Do you Twitter? - 03/31/08 11:13 AM
Are you a Twittering consumer?
I'd love to hear from you.
I have recently re-introduced myself to Twitter. I had jumped on last year, but quickly grew bored. I wasn't really familiar and didn't have much of a handle on it. But, through the support of other agents and real estate professionals on Active Rain, I have stepped back into the fray.
At this time, my Twitter ID is LaneBailey... or @LaneBailey... you should be able to find me either way. I might also make an alter ID that would just be for news and other real estate news. … (11 comments)
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Twitter update... - 03/31/08 11:01 AM
Ok, I need to update on how Twitter is going.
I have it open on another tab at the moment. And the experience this time is VERY different from the last time. Last time I had no followers, and I was following no one. There are a few reasons for that. To start with, I wasn't as connected with the high tech agent community. Another reason was that I just did it, and didn't offer up much of a chance for people to find me. And I wasn't effectively looking for others. So... it was SERIOUSLY boring.
As I write this, … (11 comments)
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Ego? Marketing? or Just 'cuz everyone else does it? - 03/30/08 12:13 PM
I've been wondering about this for a while... and I've done it, too... but that is changing (and before I saw this).
Why do real estate agents insist on having their picture on everything? And I'm not even going to hit the 35 year old pictures or those that are seriously retouched... But every time a client sees anything we produce, there it is, smiling back at them in all of it's #1 glory (which is another post for another day).
Postcards? Websites? Business cards? Ads? Everything... We put our picture on them.
I had the same training. I was told … (130 comments)
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I'll Twitter already... Uncle, uncle - 03/29/08 10:42 AM
I keep hearing I need to do this.
REtechSouth... Loads of speakers said that I HAD to be on Twitter. Missy Caulk... posted up again yesterday about all of the people she is connected with on Twitter. Jessica Horton... just sent me an invitation... even though I was already there, but I was using a cryptic email. Jim Richards... who has nothing to do with A/R or real estate started following me. He is a friend that relocated to TX. Brian Brady... using Twitter quite effectively. Seth Godin... he's doing it too. So, since all of the luminaries are saying that … (12 comments)
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Rudolf's Peanut Oil Miracle - 03/29/08 12:01 AM
I was reading a couple of posts earlier this evening, here and elsewhere, and there was a common thread of efficiency and environmental friendliness... ok, one of them was tongue in cheek about how long it would take to pay back the purchase of a hybrid.
Well, I would like to toss in my nickel. And offer up an option that seems to be completely lost on many people... diesel.
Of course, looking at the price, the first thought is that that would not be such a great idea. As I write, I see $3.89 for a gallon of diesel, and … (4 comments)
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A tale of two photographers - 03/26/08 10:20 PM
Back when I first moved to Atlanta, I was a photo assistant. My job was to assist commercial photographers in putting together photo shoots. I did everything from sweeping the floor and taking out the trash to lighting design and film tracking. With some photographers, I actually pulled the trigger and shot the job... with their "oversight."
I loved my job. I didn't make a lot of money, but I had some great experiences, met a lot of fun people, and really enjoyed work most days. And, I worked with a number of different photographers.
There are two that I … (6 comments)
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Seller Seminar Survey - 03/26/08 12:26 PM
I posted a couple of days ago here, and yesterday on LaneBailey.com about an idea I had for a Seller Seminar.
As things like this have a tendency to do, it has changed even in the last 24 hours. People that have sold homes previously, but not that recently, or in one case fairly recently, but not smoothly... wanted to be included. So, done.
I posted a survey on my other blog about the issues that face sellers, and what they would like information about. If you might be interested in the seminar, I'd love for you to visit the survey … (2 comments)
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First time sellers? - 03/23/08 11:02 PM
We see so many seminars for first time buyers. Everyone and their assistant it seems has a seminar for first time buyers. They bring in a mortgage pro, perhaps an inspector, and talk about the issues that people face the first time they buy a house.
I think it is a great idea.
