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November 3, 2008

Are you in Orlando on Friday? Make some time to learn how to make more money in 2009 at BloodhoundBlog Unchained

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

If you’re coming to the NAR Convention in Orlando this year, the vendors are quite literally dying to meet you. It’s been a bad year already for their useless crap, and attendance will be way down this year. They cannot wait to sink their fangs into you.

If you’re going to be in Orlando anyway, pry open your day on Friday for BloodhoundBlog Unchained. Yes, we’re going to charge you ninety-nine bucks for the program, but we’ll give you back twelve hours of ideas on how lenders and Realtors can make more money in 2009. Brian and I wrote and re-wrote and re-wrote the course line-up over the weekend, so we know that even if you can’t make it for the whole day, you’ll get great value for whatever time you can make available.

And to top it off, we’ll do it all without vendors and without their useless crap. Not everything we’re talking about will be cost-free to implement, but everything we’re always talking about is about how to reap maximum bang from minimum bucks. It’s not about being cheap — anti-marketing is worse than no marketing — it’s about being effective.

Even if you’re not going to the NAR Convention, you might give us your Friday. Gas is cheap, but the road ahead is fraught with peril. Make some time for us and we’ll show you everything we’re doing to acquire and convert new business — on the web and in the real world.

Click on the PayPal button shown below to get your $99 ticket for BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Orlando on Friday, November 7th, 2008


















When: Friday, November 7th, 2008, 8 am to 8 pm

Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, Orlando Airport, 5555 Hazeltine National Dr, Orlando, FL 32812

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November 3, 2008

Prequel to Speaking in Tongues: Displaying Author Images in WordPress

by

Real Estate Broker, Investor

Author website

Several months ago, Greg described this process in Project Bloodhound speaking in tongues: To whom am I speaking?

At the time, I had no need to implement author images in a WordPress multi-author blog, (and I already knew the technique for TypePad), so I didn’t work with the process until just today.

As I set up what will become a company blog for our incoming agents, I realized that the average WordPress user might need a little more background information to put Greg’s code to use.

First of all, you need to find all your authors’ ID numbers.  Unfortunately current versions of WordPress do not show author ID numbers.  The easy solution for me was to download the Reveal IDs for WP Admin plugin.

Once the Reveal IDs plugin is activated, when you go to the Users page, you’ll see each author’s ID number displayed beside their username.  All ID numbers, that is, except your own.  The only way to see your own ID number is to create a new separate admin username and login, then login as that new identity, and find your old self on the list.

Next step:  Obtain images of each author.  Resize each image (I decided on 52 pixels in height, and 50 pixels in width as appropriate for the design I am using.)  Each image must be named simply by the author ID number.  For instance, my lovely image here on Bloodhound Blog is titled 34.jpg.

Upload all the newly resized and newly renamed images to your blog’s root directory.

Now you are ready to rock and roll.

Open your Main Index Template file (index.php)

I simplified Greg’s code for now to only display the author’s image and name

<img src=”http://www.bobtaylorproperties.com/blog/<?php the_author_ID(); ?>.jpg” height=”52″ width=”50″ align=”left” hspace=”10″>
Posted by <?php the_author() ?> <br>

And I placed it under the PHP code that inserts the post title.  Here’s the complete snippet:

<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div class=”entry”>

<h1><a href=”<?php the_permalink() ?>” rel=”bookmark” title=”<?php the_title(); ?>”><?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>

<img src=”http://www.bobtaylorproperties.com/blog/<?php the_author_ID(); ?>.jpg” height=”52″ width=”50″ align=”left” Read more

November 2, 2008

How Will the Party End?

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

Growing up as a kid, I remember my mom and dad throwing a lot of parties. They were the kind of folks who liked to “entertain”. It seems nobody entertains like my parents these days. It was usually on a Friday or Saturday night – my mom would order pizza – her hair in rollers – and my brothers and sisters and I would eat before 6. Immediately after dinner, it was bath time. Once upstairs we’d be relegated to the master bedroom and forced to watch The Brady Bunch on the black and white TV set.

Unless we were dying, we were not to set foot on the stairs – God help us if we ever set foot on the first floor.

Sometimes we’d sit at the top of the stairs and listen in on the festivities. I knew when mom had one too many Manhattans because she’d whoop it up – her laugh was the loudest. You knew things were getting good – the noise level would increase and the laughter became louder and more frequent. It wasn’t a real party unless the cigarette smoke began to linger in the upstair’s hallway.

