Sleepless in Sturbridge

NEW PRICE! Great Contemporary Colonial w/6 Car Garage in Charlton, MA (01507)

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:04:45 -0600

NEW PRICE! Great Contemporary Colonial w/6 Car Garage in Charlton, MA (01507)

Immaculate quality construction in this young colonial featuring 2x6 construction with steel I beam support. Home boasts a large 6 car garage, in-law apartment w/separate entrance, hrdwds and tile throughout, recessed lighting, formal dining & fireplaced living room, gourmet cherry kitchen w/built in pantry and library, solid oak staircase, master bath w/lrg jetted tub & more! 370 gallon oil tank & 100 gallon hot water tank w/heat on demand. Much more you must see!

Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 4
Square Footage: 3280
Price: $494,800

www.95FreemanRoad.com

YOU Asked For It...Here It Is! Property Business Cards Work Wonders!

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:06:11 -0600

YOU Asked For It...Here It Is! Property Business Cards Work Wonders!

After writing my blog A Perfect Storm in Real Estate I noticed the demand for more information about a marketing piece that we create for each of our listings - Property Business Cards.

Property Business Cards are such a great little tool for marketing my listings as well as my business. Inexpensively priced ranging from $30 - $40 for 250 - 500 two sided Property Business Cards, these are a great way to gain exposure. We design them in a Microsoft Publisher file, and believe me, the designs have changed throughout the years and then you learn how to become consistent and put your own style into them. You can easily upload them online at OvernightPrints.com and purchase whatever your desired amount is.

How do we circulate these tiny little marketing gems? I put Property Business Cardsin all of my marketing packages, CMA packages, leave them with local businesses and give them to my sellers to pass out at work or wherever they choose. I also have them at open houses. They are a great conversation starter and look very nice in my listing presentations.

Most recently I had someones home listed that works for a local bank. She was giving her property cards to the tellers to pass out. Not only was this great exposure for her home for sale, but also for me as a local REALTOR that uses some creative marketing techniques. Everything counts in a tough selling market. You need to make sure that your brand and marketing stand out and help you capture more business.

This is some of the best money spent on my listings! Feel free to contact us if you'd like to ask questions or get anymore info on these.

Here are some examples of what our cards look like:

A PERFECT STORM IN REAL ESTATE

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:35:36 -0600

A PERFECT STORM IN REAL ESTATE

What's going on in your real estate marketplace? We have been more busy than I have ever remembered being in 7 years of real estate. We constantly have appointments, are adding lots of new listings and working with plenty of buyers. This has been such a new kind of market.

When's the last time that you can remember a December, January and February being more busy than your May, June and July? We've run into the perfect storm in the real estate marketplace.

What have you been focusing on to keep your business rolling? For me, I've had to learn how to effectively prospect for new business, practice time blocking, use extra communication to keep frustrated sellers from canceling their listings, negotiate short sales, and keep buyers calm when trying to wait for a short sale and price my listings to sell. This is a market that you need to get creative in. The old ways of marketing just won't cut it.

Some creative ways we market are by:

•· Creating property address website such as www.9MaddenRoad.com

•· Advertising on Blogs and Facebook

•· Networking with other agents

•· Price Watching

•· Property Business Cards

Don't let this market pass you by. Right now is your time to shine and to seize the moment! This is a defining market. Where do you want to come out at? I know for me, it will be the top of the mountain!

BE BOLD!

JUST SOLD! WOODSTOCK CT - 619 BRICKYARD ROAD, WOODSTOCK (06281)

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:57:26 -0600

JUST SOLD! WOODSTOCK CT - 619 BRICKYARD ROAD, WOODSTOCK (06281)

JCKC Realty proudly presents the sale of this single family home located at 619 Brickyard Road located in Woodstock, CT! This lovely 4 bedroom, 2 bath home is located in the small town of Woodstock close to the Massachusetts line.

Living Area: 2037 SQFT
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 2
Sale Price: $265,000

If you are interested in searching for homes for sale in Woodstock and surrounding towns, click on the link to start your search now!