There are a lot of potential pitfalls, and it is a event. Aside from the fact that the buyer is going to live in this property for years to come (we all hope), there are financial and tax implications as well.
First time home buyer seminars … (21 comments)
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Blog Anthology, Posts dated 3/16-3/22 - 03/22/08 10:55 PM
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Welcome to this week's Blog Anthology... plenty of ground to cover, so let's get started.
The traditional start of my blogging week is the videos on Sunday. This week was no different, with POV Sunday. POV is Point Of View and I dug up a couple of beauties. High speed in Paris and on the Isle of Man.
I have a lot of ideas... some of them are good. A few more make their way to my blog (that means that more than just the good ones make it to my blog). So, … (2 comments)
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More ways to publicize your blog... - 03/22/08 09:58 PM
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I've been using FeedBurner for a few weeks, and one of the handy dandy tools they have are these groovy headline animators.
So, I added them to my email signature... and I have something similar on both blogs, here and LaneBailey.com as well as my website, GarageHomesUSA.com.
In addition to RSS feeds and widgets (like the one on the right sidebar), these are a great way to let people know what you are writing about. I even dropped them into a couple of forums to which I post (Jeep, … (26 comments)
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I had a marketing thought... - 03/22/08 08:34 PM
Scary, I know.
Ok, a couple of caveats.
Atlanta area agents, don't steal this from me yet... I'm kicking it around in my head. I haven't talked to anyone about this yet, so if it is stupid... give me the opportunity to find someone to blame. I don't know if it would fly with the needed parties yet. I don't know if anyone would show up. Here goes...
I'm thinking about trying to put together a series of lunch or dinner "chats" dealing with real estate, investing, and related financial issues. I would host, and bring in experts on the … (5 comments)
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Gwinnett County numbers for 4+ car garage homes interesting - 03/19/08 09:55 PM
I needed to run some numbers today from just 4+ car garage homes. The numbers were pretty interesting.
So, if you are paying attention, you might notice a lot of mixed signals. But, what I am seeing is that while the Single Family Residential numbers overall are currently pointing to about 104 Days on Market, everything under $500k is WAY under 104 Days on Market. This shows me that some sellers are hitting prices that are getting buyers off the fence. I am also seeing that the inventory is shrinking for everything over $500k compared to sales. So, there is still … (5 comments)
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Blog like nobody is watching you - 03/19/08 11:23 AM
Seriously.
Rich Jacobson, the A/R Community Builder, had a post this morning reminding people that as they post here... they are under the ever watchful eye of consumers. And there is no doubt that he is absolutely right. After making my comment, I went back to review comments. There was a comment that I saw that popped off a light bulb in my head. Someone said that they post and comment while keeping in mind that the public is watching.
On the face, that seems like very good advice. In fact, I would say that it would behoove most people to … (22 comments)
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You can buy a racecar... - 03/18/08 10:55 PM
Anyone can. I just logged into Ebay, and there were 196 race cars (not street legal) listed for sale. Anyone with the cash can buy any one of these vehicles. Assuming they are current, that buyer can take that race vehicle and race it. This car just to the right is ready to race in the SCCA ITE class. $15,000 and you can own a race car. A "real" race car. Of course, you would have to get a racing license, but you can do that in a couple of weekends. Most tracks that host amateur racing events around the country … (8 comments)
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Land of the Gladiators and Home of the Braves - 03/18/08 07:51 PM
Gwinnett County, GA is growing some more.
Gwinnett is already a vibrant and active suburb of Atlanta, GA... and it is getting better all of the time. Gwinnett will be welcoming the AAA affiate of the Atlanta Braves to the new stadium that is being built near Lawrenceville. Formerly of Richmond, VA, the Gwinnett Braves will be playing here starting in April of 2009.
