Jay's Phoenix Area Real Estate (and more...)

This is a post to an "Outside Blog"

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:31:36 -0500

It's as simple as making a post in ActiveRain, and checking the "Outside Blog" box.

Karen George Article in Phoenix Newspaper Today

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:48:43 -0600

Anyone who has been around Active Rain for any length of time knows Karen George. Her posts are jammed packed full of all sorts of tips and techniques for maximizing your web presence.

You may also be aware that Karen is battling cancer.

Today there is an article today in the Arizona Republic about Karen, and her plans to form a non-profit organization to support cancer research and early detection of breast cancer.

Active Rain was mentioned in the article:

In addition to working on getting SOMAD running and undergoing chemotherapy, George has continued to work from home. She is a member of "Active Rain," a cyber community of real estate professionals from all over the country.

"I worked and I still work all through my treatments. I find that working helps to divert my attention from the ominous pressure I'm under from the cancer," she said. "It keeps my mind focused on other things."

Her posts on the Active Rain blog about her cancer fight caught the eye of Paula Henry, a Realtor from Indianapolis, as well as Phoenix Realtor Jay Thompson.

Henry said she was so moved by George's story that she opened a bank account so others could help George with medical bills, which she said are more than $200,000.

Thompson also is spreading the word about George through his own Web site.

"Karen is incredibly giving of her time and knowledge in the online real estate community. Her positive attitude is truly amazing, particularly in light of everything she is going through," he said.

George said she was humbled to learn people she had never met in person wanted to help her, and at first she was reluctant to accept their generosity.

Please take a moment to read the entire article.

What a remarkable woman. She's fighting for her life, but is still here sharing with us and working on setting up a non-profit to help others.

The donation link for Karen is still up on my blog (top right corner) If there is anything you can do to help, please consider donating.

Major Management Change at Point2 Agent - Confirmed in the "News"

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:50:13 -0600

Several senior executives have left Point2 Agent -- one of the world's largest suppliers of real estate website solutions.

I believe the first public indications of this change were made last Friday here (followed up here). On Saturday, Becky Troutt reported the news here on AR.

Inman News finally ran a story this morning confirming what the blogs had been saying for days.

And Point2 just released a formal press release covering who has left, and who at Point2 was promoted to fill the vacancies.

Interesting times at Point2, that's for sure! I know many of those that left, as well as those that will take their places. All are talented, dedicated people, and I wish them all the best.

Meet the Bloggers at NAR!

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:54:00 -0500

Planning on attending the NAR Conference in Vegas in a couple of weeks?

Want to meet some of the "A-List" real estate bloggers? Here's a chance to get insight to their experiences with blogging as well as question and answer sessions.

Damon Pace at Incredible Agent is hosting the event at their booth. Stop by, meet some bloggers, get some answers and a shot at some cool prizes!

More information, and the current schedule can be found here.

Schedule For Wednesday, Nov 14:

10:00 A.M. Damon Pace - IncredibleAgent Blog

11:00 A.M. Michael Price - MLBroadcast Blog, Mike's Corner

12:00 P.M. Jay Thompson - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

1:00 P.M. Lani Anglin - RERevealed Blog

2:00 P.M. Joel Burslem - The Future of Real Estate Marketing (Inman News)

3:00 P.M. Benn Rosales - AgentGenius.Com

4:00 P.M. Pat Kitano - Transparent Real Estate

5:00 P.M. Kevin Boer - 3 Oceans Real Estate

Schedule For Thursday, Nov 15

10:00 A.M. Daniel Rothamel - The Real Estate Zebra

11:00 A.M. David Gibbons - ZillowBlog

12:00 P.M. Kristal Kraft - Denver Real Estate Blog

1:00 P.M. Roberta Murpy - Luxury Home Digest

2:00 P.M. Jim Duncan - Real Central VA

More TBA!

Phoenix Point2 Agent Users Meetup!

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:37:27 -0500

If you are in (or around) the Phoenix area, you should come to this! Hear Brendan King, Point2 Agent COO talk about Point2.

Think of the possibilities...

Learn about what Point2 has to offer (you do not need to have a Point2 website to attend).
Meet other Point2 users.
Get tips and ideas.
Network with others.
Bring a sack of tomatoes and lob them at Brendan while he talks!