Everybody liked my parent’s parties.

I remember one party in particular – it was a family party – a rare event – the kids were included. My mom was the consummate hostess – she used to use the “good stuff” – silver-plated footed bowls for snacks, sterling silver cutlery and china for dinner. Back then when people entertained, it was more of a production. Mom could have won an Oscar – everything was just so.

Even at a young age, I was a rabble rouser. My younger brother Mark and I concocted a plan to replace the mixed nuts in one of the silver bowls with a spicer snack – something with more kick – one that would really add some zest and zing to the cocktail hour.

Our secret? Why Gravy Train dog kibbles of course.

Mark was instructed to nonchalantly remove the bowl from the Read more

November 2, 2008

Writing an office policy manual for Real Estate 2.0

by

Real Estate Broker, Investor

Author website

As part of our current ongoing “expansion”, for the last few days I have been trying to cobble together something that resembles a real estate company policy manual.

I am going to post a few of my policy manual paragraphs here, in the hopes that my Bloodhound friends might suggest revisions or additional thoughts.

The issues addressed by these paragraphs aren’t exactly the sort found in sample policy manuals, so I’m kinda sorta winging it here:

Social Media

Salespeople and staff members are encouraged to create profiles and participate in conversations on social media sites such as Active Rain, Trulia, Zillow, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, RealSeekr, MyAgentBook, and others.

You are also encouraged to post frequently on the Company blog at www.bobtaylorproperties.com, and will be given a password and login. (Aside: I hope to make this work for the new folks as a “sandbox” site.)

Listings

In the interest of providing seller clients with a consistent experience, for each listing the Company will provide the following services at the Company’s expense:

  • The Company will create a single property web site with a .info domain name. That will leave the .com domain name available if you wish to create your own additional web site for the property.
  • The Company will create and install a unique custom sign for each listing.
  • The Company will create and print color flyers on standard paper stock. You are responsible for attaching a flyer box to the listing sign, and maintaining a supply of flyers at the property. You are encouraged to create additional flyers of your own design.
  • The Company will generate weekly postings on Craigslist.

So, would you guys write this stuff differently?  What other things would you address?  Thanks!

November 1, 2008

Social Media And What Matters

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Here we are again. There’s a few Social Media (SM) venues that have real estate folks all agog. Between Facebook (FB), Linkedin (LI), and Twitter (T), you’d think agents all over the country have had their careers rescued by the magical powers of SM. Let’s find out, OK?

I preface the following by ensuring you I have no dog in this fight. I’d truly like to find a plausible answer. It’s my guess I’m not rowin’ that boat alone, either.

Yesterday on T I posed the question: Who out there has done at least one closed transaction as a direct result of FB, LI, and/or T? At first all I heard were crickets. Then the conversation began in earnest. Everyone talked about referrals, and leads. Oh my, there were lots of leads. Turns out, much like SEO, bankers don’t accept leads as deposits. 🙂

There was a small handful here who said they’d closed A deal, and were pretty sure of its source being one of the three SM sites.

Then somebody said, “Seems the big hitters out there are being kinda quiet.”

My response to that was that most folks thought of as so called ‘big hitters’ aren’t nearly what they’re perceived to be. Though I’d like to find out there’re agents out there makin’ a consistently impressive killing on these SM sites, I’m skeptical.

To that end, I said I’d pose the question here. What better place?

So, all you agents out there depositing all those commission checks every month because of your skillful use of FB, LI, and T? Make yourself known, OK?

Here’s my experience, though you should know, it’s not much.

I’m not, nor have I ever been on FB. I’m on LI only because a consultant put me their themselves. The damn site irritates me no end. I get invites via email, mostly from folks I already know. That’s cool, right? However, as happened today, (and about 20% of the time) the invite link sends me to a LI page bereft of the ‘Accept’ button. And no, I don’t know, nor do I care why that happens. Read more

November 1, 2008

Restoring a bargain-priced lender-owned home is easy — if you have cash — but a HUD 203k rehab loan makes it easy even if you don’t

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link).

 
Restoring a bargain-priced lender-owned home is easy — if you have cash — but a HUD 203k rehab loan makes it easy even is you don’t

Last week we talked about troubled homes and how they can be restored to livability. That’s fine if you’re an investor with pockets full of cash. But what if you’re an ordinary home-buyer? How can you pick up a bargain-priced home and then refurbish it to its former homey comfort?

