Denver Home Resource Blog

Does Perseverance Work? I read a great blog post this morning entitled: "I Don't Believe in Circumstances". This got me thinking about another ingredient in the achievement of success – perseverance. The dictionary defines perseverance as: to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement.

In reality, we can't be beaten – unless we give up. This applies equally to success in building a real estate career, success in helping a homeowner sell their a home, success in helping a homeowner to avoid foreclosure, and success in getting a home buyer into their perfect home.

If your first approach doesn't work, take a look at it. What worked? What didn't work? Then use that information and start another approach. Believe in your ability to uncover the perfect solution. Seeing is believing, but believing is also seeing.

Nature gives us examples. In the photo above, if you only looked at the bottom two-thirds of this tree, you would think that the tree is dead. But when you look at the top third, you clearly see new growth – all due to the trees perseverance.

You may have to adjust your strategy or change the way you do things. You may have to try something new or get out of your comfort zone. But if you persist, if you persevere, you will get there – prove it to yourself.

I woke up early this morning and as I started to greet the day I thought it'd be nice if we had some fresh bagels for breakfast. I got in the car and started driving off to my favorite bagel place and as I reached the intersections of McCaslin Blvd. and Rock Creek Parkway (this is one of the high points in elevation in the town of Superior) I spotted them off on the horizon – hot air balloons!

Seeing hot air balloons when you're out and about in the early morning in the town of Superior is not really that much of an oddity in and of itself. In fact on most early mornings from springtime through fall you can see them, when the weather is cooperating.

Hot air balloons are a curious technology. It has been enabling humans to float in the sky since the late 1700's. If you read about them a little, you learn how buoyancy is created from the heated air in the balloon having a lower density than the relatively cold air surrounding the outside of the balloon. That's all very well and good, but as I watched these magnificent floating spheres this morning I realized that there has to be more to it than that.

Indeed, there is magic involved. The magic raises these giants into the air. It has to, there's just something joyous and happy about inflating a giant, colorful balloon to the point that it levitates people in a gondola high into the air (remember Uncle Albert in the movie Mary Poppins). The magic makes most people that see this beauty floating in the sky smile too.

Since I had some time to myself this morning, and since I noticed that the camera was in the car, I thought I'd get some colorful pictures.

I know that more than once I've caught myself rushing out of the house, hastily running for an early morning appointment, not really “seeing” my surroundings, and then I see the balloons. Instantly it reminds to slow down, be aware, and enjoy the moment. Like I said, magic.

This morning I could hear one of the balloons beckoning me to get closer. Of course, I had to give chase and follow the call.

I was lucky today and was able to meet up with the balloon as it came back to earth. I watched as one of the people in the gondola calmly gave the instructions that enabled all of the crew and passengers to safely disembark and then gently collapse the balloon, making sure not to rip or snag the balloon on anything. There was a zen-like aspect to how well this process was orchestrated.

After the balloon folding was underway, I introduced myself to the gentleman that had been providing guidance to the team. He turned out to be Tommy Cederlund, owner of Sunny Day Fly Away (it's a real interesting web site if you'd like to learn more about Tommy's interesting past and ballooning in general). Tommy took a few minutes and kindly talked to me a bit about ballooning and encouraged me to book a flight. Something that I now feel I will be doing soon.

I went and finally got the bagels and headed home, feeling happy and grateful for what I was able to experience this morning. The bagels were tasty too. I guess that's just a lingering part of the magic.

If your interested in looking for magical places around the Superior Colorado or Louisville Colorado area, I invite you to give me a call. Even if your not in the housing market. This is an amazing area and I love sharing things about it - I can give you an insider's look into the area, as only a “local” can.

Could you use a break from your day to day routine? Why not contact your local Habitat for Humanity and volunteer?

I recently had the opportunity to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity of Denver. The Denver Colorado branch of Habitat for Humanity was founded by volunteers in 1979 and has built 395 homes throughout the Metro Denver area. These homes have housed over 1,700 people!

In my opinion, Habitat is a wonderful program. It's not a handout, but a cooperative effort. In order to get into the program, families go through a rigorous screening process and additionally agree to participate in building their home.

The homes are sold to the familes at no profit, through a no interest loan. Families that receive a home provide a down payment and also contribute 250-500 hours of their own sweat equity toward building their home – as well as building the homes of other families participating in the Habitat program.

