°

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON

2008-08-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

By Debbie Bulloch

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to harvest;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace

To everything there is a season. These are words that have comforted me ever since I first heard them. When I was a little girl and I was sad, my Mom would tell me not to run and hide from the sadness. She would tell me, “Debbie, enjoy your sadness don’t run away from it.” The first time my mother said that I thought she was crazy. After all, mothers are supposed to try to take away the sadness that children sometimes feel, not to encourage it. But then my mother explained to me that in Life, as sure as there is a time for sadness there will also be a time for joy; she told me not to allow the sadness make me stop what I was doing. She told me to keep moving because just around the corner Happiness was waiting for me. And she was right.

Today I write, with a great deal of sadness, that my dear friend, my SL Big Brother and ABC Homes’ General Manager, Mickey Geest is leaving ABC Homes. After helping build ABC Homes into a premier SL home sales company, sans pareil, Mickey will now turn his attention, and his talents, to the pursuit of new challenges.

All of us present and past ABC sales representatives, have many fond memories of working with Mickey. Mickey taught each of us how to rezz houses; he taught us how to use borders tool to make sure that houses were rezzed in the right location within the owner’s parcel; he taught us the proper way to install a TP (and avoid orbiting a customer into SL outer space); and he taught us to write notecards, with the XYZ coordinates and Z rotation, just in case something went wrong with a house (like deleting a wall) so the house could be re-rezzed in the same, exact location. Mickey taught us these and many other skills.

I can still remember Mickey spending time teaching me how to install TPs. I was very frustrated because I could not rotate the little buggers and make them fit into the wall. I wanted to just quit and simply pay someone to install the TPs for me. But Mickey never got upset, never got angry, and never grew impatient with my clumsiness and lack of hand to eye coordination. He was kind and gentle and he persevered until I was finally able to rotate and set a TP into the wall. I was as happy with my triumph as I was the first day that my father let go of my bike and I was able to ride down the street all by myself. Mickey was there to share my accomplishment and to tell me “See, I knew you could do it.”

Mickey did more than teach the sales representatives how to do “things.” He taught each one of us the importance of customer service. Mickey made sure that we all understood that customer service was a lifetime commitment, not just something that ended after the sale was made. Mickey led by his example. I have already written about how he came to my rescue when I literally destroyed my first ABC home. I had no idea how to fix the damage. I had a friend with me but all he could do was stand by and mutter to himself. Out of desperation I called Mickey, not really expecting the Sales Manager to show up and fix my problems. Within minutes he arrived at my house, looked at the damage I had caused and without missing a beat he put my house back together again. What was really amazing is that, unknown to me at the time, Mickey had just broken his right hand and it was extremely painful for him to operate the computer’s controls to repair my house. But Mickey never complained and never let me know how much pain he was in.

I have never forgotten how Mickey came to my rescue, like a knight in shining armor. So when I became an ABC sales representative I made it a point to follow Mickey’s lead and I made great customer service my first priority. There have been many times when I was hanging with friends or I was dancing at a club and I would get a call from a distraught customer asking for help. Like Mickey, I would stop whatever I was doing at the moment and I would go to help the customer the way that Mickey helped me.

And all the time while teaching us to be the best home sales reps in SL, Mickey never lost his sense of humor. English is the second, or third or fourth language for Mickey. He would still make jokes in English that sometimes lost something (or a lot) in the translation. Still, his valiant efforts at humor were very funny and it kept the sales staff entertained while we waited for customers. Mickey took the time to teach me Dutch words and phrases. In turn, I taught Mickey that ABC Homes are “inexpensive” and not ‘cheap.”

Mickey always worked long hours, tirelessly promoting ABC Homes. To many, Mickey WAS ABC Homes and vice-versa. In fact, many times when I told people that Mickey was the Sales Manager, their reply invariably was, “We thought that he was the owner.”

I know that ABC Home’s owner, Dawn Islander, joins me and the rest of the sales staff in saying: “Mickey, we will miss you and we wish you the best of luck.”

I know that I already miss having you around.

To everything there is a season. Even as we say au revoir to our dear Mickey, we at ABC Homes are getting ready to welcome some exciting changes. If you have not done so already, please visit our new store. The new store is set on a larger sim, allowing ABC to display houses for sale in a more natural setting. The furniture store carries a full line of quality furniture that will look awesome in any ABC home. Also, there will soon be new homes available for sale. In conjunction with our business partners, ABC will launch some very exciting promotions. Look for future announcements regarding these promotions and upcoming concerts hosted by ABC Homes.

To everything there is a season, indeed!

MY ABC DREAM HOME, By: SanPaul Held

2008-07-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

I am the proud (and happy) owner of an ABC Dream Home. By profession, I am a lawyer in SL and in RL. A few months ago I read an article that was published in the California Law Journal. The article talked about how lawyers and law firms are establishing a presence in SL. I already knew a little bit about SL. My dear friend, and ABC Homes Sr. Sales Rep., Debbie Bulloch had told me about her experiences in SL. It all sounded very interesting, so I decided to take the plunge.

From reading the article in the law journal I knew that I wanted to try practicing law in SL and see how that would go. Accordingly, one of my first decisions was to get some land and set up an office. This is where Debbie stepped right up to the plate. The first thing Debbie did was to set me up with some land. Because I did not know if I was going to stay in SL for a very long, she suggested that I rent a small parcel instead of buying land. Debbie has an extensive network of SL contacts and as it turned out, one of her friends had Linden Land for rent for a very low price. So Debbie arranged it for me to meet with her friend and before you could say ABRACADABRA I had rented a small plot of land—just perfect for a first time office.

The next question was to find a suitable office building. Originally, my plan was to get a small office building and then maybe buy some land and a home. But Debbie had other plans. She suggested that I buy a building that could be used both as an office and a house. What a clever idea!

In RL my very first office was a converted two-story house. The office was on the first floor of the house; the upstairs were my living quarters. It was not the best possible arrangement but it worked just fine for a young lawyer just getting started (plus the commute to work was very short which saved me both time and money).

So Debbie’s idea of selling me a house that could both serve as an office and as a home sounded great to me. We agreed to meet at the ABC Homes store and there Debbie took me on a tour of the store. I was surprised to see all the beautiful houses that the ABC builders had created. I was just awesome; there were ALL kinds of houses. There were simple, one-room cottages and there were multi-room, executive houses. The level of detail, as well as the quality of construction, was all very impressive.

After looking at all the beautiful homes sold by ABC Homes, we finally we arrived at the location of the house that Debbie had picked out as my perfect dream house-office. There, standing before me there was a very nice, very well made two story house. The house was called the Swiss Chalet. The house is one of Yucca Gemini’s designs and it was very nicely done.

I stepped inside and right away I knew this was the prefect building to house my office and my living space. As you can see from the photographs, the house looks small on the outside (perfect for my small parcel) but it is very large inside. As I looked around the inside of the house, I noticed all the nicely detailed touches. The window curtain system is very clever and it allows complete control over how much light to let in or how much privacy is desired. Instead of stairs, which take up so much room in a small house, the house has a simple and effective TP system.

One of the best things about ABC Homes is that they are full copy/full mod. This means that a homebuyer can modify his house; no two houses are exactly like. The full copy feature means that in the future, if I buy more land, I can rezz a full town full of houses (all different because they are full mod) and not have to spend another Linden on houses.

As nice as the Swiss Chalet, there were a few things that I wanted changed, to make the house feel truly mine. Debbie put me in touch with the builder and yucca met me at my house. Once there, I showed yucca what changes I wanted. In no time at all, yucca had made the modifications that I wanted and my house looked exactly the way that I wanted. I have taken some pictures to show you the charming outside of the house as well as the nicely done interiors. As you can see, the first floor makes a perfect setting for a law office.

I highly recommend ABC Homes for the purchase of your dream home. Everyone there is very nice and helpful. The Sales Manager, Mickey Geest, and the sales staff (sorry I do not remember all of their names) are always ready to help customers. Mickey has chosen a sales staff from Europe and the USA so customers are guaranteed that there will always be someone in-world to answer their questions. (Editor’s Note: ABC’s professionally trained sales staff includes Sez Innis, Reagan Nicholls, Xena Faulkes and Indra Yun). Sr. Sales Rep. Debbie Bulloch is a hard working sales rep. She goes out of her way to help customers realize their dream of home ownership. In my case she helped me get land I needed and the right house to put on the land. ABC’s owner, Dawn Islander, strives to provide quality homes and excellent after-sales service. Her philosophy has made ABC Homes the go-to place for home shopping.

Count me as another happy ABC customer. If you are looking for a house, come on down to ABC Homes, you will be pleasantly surprised.

SanPaul Held
July 23rd 2008

ABC Home sales verkauft auch Laden und Clubs.

2008-07-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hallo Leute, (english version is below)

Ich möchte euch gern Carsten Illios vorstellen. Er ist ein guter Kunde von ABC. Der Vorteil bei ABC ist das viele Verkäufer auch mehrere Sprachen können.
Carsten wurde immer in Deutsch geholfen. Das ist für uns normal. Der Kunde ist der König.
Carsten Illios hat beim letzten Mal einen Laden gekauft bei ABC. Dieser Laden ist - wie alles bei ABC - copy JA und mod 100 % und hat sehr wenig Prims (nur 205 prims für ein 4096 sqm). Schaut euch mal die Foto's an, wie schön er seinen Laden eingerichtet hat.
Ihr könnt Carsten gern kontaktieren, um diesen schönen Ort in SL zu besuchen.
Also, alle Deutschsprachigen können ruhig nach ABC kommen. Jedem wird geholfen, in Deutsch. Wir haben nur das beste für unsere Deutschen Freunde. Als Flame aus Belgien bin ich stolz, das ich auch die deutsche Sprache gut beherrsche. Die Deutschen sind die 3. größte Gruppe in SL, also sehr wichtig für alle Geschäfte. Tschüss bis zum nächsten mal.

