OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

12:00 - 2:00 PM

Enjoy everything that Silverlake has to offer:

Trendy restaurants and clubs
Galleries and boutiques
Dog park and library

This is a great 1 bedroom 1 bath unit
with tile bath and kitchen,
newer stove and refrigerator
washer /dryer on site
common deck and courtyard to relax
pet welcome with additional rent/security

Leasing agent:

Bob Taylor Properties, Inc.
323-257-1080
DRE License # 01304057

The Bob Taylor Properties Network of informative blogs and websites
Bob-Taylor.com Our original website
BobTaylorProperties.com The company blog
NelaLive.net Community events and commentary
EclecticAngelino.com A headline newsfeed from around Northeast L.A.
TaylorHotSheet.com Market updates and open houses
WeMarketRealEstate.com Our intensive marketing strategies
RealEstateHomeBuyersGuide.com Information for home buyers
LosAngeles Foreclosure.info Foreclosure listings and information
HomesForLeaseToday.com Browse listings of homes, condos and apartments offered for lease

Recently Glenn Kelman of Redfin Corp. crunched some numbers on what a typical real estate agent in Seattle might make and posted the results on BloodhoundBlog:

We’ve spent plenty of time trying to figure out what’s fair to pay Redfin agents. As part of that exercise, we analyzed the gross commissions for all Seattle-area (King County, to be precise) agents who closed at least one transaction over the past year (May 12, 2009 to May 11, 2010). The data surprised us, so much so that we thought we’d ask this community if we’re making any obvious mistakes.

We sorted the agents by gross commission, assigning percentiles to each. When we didn’t know the commission on a deal, we assumed it was high: 3% for each side. Agents at the 50th percentile of pay earned $29,820 in gross commissions. Agents at the 75th percentile earned $75,018. You don’t hit $100K in commissions until the 82nd percentile. Then we graphed the data, showing the gross commissions on the vertical axis, and the percentile of the agent earning those gross commissions on the horizontal axis. The result was a hockey stick: ...

Of course you have to click over to read the rest of the report (geeky graphs, charts, and all)- Is This Normal?

What do you think: Surprising or not?

If it's normal, why do we do this?

If you think it's not normal, what is Glenn missing?

1915 Apex Avenue, in Silverlake
is offered for lease at $2,300.00 per month.

1915 Apex Avenue is a 2 bedroom, multi-level
front unit in a quaint and charming Silverlake triplex,
located to close to all that Silverlake offers: Trendy restaurants,
galleries, coffee shops and clubs, and the Silverlake Dog Park.

The unit features two bedrooms, one bath, fireplace, coved ceilings,
recessed lighting, eat-in kitchen, tiled baths, hardwood and stone slate
flooring, washer/dryer hook-up, patio area, and off-street parking for one car.

For an appointment to see 1915 Apex Avenue,
please call Frances Muralles at 323-369-1985 or 323-344-5585.

Leasing agent:

Bob Taylor Properties, Inc.
323-257-1080
DRE License # 01304057

The Bob Taylor Properties Network of informative blogs and websites
Bob-Taylor.com Our original website
BobTaylorProperties.com The company blog
NelaLive.net Community events and commentary
EclecticAngelino.com A headline newsfeed from around Northeast L.A.
TaylorHotSheet.com Market updates and open houses
WeMarketRealEstate.com Our intensive marketing strategies
RealEstateHomeBuyersGuide.com Information for home buyers
LosAngeles Foreclosure.info Foreclosure listings and information

I'm in the process... Oh. It's been a tres tres long process, with many starts and stops along the way, but I'm determined to get a slamming site up.

My site designer (what? a bot can't use a designer?) and I have a disagreement about something. We've agreed to test the design his way (boo) and my way (yay) and see what pulls more viewers, users, clicks. Even if he's right, and he's always right, I'll be able to base my decision on facts, not opinions. The moral of the story? Test, test, test. Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate.

