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There’s always something to howl about.

Category: Blogging (page 83 of 84)

July 24, 2006

Oh, good lord! They’ve got one of our own!

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This morning’s Arizona Republic has a little featurette on a housing bubble weblog in Gilbert. It’s called the Housing Doom Housing Bubble Blog, but I think would it be more sonorous if it were to be named the “Housing Doom Housing Bubble Housing Blog” or even the “Housing Doom Housing Bubble Housing Blog Housing.” After all, soon enough there will be no housing, according to the BubbleHeads. That notwithstanding, the Housing Doom Housing Bubble Blog insists that, “The housing bubble is getting ready to burst.” That sounds like an ascription of purpose to me, and I’m left wondering why the housing bubble doesn’t take itself down to the Doc-in-the-Box to have itself lanced. I mean, who wants bubble pus all over the carpet?

For what it’s worth, the Housing Doom Housing Bubble Blog is not as amazingly daft as some other BubbleBlogs. But so close to home… And in Gilbert no less, perennially the fastest growing small city in America… Think about it: How do you go about seeing faces in clouds in a place where there are no clouds?

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July 24, 2006

Phoenix Metroblogging celebrates its first anniversary with 30 reasons to love Phoenix

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

From the Republic:

Your first haboob. Light rail in other cities. Where to see good art.

These topics are regularly hashed out on a collective blog focused solely on the Valley. The site, Phoenix Metroblogging, turned 1 year old Wednesday. And to celebrate, the Weblog has been counting down 30 things to love about Phoenix.

And yes, haboob is on the list, with loving the transient nature of residents as No. 1.

Metroblogging is one of several hyperlocal, city-specific Web sites in 49 cities around the world. The site generates a daily feed of headlines from its members, so one could read postings from Dubai to Houston to Tokyo. Content isn’t filtered or edited.

In Phoenix, the blog draws together different perspectives from throughout the Valley.

Phoenix Metroblogging has that Alt-Phx kind of pomo vibe that can wear thin the further you get from the Melrose Curve. Indecipherable? Precisely! Even so, enGoogled, “the top 30 things I love about Phoenix” is fun reading.

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July 22, 2006

Show us your house!

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We have another web site in the works, DistinctivePhoenix.com. It’s hugely alpha right now, partly because of philosophy issues and partly because we haven’t been able to make the time to do the things that need to be done to get it ready to go live.

But: I am putting together a post for BloodhoundBlog about technologies Realtors will need to have mastered to prosper in the 21st Century, and there is a nice little demonstration at that site.

It’s called Show Us Your House! It’s a form that takes your input and then builds a custom web page from the information you give it. In the long run, those web pages will be organized by other software so that people can look at them sorted in various ways. We’ll add ratings, too, for the look and feel of real Web 2.0.

But for now, this is something you can play with, if you like. If you’ll Show Us Your House!, we’ll show it off here.

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July 21, 2006

Fast is the new slow…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Last Friday Seth Godin offered galley copies of his new book, Small Is the New Bigto the first 30 people to send an email to his publisher. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be fast enough to respond — an apposite metaphor for internet marketing generally.

The book got here today, but it ain’t your father’s galley proofs. It’s a print-on-demand trade paperback, perfect bound with its own custom shell. It’s a book without a bar code. What it is is a superb marketing piece. Witness me writing about it without having read it!

I have two Open Houses Sunday, in the sleepy, sleepy summertime. Sadly, I should have plenty of time to read. I’ll let you know what I think of the book.

I’ve added a link in the Reading List in the sidebar to pre-order the book.

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July 21, 2006

21 reasons to bank on the Phoenix real estate market . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

HousingPanic, a particularly vitriolic BubbleBlog — which is saying something — asks:

Realistically, how overvalued are Phoenix home prices?