Hi all, (Deutsche Version ist hier oben)

I would like to introduce you to carsten Illios. He is a good client of ABC. The advantage at ABC is that many sales people do speak a lot of languages. Carsten is allways helped in German. This should be like that. The client is the king. Carsten Illois did buy the last time a shop at ABC. This shop is - like all prefabs at ABC - copy YES and mod 100% and with very few prims (only 205 prims for a 4096 sqm). Look to these pics how nice carsten has decorated his shop. Feel free to contact carsten if you would like to visit his nice place in SL. All people who have German as their mothertongue can visit ABC, we will be pleased to help them in English or in German.
As a flemish person from Belgium, i am so proud to speak German as well. The German community is the third biggest community in SL, this makes them very important for all business trades. Take care and see you next time.

Mickey Geest
July 23 2008

Arizona Davies, owner of Arizona ABC house

2008-07-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Arriving in SL can be exciting and confusing with all the learning and doing things for the first time. All of us have experienced the first time we purchased a home and land. When I started looking for a home there wer so many options. Size, price, design. Where to turn?

I met Mickey when I came to ABC Homes and fell in love with a home on their lot but it currently had no information, price or purchase options. It had been delivered to ABC shortly before I had arrived and they were just getting it ready for sale. It was a low prim home with the basic build that was great for a first time home. Because it was so new, I was the first person to purchase the home currently known as "The Arizona". Many people that visited my grotto home could not tell that it was the same home currently seen at ABC Homes. A restyled the home again to an elegant style with a winding staircase and beautiful mural on the curved wall.

From a 512m lot, I now own the 65,536m openspace sim, Bound Ambitions - Dulcinea a D/s Retreat and still reside in "The Arizona" home that can fit a 512m lot.

Please enjoy the pictures of "The Arizona" in the two styles I have lived in.

Arizona Davies (owner of Dulcinea)

some pics of the Arizona house, where a staircase has been added :

some pics of the Arizona house, changed in a grotto :

Mickey Geest wrote :

"I did sell this new home to Arizona Davies. It did not have a name yet. And it was one of the very first homes we had for sale in the very beginning of ABC. We both agreed to give this house the name of the first buyer, Arizona."

Happy Customer

2008-07-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

Second Life is Grand, now that we have our beautiful new home. We purchased it from ABC Homes. The Californian is a gorgeous home. Best service I have seen on SL Grid so far. They will help you put it on your land, let you say where and when you want it. They will make sure you understand how to save it, rez it, use the locks on the doors and use the window tint systems.
It Looks Fabulous, go to the Sales Store and walk through some homes, they are all great looking and spacious. They provide L cost, and lots size needed for each home.
AWESOME experience, I would recommend them to all second life avi's who have not had the time or inclination to learn to build their own homes.
Meisha Verstandig July 2008

Testimonial from a happy ABC homeowner

2008-07-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

After finally finding the perfect parsel of land, I thought the "hard part" was over in creating my little corner of SL. I quickly discovered finding the right home for myself was even tougher! I was amazed at the plethora of ho-hum structures, and the ones that did catch my eye were far too high in primitives (what good is a beautiful home if you don't have enough prim counts left to decorate it?).

I then came across ABC homes. Wow. The selection was very extensive, from styles to sizes. Each home was clearly listed in price, size (both dimensions and the needed parcel size), and prim counts. I was floored (no pun intended) at how these beautiful houses could have such low primitive counts! And the homes were full of features and options (you could buy the same home with either stairs or teleporters, etc.). Everything from the scripts to lock the doors and tint the windows to the rez installer made placing and setting up my new home a breeze.

On top of the home itself, the sales and management staff of ABC are truly top notch; you feel like they are very interested in your happiness with the purchase and answer any questions after the sale. They walked me through the home and showed me how to use all the features, and have been very prompt in helping me with anything I needed with my home. Service after the sale is paramount, and ABC Homes delivers with a smile.

I couldn't be happier with my new Las Vegas 2 home, and Reagan Nicholls was the best sales agent I've encountered in Second Life. If you're looking for a new home, or looking to upgrade what you have now to the best of the best, I strongly recommend teleporting to ABC Home Sales!

Signed,
Synn Lorefield
July 04 2008

Interview with Reagan Nicholls - New sales rep at ABC Homes

2008-07-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here we are, standing in front of the new, beautiful ABC Homes sales building. We are almost ready for the big opening, so please stand-by for upcoming announcements. In the meantime, we would like you to meet one of our newest sales rep, Ms. Reagan Nicholls. Reagan was kind enough to take a few minutes away from her busy schedule to talk to me and answer a few questions for the ABC Homes Blog.

Hi Reagan, how are you doing today? I know you are busy, so thank you so much for taking time for this interview.

Hello Debbie, thanks for the interview, I look forward to reading it on the ABC Homes Blog

Debbie Bulloch: Reagan, when did you join SL?
Reagan Nicholls: I joined SL in May of 2007.

DB: So you recently celebrated your first SL birthday – Happy (and belated) SL birthday!
RN: Thanks, it was a lot of fun!

DB: What made you join SL?
RN: I had read about SL and so I became interested and wanted to see first hand what SL was all about. So I joined. One month led to another and next thing I was hooked. So here I am.

DB: I think that’s how it is for most of us; I know it was the same for me.
RN: Welcome to the club Deb!

DB: What are your favorite tings to do in SL, besides selling these wonderful homes?
RN: Well, I like to go clubbin, hang with friends and watch for the guys. Heeheehee. I also like making fun of other avi's … heeheehee. But that’s only when I’m bored.

DB: So other than clubbing what else do you do when you are not selling houses at ABC?
RN: When I'm not working here at ABC I switch over and become a neko kitty and go pouncing around.

DB: Sounds scary!
RN: Growlllllllllllllllllllllll

DB: How did you find out about ABC?
RN: I found out about ABC Homes through Mickey. One day I saw him at my previous job. Mickey was looking for new sales reps and I was looking for another job. So it all worked out. You can call it a match made in SL Heaven.

DB: Did you have any experience selling houses before joining ABC?
RN: Nope, this is the first time I sell houses in SL

DB: Have you learned any special skills since joining the ABC Homes to help you sell homes?
RN: Yes, Mickey taught me how to use the Border tool. He also taught me how to properly install houses, so the rotation and the XYZ coordinates are set right. By the way, that Border Tool is a real neat gadget.
DB: Yep. Customers are always impressed when they see the little bot flying around their property, setting up the border panels.

DB: Do you have a favorite house at ABC?
RN: Yes
DB: Which one?
RN: The New Hampshire. It is a beautiful executive home.
DB: Well, you know that after six months working at ABC you get a free house of your choice…hint, hint!

DB: Tell me about your best selling experience so far.
RN: Sold 3 houses in one day.
DB: That is really good, especially for a new salesperson. You should teach me some of your techniques.

DB: At ABC we have customers from all over the world. Do you speak any foreign languages?
RN: Nope, just good old English. But I can use a translator device and I can always call on Mickey, who speaks a bunch of languages, or any of the poly-lingual sales reps. So communicating with a client is never a problem.

DB: Do you have any special messages for people considering buying a home from ABC?
RN: I sure do. In the past, when I had been house hunting, I spend days on end just looking for the right house. ABC Homes has the best houses I have seen in SL. Good prices and low-prims. Had I known about ABC, my house hunting wouldn’t have taken me days. I am very picky about my house and the look and feel of ABC is very authentic. ABC Homes is the first place to come when choosing the right house.

Well Reagan, thank you for your time. And I agree with you 100%. Whether a person is a newbie or an experienced in-world resident, the place to make your home ownership dreams come true is at ABC Homes.

(NOTE: ABC Homes has recently added five new sales reps. Please stay tuned for more interviews featuring our newest staff members).

Customers service is very important

2008-07-03T01:46:00.001-07:00

I recently had the pleasure to get a call from a long-time customer of ABC Homes. She had recently bought more land and she was now ready to buy a new home. The client wanted a bigger house; she also wanted a house of the same style and quality as her old ABC home. I was very happy to hear from her again and I was even happier to hear that she was coming back to ABC Homes to look for her new dream house. I took the customer for a tour of the store and showed her some of the new dream houses at ABC Homes. After a while, the customer found her dream home and bought it right on the spot! ABC Homes are full mod, so one of our builders will work with the customer to make a few changes and additions to make this house a truly unique showcase of the costumer’s lifestyle.

This client bought her first home at ABC Homes. I still remember that initially she had a few problems with her new purchase. Due to SL glitches (and we all know about those dreaded SL glitches) parts of her home were deleted several times. Each time the client had a problem with her new home I assisted her, at no charge, with the repairs. Although I am the Sales Manager and I am supposed to be busy doing other things, I personally receive a great deal of pleasure helping customers with their building problems. I was once myself a newbie and I always appreciated it when more experienced in-world residents helped me with their problems. Helping customers is not only a pleasure, but it is also part of the customer-service experience that puts ABC Homes way ahead of the competition. At ABC Homes we are not happy with a sale until you, the customer, are 100% satisfied with your new house.

The fact that a long-time customer came back to ABC Homes means that, in addition to great dream homes at affordable prices, we also offer superior customer service. Our five-person sales team is always ready to help customers.

Debbie Bulloch (Senior Sales Rep),

Reagan Nicholls,

Sez Innis,

Xena Faulkes

and Indra Jun

are always available to help all new and old ABC clients. Our sales staff comes from all over the world (including three different US time zones) which means that we have virtually 24 hour coverage. No matter when a customer is in-world, there is an ABC sales rep available to assist. New visitors are welcomed at ABC in a personal, friendly way. There is NO spam, no push to sell, no hassles; at ABC Homes we simply want to help our customers realize their dreams of SL homeownership. Customers often tell how pleased they are with ABC’s approach to sales. Clients often tell me that at many other companies there is no personal connection, like we have at ABC. That is not to say that there are no other good companies out there; at ABC Homes we simply put the customer ahead!

