Deb's Blog

Homebuyer tax credit extension

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:06:16 -0600

This Month In Real Estate (US) SPECIAL EDITION: The Updated 2009 Homebuyer Tax Credit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMzTpn3FvA8

Is Being Right Always Right? ~The Good, Bad & Really Ugly of Social Media.

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:37:59 -0500

The explosion of social media is changiing the rules of business and marketing. This is an excellent blog on why this is happening (Plus there's some good entertainment here too!)

Via Jeremy Blanton (ActiveRain Corp.):

Over the past few weeks I have been amazed by infinite power that social media possesses. There have been some really amazing examples of how social media has changed the entire reputation of major companies that have worked years to build that reputation in a matter of moments through social Media. There have been good, bad, & really ugly examples that have happened. All of these examples demonstrate the sheer power of social media.

The Bad- "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization"

I am sure many of you have heard of the travesty that came about when a Real Estate Company sued a former tenant for $50,000 over a tweet that she made. By this company taking this sort of action, they immediately became known as a "We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization" That statement instantly placed the company in the spotlight with some of the worst media possible. This subject became a trending topic on twitter in less than 3 hours & thousands of posts were written about it.

While I am not going to get into the debate of whether it was ok or not for the tenant to make a statement like this, or if the real estate company had a right to sue, the point I am trying to convey is that the issue from the real estate company standpoint should've been handled differently.

While the lawsuit itself was a big step that would be questionable by many to take, that also isn't the part that really brought the bad press onto the Real Estate Company & changed the entire reputation of that company in a matter of minutes. The statement made by a high up representative of "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of organization" is what changed everything at that company instantly.

A reputation that the company had worked over 25 years to establish a reputation as one of the premiere apartment leasing & property management companies was destroy in less than an hour by one executives statement.

Unfortunately for this company, it may take them another 25 years to rebuild their reputation back to where it was. Or even longer. While the Executive has issued several other statements since trying to explain their reasons for the lawsuit, most people will remember them always for that negative statement.

The Really Ugly- United, please fix my Taylor guitar!

A rather unknown band used a catchy song & lyrics with a silly video to let the world know how United Airlines took care of their instruments. This poor gentleman tried for over a year to get someone from United to help him with a claim after he watched the workers throw his guitar around on the tarmac & ended up breaking his very expensive Taylor Guitar. He talked to several members within the organization to try & get help but all he received was sorry, we won't replace, and claim denied. So, Dave Carroll took matters into his own hands decided to write the song & make a video. If you haven't watched the video, take a minute & have a good laugh. United Breaks Guitars has received over 4.6 million views in just 28 days on Youtube.

In less than a week, the video was well over 1 million views & United had also agreed to pay Dave for his broken Taylor guitar. Once again, the power of social media changed the life long reputation of a major company in less than a few days.

Barcelona wants to thank you!~ A Good Example of Responding in Social Media

A visitor to the Okinawa Churaumai Aquarium shot a beautiful video of Kuroshio Sea, (try watching it in HD & full screen, it is awesome!) which is the second largest acrylic viewing panel in the world. On the video, he overlaid a great song by a band called Barcelona. The gentleman who published the video used the song without written permission & the band was left with choices of what type of actions to take. They could have either became very angry & demanded the video be removed for using their song without permission.

However, this band took a different approach. Instead of telling you what they did, I will let you just watch the video below:

This band decided to embrace the use of social media and it has paid off in huge dividends for them. Their sales have increased tremendously & also their reputation has grown by leaps & bounds as a band that appreciates their fans. The video has since been viewed over 1.5 million times! Another example is of a super funny wedding entrance video that Claire shared on her blog. BMG records & Chris Brown could've required them to take down the video because it is within their legal rights to do so. Instead, they allowed it to stay up & the creators of the video loved the song so much that they placed a simple ad link on the video to "buy this song on iTunes" and the song sales went up incredibly.

What's Your Point to All of This?

