consumer: Selling Your Soul For Success? - 03/29/11 03:53 AM
I'm happy for your success.
I love knowing when people around me, people I like, are being successful.  I love a good rags to riches success story.  I love the triumph of a person who sets their sights on success and reaches (and often surpasses) their goals.
ActiveRain success stories are always great and I've written them myself.  Recently though, I've found myself struggling with the thought of the success stories being posted on the main page.  Each story is accompanied by a smiling agent holding the check they received after their success story wrapped up.  There's everything from referral stories … (19 comments)

consumer: Action/Reaction and the Principals of How We Treat Prospetive Clients - 12/21/09 10:15 PM

photo courtesy of eflon
 
You'll need to do some homework.
In order for this post to make much sense, you'll need to read up first.  Please read Larry and Sheila Agranoff's post "Should We Even Respond To This One?" (a featured post from 12/21/09) - if you're not a member of ActiveRain, the post will not come up for you as it is marked "Members Only."  Be sure to read through the comments as this is what my post is based on.
So what would you do?
I hope you left a comment while you over there, but let … (32 comments)

consumer: Are Your Clients "Thinking" And "Hoping"? - Seeing Two Words In A New Light - 12/08/09 06:57 AM

photo courtesy of mollypop
Finally...a connection.
I had a call today from Stacy Jones of The Jones Team in Katy, Texas, we've been trying to connect for awhile now, but today we finally spoke.  It was a conversation about real estate and technology (mostly websites) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's always great connecting with other agents and just sort of bouncing ideas and thoughts back and forth.  The call went on for about an hour and I think we both took away a few things while chatting.  Sometimes in the middle of a conversation about something, a light goes … (8 comments)

consumer: Trulia Voices - As A Real Estate Agent Do You Ever Consider How Late You Are? - 11/30/09 03:31 AM

An unpopular thought.
I've never been know as one to shy away from speaking my mind and this time I wonder what the reaction will be.  I'm not here to tell you how to run your business, but I still feel the need to speak up.  At Trulia Voices there is constant controversy over what is the "best" or "right" way to respond to questions.  I have plenty of opinions about that, but you'd probably be shocked to hear some of them.  I'm not as single minded as you may think.
When you join, what do you do?
When you … (12 comments)

consumer: I'm all out of words. Comments are hard to come by. - 11/04/09 10:51 PM

photo courtesy of stev.ie
My commenting isn't nearly what it used to be.
I've slowed down on commenting a lot.  I hit the blogs I subscribe to just about everyday and usually take a peak at the Featured Posts once or twice a day.  I even scroll through the blog list to see what's been written by those I may not know.  I do a lot of reading.  Commenting, is a different story.
Why you might ask?
Well, the first (and obvious) reason is that I'm busier than I once was.  I've got a lot more going on.  Not just … (18 comments)

consumer: In search of: Information on the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit - 11/02/09 10:02 PM

image courtesy of Bramus!
Numbers don't lie.
At the end of last week, I was a bit upset about the information going out about the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit through Twitter and various blogs, both real estate and news media related.  Two of the blog posts I wrote in reaction to the situation, both at RErockstar.com, garnered a bit of attention and created a bit of discussion, but I wanted to see just how much they mattered in a world full of real estate blogs and internet chatter.
"First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit NOT Extended Depsite What … (14 comments)

consumer: Ambassador Series: Soft Connecting With Consumers - 10/27/09 02:50 AM

image courtesy of Twitter, Gimp, and my own conversation with a local consumer
Talking to the consumer...not at them.
Recently, I had a conversation with a local about their home that resulted in a post about "For Sale By Owner" homes in San Antonio (and beyond).  I was pretty proud of the post as I thought I covered the topic pretty well, but after walking away from the post, I realized something was missing.
The person who had inspired the post would probably never read it.  Sure, we talk on Twitter, but do they really pay attention to my posts?  … (5 comments)

consumer: Better or worse? What would you prefer (consumer opinions welcome)? - 09/02/09 09:38 AM
You know I like to write more than the average blogger.
Not that I enjoy writing more, but that I enjoy writing more words than the average blogger.  It's an affliction that I was born with and it hasn't gone away.  I like to be as in depth as possible and in some cases it may scare away some readers at www.rerockstar.com, but for those that are willing to stick around and bear with me (and there seems to be plenty), I think I often provide a pretty complete picture of the issue at hand.  Some call it over-doing it, I … (10 comments)