In fact, our Sr. Sales Rep. is an ABC Homes customer service success story. As a newbie, Debbie bought a house from another prefab company. When she ruined her home during installation (as many newbies often do) Debbie contacted the owner of the store. After a long wait, the owner finally helped Debbie but he charged her a huge sum of money for the repairs; at ABC Homes we never charge for repairs. (Editor’s Note: The owner of that other store was also mean and rude to Debbie. See the 04.06.2008 blog article by Sr. Sales Rep Debbie Bulloch). I first met Debbie when she finally bought a home from ABC Homes. She had a few problems with her first ABC house house and so I immediately came to her assistance. The problems were fixed quickly and for free. Debbie was so impressed with our customer service that she joined our sales team!

Whether you are a newbie or an experienced in-world resident, if you are searching for your dream home, then come on down to ABC Homes. All of you are most welcome to contact me or any member of the ABC sales team. You will get very good service. People are very important to us; happy customers are what keep ABC Homes growing.

See you all at ABC!

Mickey Geest
July 02 2008

ABC FEATURED HOME OF THE WEEK – The FLORIDA BEACH CONDO

2008-05-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

The Florida Condo.

Hello once again. This is Debbie Bulloch, your fearless blogger and ABC Homes sales representative "sans pareil." (That’s a French phrase. It is not that I think that I am unique, though some people may disagree; it is just that I am learning French and my French teacher, Monsieur Arcabulle Odriscoll insists that I practice ALL the time – Mon Dieu!). But enough about me.

ABC Home Sales is proud to bring to you two new and exciting homes. One is the Florida Beach Condo, the other is the Miami Mansion. And if you look closely, you will notice that there is a central theme running through these two wonderful new homes.

Can you guess what that theme may be? Come on…is not all that hard…do you need a hint? Well, if you open a map of the U.S.A. and look at the East Coast, specifically Florida, you will see that Miami is in Florida. (Yes, I know there is a Miami in Ohio, but that was not the original inspiration for the Miami Mansion). So we have a FLORIDA condo and a MIAMI mansion. See the pattern?

These two wonderful new homes are the real deal! I had the good luck (or misfortune, depending on how you feel about the state that brought us the term “hanging chads”) of living in Miami for a brief period of my life. While in Miami I met some wonderful people, ate great food and spent time dancing the night away to the beat of Cuban conga drums! Ay que rico chico!

During the time that I spent in Miami I had the opportunity to visit many of Miami’s famous neighborhoods, like Miami Spring, Coral Gables and South Miami Beach. I can tell you that after having seen many examples of South Florida architecture, these two new home offerings from ABC Homes are the real McCoy! Either of these new homes would fit in perfectly in any of Miami’s best neighborhoods. And guess what? Either of these two homes will fit perfectly on your parcel of SL land. At ABC Home sales we are specialists at making dreams, your dreams, come true.

OK, now that I have built up enough anticipation, let’s go directly to the Florida Condo and see what it has to offer.

As you approach the condo, the first thing that you will notice are all the windows. There are big windows all over! Unless you are a mushroom and prefer cold, dark and damp places, this home’s light and airy style will simply grab you. Look at all these windows and now imagine yourself sitting in the Florida Condo’s living room, drinking daiquiris and looking out the window and onto a beautiful, white sand beach – your own beach! Can life get any better?

Now come with me and let’s go right inside. Once inside you look around the downstairs living area and you say to yourself. “WOW this is real nice and big and open.” Then you look around and notice that there are no TP buttons. “How do I get upstairs?” you ask the friendly sales representative. She smiles (Mandy, Lysa and I do a lot of smiling!) and at the touch of a button a stairs descends from the ceiling and you feel like Robert Plant himself is right next to you singing a few bars of “Stairway to Heaven.”

The friendly ABC Homes sales representative leads you upstairs to the master bedroom. The master bedroom, like the living room below, is surrounded by large windows that give the happy homeowner a clear view of his land. Keeping with the Florida theme, these windows can be fully tinted in order to keep the hot, midday Florida Sun out (as well as prying eyes!). Imagine your own love nest in the bedroom of the Florida condo, a nice bed with a few sexy pose balls and you and your intended are ready to trip the light fantastic.

After you and your honey are through having fun, you can both step outside and enjoy the beautiful summer weather. The master bedroom doors lead right to the second floor deck. The deck is huge and it is perfect for intimate get-togethers with your sugar pie or, if you prefer, you can load a few party pose balls and have a wonderful party with your friends. Either way, the second floor deck is a lovely addition to a wonderful, lovely home.

What impresses potential customers from the first time they lay eyes on the Florida condo, and continues to impress them as they walk through the condo, is the attention to every potential detail. And what is really impressive is that all of this is available with a low prim count (54 prims) and extremely competitive price ($1000L). ABC homes has built its reputation on offering just what the customer wants: quality homes with a low prim count and for low prices. The Florida Beach condo is no exception.

At this point in the tour, may I offer a suggestion? It occurred to me, as I walked through the condo, that this is a perfect structure for a home-office set up. Think about it; the living area could easily be transformed into a professional office: a doctor’s office, a lawyer’s office or an accountant’s office. The second floor can then be used as the owner's living quarters.

I have seen many homes successfully converted into an office-home combination. Having your office downstairs from your living quarters could dramatically cut back on your commute time. Well, I KNOW we don’t worry about commute time in SL (we can fly or TP anywhere we want). Still it is a nice point to consider. I have a very dear friend who converted the Swiss chalet that he purchased at ABC into a home-office combination. SanPaul Held (who is a lawyer in RL and in SL) set up his law offices on the first floor of the Swiss Chalet. His private, personal quarters are upstairs. Thus, using just one structure SanPaul can address the need for an office and a home. This is yet another example of how ABC Homes can make your SL dreams come true.

Well, that is all for today. Please stay tuned for my next article, where I take you on a magical, mystery tour through the Miami Mansion. Also, please be on the look out for future articles featuring ABC’s exciting summer line-up of new homes and other products. I think that you will simply be amazed at the homes and other products that ABC has lined up for you--our loyal customer. ABC Home is growing and as we grow, we will be able to make even more dreams come true.

Now for the “technical” stuff:

BASIC INFORMATION:

House/Build name: The Florida Beach Condo
Base Size: 20 x 20 meters
Prim count: 54 prims
Full Mod/ Copy / NO Transfer
Min. Lot size: 1024 sqm
PRICE: $1000 L

DESIGN FEATURES:

1) Single control panel for all the window tinting and door locks!
2) Notecard inside control panel for adding residents to your home access list!
3) Indoor stairs go UP! and go DOWN! with one single CLICK.
4) Large, second floor deck off main bedroom!
5) Custom placement of your home is available for only $100 L

Debbie Bulloch
May 14, 2008

ABC FEATURED HOME OF THE WEEK -- THE YUCCA JAPAN HOUSE

2008-05-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

Greetings in-world residents and welcome to ABC Home Sales – where we make your SL home ownership dreams come true. (Happy May Day)

I am Debbie Bulloch, one of ABC’s friendly and helpful sales representatives. If you have been following the ABC Home Sales Blog, every week we feature one of our fine homes. Last time, I wrote a two-part feature on the Las Vegas house, one of the most elegant and feature laden home offered at ABC – and anywhere else in ABC for that matter.

This week we turn our spotlight on one of our smallest houses – the Yucca Japan house. I have previously written a small blurb about the Yucca Japan house. This week, however, I will take you on a full tour of this delightful house. So please get in line and follow along with me.

The first thing you will notice about the Japan House is its low, low price, only $1000L, and its low prim count, only 38 prims. The home’s designer, Ms. Yucca Gemini, is a talented builder who is able to pack a lot of desirable features in an attractive package, for a very reasonable price and an amazingly low prim count. Ms. Gemini is not only a talented builder, but she is also extremely generous of her time and talents. A group of friends and I recently started a shelter for homeless in-world residents. Ms. Gemini designed and built a very attractive four-unit building for the shelter’s residents. She added furniture (that she makes herself) and even landscaped the grounds of the shelter. All of this at a very low prim count. (Incidentally, I wish to personally thank everyone who has generously assisted with this project, including ABC’s owner, Dawn Islander, and my boss at ABC, Mickey Geest. They both have allowed me to take time off from my obligations at ABC to work on the shelter project. Dawn, merci beaucoup! Mickey, dank je!). If you wish to visit the Between Homes SL homeless shleter project please follow the attached LM: Haven for the Homeless, Bluenose (157, 90, 96). If you like what you see, please add it to your picks. And if you feel up to it, you can even make a small (or large) donation at the rooftop tip jar. Thank you.

Anyhow, back to the Yucca Japan house tour. When you stand in front of the house you will notice the large, beautiful, blue double doors. The door can be partially opened (one panel) or fully opened (both panels). As with all ABC homes the door to the Yucca Japan house can be locked, so that only the owner may open it. Or, the owner can add friends to the door locking system, to allow full entry to the friends. The owner may also add “enforcers” to the door. The enforcers have permission to add their own friends to the door’s lock. This gives the owner full control over the door locking system or, if desired, the owner may delegate his control to a trusted friend (the “enforcer”).

Once inside the Japan house, you will notice the light, airy construction. The dark, wood plank floors give the house a solid look and feel. The Japan house featured in this article is owned by a very dear and close friend of mine, Ms. Xanadu Dominquez. She furnished the living room with Japanese-style furniture, giving the house a real authentic and homey feeling. Just look how well the furniture fits in with the house’s design. Incidentally, the Japanese-style furniture that you see in these pictures is designed by Mr. Torix Jameson, a very talented and creative furniture designer, and is available for sale at ABC homes. Stop by ABC’s furniture store and see some of the amazing furniture sets available for sale. Like everything else sold at ABC, the quality is high, the prim count is just right and the prices are incredibly affordable!

