You have an agent already? It's cool, I'm married.

Hi,

*This post was started about 3 weeks ago and I never had a chance to finish it, so the timeline is a little off but the point remains the same*

In an ongoing effort to keep up with my sister's blog posts (See them here: Teaspoon SF) I actually have something to write about today.

I was holding a house open last Sunday at our listing in Lafayette. It was a bright sunny day and everyone who came into the house was in a good mood, which made it really easy for me to strike up conversations with the people who walked in. Now, not all of you might know this, but the purpose of holding a home open is actually twofold. First, it is a great way to showcase the house for your sellers and give prospective buyers a chance to casually walk through on a Sunday. Second, it gives you, the agent, a chance to meet buyers who might not have an agent yet and therefore are just waiting to meet the perfect person (me!)

So I was sitting in the living room fiddling around with my Barnes and Noble Nook (it has Soduku) and waiting for people to come in. Just a note, sometimes I will bring my computer with me and get a little work done but this house was vacant and without internet, so just me and soduku on this occassion. Anyway, a womann eventually walks in, let's call her Sally, and says hi and starts to look around the house. I give her a few minutes and as she passes by me in the living room I strike up a conversation with her. I am pretty sure it was filled with an abundance of witty banter and undeniable knowledge of all things real estate but who knows for sure. We end up talking for a good twenty minutes and I can tell that Sally is starting to get ready to head off so I ask her if we can meet at my office and talk more specifically about what she might be looking for. She smiles kind of sheepishly and says "Oh actually I already have an agent." I respond with something along the lines of, "Oh that's great, who are you working with?" She gives me an agents name and I actually know the agent and also know that she is a GREAT agent. I tell Sally that she is lucky to be working with that agent and best of luck on her home search.

At Open Houses, this kind of thing is pretty routine and I don't have any problem with it at all. The last thing I would ever do is try and persuede her to switch agents or spit the virtues of working with me. First off, If I do that, I come off sounding like an ass and second, it just doesn't feel morally right. If I found out that one of my clients was getting pestered by an agent at an Open House, I would be a little ticked off at that agent. It's a breach of ethics, and it isn't how I do business.

As I thought about the scenario in my head a little more after Sally left I realized that this situation bore a close resemblence to the act of chatting up a girl at a bar or party only to find out at the end of the night that the girl has a boyfriend or is married etc. In this situation I was trying to procure a client, in the other situation, I'd be trying to procure a phone number.

Either way, nothing you can really do about it but say "Next!" Just keep moving forward because as Will Rogers used to say, "Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

Happy hunting!

Conor

I'll be with you in a minute, I'm sending a text.

Hi,

Before I delve into an explanation of the comic strip above, make sure you click on the actual picture. That will bring the comic into a new window as a larger picture so that you can actually read it.

I don't know what it is with me and comic strips lately but they have been fueling quite a few of my posts. I read this one yesterday and smirked immediately because of how apt it is...people are on their cell phones all the stinkin' time. Before you accuse me of being a pot, yes, I am also on my cell phone quite a bit and will gladly take any well deserved criticism. I don't mind people using their phones to make phone calls, because hey, that is what they are for. It does make me sad however when I see people sitting in a restaurant across from each other and neither of them are saying a word because they are too engrossed in whatever they are looking at on their phone. Normally, you see the kids on the phone while the parents are trying to talk but a few weeks back I actually saw a girl sitting there staring at her mom for a good 15 min while her mom disregarded her and played with her phone. I watched this whole thing in awe as she, the mom, casually flicked her finger around the phone (obviously not sending an important work email,) while her daughter sat there sadly yearning for conversation. Well maybe not sadly yearning for conversation, but she was definitely sitting there! Bottom line, I kind of wanted to say something but it wasn't my place and I'm not an ass.

Let's move on to my own experiences. Usually at night after Noah goes to bed, Steph and I get a few hours to ourselves to just sit there and hang out. We have TV shows that we like to watch but recently, neither of us can even watch a half hour TV show without grabbing our phone to screw around on Facebook or see what's going on with Twitter. We get a few precious hours to ourselves at night and apparently we suffer from ADD so bad that we can't even relax and watch a show together. We knew we could do better than that, so we made a rule. Answering phones is fine (especially since I take work calls at all hours) and even responding to a few texts is okay, but we are no longer allowed to surf the internet or browse facebook/twitter while we have time together. Sounds pretty old and crotchety right? Well, the last thing that I want is Noah growing up seeing two parents not communicate with eachother because they are too busy on their smart phones. I don't want to be that parent in the restaurant on my smart phone while Noah sits there doing nothing, I want to be the dad who gives him a discreet high five for the silent fart he let out that disturbed all of the other patrons, just kidding...sort of.

