PLEASE support AR - they deserve our nominations!

Did you know that there are 259 homes priced at $100,000 or less in the area I work in right now?  That's incredible!

If you visit www.servingkanabeccounty.com today, you can do a search for just what you are looking for!  There are so many options - big homes, small homes, acreage, in town... find that perfect house and have affordable payments!

Plus, now is a great time to buy.  Take advantage of the first time homebuyer $8,000 tax credit.  You can move in and buy new appliances, flooring, or do the updates you really want to make your new house yours!

So log on today and search Mille Lacs, Kanabec, Isanti, and Pine counties for your perfect home.  You can quickly and easily sign up for automatic listing alerts, so you know right away when a new listing comes on the market, and have that competitive edge you need for some of the best priced properties on the market.

If you have any questions about purchasing a home, feel free to call me at 612-850-3153, or e-mail me anytime at Joslyn@JoslynSells.com.

Start your search now on my website, and I hope to hear from you soon!

I have a cute little house in Mora.  It's just under 1,600 square feet, has a 2 car garage, and it's on a corner lot in town.  It needs updated electric, and a little work, but mostly love.

No lie, I have at least one person a day call me and tell me that they want to love this house.  They want to live in it, and they'll take such good care of it.

Can it please be sold on a contract for deed or rent to own?

Every time I say no, I feel like crying.  People are losing houses left and right, and it's not always their fault.  Financing is becoming harder to obtain, and banks are choosier than Jif moms. 

So I'm looking for a knight on a noble steed to come barging into my real estate office and say "I will make everything better!"

Okay, I know it's not possible to purchase enough houses to place everyone in a home, nor is everyone prepared to buy a home, even on a C/D.  But I can dream, right?

I don't envy those desperately looking for somewhere to live.  Hoping and praying that one of the houses on the market - any affordable one, really - is willing to sell on a contract for deed.  Rental prices are climbing, and the competition is fierce.  We have a ton of homes on the market, a ton of people that are homeless, and no way to put them together!

So if you're an investor, or thinking about investing, I encourage you to take a look at the Mora area.  We've got tons of great properties cheap, and I'm more than happy to spend time with you showing you values, sold comparables, and help you determine what needs to be done to make some of these houses into a home for someone and an income for you!

photo courtesy of Evans.M on flickr.com

I find myself, a week ago, sitting in the office.  I've secured an afternoon with grandma and grandpa for the most adorable little dude in the world (you can debate with me, but I will still insist he's the cutest). I've managed to clean off my desk and organize the conference room.  I've got a clipped stack of forms, including agency, representation, and a purchase agreement waiting to be filled out.  I'm sitting in my office chair, advertising my new listing all over the internet, and I regularly glance at the clock.

12:54...

12:56...

12:57...

12:57... still

12:58... two minutes...

1:00.

Okay, so the buyers that signed up on my Growth Leader website, www.servingkanabeccounty.com, aren't here yet.  They're just running a little late.

1:05.

1:10.

1:15.

Okay, I think this is the point where all of you real estate professionals will agree with me, 15 minutes is the point where you begin to get a little frustrated.  I began working on other things.

Pretty soon it was 2:00, and I can no longer attempt to convince myself that they are on their way and just running a little late.

This is the second time I've set up showings for buyers from Growth Leader, and it's the second time I've been blown off.  So what gives?

Are they just browsing, and not really serious?

Is it financing related?  Do I or Growth Leader need to better screen leads?  If we were to do that, how would we implement it without chasing buyers off?

I do know that I'm glad this is a free trial, because honestly, if I were paying for these leads, I wouldn't be very happy at this point. 

Tuesday brings a new couple of buyers for me.  We're meeting at my office at 1:00, and I will be explaining anything and everything about real estate to them.  They are first time homebuyers, and are very excited and nervous and scared.  I really hope it works out, because first time homebuyers are my absolute FAVORITE buyers.  They are so much fun, and it's a great opportunity to show them the value of Realtors.  By shaping this first experience, they will develop opinions and place value, and that is something every Realtor should be focusing on right now, for the future of real estate.

Look what I can do!

I can post a great Craigslist ad, leading right to my Market Leader site:

Amazing opportunity! 17 acre hobby farm located close to I-35 for easy commuting. Bring your horses and live the country life! Riding arena within riding distance. Fantastic, peaceful area. You'll love your new life here!

Full Details
http://servingkanabeccounty.com/listing/mlsid/152/propertyid/3624208/

 

I can post buttons everywhere!

I'm told I can import and export all my contacts, but I haven't tried that yet. 

