Last Sunday, my good friend Ben Finklea was here enjoying an afternoon of NFL football, when he suddenly asked me if I had heard about "Movember". 

Nope.  Not until that moment.

It turns out that Movember is an initiative to raise money for prostate and testicular cancer research.  It involves not shaving for an entire month in an effort to grow a mustache/goatee/chin beard, etc.  I have seen a lot of people talking about it this week. 

I am not participating myself as a "grower", for a couple of reasons:

1. I am not very good at growing facial hair, and I don't want to scare anyone.  My talent is growing a nice thick neck beard.  Gross.
2. My wife hates me with facial hair.  Enough said.

However, I did take some time to donate $20 to each of the two friends who asked, since it's a good cause and they are embarrassing themselves publicly, and who doesn't enjoy that?

Incidentally, I am either too old (or young) to have ever heard a mustache referred to as a "mo" before now.  But I digress...

If you would like to donate, check out Ben's page right here:

http://us.movember.com/mospace/214457

I promised Ben that I would help to spread the word, so stop by at the link above and donate ANY amount to the cause.  Even a single dollar will help. 

Thanks for reading!

When I was a young(er) man, back before I was a father of four, or a Realtor, or a blogger, my wife Pam and I used to do our grocery shopping at around 11pm to miss the crowds.  We got to know the nighttime checkers and managers at the local store. 

Recently, Pam reminded me about how I used to buy "camouflage" foods in an effort to make the cashier believe that we were consuming something with nutritive value, rather than strictly junk food.  Today, as I was shopping, I was buying ingredients for a highly decadent Oreo cheesecake that my daughter is making for her Brownie/Girl Scout event tomorrow.  I also loaded up on candy, Tostitos, diet sodas, and other stuff that could never be deemed health food.  Guess what?  I didn't even bother with the camouflage food.  Instead, I was perfectly content to roll my cart filled with snacks to the front.

This struck me as analogous to my blogging efforts over the past couple of years.  When I started out, I assumed that I was "supposed" to write about business stuff only.  At the very least, I thought that I needed to include some market reports as part of the mix so that no one would know that I simply enjoy writing, regardless of whether it results in sales.  Thankfully, along the way, I've had plenty of sales, too. 

When I am teaching others about social media and blogging, one of the most common questions I get is this:

"But what should I blog about?  I don't have much to say."

My answer is a short one: ANYTHING that you feel comfortable writing about publicly is fair game. 

There's no magic formula for blogging, and I don't think you should ever listen to self-proclaimed experts who tell you that you should have 20% personal, or 50% business, or 0% fun.  Just write, and you will become a better writer over time.  Blogging provides another unique opportunity that writers didn't have in the old days - instant feedback!

In the pre-blogging era, authors, journalists, and anyone else who aspired to communicate via the written word would have loved to have comments on their works as they progressed and honed their skills.  You and I probably take this for granted now, right?

I realize that transparency is an overused buzzword in the social media arena these days, but I still think it's an important concept for businesses and individuals using these tools.  Almost every single sale that I have had (including an astounding SIX in the pipeline right now) have come from my willingness to let people get to know me as a person, not just as a real estate broker. 

Writing about real estate all day makes Jack a dull boy.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaboobie/92663750/

Ken Cook and I have been hosting Social Media Edge together now for almost a year, and we have a great time while still striving to provide solid, helpful information.  Today, our guest was Jennifer Iannolo of http://foodphilosophy.com.

During today's episode, we discussed the following topics (and in the words of Dave Barry, I am not making this up):

• Twitter tattoos
• The first social-media generated cookbook
• Ayn Rand
• Why those who blog get more traffic than those who don't
• Dead people on Facebook
• Shaved truffles
• At least one topic that I can't even mention here

Additionally, if you want to learn the difference between #sexonaplate and #foodporn, you won't want to miss this hilarious episode:

http://budurl.com/smedge110309

I have a feeling that this may end up being our highest-rated show to date, but we'll see.  :)  In order to listen to any of our previous episodes, visit our Facebook page at http://facebook.com/socialmediaedge. 

Incidentally, if you would like your own custom Facebook business page, contact Mike Mueller, master of all things Facebook.

Thanks for listening!

The title above refers to an old Dana Carvey routine, when he was talking to his son, who asked him, "Dad - does God have feet?"  My wife and I use this phrase pretty often around our house, since we've had a series of cute kids over the years.

I just wanted to share some recent pictures of the baby.  The first two pictures below were taken a couple of weeks ago at the portrait place in the mall.  The last one was taken by my wife, and it makes a really good screensaver for my laptop.  :)

I can't believe that Jenny went from sitting up to crawling and now pulling up and even cruising a little bit.  She's only 6 1/2 months old, and this is by far the earliest standing child we've had.  She also has two teeth now, with two more on the way, it seems. 

Enjoy!

