Archives of real estate blog entries for April 27, 2007

Featured blog posts


Humor: Are a Realtor or a "Real-a-tor"? - 08:03 PM
I was reading Sandra Mannaravalappil's blog and saw her profile picture, which is the FUNNIEST real estate license plate EVER!:
I'd give this photo 5stars if I could.
Do you pronounce Realtor as it is spelled or do you call yourself a "Real-a-tor"?  One of my very good friends insists on calling herself a "Real-a-tor" and I crack up every time she does it.
… (39 comments)

How to Start a Local Real Estate Blog — 3. What is Your Target? - 04:39 PM
This is probably one of the most important decisions you will make about your new blog. Who, What & Where do you want to target?
Since this is a series on how to start a “Local” real estate blog, we should probably go over some strategies concerning that.
WHERE are you going to target?? This may be a simple question for you to answer. Where do you currently farm?
Let me make a few suggestions… Think Niche. What I mean by that is don’t try to target “Los Angeles Real Estate”, or “Chicago Real Estate”. There is far to much competition, … (15 comments)

Sellsius Real Estate has launched! - 02:49 PM
A big congrats to Rudy and Joe!!  As usually I am one day late to the party but I still wanted to spread the word that Sellsius has launched.
It looks like they have a few industry changing innovations included with their new classifieds listings site including a cool new feature called a "Sellsius link". 
Today I registered for a personal account ($29 / year!), and plan on doing a full review of the site sometime in the next few days.  In the meantime check it out.  Sellsius has wow'd us for a long time now with their blog, I can only … (17 comments)

Mark Flanders is a "REAL" Pain in the Neck! - 04:57 PM
Most of you know my trusty sidekick, Mark Flanders(aka "Buckwheat"). We're both Moderators for the ActiveRain Community, and currently maintain the Top 2 spots here in the State of Washington. We also jointly run our 'other' blogsite, www.SoundBiteBlog.com
As many of you are aware, Mark has been noticeably absent from the Rain for the past several weeks. Many years ago, he was involved in a rather substantial auto accident that affected his neck. Every once in a while, this neck injury acts up, but it usually subsides in short order. A couple weeks ago, it flared up again, but this time, it lingered, and eventually became … (67 comments)

Confessions of a Rehabber... - 10:49 AM
Take it from me, or anyone else you know for that matter, deciding to buy a fixer-upper and tackle the task of remodeling is no easy feat. Sure, all those infomercials out there claim you can make quick money flipping, but what they neglect to tell you about is all the headaches that come with it too.My husband and I have done three homes - one small 1000 square foot home built in 1945 and two huge Queen Anne Victorians of 4000 square feet each. Here are some things we learned.
 
Don't let your eyes be bigger than your pocket book, no matter … (31 comments)

One Good Reason Realtors Should Use Blogs - 09:57 AM
Up until this week, I looked at the real estate industry from the outside in. This week, however, I got an inside view that has given me an even greater appreciation for the role Realtors play. 
You see, this week my wife Amie and I signed a contract on a townhouse and I would not/could not have done it without the capable leadership and assistance provided by our agent, Conni Smith.
This experience has also given me is a better understanding as to why Realtors should blog, and the role blogging can play as a marketing tool. 
 Step 1: Focusing on ListingsWe … (25 comments)

Do you schedule ActiveRain time? - 05:53 PM
It has been two weeks since my last activity on ActiveRain.  I have been busy with closings, listings, showings, etc. and have not had time to 'rain.
I have noticed that the more active ActiveRainers have been just as active in my two week hiatus.  My question to the more active 'rainers (20,000 points and up) is this: 
Do you schedule ActiveRain time? If so, why?
I schedule lead generation, follow-up, servicing, marketing, appointments, emails, etc..  Should I include scheduling for ActiveRain?  For those of you who do schedule time for AR, is it worth it for your business? Are you getting … (39 comments)

How about this above the tv in the living room? - 08:06 PM
I couldn't resist taking a photo of this when I was out showing homes today.  My clients about jumped through the window    :)
Anyone else have some strange photos of homes they have shown or listed in the past?  I think this really distracted from the show ability of the home.  Overall, the home wasn't to bad, but these dead animals all over the house was just wrong!

Or how about one for the kids room!

