Real Estate, Technology, Social Media and Ethics

Social Media: Improving Your Public Relations

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:46:11 -0600

Adam Singer over at Online Marketing Blog recently wrote an article covering a lot of important social media tips.

In the article he says, "To get to the point of seeing PR returns at scale for your social web participation, you’ll need to push through “the dip”. In other words, outlast others who aren’t as serious or committed as you are." Adam writes about three key factors that impact your PR objectives using social media. In a nutshell: don't just use one platform, it takes times and everything you do impacts your SEO.

Google in Real Time

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:51:22 -0600

Google just started reporting search results in real time. What I like about it is that I can watch how my online efforts are being tracked and what is effective and what is not. There is a link just under the word "Google" that opens up all the options you see in the image on the left. If I click on "Past 24 hours", Google will display only the results of a search that it has found in the last 24 hours.

I'm finding that my posts to Localism, ActiveRain, Wordpress, RealTown show up within just a few hours of posting. My posts to my TypePad blogs take a loonnnnnnggg time to show up. Whazup with dat, TP?

It's just nice to know what Google is finding and when.

AJC Does Some Serious Work On Metro Atlanta RE Values

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:13:31 -0600

This is one of the best articles I've ever seen come out of the AJC. "In an unprecedented comparison of actual sales values vs. county tax appraisals, the AJC examined recent records for every residential property sale and every change in tax value in Cobb, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties in 2009 — about 550,000 documents" is the how author Ty Tagami describes the article.

DeKalb zip 30058 has taken an absolute beating. "Nowhere in the county — indeed nowhere in metropolitan Atlanta — was the crash more spectacular than in ZIP code 30058 in the Lithonia area. Tax appraisers cut their total valuations in the ZIP by $310 million, or a median drop of 21 percent — the largest loss in appraised value in the more than 120 metro ZIP codes studied by the AJC. Even so, the median sales price declined even more — by 28 percent, according to data from SmartNumbers, a Marietta real estate research firm"

Is Social Media An Enhancement or Detriment to Productivity?

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:47:43 -0600

Psychology Today article. Author Ray Williams points to numerous studies that show both sides of social media. He makes the argument that we really don't know yet how social media effects productivity in the workplace. He goes on to say, "The impact of social technology on business as usual is and will continue to be profound. Instead of the old model of change, from the inside out, the new model of change is from the outside in. Markets are shifting at the speed of a mouse click."

Editorial comment: I don't know what's come over me this morning. I've quoted from HuffingtonPost and Psychology Today; the 2 periodicals that I have the most disdain for. Just goes to show you: despite our biases, everyone has got something valuable to bring to the table.

Looking for some ideas...

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:24:28 -0600

I've been thinking that most of us see social media as a way to promote ourselves and our businesses. What if we could turn that around and use the Twitters/Facebooks/AR's to be able to hear what our customers think? As I'm musing over this, I come across an article in the HuffingtonPost from Dell on the same subject. Seth Godin also touched on the same theme this morning.

The idea is intriguing but how do you do it? Any thoughts?

County Tax Re-Evaluations Running Behind

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:55:46 -0600

The AJC has an article this morning on how and why county property evaluations are running behind. Staff writer Mary Lou Pickle quotes one homeowner saying, ""I think it's unfair, in that they're right there to assess you and increase it when the home is sold, or you've done something to improve it. But when the economy is going in the tank, they're not going to reduce it," she said.

I rather suspect that if is was private enterprise instead of government that was so unresponsive that there would be complete outrage, lawsuits and cries for regulation.

Ogle Google Goggles

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:31:51 -0600

My first reaction to Google's Goggles app was sheer amazement at the technology. But what if you could point your camera at a listing, snap a pic and Goggle could give you all of the listing info? What if you could snap pics of nearby homes and get information for a CMA? What if you could just snap a pic of a home and have Goggle retrieve all the courthouse records for the property? What if that information could be linked to your local real estate forms? It boogles the brain, doesn't it?

Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents. Oh, my.

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:41:19 -0600

Seth Godin is one of those people who make the complex simple. Frankly, I need that. His post today is titled "How to protect your ideas in the digital age" and in it he offers a great perspective on the importance of copyrights, trademarks and patents. For me, it takes a little bit of the fear out of those legal minefields. Just so you know, Seth says with tongue planted firmly in cheek, "I'm now officially trademarking thank-you™. From now on, whenever you use this word, please be sure to send me a royalty check."

