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Author: Greg Swann (page 136 of 209)

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

August 6, 2007

The Carnival of Real Estate . . .

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…is up at RealEstateUndressed. Host Larry Cragun got around our having broken the rules on entries by breaking all the rules. In consequence, this week there will be two consumer-focused real estate carnivals and no Carnival of Real Estate.

Even so, our friend John L. Wake took second place with Landscape staging your home.

Michael Cook came in fifth with Can I Still Get a Mortgage in Today’s Lending Markets? With Cold Hard Cash and Great Credit, Certainly; Otherwise?

I respect the right of each weekly judge to do what he or she wants about the Carnival — the lord knows we do. But much more than that, I respect, admire, revere and exalt actual excellence in real estate weblogging. We’re going to do something different from now on. News later…

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August 6, 2007

Black Pearls: Two practical uses for video in real estate marketing

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Someday soon I’m going to write a post with a title like “Why all available real estate video solutions suck eggs.” Here’s the one-word summary as a teaser: Bandwidth.

In the mean time, here are two ways of using video in real estate marketing that are actually useful and practical right now. These qualify as Black Pearls because Cathy thought up one of them while we we at the StarPower Conference.

Black Pearl #1: At your initial listing appointment, videotape the seller’s tour of the home
If you do this, you’ll able to revisit everything you saw in the home, to review every detail the seller divulged and to provide the basis for your notes on repairs and staging. You can use stills or clips from the video to show the seller what you want corrected. You may even be able to use clips from this video for your marketing video — even though all available real estate video solutions suck eggs.

Black Pearl #2: Videotape the seller’s instructions on the major systems
This may happen at the final walkthrough or some earlier time, but if you’re representing buyers of homes with complicated amenities — pools, spas, septic tanks, home theater or central vacuum systems — you should be writing training classes into the purchase contract. We use language like this: “Seller agrees to hold a two-hour class for Buyer at any mutually-agreeable time prior to Close of Escrow to teach the care and use of the pool, septic system and any other major systems, tools or appliances on the property.” If you’re the buyer’s agent, you should videotape this class, but you should do it even if you’re the lister if the buyer’s agent does not. Deliver it to the buyers as a DVD, split into chapters by major systems. This is a closing gift that keeps on giving.

We have a third idea, videotaping the reactions of visitors to our open houses, HGTV-style, but they’re always too shy. Besides, all available real estate video solutions suck eggs.

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August 6, 2007

Wagging the dog at the Carnival of Real Estate

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Our policy is that Cathleen Collins chooses our nominees for real estate carnivals. I trust her to be objective, particularly about my posts. The contributors are polled for nominations on Saturday night, with their suggestions going to Cathy. Sometimes I overrule her, and sometimes she asks me to cover for her.

This week, Cathy got her short list down to four posts, one each by Morgan Brown, Kris Berg, Brian Brady and me, but she didn’t want to choose from there. She threw it over to me — heavy hangs the head.

I checked and saw that nine of our fifteen contributors had written in the past week. So I entered everything of moment from each of us. That’s a violation of the Carnival of Real Estate rules, but this is my attitude: If we’re going to lose anyway, let’s lose our own way.

These were the posts that I entered, starting with Cathy’s short list:

Morgan Brown:

Kris Berg:

Brian Brady:

Greg Swann:

Michael Cook:

August 4, 2007

Why didn’t your house sell? Price, preparation, presentation — and availability

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This is me from my column in the Arizona Republic (permanent link):

 
Why didn’t your house sell? Price, preparation, presentation — and availability

So your house didn’t sell. Now what?

Six months ago — or was it a year ago? — the world was young and ripe for the picking. You listed your home for sale, confident that you’d have a buyer in no time. Full price and then some. Why not? The neighbors got it. Sure, that was two years ago, but you have better carpets and new countertops.

So you talked to three Realtors and hired the one who said he could get your price. His marketing plan was long on networking and short on practical details, but — what the heck? — houses sell themselves, don’t they?

You read an article a while back about staging, but you don’t need that. You’ve got great furniture. And even though your Rotweiller is hardly ever a problem, it seemed prudent to make the listing by-appointment-only.

This is the way it is: In most neighborhoods in the Valley right now, there are at least five homes for sale that might work for each buyer in the marketplace. The only homes that will sell are the ones that are priced, prepared, and presented right and are available for buyers to see.

Why did your listing expire? You missed the market in one or more of those criteria. If you priced your home above the market, you sabotaged your sale from the outset. Prices are declining in most areas, so even if you made successive price reductions, you were probably still always above market value.