*For the record, when Noah is awake, we aren't on our phones. I am sometimes, but not Steph, she is way better at sitting down indian style and playing with him and his toys. I can't sit indian style, it hurts.*

I could probably expand on this topic and point out the many different instances in when cell phone use annoys me but I have other things to do. The funny thing is that, as I complain about this stuff, I check tech websites daily to see if there are any new phones coming out because I am officially eligible for a new one. I feel like this whole blog is laced with hypocrisy but hey, what can I do? It's a blog: I have thoughts and I throw them onto the computer in a big jumbled mass and hope that my ramblings make sense.

Man, how aweomse does that iPhone 4S sound?? Right!??

Conor

So apparently Facebook did change its layout...

Hi,

So a few weeks back people were making a lot of noise about Facebook changing its layout. I was really confused because mine looked the exact same. Tonight I was behind my wife Steph while she was on FB and I saw something that BLEW my mind. The way her newsfeed looked was completely different and there was a ticker on the side that gave up to the second updates. Now all that chatter finally made sense.

See below, this is what I currently see on Facebook (I took this screenshot tonight)

Long story short, I have no idea why mine never changed. More importantly, are there other people out there who were just as confused as me and just didn't want to say anything? I thought I knew a lot about the social network but I guess I was wrong. Last, if someone who's in the know with Facebook (Yvonne, I am talking to you) please enlighten me as to why I am seeing something different than everyone else. I feel like this can be written in a "Parents just don't understand" column.

Conor

Advice

Hi,

Inspired by my friend Alan, who's got some insane moves, and thanks to a rockin' wedding for Shannon and Colin Fleming. I want to leave you with this piece of advice for the weekend.

When you are at a wedding, don't forget to dance.

Everyone is doing it anyway, so who cares if you look like a fool...might as well get some excercise.

Happy Thursday! (Friday for me because I am flying to Nebraska this weekend with my wife for another wedding...look for me on the dancefloor.)


Conor

Connections

Hi,

October is always one of my favorite months of the year. Don't get me wrong, I love summer and always will because of the hot weather and summer activities in general, but October has a lot of things going for it also. To start, my wife Stephanie's birthday is on the 25th and my Aunt Mary Ann (an avid reader of this blog) has a birthday on the 2nd. Also, the weather has cooled down a touch and going for a run in the afternoon is great. We can't forget Halloween, which is always awesome. The list goes on for a while but there is another one thing that I find important about October, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

In recent years, this has become much more evident as you see signs in grocery stores (I donate at least a dollar every time!) as well as on TV and even now in the NFL, with the introduction of pink accessories like gloves and hats to wear on the sideline. This is important because it gives many people a chance to reflect on a family or friend who has had to deal with this awful disease. According to the American Cancer Society a woman's chances of getting breast cancer in her lifetime are a little less than 1 in 8 and the chances of a woman dying from breast cancer is 1 in 35. I am not going to inundate you with a ton of stats on this but I just wanted to be clear that you definitely know someone who has been affected by this disease. Sadly, my mother was 1 of the 35 who did not survive her bout with cancer. I miss her all of the time. The first year after her passing was insanely hard. Every holiday, birthday, or event was the first without her present. Now that's it has been almost 5 years, the scar is still very much there but I am able to go through these events and smile thinking about her rather than having a breakdown. While I still have those breakdowns on big occasions or just a random day, they are few and far between and I think my mom would prefer it that way. She wants me to smile when I think of her, and I do. That brings me to the comic above.

