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Month: September 2006 (page 3 of 15)

September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #84: Give your weblog posts a magic middle . . . ?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

From the Problogger ‘How To…’ Group Writing Project, Business Blogwire serves up “5 Tips on How to Give Your Blog Posts a Magic Middle”:

1. Think meat and potatoes.

2. Transitions are crucial.

3. Make your theme abundantly clear.

4. Read your post carefully before publishing it.

5. Whatever you do, overdeliver.

The dinner is in the details, of course, but I think these are good working principles for any kind of writing or presentation, not just weblogging…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #83: Let Realtor do his job and price your house . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is from my Arizona Republic column:

Here’s how to get yourself in trouble when you price your home for sale.

First, collect a whole lot of information from wildly unreliable sources. Public records are almost always hugely out of date. The sales figures published in the newspaper almost never give you enough details to distinguish recently sold homes from your own. And your former neighbors are almost always fibbing when they tell you what they got for their homes.

The second step of the process is elevation by divination. Bill’s house has a bad front lawn, so my house must be worth more. Janet’s house had those hideous mustard-yellow drapes, so my house must be worth more. That custom entertainment center I built — the one that fits my TV only — cost $500, but it adds at least $4,000 to the value of my home.

Now, when you interview Realtors, be sure to pick the one who is easiest to dominate. After all, it’s your house. Shouldn’t you set the price?

Now stop for a moment and think what you — and your attorney! — would do to a dentist who let you pick which tooth to drill. When you sit down with a Realtor, only one of you knows how to price a home to the marketplace. Trying to second-guess and micromanage your Realtor may not be quite the same thing as grabbing the stick out of the hands of a jet pilot — at least not until you crash and burn.

So, armed with a weak-willed Realtor and really bad ideas on price, you’re ready to take on the world: “You have everything you need to languish on market for months on end, selling in the end at a deep discount.”

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #82: Weblog Review: The Phoenix Real Estate Guy . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Hey, wait. I’m the Phoenix real estate guy. Jay Thompson is an East Valley Realtor who publishes The Phoenix Real Estate Guy weblog. All gussied up in a brand new weblog template, this blog is fun reading. Well-researched, deeply-linked and yet still great fun to read.

Jay is the Arizona points leader at ActiveRain, but he manages to punch out a ton of content at both places.

Like this:

What real estate school teaches you is how to pass the state licensing exam. They don’t teach you how to sell real estate, how to deal with clients, other agents, title companies, loan officers, inspectors, whiny kids, buyers, sellers, or brokers. Oh you may occasionally get a war story about real estate from the instructor-I learned more REAL real estate talking to my instructors during break that I did in the classroom. The schools churn out future professionals by the score every single day. And they do a damn fine job preparing you for the state exam. They do nothing to prepare you for selling real estate.

Hopefully the new agent aligns himself with the kind of broker that will take them under their wing and truly help them. Sounds simple, but finding a broker that does that these days isn’t easy. Too many brokerages just bring in agents by the truckload. Some have HUNDREDS of agents working for them. It’s just a numbers game to them. The more agents they have, the more desk fees they collect. If they run a commission split office, they figure if they hire a few hundred agents then dumb luck means some of them will turn out to be successful. Those that quit (and 80% do in the first year) are simply replaced by new sheep.

Jay is running WordPress — beautifully. The site just sings…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #81: Ask the Broker: Isn’t there a third foot I can shoot myself in . . . ?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Oh, good grief:

I’m under contract to buy a FSBO. Since the seller and I are doing this without using realtors, I’ve been researching on the internet to make sure I do everything that a realtor would tell me to do. I hired an inspector, and just got his report back. He found a lot of things wrong! Some are little, but some are pretty important like problems with the electricity and slab. I think I’m getting a great deal on the price, but with this much wrong, I’m not sure. How much is too much wrong to accept? BTW, I bought the house knowing it would need alot of handyman type of repairs, and I’m looking forward to that.

I think this is a marvelous example of why no one should buy a home without professional representation. Are you buying a white elephant? You don’t know. Are you paying too much? You don’t know. Are the repairs going to clobber you? You don’t know.

Let’s assume you’re paying market value for the home and that the seller is willing to undertake reasonable repairs. For a well-maintained house in the Phoenix-area, the cost of repairs shouldn’t come to more than 2% – 3% of the purchase price. If we get north of 5%, I’m ready to run — or at least renegotiate the price.

