The blog formerly known as Sadie's Take on Delaware will be hosting this week's Real Estate Carnival.

If you've never entered a carnival this is a great way to get some outside link love for your blog, nominate your favorite post that was written this week and you'll have a chance to be featured on the Web site and shared around the world.

As of this writing I have 15 nominated posts and the judging begins tonight and the winner's will be announced tommorow on Twitter (I'm @realtortoby) and later on my blog and the Carnival's official blog.

Submit your best blog post of the week here

As we were winding down Real Estate Barcamp Ohio 2009, one of the topics was on building your online brand. And since the organizer (me) failed to have a moderator lead it, I ended up being the discussion moderator.

Amazingly, a great online brand marketing moment had just occurred a few minutes before ... and I missed the chance to share it with my people.

We had two classes running concurrently. One was an agent that had stressed to the planning committee - how do I get referral business out of this event? The other stressed to us that he understood the situation was a non-selling event and that he wasn't pitching anything.

Which one do you think created the unique marketing opportunity? Both.

The agent that wanted referrals put together what was described later as "The best presentation ... ever!" and I know that he got at least one agent asking for his business card because "I have family in ..."

The other agent's moderated session came across as a sales pitch and he received a lot of flack in the room and on the Internet. Was it intentional? No, I'm sure it wasn't. However, his online brand took a major hit because the perception of the hundreds that were in the room and watching live on Dakno.tv.com saw them violating a "cardinal" rule of Barcamp Ohio. Will they use this company in the future? Maybe, but they've now got a strike against them before they even step to the plate.

How does that translate to your everyday real estate agent? People want to know more about your personality, not you personally. They don't want to know that you've got a hang-nail, but they do want to know that you care about your community and being part of it.

They want to find a consistent message - even if they don't know they do - about your services. If you are talking about how condos are a bad investment in one post and then offering a post on how great they are in another, the become "confused" about who you are. And when everyone knows 2,000 REALTORS®, or so it often seems, we can't afford any reason for them to say "no" to us.

You do not have to be a "brand stickler" and focus on your brand to the "nth" degree, but you need to be conscience of it and use it to enhance who you are - not to give them another reason to say "no".

You've made the committment to attend Real Estate Barcamp Ohio 2009, but are still deciding whether you want to stay at the Hyatt on Capitol Square.

Well, we are planning on the party - err ... networking - to go long into the night on Wednesday for the Welcome Party and the whole show starts pretty early on Thursday morning.

So we'd suggest even those living on the outskirts to take advantage and get away for a night for the low cost of $99 per person ... pile four in the room for only $32.25 each!

We are so excited about the Hyatt on Capitol Square that we are giving away a free night! Let me repeat that, a FREE NIGHT!

Just be registered to stay at the hotel, using the easy online reservation form, by August 5 and you'll be entered into a drawing that will have one night of your stay covered for free!

You don't have to pay for the room when you reserve, just get your name on the books at the Hyatt and we'll get the sheets turned down for you!

Have you been watching the Real Estate Barcamps on Dakno and wondering when one would be coming to the Great Lakes.

Well if you missed Chicago's event, then you need to come to Columbus, Ohio on August 19-20 for the infamous Real Estate Barcamp Ohio 2009!

The free event will be held only steps away from the State House Rotunda at the Hyatt on Capitol Square in downtown Columbus.

The event will begin on August 19 with registration running from 4:45 - 5:45, the Photowalk from 6-7:30 p.m. and the Welcome Networking event from 7-10 p.m.

On August 20, registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and runtil until 9:30 a.m. The welcome will be from 9-9:30 and the Barcamp will run from 10 - 5:30 and will be followed by the infamous Beer N Bloggers event at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt on Capitol Square's infamous Darby Patio.

RSVP today! for your chance to get a T-shirt and be elgible for a free door prize!

A freind-of-a-friend sent me a CMA request on New Year's Eve.

Unfortunately, it was in Fort Myers, Florida. Well, short of hopping on a plane and enjoying the warm weather, I'm going to be referring this one out. I immediately head to Twitter and post

"Real Estate agent in Fort Myers? Contact me via DM"

And I chilled for a bit. Went had the morning coffee, worked a bit and soon realized ... that I had to check on those direct messages.

Hmm ... not a single one. Logged on to Active Rain, and found the amazing Chris Elizabeth Griffith (@Twitterzilla) and worked out a potential referral with an agent from her office.

What happened on Twitter? This was my first attempt to do "blatant" business ... and it was a classic "fail whale".

I have a friend that is claiming to be getting six-to-eight leads a month off Twitter. He's not sharing names and closings, and I'm not buying it.

Are you getting business from Twitter?

Follow me on Twitter if you are really bored.

“Would you recommend your company as a great place to work?” the LinkedIn poll recently asked me.

I quickly answered “yes without a doubt” thinking it would be split pretty evenly amongst the results. However, with 23,268 responses the results were a runaway. Seventy percent responded “yes without a doubt” while only 15 percent answered either “no probably not” or “no definitely not”.

The question to you is: How would you have answered that question?

The greatest thing about being in real estate for me is that I’m an independent contractor – I earn my keep every single day. Didn’t make my calls today? Well that’s my problem. I don’t care if Susie in accounting didn’t make her calls – actually in a sick-twisted way, I would prefer she keep it that way.