After college when I moved home for a bit I used get up in the morning and read the paper with my parents. My mom and I both loved the comic Get Fuzzy. It hasn't been as good in recent years but back then, it just cracked us both up every day. If we didn't see eachother in the morning before I headed to work I would come home later that day and say, "Man, did you read Get Fuzzy today!? It was so good." Then we would have a 2 min exchange. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal...but it was OUR deal. It was one small little thing that connected my mom and me. I loved it, and I still love it. Now, every time I read that comic, I wonder if she would like it, and it makes me think of her every single day. This one in particular she would've loved. She thought Bucky Katt was hysterical, and everytime he would get up to something (in this case, dressing up as a bat by putting a pot with wings on his head) she would point out the picture and say "Look how funny he looks!" Second to last panel, Bucky is standing there with the pot on his head, tongue out, just looking guilty. That's the shot.

I had other little things with my mom that we'd share but this was definitely one of the tops. Nowawdays, I am starting to find little connections with my son Noah such as watching music videos together in the morning or playing the Uke for him. I love these little moments and one day I will be able to tell him about these things that we did.

Happy October!

"While We Wait"

Conor

Facebook and Advertising

Hi,

I came across this comic the other day and I thought enough of it to share on my neglected blog:

In case you aren't part of Facebook (seriously?) I will give you a quick update. About a week ago Facebook was flooded with status's from people freaking out about new costs for the service. Hundreds of thousands of people regurgitated rumors that they had heard citing all sorts of new pricing. One claimed a flat fee of $9.99 per month, while others claimed different levels of subscription, i.e. Gold Memebers $20 a month and Silver Members $15 a month. I could go on about the different scenarios but I think you get the idea. I just thought it was interesting that all this craziness started, considering that right there on the front page of Facebook is a statement that says, "It's Free and always will be."

Yes, I realize people, and websites in this case, can go back on what they've promised. However, this will never be the case with Facebook and here is why:

If Facebook started charging money for its services, they would lose me as a frequenter of their website. I like Facebook and I utilize its tools when I can, including super sweet status updates that amaze my friends and make them think I am cool. However, I am not so crazy about it that I am willing to spend more than a penny to have access to it on a daily basis. Just by losing me (1 infinitesimal portion of their vast network,) they lose access to any/all future information that I am going to provide them with. Forget your current info, they already have that, no turning back, the internet has it FOREVER. Like any person though, my tastes change and I could start listening to a new band or claim in a status update that I "Just went into Bed Bath and Beyond for the first time and it was AMAAAAZING!) Facebook uses these keywords and sure enough, the next day, I would have a recommendation on the side bar to buy the new song from a band or some great deal on soap at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Facebook loses that opportunity to advertise to me and suddenly maybe BB and B doesn't want to spend quite as much on advertising because now one less person is seeing their ad.

This all ties back to the ad. Facebook doesn't need to sell TO you, you are already in, they need to sell YOU. Your value isn't in the $9.99 a month that they would charge, it's in the millions of dollars in ad revenue that you provide. You are the product. Don't get mad, be happy that you are being shopped around like some prize to be won. Advertisers want your eyes on their product, and darnit, you are going to give it to them by ignoring what they have to say and playing Farmville instead.

Conor

Caitlin's Blog

Hi,

My sister Caitlin has just started an Arts and Crafts and baking type blog. You should definitely check it out. 3 posts in and she is already way better than me.

http://teaspoonsf.wordpress.com/


Conor

Random Thoughts

Hi,

Today I woke up at 7 am and I went downstairs and I had to get my bowl and have my cereal and then I was like "It's Wednesday, Wednesday gotta down on Wednesday," I was pumped!

Don't get confused. Rebecca Black likes Friday...I like Wednesday.

Heyo Rebecca!







Wednesday means Tomato Soup day at the Great Impasta in Danville (known from here on out as TGI.) Seriously, I don't get that excited, but sometimes when I am at work trying to decide what I want for lunch, I perk up a little when I realize that the soup du jour at TGI will be the bomb DOT com.

Onward...I was standing in line waiting for my delicious Tomato Soup when some of the loose change fell out of my hand and clanked to the floor. I looked down only to notice 1 penny sitting there. I looked at it for a second, grabbed my soup (it was ready!) and walked out of the place. Look, I can hear you right now, "Conor, this is the most BORING STORY IN THE WORLD, I hate you for subjecting me to this torture!"