But suppose you’re buying this fixer at what you think is 20% under market, while the repairs are looking to be less than 10%. That might be a smokin’ deal.

In your place, I might cough up the money to hire a very experienced Realtor to evaluate your situation. If he likes your deal, you’re probably fine. If he says, “Walk away,” I think you should run away instead.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #80: Attracting and retaining traffic by being visually interesting . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

From SEOmoz blog, a definitive resource, how to use art and graphics to attract readers to your real estate weblog:

Ingredients: A useful site, a talented CSS designer and a list of design portal sites (this one and this one come in handy).

Process: Re-design your existing site to the best of your ability. Use pure CSS, graphics, color and layout that mesh well and make it not only easy to use your site, but aesthetically remarkable, too. If you’re struggling for inspiration, look at the sites that make it to the front page of this site.

Results: The design portals themselves can send 1-2 thousand uniques per day if you make their front pages, but the additional value you’ll get from other bloggers and sites picking you up once you make it there is also worthwhile.

The work they’re talking about costs serious money, but that’s not an excuse to limp along with a site that looks like a circus poster or the classified pages. This is something you can always keep on your radar, how to make your pages more interesting graphically…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #79: Win customers with the power of convenience . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

From the Problogger ‘How To…’ Group Writing Project, Return Customer teaches us how to “Win Customers with the Power of Convenience”:

Identify barriers or obstacles that stand between your customer’s wallet and your business. This should be done from the customers’ perspective. You’re probably too biased to clearly identify all these barriers by yourself.

Eliminate unnecessary steps in the purchase process. For example, just because your computer system needs some data doesn’t mean your customer should have to jump through those hoops.

Reduce the customer effort needed to buy. Can the customer purchase from her office? Over the web? Can you deliver? How long will this whole process take?

Explain your product so everyone can understand. Tailor your marketing copy to your audience. If you’re using industry jargon you may just confuse and lose potential customers.

Give customers alternatives that all lead to a completed sale.

Sell a product that is so compelling that the reward of purchasing greatly outweighs any effort exerted by the customer.

I think this is excellent general advice for traditional, full-service real estate professionals.

We believe that convenience and off-loading of tasks are key products. We haven’t marketed this, but we plan to: The Drive-By Listing: Leave me a key and I will go in and do everything necessary to list your home while you’re at work. We’ll meet to sign the paperwork or do it by fax, and we’re ready to rock ‘n’ roll. That’s service, and service is worth money…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #78: ‘Homey’ feel is a lure for attracting women . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is from my Arizona Republic column:

Here’s a cautionary tale for all home sellers: In most cases, a woman will not buy a home if she cannot picture herself taking the Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven — with her mother-in-law hovering over her shoulder.

What does this mean? For a home to sell to a woman buyer or a couple, it must be as clean, as inviting — as “homey” — as possible. Most often, single men will buy any house that satisfies their checklist of required features and amenities. In general, men are much more interested in getting the home-shopping job done quickly.

But a woman has to feel herself at home. More than features and amenities, she wants to be able to experience her future in that home. If she can’t, she won’t buy that house.

If you think about it, this might seem silly to you, but I’ve watched it happen again and again. But consider the contrary proposition:

I once represented the buyers in the purchase of a home that had languished on the market for months. It was in pretty good shape overall, but one member of the family liked to cook on the patio. The grill was greasy, as was the surrounding concrete. There were piles of dirty plates and skillets lying around. Family after family would have toured that home, and each one of them left as soon as Mom saw that mess on the patio. Whatever appeal the home might have had, until then, would have been colored by a visceral revulsion.

My own buyers were made of sterner stuff. The mother of the family said, “Oh, my. That’s going to take at least two hours to clean up.”

We deliberately bid low on the house. It appraised for $20,000 more than we paid. Two hours of cleanup paid my buyers — and could have and should have paid the sellers — $10,000 an hour.

That mess on the patio had been there the whole time the house was languishing on the market. Anyone else could have reached the same conclusion as my buyer. The seller could have reflected Read more

September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #77: Weblog Review: moco real estate news . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Todd Tarson’s moco real estate news is a great read, particularly for people who live and work in Arizona. Todd is right in the middle of the debate over what to do about Mohave County’s growing pains — as it becomes a de facto suburb of Las Vegas — so his weblog reports history as it is happening.

