Laguna Niguel Real Estate

How to price your listing in any market

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:26:38 -0500

The market has changed. Has your strategy for pricing listings changed? Does it even need to? I have devised a simple formula, and I want to run it up the flagpole of the blog zone here at Active Rain. I'm also interested to see what other agents have put together as a strategy for pricing listings now. To read more about my strategy visit the blog post. Is your strategy going to bring the buyers and make them stick, or are you the type of agent who would rather avoid having your clients breathe down your neck?

The Front Desk Knows More About Social Networking Than I Do

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 12:29:13 -0500

I was shocked with the mild mannered High School student who answers the phones in our office. She was telling me about how well my online marketing efforts work because she said that she ran across my name when she was doing a Google search on something local to our area. Then I started to ask her advice on things like MySpace, after a short exchange she mentioned how I need to pay much more attention to Facebook, and "Get your profile out there." Amazing with all of the seminars and people offering to teach you networking and how to make contacts in real estate, I think that she put it very simply. When it comes to social networks, you need to put yourself out there. Active Rain is no doubt the epicenter of real estate social networking and online referrals, but that doesn't mean that website traffic, referrals, and other great stuff are absent from the other huge players. Maybe AR is just better because everyone is so nice. Was it Brian Brady that told us about the strategy of puking your profile out there everywhere? Well here is to my reforming my use of the Social Networking strategy. For those of you that don't already use twitter, I think it is worth checking out. It is fun, because it allows you to follow your friends.

I'm back to do some exercise (push-ups) on Active Rain

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:53:54 -0500

Hello everyone,

It has been a while again. It just seems so strange that I get a weird bout of writers block every time I cruise on over to Active Rain. I know it is my loss too. Anyhow, I have been working pretty hard on reworking my Laguna Niguel Real Estate Blog, and I wanted to jump back into the rain to talk about some stuff with all of my old pals.

The market: Current status in Orange County = Flabby. Sellers who say they don't have to sell are still around in big numbers. Buyers who say they don't have to or want to buy are all over and growing in numbers. Lenders are out working their beats like cops doing damage control, and CNBC says that a rate cut is already priced into the market. God forbid that something else should happen.

The Real Estate 2.0 community: Is now like a juggernaut compared to 2 years ago. Ahh the time when only about 10% of the industry professionals "got it" when it came to topics related to to technology. It seems like there is always another meet-up or conference taking place, a very exciting thing.

The offline community: Agents have jumped ship for a while now, trying to eek out every last advantage possibly under a different broker. When the market it tough, it usually has nothing to do with the broker. The good news is that the high-end market keeps plugging along. Many of the coastal buyers and sellers remain unaffected by mortgage woes because for them financing is mostly a thing of convenience. Here's to AR. I'll be back soon to tell you more about some new business tools that I'm developing for your benefit. - Rory For more information, please visit, Laguna Beach Real Estate

They Rushed In With Ducks (in Buckets) Dressed as Nurses

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:19:41 -0500

Brace yourself, but everything in the headline of this blog post is absolutely true. It was corroborated by several independent eyewitnesses.

The story goes like this, an associate agent has moved out of the area, but retains a listing as part of her former team here. The owner of the property lives elsewhere in the area (not in the listed property), but was out of town at the time of this event. His listing is staged, perhaps with his own items, but he also allows missionaries to stay at his condo from time to time.

The location of these condos is in Laguna Hills, and the neighborhood is called Quail Creek. It is very interesting because there is a running creek that goes right through the development, complete with small zen-like bridges that bridge over and back across the creek. The creek itself had some fast running water that wasn't at all stagnate. Apparently, in this running creek wild ducks are natural visitors.

Flash forward to the emergency call that we received last night at 8pm. Neighbors called the listing agent to tell her that several people "Dressed as Nurses", were carrying "Buckets" while rushing into this condo unit. Then the neighbors became alerted and curious as to what was going on, they went around to the back side of the unit that faces the back patio. This is when the nurses uncovered the buckets to bring out 5 white adult ducks.

Needless to say, I was dispatched to the scene to investigate. I accessed the key from the lockbox, and I was halfway protecting my head from the blows of a crazy nurse wielding a baseball bat. I was able to turn on the lights. I looked across the room and through the patio door, I saw 5 adult ducks huddled up together. I realized at that point that I might not be in the condo alone, not being trained in law enforcement techniques, I still opened the closet doors to see if in fact the waterfowl smugglers were still possibly in the vicinity. I didn't see any perps in the condo, but I made sure that the ducks had access into the creek if they wanted. They were on the back patio, but only some landscaping separated them from the creek, so my work there was done. After all, I definitely didn't have any buckets to bring the ducks back out.