Well here comes the exciting part. Whenever I drop a penny, I always leave it on the ground. I'm blowing your mind right now amiright?? Anyway, I've seen it first hand that people really like finding pennies on the ground. I mean it's just a stinking penny why do people get so worked up? But who am I to judge? For my own reasons, I get ecstatic/nostalgic/thoughtful when I find one on the ground. I won't go into details but those of you who know me best, know the reason. Who am I to take away a chance for someone to get a little excited when they find Abe sitting heads up?

That's it...my huge post for the day. I dropped some change and then rambled on my blog. I will just end it with this.

Mom, you rock.




Conor

New Listing

Hi,

The Dunn and Son Team have a new listing at 858 El Cerro Blvd. in Danville, CA.

Open House on Sunday April 3rd from 1:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon. Check out photos and 360 Panoramic's here!

www.858ElCerro.com

HGTV Obsessed

Hi,

Recently, Steph and I have been watching an inordinate amount of Home and Garden Television. Believe me, we both realize that our "Coolness Factor" has just gone through the roof. Seriously who wants to hang with us this weekend? We can go on a run way too early, count calories, and then watch some sweet episodes of Income Property. Yes, we have the life.

Before I go into the myriad of reasons that I love some of the shows, I am going to give a quick shout out to my celebrity love interest Sandra Rinomato. Hi Sandra! You rock!







More on her later...









I am going to break 3 shows down and tell you why you should start watching them immediately.

HOUSE HUNTERS






The Premise: A look at the process of buying a home and the decisions and sacrifices to be made along the way. The show will always have the buyers look at 3 different houses and in the end pick one of the houses that they like the best.

Why I love it: You get to see the buyer's work through what is most important to them in a house. They always start with all these "must have's." As they go through the process they start to realize that if they want the perfect house that doesn't need any remodeling, they will probably have to pay more and/or sacrifice on location of the property. These are all problems that buyers and real estate agents actually deal with. By the end of the show, the buyers really figure out what is most important to them. Also, they always show a clip of "4 months later," so that you get to see what they've done with the house since they've moved in. That is always interesting to me.

Why I don't love it: Viewers might assume that these people only saw 3 houses when in fact there was weeks before where they went through many houses, narrowed it down to 3 and then recorded those trips on camera. I realize that the network needs a formula and this one definitely works but I would prefer that they point out all the work the agent has done to get to the narrowing down phase. I'm an agent though, I am biased.

Other thoughts: I like the fact that they use local agents. It's a chance for the agents to get their name out there and you get to see the different styles that the agents have in their selling.

Ridiculousness factor: PEOPLE ARE BUYING 3 STORY MANSIONS FOR $50,000 in the middle of Nowhere, Midwest America. $50,000 gets you a fencepost in The Bay Area. Every time I watch the show I tell Steph that we are moving.


PROPERTY VIRGINS






The Premise: Sandra Rinomato is a Real Estate agent (who works for Coldwell Banker, Boo Yeah!) in Toronto,ON Canada. She travels all around Canada and the US, helping people buy their first homes.

Why I love it: They also go with the 3 house formula, only on this show, they don't always make it to the third house. This one focuses more on the negotiation aspect and the buyer's realizing what they are getting into. This show is very similar to House Hunters but there is usually a bit more sticker shock to the clients. They want to live right next to downtown and transportation and they want to have a perfect kitchen with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. They slowly figure out that they might not be able to have ALL of these things on their first go 'round. I love how she points out locations that aren't what they first wanted, but they come to realize it's actually a great fit.

Why I don't love it: This is a small thing because I really do love this show but...Apparently Sandra knows every single small neighborhood in every city she goes to. AMAZING. Her knowledge of all the neighborhoods is really great and obviously a product of working with local agents in that specific area. I wish she would point out the work she's done with those agents and the benefit of having a a local agent help you buy so that they can point out these small neighborhoods that you might not have known about. Like I said, it's a small thing and something I would prefer to see only because I am an agent, but it's something.

Ridiculousness factor: Sandra Rinomato is awesome. I love the way she does business, I love the advice that she gives to her clients, and she's got "Business Woman Hot" going for her, which is nice.


INCOME PROPERTY






The Premise: Scott McGillivray helps a homeowner or homeowners get ready to lease out a unit that they have within their home.