For a Blogger.com site, the look is very clean, but, as is to be expected, comments are a pain in the butt.

One of the things I enjoy about the site is that Todd uses a lot of good local photography. Mohave County is a different world from Greater Phoenix, and the photos are luscious…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #76: Ask the Broker: Is it too early for Anthem . . . ?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

A local question with broad implications:

In 2004 I fell in love with Anthem, and was actually thinking of moving there. Last year the housing market went so crazy that I decided to wait. And the way things are looking today, I’m afraid now to move there. I still love the area and the houses up there. And the commute won’t hurt me because I can telecommute. But I’m afraid that my house won’t hold its value. Do you have any opinion about the outlook of Anthem?

Anthem is a beautiful master-planned community built by Del Webb. Parks, playgrounds, golf courses, a huge waterpark, a kiddie railroad — in many ways it’s heaven on earth. Heaven may be nearer, though: Anthem is a long drive from Downtown Phoenix. Still worse, there is only one road in and out. When that road is blocked by an accident, nobody comes or goes.

For this reason, Anthem was the first area to betray signs of weakness in last Summer’s buying frenzy. It is also very likely to the be last market area to recover as we get back to normal.

Does that mean you shouldn’t buy there?

Anthem may not do as well in gross appreciation as other, similar communities — for example Estrella Mountain Ranch in Goodyear.

It comes down to this: Does the investment value of your home matter more to you, or the community and amenities you love in Anthem? Your answer to that question will tell you what to do…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #75: The power of an online tool . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

From SEOmoz blog, a definitive resource, how to use a unique web-based tool or service to attract readers to your real estate weblog:

Ingredients: A service that you can code into a tool to save someone time, effort, money or, alternatively, provide entertainment (plus a solid developer, preferably skilled in AJAX).

Process: Tools aren’t always able to attract visitors independently, so much like mashups, you’ll need to do some promotion. Fortunately, there are dozens of online tool lists and plenty of folks blogging about their creation (like the aforementioned Ajaxian). The tool itself needs to serve a real purpose (or make people laugh) and it needs to be unique. If you’re in the retail industry, imagine a tool that could be used to help visitors custom create a product, or organize a set of products in a useful, humorous or fun way. For B2B, cost calculators for customers can be useful, but are often un-exciting. Imagine how you can expand the use of your services to fit a wide audience, then make it fun and interactive.

Results: Tools can generate traffic slowly over time, or they can have huge bursts. Often, they spread virally through email and social networks if they’re built right (and look great — so pay attention to #4, too).

I gave one of these to my dingleberry son, but he hasn’t done anything with it. It was an idea I had over the summer, and I didn’t have time to write it myself.

It’s not difficult: What I envisioned was a PHP utility that would take a marked-up text and return it without the mark-up, but with each marked-up term or phrase having been recoded as a Wikipedia look-up. For general webloggery, Wikipedia is fiercely useful, but coding a lot of links is a pain in the butt. This, by definition is what software is for.

If you want, you can bug the little booger to get busy on this project…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #74: Five ways to piss off an entrepreneur . . . ?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

From the Problogger ‘How To…’ Group Writing Project, blogtrepreneur brings us “5 Ways To Piss Off An Entrepreneur”:

1) Cut off the broadband: I can’t think of anything worse than not being able to access the internet. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to have any international networking and therefore I would have to start a proper offline business. And let’s face it, these can be irritating at the best of times, and can be costly. And don’t mention dial-up to any internet savvy person (just speaking about it sends shivers up my spine!)

2) Give ’em a 9 to 5: Oh no what will they do without their morning lie in? Unlike the majority of the working population, entrepreneurs are able to have a reasonably flexible working schedule. So when they have to set an alarm to wake up early, tempers will be lost!

3) The dreaded boss: One of the main entrepreneurial benefits is the BMOB (Be My Own Boss). Once you take that away, the entrepreneur is left working under a gruelling dictator who sets your own lunch breaks and gives you special doggy treat bonus packages if you work extra hard.

4) Cell phone destruction: The cell phone (that’s a mobile for those who speak proper English!) is used by an active entrepreneur nearly 24/7. Whether they’re involving themselves in a business deal, chatting to their designer about new prospects, or giving their mothers laundry instructions, without a mobile telecommunicator an entrepreneur becomes a standard Joe who has no communication with anyone but those within a 100 metre radius. And that can’t be too good if you’re wanting global recognition?

