Blogging About My Listings Without Blogging About My ListingsI'll admit that I blog about my listings - shamelessly racking up points while advertising my listing to other agents and buyers who are about as likely to see my property based on the post as Ed McMahon is to show up on my doorstep with a gigantic check and balloons. However, I want people to know about my listings but not only do listing posts. Those are easy to look past as overt marketing. So, I'm trying this technique - blog about my listings without blogging about my listings. In this example, I showcased a listing while really posting about Google Street View. Surprise! Your Home is On Candid Camera I included a photo, price and street location, plus a link to the listing as well as good information about Google Street View.
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To Pin or Not to Pin - That is the QuestionOne of the questions that has plagued me since I became a Realtor is not, "How can I serve my clients best?" nor is it, "How can I increase my business?" It is, "Should I wear a name badge?" Since I got my name badge, I've rarely worn it.
It's a nice badge but I fear that I might look like a fast food worker. Not that there is anything wrong with working at Captain Hook's Fish and Chips but the profession of real estate agent should be elevated above, "Do you want tartar sauce with your beer battered cod sticks?" 
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And then there's the dilemma of how many pins should I wear? I have a REALTOR pin, my ABR pin, a GRI pin and another one for At Home with Diversity. And I'm sure there are more. I fear my pin wearing might go a little crazy.
Don't get me wrong - I am proud to be a REALTOR but not sure wearing a name badge all the time is for me.
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Adopt a Pet in Connecticut at One of These EventsOur Companions Ambassadors will be at the following events in June and July. Stop by and meet the pets we have up for adoption.
PETCO Newington PETCO Windsor PETCO Farmington Friends of Mansfield Animal Shelter
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It's So Easy, Even CT Realtors Can Do it.
With just a click of your mouse, you can help legislators make the right decision this time during their special session on June 11th. Visit http://www.myhouse-mymoney.com/ and enter your town. Presto! The website will generate an email to your elected officials - all you need to do is add your name and press send. Sibling Rivalry in My Blog Family - Dual (Dueling) Blogs
I have three blogs. Call them my children... My First - A free blog on Wordpress.com called Real Real Estate in CT. I started it just to get my feet wet because I wasn't sure I would be able to commit to blogging. A year and a half later, I have a page rank on 5 on Google which isn't bad since when I started, I didn't even know what page rank was and how badly I needed to have it. Being the first - I made a lot of mistakes and wasn't very good at blogging, or at least the business of blogging.
At this time, my first blog is stagnant. It is only up until the folks at the Real Estate Tomato can help me figure out how to do a redirect to the new site, which Wordpress has made difficult. So for now, the first blog continues to get all the traffic (as far as my non-AR blogs go) while my new blog struggles to find its footing. Typical over-achieving firstborn. Meanwhile, my neglected middle blog gets top billing. When you search my name on Google, my little blog on ActiveRain comes up #1 even though I am not a regular. I guess that's the power of ActiveRain -something that would be hard to replicate on my own. I originally intended the Active Rain blog to be more of an agent-to-agent blog, while writing mostly for the consumer on my other blog. But this doesn't seem to make sense since Active Rain has so much clout. All my blogs link to each other - I have my AR button displayed and I link from AR to my new blog in every post. And I modified my AR blog to have a theme similar to that of my non-AR blog. But I'm not sure my blogs are there for each other - if you know what I mean. How do I get my blogs to get along and act like a family? After all... "A house divided against itself cannot stand" - Abraham Lincoln Do I develop totally unique content for each blog? Do I kind of cheat and use some of my old posts on either site (which I kind of do already but something about feels disengenuous)? I'm working on an answer and I'll let you know. Subscribe to the blog that's Finding Homes for People and Pets: Lebanon - Country Living on 4 Acres - Close to Everything in this Beautiful Updated Ranch for Just $251,800
You Can't Hear This Enough - Safety Tips for Realtors at Work and At HomeFrom Self Defense With An Attitude: If you're a real estate professional, your primary job is meeting with complete strangers - showing homes, holding open houses, and even being out walking to your car late at night...all in the hopes that you secure a new client that you sell a home or property to. You're faced with potentially risky situations almost every day. Because of the very nature of your job.....your safety should be a main priority for you. There are crazy predators who seek out female realtors - not really caring who you are so long as you are a female. Then there are those crazies who seek out realtors who are high visibility agents. These are the million dollar agents who are on the cover of magazines, on the billboards, in the newspapers - their name is highly recognizable. These predators see million dollar agents and assume you must be earning that full amount for yourself. There have been many realtors who have been followed to their homes by such predators and attacked in their own home. Some agents have been stalked and had their homes burglarized. Consider your safety and the safety of your home and family Priority Number 1. While I've considered my safety on the job, while doing showings, I hadn't considered just how highly visible we are within our own homes. We want people to recognize us but this comes at the cost of safety. This is a great article - read it and keep it! For a related article, read Staying Safe in Your Home - Tips on Preventing a Home Invasion. Get Unleashed - By E-mail