Congratulations to Adam & Missy on their new home purchase. It was a pleasure working with you!

Day 5: 100 Days of Central Mass Features Osaka

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:20:34 -0500

Okay, so I'm very hungry so this is going to be a tough post to write! As soon as I get this knocked out of the way I've got to find some dinner! It's a shame that my husband and I moved from Worcester to Brookfield because now we hardly ever get to eat at Osaka. Osaka is a great Japanese restaurant located in White City Plaza in Shrewsbury just on the Worcester line. Osaka unfortunately does not have a website to list =( but you can trust me, they are excellent! When you dine in they will cook right in front of you on their hibachi grill which is a fun experience in itself. The menu features sushi and Japanese cuisine with very large portions. My favorites include (and it's killing me to list these on an empty stomach): chicken tempura, chicken teriyaki with fried rice and the soup and salad it comes with! YUMMY!

Day 3: 100 Days of Central Mass Features Thai Place

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:49:18 -0500

At the entrance of Old Sturbridge Village you will find a great little place to eat authentic Thai food called the Thai Place. Yummy! The waitstaff is very friendly and this is a great place to dine for a date night or a girl's night out on the town. The atmosphere is casual and the food is delicious. Open 7 days a week and offering a menuwith over 100 dishes to choose from, there is something for everyone. My favorites include the Mini Thai Rolls, Chicken Satay and the Spicy Noodle. Thai Place works hard on tailoring to everyone's tasting palate as well as on the food presentation. Don't forget to try some of their beer imported from Thailand Singha, Singha light and Chang. I have tons of fond memories dining at the Thai Place with my good friend Cindy after a long hard step aerobics class on a Wednesday or Thursday evening. If you love Thai food, you must try this wonderful place!

SOLD in 6 Days for $25K OVER the Asking Price!

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:37:03 -0500

Photo Gallery

Description

Welcome home to your luxury bi-level condo located in South Boston. Lower level features 2 bedrooms with closets and a bath. Upper level features an upscale kitchen with an oversized breakfast bar, double stainless ovens and Honed granite countertops, a formal dining room with french doors, living room with a gas fireplace and an office plus a 2nd bath. Gracious deeded yard with deck in the back. Just a minute's walk away from the "T". Won't last long, make your appointment today! Call James Cooper with JCKC Realty at 508-868-4291!

Features

Bedrooms:	2
Bathrooms:	2.5
Parking Spaces:	2
Year Built:	1905
Square Footage:	1312
Agent Name:	James Cooper
Broker:	JCKC Realty
MLS #:	70904448

Location

358 Dorchester Street Boston MA 02127

vFlyer Id: 2436501

wHo CaReS?!?!

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:07:42 -0500

Okay...so I have to ask: WHO CARES?!?! I have the weather channel on in the background while I'm inputting my new listing and I can hear them discussing weather photos that are photo-shopped or fake. They got into a huge discussion about how illegal it is for people to steal others' photos and change them and use them for other things. WHO CARES?!?! In my opinion, and I'm sure some of you photographers will disagree with me, they are just pictures that you can LOOK at. You can't spend them. It's not like someone stole your last $20 bill. WHO CARES?!?! Why can't you share? Now James told me he'd be upset if he spent a ton of time on a graphic and someone stole that and was copying it, I'm not talking about something like that. I'm talking about pictures of a field, a rainbow, a building or something of that sort. Why does it matter if others want to post, share or print them? Is there a real personal reason, or is it just because you can be that way? Some of this stuff that you are taking pictures of are not your own, so why should you be allowed to take a picture of something public and not share it? I don't CARE, but I've just always wondered....WHO CARES?!?!

I want to give praise to a lovely woman on Active Rain who is always sharing her beautiful pictures. Her name is Myrl Jeffcoat and I LOVE what she puts beneath her photos on her blog:

"I take pictures for the purpose of remembering fond times. I do not impose copyright restrictions on this photo, so you may feel free to use, or distribute as you wish. However, should you need a Real Estate Professional in the Greater Sacramento area, I hope that you will contact me by email or by visiting my website www.myrljeffcoat.com - Thank You!"