If the house wasn’t repaired and staged to perfection, buyers bought the homes that were. If it wasn’t available to be shown, there is no possibility it could have sold. And, alas, if you fell for happy babble about your Realtor’s vast network of relationships, then all you were missing was a marketing plan.

What now? If you need to sell now, relist at the market price — with a Realtor who has a real marketing plan and detailed instructions for you. If you can afford to Read more

August 4, 2007

“My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel — it is, before all, to make you see. That — and no more, and it is everything. If I succeed, you shall find there according to your deserts: encouragement, consolation, fear, charm — all you demand; and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask.”

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This is Joseph Conrad’s preface to The Nigger of the “Narcissus”:

A work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line. And art itself may be defined as a single-minded attempt to render the highest kind of justice to the visible universe, by bringing to light the truth, manifold and one, underlying its every aspect. It is an attempt to find in its forms, in its colours, in its light, in its shadows, in the aspects of matter and in the facts of life, what of each is fundamental, what is enduring and essential — their one illuminating and convincing quality — the very truth of their existence. The artist, then, like the thinker or the scientist, seeks the truth and makes his appeal. Impressed by the aspect of the world the thinker plunges into ideas, the scientist into facts — whence, presently, emerging they make their appeal to those qualities of our being that fit us best for the hazardous enterprise of living. They speak authoritatively to our common-sense, to our intelligence, to our desire of peace or to our desire of unrest; not seldom to our prejudices, sometimes to our fears, often to our egoism — but always to our credulity. And their words are heard with reverence, for their concern is with weighty matters: with the cultivation of our minds and the proper care of our bodies; with the attainment of our ambitions; with the perfection of the means and the glorification of our precious aims.

It is otherwise with the artist.

Confronted by the same enigmatical spectacle the artist descends within himself, and in that lonely region of stress and strife, if he be deserving and fortunate, he finds the terms of his appeal. His appeal is made to our less obvious capacities: to that part of our nature which, because of the warlike conditions of existence, is necessarily kept out of sight within the more resisting and hard qualities — like the vulnerable body within the steel armour. His appeal is less loud, more profound, less distinct, more stirring — and Read more

August 2, 2007

How do you define a neighborhood? You don’t. How do you obtain neighborhood expertise? Go to neighborhood expert.

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I’m quoting from David Gibbons from Zillow.com. He wrote these remarks in a comment, but I’m pulling them out because it’s an interesting topic: How can web-based vendors build databases of neighborhood expertise?

What you are seeing in the neighborhood space is the lack of any predefined neighborhood database. It’s never been done before and so, while there’s a great place to start when building a taxonomy of regions at any other level, neighborhoods are tough to build.

The 6,500 neighborhoods currently defined on Zillow were done by hand. We’ve talked this through with outside.in – they took the same approach. The solution is to allow homeowners to collaboratively describe their neighborhoods and we’ll iterate towards that but even homeowners seldom agree on neighborhood designations and boundaries. It’s an interesting problem to solve.

That’s what I said. This is me when Zillow 6 was released:

What does all this have to do with Zillow.com?

I think they’ve made a mistake in their approach to community building, a mistake that will prevent a true community from emerging from all their efforts.

As an example, what is a neighborhood? It’s not what Zillow says it is, and it’s not what some city council says it is. A neighborhood is what the neighbors say it is, and, as in my North Central Phoenix neighborhood, neighbors can differ about what the neighborhood really is.

So how should Zillow define the neighborhoods it hopes end-users will create content around?

It shouldn’t. It should let the users define the neighborhoods, and if there are different interpretations of what the neighborhood is, it should allow the proponents of those different ideas to create multiple competing neighborhood descriptions. When one starts to draw all the attention and the other fades away, Zillow can snuff the loser. Until then, the neighborhood advocates will have an investment in creating content for Zillow, and an avid interest in getting their friends to the site to show off what they have created.

In other words, they will have created a virtual analogue of their neighborhood as a means of defining and describing it. This is an atom-sized on-line community, an acorn from Read more

August 2, 2007

Inman Connect Grand Poobahthon: Stinton: ‘Freedom stinks worse than banks in real estate’; Singer: ‘The only trouble with the MLS is the MLS — and the agents’; Barton: ‘I have visions of gesticulating green-grocers, so that must be good for real estate’

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I can’t think of any argument against oral presentations better than the stuff that comes out of the mouths of the people making them.

From InmanBlog, NAR CEO Dale Stinton says:

“If there ever was a case study for banks staying out of real estate it’s the subprime market.” He also said that the subprime situation is an example of the “inevitability of an open society,” “of going too far, too fast,” and “of liquidity in the marketplaces.”

