Pull on your boots, put on your gloves, and take advantage of this great snow we're getting. It's one of our favorite times of the year.  

Our golden retreiver passed away a year ago and we're suddenly feeling ready to add another four legged furry friend to the family. In fact, I'm feeling so ready that I spent hours of my Christmas vacation researching, calling breeders, and driving long distances to see litters of puppies. The good news...we found THE dog. A four month old cavalier king charles spaniel who I've already named Sir. Toby.  In a house full of girls I'd finally be getting a boy and this pup's little face just killed me. I mean look at him! He looks like a stuffed animal!  I was ready to plop down my hard earned cash and walk out with that dog in my arms right then and there. There was only one problem, we weren't ready to bring a dog home. We're still living in our condo for another month until we can move into our house. In fact, the last thing we want is to try and rent out our condo with a puppy in it and insist to the potential renters that animals are not allowed. On top of that puppies require a ton of work in the beginning. Can we handle  a puppy with all its puppy needs while moving into a home?!?  After many nights of discussion and thinking through all sorts of creative work arounds we decided to wait...sighhh. Not only am I completely dissapointed but I'm sure I'll never find a cuter Sir. Toby anywhere. MORAL OF THE STORY?.. I should've learned from work. NEVER start looking at homes until you're totally ready to buy. You just might find the perfect home and miss out on it. Everything after that will just be one big dissapointment.   :(

We are very proud and excited to announce that Influence Real Estate has partnered up with one of the top national real estate firms in the country...wait for it....yes, BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS REAL ESTATE. The news is finally officially out, the cat's out of the bag, the secret is no longer a secret, and soon you will be seeing our orange signs being replaced with our new Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate signs. 

Why are we so excited you ask? Simple, overnight we now have immediate nation wide exposure for our brokerage as well as for our listings. While Influence Real Estate has been well known locally in Salt Lake and Utah Counties, outside of our local region nobody knows about us. That is no longer the case thanks to our newly formed partnership who's brand touches nearly 40 million people every month, including 1 in 6 adults, 1 in 5 homeowners, and 1 in 4 women. That's exposure for our clients that we as a small boutique brokerage would never be able to provide on our own. You might be thinking, but isn't that a magazine? Yes, it is a magazine that happens to be the #1 lifestyle publication in the world with nearly 40 million readers. It's also a lifestyle brand that is relevant 365 days a year. Other traditional real estate brokerages are relevant only when the consumer is looking to buy or sell which only happens every five years. The BHG brand on the other hand is relevant every day of the year because it specializes in not just selling homes but in lifestyles which is relevant regardless of whether or not you're buying or selling a home. 

What does this mean for our clients? It means when we list your home our marketing efforts wont just be limited to our local market. We now have national reach. It means thanks to the data that Better Homes and Gardens has collected through their online presence and magazine publications we now have information that allows us to predict who is most likely to be interested in your home whether it be a first time home buyer, a move up buyer, or a luxury buyer and we can target market your home to those specific individuals. We call it "Pin Point Marketing" and it's a game changer. It means we no longer have to wait for the potential buyer to come to us, we can predict who the buyer will be and reach out to them. This is big data stuff and something entirely unique to Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate that no other brokerage has access to and never will have access to. And our Pin Point Marketing is just one tool of many. 

Within our arsenal of tools are our 3D property tours. Check out an example above. For those mothers with kids this might be a life saver. You might have fewer showings but the showings you do have you know the people will be very interested.  Or maybe you have renters and you don't want to inconvenience them with a countless showings. This tool will help. 

Needless to say we are extremely excited and this is an opportunity we couldn't pass up. We will continue to provide and emphasize exceptional costumer service based on trusting relationships which is what attracted Better Homes and Gardens to us in the first place. Just know that we now have some additional marketing artillery in our back pocket as we move forward representing you and those you refer us to.

We thank you for the support and for sharing in the excitement with us and we look forward to continuing our relationship of professionalism, trust and friendship moving forward. 

With gratitude, 

Joe & Sam Willis
The Willis Group

p.s. Hit us up for a free annual subscription to Better Homes & Gardens the magazine. It's like Pinterest in magazine format. ​

Explore some of the updates on our website which include: 

Do It Yourself Home Improvement Video.
Links to the Better Homes & Gardens Home Improvements, Gardening, Party Ideas, Decorating and more.
Sign up tobecome a member of the Willis Group real estate family and enjoy the benefits which include an annual subscription to the BHG magazine, vendor discounts, client appreciation parties, and a whole slew of benefits.

Last week was full of eggs, chocolates, food, friends, and parties. We're worn out. We wanted to say thank you to all who came and attended our client appreciation party last monday. It was wild and crazy and we ate over a thousand hot dogs and could've  eaten even more. We were dissapointed the parachuting toys couldn't be dropped out of the helicopter for safety reasons (pilots made a last minute decision) but we think everyone still had a fun time. If we do it again next year we're debating if we should do the helicopter again or put the resources towards more eggs and more prizes. Any input would be welcomed. It would also open up the possiblity for different venues which could add some excitement. Let us know your thoughts so we can improve the event. Thanks again for coming.  

Funtopia is kid friendly ultra creative rock climbing gym in Lehi just west of I-15 and a little north of Pioneer Crossing. The perfect place to learn how to rock climb for all ages so long as the child weighs at least 35 pounds. There are a wide range of creatively themed and interactive climbing walls, slides, blocks, ladders, even a jumping platform.

Last weekend we took our 7 year old who has been to a few indoor rock climbing gyms but still new to the sport and we took our 3 year old who's never been before. This place is awesome because as parents you can hook your child into the self belay system and then climb yourself or step back and just watch without fearing for your child's safety. If you feel uncomfortable hooking your child into the safety system then the child can raise their hand and a staff member will come and hook or unhook them as needed.

Kate took right to it and climbed just about every wall. Anna took some getting used to the idea of climbing high but by the end of the hour she was climbing to the top of the easier walls. The hour flew by and the kids really had a tremendous time.

This would be a great place to hold a birthday party or just grab a group of friends and have fun. It offers a wide variety of climbing options of different skill levels so there was plenty for the kids to explore. An hour almost wasn't long enough. We will be back soon and often. What a blast.

401 s. 850 e. Suite c4 Lehi

801-717-1236

$18/hr unless you go with a group of 3 or more then it's $14-hr. To be safe call ahead and reserve your spot. They only allow roughly 20 climbers in at a time. 


Check Out their FACEBOOK PAGE

Although Influence Real Estate was not named after the laws in this book, it certainly could have been named after them.

If you haven't read The Go-Giver by Bob Burge and John David Mann it's worth an hour of your time to read through. It describes principles that we have built our business on and it describes the culture of Influence Real Estate. The agents that are drawn to Influence Real Estate are people who work by these laws. That's why we love our office so much.

I came across this on the Business Insider page and loved it.  I am constantly trying to remind myself not to make decisions based on fear.  

For the original article from the Business Insider click here.

Catching some Zzzzz. Heidi had her first four hour uninterrupted stretch of sleep last night in a month. This kid is one good kid but newborns no matter how good are still tough.