In the process of MeMe's, Cheryl Waller inserted a superhero personality test that revealed my true identity to be:

Spider-Man

Spider-Man 80% Superman 75% Green Lantern 70% Supergirl 67% Wonder Woman 62% Robin 62% Batman 45% Iron Man 45% Hulk 35% The Flash 35% Catwoman 30%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Take the quiz and enjoy!

So I'm on my way to shoot a couple of tours today that I've already scheduled, when it starts to drizzle...  So, what's a little drizzle you think?  Well, when you're shooting the professional photos and virtual tours for a residential real estate listing, it means a lot.  Your interior pictures aren't greatly affected, in fact, the natural lighting is actually better- no more glaring sun and blind spots and sometimes things look better au natural.  That's just not always the case for the exterior shots.  So what's the big deal?  You can always just go back and shoot the outside again......  or do you just take what you can get and call it good?  Do you charge the client to come back on a sunny day?  Or do you just reschedule all together?  Seriously, I'd love to hear your opinions on this. 

Today, I decided to run with it and since the house is right on my way to my parents' house, I can always swing by and reshoot if needed.  No big deal.  Well.......  like I said, I went ahead and headed out.  The first house went fine, the home showed great, all the lights were on, it smelled good, it was clean, the world was happy.  Since it was still sprinkling outside, the exterior was minimized but still not too bad in the meantime.  As I traveled on to the second shoot, the rain really started to come on down.  A true downpour.  So, I took a detour and decided to wait a bit.  I still made it as scheduled and the rain subsided, but never really cleared up....  The exterior pictures, needless to say, the look wet.  Again, no big deal, I'll just reshoot them when the sun comes out in the next day or so... 

The trouble with this shoot is that when I got inside, it just wasn't 100%.  So, I took a look around, turned on the lights, moved the clutter out of the main shots, scooted the laundry on the floor in the teenagers rooms into the closets and since this is a good friend/Realtor that I was taking the pictures for, I even made one of the beds.  (Not a standard business practice of mine, but worth the trouble- or so I thought.)  Once I had the house ready, I started my shoot.  And that's just what I get for doing things out of my standard routine....  I took tons of pictures, every which angle I could get, trying to avoid the big pile of clutter in the kitchen, to avoid the grill cover wadded up on the patio table outside the great room and eat-in kitchen, to keep the fat cat out of the pictures as well as my shoes by the door.  I got home, loaded the pictures on the computer tonight and stitched all my photos and prepared to start on the tour only to realize half way through the latter process that I didn't have ANY pictures of the kids' bedrooms!  How funny is that?!  The rooms I spent half my time preparing, I totally forgot to shoot! 

It was just another one of those days........  so tell me, if you're mother asked you, what would you tell her?  What would you do?  (Sorry, if you have kids, you may recognize the Cat In The Hat connotations, if not, read the book.)

I was just browsing through some Newbie posts and stumbled upon Tony's post Virtual Tours - Music or NO Music? I was just amazed at all the controversy in the comments regarding the music added on virtual tours!  I've been creating and providing virtual tours for the past two and a half years and have always just added it as I thought that it was an added "bonus" that everyone just wanted.  I personally have always just cringed when hearing the music myself- I just attributed that to the fact that I create so many tours and after a while all the sound clips just start to sound the same- like some cheap adult movie background music, but still the same.  So, I just mute it- no big deal.  But to hear the comments and the mixed opinions, I wonder....  do people just close their browser as soon as the music starts?  Does the music really slow down loading the tours and opening the spins?  Would a voice narration be a better alternative or is that still a turn off?  And with the voice narration, do you still add the music too?  And if the audio is causing so many mixed emotions, just out of curiousity, what else do you want to see/add or NOT?  Ie:  still photo slideshows vs. true panoramic pictures vs. full 360 spins, floor plans, brochures, maps, area info, schools, panoriders, etc...

As the market keeps changing, we are constantly challenged with buyers obtaining financing.  After attending an office "lunch and learn" yesterday, our Plaza Mortgage representative, John Jeffries, updated us on the world of FHA financing and the changes incurred.  Here are some of the highlights:

FHA Financing

FHA is a government insured loan not the government lending money.  It is also one of the oldest loan programs with FHA 203(b) being the most popular.

Facts:

1. FHA offers fixed & adjustable rates
2. Gift funds can be used for down payments and closing costs
3. Down Payment Assistance Programs can be used to get into a home without any money out of pocket
4. There can be a non-occupant co-borrower
5. Must be owner occupied
6. Loans are assumable

FHA & The Contract:

1. Only $75 is non-allowable by the buyer (must be paid by the seller)
2. BE CAREFUL with allowances and personal property
3. Show the Down Payment Assistance on the correct line
4. All agents must sign the Financing Addendum

FHA Repair Requirements have been reduced significantly as of January 2006.

