Myrtle Beach Real Estate and SEO Blog

12 First Steps to SEO for Your Website

2009-05-31T19:16:12Z

I am so often begged by Realtors and business people that I meet for just a few "tips" to doing SEO because they don't have the money available to pay for someone to do the real job for them. I thought I'd make a very simplified guide that I can refer them to, and that perhaps it might help some Active-Rainers in the bargain.

Again, there is so much more to it than this, but if you do the following you'll at least be half-way to having a search-engine-friendly site that you can get some links coming into. Most of these can be found everywhere on the internet, but we all have our different priorities, and this is what I start with when I do SEO on a business website:

1. Download the Google Toolbar. This is something you need to use everytime you look at another site - whether it is a competitor or someone you are going to exchange links with.
Be sure the options for "PageRank" and "Page Info Menu" are checked. The only reason for not using this tool is if you are using AOL to get on the internet. And sorry, that is too silly to even address.

2. Go to the free Wordtracker Keyword Tool. This keyword tool shows all related searches and the number of searches per day. The information is derived weekly from Dogpile and some of the other conglomerated search engines which pull Google, Yahoo, and MSN together for the results.

A. Open up your email and prepare to send yourself this one.

B. Start with typing in "Your City". Copy and paste any results that pertain to real estate that you see. Do it for the city alone, the city plus the state spelled out, and the city plus the state abbreviation. Don't bother with any that are less than 10 per day. Paste this into the email you are sending yourself along with the ones below.

C. Now type in "Your City Real Estate". Copy and paste the results that you get for any phrase didn't show up with the main search. The free keyword tool only gives you 100 results for each phrase. It may not show up with the city alone. Again, use the state abbreviation and spelled out for this one.

D. Do the same for "Your City - homes, houses, property, condos, land, lots, commercial", and anything else I've forgotten to mention. If you do it without a state, it will still pick up the ones with it, and usually there are not 100 phrases to display.

Paste all this to your email to yourself and mail it before it's lost. You've just done half of what I charge an initial consulting fee to do.

3. At this point, you could use Google's keyword tools to see which of these phrases had the highest number of searches VERSUS competing ads in Adwords. This would give you an idea of how competitive the terms were. But for simplicity, we're not going into that.

Put the phrases together in order of highest number of searches to lowest.

Here is where it gets tricky. If you have a newer website or domain name, it's going to be nearly impossible for you to rank for the most competitive search terms. Find a medium in the list and begin with that.

If your website has been around for years but just not optimized, you may be able to optimize the text, add a good number of quality incoming links and rank fairly quickly. Look at your website with the Google toolbar and see what, if any, Pagerank it has. If it doesn't show a cache and the green bar is greyed out, something is wrong and Google hasn't indexed your site. That may require a professional's advice to find the problem. If the pagerank bar is white or has any green at all, and there is a cache showing, you're in good shape. A pagerank (PR) of one is the least. PR2 is much better. PR3 is well on the way, and PR4 and above is excellent. If you've never done any link campaigns, you'll probably be a one or two.

Choose what you want to target accordingly, and then pick out the 3 most important ones.
Be realistic. If you are a new site, you are not going to rank for "Las Vegas Real Estate". However, you might be able to do it for a small town that has very few competing websites. Do a search for the good terms and look at the first 3-4 sites using your Google Toolbar. Note the pagerank. See what Google shows as a sample of the links these sites have. Can you hope to compete for these terms?

Look up the competing site on Yahoo Site Explorer to get the most complete list of backlinks there is. This will give you an idea of its strength, as well as a possible list of sites you can also get a link from.

4. Apply these 2-3 most important phrases to your homepage. Put them in the title, the metatag description, and the meta keyword list. The latter is not used by Google, but is still used by other search engines. Keep that list to about 10 maximum.

5. Use these phrases in a header (H1 or H2) tag at the beginning of your homepage. Use them in the ALT tags of your photos and graphics. ALL GRAPHICS SHOULD HAVE ALT TAGS- Sitewide. This is not only important for SEO, but politically correct. It's for people using audio readers, and on some cellphones.

6. Put about 250 words of text on your homepage that reads well and describes your area and services. Use those keyword phrases sparingly in the text in different ways. If the term is "Atlanta homes for sale" then use it as "homes for sale in Atlanta, GA" and "sales of Atlanta homes and property". Vary the usage, and DO NOT SPAM the terms. Today's search engines are smart. They know spam from good content, believe it or not.

TIP: Make your homepage and all other pages' top banner link to your domain name and use the main keyword as the ALT text.

7. Put your business name and address at the bottom of every page of the website and use a link with it to the domain name with the secondary keyword phrase.

8. Be sure that all links back to your homepage use the same URL. Do NOT USE "index.html" on the end of it. If you prefer using the "www." then choose that and NEVER link to it without that.

9. Every page on your site should have its own title and metatags, and they should match that page's content. This is a priority. Try to make a page pertaining to all of the keyword phrases you sent yourself. Use the phrase with dashes as the URL if possible. (example www.yoursite.com/atlanta-condos.html or www.yoursite.com/atlanta-foreclosures.html) Again, on those pages, use that particular term in the H1 tag, the ALT tags, and the text, sparingly.

10. Keep the links on your navigation to a maximum of about 25, especially on the homepage. If you have many pages, try to create a main page for groups of them, and use those main pages as your navigation. The more links per page, the less pagerank that page is going to have. Do a sitemap ON the site and use the search terms as much as possible for the links on it.

11. Create an XML sitemap for Google. A good free site to use for this is XML-sitemaps.com. Sign up for a Google Webmaster Account and submit this sitemap. Google will tell you all kinds of details about how they see your site from this. You can get a list of all the backlinks that Google shows for your site, including broken links and other problems.

12. If you've done all these things, you're ready to start getting incoming links to the site. Do some using those three most important keyphrases...not with one phrase. One-way links are much more helpful than reciprocal ones. Do not bother getting links on pages that show nothing for pagerank with your Google toolbar. Yes, you may lose a few this way...the toolbar only updates about every 90 days. But you've got a huge job ahead of you, don't waste your efforts. Blog links are usually good. Recip links with a partner on a CONTENT page with no more than 2-3 other links is helpful. Links from pages that are nothing but links are a waste of time, especially if they are reciprocal. Try to get some of the area businesses to trade links with you. Offer to advertise for them with a banner if they will give you a text link on a good page of their site. If you link to your website from your Active Rain blog or profile, try not to link back to it from the website...keep it a ONE-WAY incoming link. Link to your site from all of your social profiles.

Learn what the "NO FOLLOW" tag is, and how to use it.

This is only the beginning of your hard work ahead. I haven't covered all the important points of SEO, but I've touched on many. Join the SEO forums like WebmasterWorld.com and READ. You can learn a lot from the forums, but be sure the information you get is up-to-date and from a reliable source. Read Google's Webmaster Rules and don't try to use any shortcuts. Build lots and lots of content, and write for your customers.

Good luck, and hopefully we'll see you at the top! :-)

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(My Stuff)

Myrtle Beach Real Estate - Myrtle Beach Kids - Florida Oceanfront Property - Condo Insurance

New Social Website to Help With SEO

2009-03-28T03:33:36Z

I don't know if you all know David McInnis or not. He was the founder of PRWeb.com and is a brilliant as well as a super nice guy. PRWeb continues to be one of the best SEO tools around, although another company bought it out. The excellent search engine tools and the way Google favors their press releases is in no small way due to David's influence and guidance as well as his working relationship with Matt Cutts.

David has come up with a new social site, and this one again will benefit you from links and for your SEO. Nothing on it is no-followed. You can write what you like for your profile, and put in links to your websites and blogs with anchor text, as well as pulling in your blog feeds, again, with DO FOLLOW links.

Having said that, I'm sure they are keeping an eye out for spam, and I wouldn't push the envelope too far with links. Be sure the websites you link to are legitimate, and you take time to make a GOOD profile. I understand the profiles are ranking well for content terms as well...so you should choose a user name with your search terms in mind, and use them throughout your content.

The name of this new Search Engine Optimization Social Site is People Pond! Find it at www.peoplepond.com You can link to your Active Rain profile and blog feed and help to promote it! He describes it as:

"PeoplePond provides the tools needed to take ownership of your online identity and reputation management by creating a search engine optimized online profile promoting your online identity and content."

My new profile there is Myrtle Beach Web Design. I highly recommend this to everyone.

