Back by Unpopular Demand

Years ago, as a real estate sales agent, I published a monthly newsletter which was mass-mailed to a small contact list. Full of all sorts of interesting information about the local (Summit/Medina County, OH) real estate market, it contained news about my new listings and other listings within my broker's company.

The newsletter, "hRUBIK's hRAMBLINGS", was published for about 6 months at a cost of roughly $300/month for postage, plus the cost of the paper (usually two to three 8-1/2" x11" sheets, folded into a 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" booklet flyer), with my broker absorbing the cost of the toner used by the copying machine. The masters were produced using a Tandy Color Computer running Microware OS-9 and printed on a dot-matrix printer. A lot of work, a good bit of expense, and in the end, I don't recall having gotten a single listing or having made a single sale as a result of that newsletter.

So I discontinued it. Wouldn't you know it, after a month, I started getting calls from people who wanted to know if I had taken them off my mailing list! People actually read what I was writing, and missed it when the newsletter stopped. I never did restart it, though, since it just did not seem to be a cost-effective means of drumming up business.

Years have passed. I'm still in the real estate business, but as an appraiser. I started appraising real estate in 1987, and did so part-time (selling real estate and building houses in the other part-time) until 1997, when I was able to begin full-time appraisal work. In 1998 I obtained state certification as a residential appraiser, and in 2005 earned the Residential Accredited Appraiser designation from the National Association of Realtors Appraisal Section (I'm also an Associate Member of the Appraisal Institute, on the SRA designation track.) My professional goal is to obtain general certification and earn the MAI designation from the Institute, and at this time I simply need a mentor to guide me through the 1500 non-residential experience hours that are required to sit for the general exam.

Part of the fun of being an appraiser is helping other people understand what I do. The misconceptions abound. This blog is dedicated to being a peep-hole into the world of real estate valuation.