Category: Marketing (page 76 of 191)

April 20, 2008

Will Realtors be disintermediated by on-line tools? Probably not, but tech-savvy Realtors will supplant those who do not adapt

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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

Will Realtors be disintermediated by on-line tools? Probably not, but tech-savvy Realtors will supplant those who do not adapt

The big news in real estate is the market, of course. My view is that the American economy is much stronger and more resilient than you might guess from day-to-day reports.

But the other big story in real estate is the idea of “disintermediation” — replacing Realtors with some combination of do-it-yourself effort and hi-tech tools. The stock retort to this notion — and I have made it myself — is that people will never buy homes like they buy books on Amazon.

Perhaps so. But I lived through the desktop revolution in printing, so I have a different take about the dreaded word disintermediation.

If the triumphant yelp is that some travel agents and some stockbrokers still have jobs, I will point out that some blacksmiths still have jobs, too. Horses still need shoes. That much is beside the point.

Here’s my take on the matter: Don’t think in terms of disintermediation. Use the word “supplantation” instead. In industry after industry, old techniques are being supplanted by new ideas. More importantly, the old technicians are being supplanted by new ones.

This is not a necessary consequence, but it often works out that the “old hands” don’t want to make the change to the new ways of doing business. Even if they do, the “first-mover advantage” can be too great to overcome.

The same goes for everything — most especially real estate. Realtors who are not all the way onboard with the way business will be done in the future will be left behind at the station.

A real estate transaction is so complex that most people will continue to want professional advice — even as they handle many of the simpler functions Realtors might have done in the past. The work we do will be superficially similar to the work others have done in the past — but those others won’t be doing it any longer.

Will they have been disintermediated? Not if you insist that they haven’t. Read more

April 19, 2008

Marketing performance: BloodhoundBlog is the last place crybabies should go when they need to have their boo-boos kissed, and, therefore, it is the last place to go looking for crybabies

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

I want to talk about the idea of marketing performance as a disruptive strategy — but not quite yet. I’m using the term as a gerundive: Developing tools and techniques that by far eclipse your competition, then promoting that outsized commitment to excellence in your marketing. Not: “I’m the best.” Not even: “Here’s why I’m the best.” Simply this: “Here is everything you’ll get that you can’t obtain anywhere else.” This is the means by which we can flush most of the bums from the business even as we supplant the sclerotic dinosaurs who claim to be our leaders.

As a matter of general notice, it were well to take account of a couple of salient facts:

This is not an alien message to the BloodhoundBlog audience. The people who come here are already committed to doing the best job they can do as Realtors, lenders, investors. We appeal to the elite of real estate professionals, and, not coincidentally, we tend to repel the crybabies, the mediocrities and the wannabe predators.
In consequence, beating up on the crybabies, the mediocrities and the wannabe predators is probably a pretty poor strategy here. Most readers here would not just agree with but would joyously amend denunciations of specific bad behavior. But generalized complaints about unspecified groups of miscreants may have the opposite effect: The uncontested best of a group of people rising to the defense of the uncontested worst.

That’s as may be. There are no groups of people, there are only individuals. Defending a group is no less irrational than attacking that group, but I have no use and no time for irrationality in any flavor.

I’m interested in individual practitioners becoming so much better at the performance of their jobs, and so much better at marketing that performance, that they put themselves beyond competition. I want to put the bums in another line of work, and I want to put the dinosaurs in a museum, where they belong. To my ears, everything else is pointless noise.

I’ll deal with this all in detail, but not now: It’s Saturday, Realtor day, and I gotta go to work. Here Read more

April 18, 2008

It’s Raining Soup. Why Are You Starving?

by Brian Brady

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

I’m pretty stoked about our new contributor, Chris Johnson. I spoke with him yesterday about his new book, Loan Officer Survival Guide. He was amazed that the two people he cited as NOT needing the book, bought it. So… why did I buy his book?

I bought it for the very same reason successful people are attending the BloodhoundBlog Unchained Social Media Marketing Conference, powered by Zillow.com.

Greg Swann says “it’s raining soup” all the time. What he means is that because of the internet, we have all the information we need to be successful. Loan Officer ~~Survival~~ Thrival Guide (I changed the title- deal with it, Chris) and UNCHAINED are the bowls and spoons you need to more efficiently ingest the soup.

I didn’t learn one new idea from Chris’ book, just a lot of proven ones. I DID learn how to better implement the proven ideas. He’s laid them out in a “home study” format that’s as practical as scissors in a barbershop….and I’m “doing the homework”, too. It takes about 30 minutes a day to complete. The Thrival Guide (I changed the title again, to be more encompassing) moves my actions from instinctive to purposeful.

It’s raining soup and I paid fifteen bucks for a bowl and spoon, get it?

Now, instead of standing outside with my mouth open, having soup splatter my clothes. I catch it in a basin, pour it in a bowl, and eat it when I need it. This brings me to my title. The Thrival Guide will be criticized just like the BloodhoundBlog UNCHAINED Social Media Marketing Conference, brought to you by Zillow.com has been.

So be it. Let ’em get splattered in the soup rain. They’ll fill up their bellies but they’ll be eating with their hands.

Does anyone NEED to come to UNCHAINED to learn how Russell Shaw delivers consistent results? Nope. You can read Bloodhound Blog. Does anyone NEED to come to UNCHAINED to learn how to optimize your weblog for search terms? Nope. Read more

April 18, 2008

The practical value of living by abstract principle: “I do not compromise with bullies and I would rather spend fifty thousand dollars on defense than give you a dollar of unmerited settlement funds.”