Scam Targeting Bloggers and Real Estate Domainers

2009-03-12T09:58:25Z

I happened to receive an email yesterday for one of my clients, sent to my webmaster email that is on all his domain names to help him. It looked like this....

Hi,

My name is Brandon Birdwell and I would be interested in buying your domain ____.COM from you. Are you interested in selling it? If yes, how much would you want for it? What payment method would you prefer?

And just in case you are wondering how I got your email, anyone can get that info at whois.net

Regards,

Brandon Birdwell

**********************

I didn't think anything about it because this client owns about 100 domain names, so I forwarded it on to him. Oddly, the original email address didn't attach, so this morning my client asked me what his email was. I had deleted the email, and feeling badly, I Googled that odd name. I found a dentist and a Yale student, which didn't seem right. I kept going down the results and then found a blog called Blog To Great, which described the same email and advised that it was a scam. This is what they had to say about it...

Funny thing is, the domain he inquired about from me is "parked" at Sedo, who provides full info on my domain's web page on how to contact them to buy. It seems this person is looking for people wanting to sell via Paypal and would likely reverse payment after they have the domain name.

I know that many of us in the real estate industry tend to get caught up in the domain-buying addiction. I certainly have . So we need to all be careful from now on with inquiries that sound too exciting and come from nowhere. Looks like we are their latest target. I feel sorry for these two people with the name of Brandon Birdwell! ####

Myrtle Beach Real Estate

Myrtle Beach Real Estate in Top 15 Healthy Markets

2009-02-23T22:14:07Z

As we have been saying, Myrtle Beach real estate has gotten a huge boost since the first of January. Although there were enough "lookers" in 2008, it seemed that they all intended to wait for something before they made the decision to buy a home or condo in Myrtle Beach. Whether it was the election, Christmas, or just their state of mind, it seemed to come together after the new year. Retirees and Canadians seem to be coming out of the woodwork now, and the number of foreclosures is dwindling - a good thing for all concerned.

It seems odd that sales of resort condos and vacation homes would increase with the economy getting worse every day. But perhaps it's because stocks are falling that more people want to invest in real estate instead.

The building industry has a popular website at www.builderonline.com that informs and updates builders about their profession, and they have released a report listing the 15 Healthiest Housing Markets for 2009. Myrtle Beach is number 15, proclaiming our area as "remaining one of the hottest markets in the country". They say our prices last year remained steady, falling only 10 percent, with an average price of $174,800 - very affordable compared to most other resort areas.

Wilmington NC was next, followed by Charlotte, Denver CO, Nashville, Fayetteville and others, with the Texas cities of Austin, Ft Worth, and Houston being the final three.

Myrtle Beach vacation rentals are also booking like wildfire for the summer, and it appears that regardless of jobs and the economy, most people are not willing to forego their vacations. As well, the Myrtle Beach golf industry seems to be thriving and in all, our 2009 looks very promising. Martin Brown, who owns Condolux Vacation Rentals, continues to say this is going to be one of the best years his company has had, both in rentals, property management, and Myrtle Beach home sales.

Check out what our residents say about Living in Myrtle Beach.

Priceline Negotiator Hopes to Help Resort Market and Economy

2009-01-23T23:22:33Z

Well, this is one blog that I must admit I will enjoy writing.

William Shatner is a hero of mine. I've been a "Trekky", or avid Star Trek fan for 30-plus years, and William Shatner has always been a major crush for me. When he (we) were young, I don't think there was a sexier man alive. As with Davy Jones from the Monkees, also an idol of mine, those of us who have loved these guys since we were kids still see them as the handsome young hunks that they used to be.

Anyway, today's Reuter News had a neat article about Shatner fighting the economic crunch with his Priceline commercials. As the Priceline Negotiator, he comically storms into unsuspecting people's houses and offices as they are preparing to book a vacation and spend more than they have to.

One of the worst industries to suffer with our economic times is travel, and the article says Shatner's job has gotten a little harder.

"But the 77-year old actor best known for playing Captain James T Kirk in the Star Trek movies and television series is hopeful that spending begets spending, and that if enough people loosen their purse strings and venture out for leisure travel, the economy could rebound." says Kyle Peterson, the article's author.

It doesn't hold true everywhere, but those of us in resort areas find that markets such as Myrtle Beach real estate and Florida oceanfront property sales are largely influenced by the vacationers and our seasonal hospitality business. I can't speak too much for Florida, but our Myrtle Beach condo rentals really took off after the new year, and so far look good for this summer. If this carries over into real estate sales, it will definately improve over last year. Not only will it boost sales, but it will help some of the investors hang on to their vacation condos instead of going into foreclosure. At least we can hope so!

"We're in danger of retracting so much that everything will fail," Shatner told Reuters. "We're being fed by fear, and fear feeds on itself. And if we can break that cycle, we might come out of this sooner and better than we expect."

At any rate, it's a cute article about my man and his efforts to boost the economy, so I thought I'd share. Give it a read if you will. Bill Shatner has been around a long time, and has some wisdom to share. And Denny Crane is still fighting for truth, justice, and the conservative way...:-) Again the article can be found HERE.

How to Choose a Real Estate SEO Consultant

2009-01-12T21:16:45Z

I've run across so many so-called SEO companies here in Myrtle Beach that it actually makes me ashamed to be in the business sometimes. I've seen some people on Active Rain that are attempting to pass themselves off as SEO experts and they are far from it. We've got an SEO/web design company here that is actually using their regular web customers to rank their SEO customers with hidden links! It seems to get worse everywhere, every day and harder for you to know how to choose a legitimate real estate website SEO company.

I've probably given out more free advice in the 5 years that I've been in this business than all the work I've been paid to do. I think Diann Tonnesen, who has the number one Las Vegas real estate website, and Annette Smith who ranks for all her Sarasota, Siesta Key and Longboat Key search terms will confirm this fact. They have never been my clients. But they're long time friends and "group consultants" that have given me ideas as well as had me for answers to their questions the whole time we've known each other. There are other agents all over the place that I've coached and spent time on the phone with because I like to be helpful and friendship benefits us all in the long run.

I've gotten more than a handful of Myrtle Beach real estate sites to the top of Google for the main key phrases. I've had clients in other states and even in other professions such as photography. I try to train my clients how to do the things necessary to stay there because they can't afford to pay the prices I have to charge indefinitely. Some do what is needed and some don't. Most of the sites stay on the first page, but without a lot of constant work, they won't stay on the top. I've only worked for a few people here on the beach, but I don't think there is a Realtor in this town that hasn't heard of me or the companies I've worked with. The search engines have been my all consuming interest since about 2002-2003. It's all I do. It's all I think about. I'm not a realtor, have no family here, don't really design websites...I just produce results and LEADS. I'm a robot! :-)

But I can't work for 5 or 10 Realtors in the same town at the same time. It's unethical and probably impossible. Any SEO company that tries to do this is NOT an ethical SEO company. If you contact the SEO person who actively works for your competitor and he happily agrees to work for you too, you need to run - not walk - in the opposite direction.

Here is my best advice for choosing an SEO company to give your hard-earned money to. My first piece of advice is to go with one of the high profile companies like Bruce Clay Inc or even Real Estate Webmasters. They are going to cost a lot of money. But if your area is competitive in real estate, you will have to pay a good bit anyway...and it will take a good bit of time for a brand new website. Six months to a year right now seems to be the average time it takes to rank in the top 5 for "your city real estate". If you've had your site for a year or so and are just now wanting to rank it, chances are it will be quicker and easier.

If you can't pay those prices and want to find someone local, then this is what I recommend that you do:

1. Search Google for your city and real estate SEO. See if there are any sites that rank at the top for that, and read what their website has to say. Do they talk about "submitting your site to the search engines monthly? Do they brag about having a "link service"? If so, go to the next one. Do they offer tips and information on the website that convince you they know what they're doing? Do they readily admit that it takes 6 months or more to rank a new site? Do they offer blog training? Mention the social sites as a method of building links? If so, you may have a legitimate SEO expert. Look at their portfolio and make sure they have some prior customers that rank highly. Don't take their word for it. Go to the site, look at the title, use some common sense about what YOU would type into Google if you were looking for that product. If a website for Palm Beach Florida Real Estate is nowhere to be found for that term, but ranks well for "luxury homes for sale in Palm Beach", that's not good enough! Anyone can take a specific 5 word phrase and rank for it with a few links. That is one of the oldest and nastiest tricks these fly-by-night SEO companies use. Go to Wordtracker's Keyword Tool and look up the city. That will tell you what the most competitive keywords are. Be sure their customers rank for the right ones.