consumer: The Best Real Estate Blogs Are NOT Written By Real Estate Agents (RE-BLOG) - 08/31/09 03:23 PM

this is not the blogger know as Molly, but rather my old cat that shared the same name
Meet Molly.
I was passing through the featured posts tonight when I came across a post by SarahGray Lamm.  If you haven't read it, I've re-blogged it here for your pleasure.  It's actually a post about a blog.  A blog by Molly.  In it she speaks about buying a home - from a home buyer's perspective.  Take a few minutes read the post about her experiences, but while you're there, comb through the rest of the blog.  It's a personal blog about … (1 comments)

consumer: Realtor® Speak 102: What do I need to bring to closing? - 08/20/09 04:23 PM

photo courtesy of Menage a Moi
I was preparing for a closing yesterday with a client...
My client is a First Time Home Buyer and we've had some interesting moments looking for homes.  We've seen good and we've seen bad.  As we went through the house on our final walk-through to prepare for the closing the next day, the client had quite a few questions.  This particular client really had a desire to understand what was going on as he was purchasing a home and I had a blast with him.  I like questions.  It gives me a chance to … (11 comments)

consumer: Caution I'm Hot - Are we protecting consumers or making them dependent on the law? - 08/07/09 05:00 AM

photo courtesy of CarbonNYC
The thought process.
After reading Erik Hitzelberger's post titled, "Attention Real Estate Pros: Are you ready to be sued?" (which was written based on a comment I made on a previous post of his), I got to thinking about all the things that we can get in trouble for.  It also comes from a conversation I had with Kristin Moran in the office yesterday and some of my general philosophy as well.
Erik's post revolves around the idea that we might see lawsuits arising from delays in closing and buyers missing the deadline to close in … (12 comments)

consumer: Helpful or Harmful? Trulia Real Estate Search and accurate data. - 07/05/09 02:17 PM

photo courtesy of swanksalot
I have said it before and I'll say it again.
I'm an overall fan of Trulia and the service they provide.  I think they have a better product than most of the national real estate search sites and are extremely user and agent friendly.  But, that doesn't mean I love everything they do.  As an active participant in Trulia Voices, I enjoy the thought that the consumer can ask questions and get answers from real estate professionals, but of course, there are some problems with that thought (those are another story altogether, so we'll leave it … (15 comments)

consumer: It's Time To Bury This Monster. - 03/24/09 02:32 PM

photo courtesy of sscornelius
I read something the other day and a crusade was born.
I am going to kill something.  I am going to bury it so deep in the ground the world will forget it ever existed.  I am going to see to it that it is destroyed and removed from this world.  I am on a mission and none of you can stop me.  I am not an angry person in general, but I have reached my limit and the only answer is that it has to pay.  And its death is the only way to resolve … (18 comments)

consumer: Trulia and RealtyTrac - Can't we improve this? - 03/05/09 06:49 AM

photo courtesy of respres
I'm a big fan of Trulia.
I think Trulia has a good attitude about real estate and the online world.  With their blogging platform, Trulia Voices, their listings and the helpful nature of everyone I've come across that's involved - I just like them.  I think they provide value to the consumer and value to the agent.  I have never received any business from Trulia, but I have done my best to participate in the community (mostly Trulia Voices) as I think it can really be a great clearinghouse of information to a consumer.
We all … (18 comments)

consumer: Localism - State Of The Union - 01/04/09 05:49 AM

photo courtesty of Jef Poskanzer
Sometimes the ideas come at weird times.
I was out at a friend's house last night, eating homemade salsa and playing games (Battle of the Sexes isn't worth the paper its printed on, just my opinion).  It was a great night and it was a nice way to spend a weekend that has been full of work.  Relaxing to say the least.  Of course, my mind often wanders to real estate and my friends often bring the topic up, so despite the fact that I was "off the clock," my mind was still running.  It … (54 comments)

consumer: The Great ActiveRain Interactive Experiment - 12/26/08 01:56 AM
 
photo courtesy of YuviPanda
I wrote recently about commenting on blogs and had an idea this morning.
We all love to receive comments and some of us love to read them.  After writing the post, I kept thinking about how commenting on ActiveRain and other blogs I read has benefited me and the others who have started interactive conversations in the comments.  So the title of this post popped into my head.  I had a title, but what was I going to do with it?  I needed to use the title, that much I was certain of, but I had … (14 comments)