"Singing in the Rain!"

Real Estate BarCamp Denver 2010

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The Second Annual Real Estate Bar Camp Denver begins on June 17th

Registration 8:30

Sessions 9:00 to 4:00

After party to follow

Purchase Tickets Here

$20 until June 10th

$30 after June 10th

$35 at the door

Includes: Full day of sessions, Lunch, refreshments

Bonus: Professional photographer will be on site to shoot cool pics for your online bios!

Interesting in Sponsoring?  Contact Kristal Kraft

Interesting is leading a session?  Interesting in attending?  Show up!

Official Site http://rebarcamp.com/denver

Kristal Kraft

Broker Associate, ABR, CIPS, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
303-589-2022 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

It is finally here!  We are so excited.

We’ve launched Tomato University (beta):
“Technology Education For The Real Estate Industry”

The success of our first three Virtual BarCamp events made two things very clear:
1. There is an overwhelming interest in learning how to use technology to improve one’s real estate career.
2. Participating from the comfort of your home or office is a hugely popular alternative to learning in person.

Please Note: If you were a participant in any of our Virtual BarCamp events, then you are instantly a member of the University.  You will have received an email notification of your membership… and if you haven’t, simply login and request a reset of your password. 

Our mission with Tomato University is to scale back a bit on the intensity of the VREBC experience, and give everyone an opportunity to learn in a much more relaxed and engaging environment.

Rather than spending the day drinking from the fire hose of VREBC (28 live classes over 7 hours), we are launching the University with just 5 classes per week (1 per business day).

See University Schedule: http://www.tomatouniversity.com/courses

The other major distinction from VREBC is that the classes will be limited to much smaller audiences, allowing for direct engagement with the professors, in real-time, during class.  Classes will last between 1 and 2 hours, and in most cases will be limited to just 40 students.

See University Professors: http://www.tomatouniversity.com/professors

During this beta period (roughly 45 days), all classes will be held at 11am PST (2pm EST).  In addition to the great schedule we already have in place, we will be adding classes and professors on a regular basis, with constant turn-over and growth.

Soon we will be offering intense Labs and Tutoring Options to our schedule.  The labs will be limited to as few as 5 students, and the one-on-one tutoring sessions will be available for those that want our undivided attention.

Even though the University is in a beta phase, our commitment remains in providing our students with the most relevant and effective technology training available. 

Here are a few of the ways you can instantly take advantage of the University:

1. Sign up for upcoming classes taught by some of the Real Estate Industry's finest minds.
2. Shout out from your Dashboard to the entire community, Twitter style!
3. Hold conversations with any other member(s) in real-time using "@membername" Twitter style!
4. Rate and Comment on classes you have taken to improve our offerings.
5. Friend other members to send direct messages and get updates on their activity within TU.
6. Post your RSS feeds to your profile to gain more exposure to your blog articles.
7. Submit your ideas for classes and/or your application for professorship.
8. Update your profile details.
9. Connect with Twitter and Facebook to broadcast status and connect with others.
10. Manage your email update preferences.
 
To begin taking advantage of your free membership you will need to register or login:

Once logged in:

To view your Dashboard:
http://www.tomatouniversity.com/members/dashboard

To see our Upcoming Classes:
http://www.tomatouniversity.com/courses

To meet our Professors:
http://www.tomatouniversity.com/professors

To update your Profile:
http://www.tomatouniversity.com/members/edit

We are going to be making an enormous amount of usability and functionality improvements in subsequent phases. 
Many of these improvements are already in the works, but we would love suggestions from you.

Our goal is to create an incredibly resourceful learning environment that thrives as a social network.
This initial phase is intended to be interactive, so don't be shy.

Near future upgrades we already have planned:
- Fan Classes for notification of updates and future related content and classes.
- Uploading of instructional videos to a tutorial library by both professors and members.
- Direct Message other members, privately.
- Participate in a community blog discussing high-level real estate technology topics.
- The addition of a Tomato University Blog for system news and updates.
- Browse and view an archive of recorded classes from past VREBC events.
- RSS/XML Feed of upcoming classes for affiliates and professors to showcase on their websites.

Don't hold back on your suggestions - we are very excited to hear from you.
http://www.tomatouniversity.com/contact

     Actually this message is directed to anyone involved in any part of the real estate transaction in Washington State.  All agents, appraisers, loan officers, and inspectors should be concerned about several bills currently working their way through the House and Senate in the State of Washington that in one way or another relate to home inspectors that will affect the entire real estate transaction.  This will be the first in a series of posts designed to bring to your attention the major concerns around these bills.  While some of these bills may never even make it out of committee, all deserve a quick email to your Senator or your House representative to voice your concern.

    The first one I will discuss is Senate Bill 5644 that would change Home Inspector Licensing to require home inspectors to include “looking for mold.”  Since home inspectors are not generally qualified to identify mold, and are not likely to get trained to identify mold, this bill could literally bring every real estate transaction in the state to a halt or at least slow it down while a mold expert is brought in to test the house for mold. 

     Mold is the result of conducive conditions----in other words there are: roof leaks, plumbing leaks, foundation leaks, ventilation problems, drainage problems, and other building science issues that must be addressed to get rid of this one of the many results of these problems.  Home inspectors, while not specifically required to identify mold are already mandated by law to discover and report on conducive conditions, so adding the word “mold” into the law is unnecessary.  As long as there is considerable controversy over the effects of home-environmental mold on occupants of the home, blanket legislation regarding mold is not necessary to better protect the health & safety of Washington residents.

     No one would argue that particulate in the air, whether mold or dust or other contaminates, can affect anyone’s breathing, but these are “building science” issues not mold issues.  Knowledgeable home inspectors are trained (or at least should be trained) to identify conditions that contribute to poor indoor quality including conditions conducive to the growth of mold.  Any inspector that found conditions that they didn’t understand related to these issues would already be calling for further evaluation by the appropriate building science expert----calling for a mold expert to evaluate every real estate transaction would seem draconian to me.

     While calling for the “mold expert” would not be “required” by the current bill, can you imagine any inspector “signing off” on a house as being mold free?  I think not.  To paraphrase Chicken Man, “Its everywhere, its everywhere.” 

 

     If you click on this paragraph you will find the bill and its current status.  You will also find links to the sponsors where you can email them directly about this bill.  You can also find links to your own legislators that you can email as well.  Please take a moment to give them your opinion on this matter.

 

Other Important Bills:

Senate Bill 6433

Senate Bill 6434 

 

Charles Buell

 

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Click on the Rose to check out: AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.