I don't need the media or any other entity to tell me times are better. I can just open my Quick Books account and see it for myself. 5 checks in the last 7 days, whew, things were getting kind of skinny there. The market seems to be very streaky, and you no longer can look at the calender and say, well, this is the slow time.

     Summer lull? Fuhgetaboutit! Last years Autumn lull? We were covered up! Throw the calender out the window, the market place now is a fickle one indeed. Heck, our 201K has made it back to a 301K. Now we hope it makes it all the way back to a 401K!

     Gone are the days of "this is the best time of the year to sell or buy", I just don't have a clue anymore. This is the epitome of "the more I know, the more I don't know". Forget the prognosticators and all the media hype, take a look at your check book, that's the true indicator. So I'm gonna hold my breath and cross my fingers, maybe we're over the hump!!!??? Good Luck!

     I have my own way of SEO. Nobody taught me and no"experts" were used. Yet, I have been very successful with our web sites. A good domain name, in my opinion, can help with internet success. Many will argue the name does not matter for SEO purposes, if that is so, why does Google highlight it when searching? That being said.

     I started www.AtlantaRelocate.com about 5 years ago. The domain name had expired from another real estate agent. Presto, no Google sandbox effect (Google takes a while before it trusts your site) and instant recognition on the search engines. Now is great time to search these great names. I'm sorry that some folks had to give in, but, business is business.

      So check out some names that you thought 3 years ago would never be available. I'm scooping up some great domain names that I thought were unattainable. Whats in a domain name? A LOT! Good Luck!

     We have 2 kids, 18 & 14.  One of the rules in our family is, you have to engage in at least one extra curricular activity in every year of school. Our kids picked music (yeah, I play 4 instruments and may have pushed a bit). So, Allie plays sax and clarinet, Andy plays piano, guitar, drums and marimba.

     In our home is an upright piano, electric piano, bass guitar, 3 electric guitars, classical guitar, banjo, saxophone, clarinet, drums, and probably some stuff I forgot.

     I believe that playing an instrument and/or playing competitive sports instills a certain mind set in folks. I think it helps a mind to think outside the box and/or instills a drive for people.

    Could be the which came first, chicken before the egg scenario. Would they have done so anyway? Probably not, for me personally I wanted to be proficient at particular instrument's. Can I think outside the box? You betcha! Do I think it helped? Yep, in my opinion music and/or competition is a situation that keeps opening your mind and testing your ability. Of course this is only my opinion. Good Luck!

     So many experts, so many opinions, so many websites. How do you make heads or tails out of it all? Easy, ignore the experts. As a blog I read recently stated, there ARE no experts (unless one of you are a Google secret agent!).

     So you upload your site, copy the adress and use one of the THOUSANDS of meta tag, meta correction, meta discombobulated website that will analyze and tell you all the things you are doing wrong. In essence their message is? Your site is CRAP, you are doing everything wrong and they tell you why....

    WARNING! You have to many characters in your title tag!

    WARNING! Your description relevancy is terrible!

    WARNING! You have too many links in your website! (this one kills me!)

    WARNING! You do not have an author tag! So?

    WARNING! You have 1,041 errors in your website, we can help!

    WARNING! You are taking these analyzing sites far to seriously. The only reason I will use them is to make sure keyword density is not to high and there are links I do not need or want. Many successful websites are developed by Joe normal thinking outside the box. Trial and error does work, that's what I know bout SEO...

     What makes an on site agent aggressive without stepping on the toes of you the selling agent? That my friends is a very fine line, and one I encountered 2 days ago. The subdivision is priced in the mid to high 200's and is predominately a first time buyer community.

     Initially the feeling out process was pretty normal, what are you looking for? What is your time frame? Beds, baths, lot type, how many kids, etc. This is when it started getting interesting, he KNEW these folks were not just looking, these are serious buyers, shazaam, out comes the full package.

     First stop is the home my clients liked when thay saw it on line. The lot was less than desirable, so we look at a couple other similar floor plans with topo that is more suited. Now I hear words seldom spoken, we would build you a home for the same price as standing inventory, we need to keep our builder busy (!!!???).

     First comes the community packet, home elevations, site map, standard features. In addition he has a copy of EVERY known article about the area, and tax records for all adjacent counties. Now something a little different, he asks what is your gross income? He pulls out a tax schedule, shows how much they will save in taxes annually, divides it by 12, and subtracts it from their estimated monthly payment. A bit of a pencil whipping, but, I let it slide.

