Fayetteville, NC Real Estate Blog

Ok, I dug around in the site that I just posted about and found the answer to the question....\

"How do you use

1. Finding Hotspots on the Road

Question: How can I find a hotspot when I can't get online to search for one?

Answer: Making it easy to find and connect to Wi-Fi hotspots all over the world is what JiWire is all about, so naturally we have lots of advice for you on this topic! JiWire's massive directory of more than 120,000 distinct hotspots in 128 countries includes most Wi-Fi provider networks, such as Boingo, T-Mobile, Wayport, iPass and many more, as well as independent sites, airports and municipal hotspots. Even better, nearly 10,000 of those hotspots are completely free of charge -- just check the "free" button in the search box to limit your results.

While the online directory always stands ready to serve you, when you are on the road and need to find the nearest hotspot, that presents a chicken-and-egg dilemma -- you can't get online to find a hotspot, without BEING at a hotspot. So we've also created an offline search solution, called Wi-Fi Hotspot Finder. Wi-Fi Hotspot Finder for Windows installs as part of the JiWire Hotspot Helper utility suite (more on that on the next page), and maintains a database of hotspots in areas you specify. You can choose any combination of locations to keep track of: everything in a particular city, a state, or an entire country. You can download the whole world, if you want. The database will even update itself periodically, so you always have an up-to-date list of public hotspots.

Wi-Fi Hotspot Finder presently runs on Windows XP and 2000. A Mac OS X version of JiWire Hotspot Helper, including Wi-Fi Hotspot Finder, is planned for later this year. We also have versions of the directory for handhelds and smartphones. See the downloads page for more information

a WiFi finder site when you are not able to be online to use it?"

Well after digging around the site a little I found the answer...

Ok.....after I typed that title it dawned on me.  If I don't have a signal then how can this be simple?  I will ponder on that one for awhile and get back to you.

Now to the meat of this post.

I have a really great site for you.... http://www.jiwire.com/search-hotspot-locations.htm

This is a great way to find a WiFi spot while away from home...but I again ponder that if I am not already on line...how do I use it?  I guess the best thing is that if you are traveling to get a list of locations before you leave your usual signal.

Check it out..enjoy and remember...print a list before you disappear!

Ahhh....modern day conveniences.  Do you remember the days before all of them?

Recently my family moved.  During that move we went from DSL Internet service to dial-up to NOTHING!  Now...please understand that I do have internet at the office so I have been able to function.  But after I leave the office I have been VERY limited in what I could do.

Talk about a challenge to your real estate career! 

Communicating with out of town clients has been tough.  I actually had to resort only to using the telephone!

BUT....I am glad to report that the nice cable man came today....and took FOREVER....to get everything hooked up but I am now on cable Internet, telephone and TELEVISION!

So....how accustomed to your modern day conveniences have you become?  I for one can say that I never really noticed how important these items have become to the operation of my business.

Want to find out just how dependant you really are on these items?  Take a week off from the Internet, the home phone and the tv...except for the rabbit ears...and I PROMISE you will get a clear and full understanding of your dependency on the modern day conveniences.

On the positive side it did allow me to get a lot of things done around the house and to prepare my other house for the market, not to mention more time with my wife and our two dogs.  It has had a good effect and I think I might try this actually a couple times a month to slow down and take time for the things that really matter.

BUT....IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK!!!! 

I have seen some strange things since I started in this business.  Have heard some even stranger...but now I think I rank right up there with the winners.

Think back.  What is the strangest thing you have ever negotiated into a contract?

Me?  Guinea hens and ducks.  Yep.  You read right.  Guinea hens and ducks.  Now if you are from anywhere that has country areas you know what a guinea hen is and if you aren't then do a Google search and you will be able to relate a little better.  Actually they are great in country areas, they keep the bugs to a minimum.

Oh...you want to know the story?  Sure!

I had a hit on my Google Adwords.  I contacted the interested party.  Now...google adword leads are a shot in the dark.  Sometimes they do turn into a contract but most of the time they are shoppers.

So anyway...I am talking to this guy.  I ask him what he is looking for in a new home.  He tells me..."A log cabin in the middle of the county near the river or with a pond, no less than 2-3 acres, that allows horses". 

Hmmmm.....not a tall order....yea right!

Log cabin in my part of NC?  I think there are about 5.  This is going to be a challenge.

Anyway..to make a LONG story short, I found him a home in the middle of nowhere...can you say "turn off the paved road"...3 miles from the blacktop...that had a small pond and was 6 acres, allowed horses...but no log cabin.

They liked the property.  GREAT!  Now they want to make an offer.  So we go through all of the usual.  Price, terms, dates, etc....then he hits me with this..."I am not going to buy this house unless the Guinea hens and the ducks come with it".

OooooooooKkkkkkkkk.  I told him that I would try and wrote it in the contract under the personal property area.  Turns out that Guinea hens and ducks that are raised in a certain area do better if they stay there.  Well there's a little fact of knowledge that I didn't know.

Can you believe that the seller actually AGREED to put them Guinea hens and ducks into the deal????

Done...closed....and paid....WOOOO----HOOOOO!!!!

Ok, you have heard my weirdest thing, what is yours?

Moving.  It is something we have all done at one time or another.  Some of us like it some of us hate it.  Personally.....I am torn.  The promise of a new start in a new (well to me) home, the mess of getting all the possessions there.

Wanna know just how much stuff you have?  Buy a new house.  Simple, efficient.  This is not what I meant when I told the wife it was time to do some "spring cleaning".  WOW!  Where did all this stuff that I have not seen in years come from?  I found tax records dating back to 1995....can you say shredder?

Sometimes I think we, as real estate professionals, tend to forget what happens in our clients lives when it comes time for the big move.  We get so wrapped up in the showing of the houses, the paperwork, handling the appraisers, the home inspectors, the pest inspectors, the mortgage company communications that we get tunnel vision...and if we REALLY care about our clients we should also take their "change in life" into consideration.

I can honestly admit that I "forgot" what it is like to move.  My wife and I have been in the same house for almost ten years.

Now, by no means am I saying to put on the dirty work clothes and start loading your clients boxes into the moving van.  Well...if you want to be remembered FOREVER by your client...that just might work.  But keeping a check on them during the process, especially if they are moving themselves without professional help as I and the wife decided to do since we own an enclosed trailer, just to see if there are any of the "little" things that you could help with.  Between my parents, my wife's parents (whew I worked her dad like a slave Saturday), our friends and others we have managed to keep a little sanity.  Sometimes someone just stopping at the store and picking up a two liter and some ice made all the difference in the world!  It was amazing that as tempers grew short and rain came and went that someone doing something small made all the tension go away.

Imagine if you knew your clients were moving themselves and you just "showed up" with some cardboard boxes and packing tape and a week's worth of newspaper.  It might not seem like much but I can tell you that when you are putting stuff into the boxes and you are on a mission as we were and you run out of boxes and tape...that stuff would be a God send.

People who are moving ALWAYS forget things that are needed to make the process go smoothly.  It is a fact of life.  I think it is the devil's way of making you go insane.

Think about this the next time you represent a buyer and the big moving day comes.  This just might be a way to put them on the "lifetime client" list.

Somebody check in on me in a week and make sure I am not sitting in a corner babbling.....THANKS!