Archives of real estate blog entries for September 30, 2006

Featured blog posts


Lead Generation - '33 Touch' - 08:19 PM
In The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, Gary Keller talks about generating repeat and referral business from your 'Met' database. To do this, you must have a systematic, marketing-based system, such as a '33 Touch', which stands for 33 contacts or touches over the course of a year. Keller's research indicates that for every twelve people in your 'Met' database that you market to 33 times, you can reasonably expect two sales - one piece of repeat business and one referral.
Here's a sample '33 Touch' program:
12 monthly newsletters8 Just Listed/Just Sold cards4 market reports3 'Thank You' cards or handwritten notes3 telephone calls2 personal contacts1 client/sphere … (16 comments)

eFax, MyFax, the solution to faxings biggest problem. - 09:58 AM
Before Internet & email based faxing applications became commonplace the biggest problem with faxes was that you had to be in the same place as your fax machine to send & receive one.
With today's Internet based faxing applications that problem is solved and you can now receive your faxes anywhere you can receive an e mail. You can also forward on an Internet based fax without ever having to commit it to paper.
Little bit of a problem sending one however, you first have to either get it into your computer somehow, i.e. faxing it to your e mail fax account first … (28 comments)

TIPS TO GET GOOGLE TO CRAWL A SITE - 05:36 PM
Everyone raise your hand if you know that I AM NO EXPERT in anything tech, Internet, Google, SEO, or anything else to do with getting business.  Everyone's hand up???  Good.
That said, I had a request from an Active Rain blogger about getting their official blog crawled by Google.  Seems that they changed URLs or completely changed the content for the URL.  IMO, it's always better to change content slowly.  Hitting Google with a new URL with numerous pages may/could/probably did trip a filter that a lot of content has suddenly been added to that address.  This is what incompetent web design companies … (24 comments)

Keeping ActiveRain Blogs 2!!! Thanks Sharon Simms!!! - 08:47 AM
    Sharon Simms had a very good blog yesterday called Keeping ActiveRain Blogs, I was going to comment on that blog but I knew a lot of people would not read it.  I have noticed a lot of blogs I have wanted to keep also but just haven't taken the time to do it until I read Sharons blog yesterday.  I began messing around with it and finally found a great way to do this with Google's notebook.  
        I know I must seem like a spokesperson for google but honestly they are not paying me anything, lol.  Anyway you … (11 comments)

Smarter Agent introduces new technology for Real Estate Agents - 08:19 AM
Will it really make you smarter?  Unfortunately, no.  But it will help you fake it a lot better by giving you easier access to information on the fly. As SmarterAgent , (who also has had a blog  since 2003)  releases its New GPS Real Estate Search.
Currently available with Sprint  and Nextell, Smarter agent is now using the power of Location Based Services (LBS), to give agents and consumers property information directly to their phone.  Want to know how much the house you just walked by sold for?  It's gross living area?  No problem. 
The most exciting thing this means to me, … (7 comments)

Halloween Decorations or DISTRACTIONS? - 01:55 PM
Well it's that time of the year when the ghost, goblins, gouls come out of attics and basements and into homes. While for some the day is great fun... for other's Halloween carries a negative connotation. 
You might want to suggest to your seller's that this year they cut back or totally avoid decorating.
As a stager I advise our clients to use VERY little or NO decorations. WHY? For the simple reason... when selling a house the HOME is to be the "star of the show" not the stuff.
PRO OR CON Halloween... NOT decorating makes sense because:
 * If a buyer LIKES Halloween you don't want them looking at all … (31 comments)

ActiveRain, a social club? - 10:58 AM
Good morning one and all! I hope you are having a wonderful relaxing Saturday after a hectic money making week. Now wasn’t that pleasant? Maybe I will get some business from it. Maybe I will make a friend and they will want to work with me. Maybe a consumer will find this site, see that I’m a nice guy and give me a call. Maybe it will generate some comments. Do I care? You betcha!
I have read several posts over the last couple of days from folks voicing their opinions on what ActiveRain is or is not for them. Personally, … (50 comments)

