I follow a number of "superstar" bloggers ... most of whom began on Active Rain. They aren't here much anymore as they graduated to their own blogs a couple years ago. When I first joined AR three years ago, I learned a great deal from them, and am continuing to follow their lead.
Most of these superstars have set up a photoblog to showcase their photography talents and the beauty of their local communities. Photos are an excellent means to give potential relocating clients a flavor of what life is like in the area. I also suspect a photoblog is good at generating GoogleJuice.
I've been taking simply gobs of photos since starting my own blog two years ago, so setting up a photoblog to use those photos was appealing. Last weekend I set it up and have been tweaking and adding photos since. The theme I selected has been very easy to work with for a photo blog. I don't recommend it for a regular blog however. Also, it was missing some features that I wanted, so I had to add them with html code. As is typical with a WP blog, it didn't take but a couple days for Google to find it and send people my way. YEAH!
And be sure to visit the other photoblogs that I have listed in the blogroll. Those superstar bloggers are great in what they do with their photography.
Me ... I'm still learning from them and trying to improve.
Over the years here on AR, I've read where other agents were contacted by the media, thanks to their blogging efforts. Well, my time finally arrived!
A couple weeks ago, I was contacted by a local TV reporter. He had done an online search and found my blog ... my WP blog. He was planning to do a series of nightly reports on the housing market. Because I include my listings on my blog, he wanted to talk to me about the importance of photography.
We met last week at my newest listing which I really welcomed the opportunity to have extra exposure. It's a gorgeous home but at $699,900 it may be a tougher sell in this market. My seller agreed to be a part of the interview as well. (You may recognize him).
Although I've never had an issue with "talking" (as friends and family know) I was rather nervous about a TV interview because I was afraid of the sound bites. The reporter taped about a half hour of info, so I knew that most of it would end up being cut.
I recorded the newsclip with my camera aimed at the TV and hoped that The Murph wouldn't bark during the recording. Another agent was interviewed as well - and since we're dressed very similar - it's sometimes hard to tell who is who. She is in a home likely located in Clintonville, where she works. My home is in Galena, near Hoover Reservoir. Unfortunately, not much of the home was captured. Bummer!
I learned that I MUST stop "talking with my hands". ;-)
Executive-style, luxury, contemporary home near Hoover Reservoir (South of Galena) is now for sale. Nestled in 3 wooded acres overlooking a splendid ravine, this home is truly spectacular. Originally built in the early 60's, it was totally redesigned by a California architect in the mid 90's, to maintain its unique hexagonal design. You've heard agents say it before, but this home really must be seen in person to totally experience the 360° views in the open and flowing rooms, as well as in the many gardens.
No detail has been missed by the architect to provide "windows to the world" in all the rooms. However, even though the floor plan is open, the various wings provide privacy from the main living areas. It's an excellent home for entertaining with no worry about intruding upon the private quarters.
The cedar-lined home office is equally spectacular with its panels of windows and access to a 'sunrise' deck to get the out-of-the-box creative juices flowing. It even offers a separate workroom, perfect for an assistant or for compiling presentations on the open shelves. There is an exclusive entrance to the office wing via an exterior spiral staircase ... convenient for visiting clients or guests. This office wing could also serve as an artist's or photographer's gallery.
The floor plan of this wonderful home is extremely versatile so new buyers could use many of the rooms different than the current owners. If you need a home for multi-generations, you'll find it suitable for that as well. You're limited only by your imagination.
As the photos indicate, the home is very large, just under 5200 sq ft with 4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. There are 3 patios and 3 decks. Professionally landscaped with an unbelievable organic veggie garden with an enclosure designed by a professional landscape designer. Convenient to the Polaris area, the airport or downtown Columbus (~30 min). All this for a great price of $599,000. Compare that to the prices on "cookie cutter" houses and you'll make this your next home!
This post and photos are the property of Elaine Reese, Real Living HER, WorthingtonOhio43085.All material and photos are considered copyrighted and may not be used, copied or stolen by any other parties. Plagiarism is against the law!
Like many of you, I've been working on my plans for 2009. 2008 was good, and I generally was feeling pretty good about 2009. That is until I read two recent posts.
First I read KK's post about a recent WSJ article. It was a somewhat out-of-character post for her but I'm glad she shared the info with us, because I had not read the WSJ article and feel that whether we agree or disagree with something, we need to at least be aware of what's going on around us. It got a little nasty, but Kristel wisely deleted those comments. I agree ... it's her blog, her rules.