Thank you Myrl! Thanks for sharing your lovely art with us.

If you're one of those people that CARES, we'd love to hear from you! Let's hear it!

Equestrian and Horse Properties - What would you do?

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:19:17 -0500

Okay horse enthusiasts! I want to see your guns! What types of marketing do you use on your horse and equestrian properties? I've been doing some research and came across a few interesting sites that will place classified ads for these types of properties for a fee. I'm kind of skeptical when deciding which one because they all have different fees and looks to them, and I want to make sure I pick the one that buyers see! Here are a few of my top choices:

http://www.horseproperties.net- I usually don't like a website with ".net" in it, I believe you should use domains with a .com, but I liked that they were on-top of Google when I was searching and they use print advertisement...(yes, the hated PRINT advertisements) which I feel is still good for unique properties. They are listed in many equestrian magazines which could help their traffic. The fee is $79 for 4 months, $99 for 6 months or $149 for the year. They also have a nice piece of marketing material you can print and show your sellers where you will be listing their unique property. Looking good...Keeping it at the top of my list!

http://www.sellhorseproperties.com- This is another site I came across while searching, it was at the top on Google for some key words and I really liked the domain name. I didn't see any real other incentives for listing with them such as print or linking to other sites, so I'm still tossing this site around in my mind. Pricing is $55 for 3 months or $75 if you want a featured ad, $110 for 6 months or $130 for the featured placement and it goes up to 9& 12 months for more money. You can pay for optional enhancements such as bold lettering, better placement, more than 2 photos and more. Anyone have experience advertising here? I'm leaning towards the first site I mentioned even though I liked this domain a lot. I just don't see how this site is attracting tons of traffic yet.

http://www.equine.com - I like the domain. They are partnered with http://www.landsofamerica.comand advertise on 300+ sites, the Equine.com network of over 25 sites and on rural sites. Claim to get over 2.2 million visitors (not sure if that's in a day, a month or a year). What I didn't like was that they advertised you could list unlimited properties for $25 per month (didn't say you had to do anything special to qualify for that pricing), but when I went through the sign-up process, the prices went up to $33 per month and it's only $25/month if you pay yearly. That should be advertised upfront, or at least have a special asterisk on the price of $25/month they were saying upfront. Big deal..$33 isn't much so I'll try it anyways. Well, the credit card processing is temporarily down it says on the site, even before I filled in my info. Is this just for today? Has this been like this for weeks? Months? Years? Who knows...Is it just because it's a holiday weekend? I'll have to wait until Monday to call and find out. Site looks great and looks like it's been around awhile. Anyone advertise here?

http://www.propertiesforhorses.com - The last, but not least on my list. This is a nice looking site with a great domain name. Came up on top of searches several times. Has some properties listed in our state for sale so I know someone out here is using them. Pricing is $79.95 until it sells with 6 photos. Extra photos are $5 each. Not bad! Only downfall I'm finding is the navigation through listings. Seems you can't really set any criteria to search besides state. It's not like there are billions of listings in Massachusetts of these types of properties, but it'd be nice to make the site more user friendly.

Now I want you to share! Give me your best resources for advertising equestrian and horse properties! We'll be following through with our original marketing plan, but I want to beef it up to tailor it to this unique property and to show the sellers we care!

Want To Break the Bank? Eat Ice Cream - Janine's Frostee

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:11:22 -0500

Do you enjoy good drive-in food and some ice cream for desert? If you said yes, you'll LOVE Janine's Frostee in Ware, Massachusetts. Around since 1956, Janine's Frostee got it's name from the original owners who had 2 twin sons and 1 daughter: Janine. They feature a jam packed menu with fresh seafood, burgers, nuggets and a wide range of ice cream. We took the kids last night for a treat, we finally saw the sun shining so we hopped in the car. As soon as we ordered our food, the gray clouds rolled in, the power went out for a few minutes and the thunder roared at us as the rain down-poured relentlessly throughout our meal. After about 30 minutes the sun was making a comeback and 2 rainbows were glowing out of the sky. We ordered some ice cream...and the boys were very messy with the chocolate dripping down their arms and sprinkles everywhere, but I told James not to worry about it because I'm sure the "clean-up fee" had to be worked into the $40+ we spent to all share a few meals and have an ice cream cone! Here's our youngest Zachary showing off how to eat a great cone of ice cream and a picture of the rainbow after the storm.

