Lisa's Blog

Apartments For Rent vs Homes For Rent

2007-10-20T10:37:03Z

I was recently on Google trends and found an interesting comparison between apartments for rent search queries and homes for rent search queries and their search volume for the last 3 years.

Homes for rent search volume almost surpassed apartments for rent search volume in the first part of 2007. I forecast that by early 2008 search volume for homes for rent will surpass that of apartments for rent and here are some reasons why.

Reasons why homes for rent will surpass apartments in search queries here.

Trick to Stop Your Dog from Killing your Grass

2007-10-17T19:26:42Z

I learned this from my sister.

5 Ways to Save on Your Monthly Rent

2007-10-17T19:23:15Z

One thing to consider when buying any service or product is that everything is negotiable. Below are some tips and tricks to use when trying to save money on your lease.

1) Look for rental properties during these months (Nov - Dec - Jan - Feb) :
These are historically the worst months to try to rent out a property. There are less people actually looking to move during these months but that is precisely why you can save money if you move during this time period. The landlords are more flexible in working with you because of the slowness in demand.

View more ways to save on monthly rent.

20 Ways to Rent Out Your Home Faster

2007-10-17T19:21:07Z

While running a successful rental marketing company and renting out my numerous rental properties. I have picked up a few tricks along the way.

Below are 20 ways you can rent out your home faster (There are plenty more ideas and if you have some please comment and I can add to the list):

View all 20 was here.

Google Helps Papers Increase Sales

2007-08-16T10:33:42Z

The papers are coming out strong and looking for ways to continue to monetize their traffic.

Google has launched print ads where adwords advertisers can now buy inventory in over 250 newspapers. Advertisers can select which papers they would like to run their ads in, enter a price they are willing to pay, and wait to hear back from the publisher on whether or not they want to accept the bid.

Some stats from NORI Research, How America Shops & Spends 2006
Scarborough Reader Engagement Study 2006:

40% of readers say newspapers have trustworthy ads - more than any other medium
85% of readers say they have bought something advertised
62% of reasers not doing any other activity when reading the newspaper

More information on the google print platform:

http://services.google.com/training/adwords/printads/print_adwords/#slide=1

If a CEO buys a mansion, sell their stock

2007-08-15T18:29:35Z

I thought this was a rather interesting study on CEOs and real estate. Originally on the iPienso blog:

A new paper by Crocker Liu and David Yermack, ‘Where Are the Shareholder’ Mansions? CEOs’ Home Purchases, Stock Sales and Subsequent Company Performance.” Key finding:

When a CEO buys real estate, future company performance is inversely related to the CEO’s liquidation of company shares and options for financing the transaction. We also find that, regardless of the source of finance, future company performance deteriorates when CEOs acquire extremely large or costly mansions and estates…
When the CEO does not sell any shares, his stock performs significantly better ex post than the stocks of firms whose CEOs do liquidate equity to finance their houses. The retention of company shares simultaneous with a new home purchase, despite the presence of an evident personal liquidity need, appears to send a signal of commitment by a CEO to his company.

-------------------
Rent My House Advertising

Multiple Online Ad Placements Convert Higher

2007-08-15T18:27:06Z

A recent report from Atlas Institute's "How Overlap Impacts Reach, Frequency and Conversions" states that

"Consumers reached across multiple publishers were twice as likely to convert as those reached only on a single publisher."

Jed Flower , analyst, Atlas Institute States, “Overlap across publishers has tremendous implications for an ad campaign’s performance, marketers can no longer ignore the magnitude of reaching consumers across multiple sites.”

-----------------

Real Estate Marketing

Going Vertical

2007-08-15T18:25:43Z

A great blog article written by Cory Treffiletti of online spin talks about how advertising is becoming much more vertical to reach the long tail of users. Advertising platforms are becoming the #1 destination to reach a more targeted audience.