… (50 comments)

Website Survey - 03:24 PM
It is quickly becoming industry standard that we all have our own web-sites...I'm curious and I think it would provide extremely helpful info to our community on how to get started.  To that end, I have created the following survey that I hope you will all participate in.  Ready?  Here goes...
(1) Which of the following methods are you using to host your site?      a.  I designed and created my own website and host it on my own      b.  I use a templated site from a "provider." (Advanced Access, Xsites, etc...)      c.  My company provides me a templated site that I can personalize      d.  … (12 comments)

New to Active Rain? Face Your Fear and Get Started! - 01:28 PM
It's a scary world out there...I have seen many of the Active Rain community members are not just new to AR and blogging but are new to Real Estate as well. It's time to face your fears...Take a Leap of Faith...And drive down the road to a new world!
I have a fifteen year old son who started drivers ed this week. It is an exciting time in our family for someone to be taking a big step into something new.
It brings up memories of my drivers ed experience. (No-not with my dad. He only let me go straight. "That's enough. … (33 comments)

Just a thought on honesty in the Rain. - 10:26 AM
I am on my way out the door and can't help wanting to put this out there before I leave.  Active Rain is a HUGE community in a small field.  I hope you understand what I mean.  Anyone who has been in real estate knows that there are a lot of people in real estate but within a few years you come across many of the other agents who are really working. 
Everything that we write on AR is useful in different ways, whether it is consumers who are looking for agents, or agents looking for referrals, or brokers looking to … (41 comments)

Niche Marketing, the ups and downs - Niche your way to success! - 09:34 PM
Niche Marketing, will it work for me? 
Now wait just a minute!  I am supposed to REDUCE my number of possible clients?  What, are you crazy?  Niche marketing might not be for everyone, but it just might be right for YOU!
Finding a niche, in an untapped or at least undeserved market, could be the thing that pushes you from good (we are all good now, right!) to GREAT. Take a good hard look at your interests, your knowledge base, the people you enjoy being with.  This is even more important than ever as you are going to SHRINK your market, so … (23 comments)

The infinite appeal of an inviting blog title - 04:41 PM
I penned most of this post earlier this week while sitting in a Mexican restaurant in Detroit's airport.  I had a layover for a connecting flight to Traverse City, Michigan, apparently the cherry capital of the world.  These words are the opinionated by-product of a half-frozen burrito, several bottles of Dos Equis, and a $40 tab.
The agonizing truth: I'm often unable to come up with a title for the posts that I write.  This is not writer's block in a traditional sense.  The post's themselves come naturally as do the concepts for future posts.  It's the titles that drive me … (52 comments)


Blog posts


Sellsius Real Estate has launched! - 02:49 PM
A big congrats to Rudy and Joe!!  As usually I am one day late to the party but I still wanted to spread the word that Sellsius has launched.
It looks like they have a few industry changing innovations included with their new classifieds listings site including a cool new feature called a "Sellsius link". 
Today I registered for a personal account ($29 / year!), and plan on doing a full review of the site sometime in the next few days.  In the meantime check it out.  Sellsius has wow'd us for a long time now with their blog, I can only … (17 comments)

Wordpress SEO Juice - a testimonial - 07:57 PM
I used to tell my fellow agents in my office, after writing a condo project post on my Seattle condo blog, Google it tomorrow morning and I'll be number 1 for the name of the project.  They usually didn't believe me.  But, the next day, there it was.
A couple of months ago I noticed my posts started showing up in Google in about 5 hours or so.
Well, today I wrote a post about a new condo project and published it around 2:30.  By 4:30 it showed up as #1 in Google for the name of the condo and a couple of … (21 comments)

Blogging Meetup in Laguna Beach Tonight, Friday April 27th with Rudy from Sellsius!! - 06:37 PM
Hey, all you local bloggers fortunate enough to live in the gorgeous southern California region, drive like mad from where ever you are [1. California drivers naturally drive that way, and 2. With my short notice, there's no way you'll make it without some mad driving heheh] to a fantastic Blogging Meetup orchestrated by Rudy of Sellsius and other great bloggers there. The top notch and sunset worthy location:
The Hotel Casa del Camino's rooftop bar, with by far some of the most breathtaking views of Laguna's pristine south Orange County beaches and blue agua. Plus, a little tidbit for the day: … (7 comments)

if you have a few minutes please read - 01:29 PM
i liked this article it was from bloomberg this morning.
The housing market right now is affecting everybody's spending,'' said Francis, a design consultant at Thomasville Home Furnishings in Woodbridge, Virginia, 25 miles south of Washington. Before, ``I had people who would buy two and three bedrooms of furniture. Now many come in and just buy one piece at a time.''
With home prices in danger of falling this year for the first time in at least four decades, Americans are turning wary about borrowing against their houses to pay for vacations, education or remodeling projects. In a reversal of the ``wealth … (0 comments)

