marketing: Phishing Bait... - 03/18/13 05:23 AM
Those of you that are FaceBook friends may already know this...  I had a listing hi-jacked by a scammer.  It has kind of ticked me off. 
The backstory... One morning I got 3 calls in a row asking me about renting one of my listings.  Since it isn't available for rent, I was curious as to why there was a flurry of sudden activity.  However, since I was at my youngest son's school for a program they were putting on, I wasn't able to investigate immediately.  The last caller was pretty upset with me that I wouldn't talk to him about … (5 comments)

marketing: Taking Real Estate Pictures... Part II, Camera Options - 02/15/12 03:22 PM
As mentioned last week, I am doing a series on taking better real estate pictures for your listings. Most of the tips are for those that wish to DIY (Do It Yourself), but there is a HUGE caution that goes along with that... if you aren't willing to take the time to do it right, hire someone to do it for you. Remember, you are representing your client's property and you need to put it forward in its best light (no pun intended). That doesn't mean that every listing needs to look like a feature from Better Homes & Gardens, but … (7 comments)

marketing: Taking Real Estate Pictures, Part I… Getting Started - 02/09/12 04:44 AM
In real estate photography, there are three ways to go about showcasing listings.
Hire a professional photographer to capture the images Do it yourself Skip that whole thing and list it without pictures In this series, we'll be talking mostly about doing it yourself. However, in many cases, it would be advantageous to hire a photographer. If you are so busy with other parts of your business that you don't have time to do it right, get a pro. If you don't have the skills (and/or you aren't willing to take the time to learn them), get a pro. If you … (13 comments)

marketing: Wayback Wednesday... The Price IS Right (or it should be)... - 01/20/11 09:58 AM
Image via Wikipedia Do you want to actually SELL your house, or just put it up for sale?  I talk with sellers pretty regularly that seem to just want to have their home up for sale...
"We want to test the market." "If we can got our price..." "We aren't going to give it away." You get the idea, right? And this isn't the market to play around in.  With foreclosures and short sales and unemployment being what they are, this is a bargain hunter's market.  This isn't a test market.
Along the same lines are some of the "strategies" I … (1 comments)

marketing: Wayback Wednesday... Looking at the Mechanics of Listings - 01/06/11 03:39 PM
This  post was to appear yesterday, but was pre-empted. I am presenting it today. Sorry for the delay.
Image via Wikipedia Two years ago I got a bug in my bonnet because it didn't seem like I was seeing enough pictures for new listings.  A couple of months prior, one of our local Multiple Listings Services, FMLS, had raised the number of pictures that could be attached to the listing from 8 to 12.  Now it is 24...
It was shocking to look at the numbers...  I went back and looked at all of the listings that had posted in … (6 comments)

marketing: Why Shouldn't They??? - 11/12/10 03:18 PM
Wandering around in the stacks of AR... and any other site with a lot of real estate agents, one often runs across posts wondering just HOW consumers can view us as interchangeable cogs... all the same. 
But let's think about this for a couple minutes. 
We all call ourselves REALTORS(R)... We all have almost the EXACT same inventory... Almost everyone makes the same promises... ("I'll sell your home for the highest price in the shortest time") Too many of us have a 20 year old 'Glamour Shot' on our business card... And let's not forget that our fees, while always negotiable, … (11 comments)

marketing: Wayback Wednesday... Set the Hook... - 11/10/10 02:35 PM
Image via Wikipedia Two years ago there were worries among sellers that buyers couldn't obtain financing.  Those worries are back... but, then as now, money was available.
Of course, in the middle there were issues with getting loans funded.  But now, the loans are available.  Of course the credit restrictions are tighter and there are fewer loans available for those with weak credit.  But, many would be buyers think that getting a loan is all but impossible... that may be what they heard on TV or saw in the paper.
So, a great opportunity for sellers (and their agents) is to … (3 comments)

