As I posted on our company blog, 1st USA Realty is the latest locally owned independent brokerage that has changed their name.  The AZ Republic reported today that 1st USA Realty is now Century 21 Premier.  

What's the consensus from 1st USA agents?  Fear? Confusion? Excitement?

Thanks to Nick Bastian I have the privilege of participating in a get-to-know-you chain blog post of sorts, a meme (which I still don't know how to pronounce).  This Memorial Day Super MeMe was started by Mary McKnight, and since I was elbows deep in 8inx8in pavers in the backyard I wasn't able to create my masterpiece until now. BTW - phoenixrealestatebrokerage.com is our company website, so I decided to post this fun one over here.

First the rules...

8 questions and answers followed by 8 other blogger meme nominations

Without any further delay....

1. Who is your favorite musical artist? (post youtube video)

Great question! I never pass on an opportunity to chant "I WANNA ROCK! ROCK ROCK ROCK ROCK ... I WANNA ROCK ROCK ROCK ROCK ROCK!". Any day that starts with a Twisted Sister search on youtube sets the mood for the entire day!

Geiser Bros. - only a picture doesn't do their creations justice.

3. Who is your favorite blogger?

I'm going to give you the thank you speech version of this answer...

I'd like to thank Dru Bloomfield for encouraging me to start blogging. Greg Swann for being the reason I started reading more books. And Russell Shaw for always working on my mindset.

4. If you could meet anyone (alive or dead), who would it be and what is the most interesting thing about them?

Martin Luther King Jr. - that guy was a true dare-devil

5. What did you want to be when you grew up?

I still want to be an off-road racer when I grow up! Stay tuned for a John Hall & Associates Trophy Truck - hey one can dream.

6. What is the most interesting piece of trivia you know?

According to the dictionaries our Rotary club passed out to the 3rd graders of the PV school district, the longest word in the English language is...too long to type given the thousands of letters.  So I'll use a law that is still on the books in the Town of Paradise Valley.  It is legal for a police officer to fire two rounds into the air to gain order INSIDE!!

7. If you could live in any point in history, what would it be and why?

Did Wayne's World come to mind when anybody else read this question?  "LIVE IN THE NOW!!!"  I suppose my reason why is 2 fold: 1. Life is good and 2. I don't actually have a choice.

8. What is the most interesting job you have ever held?

Definition of interesting according to Webster: 'holding the attention'.  I would have to say my current jobs have been the most 'interesting' because I have a plethora of opportunities each day I come in. 

The loan business has been such a roller-coaster I'm happy L&G has weathered/is weathering the storm.  I feel their secret to success was the fact they invested in so much technology early on.  Clients like to be able to log into a system and look at their credit report, loan conditions, etc.  It's so much easier to go through a process when everybody can see what is going on or what still needs to happen.        

At John Hall & Associates, it's fun to be the representative of a younger generation in a company of primarily older experienced industry leaders.  We are at such a cool point where technology is paving a road on top of the foundation built by the boomers.  Work these days definitely keeps my attention.

And now for the 8 meme nominations....envelope please

1.  Michael Lange

2.  Jared Muller

3.  Randy Morchower (Did I see you on the last comic standing???)

4.  Christoph Schweiger

5.  Patrick Lewis

6.  Irene Hammond

7.  Jenny Brown

8.  Shane Higginbotham

I'm not talking about the pimping that's cool these days because of shows like "Pimp my Ride".  I'm talking about the pimping where one earns money off of selling another.   

 The concept: 

Get paid for putting google ad links on your website. 

The income: (straight from google)

"How much you earn depends on a number of factors including how much an advertiser bids on your site -- you'll receive a portion of what the advertiser pays. The best way to find out how much you'll earn is to sign up and start showing ads on your web pages. "

Is it just me or does that sound sleazy?  

I don't know why but I have personal issues with this.  

 Am I alone? 

A simple question...so I thought,

"Where does REALTOR.com send our listings?" 

Do you know?  The guy I spoke with at REALTOR.com didn't, nor did the person he spoke to when he put me on hold.  Honestly, I think our listings go to so many sights it's impossible for them to keep an updated list - so they don't even bring it up.  Internet Broadcasting alone sends them to 95 sites!  Plus another 8 according to REALTOR.com gets the number to 103.  I'm sure they go elsewhere, but don't have anymore time to work on it.