Just a few miles away, the Gwinnett Center and Arena is home to the Arena Football League Georgia Force. It is also the home of the East Coast Hockey League Gwinnett Gladiators. The Gladiators are the … (0 comments)
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The Real Estate Alchemist, Part III - 03/16/08 10:48 AM
This one has been kicking around in my head for a few days. I read this around the same time that I read the info for the previous installments of The Real Estate Alchemist. (I & II). As I read it, it was troubling me. I know that from what I have seen, the limited service brokerages haven't done well for consumers, but here was evidence to the contrary... I had to think a bit...
Here is what started occurring to me...
First, let me toss out a couple of quotes and some links. These are in chronological order as the … (9 comments)
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Blog Anthology, Posts dated 3/9-3/15 - 03/15/08 10:37 PM
↑ Grab this Headline Animator I'm doing things a little differently. In my seemingly never ending quest to transition away from the old blog at Blogger, I am going to move my Garage with a detached home blog anthology here... (you know, LaneBailey.com). I know, I know... I have been posting the anthologies here for months... they were re-posted here. This time, A/R is getting it first, and the Blogger post will just point here.
Sunday Video Sunday is my weekly video post. This week I was waxing nostalgic about the old Road Atlanta... specifically, turn 11.
In a … (0 comments)
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Should we sell our own homes? - 03/15/08 09:44 PM
Ok, not today...
Seriously, though. I ran across a post by Cynthia Tilghman asking if we would hire ourselves. It gave me a different thought though. I hinted at it in my response to her.
She asked if we would... If we looked right, and said the right things.
But, SHOULD we hire ourselves?
Odd question. Obviously we have the knowledge (or at least I would hope) to do the job. We should have the experience, skill, tools... everything it takes. But... there is one other thing that we have and when we sell our own property, I would contend … (16 comments)
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This is RICH!!! - 03/14/08 12:01 AM
OMG, I can barely contain myself. Seriously.
I have about 30 blogs I keep up with every day... most every day. And, if you didn't figure out from this post, one of them is the President's Report from the NAR.
So, this evening I was reviewing my reading and up popped this post. Could it be that enough of YOU here on little ol' A/R shook up the NAR leadership?
We understand that blogs are designed to be both informative and interactive. When we put thoughts here, we want to inspire discussion and comments from you.
...
I am … (15 comments)
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The Real Estate Alchemist... Part II - 03/13/08 11:13 AM
Continuing the series...
In this episode, we are going to look at seller offered commission to the buyer's agent. At the Redfin Corporate Blog, there was a recent post titled Typical is Boring, but When Selling a Home, Effective.
In the post, they compared days on market and list price/selling price ratios for properties that were shown with buyer's agent commissions above, at and below 3%. The findings were this:
Homes offering a commission higher than 3% actually had a lower sale-to-list price than homes offering a 3% commission, by about 0.82%, or the equivalent of $4,095 on a $500,000 … (4 comments)
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The Real Estate Alchemist... Part I - 03/13/08 10:37 AM
I decided I needed a new series.
Redfin has a series they call the "Real Estate Scientist":
The Real Estate Scientist is Redfin's program to develop data-driven best practices for buying and selling homes. This guidance is based on the best academic research and our own analyses of listing databases and website traffic.
In my series, I am going to talk about the reality of their experiments. When they bring out new info, I'll congratulate them for the finding. When they trot out old stuff and call it amazing research, I'll call them on it... In the first part, I will … (4 comments)
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Where are we now? - 03/12/08 04:06 PM
Many are familiar with the "Five Stages of Grief." It seems to apply to many things... including dealing with real estate markets. There are two distinct groups that need to be addressed here. I will try to address both parallel.
The 5 stages are:
Denial: The initial stage: "It can't be happening." Anger: "Why me? It's not fair." Bargaining: "Just let me live to see my children graduate." Depression: "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?" Acceptance: "It's going to be OK."
So... here we go...
Denial. "There is nothing wrong with the market." And, either "My house is still … (6 comments)
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Free March offers for sellers... - 03/11/08 11:28 PM
March is looking to be a really busy month...