The IRS is partnering with Mortgage Companies (sort of) - 08:55 AM
Starting this Monday, if you have any clients who are planning to apply for a mortgage using a “Stated Income” or other limited-document approach, they had better be careful what income they post on the loan application. The IRS has recently overhauled a key income verification tool used by lenders, making it easier and faster to retrieve income tax information of borrowers.
Instead of signing the Form 4506-T at closing as most do, authorizing the lender to pull tax records, many prospective purchasers will be asked to sign the 4506 at loan application. With the new electronic procedures at IRS, the … (16 comments)

Client Follow-up Systems: What really works? - 07:06 AM
There is a thriving industry of people and organizations ready to sell you newsletters, flower seeds, magnets, coasters and just about anything else you can think of that your name and phone number can be stenciled or stamped on. Over the years, I have tried numerous things, but keep coming back to a few things that have seemed to keep some of the good will and my services in mind.
Calendars. I have sent calendars out for 18 years and have reason to believe (client feedback) that at least 50% of them are hung somewhere at least occasionally visible. If you … (25 comments)

Use of Goals to Keep to progress - 03:15 PM
I have used goals as a way to keep track of my progress and to ensure I avoid complacency.
For 7 years I was a personal fitness trainer and even though I received education to be more effective in my job, I always told my clients that the best purpose of a personal trainer WASN'T because we know more than everyone else, it's because a client will SHOW UP.
Many people know what they should be doing, but other distractions get in the way of "getting to the gym". Having an appointment with someone almost forces you to get to the gym. 
A … (4 comments)

Positive Press - 09:01 PM
It seems when you hear anything on the news about housing and real estate, the news is always bad.  Demand is down, there is a housing "bubble" that going to pop at any moment, etc. The fact is the housing market like any other supply and demand market will have ups and downs. Times when supply outweighs demand, and vice-versa. The good news is that these things work themselves out over time. That's why our free market country is so great. 
The reason for this post is that I actually found some positive news about the real estate market:
Real estate is … (6 comments)

Realtors are leaving the business, as market regressed.. - 07:04 AM
I spoke to our local board yesterday. In our area Board Dues are approaching which means many Realtors will not be renewing their Board membership.This will not be a very good year for many boards as I`m positive across the country many Realtor have decided to look for "9-5 jobs".I decided to check how many new Realtors will be taking their Real Estate exam in order to get a license and practice in Florida to find that there is a 35% decrease from last year at this time.When the market is good, people from all walk of life feel compelled "To Grab a Piece of … (19 comments)


Blog posts


Sad Day in Latte Land - 02:25 PM
Ok...it's really just sad for me (though it is overcast, cold and very dark outside).  I lost my ActiveRain procured client this morning.  He was an out-of-state investor who had put in a reservation at one of the new condos here.  Unfortunately, his personal circumstances changed so he had to cancel the reservation and alter his investment plans.  Still, it was a wonderful opportunity that ActiveRain provided to me and I'm very grateful to have had the chance to work a lead from AR. … (6 comments)

October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month - 02:48 PM
Community Event information for the Seattle Area and Cannon Beach, OR. 
Here are some October Doggy Events in the Pacific Northwest.
Puyallup Canine FestOct. 14 & 15 • Puyallup Fair Grounds, Wash. A fun-filled weekend of canine events, demonstrations and educational presentations as well as performances by Tic the Clown and Quichua Mashis, featuring music from the Andes. More info at caninefest.org.Annual Dog Show on the BeachOct. 21 • Cannon Beach, Oregon. Dogs of all shapes and sizes will be sniffing the surroundings at the Surfsand Resort in Cannon Beach. The Dog Show on the Beach is a nonprofit, “just for fun” … (4 comments)

Osseo School District #279 Parade of Schools - 11:15 PM
We are all very familiar with the Parade of Homes in the Fall & Spring.  But October 3rd & 5th are designated Parade of Schools days at the Osseo School District.  It provides the community an opportunity to see the improvements to the facilities and observe staff and students engaged in learning.
The Osseo School District is the fifth largest school district in the state serving nearly 22,000 students in 35 facilities.  The communities it serves include all or part of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Corcoran, Dayton, Hassan, Maple Grove,Osseo and Plymouth.
… (0 comments)