For more information on Quail Creek, visit: Laguna Hills Real Estate

Real Estate Agent Feeding Frenzy

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:23:55 -0500

While on Broker Preview today, I noticed an unusually long line to enter the gated oceanfront community of Lagunita. This long line of cars turned into a full bore cluster while the parking rent-a-cop waited in his patrol car to wag his finger at people who were parked in one place for under 15 minutes. Imagine a traffic jam heading into a cul-de-sac, and that is exactly what I was up against.

The reason that agents were all in a rush is because of the 2 listings that were on preview today, one was a true ocean front property.

That property is 24 Lagunita in Laguna Beach. The listing agent is John McMonigle of Coldwell Banker. John is what we call a celebrity realtor, having appeared on Oprah, and he currently has the highest priced listing in Orange County, the Portabella Estate.

What does it cost to live on the sand in Laguna Beach? In this case, $14,650,000. Remember this is actually someone's second home. Don't worry though, you can get an Ocean Front condo for $2,500,000.

How many people can buy this home that is almost 15 million? Well it turns out, quite a few. In the last year, I have been contacted by more buyers looking for ocean front homes than those looking for first time condos, or homes.

Do you think that the buyer for this home needs financing? Do you think that the credit crunch in the market makes any difference at all at this price point? ~ Not likely.

What's Wrong With The Carnival of Real Estate

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:48:33 -0500

Have you been frustrated with your posts to the carnival of real estate going completely unnoticed? Is this just yet another way to experience rejection in the real estate industry?

Here are some thoughts about what is wrong (and what's right) with the real estate blog carnival.

1) The carnival currently gets way too many submissions for all of the quality posts to get mentioned.

2) Of the submissions there are still way too many people willing to spam the carnival hosts with poor submissions that distract from the quality.

3) The carnival should be further subdivided, and perhaps split into submission categories to make it easier to have a few quality posts in a greater number of focused topic areas.

4) Posts submitted to the blog carnival should be well crafted, well thought out, and dare i say, spell checked.

5) Persistence pays. If your post doesn't make it, the key is to keep trying. Don't shun the carnival just because your deserving post didn't show up. Try and try again.

Any other thoughts and advice of how to be a success in the carnival?

Hot on the heels of yesterday, (actually a couple of weeks ago in the past)..

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 08:51:10 -0500

Megan over Trulia asked me if I might sit down and write a guest blog for them. That post is now available for your blog viewing pleasure. It was a great thing that ActiveRain taught me everything I needed to know about blogging. That's the only way that I ran into all of these great bloggers. So I have to give my hat's off to the ActiveRain community for making that work.

When you read that post over on the Trulia Blog, realize that that pizza was actually in my kitchen (and later in my hand) during the process of writing that post. That may give you some idea of what served as the inspiration for the content. On a related note, the pizza was cold.

I guess the post is filed under "geek corner" for a reason, but I think that means that the author is a geek. However this is most likely with respect to Real Estate technology, which is a good thing to be a geek about. I'd shudder to think that it is geek, as in the term "geeky" ascribed to by the starts of "Beauty and the Geek".

Anyhow, I think it is good that all of us "Rainers" are helping one another stay on top of technology, and so far some really great things have grown out of it!

HungryAgents.com Helping Agents Become More, Well, Hungry

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 02:26:22 -0500

I ran across this website the other day, HungryAgents.com. It is a site that allows agents to provide "Full Service Real Estate" services while under-cutting one another's paychecks for a change. This saves the whole ugly step of having potential clients ask for a cut in your paycheck and sanitizes the experience for them. Look at their cute logo. Yep that lapdog represents you, a REALTOR(TM) because they will only work with REALTORS(TM) since REALTORS(TM) have great ethics.

So we only want to hire ethical people, but we force them to pay for your business in a most unethical set of circumstances for the opportunity to meet you.

But don't stop there, after you buy business by cutting your paycheck, thereby fitting into the "Hungry" category, then they have the gumption to require a $795 flat referral fee, this is the final insult that puts you all the way down into the "Starving" category.