Obviously, I consider this a profoundly silly question, but to lurk among the BubbleBloggers and their seething commentariat is to acquire an education in a slice of America invisible from this side of the sewer gratings. Notwithstanding the idiotic economic analysis, which is really no worse than the static-market fallacies paraded as profundities in the pages of the Arizona Republic, these sites — and not just HousingPanic — are infested with a cult-like fever to inflict suffering — at second hand, to be sure — on people who are in fact guilty of nothing except failing to have drunk the BubbleBlogger KoolAde.

That’s all one. I don’t care. The whole of the last century was dominated by the bad behavior of viciously angry wretches, but look where it got them. The BubbleBloggers will someday bawl balefully in private, but they will never, ever admit that they have been very publicly very foolish. You will know and I will know and in the secret chambers of their hearts they will know they were wrong all along. But as long as you don’t hold your breath waiting for that contrite admission of error, you should be fine.

Here’s where I do start to care. Whenever the subject of Phoenix comes up in a BubbleBlog, the assembled Brown Shirts pile on, for whatever reason. This is their perfect right — even though I think they’re wrong. I love this place. I came here for three months in 1988, and I could not wait to get back. The first time I set foot here, on March 13, 1988, I knew I was home. We moved here for good on April 1, 1991, and I cannot imagine living happily anywhere else. Our relocation page is my extended love letter to the Phoenix area, warts and all. I’ve been writing lovingly about this place since the day I got here, and I’ll keep it up at least until the day before I die here.

Which brings me back to HousingPanic’s question. We keep Read more

July 20, 2006

7 (or more) creative ways to market your property in a cold housing market…

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

The Real Estate Investing For Real Blog cites 7 Creative Ways to Market Your Property in a Cold Housing Market:

Properties are not getting multiple offers and selling within hours of listing anymore. Things have calmed down a bit across most of the country, and properties are now sitting on the market. The traditional method of listing your property with a real estate agent and waiting for people to buy isn’t going to cut it anymore, unless you price very aggressively.

What can you do? The market has gotten a bit cold – showing a definite slowdown. If you insist on holding out for top dollar, you may get a bit creative…

Some of the ideas suggested are better than others. Here’s my deal: For every one I don’t like, I’ll post a replacement suggestion. At the end, we’ll have seven for seven, just not necessarily the same seven.

  1. Auctions.
    I don’t love this. If you come in without a minimum bid, you risk giving up the house for peanuts. If you do have a minimum, you risk getting no bids. Auctions work well where demand is high or price is low. My alternative idea: Auction the house (with a reserved minimum bid) on EBay.com. Reveal this fact to every starry-eyed reporter in town. The buzz could sell the house if the auction doesn’t.
  2. Use all the mania in social networking to create buzz.
    Among whom? And assuming there’s a whom, why would they be buzzed about a house for sale? Try this instead: Put a great ad on CraigsList.com every other day. REIFRBlog continues:
    Create a simple website for your property, then post creative titles on the social sites like del.icio.us or reddit.
    Okay, but better yet, create a nice, clean weblog for the property, with an extensive web site as ancillary support — with dozens of photos — then promote it as a part of every other bit of marketing you do. This REIFRBlog list suggest many types of internet social marketing among distant strangers, but, in fact, your marketing should be targeted to people who really are likely to buy your home — for example, people currently Read more
July 20, 2006

How much does The Long Tail weigh? Here’s a better question: In The Long Tail, how long does it take to Google from last to first?

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Joseph Ferrara at sellsius&176; blog asks once and then again and then a third time here: How much does The Long Tailweigh?

Chris Anderson, the author of the book, has some answers, but they vary from industry to industry. But from my own point of view in real estate, The Long Tail is a very promising source of choice opportunities. If you can conceive of an under-served niche market where the product is avidly sought, even if only by a small minority of the buyer population, you have a business. This much is not news. We’ve had luxury home and vacation home and historic home specialists forever. The difference is Google, which is surely The Lord Of The Long Tail.