Sometimes we need a helping hand to get back on track and I see the Habitat program providing this in a dignified manner. It provides families a springboard toward building better lives.

The strange thing is, as I find anytime I've volunteered, I almost feel guilty because I feel that I got more back from the experience then the day of labor I put. Being involved in real estate I enjoy seeing different architecture and learning about energy saving, especially green technologies. Homes built by the Habitat for Humanity of Denver are not just built with affordability in mind. Their team of experts design and construct high quality, energy efficient homes. The innovations in Habitat homes constructed in Denver typically exceed most building standards and consistently receive five-star energy efficiency ratings from E-Star Colorado.

Through volunteer, I was able to learn more about how to implement some energy efficiency techniques in a practical and physical sense. This is knowledge I can use as I preview homes, not to mention implementing some of the things I learned in my own home. I certainly have no objection to lowering monthly bills! I even got some exercise. Best of all, I also had the privilege working alongside the eventual homeowner in one of the units.

So if you're looking for a break in you day to day routine, why not give your local Habitat for Humanity a call?

If your interested in learning about Superior Colorado or Louisville Colorado feel free to give me a call. Even if your not in the housing market. This is an amazing area and I love sharing things about it - I can give you an insider's look into the area, as only a “local” can.

Hot Rod Lincoln careens through Louisville Colorado! What, how's that? Well for this to make sense we first we need to take a small step back in time. In the late sixties – early seventies, there was a funny, catchy tune that received quite a bit of air play on the radio. It's a great tale about a guy driving a souped up Lincoln and his adventures with a Cadillac sedan. That tale was told in a song called Hot Rod Lincoln popularized by a band called Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.

So what does all this have to do with Louisville Colorado? Well, on Friday nights from June through August the town of Louisville Colorado hosts the weekly Louisville Downtown Street Faire. Last night, June 25th was the the third installment in this year's schedule and Commander Cody was the featured musical artist.

I had not had the pleasure of having seen this band before, so I didn't really know what to expect. I remembered that they sang 'Hot Rod Lincoln' and also the old classic 'Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette', but honestly that was about it.

The great thing with seeing a band that's been around for a while is that there's a connection between the band members. They're professionals. You may not always see their connection, but you certainly do hear it, and sometimes you even feel it. Last night the Commander and Airmen were well in the zone. You could see it in the band members, the audience certainly seemed to feel it. A good time was had by all and they cooked! Thank you for a great night out, boys.

If you get a chance to see Commander Cody, I'd say definitely do it. I find it a little hard to describe there unique brand of music. The best I can do is stringing it into a long run on sentence: Their style is a perfect blend of rockabilly, boogie-woogie blues peppered with rock and country music. I know that doesn't come out meaning a whole heck of all lot – go see them and that might make sense (you might even agree). It's also very cool to see them take every song they play and “Codyize” it.

From L to R: Mark Emerick, Steve Barbuto, George Frayne, and Randy Bramwell - Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.

For the last several years Louisville Colorado continues to be voted one of the top five places to live in the country. There are a lot of reasons for this and I believe that the weekly Friday Street Faire is one of this community's great attractions. It's just a fun time to enjoy good music, meet your neighbors, visit the vendors, and provide support our local businesses. It puts a smile on your face too.

If your interested in learning more about the Superior-Louisville Colorado area feel free to give me a call. I can give you an insider's look into the area, as only a “local” can.

Do you enjoy bicycling or watching cyclists race? Don't have plans for this coming Memorial Day weekend?

Well then, Superior is the place you need to be! How about enjoying the Superior Morgul Classic?

The Superior Morgul Classic and Wellness festival will be held from Friday through Sunday in beautiful Superior Colorado. This event has it all for the cycling enthusiast, including sprints, criterium, and a circuit road race. Additionally, there will be food from local restaurants, children's races, and an art show. Now if that's not enough, how kicking back and enjoying Hazel Miller's soulful funk and blues! If you don't know who Hazel Miller is, you're in for a huge treat!

Friday, 5/28/2010, will feature sprints followed by a pasta dinner at community park, and Hazel Miller.

Saturday, 5/29/2010, has the Criterium. Music on Saturday night is Rebecca Folsom Band and FACE (as seen on TV). Lastly the movie American Flyer will be shown (more on this in a moment).