2. When you've done the research, contact the company/person on the phone. If they are in India or overseas, you'll find that out fast. Walk away. I'm sure there are some legitimate SEO companies overseas. But you have no way to investigate them, and no recourse if they take your money and run. Yes, they are cheap. Would you cash a check for someone you've never met that lives in Nairobi? No? Then don't put your most precious business asset in the hands of someone like that either. Make sure they are in the US. Check the Better Business Bureau in their city. Google the name of the company and find out if there are any complaints about them. These ripoff companies are usually all over the internet with complaints and accusations.

Reciprocal Link Directories are a thing of the past and can actually hurt your rankings now...especially in Yahoo.

3. Ask them to explain to you in a very basic way what they do to rank a site. If they say they start with on-page optimization, create a blog, bring your site links from articles and social sites, submit to a few of the legitimate directorys such as Yahoo and DMOZ, and have some partner sites that you can network with, then they are probably on the up-and-up. Again, refer to number 1 above. If they talk about building a reciprocal link directory on your site and charging you by the month to obtain link trades...again, walk away and try another one. They should not say that they build pages on their sites or even yours that redirect to your site. No hidden text or funny cloaking tricks. Try to find out as much as you can, and ask other Realtors what they think.

4. ASK FOR REFERENCES AND CHECK THEM. Call as many as you can and ask for specific websites to double check and see if they rank well and have some pagerank on Google's toolbar. (You DO have a Google Toolbar installed, right? If not, shame on you!)

If you've done all this PI work and everything looks good, then get an iron-clad contract with the people and give it a shot. Do NOT pay them the entire amount up front. Try to negotiate to pay monthly and even to have a trial period if they will. Many won't. But the usual way of doing things is to pay part up front, and the balance when the site is ranking well...or whatever you agree on. Many will only promise the first page, and that is acceptable. If they promise you you'll be number one, then something is wrong.

Be sure this agreement is NOT for pay per click ads or some special downloaded toolbar gimmick. That is not to say that it might not be worth your while to run a well-controlled Google Adwords campaign during those 6 months if you can afford it. But paying them for organic SEO should have nothing to do with any kind of advertising.

BE SURE THEY ARE AGREEING TO RANK YOU FOR A REAL KEYPHRASE. it's a good idea to start with some of the easier ones and work up, but don't let them sell you on ranking for the name of your website, your broker, or even something like "home for sale in Atlanta with a cement driveway". They should not get paid in full until your site ranks for something productive.

Most of all, go by your gut feeling and do your due-diligence. There are so many bad ones out there. You may be talking about an expenditure of up to $10,000 before it's all said and done. Invest wisely and it's worth every penny. Invest without checking on the company and you can lose a lot of money. And don't assume that everyone advertising SEO on Active Rain knows what they are doing, either. I've seen about as many bad ones here as anywhere else.

If you have other questions or want to ask about a certain company, contact me. If I can't help you we can check out the other ones to be sure they can do the job.

Who is Most to Blame for the Real Estate Mess?

2009-01-03T20:04:37Z

There is an interesting discussion going on over at The Real Estate Cafe about who is the most to blame for all the foreclosures and problems going on now. When I first ran across it, I became incensed and had to stand up for Realtors. Someone had posted that they were the most to blame for being greedy, not representing the buyer properly, yada yada.

I see the devastation from the real estate crisis every day here in Myrtle Beach real estate, and my old customers and friends are losing everything they made in a lot of cases. It hurt everybody, except maybe the ones that flipped a condo or two right at the very beginning and then stopped...and there weren't many that did.

One of my guys is so kind hearted and feels so badly that he has refused to sell anymore...and he's probably the most "blessed" human being in sales ability that ever was. It's a waste of talent to see somebody that good blame themselves and toss away that kind of ability over the greed of buyers and everyone else involved.

Anyway, I thought maybe some of you might want to get in on the comments and defend agents everywhere. Take a look and see, and maybe tell the story of your area. I personally blame the so-called "experts" in the media for yammering on and on about the bubble bursting until it became a self-fulfilled prophecy. And maybe you are an investor who got burned and you feel like telling your point of view, too.

http://realestatecafe.blogs.com/real_estate_cafe/2008/09/draft-add-lin-1.html

Jan

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See the photo slideshows on Flower Mound Texas Real Estate and Frisco Tx Real Estate

Seniors Expect to Enter Real Estate Market

2008-12-13T12:31:26Z

The National Association of Home Builders reported some news from AARP about Baby Boomers and their home plans.

AARP did a survey that showed one in four upcoming retirees expect to move to a single-level, more convenient home eventually.

79% said they would like to stay in their current home. (I found this surprising.) For the ones with plans to move, many said they would look for a better house, a better climate, or would move closer to family. Half preferred a newer or smaller home.

Men were more 20% more likely than women to want a newer home, or to be in a warmer climate. Women were slightly more likely to find a smaller home.

AARP offered a new 2008 Livable Communities Award to builders of more accessible, livable homes that enhance daily comfort, ease, and safety for its owners. The number of persons age 65 and older is expected grow to 70 million by 2030.

Winners of this year's award were located in California, Tampa Florida, Vermont, and Washington State.

South Carolina is a very popular location for Northern retirees that prefer a more moderate climate, and our Myrtle Beach real estate prices are much lower than Florida. Some of the popular retirement communities in the Grand Strand include Eagle Crest, Brightwater, Beachwood at the Heritage, and Myrtle Trace.

Greenville, SC has also become a favorite retirement stop-off for those who don't favor the beach. Visit our partner's Greenville SC Real Estate website, or see some the retirement homes for sale in Greenville.

Advance Auto is a Savior for Women

2008-11-16T12:56:09Z

This is going to be a little off-topic, but I know there are a lot of single women in AR, and probably plenty of mechanically "challenged" men as well. I wanted to tell you all about a national company that everyone has heard of, but many people don't realize what a godsend they can be - Advance Auto Parts Store.

Most people think of Advance Auto as a vague place to go buy a headlight or a carburator if you want to save a bit of money and not shop at the car dealer. But this store and these people are SO MUCH MORE.

I've been using AAP since I first moved to Myrtle Beach about 17 years ago. For several years I was living on practically minimum wage, driving a 10 year old Pontiac Fiero, and eating bologna sandwiches more often than I like to think about.

North Myrtle Beach in many ways is like the usual small town. Back in those days, more so than now, if you lived here, you eventually met the business owners, the police, the restaurant waittresses and others that seemed to help each other as much as the residents of Mayberry. One of the earliest things I learned from men that I met along the way (men LOVE to advise single women about car stuff) was that AAP was the place to buy things like windshield wipers, antennas (antennae?) and lights for the car.

There is a local garage in Cherry Grove that was so kind to me as to let me buy parts from AAP and bring them up there to install and repair my car. Now this is not something most garages will do, but in "North Mayberry Beach", so many people go out of their way to help people who work at hotels and restaurants. Most grew up here and worked at these jobs as teenagers, so they know what it's like to get by on $5.00 an hour.

Anyway, I've always known you could save money by shopping at AAP. And I quickly learned that when you buy windshield wipers from them, THEY will come out of the store and put them on for you - FREE! Now it's customary to tip the boy who does this. He's probably living on $8-9 an hour himself. But if any of you women have ever tried to put wipers on yourself, you know that it's worth every bit of $3-5 to let somebody else get their hands black.

I suppose most of you have boyfriends or husbands that do this for you. But for those of us who don't, little things like this mean so much. Is your car running funny? Before you go drop it off to the GM dealership and spend a fortune, run it by AAP and let them hook you up to their diagnostic machine that might just save you a bundle. Buy a new battery there for about as much as you'd pay at Walmart...and these guys will install it for you, right in the parking lot. Got a headlight out? In most cases they will put it in for you at no charge and with no wait. Where else in the world can you expect service like that? Granted, they probably do more for a woman than they'd be inclined to do for a man, but I don't really know this for a fact either. They may well do it for every customer that walks in the door.

But today, this company amazed me beyond anything that's happened since I moved here.