The point to all of these examples is this. Social media is one of the most powerful forces out there for your business. You can write posts, create videos & make tweets that can shape your business from top to bottom. However the key to doing so successfully is to look at the overall picture. In my two negative examples above, if the Real Estate company had just ignored the tweet that the person shared with her 29 friends on twitter they would not have such bad press & a totally ruined reputation. While they may have the right to sue from a legal standpoint, the $50,000 suit will never come close to covering the damages done by social media to their reputation.

United Airlines had all the chances in the world to fix their situation. instead they stood firm and said no. Saying no to Dave Carroll has turned him into an instant star & also brought United some of the worst publicity a company has seen in years. All over a $3,000 guitar. While United has since agreed to fix the guitar it will never fix the damage caused by one simple video.

While these two companies ended up in the negative, the other two examples show how picking the "best" solution instead of the "right" have paid off in great dividends of higher sales & also some of the most positive story lines of Social Media. So, before you make that response in business you may want to stop & consider this: Is being right always right? You be the judge.

Acton, Concord, Westford MA: snapshot

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:07:57 -0500

How are things in our local housing market? As you know, real estate is local, and we are generally in better shape than many other parts of the country when it comes to home values, foreclosures, and excess inventory. Yes, house prices are down, but so is inventory. Lower prices, low interest rates, and the stimulus package make buying a home attractive, and the low inventory in our area (including foreclosures) keeps prices from plummeting.

Here's a snapshot of single family listings in 3 local towns as of this past week.

	Acton:	Concord:	Westford:
# Houses actively for sale on 3/11/09	48	83	77
#Houses with Accepted Offers or UAG	30	18	15
# Houses sold in the last 3 months	19	13	16

It isn't the best time to sell, but houses ARE selling, especially if they are priced right and show well!

credit crisis video

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:03:55 -0500

This is by far the best explanation of "what happened" that I have seen. This video, "Crisis of Credit Visualized," is short, entertaining, and informative. Enjoy - at least as much as you can while we watch the economy tumble around. http://www.crisisofcredit.com/ (Thanks to Anita Hill, who posted this elsewhere)

New England weather

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:22:16 -0600

We are still recovering from the ice storm last week and we are now getting the first of 3 snowfalls forecasted for the next week. I'm heading out to a home inspection in a half hour. Those great buys in Florida and Las Vegas are beginning to look very tempting!

Short sales- are they fair?

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:37:15 -0600

I've been dealing with a lot of short sales recently (as have many of you, I am sure!) But a comment made a couple of weeks ago by a seller has stuck in my mind. The seller would love to continue living in his home, so he was willling to rent it from the eventual buyer. His rationale for selling it was, "why keep paying for it when it isn't worth it anymore?" I don't know if he can prove his hardship to the bank for approval of a short sale, but I got the impression it had nothing to do with his ability to pay.

Will we see more foreclosures when banks won't approve the short sale?

What are other agents seeing in terms of hardship vs. wanting to bail out of a declining value as a reason for selling? And how strict are banks in approving short sales?

It would be interesting to see the differences around the country.

Thursday Night at the Colonial Inn, Concord

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:58:32 -0500

One of the fun things to do in this area is to visit the Colonial Inn in Concord center. On Thursday evenings there is a singer in one of the pub rooms, John Fizsimmons. He is talented and funny. Thrre is somewhat of a regular crowd there, but newcomers are welcome. Try it some time!

NARA Park in Acton, MA

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:39:59 -0500

I thought I would do a series of highlights of Acton, Massachusetts. I've lived here for over 20 years, and sometimes I take things for granted that are special about this place. If anyone is considering a move to this area, Acton has is a lot to offer. Here is the first in the series:

NARA Park

The Acton Recreation department had a great beach party at NARA Park last night. I shared the experience with my 4 year old granddaughter, who loved it. She did the water slides, danced to the live music, then helped me paddle a canoe around the pond. (Note to self: remind her next time not to stand up in the canoe.)

NARA (short for North Acton Recreation Area) park is a local gem. The small man-made pond has a sandy beach, snack bar, and boats (paddle and canoe) for your use. A volleyball net is set up on the beach, too. There are several playing fields and an amphitheater/pavillion.

In addition to daily swimming, fishing, picnicing, and paddle boating, they have special events all year round. During the summer there are concerts and movies; in Spetember is "Acton Day", and in winter there is a "Winterfest."