New baby!! The start of the spring market Getting ready to buy media placements for my website, GarageHomesUSA So, to help kick things off, I am going to offer up some free services for sellers. I want to try out some cool new products to help promote homes for sale, and in order to establish their value, I figure the best way to accomplish that is to give them away (trust me, they aren't free...).
I have details on my site... right there on the front page.
I'd love to … (5 comments)
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Recession anyone? - 03/11/08 11:10 PM
I ran across an article online from USA Today showing the different states and measuring if they are in a recession. It also graded various metro areas.
I am pleased with the mixed results for this area...
Georgia is shown as "At Risk." That isn't so bad... although there are only a few states in a recessionary mode. Most of the states are expanding.
Atlanta, Athens and Gainesville are all listed as expanding, as are several other areas in the state there are a couple that have recessionary trends.
They are reporting that GA saw a 2.6% increase in … (4 comments)
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I am very sad to say... - 03/10/08 04:54 PM
Not shocked... but sad.
Actually, I'm not shocked at all. And maybe sad isn't the right word... disgusted would be better...
And I really hope the right people find this post...
A few days ago, I posted a comment on the President's Report blog at the NAR. The NAR has found this whole social media/blogging thing, and they want to show that they "get it" and are hip to the grooviness. But they don't, and they aren't.
Dick Gaylord, President of the NAR posted about an email he received that supportive of the NAR and their "rosey" outlook during this … (106 comments)
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Blog Anthology, Posts dated 3/2 to 3/8 - 03/08/08 10:38 PM
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Video Sunday... musically speaking, took a little turn from the normal. It's music. Odd music, and interesting music.
The January/February Market Report was posted for Gwinnett County on Monday. The blog points to the report on GarageHomesUSA.com. Here is a direct link.
I found out that after this year's cancellation, the Dakar Rallye is moving to South America. The pic is from flickr and are credited on the post.
I posted up a Message from the President... of the NAR, as well as the comment I submitted. As of this evening, it wasn't on the NAR … (4 comments)
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Blog Anthology, Posts Dated 2/24 to 3/1 - 03/07/08 10:04 AM
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Sunday, Sunday, Sunday... Videos, Hummer, Jeep, big rocks, steep climbs... Sunday is video day.
The GBR4WD Club announced their 5th Annual Mud 4 Blood Drive in connection with LifeSouth, Bass Pro Shops and 4Wheel Parts. This year's event will take place on May 10th. Are you a blood donor? Mud 4 Blood.
Short Sales are all of the rage in real estate right now. The NAR is telling agents to learn the new specialty. There are scores of seminars. Lots of agents are now "Short Sale specialists." Sorry, but I think it takes more … (5 comments)
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Blog Anthology, Posts Dated 2/17 to 2/23 - 03/07/08 10:00 AM
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Similar blog time... same blog channel... da na na na da na na da na na na da na na... Blog Man..
Pow. Sunday's video recipes... include some ice and some sand and some rock. Gotta love 'em.
Bang. The cat is out of the bag. I've been keeping a secret... and it is about my other blog. That's right. Glutton for punishment that I am, I keep up with more than one blog. This one doesn't even count, because it just recaps my main one now.
Smack. My business coach wanted some numbers … (0 comments)
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Garrett is a Big Brother now!!! - 03/06/08 11:04 PM
I am pleased to announce that Jackson Bryce Bailey slid into the outside world today at 6:00pm. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and 21" tall. He is a happy baby boy, and is excited to start ice skating with Big Brother Garrett. Since Garrett wants to be a goalie, Jackson has decided to be a Power Forward.
Mother, son, big brother and dad are all doing fine and all but dad are resting comfortably...
I still have a days work to do.
As always, this is a reminder of why I love what I do, … (15 comments)
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Into the mailbag VI... Why didn't my house sell? - 03/05/08 11:18 PM
I admit that this wasn't an email into my inbox. But, it is a question that I have received, investigated, and actually seek out.
Lane, we had our house on the market for ___ months. Why didn't it sell?
There is an easy answer, and a not very easy answer. First I'll give you the easy answer...
