Think Marketing

Privatized Gains, Socialized Losses

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:44:33 -0500

It's not secret that H.R. 3221 is about to move on to the president for signing. What's less understood is that a section entitled "Hope for Homeowners Act of 2008" was written by Bank of America. The effect of the bill is to offload from lenders some $300,000,000,000 of some of the worst performing loans to taxpayers.

Senator Dodd (D CT) introduced the bill stating there would be no investor bailout, but a reading of the bill shows clearly that's what it is.

Dodd has been in the limelight more recently for improprieties related to preferential treatment he received from one of the main beneficiaries of this bill Countrywide Financial. Furthermore the bill, was written by the other main beneficiary, Bank of America Corp.

This bill threatens to extend a housing crisis and the economic recession in that it harms prudent investors and prevents those less prudent from bearing the full consequences of their actions.

The section of the bill that provides for the bailout, and Bank of America internal documents can be found here.

http://sites.google.com/site/bankbailout/

Senators Kit Bond (R MO)and Jim DeMint (R S.C.) seem to be the only ones raising any concern about the bailout portion of the bill.

Update: From an Associated Press Article

Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, the House minority leader, called on Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to hold a hearing investigating allegations that Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., got preferential mortgages at the behest of Countrywide Financial Corp. CEO Angelo Mozilo. Countrywide, a leading subprime lender that has been blamed for helping to cause the mortgage meltdown, is among those that could benefit from the housing rescue.

"Democrats who receive sweetheart deals from their campaign contributors shouldn't be pushing legislation forcing taxpayers to bankroll a $300 billion bailout of scam artists and speculators, and the American people have every right to demand answers if they do," Boehner said in a statement.

Again I don't think this is partisan, it's a problem on both sides, but I'm glad to see someone making a fuss about this.

New real estate comes online. Stake your claim.

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:33:28 -0500

Virtual real estate gets bigger and better?

As probably one of the biggest changes to come to the the Internet in a long time, ICANN, the body that that gives us .org, .edu, etc., is opening things up to a whole new range of names.

Looking toward 2009 ICANN plans to make it possible for the characters after the "." like the com in ActiveRain.com to become any number of other names (.caleb .rainmaker etc.).

"Presently, users have a limited range of 21 top level domains to choose from — names that we are all familiar with like .com, .org, .info." ICANN Chariman, Peter Dengate Thrush

It's a big change from 21 to ???, that's a lot of real estate opening up folks, I'm not sure if it's better, but it'll be interesting.

Donate to the Charles Richey Fund

Friend, husband and fellow REALTOR® was unexpectedly hospitalized read more

Very "Active" Rainer, Charles Richey Needs Your Help

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:25:19 -0500

Please help Charles and Jacqulyn Richey.

I received an email today from Max Chirkov over at IBSTeam.net (you've seen his links at the bottom of AR's Directory pages) asking for help on behalf of Charles and Jacqulyn. Charles has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare disorder that attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. Over a period of days or sometimes weeks GBS causes muscle weakness and eventually complete paralysis.

The good news is Charles is currently in the ICU undergoing treatment, and while "GBS" can be life threatening, Charles was diagnosed early and patients most of the time recover with few ongoing issues. While his recovery might take a while, it's my impression that he's going to be OK.

Now an ICU is an extremely expensive place to undergo treatment. He's also going to need ongoing physical therapy. Without medical insurance the need for support is going to be high. Max over at IBSTeam.net is taking up a Paypal collection, to help Charles and his wife Jacqulyn cover some of the costs of treatment.

I've known Charles for some time, he's a major impact on this community. He went out of his way to help me work through things when ActiveRain was growing. I know I'm not the only one he's helped directly or indirectly. Given that he has touched so many of us, even a small contribution from the many people that know him will add up to a lot, and go a long way toward helping. So if you can make a contribution even a small one please visit Max's page to do so. Max also has more information about what's going on if you'd like more information.

___

And please help yourself too.

For many of us that are self employed, I realize medical insurance is most often a low priority concern. It seems if we're healthy now, there's no need for it. In my own case, I grew up with entrepreneurial parents, and went into entrepreneurial work myself, medical insurance was never a priority. I've spent most of my life without insurance.

Through many medical incidents involving people I know, I've come to see that medical issues can suddenly hit any of us. I now have my own "catostrophic" insurance plan. I'm in good health and rarely need to see a doctor, when I do I can pay out of pocket. I have this plan for the unanticipated concerns.

I would encourage each of you without coverage, to take a look at what options might be available to you. Even if you don't expect to need medical attention having a coverage plan in place is in my opinion a good idea.

Donate to the Charles Richey Fund

Friend, husband and fellow REALTOR® was unexpectedly hospitalized read more

Printer Angst

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:02:28 -0500

Have you ever fumed, wondering why the replacement cartridges cost more than the printer itself? If you have then this video might be satisfying.

Via Gizmodo

A Slippery Slope; Fraud and Lending

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:51:16 -0500

There are many factors that have contributed in creating a crisis in the credit markets. We haven't seen the end yet, we're still learning about what created the problems we're facing now.

This system of loan origination is highly organized, and more recently some investment products were created that allowed financial institutions to more efficiently move mortgages into secondary markets and off their books. The result was that lenders became more interested in originations than they were in creating quality products. Fed Governor Frederick Mishkin calls it "the originate-to-distribute model."