I have nothing against other Real Estate business models that offer variable service, and variable pricing structures. This concept to me is not what that is, this is a business built on top of the Full-Service brokerage model that ruthlessly double bills the agents, who have the tightest margins of anyone in the business.

This puts a whole new meaning on "putting the squeeze" on somebody.

Thoughts?

Next Time We Buy The Plane Tickets Warn Me If This Is Gonna Happen

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:46:25 -0500

A couple of days ago, I read an article on the Trulia Blog, that made me feel bad for the trulia folks. I know that plane tickets and business trips are a tax write off, but going all the way to San Diego just to get stonewalled is harsh. I'm speaking of course, of the run-in that trulia had at our recent convention. Anyhow, it did generate some attention, after all, Sellsius, Inman, and my blog have some interesting stuff to say about the topic as well as Trulia themselves.

It would be nice if they didn't have to go buy plane tickets and fly down the coast to have all of that take place, but what are you gonna do? I say make the best of it, and head to Sea World.

Kill The Practice of Spam In Real Estate, Now!

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:39:24 -0500

I'm going to divulge something that is near and dear to my heart.

Since only a year or so ago, Real Estate WAS and (may be still) considered severly behind in terms of technology comprehension.

I haven't found anyone on ActiveRain lacking in the technology department, also, you are the leaders of the intersection of the two mediums. I have been so annoyed by spam email lately, that I just wonder if real estate professionals suffer a larger amount of spam than other industries. The reason this thought is valid is that there have been prosecutions of spammers in other industries such as the medical field. Like any other criminal act, how much does jail time and a fine translate to some prevention? You decide. I just know that I'm tired of it, and if a local lawyer asked for money to prosecute spammers, I'm sure that he'd get plenty.

With that, here are the steps that you can use to find the home address and phone number of some spammers:

1) You get an email from: ExtremeOffer@FakeRealEstateSpamDomain.com :

Saying,

Dear, [First Name] buy our stuff.

blah blah blah Viagra blah.

WHAT YOU DO, go to an internet WHOIS service, such as www.WHOIS.SC and type in the domain name, in this case, FakeRealEstateSpamDomain.com. There are other whois services, just google whois to find them.

It will either tell you who registered that domain, or their phone number, or it could be blank, but in any case, DON'T Give Up

2) Go to the company home page: www.FakeRealEstateSpamDomain.com ... most likely they will have a "Contact Us" or "About Us" page. That page may give you an email address, a name, or a phone number, if it does, then google that information until you get a cross reference. If it does NOT give you that information, just inspect each page carefully, there may be a bunch of links back to another website, or some other telling information. If there are links back to another website, just repeat the process from step 1 with that domain name.

3) Finding a spammer is like peeling away layers of an onion. All spammers are idiots, and therefore, they think that they can't get caught, and they think that they can hide, but they are wrong. The more you peel at the layers, the more you are bound to end up at their website, IP address, phone number, fax number, email address, home address, first name, last name. etc etc.

4) Any business built on deception should be actively shunned by professionals at large, so if you get spam emails suggesting that you use or subscribe to their services, I strongly suggest that you decline their appeal, and do not support their unethical business practices.

5) Any spammers that originate from this site will be tracked by myself and other dedicated users, so I also suggest that if you are considering using this platform to spread your irrelevance, that you refrain.

They Hold Groceries, They Don't Sell Real Estate

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:50:45 -0500

I understand the need to market yourself. I understand the need to put your face out there. The thing that I find funny are the agents who really feel that "they've arrived" in the business by putting their face on the front of a shopping cart.

Do these agents realize that at least 25% of these carts are eventually abandoned and left in a state of disrepair that wouldn't be conducive to generating business?

What is the logic that jumps into the Real Estate agent's head that makes a person say, "Eureka, when someone is shopping for Little Juan Burritos, English Muffins, and Lard, I want my face all over that advertising situation!"

The shocking thing is that agents keep doing it. Do they have any measurable results? "Thanks to 10 grocery carts, I was able to close one sale." Like lemmings, the agents keep jumping on the advertising band wagon to buy up grocery cart space, and it is so lucrative that there are no less than 4 surfaces on each cart that can be exploited for advertising purposes, and apparently each one of those cart surfaces represents a HUGE market share.

Even more shocking is that agents don't seem to mind if their marketing is commingled with can collection efforts and the furthest thing from a qualified buyer that aluminum recycling represents.

