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chicago real estate: Conscious Incompetence...Or Just Plain Stupid! - 01/13/10 03:02 PM
One of the goals of any professional should be to achieve a state of unconscious competence, meaning that they no longer need to think about their actions to achieve the desired results. Much as a professional quarterback can simply find the open receiver without thinking about it, or the professional basketball player can sink the jump shot with no thought.
That same level of competence can be reached in any profession. The carpenter knows where to put the nail without thought, the keyboard player knows where the keys on the piano are without thought, and the great cop knows who … (5 comments)
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chicago real estate: The Big Rocks - 12/18/09 09:06 AM
While watching my favorite Christmas Show, "The Grinch", I was reflecting on 2009. The year that was, or soon to be was, was indeed one in which we all came face to face with economic terms that we all thought were a thing of the past.
Continued deflation in the housing market, double digit unemployment, a credit crunch, and bank failures all quickly come to mind.
After the hustle and bustle of the Holiday's pass and the New Year's resolution are made we will be faced with all the opportunity that every New Year promises. Like the Grinch who's heart grew … (0 comments)
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chicago real estate: One Bourbon, One Scotch, & One Beer.....And A First Time Home Buyer - 07/22/09 03:50 AM
Just as I was thinking, I haven't written a Blog in a while, my trusty Blackberry gives me the familiar chirp of a text message. Much too my surprise it is a message from a friend...."Can I buy you a drink or several tomorrow night or the next". Heck we are in the midst of a recession and I have a friend offering to buy me a drink or, as he put it several, George Thorogood quickly comes to mind. I quick reply yep what's up?
Then to my horror I get "I am buying a house". My first thought is … (4 comments)
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chicago real estate: Yo Cupcake!........Are you a Stalker or Just Kinda Creepy! - 06/25/09 07:35 AM
The other day a buddy of mine sent me one of the best blog posts in the history real estate blogging http://www.1000wattconsulting.com/blog/2008/01/i-am-not-a-lead.html (Thanks Marc for helping me find the post). In my opinion it sums up the Realtor/Client relationship in the web 2.0 environment we are now living in now, and quite frankly leaving quickly.
It wasn't long ago that we thought our fancy auto responders and drip campaigns where the silver bullet of customer acquisition (Guilty as charged your Honor). Auto responders, drip campaigns, pictures of our dogs, and an alphabet soup of letters that would make a scrabble champion cry, … (36 comments)
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chicago real estate: Hey Realtor....Your Website May Be A Waste of Time - 06/18/09 06:47 AM
I have recently been doing a lot of thinking about web sites.
As a Realtor and more importantly a real estate practitioner, I am starting to wonder the strategy of putting so much time, effort, and money into my web site. The facts say that I/We need to have a web presence. But why? What is the purpose of a web site? My thinking used to be to provide the consumer with information, provide the consumer with the ability to search for property, provide me with a way to capture that consumer.
The reality of the situation is there are a … (97 comments)
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chicago real estate: Splits vs. Leads - 05/22/09 02:11 PM
This morning I was discussing the concept of what do real estate agents really need or want from their respective companies, is it tools and systems to generate and capture leads or is it all about the commission split.
Most companies promise some sort of lead generation. The national brands talk about the consumers predisposition to go with well know brands. The smaller more boutique offices talk about their brand presence in a certain market segment. Both of these arguments suggest the agent is willing to give up a portion of the commission for these lead generation tools. On the other … (4 comments)
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chicago real estate: Disruptive Innovation - 05/14/09 05:20 PM
I recently came across the term "Disruptive Innovation". The term was coined by Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen, and describes a process in which a new concept, idea, product, or service takes root at the low end of a market or industry and then relentlessly moves up the preverbal food chain and displaces the market or industry establishment.
Thinking about our industry, its past, and its future, I began to realize we are now in the midst of what could be the greatest time of "Disruptive Innovation". Looking to the past, I think the dawn of Realty Executives and Re/Max was a … (2 comments)
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chicago real estate: To Sign or Not to Sign? A Chicago Story - 05/01/09 12:51 PM
To sign or not to sign? That seems to be the latest controversy within the Chicago Real Estate Community. Apparently the City of Chicago has had on its books an ordinance that prohibits advertising signs on public property. Public property certainly includes sidewalks and the like. As Spring approaches the City has indicated that they are going to place added emphasis on the enforcement of the ordinance.
This seems to have a number of my colleagues in a tizzy.
Although I can image that open house signs bring in some traffic I find it very hard to believe the numbers are … (1 comments)
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chicago real estate: Your Tax Dollars & NAR Dues @ Work......Or Not - 04/23/09 01:15 AM
Just what I needed before bed....I get a tweet saying here is a list and map of TARP recipients, http://ow.ly/1YfN . Being the skeptic that I often am I do a Google search for "Firms that received TARP funds" low and behold here is the list http://www.bailout.propublica.org/main/list/index.
The numbers are staggering.
Not being an economist, I start looking for who do we have to blame. A quick Google search of "who is to blame for the economic mess" yields the following results:
http://www.moneyunder30.com/who%E2%80%99s-to-blame-for-this-economic-mess
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350,00.html
As I read the Time Magazine article I notice David Lereah the former economist for the National … (2 comments)
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chicago real estate: Sally Whacker Creates Wood 4 U - 04/20/09 07:38 PM
Spending the last 10 years in a non residential sales capacity I have forgotten the subtle joys of prospecting on what I like to call a retail level. Prospecting, cold calling, and knocking on doors at any level is not for the faint of heart. Being a true believer in the power of the internet I was very excited to get www.jeffcastner.com up and running. I have been studying the latest in SEO, Keywords, and pay per click. Confident that I am going to do what the others haven't, I applied all my recently acquired knowledge to the site.
On Thursday … (3 comments)
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chicago real estate: Dual Agency - 04/15/09 02:28 PM
The concept of agency is one that has always been of interest.
I remember looking at my first condo back in Columbus, OH and with in 2 minutes the listing agent handed me a document, asked me to sign it, and informed me that she would be representing me in the transaction. Without taking a breath she then handed me another document saying this form gives my acknowledgement that she was representing both the seller and me (the buyer). Excited about the prospect of owning my first house I went ahead and agreed to the dual agency.
As my tenure in … (3 comments)
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chicago real estate: FrontDoor.com Top Things to Expect in 2009 - 12/10/08 11:47 PM
According to Frontdoor.com we can expect the following in 2009
1)Continued Market Adjustments
2)Action from the OBama Administration
3)More Homeowner Assistance
4)A Calming of the Bank Chaos
5)More Review of Mortgage Underwriting
6)Low Prices & Low Rates
7)Cool Tech Devices
8)Wiser Consumers
9)Leaner Greener Home Buying
10)An increase in consumer Confidence
As I ponder these 10 predictions, which I whole heartily agree with, I can't help but wonder what the industry will look like in 3 - 5 years. The continued market adjustments will undoubtedly effective both the number of real estate sales people and brokerages. Those that survive will surely … (0 comments)
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Jeff Castner
Chicago,
IL
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Address: IL
Cell Phone: (740) 317-4000
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