Real Estate Marketing

Another Online Community for Real Estate

SWANEPOEL — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:05:49 -0800

Last weekend, real estate agents and brokers got introduced to yet another social and business network to participate in when online real estate news service, Broker Agent Professional, launched Broker Agent Social (www.brokeragentsocial.com). Within the first 100 hours after launch they exploded to 2,000 members - adding a new member every few minutes.

Broker Agent Social enters an already crowded field dominated by players such as Inman Community, ActiveRain, RealTown, Zillow Community and RealSeekr. more...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

FREE OBEO STYLEDESIGNER-GIVING THANKS

Steven Stearns — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:40:24 -0800

Keeping it real-and being grateful for my friends and associates at Inman:

FREE Obeo StyleDesigner ($40 value) on any new Obeo photography package.

StyleDesigner lets you redecorate digitally -on line!

To redeem, use promo code 'PC955689' Ends Nov. 30th, 2008.

Call 800-729-6236!

Thanks to all for your thoughts and comments-(;-])

...Blog ON!

Steve
Obeoman

Virtual Tour Discussion Group

Goodbye to Google Ranking

cherylwaller — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:33:26 -0800

The days of Googling your keywords to measure the effectiveness of your SEO strategy are coming to an end. According to Bruce Clay of PubCon, there will be big changes in ranking. In the name of Top Shelp Organic SEO, Google will be tuning into the specific behaviors of individual users to serve up more customized results.

What this means to the end-user is better results and less spam. more...

Virtual Tour Discussion Group

GUSBLACH — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:38:20 -0800

My friend Gustavo Farfan, has prepared this article, hoping to turn the mindset of our community from negative to positive thinking. I hope he is right,lets see what you think about his view. Gustavo Blachman. SHOULD I BUY NOW OR WAIT UNTIL THE PRICES DROP MORE? I hear the same line of question from clients and Real Estate agents. more...

Agent Broker referral

Change Is A Reality - Learn To Deal With It

SWANEPOEL — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:51:27 -0800

Real estate professionals need to think differently about the future. They need to do more and they need to move faster. It has now been more than 10 years since my first book on trends, Real Estate confronts Reality, and many of the changes that we have been writing and speaking about are now coming to fruition. Things are definitely changing, and on a large scale. Within the next five years the real estate brokerage industry will significantly have changed and brokers and agents that don’t adapt now will not enjoy the benefits of the next economic upswing. more...

Alternative Business Models

FORT LAUDERDALE: IS RIDING 'THE WAVE' WORTH THE COST?

Julie Jones — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:45:07 -0800

Last June, the South Florida Business Journal announced a Fort Lauderdale proposal for a new streetcar system called, The Wave, to replace the current downtown Sun Trolley. The proposed running date: 2012. The proposed price tag: $150 million.

The present Sun Trolley (on wheels) conveys approximately 100 passengers per day. The Downtown Development Authority of Fort Lauderdale, which is planning The Wave, believes this jazzy new, electric streetcar system will attract 6,000 riders per day, especially with plans to link it to the Tri-Rail system. more...

Real Estate Marketing

USING FENG SHUI TO SELL HOMES

Julie Jones — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:59:12 -0800

What do “chi” alignment, the number 27, “space clearing” and “hungry ghosts” have in common when selling a residence? Feng Shui. Yes, you read correctly. An article in November’s Realtor magazine says sellers experiencing long periods between listing and selling their properties are hiring Feng Shui practitioners to use the ancient Chinese technique to dissipate the negativity of financial woes by realigning the “chi”, or energy, of the property.

And, guess what? The article says it’s working. more...

Real Estate Marketing

Information You Can Count On - 2009 Trends Report Opens for Contributions

SWANEPOEL — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:46:28 -0800

Change seems to be the buzz word this year, with Barack Obama touting “Change We Need,” John McCain promoting “Real Change” and even Hillary Clinton saying “Change you can count on.”

Every year the Swanepoel TRENDS Report identifies, analyzes and then details out the imminent changes that are expected to impact the real estate industry over the coming 12 – 18 months. The 2009 Report is currently in the final 60 days of research and writing and obviously with all the recent financial disasters, the energy crisis, the housing collapse and foreclosure catastrophe this has made 2008 the worst year in real estate and financial history. more...

Alternative Business Models

Domain names impact SEO and SEM

peabody — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:45:45 -0800

The domain name RealEstateSearch.com is being sold. So, as a long time online real estate marketer, I looked into what impact a domain name like that would have on ranking in Google.