Last night I must have left something on in the car from the day before. I still haven't figured it out, but when I went to go grab a burger for dinner, my car was as dead as a doornail. No horn, no lights, remote doesn't work...just dead. And I'm thinking, CRAP. It's Saturday night. Tomorrow is Sunday. Will I have to call a tow-truck or maybe I can find a neighbor to jump me off....which I hate to ask. People are funny about giving you a jump with today's new cars. I'm thinking on Sunday everything will be closed...what if I have to buy a battery? I went to bed just beside myself worrying about it. I can't stand to be without transportation.

This morning about 8am I decide to call AAP and ask if (A) they are open, which I doubt...and (B) will they loan me one of those battery chargers if I can find a ride up there.

First amazement, they answered the phone. The LADY manager (that's pretty amazing too) explains to me that they don't open until 9am, but yes, they are open. And yes, if I want to leave them a charge card or something as a deposit, they will give me a battery jumper.

BUT...she says, why not just let me send my guy to your house to help you and jump the car? I ask her how much that will cost and she tells me NOTHING. "It's our customer service", she says.

Can you imagine in this day and time (and gas prices) that any company would do this? I might add that this is a new Advance Auto that just recently opened about 3 miles from me in Little River. I've always dealt with the one in North Myrtle Beach before. These people did not know me, nor did she ask my name.

She goes on to say that since it's Sunday, they won't be busy, so as soon as they open, she'll send one of the boys to help me. And if I want to tip him something, that's up to me, but there is no charge for the service.

About an hour later, a very nice older man rides up in a yellow truck, jumps me off, and then because I'm smart, I follow him back to the store to have the diagnostic done. It shows my alternator is fine, and the battery is just low but good, and advises to recharge. This has taken about 6 miles of driving, maybe an hour of their time, and they don't charge me a dime or sell me a thing. AND ARE HAPPY TO DO IT!

Yes, I tipped the man...and well. I saved a tow-truck fee, possibly being sold a battery I didn't need, and received the kind of service most people just dream of. So girls, (and guys too!) the next time you have a car problem, remember there is a company out there that wrote the book on customer service. Advance Auto Parts is the BOMB. I can't brag on them enough.

And to the home office AAP, I hope you give the manager and all the employees at 1661 Highway 17, Little River, SC a RAISE. They do more to brand your store as a winner than all the advertising in the world.

Real Estate, Blogs, and Opinions

2008-11-07T08:15:20Z

This started out to be a comment on Joe Zekas' blog post, 10 Things You Should Stop Doing Immediately on Your Blog. (Have a free link, Joe)

It got too long so I just decided to bring it here and say what I wanted to say. I think the points have been posted enough times, or you can go read the posting if you want to get your feathers ruffled.

Here's my take on the whole blogging thing...from an SEO's standpoint, and as a person who bought a condo 5 years ago.

There are two kinds of blogs in the real estate business, and on the internet. There are business blogs, which are often boring, and there are humorous, sometimes sarcastic, and fun to read blogs. If I want to be entertained, I'll go visit something like this. http://myrtlebeachramblings.blogspot.com/

If I was a customer buying a home (and I HAVE BEEN A CUSTOMER BUYING A HOME) I'll tell you what I would be looking for on the internet. A blog would not be the deciding factor, but I wouldn't be looking for entertainment, either. First, and maybe it's because I'm in the business, I would be choosing one of the real estate websites that ranked well in Google. Why? Because it's very very hard to rank in Google anymore if you aren't a legitimate business. Any website I go to, from an infomercial or an ad...that doesn't have a good Google pagerank, I will usually pass on. There is a reason why Amazon, Ebay, QVC, Adobe, Dell, and others are at the top of the search engine rankings...it's because they are good, legitimate businesses. Obama just won the election with no small help from Google. It's starting to rule the world, and eventually is going to.

The next thing I'd personally like to see is a PICTURE of the agent. I might pick a kindly older man, or a nice looking younger man, or a 40-something experienced and hard working lady Realtor. But I DO want to see what they look like! About the only thing I wouldn't choose is some 20-something year old in a low cut top that is flaunting her sex appeal. Now I know for a fact that those kind do well here in Myrtle Beach - among the male clients. So if you want to limit your business to men who are staring at your boobs the whole time you're selling them a home, you'll certainly get some sales from it, no doubt. But you'll lose the middle aged women, the men with jealous wives, and the religious people.

This brings me to another point...the religious references. I myself am turned off by that and probably would go straight to the next agent. But there is a HUGE group of highly religious Moral Majority types in this country...and THEY would pick that site that had the Biblical references over one that didn't. So you may limit yourself, but then again, some people prefer to work with people they have something in common with. So this is not a "don't do" in my opinion. It's simply a matter of preference. One of my customers is real big into the Gideon International Society and promotes it on his stuff. I was a fanatical Hillary Clinton supporter, and I blogged about it. If I lost a few Republican customers that way, it's not a problem. We blog about our passions, and it's a good thing, as far as I'm concerned. It shows who we are and what we believe in!

The next thing I'd look for is an excellent IDX that I do NOT have to register to use. I'll go right by one that does require that. I advise my customers NOT to require it...some take the advice and some don't. Offer an email notification of new listings and get the info that way. Then you don't offend anybody. Use an IDX product that has great photos and is simple to use. Don't make me fill in 10 boxes just to look for a 3 bedroom home with a fireplace, please. When I find a property I like, I'll click the contact button and ask you about it. And if I do this at 7pm on a Friday night, don't make me wait till 9am on Monday morning before you answer me. If you don't care about my needs enough to give me a call over your weekend, then I'll find somebody who does.

Lastly, I would probably glance over a blog and see how professional and knowledgeable the posts were. If the agent can't spell, I would run for the hills. Nothing is worse than posting things on a business website that sounds like a school kid who flunked the 2nd grade. If there are property listings on the blog, I'd probably look at a bunch of them! So I think that's a great thing, personally. I would love lots of photos and some local attractions and news, too.

I've been working with Realtors for 6 years now, and I don't know what all those abbreviations mean. Do I find it offensive when it's in a signature? No...although I've seen it overdone. There's a fine line between being proud and advertising one's accomplishments, and appearing to be a braggart. If this was my customer and was paying for my opinion, I might kindly point that out. But I would not feel like I had the right to blindly post on a site like Active Rain and blast somebody about doing it. There are ways to talk to other people and get your point across without being insulting.

BUT...for those of you who don't follow the SEO forums and know this...everywhere you go, you read that one of the best ways to get comments, views, and GOOGLE juice (aka "link-bait") is to say something controversial, be nasty, or otherwise get an upset audience to participate. My personal opinion is that Joe's post was at least partly for that reason. It certainly isn't going to win him any customers. I suspect that was mostly for the attention and the SEO. 'Course I could be wrong...but that would be my first guess.

One more point I wanted to make is about SEO. I have about 6 blogs that I'm active in, and I do it for the SEO benefit. I have one personal blog that I use for my own therapy. I try to keep my AR blog to use for long, interesting (I hope) articles, and I don't spam here or make useless posts. But posting a listing gets the same SEO benefit as posting a long, trolling, hateful post about doing the wrong things on a blog. It doesn't get the comments...but it's content. Perhaps some people are not trying to build a big reader base for their blog, but are doing what they have to do to get their website to rank. Just a thought. I do post listings occasionally for my customer's blogs, although not on here. I try to only do the really good looking homes and include a lot of photos. Personally, I like looking at a home in Flower Mound Texas just to see how different they are from homes in Greenville SC or Myrtle Beach real estate.

A couple of other points of Joe's that I don't agree with - Profiles: Absolutely I disagree with that. I think you need to take time to create a GREAT profile on AR. Include links to your website. Include links to your blogs and to profiles on the social sites (You ARE using Digg and StumbleUpon, right???) Link your AR profile on those, too. Get the Pagerank up on your AR profile and it will do an amazing amount of good towards helping your website to rank! Active Rain has become a high authority site to Google. You can bet they are keeping tabs on it.

Last of all...Ya'll need to use your signatures for your keyphrases. I think Jason Crouch pointed that out before. It really does help...maybe more than all the designations...:-) When you post a comment on someone else's blog, it throws a link to YOUR profile...making it rank better. If that link has "your city real estate" in the anchor text, it makes your profile stronger for that phrase. Then when you link to your website from that profile, it does even more good! Try to always look at everything you do and everything you write on the internet as a way to boost your main website in the search engines. It will become 2nd nature to you eventually, and one day you may find yourself with a top ranking.