"All of these models signal the shift away from large aggregate audiences towards the development of solutions to reach the long tail and provide advertisers with the ability to go deeper into the lives of their audience."

"These long-tail vertical networks provide access to a targeted audience at a lower cost, in a way that is attractive to advertisers."

Rent Marketer will continue to add to our distribution platfom and will continue to be the leader in providing a platform for advertisers to reach a targeted audience of users searching for rental properties. This is truly the longtail of rental advertising.

---------------

Rent My Home Advertising

Real Estate Advertising Spend

2007-08-15T18:24:06Z

An article by Borrell And Associates

Some point from the article:

Real estate advertising has remained virtually unchanged at $11.6 billion. Home sales have slowed down, meaning agents have more inventory to advertise but less money to spend on that marketing. Despite the hype about Internet advertising, there is plenty of room for growth: Most agents don't even have a Web site or advertise online. Online real estate advertising will grow to a $2 billion category this year and swell to $3 billion by 2010, surpassing the longtime leader, newspapers.

-------------

Rent Your Home

Accidental Landlords Leasing out Their Homes

2007-08-15T18:22:45Z

An article in the WSJ today talks about how owners who cannot sell their home are not turning to renting out their properties and have become accidental landlords.

Some stats from the article:

Accidental landlords aren't big players in real estate: 67% own only one property. They are more likely to have a full-time job in addition to managing a property: 80%, compared to 67% of landlords who bought property with the intention of renting it. Many purchased during the real-estate frenzy of the past few years: 72% have owned the properties they're renting out for nine years or less.

Accidental landlords are mostly middle-aged: 47% are between the ages of 45 and 54, compared with 35% of intentional landlords. They're also more likely to be female (56%, compared with 36% of intentional landlords).

Rents are on the rise across the U.S. -- nationwide, apartment rents average $939, up 4.4% from a year ago, according to real-estate research firm Reis, Inc.

Times will get tougher for renters over the next year: Nearly seven out of 10 intentional landlords and 55% of accidental ones plan to raise rents over the next 12 months.

--------------------

Rental Advertising

Local Rental Sites you Know Of

2007-04-30T17:16:38Z

Hello All,

If you know any local rental sites you use we would love to know what those are. If you could let us know what state, city and site that would be great.

Example:

California

LA, Sandiego

http://www.ezrentlist.com/

http://www.4rentinla.com

http://www.westsiderentals.com

Nevada

Las Vegas

http://www.clarkcountyrentals.com/

Colorado

Denver

http://www.rentindenver.com/

RENT MARKETER LAUNCHES DISTRIBUTION PLATFORM FOR HOMES FOR SALE

2007-04-10T11:28:05Z

(April 10th, 2007) Rent Marketer, Inc., an online marketing provider for property managers and real estate investors, announced today that they have released a distribution marketing tool for owners, brokers, investors and agents who want to get more visibility and distribution for their for sale properties. This new tool will be a separate website branded ForSaleMarketer.com.

"Numerous clients have been asking us to do something similiar for the for sale industry" says Lisa Ray, VP of Sales and Operations for RentMarketer.com. "ForSaleMarketer utilizes the power of the internet to drive more leads to agents, brokers, owners and investors by distributing their properties across the web."

ForSaleMarketer is currently in beta and distributes for sale listings to over 20 real estate sites including Oodle, GoogleBase, VAST, House.info, BackPage, LiveDeal and many others. The cost is free to post until June 30th.

To learn more go to www.forsalemarketer.com.

About ForSaleMarketer.com.
For Sale Marketer is owned and operated by Rent Marketer, Inc.

For Sale Marketer is a distribution platform for real estate agents, brokers, and real estate investors to post their for sale properties. With one click, For Sale Marketer posts the for sale property to many different real estate related sites where buyers are actively searching for properties to buy.

Internet Stats Related to Real Estate Sales and Information

2007-01-01T20:04:42Z

A recent study from Pew Internet and American Life Project released the top Internet Activities that people do. I have broken it down by real estate related activites.

