According to ForeclosureRadar.com, the filing of notices of default declined 61% from the August level of 42,790 to the September level of 16,352. This was primarily due to a new state law requiring lenders to notify owners of the filing, their options and waiting 30 days before proceeding. While this is a nice headline on the surface, it seems that it will only delay the process of foreclosure not eliminate it altogether. “The drop indicates that the lenders were not ready for the impact,” said Sean O’Toole, founder of ForeclosureRadar.com. The move by the state was to encourage lenders to modify loans to help make the homes more affordable and thus help people keep their homes. The only issue then becomes that, according to Sean O'Toole, it might encourage non-defaulting homeowners to default in hopes of getting a principal amount reduction of their mortgage balance and still be able to keep their homes.

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This morning I was putzing around on the internet, getting sitemaps registered with Google, correcting some title tags on posts, etc when I thought I'd stop by Mikes Marketing Tools for a gander at my rankings for one of my sites, sacramentorealestateviews.com.

As I've recently gotten back into resale after working in new homes for a year, I didn't expect much from my rankings, honestly.  I thought maybe in six months I'd come up in the top 3 pages of, well, anything, somewhere on the se's.

#5 This Morning on Yahoo!

Surpised the living daylights out of me.  I was ahead, this morning, of many other top end sites in my region on page #1.  While I've seen this over and over again with clients of the Real Estate Tomato, when it happens to you, it's pretty cool.

I don't expect this to last as I haven't been real estate blogging very long, just a month, and consistent results like this take a bit of time to establish long term.

While Yahoo! is not Google in terms of popularity, it is the #2 ranked search engine in the world.  I'm thankful for the placement.

First Buyer Lead

I got my first buyer lead as well, we found a house for them yesterday and I'm writing the contract for them today.  All in less than one month.

In 5 years and $8K of having a static website aka a "billboard on the moon" (but boy was it nice!) no one ever came to an open house I was having and said they found me because of my website.  Not once.  This happened in two weeks of blogging.

If you need help with your blog or you'd like to get similar results in creating your own custom blogsite, please let me know.

The Real Estate Tomato is holding a free class at the Placer County Board of Realtors today from 1 to whenever all questions get answered!

If you'd like to attend, please shoot me an email, rob@realestatetomato.com.

We'll be talking about how blogging duplicates your efforts online and social networking.

 

New Home Builder in Westpark, Roseville Makes Exclusive Offer for Buyers To SREV.com!

I got a call today from a new home builder in Westpark. The context of the conversation was that "hey, we've got ("X" amount) homes to sell before December 1. Make us an offer and we'll consider it." It was music to my ears!

This is one of the most well respected builders in the Westpark, Roseville community and the nation. They have authorized me with all of the information I need to get you the best possible price on a new home this year. I've been asked to withhold the name of the builder and the prices to share them only with serious buyers.

See the rest of the article here

Sellers in the Sacramento real estate market sometimes price their homes based on what they need and not based on the market at the time of listing. A good real estate agent won't take a listing unless it's priced to sell. One who does is wasting the time of the poor people who hire him/her.

In the current real estate market in Sacramento, pricing is imperative and means more than it has in the last 8 years maybe even the last 10 years.

When making an offer on a home in Sacramento, make an educated decision. Make sure your real estate professional has shown you comparables that validates his or her decision on price. In short, don't pay too much for Sacramento real estate. Enjoy and, as always, thanks for watching!

Yesterday I held an open house on a bank owned property.  The night before, I created a post on my blog about the open house, capitolcityforeclosures.com, and posted it.

The next day, at the open house, the nicest couple from Nebraska shows up and tells me they just saw me on my blog!  They found me because of my 2 month old blogsite!  I never heard that about my static site in the 5 years that I owned it. 

Blogging is king or queen depending on your perspective. :)

In fact, traffic jump about 200% on that single post due to where I re-posted the article.  Craigslist.org.  I posted my url in the subject line and then included a link to my site in the body of the post.  On Sunday, I got 48 hits on that post alone when prior to that, like all newer bloggers, I was waiting for someone to notice it although I could see there was some traffic coming to the site.

I know from working with clients at the real estate tomato that this happens all the time but when it happens to you, it feels awesome!

I'm hooked on this thing, it's awesome.  My experience with the tomato has made all the difference in my strategy and understanding of this method of marketing my business.

Get out there and blog!!  :)

Another reminder that there will be a free blogging seminar held at the Placer Board of Realtors in Rocklin today from 1 to 330pm.

Jim Cronin and myself will be there to conduct and answer any questions.  Please attend!

 

Short sale listings are the "Nightmare on Main Street" both for the potential buyer and for the listing agent. This week, in our team meeting, one of our associates had just listed a short sale home only to have one of our listing coordinators tell her that the bank has just foreclosed, taken the home back and she was out of business with that client. Fortunately, our team got the listing. No kiss, no smile, no thank you very much. Her client had stopped paying the mortgage and away the listing went. That's the very least of it. My sympathies to you if you're ever convinced to make an offer on one. So it goes with short sales. This video will explain the difference between a short sale and a bank owned home. Enjoy! Thanks for watching!

CapitolCityForeclosures.com

(I thought I'd repost this in case you missed it.)

The Real Estate Tomato is being sponsored by the Placer County Board of Realtors for an blogging education seminar next WEdnesday, Sept. 17th from 1 to 330pm.  The flyer below has all the information about the class. Please call me if you have any questions.

Rob Saxe

 

The Real Estate Tomato is being sponsored by the Placer County Board of Realtors for an blogging education seminar next WEdnesday, Sept. 17th from 1 to 330pm.  The flyer below has all the information about the class. Please call me if you have any questions.