Thursday, March 24, 2011

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design

Spring is here and summer is looming. If you are considering changes to your landscaping, It may pay for you to consider CPTED - Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Open - lighted - no place to hide. Crime behavior is a reaction to environmental clues. Crime can be influenced by the environment - the devious mind searching for an opportunity. Psychological ownership and boundaries cen be an important crime prevention tool. Is your property well maintained? Is it clean and neat with that lived in and aware look. Are your shrubs and bushed cut low and trees trimmed to avoid hiding places? Mature trees should be trimmed about 6 feet from the groud and when contemplating any re-design do your best to maintain an open view of your property.

as always ... Keep the faith!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Listingbook - the people's champ for property searches in the desert

Here's a re-post of an article in my Real Estate Blog that you might find interesting...

Listingbook is a new product available to Realtors. I happen to subscribe to it so that I am able to offer it to my clients and friends. Whether a Seller, Buyer or just interested in property trends, you can enter the site and request an account or receive an invitation from a subscribing Realtor. Account setup is real simple. Some Realtors will restrict account approval by requiring you to include your phone number when signing up - here is one that doesn't require that ... http://DesertListingBookFree.com

The property data is solely for available properties / active listings and is updated every 15-30 minutes so no bothering with properties that are already in contract or sold. Other than the Multiple Listing Service 'MLS' is has the most photos of any search site and includes: days on the market, price history, map reports, price reduction notifications, new listing alerts, virtual tours and property favorites folder (You can keep data on properties that interest you ... along with keeping multiple separate searches). With the MLS, you can't keep all the search data and results for future review.

Upon successfully opening you account, you will find that the sign-in scenario is not too cumbersome and I think you may find the results help you immensely. So, whether you are Selling, Buying, or curious about neighborhood activity (what your neighbor has listed their property for), this is the cream of the crop in property data websites

more free listingbook domains: http://DesertListingbookRealtor.com, http://LaQuintaListingbook.com, http://IndioListingbook.com, http://IndianWellsListingbook.com, http://RanchoMirageListingbook.com, http://CathedralCityListingbook.com, http://DesertListingbookRealtor.com, http://ListingbookIndio.com, http://ListingbookLaQuinta.com, http://ListingbookIndianWells.com, http://ListingbookPalmDesert.com, http://ListingbookDesert.com, http://ListingbookRanchoMirage.com, http://ListingbookCathedralCity.com, http://ListingbookPalmSprings.com...so along with http://DesertListingbookFree.com... your future search efforts for Desert property should be much improved.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time begins @ 2:00 a.m. Sunday, March 13, 2011

Before retiring Saturday night you'd be well served to adjust all your clocks, watches, microwaves, ovens, VCR's and anything else with an ability to tell you what time it is or function on a schedule you have determined ... You will probably hear this twenty times on the news, radio etc ... and at the same time consider changing the batteries in all the clocks, remotes, garage door openers, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors (new law in 2011) adjust the timers for your landscape lighting and whatever else comes to mind; and while you are at it, your landscape watering doesn't need to activate numerous times per day. That is only necessary when you re-seed. A good deep watering once a day in the morning is all that's necessary and will make your lawn more drought resistant. CVWD has a lot of tips for the proper amounts of runtimes for your sprinklers throughout the year. Anymore than that is wasted running down the street, evaporating or just getting the sidewalks wet. As always - Keep the faith!

Neighborhood Watch wins again

I can't write this any better so here's two recent emails from one of our neighbors today...

1st - I just made my first call to the dispatch for LQPD. I was walking the dog this morning, and came around the corner on Deerbrook and there was a 20’s something guy standing with the passenger door open to a silver Mustang. He had a black t-shirt, black sweatpants, and a backward black ball cap on his head. I said “good morning” and he replied. As I kept walking, I crossed Bayberry to head to the little park with my dog. However, my shoe was untied, so I stopped and looked backwards, and he wasn’t there, but the car was still parked there. I just didn’t feel right about the whole situation, so I turned around and came back home. I stopped in my driveway and pulled out my phone, and sure enough, he came around the opposite corner, (looking VERY suspicious). In the meantime, there was another car stopped at the stop sign at Bayberry and Coldbrook just sitting there (I’m thinking a drug buy at this point) because his tail lights were lit. The guy sees me in the driveway with my dog, and then starts to jog away. I call the dispatch and report everything. Five minutes later, I got in my car and drive down the street, and the car is still there, so I turn onto an opposite side street, and I see him walking. I turn around and go back to the car, call the dispatch again and give them the license plate.
At this point, I can only hope something will be done about it. Just wanted you to know that I’m looking out for our neighborhood, too. Only worry I have now is that the kid saw me in front of my home, and may realize that I’m the one who called the cops on him. So, wanted you to know what’s going on so you can keep your eyes out, as well.
Thanks for always having our neighborhood safety a top priority!

2nd - Just wanted to give you an update on my little excitement this morning. When I left to go to work, I drove to Deerbrook to see if the Mustang was still there. Yes, indeed it was, however, there was a tow truck and a cop car. I pulled up and spoke to the officer. He said another officer had taken the suspect in for questioning, and had found stolen goods. I told him I was a bit concerned since this guy knew where I lived and probably could figure out that I called. He told me to just call 911 if I had any concerns. So, that’s my good deed for the day!!

In closing, my award of two gold stars for our neighbor who had the LQPD non-emergency phone number programmed into their cellphone. In closing, the officer told our neighbor that they had done the smart thing by phoning when they suspected something because you never know what's going on and the police department is their for us. Neighborhood watch won again