Real Estate Sites

I have certainly done my fair share of searching Real Estate websites. Ten years ago I would have been searching for apartments and then as time passed I started looking for houses. How a company displays itself professionally online can say a lot about how updated they are as a business and what they can offer you for options.

In thinking about this post, I did a quick search for "Maine Real Estate" on google, to see if I would come up with any local Agents sites that had gotten a lot of traffic. The closest one I could find was Legacy Properties, which is Sotheby's International properties..... and definitely not local. So, Maine agents are a little slow on the whole website-for-your-business end of things. 

When doing a search for Calgary Real Estate, I had a ton of options come up. Loads of Realtors with loads of websites for me to explore. The reason for writing this article is to do a review of one of the sites in particular, the Cliff Stevenson Group. I found his site near the top of the 3rd page in on google. Not too bad, considering the competition!!! I did a lot of pawing around on his site and truly found myself pretty impressed. Maybe I'm just some silly naive Mainer who doesn't have lots of Realtors filling up my local google search, but I though Cliff's page was quite well done. 

I liked how integrated the site is into modern technology and social media. On the upper right corner is all the info you need to contact the groups, including all the social media buttons you could ask for. They even have a blog. Below that is a quick search gadget for those of us who don't want to take the time to meander around the site.  The tabs above the gadget map out the whole site as simply as can be.....and if I imagine myself as someone who is not technically savvy, I can picture how easy it would be to figure out how to navigate around the site.

One critique I could give would be more photo's!! I wanna see the places you've sold or are selling, even if it is a small picture. Sure, some Realtors can make a picture fairly misleading..... but I'd rather have something and trust that you guys are being honest with it, than nothing at all.

All in all, I think those Calgary real estate agents are in for a fun surprise with the Cliff Stevenson Group!!

A Marvelous Mess Party and Some Middle Earth Friends

I've really been working hard on the Middle Earth section of my Etsy shop. Wizards and Dwarves and Hobbit Holes. I'm loving it. If you or anyone you know is interested in Tolkien lore, this is a perfect gift *wink, wink*

Here are my fave's from last weeks party:

Armoire Renovation from Biljana Shabby. Totally gorgeous.

DIY Chalkboard Paint from Crystelle Boutique.

and the post I'm going to feature on my sidebar for a week is.....

Cement Garden Balls from Creative Passage. Boy do I wanna try that project. What a good idea!!!!!

Thanks to you all for linking up!!!

Here's the party!!!!!

Copper.Net: Email and Internet Services

Copper.net is an Internet provider that is privately owned and held in the US. They offer some great prices for internet service (Dial Up and otherwise) that made me say, "Hmmmm.....I think that's better that my provider!!!" So, I did some research, and yeah, their prices are definitely better. Here's some of their deals:

My broadband is $29.95. Okay. Might be time to shop around. There are a lot of options for Internet Service and these guys have already proven to top my providers price. 

Here are some things that I like about this company :

1. They DO NOT sell your information (unlike Netzero, Netscape, MSN) and take your online security very seriously.

2. They do not outsource their jobs. They are based in the states and the people who work for them are from the states. 

3. Their High Speed Accelerator can be up to 19x faster when downloading a page. Check it out:

So, whether you're looking for dial-up internet, Broadband, etc. I think you aught to try these guys prices out. They certainly made me re-think my position!

~Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Copper.Net. All opinions in it are my own and written in my own words.