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Photos Fuel The Blogging Engine!

By
Real Estate Agent with Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com SAL.2002007747

Fuel is neededPhotos Fuel The Blogging Engine!

Yesterday was a busy real estate day.  Closing in the morning, meeting with a buyer and general contractor in the afternoon, and the usual answering of emails and agent questions.  Today (so far) our schedule is more open, so it's time for a photo safari!

Okay, we won't be photo shooting lions, tigers, elephants or anything of the sort, but instead we'll be seeking to capture Suburbia Americana Domestica.  Suburbia Americana Domestica is a vital fuel for our blogging engine, but we're not going to find it at the corner gas station!  This fuel comes in MANY species.  Perhaps a local event, a local landmark, or for us lately a heavy emphasis on subdivisions/developments/communities (choose whichever term that works for you).

But that fuel for the most part can't be acquired sitting at this laptop, but involves forays into the field.  So today we'll grab our trusty camera and cruise through some developments.  We'll get a shot of the community entrance, anything unique about the community, a sampling of representative homes (at least the ones that have their garage doors closed and no kids in the front yard).  We'll hope no one calls the cops on that little blue car with the folks taking the pictures.....are they casing us??   Well actually, we are, of sorts!  We want a better knowledge of your neighborhood!  When we get a prelist call, or we have buyers looking for that just right home, there's no substitute for having been in that community.

So we'll get those pictures, fire up the blogging engine, and provide some eye candy like these for our community posts: 


Timberlake community  Lebanon Ohio 45036

Shaker Run by Fischer Homes  Lebanon Ohio 45036

And if you're wondering, we like ipiccy.com for making our community collages.

Keep on Blogging,
Liz and Bill aka BLiz

Posted by

Serving Warren County Ohio & Adjacent Areas

The Liz Spear Team of Transaction Alliance
Elizabeth Spear, ABR, Ohio License SAL.2002007747

William (Bill) Spear, Ohio License SAL.2004011109  Kentucky 77938
Ask for us by name if you visit the office!

EHO
Bill Direct:  513-520-5305
Liz Direct: 513-265-3004     
Fax: 866-302-8418

MailTo:  Liz@LizSpear.com

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Comments(33)

Brenda Mullen
RE/MAX Associates - San Antonio, TX
Your San Antonio TX Real Estate Agent!!

Another wonderful tutorial post.  What a great idea to make a collage...I may have to try that.  A photo safari is the ticket when you think you have run out of things to do lol :)!  Then you can get some more blog fodder and gain more leads :)!  Suggested.

Jul 21, 2012 01:13 AM
Roger D. Mucci
Shaken...with a Twist 216.633.2092 - Euclid, OH
Lets shake things up at your home today!

You always have a stategy and a game plan, which is what makes you so successful.  The collages look great.  I've been using iPiccy but have not tried a collage yet.............

Jul 21, 2012 01:25 AM
Debbie Gartner
The Flooring Girl - White Plains, NY
The Flooring Girl & Blog Stylist -Dynamo Marketers

Good for you guys.  Yes, the pictures are critical.  I've been taking more of floors that we've done.  I need to find time to download some...oh yeah and more quality time for blogging too. 

Jul 21, 2012 01:32 AM
Christine Smith
Buyers Brokers Only LLC - www.BuyersBrokersOnly.com - Canton, MA
Exclusive Buyer Agent & Attorney, Canton, MA
BLiz.....I need to do that more often. I usually am writing something and then I realize I have no photo to use!
Jul 21, 2012 02:32 AM
Liz and Bill Spear
Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH
Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

Steve, Liz gets a bit anxious when we're driving around snapping home photos about someone getting angry.  I know we're within our rights, public view, public access, but still, who needs the stress?  Glad yours turned into a positive experience!  And that is what we're attempting, capture the "eye candy" homes that are representative of the neighborhood. 

Jason, Moved to ipiccy.com after picnik.com went poof.  Works well!

Anita, It's your consistent community posts that have been a great example for us to follow.  Give the consumer what they want and the calls will follow.  It's worked to some extent with the patio home posts, now we're expanding into the regular home and condo communities.

Clint, We got worked into us early that graphics/photos were almost essential, so we try to always have something that fits the theme.

We've got to go out for Round 2 of our photo trip.  Got stuck in traffic for an hour due to a bad accident clogging up the highway, and also had a listing offer come in while we were out and about.  Will go back out again shortly to get those photos :)

Roger, We try to work smart with our time and our blogging, otherwise we'd get totally buried.

Debbie, Your floors are the same as our houses, people are visual and want to see the examples.

Christine, We have an annual subscription to iclipart.com for when we don't have a personal photo that fits (e.g. the top photo of the plane refueling).

