Wow, what a fun weekend here on Kauai.  My last post was just minutes before the start of Saturday's Koloa Plantation Days parade.  Here are a few more of that PLUS the cool rodeo we had the next day.  The guy in his cowboy outfit is ME having fun watching the parade right outside the office.  I can't think of a more fun way to do floor duty!  Now when people think of Kauai, do they think parades and rodeos?  Kauai is a little on the quiet side for people who live here so any diversion is a fun one.  And how cool is a real, bona fide rodeo?

More Koloa Plantation Days Parade Photos...

Would you use this guy as your Kauai real estate agent???  Why not, he knows how to mix fun with floor duty!

 

Koloa Plantation Days Parade...Bringing Up The Rear!

 

...And Some Koloa Plantation Days Rodeo Photos

Sunday's Koloa Plantation Days Rodeo.  Yes, they had cowgirls too!

 

Does she get her steer?

 

Ah, what fun but now it's back to selling real estate and sneaking in trips to the beach for another year!

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This has been an exciting week on Kauai as we celebrate the annual Koloa Plantation Days.  Today is the big parade with horses, antique cars, floats, hula dancers, and politicians.  I'm lucky to have a front row seat from the Century 21 real estate office.  Not only does the parade pass right by the windows but it forms just steps away.  Here is a photo of the parade that is starting just 5 minutes from now.

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Intro

I enjoy postings from others about how to improve web sites (including SEO tips) and am offering my own blog on the inline frame feature that I have found so useful. This posting was inspired by Sue Argue's posting earlier today. Thanks Sue!

Frames hit the scene long ago and then pretty much flamed out due to issues of frames within frames plus search engines that didn't categorize them well. Then inline frames came along and though similar in concept, they are much different in usability. I maintain my own web site but am pretty limited in scripting abilities (Java, cgi, etc). In some cases I have found inline frames to be an easy alternative to scripting that can dramatically improve a web site in both functionality and appearance. I now use inline frames to allow the user to cycle through all my listing photos without leaving the web page. Please accept my use of a page from my website as an example of the usefulness of inline frames and not a shameless self-promotion of my listings.

Inline Frames

First of all, I am using inline frames in this blog to show my website page which avoids having you leave ActiveRain and go to KauaiRocks. If you look further down the page to just past "Tour of Featured Properties", you will see my first listing entitled "Escape to a Private Paradise". I have several photos for this property and by clicking on a number on the bottom right of the listing, the photo displayed in the box changes which is pretty cool. I think those who are experts in scripting can probably set this up in Java or cgi but I'm not such an expert and in any case it's so simple using inline frames. This is much better than the crude approach I initially used (see following paragraph).

Before Inline Frames

Now compare the poor implementation in the second listing entitled "Convenient, Comfortable Halelani Village Condo". This one has not yet been converted to inline frames so what happens when you select a different image is that the primary web page is replaced by a page with only the new image. It does allow showing the other images but definitely is not classy or very functional and one must use the browser back button to return to the primary web page before selecting another image. Yuck, I'm embarassed I ever did it that way but it was all I knew at the time!

Community Thanks

I continue to look forward to posting by others with tips and suggestions on websites. I've learned a lot from this community and my Google rank has improved considerably thanks to those of you who have shared your insight.

If anyone out there uses an outdated browser version that doesn't support inline frames, then the information that follows will be replaced by "Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.". Messages like that should be a good incentive to go update your browser.

Inline Frame example from one of my web pages

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What is this "Absorption Rate" thing anyway and how can I make sense of the data for my clients?  Read on...

Recent blogs on absorption rate prompted me to share my own experience with this market parameter.  Absorption rate can best be thought of as the number of months it would take to sell all existing inventory based on current monthly rate of sales.  If no new listings were to come on the market, that is how many months would be required before the inventory was depleted.  I was introduced to absorption rate by a short but terrific article in the July 17, 2006 issue of Business Week entitled "Tips for Selling in a Changing Market" written by Chris Palmeri.  Of special value in that article was the author's characterization of bounds as "fine", "okay", "troublesome", and "not pretty".  It's always better to quote an outside authority than to try to characterize such things yourself.  I researched the Kauai market via our multiple list service and then created a column chart with color bands to show what was healthy and what was not (see the illustration below).  The color bands allow immediate interpretation as to health of each region of Kauai without struggling with exactly what the term absorption rate means.  In my case, I decided to show single family residential and condominiums separately.  One could also show it by price bands or whatever parameter you deem important.

Hope this is helpful in understanding absorption rate and how to make the data meaningful.  Let me know if you need tips on how to create the color bands in an Excel chart.

Special thanks to Sandi Bauman who got me thinking about this earlier today.

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