I have been busier than a one-legged man in a butt kickin' contest. (Author unknown)
I finished my morning run yesterday and while resting my "dogs" out on our deck, I had a few moments to relax and contemplate blogging and the real estate market here in Austin, Texas. Last July, when I first started "blogging", the real estate business in Austin, Texas was pulling back and beginning to feel the first effects of the many problems that have plagued real estate, banking and the other financial areas in all parts of the country. Through the fall and the first months of 2009, the market remained flat and actually dropped a bit as more problems surfaced.
When business is slower, it's an excellent time to reexamine our production, our business model, work on our SOI and engage in marketing in anticipation of future business. During the months since last summer, I slowly began to delve into the world of on line social networking by joining LinkedIn, Squidoo, Twitter, Face Book and most importantly, Active Rain! In that time I s-l-o-w-l-y learned to find my voice and write posts that would hopefully contribute to the Active Rain community as well as help promote my presence and relevance online in my areas of expertise here in Austin! Over time I have been pleasantly surprised at the number of friends and professional relationships I have established through my blog!
I have also been able to gain more business as a direct result of my blogging and hopefully it will continue to grow as I stay involved. And that's the challenge! I was taught by Rich and Brad that to be successful at blogging, a person needs to post regularly and maintain quality. I suppose I could post every listing in my company (as I often see from some of the real estate "teams") or just throw something -anything out to fill the void but I think in the long run folks actually do not care for this type of blog and quickly move along. If anything I do need to write about real estate more often and on a REGULAR BASIS!!
Now here is my so called "problem", Austin is experiencing dramatic activity these days (at least for my office and me personally). Austin has recently rated #1 for employment opportunities, Forbes magazine ranked Austin #8 for communities to do business, Jumbo Loan restrictions are beginning to relax a bit, and Texas for the 4th year in a row is the number 1 state for population growth. All of these things bode well for our community and our business. As a consequence, I have had no time at all to post lately and barely enough to keep up with many of the blogs I read on a regular basis. I am flattered when I check my blog and see that people leave comments wondering if I am alive or will ever post again! Anyway, I am back to posting again but as long as the market stays busy, I will have to make an extra effort to write something at least twice a week.
In the meantime, if you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home in Central, West or Southwest Austin, Texas, contact me at your convenience. Real Estate is alive and well in our fair city!
Comments(167)