According to the Google Adwords traffic estimator, consumers type the keywords in this domain name "real estate search" 9 million times each month into the Google search.

If you bought these keywords, this would result in roughly 240,000 consumer visits each month to your website nationally. Based on the cost of keywords, this would be quite an investment. more...

Real Estate Marketing

Real Estate Investment Mathematics

kalkildea — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:45:53 -0700

So you've found a house that you would like to flip, or you've decided that you want to flip a house, but you are not sure how cheap you need to buy one in order to make a nice profit. more...

Real Estate Marketing

Overseas Property Search

nawazshahzad — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:34:29 -0700

Hi Folks

Buying a property is simple, as long as you do follow a checklist. It is really difficult to spend time in researching property overseas, but if someone found the property exhibition in a desired region would help them a lot in relation to meet the developers and real estate agents, and get first hand knowledge of about their properties and locations. more...

Real Estate Marketing

Inviting people to use and review our Video Property Tours website - OneStopView.com

OneStopView — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:07:01 -0700

We have been running our website now for just over one year with at present no formal marketing. It is run on a voluntarily basis and we have had a good response to our Free marketing offer. There are already a fair few video property tours websites, some ofwhich are free, though we try and pride ourselves with the fact that we only allow actual video footage tours as opposed to film slideshows, virtual/360° Tours. more...

Real Estate Marketing

HOME FORECLOSURES AND AMERICAN INTEGRITY

Julie Jones — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:08:06 -0700

After watching a disturbing video on Inman on home foreclosures in Southern California, I became acutely aware of how much Americans caught up in the net of losing their homes to the volcanic mortgage situation lost something more precious than their homes: They lost their integrity.

The video showed abandoned, completely furnished homes being “trashed out” by a company hired by the banks to empty the property to be ready for sale. Brown lawns are being spray painted green to improve curb appeal for marketing. What are these people thinking? more...

Real Estate Marketing

Onslaught On Scam To Win Confidence Of Suspicious Dubai Property Investors

nawazshahzad — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:32:53 -0700

Hi Folks

Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) is cracking down on speculators at the Cityscape
Exhibition. According to Rera top official no memorandums of understandings, sale agreements or property contracts will be legally acceptable if they are not registered with the Dubai Land Department (DLD). Even real estate developers who are not registered with Rera or any of the unregistered projects would not permit to sell their properties. more...

Real Estate Trends

DOES YOUR OPEN HOUSE BRING RESULTS?

Julie Jones — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:25:30 -0700

How is your open house traffic in these challenging times? As the Internet gains momentum and videos become the popular option to preview properties, what is the future for open houses?

Typically, the main open house traffic is on Sunday afternoons from 2 pm until late afternoon. Increased gas prices and reduced leisure time may also be impacting the traditional open house habit. What are real estate professionals experiencing in other areas? more...

Real Estate Marketing

The Future of Mobile Marketing for Real Estate

jbernheisel — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:51:52 -0700

Coming soon to a cell phone near you: The ability to project images and videos via a built in micro sized pico-projector on any surface up to 100 inches. more...

Real Estate Bloggers

Please review our site: OpenHouseDealer.com

david101975 — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:21:52 -0700

Hello,
Please review our site and let me know what you think. http://www.OpenHouseDealer.com
New Exclusive Real Estate Video website, We tried to keep it as simple as possible for everyone.
Thank you for your input.

Real Estate Website Reviews

ARE THERE ONLY FIVE HOME-BUYING TRIBES?

Julie Jones — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:56:12 -0700

Realtor Magazine* cites an interesting article by a marketing company who segmented homebuyers into five “tribes”-- in which they promise that consumers will recognize themselves as at least one. They believe real estate salespeople can target their advertising based on the following tribes: more...

Real Estate Marketing

Another September to remember: September 2008

SWANEPOEL — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:38:06 -0700

The Financial Market Disaster of 2008

September 2008 is exactly two weeks old today, but what a September it has already been. The events of late are unsurpassed in living history and I think that 9/08 may very well be remembered as the worst financial disaster in history. more...

Alternative Business Models

11 September 2001

SWANEPOEL — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:47:57 -0700

Today we remember the brave men, women and children who lost their lives seven years ago and the heroes that responded to the emergency. There are many different video tributes of that day but I thought that this one was particularly well rounded. http://attacked911.tripod.com/

God Bless America!

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

The Complete Marketing Plan

cherylwaller — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:50:09 -0700

In this economy of intense competition, it is easy to get stressed out at the thought of learning new techniques to getting your listings out in the public eye. But, there is no need to completely abandon traditional marketing strategies. The best advertising and marketing strategy is to diversify your marketing to reach a larger target audience. In order to do this properly, you must more...

