Category: Blogging (page 25 of 84)

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I’m not going to award an Odysseus Medal this week. The Short List candidates were very good, but nothing killed me, and I want for this award to celebrate work that is beyond excellent. But: I do want to cite two Honorable Mentions, two posts that I thought were very good, and which took us in directions we will need to travel as we come more and more to be our own sources of arcane information.

It’s funny actually: Our relationship as webloggers to the mainstream media is very much like our clients’ relationship to us. They want to take on more of the work that was once exclusively ours, just as we seek to take on more of the work that was once hidden behind the walls of print and broadcast outlets.

The two posts I am citing, The Proposed Solutions Are Going To Be Worse Than The Mortgage Crisis by Doug Quance and Barack Obama’s Mortgage Reform Policy by Morgan Brown, illustrate the kind of depth of understanding we can achieve when we apply ourselves. By now it seems likely that our presidential nominees have been chosen, and I look forward to this kind of thoughtful analysis of the real estate and economic implications of the candidates’ proposals.

Black Pearls we have, though, and more than just a few. Choosing one was a problem. The Black Pearl Award this week goes to Jim Cronin for Blogging Etiquette – The Blog Comment Policy – Do You Need One?:

Blogs are meant to be a two-way street.  We are blogging for an audience.  Engaging that audience to participate is a huge part of the the motivation and an element that can define a blog’s success.

So where do you draw the line?

What do you consider acceptable behavior by the audience, on your real estate blog?

For a lot of real estate bloggers, their blog is an extension of their business.  This means that their reputation, credibility, personality, works, message and even their career are potentially on the line with every article published.

What are you doing to protect the above?

The following are a number of items that range from mildly Read more

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Late again. Sorry. I’ve had my Mac back since around Noon. Logic board this time, again no charge. In terms of replacement cost, I’ve got about 60% of a new computer for free. The back side is that I’ve never had to live with component failure — nor with the fear of data loss. Until Sunday, I had never backed up a Macintosh in my life. Today I made plans to buy a TimeCapsule.

Anyway, there are 12 entries on the short list this week, out of a long list of 78 posts.

Vote for the People’s Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface to see each nominated post, so comparison is easy.

Ahem: Please don’t spam all your friends to come and vote for you. First, what we’re interested in is what is popular among people who would have been voting anyway. And second, I’ll eliminate you for cheating. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Voting runs through to 9 pm MST Wednesday this week. I’ll announce the winners of this week’s awards soon thereafter.

Here is this week’s short-list of Odysseus Medal nominees:

< ?PHP $AltEntries = array ( "Alex Mather -- Improving Zillow's Neighborhood Gift Improving Zillow’s Neighborhood Gift”,
“Bonnie Erickson — MGIC Runs the Gauntlet MGIC Runs the Gauntlet“,
“Carson Coots — How Local Should You Go? How Local Should You Go?“,
“Doug Quance — Proposed Solutions Worse The Proposed Solutions Are Going To Be Worse Than The Mortgage Crisis“,
“Jay Thompson — NAR and Social Media Why the NAR Needs a \”Social Media Director\”“,
“Jim Cronin — Blogging Etiquette Blogging Etiquette – The Blog Comment Policy – Do You Need One?“,
“Jim Cronin — Worrying About SEO Why Worrying About SEO Is Detrimental to Your Real Estate Blog“,
“Kris Berg — I’m too sexy for my blog. I’m too sexy for my blog.“,
“Michael Creel — The Perils of Being a Realtor The Perils of Being a Realtor“,
“Mike Farmer — Fundamental Solutions Folk Music, Blame and Fundamental Solutions“,
“Morgan Brown — Barack Obama’s Mortgage Reform Policy Barack Obama’s Mortgage Reform Policy“,
“Paul Chaney — Becoming a social media leper Becoming a social media leper… many marketers are missing the whole point!“,
);
shuffle($AltEntries);

$radioGroup = “”;
$num = count($AltEntries);
for ($i=0; $i< $num; $i++) { $pieces = explode("\t", $AltEntries[$i]); $radioGroup .= "

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Amended: The Odysseus Medal goes this week to… no one. The post I had picked as the winner turned out to be someone else’s work. I’ve elected not to award The Odysseus Medal this week and, instead, to gargle with Listerine to clear my palate and my mind of schmaltz.

The Black Pearl Award this week goes to Mike Farmer with Real Estate in A Brave New World:

Despite the rhetoric from politicians who claim we’re on the edge of ruin, there’s a lot of wealth in this country, and it’s congregated in metropolitan areas that have outgrown, or never had, an appeal for comfort, hominess and quality of living. Baby boomers (BB) will have second thoughts about retiring in areas where road rage and pollution are the nicest things you can say about them. These places are where the money’s at, but now a large chunk of it’s in the banking accounts of BBs and will transfer anywhere their hearts desire – North Carolina, Georgia, Utah, Colorado, Tennessee, Nevada.

