Yesterday I read my friend Bob Carney’s blog Focus on Frederick, and his post about the impact of foreclosures on pets was so spectacular that I was moved to share it with you.

Bob is an animal lover and has two fabulous dogs – I am often entertained by pictures of them just enjoying their happy doggie lives as part of his family.

After hearing there was an increase in animals being taken to the shelter, Bob went to have a look for himself. The housing crisis is not just hurting humans. When a family faces foreclosure they’re often forced to move into an apartment or with other family members, and often it’s impossible to keep their beloved pets.

Bob was moved to make this Real Estate Show and I thought you’d want to see it.
Warning: You might want to have a tissue handy.

Thank you for sharing with us, Bob.

My country,’ tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims’ pride,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
land of the noble free, thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills, like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
and ring from all the trees sweet freedom’s song;
let mortal tongues awake;
let all that breathe partake;
let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

Our fathers’ God, to thee,
author of liberty, to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright
with freedom’s holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King.

Words: Samuel F. Smith, 1808-1895

I’m always on the lookout for interesting Shows. When I saw the Real Estate Shows Chris Kealing of OwnerWillFinanceHome.com has made, I knew I’d found something great!

Many home buyers have trouble seeing what isn’t there. Chris obviously doesn’t have a problem imagining what could be, and he can make you see it, too. He takes houses in ROUGH condition and transforms them into the beautiful homes they were meant to be!

Real Estate Shows are a great way to showcase your specialty.

Chris can transform an abused house into a beautiful home and he can prove it through his Shows. His work can and does speak for itself. He’s using Real Estate Shows as a very effective way of illustrating his expertise.

Whatever your specialty (new construction, first time homeowners, commercial, acreage, area, etc.), why not make a Real Estate Show that can be featured on your website or blog to show off your skills? You can even add a link as a part of your signature on your emails.

Please let me know if you give it a try! Thank you for letting me share your Shows, Chris!

Memorial Day RES Flyer templates are now available.

RealEstateShows.com makes it easy to create a memorable Memorial day greeting, one that’s personalized with your own message and images. Use your own photos from Memorial Days past or download stock photos to create a Show you can use as a Memorial Day Greeting card! Here’s a sample Memorial day greeting.

If you’d like to use the same photos we used in this demo show, click here. This will download the folder of images in a zip file. Or, if you’d like to create something more unique, there are also over 7500 photos in this Flickr Creative Commons search on Memorial Day. To use these photos in a Show, you must give attribution to the photographer in the description field for your Show.

Here’s a way to make your greeting local and personal: Take photos of the American flags waving from the homes in your target community and send out an email or include the Show in a blog post about the community activities that took place. Here is an example of how to celebrate your community spirit.

Be creative. Send a positive message and put the power of viral marketing to work for you.

Rocky VanBrimmer shared a very personal Real Estate Show with me this morning.

Rocky sent me an email with a link to a Show he produced for his wife’s birthday. Part of the response I sent to Rocky was this, “Are you aware that you can use hard returns in the titles to have them break to read easier?” Rocky’s response back was, “Showing my techno ignorance here, I do not know what “hard returns” means… Would you care to elaborate?”

Two things occurred to me as I read his response. First, I didn’t phrase my response very well. I could have been a lot more specific in my description. And second, I realized this “mistake” is one I see a quite a bit. So, I thought I would do a quick tutorial video on the topic.

Rocky graciously allowed us to use his Show as an example in this tutorial video.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Rocky, thank you again for allowing me to use your very personal Real Estate Show!