1. Hides 4 0 2 – Keep A Squeaky Clean Workspace Floor
2. Hides 4 0 2 – Keep A Squeaky Clean Workspace Cabinets

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We bet you had the best of intentions to clean up the office back in March when winter gave way to spring (on the calendar anyway). How’s that going? If you’re glancing around your office and feeling down about how things look, don’t worry: here are five office organization ideas that will get your office back in tip-top shape in no time!
1. Make it a group effort. It won’t do to have only one cube or corner office squeaky clean while the rest of the place looks like a dump, right? So get everyone on board with your spring-cleaning initiative. You should formally declare a cleanup day (otherwise, no one will do it). Consider making it a Friday afternoon (two to three hours), and make it as fun as possible. Here are some ideas:

A pair of Genelecs nice and loud to keep me sane, and the laptops are usually for internet and a DVD playing in the background. (I end up listening to, rather than watching my films).

• Have snacks/refreshments available in the kitchen and encourage people to take a break.
• Hand out prizes for things like “best desk makeover” or “fastest cleanup.”
• Play music, and not the “on hold” variety, either.
• Assign teams (2-3 people) to certain community areas, like storage closets and the coffee nook, and award a prize to the team that does the best job (example of prize: lunch out on the company dime the following week).
• Create a scavenger hunt where you hide valuable prizes in places people might not want to clean, like the dirty microwave. Let people know the prize is theirs if they find it and clean the corresponding area. So maybe you put a $20 bill in the microwave and whoever takes 15 minutes to clean it down can keep it.
• Allow for creativity and innovation when it comes to organizing. For example, a smart strategy for tight spaces is to maximize storage space by going vertical. Give your employees free rein when it comes to neatening up their work areas.

2. Make sure you have the right organizational props. Sometimes the best way to get organized is to take a step back, assess some items you need (like cubbies and filing cabinets), and then make a run to the local office supply store. It’s much easier for people to stay organized if they have the right accessories to help them do it, like stackable containers.

By the way, Amsterdam Printing has lots of office supplies that are only a click away…you won’t need to leave your desk, and, as an added bonus, you can get these items imprinted with your company name and logo.

3. Re-assess recycling initiatives. If you don’t recycle things like paper and bottles, now is the time to start a new initiative. If you currently recycle, now is the time to evaluate whether the current setup makes the most sense:

• Do you have enough recycle bins? If not, get more.
• Are the bins in the best locations? Are they an eyesore? Are they in the way? This would be the time to find them a new home and to let everyone know about the changes.
• Have you considered putting out a donation bin? If people have items on their desks, like three extra staplers they don’t need, they can put the extras in the donation bin. People within your office can pull items they need from the bin. Periodically, you can purge the bin and donate all the items to Goodwill.

4. For challenging office setups, consider bringing in a professional organizer. Sometimes our best intentions don’t ever get us anywhere. You might intend to clean the office. Your employees might intend it as well. But, well, then life and work happen, and the last thing anyone wants to deal with is their messy cube.

A professional organizer can come into your workspace and design a plan and processes that make sense for you and your staff. Yes, it’s an investment up front but one that will pay off in the long run since studies suggest a cluttered office decreases productivity, which will hurt your bottom line.

Not sure where to find an organizer or what to look for in one once you do? Check out the National Association of Professional Organizers for guidance.

5. Don’t overlook the need for virtual organization. Sure, it’s great if we can clear our desks, but that can only get us so far, especially if our computer inbox and online filing systems are unruly beasts as well.

The big thing you need to keep in mind about office organization is that it shouldn’t be an annual event. Encourage people to keep things organized and tidy and to spend some time every day organizing their desks and files before leaving the office for the night. Work some larger-scale cleaning time into everyone’s schedule on a monthly basis (a couple of hours one Friday afternoon every month should do the trick).

Have you done any spring cleaning around the office this year? What are some of your tips and strategies? Share in the comments.

Lew Sichelman

The National Association of Realtors has all but put a stop to one controversial practice some agents use to hide their listings from other agents. But some crafty realty pros are already finding their way around the new rules.

The questionable practice is known as a “pocket listing.” It happens when agents resist entering their listings into their local multiple listing service until they can shop them to their preferred list of buyers, other agents in their offices or agents in affiliated offices.

If they are lucky enough to nail a buyer from their own sources, they get to keep the entire commission. They have to share the fee if an agent within their company finds the buyer, but at least the entire charge – and subsequent fees for their bosses – is kept in-house.