"The originate-to-distribute model, unfortunately, created some severe incentive problems, which are referred to as principal-agent problems, or more simply as agency problems, in which the agent (the originator of the loans) did not have the incentives to act fully in the interest of the principal (the ultimate holder of the loan). Originators had every incentive to maintain origination volume, because that would allow them to earn substantial fees, but they had weak incentives to maintain loan quality. " Governor Mishkin 2/29/08

A memo circulating through JPMorgan Chase entitled "Zippy Cheats & Tricks" ended up in the hands of Oregonian reporter Jeff Manning. The memo explains how to push loans through the company's automated underwriting system, essentially encouraging fraud. Manning it's unclear how widely the memo was circulated, but it does provide a piece of evidence supporting an issue I've been talking about for some time, and exactly what Governor Mishkin was trying to explain.

While loan submissions do have to be put together to fit specific loan products, suggestions from the memo like "Remove any mention of gift funds" asks the reader to commit fraud. While a lender rep might instruct a broker on how to structure loan submissions to fit a particular loan program, I believe there was a fuzzy line between putting together a package that fit the program, and putting together a loan package that shouldn't have made it through they system in the game to bypass program guidelines enforced computerized (automated) underwriting systems and human underwriters.

Due to the interconnected nature of the loan industry, the effects from memos like these wouldn't have been restricted to JPMorgan Chase, these types of ideas would have been disseminated to all institutions from the top, and laterally. As bank employees and brokers picked up practices from one institution, they could communicate them to others and take them with them as the changed jobs (which occurred often as the jobs in the mortgage industry boomed). This is how I believe these and other "Cheats & Tricks" affected many institutions.

The resulting loans wouldn't meet the requirements for the packages they were bundled in. Subsequent ratings would be meaningless. This leaves us today with no idea what potential performance to expect from specific mortgage backed investment products.

This is not the only reason we are facing issues today. High rates of leverage, dissaggregation, rapid (miscalculated) inflation are among many factors contributing to this credit crisis. I suggest however, that this cheating contributed to increasing the volume of mortgages that currently are souring the performance of and investor confidence in credit markets.

Jeff Manning"Chase mortgage memo pushes 'Cheats & Tricks" The Oregonian 3/27/08 via Calculated Risk

Calculating "Advantage" Redfin study misleads

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:00:06 -0500

Hello all, I know it's been quite some time since I've posted. I saw some posts today I thought I'd pass on. Seattle based Redfin today came out with a study declaring a customer advantage in savings prices. Ultimately however as I looked at the numbers and how the study was conducted, I found the results to be less conclusive than they are portrayed.

I'd give the company kudos for their customer satisfaction ratings. If a company can create a consistent satisfactory experience in this business I think they are doing a good thing for the industry.

The main point that is being expressed however, is that the company can save customers money through the negotiated sales price. My first thought however after reading the claim was how would they account for the negotiated concessions I'm used to? The company claims a buyer's sales price advantage of .928% This is not saying much. It's not saying much because final sales price is not necessarily reflective of the ultimate results for the buyer and seller.

I've seen a lot of deals cross my desk as a sales person, a real estate broker, and a mortgage broker. The deals I've seen take many forms. In my experience The ultimate selling price, is NOT a reflection of how well either the buyer or the seller was served. Most every deal involved some kind of negotiation and concessions that were worked on between the parties that involved any number of things, including property improvements, closing costs and loan fee arrangements. The net sales price did not necessarily reflected net concessions to favoring either party.

I actually discussed this last March, in going over the impact the practice might have on comparable sales data. My example deal was one where I was the sales person. In addition to negotiating a final price it involved $20,000 to be refunded to the buyer to go toward "current and future updates" on the property. The seller preferred to do it this way as he was a builder and did not want the reduced price to impact his future sales. While there were other things negotiated into the deal, that $20,000 reduction would never have shown up under the analysis performed by the company.

Just a thought. Did I miss something?

Chicagoland...More Blogging Help, Meet Craig Schiller.

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:11:59 -0500

Chicago area Coldwell Banker Agents. This Wednesday October 3, the company is putting on an awesome expo. Craig Schiller will be there, and so will I, representing ActiveRain. From what I can see there's going to be a lot to learn there. The line-up looks great. If you don’t go to this I think you’re doing yourself a disservice. How many homes are you really going to show this Wednesday anyways? .

Registration is only 69$. If you take a look at the speakers and the break out sessions alone you’ll see there’s tremendous value in this. They say retail value 150$ and I’d say it’s more than that. This is a terrific opportunity to hone your e-marketing tools and to explore things that you might not have considered.

I’ll be there in Chicago with Craig discussing blogging and social networking. Coldwell Banker is setting up a blogging lounge. I'll be there and so will Craig to talk more about emarketing, blogging, and social networking. If you're a Greater Chicago Area Coldwell Banker Agent, I would strongly suggest you attend.

Thank you.

Update Oct 3:
OK I’m here at the Coldwell Banker Emagine Expo and I’m impressed with how into blogging all of these agents are. Craig and I are almost out of business cards and flyers and it’s only 10:00 am!

Onward

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:18:41 -0500

I'm moving on to do other things. I've got a number of things to wrap up before I go, but from now on Jonathan, Bob, and Nicole will be around to help you with ActiveRain. I'll still be available to talk about blogging, networking, and sales.

A terrific journey.
We've come a long way from when Matt and Ben and I first set this community growing in Late May/Early June 2006. The goals I set are being fulfilled. We now have a community of almost 50,000 real estate professionals who are communicating with each other on almost a daily basis. Working as a community many members, are getting more out of their businesses than ever before. They are also offering their customers a better value proposition. Participants in this community are far better resources for customers because of the knowledge and connections developed here.

Being a part of this community has made us all better and I have no one to thank more than those members who have contributed to the foundations and growth of this community. This is your network. You've brought it here, and I thank you all for doing so.