Now follow me to the first floor backroom. This very spacious room can be used for a number of different purposes. In this particular model, the room is furnished with a very attractive rug and sitting (pose) pillows. The area rug and pillows were designed by Ms, Gemini and are available for sale at her store, humorously called Blah by Yucca!. [If you wish to vist Yucca's store and see some of hte fine items that she has for sale, please follow the enclosed LM: Blah! By Yucca (187, 79, 140)]

The Yucca Japan house is equipped with a full tint system. The window tint system has a four-level setting: from transparent (fully opened) to dark (fully closed). The four-position tinter system allows for light to privacy and everything in between.

The Yucca Japan is equipped with a TP system, so press the TP button and come with me to the house’s second floor. The second floor follows the same general design plan of the first floor using dark wood planks for flooring. In keeping with traditional Japanese homes, the second floor is open to allow light and fresh air. In the corner, there is a wooden hot tub. You can sit in the tub with your significant other and share a cozy embrace!

The second floor includes a large balcony. Before we step over to the balcony please take a look at the wonderfully detailed, wood-cut panel. The panel depicts, in beautiful detail, typical Japanese scenes. It is simply amazing that a house using only 34 prims could offer such attention to detail and so many high-class features. Well, maybe amazing for some other home seller, but not amazing at ABC!

Step through the panel doors (which are also fully lockable, like the front door) and you will find yourself on the house’s balcony. The large balcony is a perfect place to enjoy a cool drink while watching the sun set. Or, if you are inclined to more spiritual pursuits you can sit on the floor and spend time doing meditation exercises. The hanging seat baskets that you see in these pictures were also designed by Ms. Gemini and are available at her Blah! store.

As we conclude this tour of the Yucca Japan house, take one final look at this house, set by the beach, and imagine that this is your new dream home. At ABC we specialize in making dreams come true. Come by, talk to one of our friendly sales representatives and let her show you how affordable your dreams truly can be.

Debbie Bulloch
May 1, 2008

Dec 1 - 2006 : Mickey is born in SL

2008-04-25T13:21:00.001-07:00

How does a person start with Second Life (aka SL)? I heard a lot about it in the local media. Some friends in real life (aka RL) were hooked on the 3-D virtual world. I hesitated some time to actually create an account for SL, but as you know, curiousity is the devil of the human mind.

I finally created an account for SL. I chose a neutral first name 'Mickey'. It had to be a name that was easy for others to remember. My choise for a last name is a clue for other 'Dutch' people in SL. Geest is a Dutch word, means 'ghost' or 'spirit'. Not one normal real English speaking person would ever choose that last name 'Geest' LOL.

I arrived at the welcome zone of SL and immediately I met a nice 5 month old resident Marty.

Marty is a technical writer in RL for a very reputated pharmacetical company in the USA. She made me feel comfortable right away. She explained to me in 10 minutes how the use the basic options. (general chat, private chat, add a friend, create a landmark, ....) And above all, like in all worlds, Marty told me where to earn my first money (Linden$). I was very eager to make a fortune in SL LOL. Perhaps from some influance of my RL studies and jobs I have done in RL (lmao)?

Marty took me to a place called Butterfly Island to 'camp'. Camping on a spot pays money. She told me to sit down, and do nothing more. I will never forget her words there: ....'Mickey, it's late, go to sleep now, leave your computer online, and when you wake up, you will be rich' ... .

In those days, most newbies camp to earn money (Lindens are the money and notated with a dollar sign behind the amount). Camping paid well there, 3$ per 10 minutes or even 4$/10 minutes. Today, campers are only paid 1$/15 mins or even 1$/20 mins. I was lucky (ROFL). Because I made good money, I could buy good feedback for my friends in SL. It went into their Profile so everyone could see it. Each feedback comment cost 50$. When you were looking for an SL job, owners did look at your Profile, which tells information like: how old are you in SL; do you have RL credit card payment information on file; do you have good feedback, etc ... . The feedback menu was removed almost a year ago though.

I was told that it used to be, way back, that everyone had to pay 10$ each time they wanted to teleport (TP) from one place to another. This was before my time. I love to TP in SL, I would have been bankrupt today (LMAO).

My first week in SL, I used CTRL F (Find Feature) to look for other camping places. I did find a place, 'Ami's', which paid 3$/10 minutes at that time. This camping place does not exist any longer. I like to talk and to meet a lot of people, and soon I met the owner Ami. Ami is a wonderfull person, she showed me around. And not like some other camping spot owners, Ami did respect all of the campers, her employees, her staff, ... .

I met Yucca as well at Ami's. Yucca is a wonderfull person, who has build some very nice homes at ABC home sales now. I started to make my first 'flexi prim shoes' at Ami's while camping LOL. I used camera control to build underneath my campseat. Ami did find my lost prims sometimes and she smiled. She asked me to be more carefull. I wondered then how Ami found out they were mine! (LMAO). Like Yucca, and many others, I grew tired of camping for money in SL. It was boring and you did not get paid enough to fulfill all your wildest fantasies in SL.

I started as a sales rep for a prefab company. I earned good money there, and the manager of the custom services taught me a lot. This job was perfect for me. I earned money. I could use my knowledge of the 5 languages that I speak, and I could develop a skill in SL (building and such...).

Then one day, I met my first wife in SL, Skye. I sold her a house, but I did not tell her the salesperson came with the house LMAO. I want to thank Skye for all the good times, if she reads this weblog. We are divorced now.

I never lost my good contacts like Marty, Yucca, and Ami, ... .
Ami did meet me often, we chatted and talked about many things. Ami decided to create a new prefab company in SL: Ami's Building Corporation = ABC. I was asked to become the sales manager there. And still today, I work at ABC, and I love and adore my job.

I have met a new GF now in SL, lysa, whom I love very much.

If you haven't tried SL, give it a try, just go to www.secondlife.com and press the orange Get Started button, it's free! Who knows, maybe you will meet a person like Marty that will give you a lesson like 'How to become a salesperson in SL' (LMAO). I'll hope to see you all at ABC Home Sales.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my curriculum vitae (CV) of SL.

Take care
Mickey Geest
04.25.2008

Florida Beach Condo - 1,024 sqm

2008-04-25T02:37:00.000-07:00

A new house is up for sale at ABC home sales now.

House/Build name: The Florida Beach Condo
Base Size: 20 m x 20 m
PRIMS: 54 Mod/ Copy / NO Trans
Min Lot size: 1,024 sqm
PRICE: 1,000 Linden$

FEATURES:
1) Control Pannel does all the Window tinting and door locks!
2) notecard inside control panel for adding anyone to your home access list!
3) Stairs go UP!, single CLICK retraction!
4) 2cd floor deck off main bedroom!

The controller of the florida Beach Condo can only be programmed by the owner of the house. Visitors can no longer tint windows like that. Owner has to add them on the notecard ' Name_List ' inside content of the controller, while editing it.
Name_List
//In the rows below, add names of people authorized to control the house. Add one name per row:
Mickey Geest
Dawn Islander
Mandy Marksman
Debbie Bulloch
Lysa Chaffe
...
After adding new names, owner has to update the menu on the controller to activate new added persons.

The following options are available in the controller menu :
lock house
unlock house
tint windows
update user
print users
reset

IMPORTANT : owner of house has to open the menu of controller, and hit one time 'RESET', just after he has rezzed AND saved the house, to activate the controller system.
The fact that the owner hits reset, makes that a specific channel is activated for that house. Same houses with same controller system will use a different channel. Each rezzed AND saved home will have each time a different tinter channel, after the owner has hit the 'RESET' option one time in the controller menu.Perfect for renters.

As allways, ABC home sales is adding new homes of the highest quality and with low prims. We offer the best custom service for prefabs in sl as well. Feel free to contact me in world, if you have more questions about this house or ABC. Huggs all.

Mickey Geest
04.25.2008

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Ven conmigo. Vamos a echar una cana al aire!

Give Me Land Lots of Land.......

2008-04-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first of my occasional posts on land in SL, what it is, and how you deal with it. I'm KT and I'll be telling you off and on about SL land, from the basics to as complicated as I can get. I don't work for ABC, but I recommend their homes on all the land I sell (shameless self promotion), due to their fantastic quality and great customer service. So lets look at land........

Land can be divided into 2 types (actually many types, but we're starting simple remember) - mainland and islands. Mainland is controlled by Linden Labs themselves whilst islands are controlled by the people that buy them. For now lets look at mainland.

Unlike real life, where they're not making any more of it, Linden Labs occasionally make and release new mainland to the market. Any new mainland released is bought direct from Linden Labs and they set the terms and conditions of the land - you have some control over what you can do there (media, ban people, raise and lower it a bit) but you're pretty fixed. It does sell in small sections often (land is generally divided and sold in units of 512m2 - so 512, 1024, 1536, 2048m2 etc), so can be cheap to buy for a first land buyer. At the time of writing, I reckon 5000 - 6000L is a good price for 512m2, but as anything, you'll find bargains and 'overly optimistic' people, so look around. You need to have a premium account to buy mainland, but the first 512m2 you buy doesn't attract any maintenance fees, or tier, so saving that stipend you get with a premium account and not buying clothes (nooooooooooooo!!!) would see you into your first section reasonably quickly.

Thats it for now. Next time I'll look at islands and explain tier a bit more. I you have any comments, questions, or disagreements, feel free to email me at ktsyakumi@gmail.com, or send me an IM in world.
See you next time!

KT

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

No tengo muchas novedades que contar.

A mis amigos de habla Hispana. En ABC Home Sales tenemos muchos diferentes modelos de casas. Tenemos casas para todo los presupuestos. Si estan interesados en comprar una lujosa casa, a un precio buenisimo, escribanme (un IM) y enseguida les doy la informacion que desean y el precio que buscan.

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-21T11:01:00.001-07:00

Ven conmigo y juntos seremos feliz.