Marketing to Attract Investors & Rates For Commercial Lending

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:40:09 -0500

I'm looking around for ideas on attracting investors and how to market commercial property. More specifically, I may have a 4 family and a 6 family coming on the market and want to attract the most possible buyers (of course!). I'm familiar with LoopNet and the Commercial Investment Multiple Listing Service, what else do you professionals suggest? I'm looking for all ideas, especially the creative ones!

Also, the sellers had a question about what kind of rates are available to investors these days. What are they looking at to purchase a 6 family which would be considered commercial? How about for the 4 family? Any good advice or programs you could point me to would be greatly appreciated! They are also willing to do some owner financing...I'll post more about the properties when they come on the market.

Fourth of July Fireworks at Old Sturbridge Village

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:55:00 -0500

Looking for a 19th Century Independence Day celebration? Come join us at Old Sturbridge Village for fun, fireworks and festivities. General admission is $12 for adults, $10 for OSV members and kids 3 and under are free. There will be sack races, river boat rides, pie eating contests, live music and more. Fireworks start at dusk and seating will be open at 7:30PM. You may bring picnic baskets or eat there, there will be plenty of food choices. Beer and wine will be sold, but you may not bring in your own alcohol. Come hear Senator Stephen M. Brewer read the Declaration of Independence.

I'm praying for sunshine...I'm sick of this rain! Can't wait to see an awesome fireworks show with my kiddos! Have a happy and safe 4th of July wherever you are celebrating!

Price Reduced! Short Sale Offered in Woodstock, CT

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:51:58 -0600

PRICE REDUCED! SHORT SALE OFFERED IN WOODSTOCK, CT

SHORT SALE - Enjoy the sunrise from your farmer's porch in this young cape nestled on 1.25 private acres. 3 bdrms, 2 full baths, master w/jetted tub & sep. shower. Granite countertops in kitchen with tile backsplash. Open floorplan. Abuts State Forest and property is surrounded by lovely stonewalls. 2 First floor bedrooms and main level laundry. Woodstove helps keep heating costs low. Minor finish work needed, great house for the money. Must See!

www.WoodstockShortSale.com

$230,000

JUST LISTED - 5 FAIRVIEW PARK ROAD STURBRIDGE MA - 01566

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:27:49 -0600

JUST LISTED - 5 FAIRVIEW PARK ROAD STURBRIDGE MA - 01566

$109,000

Welcome home to your lovely townhome style condo featuring 2 good sized bedrooms, large living room with plush carpeting, kitchen with appliances & dining area leading out to a nice deck for entertaining. Large backyard featuring privacy fence. New vinyl siding and windows throughout. Lots of storage! Basement with newer washer and dryer. Great commuter location just minutes from I-84 and Mass Pike. Must see!

JUST LISTED - 58 PARK AVE. IN SOUTHBRIDGE MA - 01550

Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty-Keller Williams, SRES, REALTOR® — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:05:20 -0600

JUST LISTED - 58 PARK AVE. IN SOUTHBRIDGE MA - 01550

$169,900

OPEN HOUSE SUN. 3/7 12-2PM! Charming cape nestled on a quiet street lined w/sidewalks. You will love this well cared for home w/many updates. New vinyl siding, replacement windows, updated electrical, oak & yellow pine floors, ceramic tile in main level bath, 2nd floor laundry room, 1 car garage w/loft, professionally manicured yard w/private patio. Formal dining rm featuring built in China cabinet, lrg living rm w/beautiful fireplace & pellet stove, kitchen w/new appliances & pantry. Must See!