Tuna Melt

Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals . . . except the weasel. -- Homer Simpson

I've been weaseling out of writing a blog entry for no good reason. Well, actually for the reason that I could not think of something to write. This week, however, I had the privilege of listening to an excellent speaker, Rick DeLuca. In addition to the stuff that's probably only of interest to real estate agents, he offered some random gems that I want to share with you.

Have you ever been frustrated with customer service phone instructions that have you listening to menus and pressing every button on your phone? Then here's a website you need to bookmark -- Get2Human.com. Look up the company name, find the customer service telephone number and see instructions that will help you get to a live person. Whether or not that individual will be of any help is another story.

Know Your Stuff is a free download that will help you make a home inventory. In the event you suffer a fire or theft, you'll have a record of your stuff for the insurance claim. A word of caution -- make a back up copy and keep it off premises. If someone steals your stuff, including your computer, and the only copy of your inventory is on your computer, you're SOL.

A couple of things about e-mail: the #1 problem with e-mail correspondence is misspelling. Make sure that your spell check feature is turned on and as an added bonus, you might try reading what you wrote before you hit the send button. A friend sent me a joke this week that had to do with proof reading. The premise of the joke was that someone had dropped a pen in his printer and it was stuck in the gears. While the person awaited the repairman, he wanted to warn his co-workers against trying to use the printer by posting a handwritten sign that said "do not use printer, penis stuck." The #2 thing to know about e-mail correspondence is that TYPING IN ALL CAPS MEANS THAT YOU'RE SHOUTING. Don't do it!

Here's a free photo sharing download called Photo Leap. I have not tried this yet, but it's supposed to allow you to share a lot of photos without resizing the photos or adding as attachments. And, finally, here's a free download that will allow you to organize the photos that you have in a million different places on your computer -- Picasa.

Just so you don't forget, I am a professional real estate expert with Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty, the #1 real estate company in southeastern North Carolina for nine years running. Need advice or have a question about the market? Maybe you're looking for a place to search properties for sale. Send me an e-mail or visit my website. I'll be happy to help.