If you’re buying with an FHA loan, chances are the home is going to have to be at least partially restored before you can close on it. FHA loans require a more-rigorous appraisal, and any defects rendering the home uninhabitable will have to be corrected before you can proceed.

So if the range is missing from the kitchen, it will have to be replaced. If the water heater is broken, it will have to be repaired. If the pool is green, it will either have to be restored to swimmable condition or drained.

Who is responsible for these repairs? Normally, habitability issues would fall to the seller. But most foreclosure properties are sold “as-is” — take it or leave it. If you have cash, you can pay for the repairs prior to close of escrow and then move in as planned.

But what if you don’t have that kind of money?

One solution is to write your repair issues into your purchase contract. If the seller agrees to restore the pool and replace the range, you’ve dealt with the habitability problem in advance.

Another option is to take advantage of HUD’s 203k rehabilitation program. With a 203k loan the loan underwriter can attach what amounts to a construction loan onto the primary purchase loan. So you could buy a lender-owned home for $100,000 and finance an additional $10,000 to refurbish the kitchen after close of escrow. The appraiser will assess the value the home will have after the improvements have been made.

As you might expect, the fine print is extensive, but for an FHA 203k loan in Phoenix your purchase Read more

November 1, 2008

Defusing the Unabomber: Why individualism will triumph regardless of any temporary setbacks

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We spend so much time picking at our scabs that we but rarely notice how amazingly rich we are, and how much richer we are getting day-by-day. There are at least a thousand men and women as smart as Aristotle walking the earth right now. If you are a computer geek, you surely know the name of Donald Knuth, but what you may not have considered is that there are 10,000 Knuths alive right now. If you click on this link, you will read an account of an extraordinary scientific achievement, but the most extraordinary thing of all is how ordinary such accounts have become, how commonplace, how much to-be-expected. We are so rich that we cannot even begin to count our riches.

I wrote this essay just over thirteen years ago, when the internet was very young, but it is apposite, I think, today and every day.

–GSS

 
Defusing the Unabomber

I’ve been trying for a week to write something about the Unabomber and his pesky manifesto, and I can’t seem to get the job done. In this voice, the studious essayist voice, I can’t take him seriously. In the Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie voice, the only other style I’m working in right now, I can’t make light of the murder of three innocents.

I can make fun of anything. I’ve been writing Willie stories for ten years, and, with few exceptions, all of those stories ridicule the ridiculous. I have 308 words of a Willie story about the Unabomber. In it, he is represented as a cowboy wino who has just sold a pint of blood and who terrorizes strangers by popping paper bags.

But I can’t work with him in even so grotesque and ludicrous a shape. I think of him and in my mind’s eye I see children making angels in the snow. And then I see those children blown to a bloody pulp for committing the horrid act of creating artifacts of technology.

I see William Shakespeare and I hear him denounced as a mere hobbyist. Was he brother to the Queen? A Lord of the court? A lowly actor with a potent muse? Read more

November 1, 2008

My Treat

by

Chicago Broker Owner Realtor | RE 2.0 Blogger

Author website

Every so often, Mona and I attend to a close friend’s First Grader while the single mother does her required corporate traveling gig for one of the remaining Fortunate 100 oligopolies. During these few time warped days each month I am thrust into grandfatherly duties which I find to be almost Dali-esque as I, at age 52, can still recall a good portion of my own first school years with vivid, if not shocking clarity–at least the surreal parts; unlike my youngest sister who refers to her similar childhood in the same household as ‘those blacked-out years.’ (And yes, to this day, we both refuse formal therapy, and meds, my sis and I.) Melting timepieces, I’m telling you.

I have nieces, too, who visit Chicago once a year—one teen (demure and traditional) and one pre-teen (iconoclastic from her very first breath). Both lovely, if not opposite in all but genetic ways. I have one daughter (history teacher) who is now 30 and lives out of state and one step-son (a sommeliere) who is 25 who lives in another world. There are some neighborhood kids, of course… and that’s pretty much it. Most of the other unattached people I hang with have already lost most of the hair they will ever lose and, for some consistent reason, are long term participants in one type of 12 Step Program or another–their respective youths totally exhausted; sucked dry to the bone, long ago and far, far away. In other words, I just may lack the experience needed for these incremental domestic duties I’m called upon to perform on occasion. I’m too soft a touch and frankly, don’t have the energy to exert discipline anymore. Just don’t burn down the house or torture the dog. Easy on the cat, too. Pretty expansive boundries, I would think, even for someone as indifferent and mortally aware as myself. But for some odd reason, I think of children as living on forever.