Here are the details..... (Original source)

Point2 Technology User Group Meetup

Brendan King / COO of Point2 (and identified by Inman as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders in 2007) will be at this meeting of Point2 users. Come hear Brendan talk about where Point2 is today and where they are headed with their technology.

This is the first time we're gathering Phoenix P2A users together - if you like it, let us know and we'll see how we might do it again!

Refreshments Provided Courtesy of Point2!

When: Wednesday, November 7. 4:00 - 6:00pm

Where: Jobbing.com Community Meeting Room (map)
4747 N 22nd St.
Phoenix, AZ 85016

How: Register online here. Cost is ZERO!

Thanks to Steven Groves for coordinating!

The following day you can hear Brendan speak on a panel with Joel Burslem / InmanTV and David Miller / Chicago Title on 'RealEstate2.x - The Future of Real Estate' moderated by Steven Groves / Executive Conversations in Real Estate at the 2nd Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference! (separate registration required)

Blog Tour USA Hits Sunny Phoenix!

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:31:56 -0500

Sorry, I can't figure out how to embed the photos here. To see some pics, go HERE.

Blog Tour USA rolled into sunny Phoenix about 5:00pm yesterday. I walked up to the "Blog Bus", pounded on the door and walked in. Right there in the flesh, in living color were the Sellsius Boys. Joe was at the laptop, and Rudy was filming someone (the video camera rarely leaves Rudy's side.)

It was like meeting old friends. Joe and Rudy are a couple of great, friendly, down to earth guys. They're wicked smart too...

We were soon joined by a couple of others, and then Damon Price with Incredible Agent stopped by. Incredible Agent is one of the corporate sponsors of the Blog Tour, and they hosted the evenings festivities at Tempe's Depot Cantina. Incredible Agent is rolling out a new free website product, be sure to check it out. I promised Damon and some of his staff I'd give it a whirl and an evaluation. It's on the ever expanding to-do list...

There were a WHOLE bunch of folks there that I don't know. But some of the icons of Phoenix real estate blogging were present. Jonathan Dalton and Christoph Schweiger were there, and have accounts already up on their blogs. The data master John Wake graced us with his presence. Steven Groves was there, complete with that goofy Bluetooth thing stuck in his ear. Dave Smith even drove up from Tucson -- where apparently there is a shortage of food and alcohol. Alas, once again, The House Chick shunned our little party :) . We'll cut her some slack, as she's probably still recovering from a recent move.... Even the Arizona Republic joined in, sort of.

I chatted with many folks about blogging. Some furiously scribbled notes, some seemed very interested, and a few appeared to be there just for the food, beer and margaritas. People filtered in and out, but the party finally broke up about 10:00. Less than 30 seconds after their departure, a nice little Phoenix monsoon dust storm blew up, complete with a little mud rain... Joe and Rudy had planned to drive a couple hours toward San Diego, but they hunkered down in a strip mall as the winds buffeted the RV.

All in all, it was a grand time, with good networking and opportunities to meet new, and old friends.

Sorry, I'm terrible with names, and the Dos XX's and 'ritas don't really help with that. If you see any photos you'd like, leave a comment or contact me and I'll send them to you.

And damn it, where is my Trulia t-shirt?

Sellsius Blog Tour USA Rolling Toward Phoenix!

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 14:09:22 -0500

The boys from Sellsius will be in Phoenix on Thursday. If you're anywhere near the Phoenix area, you don't want to miss them. Incredible Agent, a Blog Tour USA sponsor, has secured a location, and they will be launching a new (free!) product for Realtors then too!

More info is here.

Let's give Joe and Rudy a hot Phoenix welcome! As if meeting Joe and Rudy isn't enough, this would also be a great time for the local Active Rainers to gather and chat, have some food and drinks, and check out what Incredible Agent has coming down the pipe!

What is a "SPLOG" and What Can you Do About It?

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:47:23 -0500

A "SPLOG" is a Spam Blog. "Sploggers" steal content from other blogs and re-post it as their own.

Why in the world would someone do that?

The intent is to build a blog or website that contains a lot of content, and will be ranked well in search engines. The sploggers add Google AdSense and other advertising to the splog and are basically using other people's content to increase their search positions and generate ad revenue for themselves.

