Marketing Merge

Linktowns as a social marketing network

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:37:47 -0700

I've had a few responses to my Linktowns post recently. I was asked for input on the design elements on what agent brokers need to compete in today's marketplace. What started with ideas on how to connect with the local consumer what has spawn is linktowns. It's not just a real estate portal it's a portal to your community. I picked up the Harrisburg blog section. "The Harrisburg Scoop" Our local paper leaves something to be desired on many levels. I'm not of the mind set that "The Harrisburg Scoop" will compete on the same level but I do think it can carve out it's own niche. It connects to real estate, retail store owners, professionals etc. because everyone is in the same network. Plus there's no competition once you grab the block for your town. That makes you competitive because the marketplace doesn't get flooded by others. Anyway, I hope to launch my first edition by memorial day. Here's what the real estate portal looks like. What do you think? Linktowns Real Estate Portals

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

William Black Homestead Historic Registar Homes and Divorce

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Sun, 06 May 2012 22:27:31 -0700

The best listing. It was the William Black Homestead. This property was the most northern captured property by the Confederate Army General R.T. Ewing. He held it for one night and kept the owners locked in the basement. The next day he was called to The Battle of Gettysburg. It property is also written about in the book Historic Homes of 1776. Not only was it a Historic in the sense of Gettysburg it also had markings of the underground railroad on the floors rafters discovered during restoration.

So a husband and wife get a divorce. The wife executes a listing agreement and the husband said he'll probably sign it after the meeting with the judge. Did he say Judge? I completed a listing agreement and asked him to present his listing to the judge as well. I made sure everything was accurate and suggested that he ask the judge to look over both agreement for any mistakes. I had the feeling the other listing agreement might have mistakes in a particular section the was new on our listing agreements. It allowed for additional fees over and above the listing commission. I was right. The broker had charged 6% plus and additional six percent. when it should have been a small dollar amount. It was a confusing practice in the beginning for many agents and for me it was the attention to detail that came through.

As professionals in any discipline we owe our best to the client.

I double bagged the deal. Best of all I signed as a witness on the deed. I wrote my signature perfect at closing that day.

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Linktowns social networking marketplace for business

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:34:06 -0700

New to the social networking world is Linktowns. Linktowns offers business owners the power of social media with exclusivity for a specific town by subscription. Retail and service industries will both benefit from the features linktowns offers. Paypal store fronts, linkedin profiles, self managed coupons. Custom niche is available as well. It's like a online newspaper the community runs. Check it out at http://linktowns.com

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Early bird gets the worm only if it grabs it.

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:25:05 -0700

Following the last post on "Who gets the listing" I wanted to share the selling of this property. About 90 days had passed when activity took off. The first contract was FHA. The estate attorney recommended a straight rejection of the contract with no further contact with the buyers agent in regards to the buyers. Not at all what I thought was going to happen. Listed at 105K his words were we'll wait for cash, 105 is chump change.

At this point I had never had a cash deal and this was not and area were I though people had money. The next offer came in a few weeks later. 20 percent down conv... Gave a verbal acceptance over the phone. We needed a letter from the bank and the buyer's financial information before we would execute to contract.The buyer agent had until 10:00 am the next business day to fax the papers to my office. Another offer came in later that same evening full price, cash.

The buyers agent for the 20% down conventional faxed the papers at 10:17. 17 minutes late. We executed the cash offer contract the Buyers agent got a call from me as soon as the cash deal was complete. I called the agent with the 20% down buyers and got the voice mail. I finally got a call about 5 hours later from a livid agent who had just learned they didn't have a contract. In the end she should have followed though as agreed. There was no obligation to inform them of the second offer.

What are your thoughts?

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Who's Gets the Listing?

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:22:48 -0700

I was contacted by an executor to sale a property for and estate. We executed a listing agreement and I started marketing. Meanwhile I was contacted by a local real estate agent informing me that she had listed the property with the person who inherited the property a week earlier.

Who has the right to the listing?

