2507-09 Indianola Ave Two units in the University District!
PROPERTY DETAILS
$169,000
LISTING INFORMATION
MLS: 212003623 Bedrooms: 6 Full Baths: 2 Partial Baths: 0 Sq ft: 2576 Heat Source: Gas Taxes: $3016.00
PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
2507-09 Indianola. Vinyl sided two unit with newer windows, replacement roof, deck and insulated! $750 Rent 2507. Unit 2509 Vacant to show. Close to Cabs and COTA bus stop. Near OSU. Income and expenses projected. Park in rear of 2509, enter first alley West of Indianola. See 2509 first & see 2507 w/ Contract. Listed by Joe Jackson of The Jackson Team and Keller Williams Capital Partners Realty.
CONTACT INFORMATION
The Jackson Team Keller Williams Capital Partners Realty 100 E. Wilson Bridge Road Worthington 43085
Craig gives good insight in his blog post. His points on how to get comments on your posts and how to respond to comments on your post make a lot of sense!
Making comments in ActiveRain is very much part of our routine. Yes we do get
points for the comments (called incentive) but the comments are integral to what
makes AR so interesting. If you've ever blogged "on the outside" you know what
it's like to work hard on a post and then the crickets chirp as you wait for
somebody, anybody to answer. (at least when you first start) However, from your
very first blog post in AR, you get a few comments and each post that you do you
gain more associates and subscribers and the discussion gets better all the
time!
There have been quite a few posts lately about how the best etiquette is to follow up
on comments made on your blog. It has been noted not to ignore, nor to just give
a blanket "thank you all" comment. If you make specific acknowledgements to each
commenter, it is a much more personal conversation. I've been trying to do that
lately, I hope you've noticed!
Now here's the thought for this post... how do you follow up on the comments
that you have made on other people's blogs? It is interesting to go back and see what the person had to
say to YOU when you visited THEIR blog. On the main "My Home" page of AR at the
bottom is "Your Messages" - this shows you ALL activity on your account which
includes comments you've made, comments you've received, associates gained,
contact emails that have been sent to you, etc. Thus with all of this together,
it is a pretty busy dashboard.
You have the option to find the "comments you've made" references and click
through to go back to see if there has been followup. That's ok. But I like
something BETTER. See if you agree...
On the "My Home" page on the left sidebar menu, down a bit is the
"My
Comments" link. I like this page better than the home page for two reasons
(1) This is a filtered listing of ONLY YOUR comments and it is quick and easy to trace back the past
couple of days (if you are an active blogger, your home page will have lots of
OTHER notifications and you will appreciate this stripped down listing)
(2) when you click on a link via "My Comments" it not only takes you to the
page but it takes you to the exact point (anchor) in the comment stream
where
you made your comment! So you only have to scroll down a little to see the
response. Especially on a featured post and you are down the list a ways, this
makes a BIG difference. In Barbara's post below, I was comment #156, now that
would have been some serious scrolling that it saved me!
Finally, I take advantage of the bookmarks bar on my browser. I put buttons
to all my most visited pages and (AR gets many buttons here to the various sub
pages). Rather than multi-click to get in to this comments listing, I shortcut
it on my bar and it is always only one click away for me. Furthermore, once I
get to my comments listing page, I always middle button click
on several of the page links I want to go
back to. When I do this, they line up as new tabs in my browser and I can rapid fire click through
my tabs to follow up and see if I have any replies yet. (BTW any guesses what my
abbreviated AR buttons are on my bookmarks bar, I'll post soon about how to
customize your own bar if you need more help with that, stay tuned)
Well that's how I do it! Maybe it gives you an idea to try it out. We have
busy schedules don't we and every little timesaver to me is important!
About the Author
Craig Daniels is a Technology Manager residing in NYC who specializes in applied technologies in the fields of Architecture and Real Estate. Craig focuses on finding the best uses of tech as can be used to help a business be more successful. He is keen on always seeing the perspective and viewpoint of his audience and he tailors his teaching to be easily understood. He teaches by means of this blog, by means of regular webinars, as well as one-on-one remote sessions with persons located throughout the country and beyond.
ActiveRain Outside Blogs offer members the opportunity to have a "stand alone" presence outside the network and they are included with the rainmaker memberships. I still get many questions on how to set these up and the most common question is "How do you customize it so it's not like anyone elses blog?"
Here are my top 10 best practices and tips for those Rainer's wanting to maximize their outside blogs.
1. Select a theme that works best for you, your brand, your company and target audience.
2. Utilize all the features and tools available form the dashboard toolbar. (you must be logged in)
3. To customize the CSS formatting, colors, backgrounds etc. and if you're a techy, use the Chameleon theme. I like it because I can make sure my blog won't ever look like anyone elses.
