BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Author: Greg Swann (page 189 of 209)

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #13: Little white signs are tin-eared real estate marketing . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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This is one of my favorites from my Arizona Republic column:

You’re driving through a neighborhood, and there it is. Not the “For Sale” sign, the rider – the little white plastic sign slung beneath. There, for all the world to see, is the ultimate testament to tin-eared real-estate marketing: A house that declares in bright red letters, “I’m gorgeous inside!”

Words are simple machines. They’re the means by which we transmit ideas from one mind to another. Whatever message the sender might have hoped to convey, the only translation a thoughtful mind can make is this: “I look like a dump from the street!” More fully: “Even though I look like a dump from the street, I promise to make up for it by being more than unusually nice on the inside.” The worst part is, the houses usually don’t look like dumps from the street, not that anyone would have to point that out.

What should the sign say? How about this: “I’m even more gorgeous inside!” A house making that claim ought to have a nice curb appeal, but here’s an even better idea: Why not trust buyers to make up their own minds?

Someday I may expand on this, because I think all those goofy signs are funny:

“Very Special!” “Many Extras!” “Won’t Last!” “You’ll Love This Place!” “Honey, Stop the Car!”

My own thoughts on real estate signs are well-documented by now, but I just can’t get enough of making fun of these little riders. Everything sells something: Not just dumb, but palpably cheap…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #12: Weblog Review: Sellsius° . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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If I ever said anything nice about the Sellsius° real estate weblog weblog, I take it all back! My hands are tired, my back is sore and I’m barely 11% done with their insane challenge!

No, I take that taking-that-back back. Someday, I will find a way to love these boys again. They publish one of the brightest and most eclectic of the real estate weblogs, often casting out into waters none of the rest of us are fishing. The writing is sprightly, the graphics are deft and the overall presentation is first class.

WordPress, of course, and they know how to use it. They’re a gee whiz technology company themselves, an incipient listing bot, but they are not so enamored of technology as to miss the sleaze factor among some new entrants in hi-tech real estate.

I don’t like to be uncritical in a review, but I really like the Sellsius° blog just the way it is. Except for the rassafrassin’ Sellsius° 101 Blogoff…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #11: Ask the Broker: Why wood . . . ?

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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This is me asking a question of myself:

Why in hell do we frame houses with wood in the Sonoran Desert?

Because it’s cheap.

Look at this:

That’s a finger-jointed 2×4. An ordinary 2×4 wasn’t cheap enough, so the builder is using glued-together mill waste to keep his costs down. Nice.

This is one of the driest deserts in the United States. Wood dries out in our air, warping as it dries. If it gets wet, it is susceptible to mold and dry rot — a fungal infection that causes it to crumble. It is an irresistible treat for subterranean and dry-wood termites.

That finger-jointed member is going to shrink away from its glue as it dries, and the glue itself is going to dry up. Some day, that 2×4 is going to be about as sturdy as a stack of empty milk cartons. Nice.

Wood framing is cheap. Steel framing is forever.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #10: How your weblog can attract inbound links . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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From the seminal SEOBook article “101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006”, the section titled “71 Good Ways to Build Links”:

45. Start a blog. Not just for the sake of having one. Post regularly and post great content. Good execution is what gets the links.

46. Link to other blogs from your blog. Outbound links are one of the cheapest forms of marketing available. Many bloggers also track who is linking to them or where their traffic comes from, so linking to them is an easy way to get noticed by some of them.

47. Comment on other blogs. Most of these comments will not provide much direct search engine value, but if your comments are useful, insightful, and relevant they can drive direct traffic. They also help make the other bloggers become aware of you, and they may start reading your blog and/or linking to it.

48. Technorati tag pages rank well in Yahoo! and MSN, and to a lesser extent in Google. Even if your blog is fairly new you can have your posts featured on the Technorati tag pages by tagging your posts with relevant tags.

49. If you create a blog make sure you list it in a few of the best blog directories.

Again and again, I see real estate weblogs with no blogroll and no outbound links to other real estate weblogs, and — in consequence — no inbound traffic. The hoarding mentality is failing in tangible economics, but it never worked at all on the intangible internet. If your goal is to hold your readers hostage by giving them no way out — they will never find the way in…

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #9: How to proofread your own writing . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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From the Problogger ‘How To…’ Group Writing Project, The Golden Pencil offers some tips on how to proofread your own writing:

The fact that you wrote it means you know what it’s supposed to say and that’s exactly what your mind tends to see – what should be there, not what’s really there.