There is also a super awesome widget where you select the bedrooms/bathrooms/price range and click go, and it opens you up to search results directly on my website.  Unfortunately, this will not work on ActiveRain, Blogger, or my free websites.  Especially since I'm doing a free trial and blogging on ActiveRain about this program, this feature should be fixed.  I was so excited about it, and then to find out it doesn't work on ActiveRain?  It nearly makes it pointless to me.  I'm trying to find something - ANYTHING - I can add it to.

We discussed marketing our website anywhere and everywhere possible.  I'm afraid to put it "everywhere" yet, because I'm not 100% sold.  (I have to admit, I was more sold on it before I found out that they had a widget that doesn't work on AR.) 

So what has my Growth Leader site done for me lately?

Well, we're up to 25 prospects.  I'm not entirely sure where they have come from, though.  The "referrer" statistics section only gives me 4 referrals, from Google and Craigslist.  So where on Earth did the other 21 come from? 

So, I'll keep plugging away, testing this out for all of you to see, and there is more training to come!

I was totally pumped to get home today and whiz through bottle washing, a listing appointment, an episode of Law and Order SVU and some serious Sociology homework because I got the e-mail today saying "Welcome to Growth Leader"!

For those of you who haven't heard, Growth Leader by Market Leader is a new product, currently being tested on agents throughout the country.  I am one of those agents.  (In my own famous words, "because I'm cool like that.")

So as I'm exploring after midnight on a Tuesday night (which is going to require the use of a morning Amp Energy Drink, because I'm due to supervise a propane tank set up on one of my pending listings in approximately 7.5 hours...), I wanted to share with you what I see as I begin to play with my new Growth Leader website.

First of all, I had to head to my new website.  I was kind of disappointed by the fact that my welcome e-mail did not include a direct link.  I scrolled down my page, but stopped to admire the featured listing (which is one of mine, of course!) and the IDX setup.  I'm anxious to try that out.  I will admit, I currently do not have IDX on my website.  I am SO picky about the search functions and layout, and cannot find what I want.  I know what I loved when I was looking at houses, and I haven't found anything that quite fits yet.  I'm hoping I'm not let down!

I login, and immediately am greeted by a Vision Administration screen.  For those of you who haven't heard, Vision is the contact management software built in to my Growth Leader website.  It is quite elaborate, and I'm dying to get a lead that I can do something with! 

From there I went to Admin Tools, and began to play with my profile settings.  The first thing I did was add areas of service.  At sign up, I was posted in Mora, but I continued to add other towns.  It is recommended that you add no more than 10.  As of right now, I added a fair amount more than that.  I will see how things work, and possibly narrow it down.  Right now my fear is that being in the rural area that I am, limiting myself that much may turn out to harm me rather than help me. 

There's an awesome chart for tracking prospects.  I can't wait to see how that fills in once I get a lead or two!

My favorite part, though, is the Craigslist posting.  However, mine didn't work.  When I click the "open" button to post, I get a blank page.  I'm hoping this is a bug that is fixed, soon.  I'm anxious to see what the CL ads look like.  They are automatically optimized for searches, which is amazing.  Those little things that make my life just a bit easier are a huge help, and greatly appreciated.  I love the counter for each property, which you reset by clicking the "posted" button.  It then starts at zero and tracks how long your posting has been up for you until you click the button again.  What a great way to help keep me organized.  I'm constantly digging around in my CL account, looking at when I posted and if I should repost or not yet.

There are more awesome features that I'm excited to explore, like the marketing report for a home seller and even the Instant Messaging feature, which uses the top messenger programs.  I will keep you posted on what happens, and the things I learn! 

Where on Earth did 2008 go?  All of a sudden it was December 23rd, and I realized Christmas was in two days and I didn't have a single decoration up.  I even managed to celebrate Christmas without a tree.  Trust me, it was missing something.

Then I blinked, my kid was crawling and insisting on feeding himself the baby food, and New Year's is over.

2009 is here, and I haven't done my business plan.

2008 my business plan wasn't too intense.  I anticipated changes in brokerage.  I anticipated shifting from nearly exclusively buyers to listing REO properties.  The biggest change?  I antipated doing everything with a baby attached to my hip from July on.

Boy, was I ever right.

Now tonight I'm posting a FANTASTIC REO listing, baby is in bed, and I've decided I need to write up my business plan.  What to include?

• Get one "hogger" this year.
• More FSBO marketing.
• Completing a few short sales to help people in foreclosure.
• Clean my home desk, and mess up my office desk a little more.
• IDX on my website... PRONTO!
• More focus on marketing ME!

So here's to 2009.  If you don't have your business plan done yet, you should.  And if you do, congratulations.  I'm guessing you don't have a five month old at your house!  ;-)

Little Dude, talking on his Motorola Bluetooth Headset at Northern Lights Realty.  Little Dude and I are more than happy to help you buy and sell real estate in the Mora, Minnesota area!