Your agent didn't do the right things to make your house sell.
Is that what you wanted to hear? If it is, and you don't like to be challenged or have someone tell you things you don't like to hear... stop. Do not … (6 comments)
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Want to destroy the economy and dreams of home ownership? - 03/05/08 01:47 PM
It's pretty easy...
House of Representatives Democrat John Conyers of Michigan knows how to do it. He has outlined a simple plan.
Allow bankruptcy judges to set aside mortgage balances in favor of "good faith attempt" to pay off mortgages... and the borrower gets to keep the house. While the plan has been modified to only include certain mortgages, it would still be devastating in SO many ways. It would literally destroy the dream of home ownership as well as the entire US economy. People would wish of rthe days of the Great Depression if Conyers got his way.
Some … (9 comments)
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Hillary was the big winner... and it made me happy! - 03/05/08 09:37 AM
Really.
Let me start with things that are NOT why I am happy with Hillary being the big winner yesterday:
I hate Obama... because I don't. I think he is a great speaker, and he is probably a nice guy. I don't think he should be President, but this isn't why I am glad to see Hillary win yesterday. I like Hillary... because I don't. I think she may be one of the most dangerous politicians of our time. I don't think she should be President, so this isn't why I am glad to see Hillary win yesterday. Keeping the Democrats … (15 comments)
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It's a Kid's life... - 03/04/08 07:36 PM
So, Garrett the amazing three year old (I can say that for less than two more months) was looking through the car keys on the key hook this evening. He got to my Jeep key...
"Where is the door opener?"
"There isn't one... I use the key."
"Did you lose it?"
"No. The Jeep doesn't have electric locks. I put the key in the door and turn it."
"No, really. How do you unlock the door?"
"I turn the key."
"That is how you start it. You are supposed to hit a button to unlock it."
And I started to think. … (14 comments)
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Green may start to make people see red... - 03/04/08 06:18 PM
Right now there is a wave of "greeness" sweeping the world. Everyone wants to be green... We want to out-green the Jones so to speak.
But, is there a downside to this greening?
Unfortunately, there is. Actually, there are several. I may have to write several posts to debunk a variety of green myths... but I'll start with bio-fuel... specifically corn ethanol.
Before we get started, there is one thing I want to make VERY clear. I am not against environmental responsibility. In fact, unlike many "greens", I spend my time out in the wilds. I love being able to … (13 comments)
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Gwinnett County Sales Figure for January/February 2008 - 03/03/08 09:33 PM
I just got the new report posted to Garage Homes USA, my website. Here is a link to the report.
Aside from the regular Average Days on Market, Average Sales Price, and numbers for new listings, I have added Absorption Rates and New/Sold ratios.
The market report is kind of dry, but it is the information one needs if selling into this market.
There is an interesting phenomenon that I will be posting about in the next couple of days, but here is a sneak peek. The weakest segment of the multi car (3+) garage properties in Gwinnett is the … (5 comments)
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Into the mailbag V, part II... What else should we do? - 03/01/08 04:29 PM
I covered this recently, but there was one other thing I neglected to mention...
If you are getting ready to put your home on the market... or you WILL be doing so in the near future, it might not be a bad idea to get a "Pre-Listing Inspection."
Yep. It is the same inspection your buyer would get when your house goes under contract. However, the advantage of getting this done before listing the house is that you will have the opportunity to correct any deficiencies. In addition, you can show the report, and then show that all of the deficiencies … (6 comments)
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Saturday funny... - 03/01/08 01:45 PM
Every once in a while I give in to my "Politically Incorrect" leanings... Today would be one of those days...
And I don't mean Politically Incorrect in the Bill Mahr way... So, don't be offended, just enjoy the humor for what it is...
Let's see if I can dig up something else that is good...
Just for a little balance.
Some of you may seen the second one in a email about The University of Iowa building this from tractor parts... It is fully bogus. It is a computer animation... And a very COOL computer animation at that. If you have some … (9 comments)
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