Networking is about creating an extended family. It's about developing connections, caring about people, increasing the size of your "tribe." Most of all, networking is not the awkward social ritual many of us think it is--networking is actually FUN. Here are my top six networking essentials to rock your career and your life. 1. Practice "Palm Up" Networking. When you network, are you giving, or grasping? Palm up networking embodies the spirit of service, of giving and wanting nothing in return. When you network "palm down" you're grasping for personal gain. Palm up = heart-oriented interaction. Palm down = greedy grasping. Which attitude results in building relationships, providing value, and ultimately bestows benefits on both parties? You guessed it. The universe has a perfect accoun... 09/09/2009

By: Fabio Fornaro, Zillow Auto Quoting Specialist, BrokerBuddy Account Executive Testimonials: "I have worked internet leads like Lending Tree and Lower My Bills and I can say I actually prefer Zillow leads, for the pure fact I don't have to chase anyone. Any loan officer can hunt; pounding the ground with their network or grinding on the phone making cold calls. But here on Zillow, we fish. I choose my river, cast my net and watch it work." -Aaron Opfell, Sunrise Vista Mortgage Corporation, Citrus Heights, CA What Aaron is excited about is Zillow.com's Mortgage Marketplace. Currently, there are 40,000 MORTGAGE REQUESTS PER MONTH from potential borrower's. How It Works: Borrower's submit mortgage requests Lender's can filter mortgage requests by State, Loan Amount, Credit Score, Etc.. L... 08/31/2009

We are receiving numerous requests for information on where and how to get jumbo financing in all areas of the USA.The Wall Street Journal reports that sales in the lower end of the market are finally showing positive gains, and the move up market is trying to find the best financial institutions to work with - Nationwide. The challenge our Luxury Ambassadors are reporting is that the equity in their sellers' homes has decreased with the market conditions and that the proceeds are not sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the banks for jumbo loans ie. large down payments, excellent credit and higher interest rates. Unique Global Estates  (UGE) has been a resource for our luxury agents and consumers for over 10 years.  Luxury will always be luxury, but the reset of the market is morp... 07/30/2009

OfficeLink’s New On-Demand Office Facility Combines Advanced Mobility Options, Maximum Budget Flexibility and Environmental Sustainability All in the Amenity Heavy Sears Tower Location New York, NY – July 22, 2009 – OfficeLinks, the premier provider of ready-to-use offices and meeting rooms, today announced the opening of the Company’s newest business center, located on the 84th floor of the iconic Sears Tower. The new facility offers Chicago’s business community next-generation, on-demand office space along with flexible leasing options that help to mitigate risks during the current economic downturn. According to the Office Business Center Association International (OBCAI), use of on-demand work centers such as OfficeLinks better positions companies to optimize their businesses perfor... 07/29/2009

The question: "Why are the banks refusing to reduce the principal for the owner rather than foreclosing on homes and wholesaling them for pennies on the dollar"? Some banks deliberately are holding off on foreclosing on homes and selling them as REOs, in part, because they want to avoid booking losses on their toxic mortgage-backed securities, said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's. Taking the losses would limit their access to additional government money, he said. "They want to keep the paper active," Wyss said. "They don't want to take a loss on those securities because it affects how much they can borrow against them for TARP money."  In the past week I have spoken to two different homeowners of properties with loan amounts in excess of $1M who have come to us through ... 07/16/2009

It’s approaching 9:30 PM on a balmy spring evening in Istanbul Turkey, when the conference call coordinator reads out…”and the winner of the first International Unity Day Tele-Forum drawing is….Borislava Tzvetkova!” She jumps to her feet and starts celebrating the ‘piece de resistance’ of what has been a very long, yet rewarding day. Earlier that day, Borislava had boarded a plane from her native Bulgaria, where she is the General Manager at Sterling Serviced Offices in Sofia, in order to meet up with her counterparts and competitors in Istanbul to participate on a video-conference call that joined attendees from 18 locations, in 9 different countries around the world, as part of the OBCAI LMN Unity Day Tele-Forum. The event was designed as a forum for Business Center Owners and Operato... 07/07/2009

The writing is on the wall.  Dept of Labor shows 9.4% unemployment and this excludes part time workers that really need full time jobs.  This excludes workers who have given up looking ofr a job and are just not inncluded in unemployment figures (maybe one day the rule-makers will change that). We are losing share to a global market.  Any talk about how globalism is bad leaves you branded a protectionist.  Yet this is confusing to me....aren't we supposed to protect our country?  Were not our elected officials supposed to protect the US WORKERS before they protect GLOBAL workers while simultaneously accpeting lobby money and "benefits" from those in favor of protecting global workers? For every worker hired abroad over a union or white collar worker here in the US we lose IRS and State ... 06/10/2009

Dubai property is the hottest thing on the international property market at the moment. In just over 30 years, Dubai has transformed itself from a small fishing village and port into a sprawling and bustling cosmopolitan city. This transformation can be attributed to the mega ready now and off-plan real estate property developments and projects in the Dubai property market. According to recent estimates, billions of dollars have been pumped into projects currently under construction in Dubai property, with even more investment used for projects in the development stages. The Dubai property market attracted worldwide attention in May 2002, when the Government of Dubai issued a law legalizing foreign ownership of Dubai properties in select areas in the city. The Burj Dubai expected to be... 05/25/2009

In the Netherlands the real estate management association VMN was founded in order to represent the local real estate management industry as one voice. The organisation will serve as an advocate on matters of real estate management towards market parties and government. Further professionalism in the industry and quality improvement of its services are some of the objectives of the associations' efforts. The association welcomes independent real estate management organisations in the Netherlands that serve the industry in a professional manner. It's name: Vastgoedmanagement Nederland 05/05/2009

    ActiveRain - The National "Global" Real Estate Network "Hi Brad, I live in South Africa and would like to join AR. No luck. No way to join if you are from another country. Any chance of this changing soon? Colleen."  This was a request and comment I received yesterday.  We have received many requests lately from all over the world about joining ActiveRain.  New Zealand, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, Tahiti, parts of the UK and others.  So in an effort to expand our Network and help create Global Real Estate connections and networking opportunities, we've setup an "International Home" for our World Wide Web of friends.   The State of: International, County of: International, City of: International have been created.  Anyone outside the US and Canada can use this new option when they... 04/22/2009

Dublin office rents are now the fifth most expensive in Europe according to a recent study by NB Real Estate. The average price per sqm is now higher than in the City of London. This is still despite that the rents in Dublin have fallen by 10% last year to reach €600 per sqm. The City of London, however has seen a dramatic 38% decrease in the average rents last year, falling in the rankings to sixth below Dublin with an average rent of €593 per sqm. Even if Dublin has become one of the most expensive locations to rent office space in the last few months, there are several advantages such as its tax system making it a European hotspot. Since mid-2008 the city has seen more and more businesses choosing it to settle their business headquarters there. In particular there is a rise in the am... 04/22/2009

Guess this Bahamas Location This photo is copyright (c), all rights reserved and may not be used or reproduced without permission from John Mayer. Permission can granted with a link back to my website and / or blog, providing the site is appropriate for everyone. Photographs are a great way to share the world. Thank you for viewing. 03/17/2009