Then I read Matt's 2009 predictions and was thoroughly depressed.
In my comment on Matt's post, I mentioned that maybe we need to start taking back control of our destiny (as Kristel suggests) by behaving as we did back in the 60's and 70's. No, I don't mean the Haight-Asbury portion of those times, but rather the attitude that "we're sick & tired and not going to take it anymore".
I know there are lots of boomers on Active Rain who remember those turbulent times. We were in our late teens and twenties then. For those on AR who were being born then or afterward, here's a synopsis of what was going on:
We were in what turned out to be an unwinable war. There was a draft then, so everyone with a son, husband or brother lived in fear of having their draft deferrment change. New technology for the first time, allowed us to "see" the war front within days of it happening. We saw the body bags that were being sent back and didn't like it. The protests began. College students were willing to face the National Guard and risk being shot or killed. I began attending OSU a couple weeks after Kent State and had to always wear an ID badge around my neck, or risk confrontation with the Guard that was posted on campus. Eventually the US pulled out of Nam. Regular people were able to make a difference with the politicians.
Martin Luther King began leading marches to gain equal quality for minorities. People were willing to stand up - frequently against fire hoses and guns - to support a cause they believed in. They wanted a piece of the dream that others took for granted. With much turmoil, regular people were able to make a difference by getting laws changed.
Women were expected to be mere maids, nannies, and servants to their husband's household. Our schools taught us that we didn't have the same opportunities as the boys, and gave us "homemec" and "secretary" classes so we would be good little girls. It was very hard to buy a house or a car without a man's (our husband or father) signature on the loan. Nothing was in "our name" alone. We were relegated for the most part to low-paying jobs - secretaries, nurses, teachers, clericals - that often "served" the men. Be pretty, stay quiet and heaven forbid, don't THINK. Along came Gloria Steinham who told us we could be equal and have the same opportunities. So we took to the streets, burned the bras, and said, "fix your own d*mn dinner". Regular housewives were able to make a diffence in changing laws and attitudes in the workplace.
There's been a lot of lamenting not only here in AR, but in the blogosphere as well, about the state of our current economy, the unscrupulous corporations, and unsavory politicians. I see much hand-wringing and "woe is me" kind of attitudes. People write about "coping" in today's environment ... how they're going to "adjust" to today's environment. No where have I read where anybody is going to work to CORRECT what is wrong. Now some of you may say that you just did that with your presidential vote. I disagree, because people voted for Obama HOPING he makes the change. You can't HOPE it will change. That's not taking ownership of MAKING it change. There's a big difference there!
As bloggers, we have a lot of power. It's the new form of demonstrating in the streets and on the steps of statehouses. We don't have to face fire hoses or guns ... just people like the anonymous person on Kristel's blog, which is a far cry from staring down the business end of a gun.
If you don't like what's happening now, FIX-IT! Write about it (within our COE, of course). Do your part to make a difference. And if that doesn't work, maybe we should hit the streets ... with blackberries in hand.
Regular people CAN make a difference.
Come on all you people under 50... take responsibility to make a difference like your parents did. And for my fellow boomers, you know you've been saving those puca beads for just such an occasion.
Tonight I was checking some incoming links to my Reese's Pieces blog. I came across a link coming from a site I wasn't familiar with, so I checked it out. It's Quantcast.com. Lo and behold, it had a lot of information about the readers of my blog as well as quite a bit of other helpful information.
Now, I'm not sure why it's been tracking my blog as I've not installed any script for it to read, but for some reason the site has been analyzing my traffic. Since I use WP.com and can't install any javascript, I can only rely on the stats that WP provides which just tracks referring sites, most viewed posts, and click-thrus. However, Quantcast measures ...
Traffic trends: Generally the monthly stats that Quantcast is recording is only about 20% of what WP records and their trend doesn't match. I assume that if their javascript were installed this would become more accurate. They also track regulars vs the first-times. I don't place much value on this stat since cleaning off cookies changes a regular to a first-timer.
Geographic: this section shows traffic by country, state, city and DMA. I didn't find anything that looked surprising here as it seemed to be reflective of my commenters and emails. It would be a good tool to verify (or not) whether a blogger was hitting their targeted area.
Demographics: this was no doubt the most interesting section.
It showed that my readers are 50/50 male to female.
41% were aged 35-49 and 32% were over 50. Hey, I'm "old" so I would expect to attract an older crowd. Those are my clients, so it fits.
