In case you're new to the social media scene let me summarize some of the things that King Realty Group is doing to capitalize on the new Web 2.0 and"social media". After making a modest investment in a production quality video camera (Sony GL2) and a few other video/audio gizmos, our office has begun capturing client testimonials on Youtube as well as our website under testimonials at www.kingrealtygroup.net. We've taken getting a testimonial to a new level and it creates another opportun ity for the agent to see and visit with the client as well as the broker to meet the client almost like a closing "de-briefing" to see how the agent performed and what could we do to improve our services. It has been exciting for the client to see themselves on youtube and it makes it easy to create sub-links to Youtube from our website. I hope this is helpful...call or email if you have questions. - Kevin King

Working closely with the local MLS it is being addressed more and more often that websites everywhere are trying to get ALL of our MLS data just so they can turn around and charge us (the Realtors) for referrals. I definately see the benefit for my sellers t o have their home information available to as many possible buyers clients as possible. I also see that there is potential for large franchises to take advantage of the corporate agreements with Yahoo, Trulia, Goole Base, etc, etc...and use their IDX feed to give these comopanies all of the data and brand my listing as their own while simply burying the "Listing Courtesy of..." deep into the detail of the listing info...which I provided...to them...for free.... Is this really what I signed up for and am I losing sight of the big picture? I really hope to get some feedback on this one as I am confused as to where we may end up in the next 5-10 years...

-Kevin King, ABR, CRS

www.kingrealtygroup.net 

Well, I think it's the best one ever. You see the Princess and the SuperHero and the Cook are my little Superheroes and Princess. We've continued to get rave reviews from our clients and regular passersby because of the unique graphics package. I have say that the people we worked with at "On the Move" were Great to work with. In December we announced that the new 15" Box truck was on its way and simply awaiting the graphics to be added and on January 18th it was complete.

A BIG THANKS goes out to our sponsors: ARVEST BANK, "Check It!" Home Inspections, Gary Somerville, Scot Shaw with State Farm Insurance and the whole gang at Terminator Pest Control for helping to make the moving truck possible for our clients.

The truck includes 12 moving/furiture blankets and an appliance dolly as well as a convenience ramp for easy accessibilty to the bed of the truck. Call your favorite real estate company in Fort Smith at 479-242-4000 to get details on using this truck for your next move. 

I've been a full-time Realtor for almost 5 years and and currently have an office with approx. 25 agents. Most of them are mostly full time with some part-time. When I meet with the agents for one-on-one time I sometimes feel like they are waiting for me to tell them where to go pick up the money now that they have a real estate license. The truth is I tell them...it's not one magic thing that makes you successful, it's a series of things done consistently over time.  For example, farm area's, post cards, follow ups, open house, FSBO cold calling, follow ups, prospecting, directmail, working referrals, calling past clients, more follow up, more prospecting, etc.

I guess when you boil it all down you can't think of it like a bullet...unless you're thinking of a shotgun.

I realize targeted marketing could be thought of as a rifle shot but it takes so much more than that.

That's why I will continue teaching "Get a Shotgun".

Upon a strong suggestion from my wife for some free time I quickly obliged to take my 3 children camping at Devil's Den State Park, which is located in the heart of Northwest Arkansas and only 30 minutes from my home. Like the Real Estate Business, camping with 3 kids also has the first impression to an outsider that it should be relatively easy and cheap. Ultimately the trip began at the local grocery store gathering the necessary food and beverage items to keep the little campers happy. That was the first of my suprises because it cost me $190.00 to walk out of that Neighborhood Market! WHAT!>? WERE ONLY STAYING FOR TWO NIGHTS! UUGGGHHH! Like the new agents sometimes find, it can cost more that you expect sometimes just to get started.

