In and Out

As usual the month of August means that Cyprus is packed with tourists and the beaches are full of people enjoying one of the hottest months of the year. However, unlike most places I have traveled to in my life, where most businesses take full advantage of any extra business they can get during the high season, most Cypriots close shops and head out of town during this month. Of course all the hotels and restaurants and shops in tourist areas will remain open, and there are always the die hard entrepreneurs who will never sacrifice the ability to earn a little more.

My family and I fall in to the first category - we are heading out for a couple of weeks. Honestly, we just need a little break from the heat. When you live year-long on the island I think it's important to get off of it at least once a year to maintain some contact with the rest of the world. Not that there is anything wrong with living in Cyprus, but we need a little break and this is the best time of the year for it.

Last year I thought that this would be the busiest time of the year for me, being in the property selling field. Considering that it's the end of the summer and you would think that anyone thinking about moving here would be trying to finalize there decisions, but that's not the case. The majority of people are just spending the last few weeks of the summer enjoying their children, grandchildren and just having fun. So we thought why not take advantage and do the same!

When we first moved to Cyprus I had a schedule of places I wanted to travel to, places that were too far to get to from the U.S. but we did not anticipate the difficulty of doing this with 2 kids so we have only visited Jordan. It is only a 55 minute flight and we have family to stay with and help us with the kids. Also in Amman, although the temperature may be equal to that of Cyprus, the lack of humidity makes it much more bearable.

So we are off just before the big August 15th holiday here in Cyprus and the close down of all government offices and many other shops. Until we return, enjoy the rest of the summer in Cyprus or wherever you are. If you have free time, let us know about your exciting summer plans or experience on a Cyprus holiday!

Not Enough Hours in the Day

After a long pause since my last post I have found my leisurely life in Cyprus transform into a hectic pace of never ending chores, apointments and endless to-do list that grows day by day. My time for these posts, which are important in establishing a web presence, have been extremely diminished so I apologize to anyone who reads this.

I wrote in an earlier post about keeping this blog light and not work related, but since my whole life 24/7 revolves around work it is hard not to write about work ie..the property market.

I knew when I entered the Cyprus Property market was about to slow down due to the effect of the US market on the UK and in turn it's effect on Cyprus. I knew that it would be a good time for a new guy to slowly establish a business and expectations will not be so high. All predictions came to bear as many of my first clients were already trying to sell their property with other agents with no success. So, I offered a glimpse of home to all these people who were in a desperate state to sell. With my American perspective to marketing, work ethic and at times brutal honesty all were sold on my ideas and philosphy to business. My business is growing rapdily beacuse of this. With a backlog of listings I need to expand and start hiring people which now should be a priority. However, even though I am doing well so far, with the unstable state of the global housing market I must be weary of adding too many expenses. So until then I am working with a minimal staff - myself, my wife so forgive me if there is another long pause.........Enjoy your summer in Cyprus or wherever you are!!

Happy Easter

I am a day late for "Happy Easter" since Easter (I recently heard and believe) is the least commercialized holdiay there is, plus living in Cyprus holiday marketing is not as intensive and in-your-face as in the US. In the US, every holiday is a reason for a sale, added discount or reason to eat out or buy a new car from President's Day to Martin Luther King Day to Boss's Day! Plus, Easter here is not until APril 27th so I will wish everyone Happy Easter again at the end of April! Last year giant Easter Eggs and decorations were strategically placed all over town so I should remember Orthodox Easter and hopefully excused for forgetting Latin Easter.

It is a beautiful time of year here - before the intense heat of summer and while people are still enjoying the sun rather than trying to avoid it. Tourists are starting to return and customers are starting to seriously consider making their home purchases in Cyprus. Parents want to get settled and situated before the new school year and retirees seem to want to move before the intense heat of summer so I am getting busier every day it seems - a good thing after the quiet of the winter!

New Years Resolution Update

Still going strong with the resolution...down to 227lbs.
Lost 19lbs.
(Forgot to mention it in last post).