Almost anyone who has been blogging for some time has been "splogged". In addition to being incredibly unethical to steal someones content, it is also illegal as it violates federal copyright law (*if* the domain host is in the US).

My "other blog" (and MANY others) were recently victims of a splogger. Finding my content, word for word, on another blog with zero attribution is incredibly annoying to me. So I set off to see what I could do about this splog.

Thanks to the help of a great blog on plagiarism, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and a helpful web host, said sploggers domain was taken off-line in less than 24 hours.

It was painful and time consuming, but well worth the effort!

Here is the whole story.

eBay Launches FREE Classifed Site a la Craigslist!

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:50:10 -0500

This could be HUGE.

eBay has just opened up kijiji.com in the US, a free on-line based classified service.

I jumped right in to the Phoenix edition to see what was involved in creating a "listing".

It was a snap. Very intuitive interface, easy to upload pictures (a max of 4, at 4mb each). It's not the greatest listing, as it was an experiment in ease of use (plus, 10 years from now I can say, "I had the first home listing on kijiji in Phoenix")

To me, the site is quite similar to BackPage.com, though a bit "cleaner". It's certainly a LOT cleaner than Craigslist, which purely from a design perspective is a disaster from 1985.

SFGate.com has a great article, including comments from Craigslist who said, "We simply do not look at other sites as competition. We never have done so at any time." Hmmm...

Kijiji is free--for now. Apparently eBay plans to explore ways to make more money, I'm assuming by offering "premium services", at some point.

eBay's 25% stake in Craigslist (which they plan to keep according to SFGate) makes this even more interesting. I can't really see Craig Newmark helping out eBay, and regardless of how Craigslist feels about kijiji, it does seem to be direct competition. Craig and his list tend to march to the beat of a different drummer, so their nonchalant attitude is to be expected. No question that Craigslist dominates the free on-line classifieds market. But eBay isn't chump change in the on-line world.

There is a dearth of listings on kijiji--for now. Only 21 items TOTAL on the Phoenix site. It will be interesting to watch the growth.

Surprisingly, I haven't heard anything from the real estate blogs out there. Normally we're slobbering over free venues to display listings. Maybe too many hot dogs on the grill right now...

This could get interesting.

Others Opine: Deep Jive Interests, Joe Duck, Don Dodge, Wired,

Google's Real Estate Reciprocal Link Penalty

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:44:23 -0500

Here are a couple of great links discussing Google's real estate reciprocal link penalty. Should be required reading for everyone...

From SEOMOZ

From CAD Website Design

Does All That Blogging REALLY Get You Clients?

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 06:32:50 -0500

People — usually real estate agents (yes, they are people too) — frequently ask me, "Why do you blog?"

The short answer, one that leaves many scratching their heads, is "Because I have to".

I need to write. I don't know why, it's just always been that way. I don't write well enough to become the next mega-best selling author. I don't want the deadline pressure of writing a column in traditional newsprint. So a blog is the ideal venue for me to write. For whatever reason, people seem to read what I put here. God only knows what possesses them to keep coming back.

Invariably after I say, "Because I have to", the next question is, "But does all that blogging get you CLIENTS?"

The short answer is yes, it does. If I had to, I could produce documented evidence of procuring buyers, sellers, and even a small developer that became clients — paying clients — from what has been done with The Phoenix Real Estate Guy.

The immediate follow-up question from Mr. or Ms. Aspiring Real Estate Blogger then becomes, "How do I get clients from my blog?

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE POST!!

Advanced Access - Helping Agents REMOVE Reciprocal Links!

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:10:20 -0500

Personally, I've never been a fan of reciprocal linking. I've never had reciprocal links on my website, and it's done just fine, ranking well for dozens of search terms. (this despite many experts telling me I had no chance in Google without "lots and lots" of reciprocal links) My oversimplified SEO philosophy is and always has been to build my site and blog for my visitors, and the search engines will take notice.

For those that don't know what reciprocal linking is, it's the old, "I'll link to you if you link to me" routine. Real estate agent sites may generally be the worse abusers of reciprocal linking.

Google and other search engines appear to be devaluing recip links. They have basically said as much over the past several months.