If they are unsuccessful, they then turn to the MLS, which serves as the database of almost all homes for sale in every market. There are some 800 listing services nationwide; they are where all agents go to search for houses that meet their clients’ parameters.

Buyers’ Agents Demanded Change

It can be days, or sometimes weeks, before pocket listings see the light of day – and there are circumstances in which some sellers wouldn’t mind their listings being held back for a while. Perhaps someone doesn’t want their neighbors, say, or their boss to know they are planning to move. Maybe they aren’t ready for potential buyers to be traipsing in and out of their house at all hours. Or possibly they have no desire to keep their place squeaky-clean and ready for showings.

At the same time, though, sellers are not getting the full exposure to the market they bargained for when they signed their listing agreements. And pocket listings run against the cooperative nature of how houses are bought and sold. Agents of competing companies work together – one representing the seller, and another, the buyer – to sell millions of houses every year. But when an agent effectively keeps a listing in his or her pocket, the system breaks down.

Buyers’ agents have howled for years that they and their clients are not getting a fair shot at such listings, at least not right away. And the million-plus-member National Association of Realtors has finally agreed, concluding that off-MLS listings not only skew market data and reduce buyer and seller choice, but also undermine the commitment to provide equal opportunity to all agents.

So, under NAR’s new “Clear Cooperation” policy, starting May 1, listing brokers and agents are required to submit listings within one business day of marketing the property to the public – in other words, within 24 hours of offering listings to a select audience. The rule was originally set to take effect Jan. 1 but was delayed to give local services time to make technology changes and educate users.

“We made sure that cooperation remains at the heart of organized real estate,” said Denee Evans of the Council of Multiple Listing Services, which represents these listings portals, to NAR’s trade journal, Realtor Magazine.

NAR Allows Huge Loophole

This new rule isn’t likely to put a stop to the practice, however, because agents can use another classification – “coming soon” – to hold properties out of the MLS and off the market.

Underhanded agents have always tried to game the system in one way or another. Some cancel listings that have languished on the market for months, and then resubmit them to make them appear fresh. Sometimes they change the wording of the address – say, changing “Drive” to “Dr.” – to reset the number of days the place has been on the market. Or they drop the price a small amount to boost its standing on the service.

Some agents try these and other tricks at their own volition; others, at the behest of their clients. Either way, it is a violation of NAR’s Code of Ethics. But saying a listing is “coming soon” is not prohibited under the new rules. Office exclusives and marketing to private networks aren’t verboten, either.

Remember, once a listing contract is signed, agents have 24 business hours to enter it into the MLS. So, an agent who wants to keep a property as close to the vest as possible can ask a client to sign the agreement late on a Friday night. That way, it won’t have to be entered until Tuesday morning, leaving 72 hours to peddle the house on their own.

‘Coming Soon’ Becoming More Common

Hides 4 0 2 – Keep A Squeaky Clean Workspace Floor

As with pocket listings, there can be good reasons for a “coming soon” listing. Some people need time to prepare their places for sale; others are waiting for their new homes to be completed. Others have to wait for a tenant to move out.

Hides 4 0 2 – Keep A Squeaky Clean Workspace Cabinets

A “coming soon” listing tells the widest possible audience the house isn’t ready to be seen just yet, but it is for sale and will be ready to be viewed on a “go-live” date. But as long as the seller doesn’t sign a listing contract, the house need not – actually, cannot – be entered into the MLS.

Thus, an agent who wants to skirt the rules can shop the house to their own list of would-be buyers or those of agents in affiliated offices without consequences. Yes, without a signed agreement, there’s a chance that another agent might swoop in and take the listing out from under them. But it’s a chance some are willing to take.

According to a recent survey by the WAV Group, a research and advisory firm, “coming soon” listings are becoming more prevalent.

“A ‘coming soon’ status is not only in high demand today,” its recent white paper said, “but brokers believe that it will become increasingly important in the future.”

Unfortunately, as the report points out, while many listing services have policies regarding such listings, the survey found they are “locally contrived” and far from uniform. Others, meanwhile, are still in the process of crafting their own policies to give sellers time to manicure their properties for optimal results.

Lew Sichelman has been covering real estate for more than 50 years. He is a regular contributor to numerous shelter magazines and housing and housing-finance industry publications. Readers may contact him at lsichelman@aol.com.