The Magic of Branding

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:45:48 -0600

1000WATT Consulting always comes up with good articles. Brian Boero's article "Let us proclaim the mystery of brand" certainly is one of them. Getting my website on page 1 of the Google search used to be the holy grail. Not so much anymore. Branding is replacing positional authority and that only makes sense. Branding provides a way for potential clients to connect emotionally with who you are; search engine position does not. Can it effective branding be accomplished? Brian thinks so:

Does this exist in real estate? It sure does. But it is – as it should be – a rare thing. We know brokers who can do it. They have their own rituals, their own symbols, their own mysteries. And they are doing well.

Many others miss the mark entirely. They engage in social media promiscuously, mistaking it for brand love. They embrace “transparency” when they would be better served by calculated reserve.

Marketing follows the magic, not the other way around.

The Panasonic House

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:24:43 -0600

Makes a lot of sense that an electronics manufacturer would want to create an energy efficient home.

Panasonic has announced that it will invest $1B so that: "The new technology will let consumers monitor their own electricity use and display the data on television sets, Ohtsubo said. The system will be able to connect and monitor all of the appliances in a house, and the solar panels may produce enough clean power to offset any carbon dioxide created from other power the appliances use".

You can read the full article from Business Week here. I am looking forward to hearing more on this venture.

Left Behind

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:05:20 -0600

I came into real estate after a 17 year career with IBM. I've always thought that our industry was a bit slow about picking up on technologies that would make our work easier. That's not entirely unexpected. After all, we are dealing with THE major asset of most families and it is vital that we take our responsibilites very seriously. Plus most of us are not techies but sales people.

I'm excited to see the increased usage of electronic forms management systems, electronic signatures and the use of the web to syndicate our listings. I love the fact that I am now able to do business from anywhere on the planet that has an internet connection. However, there is this one exception: EARNEST MONEY.

Why is it that I can negotiate an entire sale while visiting my in-laws on the other side of the continent but somebody has got to handle a handwritten, paper check to complete the deal? Why is it that I can buy a brand new Harley on my American Express card but I've got to WRITE an earnest money check for $2000.00? How come I can buy an antique bicycle on eBay for $12,500.00 with just one click and a PayPal account but I've got to futz around with your earnest money? Why did this piece of the transaction get left behind?

Perhaps I have missed something but I would like to know if any of you have a way of handling earnest money that at least has the appearance of this century. Are there products/systems out there that I'm not aware of? Am I the only one annoyed by this?

Buddy Snipes

DeKalb County Georgia New Listings, Uggg.

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:03:13 -0600

Rasmussen just released a poll in which they found that “Seventy percent (70%) say now is not a good time for someone in their area to sell a house.” The chart below (from Georgia MLS) is new listings over the past two years. It reflects the number of people each month who actively want to sell their home. Can you see any sign here of a bottom? I can’t. It will get better. Wish I could tell you when. On the other hand, if you are in a position to buy right now, it’s paradise.

Technorati Tags: buddy snipes,dekalb county georgia,market statistics,new listings

Just So I Can Say "I told you so."

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:53:25 -0600

Here it comes. Our next "got to have" certification: The Certified Social Media Consultant. Yes, companies are already popping up to offer you a pricey certification which will announce to the world that you are an expert at something no one has a handle on yet. Aliza Sherman at Web Worker Daily has a good article on the subject this morning.

Now that I think about, why didn't I come up with this idea? Gotta go. Have to create a certification course...

Using Psychics for Home Valuation

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:37:44 -0600

Hey, it's as good a methodology as any of the Automated Valuation Models. How about some sort of dart board? Why does it seem to be such a big secret that a competent, experienced agent can price a home better than anyone or anything else? Brian Boero, over at 1000 Watt Consulting says, "Machine calculated property values may satisfy our idle curiosity or grease the skids of online engagement, but they are, still, an imprecise measure. In almost all cases, only a skilled Realtor familiar with the qualitative dimensions of a property and its environs can price a home correctly." His full article is here. Amen.

Decatur Completes Historic Resources Survey

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:47:05 -0600

Thanks to DecaturMetro, the Historic Resources Survey commissioned by the City of Decatur is now available on-line. The survey reviewed all properties within the City and categorizes anything 50 years old or older as “historic”. The full 77 page report is here. Starting on page 13 there is a nice timeline of when neighborhoods were first developed. Here is just one of the many great charts showing the history of annexation:

The Invisible Hand of ... Shopping?

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:27:40 -0600

Perhaps they did borrow the term from Adam Smith but InvisibleHand is an add-on for FireFox that will automatically alert you whenever you are searching for a product and it finds it cheaper somewhere else.

In the example below, I checked HomeDepot's price on a Sharp microwave. Once I found it, InvisibleHand very quickly let me know that HD's price was better than what it found at Amazon! (see orange box). While they do not cover every store on the planet, they do cover the biggies. Nor did every product I searched for return an IH comparison. Still, I figure being in real estate these days that saving money is a good thing.