Are Real Estate Taxes Paid in Arrears in Your State? - 05:30 PM
I could use some help from the members of the Active Rain community.
I am doing an article about real estate taxes and would like to know if there are any other states besides Florida and Arizona where real estate taxes are paid in arrears.
Please post your state below in the comments section.
The article will be published on my Naples Florida Real Estate Homes blog.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
… (16 comments)

Mac Parody commercial between the Wii and PSP3 - 04:46 PM
I'm sure everyone has seen the Mac and PC commercials. Mac is the young, hip guy and there is poor pc, nerdy and painfully aware of it. Someone made a parody of that commercial comparing the new Play station 3 and the Nintendo Wii.  (if you don't know what a Wii is yet, then your kids/grand kids will be asking you for one, if they didn't get one already. The video is very funny and runs a few minutes.
Definitely made by a guy!   You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljZOHnZNaBc  Pretty worth and worth a look. -Charles
… (5 comments)

TypePad: Adding META Tags - 08:26 AM
My post below describes how to manually add META tags in Advanced Templates. 
If you want to check how how to add META tags in Basic Templates, read Teresa Boardman's post here Typepad and Meta Tags ( http://activerain.com/blogsview/93520/Typepad-and-Meta-Tags )
~~~~~~~~~~~
I was going to put off talking about converting to TypePad Advanced Templates until after I'd written more posts about using the design wizards.  But since META TAGS can only be added in Advanced Templates, and everyone is anxious to work on their META TAGS, I'll go for it.  Keep in mind it is usually simplest to create as much of your design as possible … (2 comments)

Adding Widgets To Active Rain - 10:32 AM
Recently, I've noticed alot of widgets poping up on Active Rain blogs: MyBlogLog Recent Readers, polls, meebo.  Do you wonder how that's done?
Here's how:
I'll use MyBlogLog for an example.  Go to http://www.mybloglog.com, sign in to your account.  (If you don't have an account, create one)
Click Get Widgets.  Use the tool to play around with the Recent Readers color and size.  Click Preview and Get Code.  Copy the code that shows in the diaglog box.  The easiet way to do this is to place your cursor in the box, then hit Edit -> Select All.  The hit Edit -> Copy (CRTL C)
Go to … (33 comments)

Port Orchard Market - 01:54 PM
I was asked today how the market is doing in my neck of the woods. Actually, I am asked that almost every day. We are coming down off of a fast sellers market, yet our market is very strong. Buyers now have a chance to compare houses before making a decision without feeling like they need to write up an offer without seeing the inside, sellers are still getting more money for their home this year than last although not at the appreciation rate of the last few years, market is still steady enough that sellers don't want to take a … (0 comments)

Making sense out of Real Estate Lingo - 10:47 PM
As with all industries, real estate professionals have developed their own language and lingo to help efficiently communicate with each other more easily. However, many agents expect the layperson to easily pick up on it and sometimes even treat them like they should already know. The first-time homebuyer is the most likely target of this alien language and making sense of property listings can sometimes look more like high school algebra than English.
Let's take a look at a sample real estate ad:
2500sf on cul-de-sac, 2BD/1.5BA, CA, spac grt rm w/ gas fp, grmt kit, det gar
Now put down your pencils... no … (1 comments)

Castaic High School: Stepford or Prefab? - 11:28 PM
The Castaic High School debate continues...
It was previously reported that it would likely take until 2014 for the new Castaic High School to be built and ready for the new school year. This was based on the Hart School District's plans to build a super-cool site with all the bells and whistles - something that the Castaic residents would be proud of for years to come. This was to be a landmark school, with all possible amenities and state of the art buildings.
However, the more building costs go up and timeframes go down, the Hart School District will have to consider … (0 comments)

Fighting Eminent Domain: Grassroots Efforts - 11:37 PM
Eminent domain is rapidly becoming a hot issue in the Santa Clarita area, with downtown Newhall businesses feeling the pinch of the threat of eminent domain if they don't "voluntarily" accept the City's pending buy-out offers.
Is there anything that businesses and area residents can do to fight the eminent domain process? Well, the stakes are high and the success rate is low, but sometimes the battle can be won through grassroots efforts to raise public awareness (and outcry) about the proposed redevelopment process.
