calories has increased accordingly.

After a long week and a 10 mile run I decided to relax and take a hot bath.... While soaking in the tub my mind drifted to food and I got the craving for some good old donuts.  So at 9:30 instead of slipping into bed after my bath I got dressed and ventured out into the cold night for a box of Dunkin Munchkins.  

These days there seems to be an over abundance of crappy food on every corner.  We also needed a few items at the food store so my plan was set.  I drove to Stop & Shop and since they have partnered up with Dunkin' Donuts I figured I would get both task finished at once.  When I arrive the Dunkin' selves were empty, they were cleaning the racks.

Since the recent trend in business it to saturate the market we have a few other Dunkin' Donut shops in close proximity to Stop & Shop.  After picking up the few items I needed at the supermarket I drove a few blocks to get my snack.  Figured I use would the convenience of the drive-thru and ordered my box of 50 munchkins. The voice from the squawk box informed me they only had a few plain ones and could not fill the order.

A little annoyed I said forget it and drove off....  Being a stubborn SOB or just a glutton for punishment I decided not to get bummed out.  There is a third Dunkin Donuts about a mile down the same road and I was hungry.  When I pulled up to their Drive-Thru the attendant informed me they had no muchkins. Normally I call that stike three and will banish the business from my list of goods or services that I will patronize.

Determined to complete my mission I set aside my 3-strike rule and pulled into a parking space so I could go into the store and select a dozen donuts.    By now it was around 10:00pm and the doors of the 24-hour Dunkin' Donuts were LOCKED....

Needless to say I went home empty.  Four attempts to do business with a company that has saturated the market to the point that they are incompetent.  They must be spending all their money on advertising and building maintenance because from my view they are under staffed and cannot provide the quality or variety of product that built the company....

Dan the Running Man has Banished Dunkin Donuts!   They certainly will not notice the loss of my business but my body will reap the benefit by the elimination of that crap!

In the real estate business we certainly do our share of prospecting to earn a living. We also tend to have a very supportive and giving nature so when people ask for help we lend assistance. Since I began running a few years ago my name has hit the list of supporters for most of the charity runs in my area. Typically a 5k draws hundreds of runners each paying their entry fee to support whatever charity is sponsoring the event.

Each season the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society sends me a recruitment flyer to learn more about their Team in Training and this year I decided to attend the informational session. Since I was planning to run the Fairfield Half Marathon again I thought it would be nice to run with a group and help raise money for the society. When I learned that the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Sand Diego was the biggest fundraiser for blood cancer I decided to go for the big one - 26.2 Miles.

In addition to four months of endurance training I am responsible for raising money for the society to remain on the team. My first mailing of 300 letters had a donation rate of about 10% so I need to come up with more fundraising ideas.

Since I have only supported others and never been the organizer of a fundraiser I'm not sure what works best. I have about 3-1/2 months to raise the money but only about a month and a half before I need to personally guarantee the funds with my credit card. My target is to have most of the funds donated by April 1, 2008. In the meantime I will continue to market my SOI with plans of bringing that donation rate up closer to 50%. Lets hope I don't need to get physical and put out my own fundraising video..... But I do have some stock photos...! LOL

So... Enlighten me with suggestions... The more details the better, I am clueless about regulations that cover things like raffles, car washes, bake sales and all that stuff. If you don't have any good ideas you could always toss in a few bucks...

During the first two weeks of my affiliation with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training most of my time has been spent preparing for the fund-raising.

While I was busy composing letters my wife helped out by emailing a few friends and family which brought in a quick base of funds.  My next step was to compile a list of people I knew that might help support my effort to raise $5000 for blood cancer research.  The first batch of 150 letters hit the mail at the end of my first week and contributions hit 20% of my goal.

Read more........

A total of 36 single family homes closed in my territory during the month of January this year with the combined dollar volume being just under 21 million dollars for all transactions. The number of homes sold was down substantially from the 61 properties the closed in January of last year.

One noticeable trend that continues is the sales tend to be at the lower or higher end. Affordable entry level homes accounted for nearly half the homes sold while half the money was spent purchasing the five most expensive properties. The upper end homes priced between $650,000 - 1.45 million saw no sales.

If you are thinking of selling and curious about the value of your home click the house on the right to request a Free No Obligation Market Analysis of the property.  With today's on-line databases I can give you a fairly good idea of the market price without even touring the house.

Anyone ready to undertake the adventures of searching for property in New Haven County can contact Dan Cummings - The Running Realtor via email or call my 24 hour access line : 203-672-2455

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