Archives of real estate blog entries for September 7, 2006

Featured blog posts


The Pride of the Unsung Hero - 09:03 PM
Occasionally during my day, I stop my car to enjoy a site and shoot a photo. Today was a particularly nice day in the Washington Park area.  The gardens in are full bloom and the temptation was irresistable, I parked, grabbed my camera and toured the garden.
As I was posturing for the best "shots" I noticed a gentleman watching me.  He was working in the garden.  I asked him, "Is this Your Garden?"  He grinned and said "yes!"  
We chatted about the remarkable collection of plants and how well he had matched up the dark and light colors.  He was truly … (12 comments)

47 Minutes Lost: Why reading ActiveRain is time better spent than going to the weekly sales meeting - 11:41 AM
I’ve have always attended, and enjoyed attending our weekly sales meetings.  It’s a chance to see everyone and find out what is going on.  We usually have an impressive list of new homes to tour. 
At yesterday's meeting, I was bored.  It wasn’t the first time.  Sometimes I send text messages to pass the time, but I had left my Blackberry in the car.  I had already heard “the market is perking up” pep talk 27 times this year, and snoring during office meetings is generally frowned upon.
Last week, I thought to myself, “I bet Louann Nudi leads office … (20 comments)

Tips for Stagers: regarding Before & After Pictures - 07:27 AM
Photograph EVERY project. Pictures are SOOOO important... they tell our story in an instant.  THAT is why I have so many posted on my website.  You can write and write and write... but people will ALWAYS look at the pictures. 
AND I keep updating them too, because you have 2 clients... the seller and the realtor. A seller might only look at your site a few times when they are thinking of hiring you.  A realtor goes back and back and back just to keep "tabs" on you. If they always see new fresh images they know you are a … (11 comments)

Don't let your prospects go away !!! Don't waste your time ! - 02:11 AM
Hey all,
I want to share an experience that I had on Monday, I would not recommend that any of you make the same mistake. It is not the first time that it has happened. Some other Real Estate Agents experiences have been similar.
It was monday Sep 4 2006 holliday, I had an appointment with two prospects Husband and Wife, I did not have anything to do, so I decided to interview them. Well, I asked questions from A to Z about their expectations of the home that they wanted. I made them to sign working relationship disclosure and Buyers Agency Contract. … (12 comments)

Home showing checklist - 01:54 AM

 
 
 
 
How to effectively 'show' your home.
Showing a home does not have to be an overwhelming, costly process. Regardless of your home's size, age, style, and location, there are ways to spruce it up and effectively showcase its assets. So grab your paintbrush, carpet cleaner, lawn mower, and Lysol -- the four ingredients to a great first date -- and get to work on your house. A clean house will sell.  People need to picture themselves in it and feel at home , this will make a prospect fall in love with your house. Does it take work? YES!   If you can not do … (12 comments)

Open houses! - 02:28 AM
I've seen some talk of open houses on the site lately and just wanted to share an idea.  My number one concern with open houses is safety.  There's been several incedents reported in the media lately that scare me.  These incendets have been few and far between, but I sure don't want one to happen to me.  My team currently has some listings that are in high traffic areas, so I want to give them a try, but I'm not willing to do them alone. 
I majored in education in college, but my professional resume is laden with experince in the restaurant business.  I worked my way … (13 comments)

What the heck were they "HomeThinking.com" with this turkey??? - 01:17 PM
http://www.homethinking.com/
From today's Inman News
"Agent review service now covers 1.5 million agents"
This website claims to have " Real Estate Agents: 1,541,263 Total" in their system right now and any Jim, Dick, or Harriet can log in anonoymously and write a very good or a very bad review of you, no questions asked. http://www.inman.com/inmannews.aspx?ID=56445
Whoa!Is it just the skeptic in me or does anyone else see the potential for abusing this system???HomeThinking.com appears to be another "Rate Your Realtor" site which I don't have a problem with but it appears to be fairly simple for anyone to log in and create a fake account saying … (15 comments)


Blog posts


Uploading a Photo To Your ActiveRain Profile - 06:25 PM
Adding a photo to your profile is very important. It helps readers identify and remember you.
How do I upload photos to a profile? Login to our account. You can login by going to http://www.activerain.com and clicking “Login” on the top right of the page.Upon login you will come to a page with highlighted links on the left. Click “Edit My Profile.”You will see a box on the right side of the screen with words below it that say “Upload Picture.” Click on that link and a box will open.Click the browse button and you will be able to browse your computer for … (10 comments)