This is purely anecdotal evidence with regard to any big turnaround locally, but I have been happy and a little surprised at how much luxury home buying and selling activity we have seen at our company in the last quarter of 2009.  Over the past week or so, agents at our company have been working on the following:

• Buyers looking at homes up to $3 million
• Buyers up to $2 million
• New listing for $800,000

Needless to say, this would make for a phenomenal final quarter for us. 

As always, I get the same question many times each day, "So, how is the market doing these days?"  I'm never one to pull punches, so if things are rough, I say so.  These days, whenever I say that we've been really busy in the second half of the year, most people assume it's because of the much-talked-about tax credit for first-time buyers.  In our case, nothing could be further from the truth.  I have exactly ONE buyer that will benefit from the tax credit (the current one, not the proposed one).

With that in mind, it makes me hopeful for 2010 and beyond, as the economic indicators seem to be improving at last and the general vibe is a positive one.  As I've written before, perception becomes reality, so when people think the economy is getting better, they spend money and it happens.  The converse is also true.  When people are told that times are bad, they stay home and stop spending money.

As a quick example, I still remember the reaction of our clients after 9/11 happened.  They froze.  Our team closed one deal in the entire last quarter of 2001.  Was there less money at that point?  Nope.  Had any of our buyers who cancelled lost their jobs?  Again, no.  They were worried about the financial future of our country, so they stopped buying, at least for awhile.  Unfortunately, THAT is what made things truly bad, not the original source of the fear.

I never advocate lying when friends or clients inquire about the state of the market, but I do advise sharing success stories if you have them.  As economic news (hopefully) continues to improve overall, this could lead to increased consumer spending on many fronts, and we may just see a real recovery. 

Quick disclaimer: Although I minored in Economics in college, the stuff above is just my own opinion.

Thanks for reading!

I have been here on ActiveRain for two years and two months (sounds a bit like the old Chuck Woolery "2 and 2" quote).  During that time, I have been very pleased to see how many consumers have found my blog.  I've written over 900 posts, and most of those are "public", meaning that they are indexed by Google and the other search engines. 

One of my posts, Austin Texas Relocation Package, was the result of a contest that was the brainchild of one of my friends, Adam Waldman, and backed by Bob Stewart.  It has been at the top of Google for a long while now, resulting in almost 31,000 visits (see graphic from my "Statistics" page below).  As you can see, it only has 36 comments, most of which came during the first month or so that it was up, but it has averaged about 1500 visits monthly since it was written in early March of 2008.

The post itself is a collection of links and descriptions for 26 other AR posts that I wrote back around that time, including a somewhat-informal introductory letter to buyers, and answers to the most frequently asked questions that I get from people who are considering relocating to the Austin area. 

I send this one to most out-of-town and out-of-state buyers that I speak with, and it gets them much further along in the process with very little additional effort.  Sometimes, I get calls from buyers who are looking at that post and calling it my "site", as in, "Your site at Activerain.com has a lot of great information."  :)  It's clearly working.This post is not the only example, but it's the most dramatic with regard to traffic.  

Sometimes, when I have a buyer with specific questions, I make sure to send them one of my posts on that subject when I email them.  In fact, I would highly recommend using questions from your clients to serve as blog topics.  If one client has the question, it's likely to come up again, right?

Frankly, and this may sound a little cavalier to say, but it seems to impress clients if we are discussing an issue, and I tell them, "I actually wrote about this on my blog.  Let me send you that article after we finish talking."  I guess it's much like the old saying about "writing the book" on any given topic. 

I have also used my blog to train and instruct the agents who work at my company.  As a broker/owner, this helps me to better leverage my time, so that I don't have to cover the same ground over and over again.  

Since I share all of my public posts on Facebook via the "Notes" application there, I often have friends from church or other acquaintances who mention reading stuff that I originally posted here.  I am typically surprised by which people took the time to read my blog - I guess I'm less surprised than I used to be, however.

One additional point which you may find helpful came up the other day when I had lunch with Ian Greenleigh of DriveBuy Technologies.  We both think it's a good idea to peruse blogs outside of AR in an effort to get additional exposure and gain more friends/contacts.  If you comment elsewhere regularly, you can become one of the "regulars" there, too.  I realize that there are only so many hours in the day - it's just an idea to get your name out there a bit more.  This notion is also discussed in "Trust Agents", by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.  Whenever you do take the time to comment, make sure you link back to your AR blog (or outside blog) to gain more potential readers. 

Thanks very much for reading!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnett/2836828090/

I am happy to report that our company has been quite busy selling homes lately here in Austin, with the last quarter shaping up very nicely.  In fact, this has probably been the most active season for our company in about two years.

My friend Brian Block, who is a broker in the northern Virginia/D.C area, sent me a link to an interesting and encouraging article from Realtor.com, which states that Austin took the top spot in year-over-year search increase on Realtor.com, with a 91% jump from September 2008 to September 2009.  WOW!  This is clearly very exciting news for us.  Brian spotted this article on Twitter.