The next time you think that advertising on a grocery cart might be a good idea, think of one at the bottom of a ravine, in an industrial area, upside down, with your picture on it, and a mustache made of mud enhancing your photo. That's likely the way some of that advertising will end up.

It's not pretty, but it is true.

Emerald Bay, Laguna Beach

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:25:02 -0600

Getting in and out of the main gate of Emerald Bay, in Laguna Beach is definitely tricky. If you are headed northbound on the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) then getting in is no problem. Then the next easiest entrance into Emerald Bay is while heading Southbound on the PCH into Laguna from Newport Beach. There it is simply a matter of waiting for a gap in the cars to open up.

Once you make it into Emerald Bay, you are treated to some of the most exclusive real estate in South Orange County Map

Read the rest of this blog post on my main website....

Emerald Bay Laguna Beach

Market Status: Prices Stable, Buyer Activity Up

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 08:59:49 -0600

If I had to describe the market right now, I would say that in the Laguna Niguel and Laguna Beach areas, there aren't a ton of new listings flooding the market right now. Inventory is a bit lower than I'd like. There are plenty of buyers out there ready to go, but it seems that of the active listings they don't have much to choose from. The prices aren't going anywhere, and it seems likely that if these buyers don't find what they need, they will rather sit a while until the right property or selection of properties comes up. Laguna Beach does have quite a few more listings than in recent months, especially in South Laguna, however, my clients either are not finding the prices or the quality that they want. There are plenty of folks who are willing to do their own remodeling to achieve the desired quality, but ironically the prices or locations that they are seeking aren't available. The challenge to finding properties for these clients lies in the availability of property that fits about 80% of their needs. Elements such as location, view, finishing, size, and price are all important. Getting more of those favorable elements on the buyer's list (again looking for 80% or better) will generally trigger an offer.

If you have a property in Laguna Beach or Laguna Niguel that you would like my clients to consider, feel free to <a href="http://www.rorysiems.com/contact.asp">contact me</a>, and I'll pass it along. Even if your property is not currently on the market, it may be worth selling if you can get the right price.

Laguna Niguel Real Estate

Laguna Beach Real Estate

Technology :: Not The Only Thing Generating the Oncoming Real Estate Shake Up

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 16:24:46 -0600

As members of the Active Rain network, we know all too well how technology is changing, and will continue to change the landscape for real estate professionals. I'm sure that you run across colleagues daily who just refuse to embrace technology. I often wonder to myself how long it will take before they can't compete and become obsolete. It is almost like the tech savvy agents, brokers, and industry professionals are a new species promising to forever alter the real estate sector as we have known it.

So lets just examine the basics advantages that technology really brings to the table.

1) The most significant advantage is the HUGE audience. The online world is a low cost way to market and reach a huge audience when trying to buy or sell real estate.

2) The quality of your marketing can be significant without too much cost.

3) The interaction that the web provides, means that my clients can "get to know" me and decide that they like me before we ever meet face to face. This means that I get to work with clients who already know what I'm all about, and we can focus right meeting their needs without wasting a lot of time declairing business philosophies.

4) The quality and frequency of communication is significantly improved. I can keep in better contact with clients because I have so many more channels through which I can reach them, and vice versa. Phone, fax, email, IM, blog posts, podcast, vidcasts, and on and on....

5) With measurable metrics on my website and marketing I can tell exactly which phases of my marketing work, and which ones don't.

So what are some of the other elements that will lead a shake up in the real estate industry and potentially threaten the other stubborn agents who refuse to change.

1) The revolution toward online transaction management.

2) Agents with foreign language mastery will be able to dominate the increasing global markets that are especially high profile as it is now. When coupled with technology, this will become an ultra-threat.

3) Viral marketing practices will make a jump to include offline efforts as well as online. Once agents become savvy with how to design viral marketing campaigns online, that will produce a big boost and trend for real estate, and that just hasn't happened yet. When it jumps offline as well it will become more guerilla marketing.

4) Once some of the agents who are left in the dust feel that they need to do some catching up, large segments of cottage industry will spring up around the notion of training agents in these various new skill sets, but they may be too tightly focused to give enough advantage in areas that are going to end up being pretty broad. i.e. training agents how to write great blogs is one step, but what about training agents how to do other critical things?

5) There will be a distancing from "Real Estate Coaches" who don't stress the fundamentals of technology. This is to say that if there is a real estate coach out there who is still advocating door-knocking as an effective way to get business, they should have been fired 2 years ago.