marketing: Wayback... Spicy! - 08/22/10 03:53 PM
A couple of years ago I wrote a post about blandness.  I don’t like bland and I think most people agree that bland is… boring.  It applies to food, advertising, movies, art and anything else.  Maybe everyone won’t like the spice, but almost nobody will like a complete lack of spice.  But, I guess there are just a few people out there that really like boring.
The story is about a grandmother ‘protecting’ her grandson from something she thought was too spicy for his young palate.  Of course, I applied it to real estate advertising… and even tossed in one of … (2 comments)

marketing: Wayback Wednesday… Don’t be Dumb Like a Bank - 08/14/10 03:40 PM
 
Image via Wikipedia A couple of years ago I wrote a post about a particular property.  It was a foreclosure, and the bank acted stupidly.  And I’m not saying that lightly.  Had they accepted my client’s offer, they would have sold the property a year earlier and for $40k more than they eventually got.
It is an interesting read…
Now I see a lot of people making the same mistake from the other side of the fence…
I see buyers trying to deliver one last beating to the bank… often during the inspection phase… and losing a great deal … (4 comments)

marketing: Buyer Notes... Part II - 07/20/10 05:27 PM
I'm in the market...  My family is 'thinking' of buying a new home.  And while I spend a lot of time with other buyers, it is a different beast when putting MY money on the line.  It shouldn't be... but it is.  I think it is a fantastic learning opportunity for me.  So, this is a series of posts about the things I am 'unlearning' as a real estate professional, and learning from the buyer's seat.
 
Dear Listing Agent,
Please don't put stupid things in your description.  There are a limited number of characters allowed by the listing services.  … (21 comments)

marketing: Flashback... Pricing isn't REALLY about the Price... - 06/13/10 04:34 PM
Last year I wrote about pricing strategies.  And most people (including real estate agents) assume that pricing is about getting a certain price… but it isn’t so much about the price as it is about marketing to the right people.
Image via Wikipedia Of course, it is a little more complicated than that…  But there is a logical connection between price and marketing.  It isn’t the connection everyone expects.
Take a look and let me know what you think.
Related articles by Zemanta Flashback Friday… Brawling (lanebailey.com) Flashback Friday… Want to get ‘Sold’? (lanebailey.com) Flashback Friday… Cram Down (lanebailey.com) … (1 comments)

marketing: Making Headway on my Fan Pages... - 04/16/10 04:38 PM
OK, on one of my Fan Pages...  GarageHomes
I'm not asking everyone to become a fan... I have enough fans for the 'vanity URL', so I'm not pushing it to get more fans (If you'd like to 'Fan' the page, that is cool, too...).  Instead, I just wanted to give a little credit to Mary McKnight.  She posted up a free template that was developed along with HomeGain. 
Here is a link. 
It is free, designed for real estate agents and reasonably cool.  I know that she is saving her best stuff for the paying clients, but this is a pretty … (9 comments)

marketing: A "Wayback"... Houses and FREE Cars... - 04/04/10 04:03 PM
A couple of years ago this week, I wrote about a (then) new marketing move I had been seeing.  Both new home developers and owners of existing homes were offering free cars to buyers. 
Image via  Wikipedia From that time to this, I have seen this offer in a variety of ways…  I’ve seen builders offer leases on expensive cars, like BMWs and Jaguars (both to agents and to buyers), or inclusion of less expensive cars, like Hondas and Toyotas.  I have seen private sellers offer up new Fords, Toyotas and others… and even include used cars.
But… there is a … (1 comments)

marketing: A New Video Resource... Video Connector - 04/04/10 02:26 PM
I recently subscribed to the Video Connector.  It is a cool new service from MY video provider. Tara Jones and TJ Hedges, the folks behind the Video Connector, are friends of mine.  they are also the folks I turn to in order to provide video for my listings. 
Reel Productions has grown to be one of the best real estate video companies in the country.  They have travelled coast to coast for big national brokerages.  They have had agents fly them all over and charter helicopters for them to do property or neighborhood profiles.  They have presented at major conferances ranging … (0 comments)

