Debbie Ferrari

Hey Dave Gooden: What a truly comprehensive site. I can just imagine the vision and hard work it took to build such a great site. And considering the fabulous return on your investment...... (You said: "As of today (08/13/08), our closings are up 48% over 2007 - which was our record year.") ......I bet you are dancing all the way to the bank...even in a market like THIS one...so more power to you. A big WAY TO GO! to you. Debbie Ferrari, "The Internet Broker" ****For South Orange County, CA**** http://www.debbieferrari.com Play my video: http://tinyurl.com/6f82ng

Hi All: Speaking of data security...what about storing and disposing of HARD COPIES of client files? Most agents, if they are like me, have a garage or storage place with banker boxes of my home sale transactions from years past. I keep MY set, even though my realty office keeps and stores their master set for each transaction, because what if they LOSE their set and some law suit or worse arises later? While these transaction files of mine are under lock and key---likely only a big bolt cutter away from being stolen---at least they are not in a heavily public traffic location. I have been putting off disposing of my 15 banker boxes of files because I am too lazy to go shred all of them and am reluctant to pay a firm to do it for me (and who says that FIRM can be trusted?) I was thinking of disguising the banker boxes each in its own black, bio-degradeable trash bag, drive them to our local trash dump, unload them just in front of the bulldozer that pushes trash into a hole in the ground, and watch the bags being covered over....THEN I would feel that they've been protected from prying eyes. It seems to me that this is a pretty airtight way to dispose of old files...in a landfill where they will oxidize back to a fibrous soil in a few years. If you give me some good ideas about this, I will post them on my web site at www.DebbieFerrari.com and on my blog at http://blog.DebbieFerrari.com as a service to not just Realtors, but to the home buyers of Orange County, CA properties who are starting again---thank God---to visit my site as they sense incredible home ownership bargains to be had in our area right now. Yes, yes, I know I should just sit down and feed all the files into a shredder...and I will for the next batch.... And yes, we now get a CD of each transaction, but, everyone, please share with me your approach to dealing with HARD COPIES of accumulated & outdated client transaction materials. Thanks so much, Debbie Ferrari, For South Orange County, CA http://www.debbieferrari.com E-mail: Debbie@DebbieFerrari.com TOLL FREE: 888-547-2942 Cell: 949-463-4111 Play my video: http://www.debbieferrari.com/deb.html

Jason: Exactly, and go back and read my comment...that is why I am in FAVOR of giving listings as wide of exposure as possible...even in other countries. Hey, let's drop pages and pages of our listings from airplanes onto China and Europe. Agents should be less concerned with getting their full 6% commission from selling BOTH sides of a transaction, and MORE concerned with doing MORE AND MORE TRANSACTIONS. This is because many 3% commissions put an agent in touch with more CLIENTS. And the more clients we have, the more chances we have for referrals, repeat sales, etc. (IF, and only IF, we are smart enough to FOLLOW UP regularly with our clients). NOT wanting wide MLS exposure of listings seems almost a backwards-looking Luddite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddites)way of marketing homes. Debbie Ferrari, "The Internet Broker" ****For South Orange County, CA**** Search the Local MLS Right from My Giant Web Site at: http://www.debbieferrari.com E-mail: Debbie@DebbieFerrari.com CALL ME TOLL FREE: 888-547-2942 Reach Me All Day Long---949-463-4111 View 2-Minute Video "About Debbie": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRgIk_5Wc1Q