After a meeting between the my broker and office manager and a call from the lawyer handling the estate it was determined that I was that should void my listing agreement since the other agent was making a huge fuss including threats to file ethical complaints. The executor disagreed with the decision and I said I would see if it was a well thought out decision. So I called the PAR legal hot-line. After consultation it was determined that it was the executors place to sale the property to settle the estate and the proceeds are then distributed to the heirs. In this case the heirs didn't have enough assets to pay the taxes on the property they inherited. I had the legal Listing agreement.

My next post is on the same property. Two contracts one lazy seller representative one upset buyer and a one week closing.

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Is the contract black and white or Gray?

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:29:05 -0700

What's your experience on contracts that changed during the execution of contingencies. Did they close at settlement?

I have three I'll post starting this week that made it to settlement

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Is free speech alive and well in America?

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:15:48 -0700

The Indispensable Opposition, by Walter Lippmann, is a short essay I had to read in a creative writing class at HACC. Harrisburg Area Community College. It had an impact on me the first time a read it and today I think back to it often as I hear news from my children on what subjects they are not allowed to talk about or words they can use in school. What's more troubling is seeing how the pundits have used it to silent opposition.

I hope the next President of The United States of America will focus on home ownership and the the economy so that our cities become a beacon for our children to improve their communities and not the debt laden cities destine to failure that will be shackled to the next generation of Americans.

Foreclosures are deplete a tax base.

I've learned the most when I've said something disagreeable with others.

Please speak your mind if you think your thoughts need to be heard by others. I might exercise my right not to listen though.

Read the essay

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Has IDX syndication helped or hurt? ...Part 1

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:09:38 -0800

IDX syndication has been around for a few years now. However, have we stopped to consider if allowing access to the pool of listing inventory to so many venues been a real benefit to the broker/agent and the consumer?

I remember listening to a story told from a broker I had my license with back in the early 90's. He was addressing the cost of advertising a single home that was unique and the seller and the listing agent felt it deserved special attention over the other properties in the companies inventory.

The main theme was that advertising was needed because other companies placed ads in the newspaper therefore we needed to offer similar service to compete for the listings. He noted that during a strike at the local newspaper that lasted several weeks the phone rang off the wall with buyers and sellers. Access to home inventory wasn't available to the general public and if you needed to sell or buyer it was off the the phone directory and calling the pros.

Fast forward to 2012. Real estate listings are everywhere. ABC listings show up on XYZ website. Listings populate on pool sites from listing hubs and in many areas agents can broadcast other company listings on their own web site. But has it increased business? Has it helped the real estate industry?

What does this vast access do to the consumer? Have you tried to search for a home from a buyers position. Let's assume 1st time buyers or a buyer that hasn't made a real estate transaction in 15 years and isn't tech savvy. I would argue overall frustration is the result.

Here's a sort list of problems I think consumers are faced with. Please expand your pro or con thoughts.

Many agents that have a web site don't maintain them.

Outdated information.
Limited/overloaded information.
Poor photo quality.
Poorly written script.
To much fluff or non essentials.

Response times to inquires are to slow.

Dropped leads from duty desk.
Busy with clients and can't respond till later.
Didn't check the inbox or lead program today.
Requires personal contact information to put's consumer's on emailing list.
Lack of internet skills by a large group of real estate professionals

Wrong information and to much navigation.

Poor or limited search engine options.
Insufficient keyword description.
10 properties per page and 100 plus pages to click through.
Pages overloaded with script slowing page downloads.
Poorly written ad descriptions.

Results are; off to another real estate site to start it all over... Frustration building.

I listed these as a few cons of Internet marketing and it doesn't cover everything. My next post I'll address some Pros to using tech marketing.

What are your thoughts on the cons?
How do you feel about IDX syndication.
Do you use print advertising effectively?
Why do you or don't you merge print and Internet marketing?
Are there too many options today for you to use to market, similar to consumers search issues?
When would you try something that offered a solution?

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Harrisburg City skyline from across the Susquehanna River.

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:27:49 -0800

The image I used for my blog was taken on the rte 83 bridge looking east across the Susquehanna river. Harrisburg is a beautiful city with alot to see. It's hard to believe that the city is bankrupt and the leaders have no idea how to cope with it. Ths picture doesn't begin to hint that it's a city in decline. Now the legal fees are piling up adding to the debt.