Virtual Tour Discussion Group

Keepin' it Real

rexcheck — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 08:00:45 -0700

Sometimes, a pair of shoes looks better in a catalog than on your feet. Buyer’s remorse is common even when it comes to choosing a home. Virtual tours, images and video are all polished to the point that an open house can look as bad as those shoes just unboxed. Rexcheck.com allows real estate agents to make real videos, or mindcasts, of properties for sale. With any mobile phone or camcorder, a real estate agent can email you a home unvarnished. No travel and no disappointment - just save time and watch the real deal. Here’s how Rexcheck.com can help you: more...

Real Estate Agent Mastermind Group

The importance of Local.com to real estate agents

mikeoue — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:52:54 -0700

If you are not familiar with Local.com, they are localized online search tool specializing in helping people find large and small businesses within their local area. Unlike other local search tools out there Local.com contains rich review content submitted by actual customers as well as free listings within their directory.

According to Compete, Local.com’s traffic has been steadily increasing over the past few years as well and they are now just under the 10 million visitor per month mark. more...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

3 Point Digital Marketing Strategy and the Importance of the ‘Assist’

mikeoue — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:19:25 -0700

Hi - This is an article that I recently wrote for an online trade publication that I thought would be relevant here.

Thanks
Mike

Too many marketers live in silos. Their strategy too often fails to address all the ways they could be reaching their target audience. In many cases if they are reaching their audience through the right channels the message is not consistent or integrated properly. more...

Real Estate Trends

Craigslist and multiple reposts. Changes in behavior?

G. Dewald — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:53:30 -0700

A commenter on my blog post about Craigslist, real estate and HTML said that CL is getting more aggressive about removing accounts and ads that are re-posted multiple times. The commenter is based in Austin. Is anyone else noticing this behavior?

Mostly it sounds like they are just enforcing their Terms of Use (which is probably a good thing).

Real Estate Marketing

…and the Winner is…

SWANEPOEL — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:36:31 -0700

The results for the XXIX Real Estate Olympiad are in.

Wow, what a huge undertaking it has been to tally the scores, taking all factors into consideration, weighted scores, removing highest and lowest scores and of course double checking the hanging chads. Thank you to all paticipants, nominees,voters and judges!

So the Medal Winners of the 2008 Real Estate Pacesetter Award, as voted by the Inman Real Estate Trends Group, are: more...

Alternative Business Models

WASHINGTON NEWS FLASH: THE HOUSING AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT OF 2008

Julie Jones — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:00:05 -0700

Mason Pruner, Branch Manager of Wells Fargo on Glades Road in Boca Raton recently sent me this update from Washington on The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. If you haven’t already heard, I’m sure you would like to know the new facts. more...

Real Estate Marketing

Why not?

Greg Holt — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:33:01 -0700

With the market as difficult as it is are you doing everything you can to sell your clients homes? Have you considered home swapping? If not, then why? The service we provide is FREE and easy to use. Just log into www.pad4pad.com, find your listings, claim them, add the exchange information and do a swap search. If your listings are not on our site, request your agency set up a feed to download them for free. Why not?

Greg

Real Estate Trends

THE XXIX OLYMPIAD

SWANEPOEL — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:56:42 -0700

This is in follow up to the post last week titled Real Estate Olympics

Recap of Beijing

Mark Spitz's 36-year old record of 7 gold medals at one Olympic event, across all Olympic sports, was shattered when 23-year-old swimming machine Michael Phelps grabbed his 8th gold in Beijing and 14 all-time gold medals. Who will ever forget his 0.01 of a second photo-finish with Serbian - Wow. more...

Alternative Business Models

What do you look for in co-marketing partners?

kmgmortgagegroup — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:55:29 -0700

My husband and I run our own mortgage broker office. We have never aligned ourselves to any particular Real Estate Agent, but marketed directly to homeowners hoping to refinance or move up in life. Because we have had very good success with this, and have always been the people referring TO agents instead of getting referred BY agents, we haven't depended on Agent business.

Now, however, we are being approached by four different agents in our area who want to co-market with us. more...

Real Estate Trends

Online Curb Appeal

OnSiteStudios — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:32:04 -0700

Curb appeal - it isn't what it used to be. There was a time when a savvy agent could get a buyer to overlook 'flaws' seen from the road. Well in today's online world, curb appeal has taken on a whole new meaning.