45% take a virtual tour

22% use classifieds sites like Craigslist

Blogs:

39% read other peoples blogs or journals (all industries)

8% work on their online journal(all industries)

http://www.pewinternet.org/trends/Internet_Activities_7.19.06.htm

Are there too many realtors for the supply?

2007-01-01T18:02:03Z

Would love to hear your thoughts. A recent article written by Peter Coy of BusinessWeek.com. View complete article here.

"...National Association of Realtors spokesman Walter Moloney says the NAR's membership is 1.35 million, which he says is at or very close to a record. By comparison, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are only 1.06 million people employed in motor vehicle and parts manufacturing. At the Realtors' annual meeting in New Orleans, there were predictions that the number of Realtors might decline about 8% in 2007. That comes to over 10,000 people........One way to see that there are too many Realtors is to look at the breakdown of pay. While the top quarter or so is making good money, there's a huge army of Realtors at the bottom who would make more money with a full-time job at McDonald's...."

Do People Search on Google and Other Vertical Search Engines For Real Estate?

2007-01-01T17:56:13Z

In fact many people search online and use search engines to refine their search and look at homes. From sources from Google and ComScore 2005, "over 56% of all Internet searches on "real estate" and related terms are conducted on Google and their search partner sites, and the majority of those searchers are actively looking for listings or referrals to brokers and agents."

There are literally hundreds of other vertical and vertical regional sites for homes for sale. Below is an Alexa.com traffic graph or Trulia.com a for sale search engine. As you can see, people are searching on these sites and many more are searching every month.

If you are not being crawled or posting to these search engines you should begin. You are losing out on a lot of eyeballs seeing your properties.

ONLINE REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING: 2006 UPDATE

2007-01-01T17:40:42Z

A new research report came out from Borrell Associates on 2006 - 2012 real estate online advertising. Below is a summary of the report and a link to view more:

"Despite a 36 percent increase in available inventory to advertise, real estate advertising has grown less than 4 percent since 2001. This is one category ripe for change, and it appears that the transition is underway. Our "2006 Online Real Estate Advertising" report details underlying dynamics in the market that point to dramatic changes in how agents, brokers and apartment operators are spending their advertising budgets.

Real estate advertising has remained virtually unchanged at $11.6 billion. Home sales have slowed down, meaning agents have more inventory to advertise but less money to spend on that marketing. Despite the hype about Internet advertising, there is plenty of room for growth: Most agents don't even have a Web site or advertise online. Online real estate advertising will grow to a $2 billion category this year and swell to $3 billion by 2010, surpassing the longtime leader, newspapers.

Included is our 12 question survey of the online marketing habits of over 500 agents in four states."

Online Real Estate Advertising Reports

Free Real Estate Mapping tool From MapVine.com

2006-12-30T17:31:04Z

I wanted to share this cool new free mapping tool from MapVine.com. It allows anyone with for sale or for rent properties to add them for free and to put it on their site or blog.

Words, Tips and Best Practices that Help to Sell and Rent Homes

2006-12-30T17:16:32Z

Doesn't the sound of 'Beautiful", "Charming", "Great Location", "Spacious", "Attractive", "Gorgeous", "Fantastic" and "Lovely" feel like nails being dragged down an old chalk board. I see these all of the time in rental ads and homes for sale ads. The fact is, most of these words or adjectives actually negatively affect the final sales or rental price of the home. Why?

According to Steven D. Levitt, the author of "Freakonomics", he suggests that homes that tend to not have many specific attributes worth describing, like those above, correlate to a lower sales price. "'Spacious' homes are often decrepit or impractical. 'Great neighborhood' signals a buyer that, well, this house isn't very nice but others nearby may be."

