By Melissa Dittmann Tracey
QUICK SKIM
Can’t sell a property? Maybe the home’s chi — or energy — is out of whack. In the new book Sell Your Home With Feng Shui (AuthorHouse, 2007), authors Christine Ayres and Cindy Coverdale teach you how to use this ancient Chinese technique of placement to generate buzz about your listings. Follow the book’s bagua — that is, an energy map of space — and you’ll be able to start staging warm, welcoming homes that help give buyers the energy to make an offer. The 87-page book is full of photos and sales success stories to show you how it’s done.
FROM THE BOOK: 5 FENG SHUI STAGING TIPS
Lure potential buyers with these feng shui style tips from the authors:
1. Curb buyers’ impression. Curb appeal is critical. Clear any trees or bushes that are blocking any windows or the front of the house. When buyers see the property, they’ll lift their gaze to see a clear, inviting path leading them inside the house. Also, use a welcome mat that is fit to proportion with the door and frame the doorway with matching pots of red flowers or evergreen trees on both sides for extra attention.
Here are the latest top sellers on business and investing, according to Amazon.com:
1. The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, By Alan Greenspan
2. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, By Nassim Nicholas Taleb
3. Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, By Bill Clinton
4. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich , By Timothy Ferriss
5. Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes, By Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne
6. Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
7. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t, By Jim Collins
8. Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart, By Ian Ayres
9. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, By David Allen
10. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, By Malcolm Gladwell
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey
QUICK SKIM
In the face of an attack, 60 percent of victims will become paralyzed with fear, about 20 percent will fight back unsuccessfully, and slightly more than 10 percent will use self-defense moves to get away. “What would you do?” author Robert Siciliano asks in his second edition of The Safety Minute: 01 (Safety Zone Press, 2003). With NAR’s Safety Week under way, Sept. 9-15, Siciliano’s book provides a good refresher on ways you can stay safe on the job, full of safety tip lists and diagrams of self defense moves. If you do find yourself in a dangerous situation, you’ll know how to get out of it.
FROM THE BOOK: 5 SAFETY TIPS
Pleading and crying have been shown to be ineffective defense strategies against an attacker. Instead, Siciliano suggests the following:
1. Embrace your fear. If you get a feeling that something isn’t right about a situation, trust your gut. Fear can be good for averting danger and it brings an adrenaline rush, providing you with an extra boost of strength. Fear also can sharpen your senses, allowing you to be more aware of your surroundings and acute to anything that seems out of place. Anticipate an assault so you’ll be ready to avoid or counter it. But don’t carry your fear on your sleeve — attackers look for vulnerability. Project confidence and strength. Be aware, alert, and ready.
  The Savvy Woman’s Homebuying Handbook (Prosperity Way Press, 2007)
  By Tara-Nicholle Nelson
  — Janice Glavan, GRI, e-PRO®, Equitable, Scottsdale, Ariz.
  Flipping Confidential: The Secrets to Renovating Property for Profit in any   Market (Wiley, 2007)
  By Kirsten Kemp
  Real Estate Presentations that Make Millions (AMACOM, 2007)
  By Jim Remley
  — Amy J. Chandler, Optimum Real Estate Inc., Whitman, Mass.
  Sell With Soul: The New Agent’s Guide to an Extraordinary Career in Real   Estate (AuthorHouse, 2007)
  By Jennifer Allan, GRI
  — Noel Edrich, Home Team Real Estate, Sioux Falls, S.D.
  If How-To’s Were Enough We Would All be Skinny, Rich and Happy (Insight   Publishing Group, 2004)
  By Brian Klemmer
  — Debra Allen, ABR, GRI, Prudential Arizona Properties, Gilbert, Ariz.
Tell us what you’re reading. Send an e-mail to bookblog@realtors.org that includes the title of the book you’re reading and the author, along with your name, contact information, and your photo.
Recent Comments