Thankfully, we have seen similar results with the traffic to our website at www.austintexashomes.com, which is in the top 5 results on Google for almost every major real estate term that I care about. 

The other cities in the top five were Las Vegas, New Orleans, Reno, and Tyler, Texas.  Tyler came as an interesting surprise to me.  My parents lived in Tyler just before I was born and we have relatives in that area.

If you would like to see the entire article, visit http://bit.ly/THTQd. 

Austin remains one of the most affordable and desirable places to live in the U.S.  If you're considering making a move, you might be interested in checking out my online relocation package right here:

Austin Texas Relocation Package

I would love the opportunity to help you find the right home in the general Austin area.  You can also visit our Austin real estate website at www.austintexashomes.com.  Thanks!

One of our agents just listed a nice home in the Avery Ranch area overlooking the golf course and a scenic pond, too!  It's hard to find places in the sub-$250,000 range like this.

Features:

• 3 Bedrooms, 2 Full Bathrooms
• 1937 square feet per tax records
• Backs to golf course and pond
• Built by Gehan Homes in 2005
• Fresh paint and carpet (October 2009)
• Island kitchen w/ silestone counters, beautiful mahogany cabinets, and black appliances 
• Home office with dark wood flooring right off the living area
• Light and bright!  
• Covered patio
• Immaculately maintained - Shows like a model

If you have any questions at all or if you would like to set up a time to take a look at this home, feel free to give me a call anytime at 512-796-7653 (cell) or email me at jason@austintexashomes.com.  If you are interested in searching all Austin homes for sale, visit my website at www.austintexashomes.com.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!

I remember getting invited to check out Twitter about 2 years ago.  Next, I remember thinking that it seemed useless.  Months passed....I got emails that said things like, "@delicioushair is now following you on Twitter". WHAT?!?  Why? 

The notion of someone following me used to strike me as both odd and off-putting. I guess it sounds catchier than saying that someone is "paying attention to you on Twitter", but that's basically exactly what this means.  I prefer to think of my subscribers, friends, contacts, and followers as part of my online audience.  The better you are at building an audience, the more likely you are to convert this to actual business growth, in my opinion.

Over time, I got the hang of it, and I finally jumped in with both feet just over a year ago, and I'm thankful that I did.

As of a couple of days ago, I have over 10,000 people paying attention to me on Twitter.  What's the significance of this?  Well, by itself, not much.  I had a brief conversation on Twitter with Derek Overbey (@doverbey) after crossing this milestone.  He mentioned that quality is more important than quantity, and I agree wholeheartedly.  I think having BOTH is pretty nice, too.  :)

I consistently see Twitter users with 20,000 or even 50,000 followers who have really only built a very big house of cards for themselves.  They never converse with anyone, and they are still trying to use Twitter like a traditional marketing channel, by broadcasting information rather than hanging out and listening.

A few nights ago, I was happy to be able to attend a local "tweetup" (Twitter-based meetup) with author Shel Israel.  I even got to sit next to him at dinner, which made my day.  Shel is the author of the newly released book "Twitterville" and co-author with Robert Scoble of one of the seminal books on blogging, "Naked Conversations".  During dinner, we had an interesting discussion with my local friend Mike Chapman about the fact that no politician has truly utilized social media yet, including President Obama.  Obama's campaign certainly did a very effective job of using the tools to broadcast their message, but that's not the same thing as listening and joining the conversation.  Shel noted that it would be newsworthy (and bookworthy) for a candidate to do this.

As with the candidates who jump on the bandwagon to appear hip, the same thing goes for anyone attempting to use Twitter to build his/her business.  You must listen!  Sending links from your blog posts, or just having a profile is not enough.  What if someone responds to your post but you aren't even there to see it?  In much the same way, having a giant number of followers means nothing if they are all spambots, or if you are never around to speak with them.  Raw numbers are not the important part - engagement is.

I am happy to hit this new plateau, but I also recognize that the key to success in any social medium is being consistent. 

Over the past 24 hours, I had two of my agents contact me, excited about new prospects that they have.  One of them is looking to spend up to $3 million for a waterfront home (fully pre-screened - it's his friend's fiancee), and the other is considering homes priced in the $1 million range.  If they both close, I would stand to make $22,500 or more for our company.  Why am I bothering to tell you this?  Because I met BOTH of these agents on Twitter.  It's a phenomenal recruiting tool if handled correctly.

P.S. Just a quick tip: If you want to get serious about using Twitter to build relationships and your business, I would highly recommend using TweetDeck, Seesmic Desktop, or something similar.  It makes it easier to pay attention to the people you care about and form bonds with them. 

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you probably already know that I truly love my kids.  Here's a quick and unedited video that I took tonight of our 3-year-old (Abby) and our 6-month old (Jenny).  Abby would probably kiss and hug Jenny all day if we allowed it.  In fact, my wife calls it "aggressive cuddling".  I really like that term.  I hope you enjoy this one.  I play the part of the camera man/soon-to-be-jungle gym.