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people and properties: Easy Turbo...I Buy Houses Like I Buy Pizza & Boxer Shorts - 03/21/10 10:52 PM
This past week I had a great opportunity to meet with, and listen to some of the big brains of internet lead generation.
Let's paint a profile of the internet consumer. Joey Cyberspace uses the internet for most of his purchases. Joey decides Monday night is going to be Pizza night at the Cyberspace family home. How does he buy his pizza? He goes to his lap top or smart phone and places his order on-line. Thirty to forty five minutes later the door bell rings and the Cyberspace Family is enjoying a piping hot pizza with topping so fresh it … (0 comments)
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people and properties: The Divorce...The House...The Mess - 03/02/10 02:39 PM
The story book romance, climaxes in a fairy tale wedding. The happy couple purchases their dream to begin their life together. Slowly at first the realities of life begin to tarnish the blissful future Sally & Joey Newlywed envisioned. What once looked like happily ever after has become the war of the Roses.
A slowing economy, a job loss, and a toxic home life have led to the nuclear option…The Divorce. Attorneys on both sides of the table begin the process. Marital assets are total and values assigned. The debate continues. The biggest asset Sally & Joey’s dream house is the … (2 comments)
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people and properties: Dinosaurs, The Oughts, & A Bottle of Champagne - 12/31/09 08:50 AM
Yesterday, I was talking with a friend of mine about where to budget marketing dollars for 2010. The topic of web sites came up, and the purpose of an agent web site was discussed.
Andrea makes what I think is a very good argument that agent web site have become or are quickly becoming dinosaurs. In her blog she states "the lines between the blog and web site have become blurry", I would argue that the lines have merged. My thesis is that any document with a URL is a web site and can accomplish the desired result.
In my opinion … (3 comments)
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people and properties: @ $170,000 per Sq/Ft.....You Better be Pre-Approved! - 08/25/09 04:13 PM
Another buyer backs out of a deal.
The deal seemed like a dream, 20 competitive bids in a 10 day span, a posh address, and a who's who of neighbors. In a story right out of the front pages of today's economic reality the seller needed the money to pay the mortgage, not quite a short sale but maybe a distressed property.
I'm not sure of all the particulars but the winning bidder simply canceled with a simple written statement "I am awfully sorry but I need to cancel this because of the paying problem".
Even the dead are victims of the economy. … (0 comments)
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people and properties: Notes from Summer School....What Jimmy Buffett Taught Me about Marketing - 08/10/09 10:12 AM
Saturday night I went to summer school, not your typical summer school, but summer school as in Jimmy Buffett's 2009 summer concert SummerZcool.
Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would leave that event with a better understanding of marketing. That assumption couldn't be further from the truth. Buffett has an amazing ability to connect with his audience. Most of 30 or 40 thousand parrot heads have as much in common with Jimmy and his Coral Reefers as I do with the man on the moon. However Buffett connected with everybody. How did he do this....He Kept it Local.
… (11 comments)
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people and properties: The Lord Loveth the Cheerful Giver...He Must Hate the Taxpayer! - 08/01/09 09:44 PM
This afternoon as I was talking to a friend the subject of taxes came up. In case you haven't heard Chicago and Cook County, IL have the highest sales tax rates in the country. I like most people don't pay much attention to the sales taxes most of us pay. However after today's conversation I decided to look at the reciept for my purchases this afternoon.
A quick trip to CVS to purchase a 2 Liter of Diet Coke, some Bud Light (it is the weekend), a bag of chips, and a smaller bag of chips for my buddy is resulted in … (3 comments)
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people and properties: 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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people and properties: 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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people and properties: 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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people and properties: 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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people and properties: 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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Jeff Castner
Chicago,
IL
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Address: IL
Cell Phone: (740) 317-4000
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