BloodhoundBlog

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Month: January 2009 (page 3 of 4)

January 12, 2009

A Company Full Of Chris’s? 2.0 Makes Money While 1.0 Makes MONEY

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Where to begin? Chris, you remind me of myself 35 years ago. You know, before I learned what couth meant. 🙂 If you haven’t read Chris’s latest effort, it’s not long. It’s all about him payin’ the bills kickin’ booty via 1.0.

Payin’ the bills? Here’s some perspective. Chris made more money in the hell hole known as ‘any city in Ohio’ than the sophisticated, whining posers in San Diego who’re still pullin’ down over $10,000 a deal. ‘Course they’ll never know that. It’s so hard to read through teary eyes or hear through the din of constant whining and complaining.

I remember, mostly fondly, agents smiling condescendingly at the 18 year old calling all the FSBO’s every weekend from breakfast ’till dinner. “Why’s his daddy forcin’ him to waste so much time gettin’ his head bashed in?” For the record, I listed a FSBO six hours into my career. I had just over zero talent, and the bulk of my ‘knowledge’ of the business was embodied in the state licensing test I’d just taken. I just did what I was told would produce results. And what’a’ya know? They were right.

Six years later folks told me knockin’ on the same doors every month was a waste of time. They’re still tellin’ me that. ‘Course they never had their car nearly run off the road twice by homeowners who couldn’t wait another week to see you so they could list his homes now. Most agents will do anything under the sun to avoid going one on one with a stranger who might tell them to go to hell — or provide them a skinned cat for their wall.

Then from the late 80’s thru the early 21st century, they harangued me about all the time I spent sending out direct mail.

Chris makes the best points of the young new year when it comes to creating new business.

1. 1.0 still rules the real estate world. Period. There might be an exception here and there, but they simply prove the rule. Will 2, 3, 4….27.0 take over? Some day, but not real soon. I Read more

January 11, 2009

Blog makeovers with traffic source in mind.

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

I have been really enjoying Stephanie’s latest two posts. One’s here. The other here. I also cannot help but notice that a lot of people are getting into updating their blogs and changing how they are presenting themselves to the world. I could not be more thrilled.

We are doing many of the same things in our Louisville blogging group. (Think of it as our own little scenius.) Making wholesale overhauls of our blogs (in my estimation) is part of all of our 2009 marketing efforts. I just want to share some of the things we are finding as we downshift and shove our collective right feet into the carburetor for 2009.

When we plan a blog, we begin with the traffic source in mind. (huh?) In other words we start with a clear idea of whether the blog will attract people via SEO, Paid Search (PPC), Word of Mouth, HomeGain, Social Media or what. All of these are LEGITIMATE sources of traffic. ALL of them can be highly profitable. All can connect you to clients if they are prepared properly. And each will have their own likely entry point into your blog.

Does it make a difference how you lay out a blog which traffic source you are going to use? In my opinion, yes.

At Unchained in Orlando, Kelley Koehler gave a great example of setting up specific landing pages for Paid Search. One of the great benefits of PPC and services like Home Gain’s BuyerLink program is that you can choose which page to send the traffic you are BUYING to. (Meaning that if you create landing pages appropriately, you will increase conversion…).

SEO will mostly send folks to your home page and to the posts of your blog. Why because that is where most people will link to you. Also with word of mouth. BUT, posts also get a lot of rankings attention in search. By thinking these things out and designing your blog correctly you can drastically improve your blogging results. You can send the right folks to the right page. You can also have a call to Read more

January 11, 2009

Screenplay: I am Switzerland…(with a French 75 chaser)

by

Chicago Broker Owner Realtor | RE 2.0 Blogger

Author website

No.  Upon final rewrite, make that Lichtenstein, a  tiny cinematic metaphor freezing its alpine ass off smack in the middle of a much larger, tempestuous world money market.  I’ll declare the Swiss Franc my new currency—diminutive, but not to the point as to be completely overlooked at the box office; still along the lines of cinema verite mind you, but hedging toward a safer ‘middle’  ground.  For, to be artistically and financially agnostic, is to be, as Studs Terkel once put it, “merely a cowardly atheist.”  It’s like trying to sift layman sense from a Steely Dan  harangue sans the jazzy guitar rides….sober. ‘Careful what you carry…’

So I go to the movies to willingly suspend disbelief.