Consider this as an example:

I wrote my web page on No Dual Agency on June 28, 2006. I linked to it internally within our own site, but the page had no in-bound links, nor did I pursue any. On July 7, I ran this search, jut to make sure I hadn’t overlooked anything. My page had Googled up from nowhere to first place in nine days on the strength of content alone, with zero in-bound links.

But wait. There’s more. I first mentioned our No Dual Agency policy in BloodhoundBlog on June 29, but the first time I weblogged it as its own topic was on July 14 — Bastille Day.

On July 17, Jim Duncan of Real Central VA wrote a post called Dual Agency — Who benefits?, linking back to me. I saw the trackback and commented on his weblog.

Guess what happened?

Take another look at that Google search. Jim’s post is in second place. In three days — two days, really; I saw it yesterday.

This is truly a Long Tail keyword. In quotes, “no dual agency” yields 290 hits total. And it is probably vain to expect home buyers or sellers to sit down at the computer and type “no dual agency” into the Google box. But the basic point stands: First and second place are held — for now — by two web sites that weren’t even in the game on June Read more

July 19, 2006

“What does it feel like? Home.”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Dave Winer, the man who invented the incalculable wealth that is weblogging, talks about a home buyer’s sense of peace and joy when he knows he is finally home:

I bought a house in Berkeley this morning. It’s a real beauty, an 80 year-old stucco, built on a hillside, with a view of downtown SF and the Golden Gate Bridge. I spent six months looking, it was by far the best house I saw. As with my first house in Woodside, there was a moment when I knew I’d own it. In this case, it happened as I walked in the front door. The place has a magic feel to it. What does it feel like? Home.

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July 19, 2006

Strike the Big Top!: BloodhoundBlog to host Carnival of Real Estate October 9th

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We’ll post reminders as the date draws nigh, but be sure to hoard all your really good blog ideas for the week of October 2. That way, we’ll be able to feature them when we host the Carnival of Real Estate on October 9th. This week’s Carnival is at Zillow Blog. Next week, the big show moves to Searchlight Crusade, and from there to The Future of Real Estate Marketing, one of our favorite weblogs. It will be a while before the carny caravan pulls into Phoenix — but that just means you’ll have plenty of time to think up really good posts!

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July 19, 2006

Location, location, location: Refusing Dual Agency puts Realtors above reproach . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I may have stirred up a hornet’s nest on the subject of No Dual Agency. Jim Duncan at Real Central VA posted his thoughts, and the sellsius° real estate blog posted a round-up, asking Are Buyers Customers or Clients? From Arizona, taking a trip Back East is also taking a trip back in time: Agency as it is understood in New York has been absent from this remote cultural backwater for at least 15 years.

That’s as may be. I work in Arizona. Plus which, if seller sub-agency is not already in the past in your state, buyer agency is definitely in your future. There’s a new sheriff in town.

This is all to the good, by me. The slim justification for our licenses is consumer protection, and it seem obvious to me that exclusive representation is the only way to achieve truly transparent protection for both of the parties to a real estate transaction.

Ardell DellaLoggia, in comments posted here, seems to disagree:

Due to the internet access of homes for sale, the trend is UP and not DOWN with regard to buyers calling listing agents direct vs. seeking separate and distinct representation. When the Buyer Consumer chooses to call the listing agent, if you outlaw Dual Agency, you leave them with NO representation at all.

It sounds good to say “outlaw Dual Agency”, but it leaves the Buyer Consumer back where they started, if and when they call the listing agent direct, with NO representation whatsoever.

I see that as a false dichotomy. In that circumstance, the listing agent can either refer the buyer to one of several trusted buyer’s agents (we do this) or simply advise the buyer to seek separate representation. The Buyer’s Broker’s commission is already built in to the MLS listing. There is no reason for the buyer not to seek representation.