Of course, ideally, you’ll have someone else proof it – they bring a fresh eye and no pre-conceived notions, and hopefully they can spell. In fact, if the writing is for something that really matters, it can make sense to pay a professional proof reader.

The next best bet is to put it away for a day or a week – that way, your eye is much fresher and you’re much more likely to spot errors.

But life doesn’t often give us that much time. When the writing (or the check) has to go out today, take time to read it out loud to yourself.

Sure, you’ll feel really stupid the first few times you do this, but it works. If you’re in cube or other un-private place, whisper it to yourself. Somehow your ear will hear mistakes your eyes wont see.

I worked once with a great proofreader who read everything upside down to overcome the eye’s tendency to correct errors. At that same job, I had a vicious drunk of a boss who could fall down dead drunk, his finger landing unerringly on the ugly typo everyone else had missed.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #8: Make your first open house the only one . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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This is from my Arizona Republic column. The topic, how to do your open house so well you won’t have to do it twice:

It’s possible to do an open house so well that you won’t be holding one every weekend. Done right, you should be able to make your first open house your last.

Obviously, the best open house is no open house. If your home is in tiptop shape, white-glove clean — and if your price it right — you should be able to sell it as soon as it hits the market and cancel that pesky open house.

But even if you’re stuck holding the house open, you can still make it sell fast.

Here is some specific advice:

First, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd. Promote the house hard among your neighbors. You should extend invitations to everyone in your surrounding area — hundreds of invitations. When passers-by see all the cars around your house, they’ll stop, too.

Second, nothing creates a sense of urgency like a deadline. Schedule your open house for one hour, two at most, and stick to your schedule. Make sure your Realtor is at the ready, contracts and pens in hand, with a lender on call to prequalify buyers.

Directional signs matter a lot. Balloons may help. But the house matters more than anything: squeaky-clean, in great repair, uncluttered, ready to sell now.

If you do your first open house right, your house could be sold before the second one.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #7: Weblog Review: In the Trenches . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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Kevin Boer’s In the Trenches weblog is a serious place — notwithstanding Kevin’s creation of a predictive betting market for the Sellsius° 101 Blogoff. Kevin believes in math, and it shows. His weblog is awash in charts and data, and he doesn’t hesitate to create his own metrics where none are available.

But don’t get the idea that the man can’t write. His data defends his prose — clear, concise and readable.

Kevin uses Blogger.com as his weblogging platform. This is not the end of the world, an event that transpired well after Blogger was invented. For writing or reading, this doesn’t matter much, I suppose. But Blogger shows its age as soon as you try to comment or to search into the database of posts.

The good news is that Kevin is working with TransparentRE to find a better weblogging platform.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #6: Ask the Broker: What does “refrigeration” mean . . . ?

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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The question:

What does “refrigeration” mean for cooling? An evaporator? Central air? Standing in the open fridge?

Bravo! You have exposed one of the oozing wounds in the Arizona Regional Multiple Listings Service. Right there among all the utilities information, it will say “Refrigeration”.

What does it mean?

Refrigeration is distinguished from either an evaporative cooler, a wall air conditioning unit or nothing. An evaporative cooler — also known as a swamp cooler — works by blowing dry desert air through a burlap-like pad saturated with water. A certain amount of the water evaporates, cooling the air, which is then blown through the house as a crude form of air conditioning. An even cruder form of this cooling system was invented by Native Americans in the Southwest.

Refrigeration, of course, is true central air conditioning. A noble gas is put under high pressure, causing it to cool substantially. This cold gas is forced through a radiator, as air is driven past the cold radiator fins. The cooled air is blown thorough the house.

There is actually an interim step between the evaporative cooler and central air conditioning — the chiller system — a heating and cooling system not-unlike the radiator systems used Back East.

Now you know more than you’d ever dreamed about desert cooling systems.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #5: It takes sharp-elbowed self-promotion to grab the brass link . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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From the seminal SEOBook article “101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006”:

1. Sorry, but link building is still going to be the SEO trump card for the foreseeable future.

2. I wouldn’t hold your breath for search engine algorithms to place less importance on link popularity until the Semantic Web arrives, or maybe when HTTP gets replaced by a new protocol. Because links are still the basic connector, the basic relationship, on the Web. And for the forseeable future they’re going to be the easiest way for a computer program to judge the importance and trustworthiness of a Web page.