Sunday, 5/30/2010, will have the Morgul-Bismarck Road Race. The evening well end under the stars to the music of Firefall!

This historic race was originally known as the Red Zinger Bicycle Classic and later as the Coors International Bicycle Classic. In 1985 the race was featured in the movie American Flyer.

Get full details on this awesome event here.

This is one event you won't want to miss. Then on Monday we can head over to Boulder and have some fun at the Bolder Boulder. See you there!

One of the great things about Boulder County Colorado is that there is no lack of outdoor activities. There is an extensive parks and trail system throughout the county. That is one of the reasons why I relocated to Colorado.

Heading west out of Boulder on Boulder Canyon Road there is a quiet park with scenic trails called Betasso Preserve. The park exists due to the kindness of the Betasso family. It was the Parks and Open Space Department's first major open-space acquisition.

The trails are great for running, mountain biking, hiking, or even sauntering - which is what my wife , our dog Cody, and I did on that beautiful, crisp afternoon. On this day we walked the Canyon Loop Trailhead, and enjoyed its six miles of serene scenery.

In the late 1800's they say that this area was so busy that you'd typically see five wagons pass through on there way to Nederland Colorado.

Mike and Cody walking Canyon Loop Trail

Here you can see  the City of Boulder  in the valley, and some  Homes in Boulder nestled in the mountain.

Old rusty fence material

What can I say? Even sauntering burns up some calories and requires you to replenish fluids. Besides, all work and no play makes Mike a dull boy!

If you enjoy breathetaking scenery, a wonderful climate, and some of the friendliest folks you'll ever want to meet, then you owe to yourself to visit Boulder Colorado. If you're looking for a home in Boulder or are curious about home values in Boulder, start here. If you think that  you may want to relocate to Colorado, we should talk.

This week my website crossed a major milestone. I discovered a quarter of my Short Sale content on another agent's web site. My content is now worthy of theft! A true milestone for any aspiring writer.

My ying/yang reaction was I was incensed, and then a little bit flattered. The amazing thing to me was that this person took several of my pages and pasted them, exactly as is, same font, same color, onto one page of their site – even though it didn't match their layout and colors. Thank you for keeping my branding. Not one single thing was changed. Actually as I think about it, that's not totally true. There were a couple of things changed. Every link on the page that originally pointed to my sign-up forms no longer did.

The content taken from my web site has evolved over time. It's based on practical experience,  mistakes I've learned from, classes I've taken, research, and analysis. It was specifically written with two audiences in mind. My prospective clients whom I want to help educate and hopefully relieve some of their stress. And, it is written so those little search bots can find the site and ensure that there's strong relevancy. The content is constantly being tweaked, evolving, and I continuously try to improve it.

It's also an income stream for me. That's where it's a major issue. If you like the content, you are welcome to link to it, on my web site. To cut and paste it is stealing. Just because it's easy, just because they think that they will not get caught, it's wrong, and we're protected by the law. In what world can anyone think that this is acceptable behavior?

I found two email addresses on the agent's site, and promptly sent them a curt email demanding that my content be removed. Unfortunately for this agent, they had included their managing broker's email contact in an “email me” link. I had no idea, I was simply trying to make sure that my message got to them through a documented media.

I also followed up with a phone call letting them know that I was aware of the plagiarism and that it needed to be removed immediately. The agent informed me that they didn't know and that someone had “given” them the content.

The following day the agent did call me. Initially a little antagonistic about the email being sent to their managing broker. I responded that I wasn't aware of that, I only used the email addresses I found on their web site. We spoke for a few minutes, I shared with them how they got busted. The content had been removed, they apologized, and I'm moving on.

Here's the thing though... know what copyright infringements are and what plagiarism is, and know that it's illegal. Also realize that it's 26 years since 1984, when George Orwell realized that Big Brother was coming. We've met Big Brother and he is us. We know where he lives. It's a quaint little neighborhood called the world wide web, the internet.

If you decide to visit Big Brother's neighborhood, know that you've agreed to leave your privacy at the front door, the moment you stepped through your browser doorway. He knows where you go, he knows what you do. In a couple of key strokes anyone can tell if their words are being "recycled". Play nice.