Maximize your SEO, analytics, and widgets by implementing the tools made available.
4. I highly recommend the "Google Search" which magnetically draws the Google spiders to your site. Since this is a Google product and tool, I can assure you that they follow its placement and use very diligently. Make sure you have plenty of content on your site first, you don't want to draw Google attention to your site if you only have 3 or 4 posts there.
5. Adding the "Analytics" tool helps so you know what's working best, and tracking your visitors and target audience couldn't be made any easier. You can't add the Google analytics to your ActiveRain blogs, but you can add it to your outside blogs.
6. Each of these tools available adds additional value to your outside blogs but it's your content that matters the most. Great content on ANY blog will garner traffic and create business opportunities. Allow those that find you the chance to get notified via email every time you post something by adding the "feedburner" widget. Let people subscribe to your blog.
Note: MyBlogLog and Retaggr are no longer services that are available on the web.
7. Give your outside blog a Kick-Arse custom domain name (it's included) making it easy to search for your site, find your site, and easy for you and clients/targets to remember. What's in a name? Everything, so try to incorporate the most important aspects of your blog in the title to get the most impact and results. Including Hyper-local if you can is always a good thing.
Note:The "Internal" URL is your back-end dashboard, the "Custom Domain" is the public view.
8. Adding good "links" and using great anchor text for "calls to action" is a key traffic generator and lead capture opportunity that often times gets over-looked and most often under-utilized. Think about what would make someone absolutely have to click on these links and trust me, they will. I can prove this by just having you create a link similar to this one that says something like... "DON'T CLICK HERE!"haha~
Adding links is easy: Just paste the URL in the Link box, and place the anchor text in the Title box.
BTW - Did you click on the DON'T CLICK HERE link? lol~
9. The last thing you should know is that the SEO (search engine optimization) on outside blogs carries a great deal of weight in the SERPS (search engine results page) which is great for your ROI (return on investment) since ultimately the people you are trying to reach and get in front of are the ones that will find you when searching the Internet.
Google search results DO matter, and where you land on the page makes all the difference in the world.
10. All of these tips and best practices are to help you do one thing: create content that cultivates traffic/visitors which allows you to capture contacts and convert them to clients right? There are really ONLY two types of people out on the web and searching Google: Those that know you, and those that don't. Which audience is your target? Exactly! :-)
ActiveRain outside blogs are one of the best and most powerful tools that I think ActiveRain offers its members, but then on the other side of that coin, the greatest tools and power of ActiveRain IS IT's MEMBERS!!
Active Rain Newbie Video Tutorial- How To Post Hyper Local Content
Spending your time on income producing activities is paramount to your success in your business. Learning to delegate the tasks as an entrepreneur is not always so easy. This is because we are a bunch that likes to control things and part of the whole reason that we work for ourselves is because we know we can get the job done. But this perfectionist attitude is the downfall of many agents because they never achieve the income goals that they had set out to achieve.
Letting go and delegating tasks that are easy to create systems from frees you up to build relationships and get more listings.
I actually made this video to train our VA Real Estate Services on how to post our listings and those of other Active Rain members (agents that we coach) on Active Rain blogs.
Then I thought that this also is a good tutorial for those of you who are new to Active Rain and want to learn how to add a listing to your Active Rain blog or a post on a neighborhood event and other hyper local posts.
If you hire an assistant to do this part of your posting for you- feel free to use this tutorial to teach them how to add your posts to your Active Rain blog. This part will save you ten to fifteen minutes for each post which adds up to hours a month.
Bryan makes an excellent point on is recent blog post. Active rainers thought so too as he has 35 comments. One size does not fit all, however if a home is on the market too long with no or low offers, time to move the price
Deciding when to drop the listing price is difficult because it depends on the region and market. There's no one formula that will work across the board. However, there are guidelines that I think work in most situations. Here are a few standards I think work everywhere...
When the feedback says "It's too high!"
If the agents and buyers are coming back with pricing suggestions or verbal offers, and those are in line with the comps your priced above, then you're priced to high. That's the point you should drop the price. Don't wait for "the perfect buyer" to come along - it'll never happen. You'll increase the chances of a sale by dropping it immediately.
When you haven't had a showing in 30 days
With the exception of open houses, which don't count, if you haven't had a call to either preview with an agent or show a client, you need to drop the price. Regardless of the price range, if you're not getting at least one showing a month, the price is too high. If it's priced right, you should be getting a lot more showings. How much to drop depends on the property but drop it enough to get showings.