Seasonal Decorating - 11:31 PM
With our lives always being so busy it becomes almost impossible to carve out the time to decorate for the holidays.  It seems like more and more people are turning to companies to string lights and decorate for the holidays.  Do you have a list of companies that you can refer your clients to if they have a need for this? 
… (2 comments)

National Museum Day - 11:46 PM
For one day only museums across the country will join with The Smithsonian and offer free admission to visitors.  On September 30th Mill City Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Minnesota History Center will open their doors for free admission. Enjoy the day!. … (2 comments)

Large text is harder to read - 09:55 AM
When someone uses large text I find it harder to read then when someone use uses the standard font size in AR. Now this normally happens by accident because we like our spellchecker. I use it for every post in AR, but I get rid of all of the formatting before bringing the text over to AR.So the simplest way to remove the formatting that I know of is to just cut the text from Word (or whatever other software you use) and paste it into Notepad. Notepad is on every computer as a freebie, just go "All Programs" then to … (10 comments)

SEO: Getting the "bots" to my site - 10:28 AM
How do you get the search engine bots/spiders to visit your site. The simple answer is links, but what link is important. The quality of the link is important to Google and actually controls how often your site will be "crawled" (that is visited and read by the bots). 
One authority link will go much further than 20, 50, or even 100 "junk" reciprical links. So to get Google to come to your site more often you need to find quality sites to get links from. The sites need to be real estate related also, there is no value in links from … (11 comments)

Gold Stars, 300, 400 point blog enteries... - 11:13 AM
So without the hours it would require to find this info and lack of a good search function I am having to ask for a little help here. The gold Stars, 300 point and 400 point blog posts, How are they determined? Also how is it determined what posts make the list "Featured Blog Posts"?
I have had multiple gold stars, 300 point posts, and even a 400 point one. While I am very happy about being rewarded for posting quality posts just wonder how this is determined. 
Can anyone help point me in the right direction? 
… (11 comments)

Real Estate networking craze - 03:24 PM
It seems that real estate networking sites are the next big thing. Every time I turn around I see a new one. "Join for Free, Network, Meet new people!"  Networking sites are certainly nothing new, they have been around for a long while (anyone have a myspace profile?). Niche sites like this one are a new breed, and Active Rain is in a category by itself.
So the question is should you even bother joining these sites?  I don't have the answer for you either way on that, but here are some things to consider on whether you should invest your … (4 comments)

Greeting Card Virus - 08:13 PM
I'm sure everyone has received an electronic greeting card from someone.  There are tons of sites that allow you to send a "card" free, as well as attach a electronic gift card to it to various electronic and brick and mortar retailers.  Unfortunately, there is a new virus making the rounds that comes disguised as one of these cards. However, they are easy to spot if you know where to look. The email comes claiming to be from a family member or loved one but doesn't list the name of the sender.  They all have a link to click to view … (6 comments)

Positive Press - 09:01 PM
It seems when you hear anything on the news about housing and real estate, the news is always bad.  Demand is down, there is a housing "bubble" that going to pop at any moment, etc. The fact is the housing market like any other supply and demand market will have ups and downs. Times when supply outweighs demand, and vice-versa. The good news is that these things work themselves out over time. That's why our free market country is so great. 
The reason for this post is that I actually found some positive news about the real estate market:
Real estate is … (6 comments)

End of MLS cooperating compensation - 07:06 AM
Recently at the FAR annual convention one of NAR’s attorneys, Brian Larson, spoke to us about various MLS topics. This included the FTC complaint against the Houston association and now the Michigan association.
  Additionally, Brian spoke to his recommendation to eliminate cooperating commission and simply have the buyers pay their broker if they so elect to even engage one. Brian wrote an article on this subject and posted it to his website. Here is the link: The End of the MLS as We Know it
… (7 comments)