HI! Welcome to ABC Homes

2008-04-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hello! My name is Dawn Islander. ABC Homes is one of the many Businesses I manage thru my Secondlife Corporation, Ami Corp. Often I am asked " Whats the Secret to your business Successes in Secondlife?" , simply put, it all revolves around 3 things....1) Customer Service - People love to have someone there to assist them with their purchases when buying a home. 2) Customer Service - Letting the Customer know Instantly they are appreciated upon arrival. and finally 3) CUSTOMER SERVICE - we have the BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM in secondlife!
Come visit the lot and "FEEL" for yourself, the Quality of the homes, the Service of our Sales Team, and you'll Enjoy your visit ! If you have ideas on modifying a home on our lot slightly different then you see, we offer those services to help you! We want YOU, the Customer to KNOW, we want your Secondlife Home to be the Paradise you want it to be, no matter the size of your lot!
I am so very Thankfull to have the TEAM of sales experts we have to help our customers! Come let them show you how to make your Secondlife the very best it can be in luxuary living!
Thank You for checking our Blog! Check it often for more Exciting news of upcoming Homes, Events, and lots of FUN things going on at ABC Homes!
HUGGS!
Dawn Islander
04.19.2008

FEATURED ABC HOME OF THE WEEK - THE LAS VEGAS - PART WO

2008-04-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

The Las Vegas model (for parcels of 4096 sq. meters or larger)

Howdy friends. Today I will continue with ABC’s ongoing series of articles highlighting one of our wonderful homes. This week’s featured home is the Las Vegas model and this is Part Two of the article.

In Part One of this article, I took you on a guided tour of the lower and middle levels of the spacious and very elegant Las Vegas model. Now I will take you on a tour of the rest of the home. If you are as impressed with the Las Vegas many outstanding features, as I was the first time I saw it, I am certain that you will immediately head down to ABC Homes and buy your own.

The upper level of the Las Vegas model features what many consider to be this home’s pièce de résistance -- the indoor pool and fully-scripted hot tub! Mere photographs cannot fully convey the beauty and elegance of the Las Vegas indoor pool. Look at the beautiful marble floors! Look at the clear blue waters! Look at the panoramic glass ceiling! Now imagine yourself sitting by the pool’s edge, holding your honey in your arms, toes dipped in the pool’s cool water, while looking at the night sky, full of stars. What could possibly be more enchanting? Well, I am so glad that you asked.

Take a look here. Off in a corner of the upper level pool area is the beautiful, fully scripted hot tub. Surrounded by the same detailed marble tiles; the hot tub is a nice finishing touch to the pool area. Now take a closer look at the hot tub itself. At the touch of a button (well three buttons to be precise) the Las Vegas’ hot tub offers three, full preset settings.

Button 1: empty out all the water from the hot tub; Button 2: fill up the tub with fresh water and feel as the water jets surround you with a soothing massage; and Button 3: the water heats up causing clouds of steam to rise from the water. You and your sweetheart, sitting in the hot tub, surrounded by rising steam clouds, sipping expensive champagne: viva l’amour!

If your idea of entertainment involves large number of people (let’s be discreet here!) then the pool area in the Las Vegas home provides the perfect place to host a party for as few or as many of your friends as you like. Even in the dead of winter you can always enjoy your pool. And if the weather is nice, then you can move your party to the outdoor terrace right outside the pool area. The terrace is the ideal place to hold an outdoor party. Place a few dance pose balls and soon your friends will be dancing the night away. A small bar (like the one you see in the picture) and a jukebox and you have the makings of a great time. Of course, if you prefer to be alone with your significant other, just bring out a couple of patio chairs, fill a thermos with your favorite drink (mojitos and daiquiris for me, please) and sit next to each other enjoying a beautiful sunset (or sunrise) brought to you by Second Life’s latest viewer.

The upper level of the ABC Homes Las Vegas model is not just for fun times. I have my office, the very place where I write the articles that you read on the ABC Home Sales blog, on the upper level of my house. (That’s me sitting at my work table, please be sure to wave as you walk past!) The space now occupied by my office was previously taken up by the staircase’s landing. But because I had the staircase removed and TPs installed instead, I was able to use the free space for my personal office. I like looking out to the pool area (to keep an eye on my friends as they play Marco Polo) so I kept the glass wall and open entrance. If you purchase Ver. 2, the space where my office is located has been turned into a second bedroom, perfect for the growing family. Whichever model you chose, however, you will end up with a beautiful home that will fulfill your dreams of homeownership in SL.

After a long day of selling houses, writing articles and frolicking in the pool with friends, it is time to retire for the night. The Las Vegas’ master bedroom, located high on a corner of the home, offers complete privacy. As you can see from these photographs, the master bedroom is huge. Here you will have room for that king-sized bed, complete with pose balls to satisfy all of your nighttime desires (Hmmmmm!!!). There are two huge windows to let in the outside lights. Of course, with the separate tinter system I had installed in my house, I can “close” the bedroom windows, while home’s other windows remain wide open.

Next to the bedroom is the master bathroom. The picture does not give you a complete idea of how spacious the bathroom is (I need to buy a new, wide-angle lens). You will just have to look for yourself when you visit the ABC Home Sales store. If you do not want to use this space for a bathroom (do SL avatars really need a bathroom?) you can turn this room into anything you like. You may even want to use the additional space to set up a nursery for that new bambino or bambina. ABC Home Sales is the place where all of your dreams may come true.

Well, I must now say goodnight. As you leave out the front door, please take a moment and swing on the old tire hanging from the pink kissing tree. And if you are fortunate enough to have a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or even a furryfriend in your life, pause for a minute or two, and give him, her or it a long, passionate kiss. Second Life is the place to come, make new friends and pass the time in their company. ABC Home Sales is the place to make your SL dreams come true.

Ciao y’all! (Yes, they do have cowboys in Italy, remember all those Clint Eastwood movies!)

Good night.

Debbie Bulloch
04.18.2008

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-18T13:58:00.000-07:00

Si te portas bien, te dare un helado de fresas.

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-17T13:38:00.001-07:00

Dime con quien andas, y te dire quien eres!

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-16T10:24:00.001-07:00

Quien bien te quiere te hará llorar.

(Please stay tuned for Part Two of my article featuring the Las Vegas model. Gracias!)

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

Caras vemos, corazones no sabemos.

ABC FEATURED HOME OF THE DAY : THE LAS VEGAS (4,096 sqm)

2008-04-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

Howdy fellow in-world residents. Today I will continue my series of posts highlighting one particular ABC home. Today’s spotlight shines brightly on the Las Vegas model.

The Las Vegas is another one of ABC’s full featured executive-type homes. The Las Vegas model comes in two different versions. The “standard” version comes with a beautiful spiral staircase leading to the top floor. The TP version does away with the staircase, thus saving prims and giving the buyer more floor space. Like every ABC home, the two versions of the Las Vegas are full copy and full mod (in case you missed my explanation of these two terms in my earlier posts I will explain them later on this post). All the windows are tintable for privacy (there are four tint levels). The doors in the Las Vegas model, like the doors in all other ABC homes, can be locked so that only you and your closest friends can gain access to the house’s interior. Both versions are designed for a 4096 sq. meter lot and both are valued priced at only $6000L.

I first came across the Las Vegas model as an ABC customer. An old friend of mine and I were walking around the ABC lot, just looking, when we saw the Las Vegas model. We went inside and right away were impressed with the sheer size of the home’s interiors. The Las Vegas features three levels of living space: an entry, foyer level, a middle level and the upper level living quarters. My friend and I climbed the beautiful winding stairway and went upstairs. When we made it to the upper level we were both greeted by what I think is the Las Vegas finest feature: a huge indoor pool and full featured hot tub. My friend and I sat by the edge of the pool and looked at the stars through the Las Vegas glass ceiling. The SL moon and stars were such a beautiful sight, that we both completely forgot that our shoes were getting soaking wet. LOL

Right then and there I decided that as soon as I bought a bigger parcel I would buy a Las Vegas model of my own. Sure enough, as soon as a nice corner lot became available I bought the parcel and marched down to ABC Homes to buy the Las Vegas model. Fortunately for me, Dawn Islander was running a special Wheel of Fortune promotion on all ABC homes purchases. This is how the promotion worked: after buying and paying for a house, the new owner would go to the Wheel of Fortune, pick a number, spin the wheel and watch for his number to come up. If the wheel stopped at the exact same number chosen by the buyer, the home was 100% free. If it landed on any other number, the buyer would get a percentage back, off the purchase price, equal to the number that came up on the wheel. I am not very lucky when it comes to games of chance, so I did not get the home for free. But the number that did come up was high enough that Dawn ended up refunding me a big percentage of the purchase price. (Dawn and ABC Home Sales often run promotions designed to help customers buy their dream home. Right now ABC Home is running a very popular lucky chair contest. Look for new announcements on this blog! )

Soon as I bought the house, Sales Manager Mickey Geest, rezzed the house on my land and voila! in a matter of minutes I was the proud owner of a new, luxurious home.

Now let me take you on a room-by-room tour of my home so that I can demonstrate to you some of the finest features of the Las Vegas model and so you can see an example of the fine products sold by ABC Homes. Please ignore the mess; I gave the maid the week off. (Just kidding, I don’t have a maid.)

The first thing one notice when entering the Las Vegas model is the beautiful foyer. The marble floors are very impressive, as is the wall separating the entrance area from the other side of the ground level. In my particular case, I use the diving wall to separate the two areas. I also use it to place some artwork. One ABC customer took the entire middle wall down and turned the entire ground floor into one huge dance floor, complete with colored lights and a full featured bar! Because all ABC homes are fully mod (there goes that term again, full mod means that the owner of the house can change any of the interior features, move walls, delete stairs, whatever he wants to do in order to customize his own home) deleting walls is an easy task and houses can be changed into any interior configuration. Of course, if he homeowner is not comfortable with his build skills, we have builders who are fully capable of doing custom work.