Are You Ready For Some FOOTBALL!!!! - 11:24 PM
My favorite time of year is here. For me there is nothing quite so refreshing as the crisp smell of the air in fall (visit Seattle in October if you have never smelled crisp air). The smell of peanuts and stale beer in the parking lot somehow gets my mouth to water when any other time of year it would make me gag. Making the walk from the parking lot to your seats under any other circumstances would require a break for 80% of the people. Not during football season. Watching two grown men run at full speed and slam head … (10 comments)

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) - 08:44 PM
Good Evening All,
 I just received a response back from a client giving me her property search requirements.    One of the things she said was "I'm looking for something in the downtown Seattle area, preferably a LEED construction condo in the $400k to $450k price range."  I didn't know what LEED construction was--but I do now.  I found an article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Friday, April 22, 2005) by Debera Carlton Harrell. 
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) has a program of standards (degrees of certifications) for rating buildings on their levels of "green construction."
 The thinking is that going green will … (1 comments)

How do we choose featured blog posts - 07:19 AM
I got posed this question.  How do we decide which blog posts to give that little gold star and make featured.  First off what is a featured blog post? 
Featured blog posts appear prominently on the "Blog Dashboard" and we try to rotate the list, so that we display a full new set of posts every two or three days.  This way someone that visits the site every couple days but just wants a quick snapshot can see what people are writing about.  We recently increased the number of posts shown on that page from 10 to 20 because there were so … (27 comments)

Watch out for that Gorilla! - 03:32 PM
I realise we've talked about this before, but I have no qualms talking about it again.  I was at a seminar all day yesterday....it was wonderful, lots of great programs, came up with wonderful ideas, met up with some old friends and made some new ones...the very last speaker of the day was a retired DPS officer and the he was talking about safety on the job.  We work in a high risk job as we are well aware of...part of his presentation was to show us a video of some basketball players, one team in black shirts, one team in white … (4 comments)

Timing The Bottom Of The Market - 10:42 PM
So how do you convince a first time homebuyer that they are getting a great deal on a property?   It can be tough when the family lives in a market that has very different pricing.  Mom and Pops can buy a house back home for $45,000 and the kids are looking at a $175,000 starter townhome. 
Let's just say that there is major sticker shock to overcome.  The kids are feeling at peace with the townhome we found.  Compared to everything we've seen it's got the most potential and square footage.  Then it happens....the well meaning folks step in and raise … (1 comments)

Reporter Attacked During Real Estate Interview - 10:37 AM
I just saw this video and I was watching with my jaw on the floor.  This is a reporter who has been doing a series of reports on a Real estate scam.  He's interviewing a gentleman, and right before the guy can start talking, they're attacked by the lady accused in the scam.  She throws some water, shouts some explicits and then here comes her husband... boy did they get into it.  The reporter is shown all messed up with a bloody face.
The video is just over 3 minutes, but it's worth watching.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/videoPlayer.php?vidId=86053&catId=104
 
… (12 comments)

The Nerve of Some Agents - 09:29 PM
I'm sitting here going through my end of the night emails, and as I'm sitting here, I get a new lead from my website.  I'm thinking, cool, good thing I'm sitting here or they would have had to wait until tomorrow morning for their listings...
I read the comments section, and it's an agent in Las Vegas with the nerve to ask for a 50% referral fee!  50%!
This person has never talked with me.  She doesn't know who I am or how I work, but she has the nerve to come in and ask for 50% referral fee.  I let her have … (7 comments)

Another Carnival! The Carnival of Real Estate. - 12:42 PM
The Real Estate Tomato is hosting another carnival this coming week.
  The Carnival of Real Estate, originally created by Zillow Blog, is setting up shop at the Tomato on Monday the 11th of September.  Unlike the Carnival of Blogging Success that was exclusive to AR members, this carnival is open to the entire real estate blogosphere.  There will be several dozen entries to compete with, and the topics are a "real estate free-for-all."
The exposure will be extensive, given that all submitters generally make the point of posting an article on their blog referencing their participation in the Carnival, and link it … (1 comments)

The Mortgage Tomato? - 09:29 PM
At speaking engagements here in California, I find that although I am reaching out to real estate agents, my audience is almost always split with professionals in the mortgage industry.  What strikes me as even more curious is that I am approached by a larger percentage of mortgage professionals, than Realtors after the session.  I am not going to try and explain it, but rather embrace it. No, I am not changing into the Mortgage Tomato, however, I would like to not only welcome all our mortgage cousins but provide them with a piece that caters directly to their industry.  One … (1 comments)

Thumbshots - 05:10 PM
If you have been using the internet for at least six months, you should now be familiar with the site thumbshots.  Lots of directories, content providers, forums, etc use them to provide a small screen shot of websites that appear on their site. What most people don't know is that they also have this nifty little ranking tool http://ranking.thumbshots.com/ that allows you to compare your ranking on different engines with the same term or different ones.
It puts the results out in a graph showing where different sites overlap on the two engines as well as showing you which ones don't … (1 comments)