Realtors®, Copyrights, and Websites

2008-10-15T01:39:58Z

I've seen several long blog complaints from Real Estate Webmasters about a real estate agent in Sarasota Florida that just lost his number one Google ranked website because the name was "theSarasotaMLS.com". They (REW) were irate because Marc Rasmussen, the owner, had spent hundreds of hours, years of hard work, and thousands of dollars on the site, just to lose it to the real Sarasota MLS, who went through ICANN and got a copyright ruling.

According to them, they first had a civil suit about it, which the Sarasota MLS (board of licensed real estate agents, I assume) LOST, because the site had been around for years, was specifically marked that it belonged to a private agent and not represented by the Sarasota MLS. Having lost that, they went and filed through ICANN, which monitors domain names internationally, and won the ruling. I guess you could say that World Internet Law topped US Copyright laws. Anyway, Marc is losing the domain name, and even if allowed to keep the old site up with 301 redirects, will almost certainly lose the number one Google spot and his hard-earned work and expense. With the kind of money that Sarasota real estate sales can amount to, it's a hard blow for them, I'm sure.

My first thoughts when I was reading it were not surprised ones. I've seen all the Boards go after websites that contained the word commonly used to represent a licensed real estate agent, and pretty much everyone that has a license now knows that you can't set up a website with that in the domain name. My friend Diann in Las Vegas lost a great website several years ago because she had it on "LasVegasRealtor.com". She was sick at heart and angry too...but didn't get a lot of sympathy because it was pretty common knowledge. And like REW is claiming in this matter with Sarasota, Diann lost hers when a jealous competitor complained loud and long and the Board felt obligated to press the issue. I think since that time they have really clamped down and possibly even have some type of automated search system that catches any new websites that violate the official licensed real estate agent copyright. At the time with Diann, they did allow her about 6 months to make the change.

But what of the term "MLS"? Up until recently, I've never thought of that as being something you could get in trouble for. One of my current clients selling Greenville SC Real Estate informed me the other day that the local Board there did not even allow their real estate agents to use the term on the website! They didn't want agent sites ranking in Google and Yahoo for the term! So far, the local Myrtle Beach real estate Board hasn't addressed the usage of "MLS", but this may set a precedent for all of them. Anyone who has that designation in their domain name may be smart to start planning on getting a new name just in case.

In another bizarre case, we once got a cease and desist email from a local company who had registered a corporation name of "Myrtle Beach Real Estate". Then they supposedly took it further and got a trademark on it. Not sure if the trademark included LLC, or Inc, or not, but it was a ridiculous situation. They were trying to force all the MB websites to stop using the headline Myrtle Beach Real Estate. Their complaint was that we all made it appear that it was a company name. That wasn't true, of course, and from what I've seen, they've given up on trying to push that issue. One of my old clients actually owns the domain name "MyrtleBeachRealEstate.com", and registered it many years ago. From what I understand of ICANN law, names are also grandfathered in, so you can't register a trademark for "purple bracelet" and then hunt down people who own domain names about purple bracelets and take them over.

The MLS is a very grey area, though. It's a term used by every local Board, probably not trademarked by them all. I haven't heard anything about Flower Mound TX real estate so far. But they will probably all file it post-haste now. So if you are using the term in your domain name or excessively on your website, you might want to consider making a change now.

And isn't it amazing how Google is affecting almost every aspect of business these days? It makes one wonder just where it will all end. Perhaps everyone should rush out and get the trademark of "your-city" plus Foreclosures to be on the safe side these days...:-)

Google Allows Yahoo to Take Over Real Estate Searches

2008-10-11T13:52:04Z

For about the 20th time, I searched for another city/real estate term to find some information for one of my websites. And for the 20th time, I find Yahoo's real estate pages in the top of the searches. Usually not quite number one...perhaps that would be too obvious. Or maybe it just hasn't happened yet on most of the cities. But this upsets me to no end and I just decided to complain about it here.

Let me illustrate my point here, keeping in mind that the results on Google continuously jump around now.

San Francisco Real Estate - The number two result, http://realestate.yahoo.com/California/San_Francisco

Trulia is number one on that one, which is just as bad, but I'll leave that for another rant. And before I move on, let me show you this blatant keyword spam at the bottom of the Yahoo page for this term:

San Francisco, California real estate - use Yahoo! Real Estate to find real estate in San Francisco or other California real estate. Use our home buyer tools to research all aspects of the San Francisco housing market including San Francisco neighborhood information, San Francisco home loans, and San Francisco schools. Whether looking for homes for sale in San Francisco or San Francisco apartments for rent, Yahoo! Real Estate can help. Our San Francisco real estate market snapshot gives you an overview of the housing market in San Francisco, CA - easily find San Francisco housing market prices, housing inventory statistics such as number of listings, median home price, home price trends, and monthly real estate market trends. Once you have a better sense for the San Francisco real estate market, search our San Francisco foreclosures, San Francisco new homes, San Francisco classifieds, San Francisco rentals, or all San Francisco homes for sale. Search Jobs in San Francisco.

None of us would be allowed to get away with that much keyword spam and not hit a filter and be kicked back to the third page or worse. The two terms San Francisco real estate and SF Housing are on that one page 11 more times counting the title, description, and keyword tags.

Philadelphia Real Estate - Number 4. Trulia is number 2.

Daytona Beach Real Estate - Number 2. Trulia is number 3.

Austin Texas Real Estate - Number 8. Jump on the bandwagon, Jason!

Orlando FL Real Estate - Number 2. Trulia is number 4.

Miami FL Real Estate - NUMBER 1!!! I don't know what happened to all those Miami Realtors that used to have such strong websites.

Las Vegas Real Estate - Number 2. This is probably the biggest money maker of all for ads.

San Diego Real Estate - Number 2. Trulia is number 1.

Cleveland OH Real Estate - Number 4. Would you believe there is only ONE legitimate agency in the top 10? The rest are all the big players, Homes.com, Realtor.com and others.

Greensboro NC Real Estate - Number 3. Even the smaller cities have been overtaken.

Norfolk VA Real Estate - Number 1!!! Trulia is missing on this one, oddly.

Boston MA Real Estate - Number 1!!! No Trulia in the top 10.

Fairfield CT Real Estate - Number 2.

I won't go on any further. But I just think this is WRONG, and it's very unfair to every agency or individual agent, in that it seems to be impossible for most of them to get above Yahoo on GOOGLE'S results.

Whether this is because Yahoo and Google are soon to be sharing the click ads or what, it isn't right. And yeah, they're on Myrtle Beach real estate, too...at number 4. But that's not really the reason for my rant. It's the complete takeover of every city that made me crazy.

Retiring in the South Doesn't Have to Be At the Beach

2008-10-10T11:11:15Z

Northern retirees looking for warmer weather and easy living are finding that other southern communities provide gated, carefree housing, cultural activities, and a lifestyle that rivals any beach, without the high prices, humidity, and tourism traffic.

Greenville, SC (PRWEB) October 10, 2008 --

Greenville, South Carolina is quickly becoming a bright spot on the map for many Americans looking to relocate for retirement or employment. Relocate-America.com's recent national survey named Greenville as the fourth best destination city in its top 100, and described it as, "Where the Old South meets the New South".

Greenville, South Carolina homes are a lower cost alternative to beachfront retirement, with all the benefits - including exciting riverfront attractions and scenic Greenville golf course homes. There are many reasons that visitors fall in love with the Upstate of South Carolina, but quality of life is probably the primary driving force.

The Best Technical Term Definitions of All Time :-)

2008-10-08T19:15:29Z

I just got this in an email, and had to share. I had to LOL when I read it, so you can too...:-) We ought to think up one for "that's a Realtor"...haha.

1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich.
"Marry me!" - "That's Direct Marketing..."

________________________________________

2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a
gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and
pointing at you says: "He's very rich.
"Marry him." -That's Advertising..."

________________________________________

3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and get her telephone number. The next day, you
call and say: "Hi, I'm very rich.
"Marry me" - "That's Telemarketing..."

________________________________________

4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up
and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour
her a drink, you open the door (of the car)"Marry Me?" -

"That's Public Relations..."

________________________________________

5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks
up to you and says:"You are very rich!
"Can you marry ! me?" - "That's Brand Recognition..."

________________________________________

6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives you
a nice hard slap on your face. - "That's Customer Feedback..."

________________________________________

7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And she
introduces you to her husband. - "That's demand and supply gap..."

________________________________________

8. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and before you say anything, another person comes
and tells her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and she
goes with him - "That's competition eating into your market share..."

________________________________________

9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and before you say: "I'm rich, Marry me!" your
wife arrives. - "That's restriction for entering new markets..."

