Each month BHGLAAR REALTOR® News releases articles and news regarding the real estate industry. For the May issue, we have an article titled “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” regarding sewer lines that has some really good info. You can check out the full issue and article here: http://www.foleypub.com/epapers/bhglaarmay/files/14.html
Tag Archives: Realtor
Article in BHGLAAR REALTOR® News for May 2013
Laboring through Labor day…
Has anyone else noticed that Real Estate is a 24 hour a day/7 day a week business? I get emails in the wee hours of the morning, calls on the weekends, texts on the fourth of July for an emergency inspection… and of course Labor day is no different. In fact, in the past 8 years I’ve been involved in the real estate inspection industry, Labor Day has been a very busy day. I assume this is because so many potential home buyers are off of work and thus able to check out homes or schedule their home inspection on Labor day Monday since they already have the day off… whatever the reason, it’s a historically busy holiday for LaRocca Inspections.
So although our office staff will be off enjoying the Labor day festivities, our inspectors will be laboring through Labor day, performing inspections as usual. And our messages will be picked up regularly throughout the day to accomodate any last minute needs you real estate agents or buyers might have!
So let us know if you’d like to spend your holiday with us and have a happy and safe Labor Day!!!
April Kass – LaRocaa Inspections
The new kid in town…
You may have noticed that we have a new marketing representative in our office! Her name is Carrie Crest, she started with us about 2 months ago and we love her! She fits right in like an apple in an orchard and we are delighted to have her. Since she’s begun showing up out in the field, I’ve had an alarming number of people ask if everything’s okay, did I fire Jason, am I leaving LaRocca and “grooming” her to take my place… I’ve even been asked if I’m pregnant!!!
I PROMISE YOU GUYS, I’m not going anywhere and neither is Jason (and neither of us have a bun in the oven)! I love my job at LaRocca Inspections and they love me. I was just spreadng myself too thin and needed a little help! So this is how I’ve structured our Marketing department:
Me (April Kass): I am still our Marketing Director and handle our marketing department’s strategic planning and annual budget. Jason and Carrie report to me and I give them their “marching orders” so to speak. I will be spending the majority of my time working on planning, public relations, and networking. This means I may contact you to ask you some marketing research question, get a testimonial from you, etc. I will spend time at our local associations, on various committees, in the field (delivering presentations at sales meetings, going on weekly caravans, etc.) writing articles, blogs, and keeping up on social media.
Jason Wrightsman: Jason will be taking over the promotional design section at LaRocca Inspections. With the four companies that we represent it really takes a full time employee to do all of the concepting, inventory, printing, ordering (and reordering) of promotional brochures, cards, pens, and other items that we order on a regular basis, basic layout and graphic design, keeping our websites current, sending out email deals, and posting those photo blogs that everyone loves! As part of his new position here, he will also be attending school part time for graphic design which he is already talented at and this will make him just invaluable to me in the marketing department!
Carrie will be taking over a number of the functions Jason and I were previously doing. Her main focus is promotional activities. She will be scheduling office presentations and educational classes and she will prepare what is needed for those presentations (bring the food and goodies everyone loves so much!). She will also be doing the rounds visiting the offices around town, keeping our brochure stands stocked, droping off fliers, sending direct mail, and assisting me when needed at networking events, trade shows, etc. If you see her out in the field, say HELLO!
I know that we are structured a little differently than other companies that service te real estate industry and I hope that this clears up some of the confusion out there. We feel that this structure allows us to get the most efficient use of our time and energy to best serve our clients!
April Kass – Marketing Director
Inspection Photo: Too Wired
Being too wired can be a shocking experience! This water heater has exposed wires, which is never good when electricity is involved.
This is a good example of a dangerous find on an inspection with an easy fix.
Inspection Photo: This home appears to be retaining “Water Weight” ;)
Uh oh, perhaps the water should cut down on fast food!
All kidding aside, the water pressure in this house is at almost 130 and it should be half that. This high pressure can cause leaks and pipes to burst.
Your home inspector should be able to catch these items (like our home inspector did in this case) to help your buyers find out about issues like this in escorw and ensure that you avoid having to deal with a problem like this after the close of escroe when the buyers are all moved in and settled!
Inspection Photo: Ever Feel Rusty?
Yikes! This pipe sure does!
This was found under a house on a recent inspection…I don’t even want to know what the water looks like, I’m assuming it looks like iced tea!
Rusty Pipe
Inspection Photo: Leaning Tower of Balcony
When is it time to fix a problem belonging to your condo? Hopefully before this happens!
AAR-YPN rocks the Arcadia Relay For Life 2011
I was one of the co-captains of our Arcadia Association of REALTORS® (AAR) Relay for Life team this year and on June 25th and 26th we headed out to Santa Anita Park to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society. This years team was organized by the Young Professionals Network. Along with myslef, our team was headed up by AAR-YPN committee members, Andrea Akitomo, Kelvin Chang, and Jeff Salman.