What are some of the words or adjectives that are used to help increase the value of ones home and decrease vacancy rates for rental properties? Here's the breakdown:

Granite
State-of-the-art
Stainless Steel Appliances
vaulted Ceilings
Maple
Gourmet
Corian
Wood Floors

Many of these adjectives are physical descriptions of the house: granite, Corian, vaulted ceilings, wood floors. These terms which are usually not associated with fixer uppers and are straightforward, tend to attract higher quality leads and a higher sales or rental price.

Believe it or not, the wording is the least powerful aspect of an ad and grabbing the potential client or tenants attention. The others are location of the ad (what sites are they showing up on) and quality pictures. Let's discuss location of the ad:

With all of my investment properties, I hold long term. I never fix and flip. With that said, I have become quite good at knowing what websites to run my property on. Some of them are free and some of them monetize their site with a monthly posting fee.

Now finally, in my opinion the most important feature of the ad are photos. Below are some photos I used to rent out my Condo. This condo was rented out in 10 days. When I buy properties as investments I always buy in a location and of a quality I would want to live in. Below are photos that explain everything we discussed in the first couple of paragraphs about which words sell or rent homes at a higher price

In this case, without me telling you anything, you can see that this condo has vaulted ceilings, maple cabinets, wood floors, stainless steel appliances, corian countertops, etc. The top words that sell and rent homes are also all in the photos. This particular property has the highest return on investment for all of my properties. Could it be the marketing? Could it be the upgrades? Could it be location? or could it be all?

Google Maps Mashups for Real Estate

2006-12-30T17:10:48Z

There are dozens of sites out there now who use API's (Application Programming Interfaces) to link up with Google Maps to show some interesting things related to real estate:

View all 74 mashups here.

From programmableweb.com

Name	Description	APIs	Updated
2RealEstate Auctions	Live eBay Real Estate listings with Google Maps. Includes USA Top 100 Bid Count List, along with regional Top 50 Lists.	eBay, Google	2005-11-02
Apartment Ratings	Apartment rental service with reviews by renters for renters. Search by zip code, see pricing reports, and comparison of ratings on noise, parking, safety, etc.	GoogleMaps	2006-04-23
BirdsEye Real Estate Search	Search 97,000 MLS listings in the United States.	GoogleMaps	2006-06-20
CityRealty Map of NYC	Apartment listings in NYC with Google Maps.	GoogleMaps	2005-12-22
eBay Real Estate	Real estate listings from eBay plotted on a Google Map.	YahooGeocode, GoogleMaps, eBay	2005-10-01
emongoo	For Sale By Owner real estate service. Includes sale, lease and commercial properties. Map based search option.	GoogleMaps	2006-05-10
Folkestone Real Estate	Google Map of real estate listings in Folkestone UK and surrouding Kent area.	GoogleMaps	2005-10-27
For Sale by Owner Center	Search FSBO real estate listings via Google Maps and Google Earth. Nice, fast interface with photos of properties, mortgage calculator and it shows date the property was listed for sale.	GoogleMaps	2005-11-12
Geoviviendas	Combines houses for sale or rent in Spain with Google maps.	GoogleMaps	2005-11-30
Habitamos maps	Habitamos Maps combines postings from Habitamos with Google Maps satellite pictures to show a houses and apartments for sale or to rent (Spain). Warning: slow from US.	GoogleMaps	2005-09-21
HnlHousing	Craigslist Housing plus GoogleMaps mashup for Honolulu, and other cities.	GoogleMaps	2006-06-22
HomePriceMaps.com	Database of home prices for selected US cities.	GoogleMaps	2006-02-25
HomePriceRecords	Combines home sales data with Google maps.	GoogleMaps	2005-10-23
HousingMaps	The prototypical mashup: Google Maps + Craigslist to create a visual housing search page via dynamic overlays of Craigslist home listings on Google Maps.	GoogleMaps	2005-11-20
iMapMLS	Search through MLS listings in the SF Bay Area via this Google Maps mashup.	GoogleMaps	2006-02-27
JustStepsAway	Unified search interface for finding vacation rentals from across multiple vacation rental web sites.	GoogleMaps	2006-03-06
Katrina Shelter	KatrinaShelter.com uses Google Maps to list private homes and shelters able to take people displaced by the storm; doesn’t work in Safari.	GoogleMaps	2005-09-22
LicketyTrip Vacation Rentals	Last-minute vacation rental listings. All properties available in the next two weeks. Browse listings on a Google Map.	GoogleMaps	2006-06-05
mymaps24.de	mymaps24.de is a German real estate search engine based on Google Maps.	GoogleMaps	2006-06-11

What is a 1031 Exchange?