See, it was the lenders who caused these problems, not the sacrosanct tax giveaways to homeowners and real estate investors. And god spare us all from an “an open society” (that is to say, not a police state) and “liquidity in the marketplaces” (money, that is). I’m thinking Stinton had to borrow extra feet from Glenn Kelman to put in his mouth.

Joel Singer, “president of real estate business services for the California Association of Realtors,” was not to be outdone:

“The brokerage industry to a large degree has ceded too much power to the agents. Once you have entrenched power … more importantly, once you have entrenched economic power — the economics are that the MLSs actually have more funding than the organized real estate itself — it becomes very difficult to overcome that.”

I think that says that the obstacle to MLS reform is posed by the MLS systems themselves, which leads me to expect a radical legislative intervention. If you’re a real estate licensee but not an brokerage owner or designated broker, hide your wallet.

But: The prize would seem to go to Zillow.com founder Rich Barton, who summoned forth this vision:

“I see an old-style marketplace formed, a city market like Pike Place Market. I actually dug up an old photo — Pike Place Market at the turn of the last century. People were gesticulating. People were buying things. People were gossiping. Negotiations were happening. Big billboards were advertising things above the marketplace. That’s the picture I have in my head.”

I think this is meant to be poetry — except poetry rhymes, scans and makes sense.

I’m sure Stinton is not an actual Commissar, despite his derision of Read more

August 1, 2007

Quick notes on Inman’s Bloggers Connect

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I’m juggling eggs in negotiations on between $0 and $2.2 million in new listings, but I’ve been following Inman’s Bloggers Connect off and on by RSS feed and email.

Paul Chaney at the Blogging Systems Group Blog was going great guns this morning, but I think maybe his laptop battery died. His summaries of this morning’s events are very good, though.

Kris Berg emailed that Teri Lussier and I did not win the Project Blogger contest, but I would have been stunned if we had. If you’re going into a competition with the intention of doing everything your own damn way, your only chance of winning is if the judging is based on how well you do things your own damn way. In that regard, BloodhoundBlog should win the Inman Innovator award — but I won’t be stunned if we don’t. Doing things your own damn way is its own damn reward, after all.

Mail from Teri:

Well…
 
My apologies to Cathy and her indignant cats, and I hope I didn’t let you down. OTOH, I’m quite pleased with my blog.
 
I had an interesting comment on TBR last night that made me think that I must be doing something right with it. And this reader is a Daytonian, and not in real estate, and has little patience for Realtors.
 
I don’t know if I would have changed anything to do it again… Although. If I had put an idiot widget and a few goofy graphics in occasionally to bust up the dreaded “wall of text”, I suppose Cathy’s cats would be well fed tonight. But since I really hate those, I’d probably end up hating TBR as well.  ;)
 
I’ve enjoyed the journey enormously!

Indeed. Likewise. And that “Well…” is just too perfect. Eudora Welty lives on at The Brick Ranch.

Inman Blog reports that Redfin.com’s Glenn Kelman claims that I am sending them business:

“Greg has long been my antagonist, and of course he is our best friend,” Kelman said. “Everytime he writes about us, he brings us business.”

I find that difficult to believe, but Kelman also said, of 60 Minutes Reporter Lesley Stahl:

“She kept saying I was full of s__t.”

This I find Read more

August 1, 2007

Someday soon, Coldwell Banker agents won’t even have to leave home to ignore hyper-local social media reporting tools

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As the first little bit of news to come out of Inman Connect (I ignored all the spam I got last week), Coldwell Banker announces that it is coming up with its very own hyper-local rate-a-rock social media web site. Called SpotIt, the technology is being developed with OnBoard, a hyper-local real estate data aggregator. Presumably, all the other no-sparrow-shall-fall web sites haven’t failed miserably enough.

Given that Coldwell Banker agents are already not populating neighborhood databases on Trulia.com, Zillow.com, StreetAdvisor.com (Breaking news: Now StreetAdvisor sucks even less!), etc., it makes complete sense to build an in-house system that they can ignore without even leaving the office intranet.

(Just as a side note for the retards bright sparks building this crap: A zip code is enormous and is often very diverse in demographic characteristics. Real estate marketing should be designed to appeal to those people who are qualified to buy and sell real estate. Virtually every spot on the map in Phoenix, at least, looks like a slum in a zip-code-sized demographic. If you can’t work in carrier routes — at a maximum — go home.)

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July 31, 2007

Zillow.com takes on BloodhoundBlog, attempting to crush The Future Of Real Estate Marketing in the process

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In a move that is either inspired or incredibly stoopid, Zillow.com will this afternoon launch a brand new group weblog devoted to real estate technology issues. This of course is a large part of the content of BloodhoundBlog and it is the entire focus of The Future Of Real Estate Marketing. The new weblog, called GeekEstate Blog, will draw its contributions from a cadre of real estate technology vendors. Presumably this will be pleasing to the foxes. The hens? Not so much.