72% had no kids between ages 6-17; 28% had kids in that age range. Again, that pretty well fits my clients.
26% had household income between $30-$60K; 29% had incomes of $60-$100; and 29% had incomes of over $100K. They mentioned that the site is attracting higher incomes than is normal. YEAH ... love those folks with money!
38% had no college; 44% had college degrees; 17% had graduate degrees. In this area, they said the site attracts a higher educated crowd than normal.
Business: this section shows the number of readers who view the site from their home vs at their employment. A fourth of my readers are doing it on company time, otherwise they're being good employees with 76% reading at home.
Lifestyle: this section shows what other type of sites the readers like to visit. Thankfully, there were no p*rn sites on the list. That's reassuring.
If your blog platform allows you to add javascript, you might want to add this one. The site has been set up to allow web sites to gather data for the purpose of establishing media advertising dollars. For those of you who sell ad space on your blogs, you could use the info to determine how much to charge by proving that you're delivering their targeted customer. It's a pretty cool tool!
Enter your blog's address in the search box, to see who you're attracting. It's fun.
While other people are preparing for the holidays, many real estate agents and their brokers are working on their business plans for 2009. This is especially important now since 2008 was such a challenge and 2009 projections are up for grabs.
Brokers are now sending out postcards or letters to agents trying to entice them to join their brokerage. Some need to increase their number of agents so they can increase their revenues. I've received three such letters just this week - and, no, I won't be changing because I'm only interested in representing the No. 1 company - Real Living.
The end of the year is the time when we see agents switching to a different broker or doing some soul-searching to decide whether to stay or leave the industry. Next year's Board's fees are due this month (over $800 in central Ohio) and if an agent hasn't been doing well, they may decide they simply don't have what it takes to make a living in this business. The average gross income for an Ohio agent is only around $35,000 per the OAR. Since agents are self-employed, all expenses must be paid from that minimal amount, leaving not much money for household expenses.
We've already seen some small brokers merge and close offices to consolidate overhead costs. Some agents have already quit the business - 7% of the CBR members did so in 2008. 2009 will likely see a further decline. That's not viewed as a negative, since having low-producing or part-time agents is a problem the industry faces nationwide.
You don't want to go to a dentist or a CPA that only has 2 clients a year, or has another full-time job, do you?
The one thing that we do know is that the word "Change", that has become so popular politically, will also apply to the real estate industry in 2009. The change is being driven by the Internet, new technology, new equipment (like smart phones) and of course, the mortgage industry. You may already have noticed some of these trends occurring. Here's what is being said in the industry blogs or by other self-appointed gurus:
Broker, Agent Trends
Survival of the Fittest will be the mantra for 2009. Brokers or agents who entered the business in the early 2000's because "pickings were easy" will either leave the business or they'll need to change their business model and skillset to successfully compete.
The Internet will continue to increase as THE main means to sell homes. Brokers and agents need a good web presence to advertise their listings on many sites not just the broker's site or Realtor.com. The "old-fashioned" brokers and agents are projected to eventually go out of business.
Agents need technological skills because clients expect their agent to know how to market homes on the Internet, to know how to place the listing on multiple sites (not just their broker's site) and to know how to achieve good SEO so buyers "find" the homes.
Photography is THE most critical skill for an agent to possess because buyers decide in a nanosecond whether they're interested in a home. Bad photos or no photos are no longer tolerated by buyers. If there is no photo or if the photo does not make the home appealing, buyers are quick to click the "NEXT" mouse button.
Print advertising is dead. In 2006, only 7% of the buyers found their home using that medium, and that percentage is expected to decline even more when the next survey is done. The only agents who are continuing to use this medium are agents who don't know how to use the Internet to sell homes.
Seller Trends
Too much available inventory requires a seller's home to be well-staged for the photos and in prime condition for showings. "As-is" only is appropriate for foreclosed or REO homes. Buyers no longer want to fix-up what a seller hasn't.
Sellers absolutely cannot be overpriced when they go on the market. In fact, it's better if they start off a little under the market, as they'll get a quicker sale at a higher price than if they sit on the market and have to keep reducing the price. (this is a hard one for sellers to grasp.)
Real estate commissions increased in 2008 because sellers recognized they needed the pros to get their home sold. "You get what you pay for!" This is why some of the minimum-service brokers have gone bankrupt or left the business. With homes taking longer to sell and more marketing expenses incurred as well as the agent's time cost, agents are willing to walk-away from listings (or buyers) that are apt to be a money-losing proposition.