Anticipate the shakeup, stay focused and lead with your knowledge of technology and you will be well suited and satisfied in future market cycles.

How To :: Get Your Clients and Prospects (and complete strangers) To Appreciate Your Use Of Technology

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 22:32:04 -0600

Let me first start this post by saying that I had an ah-ha moment this evening.

My discovery was based on one principle explained in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent By Gary Keller.

I have mapped a system of technology that overlays the bullseye principle (a.k.a. bringing prospects and those you "haven't met" into your innercircle or bullseye.) The book has an illustration of this on page 137. For those of you who have the book, you'll want to use this blog post to see if this system works for you. If you don't have the book yet, I suggest that you buy it.

My system came from the frustration that I had many systems of marketing going, but they were all sloppy, and could not be identified from one to the other, as one unified voice. For example, someone that knows me on this site, may not follow me all the way to my offsite blog, and someone from my podcast might not know that I even have a blog.

I realized that I couldn't just rely on links to get all of my content to people out there. I have to give people a reason to make the rounds on all of my internet content (which is for them anyway).

So Here is the system :: going from simple to complex and general to specific in marketing message...

1) I started with the assumption that I will be dealing mostly with people who I don't know, that I'm trying to bring into my main, organized, unified message about real estate, regardless of medium.

2) I determined that my direct mail postcard campaign is the most far reaching of the print advertising, and reaching people that I don't know in my area. I determined that the messages on the postcards should be AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE. I also determined that the postcards should only do 2 things: 1) Drive people to my online systems (blogs, podcast, MLS Search, static website) and 2) Ask for referral business. This means that my URL is on everything, but also that I tell people WHY they should go to my website right now, like "Get market updates at www.rorysiems.com" --- And business cards are in this same category

3) Social networks such as Active Rain, Wanna Network, MySpace, etc. are almost habitual, the function of my participation on these sites is to drive people to my Blog, Podcast, and Website. I also want to make as many friends as possible (by whoring), create interesting profiles, post informational bulletins, and ask for referrals.

4) My Blog, here I'm referring to my offsite blog, I need to start getting at least 1 post up per week minimum because all of the people in the rest of my systems who have been to my site 2+ times will quickly become bored if they do not see a fresh message. My blog should also have localized information, meaty (not necessarily popular) opinion. My blog should reference and drive traffic to my podcast, and likewise I should specifically mention posts that I wrote on my blog while doing a podcast.

5) Email Campaigns :: I want to send out emails to my contacts on a weekly basis. The emails will drive people to my Blog, Podcast, Website, and ask for referrals.

6) Letters, Yes I still write letters and I think you should too. My letters provide Value Adds (also called did-you-knows) They drive traffic to my blog, podcast, and website, and they also ask for referrals.

7) Phone Calls, When I call my contacts, I want to provide a Value Add, Drive System (Blog, Podcast, Website) traffic, close for appointments and ask for referrals.

8) At Open House I want to capture leads, ask qualifying questions, close for appointments, drive system traffic, and ask for referrals.

This is the best way that I have found to organize and "lace-up" all of my marketing efforts into one clean presentation, where my contacts can start to get a consistent message from me.

Contacting prospects and clients can present a challenge when you are attempting to create value, and contact across mediums, while also making sure NOT to contradict yourself.

This is just my solution, discuss.

Helping FSBOs get it figured out.

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 11:03:29 -0600

I think that FSBOs may be the most misunderstood of all species in real estate. I once thought that they were out to be FSBOs because they resented paying agents a commission or refused to do so. I also thought that property owners attempting the FSBO strategy were doing so because they think that they can do a better job of selling than an agent.

Allow me to highlight some of the things to keep in mind when you contact FSBOs:

Often, an Owner who is trying to sell their home themselves is doing so because they had an agent who didn't do that great of a job. Remember, that their home STILL isn't sold, this is why they may be defensive against agents.

Don't try to tell FSBOs how wrong they are. You will just be ignored.

Don't try to book a listing appointment right away. Working with FSBOs is more of a marathon approach.

The key with FSBOs is to provide them HELP. Your job is to give them the market information, and education necessary in selling their home. You'll want to get familiar with their property for the benefit of any buyers that you have because a FSBO property isn't really on the market.

Again, working with FSBOs is like running a marathon, except this is a race you are always running as an agent. You're running the race of home sales on a daily basis.

