I had a client email me this information from Realtor Magazine and I just wanted to pass it on.... 

Daily Real Estate News  |  April 2, 2008

How Photos Help Sell Homes

Photographs that accompany home listings on the Web or in brochures, newspaper advertisements, flyers, magazine articles, and other marketing materials play a significant role in attracting buyers.

These images serve as the first impression, and buyers often decide whether or not to see a home in person based on their quality and presentation.

Research reveals that the more photos a listing has, the quicker it sells. A property with a single photo spent 70 days on the market (DOM) on average, while DOM fell to 40 with six photos, 36 with 16 to 19 photos, and 32 with 20 photos. Additionally, listings with one photo sold for 91.2 percent of the original price, while homes with six or more sold for 95 percent of the original price.

The photos to be used in an agent's marketing materials should be taken by a professional, with experts noting that sellers will recoup the costs of professional photos if their homes sell faster and at a higher price.

Source: RISMedia, Gar Benedick (04/01/08)

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Diana Hadsell
Obeo
Consultant for Los Angeles County
(661) 212-1110 direct
(800) SAY-OBEO

NEW Obeo Homesite Layout at www.Obeo.com/440930

PS...Did You Know That You Can Add FREE Music To Your Tours? Call Me Or Email To Find Out How!

Why not have a professional photographer take the pictures for you and get this in return.

With Obeo Still Photo Tour, you can still have the same great Homesite look, same distribution list and great tools for half the cost. 

Only $59.  This is perfect for the foreclosures or short sales.

Call me today for more information on our new tour.

This is an updated report for January 2008 from NAR, showing that Obeo is still the leader in getting your listing the maximum exposure.

Let me show you why Obeo is not just another virtual tour company

Diana Hadsell
Consultant
(661) 212-1110

Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, 'I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed'

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches.

Rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table a nd started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning.

She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button.

She picked up the game pieces left on the table, put the phone back on the charger and put the telephone book into the drawer.

She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the field trip, and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair.

She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse. 

Mom then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails.

Dad called out, 'I thought you were going to bed.'

'I'm on my way,' she said.

She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked and the patio light was on.

She looked in on each of the kids and turned out their bedside lamps and TV's, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.

In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack.

She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list She said her prayers, and visualized the accomplishment of he r goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. 'I'm going to bed.'

And he did...without another thought.

Anything extraordinary here? Wonder why women live longer...?

CAUSE WE ARE MADE FOR THE LONG HAUL..... (and we can't die sooner, we still have things to do!!!!)

This is why everyday should be Mother's Day!!!!!

Diana Hadsell
Obeo Consultant for Los Angeles County and a Mother
(661) 212-1110

Branding, making you and your listing stand out.

One of the many great tools Obeo has is to band your virtual tours, made your listing "POP".  You can do with your own brand or with a company brand, like the one above.

Call me I can help you make every listing "POP".

Diana Hadsell
Obeo Consultant
Los Angeles County
(661) 212-1110
Diana.Hadsell@Obeo.com

Back to Work....

Dinner has been cleaned up and lunch has been made for pre-school tomorrow. 

My daughter has had her bath and brushed her teeth. I have read Cinderella three times and she is finally asleep. :)

Know another cup of coffee and back to work.

More emails to send out and reply too...more flyers and handouts to print...and of course more blogging to do.

I am a sales consultant by day and a Mom by night but when the kids are asleep its back to work. 

Forgot being a Mom is a 24/7 job....just like Real Estate.  Funny, I would not change it for the world.

If only the dog would leave me alone. :)

Happy Blogging Night Owls, You Are Not Alone.

Diana Hadsell
Los Angeles County Obeo Consultant
(661) 212-1110
Diana.Hadsell@Obeo.com

Good photography, by contrast, is the real estate marketing tool of the millennium!

For years now, buyers have dreamed of an even more, more engaging, more interactive tools; virtual redecorating or Obeo Style Designer

Change the paint. Change the flooring. Change the cabinets and countertops.

Also Interactive Floor Plans or Obeo Space Designer

Buyers love to see exactly how their furniture is going to fit into the home - and the more they commit their minds to the home, the more committed they are to buying it.

Virtual redecorating will sell real estate!

If you would like more information about Obeo tours and services, please contact me.

PS...Did You Know That You Can Add FREE Music To Your Tours? Call Me Or Email To Find Out How!

Tech trends rock real estate world

Citizen journalism, social networking and user-generated content are transforming the industry.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home buyers and sellers have already seized much of the power once in the hands of exclusively of real estate professionals. But they're about to get stronger still.

The changes to the real estate industry have come fast, with listings and valuations tools widely available for free on the Internet.

Old-style marketing won't cut it in the brave new world of real estate.

Now, according to many of the participants of Real Estate Connect NYC 2007, a conference devoted to outlining the changes facing the industry, the industry is on the cusp of another technical revolution, one that revolves around that Time Magazine person of the year - YOU!

Real estate blogs, which have been around for a few years, exploded in popularity during 2006. These sites provide a wealth of unvarnished opinion, truths and half-truths about towns and neighborhoods all over the country - the inside dirt on restaurants, schools and crime.

"The rules have fundamentally changed," said Brad Inman, the host of Real Estate Connect and publisher of Inman News. "Social networking is lifting real estate and in the next 12 months it's going to overwhelm real estate. It's been happening since Craig's List started but it's only now coming to a head."

In the past, the real estate industry always had a gate-keeper mentality.

"Brokers prospered by not giving out information," says Dottie Herman, CEO of New York based broker, Prudential Douglas Elliman. "Clients came to them for information. This takes the industry to a whole different model."

Technology has made it very simple to start up, run and contribute to Web sites and that has let loose a flood of information that's increasingly well organized.

"Now we're seeing the aggregation of these conversations. [Consolidators] are taking feeds from lots of different blogs and outing it in one place by zip code or neighborhood," says Inman.

Take Outside.in for example. This two-month old Web site collects blogs from more than 3,000 neighborhoods in 55 cities. Posters can write about anything, including the quality of new real estate listings, how good the schools are, hot restaurants, even individual real estate agents.

These sites encourage content from readers. Don't like the spumoni at the local gelato house? Vent on line. Angry that your streets are going unswept? Become an Internet scold. Curious about that derelict house around the corner? Ask your blogger neighbors what they know about it.

Another site, Homethinking.com solicits reviews on agents. Like Yahoo! autos, where Accord owners can rank their satisfaction with their car purchase or TripAdvisor, where travelers can rate hotels, Homethinking posters are able to rate their real estate agents.

All this openness can make the marketplace much more transparent for consumers. It enables them to know market prices more accurately, to engage the most professional real estate agents available and to learn about individual towns or neighborhoods much more intimately and expeditiously than they could in the past.

As the new technology comes more into play, realtors will have to adjust. Many of the web sites have taken over some of the traditional services that real estate agents once provided.

It may be a difficult period in some markets. Not only are sales down, but alternate business models are making inroads into their business. For sale-by-owner sites, discount or fee-for-service brokers and brokers who pay buyer's rebates all may gain traction.

Inman says that real estate professionals have two choices when it comes to confronting the changes wrought by technical advances: engage it or pretend it isn't there.

Just some great information I wanted to pass one.

Why not have a professional photographer take the pictures for you and get this in return.

With Obeo Still Photo Tour, you can still have the same great look, same great customer service and tools for half the cost.  Only $59.

Call me today for more information or to order your new tour.