When a similar property sells for less
If a property in the same market that is a good comp sells for less than your asking price, drop the list price to capture buyers who were looking at that other property. If you want a little negotiating room, fine, but come to within 2% of the other listing price as soon as that home goes to "pending sale" status.
When the last price drop was 90 or more days ago
If the last price reduction was 90 or more days ago and you don't have a serious buyer on the hook, drop the price. Even if a buyer is considering the property, drop the price. Dropping the price will engage more buyers and existing potential buyers will be motivated to write an offer before someone else does. I've seen sellers sit on properties for months while potential buyers make up their mind. The result: wasted time and opportunities.
When you list with me, I'll work with you to price the home right to start. However, if the price starts out higher, I'll walk you through all the data-driven rationale behind bringing your price down to get a buyer.
If you have enjoyed reading my blog, please subscribe HERE!
Bryan Robertson, Broker Associate| T: 650.799.9951 | Email:bryan@serenogroup.com| Website:http://www.BryanRobertsonHomes.com|CA License: 01191946 | Sereno Group - Los Altos branch | 369 S. San Antonio Road | Los Altos, CA 94022
Last evening while watching television with my husband my cell rang. It was just before 8 p.m. and I answered the call to hear the familiar "you've got a zillow call" and I waited to hear the connection and said hello again. What followed is a story with a happy ending.
For the sake of privacy for parties involved I used an address in my neighborhood, NOT the actual one, but when the caller put in an address of a home NOT for sale he got results that looked like this:
He didn't know me, I didn't know him and he was not looking to buy or sell a home. He was desperate for information about the relative that lived in the address he typed into the Zillow search. The person he was looking for was an elderly widow lady he is related to and he lives in a mid-western state. He had called the number he had for her and found her phone had been disconnected. So he reached out to me when he found my photo and phone number next to her address on Zillow.
I don't know what YOU think the chances are of me working in a zip code that at last census count had 40,000 people of me knowing the person he was looking for, but it just so happens that I did. In fact, one of my agents that has been retired for 8 or so years sold this lady her home before her husband died. In fact, just days before he died. He never got to spend a night in his new home. But this lady, who purchased this home 1998 still lived there. So mid day today I drove out to her home and delivered the message and phone number from her relative. I didn't get to see her, she had company when I stopped by. Her son who now lives with her took the message and promised me he'd have her call the relative later in the day. I called the relative and let him know I'd stopped by and left his name and number with the son and that her land line had been disconnected because she had a cell phone and felt no need for two lines.
This evening I got another call. It wasn't on the Zillow contact number. It was on my home land line. He was thanking me for the call he'd just received from his relative. So while I didn't "make a sale" from the call I got last night on Zillow... I made a friend. I told him that if he ever needed anything from me again to keep my number and call again.
I'm a very faithful person and I know that sometimes God puts people and things in our lives and paths for a greater purpose even if we don't know it at the time. And if I hadn't made those 6 sales from being on Zillow last year and if I didn't already have my first contract of 2012 from a Zillow lead, and only got that ONE call from last night I would still be a satisfied zillow premium agent. I think I got some good karma juju today.
So amongst all the people who are whining and withdrawing from syndication... go ahead. I'm happy about what I did today and I know at least two other people who are happy about it too. Zillow has value for us.
706-485-9668
(Click on Lane Realty Logo for web site)
Tammy Lankford, Broker/Owner
Broker License # 169695 Lane Realty License # H-11420
Call me today for all your Lake Sinclair real estate needs.
For readers who are not members of ActiveRain feel free to also add your comments or you can click on the EMAIL me link to the right of this blog and email me. Thanks for reading.
All content belongs to me unless otherwise stated. Do not use without permission. Logos and photographs may also be copyright registered. Please do not use without my express written permission.
Wow these are some great photos taken with an I phone. If you use the equipment right you can get great photos! I use a Nikon wide angle camera for my photos!
Agents Taking Listing Photos - Counter Points To An AR Featured Post
There is a featured post called:
"Don't let your agent photograph your home with their cell phone". It was a members only post so I can not link to it from this post since my post is public. The short of it is that Eric Hemler gave his opinion about photos taken of listings. He made a comment that created a pretty good debate. Allen May let me know that I can link to the members only post and if you are logged in you will be able to get to the post. So I added the link just now.
What sparks most of the comments was that he said that sellers should not allow the listing agent to take listing photos with their phone.
I was one of the commenters that totally flat out disagreed with that statement.
Actually it got me to thinking that if I had more time I could create an entire article series and tutorials on making the most of your iPhone 4 and iPad2. But I really don't have that kind of time right now.