5) Noise, noise, noise: Finally, the surest way to piss me off is to continually talk around me or have noises in the background whenever Im trying to do an important piece of work. As a general rule of thumb, I never have music on when I work, and I try and close all doors to shield out the family. Blasting heavy beats in my face, sister-brother bickering and non-peace will be sure to drive me over the edge.

One of my clients Read more

September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #73: Using Web to buy home a bad idea . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is a sweet one from my Arizona Republic column:

“Save thousands buying surgery online!”

It may be a while before you see this headline. But you can’t open a magazine or a Web site lately without hearing that Realtors are about to be “disintermediated” by the Internet.

“Disintermediation” is a 50-cent word that means cutting out the middleman. It has happened at the low end of the travel agency and the stock brokerage businesses, among others. Some Internet start-ups plan to automate or streamline the functions performed by Realtors, in anticipation of the glorious day when you will sell one home and buy another online.

There are problems with this idea. For example, although the book-selling business allegedly has been disintermediated, you will have plenty of time to read about that as you bide your time in the checkout line at Borders or Barnes & Noble.

Then there are these considerations: Would you say that a Realtor is more like a sales clerk at Target or Wal-Mart or more like a surgeon?

Is your home, or the one you hope to buy, more like a DVD at Best Buy or Fry’s Electronics or more like a unique work of art?

I’m not sure this column is holding up that well. I can’t imagine buying a house as though it were buying a book at Amazon, but I have sold plenty of houses that the buyers have never seen.

In the first instance, we are taking note of the consultative expertise of Realtors, full-time professionals who know how to market homes and how to effect transactions against a sea of troubles. Surely some Realtors are better than others, but it would take a pretty lousy surgeon to be worse at surgery than an amateur.

In the second instance, we are talking about the idea of fungibility — substituting one item for another with no concern for differences in value. DVDs are highly fungible, as are books, items of apparel, travel arrangements or shares of stock.

I’ve read that radiological diagnostic work is being farmed out by broadband to India. This is a very interesting time to be in the real estate Read more

September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #72: Weblog Review: The Real Estate Bloggers . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I had a tough time wrapping my head around The Real Estate Bloggers weblog at first. It’s not an agent site. Not a vendor site. Not a lender or appraisal site. Not a bubble blog or a splog. What the heck is it?

What it will be if it’s not already is an advertising-supported information site that happens to cover real estate. Rich in content, drawn from diverse sources, it nicely fills a gap in my feed reader.

The quantity of posting is good, as you might expect where traffic is — or will be — someone’s dinner. Better still, the posts are bright, readable, and informative.

The site just moved to a new host, and acquired a new weblog template at the same time. WordPress, of course, and very nicely put together.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #71: Ask the Broker: So what about the big, swanky Realtor’s house . . . ?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is me, confessing:

So you drive a crappy little car. Your real secret is that you live in a McMansion, right?

Wrong. Our home would be described as modest — if only it were bigger. We bought it for the dogs, more than anyone. It has many wonderful features that we love, but the best feature of all is that it backs to the Arizona Canal, a kind of linear river park with a fake river, so the dogs have a great place to go for walks.

But, to be completely honest, we have twice been tempted by big expensive houses. Bloodhaven is still my ideal home/office. And Houndswick breaks my heart every time I drive past it.

Unlike a car, a house is an investment, and much of what we loved about these two homes was to be found in their profit potential. But, luckily for us, we were prevented by poverty from buying either house.

Now you know all my secrets…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #70: Using event coverage to good advantage . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

From SEOmoz blog, a definitive resource, how to use event coverage attract readers to your real estate weblog:

Ingredients: A popular, well-attended event with a particular industry theme and a passionate writer who makes friends wherever they go.

Process: Go to the event, cover as best you can — make friends, take copious, detailed notes, go to the bars afterwards, shoot photos and videos and, most importantly, let everyone there know that you’ll have the coverage on your site in the next few days. Time is of the essence here, but once you’ve got a great writeup (with photos!), send emails to your event contacts to help boost the buzz.

Results: Depending on the size of the event and the people you form connections with, this can drive thousands or even tens of thousands to the site. Covering something private (with permission), exclusive or underground can be even more rewarding, though big, public events often make an easier starting point.

This sounds like The Property Monger to me. And I am very interested in hearing about going to bars…

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Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

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