Just When Are You "In Contract" - The Executed Purchase & Sales AgreementIn real estate, we often use the term "executed" to refer to a purchase and sales agreement that has been signed and received by both real estate buyers and sellers. What this means is that the buyer has submitted an offer, has included an offer of consideration (a deposit amount), and the seller has accepted the offer without any changes. Once the seller has signed the offer and it's sent back to the buyer, then we say we have an executed contract. We consider an offer to be executed even if the seller has not actually received the deposit check - in practice, many agents fax a copy of the check to the seller's agent and then deliver the real check after buyers and sellers have agreed. Even if that check takes a few days to get to the sellers, the buyers still have what we call an executed contract. Waiting for the check becomes dicey in a seller's market because other, higher, offers may come in while the seller is waiting for their deposit check. Technically... I took a look at my Modern Real Estate textbook and according to it, a contract is not fully "executed" until all parties have fulfilled their promises - so a purchase and sales agreement is only technically executed at the closing. What we call an executed contract is really an executory contract (where parties still have to do something). But, in practice, we call a purchase and sales agreement that has been signed by both sides an executed contract. To read other great posts, visit my other blog, CTRealEstateUnleashed.com Get Unleashed - By E-mail
Unlocking the Mysteries of the Listing SheetWhen is Actve not really actively on the market? This and your other burning questions about the data contained in listing sheets in Connecticut are answered. Here is a sample listing sheet:
StatusACT or Active - the house is for sale and is available to view. It is not yet under deposit but that doesn’t mean that offers have not been presented. SHOW or Under Deposit/Continue to Show - The house is under deposit but the contract has contingencies that haven’t been met yet. DEPOS or Under Deposit - The house is under deposit and is no longer available to be seen by other buyers. HUBRD - The house in question has a hubbard clause on it, meaning that a buyer has a contract on the property but it is subject to the sale of their own home. If the seller receives another offer on the house, the original buyer may either release the hubbard clause and buy the house or the seller may cancel the contract and accept the offer of the second buyer. EXP or Expired - The listing agreement with the brokerage has expired and has not yet been renewed. WITH or Withdrawn - The house has been withdrawn from the market and is probably not available for showing. The seller may let the listing expire or may put the house back on the market. CANCL or Cancelled - The listing agreement was cancelled and the house is no longer “officially” on the market. TEMP or Temporarily off the Market - This one is funny. An agent has taken a listing and for some reason, the agent or seller doesn’t want the house shown for a period of time - a few days, a week, etc. Now, in a heavy sellers market, I used to see homes come on the market TEMP status and then two or three days later, go under deposit. The house “went on the market” but not really - it was probably sold to a client the agent had already lined up or was sold “in house.” Square Feet2000/Town - This means the town has the square footage of the property at 2000 sf. 2000/Agent - The agent took the measurements, possibly because the town is inaccurate or because the seller feels that the square footage in the basement should also be included. 2000/Owner - The seller says its 2000 square feet and there will be no arguments. Agent CommentsCozy - small rooms. EIK - Eat-in-kitchen. As-is - the owner is making no representations about the home so “buyer beware.” Before putting in an offer, be sure to carefully examine the home and get an inspection, although the seller may very likely not make any repairs you ask for. Bank owned - Known as an REO or real estate owned property, bank owned properties have been taken over by a lender for some reason such as foreclosure. Special addenda are required with bank owned properties. Short sale - The seller owes more on the property than they can expect to sell it for. The bank and the buyer both have to agree to any offer you submit which will probably take longer. Clean - if that’s best that can be said, then the house probably needs some other things like updates to kitchen and baths. Must see inside - the outside is a mess, so don’t judge a book by its cover. Priced to sell/motivated sellers - the seller or agent is desperate to move the house but that doesn’t always mean they’ll sell it for a bargain. Just reduced - this doesn’t necessarily mean the house is priced accurately. Nor is it always 100% truthful. I just saw a listing where the price started at $269,900 in the summer, went up to $274,900 and then was reduced again to $269,900 - Just reduced! Dates
Listing Date - This is the date the listing went on the market - with this MLS number. It’s not always the date the house originally went on the market. Your agent should do a check in property history in the MLS as well as do an address search for all occasions the listing may have been on the market under another MLS number. Days on Market - Same thing here. The Days on Market is the number of days the listing has been on the market with a particular MLS number. Tax Information Assessment - This is the value on which the town bases property taxes. It is supposed to be 70% of the town's appraisal. Towns are mandated to do revaluations every 5 years so the assessed value and the appraisal may not be anywhere near the market value. GET UNLEASHED -Subscribe to CT Real Estate Unleashed By Jessica Beganski by Email GET UNLEASHED - Subscribe to CT Real Estate Unleashed By Jessica Beganski by Feed
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Jessica Beganski, REALTOR, ABR, Central CT Newington, CT More about me… RE/MAX PRECISION REALTY Email Me ;) Links;) Tags (Tag Cloud);) Archives
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