Some thoughts:

Take advantage of The Network.
I very much appreciate all the members who have called emailed or written me regularly telling me about the wealth of knowledge they've acquired in their work here. This is a terrific resource and I encourage all of you to take advantage of it.

Technology has a tremendous impact on marketing. Right now blogging and social networking are two important aspects of that. Get your voice out there with blogging, and continue to develop connections with home shoppers, and your colleagues. Participate, and enjoy yourself, if you're not having fun then something's not right.

A reminder about competition.
ActiveRain thrives on the competitive spirit. Please enjoy the interactions with your competitors. For individual sales persons the largest obstacles to sales aren't other sales people, but rather the customer's desire not to make a change, and your own personal limitations. By learning with your fellow sales people you'll be able to improve in so many ways that it's worth embracing the opportunity.

Stay out of trouble.
As a a part of this industry you are also required to work within a legal framework that is industry specific. U.S. wide you will have fair housing and anti-trust among other things to be careful of. The web has a permanence to it, what you do will stick, so be sure to know your legal obligations and responsibilities.

Be nice to the new person.
Remember at this early stage there are going to be a lot of people who are trying to figure it out. We were all new once. It takes time to adjust so please treat the new comers with kindness. Ultimately how you treat others will reflect on you.

Thank You
I am looking at a number of opportunities, but I'll still be available to you to talk about the web, marketing, blogging, networking, and sales, you can reach me via my ActiveRain profile.

I feel very fortunate to of had this opportunity to service this community. Thank you for everything.

What Changed For Me.

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:32:59 -0500

I don’t want to get to far into it here because there is a lot that can be said. I do want to share a little bit of my own experience however. It's been six years, but I don't think I've really shared this since then.

On my mothers side my family has been a part of this country since before its founding. I am often asked what my ethnic background is. When I’m asked, I often jokingly reply that I’m Pilgrim. My mother’s family arrived here on the Mayflower.

On the other side I’m Arab. My step-father's family is from Lebanon. Growing up, Lebanon was in a civil war. I heard a lot about what was going on there. I heard nostalgic expressions of how great things used to be, and how bad they’d gotten. When I was 11 I spent about 8 months there during the tail-end of the war.

I knew that people lived their lives there, war or no war. I also experienced it, I went to school, picked up food for the family. I was just a kid like anywhere else. But it was still a different world.

From my experiences and what I heard I knew there was a world out there, that was very different than the one I grew up with here. I knew I was fortunate to be growing up in the United States as opposed to many other places. Here there is a much more stable civil society than in many other places. Corruption is much lower and we enjoy a significantly stronger rule of law.

When the Oklahoma City bombing occurred my world was rocked. I couldn’t believe that something as horrible as that could happen here. I thought of the lives destroyed, those that died, and all those that were affected by it. There was however some reassurance in a sense that the Oklahoma City bombing was an isolated experience. It was the act of a few people who were found and brought to justice.

What happened to us on September 11, 2001, changed things permanently for me. The loss of life was, again devastating. The stories of heroism, and people working together to take care of each other were inspiring. But in Seattle, I was far removed from that.

For me on that day, I saw my world view change. Those two worlds I had once separated were separate no longer. The day the planes went down the world that I had known only to exist elsewhere, came flooding in. The country changed for me. The oceans no longer mattered as they once had. Our borders now reached out beyond the oceans.

That is what changed for me.

An awesome customer service experience I wanted to share

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:36:39 -0500

I'm very impressed with this recent example of excellent customer service that I received recently. I wanted to share it with the community in hopes that it helps us look at what we do, and to highlight the company for what it did to serve me.

The Xbrand Company is a leading designer of laptop accessories. One of their more well known products is their line of laptop stands. These things look like something out of a Sci-fi, or a high tech gadjet from an action movie. When I see it I just think "Batman." The stands are beautiful, sleek, and ergonomic.

When I purchased one somewhere around 3 years ago, it really was one of the best stands I'd ever seen. I eventually broke the stand by putting to much weight on a special catch it has so you can tilt your laptop up. The stand continued to work for me for years, but not with the full functionality that it had with the catch.

I saved the pieces, hoping to fix it someday. This unfortunately became one of those projects that constantly gets put off. The pieces are lost now, and I probably could not have fixed it anyways without new parts.

I finally picked up the project again last month. I checked it out and the company was still selling at least a similar looking model. I wrote to see if they might, by chance, have the parts I was looking for. I received a prompt reply requesting more specifics on the model and serial numbers to see if they had what I was looking for. As it turned out their current models were updated, and the parts I was looking for weren't available. At least that's what I understand.

In any case my very next email from Xbrand was a request for my shipping address. They were sending me a new stand!

They've got a pretty happy customer in me. I'm enjoying the stand very much it sits alongside my monitor so I can work on two screens. Years later this is still probably the best stand I could find. And now I'm wowed by this amazing customer service experience and I'll be recommending this product, and sharing my experience with the company for years to come.

Attending the Louisiana REALTORS® Meeting Sept 20th

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:40:49 -0500

I'll be at the Baton Rouge LRA meeting I look forward to meeting any AR Members there.

Getting the Most out of Your Rain

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:24:47 -0500

The ActiveRain Real Estate Network is here to help connect real estate professionals to each other, and also to real estate consumers. While connecting to consumers seems obvious to most, many people have a hard time understanding that why real estate professionals would need or want to connect to each other. I believe that it's more important than most people realize.

Today, through technology it's easier than ever to live in a disconnected world. With fax, internet, and email, we have many conveniences that help us get through transactions. We have more freedom to do things on our terms, on our time-line, things are just more convenient really. But there is a price to be paid for that convenience. The nature of these conveniences make it so that we miss out on the interpersonal connections that develop from being in regular contact with colleagues. By being disconnected real estate professionals are loosing out on the wealth of opportunities. We are missing out on a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience that comes from just simply interacting. This can be true for any industry.