Why I love it: This show combines fixing up a part of the house with the end result of leasing it out. It shows you a way to lower your mortgage payment just by having a tenant. You get to see awesome before and after shots of the place after they've totally re-designed it and fixed it up.

Why I don't love it: They always start the show talking about how the owners of the home are struggling financially and they really need to fix up this basement apartment so that they can start making money. Then he lays out the options and they are all like $20,000 renovations! Where is the owner getting this money if they are having so much trouble scraping by? Ahh well, the world may never know.

Ridiculousness factor: Steph recorded like 5 episodes yesterday because they had a marathon. I've already watched 4 of them. This is my current favorite and I love it.




Final Thoughts: These reviews are opinion only, but in my opinion you should take them as the most important things you've ever read. Or you could just keep watching "2 and Half Men", "Jersey Shore" or "American Idol." How many people was I able to offend in that last sentence?

Conor

The BeBO

Looking good you two!

Modern Dad

Hi,

Every new father needs to get one of those front pack baby things. We have a Baby Bjorn (Quick pay me like 10 dollars for that name drop Baby Bjorn!) I am sending this picture of me in a Baby Bjorn to someone who knows how to get things done. This needs to be used as a shining example of how to keep your kid warm in the Baby Bjorn while going for a walk and look REALLY cool doing it.

Baby Bjorn.

Send a check for $50 to C/O Conor Dunn.

That's all you need to write. The post office knows me.

Conor

Home Improvement

Hi,

So today I am going to show you how to up the resale value of your house by almost $20!

Sometimes when I am running late, I will be searching the house for my car keys...and eventually, this is where I find them...
















So Steph and I decided enough! We are going to get something that holds our keys so we always know where they are. This is a DIY, so I hope you can follow along. First you have to go to the store and buy something that holds keys. After completing that task you need to pull out every tool that you THINK you will need. This will help save you a few precious seconds so you don't have to keep walking back and forth to the garage.








See needed tools to the left.













Now, find a wall to hang it on BAM!








The biggest challenge you will come up against is drilling into the drywall when there is no stud behind it. Just in case you were curious, and I hope you know this, stud is another word for 2X4...lumber. You have to make sure to grab a few of those plastic wall anchors or else your screw will just go right through the drywall.

Then, like a true man of the house, just start drilling and putting things together without measuring or anything. It will all work out in the end.

YAY!







Your home instantly becomes more livable.














Conor

My Routine

Hi,

I might have written about this before but for the story's' sake I am going to bring it up again. For as long as I can remember, I have gotten up in the morning, started the coffee (black) and wandered outside to retrieve the paper. I come back in and make myself some cereal or other breakfast item and sit down to read. Usually right after I finish the Sports Section, the coffee beeps and I put away the cereal I've already eaten and pour myself a cup of coffee to read the rest of the paper. I sip away as I read some of my favorites: Get Fuzzy; Sherman's Lagoon; and more recently, Baby Blues. So that was it, that's what I did.

Now that we have The Bo, I figured I would just do everything with a kid in my hand. For the first few months, not impossible. It was warm outside so I could carry him with me as I strolled to the driveway, and he would mostly be still and sleepy so I could kind of just one hand everything while I made the coffee, cereal etc.

FAST FORWARD to NOW:


Let's start from the beginning. When he wakes up now, he is WIDE awake, smiling, hungry, noisy and in need of a diaper change. After the diaper change I pick him up and head to the family room.
"Man, I need to get the paper." I think to myself as I stare at the frost on my car.
"Can't take the kid outside or he'll be cold." I realize.
"Quick! Strap him in his high chair and run outside as fast as you can before he realizes you aren't in front of him with a bottle of formula!" I decide.
So this is what I do. I run back into the house panting just in time to catch his eye so he knows I'm in the room. Before I can make my coffee, I have to make a bottle for Noah, no problem there. Luckily the kiddo can hold his own bottle so while he is polishing off his first 4 ounces, I get a chance to get my coffee and cereal. "Ahhh, I have this under control." I say.

Now comes the fun. Once he finishes his food he wants to hang out, and who wouldn't? He sits on my lap as I try and read the paper.

*Note, the coffee cup is in the kitchen still because like I said...he grabs things.

It all comes down to this, I think The Contra Costa Times is Noah's favorite thing in the world. They crunch, they make noise, and he can put the paper in his mouth and gum it to death. See below...