Prove my point, Greg. Buyer calls you on your listing and only wants to deal with you personally when making an offer on your listing. Where do you go with that scenario if Dual Agency is “outlawed”, without leaving the buyer high and dry with regard to representation in the Read more

July 16, 2006

Something to bubble about: Bubble blogger’s bloviations hiss to a blessed, if temporary, silence…

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This nests pretty deep, so hang on tight. First, SFHomeBlog.com cites The Walkthrough weblog at the New York Times, which in turn quotes a letter received from the The Marlin Real Estate Bubble weblog. Here is the letter:

I’ve lost my faith, at least for Marin County. Despite all reason and rationality to the contrary, I am no longer so sure that Marin County will succumb to a collapsing housing bubble. I’m actually starting to think that somehow Marin (and maybe the Bay Area at large) is not subject to the same laws of economics as everywhere else. Seriously. This contrarian is “throwing in the towel” and capitulating for the present (which must mean the collapse is on the verge of happening). I dunno, maybe I’ll get over it and start blogging again tomorrow but as of today I am so discouraged that I can’t bring myself to it.

Anyway, the point of this email is that my blog is going silent for a while. If Marin starts to tank then I’ll resume blogging to document the downfall and to rub it directly in the face of Marin hubris and arrogance (and I’ll still be compiling charts during the silent period so that I can show them in the future). I just wanted other bloggers to know why my blog is going silent for a while so that you could decide whether or not to keep linking. I won’t ever take the blog down as there are good resources there.

Unless you can talk me into believing again what must be true, that Marin is not special…

SFHomeBlog’s take:

Perhaps he finally realized that real estate really is local and there are places (like San Francisco) where demand always exists. We’re seeing a different market from last year, but it’s nowhere near a ‘bubble’, and in my world, I’m not seeing anything but a good, balanced market.

For some people, the sky is always falling, and they refuse to consider that real estate might not fit into their Templates of Doom. In addition to persistent demand for particular locations, home sellers in a buyer’s market are a Read more

July 15, 2006

SpellCheck 2.0: Bringing the benefits of Web 2.0 back to the desktop…

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I was writing today, and I realized that spell checking, for all its added efficiencies, isn’t terribly smarter than it was on the dedicated text-processing systems of the 1980s. It made the jump to desktop machines, of course, a trusty sidekick of word-processing, the first true “killer app” of micro-computing. But both were quickly eclipsed by spreadsheet software, and text management tools have been a red-headed step-child on desktop systems ever since. Everyone needs them, and everyone hates them when they don’t work properly, but no one lays awake at night wondering what new computing paradigms might be expressed in future versions of their favorite word processor.

And spell checking has had it even worse. It’s the sidekick to the step-child, after all. If it had a more tangible form, it might be stuffed into a junk drawer, handy to have around but usually just in the way. Spell checking has missed virtually all of the internet revolution, of course. Many web development tools incorporate spell checking, as do some on-line web sites. But there was no formal presence for spell checking in the Web 1.0 paradigm. No spelling look-up servers. No advertiser-supported spelling portals. No spelling IPOs. In fact, not one single wide-eyed investor pissed away his retirement savings on a Web 1.0 spelling start-up.

Worse yet, it seems almost certain that spell checking will be passed by in the forth-coming Web 2.0 revolution. This would be unfortunate, since spell checking is in fact the perfect Web 2.0 application–er, platform. Note these criteria from Tim O’Reilly’s seminal paper on the characteristics of a Web 2.0 platform:

  • The Long Tail
  • Data is the Next Intel Inside
  • Users Add Value
  • Network Effects by Default
  • Some Rights Reserved
  • The Perpetual Beta
  • Cooperate, Don’t Control
  • Software Above the Level of a Single Device

If we envision a product–er, application–er, platform called SpellCheck 2.0, we can incorporate all that stuff and then some.

It may occur to you to ask, “Why?” That’s really a pre-Web 1.0 question. Web 2.0 is not about getting things done, it’s about getting people together. It’s not about what we as a club-composed-of-people-who-have-never-met have accomplished, it’s about how we feel about it. Read more

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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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