One of the goals here on ActiveRain is to facilitate those once lost connections. On the ActiveRain Real Estate Network, members are reconnecting, coming together and collectively sharing their knowledge and experiences. Through doing so we can become individually and collectively stronger. Members report to me regularly about the tremendous positive impact being a part of this community has made for them. This makes an ActiveRain Real Estate Professional, a greater asset to their clients. Stagers, loan officers, real estate agents, etc., all offer a better value proposition to the people they serve and work with when they can go forward with the benefit of the collected knowledge they've gained from participation.

To go forward and begin developing these connections for yourself, I suggest starting out by reading. Go out and find posts and bloggers that interest you. Read the posts, rate them, comment on them, and develop connections with the authors. Watching learning from others will help you to define your own style. Use what you read in blogs to help inspire your writing.

When you want your posts to go out to your fellow members please keep in mind the topics that interest you in your reading.

The ActiveRain Real Estate Network is going through constant changes. While we'll work to improve the tools we provide now, going forward I see ActiveRain offering more ways and opportunities to strengthen this community of dedicated professionals. For now please connect and share your experiences to strengthen the bonds you develop both online and offline. It is through this collective sharing that we improve our value both to ourselves and to our consumers.

ActiveRain's Place

What's the Big Idea?

Engaging and offering value, responding to the market

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:39:10 -0500

I've talked to and seen a lot from real estate people upset about the stories of doom and gloom for the housing market reported on the news. While looking at the media might be one resource. I feel sales people can do better. Looking at how to engage with clients is, I feel, far more effective than simply trying to deliver a blanket message.

I'm on record as stating that it's important to give your clients the truth, whether you loose the deal or not. One of the most common questions for a client to ask is often related to the conditions of the market.

“Is now a good time to buy/sell?” The question begs for a market explanation. But if you look at a second time you'll realize the the question really depends upon the asker. The answer is, “It depends.” And, “It really depends on you.”

The credit market is currently very volatile. Real estate market conditions are less certain than many are accustomed to. Yet in almost any market the decision to buy or sell and benefits therefrom are highly dependent upon the specific needs of the questioner.

It's the job of a real estate sales person and a mortgage officer to understand their clients situation It's the loan officer or agent's job to help them determine what's really in their best interest.

In my experience a sales person looses a lot of credibility at that moment that they stop taking the clients interests into account. An effective salesperson looking to make a sale, repeat business and referrals knows that to get the sale they've got to be forthright with the customer. Sales isn't about “duping” people.

It is, in fact, in the thoughtful and considered investigation of this question that a salesperson delivers a significant amount of their value to their client. Working within the bounds of their experience and limited area of expertise, it is imperative that a salesperson deliver to their client the benefits of that knowledge and experience.

In declining markets there are terrific opportunities, and in appreciating markets there are dogs. In most cases a good opportunity isn't going to depend upon the state of the market as much as it it will on the unique needs of the client.

“I don't know, it depends upon what you need.” Offers a much more compelling chance for discussion than simply "yes."

A quote to share.

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:53:13 -0500

I'd like to share with you a quote from a friend of mine....

"Life was so much easier when I stuck hard and fast to my can't do attitude."

Professional Pride

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:07:31 -0500

At Inman's Real Estate Connect San Francisco this last week I was quite surprised during a discussion facilitated by Brad Inman between Redfin CEO Glen Kelman and Lennox Scott, CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate. I was upset that through the discussion I believe the concept of sales person was taken down a notch.

You can check out the "Duet" between Lennox and Glen. The part I am interested in is at about 11 minutes. You can click right there. It is at this part that the conversation goes into a discussion on sales.

Real Estate Connect Video by - InmanTV

In response to a question from Inman, Scott began describing a set of nuanced terms, which I felt, sounded more like excuses, than genuine support. I was a bit appalled that sales wasn't propped up more by Mr. Scott. I'll give him that this was an interview and being on the spot it's easy to make mistakes, but I still didn't like it. While Inman was in there talking about how he seeks out sales people to help him, Scott was offering nuanced terms. Terms that I felt were almost apologies. Others may see it differently but what I felt I saw was an attempt to sugar coat the term sales.

Sales people should be celebrated. There are bad sales people I know. But they don't represent what I did when selling. They shouldn't be able to ruin the profession for me, or any other honest hard working professional out there. There are a whole lot of sales people who are making a difference in this world. They are doing a lot to assist people making important and life impacting decisions. In my recent past I took great pride in telling people I was a sales person. Sales is terrific and it makes the world go around. I have to say that as a sales person I took great pride telling people that I was in sales.

When I brought up what I saw with some people I know, I had some immediate detractors who, presented to me the stereotype dishonest slime-ball who might often try to manipulate a client into something they don't want. Personally my pride extended from taking my skills and knowledge about real estate to truly help my clients through the process of buying or selling a new home. The image needs to be changed so that a negative stereo type doesn't dominate the profession.

I've had the opportunity to participate in the careers of some terrific sales people. I see that in those people the level of commitment and to learning about and understanding how to deliver on the best interests of the client is phenomenal.

In my opinion we don't need "heightened concepts" to describe sales people. What we need is an effort by each sales person, and sales companies everywhere to educate the general public on the value of their sales people. Work needs to be done to educate the consumer on how to select a sales person that is knowledgeable, clearly interested in keeping the best interest of the customer at the forefront of their work.

Sales people, please stand up and have some pride for your profession.

SEO and blogging, just write.