I usually end up giving him a section of the paper that I don't read(Classifieds,) and let him go to town while I read the other sections. Once he's calmed down a little I can sit him back in his chair or put him back down for a cat nap while I drink my coffee and keep reading.

Ahh needless to say, my morning routine has been compromised, but hey, I couldn't be happier about it.

Conor

Argentina

Hi,

So I was looking through some old photos tonight and I found a few from 2 years ago that I thought were pretty good. Every year our family takes a big trip somewhere during the holidays. This way, no one has to worry about presents and we all get a chance to be together. Also, the Matriarch of the fam, Marie Hetty Dunn, makes the decisions around here. She says go somewhere fun for the holidays, we go. I wasn't able to make the trip this year as the family went to Africa and it is a little tough to bring a 5 month on a trip like that. I was fine with it though because I got to hang with my in-laws and we had a great time.

Without further ado, here are a few that I really liked...









Iguazu Falls at the Brazil/Argentina Border










Grandma looks happy, my cousin Ali is yelling about something and there is a rainbow. THIS PICTURE HAS EVERYTHING.










The whole happy traveling family.










It's like a poster right? I mean, I should probably print this out, sign my name on it, and sell it to Argentina Tourism for a million dollars.










I couldn't tell you why, but this is one of my favorite pictures ever. I mean, it's some grass and water but for some reason...I stinkin' love it.










I took quite a few pics in Argentina and these were just a sampling. I figure the best way to help you delve into my crazy world is to show you evidence that it's real. That's all for now. The full album is on my facebook page which you can find HERE

Conor

Tinkering

Hi,

I am messing around with the design of my blog. I decided that I didn't like the all black background. I am trying to figure out a way to incorporate a few things that I like but I have to take some time to work with some design programs. The current design is not what I will be using but I figured it was a good subtitute for now because it is a little brighter. This is the start of me getting more commited to this blog. THIS TIME I'M SERIOUS...maybe.


Conor

The Round Table

Hi,

So the other day I found myself at a "Coaches Round Table" at Crystal Springs Uplands High School in Hillsborough, CA. It was a group of running nerds, me included, that got together to talk about running for 6 hours. Sounds like fun right? RIGHT!

Let me start by saying that have never been a fan of classes or school or any sort of lecture. Sorry, that's probably an understatement, I loathe all of that stuff. I can make it about 15 min, before I get antsy and want to move around and get out of Dodge. I have been that way for as long as I can remember and it's one of the reasons I will never go back to school for any sort of gradaute degree. Three cheers for the people that are able to do that stuff but high fives for everyone else like me who just want to work and never read a text book again. Now that I've set you up for a rant about how bored I was, guess what? I enjoyed myself. HOLY CRAP! I mean hey, it wasn't exactly the most thrilling experience of my life but I found myself very interested in what other coaches had to say. Here's a breakdown of what we know...

- Running is hard.
- Sometimes you get sore.
- Sometimes High School Cross Country runners whine.
- Sometimes they whine non-stop.
- Every once in a while when you are really frustrated with a kid or a practice, a breakthrough workout or happy kid can come along to remind you why you love the sport.
- Cross Country involves teamwork, sacrifice, sweat, tears, chaffing, more tears, body glide, smiles, bruised egos, inflated egos, throwing up, throwing down, falling down, getting up, mud, dirt, and perseverance.

Now that we've gone over what we know. Here's what we don't know.

- Anything


That pretty much sums it up. There are so many schools of thought and so many different ways to coach a kid, that it's impossible to know everything there is to know. I'd say I know a fair bit about running but to put it in terms we all understand...

My running knowledge is to "The Cyanobacteria Nostoc" as the amount of running knowledge available is to "The soil that it lives in."

That made sense right? Just kidding. Let's just say that I know a small percentage point of everything there is to know.

Either way, the point of this whole disjointed post is that I walked in to a discussion of ideas with other coaches and was able to walk away with a few tidbits that I could store away and implement the next time around. A new season is always around the corner and I am learning that one of the fun aspects of the job as a coach, is learning new techniques and trying them out. They aren't always going to work of course, but when they do, it's pretty darn rewarding.

If you are a fan of Northern California running, a blog I frequent most days is
Cross Country Express

Conor