Whether your concern is your primary web site, your weblog — or both — the essence of search engine findability is the inbound link. Our goal at BloodhoundBlog is to build a community — but we want to build a big community. We don’t go out of our way to attract links — contemporaneous appearances seemingly to the contrary — but neither do we shun them.

I’ll come back to this as we proceed, because I think it’s interesting. In the mean time, what’s the best way to attract an inbound link? Very simple: An outbound link.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #4: “How To Participate in the Blogging Community”

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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From the recent Problogger ‘How To…’ Group Writing Project, freshblogger.com offers this advice on “How To Participate in the Blogging Community”:

1. Leave comments that add to the discussion.

2. Check out their sponsors or hit the tip jar.

3. Link from your own site.

4. Keep finding new blogs and share them with your readers.

5. Tell your friends and people you meet.

There is elaboration on each of these points. And while most real estate weblogs don’t have a tip jar, this is good advice about how to build the real estate weblogging community.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #3: Price your home right, it’ll sell . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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This is from my Arizona Republic column:

Why do so many home sellers fail to get top dollar for their houses?

Often the cause is that the homes were priced too high to begin with. Sellers grab for more money but end up with less.

But wait . . . doesn’t it make sense to list your home at a price higher than the current market?

Unfortunately, no. Buyers and their Realtors will come armed with accurate price information. They’ll know what homes like yours have sold for and what comparable homes are selling for now. If you price your home too high, not only will it not sell, it will continue not selling after the price is reduced.

The article explores the reasons why a too-clever pricing strategy will back-fire, except in the most frenzied of seller’s markets.

It concludes with this advice: “Your best strategy is to price your home to the market. You’ll get the highest price you can reasonably expect in a timely fashion.”

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #2: Weblog Review: The Property Monger . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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Blogoff play-by-play commentator, The Property Monger, is a game, intrepid real estate weblogger. Writer Jon Ernest strikes the right kind balance for me. He holds his own local market, Boston/Brookline/Cambridge, in due regard, yet attends to national real estate news and issues, bringing to all of it an acerbic, mildly-self-deprecating wit. The combination is addictive.

A sample:

Zillow is going to take the homeowners opinion of value and save it to their database!!!

So lets start the logic train:

One of the primary reasons Real Estate Agents are needed is to get a fair UNBIASED opinion of value. Homeowners almost ALWAYS overvalue their property because they know the blood sweat and tears that went into it. They know that it’s Italian marble, and bamboo floors, and imported whatever. They easily mistake COST for VALUE.

Now let’s assume that zillow takes over the Real Estate industry, and everyone uses zillow. Sellers use it to find out what their property is worth. And sellers know that buyers will look at zillow to find out what a property is worth. And they think that knowing that, the average seller isn’t going to try to stretch that number as much as possible?!?!?!

“Now, not everyone is that immoral Jon.” (yes they are) But ok, not everyone is that immoral, but you have to admit, there is a faction that is. Which leads us to the other problem is that even the moral and accurate Zestimates are still going to be derived by a fraction of innaccurate zestimates!

I think I’m officially sick with joy and annoyance at the same time.

The template is pretty but hard to read (albeit WordPress). I want to smack Jon for the sloppy grammar and punctuation. But through it all shines a living mind: Fun, funny, irreverent — and very serious.

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September 26, 2006

Blogoff Post #1: Cry, ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the war of blogs . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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Welcome to the Sellsius° 101 Blogoff, a competition between Greg Swann of BloodhoundBlog and Ardell DellaLoggia of SearchingSeattleBlog, more famously of Rain City Guide. The objective is for each of us to compose 101 relevant posts over the next 24 hours.

This might sound like a dumb stunt, but, in fact, there may be no two people in the real estate blogosphere better-suited for such a test. Ardell and I write many posts and comments every day, and we each of us write with our own unique, easily-identified style. We are both smart, both opinionated, and both very forthcoming — to say the least — with our views. Moreover, each of has a very high moral commitment to quality in everything we do. So, although there may be a lot of blog entries posted in this contest, I don’t think there will be any wasted entries. Your attention will be repaid with knowledge, insight, wisdom and, one hopes, grace.

I have beside me two quad-shot lattes, two chicken breasts, a glass of orange juice and a glass of water. I’m in this for the haul. Settle in and read, if you please. Comment where you will. I’ll see you in a hundred posts…

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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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