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:36:52 -0500

Every once in a while I come a across a post that has an incredibly large number of links in it. The links are excessive and seem to be a part of some deranged hyper-SEO strategy. The links don't help the reader but are more of a distraction. It's understandable that a member would be attempting to get attention from a search engine this way but linking like this produces long-term negative effects.

The fact is that this sort of linking is considered abusive. It's abusive to the search engines and searchers, to your readers, and to The ActiveRain Real Estate Community. Please remember that the engineers that work for search engines are also thinking 'search engine optimization.' That optimization is done in the name of delivering greater and greater relevant content to searchers. As search technologies are adjusted the direction toward greater performance in relevancy delivery means that attempts with abusive linking campaigns will become time wasted.

Furthermore search technologies include methods to penalize those that would abuse the system. Penalized sites can be de-listed all together, taking you out of the search results.

Morgan Carey of Real Estate Webmasters recently posted on issues that can come up with linking. Excessive linking is often considered spam and in those cases that we see a member intentionally spamming the network we will take action. "Action" might mean point deductions, but it can lead to removal from the community.

It is natural to have a links when blogging, and links should be used where they can. However links must be relevant to the conversation. Writing should be for your readers more that for the search engines. We work to optimize your blogs, and profiles as much as possible. The extra step you need to take is writing relevant and interesting topics to so that potential customers looking for information will find you as a resource.

If you see excessive linking in a post, please flag it so we can help the blogger.

Back at the Keyboard

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:26:29 -0500

I've been out for the last ten days, and I've got a large number of emails in my inbox. Lydia, Nicole, Ben, and James were working hard to answer your questions this week, while Bob, Matt, Jonathan, Sarah and I attended Inman's Real Estate Connect San Francisco. The event was great for this community we even won and innovator award at the technology conference. I saw a lot of Rainers there and I believe reached out to a lot of new ones. There was so much going on that it I'm still recovering.

At the conference we announced the winners of the Project Blogger Contest, Mary Pope-Handy and Frances Flynn Thoresen. The team chose to have the $5,000 prize go to Care, but more on that later.

Hugh Macleod of The Gaping Void was the keynote speaker and he gave an awesome speech on "Kula" and "Social Objects." The concept of social objects is an important part of understanding connections and the transfer of meaning.

Bloggers who attended Connect please be sure to tag your posts with "connectsf" so they can be picked up and viewed by other attendees.

I'm sorry for not getting back to a lot of you sooner, but I'll be working through to get back to you ASAP.

Technorati Profile

Belated Project Blogger Judging Results for Week 3

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 23:48:53 -0500

Opening Disclaimer

I want to make it clear that I am offering things up as I see them. These are my opinions as a somewhat educated observer. I am not saying I'm better by any means. An extra pair of eyes on anybody's work, can offer up information that perhaps was once not fully considered. I myself and guilty of a lot of errors, and there's a lot of room for improvement in what I do. While blogging is not about being perfect, continuous improvement through constructive feedback can help everyone be more successful. I hope that my criticisms are seen as constructive, and I also hope that what I say is taken with some skepticism. I'm only one observer. Ultimate credit and responsibility lies with you.

General Observations

This weeks posts took a long time to adjudicate to say the least. And believe me sitting down to do this hasn't been easy. I took the liberty of offering critiques on both the blogs and the posts themselves. Things have changed over the weeks however so in most cases the blog from week 3 looks nothing like the blog today. The judging results for Week 3's rankings are only based upon the posts themselves. I did notice a number of consistent issues with all of the contestants.In my opinion a balanced business producing blog for those of us in real estate, is going to be one that includes elements of business, regional focus, and personal touch. In addition you've got to keep it clean for the reader. You're stuff has got to be easy to follow from both your writing, and your visual presentation.

Are you in real estate???

With a lot written this week there was a surprising lack of real estate business focused content created. This affected almost all the contestants somewhat. A really good example of the kind of quality, interesting and substantive posts I can point out were in guest posts on The Future of Commercial Real Estate Blog. I did not consider them for this week because there were not entries that weren't guest posts.

Read these posts as great examples:

Job Growth is the Key

Upward Pressure on Rental Prices

These posts are interesting, regionalized, personal, and very business oriented. If I'm looking for someone to do business with then these posts are doing it. Now don't get me wrong, not everything has to be business, it's got to be true to the bloggers sensibilities. But if real estate business is not in your speech then your business is likely suffering.

Where?

Business always happens in a place. If a client is looking for something they want it somewhere. So a regional focus is of course always important. I'm not saying this for SEO reasons either. I'm talking about your customer here. Most teams did a good job of keeping it regional this time.

Who are you?

The personal touch is one that's more difficult to talk about. It's also a tough one to overcome if you have an issue here. I have trouble here myself. There were a number of exemplary posts that kept it "real" in this way. Kevin's "Overpaid" post is a good example of that, and so is Tisza's "Rally 'Round The Swag." These are just two examples.

I don't follow.

While blogging is less formal, it's important that I can stay with you in your writing. In some cases I've had to go back and reread things because I missed exactly what your point was. I should "get the point." Without to much trouble. Developing a good writing style takes practice but it will help your ability to reach your audience.

See it? Get it.

While may or may not have written a masterpiece of writing, it's still going to be hard to get the point if the work isn't visually appealing. A mountain of words can be daunting and lead to a "click" onto the next website. Visual appeal offer's a quick overview of what's going to happen and it breaks things down into chunks so I can digest the information one bite at a time instead of being overwhelmed.