On the other side of “the wall” (any Pink Floyd fans here?) is my living room area. Attached to the wall is my big screen HDTV. I may be just a girl, but I know exactly what guys like: a big screen TV to watch sports!

Let me pause here to explain a very special feature made possible by the Las Vegas multi-level design. The Las Vegas, like many ABC homes has big windows all around. In RL I live in So. California, the land of eternal sunshine, so I love houses with lots of big windows. Of course, one drawback of having too many big windows is the potential lack of privacy. The ABC home tint system works just fine to let in light or secure privacy. But in the Las Vegas home all the windows are tied to the same tinter system. This means that if you want the windows “closed” in the living room, then ALL of the windows are closed. I didn’t like cutting out light to portions of the house just to have privacy in one area. Fortunately for me, the multi-level design of the house made it easier to install separate tinter systems. As you can see from the attached photographs of the outside of my home, you can tint down the windows on one section of the house, while leaving the rest of the other windows wide open. Let the sunshine in!

Next, let’s move over to the mid-level. In my particular Las Vegas home I use the middle level area as my music room. I love piano music, so that is where my piano is. Please note how the windows are open in this section of the house. With the separate tinter system that I previously mentioned, I can sit and play my piano and look out the window at the beautiful ocean while the windows in other areas of the house are closed for privacy.

Remember at the beginning of this post I mentioned that Las Vegas home comes in two versions, one with a spiral stair case and one with a TP system? My own model came with a spiral staircase. Now if you look at the second picture of the mid-level area you will see a nice area rug with two comfy pillows - that is where the staircase used to be. I had it removed and look at the extra floor space that I gained. With the full-mod feature included in all ABC homes you can customize your house to better serve your needs and tastes.

I think I will stop the tour here. On my next post I will show the upper living area, including my bedroom (no peeking under the sheets please!). You will also see the Las Vegas piece d’resistance: the indoor pool, full scripted hot tub and outdoor terrace. Please stay tuned for the next installment. Thank you.

Debbie Bulloch
04.14.2008

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-14T08:12:00.001-07:00

El que no trabaja, no come.

(Please stay tuned for my upcoming two-part post featuring the very popular Las Vegas home.)

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

Con paciencia se gana el cielo.

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

Están clavadas dos cruces en el monte del olvido por dos amores que han muerto, sin haberse comprendido.

From a Spanish song, Dos Cruces. about lost love.

Spanish Phrase of the Day :-)

2008-04-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

Cultivo una rosa blanca, en Junio como en Enero,
Para el amigo sincero, que me da su mano franca...
Y para el cruel que me arranca, el corazon con que vivo,
Cardo ni ortiga cultivo,
Cultivo una rosa blanca.

From, Versos Sencillos by Jose Marti, 19th century Cuban poet and freedom fighter.

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

Erre (R) con erre (R) cigarro.
Erre (R) con erre (R) barril.
Rapido ruedan los carros por las lineas del ferrocarril.

OK, this is more than just a phrase. This is a little ditty that many Spanish children are taught in school. It teaches the children how to roll the R's. For non-native Spanish speakers, rolling the R's is one of the most difficult aspects of spoken Spanish. Try it and you will see. Enjoy!

The Dutch / Flemish Community in SL

2008-04-10T00:00:00.001-07:00

As a sales person, you meet people at the lot of ABC of all different countries and all have a different mothertongue.

English is of course 'THE' language of SL, SL was founded by americans in Californea. I want to give some more info about the dutch language.

Where do people speak dutch as their mothertongue ?

Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken, mainly in the Netherlands, Flanders (northern part of Belgium) and Suriname , but also by smaller groups of speakers in parts of France, Germany and several former Dutch colonies. It is closely related to other West Germanic languages (e.g., English, West Frisian and German) and somewhat more remotely to the North Germanic languages (Scandinavian languages). Dutch is a descendant of Old Frankish and (its 17th century version) is the parent language of Afrikaans , one of the official languages of South Africa and the most widely understood in Namibia. Dutch and Afrikaans are to a very large extent mutually intelligible, although they have separate spelling standards and dictionaries and have separate language regulators. There are also several Dutch Creole languages or languages which are influenced by Dutch. Standard Dutch is the standard language of the major Dutch-speaking areas and is regulated by the Dutch Language Union. Dutch is also an official language of the European Union and the Union of South American Nations.

Dutch grammar also shares many traits with German, especially in syntax, but has a less complicated morphology caused by deflexion, which puts it closer to English. Dutch has officially three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter, however, according to some interpretations these are reduced to only two, common and neuter, which is similar to the gender systems of most Continental Scandinavian languages.

The consonant system of Dutch did not undergo the High German consonant shift and has more in common with English and the Scandinavian languages. Like most Germanic languages it has a syllable structure that allows fairly complex consonant clusters. Dutch is often noted for the prominent use of velar fricatives.

Dutch vocabulary is predominantly Germanic in origin, considerably more so than English. This is to a large part due to the heavy influence of Norman French on English, and to Dutch patterns of word formation, such as the tendency to form long and sometimes very complicated compound nouns, being more similar to those of German and the Scandinavian languages.

Native: 31 million: 23 million speakers of Dutch as first language, plus 4 million with Dutch as second language, and 7 million speakers of Afrikaans as first language, plus 10 million with Afrikaans as second language.
Total: ca. 30/44 million (Dutch: 23/27 mill., Afrikaans: 7/17 mill.)

A Dutch American is an inhabitant of the United States with full or partial Dutch ancestry.

Some notable dutch Americans :

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was the thirty-second President of the United States. Elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms of office. He was a central figure of the 20th century during a time of worldwide economic crisis and war.

Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862), nicknamed Old Kinderhook, was the eighth President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. Before his presidency, he served as the eighth Vice President (1833-1837) and the 10th Secretary of State under Andrew Jackson. He was a key organizer of the Democratic Party, a dominant figure in the Second Party System, and the first president who was not of English, Irish, Welsh, or Scottish descent. He was the first president to be born an American citizen (his predecessors were born before the revolution); he is also the only president not to have spoken English as a first language, having grown up speaking Dutch.

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.

Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

The Dutch people were one of the earliest Europeans who made their way to the New World. In 1614 the first Dutch settlers arrived and founded a number of villages and a town called New Amsterdam on the East Coast, which would become the future world metropolis of New York. According to the 2000 United States Census, more than 5 million Americans claim total or partial Dutch heritage. Today the majority of the Dutch Americans live in California, New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Mickey Geest
04 10 2008

ABC Home Sales Has a Home for All Dreams - Part of a Continuing Series

2008-04-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

At ABC Home Sales we have a home to fit most SL lifestyles. Take for example the large Gorean community that calls SL home. The world of Gor, based upon the writings of John Norman, is a unique lifestyle that has many followers in SL. Gorean villages are intricately designed sims where followers of Gor live and play and, sometimes, engage in battles of epic proportions. Gor is not a place for the faint of heart. It can, however, provide a richly unique experience to those who understand and follow the rules.

Most of the castles, homes, stables, kennels and other structures found in a Gorean village are built by the residents of that village. From time to time, however, there may be a need for a building and there is no time to build one from scratch. So what can the resident of a Gorean village do?

At ABC we have homes to fit parcels of all sizes, all budgets and, most important, we have homes to fit your dream. If you are a resident of a Gorean village and you are looking for a prefab home, we invite you to come to ABC (yes, I know we are on Urth, but an occasional trip to Urth cannot hurt) and preview the Celtic Manor.

The Celtic Manor is a full-featured home that will fit very nicely in any Gorean village. The Celtic Manor is designed to fit in parcels of 1024 sq. meters and it is reasonably priced at $1500L. This beautifully detailed home features window shades that can be opened and closed, a feature unique to the Celtic Manor and not available elsewhere in SL. It also features a lockable front door (to keep wondering creatures out) and a TP system to the second story (no need to waste prims and floor space on stairs that are hard to climb). All of these nice features come with a low 62 prims.

The Celtic Manor will make a nice home for kajiras to study. It would also make a very nice place to locate a physician’s or a scribe’s office

All of ABC homes are full copy and full mod. What this mean is that an owner can rezz as many Celtic manors as his land will hold. Modifications can be made both to the interior and exterior textures. You can have a village full of Celtic Manors and no two will look exactly alike!

I strongly encourage all followers of John Anderson to take a trip to Urth and see what ABC Home Sales has to offer for your favorite village.

Safe paths!

DB
04 09 2008

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-09T09:54:00.001-07:00

El que no trabaja, no come.

Spanish Phrase of the Day

2008-04-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

Al mal tiempo, buena cara!

NOTE: I am starting this small section, "Spanish Phrase of the Day" to encourage my Hispanic friends to come and visit the ABC Home Sales blog page and to encourage them to come and see the wonderful homes that we sell.

NOTA: He comenzado esta pequeña seccion, "Frase En Español del Dia" para animar a mis amigos y amigas Hispanos a que visiten el blog de ABC Home Sales y para invitarlos a visitar nuestra tienda para que vean nuestras lindisimas casas.

DB
04.09.2008

Warum ein Haus von ABC ?

2008-04-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

Mein Name ist Lysa Chaffe. Seit Februar 2008 arbeite ich bei ABC Home Sales.Ich möchte euch jetzt meine Erfahrungen über meine Arbeit bei ABC erzählen. (Falls es jemanden interessiert) grins :=)

Mein 1. Haus von ABC war das Nevada. Nachdem ich einige Häuser von anderen Firmen hatte, die nach einmal rezzen, nur den Griff zum wegwerfen hatten, war ich sehr glücklich wie einfach ein Haus von ABC Homes zu rezzen war. Ein Klick, etwas ausrichten....save und es stand.

Wie war ich glücklich. Und noch besser, ich hatte immer ein Kopie im Inventar.

Ich liebe es viele neue Menschen (Kunden) zu treffen.