I walk past the marquee, daring only a brief, side-swiped glimpse at my own bankable image in the reflection. Until witnessing in person, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I never thought I could ever bear a resemblance to Brad Pitt.  But Voila!….there I was, up on the silver shroud, lurking (the first hour only, to be sure) like the penny pinching AARPer I’m becoming.  An old man on the surface, picking through the Big Board rubble for some common retirement ground, I search for my own safe spot  in Pharmaceuticals or Technologies.  But, alas,  feeling the  Fourth Quarter financial shiver in my brittle bones,  I panic like every other old man on my ward at 4PM Eastern Time on Fridays and sell.  Like the French, I retreat and quickly convert to cash.  Where do people in the South of France run to at the end of the trading week, I wonder?   If still around this summer, I’m taking the entire month of August off, I decide. If only I were bright and wealthy enough to meld into the European Intelligentsia (does it still exist?) for good, or romantic and brave enough to join the Foreign Legion for even a short stint.  If only….

I’d drink stiff coffee, talk shit all day long with the expatriates, and take cover only when truly necessary.  I’d jot caustic notes on the backs of napkins (and into my iPhone Read more

January 11, 2009

Doing the right kinds of repairs and remodeling to your home is the key to maintaining its resale value

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

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

 
Doing the right kinds of repairs and remodeling to your home is the key to maintaining its resale value

Cleaning, painting and doing small repairs around the house are just about unlimited virtues for homeowners.

They’re a matter of necessity for people who hope to sell their homes. Only the best-prepared homes are selling at premium prices right now, with the rest going at or near the lender-owned price.

But even if you’re not selling, staying on top of the little things promotes your enjoyment of the home, and it helps to sustain its resale value. At a minimum, regular maintenance will help you catch small problems before the become big, expensive problems.

But if doing little jobs matters a lot, what about doing big jobs? Should you redo the kitchen and bathrooms while the market is low? Should you convert the carport into a garage and the patio into a family room? Should you add on a brand new master suite?

The definitive answer to all these questions is: Maybe.

Remember that the Phoenix real estate market may be down for years to come. It’s possible you won’t see a return on your investment for quite a while.

On the other hand, if you know you’re going to be in the home for the next five years, and if a new kitchen will substantially improve your enjoyment of the home, it might be worth doing.

Labor can be very cheap right now, and money is easy to obtain if you have equity in your home. But you have to resist the urge to over-improve for your neighborhood. Brazilian Blue Marble is gorgeous, but it probably won’t be worth more than Corian or Formica countertops on resale.

Serious additions are a bigger question. If you know you’re going to be in the home for five years, you’re probably okay. If the addition makes sense — if you live in a neighborhood of two bedroom homes, adding a master suite makes great sense — then go ahead.

Build with permits and follow the building codes, though. The worst thing you Read more

January 10, 2009

Every Team Needs a Rake: My 1.0 skillz payz the billz.

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

In the spirit of transparency, let’s get something out on the table.  I’m a rake.  I’ve spent a total of 3 years full time in Real Estate, and another 4 in mortgages.  Today?  I’m using the phone to bang out deals as a freelancer.   I was dually licensed for about a year.  My first full year was 2003, and I sold 31 sides.  My second year, I sold 38, and in 2005, I sold 42.  Context. I’m saying this not to brag.  But I didn’t spend one dime on a display ad.  My website was stupid and ineffective.  And, I had an horrific cancel/expired rate as an agent (not for my market, but I hadda know better).  I probably sold only about 65% of my listings, during the ‘boom times.’

Before you laugh, Columbus, OH has had a head start on the depreciating market.  We had foreclosures and other stuff thanks to the stupidity of the “2/1 FHA Buydown,” that qualifies you for the payment based on the first year.   Columbus is a noted test market, and I guess the government wanted to test market foreclosures here before they rolled it out nation wide.  (The buydown isn’t stupid, the qualifications are, and that made it easy for me to see and predict accurately what was to come down the pike w/r the shortsale mess).  Columbus, I don’t think ever had a year with a lower DOM average than 110, and we’ve never had more than 70% of our initial contracts end in a closing.  Not since 1997, at least.  HUD  wanted to get people in homes, sure, I get it, but qualifying a house on the first year’s  bought down payment under FHA guidelines is insane.  Not nearly as insane as wagging your finger at brokers for bellying up to the slop trough that you put out for them, but I digress–this isn’t a political post.