The point is that if you can take good photos of your listings with a shoe box camera than go for it.
It is not so much the camera as it is the vision and talent and skill set of the person taking the photos. Many agents become very good at photography. There are photographers who become agents and visa versa. Just because you are a real estate agent does not mean you have to hire a professional photographer for all your listing photos. Just because you are a real estate agent does not mean you can not also be good at taking great photos.
If you look at our high end listings- we take those photos.
Nestor takes great photos and I also take good photos. We enjoy taking the photos ourselves because we know what buyers are looking for in the house. A photographer might be able to take a great photo but it may be the wrong photo! An agent who is good at marketing- which should be the second skill set after good communication skills- will know how to capture the look and feel that a potential buyer would be attracted to. Buyers find our listings online and they make offers on our listings. They compliment our photos often.
The other side of this argument is about truth in advertising. How much should that photo be photoshopped before it is considered false advertising? An agent taking photos is going to have a much more realistic approach. But that is a subject for another post.
Now for the camera points-
You can have the fanciest and most expensive camera in the world and still take crappy photos.
You can have a simple point and shoot camera and take a great photo.
In this day and age saying that a phone is a bad way to take a photo and that a sellers should not hire you because you are going to take photos of their home with your iPhone is just- well- not understanding technology!
There are entire awesome groups of photographers who have abandoned their expensive camera equipment and gone all out with iPhone apps, a tripod and lighting. There are entire short movies being made just with an iPhone and the apps to make that process awesome.
We get the iPhone magazine and in the latest edition there were pages and pages devoted to all the cool iPhoto apps that are now available for pro photographers. You can with a few apps, take a photo on your iPhone, add framing, lighten it up, remove shadows, crop the image, add saturation and all the other techie touch ups to a photo like you can in iPhoto- and even upload that photo right to your website, facebook page and posterous, etc.
Here is a beautiful short video that was entirely filmed and produced on the iPhone of the California Redwoods. It is only about 2 minutes long. But when you see what you can do in the forest with the iPhone you can also do on your listings.
The iPhone 4s camera is an 8 megapixels camera with state of the art optics that compete with the best in cameras. It also has 1080 hd video. With the new pixels on this phone you can print up to an 8x10 photo- that has never been done before on a phone. The lighting in the iPhone is even better- the "custom lens uses five precision elements to shape incoming light which makes the image sharper". The camera lets more light in which makes sharper images. It also has an infrared filter that keeps the IR light out so your colors look better than in a regular camera.
It has an A5 chip which makes the processor just as good as those in DSLR cameras. You can also take the photos in HDR. This is just the tiny part of what the iPhone camera can do. I hope to find the time to gather up for you the coolest apps on the planet to help you edit your photos right on your camera.
Here are a few photos that we took with our iPhones and also some that were taken without any editing at all from the Apple website. ( Apple's TOS says you can use their images to share information about their products). These photos were unretouched!
Peggy you hit a home run here! Cleaning out the attic and the basement and the garage ect, has to be done if you expect to get your home sold. Thanks for sharing your tips!
In theBaby Boomer Series, I am going to address topics that pertain to people of my generation--baby boomers who are planning for the next steps in their lives.
Baby Boomer Series ~ Cleaning Out the Attic
Contrary to conventional wisdom, at least in my opinion, the most important step is not deciding where or how one wants to spend his or her retirement years; the most important step is CLEANING OUT THE ATTIC!
Regardless of whether you plan to stay in your home, move across town, or relocate to the sunny south, you must clean out the attic. If you are like me, you have lived a considerable number of years in the same house and have amassed a lot of crap memories in the attic.
Why do I think cleaning out the attic is the most important step? Because it will allow you make a quicker decision if you have to. If you clean out the attic now, well in advance of any decisions you need to make, you will be able act upon your decision quicker. And if you choose to spend your retirement years in the same house, you won't be leaving the dreaded task of cleaning out your attic to your family.
This post was prompted by two events:
The first was a showing I recently had where the buyers wanted to close in six weeks. The seller, however, had so much stuff everywhere (and the attic was jam-packed) that it would have taken her a month of Sundays to clear it all out. Her stuff included tons of memorabilia, restaurant menus, knickknacks, books, clothes, and some stunning antiques and artwork. There was a lot that would simply have to be thrown out, and some of it shouldn't be thrown out. But in the heat of the moment, when someone is under pressure to clear out the house, mistakes will be made. Valuable things may be thrown out and worthless things will remain.