*******************************************************************************

Need Agent to receive leads...

2008-09-16T20:50:33Z

Hey ya'll,

I've posted before that I had a new website and needed some agents to advertise on it. So far I'm not getting many bites. But anyway, I'm getting leads...a few a week already.

Tonight I got one wanting foreclosures on the gulf coast of Florida. I have nobody to send it to.

Aren't some of ya'll interested in these leads? I'm not an agent, so I can't ask for a referral fee. But if I send you leads perhaps you will see it's worth your time to advertise on the site.

www.oceanfrontinvestments.eom It's ranking for all kinds of oceanfront terms on Google, and I don't have a soul in Florida right now. Somebody email me at Jan@MyrtleBeachWebDesign.com and I'll send you the lead I got about an hour ago and we can discuss this.

Everything is open except Sarasota, and I also would like someone from Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks of NC!

Jan

Choosing a Real Estate Agent to Sell Your Home

2008-09-08T05:07:29Z

You're ready to sell your home. You've discussed it with the family, have a good idea of what it's worth, and you're ready to make the big move and call a Realtor.

How do you choose a seller's agent? Are they all the same? Do they know the same things? Consider these things before you sign your rights away and either waste a lot of time, or lose a lot of money...

Choose by the company and take the first agent that comes along?

We are inundated day and night by tv commercials about Century 21, Remax, Prudential, and other agencies that are nationwide and very popular. Does the agency name guarantee a good agent?

Not necessarily. While the bigger agencies may hold their agents to a higher ethical standard than smaller ones...or even independents, this doesn't guarantee that a particular agent will work hard, spend personal money to market your home effectively, have the best website to show internet buyers, or will not try to sell faster by costing you price-wise.

The experts all say that 80% of buyers look on the internet to do the initial shopping for homes, condos, and land. Myrtle Beach real estate is particularly high on internet sales.

Out of the thousands of agents in the country, probably only 1/10 or less of them have spent the money, taken the time to learn about, and utilize the internet effectively. This should be a strong point in your choice of a selling agent. Have them show you their website, and check Google to see where it ranks for "Your City Real Estate". If it isn't there, you should probably look elsewhere. You've lost a huge potential for selling your home right there.

Go with a friend or neighbor and/or family members out of obligation?

If you are a buyer, this might be ok. As a seller, it may be the worst mistake you can make. Your friend may have a good personality. Your friend's daughter may have gotten good grades and need a break to kick start her new career. Your nephew? Well, you may be stuck with that one.

But keep in mind that if things go sour, you may lose a friendship, create a family rift, or be put on the spot to stay with a seller that isn't a good seller.

Keep it professional and hire a professional - preferably one that you don't know. It's good to get references, though, so perhaps asking a friend if they know someone, with the stipulation that it not be family, could be a good way to start.

Take the first one you talk to because it's easy and they're all the same anyway?

Be lazy in your decision and don't be surprised after 6 months have passed and you haven't gotten a bite.

Choose an agent that suggests the highest selling price?

Not a good idea at all. Real estate is a cut throat profession in many areas. Many agents will flatter you by over-pricing the property to get that all-important listing contract. If your house is over-priced, it won't sell...simple as that. In the present market with all the foreclosures and motivated sellers, you may have to take a lower amount than you had hoped for.

That's something you should think about up front anyway. Are you willing to leave your home on the market for 12 months or more and hold out for what you feel it's worth, or will you concede to the market and sell it quickly?

Choose an agent by the lowest commission?

As everyone knows deep down inside, you get what you pay for. An agent that agrees to take a rock bottom rate is not going to work hard for you. The average 6% sounds like a lot of money. But by the time the agent splits that with a broker, pays for a great website and real estate marketing, hauls potential buyers back and forth with today's gas prices, and pays for other expenses that all agents have, that amount isn't nearly as much as you may think.

Not only that, often a home is sold by a secondary agent, and the commission is then split between yours and the buyer's agent. If the commission percentage is low, other agents are not going to bother showing your house.

A good real estate agent will EARN your respect, and every dollar of that commission. Do your homework, interview with several people, ask about the websites and other real estate marketing they will be doing, and make a wise choice when choosing an agent to sell your home.

Excellent Agents That I Know Personally:

Fran and Rowena - Los Angeles Real Estate
Diann Tonnesen - Las Vegas Real Estate
Lee Cunningham - Greenville SC Real Estate
Jack Ragsdale - Keller, Frisco and Flower Mound TX Real Estate
Annette Smith - Sarasota FL Real Estate
Debbie Ferrari - Orange County Real Estate

New Myrtle Beach Real Estate Website

2008-08-25T03:05:12Z

Introducing a great new site and IDX tool by a friend in Myrtle Beach...

Looking for property in the Myrtle Beach area? Whether you want to buy land and build, purchase a beach house along the beautiful Grand Strand coast of South Carolina or purchase a condo,

The Hoffman Group at Myrtle Beach Website can help you find your perfect property. You can't go wrong
with their superior design and advanced programming.

Their attractive and easy to navigate website features a handy search tool to help you find exactly what you need. You simply enter your property type, low and high price, and number of beds and baths. If you wish you can leave the default options open and browse all the properties if you haven't yet decided exactly what you want. Other search options include searching by cities, subdivisions or by MLS#.

You can easily browse listings in the most popular cities or subdivisions by clicking on the link located on the left side of every page. You don't have to create a profile to browse but you may want to save your searches and receive daily property listings in your email.

Myrtle Beach is a major tourist attraction in the Southeast United States. Its mild winters and humid summers add up to a pleasant subtropical climate. This area has several amusement parks, large shopping malls, nightclubs, dinner theater, and much more. It is referred to as the "golf capital of the world" because of the many golf courses and mini golf courses there. Most of these are open to the public. The area also has many private schools of various sizes. Top this off with their beautiful beaches and you have a great place to raise a family or retire.

Creating an account at "dig myrtle beach" will allow you to easily interact with the Hoffman Group sales team. Just click in the navigation bar to see the names and pictures of the sales team. Should you need to contact the group directly, the address and phone number is easy to find on this same page under contact information. Subscribe to their rss feed to get the hot listings.

The Hoffman Company is located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They were founded in 1984, focusing on oceanfront condominiums. They have now expanded into general Myrtle Beach real estate brokerage.

The company is unique in the real estate market. They can provide internet and print marketing support almost immediately and instantly track the total sales transaction. The Hoffman Group is well equipped to help Myrtle Beach property buyers find the exact property to fit their needs.

Also visit some other new websites, one for Greenville SC Homes and another for Flower Mound TX Homes.

Back to the Preconstruction Paradox

2008-08-14T07:42:02Z

Kirsten Valle from the Charlotte Observer called my friend David O'Connell for some quotes the other day to pen an article about the risks and problems associated with preconstruction buying.

I think Charlotte came in late on this concept, long after Myrtle Beach real estate had fizzled out with it. We've had our share of nightmares here, what with the ill-fated Bahama Island Resort fiasco - for those not familiar - the developers allegedly have absconded with millions of dollars of loan monies and customer deposits, and the resort was never built. Anyway, for the most part, in South Carolina and I think most of Florida, the preconstruction condo market has slowed to a stop.

Kirsten's article begins telling a story of a NASCAR team manager named Michael Landis who invested over $30,000 in a preconstruction highrise in Charlotte...the 210 Trade in the Epicentre. He had planned to move into it by December of this year, however work on it ceased in February, and now he is stuck.

One of the reasons the preconstruction boom ended so badly was construction costs. Here in Myrtle Beach, the developers (and buyers!) who got into it early on...about 2003-2004 made a boatload of money. It was not uncommon to purchase an oceanfront condo in Myrtle Beach for $200,000 preconstruction priced, and flip it a year later for $500,000. One of the guys I did work for bought 9 units at a resort called Crescent Shores, and flipped 5 of them the first year, making double-plus on every one. He held on to 4 of them, on advice from his tax guy. I'm not sure if he held them too long and got stuck, or if he moved them the next year. But he's in the condo rental management business anyway, so it's not too bad of a loss for him either way, as long as he was able to find the money to close on and hold them.

The Causes of the Bubble Bursting

As the builders saw all this money being made here and in other resort areas, they started going up on their charges, trying to cash in on the gold rush too. This began to create problems because the developers had worked a certain cost into the budget for these multi-million dollar projects. The condos were price-pointed to give everybody involved their cut. When the builders reneged on their agreed-upon costs, that threw a monkey wrench into the project - who was going to absorb the extra cost? The original land/hotel owner? The Developers? The commissioned Realtors who were selling the units?