I got my business by using three basic tools: Haines Criss Cross Plus, a C# do not call scrubber that my buddy Rob built for me and Microsoft Excel.  I’d grab a list of people Read more

January 10, 2009

WordPress 2.7 – Or Maybe Older Too?

by

Realtor, Certified EcoBroker

Author website

On my recent blog post about Niche Marketing there was a lengthy discussion about how to make a WordPress Blog a little more user friendly and along with that, what it seems as though Consumers are looking for when they come to a site.  One of the things that was mentioned a few times is a Static Home Page.  This way it looks and feels a little more like a website.

The more I thought about it, I really liked the idea and did some Research.  Apparently within the New WordPress 2.7 you can make any page on your site a Home Page, Landing Page, whatever you want to call it.  I figured that maybe if I didn’t know about, others may not either.  So, thought I would spread the word.

All you have to do is from within your Dashboard go to Settings along the left- Go to Reading- and it will bring up a page that allows you to set any page as the static Home Page.  Easy!  No plugin, code or anything else required.  Hope that helps someone!

January 9, 2009

Silver Lining of Real Estate Market Correction Hiding In Plain Sight

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Gonna be down and dirty today with a strategy real estate investors aren’t using nearly as much as they should. I wrote a post on the subject on my own turf, but thought it important and valuable enough to give it some visibility here. The results this strategy can potentially produce are, in my experience, sometimes pivotal in getting retirement goals back on track, or even more dramatically, raising them from the dead.

So many real estate investors own many properties. They’re located in different areas. sometimes different parts of the country. Some were acquired long ago, some, not so long ago. Some in areas blessed with ungodly appreciation — some that dropped like the anchor on the USS Ronald Reagan 20 minutes after escrow closed.

Earlier this week I spoke to an investor wanting to know how to get out from under some losing income properties. They were worth less than he paid for them, but there was still some equity there if he were to sell them. Further questioning revealed his portfolio also had some long term winners that had increased in value impressively over the years, even after nearly four years of the current brutal market correction.

This is one of those silver lining strategies that should really be looked at as the perfect silver lining storm.

Told this investor he should sell ’em all this year, and to get started around 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Now, of course that doesn’t mean everyone should take that route, but the strategy is as follows.

Long term capital losses (held more than a year) offset long term capital gains. Simple as that. If, for example, you own a couple props bought with bad timing, that will produce losses, those losses will offset the gains on your gold medal props. This approach will yield many different very positive results — the escape from capital gains taxes being just one — and sans the use of a tax deferred exchange. How cool is that? The various perks are listed in the linked post. Not all of the cool potential results are listed, as Read more

January 9, 2009

What is the value of a day: Surviving No Matter What.

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

I’m the nuts and bolts guy here.  I don’t have the grace of Greg, the congeniality of Brian or the panache of Geno.   What I will do with out a big damn brain this year is grind out a great living in an imploding economy.  No laws, nothing will stop that.  And with each successive “anti greed act,” it’s gonna get harder.  2009 is war.  WAR.   There are major forces corralling those of us that wanna be independent, and obligating our future efforts in the name of bailouts.

More independent people will go crawling back, hat in hand, to the behemoth employers, the beneficiaries of the laws passed to shackle us into slavery.   And I have a hard time believing that this isn’t at least in part an aim of all of the bailoutorama.

But that doesn’t have to happen to anyone–the form the chaos will take is unpredictable, but the fact that there will be chaos is a certainty.

We can out hustle, out think, out work, and out-do all of the scumbags that are stealing from us (supposably at our behest).   And we can make what’s left of 2009 the very best and most profitable year.   The new economy is placing a premium on survivors that don’t panic, can deal with the OODA loop, and can nimbly maneuver through are market.   So here’s a list of killer questions:

First things first:  Questions about your own business/finances.

