Luxury Real Estate

By Jim Walberg of Caribbean Islands Realty

Jim Walberg and his fellow Rotarians completed another map of the USA on the playground of Tassajara Hills Elementary School - 40 feet long and 25 feet high! It is part of our continued support of education projects in our community.

Since our local Rotary Club was founded in April 1989 it has been serving the many needs of our East Bay communities. During the past 20 years, we have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of people hours to address these local needs. Many of our Rotary Club’s community projects have been focused on educational needs of our school districts. We call one of them “The Maps Project”. Several years ago we learned of a map painting kit that was painted on elementary school playgrounds to assist kids with their understanding of our country’s geography. It sounded as if it was a winner of addition to any school.

We contacted our local school district and opened a discussion with them regarding how it could be of benefit to school kids to better understand the geography of our country. They accepted our invitation to paint this map on all of the elementary schools in the district. Yesterday we completed our eighth USA map on the playground. It has evolved into a very organized operation which now allows us to pull it off in just one day. Yesterday we are done from start to finish in must under six hours because of many volunteers showing up to help.

One of the ways that “Service Above Self” is learned by our younger generations is by modeling it. We invited local high school students and students from Tassajara Elementary School to assist us with yesterday’s project. So, you had young and old working together to create a magnificent end result. There were smiles and high-fives all around as we admired the finished product. The last step of any of the maps we have painted is having the Mississippi River painted along its entire route with it ending at New Orleans. What a great day.

During yesterday’s project I overheard many conversations among the adults and students about when our next project would take place because they wanted to make sure they helped us again. The “virus” of community service continues to be spread as we are always on the lookout for the needs within our community that need to be addressed. Our “army” of volunteers has now expanded to include high school and elementary students who also want to give back to their community.

You may remember my daily mantra, “To whom much is given, much is required.” As long as we are still breathing our work is not over on this earth in order to make it a better place. So, what does community service have to do with East Bay real estate? The quality of life of a community is a key factor as to why people want to live in our region. We want to make sure we are doing our part to improve the life experiences of all who live here. Contact me anytime if you would like to join us on any of our community projects. Until next time…your lifestyle detective remains on duty in the East Bay.

By Scott Rudolph

Thankfully, live chat and chat support online is gaining momentum. Honestly, I prefer to speak with somebody instead of a recorded message. But the phone support offered by many companies is insufficient, hold times are too long and complex menus are frustrating. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried phone support from companies touting “world-class service” only to experience unproductive voice or keypad menus, language barriers, random hang-ups and more than I dare describe.

One of the advantages of live chat or chat support, as it’s been coined, is the written record naturally created for both parties providing reference material for future dealings or for dispute resolution. The interactivity and dialogue between a client and real-estate professional is precious. Let’s face it, our industry tends to receive more than its fair share of response-time complaints. For this reason alone, every real-estate professional should investigate live chat today. Beyond this, after-hours features allow a professional (via a third party, if coordinated) to be available 24/7, collect contact information for comprehensive follow-through later, and receive a detailed recorded thread.

Now imagine adding live chat to a virtual tour or video – an unobtrusive box appears on the computer screen, saying, “Hi, just let me know if I can answer any questions you may have regarding this property.” Once you start chatting, you have the strategic advantage not only by providing more service than the consumer will find elsewhere in our industry but you’ll be in a better position to convert browsers into buyers.

You’ve heard the saying, “Give a person a fish, they eat for a day; teach a person how to fish, they’ll eat for a lifetime!” I hope you appreciate our attempt at teaching how to fish in order to benefit yourselves and your clients for a lifetime. For more information about incorporating live chat within your business, please go to www.luxuryrealestate.com/partners.html#alive or email me directly at Scott@luxuryrealestate.com.


Editor’s Note:
Scott Rudolph is the Director of Business Development for LuxuryRealEstate.com. He works with companies in a variety of luxury industries to expand the LuxuryRealEstate.com influence. Allowing customers to receive instant feedback can be a key competitive advantage for brokers and agents seeking to build stronger customer relationships. It’s definitely wise to reach out to clients when a property they are interested in is fresh in their minds and right in front of their eyes. Take Scott’s advice and learn more about this opportunity!