When buyers scan listings on REALTOR.com(r) or other real estate websites, if they aren't impressed with the photos in THREE SECONDS, they "bounce" and click onto the next listing. No matter how many print ads, how many brochures, baseball + football schedule refrigerator magnets they mail, the photos are the be all, end all for getting a listing noticed online. more...

Virtual Tour Discussion Group

Interpretation and Reality of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 - Arizona (Maricopa County)

AJ Johnson — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:34:52 -0700

Interpretation and Reality of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 - Arizona (Maricopa County)

Recently the House and Senate passed broad-based housing legislation that was signed into law by President Bush last week. As expected, Fannie/Freddie/and HUD has not yet communicated a majority of the program requirements to the mortgage lenders and investors.

With that disclosure, here are several key changes and how it affects you: more...

Real Estate Marketing

ENVIRONMENTALLY-AWARE LIVING IN FLORIDA: Re-Establishing Florida's River of Grass

Julie Jones — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:54:36 -0700

It is my pleasure to share another exciting incentive enrolled by the governor’s office toward making Florida an environmentally sound and beautiful locale for living.

On June 24, 2008, the South Florida Water Management District began negotiating an agreement to acquire as much as 187,000 acres of agricultural land owned by the United States Sugar Corporation to reestablish a part of the historic connection between Lake Okeechobee and America's Everglades. more...

Real Estate Marketing

BREATHE EASIER IN FLORIDA: Reducing Greenhouse Gases

Julie Jones — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:07:55 -0700

BREATHE EASIER IN FLORIDA: Reducing Greenhouse Gases

As of the 16th of July 2008, a Memorandum of Understanding was drawn between the United Kingdom’s Carbon Trust and the State of Florida. The memorandum, signed in London by Michael Rea, COO of The Carbon Trust and Governor Charlie Christ, is summarized as follows: more...

Real Estate Marketing

AMENDMENT 1 PUTS FLORIDA'S BUYERS ON THE MOVE

Julie Jones — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:16:32 -0700

Governor Charlie Crist and the Florida Association of Realtors aggressively supported the now-passed Amendment 1, originally known as the Save Our Homes Amendment begun in 1995. For those residents unsure of how Amendment 1 affects their real estate plans, here are facts from Florida Realtor Magazine: more...

Real Estate Marketing

REAL ESTATE ON STEROIDS

Julie Jones — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:30:54 -0700

Looking back on the unprecedented growth in the real estate market for the past ten years, the well-muscled housing prices seemed to have been on . . . well, steroids. While lenders matched loans and interests rates to the swelling real estate market, many observers knew the day would come when the high would hit a low.

An interesting article in Continental Airline’s July in-flight magazine called, The Silver Lining Strategy, by Chris Warren, cites real estate developers and investors across the country excited about the new real estate diagnosis. more...

Real Estate Marketing

FOREIGN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

Julie Jones — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:24:37 -0700

Mayfair International Realty (one of Premier Estate Properties’ affiliates), based in London, England, provides me with valuable market data and an opportunity to promote some of Fort Lauderdale’s finest luxury residences. The latest report from Mayfair International Realty revealed the following facts:

1. Some Florida Statistics more...

Real Estate Marketing

GOOD NEWS ON FLORIDA'S HOUSING PROGNOSIS

Julie Jones — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:23:44 -0700

GOOD NEWS ON FLORIDA'S HOUSING PROGNOSIS

Florida Trend Magazine has an interesting article in the July 2008 issue. A ‘prognosis’ made by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness states that the U.S. will begin recovering from its “mild” recession right about now. Good news. Florida, however, is supposed to be delayed in its recovery due to the statewide housing slump. more...

Real Estate Marketing

Is Real Estate the Next Big Target?

SWANEPOEL — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:36:32 -0700

IDENTITY THEFT AND THE STEALING OF CONFIDENTIAL DATA

“Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the nation - especially in the suburbs,” says Congresswoman Melissa Bean. The FTC receives over 250,000 reports of identity theft every year and USA Today reported that in 2007 an estimated 260 million records were stolen - that amounts to 8 records stolen every second of every day.

In real estate this is also a growing concern. Here are three possible vulnerable areas of our industry that I see: more...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

EMERGING TRENDS IN LUXURY REAL ESTATE

Julie Jones — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:53:03 -0700

Margot Larkin, Assistant Vice President and Mortgage Office from Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust, recently commented on the emerging trends towards luxury real estate, which she claims is always the first asset to be super-sized, ultra-designed, and updated with the latest technology and trends.