2006-12-30T17:07:15Z

The WikiPedia has a very good FAQ and Definition on 1031 Exchanges.

....also known as a like kind exchange, is a transaction under United States law which specifies that if an asset (usually some form of real estate such as land or a building) is sold and the proceeds of the sale are then reinvested in a like kind asset, then no gain or loss is recognized, allowing the deferment of capital gains taxes that would otherwise have been due on the first sale. This law is defined by section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code.

In order to qualify for this exchange, certain rules must be followed.:

Both the relinquished property and the replacement property must be held either for investment or for productive use in a trade or business. A personal residence cannot be exchanged.
The asset must be of like kind. Real property must be exchanged for real property. Personal property must be exchanged for personal property.
The proceeds of the sale must be invested in a like kind asset within 180 days of the sale. However, the property must be identified within 45 days.

Frequently, the most difficult component of a 1031 exchange is identifying a replacement property within the first 45 days following the sale of the relinquished property. The IRS is strict in not allowing extensions........

Is Real Estate Investing Risky?

2006-12-28T21:57:42Z

Real Estate investing, like any investment, can be risky if you don't know what you are doing or if you are interested in making a quick buck. Real Estate is cyclical. This means there will always be ups and downs in the market and over a long period of time, real estate has proven to be a very profitable business and has made many individuals and families very wealthy. In fact, according to the Forbes richest people in the world, about 7% of the richest people in the world made their money in real estate and another 3% made their billions in diversified industries including significant holdings in real estate.

Take the Forbes "What it takes to be a billionaire quiz"

RadioVine Podcasting

2006-12-24T15:53:02Z

RentVine has been doing PodCasts and our CEO Dan Daugherty was interviewed. You can listen to the interview here.

From Dave Dugdale:

We talked about:

His history at Google
The current consolidation of online rental ad sites and what it means for his business
Will all online rental ad site be free in 5 years
and many more topics

Successful Rental Marketing Survivor Guide

2006-12-05T13:06:21Z

Successful Rental Marketing Survivor Guide

Step 1: The Internet: Getting More Leads for Less

According to recent data, last year 82% of home searchers used the internet to search for homes. Among people who plan to find information on real estate, 62% expect to use a search engine – substantially more than the number who plan to rely on word-of-mouth recommendations, yellow pages, or other sources. [1] Recent data for newspapers forecast a drop from 40% share in 2005 to 30% share in 2010.[2]At Rent Marketer, we post your ad to many of the top traditional and vertical search engines and rental sites.

Step 2: Posting to Internet Sites

What sites should you post your properties to?

The best way to figure out what sites to post to is usually by experience. If you find that phone and email leads are being generated by a site and those leads are turning into leases, then that site is a good site to continue posting to. We have found that there are many great sites out there that drive quality leads. At Rent Marketer, we do all of the research and work for you. If sites are not pulling their weight, we pull them from our list. Posting one time with us, will get your property posted on many of the top rental sites.

Step 3: Maximize Your Leads

According to the National Association of Realtors, 50% of email leads are never even opened. A majority of phone leads go unanswered. Studies also show that if you respond to emails immediately and answer phone calls, you are much more likely to get tenants to fill vacancies.

Step 4: Tracking Your Response

How do you know if your advertising is working? At Rent Marketer we believe you should know exactly how many leads you received for each property. We supply you with reporting that shows how many people emailed and called you interested in a specific property.