Property Flipping:

1. Must be owned 91 days before a new contract can be written
2. Must be owned 180 & 181 days if the value increases 100%+ and 2 appraisals are required
3. Exceptions granted for HUD, VA, FNMA, FHLMC, federal agencies, state or local government agencies, state or federally chartered agencies, relo agency transactions, inherited properties and builders
4. Owner of record must be verified

Debt to Income Ratio Guidelines:  Housing Ratio: 31%     Total: 43%

NO MINIMUM CREDIT SCORE

• FHA will accept loans after 2 years of Chapter 7 Bankrupcy
• FHA will accept loans after 3 years of Foreclosure
• Allows non-traditional credit references and can accept a borrower with no credit
• Loans can be approved with a letter of explaination and/or documentation

New Limits:  (No Maximum Sales Price)

1 Unit: $271,050

2 Units: $347,000

3 Units: $419,400

4 Units: $521,250

Down Payment:

• Requires 3% in the transaction between down payment and closing costs (pre-paids do not count)
• Seller consessions can be up to 6%

Example: 

• List Price of home: $105,000
• Contract Price: $110,000
• Down Payment Assistance (3%):  $3300
• Down Payment Assistance Fee: $300
• Seller Paid Non-Allowables: $75
• Seller Paid Closing Costs: $1325 (Just for fun)

This is all good- as long as the home will appraise for the new contract price!  Use caution- if it doesn't appraise for the higher price to cover all the seller paid costs, you've got a whole new set of issues to deal with.......

There really isn't room for the mediocre real estate agent any more.  With more and more people getting into real estate every year, you would think that would raise the bar just a little bit on the competition.  And it has.  Unfortunately for some, it's just easier to be lazy..... ie: mediocre at best. 

What in the world am I talking about and where did all this come from?  I was talking with a few agents in the office today, discussing where our business is coming from and what's going on, what we're doing to build our business, etc...  One agent mentioned that she was currently helping a buyer as her FOURTH buyers agent.  All the lady's doing is trying to buy a house!  How hard is it to be a buyers agent?!  You LISTEN to the buyer, you find them some houses, you show them the houses, you represent THEIR best interest, and YOU COMMUNICATE WITH THEM!  I still cannot believe that it has taken FOUR Realtors before finding ONE that would actually work well with her.  Ok, well I can understand that sometimes it IS about making that connection and that some people are just harder to work with than others- but seriously, I also know that there are some bad agents out there too....  So, with all that being said, the other agent chimes in that she just met a future seller that she picked up marketing expireds- she will be their FIFTH Realtor!  As she arrived to the home, she first noticed that the last agent's sign and lockbox are still there, so naturally she inquired about this (the home expired in SEPTEMBER- it's now MARCH!?).  Yeah, the seller said she continually calls him to pick it up, but he doesn't even bother to return her calls.  Boy isn't that nice?!  So as the new agent is touring the house, she took her pad of paper for notes and made suggestions along the way.  She talked to the seller about various things to do to help stage the home and make it more presentable, etc....  she also commented that surely the other agents gave them pointers on things to do prior to showings, ie: open the blinds, turn on the lights, make sure the house smells nice, use fresh flowers...  To some of us, this is just plain common sense, but to these sellers, this was ALL BRAND NEW!  NOT ONE of the previous agents told them a thing!  No suggestions to help make the home show better or anything!!  Amazing!  But the number one complaint that both agents had heard was in the LACK OF COMMUNICATION from the agents during the process.  Even if there is nothing going on, it's just plain common courtesy to pick up the phone, turn on the computer and just simply TALK TO YOUR CLIENTS!  It's called customer service and they really just want to know what's going on and that you care- they probably don't even care if you care, but that you're there, and that you exsist in the least.

So with all that being said, we all agreed that heck, we're better than that!  WE'RE A LOT BETTER THAN THAT!  So, what's there to be afraid of?  What's holding us back?  They have a product and THEY DO WANT TO SELL (or buy)!  WE CAN HELP THEM DO THAT!!!  Admitedly, we all have the same basic tools, education (RE) and sources available, the difference is in USING THEM! 

The choice is yours.

As a newbie to the world of marketing with CL, I want to make sure I'm doing it right?!  When I signed up and browsed through all the rules and restrictions, I didn't really notice anything specific to Realtor rules, regulations and/or restrictions.  However, after talking with anther agent in my office, she said that she had signed up for the "Realtor Membership" which allowed her to post a certain number of listings?  Has anyone else heard or know anything about this?  The only thing that I came across was that you could not repost a listing for 48 hours. 

I also read a comment on Max's post, My Craigslist Experience with Listings from Michael regarding customers with active subscriptions..  Michael, if you're out there, could you please expand?!  Apparently, I need step by step instructions to walk me through the process....  lol.

Thanks for all your help!

What's everyone thinking about promoting their business, services and homes for sale on Craigslist? 

Recently I was talking with William a virtual tour provider with Market Media, LLC and somehow the topic of marketing on Craigslist came up.  After some debate and more information, I did a little research in my area as to who was using it for real estate and just how they were doing it.  Since I am a Realtor and a virtual tour provider, I talked to a top producer in my office that I work closely with and create all her tours and asked her how she felt about it and if it would be ok if I used some of her listings to try it out.  She was very excited about it and said that she had tried it before but that it was just too time consuming for her to keep up with.  She also stated that she didn't know how to link her tour to it and wanted to know what I would charge her to do this for all of her listings.  Hmmm....  does that mean there's possibly another avenue of an untapped market?!  Things that make you go hmmmm. 

Anyway, after a little effort and a few mistakes- my first ad I unintentionally posted in "real estate services" versus "real estate for sale;" I finally figured it out, placed my first ad and have been very happy with the results!  Which is another great thing about being powered by Real Tour Vision- Tour Track 2.0.  It has updated tracking technology that can report not only the number of hits your virtual tour is getting but where it's coming from and when!  I just posted my ad yesterday afternoon and in less than 24 hours the tour had already gotten 29 hits, with 28 of them coming from Craigslist. That's almost 50% of the hits that I've had in the past 10 weeks, in one day alone!  If that's not exposure, I don't know what is!  See the results for yourself.