Advanced Access, one of the largest providers of real estate agent web sites just posted this to their blog:

"I was privileged to attend the recent Search Marketing Expo, SMX Advanced 2007, in Seattle, Washington this week. During the Penalty Box Summit session I was involved in some Q & A that involved real estate websites. To be honest I did not intend to ask much more than a general question, but as we dug deeper it became real estate specific. Matt Cutts of Google stated that when we see penalties occur, such as some of the recent real estate website penalties, that webmasters should take that as a sign. Matt stated that conferences and the Q & A time is the best way to publicly say that Google intends to do more about the issue. The issue at hand was the real estate industry being known for its over-zealous reciprocal linking, especially among fellow agents. It was also clarified that different industries are handled differently, and real estate is on the list right now. While recent penalties have been manual, they intend to do as much on the algorithmic side as possible. Tim Mayer of Yahoo concurred with what Matt Cutts said."

Read the full article here.

I certainly can't tell anyone on what to do with their websites. But if one of the largest site providers on the planet is helping their clients remove links, that's pretty compelling....

Tired of Redfin and 60 Minutes?

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Tue, 29 May 2007 23:36:50 -0500

Tired of Redfin and 60 Minutes?

I know I am. Redfin this, Redfin that, blah blah blah....

Tired as you may be, you *really* need to see this video that the folks at Poin2 Agent put out. It's supportive of Realtors and.... well.... you'll just have to watch....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZzbrftTF0g

$52 to Save a Life?

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 07:58:24 -0500

There's a six month old baby fighting for his life in Sacramento, CA. He was born with leukemia, is in his fifth round of chemo and only has weeks to live unless he gets a bone marrow transplant.

All it takes is one person with the right tissue type. You can get tested and listed on the National Marrow Registry for $52.

More info here.

Think about it.

The 33rd Carnival of Real Estate

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:59:13 -0500

I had the pleasure of hosting the 33rd Carnival of Real estate on my other blog. You may want to stop by and see some great posts from this week in the mainstream blogiverse.

A word of caution to ActiveRainers who submit AR posts to the Carnival -- MAKE SURE YOU AREN'T SUBMITTING "MEMBERS ONLY" POSTS! These posts can't be linked to from the outside world. Well, they can be linked to, but no one can read them unless they are logged in. No Carnival host is going to select a limited access blog post as one of the best, no matter how well it's written. So if you want to submit an AR blog post (and you should!) make sure the visibility is set to "Public".

Using Google Trends

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:01:09 -0600

Those geekus maximus Google engineers have done it again. With Google Trends you can see the history for different search terms over time. You can compare search terms alone or against other terms.

"So what?" you may be asking... Well, think about it this way. If you have a web site, wouldn't it be best to optimize it for the search terms people are using? I live in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert. Like any large metroplolitan area, there are LOTS of suburbs around here. Which one of them gets the most search queries? Well, let's go to Google Trends and find out....

Hmmm... interesting. Looks like between these five Phoenix suburbs, maybe I should be focusing my efforts on Mesa and Scottsdale. And if I decide to go with either Chandler, Tempe, or Gilbert then it's pretty much a toss up.

Mesa clearly has more search results than Scottsdale. Or does it? The terms used above are very generic and encompass alot of different things. Let's look at Mesa and Scottsdale a little closer to home:

There's a longer history for Scottsdale, but looking at current history, not so much difference between the two as the first trend shows. So it's important to refine your trend queries. But if you refine them too much there won't be enough data for Google to plot. You just have to play around with it.

Google Trends is an interesting tool. I'm not saying you should blindly follow what it shows you, but it can be helpful in trying to determine where to focus your website efforts. It's also a heck of a lot of fun, in a techno-geek sort of way. Here's an interesting trend:

I see a couple of interesting things here. One is there is a distinct drop off in search volume in the fourth quarter of both 2004 and 2005. Most agents will tell you their business drops off toward the end of the year and peaks in the summer. This trend certainly supports that. The other thing to note is that KW seems well behind some of the other big boys. But wait! There's more! Google Trends also supplies some city data as well. Here's that city data for the brokerage trends:

C21 dominates in New York City, and KW is nowhere to be found there. But look at Oklahoma City... KW, C21 and Remax are in basically a dead heat. What does this tell us? Not a whole heck of a lot. But I bet it tells some KW exec they need to expand to the Northeast...

You can also use Google Trends for totally useless things. A couple of years ago my now 12 year old daughter was a big Britney Spears fan. That has since faded (thank goodness!). And apparently my daughter is not alone in her current opinion of Ms. Spears...