Does anyone have any ideas? How about stopping the give aways.

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

The unintended consquences as home values drop in Baltimore area.

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:16:16 -0800

Reported in The Baltimore Sun on Dec. 28th, 2011 was a front page headline that read MD. home values fall 17%. The article had more to do with property assessment appeals than home values to this reader. This economy has been a bust for many and pointing a finger to blame solves nothing. Although, I can surely place it somewhere myself. Just remember, when you point your finger out three fingers point back at you, therefore; I'll blame no one at this time.

To my point. with the economy pushing values down on almost everything and inflation possibly around the corner. It's only natural to protect our resources. One way is to take advantage of depressed home values and appeal the tax levied by State and local taxing authorities. Here in lies the problem. As more property owners get their taxes lowered local budgets have to be balanced by government officials and they now have less to work with. As a result Communities can become insolvent. Although bad management like that in Harrisburg PA. can also be blamed.

Here's the rub. As budgets need balanced the taxing authorities are going to increase tax millage rates. So what seems as a fix now will come back and bite property owner when the economy turns around. Consider this. Property values drop. Property owners appeal and get lower assessment values. Taxing authorities increase millage rates, The economy turns around and property values increase. New assessmnets reflect the rise in values and you new tax bill makes the Apollo program look like a boyscout project.

Local Budgets are being negotiated now and we should hear of the tax increases around the Beginning of 2012.

Unintended consquences.

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Harrisburg Noahslist is Helping Local Business Economy.

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:38:34 -0800

The local classified website Harrisburg Noahslist provides local area businesses an online venue to post free classified ads promoting their business. Contrast that with the proposal to raise the tax rate in Swatara Township 24% and the free advertising available with Harrisburg Noahslist can have a positive effect on a small businesses bottom line in that Harrisburg suburb.

With all the occupy protest going on about corporate greed it's nice to hear of one cooperation that's giving back to the community. http://Harrisburg.Noahslist.com is setting the example of the good that can come from giving back socially and helping local people that are having more of their hard earned income confiscated by all levels of government.

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Beware! Fake BBB.org email being circulated. Delete at once!

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 12:58:59 -0800

Over the past year I've been collaborating with other business partners to launch a safe and reputable online business. We are both regionally and locally managed to provide a safety net against some of the negative marketing issues that occur in similar business models. So when I received the email copied below I naturally wanted to provide solutions to remedy any problem.

The problem is the email is malious. There's no prpoblem with our business or customer service. I want to post this so others can be prepared and not fall prey to this scam.

Study the email below. The original report indicated slightly different wording. Below is the email I received. It includes a bbb.org in the email sender box, The address and phone number of the Better Business Bureau and an officials name. It had an attachment and a click here link.

Google bbb.org to learn more about this fake email.

["Dear Sirs,
The Better Business Bureau has received the above mentioned complaint from one of your customers in respect of their business relations with you.
The detailed information about the consumer's concern is explained in enclosed file.
Please give attention to this case and inform us about your opinion."]

Please Click here to reply this complaint.

We look forward to your urgent reply.

Yours faithfully,
Louis Gerald
Better Business Bureau

Council of Better Business Bureaus
4200 Wilson Blvd, Suite 800
Arlington, VA 22203-1838
Phone: 1 (703) 276.0100
Fax: 1 (703) 525.8277

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson subject in foreclosure?

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:26:30 -0800

Harrisburg City is flooded with debt and its share of financial trouble. Now the city learns that Mayor Linda Thompson is facing foreclosure on her property located at 2320 N. Fifth St. The former home of Loveship Inc. Not only is Metro Bank starting the foreclosure process Mayor Linda Thompson is reported as not paying the real estate taxes on the property as well. The question has to be asked does anyone involved in city government think it might be time to sell?

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary France recently rejected a bankruptcy filing by some members of city council. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbet appointed DCED Chief Counsel David Unkovic as a Harrisburg receiver under act 47.

This message is for David Unkovic. If the need to liquidate Harrisburg city assets is required to help balance the budget Noahslist marketplace Classifieds is here to help.