The next suprise came as we were checking in for the camp site. I mentioned to the attendant we should probably be located not so close to anyone who may get offended by a strong-willed screaming 4 year old girl or an antagonistic / pestering little 5 year old brother with a sarcastic and creative 10 year old going on sixteen year-old sister who loves to jump on the last nerve of all those around who may have a different expectation of the schedule of events than herself. Mainly my schedule of events that included NAPS for ALL the kids upon reaching the campsite. The Park attendant said we should really enjoy this particular camping area as it is smaller and very convenient to everything... "Everything", I asked? "Yes" she said, "But, I do believe the bathrooms in that area are out of order still, they are being renovated." "Renovated? I think we may have to RELOCATE, you see I have the 4, 5 and 10 year old who don't always appreciate the opportunity to "water" the grass in the woods behind a tree." She quickly placed us in a much nicer locale which was much more expensive, approx. $20 more per night but you know what location does for you. So in camping as it is in real estate the 3 Most Important Things are of course: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

The kids, I determined, can be much like my real estate clients in that they are nevershy about the cost or effort required for ME to do whatever it is that THEY need at any time. It was often challenging keeping the two smaller children out of the camp fire while assisting in assembling SMORES. It proved to be a sticky negotiating situation. 

Ultimately, my five year old, Jackson, only burned my ten year old, Mackenzie, once with a burning stick and my four year old, Caroline, went to bed fairly early both nights which made it much easier on me.

In the end, we had a great time hiking approximately 8 miles and climbing through some of the caves, cooking on the grill and enjoying each others company which can sometimes be hard to come by as a full-time Realtor. The end result was very similar to most of my clients transactions when we say, "They are HAPPY CAMPERS!"

I hope I don't open the proverbial can of worms.....but this is starting to happen more often that many people want to admit. Why? Well, it's actually fairly simple math. For example, a small family is working hard living the "American Dream" in California living in a 1300sf, 2 BR, 1BA 30 year old home that cost the family $250,000-$350,000 when they bought the home 5 years ago and it's now worth approx. $475,000. They sell the home for $450,000 , lets say, and they loaded up the truck and moved from Beverly....Hills that is...swimming pools.....movie stars.....and they find the best kept secret in America. The Mid-South, Arkansas, home of beautiful Lakes and Rivers, hunting, fishing, no traffic, 15 minute drive to anything. R U Kidding me? NO! Here is the best part, the family finds a home in Fort Smith, Arkansas with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, over 2,000 square feet a fenced yard on a half acre lot for $180,000. The family puts the rest of the profits from the sale of the California home in the bank or some other interest bearing investment and pay cash for little Johnny's College Education at the University of Arkansas which is onlt 45 minutes away. That only leaves the family somewhere around $295,000 to pay for college, invest, pay cash for a new car, etc.

NOW, WHY WOULD ANYONE EVER WANT TO MOVE FROM CALIFORNIA TO ARKANSAS.

Fact: Two-Thirds of the investors that my company assisted in purchasing multi-family property last year were from California, Arizona, Colorado

According to the NAR 2006 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the typical first time home buyer was between the ages of 25 and 34, and 49% were married couples.   The median income was $58,300, up 1.9% from the previous year.

Over the most recent survey period, the median price paid by first-time buyers was $165,000, and the typical home size was 1,516 square feet.  It took you 8 weeks of searching and you visited an average of 8 homes before finding the home that you purchased.  84% of you used a real estate agent, and 83% found the internet usedful in their search.

While nearly all buyers use a mortgage to finance their home, the amount of that mortgage relative to the purchase prices varies considerably.  45% of you financed 100% of your loan, while 73% of those who put a down payment down, used their savings.  Today, there  are a number of different types of mortgages available to home buyers.  The most defining characteristic for most of these mortgages is whether or not the interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan, whether it is fixed only for some initial period of the loan or whether it varies from the start. Among recent first time buyers, 67 percent reported that they had obtained a fixed-rate mortgage.

Latest numbers indicate that homes sales in Sebastian County grew from 97 in January of 2006 to 124 in January of 2007. Values for those homes grew 10% from $12.63 million in January last year to $13.93 million this year. The bulk of the change has evidently come form the homes priced below $150,000. Many of the sales have come from outside the city limits of Fort Smith which may explain why the outskirts of town continue to grow rapidly.

While transactions and total values were up, average price per transaction was down approximately 11% from $130,266 to $115,186.

As a side note, Benton County home sales were down 19.69% from January of last year. The average value of those homes though fell from $198,104 to $186,506 which still remains the highest average home value in the state.