Probably the best known event is the Fourth of July fireworks display.

Acton: real estate is local

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:50:42 -0500

"Real estate is local" is so true. I was at a Women's Councel of Realtors conference recently, and heard both tales of woe and great success stories from my colleagues across the country.

In Massachusetts, house sales are mixed, dependng on what town you are talking about.

Take Acton, for example. Although the median sales price is down by 7.1% year over year, homes are selling faster, from an average of 94 days on market to an average of 77 (-18%).

The spring market is better too, up 10% in the number of single family homes sold May 1 to July 17 this year over last year, still selling in fewer days, although 5.5% below last years median price.

Bottom line: in Acton, properties that show well and are priced right are selling! In neighboring towns of Boxborough and Carlisle, the story is even better: median prices are up for the spring market!

raffle ticket for a Smart Car to support Restorative Justice

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:25:23 -0500

A Smart Car Raffle in Support of Restorative Justice

- an innovative program for youth offenders in Concord, Carlisle, Acton & Boxborough -

Raffle ends November 1st

Visit
www.C4RJ.com and follow links to buy a raffle ticket. $100 each, but only 999 will be sold, and there is an 18-month waiting list (I've heard) for a SmartCar!

Restorative Justice responds to crime by prioritizing the needs of victims, holding youth offenders accountable while helping them understand the impact of their offense, providing support for the families, and offering opportunities for volunteer community members to participate in the process. This summer, C4RJ in close partnership with the Acton Police Department will complete its first Acton case; a brief article on the referring incident first appeared in the Beacon on April 16^th, 2008. A leadership committee with nine local community members, has been instrumental in guiding the implementation of the restorative justice process in Acton-Boxborough.

Acton MA: Months of inventory by price band

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:48:02 -0500

Price Range	Active Listings			Sold Listings 7/18/2007 - 7/17/2008			Sales Per Month	Months of Inventory
Price Range	# Listings	% Total	DOM	# Listings	% Total	DOM	Sales Per Month	Months of Inventory
$224,900 - $249,999	1	1.16%	43	1	0.65%	7	0.1	12.0
$250,000 - $299,999	2	2.33%	34	1	0.65%	46	0.1	24.0
$300,000 - $349,999	1	1.16%	31	12	7.74%	46	1.0	1.0
$350,000 - $399,999	9	10.47%	92	17	10.97%	99	1.4	6.4
$400,000 - $449,999	7	8.14%	149	17	10.97%	77	1.4	4.9
$450,000 - $499,999	10	11.63%	150	18	11.61%	60	1.5	6.7
$500,000 - $599,999	18	20.93%	110	26	16.77%	58	2.2	8.3
$600,000 - $699,999	12	13.95%	90	24	15.48%	91	2.0	6.0
$700,000 - $799,999	12	13.95%	53	21	13.55%	74	1.8	6.9
$800,000 - $899,999	3	3.49%	164	7	4.52%	88	0.6	5.1
$900,000 - $999,999	6	6.98%	205	8	5.16%	66	0.7	9.0
$1,000,000 - $1,499,999	4	4.65%	74	2	1.29%	80	0.2	24.0
$1,500,000 - $1,999,999	1	1.16%	98	1	0.65%	578	0.1	12.0
	86	100%	108	155	100%	76	12.9	6.7

Stunning home on 4.4 acres in Acton, MA Incredible price: $878,000

Deb Nicholls, Realtor, ABR, LCM, e-Pro (Keller Williams Boston North West) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:46:48 -0500

Beautiful home on Pope Road on Concord line with 4.4 acres of privacy, one of Boston Magazine's 2007 "Absolute best streets." Well maintained by original owners: newer roof, driveway, carpets, paint, and garage doors, plus refinished hardwood floors. Open, flowing floor plan throughout, with lots of windows and sliders for light and easy access to the outdoors. Multi-level decks and a spacious, landscaped yard. Acton schools, Concord address and phone.

Spacious home, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, finished walk-out lower level, central A/C. Nestled in a country setting, next to a beautiful horse farm.

For details and more pictures: www.debn.net