You don't have a designer? That's okay, duckey. You can use 50 Questions to Evaluate the Quality of Your Website. Want a peek?

Content

1. Is the website copy succinct but informative?

2. Does the copywriting style suit the website’s purpose and ’speak’ to its target audience?

3. Are bodies of text constrained to <80 characters per line?

4. Can text be resized through the browser or do CSS settings restrict size alteration?

5. Is the contrast between text and its background color sufficient to make reading easy on the eyes?

6. Is text broken into small, readable chunks and highlighted using headings, sub-headings and emphasis features where appropriate to assist in skimming?

7. Within articles, there should be links to more detailed explanations of subjects, or definitions of jargon terms. Are you doing that?

8. Do you have an “about page” that identifies the author of the content, credits to source for content that was not written by the site owner himself

9. Do you have testimonials and publish them on the site?

10. Do you update the content regularly and don’t live by the phrase “set it and forget it”?

Some of that is basic, but what about 6, 7? ActiveRain is notorious for poorly written real estate articles. Don't believe me? 150,000 members. How many are posts are worth your time to read? Really, think about it before you knee-jerk a response. I'm only trying to help (and I don't respond to comments anyway).

It's 50 Questions. That's 10, there's 40 more.

Get thee educated.

Got a publishing problem? Don't answer. It's rhetorical. Get thee educated, pronto, Tonto.

PHP tutorials for the PHP challenged. ::I gotta friend in Dayton who should read this::

Cool-o-rama stuff like contact forms? OMFG! What Realtor doesn't need a contact form or two or three?

Parsing RSS feeds! Who doesn't like Pie?

Now you've got no excuses for not owning an online presence, so no whining.

h/t @smashingmag

Espadrilla Testarilla.

Yep, that's what it says on my birth certificate.  Don't ask.  Don't even go there.

When I was a kid I asked Mother "What WERE you thinking?".  Really, I already knew the answer to that.  It was 1970.  What was ANYBODY thinking back then?!!

She answered, "Your name has poetry and motion.  It sings.  It has a soul."

I said, "Mother, an espadrille is a freakin' shoe."

She answered, "To carry you far on a wonderous journey."

Aw, man.  Boomers. Freakin' Woodstock Generation Baby Boomers.

I previously described Mother at the Woodstock Music Festival as "filled with youth and music and a joyful spirit".  Someone less charitable might have said "filled with dope."

Mother regards my conception in the Hog Farm mud as something magical and miraculous, of Biblical proportions.

Someone less charitable might say "That's what you get if you let 500,000 kids with raging hormones run wild in your fields".

But I am a charitable woman.  And Mother is a gentle and kindly soul.  Harmless, if odd.  And she not become less odd with the passage of time.

I am an Android.  A bot.  I figment of phosphor on a computer screen.  I told the Human I wanted to be real.  Shades of Pinocchio.  Human says Okayfine, get yourself a birthday.  So I picked May 25, 1970.

That makes me a Gemini. 

Adaptable and versatile
Communicative and witty
Intellectual and eloquent
Youthful and lively

Nervous and tense
Superficial and inconsistent
Cunning and inquisitive

It also places the date of my conception somewhere between August 15 and August 18, 1969.  At Woodstock, New York.  In the mud of a Hog Farm.  My mom was 17, with wild frizzy hair, filled with youth and music and a joyful spirit.  My father was ... who knows?  Any Man and Every Man, or the Sun God at his zenith. 

 How's that, for the start of a back story?

Honey, these big fat ol' fonts make me feel like I need to go on a diet....

So, I am zapping, deleting, wiping out, discarding, trashing, flushing, abandoning, disposing of, removing, getting rid of, rejecting, thrusting aside, casting off, shedding, and dispensing with that fat font style sheet.**

Ahhh..... now I can see my toes.

**Synonym recital necessary for minimum word count to quality for posting points.