In cases where the deal had gone so far as to require the first 10% down payment and contract with the customers buying the condo, these buyers were protected from price increases. The costs had to come from the development teams. The beginning of the end started there. Many couldn't or wouldn't take a cut out of their profits, and building completion stalled...as the parties involved argued over who was going to ante-up. Sometimes the actual buyers weren't aware of this. Months went by that saw no work on the property, and the Realtors who sold the units had no answers to give the buyers either.

Projects began to fall apart. Sometimes the buyer got his deposit back, (with no interest) after a year or more of investing anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 in the down payment.

Sometimes the deposits were not so forth-coming. If the developers had spent it, they were hard pressed to find the cash to refund the buyer, and stalled for time as long as possible.

Some of the resorts got built and the ones that took the loss were the developers. And eventually even the real estate agents suffered, who ended up with only half of the commissions they should have received.

Sometimes the developers walked away and said, "Sue me". And many DID get sued. And a few of the projects are still sitting around half-finished, still hoping to find buyers. We have a handful like that now...I probably better not name names.

Anyway, it all came crashing to a halt, and for as many of the people who got in early and made enormous profit from them, there are those that got burnt in one way or the other. Greed destroys all good things, no matter who the greedy party is.

Back to the article... Kirsten reports that experts say preconstruction investing can be a good thing, "especially in Charlotte, where the market has remained strong - but that it's always a risk."

Quoting the article:

"Preconstruction sales have come to a halt in other cities, said David O'Connell, a Myrtle Beach, S.C. real estate agent and developer who owns a website called PreconstructionCondos.com." (one of our used-to-be-hot sites!)

"Preconstruction condos hit their peak nationally about two years ago, costing close to $600 per square foot, he said. The prices have been dropping since then, and developers are hard-pressed to pay off their debt, let alone make a profit. In harder-hit areas such as Las Vegas, people are finding foreclosed properties more attractive to buy than preconstruction condos. The risk simply is, you don't know what the price is going to be when it's finished. Those who bought at the peak are finding out that the market can go down."

The article continues to say that the 210 Trade has stalled, and offered the buyers a refund, now citing its completion date at 2010. Another project called "The Park" is going into foreclosure, and looks eerily similar to our Bahama Island nightmare. The developers owe the bank more than $27 million on it, and the foreclosure auction has only acquired a bid of $17.9 million. It goes without saying that the bank gets theirs first.

They report two other high-rise towers at a stall, and one called "The Catalyst" still selling well and in good order.

"O'Connell, the Myrtle Beach developer, said the market will turn around across the country by late next year.", she quotes David as being confident.

I agree. And if anyone should know, it's David O'Connell. He has lived, eaten, and breathed condos for the past 8-10 years. More than 3 of those years had me right along with him...:-)

Post-note: According to my two newest clients, Greenville SC homes and condos are still very popular and the market there is stable and good. Greenville never really went through the resort boom, however. And Jack Ragsdale, a Denton, Frisco and Flower Mound Texas real estate agent reports his sales of retirement and golf course condos are doing well too.

What's Your Real Estate Market Like?

2008-08-10T11:37:27Z

The Myrtle Beach real estate market is quickly getting to the point where prices have bottomed out and are going to rise, if it's not already there. The best foreclosures and short-sales pop up less and less and are immediately purchased by the circling investors who watch every list and seldom let them hit the market.

Inland towards the mountains in South Carolina, Greenville SC homes are stable and both buyers and sellers are enjoying a good market. Like other non-resort areas such as Charlotte and Raleigh, NC, Greenville didn't see the big rush of 2005 nor the double plus price increases. Life revolves around industry, family life, and retirement neighborhoods, and is affordable and always popular.

My clients and partners in other areas have their own take on the market. Annette Smith, Realtor® in Sarasota Florida tells her customers who are looking for a deal to ask themselves a few questions. Do you want to live in the property? Would you buy it if it wasn't a deal? How long have you been looking for waterfront property? Answer these questions honestly and then decide if you think now is the time to buy Sarasota FL Real Estate. Homes have come off their highs to 2003-2004 prices.

She says Siesta Key condo inventory is very high and prices are much lower than the highs of 2005. The buyers market affords many alternative deals along with low price. Have your real estate agent ask that the seller pay closing costs, inspections and possibly a maid to give a thorough cleaning before your closing. Ask for the moon -- you may get it!

Waterfront homes on Longboat Key have always been at premium prices. Longboat Key FL real estate has adjusted but the best inventory is selling, and buyers will be disappointed in a year to see what is available. We're having a Macy's sale in Florida and the first day is the best day of any sale. Once the inventory recedes, rents go up and prices of homes and condos start to follow.

Down in the southwest, residential markets like Flower Mound Texas real estate and Frisco TX real estate are enjoying a brisk retirement market, as well as upwardly mobile families and "green-conscious" boomers looking to settle down near careers and grandchildren. The suburban scenery near to downtown culture and excitement offers the perfect balance to keep the market stable.

What about some of the other areas like Washington State or Ohio? How is your market these days? We'd like to know!

Selling or Buying Myrtle Beach Real Estate

2008-08-05T19:00:24Z

I received an email today from a customer through Active Rain about Myrtle Beach real estate, and was astounded at the question they asked. I won't include names, but below is the body of that email, and my response back to them.

I cannot imagine any ethical real estate agent advising a customer to sell a resort property or any other kind of real estate right now. Even Donald Trump is yelling "buy, buy, buy".

To: Me through Active Rain - Subject: Market Outlook

We have received a doom and gloom outlook from a N. Myrtle Beach real estate company recommending we sell our investment condo at a loss now because 2009 and 2010 will be no better.

We are willing to rent this unit long-term to wait until the market turns around, but would like another view on this issue.

I understand that $ 850 is all we can expect from renting this lovely, furnished 2/2 within walking distance to the beach, on a great resort and on a golf course.

Your thoughts are most welcome.

My answer...

Hi XXX,

While I'm not an agent, I work with about half of the ones here and talk to numerous ones everyday. And I certainly would NOT agree with that advice whatsoever. Now is the time to BUY, not to sell!

If you can afford to keep your condo, I would beg you to do so. Right now everything is at rock bottom, and there are way too many on the market. They are taking losses on all of them and the foreclosures are adding to the problem. While I don't know how long it will take for this situation to right itself, beach property here has ALWAYS bounced back, and in most cases it appreciates at a good rate. There is no reason to think that that won't happen again as soon as the mortgage crisis is over with and the country's economy goes back to normal.

I would say $850 a month is probably about right if you aren't right at the ocean. I live in a condo right over the bridge in Little River that is considered a "golf" condo (although the golf course is further down) and our annual rentals are about $700-750 for a one bedroom and maybe around $800 or so for a two bedroom. Some of that price would depend on whether you furnish the electricity and cable too. Ours do not.

While I don't know if things will improve as early as 2009, I'll bet it won't be much longer than next summer...just my personal opinion. The buyers and leads I bring in for real estate have already doubled in the past 2 months, so hopefully these foreclosures and low-ball prices will be purchased and get off the market so it can straighten out.

And if you can afford to keep your condo and keep it rented without too much out of pocket expense, I would absolutely tell you to do so...and in the meantime, if you can buy a couple more at these rock bottom prices, you ought to do that too! If I had the money, I'd buy as many as I possibly could. But sell now?? NO WAY.

I can't imagine any real estate agency that has your interests at heart telling you to sell right now. That is almost criminal in my book!

Jan

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New websites I'm working with right now: Flower Mound Tx Real Estate - Frisco Texas Real Estate - Greenville SC Real Estate

Larry King Show Tonight on Foreclosures

2008-07-30T13:47:22Z

Just got this alert from the Larry King show that the show tonight was going to be about foreclosures and you could call or email in questions. Thought you all might like to know.

Larry King Live at 9:00pm ET on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tonight: Foreclosure Nightmares

With foreclosure up 120%, the news for some homeowners is bad and getting worse.
What to do if you're about to lose the roof over your head!
Get advice tonight during these tough economic times.
We’re taking YOUR calls and email questions!

Tonight only on Larry King Live!

Visit http://www.cnn.com/larryking and e-mail us your questions for tonight’s guest.