Sell before problems are to big to resolve. http://harrisburg.noahslist.com

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Special Thanks to Straub & Associates Homefindergroup

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:13:12 -0800

This is a special thanks to Tim Straub broker/owner of Straub & Associates Homefindergroup Inc.. Listings from Tim's office are now posted on Harrisburg's Noahslist Marketplace Classifieds. You can view his property ads at http://harrisburg.noahslist.com/harrisburg_area_real_estate We are here to provide exceptional service for Tim and his office to promote his business.

Thanks Again Tim.

Victor Plitt

Direct to Market LLC

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Noahslist Tips on Selling

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:37:04 -0800

Noahslist Tips on selling

Take several well focused photographs. Make sure to each photo shows a different perspective or view of the object your selling.
Describe the item accurately. Otherwise you'll more than likely disappoint your prospective buyer and loose them all together.
Price it right. Greatly overpricing will prevent buyers from calling.
Be prepared to negotiate. Most people want to do some horse trading. The best way to get a good price is to create more buyers.
Make sure your easy to contact. Consider adding a phone number in the description. If you always unavailable or don't return calls promptly a hot buyer can cool off pretty quickly.
Don't spam. Some items can be advertised in more than one category. It's fine to list in different categories when appropriate. Be sure to use different words so search engines don't consider your ad spam. Different sentence structure and adjectives can help.
If you add a web site make sure to add the prefix. ie: http://www.example .com

Common sense advertising 101. Take a few moments to study bad copy when you see some who posted an advertisement you think looks awful. Is it the photos or maybe poor grammar or the lack of useful information in the description? All of the above and more? Now look at what you posted recently. Compare areas from a bad ad to your ad. Do you see anything that can be improved upon?

Once you begin this easy comparison you'll start to create better ads. It's better to take your time and get it right the first time or wait till you can do the professional job that raises you above your competition. After all you want to make contact with that buyer and to do that you'll need them to contact you first. Once they buy they're out of the market and you missed and opportunity to make a sell.

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Posting Property Listings on Noahslist

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:59:24 -0800

Noahslist Marketplace Classifieds is a great place to connect with the general public. Post your ads for free to attract new prospects. Quicksell upgrades provide better exposure yet. With traditional print media continuously losing both readers and advertisers it's time to consider optional ways to leverage your clients property exposure. Do you tract how many action sides a listing is worth? 1.5 action sides? Two maybe three action sides? If a buyer contacts you about a listing then buys a another home through you that counts. In other words are you optimizing your property exposure. Writing copy that creates leads? Using skillful photography to present your clients property the best way possible?

If you are, excellent. Don't let it go to waste by not presenting it to the general public. Remember Brand awareness is the most important metric a business has. Make sure your brand says remember me even before your next buyer or seller has a need to use your service. Take good pictures and write good copy, be honest and post where people can see you.

Post your ads for free on noahslist Classifieds.

http://harrisburg.noahslist.com

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

a la mode Real Estate Technology Broker & Agent Websites

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:42:16 -0800

What is the most cost effective way to generate leads today? Newspaper ads? Radio advertising? Bill boards? Direct mailings? Email marketing? Door hangers? Internet? Word of mouth? All of the Above?

There's no doubt that I'll get a different answer to every one of those possibilities and some I didn't even post. As to the best marketing it all depends. One thing is for sure it has to be done?

I ask you to consider a tool that allows you to manage several of the marketing strategies from one place. Your own high tech, cutting edge website. In my opinion there are two basic type of sites. The first is a site that I call eye candy. Great photos or images that combine styling and flash and few pages and not a lot of useful tools to capture prospects. The second is a strictly function type. Buttons with lead capture seo from content mostly generic in appearance etc... The first type is easy to buy into but probably won't create a lot of leads.

There is one company that combines both and more. a la mode. If you have an a la mode site already and need assisstance I can help. If you would like to take one for test drive you can try it for 100 days risk free.

I'm a reseller for a la mode and I can set one up for you. There's no additional cost to buy through me and I get a basic site set up for so your already from daay one.