Es macht mir Spass unsere schönen, preiswerten und wenig Prims, Häuser anzubieten und zu zeigen. Sie sind ALLE full mod (also selber zu bearbeiten) Copy yes (immer ein neues Haus im Inventar) haben Tintable Windows (Fenster zum verdunkeln) und Lock Door Sytem ( verschliessbare Türen)

Wir sind ein Team von 3 Verkäuferinnen Mandy Marksman, Debbie Bulloch und ich.

Unser Manager Mickey Geest könnte sich manchmal 4 teilen. Er versucht immer, für alle Kunden gleichzeitig da zu sein. Ist er selber Schuld, warum spricht er auch 5 Sprechen...smile

Unsere Eigentümerin von ABC Homes Ist Dawn Islander. Sie ist eine liebeswürdige, immer zuhörende Person. Eine Super Chefin!!!!!

Ich würde sagen, schaut doch einfach mal vorbei. Ein nettes freundliches " HALLO welcome at ABC"...ist euch sicher:-) Ich würde mich freuen:-)

.
Lysa Chaffe
04.08.2008

Why Buy A Home From ABC Home Sales - Part Three

2008-04-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Debbie Bulloch and I am back doing one of my favorite things to do: writing about the great company that I work for: ABC Home Sales. In Part One I related my early home buying experience in Second World (SL). In Part Two I wrote a little about the home buying experience at ABC Home. Now I will go into what can happen after the sale is made, why post-sale customer service is so important and why I chose to become an ABC Home sales representative.

Here is what may be a typical buying experience. After shopping for a new ABC house, paying for the new house and installing (or having installed by a sales representative) the new house, the customer can sit back and relax while looking at SL’s new gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.

So what could possibly go wrong in this virtual little corner of heaven? Plenty can go wrong. Let me tell you about my experience.

The first house I bought from ABC was the lovely Nevada home. The first version of the Nevada home is a simple, two story home. What made the Nevada very attractive for me was the view from inside the house. There are windows everywhere in the Nevada house and there is a second floor balcony that adds to the view--from anywhere inside this house the homeowner can enjoy a great view.

My first problem with my new home was when I tried to install it on my land. Like an eager noob, I raced through the easy to read instructions (instructions for products in SL are not always easy to follow), put the rezzer box on the ground and OPENED it. Big mistake! Had I taken the time to carefully read the instructions I would have known that ABC homes have an easy to use rezzer system that opens the houses on the parcel in one short, easy step. All you need to do is left click the rezzer box, follow the options on the blue dialogue bubble and take it from there. But because I had opened the house instead of rezzing it, the pieces came out all wrong and my dream house looked like a bad Salvador Dali painting.

I had a friend with me during the rezzing disaster. He saw how stressed out I was, so he kindly offered to help me fix the house. By that time, however, I was angry, upset and in tears—I was in no mood to fix the house. So I did what most desperate new homeowners do—I sent Mickey Geest, the Sales Manager, an urgent SOS (yes, like in the song by Sting!). Within minutes I received a response from Mickey: “Just TP me and I will be there!” he said. I TP’ed him and in seconds this cute, blonde surfer type guy (Mickey, if you are reading this, you know all the girls think that you are cute!) showed up on my land. Remembering my previous experience with the other home builder (see Part One of my post) I braced myself for a bad experience, or at least getting yelled at for being so dumb. Instead, however, Mickey’s first words were: “No problem Debbie, I can fix it for you!” WHEW!!!! I was so relieved.

In minutes Mickey had deleted the old house, had me set a new box on my parcel (remember all ABC homes are full copy, which means you can rezz as many copies of the original as you wish) and then walked me through the proper rezzing procedure. WOW! I saw my new house materialize, like magic, out of the thin air. In minutes I had a beautiful ocean-view house. Mickey gave me a few additional instructions and then got ready to leave—another customer was calling. I offered to pay Mickey for his services (the other home builder charged me a huge sum of money to fix the house I had bought from him) but Mickey refused my payment. He told me that after-sales customer service is part of what all customers receive when they buy a house from ABC Home Sales. He added that no payment was necessary and then he left. Needless to say I was very impressed.

With that initial disaster out of the way I settled into my new house and, like most new homeowners I began to decorate the place. That is when disaster struck again. I was happily moving objects inside the house when I hit the delete button when I should not have. All of the sudden, one huge chunk of my house disappeared into thin air. YIKES!
I was in tears (well, I am a girl so I can cry if I want to and no one can say a darned thing about it) and so I did what I had done before--I sent another SOS to Mickey.

Like the first time, Mickey’s response was swift—“TP me please,” he said. When he showed up I was feeling so stupid for deleting a chunk of my house. Mickey laughed (a nice laughter) and told me not to worry, that everyone makes the same mistake at least once. Then he got to work, restoring the missing chunk of my house. In a few minutes my house was back in one piece and ready for me to move back in.

TIP TO NEW HOME OWNERES REZZING THEIR OWN HOME: Once you have rezzed your house, if the house comes in sections, and you are happy with its location, be sure to go around the house and “lock” all the pieces. This will avoid accidental deletion of one section of the house. To lock the different sections of the house do this, right click anywhere in the house, go to EDIT, click the MORE button, open the OBJECT tab and then put an X in the LOCKED box. Depending on the size of the house, and how many sections there are, you may have to repeat this procedure in different areas of the house, until all the sections are locked. If you wish to modify the textures, or delete features of the home, like interior walls or stairs, you need to unlock the sections. Just be sure to lock them again.

Once again I offered to pay Mickey for his services and once again he refused. I told him how impressed I was with the after-sales service offered by ABC Homes. He chuckled and said he heard that from many people. I also told him about my experiences with my new home and Mickey became visibly upset when he found out how rude the first builder was and how much he had charged me to fix the house.

It was right there and then that I decided that if there was ever an opening at ABC Homes I would ask Mickey to hire me!

So there you have it. There are many good reasons for buying an ABC Home. For me, however, great customer service is the number one reason for buying one of our homes.

And, if you are lucky like me, you may even end up with a job selling ABC Homes. Maybe you too will become a team member!

Debbie Bulloch
04.07.2008

Why Buy A Home From ABC Home Sales - Part Two

2008-04-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Debbie Bulloch and as you probably know by now, I am a sales representative for ABC Home Sales. In Part One of this post I related my early home buying experience in Second World (SL). Now I will go into what makes ABC Home Sales a leader in customer service.

Great customer service is a key feature of the home buying experience at ABC HOME Sales.

It all starts with the customer’s first visit to the ABC store. Upon arriving at the ABC teleport point a prospective customer will find one of our helpful sales persons: Mandy Marksman, Lysa Chaffe or myself, ready to greet the customer. Even our Sales Manager, Mickey Geest, spends a great deal of his time at the ABC store, waiting to assist customers.

Upon arriving at the ABC store the customers will be greeted with a friendly: “Hello!” or “Hallo!” or “Hola!” or even “Bonjour!” from one of ABC’s multilingual salespersons.

After the initial greeting, the customer will be asked if he or she is looking for a home to purchase. If the answer is YES, then the staff member will ask several questions to determine the customer’s needs. Questions such as: “How big is your parcel?” “Is your parcel oceanfront?” “How many prims do you have available?” and “What style of home are you looking for?” are the kind of questions that may be initially asked in order to best determine the customer’s needs and desires.

Once the preliminary information is obtained, the next step is to tour the ABC store. The sales representative will show the customer houses within the range of the customer’s parcel size and his or her tastes in home architecture and features. This way the customer does not waste valuable time looking for homes that will not fit his land.

For example, let’s say the customer is new to SL and he only has a small, 512 sq. m. lot and does not have many Lindens to spend. Let’s further say that the customer wants a low-prim but highly detailed home. In that case the sales representative may take the customer to see the Japan Yucca house or the Arizona house. Both of these houses are marvels of high-quality, low-prim, reasonable cost housing.

The Japan Yucca is a beautifully detailed Japanese shoin style home that was popular during the Edo Period. This house features intricately detailed murals and doors, a fully tintable system for privacy, a TP system to the second floor and lockable doors. The amazing thing about the Japan Yucca is that with all of its details and functions, the house uses only 38 prims and it is reasonably priced at $1000L.

Sometimes customers cannot decide on one specific style home but do not want to buy several homes. Well, the sales representatives at ABC are ready to help. All of us maintain in our personal inventory many of the homes sold at ABC. If a customer wants to see how a particular style home will fit on his land, the sales representative can rezz, right on the customer’s land, a model of the home the customer likes. The customers can then see and feel how that style home will fit in his land. If the customer does not like it, no problem! The house can be de-rezzed and a different model rezzed in its place. The process can be repeated until the customer finds just the right house. This is a service that no other home seller in all of SL offers. Yes, sometimes it takes a great deal of time to rezz and de-rezz houses for customers. But the end result is a happy customer and a happy customer will not only tell his friends, but will also return for repeat business.

Customer service does not end at the point of the sale. ABC Home Sales offers, for a minimum fee, installation services. ABC homes come with easy-to-use rezzer boxes. But many customers are not comfortable with the idea of installing a house (I know I was very nervous the first time I rezzed a house). To take the anxiety out of the buying process ABC's well-trained staff will install your home, right where the customer wants it—no worries, no stress, no sweat!

Right from day one the customer will have a beautiful, reasonably-priced, low-prim home installed just right. What else could a customer want?

Well, I am glad that you asked. In my next post I will write about some of the things that can go wrong and why after-sales customer service is such an important part of the ABC home-buying experience.

Debbie Bulloch
04.07.2008

Bienvenidos a ABC Home Sales

2008-04-06T18:37:00.000-07:00

Saludos a Todos Nuestros Amigos Hispanos en Second Life (SL)

Me llamo Debbie Bulloch y yo soy una agente de ventas de la compañia ABC Home Sales. Nuestra empresa se dedica a la venta de casas pre-fabricadas. En ABC Home Sales vendemos casas que son de alta calidad, pocos prims y con los mejores pecios en todo SL.