“Uncle Geno, can I have another candy bar?”

“Sure. I don’t care.”

“Can I play with your iPhone?”

“Sure. Just don’t drop it in the toilet.”

“Can I run off with Read more

November 1, 2008

Mortgage Market Week in Review

by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

I want to apologize for the delay in getting this out until Saturday.   Due to some technical difficulties and some new things I’m going to be implementing, Friday was spent working on computer issues.   Yeah, I know, a fun way to spend a Friday…..

So, here we are at the end of the week and what’s happened?  Well, a couple of things did manage to happen.  We’ll talk about the Fed, what they did, why it matters and why it doesn’t.   We’ll talk about earnings (or the lack of them), consumer spending (or the lack of it), inflation (or the lack of it), bailout backlash, and falling oil prices as well.   So, here goes:

The Fed, as  you know by now, lowered the Fed Funds rate by .5% to 1.0%.   A couple of statistics about that number:

1. As you  know, that isn’t directly linked to mortgage rates, so mortgage rates are not going to drop by .5% because of that move.

2. That is equal to the lowest rate the Fed has had rates this century (from June of 2003 to June of 2004).   If you’ve read anything about what’s happening in the financial world, you’ll know that the former Fed Chairman Greenspan has taken a lot of heat for keeping interest rates too low for too long.    Hmmm, and now we’re back to that same level.

3.  The rate they lowered to is 1.0%.   That means they have very little “ammo” left in their pouch if things deteriorate further.

4. Japan, in the 1990’s, had an interest rate of 0%.   That’s right, banks etc. could borrow money from the Central Bank of Japan (their Federal Reserve) for nothing.  How well did that work for Japan?   Short answer, not very well.

Why does what the Fed did matter?

1. Because in their statement, they essentially removed all mention of inflation being a risk.   For more details on what the Fed said, check out “The Fed Translated.”

2. Because it showed that they are very concerned about the economic conditions not only in our country but elsewhere.

3. Because it raises the question of whether we’re going to see a Read more

November 1, 2008

Real Estate Blogging hits the NY Times

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

One of the truly fun things about being a dawg and writing here is when readers communicate with you. I received an email yesterday from Mike Kennedy a REALTOR (whom I had never met) selling homes in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. (beautiful website BTW-my compliments on a job well done there). He tipped me off to an article in the NY Times about real estate blogging. Thanks Mike, for the the kind words, the heads up, and pleased to make your acquaintance. It is an article worth reading! I promised you a post on the subject and here ’tis!

I was especially drawn to this paragraph of the NYTimes piece:

The first thing that caught my eye were the words “pages and pages”…and the fact that good writing about everything from diners to energy drilling was what helped this buyer decide on his REALTOR. But the other part that grabbed me was the first sentence. Yeah, the one about how the guy FOUND the blog in the first place.

This REALTOR’S website and his blog ranks #2 on Google currently for all sorts of terms. Terms like “catskills real estate”, “sullivan county real estate”, “catskills new york real estate”, etc. That’s key because it was how his blog was found in the first place.

I have said before that a search engine friendly blog (along with a site) may well be the ultimate marketing weapon in the hands of a REALTOR that can write. It is a lethal combination of traffic and stickiness. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I enter this article into evidence as proof of that concept. (grin)

We are going to have some good clean fun in Orlando, talking about how to help you get your blog/site to be search engine friendly and rank and get the traffic that it deserves. Seriously. No more or less than that. Nothing that I would not be proud to teach if the folks from Google were standing in the room.

You do not need to try and trick Google (in fact, long term that almost NEVER pays off!). You do not need to be bombastic. Read more

October 31, 2008

Do You Like a Good Scary Story? Read This One Anyway…

by

Real Estate Renaissance Man

Author website

I am not, by any stretch, a conspiracy person.  I think the probability of a conspiracy succeeding is inversely tied to the number of people involved.  That makes me especially dubious of government conspiracies.  The bottom line for me is this: people are smart, groups are dumb.  If you want to understand something just follow the money.