If your on the fence about managing you own website contact me. I'll be happy to answer any questions that will help you decide if a website is right for you.

Call 717-557-4893

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Copyright: Is the answer to this question no?

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 22:04:33 -0800

Depends.

Now that I have your attention I just read information on copyrighted material and how to use it. I don't provide this as anything other than worthwhile reading.

Original content isn't hard to create. I just start with ideas in my head then write them down. In the case of a blog I type them in. However, some ideas are to complex to convey an idea when a dialouge thats is already well documented will do. In those situation posting copyrighted material might be the best way to make your point. Therefore the information in this link may help you to make a right decision on posting someones elses work. Thank you information super highway! Click Here

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/copyright-fair-use-and-how-it-works-for-online-images/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

One other thing I would like to bring to your attention that is completely unrelated is Baltimore Noahslist Marketplace Classifieds is now online and ready to use.

If you do business in the Baltimore area I ask that you place an ad in our Business Directory Category. It's easy and in 2012 we'll introduce our ads services to include print, digital displays, coupons and qr code technologies. Direct to Market LLC also operates the Harrisburg and Washington DC area's as well.

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Leaders and their followers

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:03:24 -0800

I'm curious about leaders or trend setters and their followers. We have all seen or know of them. An individual or a company that takes off. They break and set records or achieve great success in a short period of time. Others try to emulate that success or copycat them. Is it luck, skill or a little of both? What do you do outside of conventional thinking to set yourself apart from the others in your field? I can sum up followers myself. Followers lack self-confidence, creativity and skill. They prefer that someone else takes the risk no matter how trivial. They're the one's afraid to fail.

Yahoo! closed down some of its services last week. I'm not sure what exactly. Just that I read about their cash-flow issues in USA Today then a short time later the headlines. Wow. Remember when the news was all about Yahoo? Google was (It seemed to me) just another website search engine. Another ask jeeves or aol.

I can even relate this same scenario to brokerages that seemed to big to fail that are now long gone in my area.

What is it to fail then? For me failure is not to question. To question is to think. Failure can only be the result of trying. Action is required, risk is at stake. Followers will never fail. They only muddle through and pickup scraps left by those who will eventual fail for some reason or another. What leaders get to keep is what makes them great in the first place, the willingness to think.

Marketing is fluid and in flux today more than ever. Technology to promote your business and your products will change dramatically over the next year. 2012 will see new interactive marketing tools that will change traditional marketing strategies for business people. Consumers will have more venues offering advertisng that they'll be able to interact with. Will they find your ad there? It's time to stop and think.

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Harrisburg Noahslist Provides Exposure for You & Your Listings!

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:58:49 -0800

Hello Activerain members. On December 12, 2011. Direct to Market LLC. will start a bill board advertising campaign in Camp Hill, PA. The LED bill board is located east bound on rt. 581 going toward the capital city of Harrisburg. Over 50 thousand cars per day will pass the electronic sign displaying a simple easy to read ad for Noahslist.com

My Offer: Post a free ad on http://harrisburg.noahslist.com before the end of 2011 and I'll upgrade your post for free.

The upgrade will include hi-lighting your ad. Adding Quicksell category scroll features for both category and home page exposure.

I just ask after the holidays for some feedback. Both good and bad. If you need help I'll be happy to assist. It's important to me that this works for you.

Property ads run for 30 days and Business directory ads last 365 days. Titles are SEO (search engine optimized). A description area and 4 photos are included as well a a link to you website or broker site. Social media for facebook, Google + and Idigg are also available.

We are also advertising Noahslist on the WHP580 talk radio website through the new year.

Thanks for taking the time to consider this offer.

Victor Plitt

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com

Thanks for the warm welcome to activerain.

Victor Plitt (Direct to Market LLC) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:15:41 -0800

I just wanted to thank all of those folks who have welcomed me to the activerain community. I look forward to building dynamic business relationships with like minded people. I wonder if this might be something like Galt"s gulch? Yea, just testing the water.

Harrisburg Noahslist, Baltiomore Noahslist, DC. Noahslist, www.listingtycoon.com