Happy Carnival

Now that the holidays are long gone and winter is nearly over things seem to be picking up.
We have all adapted to being in the Eurozone and things are starting to change. All of a sudden, I had many many enquiries and a lot of "hot prospects" looking into buying property in Cyprus which is great but the difficulty of running a business out of a home when there are tow boys - a 2 and a half year old and a 6 month old always looking for more attention than is possible, sometimes feels impossible. Don't get me wrong, one of the greatest things about being in Cyprus is the ability to spend so much time with my two boys and also helping my wife do what ever I can. If we would have continued living in the U.S. I would have had to spend much more time at work and on the road instead of the quality time I have now. We moved here because in the US we both may have had to work in order to afford the life style we were used to and afford two kids. Now getting paid in Euros is great too since I see the dollar hitting new "all time lows" every week.

We never thought that we both would be able to be around the kids all the time as we are now. Now our kids have two full time parents, the business has two full time agents, writers, search engine optimizers, property listers, social networkers, researchers, marketers and anything else that needs to be done everyday.

So, all around things are looking up: my business with home and property sales, the weather is getting better and now Carnival which is a ten-day period (28/2/2008 - 9/3/2008) of fun, eating and parties prior to the fifty days of fasting, before Easter. Enjoy Carnival Everyone!

New Year's Resolution

Now is about the time most of us “fall off the wagon” from our well thought out and well meant resolution. I believe I have the power to bring myself to a new level of control over my life. I did it before and I intend to do it again. The last resolution I made in 2004 was to lose weight. That is a common resolution and I wanted to share my story.

On January 1, 2004 I was 248 lbs, my highest weight ever. The goal for the year was to lose 53 lbs. or get down to 195 lbs. By mid-April I was running up to 15 miles, by June I got down to 189 lbs - mission accomplished! I decided many years ago that I would only make resolutions that I would be able to accomplish and because of this I have not had the will power to make any resolutions.

I wanted to make resolution for the last three years, but I didn’t because I knew I wouldn’t accomplish them. Why set myself up for failure? This year however I knew that it would be necessary to make another resolution since my weight has reached the tipping point again.

Once I announce my resolution, I have to stick to it. I tell everyone. Then, when they ask me later how it is going I like to tell them about my amazing results. This is one of my ways accomplish my goals.

This year my resolution is to lose 7 Lbs a month for the first six months of the year. All my clothes are bit tight and as we worked our way through the Christmas and New Year feasts and festivities that just got tighter! So, on New Years day I weighed myself immediately. I was almost the same weight as when I made my last resolution, 246 lbs.
My goal is to lose 42 lbs. which will bring me down to 202 - the same weight as my days in the Marine Corps.

I live in Cyprus now and we have great weather so I can easily go outside and start running. Last time I was in Northern Virginia where the climate can be much harsher and less reliable so everything should go smoothly this time too and hopefully much easier because of the nice weather.

I started this blog last week at which time I had planned on running outside. Now, I am happy to say that I am the proud owner of a nice, sturdy American style treadmill! One of my customers that want me to market and sell their house traded my services for the treadmill. I still get my commission but no listing fee which is fine with me! I have wanted one for ages and they are even going to deliver it. I lucked out! As for my weight, I already lost 11 lbs. which is 4 lbs. more than the monthly goal I set for myself.

Happy New Year!

Now that we have officially begun a new year and everyone is feeling refreshed and recovered after the holidays I am starting to get phone calls and some "hot prospects" through my website again thankfully...I was beginning to worry. As you may know, Cyprus adopted the Euro as of Jan. 1 (so did Malta) and all the articles in the Cyprus Mail newspaper and other local papers speak of almost nothing else from fake Euros to exchange rates to teaching the new currency and any other Euro topic you can think of. My personal experience so far has been that yes, prices have increased but that is only because many businesses have rounded up their prices rather than down. But, a few Euro here and few there add up and in some cases such as a "luna park" for children have changed the price per token from 50 Cyprus cents which equals about 85 cents and now it is 1 Euro which is about a 20% increase. The example I have given is on a small scale, but I waiting to see how this will affect property sales in Cyprus. Everyone said beforehand that they will increase...we'll see!