     He shows them a recently framed home to brag on construction and me being a former builder, he is not out of line here either. So Mr & Mrs client, on a scale of 1 - 10, how close are you to writing a contract right now? 7.5 says the husband. We're meeting again Saturday to look at a nice lot, the builder is going to string the lot lines and show the home placement.

    Did he ever step on my toes? Yep, during the conversation on pricing he says, and we'll even pay him as he points at me! Hey Skippy, your NOT the one paying me, and neither are my clients. So good and so dumb at the same time, bet he doesn't do that again!

     We all know the big names, and many of us started (or are still with) one of them. It just seemed to me, most folks do not care. So we started Get Us A Home Realty, after all, that is what we do and it's easy to remember, what future value is there in Frank Orlando Realty? Ugh. That said, a friend of ours is retiring, her brand is her name, no takers.

     My sister lives near by and has been in the business longer than I have. For 3 years I told her, let me hold your license, no monthly fee, you only pay a percentage if It's my lead. No, she said, I feel comfortable with the big company name I'm with. At the end of the year her fees were $10,000+, YIKES!

     In these times, many agents are making changes, and 2 months ago she asked if I would hold her license, sure, come on board. Jodi gave her enough leads to have her covered up for a while.

     She said, you know, nobody has asked what company I work with, as a matter of fact some only mention it when they see it on a contract. I'm sure there are folks that are driven to the big firms, but, for the most part, whats in a name anyway?

     These photos show the drastic comeback Lake Lanier is making with it's water level. Only 8 of the 51 public boat ramps are closed. The before and after photos are from a public boat ramp down the street from us. The Army Corp. of Engineers measures the Lake level by elevation. The August 2008 level was an all time low 1053' and is the before photos. Current Lake elevation is 1063.86', full pool is 1071', fantastic strides in 8 months!

 8/2008

4/2009

8/2008

4/2009

Wednesday morning and the boaters are back!

Lake Lanier Homes For Sale, showings have picked up and once again this jewel in Forsyth County is a big attraction..

     There are teams and then there are TEAMS. To have a spouse in the business comes in real handy on occasion. I never have to lose a client or delegate them to one of our agents. Jodi takes them (albeit reluctantly Lol).

     If I'm on the road or out of the office and I receive an in query phone call, I send them to Jodi, tada instant answers for them and no time for them to call someone else. Instant gratification is HUGE in these times. Send a fax, set up a client search, write a contract, we can do it all instantly. She handles disbursing leads, follow up emails, and I work the websites and predominately listing appointments and showings.

     There is one aspect of this combination that I was not aware of, that is a man and a woman showing homes. Some clients are REALLY comfortable with that. I didn't know it until Jodi & I met a client looking for a country club homes. On his second visit I took him out by myself, where's Jodi? Umm back at the office, did you want her to accompany us. Sure, I need a woman's perspective when we look at these homes. AH HA! Invaluable!

     Poet and Don't know it? Before I first started with SEO and all that other stuff, I would labor over a web sites design until it was something I thought was functional and appealing, I thought that was the hard part. Nope, Now you have to get it in front of the masses.

     I started multiple sites as that was IMO the easiest way to see what Google and Yahoo were fond of. After all, you have to wait for indexing and blah blah blah. Conclusion? I learned a lot and have far more questions than ever before.

     Google the words SEO analysis or checker. there is an absolute plethora of rank check, spell check, back link check, loading check, keyword check, meta tag check, check please. According to them, our sites absolutely suck :-). Perhaps the worse you score on these sites the better off you are Lol.

     Google sandbox effect (new sites that Google is cautious of), some of our sites got it, some skipped it. I have no idea how some evaded this occurrence. Domain names with relevant wording, Yahoo liked it Google doesn't seem to care. Secondary web pages, Google liked it, Yahoo not so much.

     Too many links on your website? I think Google eats this like candy, IMO put all the relevant you want. Inbound & outbound links? IMO I think Google & Yahoo do not stress this as much as you may think they do. The only no brainer is that ActiveRain works well on BOTH of them.

     In conclusion IMO when you analyze your site with one of the so called expert analysis sites, check your keyword density and html tags. The rest of their opinions? Throw them out the window! The more I know the more I DON"T know! Good Luck!

     My office is the terrace level of our home overlooking acreage of woods. On occasion I see dear, possum, rabbits and the like. But the birds, They're everywhere this time of year. So sometimes I take a break and photo some of them, this is an attept to identify with the "Birds Of Georgia Book". OK, some are probably wrong!

 American Gold Finch

American Cardinal

House Finch

Indigo Bunting?

Morning Dove

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Summer Tanager

Now if I could just find those owls. I hear them all the time and can't find them!