Note the news references for Brit are relatively steady over the years. Yet the search volume is steadily declining. Less tenny-boppers searching for Britney pics means less popularity for the (former) pop diva.

Again, I would not base my entire web optimization strategy on Google Trends, but it is another good tool in the Search Engine Optimization arsenal.

Give it a whirl. It's easy, it's free and you get that warm fuzzy geeky feeling when you use it! If anyone comes up with an interesting trend analysis, I'd be interested in seeing it.

Why Point 2 Agent Rocks My World

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:21:07 -0600

It should come as no surprise that every real estate professional needs a "web presence".

Yet I hear comments all the time like:

"A web site is too much hassle"
"Everyones got a website. So what?"
"I've had a website for years and never gotten a sale out of it."

To those comments, and others like them I say, "Bullhockey"!

The NAR tells us 78% of all home buyers start their search for a home, and usually an agent, on the Internet.

So like it or not, YOU HAVE NO CHOICE. If you want to succeed, you MUST have a website.

I've tried a couple of site providers that shall (for now) remain nameless. A year and a half ago, I settled on Point 2 Agent as my website provider. And I haven't looked back since.

What does Point 2 have to offer?

The "NLS" - National Listing System. List your homes and "share" them across all other Point 2 sites, plus those little know websites like Google Base, Yahoo, and many more. And share them AUTOMATICALLY. You just load 'em up in your Point 2 site, check a few boxes and *POOF*, Point 2 syndicates them to a slew of other websites.

Superior customer service.

An active user community with free (and excellent) support, help, and ideas.

A Contact Management System - drip emails, records of listings viewed, and more.

A blogging platform. WAY simpler to set up than a WordPress or Typepad blog. It's on your domain name, so any content posted to it helps YOUR domain.

Free training on Point 2 as well as free "seminars" with leading industry experts.

RELiberation - a community blogging platform.

RSS feeds and Google Maps for your listings.

And more. Much much more. Too much to list! For more info on the various levels of membership Point 2 provides, click here.

Not convinced? Try out Point 2 Agent for FREE. Yes, free. 100% no cost, no obligation. (some of the features listed above are not available with the free level. But you can try out the Professional level that DOES include all of the above for two weeks for free.)

Seriously folks, it's worth checking out. Even if you already have a website, grab a Point 2 free level site and get those listings out there! Build a niche site for free to compliment your main site. Are you a broker? Check out Point 2's broker solutions -- share listings across your agent's sites, distribute leads to your agents, and more.

What are you waiting for?

Floor Time Works - Really!

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:20:17 -0600

There have been lots of posts here about "floor time". (Here is one of mine. Here are several others)

Some (most?) agents hate it, some tolerate it, a few actually like it.

Regardless of your feelings, it DOES work. This just happened today:

My lovely bride does not enjoy floor time. At all. She was in the office, shuffling files or something. The floor shift ended at noon. The guy on shift HAD to leave, and Sam, the agent who was supposed to take over, was at lunch with the broker. Being the team player she is, Francy offered to man the phone until the lunchers returned.

Five minutes into it, the phone rings. It was an agent looking to refer a buyer from Minnesota.

Francy's taking them out Sunday to look at $400 - $500K homes.

Needless to say, when Sam got back from schmoozing with the broker, he was none too happy.

You never know when the floor phone is going to ring. If you're not there to answer it, someone will.

Mobivity - Using Text Messages to Market a House

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:53:11 -0600

Stumbled upon some cool stuff out there in the Blogiverse and thought I'd share it with others here. Looks to be pretty cool use of text messaging for real estate agents.

Rather than duplicate the content across blogs, please visit my "other blog" for details. Be sure to check the comments as one of the guys at Mobivity talks about a real estate agent specific tool!

New Group - Point 2 Agent Web Sites

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 12:43:00 -0600

Greetings folks! I just created a new AR group - Point 2 Agent sites.

Anyone with a Point 2 Agent web site is encouraged to join. This can be a place where we discuss tips and techniques for getting the most out of our Point 2 site. Have a question about your P2 site? ASK IT!

The group is not limited to current Point 2 site owners. Thinking about getting a Point 2 Agent site? Join the group. Just wondering what the heck the buzz is about? Sign up and find out!