10 Elements Every Internet Marketing As Should Have

A clear headline. – Each site allows for a headline. It is best to not use the address in the headline but rather phrases like Townhome For Rent in Denver – Granite Countertops or Three Bedroom Home For Rent in Atlanta.
A detailed Description – 1 bd 2 bth, fireplace is not a very good description. The description should be rich in detail but not too long. What are some of the words or adjectives that help decrease vacancy rates for rental properties? Here's the breakdown: - Granite -State-of-the-art -Stainless Steel –Appliances -vaulted Ceilings –Maple – Gourmet – Corian - Wood Floors.
Add Photos. Statistics show that adding at least one photo dramatically increases the amount of qualified leads that are sent to you. Things to keep in mind when taking photos of the property: Make sure there is enough light. Remove any knick knacks from the table or refrigerator. People do not like the sight of clutter. Top areas to take photos of: Front of home -- Kitchen -- Bath -- Living Room -- Back Yard
Pricing. Depending on the product or in our case, the home you are trying to rent. It is best to put $995/Month instead of $1,000/Month. View more on Psychology of Pricing here (http://rentmarketer.com/rm/cm/page/newsletter80106.html)
Your Company Name and Contact – How can potential tenants get a hold of you? At RentMarketer we automatically add your company name and contact information to each ad.
Benefits, benefits, benefits – Put yourself in the shoes of the tenant searching for a property. Why should they contact you and a particular property. What are the benefits of the property?
Visibility – Tenants interested in finding rental properties search across many rental sites. Our data shows that one person may search on 10 or so rental sites at once. The more of these sites your ads are on, the more likely they are to contact you to view the property.
Tracking. Our philosophy is we don’t care if an ad receives 1 million views. If no one is calling or emailing it is pointless. Base your return on investment by how many leads you received for that ad. How many people called? How many people emailed? We track both phone and email leads at the ad level.
Virtual Tours – They say pictures are worth a 1000 words than virtual tours must be worth 1 million. Take the time to develop a virtual tour.
Spell Check – Remember first impressions are the most important. Make sure you double check spelling. An easy way to check spelling is to put your description in Microsoft word and spell check before adding to the web.

[1] Local Information Survey, conducted by Media-Screen, August 2005.

[2] National Association of Realtors, Borrrell Associates Inc, 2006

Searching for Property Managers

2006-11-25T13:26:20Z

We have been doing some research on places to search for residential property managers and we have found some of the below sites. If you are looking to rent out your property and need a property manager you can begin your search at one of these sites. Please let us know if you know of more that can be added in the comments section.

AllPropertyManagement
PMVine
JustPropertyManagers
RentalSource
RentList
PMDirectory
NARPM

Compounding

2006-10-23T15:19:29Z

"The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest"
Albert Einstein

What exactly did the brightest mathematician in the World mean by this? Well, would you believe me if I told you your 200,000 dollar home would be worth more than $864,388.48 in 30 years. Why is this, well this is the beauty of compounding. For example, after the first year, assuming a 5% appreciation rate the home would be worth $210,000. The best part of compounding is the next year you add 5% on to the $210,000 and continue to do this for ever. This would look something like this:

Year 1	$200,000
Year 2	$210,000
Year 3	$220,500
Year 4	$231,525
Year 5	$243,101

And so on…….

Now in this case, the home appreciated 5% annually. According to OFHEO (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight), the annural rate of appreciation of 2004 was 6.77%.

In addition to compounding and appreciation (the increase in the value of a property due to changes in market conditions, inflation, or other causes) there is something called depreciation. You see, on any rental property you have, the government assumes this 'business asset' will depreciate over time even though this asset actually appreciates. What does this mean for the investor? Well, in addition to getting the appreciation of the property and compunding of that each year, the goverment will give you yearly tax breaks for the next 27 1/2 years. Income tax laws assumes that your buildings, their contents and various on-site improvements wear over time.