  1. How much cash, per day, do I burn through?  (Add EVERY single expense)
  2. What can I eliminate or reduce?  What can’t I?
  3. Is my car payment more or less than my health care payment?
  4. Am I saving 1/2 a month’s expenses every month?  Or am I spending money?
  5. How much cash do I need to earn to cover all of my expenses AND have enough to pay taxes?
  6. How much cash do I need, per day that I intend to work, to cover cash need, peak experiences AND pay taxes?
  7. How many deals/loans/widgets do I need to sell/put together per year to make this happen?
  8. What peak experiences do I want (disney, losing weight, etc) and how much do they cost?
  9. How many new people will Read more
January 9, 2009

Zillow’s Zindex of historic Bedrock shows significant gains

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Rubbles up, Flintstones down. Is Fred facing foreclosure?

SEATTLE, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- It's a proud day in Bedrock as the new Zillow Zindex reveals that home prices in that historic city are up 2.5% for the fourth quarter of 2008. Bucking the trend for many American communities, Bedrock seems to be benefitting from a mid-century-modern nostalgia. "Face it," says Sam Slagheap, Grand Poobah of the Bedrock Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes, "it's the architecture."

Bedrock notables Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble both saw gains in the Zestimates for their homes, with Rubble seeing the bigger increase -- 2.8%. The Flintstone home grew in value by a more modest 2.3%.

Even so, there are whispers in Bedrock that the Flintstones could be facing foreclosure. Due to a labor dispute with Mr. Slate, Fred Flintstone has not worked in months. And county records indicate that the family may have encumbered the home for more than its present value.

"That's a condition we at Zillow call 'underwater,'" said Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow's vice president of data and analytics. "We like to use that term because it gets better headlines than 'upside-down.'"

The Zillow Zindex of Bedrock is one of many recent press sensations concocted by Zillow.com, the Seattle-based real estate start-up funded by advertising but powered by sensational, albeit utterly mindless gossip.

Other recent revelations from the Zillow press release team:

* The White House, which is not and has never been listed for sale, could be worth as much as $308,058,237.19 if it were. And as huge as that imaginary number might be, and as carefully-extracted as it must have been from a Zillow statistician's rectum, nevertheless that number would have been even $23 million higher a year ago. And while reporters might be wondering how far 308 million dollar bills would stretch, if you placed them end-to-end, Zillow's crack team of mathematicians-on-crack have taken on an even more impressive challenge: How much would the White House be worth on Jupiter?

* Ever wonder which celebrity Americans might want to live next door to, if there were no such thing as physics, economics and burly security details? Zillow didn't just Read more

January 5, 2009

Mortgages Under Management

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

“Managing loans” is the tail that wags the dog today.  When I was a rookie stockbroker, the good folks at Mother Merrill taught us to “gather assets”.  Essentially, the firm encouraged us to pitch clients to have their assets transferred to a Merrill Lynch account.  The strategy was that assets “in-house” would result in a commission when they had to be sold.

Is it any wonder that the mortgage sales gurus who brought that strategy to the mortgage business were former stockbrokers?  Rich Katz, former President of Loan Toolbox, spent his early career with both Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney.  Dave Savage of Mortgage Coach perfected that strategy with his software offering.  Todd Ballenger developed a business model that partnered with financial planners; it’s cornerstone was actively managing mortgages for customers.

Simply put, a new mortgage originator could track current homeowners’ mortgages, by rate (and/or term).  The lowest-tech system would be in file folders, indexed by note rate.  Vendors like Mortgage Coach, Top of Mind, and MyLoanBiz.com offer automated solutions to managing mortgages.  Whether you spend the money for automation or not, “managing mortgages” can be fruitful, especially in a low mortgage rate environment like today.

Greg Frost of LoanToolbox tells us that “first in wins”.  When a dramatic move in rates occurs, the first originator to call the homeowner with an attractive loan solution usually has the best chance of earning the new loan business.  Regardless of rate movements, approximately 9% of all loans outstanding are refinanced each year.  Another 11% of all loans outstanding are paid off due to sales.  This means that one out of five loans will be retired (and new loans will replace them) annually.  A mortgage originator who wants to close 100 loans each year would do well to “gather” data for at least 500 homeowners then.

The strategy works whether you use a computer or a drawer-full of files. Here are some real life examples from practicing originators:

Dan Green talking to Dave Savage about how he used this strategy to excel in a down market.