Ademas de bajos precios y alta calidad, ABC ofrece algo muy especial que ninguna otra tienda en SL ofrece: EL MEJOR servicio antes y despues de la compra. El mundo de SL es fascinante. Existen muchas oportunidades para explorar nuevas experiencias y sensaciones. En SL tenemos la oportunidad de crear una vida unica y especial.

Incluida en las experiencias que SL ofrece es la oportunidad de comprar bienes raices y obtener la casa de nuestros sueños. No hay mas exitante que comprar nuestra primera casa en SL y amueblarla a nuestro propio gusto.

Pero a veces pasa que el sueño de una casa nueva se convierte en una pesadilla porque la casa que compramos no es de buena calidad, o no luce bien o no funciona bien. Yo se, porque eso es lo mismo que me ocurrio a mi con mi primera casa en SL. Yo compre una casa en una tienda donde no existia servicio para el consumidor y adonde no habia nadie para contestar mis preguntas. Como era nueva en SL, compre la casa, a pesar de que nadie me ayudo con mi compra. Desgraciadamente acabe con una casa no a proposito a mis necesidades y gustos. ¡Que decepcion mas grande sufri!

En ABC Home Sales las cosas son diferentes. ABC Home Sales tiene un “team” de agentes que estan preparados y listos para contestar todas sus preguntas. Los miembros de nuestro “team” pueden contestar cualquier pregunta sobre las casas que vendemos. Ademas, nuestros agentes pueden asistir en la compra de muebles y otros accesorios para la casa.

Pero el servicio no termina con la venta de la casa. Nuestra empresa se especializa en ofrecer asistencia a los clientes despues de la venta. O sea, que no importa cuanto tiempo ha pasado desde la venta de la casa. Si el cliente tiene algun problema o si tiene alguna pregunta, el cliente solo tiene que llamar a un agente de ventas y la ayuda arriba lo mas pronto possible.

Finalmente ABC Home Sales ofrece algo muy especial: ayuda en su propio idioma. La vida en SL puede ser dificil si no hay alguien que nos ayude en nuestro propio idioma. Aqui en SL estamos listos para ayudar a nuestros clientes Hispanos. El gerente de ventas habla varios idiomas, incluyendo el Español. Y yo, por supuesto, tambien hablo Español. Nuestra tienda es la tienda del futuro – nuestro personal de ventas viene de Europa y de los EU. Los diseñadores de nuestras casas vienen de todo el mundo.

Los invito que venga a nuestra tienda y comprueben, por si mismo, la calidad superior de nuestros productos. Estoy convencida de que despues que comparen nuestros productos y nuestro servicio con lo que se ofrece por el resto de SL, van a tomar la decision logica de comprar una casa de ABC Home Sales.

Debbie Bulloch
04.06.2008

Why Buy A Home From ABC Home Sales? - Part One

2008-04-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Debbie Bulloch and I am a sales representative for ABC Home Sales. Recently a friend asked me, “Why should anyone buy a home from ABC Home Sales?”

Without hesitation I responded, “Great customer service!”

There are many good reasons to buy a home from ABC Home Sales. We sell high-quality homes. We sell low-prim homes. We offer a large selection of homes for all budgets and land sizes. Those are all great reasons to buy a home from ABC Home Sales. But in my opinion, the fact that we offer great customer service is the BEST reason of all.

Right about now you may be saying to yourself: “Well, Debbie is a sales rep, what else is she going to say?” That is true, I am a proud sales representative for ABC Homes, but I did not start out as a sales rep. I began my association with ABC Homes as a customer, just like the readers of this blog.

Last August, right about the time ABC Homes Sales was created, I was born into SL. Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe it was kismet, but ABC and I came in-world at about the same time. Like most noobs, I knew nothing about land ownership or homeownership. Fortunately I met a girl at Orientation Island who took me under her wing and showed me around. One thing led to the other and I finally ended up buying land.

It was a small parcel, but it was mine and I was very excited. Now I needed a home. My first choice, like most noobs, was to “buy” a freebie house. It was a cute little house, but it was very small and basic. Still, I was so excited that I had to show all my friends my new little house.

Eventually I saved enough money to buy my first “real.” I went to several stores, looked around and eventually found a house that seemed to fit my needs. I right-clicked on the sales board and putting down my hard-earned Lindens I flew away with what I thought would be my dream house. I was so excited that I could not wait to get to my land to rezz the house. My excitement, however, soon turned into aggravation and eventually into major disappointment.

For starters, the house looked all wrong on my land. Second, the house was glitchy, walls seemed to appear and disappear. Worst of all, the house did not fit my needs. I contacted the store owner and builder to ask him for help. What a disaster that was! The owner/builder was rude, he was not very helpful and, to make it worse, he took advantage of the fact that I was a very naïve noob (don’t worry, I have learned a lot since then). He did the repairs that I asked for, but he charged me an exorbitant amount of Lindens. In fact, after he made the repairs the house needed and I paid him for them, the house ended up costing me more than twice the original sales amount. Boy, oh boy did I feel stupid and cheated!

That is when I stumbled upon a bit of good luck. The Customer Service rep for my area suggested that I check out ABC Home Sales. She said that ABC sold great, executive type homes. I told the CS rep that I had no money to buy an executive home. She told me not to worry, that the houses for sale at ABC were not only great quality, but were also low priced and, get this, LOW PRIMS. (It did not take me long, even as a noob, to realize that prims are the raison d'être in SL. So I searched for an LM and soon I TP’ed into the wonderful ABC Home Sale store.

NEXT: My first experience with an ABC Home and why customer service is so important.

Debbie Bulloch
04.06.2008

Builders and custom services.

2008-04-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

ABC started in august 2007 with a limited number of homes ( +/- 12 ).

Alex is a great builder of ABC. He designed nice homes like Las Vegas, New Yorker, New Hampshire and Californean.

Builder Jenny made a lovely 512sqm home like the Arizona. Later on, Jenny added Nevada 1024 sqm and Phoenix 512 sqm.The Odessa (2048 sqm, rec. for a 3072 sqm) was builded by Jenny as well

Builder yucca designed the very nice Yucca Japan home 512 sqm. Yucca added later other nice homes like Swiss Chalete and Celtic Manor.

Builder Aarushi added nice homes like Kaitlin, Catyna and Adventuria. At this moment, ABC home sales has almost 30 different high class low prim homes for sale.

Customer services is a very important value at ABC.

All homes are full mod and copy yes. All homes have tintable windows and a lock door system. Clients can easily mod the homes themselves (textures, add walls, remove walls, etc...) If desired, clients as well appeal to the services of ABC. Contact the sales people to meet a builder of ABC, who will be glad to modify the home as you wish for a very, very reasonable fee.

Mickey Geest
04.06.2008

ABC : management and sales staff.

2008-04-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

Dawn Islander is the founder and owner of ABC. Mickey Geest is the Sales Manager. Dawn lives in the USA. Mickey lives in Europe, in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. You will surely know the Wafels from Brussels or the Belgian Chocolate.

Mandy Marksman is from the USA. She was the very first sales rep at ABC home sales. She started working at ABC in december 2007. Mandy is a very skilled sales person. She likes to help people. Do not hesitate in asking a question to Mandy. She will be glad to help you.

Debbie Bulloch is from the USA as well. Debbie has an absolute talent for making new contacts in SL. Debbie started working for ABC as a sales rep in january 2008. She is a very calm person, allways ready to listen to the questions of the clients. Debbie speaks fluently spanish and english. Debbie habla muy bien espanol y inglès.

Lysa Chaffe is from Germany. Hallo Deutschland, du bist herzlich willkommen bei ABC. Lysa wird dir gerne helfen in Deutsch und in English. Hello Germany, you are most welcome at ABC. Lysa will be glad to help you in german and in english. Lysa started working for ABC as a sales rep in february 2008. Lysa is very friendly, hard working and loves to help everyone.

Mickey Geest
04.05.2008

ABC was founded in august 2007.

2008-04-05T03:39:00.000-07:00

Second Life residents Dawn Islander and Mickey Geest have created in SL a new, exciting, high quality prefab building company - ABC Home Sales.

Dawn and Mickey have known each other in SL for a long time. Dawn has previous experience in starting and running new and unique SL companies such Woot! Fashion and Dreammaker. Mickey has a strong marketing background and has worked selling houses for various other SL housing companies.

Dawn's creative courage and her success with previous projects together with Mickey's marketing experience guarantee that ABC Home Sales will be a success story. ABC Home Sales has arrived, offering low prim homes of the highest quality.

How many times has a resident made a major in-world purchase only to later regret the purchase? How many Lindens have been wasted this way? “Try it before you buy it” ™ is a new marketing concept available to ABC clients. ABC salespeople use temporary rezzer boxes to install demo models right on the client’s land. ABC clients can then view their new dream home rezzed on their land, before they actually buy it. Clients can see how the home looks on their land, they can walk through the home and they can get a “feel” for what it will be like to live in their new dream home. Even neighbors can participate in the home buying experience as they watch the client’s new house being rezzed. Clients can buy with confidence, choosing the right house for them, rather than buying sight unseen and later regretting the purchase. No more wasted Lindens!

Our ABC builders are currently working on a demo temporary rezzer system that will allow ABC clients to rezz demo homes and see the houses for themselves. The system allows the demo to stay in place for up to 30 minutes - plenty of time to decide if you like it. Paying at the demo box then buys the full version and the house now belongs to the client. The temporary demo rezzer service is a free service to ABC clients; a great new idea in SL buying, from Dawn Islander, Mickey Geest, and ABC Home Sales.

Stop by ABC Home Sales and see what the future of in-world housing looks like – today!

Landmark in SL = ABC Home Sales, Demo's Available, DreamMaker (120, 149, 401)

ABC is the abbreviation for "Ami's Building Corporation". Ami is the name of an 'alt-avatar' of Dawn Islander.

Mickey Geest
04.05.2008