But I am getting a little scared.

You may have heard about the various bailouts and financial manipulations the government is engaged in lately.  It has been in the news.  There was a $750 billion bailout, followed by another $500+ billion bailout.  A number of investment banking firms were bailed out (and, curiously, some were not) while AIG continues to be handed money.  Banks are being force fed money and there are more stimulus packages on the way.  All done, we are told, to save us from a world economic collapse.

But is it true?  This week the Fed lowered the fed funds rate… again.  Lowering the rate didn’t do a damn thing a month ago, so why are they trying again?  Here’s a better question: Why are they lowering the rate at all?  Lowering the fed funds rate effectively lowers the “cost” of money.  When do you lower the cost of something?  When their is a demand problem.  From everything you have read, do we have a demand problem or a supply problem?  We are being told that everyone needs money and no one will lend it.  So why in the world would you lower the price of money?

Let’s leave that alone for a minute and move on to the credit crunch.  As I mentioned previously, the world economic collapse is precipitously close and liquidity is the problem.  “No one is lending money.”  “Commercial paper has dried up.”  “Our financial system is grinding to a halt because cash is being hoarded.”  I have not taken the time to actually go out and find these headlines and link to them.  I trust this is now such common wisdom you will take it on face value.  But take a look at the following graph:

Interbank Loans

That represents the loans, in Read more

October 31, 2008

Introducing RE.net’s Hottest Bloggers Contest

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

In an effort to increase subscriptions and ad revenue, I have devised an ingenious new contest to identify the hottest bloggers on the real estate net. If there is one thing we can learn from People Magazine and the Republican Party – substance is secondary – most important: there is nothing that a “hot” headshot and $150,000 or so bucks can’t do to increase popularity and a list of the sexiest “insert your own category”.

Let’s put those bloglogs to good use! Start scanning your Twitter followers – clearly there are some hotties in the mix. Why not nominate a few – heck, why not nominate yourself?

Content you ask? What content? Kids – this ain’t about what you say or think, it’s all about how you look – and Billy Crystal nailed it – “it’s not how you feel, it’s how you look – and you look marvelous!”

You want to drive ad revenue to you site? Listen – sex sells. Adorning your blog with the “Hottest Blogger in the RE.net” will drive the kind of subscription traffic you’ve been longing.

Oops – gotta run – my stylist just called. She’s bringing over Armani for my photo shoot. I’m doing a series of new headshots for my avatar. We’re going to shoot a few – you know – the “too hot to handle” look – the “come hither” look. I’m banking on the “I’m too sexy for my content” look.

Money in the bank.

October 31, 2008

I’m Voting for Senator O’Cain

by

CEO, PA Association of Realtors

Author website

Greetings from the battleground state of Virginia.  I was 4 years old the last time Virginia was up for grabs.  Back then you could only vote once and you had to use your real name.  My how things have changed. 

I have lived in Virginia my whole life and grew up in a very conservative/Republican area that considered Ronald Reagan a liberal.  For the past 10 years I have lived in the very liberal/Democratic town of Charlottesville. I guess you could say I’ve seen both sides of aisle.  Amazingly, neither of these distorted perspectives (or perhaps both) have rubbed off on me. 

I’ve always said that no matter what, 30% of the people will vote Republican, 30% will vote Democratic, and the reaming 40% will generally vote for the lesser of the two evils.  I generally agree with Sean’s recent post about voters often voting against a candidate or a party, but I see something different in this election.  Perhaps it is just the battleground state status that has brought energy to the local campaigns, but I sense something else – a genuine excitement about the candidates.

Locally, all the excitement has been about Senator Obama, but that is to be expected.  Around the state, according to my family and friends, there is just as much excitement for Senator McCain and especially Governor Palin.  Sorry, Joe the Politician, but no one seems to care much about Senator Biden.

Until this year, I’ve always fallen into the 40% that votes for the lessor of evils.  This year, I have things I like about both candidates that outweigh the things I dislike about both candidates.  In fact, if I had a magic wand that could combine the two, I’d have my guy.  He’d be an articulate speaker, a war hero, and have a long history of bucking both his party and Washington politics.  He’d be the guy with great international experience and fresh ideas that gives this nation hope once again.  He’d be capable of rallying the youth of America and of leading our troops to victory.

If he existed, I’d Read more

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Inventing Real Estate 2.0

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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