Khai McBride discusses his quarterly credit review for clients

Jim Sahnger talks about how to Read more

January 5, 2009

Niche Marketing- A Different Kind Of Blog?

by

Realtor, Certified EcoBroker

Author website

Well, I’m guilty of thinking again.   My mind wanders thinking of ways to do things differently-actually, a way to do things better, which brings questions, and then getting lost a little bit.

My blog, if you remember, is a pretty narrow niche in that I write about Green Real Estate. But, the other day I was thinking…What if there were a way to have multiple pages or categories with their own blog?  I know that makes absolutely no sense, but I’ll explain.

I have tried to spend some time looking at Niche Marketing Blogs over the past few months and each one proves that Niche Blogs are just…different.  If you get off topic, you lose readers.  If you don’t get out on a limb and break up the content sometimes, it bores people..and then you lose readers.

So back to my idea.  Personally, I think this is an amazing idea for the real estate industry.  In a way it would be multiple sites all in one.  For example, we have pages right?  Contact, Search for listings, yada..yada.  Then we have tags for our posts: Foreclosures, Mortgage, Marketing, New Listings…whatever.

What if within the separate pages we could have a different blog, or a way to filter a blog to a separate page?  Instead of having just one long page of posts on a blog page it would be nice for within the Dashboard to filter the Blog Post to a different page.

So, I’m writing a post on Foreclosures and I would like to filter it down to appear only on the Foreclosure page.

In my case, I would like to be able to write posts for say Builders and move it over to a Builders Going Green page.   Another idea would be a not so Real Estate page with General Green Information.

I would think that any one in Real Estate that focuses on a Niche of any kind would like the ability to do this.   Does anyone know plugin to do this?  Or are there any of my Genius friends out there that would happen to want to tackle it? :0)

Or is this just a dumb Read more

January 5, 2009

Free “gifts” for real estate webloggers: “The need to deny influence is damaging to the soul”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

On Vendorslut Eve, here are a couple of quick notes on free “gifts” and their intended influence:

Richard Riccelli points out this New York Times article:

Starting Jan. 1, the pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on the kind of branded goodies — Viagra pens, Zoloft soap dispensers, Lipitor mugs — that were meant to foster good will and, some would say, encourage doctors to prescribe more of the drugs.

No longer will Merck furnish doctors with purplish adhesive bandages advertising Gardasil, a vaccine against the human papillomavirus. Banished, too, are black T-shirts from Allergan adorned with rhinestones that spell out B-O-T-O-X. So are pens advertising the Sepracor sleep drug Lunesta, in whose barrel floats the brand’s mascot, a somnolent moth.

Some skeptics deride the voluntary ban as a superficial measure that does nothing to curb the far larger amounts drug companies spend each year on various other efforts to influence physicians. But proponents welcome it as a step toward ending the barrage of drug brands and logos that surround, and may subliminally influence, doctors and patients.

It’s not just a matter of subliminal influence. When every pen and pad you use comes from a vendor, the vendors are underwriting your office supplies budget. The “in-kind” gift translates directly to an “in-cash” benefit.

Here’s a very complete disclosure on this issue of “gifts” and affiliate marketing from the Mortgage Sales Blog:

While most of the information provided on this mortgage blog does not include product pitches or personal agendas, some of the authors may generate income by selling services to loan officers or real estate agents.

Personally approved mortgage vendors participate on this blog as a way to expand their online reach, develop relationships with our readers, and prove that their products are worth taking a look at.

In the instance where it is not obvious, I will make every attempt to be fully transparent with our readers about any affiliate agreements where the Mortgage Sales Blog receives financial compensation by promoting a product or service on this blog.

As of Jan 4th, 2009, the Mortgage Sales Blog (Mark Madsen) has not promoted any product or service where an Read more

January 4, 2009

Filters Aren’t Just for Coffee

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

As I take stock of 2008 and move into 2009, I’ve decided to  develop and implement a strategy for transforming my business moving forward.  I’ve settled on a theme for this year – creating, delivering and leveraging knowledge.

My goal for 2009 is to become a better filter.