One of the key websites in assisting in this grassroots type campaign is the Castle Coalition, which provides free informational … (0 comments)

Santa Clarita: Get Your Rebate Here! - 11:47 PM
The Santa Clarita Sanitation District is upping the ante for the removal of all residential rock salt and potassium chloride based water softeners, with increased rebates and free removals by qualified plumbers. These rebates can range from about $325 to as high as $2,000.
Why the sudden offer of free money? The Sanitation District is facing the prospect of being forced to build a new water treatment facility to reduce the salt (chloride) content of its waste water if it doesn't find ways to reduce it at its source, and the water softeners are some of the most easily-identified (and easily corrected) … (0 comments)

I Surrender! - 01:53 PM

For those who do not know me well . . .
I am a competitor.  I hate to lose.  I will not give up without a fight.  Nonetheless, the time has come that I have recognized I will not succeed in an endeavor I had just recently undertaken.
I knew  at a young age that I would never be a star in the NBA; could not jump.
I knew a little later on that I would never be a jockey; 6' 2" and 187 lbs in high school.
I knew as a young adult that I would never be a Rhodes Scholar; you figure … (11 comments)

Blog Coaching with my Mentor, Frances Flynn Thorsen - 07:30 PM
Yesterday, Fran and I had a long talk by phone and we reviewed our game plan a bit, discussed some upcoming options (formatting and other things - I'm behind on the formatting), and I got some homework to do. Fran was ecstatic about the "Good Press" that I received last Sunday on The Los Gatos Observer and one of my homework assignments was to blog about it on my Live in Los Gatos! site. I think I must have re-written today's entry - Fran's homework - twenty times. That's about ten more than usual. I didn't want to turn it into … (4 comments)

Complete Online Desktop Reference Library - 10:42 AM
I can (vaguely) remember when I was a child and the encyclopedia salesman used to come door-to-door promoting the World Book Encyclopedia or Encyclopedia Britannica as an important investment for a family.  They weren't cheap, so most people could only afford one set, if at all.  Retail stores, especially larger grocery chains, would offer special promotional programs where you could get the first volume or two (usually Index and Letter A) for free and then pay a small amount each week as the next volume installment became available -- until you had the complete set.  However, if you missed a week or the store … (0 comments)

Latest Carrillo Ranch Statistics - 07:54 PM
Latest Carrillo Ranch Statisticsby Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler REALTOR®Chandler AZ Real Estate
Latest market statistics (since 1/1/07) for Carrillo Ranch (located off of Rural Rd., between Chandler Blvd and Ray Rd in 85226 Chandler).  Data courtesy of ARMLS.
Thanks for Reading :)
Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler Realtor®http://www.homesphx.com
… (0 comments)

Latest Dawn Statistics - 07:57 PM
Latest Dawn Statisticsby Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler REALTOR®Chandler AZ Real Estate
Please find the latest market statistics for the Dawn subdivision.  Dawn is located off of Ray Rd. between McClintock Rd. and Rural Rd. in Chandler (85226).  Data courtesty of ARMLS.
Thanks for Reading :)
Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler Realtor®http://www.homesphx.com
… (0 comments)

Latest Park Promenade Statistics - 08:00 PM
Latest Park Promenade Statisticsby Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler REALTOR®Chandler AZ Real Estate
Please find enclosed the latest statistics (active, pending, sold) for the Park Promenade subdivision.  Park Promenade is effectively located at the southwest corner of Ray Rd. and McClintock Rd.  Data courtesy of ARMLS.
Thanks for Reading :)
Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler Realtor®http://www.homesphx.com
 
… (0 comments)

Latest Clemente Ranch Statistics - 08:07 PM
Latest Clemente Ranch Statisticsby Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler REALTOR®Chandler AZ Real Estate
Please find enclosed the latest statistics for The Clemente Ranch subdivision.  Clemente Ranch is located in the 85248 subdivision just east of Dobson Rd.  It is bound on the south by Queen Creek Rd. and on the north by Germann Rd.  All data (since 1/1/07) courtesy of ARMLS.
Thanks for Reading :)
Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler Realtor®http://www.homesphx.com
… (0 comments)

Related links

New Members for 2007-04-27

 Archives:

30 Apr
29 Apr
28 Apr
27 Apr
26 Apr
25 Apr
24 Apr
23 Apr
22 Apr
21 Apr
20 Apr
19 Apr
18 Apr
17 Apr
16 Apr
15 Apr
14 Apr
13 Apr
12 Apr
11 Apr
10 Apr
9 Apr
8 Apr
7 Apr
6 Apr
5 Apr
4 Apr
3 Apr
2 Apr
1 Apr
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006