Since it is doubtful that FSBOs realize how many contacts that they need to make on a daily basis to sell their home, it is very likely that someday they will burn out on the idea of selling themselves. The idea is that you are the one standing in front of them when they toss in the towel.

Laguna Niguel Real Estate

Big Blogs Team Up to Get Even Bigger

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:45:15 -0600

You may have noticed that the Bloodhound Blog has switched to the team blogging format. As many of you know, team blogging is a principle where several of the members essentially participate in writing different articles to keep the content churning and fresh.

Since many of you read Rain City Guide, you're already well familiar with reading blog articles where different authors participate. So allow me to dispense with the "Wheres" and "Whys" of team blogging and get to the "Whos" and "Whens".

Can anyone here think of AR bloggers who are "ripe" to team up, and start blogging with someone? For example I think that Bryant Tutas, and The Lovely Wife, could easily make a combined team blog. You know Dmitry & Maureen are way ahead of us, of course.

What if there was the RSS Pieces, Real Estate Tomato (see Partner), Future of Real Estate Marketin g trio? That would make for an interesting team blog.

They are all talented in their own rite, so I'm not sure that any of them would take time away from steering their own ship to make a team blog worthwhile.

What if assembling a team blog was like assembling a professional sports team, where the writiers were actually recruited, perhaps even compensated for performance. Surely the participation in itself is a form of compensation. I can imagine the possibilities for this to spring wide open, and perhaps really add some significantly strong facets for the Real Estate Blog world.

Team Blogs are nothing new, but often still, OLD technology is NEW in the hands of Real Estate professionals.

If a Real Estate Blog is like a hub with a network of neurons (inbound and outbound internet links), then a real estate team blog is a network of hubs of a network of neurons.

Bravo for BloodHound, now who will be the next to enter the Real Estate Team Blogging Fray?

Visit My other Blog: Laguna Niguel Real Estate Blog

Laguna Niguel Real Estate

Long Lost Active Rain Blog Poster Here

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:01:07 -0600

I noticed some recent email traffic coming from good old AR. It seems that I was missed. I did honestly have a spell of long term blog-writers-block or BWB.

I noticed that there was no shortage of AR bloggers to fill the void in my absence.

Just so you know, here are a few of the things that I did while I wasn't blogging:

1) I went to *GASP* Florida to visit my brother in New Smyrna and sustained many bug bites. Where I ate a lobster.

2) I did a morning SCUBA dive here in Laguna Beach, right off of Cleo Street, at a dive spot called the Cleo St. Barge. Where I SAW a ton of lobster.

3) I went surfing a couple of times.

4) I watched a few movies, including one called "Thank You For Smoking" which features black (lung) humor...

5) Most of my entire schedule is spent holding open houses, like the one I'm currently holding at 3 Lagunita, in Laguna Beach. The listing price for which is currently $3.5 M

6) I started my company/cookie-cutter site at RealEstateXFactor.com

The high-end Real Estate market here refuses to quit, just like the AR bloggers.

I noticed that many of you commented on my blog "Blogs running short on visuals" no one seemed to really mind that even though I know where to find stock photography, I don't often use it myself.

On my offsite blog, I managed to splice together a couple of images to make a postcard like image on my post about the Renaissance in Dana Point.

For more information on Laguna Beach, and Laguna Niguel Real Estate, visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate

Fire up your browsers, it's time for the broker's technology forum...

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:34:33 -0500

My managing broker recently recruited me to assist in establishing an offline think-tank in how to maximize the use of technology for our office's 200 or so agents. Even the least technically adept agents are working online tools into their kit of Real Estate services. I have identified 3 distinct tiers of technical skill levels in our office.

1) The most common level are the agents who have no way of forming their own opinions or establishing a direction in a technical strategy because they are simply too overwhelmed by the amount of information that they must suddenly grasp.

2) The second group are those who are using some skills to try a few different things online, including one or more websites. Their main advantage is that they are moving in a good direction, but by far they are not doing that in an efficient way.

3) The third group are those agents who have a firm grasp on technology, they work what they do well, and often think that their way of doing things is the best way.

Enter a brainstorming strategy to spoon feed technology to the masses. My strategy? Send everybody to Active Rain and let AR sort them out!

