Ouch, I did not even realize how long it has been since my last post on ActiveRain for Barrington real estate until I tried to log in and failed on my first three attempts. Not being able to remember my log on for AR certainly was a reminder that I've been AWOL for over a month. It's not that I have not been active in real estate blogging, I've just been sidetracked on several other real estate related blogs including my own concerning all of the real estate news going on out there in the world.
Where I have been in the past month? Well, Morgan Carey came up with a New blog platform over at Real Estate Webmasters that is pretty cool and very search engine friendly. My Safe Toys for Christmas shopping guide and my blog about Illinois having the strictest standards in lead safe toys can be found over there.
I know, those blog posts are hardly real estate related but when you read that guide, it's pretty shocking how many toys are out in the market and already in people's homes.
Barrington was just recently honored by Business Week as one of the top 25 places to raise children. I don't put too much stock in magazine ratings but hey, it's not everyday Barrington Illinois gets mentioned in a national magazine and if somebody is relocating to Chicago, maybe they'll take a look at Barrington.
Of course, I've been blogging on my blog which included a South Barrington real estate report that really highlights the importance of a home seller pricing their home right to begin with. Overprice it, sit on the market for 300+ days is the overall moral of the story.
In case you've been a little busy blogging about glowing cats, the National Association of REALTORS decided that the usage of Search the MLS was a bad thing and went out and changed the code of Ethics so REALTORS can't use that term anymore. Of course, there is nothing that the Association can do to enforce the rule on non REALTORS so third party websites can use it all day long and take over this popular search phrase in Google and sell REALTORS leads. The only explanation I've been able to find for this change is that it confuses the consumer and they don't want the term to become Generic. So now the consumer can just use the term and get more confused and fill out their information on a third party site that sells their information.
Of course, a consumer could just go straight to a REALTOR that has a full Chicago Real Estate search and skip all of the third party sites with all of the annoying advertising to begin with. I don't think we'll see any ad campaigns promoting this though because it also means that the consumer really does not need Realtor.com either. And that's really the reason why other third party sites out there want REALTORS and Real Estate Brokerages uploading all of their real estate listings into their sites. Without real estate listings, people won't visit those sites. Of course it sounds better to use a sales line that it brings more exposure to the clients home but the truth is it's really easy to find all of the real estate for sale on an agent's website that has an IDX feed from the MLS that is far more extensive in homes available to view.
Anyways, that's a small sample of what I have been doing in the past month. Have a Very Merry Christmas and always remember that this is the season to truly enjoy what life is all about.
Cheers!
Suburban Village Realty | 117 Cook St | Barrington Il 60010 | 847.337.9236
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