• Design and Layout
Today’s high-end luxury residences are brimming with amenities never dreamed of years ago. “Smart” homes have been the rage for a few years, but now you can “call” your residence and pre-set the temperature, lighting, television, and more. more...

Professional Real Estate Investors

Step Proudly: 10 Steps to Reducing the Carbon Footprint In Your Home

Julie Jones — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:10:50 -0700

Carbon Footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a person, organization or location at a given time, impacting the environment with carbon emissions.

Many folks have become aware of their own carbon footprints. I invite you to measure yours. Visit www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx, or take a carbon footprint quiz at http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn.

Conservation International suggests these ten simple and immediate changes to reduce the greenhouse effect on our planet: more...

Professional Real Estate Investors

Should I as a Mortgage Lender have to motivate some Real Estate agents to wake up?

AJ Johnson — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:46:14 -0700

I am a successful mortgage banker in Northeast Phoenix,Cave Creek and Carefree area.I have many realtor relationships that have been very succesful in the past and now. more...

Real Estate Agent Mastermind Group

Glen Cove SERPs Test

Dallas Real Estate Blog — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:32:53 -0700

Have you ever wondered how competitive a real estate market is online. Well an agent with a very limited web presence brought up the very question on the REW Forums.

The agent wanted to know how competitive the term, Glen Cove real estate would be. Here is the link to the test page http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/thread26290.html

I'll be keeping an eye to see if the forum thread ranks within the first two pages of Google. If the thread does rank within the first few pages, then it's a clear indication that the agent needs to launch a site asap.

Real Estate Marketing

Real Estate Online Communities and Networks: Novelty or Necessity?

SWANEPOEL — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:25:19 -0700

Congratulations to both ActiveRain and RealTown that have reached that magical six figure membership number of 100,000 people.

Add to these two frontrunners the re-engineered Inman News that now includes an online real estate community (where we are having this discussion right now) and the rapid expansion of the real estate side of LinkedIn and the evidence supports that social networking and community has officially taken hold of real estate. It is here to stay and is on the short list of major contributors to shape the residential real estate industry. more...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

Real Estatet Websites

Dallas Real Estate Blog — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:16:24 -0700

Do you have a real estate website? If not, you can do a Google search and find 100s if not 1000s of companies that provide real estate web design. However, only a few website companies can provide a quality site that's search engine friendly.

It's of little use to have a Great looking site and no visibility. I've known associates that have spent 10s of 1000s on sites that never seen a lead, much less a decent ROI. more...

Recruiting & Retention

If you don't blog now...

Steven Stearns — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:09:57 -0700

...well, I think if you don't blog now, you may miss the boat when something leapfrogs blogging.

Either that or your laptop might fall off your lap.

Seriously.

Steve

steven.stearns@obeo.com
Obeoman

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Buyers and Sellers

elizabethjones — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:10:24 -0700

I love the internet, but I forget how much time goes by once I get on. It is also like going to the store for one item and then doing all your shopping. I love all the information and just keep clicking away. There must be a name for that, OC maybe? What will we be like in the future; just arms and head, something out of a Scifi movie? I just upgraded my laptop to Broad Band so I think it's all over now. I don't have a Blackberry yet waiting to see the next generation. What will it do next? Great time we are living in. I wonder if I see a real estate office on Mars? more...

Real Estate Marketing

Listing Websites

elizabethjones — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:38:40 -0700

I think that "listing websites" are a great addition to the marketing plan for home sellers. Does anyone else use them and do you have a favorite company?

Real Estate Marketing

Do you have guest contributors on your blog?

reversemortgagecity — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:17:38 -0700

Hello again!

I was just curious how many of you use guest authors on your blog? I try to write every day on my reverse mortgage blog but it's tough. I have been thinking about trying to bring on some guest contributors but wanted to see if anyone had experience doing that or having guests write on your blog. Are there any networks of guest blog writers out there?

Let me know your experiences, i'm interested to see who does what..

Thanks,

Rogan McGillis
Founder, Sr. Editor
ReverseMortgageCity.com Media Center
www.reversemortgagecity.com/blog

Real Estate Marketing

Reverse Mortgage Blog

reversemortgagecity — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:31:02 -0700

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to introduce myself. I"m pretty new here, it looks like the site is pretty new itself. Not sure if you all have the same issues with some of the sections as me?

Anyways, I just wanted to introduce my Reverse Mortgage blog. I try to update articles every day but it's tough. If you have any comments I would appreciate them, and if you had anything you would like to see on the blog feel free to email me. I have a lot of things planned for the site in future that should be pretty neat as well so remember to bookmark it or join our email list.

Thanks! more...