Anybody know?

BTW they no longer go to Compuserve or Netscape if you come across lists with those on it.

Techno-lord if you can hear me, HELP!

Holy smokes - the bottom is a popular topic these days.  It hasn't been this popular since Sir Mixalot came out with Baby Got Back in '92.  Only this time the bottom is sparking debates that have a lot more statistics than just 36-24-36.  I have seen them last hours - especially in the comments sections of newspaper articles.  People throw statistical jabs left and right arguing their points.  Some of the jabs land below the belt, which is where it becomes more entertainment than statistical research.  However, it isn't until after the gloves come off that people clarify which bottom they are talking about.

Let's make sure we know what bottom we are fighting for.  If your bottom has to do with number of transactions closed per month - state that.  Or if your bottom has to do with current absorption rates - state that.  For the non-realtor it seems the most popular bottom is price, but that doesn't mean everybody is always talking about price.  For example here in Phoenix we had about 2,900 sales in Jan. 2008.  My humble opinion is that was the bottom... of sales per month.  We had about 3,400 in Feb and then 4,200 in Mar.  Of course, part of that is seasonal, but I feel we are going to have a healthier market the next time the slow season is here.

The next time you are quizzed about The Day the Bottom is Coming, make sure you clarify which bottom they are talking about.  If you get the feeling they are looking for a stats fight politely instruct them to dial 1-900-MIXALOT and kick them nasty thoughts! 

ADRE Commissioner Sam Wercinski posted an article about the Real Estate Recovery Fund.  I had no idea it existed and I'm not alone.  There were only 4 applications in 2006 and 18 in 2007.  

Every real estate licensee in AZ contributes to the fund - who knew?  As of March 1st, 2008, the fund balance was $890,717.83!  Check out the article to learn more about it. 

As you probably read in my profile (sarcasm? sarcasm), I am not a listing agent. 

I work behind the scenes for John Hall & Associates, promoting and teaching technology for our agents. 

As this conversation is progressing, people are starting to talk to me in the office about other websites they put their listings on.  Here's the latest - sawitonline.com - of course as this posts' title explains the site appears to be FREE.

Also as a follow up to my first post here at activerain about postlets.com, I've learned that whatever you type in the "Other Special Feature" area, is what you need to search to find your craigslist posting.

Happy Marketing! Err - St. Paddy's Day - I mean Happy St. Paddy's Day!

As my submersion in technology stuff continues, I found myself at the Phoenix Social Media Meeting last night and everyone was talking about Twitter.  I have recently signed up and am currently working through the learning curve. 

Dru Bloomfield was not only the reason I signed up, but also shared with me the "rules" in this post.  Well, there not really rules, but helpful hints I guess.  Anyway, in observing the comments of the people I follow I noticed TwitterFeed on some of the posts.  People are feeding there blog to Twitter automatically!  

All this cool stuff to help increase your internet "footprint"!   

If you sign-up or are signed up say alo!

I heard this term for the first time from Dustin Luther's NAR seminar titled "Understanding Your Online Competition".  He was referring to the fact that an online presence is all about hyperlinking to and from as many sites as possible.  Obviously its a play on the most important thing in real estate which is location x3. 

I thought it was catchy enough to pass along. 

And speaking of the November '07 NAR conference, (yes we bought the MP3s) the panel that Google and Zillow are on is a good one also.  Zillow talks about a coming soon service called Virtual Sold Signs - and they were right, it's here now!  Have you added yourself to all of your sold listings yet?  What a good way to be viewed as an area expert, especially if you have a large portion of the market share in any particular neighborhood. 

My humble opinion is that Zillow seems to be making progress on shifting the REALTORS perception of them.  Two years ago at our office meetings agents were cursing Zestimates, now REALTORS are happy they have a free place to market themselves.  Well done Zillow.

I went to a blogging class yesterday put on by Rob Gibbs with John Hall & Associates.  I thought I would share one of the golden nuggets that came from it. 

If you would like to provide MLS browsers with more than the standard 6 pictures, start a free photo album (at picasa.com for example) and upload as many pictures of the home as you want.  Then link to it from the media section. 

Rob is currently developing a set of 4 or 5 classes on technology.  Including one on how to get your cell phone to do the dishes.  Well...something like that.

Thanks for the info Mr. Gibbs - Much Appreciated