Jul 21, 2012 02:53 AM
Pat Mistretta
PalmerHouse Properties & Associates - Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Lofts and City Living

Liz - Doing this not only familiarizes you with the area, it makes you the neighborhood expert.  What a perfect way to showcase what is going on in your area!

Jul 21, 2012 03:21 AM
Liz and Bill Spear
Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH
Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

Pat, And sometimes we get surprised that the development is bigger, or further along than the last time we visited.  Things can change quickly.

Jul 21, 2012 03:38 AM
Gene Mundt, IL/WI Mortgage Originator - FHA/VA/Conv/Jumbo/Portfolio/Refi
NMLS #216987, IL Lic. 031.0006220, WI Licensed. APMC NMLS #175656 - New Lenox, IL
708.921.6331 - 40+ yrs experience

BLiz:  You make me chuckle.  My wife and I always say, "what do those in the real estate industry do when they're not actually conducting business"??  Well, you just answered that question in part!  And taught us how to improve our chances of doing even more real estate business.  Great ideas ... and it can be fun too ...

Featured in BananaTude!

BananaTude pic

Congratulations!

Gene

Jul 21, 2012 05:31 AM
Jennifer Chiongbian
Specializing in all types of Manhattan apts & townhouses - Manhattan, NY
Real Estate Broker - NYC

I love going on photo safaris.  I only wish I had more time.  I actually have to pay to join one to make sure that I do it!  There are always a million other more important things that are vying for your attention in Manhattan.

Jul 21, 2012 05:48 AM
Jane Peters
Home Jane Realty - Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles real estate concierge services

I have to do more of this.  Sometimes I will in a community and forget to take a picture.  Good remiunder.  Have camera will take photos.

Jul 21, 2012 06:00 AM
Todd Clark - Retired
eXp Realty LLC - Tigard, OR
Principle Broker Oregon

I love community photos and love to share them with my past clients as well as clients moving to the area. Pictures really can tell a story.

Jul 21, 2012 07:15 AM
Wayne Jackson
Lakeshore Realty 208-714-4109 - Hayden, ID
North Idaho Realtor, Serving Coeur dnullAlene and Hayden Lake

Bliz, Thanks for reminding us how important pictures are. I am just about ready to purchase the Cannon S100 that came out last November. It's used with a belt holster instead of a neck strap. It turns on, zooms, focuses and shoots extremely fast. It also takes excellent video and comes in a very small package.

Jul 21, 2012 07:24 AM
Liz and Bill Spear
Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH
Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

Gene, Today we went out and shot photos for 9 different developments.  We now have the fuel for about two weeks worth of subdivision posts :)  Only about 100 more to go!  Thanks for the group feature!

Jennifer, Not quite the same level of competition for our time here, so photo safaris we can take :)

Jane, I don't think we can have too many photos to work with in our business.

Todd, They certainly provide a nice sampling of what each development offers.

Wayne, Sounds like a serious tool to add to the business!

 

Jul 21, 2012 10:34 AM
Debbie Laity
Cedaredge Land Company - Cedaredge, CO
Your Real Estate Resource for Delta County, CO

Thanks...you answered my question. I was wondering how you got the nice collages. Great work.

Jul 21, 2012 11:50 AM
Anna "Banana" Kruchten
HomeSmart Real Estate - Phoenix, AZ
602-380-4886

Bliz....very impressive and it doesn't surprise me on tiny bit.  Great ideas...and great post~

Jul 21, 2012 12:10 PM
Liz and Bill Spear
Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH
Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

Debbie, Love the program.  Free, easy to use and does what we need it to do.

AB, We keep learning and working at improving our blog posts.  Community posts are a pretty big field to tackle for our area.  We took photos for 9 Mason area communities this afternoon and we're just scratching the surface.

Jul 21, 2012 12:39 PM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Hi Bliz, Thanks for sharing the link that you use for your community collages. I will have to check it out, since I want to start doing more of these with my community posts soon.

Jul 21, 2012 01:39 PM
Liz and Bill Spear
Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH
Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

Jerry, ipiccy.com is pretty cool and once we figured out the basics pretty easy to get the product output.  The only negative is I'd like a few more collage templates to pick from, but we can usually make what we have fit.

Jul 21, 2012 09:43 PM
Marilyn Boudreaux
Marilyn Boudreaux, Century 21 Bono Realty - Lake Charles, LA
Lake Charles LA Century 21 Realtor

Good reminder I have wanted to do the same thing and want to video some neighborhoods between the heat and the rain I just can't get a break.  Photos make a better blog!

Jul 22, 2012 11:18 AM
Liz and Bill Spear
Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH
Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

Marilyn, Added another development to the list of pictures taken this afternoon.  Have 11 communities now that we can turn into posts, and plenty more to follow after that.

Jul 22, 2012 01:22 PM