The housing market

“The housing market plunged deeper into despair last month, with sales of new homes plummeting to their lowest level in more than 12 years. The slump worsened even more than most analysts expected, heightening fears that the country might be thrust into a recession. New-home sales tumbled 9 percent in November from October to a [...]

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Build vs. Buy?

I had an interesting call the other day from a Realtor who had a client he wanted to register with the builder I rep. He told me how they have been looking at existing homes and finally came to the conclusion that they need to consider building to get exactly what they want. I told [...]

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Rochester Top 100

We just had the Rochester Top 100 awards here. A very prestigious award, it recognizes the companies who have had the most growth over a three year period. Over 2200 people attended the event and I am happy to say that DiRisio Builders came in at number 35 on the list! And with only 2 [...]

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Universal Design: how it can work for all of us.

It has taken many years, but housing designers have found a way to create barrier-free homes, and make then attractive. It’s called “Universal Design.” Homes that have universal design features look like other homes, but they can sometimes be better than other homes because they are much easier to use and to live in. Universal [...]

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The Grammar police

I had a previous post regarding photography, the do’s and don’ts. Now I am here to really focus on some personal pet peeves: grammar and spelling. I just read a listing by an agent and it made my skin crawl. I will put a few of the whoppers here:
“From the exterior and color coordinated siding [...]

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Worth a thousand words?

OK, more geek-speak. This is about the photos that agents (or FSBO) have on their sites. I know this has been discussed to death, but I have a few more pointers that may help. A photo can be worth a thousand words, but are those words the ones you want to be saying?
Having a background [...]

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Real Estate and Technology

I’ll admit it. I am a computer geek. From my days as a graphic designer, I always had to have the latest and greatest, the fastest and the slickest machine. And yes, I am a Mac lover. As designers, we all used Macs. I cannot switch over to the Dark Side and use a PC. [...]

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Marketing: the good, the bad and the ugly

Marketing seems to be the buzz word nowadays. How to market this and that. Brand your product . . . Selling a home is no different–you are trying to put a product (a home) in the best light to appeal to a target audience (a buyer). The official definition of marketing is: “Means to make [...]

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Clients and agents – whose taste is it?

I think one of the most interesting parts of being an agent is working with people. Yeah, I know, that sounds so cliché. But what I like about it is kind of similar to my past life as a designer. When I designed a logo or a website, as much as I wanted to do [...]

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