I want to become an expert filter – more importantly, be recognized as an expert filter – transforming information into knowledge.  I had a very interesting conversation this morning with a client regarding the state of the current real estate market in Chicago.  After three attempts of getting several properties under contract, my client and I finally succeeded in getting a deal together.  We visited the unit again this morning.  After seeing the unit, I sensed his apprehension when talking about next steps.

He wants to renegotiate the price now after having the property under contract.  He’s been actively reading on the blogs that prices are continuing to fall in the US – he cited Case Shiller’s recent price decline of 18% as the reason why he should pay even less than our negotiated price.

This became a real example of why information is not knowledge.

I became a filter – he was not really aware that the indicator, often touted in daily news sound bites about the ailing US real estate market, was actually an aggregated statistic for 20 metro areas in the US – Chicago faring slightly better at alittle over 10% decline since the same period last year.  To drill even deeper, the indicator measures single family home prices, not condos .  The decline hasn’t impacted every neighborhood equally.  Perhaps more importantly, we have spent the past 5 months searching for properties in four different neighborhoods within the city.  The process was an eye-opening experience for him – he learned that while inventory was plentiful, there were only a handful of properties actually worth buying.

While I am not keen on resolutions, I have decided to spend less time listening to the 24 hour, continuous coverage of catastrophe that our news has become.   Without the proper context and filtering, consumers are simply mis-educated and misinformed regarding Read more

January 3, 2009

If selling is not a viable option, you need to fall in love with your house all over again

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

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

 
If selling is not a viable option, you need to fall in love with your house all over again

The foreclosure market dominates the news, but it remains that good old-fashioned American homeowners occupy the overwhelming majority of Phoenix-area homes. That’s the good news.

And here’s some even better news: If you have significant equity in your home, you can probably refinance right now, reducing your monthly payment.

But here’s the bad news: Unless you absolutely have to, you probably won’t be moving for at least five years.

Don’t believe the number you see on that refi appraisal. At most, your house is worth the same amount as a comparable lender-owned home, plus the net cost to bring that home up to the livability of yours.

Swallow hard. You may have read in the paper that Americans lost $2 trillion in real estate equity in 2008. That’s a specious number. Money is the stuff you can fold up and spend. The equity in your home is unrealized money. You weren’t rich when your home was worth a lot, and you’re not poor now that it isn’t.

But what you are is stuck, practically speaking.

You don’t want to sell your house for what it can bring right now. If you do, you will lose money. But, refi or not, you’re making your payments.

If your home really was purely an investment, like a stock, it might be wise to dump it, take your lumps and move on.

But your home is not only where your heart is, it is very probably where most if not all of your savings are. You need to wait for the market to turn so you can sell at a profit.

So what should you do?

My advice: Paint.

Patch that stucco and paint it. Caulk the wood at the eaves and the trim and paint it. Clean out the house one room at a time and patch and paint the walls, repairing and painting the molding.

You’re stuck in your house for the next five years. It’s time to fall in love with it all over Read more

January 3, 2009

A premium appeal for Vlad Zablotskyy: If you’ll give $200 to his defense fund, we’ll give you a set of BloodhoundBlog Unchained DVDs

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

One of the biggest stories we followed in 2008 was Vlad Zablotskyy’s legal battle with ePerks.com. The fight ended in a settlement, about which it were better for me to say nothing, but it suffices to say that ePerks has filed for bankruptcy.

Working together, we raised a ton of money for Vlad’s Legal Defense Fund — but not nearly as much as was needed. Brian Brady and I would like to do what we can to help reduce Vlad’s legal debt.

So here’s our proposal: If you will make a $200 donation to the Vlad Zablotskyy Legal Defense Fund using the PayPal button shown below, we will send you a complimentary set of DVDs from BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Phoenix, 2008. The DVDs sell for $199, so you’re essentially getting them for free, in exchange for your donation.

Why are we doing this? Because Vlad jumped on the grenade for all of us. What happened to him could have happened to any one of us. For my own part, I have tried to make this episode instructive for any other corporate attorneys who decide that webloggers are easy targets. But it remains that Vlad took the flak that could have been aimed at any one of us. We can only imagine what he and his family have been through this year, but at least we can help to lift this finacial burden.

Click on the “Donate” button and let’s put “paid” to this kind of intimidation against real estate webloggers.


Support Vlad Zablotskyy’s Defense Fund
Defend your own right to free speech!

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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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