But one thing that always amazes me is how many people don’t like who they work for. Maybe it’s their nature or maybe it’s the market. A 99% commission split with $1 desk fee would sometimes feel like too much in this economy. But, there are others I know that are generally unhappy with their organization. Why? Reasons I’ll never understand.

I remember walking into my first broker’s office – even took my wife with me as moral support – to tell him I was joining Keller Williams. He didn’t even try to keep me, and basically wished me best-of-luck and we parted ways. It cost me about $70 to change my license with the Ohio Department of Commerce and to transfer within the Delaware County Board of REALTORS® but it was pretty painless.

So why are you working for a brokerage you don’t enjoy, don’t like, or worst of all doesn’t give you the support you need?

That my friend is for you to decide.

Photo by Luis Lopez and used with permission.

Columbus and Central Ohio Multiple Listing Service announced its November 2008 numbers on Monday and they continued to slump.

The sold listings were off by more-than 26% while the average sales price was down by 16%.

Of all the numbers, one of the most interesting is that the days on market has fallen by 18% - or 21 days - compared to November last year.

Year-to-date, the numbers continue to be off our pace from 2007. However, they are not nearly as extreme as Novembers. Average sales price is down less than 5% while the number of sold listings is down by just over 13%.

Why the sharp drop in November?

• Calm of the storm is one idea. We saw such a rapid adjustment to the market that the majority of buyer's may have been on the sideline in October and November - which doesn't bode well for the December numbers as well.
• Another idea, is that the presidential election had a major impact. People were more interested in talking about politics and the fate of the United States presidential campaign than buying and selling real estate.

What does that mean for the future?

Well, in December I think the numbers will continue to be sharply off compared to 2007. But, the current interest rates appear to be creating an up-tick in the market. If, and a big if, buyer confidence begins to return then we could see a bounce back in the first quarter of 2009.

 

 

Welcome home to 15947 Needles Road in beautiful southeast Delaware County. This home is located about half-way between Sunbury and Johnstown about two miles south of State Route 37. You'll be the first to live in this 2,493 square foot 3-bedroom and 2-1/2 bathroom cape cod. The home was built in 2005 and has a lot of upgrades! From the stainless steel dishwasher to the cabinets to the countertop and the beautiful deck. Sitting on 1.999 acres this home has a well and private septic system and is forced air propane heat with central air conditioning. The two-car garage is side load with openers.

I had some cellular issues last week, calls were going straight to voice mail and I wasn’t getting notified that the call had been missed.

So it took me about 15-hours to return the call from a local gentleman that had been trying to sell some land on his own. He thanked me for calling him back and quickly apologized, he’d signed an agreement earlier that afternoon with another company.

Hating technology at that point, I thanked him for thinking of me and asked, “Who did you sign with?”

“Umm, I knew you were going to ask me that,” he replied. I could hear the paper rustling in the background as he dug for the listing agreement to grab the name of the listing agent.

I was sitting there politely chatting this gentleman, but all my personalities were yelling at once. “No way!”

All that went through my mind was a portion of a Gary Keller quote. “Just be first.”

All that I had to do was call this gentleman back. I had started marketing to him as a for sale by owner about a week or two before, however it wasn’t a great connection. Our conversations seemed strained, so I kept him on the mail list. Stay in the game, but not really expect much.

It worked perfectly, but I’d let it slip through my cell phone.

Okay, so that one got away. What did I learn from it?

• Never underestimate the value of a verbal discussion.
• Keep in touch
• Don't become TOO reliant on technology
• Keep your sense of humor and be strong.

Next time, I'll be first.

Image is property of Ralaenin and used with permission.

In 1492, the Spain had one of the world’s greatest competitive advantages ever.

For you see, they were the first to discover, thanks to Mr. Christopher Columbus, that the world was not flat. In fact that it was round and that they could settle these fine lands for their own resources.

Yet, within three hundred years, the English, Dutch, and French all had large settlements on this new land and the Spanish found themselves primarily in Central America. What happened to their competitive advantage?

Well a couple of things.

• Word got out. You can’t keep good news quiet for long.
• Money. Had Columbus discovered Antartica would the response have been the same? No, the booty wasn’t enough to justify the challenge.
• Too Much To Control. Keeping the English and French out of the East Indies is one thing, but to protect and defend your claims across two continents isn’t practical or handily possible.

What does this history lesson have to do with today’s world?

The Americas are the World Wide Web, and each real agent, brokerage, and company is trying to create its own domination of this world.

When I joined Active Rain more than two years ago, there were a handful of people in Delaware County on the site – now its 81. Jump on Facebook and do a search you’ll be amazed to find how many agents there are on the site.

How do they make money from this service?

That’s a great question and to be honest, most don’t. Why not?

1. Focus. Do you talk about your dog? your kids? is that the focus of your blog? Teresa Boardman does an amazing job of staying on topic and it has paid of dividends for her. Do you?
2. Time. Recently I had an online rookie say "I want to make money off this spending a couple hours a week." He's since given up the "online focus" and gone back to his tried and true marketing efforts. Why? It takes time to build an online presence - both in work and months. Sarah Cooper is one that I love to read, she is everywhere on the Web -- why because she enjoys it!
3. Goals. That's right, many Web sites have the WRONG goal. What is the goal of your Web site? Is it to capture leads? Is it to SELL a house? Or is it to develop relationships with potential clients?

Good luck in this online world. It's getting smaller every day and that makes it even harder to defend your competitive advantage from the hundreds of other "online" agents.

Photograph by Svilen Mushkatov and used via permission of Stock.xchng