I must tell you right from the start...I do not care for drip e-mail systems. They are canned and because the message you are sending will be in part not relevant for the client, I feel they can do more harm than good to your business.

That being said, I was just on a panel of high producing real estate professionals and we discussed how we attract and keep our potential clients informed. I made clear my feelings on drip systems and most of the agents agreed.

One agent said he did all personalized follow up just as I do. He is going a step further and using a drip system to do it. Here is how it works:

He does a certain number of follow ups with the client. If they never respond...or the have not responded in quite some time, instead of writing them off or throwing them in a cold file, He puts them in a drip system that gives them monthly follow up that asks questions like "do you still have interest in our continued follow up" or "Would you like us to change the criteria of your automatic e-mail notification".

What he is doing is taking those people who he would have otherwise written off, and created a way for them to get back into his system...all with virtually no effort.

I have already began to employ this system! If it picks up one or two more sales a year it can be very profitable no cost marketing.

The Houston Association of Realtors puts out its hotness index every month. The Katy area south of I-10 rated number one for the month of December...in fact Katy has been number one for 10 of the last 12 months. The index is based on the number of listings that are sold or under contract in relation to the number of homes available on the market. The numbers show a strong market in the Katy area for residential real estate. These numbers are also helped by the commercial real estate boom in Katy...especially the medical building boom that has recently added two full service state of the art hospitals with two more on the way (Texas Children's and St Luke's).

We feel this trend will continue in Katy because of the commercial real estate boom, the medical boom that has Katy being called "Med Center West" and the Award Winning KISD School District that had 14 campuses rate in the top 5% of the State as rated by Texas Monthly.

I had a client today from the midwest. All she could talk about was living down south in the warmth of Texas. I have other agents in the office talking out the mountains or the woods or the beach or...well you get what I mean. It seems that we have turned into a society of people always believing that the grass is greener on the other side...or the other coast...or in the valley...or on top of the mountain!

When I grew up I could tell you the names of every neighbor on our street. We had block parties, gatherings, and everyone looked out for every one's kids. Has our mobility added to our lives or taken away the sense of belonging that only a home town can give?

I read some blog posts about how one part of the Country is having issues and in another people are trying to get sold and get out and I wonder...do we really want to cut ties when the going gets tough? I was watching one of my favorite movies (it was of course about baseball) and one of the characters said "When you find the place you belong the wind never feels quite so cold again".

I started in Real Estate 3 1/2 years ago. At the time we had just moved to Katy Texas from New York with my wife Mona and my then 2 year old Anthony. I had never sold real estate...nor did I know much about Katy Texas except that the schools were good and it was pretty warm in the winter.

When I first started I did not have a sphere in Katy....I did not really know anyone except my brother and sister who lived here (we moved here to be near family). I interviewed with most of the firms in the Katy area and each broker told me how difficult it was going to be for me because of my lack of real estate knowledge, my lack of Katy knowledge, and the fact they I had a very limited sphere.

I picked a company (Prudential Gary Greene Realtors..boy did I make the right choice!) and got started (Mona took a job working for a local retail company to afford me the time to learn my craft...she informed me I had two years to get it going because she hated retail). I looked at all the factors surrounding real estate sales and one thing jumped out at me: 85% of all buyers go to the Internet first before purchasing a home! I felt that this would be my niche right from the start! I began spending my days learning everything I could about websites, meta tags, meta language, blogs, Internet marketing, etc...

During my first three months in the business I came to the office everyday, got my cup of coffee, and did research. All the long time agents told me I was crazy and said "You can not do business from the Internet!" They gave me all the reasons why people would not follow through with me, and why my strategy was a waste of time. After I got my website up and running (about three months) I began to immediately receive hits...slowly at first and then more and more. After my first few deals some of the long time agents began taking notice and asking me for help with their websites (I told them how to do the research as I had...none of them took me up on it).

It has worked out OK for me! In my first year in the business I made the Prudential Presidents Circle and won Rookie of the Year honors. Mona quite her job and came to work for me (it only took one year and she now has a real estate license). After 3 1/2 years we have been Chairman's Circle twice and we are in the top 3% of all Realtors Nationwide!

I absolutely love this business, to me it is the last real free market enterprise in the world! Different types of firms sell different products to different clients...all without set fees or expenses. You can show your worth and value everyday....and This is why I do what I do!

We started this about two years ago. We realized that post cards, magnets, seeds for spring really do not work. It is old school marketing and those using it are wasting dollars better spent elsewhere. We started a neighborhood directory.

Here is what we did: we mailed out to the 125 homes in our farm area (those directly around our home) a letter asking for info like name, address, phone #'s, e-mail addresses, and age and sex of children. We did the mailer 3 times and let them know we would not use it for marketing (we let them know so they would not think it was a gathering of info for a barrage of e-mails). We did it low key...no advertising...just a picture of us on the back cover and a brought to you by Team DiMuria with our contact info. We added things like pool schedules, our favorite local restaurants, and emergency numbers.

It has been very successful and always gives us a reason to contact new neighbors so they can get their info in the directory. It also allows us to quickly announce things like a neighborhood block party that we sponsor! We have received leads and referrals from it...and we are known as the neighborhood experts in large part because we are the picture they see every time they need a neighbors phone...or order pizza!

Cinco Ranch, Katy  -  Announcing a price reduction on 5230 Sandyfields Ln, a 1,730 sq. ft., 2 bath, 2 bdrm single story This beautiful home is in the 55+ active adult section of Cinco Ranch called Heritage Grand. The neighborhood features gated entry, pool, spa, work out center, computer center and much more. The home has a french door study, large pantry, craft area, 2 car garage, and a screened in rear porch. Now Only MLS® $175,000 - .