Many of these BB buyers will want to live in places where they can golf and shop and exercise, walk the streets and smile rather than snarl, join clubs, start a mini second career doing something they love in communities where everyone knows their names and don’t give a fig what they’re worth on a financial sheet – the easy, slow, entertaining, friendly life. I’m talking myself into early retirement, here.

These BB buyers are already net-addicted and I receive emails each day from them asking me about the area, home prices, things to do, etc. – they’re gathering information and making plans. They aren’t in a hurry and they want good, reliable, spam-free information. This has been written about many times – but what many agents don’t realize is that it’s here, now. No one’s predicting the future anymore – they’re reporting. How many are ready?

Who better to service their needs, to be their wise guides, their comforting counsel, to make information gathering and analysis painless and useful, than the modern day, internet savvy, service-oriented, friendly and efficient local realtor?

Many agents will have to change Read more

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Sorry to be late. I’ve worked with dozens of Macs, mine and other people’s, since 1985, and Iridium is the first one I’ve ever had fail to start up. I cleaned my desk today — idle hands — and fired up 96 Tears, a ten-year-old G3, for the first time in months, the second time in more than two years. No problem. Cameron had a IIci running on his desk for more than twelve years.

Anyway, there are 20 entries on the short list this week, out of a long list of 113 posts. News, yes, but some truly thoughtful think pieces, too.

Vote for the People’s Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface to see each nominated post, so comparison is easy.

Ahem: Please don’t spam all your friends to come and vote for you. First, what we’re interested in is what is popular among people who would have been voting anyway. And second, I’ll eliminate you for cheating. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Voting runs through to 12 Noon MST Wednesday this week. I’ll announce the winners of this week’s awards soon thereafter.

Here is this week’s short-list of Odysseus Medal nominees:

< ?PHP $AltEntries = array ( "Brendan King -- Change Your State of Mind Change Your State of Mind”,
“Dan Green — Another Rate Cut With Another Rate Cut, The Federal Reserve May Be The Proverbial \”Fool In The Shower\”“,
“Dan Green — Database Marketing In The Business Of Personal Relationships, Database Marketing Is More Effective Than SEO Marketing“,
“Dustin Luther — dothomes DotHomes Launches US Home Search Tool“,
“Geno Petro — A Mastermind of Hucksters A Mastermind of Hucksters“,
“Jeff Brown — Getting Off the Ground Principles of Flight and Real Estate — Getting Off the Ground“,
“Jillayne Schlicke — Walk Away If You Walk Away, I’ll Walk Away“,
“Jim Duncan — I hear rumors all the time I hear rumors all the time“,
“Joel Burslem — dothomes International Real Estate Search Site Makes a Move into US“,
“Joel Burslem — The New MicroHoo Real Estate The New MicroHoo Real Estate“,
“Kevin Boer — dothomes Do We Really Need Yet Another Real Estate Search Site?“,
“Kris Berg — Going Green Going Green – finally!“,
“Kris Berg — Joe and Marge Joe and Marge“,
“Marc Grayson — Are Read more

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Apart from the normal crush of business, I’ve been hammering away for the past few weeks on a huge project — which I’ll be announcing shortly. In the mean time, I’ve wanted to make a further elaboration on the Long List lister I made a few weeks ago. That tool will echo The Long List of Odysseus Medal Nominees as they come in, but I wanted something that could be subscribed to by feed reader, as well.

It occurred to me to push the data out as a feed on my own, but instead I decided to build a link blog. I did that tonight. You can see it by clicking here.

This is a pure link blog — no commentary and no comments. I’m just drawing attention to the 75-100 posts that are making The Long List every week. You can see what’s new by visiting the weblog, but the ideal way to use this tool is simply to subscribe to the feed.

The Long List is updated several times a day, so you’ll always be abreast of the very best writing in the RE.net.

The other end of the pipeline commands your attention, as well: If you see something you think is truly great, and if it’s not already on The Long List — nominate it.

Here’s a trick, if you’re interested. Go to this nomination form, then drag it into your browser’s tool bar or save it in your bookmarks. The when you see a post you like, open the form in a new tab, so you can swap back and forth to paste in the title and URL.

On my end, the nomination process is by now almost completely automated. I moderate for porn and spam, of course, but I can normally update both the The Long List list box and The Long List of Odysseus Medal Nominees weblog with one click.

One of the things that I like best about this new weblog is that, from today going forward, The Long List will endure, instead of evaporating every Monday.

Anyway, the new weblog is open for business. Visit the blog, subscribe to the feed Read more