Is your website "fresh"? - 11:16 PM
There have been several posts on website content and the additional of it. As search engines change their ranking systems to combat abuse, it seems that content is becoming more and more important. I add any where from 4 to 20 pages of new content a month to Jacqui's site, www.lvrealty.net I very rarely change much on her home page but I do make a few minor changes several times in a month as well. 
I'm curious to see if I'm low on the content totem pole or should get out of the house more.
… (5 comments)

Important Lessons from September 11th - 05:54 PM
                                                                 
I took this photo of my son and his stepsister Nicole on September 16, 2001.  It was the most somber and intense time for us.   We lived in NJ at the time and the events of September 11th found me relocating to Southwest Florida in October 2001.   Taken from Liberty State Park which was 20 minutes from my home this day remains very special to me.   Read More about September 11th
This information is provided by Colleen Kulikowski, Realtor.  Colleen writes about the Florida lifestyle and Real Estate in Western New York.
Celebration Florida Homes  Marco Island Homes
Western New York Real Estate & Mortgage
… (5 comments)

Active Rain hits 3000 Real Estate Agents! - 10:47 PM
 
 WE HIT 3000 Real Estate Agents!
It was July 18th when I posted that Active Rain hit 1000 agents. 
It seemed like a lot  of activity in such a short time. (8/14, we hit 2000).
 And here it is 9/8/06, not quite 2 months later, and we have added another 2000 agents! 
This is not counting all the other categories, just Real Estate agents.
 Congratulations to all!  This is a wondeful group and I am proud to be a member.
 When do you think we will hit 4000?
www.HomeRome.com
Baltimore,Md
… (2 comments)

How do you deliver Service? - 09:17 PM
How do you evaluate the services you are providing?
Ask yourself some simple questions first hwo quickly do you return phone calls?  Do you monitor or watch the delivery of your services and your team's response?  How often do you keep in touch with customers and prospects?  Do you ask for customer feedback on your services?
I have posted our customer survey in a previous blog, but do you return phone calls within the hour or do you set a schedule to return calls for the day between 11-12, and 3-4.  What expectations do you create for your customers?
There are many ways to … (3 comments)

Who answers the phones in your office? - 09:24 PM
Many times the first person someone talks to when they call the office is front desk receptionist or as we call her or him for that matter "the director of first impressions"  It is very important that people are greeted with professional greeting and directed to the person that can help them as quickly as possible.  Often this person can create an impression just by how they answer the phone with or without a smile on their face that shows in their voice.  Today we had a title company prove to handle a difficult call with great expertise and grace.  We … (7 comments)

Company Performance How does yours rate - 09:35 PM
On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate the following for your office?
Responsiveness is it basic or personalized?
Competence how does your company image instill trust?
Reliability Are you dependable and do the company employees follow through?
Relationships How do you show customers you care and look for long term relations?
Accuracy do individuals in accounting positions  take care and avoid mistakes?
Personal Service do the front line people show customers that they are special?
Courtesy does everyone treat customers and associates with respect?
Active Listening do you have good listeners and pay attention to problem solving?
Percieved Value do you give good value and make them aware … (1 comments)

hop on top, it's a great ride! - 06:23 PM
I'm drowning in bubbles and I don't know what to do! Bubble, bubble, bubble! I'm so tired of hearing that word. Maybe I live in my own little world, in fact "The Lovely Wife" would definitely agree with that, but I just don't see that housing bubble in my business. I know there are a lot of homes on the market. I know Sellers are having a hard time selling and Realtors are struggling, but I am very, very busy. Listing, arranging showings, negotiating and going to closings. I like this "bubble" and I like it a lot!
In my market, Poinciana … (9 comments)

Just Google--Broker Bryant! - 08:17 PM
I had a call from a potential Seller earlier today. She is out of State but has a home in Poinciana Fl she needs to sell. And yes, she is another expired listing. Anyway, since I was driving down the road I only sopke with her for about 5 minutes. But did tell her I would E-mail over a CMA a little later and in the meantime Google Broker Bryant and do a little research. Ok, so I got back home (my office) and sent over the CMA as promised. This is the E-mail I just received:  
Bryant,
Wow, I'm impressed! When can you see the … (11 comments)

ActiveRain Blogs - 05:13 PM
Dear A/R Members,
I had a question and a suggestion on ActiveRain Blogs.
First my question:
When you choose public view or real estate professionals view on your blog, where can others view your blog, where else will it show up?  I really would love to learn to know where else it would show up.  Also, a question that connects to this question: Can the persons viewing the blog see the comments that the A/R members make on the blog?  Can you just view the blog itself or the comments as well?
Suggestion to Matt and A/R Staff:
This could have … (4 comments)

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