Maybe I Should Go Ahead and Move My License to Google

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:05:39 -0600

Yowee-Zowee! Google now has listing pages as an overlay to maps! Brian Boero's article over at 1000 Watt Consulting is pretty jaw dropping. Here is a quote that should get your attention: "A few months ago I explained why I felt Google would never get serious about real estate. I may have been wrong." Check out this example of a listing in California. I clicked on the "search nearby" box and typed in "school" and of course it shows me where the property is located and all the schools in the area. I think I would find this really attractive as a consumer.

Henderson Park, Tucker, Georgia: Your Input Requested

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:27:54 -0600

DEKALB COUNTY TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING ON HENDERSON PARK

The DeKalb County Parks and Recreation Department will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, December 2, 2009 to discuss plans for Henderson Park. The general public is invited to attend.

WHO: DeKalb Parks and Recreation Representatives

WHAT: Public meeting to discuss plans for Henderson Park.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 2, 2009 from 6:30pm -8:00pm

WHERE: Tucker Recreation Center, Room #2 4898 LaVista Road Tucker, GA 30084 For more information, contact Revonda Moody, Project Manager at 404-687-3708 or e-mail at rnmoody@co.dekalb.ga.us .

Your Input Is Wanted on Kitteridge Park, Decatur, Georgia

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:22:52 -0600

DEKALB PARKS AND RECREATION IS HOLDING A PUBLIC MEETING ABOUT KITTREDGE PARK The DeKalb County Parks and Recreation Department will hold a public meeting on Thursday, December 3, 2009 to discuss conceptual plans for Kittredge Park. The general public is invited to attend.

WHO: DeKalb Parks and Recreation Representatives WHAT: Public meeting to discuss the conceptual plans for future development of Kittredge Park and to take input from the public.

WHEN: Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 6:30pm

WHERE: International Student Center 2383 N. Druid Hills Road Atlanta, Georgia 30329 For more information, contact John Bateman, Project Manager at 404-687-3542or e-mail at jwbateman@co.dekalb.ga.us .

Don't Be a Big Fat Zero

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:48:47 -0600

Pete Cashmore is the 24 year-old CEO and founder of Mashable.com, a Technorati Top 10 blog worldwide. You might like to read what a sharp 24 year old thinks about "push" advertising. In a recent post he says, "That’s the exact same outdated model of interruption-based advertising that we’ve been trying to block out with a TiVo or an internet ad blocker. We don’t want it. We’ll ignore it." Pete represents a whole generation that will be buying homes and if we don't know what they think and what they like they will tatoo a big zero on our foreheads.

You Are Smarter Than the Talking Head on TV

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:12:54 -0600

"Anyone not aware of the studies proving that consumers trust is placed in “people like me,” may leave the room.", states an article from American Express Open Forums. I know that I tend to undervalue what I bring to the table but the fact of the matter is people in my sphere would rather do business with me than with the unknown, well promoted image of a person. The question is: how do they find me?

Producing Sales From Social Media

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:47:00 -0600

This article is brief but makes a good point about producing actual sales from social media. The author quotes: "He says to entice Twitter followers or Facebook fans to subscribe to newsletters that include calls to action, for instance. Or include a link that helps folks buy products that are mentioned on a blog."

A Gift from Gobble. Opps. I Mean Google.

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:50:00 -0600

Google has a Holiday gift for your: FREE wifi in 47 US airports! From their press release: "We're very happy to extend our Holiday Wi-Fi gift to the millions of people who will spend time in airports over the next few months," said Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience at Google. "We know that this is a very hectic travel season for people, and we hope that free Wi-Fi will make both traveling and connecting with friends and family a little bit easier."

Learn about wine in Decatur

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:44:17 -0600

What: Wine 101 This is the class that will thrust you on the path of becoming a connoisseur. Join Don as he discusses the fundamentals of wine and wine tasting. In addition to a brief overview of winemaking and major wine growing regions, this class will provide you with the basic tools to taste and evaluate wine [...] 404 377 4005

When: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 7:00 PM

Where: The Cook's Warehouse-Decatur 180 West Ponce de Leon Avenue Decatur, Georgia 30030 United States

Happy Birthday Dunwoody!

Buddy Snipes (Trusted Agent, Inc.) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:26:46 -0600

Dunwoody Georgia will be one year old on December 1. This is going to be interesting to watch. The AJC article quotes Mayor Ken Wright as saying "The people who started Dunwoody want it run like a business." It also states that "He expects the city to have built up $3 million in reserves by the end of this year". Reserves? A city with reserves? Maybe Dunwoody is on to something here.