You pay more for a good CPA or attorney, so expect to pay more for a good agent.
Sellers are interviewing agents by Googling them. Sellers are doing fewer in-person interviews of agents. Rather, they're Googling the agent's name to check their web presence and to see how well or how poorly the agent does at marketing their current listings. They also consider whether the agent is more focused on marketing themselves vs their listings.
Buyer Trends
Buyers are viewing fewer homes in person than they did 5-10 years ago. Why? They use the Internet to look at the photos. They use Google maps and Google Street Views to look at the neighborhood, proximity to highways and railroads, and to see if there are power lines or towers behind the home. Buyers use these tools to ELIMINATE homes rather than to SELECT homes.
Buyers will need good credit scores and a down payment in order to buy a home. Gone are the days of 100% mortgages with questionable ability to make the mortgage payment. That's what got us into this "mess".
Buyers will need to be pre-qualified prior to viewing homes. With stiffer rules by lenders, agents need to know the buyer can be approved for the price of homes they will be viewing. If state laws allow, agents may also require a retainer (ex. $300-$500) from the buyer prior to viewing homes. Doing this ensures that the agent will be paid for their time and expenses (like attorneys or doctors) even if the buyer decides to not buy. Some newer broker business models charge buyers $XXX for every Y number of homes shown.
Topics being bantered about
Buyers paying for their broker/agent rather than the listing broker paying the buyer broker. Mortgage and RESPA rules/procedures would need to change to allow this.
Brokers hiring agents as employees. As you can imagine, there are lots of pros and cons of this one. Given we work 70-80 hours a week, how would "overtime" be handled? If agents are held to a 40-hour week, would a client be required to use multiple agents (1st shift, 2nd shift) during their transaction? Would clients be willing to pay based on a "fee for service" rather than a commission as a percent of the purchase price? How would clients feel about always having to meet their agent at the office (like a CPA or lawyer) rather than the agent driving to their home? Would clients miss that "personal touch" that we now provide?
Fee for Service vs Commission. Unfortunately, agents now do a lot of work for free. If we list a home and the seller decides to not move/sell, we don't get reimbursed for our marketing expenses and time. If a buyer looks at 20 homes and decides to continue renting or stay put in their current home, we don't get paid for our time or gas. Some sellers want open houses, some don't. Should those sellers who want 5 hours of our time on a Sunday afternoon pay more than those who don't? Shouldn't a seller who prices their home right so it sells in 30 days pay less than a seller who insists on overpricing and the home takes 5 months to sell? Lots of pros and cons on this issue as well.
No one knows what 2009 will hold for the industry, but one thing is certain ... the industry WILL continue to evolve into something new and exciting.
Thanks to my innovative broker, Real Living, and to my wonderful clients, I had a great year in 2008! I'm looking forward to 2009 being even better.
A couple days ago, I mentioned that our local prices have "sort of" bottomed out. I prepared a couple graphs for my last newsletter showing the average prices by school district since the start of the decade. These graphs show that while prices in the last couple years have declined somewhat, we haven't experienced the severe declines that speculative markets (FL, AZ, CA) have experienced.
Keep in mind, that these prices reflect the averages of what buyers are SPENDING in a given school district. That doesn't necessarily translate into a specific price change for a given home. That's an important distinction. These figures also don't include the prices of new builds unless the home was a spec and entered into the MLS system. So, for some districts with a lot of new housing developments (such as Olentangy), the prices may be understated.
This first chart shows the school districts closer to the actual Columbus metro market. (click on the thumbnails to see larger versions).
This second chart shows the school districts in more outlying districts. I've separated the large Olentangy district into east/west segments, with Rt 23 being the dividing line. So the west segment is largely the Powell and Liberty Township area. The east segment consists of the Lewis Center and Galena areas.
The Columbus metro market has traditionally weathered previous market downturns because of the diversity of the economy. While sales have slowed the past two years we're still not seeing the really negative numbers that other markets may be experiencing. That's not to say that sellers who purchased in 2003-2005 AND who did 100% financing won't be in trouble if they try to sell.
As most local Realtors® will say, you buy a home to live in and enjoy a certain quality of life. You shouldn't use it as an ATM machine or for speculation as you might do in the stock market.
Therefore, if you qualify to buy a home and have the down payment to do so, it can be a good time to buy now that the interest rates have dropped this month. It can be an extra special holiday present for you and your family.
This post and photos are the property of Elaine Reese, Real Living HER, WorthingtonOhio43085.All material and photos are considered copyrighted and may not be used, copied or stolen by any other parties. Plagiarism is against the law!
