I LOVE tumblr. I love its ease of use. Its friendly interface. Its inherit mobility. It is so cool on many different levels.
And that’s why I will continue to use it. How and why, I’m not quite sure yet. Please stay tuned. The Real Estate Zebra uses tumblr quite effectively IMHO, as does Andy Kaufman.
I have ressurected my old WordPress blog for official business in a large part because of the ability of readers to leave comments. If I wanted to talk all day and have no one really respond to me, I could go to my office for that. Please head over to Uncommon Moves, my WordPress blog. It is so-much a work in progress, but I promise you will not be sorry (someday) if you subscribe to the RSS feeds.
I’m new here. I’m trying to figure it all out. I make mistakes along the way, and hopefully I get a little better every day. Plus, I’m happy to share all my successes and failures on the road to real estate nirvana. And who doesn’t like to watch a good NASCAR car crash now and again?
I wonder if my clients knew what I did before I was in real estate, would they still spend hours in a car driving around with me? Please post your “before and after” shots and send me the link. Twitter: @RealtorLefebvre or mlefebvre@verizon.net
I want to see big hair, funny glasses, odd facial hair, tacky clothes, etc…We’ll put together a public gallery and let the people decide who is the most “Extreme Real Estate Agent Makeover”!!
Best one wins a prize!
As the great Arthur Fonzarelli once said, “I was wa-wa-wa-wa-ro-ro-ro-ro…..”
I recently received a friendly e-mail (originally referred to as a cease and desist in my earlier tweet….sorry again) from the Legal Affairs Department of the NAR (pasted below). They discovered my domain name AppraiserRealtor.com, checked their registry to find me, and came up short. That’s because I am not a REALTOR (R). As a rookie in the biz, I pledged to consider joining the NAR and officially becoming a REALTOR (R) (being very careful with the trademarks), once I was out of the red and into the black. I’m not quite there yet as I’ve dumped a bunch of cash into this career to get started. I replied to the NAR asking if I was indeed a member of your cult association, would I be able to use the term REALTOR (R) in my domain names, screen names, etc?…Waiting for a response.
So I need to offer my apologies for quickly jumping to conclusions. The word REALTOR (R) is the property of the NAR, and as of right now, I’m not in the club. I would also like to thank them for coinciding this notice with my winning of the ActiveRain Video Contest! What a perfect time to launch a new brand identity! Three short weeks before my day-long seminar with Seth Godin!
I know about the ethics training, the little “R” pins, the magazine (always a ton of extras here sent to people out of the business for years) and, now, I know about the exclusive use of the term “REALTOR (R)”. As I (finally) start to get some traction in this business and slowly get dragged onto the positive side of the P&L statement, I am wondering what else I get for officially becoming a REALTOR (R)? I also know my dues will be going towards paying someone’s salary to scan the internet for all “improper” uses of the term REALTOR (R). Like this tumblr page for instance. Ooops, sorry again NAR. I will change that one too. You’re right, and I’m wa-wa-wa-wa-ro-ro-ro-ro…..
Dear Mike Lefebvre:
The Internet domain name, appraiserrealtor.com, has been identified by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS as one in which the membership marks of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (National Association) are used as a part of the domain name. The domain name came to our attention as a result of our monitoring of the Internet for use of the REALTOR membership marks.
The terms REALTOR, REALTORS, and REALTOR-ASSOCIATE, as well as the REALTOR block “R” logo, are all federally registered collective membership marks owned by the National Association. Collective membership marks are a type of trademark, which, rather than indicating the source of a product or service, identify the user of the membership mark as a member of a particular group, in this case the National Association. The National Association has over 1,300,000 members each of whom is licensed to use one or more of the membership marks to identify themselves and their real estate businesses in accordance with the rules of the National Association. Mr. Lefebvre, I was not able to find your name in the membership database. Are you a recent member or were you with an another agency? I would appreciate your membership ID number in the event there is a mistake in that system and I will bring it to the attention of the responsible person to correct.
If you are not a member your use of the membership marks is incorrect and not authorized by the National Association. Because the use has not been authorized it may also be viewed as an infringement of the National Association’s legal rights in its membership marks under the federal Lanham Act and other state and federal laws. To eliminate this potential source of conflict, we would appreciate your cooperation in revising your website and/or domain name to eliminate the use of the membership marks. Many times this is as simple as substituting an appropriate job title for the term being used; for example, real estate broker can often be used without making any other changes to the text. If you would like to read more about trademarks and the rights of trademark owners, a number of sites on the Internet address this topic.
Members of the National Association may find information on the proper use of the membership marks in the Membership Marks Manual posted on our website at www.REALTOR.org. The Manual can be found by clicking on the following links: -“Law & Policy” and “REALTOR Trademark Rules.” If you have any questions after reviewing this information, please contact me.
Please email us at trademark@Realtors.org with your acknowledgment of our request and your estimate of when you will update your site.
Sincerely,
Mary Newill, Trademark Administrator
Legal Affairs Department
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
430 N. Michigan
Chicago, IL 60611-4087