VARbuzz » Pat Jensen http://varbuzz.com Virginia real estate news, views, and issues. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:25:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en I am a wife, mother, friend, managing broker, president, designer and contractor: How do I do it? http://varbuzz.com/i-am-a-wife-mother-friend-managing-broker-president-designer-and-contractor-how-do-i-do-it/ http://varbuzz.com/i-am-a-wife-mother-friend-managing-broker-president-designer-and-contractor-how-do-i-do-it/#comments Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:36:34 +0000 Pat Jensen http://varbuzz.com/i-am-a-wife-mother-friend-managing-broker-president-designer-and-contractor-how-do-i-do-it/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "I am a wife, mother, friend, managing broker, president, designer and contractor: How do I do it?", url: "http://varbuzz.com/i-am-a-wife-mother-friend-managing-broker-president-designer-and-contractor-how-do-i-do-it/" });]]> sixarmsadjustedMike Berry, last week in Charlottesville at the Relocation Day said, ”There are people who wake up with absolutely nothing to do and barely get it done by nightfall!” Most of our VAR volunteers don’t fit that description, and neither do I.

A couple of weeks ago, Scott Brunner, VAR’s CEO, suggested I do a blog post about how in the world I pull it all off! This photo may help explain! In addition to my duties as VAR President, I also manage one of Real Estate III’s largest offices in Charlottesville with about 50 agents, I am involved in a major remodeling project at my home, and my youngest child (and only daughter) is getting married at said home on May 10th!

I am passionate about my role as your President. We have been working on our Strategic Planning process which involves about five two-day sessions, we had a very successful Legislative Conference in February, and we are looking forward to the NAR Governance meeting in DC in May. Scott and I are currently scheduling our outreach visits to each of the local associations. Spending time with our associations and our members, although time consuming is incredibly rewarding.

I live in the house that my parents built in 1960 close to Charlottesville. A true “Leave It To Beaver” décor has been acceptable as we have spent our time raising our children. But time had come to do some major work. I have a background in architecture and interior design (and we happen to have our own Class A Contractors license) so I took on the job as contractor and designer and hired two of my sons and an experienced carpenter to start the job (last July!) Kind of difficult to fire your crew under those terms…but overall we are stumbling out way through the process and running on slight panic now as we approach the wedding date!

My husband, Doug, and I married at my parents home (where we now live…and are remodeling). My daughter Sara wants to do the same and prefers to marry this year instead of next (in spite of some suggestions that they wait for a year!) I’m so excited for her and I’m helping to do the Mother Of The Bride thing, as well as the Matron of Honor thing. Somehow I know it will all come together.

By the time Scott and I really get into traveling around the State for our Outreach, it will seem like a piece of cake!

You know what they say… If you want to get something done give it to a busy person to do! Bring it on ! I’m loving it, this is my year and I’m feeling empowered! By mid-November when my capable President Elect, John Powell takes over I’m sure I’ll be exhausted, but until then I’ll just add a couple more arms and get help from so many of you and “Together We Can” make this year one of the best ever!

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]]> http://varbuzz.com/i-am-a-wife-mother-friend-managing-broker-president-designer-and-contractor-how-do-i-do-it/feed/ Ignore The Headlines! http://varbuzz.com/ignore-the-headlines/ http://varbuzz.com/ignore-the-headlines/#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:30:54 +0000 Pat Jensen http://varbuzz.com/ignore-the-headlines/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Ignore The Headlines!", url: "http://varbuzz.com/ignore-the-headlines/" });]]> I’m so thrilled to see something positive about buying a house in the mainstream media! Scott Brunner mentioned the article briefly in his recent post but I really think this deserves some additional exposure.

On page 54 of the the February 25th edition of Time Magazine there is an excellent article encouraging buyers to purchase now while the interest rates are so good.  They actually show an example of how much more house you can buy now (at a higher price and a lower interest rate) versus waiting until prices drop 10 percent (and presuming the interest rates rise).

I went out and bought the magazine for those clients that embrace the written on paper word more than the online approach.  I would encourage you to let your fellow agents know about this and make it part of your added value arsenal of information.

I’m heading to Richmond Wednesday and Thursday to meet with our Strategic Planning work group. It is an exciting process, this week we are bringing in a group of Gen X and Gen Y Agents and a focus group of Top Producers from across the state.  We really are making an effort to listen to what our members are saying as we plan for the future.  I’ll share some of this process with you when we finish this coming session.

For know, keep your eyes and ears open for trends heading our way or issues that we need to know to make VAR the best… Together we can do this!

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]]> http://varbuzz.com/ignore-the-headlines/feed/ Hello World, this is your very own, VAR President! http://varbuzz.com/hello-world-this-is-your-very-own-var-president/ http://varbuzz.com/hello-world-this-is-your-very-own-var-president/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:51:28 +0000 Pat Jensen http://varbuzz.com/hello-world-this-is-your-very-own-var-president/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Hello World, this is your very own, VAR President!", url: "http://varbuzz.com/hello-world-this-is-your-very-own-var-president/" });]]> pat and john

It’s Tuesday and I’m still recovering from the “busy-ness” of last week in Richmond! Here you can see John Dickinson and me enjoying REALTOR® Day on the Hill last Wednesday.

The Legislative Conference was a very successful event. We made an impact on the Hill with our large numbers of attendees. We had more Legislators attend our Social Function at the Jefferson Hotel than we have in the past. We had the largest attendance ever, close to 600, who came to the Conference to take part in the Education classes that were available. Thanks to the work of the Staff and AG’s who all contributed to putting together the “extravaganza”!

I am officially making my Blogging debut with this post. I have encouraged our membership to become aware of the whole Social Media world and as your fearless leader, I’m jumping into it wholeheartedly. Ben Martin is helping down this path and I will be posting regularly as I travel around the State meeting with our local Associations.

My style, is to reach out for opinions and input…..so keeping with that thought I’d like for you to send me ideas or subjects about which you would like me to blog. Add comments or contact me at pat j at cfw dot com (Just learned this trick….keeps spammers from finding me from my email address!) I am excited about learning about the technology that is available to us and following this blog will create my FaceBook profile. Watch out Linkedin, I’m heading your way.

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