There are a lot of Point 2 members in Rainville. Let's use the power we have here to help each other!

I'll start by mentioning my latest Point 2 Blog - The Point 2 Agent Help Blog. It's a blog on the P2 blog platform where I post helpful tips (or at least I think they are helpful) on getting the most from your Point 2 site. Check it out, drop a comment/question.

Interested in getting a FREE Point 2 Agent web site?

COME ON IN!

The Power of the Long Tail and Local Content Blogging

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 10:52:34 -0600

Yesterday I witnessed an Arizona Rain Storm. (Ironically, it was actually raining that morning, an event in and of itself that is newsworthy around here.) It was a meeting that Brain Brady pulled together that included most of the top ActiveRain point holders in Arizona, and some Bloodhounds. It was a great time. See Brain and Suzanne's posts for details.

One topic that came up a couple of times was "The Long Tail". It's been discussed here before, and the author of the definitive book on the long tail has an interesting blog. So I won't go into details about what the long tail is. Basically it's about the volume of sales, web hits, search engine results etc. for "less popular" things. Say Amazon sells 100,000 copies of the latest New York Times best seller. That's great, brings Amazon a lot of money. But while they are selling 100K copies of the best seller, they are selling one MILLION copies of a bunch of other, less popular books. What generates Amazon more revenue, 100,000 best sellers, or 1,000,000 other titles? That's the long tail.

OK, goody for Amazon. But what does the long tail mean for a real estate blogger?

The "long tail" is huge. As I mentioned in the AZ RainStorm meeting, it's extremely difficult to get good Google placement for a term such as "Phoenix Real Estate". But pick a "less popular" term like "Subdivision Real Estate" (substituting "subdivision" for, well, a subdivision name) and you will find two things:

1) FAR greater ease at getting ranked well for that term
2) FAR more serious prospects -- serious as in ready to buy or sell

When people hit our site for a term like "Phoenix real estate" they tend to be "tire kickers", out-of-staters, or people looking for general info on the Phoenix market. Not that there is anything wrong with that. We welcome them.

But when people hit our site for "Val Vista Lakes real estate" they tend to be one of two types of people -- someone living in Val Vista Lakes looking for a Realtor to list their home; or someone who is saying, "I want to buy a house in Val Vista Lakes. I need a Realtor." We love visitors like this.

Our main web site has a page that ranks #1 - #3 (depending on the day) on Google for "Val Vista Lakes real estate" or "Val Vista Lakes Realtor". (See here)

But the real power of the long tail (and local content blogging) is evident with this fact. Three days ago, I posted a blog entry on The Phoenix Real Estate Guy about Val Vista Lakes. That post, that THREE DAY OLD post now ranks #6 - 7 on Google for Val Vista Lakes real estate/Val Vista Lakes Realtor.

So we now have TWO web pages on the first page of Google for two very powerful search terms that someone ACTIVELY looking to buy or sell in a 1,000 home subdivision would use. We own 20% of page 1 on Google.

Will more people type "Phoenix real estate" into Google than will type "Val Vista Lakes real estate"? Sure, no question. Will someone seriously looking to buy or sell a home in Val Vista Lakes type "Val Vista Lakes Realtor" in Google. Absolutely. We've added two people on Val Vista Lakes only auto-listings this week alone. Was it because of the blog post or web page? I don't know. Nor to be honest, do I really care.

The long tail works folks. Learn it. Use it. Take it to the bank.

Why Do We Charge the Seller Anything?

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 16:54:33 -0600

I saw this comment on a post about an Internet "Listing Site":

"If "listings" are so quickly distibuted to the "mega" sites in order to gain maximum seller exposure, why do we charge the seller anything, when they can do it theselves?"

I responded, and then thougt it might provoke some good discussions. Hence the comment becomes a blog post... (What is the word for that?)

My response was:
======
Hopefully a good real estate agent does FAR more than put a home in the MLS, or any other site.

Can the seller complete a legally binding contract for themselves?
Can the seller distinguish one offer from another? (the highest price offer isn't always the strongest)
Does the seller understand how to get their home ready for showings?
Does the seller comprehend all the figures on the HUD-1?
Can the seller effectively negotiate with the buyer to maximize their position?
Does the seller understand the required disclosures?
When the deal is spiraling out of control due to inspections, lenders, buyers remorse and a plethora of other things that can go wrong, can the seller right the ship and get the deal closed?