Laguna Beach - The Property

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:09:10 -0500

I have been running short on blogs lately. Why? Because I have been busy doing Real Estate. So many blogs went unwritten, the podcast sat on constant loop with nothing fresh in the mix. Once you see why I've been doing what I've been doing, you won't blame me. It would be an understatment to say that the open house traffic has picked up. Doing daily open house here in Orange County has really started to pay off.

Today, I'm in Laguna Beach at a fantastic beach home...

Here is the view that I get to look at right now. In the distance you can barely make out what looks like a dark cloud above the water, it is actually Santa Catalina Island.

With the upsurge in buyers in the area, I am seeing people interested in properties from $400k to $4 Million price points.

For those of you that are the big Reality TV fans, I'll be in Coto De Caza this weekend, the home of the newer show "The Real Housewives of Orange County".

If you don't hear from me for a while, it is just because I have modulated back into being with my active clients on a 24/7 basis, and they are the priority.

I do often miss Active Rain while I'm away. I don't forget about my friends here!

To Learn More about this Beach Property, Visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate

Huntington Beach Octoberfest

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 09:32:20 -0500

This weekend I'm passing on an open house because my brother will be in town, and we're going to Huntington Beach Oktoberfest. This gives us a good chance to see some Oompa bands and even some contortionists, all while we drink beer and eat large pretzels. A great thing is that they give you a discount if you show up wearing lederhosen. Unfortunately, mine are still in storage.

The cool think about this event is that they do something every weekend in September and October. If you go to Germany in October, expecting to hit the real Oktoberfest, in Munich, you may be disappointed to find out that it ends in October.

Best of all we can practice our German.

Wir werden zusammen viel spaß haben!

Point2Agent: A Review

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 23:00:55 -0500

After Jonathan Greene posted a blog about the free version of Point2Agent, I put it on my list of things to check into.

I have the following first impression:

1) The website is very easy to set up. It is up and running within only a couple of minutes as Jonathan promised.

2) You can add your listings right away. This part is a little labor intensive, I'd like to see something more like a Reverse IDX lookup, where you provide your agent info, and it auto-populates the information from the IDX. Make sense?

3) There are several areas for personalization in the free version.

4) I would recommend that agents who already have a website could benefit from test-driving the Point2Agent system.

5) If you are going to test drive the system, I would advise that you fully customize the entire free site before you switch to the paid version.

6) It does have a lead generation/capture system, but I wasn't able to delve into it yet.

Comments? Has anyone used this system well?

More about Orange County

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 23:20:31 -0500

Remeber No Doubt, and Gwen Stefani? -From Orange County, CA

Rip Curl Wetsuits - Orange County, CA

Want the Orange County Surf Report?

Major League Baseball more your style? Anaheim Angels

How about Hockey - Anaheim Ducks

Irvine is the home to Hurley, Broadcom, Best Life, and a 24 Hour Fitness ULTRA Sport gym.

All it takes to start a surf or clothing company in Orange County is an imagination and a handful of stickers.

I learned to SCUBA Dive in Laguna Beach, and learned to Surf in Doheny State Beach.

If you wanted to ski and surf in the same day, you can. We're 2 hours from Big Bear.

Don't want anyone to read your blog? Write it at night.

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 22:50:30 -0500

I noticed a trend in the amount of comments that my blogs generate here.

That trend follows this pattern: My first blog post of the day is usually my best.

The last blog post that I write gets the most comments.

Posts that I write late at night sometimes go rather unnoticed when measured by comments.

If you want to be safe, and don't want people to read your posts, then just wait until late at night, then post away.

Hold Still, and Try Not to Struggle.

Rory Siems (Prudential California Realty) — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 00:24:15 -0500

Dental work is one of the least fun aspects of anything orally invasive, unlike tasty food. Loan officers may be considered the least fun folks who are financially invasive, unlike a paycheck.

I once had a lender say, "You sell the dream, I'll sell the reality." and thought to myself that it was unfortunate that he had that kind of mentality that his profession might demand either laughing gas or local anestesia.

Besides the Broncos primetime victory over New England, life is not always on our side, some of those unfortunate turns include unsavory credit problems, for which our friends in the lending industry are the remedy.

What I look for in a lender is someone who knows what it takes to coach my client to better, if not pristine credit scores, or the fact that they can qualify on better terms than they otherwise thought possible. The flexibliity and the skilled get the business in this case. We all work on the same team, and often it takes the loan officer to be of superstar status for them to get the deal done. They are the ones who get the repeat business.

If the lender is good, they will make you forget you are in the chair.