If you’ve never participated in a Relay for Life before, the idea is that each team has a member walking (or running) around the track at all times for one 24-hour period. The whole community got involved, many local business sponsored the event such as Walgreens, Dave and Busters, Subway, and the Santa Anita Racetrack, and there were 49 fundraising teams signed up, 40 which came out to the racetrack to participate, including the Fire Department, Police, Schools, and a couple of our local real estate offices even had teams of their own. The AAR team had plenty of support from our REALTOR members, affiliates, and their families! We succeeded in having someone on the track at all times (My husband and I camped out and did many of the slots during the wee hours of the morning along with Al Luna, Brenda Reed, Kelvin Chang, and Janie DeGraaf-Wade who helped in those hours from midnight to 6am to keep the Relay going!
The event ceremonies (such as the opening ceremonies, survivor’s lap, luminaria ceremony, and closing ceremony) were touching and gave attendees the opportunity to remember lost loved ones, or reflect on those who have survived cancer. The entertainment was top-notch, and there were plenty of activities to participate in such as a limbo contest, watermelon eating contest, live raffle, and the very first “Miss Relay” contest where male participants dressed up in drag, participated in a pageant and collected money for the cause. I took on the role of “stylist” and “pageant coach” for our “ladies.”
The AAR team had two contestants, Ryan Asao and Kelvin Chang, and we are proud to announce that Ryan (aka Trixie) is the very first Miss Relay from Arcadia (His efforts raised over $250!)
In addition to all of that, many booths had their own raffles, treats, or activities for sale to raise money. The AAR chose to sell Henna Tattoo’s and popcorn at our booth which was a hit!
All in all, the Arcadia Relay Event had their highest grossing year, raising over $127,000 for the American Cancer Society, and the AAR team surpassed our (lofty) goal of $5,000, raising nearly $5,400 ($5,397.62 to be exact)!
Here’s another great article from the Arcadia Patch talking about this years Relay! http://arcadia.patch.com/articles/arcadia-relay-for-life-raises-more-than-100000
Arcadia Young Professionals raise funds for Japan relief with Charity Poker Tournament!
Many of the local REALTORS Young Professionals networks are involved with charity and volunteer work in their communities both locally and globally. After the recent devastation in Japan the Arcadia Association of Realtors wanted to do something to help aid those in need.
On June 16th the “All in for Japan” Charity golf tournament was help by the AAR. Grossing approximately $2400 in profit the AAR-YPN also got the California Association of Realtors to MATCH their donations so once all of the funds are collected and matched the AAR-YPN will have earned nearly $5000 to donate to Japan Relief!
And we had quite a bit of fun too. Here are some pics from the tournament.
YPN-LA Kick-off party at La Sandia in Santa Monica!
If you’re involved in Real Estate you most likely have heard about YPN.
YPN stands for “Young Professionals Network.” According to http://www.Realtor.org , “YPN is a growing group of young, career-minded real estate professionals who want to stay abreast of the latest tools, resources, and networking opportunities.” If you’d like to read more about YPN check out my previous blog post here: https://laroccainspect.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/i-keep-hearing-about-ypn%e2%80%a6-what-is-that/
These groups of young (and young at heart) professionals have been popping up all over the USA (and have even gone International) and in California alone we have over 40 local networks! So it’s no surprise that the Beverly Hills/Greater Los Angeles Board of Realtors has formed their own group entitled YPN-LA!
A couple of weeks ago YPN-LA hosted their official kick-off party at Richard Sandoval’s La Sandia Restaurant at the newly renovated and reopened Santa Monica Place shopping center in Santa Monica, CA. (http://www.richardsandoval.com/lasandiacantina/index.htm)
The event was a huge success. Sponsored by: LaRocca Inspections (of course :), Old Republic Home Protection, AGPIC, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Andy’s Termite, Property ID, and Escrow of the West. Guests enjoyed amazing housemade guacamole, empanadas, and a gourmet taco bar, along with tasty margaritas and had a fabulous time mixing and mingling. Raffle tickets were sold to benefit the C.A.R.E. project and sponsor donated raffle prizes were drawn at the end of the evening (Great prizes such as gift cards and certificates to restaurants, salons, gas cards, etc.) Nobody left empty handed though, each guest was given a lovely gift bag on their way out the door.
YPN-LA will be hosting more events, educational classes, and the like. To find out about upcoming events become a fan of their facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/BHGLAAR.YPN
-
- President Elect Gregg Pawlik with YPN-LA Chairwoman Erika Mlachak
-
- April Kass
-
- Steve Manavi and Wendy Gladson
-
- Guests enjoying the delicious food from La Sandia
-
- The Misner twins from Old Republic Home Protection selling raffle tickets
-
- Affiliate members of BHGLAAR and YPN-LA Annie Pinsker-Brown and Lisa Nevins (Affilaite of the Year)!
-
- Jason Wrightsman (LaRocca Inspections) with his date Sara Ambrose
-
- April Kass with husband Todd Kass
-
- Erika Mlachak, Ryan Ole Hass, and Scott Foy
-
- YPN LA logo
laroccainspect 