I read a few blog posts on AR - from my subscriber list. I read a few of the group blogs in the outside world. I read even more individual blogs of former AR members who graduated to their own blog.
So many of the AR and group blogs are mini instruction manuals on what we should or should not do for blogging. Some of those people are considered the "experts" or "gurus". On AR, people have strong opinions on whether listings or market reports should appear on a blog. Localism wants the focus to be on Chamber of Commerce type articles or restaurant reviews.
Well, I sell real estate! That is the primary focus of my WP blog. I put listings on it and I have a static page on it for market reports. I know how much traffic those pages get. I also know that even though the "experts" and "gurus" would find all sorts of things wrong with my WP blog, I really don't care. It's delivering repeat readership from ordinary people (not just Realtors®) and it's generated phone calls and bu$ine$$. That's the only thing that matters. Yes, I write some off-topic articles for fun and interest, but most is real estate or community related. I believe that's the type of info that the general public wants, but that's just my opinion.
When you read a post by someone telling you what to do, have you ever looked at their blog to see whether they have any listings? Does anything on their blog or web site indicate that they have ANY business or enough business to make a living?
Before I decide whether I'm going to implement the blogger's suggestions, I check to see if what they're recommending is working for them. I look to see if they have any listings or seem to have any experiences working with buyers. If there is no indication that they're making a decent living from this industry, then I certainly don't give much credibility to their suggestions.
If someone is going to tell me that I need to be on such & such social media, I want proof that THEY'RE getting business from their time spent there. If someone tells me I should post only on certain topics, then I want proof that those topics are providing income for THEM. If all the time spent on all the various social media spots isn't generating income in proportion to the time spent, then I really question whether the ROI makes sense.
If I check out your blog for examples of business you have, will I see evidence that you have a viable business? If not, I may not consider your advice to be credible.
SHOW ME THE MONEY and I'll believe whatever you have to say!
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Posted by 
In my comment on Matt's post, I mentioned that maybe we need to start taking back control of our destiny (as Kristel suggests) by behaving as we did back in the 60's and 70's. No, I don't mean the Haight-Asbury portion of those times, but rather the attitude that "we're sick & tired and not going to take it anymore".
We were in what turned out to be an unwinable war. There was a draft then, so everyone with a son, husband or brother lived in fear of having their draft deferrment change. New technology for the first time, allowed us to "see" the war front within days of it happening. We saw the body bags that were being sent back and didn't like it. The protests began. College students were willing to face the National Guard and risk being shot or killed. I began attending OSU a couple weeks after Kent State and had to always wear an ID badge around my neck, or risk confrontation with the Guard that was posted on campus. Eventually the US pulled out of Nam. Regular people were able to make a difference with the politicians.
Women were expected to be mere maids, nannies, and servants to their husband's household. Our schools taught us that we didn't have the same opportunities as the boys, and gave us "homemec" and "secretary" classes so we would be good little girls. It was very hard to buy a house or a car without a man's (our husband or father) signature on the loan. Nothing was in "our name" alone. We were relegated for the most part to low-paying jobs - secretaries, nurses, teachers, clericals - that often "served" the men. Be pretty, stay quiet and heaven forbid, don't THINK. Along came Gloria Steinham who told us we could be equal and have the same opportunities. So we took to the streets, burned the bras, and said, "fix your own d*mn dinner". Regular housewives were able to make a diffence in changing laws and attitudes in the workplace.
As bloggers, we have a lot of power. It's the new form of demonstrating in the streets and on the steps of statehouses. We don't have to face fire hoses or guns ... just people like the anonymous person on Kristel's blog, which is a far cry from staring down the business end of a gun.
Come on all you people under 50... take responsibility to make a difference like your parents did. And for my fellow boomers, you know you've been saving those puca beads for just such an occasion.
While other people are preparing for the holidays, many real estate agents and their brokers are working on their business plans for 2009. This is especially important now since 2008 was such a challenge and 2009 projections are up for grabs.
Survival of the Fittest will be the mantra for 2009. Brokers or agents who entered the business in the early 2000's because "
want to fix-up what a seller hasn't. 
Buyers will need good credit scores and a down payment in order to buy a home. Gone are the days of 100% mortgages with questionable ability to make the mortgage payment. That's what got us into this "mess". 
No one knows what 2009 will hold for the industry, but one thing is certain ... the industry WILL continue to evolve into something new and exciting.
;)
;)