Property information 

Our real estate market has in most cases bucked national trends and held (even increased) in value. The issue we and other areas of the Country face is the mortgage meltdown. In some cases it does not matter how many potential buyers want your home...it matters how many are in a financial position to get a mortgage on your home!

Now more than ever sellers need an advocate who can help them choose when and even if to take an offer that is on the table from a perspective buyer. Many factors come into play before we are going to advise our clients to accept, counter, or reject an offer. Making sure all paperwork is in order and the buyers are not just TAKING A SHOT to see if they can get bought!

Our job is not just to put up a sign, put on a lock box, hope to get showings, and show up at closing if that strategy happens to work....that is what a limited service broker does.

Our job as Full Service Realtors is to heavily market your property in all media (most notably on the Internet), hold your home open as often as needed, negotiate all issues with respect to your transaction, arrange your home (We have a Certified Staging designation-ASP) for optimum showing, and evaluate potential buyers for worthiness (you never want to take your home off the market and then put it back on because the buyer cant buy) and make sure when we do take your home off the market it is because we are on our way to closing! Of course we also put out a sign and lock box and show up for all our closings!

Our politicians could change the face of real estate in one day. They need to change the tax code. Have you ever asked yourself why we pay for schools with property tax. Think about all the reasons why it would be beneficial to our Country to change school tax to a national or state sales tax:

1. Stop penalizing our biggest industry: By stuffing the payments of home owners with school tax on top of P & I and insurance along with other added taxes we discourage people from buying and building homes. How does this help our economy?

2. Fairness in Schools: Why, based on your address should your child be entitled to a better education than someone who makes less money and can not afford to be your neighbor? We create a cycle of ignorance by having people with low income and lesser educations have children who go to lesser schools, they get less education and make less income....so they have children who...you get the idea!

3. Fluctuation in how each state handles property tax adds to the issue: A great example of this is Texas vs. Florida. In Texas they assess taxes each year. Each home owner pays tax on the present worth of their home. In Florida, to a degree you lock in your value the day you buy a home...here is a question: Why, based on when you bought your home, should 2 people with exactly the same home pay different portions of the tax burden? How difficult does this make it to re-sell a home if the present taxes are say $2000 per year...and when the new buyer comes in they will need to pay say $10,000? This system discourages people from moving up, down or sideways because they will in all likelihood increase the tax burden they have.

The simple solution is to change School taxes to a national or state tax. This would allow the standardize the level of education each student gets (to some degree) and would allow a much more mobile society to have children who are moved far more frequently to be up to speed quickly!

I wonder if the end is near. We see election after election only those candidates on the very far right...or very far left be put forward for President. Those candidates who may not agree with all the party stated issues (I will use Rudy Gulliani as an example...he leans pro-choice in a pro-life party) gets beat up from his own party as well as the democrats.

Do we really have choice...if any candidate who is in the middle gets hammered by all sides we will never have a President who is in the middle (the place most Americans are).

Democracy is about choice...but since each party is controlled by extreme elements (the liberal left and the Christian right) what candidate who represents the ideals of the average person has a chance?

Is Democracy alive if we can not choose the best candidates for election?

We get asked all the time: How do you find the time to get everything done...you are so busy?

Let me let you in on a secret...I work 40hrs a week, Mona works 24hrs a week, and we do not have an assistant. Some Realtors work more than the 64hrs we both work by themselves. How do we do it you ask...

Time Management!

Here are some 2008 time management tips for all to see:

1. Set up all daily follow up you do on computer reminders: We use outlook...you can use any follow up system that employees a flagging system. In the morning when we arrive at work your reminders will pop up and tell you who you need to contact, what appointments you have, and what you need to get accomplished for that day. This one step will simplify your life and help you get organized.

2. Schedule your days off, vacations, and time away on your calendar right at the start of the year: Do this for the entire year (we know you will have some flexibility during the year but do it anyway...you can stick to it 75% of the time) so that when it comes time to set a reminder you know when you can and cant set it. This will keep you on schedule. We schedule 3-4 vacations per year in the begging of the year...and we take them!

3. Each morning when you arrive at work write everything you need to get done for the day on a separate piece of paper and cross them out as you get them accomplished: This step will help you see your efforts for the day are getting you positive results (while this may be psychological...the feeling of accomplishment will certainly help you hone your skills). This step will also help you keep up to date with issues that pop up during the day...they go straight to the list and don't fall through the cracks.

4. Make it a policy not to go home until everything on your list is accomplished: This is a step that you need to take seriously...if you force yourself to work until all the work is done...you will spend the time you have more productively.

5. Free your mind during lunch whenever possible: Try hard to do anything but real estate! If you are not with clients either go out to lunch, eat at the park, or look up vacation destinations if you are eating at your desk...you try not to think about real estate. If you can free your mind during lunch you will get more accomplished in the second half of the day!

6. If you work from an office...go in whenever possible for your entire shift: The fact that we use the word shift should give you an indication that your time at work must also be scheduled. Work from you office...you will have far too many distractions at home. If you plan on working 40 hours a weed...schedule it!!!! Work during those hours and your time will be well spent!

Time management is truly about you laying out and committing to a plan. It needs to be a long term plan...and you must stick to it!

This is a new series by Team DiMuria. We are going to be revealing some of the greatest mysteries of all time.

The first great revelation is the answer to that age old question: What is the animal origin of the Walt Disney character Goofy?

Here is your answer so you can tell all your friends. Goofy is a dog. His original name was not even Goofy...it was Dippy Dawg. It is kind of a wonder why Goofy can talk and Pluto cant. They are both dogs after all.