Transaction Desk update - 07:15 AM
How many Realtors are using Transaction Desk throughout the State of Florida? From what I am being told by Instanet – Transaction Desk’s parent company over 100k Florida Realtors have multiple logins.
  It appears that most do not use the auto-population features nor do they complete the information in the “Transaction Overview”. It appears that they simply go into the forms themselves and type in the information. This sort of defeats the main purpose of TD – managing a transaction from the Realtor level, broker level, administrative level, cooperating broker level, mortgage broker and closing agent level.
  Until recently, actually until … (5 comments)

Realtor blackmail - 07:56 AM
I had 3 high end rental listings from 1 client. It has taken approximately 3 months to get 1 rented after 2 offers from 2 different tenants in a period of approximately 2 weeks (lots of 2s there). We have had 2 offers on the second and had to temporarily status the other (the client was refinancing it).
  The first rental was listed at $5k per month (this was after we lowered it from his original asking of $6k per month). We brought a low ball offer to him of $4k per month but for 2 years. There was some … (3 comments)

Maureen & Dmitry's Site - The Groundwork - 10:42 AM
Last weekend I posted a blog (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 actually) on the basics of how to optimize a website for the search engines. Interestingly, the gentleman who requested the information never responded. Maybe he hasn’t been back to AR. But a whole flurry of other people did. Maureen Francis and Dmitry Kublitsky invited me to take a peek at their site and see what there is to be seen. So, this morning I did.
  Maureen and Dmitry, you asked for it, here you go!
  Before I get into the details of what changes I would implement, I want … (4 comments)

Maureen & Dmitry's Site - Keyword Research - 11:48 AM
Maureen & Dmitry's Site Part 1 
 Keyword Research 
There is a very simple reason why keyword research is necessary. Consumers often do not search the way we think! As loan officers and realtors we tend to think in terms of our careers. We think things like “home buyers”, “listings” and “mortgages”. Consumers think a little differently. John and Mary Homebuyer are more likely to have a conversation over coffee in the morning and, while planning the day, decide that they need to check the Internet to see what there is to see about real estate in their town. So, John and Mary … (2 comments)

Sunday 12 noon. Listen Live. www.WCBM.com - 09:40 PM
I am again fortunate to be the host of  'All About Real Estate', a live radio program on channel 680am www.wcbm.com .   It is always fun and I never know who may call in or on what topic. For my current clients I will try to talk about my  listings! I really do want to sell some real estate.
If you are up that early please listen in. The show is on from 12 noon to 1 pm.
Let's see how many Active Rainers listen in and then comment.    410-922-6680 Sunday October 1, 12noon East Coast Time
You can Listen live www.wcbm.com 
  Baltimore, Maryland www.HomeRome.com    … (5 comments)

7 million Batteries Recalled - 03:46 PM
Well Dell started then Toshiba, now the IBM Thinkpad..all have a sony battery that could be dangerous.  Here is the list of others that may also have this sony battery.  Lenovo, Fujistu, and Apple.  To be sure if your computer is on the list it is wise to go to the manufacturers website and check it out.  Better than risking a fire or shock or over heating situation..  Evidently there are 7 million of them out there and you know someone won't get the message so pass the word.  … (3 comments)

Microsoft Patch Critical Update! - 03:50 PM
Microsoft has sent out a message about another critical patch.  If you haven't updated your internet explorer do so.  There is a harmful group of hackers that have figured out once again how to invade your hard drive and they could be very malicious especially when it comes to html in outlook e-mail.  Hopefully you haven't visited any site that may have released the virus on your computer so run your windows update now and stay protected. … (4 comments)

Thank You Colleen Kulikowski - 03:58 PM

Thank you Colleen for the personal handwritten note.  Very professional and the AR members that are not using the personalized return address labels like the one with your picture, company and address could learn a lesson here.  The address label is another way for you to advertise folks and Colleen's was very nice colorful and easy to read.  It also included her website address.  Inside was a nice trifold about Marco Island also very well done.  Professional Presentation with a capital P.  Colleen really knows how to market her area! 
… (4 comments)

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