marketing: A Home Deserves More Pics Than a Pair of Shoes... - 03/23/10 12:53 AM
I love to cruise around eBay.  There are SO many cool things to see.  eBay Motors might be the coolest place ever.  Between the military vehicles, race cars and RVs, I am in heaven.  And then there is the opportunity to dream in the Boat section or while looking at aircraft... 
There is something that many of the listings have in common, though... 
Pictures...
In fact, lots of pictures.  I pulled up a pop-up camper that had 48 pictures.  Real estate listings locally don't have the capability to have that many pictures... the MLSs here top out at 20 pictures.  But … (7 comments)

marketing: I'll be happy in 86.97%... - 02/28/10 06:31 AM
"What is he talking about now?" 
That is likely the question after seeing the confusing title... 
Over the last couple of years, I have done sporadic surveys of how many listings have the maximum number of pictures allowed by our local MLS...  Currently the maximum is 20.  It has been as low as 8, just a few years ago. 
The opposite of 86.97% is 13.03%...
And 13.03% is how many of the listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days that have the maximum number of pictures.  There are a few things to keep in mind... 
(7 comments)

marketing: Home Marketing 1 2 3 - 02/21/10 02:05 PM
While speaking with a prospective client, we touched on home marketing.  As we were discussing it, I was asked about venues and their importance...  "Should we be on Craigslist, MLS, Trulia, Zillow, etc?" 
My reply was "Of course... we want to be as many places as we can keep track of... but most of the activity will likely be generated by the MLS." 
But the question went deeper... into the best marketing tool...  And I replied that it was the list price.  The list price is the most important marketing tool in the agent's arsenal.  I love having a box full … (7 comments)

marketing: The "Other" Superbowl contest... - 02/07/10 02:06 PM
Everyone knows there is a football game.  But that isn't the only contest each year...  The Superbowl has become the biggest venue for advertisers each year... ok, ONE of the biggest venues.  Along with the Daytona 500 (next week) and the Olympics, the Superbowl is looked to for the best in TV advertising. 
Honestly, I'm not that much of a football fan.  I have watched the Vikings since I was a kid (Fran Tarkenton, Alan Page, the Purple People Eaters...), and I manage to catch about 30 minutes of football a year.  But I record the Superbowl so that I can … (2 comments)

marketing: Talk about hype... How many windows do you have open right now? - 01/31/10 03:34 AM
Even in Disney world, I couldn't help but hear about the upcoming iPad.  Apple was everywhere.  I was getting emails on my phone, people were talking and it was on the very limited news I watched... repeatedly. 
Wow, Apple has created a Tablet Computer...
Sorry, but big flipping deal.  All of you Apple fans can stop wetting your pants now and learn that tablets have been around for quite a while.  I'm typing this on a 5 year old Toshiba convertible Tablet PC.  I opted for a convertible rather than a slate (the iPad is a slate). 
But there is something … (8 comments)

marketing: I Suck at 'Internet Lead Conversion' - 01/14/10 04:04 PM
It's true. 
Almost all of my business comes from social networking... much of it on the internet, and I suck at internet lead conversion.  There are a few ways I suck at this... 
I don't have a dedicated database for internet leads... I don't have an email drip campaign to stay in touch with them... I don't have a checklist of 'touches' to go through with each lead... So, just how the heck can I stay in business?
I wonder sometimes myself...  I know that I need to build a dedicated database of my clients and leads.  I also know … (21 comments)

 
Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy (Century 21 Results Realty)

Lane Bailey

Realtor & Car Guy

Suwanee, GA

More about me…

Century 21 Results Realty

Address: 2209 Sharon Rd, Suite 250, Cumming, GA, 30041

Office: (678) 679-1393

Mobile: (678) 200-5895

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