I could go on and on, and on.

Agents do (or should do) MUCH more than input a listing. In fact, that's pretty much the most insignificant thing we do (or should do).
=======

I'm not trying to pick on the commenter. They asked a question I hear *all the time*. But to be perfectly honest, I don't understand it. Is our job simply to put a listing in the MLS and hope another agent stumbles across it and sells it? As I said in my response, inputting the listing into the MLS (or any web site) is the easy part of this job. If that's all it entailed, then the commenter is right, the seller could just do it themselves.

I have no doubt the commenter understands completely what agents do. Their point was, I believe, intended to say that "Opening" the MLS, and/or making listing information widely available to the public diminishes the usefulness of agents. (And maybe even the need for agents at all). There's a $100 word for this -- disintermediation.

Personally, I couldn't disagree more. This is the information age, like it or not. The Internet isn't going away.

Here's an analogy we've probably all heard some variation of before, and it's a true story for me that happened last week... I hurt my knee playing racquetball. I go to Google, and begin to search about my symptoms. LOTS of info out there on knee problems. About an hour later, I'm pretty certain I've torn my meniscus (the part of the knee joint that acts as a cushion and pivot point). My medical detective work tells me I'll probably need surgery. So I go to the doctor, he takes the history, pokes, prods and manipulates my knee. You know what he says? "You've probably torn the meniscus and will need surgery."

I knew that. Guess I didn't need the doctor. Do I need the surgeon? Nah, I can read about, and view videos of the surgery, on the internet too.

The free and open delivery of information, including homes available for sale, doesn't diminish the need for real estate agents, just like it doesn't diminish the need for doctors and surgeons. If anything, it INCREASES the need. There is so much more to buying and selling real estate than finding the home. That's the easy part. It's what comes next that is the hard part, and that is how we earn our living.

Thoughts?

Point 2 Launches the "NLS"

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 15:37:45 -0600

Point 2 Technologies (providers of Point 2 Agent web sites) announced today the launch of the Point 2 NLS (National Listing Service).

It's no secret I'm a big Point 2 Agent fan. This company is often on the bleeding edge of technology. Their web sites, blogging platform, prospecting/CRM tools and "Handshake Listings" are second to none, in my humble opinion.

The "NLS" is a service that allows real estate agents to display their properties across the Point 2 network (now over 104,000 strong). Yep, here you have it folks, another tool in the Internet advertising arsenal. Now you don't need a Point 2 web site to utilize Point2's most excellent listing display venues.

For the full story,including links to press and news service releases, please click here.

Step Aside Nevada! Arizona is the Fastest Growing State

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:54:58 -0600

For the first time in 19 years, Nevada is NOT the fastest growing state in the country. That distinction now belongs to Arizona.

The Census Bureau released numbers today showing Arizona had the fastest population increase rate during the one year period ending July 1, growing at a rate of 3.6 percent. Arizona was closely followed by Nevada, Idaho, Georgia and Texas.

According to the Census Bureau, 213,000 people moved into Arizona. It seems like roughly 212,997 of them were from California. The vast majority appear to have moved into my immediate neighborhood.

What motivates people to move to Arizona? Some probably think it's affordable housing, jobs, nice weather, stuff like that. But personally, I think they do it solely to work with a particular amazing real estate agent. And really, what more reason is needed?

Links to the news abound. Here are just a few:

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7005938328
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/22/national/main2292283.shtml
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1222census1222.html

In honor of Arizona's new distinction, Rich Jacobson has been named the #2 agent in Arizona. Happy Birthday Rich!

New Sheriff in Town!

Jay & Francy Thompson (Thompson's Realty) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 10:15:29 -0600

There's a new NUMBER 1 in the state of Arizona, and his name is Tony Marriott!

Combining an uncanny ability to invite people to the network (155!) and some great blog posts, Tony has taken over the top spot in Arizona -- a spot I've held since day 1.

Remarkably, Tony's lovely bride Suzanne just crossed the 50K point mark and is number 3 in the state.

And ironically, this very blog entry should put me back at #1 by a whopping 45 points. Somehow I don't think that's going to be enough to keep Tony at #2 for long...

CONGRATS TONY, WELL DONE!!