David Sobotta's Blog

While I depend a lot on my Internet efforts to keep my real estate efforts going, I also try not to neglect more traditional means of marketing. Yesterday was the Fourth of July. I spent the majority of the day, printing and distributing a flier. The rental division of our company allows us to ha...

It is easy to lose sight of things you enjoy about your job when the pressure for success is continuous while the opportunity for success rarely pays a visit.  I got into real estate after a technology sales career of over twenty five years because I wanted to get back to those days when the righ...

We all have some funny stories about the web.  One of my favorites is the call that I got from a lady who wanted to know why a listed house was only $79,000.  The listing was out of our normal area so I had to pull it from MLS.  I had to chuckle when I saw the screen.  An agent had posted the pic...

There are people out there that still doubt the power of the Internet to connect people. That does not surprise me any more than a connection between people can come from an Internet pimento cheese recipe, but more on that in a minute. I still see agents who believe that the only place on the Int...

Monday night I got a call from someone whose area in South Dakota was in the midst of being whacked by a blizzard.  I guess it was the last straw for him.  He was ready to start investigating a move the Southern Outer Banks or SOBX as it is locally known.  Actually the blizzard was not the real r...

It has been an amazing few weeks in American.  Barack Obama is president, Steve Jobs has stepped aside at Apple, my Vista computer has hardly misbehaved, and it snowed at the beach.  On top of that I have taken two phone calls on desk duty.  One is leading to what looks like a sale, and the other...

A life in sales prepares you for lots of ups and downs. Since I worked for Apple Computer from 1984 until 2008. I got to see plenty of both.  As I survey the real estate markets I see some parallels to Apple's comeback as a computer manufacturer. If any company has risen from the dead to great su...

At least in our area here on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina, the real estate market is very tough right now for sellers and real estate agents since there are very few buyers. Every business has tough times, and right now many businesses are seeing some of the worst times in memory. I had th...

Just a few days ago my wife and I were in line at the supermarket.  The lady in front of us did not have a lot of items since it was an express lane.  However, she decided to pay for her groceries with a check.  It took longer for her to write the check, than it did to scan and bag her whole orde...

Few people would be able to define why they are attracted to a certain view.  Yet we often know when a view has us hooked. Some views like the one to the left have broad appeal.  I have not seen anyone who did not enjoy seeing this panorama of the White Oak River just a few miles up river from th...