The second event was my own trip into my attic. I call my attic Limbo because that's where I throw everything that I don't know what to do with. It's also a one-way street. It goes up, but it never comes down. So after 35 years of living in the same house, I know there is a vast amount of crap memories up there.
Cleaning the attic is an onerous chore; no one really wants to get caught in the trip down memory lane that will take years to complete. Trust me, I know. I had boxes of cards, gifts, memorabilia, and stuffed animals for each of my children. It took me an entire afternoon because, of course, I had to read every card! And that was just one box.
So here are some of the suggestions that worked for me; maybe they will work for you.
Get some help. Enlist the aid of your children, spouse, or a professional service. They will keep you on track.
Tackle it one box at a time. Bring the box down from the attic and decide on the contents' final destination: garbage, recycling, donating, giving to a family member, selling it, or having it appraised.
Set up a minimum goal of how many boxes you will deal with each week and hold yourself to it.
Toss It
I am all for recycling and reusing wherever possible, but there is probably a good amount of junk that simply must be tossed, such as old Halloween costumes, decomposing papers sprinkled with glitter, melted plastic items, etc.
Give It Back
If you have been saving someone else's memories, put the stuff in a pile and give it to the person. Chances are they will have a much easier time of throwing it out than you would. When I presented each of my children with boxes of their kindergarten homework, they thought I was nuts. They looked through it for old time's sake and just as quickly tossed it.
Give It Away
You may have useful items in the attic that someone else would love to have. I had 16 place settings of Christmas dishes that I hadn't used in twenty years and knew I would never use them again, so I gave eight place settings to each of my daughters. My son decided he would rather have an old turntable that was up there. If there are things that your family or friends can use, offer it to them. Wouldn't you rather see them enjoy it than have it rot in the attic? There are also plenty of charitable organizations that would be glad to accept donations. A rule of thumb: If you haven't seen it, used it, or thought about it in five years, you probably don't need it now.
Appraise It
For the valuable things in your attic, like silver candlesticks, old collectibles, or antiques, consider having them appraised to see if they really are worth anything. You may just have cash in the attic that will help pay for your next vacation!
Sell It
If you have valuable items that you want to sell, consider selling it to an appraiser, on eBay or Craigslist, or at a tag sale. If you have things that are not really valuable but that someone might want to buy anyway, a tag sale may be the quickest way to get rid of a lot of stuff.
Save It
You don't have to get rid of everything! There may be some items that you want to hang on to, and that's fine. Just make sure to keep them in the open so you can truly enjoy them and not just have them collecting dust in a storage area.
Cleaning out the attic will be the hardest task, but it is the most important task. By paring down your stuff, separating trash from treasure, and keeping only what is essential, you will be ready when you want to make a decision about where and how you want to spend your retirement years.
Peggy Chirico, REALTOR® Serving the Greater Hartford Area Prudential CT Realty peggychirico@gmail.com
860-748-8900
If you are buying or selling a home in Hartford County or Tolland County, please call me, email me, or visit my website. I would be happy to help you with your home search or provide a market analysis for your home.
372 Northridge Rd Work in progress in Clintonville!
PROPERTY DETAILS
$180,000
LISTING INFORMATION
MLS: 212003150 Bedrooms: 3 Full Baths: 1 Partial Baths: 0 Sq ft: 1544 Lot Size: 50 x 130 Style: 2 1/2 Story Garage: 2 Car Heat Source: Gas Taxes: $3712.00
PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
A work in progress - Home has newer windows. Among higher priced homes. Close to Park of Roses. Check back for updates! Easy to see. Listed by Joe Jackson of The Jackson Team, Keller Williams Capital Partners.
CONTACT INFORMATION
The Jackson Team Keller Williams Capital Partners Realty 100 E. Wilson Bridge Road Worthington 43085
MLS: 212003335 Bedrooms: 3 Full Baths: 3 Partial Baths: 0 Sq ft: 1312 Lot Size: 31 x 110 Style: 2 Story Heat Source: Gas Taxes: $1256.00
PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
Unique North University Home w/ 2 Baths. Hardwood floors and woodwork. Excellent landscaping! 2nd Floor has Sleeping Porch off Bedroom. Many unique features in this 1917 home. Walk to COTA and CABS bus stop. All Appliances stay. Listed by Joe Jackson of The Jackson Team, Keller Williams Capital Partners.
CONTACT INFORMATION
The Jackson Team Keller Williams Capital Partners Realty 100 E. Wilson Bridge Road Worthington 43085
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Deciding when to drop the listing price is difficult because it depends on the region and market. There's no one formula that will work across the board. However, there are guidelines that I think work in most situations. Here are a few standards I think work everywhere...
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