Results for Week 3's Judging

Jackie and Jim were number one this week because every post successfully presented an interesting and consistent regional and real estate related focus.
Tisza and Drew placed second this week based upon the posts "Don't Look, Dogs, and Swag." These posts combined presented interesting regional information, Tisza's personal job reflections, and solid real estate advice for home sellers.
Mary and Frances placed third. Mary was by far the best "blogger" this week, but not the best "real estate blogger." She had A LOT of interesting quality regional content. All posts were interesting and there were a lot of them. The team took a large hit however because when reading the posts I did not connect customers to her business. I could very easily of have read most of the posts and not realized she was in real estate.
Kelley and Joel place 4th. There was a lot of relevant local information on the blog. It was topical, and timely for Rancho Santa Margarita.
Kevin and Ardell barley squeezed past Ines, Rick and Paul, with Kevin's fabulous post "I think sometimes I'm overpaid."

The Reviews

Tisza and Drew,

Blog:

Your side bars aren't organized right now. They are taking away from your posts.
"Find Homes For Sale" These lead off to Realtor.com and Zillow.com with nothing coming back to you. You want a listings search but it's got to be Tisza's search. If someone want's to "find homes for sale shouldn't they be looking for you? This is a confusing message to send to clients.
I like the property evaluation tools.
I love the calendar of community events.
I like your picture on the page but you've got an about, and an about me...keep the picture, change the title ad your phone number.
The header could be a little smaller. I love the images though.
Move recent posts to where your blog roll is.
Put recent comments together with your recent readers if you're going to have that there.
You've got your email address on your contact page. It'd be better to have it as an image like Vali has it.

Posts: I love the flow of your posts. You do an excellent intro then get into the meat and recap with an excellent close. These are pleasant to read and help the reader. In "Don't Look and it will hurt," I felt your section on switch plate covers was a separate post.

"I have definitely noted that my shorter posts do receive a higher view rate, so... I am making an effort to be more concise." You've got the right idea here. Being more careful to be concise can amplify our point. Extra writing can dilute effectiveness and potency.

In addition I would be sure to break things up a bit, add headers or bullets to break your post into sections. Your "Wrapping up What's going Down" Post is an excellent example of a post that would do better broken up a bit.

"Rally Around The Swag" was a hilarious post and an excellent celebration of the mundane and daily atmosphere of your work. This is a helpful post because it shows a lot about you, your attitude, and provides a small window into one aspect of what you encounter in your daily routine.

Kelly and Joel,

Blog:

Your blog is very clean, and well organized, even though there is a lot to look at.
I'd get rid of the Poll. "Do you like my site?"
You've got a link off-site to listings.Any listings that you send customers to should some how be directed at giving you business.
Your phone number is right there on the page, I like how you've done it.
Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not clear on why the Trulia link is here.
It'd be nice to have a description of what the image header is indicating.

Posts: I'm a sucker for posts that take inspiration from another post, provide your own perspective on it, quote from, and link to the original. That's why I liked "don't take that cash before you read this post." I feel that it would have benefited however from a little clarification of the main ideas and more thoughts from Kelly as to why it was relevant.

Your posts are well broken up and easy to read. But the writing style is a little scattered. I know what you're saying but the flow throws me off.

"Top 10 birthday party ideas" was great, thanks for the list of party places, this was a great idea for a post, I'd love to see a similar "parks" post.

I liked the Tijeras Creek post, especially the personal story, but I'd have like to hear a little more about the course itself. Or change up the title so I'm not expecting to hear more about how you enjoyed the course itself, as you've left it I'm thinking about your golf game more than the course itself.

The California Tesoro post was very good. It lets me know about a potential neighborhood and give me a back ground and understanding I couldn't have hade many other paces.

I also love the Rancho Santa Margarite Parkway post. You did a good job of inserting the info, and making it interesting, while making yourself a resource.

Wow, your project blogger homework post does an excellent job of laying everything out and making it clean and easy to get through, bolds, bullets, and numbered lists that are all appropriate.

Jackie and Jim,

Blog:

This blog actually links to listings that at least stay on site. I can't tell if the Jackie get's the info then.
The blog still has issues showing up under Firefox and Safari my browser. In Safari your listings search had some issues. I'm sure your blog works fine in IE, but I believe those scrolling images are throwing you off.
I feel that the header isn't working. It isn't doing enough for the space it takes up. You can do more with that space.
I still don't see quickly how someone would get the "international" real estate, other than knowing you go those places.
I love the use of colors and images in this blog.

Posts: I loved learning about Gasometer City in Vienna. What's the pricing on those places? They would be good to include. I was also happy for your short sweet and to the point description of Prague real estate. I would have included the current rate of exchange at the time you quoted the pricing. Jackie one of the rare writers this week that used video. I felt that they added a dimension to give me a better sense of the person who's blogging.

The international thing is still not fully explained. I'll say it again that I don't see an quick way for me to learn more about what an international real estate specialist is. So a casual observer might not "get it" (me) and that hurts your efforts in my opinion.

Vali and Teresa,

Blog:

You've got a listings link that goes to your website, this is perfect.
Your contact information is readily available. Excellent. Just a direct line and an email with a link to your profile. You've used an image for your email address to protect from spam, this was smart.
Your aesthetic use of images and white space are pleasing to the eye making your blog over all an enjoyable experience.
You've got the trees to separate post. I like how it works.
I don't like the subtitle "real estate info page." Somehow the energy of that phrase sucks some of the stuff out of your blog. Same with "contact information." There could be something phrased a little better.

Posts: Pointing out www.ofheo.gov as a resource is excellent, but how to utilize it is another question all together. I feel readers would benefit from some elaboration in a separate post.

Your inclusion of a slide show on "Red Rocks Trail" was also good. These are two posts that are good for readers. Over all it's going well.

Rick, Ines and Paul

Blog: I'm critiquing Miamism.com event though it wasn't around on week 3.