New website for Flower Mound Texas real estate - Meet Jack Ragsdale

Russian Investors Buying Real Estate

2008-07-15T19:00:47Z

Photo Description: Dmitry Rybolovlev is a Russian fertilizer business mogul who has agreed to purchase Donald Trump's $100 million dollar Palm Beach Mansion. The mansion is 33,000 sq ft and sits on 6.5 acres with 475 feet of coastline.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal real estate article, there are very wealthy Russians that are buying up very expensive investment property in the US. Hard to comprehend, as I always picture Russia to be very bleak and impoverished, but they say that Moscow property prices are so high, that buying property in other countries is a bargain to them.

The WSJ goes on to say that foreign buyers make up about 15 percent of purchasers in New York city, with Russians being the biggest. The president of Harris Stevens, a NY real estate firm is quoted as saying the Russian buyers are a significant factor in purchases of big apartments in the city.

Most of the purchases reported are for extravagant mansions in places like Palo Alto, CA...and more recently, Miami Beach oceanfront property. One $35 million dollar house in Miami has been shown to several Russian investors, and on $10.6 million dollar home was purchased by a Russian.

I'm wondering if there is a way to advertise to these Russian investors - perhaps on the internet? If they consider Miami and New York a bargain, they could go wild on Myrtle Beach real estate, and get 5 properties for the same price as one in the other areas.

Perhaps we should be purchasing some Russian domain names and optimizing for Google in Russia...if it has a stronghold there. Does anyone know if Russia has the internet?

Myrtle Beach Homes for Residents

2008-07-10T02:35:05Z

Our local paper reported some interesting figures from the US Census Bureau tonight. Seems that most of the Myrtle Beach and Grand Strand area is reporting a sizeable increase in permanent residents.

Although it cautioned that some of the figures are not quite accurate because of retirees buying ahead of time, it still sounded like good news for Myrtle Beach real estate sales, now and in the future.

I'm rounding off the numbers in the interest of space and time...

The census reported an increase of about 7200 permanent residents in Myrtle Beach from 2000 to 2007. From 22,759 to 29,971. They also said that 1000 of those new residents came in during 2006 and 2007. Sounds kind of funny, actually, since that was the main "slow-down" years. Seems like 2004-2005 would have been the biggies to me.

North Myrtle Beach residents increased to 15,400 from 10,900, about 4500 new North Myrtle Beach homes purchased.

Surfide Beach homes gains were much smaller, increasinging by about 300 new permanent homeowners -from 4425 in 2000 to 4742 in 2007.

Conway, SC was rather vaguely described as having a population growth of 3%, and Georgetown LOST 426 people since 2000. I think that papermill would make me have to leave there.

It ended the South Carolina report with Loris gaining about 10.5%. I'm disappointed that Little River was not included in the report. I think we are having a constant gain there, and that it will increase substantially from now on, due to the soaring taxes and insurance in North Myrtle Beach condos and homes. I live in Little River Inn Resort, just seconds across the bridge from the beach, and my taxes and insurance are a tiny portion of what the beach residents pay. We are still seeing many new preconstruction projects up and down 17 in Little River, too. I'm predicting a substantial increase in the number of residents buying homes and condos in North Myrtle Beach and Little River, SC.

More info can be found at http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/515435.html including the nearby North Carolina beaches and their numbers.

Amazing Real Estate Marketing?

2008-06-27T14:13:11Z

Well, I just ran across an article on Digg that was an uh...unusual type of real estate news.

Seems that a 40ish Realtor in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida is divorced with kids and not doing so well in her chosen career...despite the California blonde look and size 36 DDD chest that genetics would be hard pressed to duplicate. I know the real estate sales are a bit slow in Florida, but this about takes the cake.

According to ABC News, she's got an ad on Ebay and Craigslist to sell her house, along with herself as part of the furniture. In true Ebay style, the auction is complete with suggestive photos of the agent, the house, and two teenaged daughters that one might wonder about.

She writes in the ad that the buyer will live a "never-ending dream of real love and romance with the vibrant, outstanding woman of his dreams." No pushing and shoving, now guys. Everyone can apply.

Oh, and as an aside, the house is a 4 bedroom, 2000 sq.ft. deal with neutral colors and Berber carpet.

I guess if you can't sell real estate the traditional way, it can pay to add some sex in the deal for added marketing potential. In fact, mixed in the 600-plus Realtor "friends" I have on MySpace, about a third of the women look like strippers or ex-strippers. They have photos of themselves in bikinis, mini-skirts, lingerie, you name it. Have ya'll noticed that?

The Ebay auction hasn't gotten any bidders yet despite a starting bid of only 99 cents. Must be the shipping cost of $500K that is limiting the interested bidders. The article does go on to say that she's got some guy from Italy flying in to meet her though...Leave it to an Italian stallion to help a damsel in distress.

I have to say that this real estate crisis is frightening. If the agents are getting this desperate, (or would that be the BUYER who is desperate?) they might start including their beloved pets in the sale too. The thought of seeing pictures of a terrified and embarrassed persian cat in the nude makes me want to beg Donald Trump to help.

The Myrtle Beach real estate market is not quite that bad, and in fact prices are starting to rise again. If you have been waiting to buy that cheap oceanfront property, don't wait much longer! We unfortunately have an over-abundance of topless bars here that the city would love to shut down, and could be the next place that Digg makes famous for unique real estate marketing. It could make our prices shoot to the moon.

Marketing Real Estate with Video

2008-06-21T08:16:20Z

I've long been preaching to my Realtor friends that they need to buy a camera and start making short videos of their properties. I've seen several agents doing it, and I think it's an excellent way to market your listings - or other listings if you don't have one yourself. I don't understand why it isn't utilized more. As a buyer's agent or listing agent, you always visit homes and condos for sale. Why would you not bring a little camera and film the property?

I have a friend, Sunny Yates, who sells Charlotte real estate (North Carolina) and understands the value of video promotions. She also has a top ranking website, www.sunnyyates.com. I've seen a couple of the videos tonight, and was literally floored with them, and what an excellent marketing tool this can be.

One was a short, narrated video of some of Sunny's Charlotte MLS listings, and the other two are interviews with some of her affluent clients.

The first interview was with the NASCAR CHIC, who fell in love with and purchased a waterfront home on Lake Norman. As a former Jersey resident, she expresses what she enjoys about living on the lake. She and Sunny talk about her likes and interests, and of course, Nascar. She shows some clips of the boats and describes their great life in the beautiful Lake Norman community.

The next interview was promoting Charlotte real estate, again with a Lake Norman resident. I really think videos like these would go a long way into convincing someone to choose that neighborhood when relocating to the area.

Not only do these kinds of videos promote the property, but if a real estate agent has the looks and personality to be good on video, it can promote the agent as well. Anyone who sees these videos cannot help but be impressed, and a potential seller would see that she can advertise their home in ways that most Realtors never even think about.

According to Nielson and CNN Money, YouTube had 69 million visitors during the month of May. Is this not astounding? I think you should promote the videos through emails and in print, but YouTube's ready made (and free) traffic is there for the taking. There are also ways to make the videos show up in the search engines.

The big engines are moving closer and closer to bringing mixed media into the search results - sprinkling videos, blogs, and news articles in with webpages. As they work on perfecting the results that most please their users, the use of videos, and especially YouTube and Google videos are going to become extremely important to marketers. With the real estate slump that is going on around us, anything an agent can do to attract a buyer should be utilized and learned.

Like a website, you should use your key search terms in the video title, put a link to your website in the video description box, and take the time to type in a couple of paragraphs describing your property, or your interview or walk-thru. Better yet, make a transcript of the video and enter it in the place provided.

Use several good key-terms in the description as well. Submit your video to the various social and bookmarking sites, with optimized titles and descriptions. Have a section on your website that links to the videos. Take the time to write a blog posting about them and link to them from it.

Done correctly, you can promote the video that promotes yourself or your properties, and gain a tremendous edge over 90% of the other real estate agents who sit in the office and wait on the phone to ring. Truthfully, everything you do that promotes your website will reward you 10 times over if you take the time to do a quality job and learn how to get the search engines to notice.

Thankfully, there will be a need for real estate SEO providers for a while yet, and the good ones will teach their clients about videos, blogging, and all the other marketing methods that go hand in hand with websites and search engine traffic. Choosing a "real" seo expert out of all the rip-off companies gets harder all the time. But it's well worth the effort to find one who is experienced in real estate marketing and can help you with ideas and techniques to make that sale.