From the Zillow Blog (this text is extracted from a pre-launch press release):

As much as the real estate industry is based on people-to-people contact, there is no denying that technology is becoming ever more crucial for real estate professionals as a way to reach consumers and each other. With this in mind, we are proud today to announce the launch of a new technology blog that Zillow has founded — GeekEstate Blog!

[…]

GeekEstate Blog is a multi-author format and is launching with seven contributors. Our kickoff team of regular contributors includes Michael Price from MLPodcast, Matt Dunlap from Realivent, Damon Pace from Incredible Agent, Brendan King from Point2, WordPress designer Cory Miller, and Steve Jagger from Ubertor. I’ll [Drew Meyers] be the seventh contributor rounding out this group.

I happen to think Steve Jagger is a nice guy, as is Mike Price. Jay Thompson likes Point2. Even so, what we have is a union of fairly low-tech tech vendors, none of whom is going to issue a discouraging word about one of the others’ products, nor about Zillow.com. INTJs like Drew Meyers might say something interestingly impolitic from time to time, but the rest of these guys got the windowed offices because they know how to tailor a response to the demands of their marketing. In other words, if you’re looking for independent balls-to-the-wall analysis, it won’t be at the GeekEstate Blog.

Nota bene:

Zillow will play an administrative role on this blog and keep the wheels turning. We’ll also occasionally provide our own insight based on our understanding of real estate technology. Lastly, we’ll head up the process of recruiting other bloggers as Read more

July 31, 2007

Left out at Inman: The truth is, Kris Berg is a blogging supernova, and her cosmic brilliance leaves everyone glowing

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Is there a Carnival of Off-to-Inman Posts? If so, Kris Berg won:

So, this morning, I am off to the Inman technology conference in San Francisco. I am off in theory, at least. I haven’t exactly packed. Packing Plan A always involves meticulously planning out wardrobes, including appropriate accessories, neatly laying out the items the night before, and then, the morning of the flight, casually arranging the military-folded articles in the suitcase. I’m going with Plan B. Within the next hour, I will be shooting every item of clothing I own out of a cannon into an undersized carry-on and hoping for the best. Pity the poor, random power cord. If it simply looks like it might fit into one end of a camera, video recorder, voice recorder, iPod, or laptop, it’s coming along for the ride. I will have enough electronics and peripherals to inspire the Port Commission to beef up staffing at the security check point, and I can all but guarantee that at least half that make the journey with me were designed to power the VCR I sold at a garage sale in 1993.

Not a convention goer by nature, I was sucked into this one for a couple of reasons. I am looking forward to actually meeting the many people I have met online over the past year. Mostly, though, I am hoping I can bring back some better mousetraps to help us with our business. I’ll try to report back with updates, that is, if I can find the right power cord.

One of the break-out sessions at Inman Connect is called “The Blogging Superstars.” Kris Berg is not on that panel. In rebuttal I offer this lengthy argument:

Ahem.

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July 31, 2007

Black Pearls: Custom directional signs can draw buyers to your listings — and make your listings seem to multiply

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Okay, here’s a Black Pearl made from sandy irritants we picked up at the StarPower Conference.

First, one of the Stars is making custom signs featuring photographs of the listed home. I’ve been writing about custom yard signs for more than a year now, but, so far, I haven’t heard from anyone who is doing them — other than us, that is. What the Star is doing is not our way of making the signs. He’s putting up his regular brokerage sign, then supplementing it with a separate sign that features photos of the home.

Second, another different Star is using directional signs to direct buyer traffic from main thoroughfares into the subdivisions where her listed homes are to be found. These are the size of an Open House directional, but they’re mounted in the yards of cooperating (or compensated) neighbors.

This idea I liked a lot for two reasons. First, it would tend to bring more buyers to the listed home. And second, using these directionals would tend to make it look like you had half-a-dozen listings nearby, rather than just one or two. You could be half the signs in the neighborhood with one listing. If you list in that subdivision frequently, the directionals need never come down, and they could serve more than one home.

Where’s the Black Pearl? Put the two ideas together in custom-made directionals:

These would be coroplast signs mounted on wire H-frames. Any sign printer can do them. Any Kinko’s can do them. They’re cheap to print in bulk, so you can hold out some replacements for stolen or damaged signs. Meanwhile, the photos do some of the jobs we expect from the custom yard sign: They stop traffic and preview the house. At the same time, they radically differentiate you as a lister.

This is pretty simple compared to some of the ideas we’re playing with, but it seems like a sweet little supplement to the idea of custom yard signs.

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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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