This is a fabulous name. Miamism is terrifically brandable and salable. Very good stuff.
Images at the top, while wonderful, take up a lot of real estate.They really do look good, but take a look on a smaller screen and you'll see you might want to make some adjustments. One particular example While it's good to get subscribers, the RSS image you have is huge. This is an important thing. Just don't push me away before I get to see what you've got.
Even though it's huge, Search for properties is prominent and effective. It's branded to you, very good.
Your featured neighborhood sections are superb. I love the concept. This simple to-do concept is awesome. If I was scoring on blogs and not just posts this week you'd have it serious bonus points with this. Other's you can do this with your sidebars, tag bars, and "categories" lists.
It's pretty clear to me right away that this is a real estate site.
Why is there a large amount of white space between the first post and the titlebar?
Like London and Pat you've got a good menu system.
Somehow the orange on the left is "big." Maybe I'm nuts but I'm just offering what comes to my mind.

Posts: I loved Miami's hot list. Not only does the title (hot) feel appropriate but I love the concept. I realize this is borrowed from the Miami Herald's review, but it's still good for a blog. I'm not sure what was in the original article. How much was yours vs theirs? I would have added more of my own opinions and reflections to the list and made it clear so that I was really adding to the conversation started by the original review. I would also link to the Herald's list if it's online. "Green" was a good start to a post, but it's hared to find your thoughts in the writing in here. Thanks for sharing your background in architecture. I do believe this theme should be a consistent one in what you post. Each blogger should bring to their unique perspective to blogging, this is clearly one way for you to do so. I would have loved to have heard more real life examples of this in the post. (I hope the following makes sense:) To sum up the core issue I see in these posts is, in this observers perspective, a lack of groundedness. When something is hypothetical or almost "in the air" then it's not going to affect people. That's why I said it'd be good to have some real-life examples in "Architecture and Real Estate." The impact would be so much greater with more of that element. To be honest, this is I feel one of my own biggest faults.

Kevin and Ardell,

Blog: I'm critiquing your SB Real Estate Blog, even though it wasn't there on week 3.

You've got this bar at the top of the screen Home | My website | Condos....etc. I love it. No one has anything quite like that. Your bar is very good. I hope everyone sees this.
"style. substance. results." I don't get it and I should if it's there.
Mobile edition? Kinda cool. I don't know how useful it is but it's definitely a positive. I know I'm looking at blogs all the time on my phone.
Having your email displayed on your front page can attract spam, I don't know if I'd do that. Your phone number is on there though and that's good.
The "Condo" in South Beach Condo Blog helps me know you're likely talking real estate here, and that's supported right away with the rest of the blog.

Posts: Apogee does sound mind blowing thanks for sharing. What's the pricing on these places? Are there any available? How many units are there? "Overpaid" is an excellent post. I really appreciate your candor. You're not pitching at all yet, the story helps me see why I'd want to listen to you. You've provided an interesting story that's beneficial to any potential buyer or seller.

"When you hire a professional to assist you in the sale of your home, do your best to take advantage of all that professional has to offer you. " That's a terrific quote. It goes a long way. This is my favorite post for week 3.

Julie and Jeff,

Blog:

Your tabs at the top are excellent.
You've got contact info right there on the page
The blog is clean and the included extras are helpful and well placed.

Posts: Thanks for sharing from your story on Trevor Kott. I feel you story was honest and well written. I think that even though no real estate interests are conveyed it gives your buyers and sellers insight into the person they are interested in hiring. The Plainfeild Pool post, I feel, is an excellent example of a blog that ties you to the town and allows you to offer something up to your buyers and sellers.

On your "GREEN" post on AR you do a terrific job of being open. Openness can be important things, in my opinion for blogging. Keep writing like this.

I've had to say this for a lot of writers this week, where's the real estate? I remember a post a while back about Julie's experience as she went to a new housing development, telling us about the development etc. What's going on in the local job market and what does that mean for housing?

Theresa and Gregg,

Blog:

Exploring Huber Heights, brick by brick...I love it.
I still don't understand the dog. From just looking at the blog. I'd expect to see "The Brick Ranch" house there.
I don't see your contact info on the blog. Phone number should be right up there in my opinion. If I want to get a hold of you it's gotta be easy.
The "MLS search-image of flowers then clickable search the complete Dayton-area MLS system" setup isn't working. One button that leads to a branded search page would be much more beneficial.
I'm still loving the "get published" section allowing others to join up. You're not a compelling thing here yet though. To spin it better us less verbiage and encourage more action. Very good stuff, it's just not being executed. I see you talking about it in "Now we get to the good stuff" but the results are shown.
Show us your house is also terrific. You could definitely do a lot using this to involve your local audience.
I don't know why it's a leaf, but that leaf setting up each post is excellent for separating one post from the next.

Posts: Like the Flat Daddy project. It's tying you into your town and area happenings. "Second best would be to hang with some like-minded fans at a loud and rowdy restuarant that serves great wings and nachos." Did you have a place in mind?

If I was in town I'd definitely stop by Conn's. 15 million Canadians probably needs an explanation for a non-local.

Once again I have to ask, where's the real estate? This is very local, and good information all around but there should be a real estate expert somewhere in this blog. "I have done nothing to promote my blog locally as I don't think it has enough interesting content yet" I have to say you're doing fine with the local content. Your blog promotes itself. But you've got to bet more real estate in the mix.

Mary and Frances,

Blog:

You've got your own property search link on the page great! It doesn't however stand out quite enough.
Your contact info is right there very good. Is your office your primary line? If it were me I'd have my cell phone since I'm never in the office.
You've got 2 sites your linking to which is fine, but how do they fit in? Which do I chose as a reader? Sometimes and perhaps in this case, less is more.

Posts: Wow I loved the Real Estate Shows tour , it really comes off well. I also like how you presented it as "this is what I did yesterday." All of your posts did great in presenting the town and include elements of who you are and what you're about. You've really tied yourself to the town, when describing the history through 107 and Going...and Same as in 1900. Your consistency is terrific too, you just keep posting on both blogs, consistency is a strong attibute.

You are connecting well with fellow professionals in a few of your ActiveRain posts. It's really good in these cases (you'll get the most input.) to say, this is what I am doing and this is how it's going. I personally don't like the "read more at my other blog" type posts unless you've really presented something on the blog I'm reading and you're showing me yet another aspect to what you've already said. Don't point out something only to have it be something you could have just as well taken care of where I am.

In your ActiveRain blog you say this:

"And of course, the topic of real estate must be interwoven into all of this. So from time to time, I like to discuss the character (and history) of a neighborhood, real estate housing market information and stats, and so on."

This is very true of what I read this week from you on Living Los Gatos. They are all real estate related But when I read the posts I don't get that you're selling Los Gatos real estate. There needs to be more business on your blog.

Michael, Barbara, Joe and Rudy

Blog:

I've got the same criticism here as I do for "Future of Commercial Real Estate", What's Beach Hamptons Blog About? Yeah I get it it's bout Beach Hamptons, but what's the angle?
I love that there's a calendar that show's when you've made a post. This is a cool tool.
There are way to many categories in this list. A tag cloud would be more effective.
My readers seems out of place. I'd like something else featured at this position. Like your phone number?
I can't get a hold of you through your blog except through a contact form. I should have a phone number.
This blog assumes I know you sell real estate. But I don't from looking at it all i know is you are somehow involved in real estate.
This blog is well localized. I know where I am looking through the content. I love how well localized things are here.

Posts: Your 1st quarter Manhattan Report is my favorite post of yours, but all over I'd say you've really got to do some more work on bringing out your own thoughts in all these posts and relate them to your market niche.

Madison and Dustin,

Blog:

I liked that you've established a solid theme. Based around celebrity, which is really tied in well (in the blog) with the area. The "Celebrity Blogs" list on the right for a blog roll seems actually more appropriate than say a blog roll of real estate websites. This is the best and most appropriate blog roll of all the contestants. Admittedly you've got more than this one. But this one is working for you.
You included a branded home search, excellent.
I'd move my "recent comments" up a little. If you're going to use it it should be more prominent.
There's not easily identifiable contact info on the page. It should highlight working with Madison as a real estate salesperson more.

Post: This is an example of some of the best niche blogging of the week. The connecting with your community post was a good post. It just needs to be surrounded with more stuff. I see you attacking the celebrity angle which is an interesting strategy. There are two issues that hold this blog back. One there's not nearly enough real estate substance here. Looking at it I would assume Madison is more concerned with celebrity than real estate. "Is this guy in real estate?" crosses my mind from reading the posts and looking around the blog.

London and Pat

Blog:

I like that your blog is simple and clean. There isn't so much clutter that I can't see the content.
I think the "Find a commercial broker" stuff is terrible, simply because some of it doesn't do anything. It's got to do something useful if it's going to be there. I also don't like how it's the same as Search for articles by area. Pick one of these and use it.
While the content of the post was good, the blog itself does not have enough to set up the site. I need back ground information. "who" is this blog. What is it about. "The future of commercial Real Estate" I see that, tell me more please. Your about us is a good pay to do it, but right now it's just about London, not the blog. Adding a subtitle to your header might also do.
Your links on the top right work beautifully (categories, archives, meta, syndicate this blog). They provide info without cluttering up the page. They do it with style. I love it.

Posts: You've got two guest posts this week. I really believe you've got to have at least one post of your own per week of the contest. Despite that these are awesome articles and very appropriate. They are very related to Real Estate and business, they are also very interesting. These are top notch posts.

It's too bad they are both guest posts, I'd wish to see more from London.

Project Blogger Polls Open VOTE NOW

Caleb Mardini (M2M) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:33:51 -0500

Today the polls open for audience voting in the Project Blogger competition. As many of you know that the infamous Poll Daddy experiment resulted in voting improprieties. It was flawed and abused. In order to correct that we ceased Poll Daddy voting.

To vote please select your blogger team, and email your vote to: vote@activerain.com. For your vote to be counted you must include your first and last name and a phone number you can be reached at for verification.
Please submit your votes now. The deadline for votes is Friday July 27 at Midnight PDT.
Thank you.
Caleb

***Update*** I am seeing a lot of votes come in. I want to make sure everyone knows the Deadline is Friday, and to include a phone number. Thank you.

Think Marketing

Privatized Gains, Socialized Losses

New real estate comes online. Stake your claim.

Very "Active" Rainer, Charles Richey Needs Your Help

Printer Angst

A Slippery Slope; Fraud and Lending

Calculating "Advantage" Redfin study misleads

Chicagoland...More Blogging Help, Meet Craig Schiller.

Onward

What Changed For Me.

An awesome customer service experience I wanted to share

Attending the Louisiana REALTORS® Meeting Sept 20th

Getting the Most out of Your Rain

Milk Active Rain for all you can

ActiveRain's Place

What's the Big Idea?

Engaging and offering value, responding to the market

A quote to share.

Professional Pride

SEO and blogging, just write.

Back at the Keyboard

Belated Project Blogger Judging Results for Week 3

General Observations

Are you in real estate???

Where?

Who are you?

I don't follow.

See it? Get it.

Results for Week 3's Judging

The Reviews

Project Blogger Polls Open VOTE NOW