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Why is hewing to abstract principle, which is so often derided as being “impractical”, in fact the most practical course of action you can take? Because, when you cave in to bullies — in addition to committing a grievous injustice to your own interests — you are telling them in no uncertain terms that you’ll do it again.

I saw this passionate business letter cited at Coyote Blog the other day, but it was my friend Richard Nikoley who unearthed the gem quoted below.

I have seen Monster Cable take untenable IP positions in various different scenarios in the past, and am generally familiar with what seems to be Monster Cable’s modus operandi in these matters. I therefore think that it is important that, before closing, I make you aware of a few points.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1985, I spent nineteen years in litigation practice, with a focus upon federal litigation involving large damages and complex issues. My first seven years were spent primarily on the defense side, where I developed an intense frustration with insurance carriers who would settle meritless claims for nuisance value when the better long-term view would have been to fight against vexatious litigation as a matter of principle. In plaintiffs’ practice, likewise, I was always a strong advocate of standing upon principle and taking cases all the way to judgment, even when substantial offers of settlement were on the table. I am “uncompromising” in the most literal sense of the word. If Monster Cable proceeds with litigation against me I will pursue the same merits-driven approach; I do not compromise with bullies and I would rather spend fifty thousand dollars on defense than give you a dollar of unmerited settlement funds. As for signing a licensing agreement for intellectual property which I have not infringed: that will not happen, under any circumstances, whether it makes economic sense or not.

I say this because my observation has been that Monster Cable typically operates in a hit-and-run fashion. Your client threatens litigation, expecting the victim to panic and plead for mercy; and what follows is Read more

April 17, 2008

Is managing your URL structure enough to achieve Truliamazing long tail search results in your target market?

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Here’s a true fact of BloodhoundBlog life: Trulia.com can be a redheaded stepchild around here. We’re always happy to pounce on Redfin.com or to pontificate about Zillow.com, but Trulia most often gets short shrift. It mainly comes across like Realtor.com’s younger, smarter, cheaper brother — and no one with a stock-option plan needs to write to me to tell me this is an unfair characterization. Trulia is certainly less adept at — or perhaps less interested in — grabbing headlines. The flip side is that the start-up is recovering its own costs, an unheard-of feat in the Web 2.0 world.

But here is another factor that sets Trulia apart, one that cuts much closer to this Realtor’s bones:

Trulia.com absolutely kills at long tail search optimization.

Mary McKnight advised us yesterday to ignore the long tail, but that advice doesn’t make sense in our business. If I were competing for prospects in Cedar Rapids, then focusing a lot of attention on Cedar Rapids keywords might make sense. But Phoenix is home to five million souls. The Metropolitan Phoenix real estate market comprises an area larger than Belgium. Moreover, our own real estate practice is focused on a tightly-defined niche. We live and die on long tail keywords.

And this is why I am hyper-aware of Trulia’s long tail efforts. I keep a constant eye on street names where we are strong or want to be strong. People cruise the neighborhoods we work at 15 MPH, looking at every house for sale. If they write down an address and Google it later, I want for them to find us. If it’s our listing, so much the better, but I want for them to find the breadcrumbs we leave behind us no matter what.

Watch this: 921 West Culver Street is for sale, but nobody told Google. In consequence, one of our old single-property web sites comes up first for that search (YMMV), giving us first crack at any buyers who Google for more information about that home.

By contrast: 714 West Culver Street is also for sale, but there’s only one dog peeing on that tree right now. Read more

April 16, 2008

Who can reinvent real estate marketing? At MikeCanDoIt.com Mike Rohrig howls like a Portland Bloodhound…

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Look at this. Isn’t that…?

Yes — that’s a custom yard sign, mounted right there in the yard. Here it is up close:

The sign was made by Mike Rohrig, a Portland Realtor and Broker who is pushing the boundaries on his marketing.

Here’s a note Mike wrote to me:

The accidental brainwashing in the real estate industry is almost staggering. The saying ,”think outside the box”, is almost cliche anymore but once I saw your custom sign on the Blog, it left me perplexed that neither I, nor anyone else in my market has created a custom sign.

It is a simple and effective tool. It truly will get the home noticed as well as allow me to separate myself from others. It cost me less than an typical ad in the Oregonian newspaper. We have certain regulations that don’t allow me to make signs the same size as yours but I think I did okay for my first try.

For single property websites I have been using WordPress and learning some tricks to make it easier. I had an idea that you might find helpful. I added a FAQ page. After talking to my client about some buyer feedback I realized that this would be a perfect way to answer questions, objections or concerns ahead of time.

One question was about a school boundary line that moved so I put the email response from the school in the FAQ.

I am not the wordsmith that you are so I use a lot of pictures. I take pictures of nearby parks and anything else I think will help someone make a decision.

I also make pertinent links on the side in case someone is not familiar with the area.I think I will work on business cards soon as I implement these ideas into my business practice.

Here are two of my sites that are getting compliments.
http://1140swhuntingtonave.com
http://2904seberkeleypl.com

Mike’s main weblog is the aptly named MikeCanDoIt.com.

There’s a lot that we do, at BloodhoundRealty.com, that no one we compete against does. But everything we do, in one way or another, is built upon work that came before us. We watch, listen and learn, and Read more

April 16, 2008

A Special Sunday Session at BloodhoundBlog Unchained: Russell Shaw UNPLUGGED (And: Why I’m Going to Win My Pricing Battle With Greg)

by Brian Brady

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

Call me a shrewd negotiator or color me lucky but I pulled off a coup for the folks coming in for the Sunday session of the BloodhoundBlog Unchained Social Media Marketing Conference, brought to you by Zillow.com.

I was spending my Saturday evening online and e-mailed Wonderful Russ, asking him to give me some time, on Sunday afternoon. There are two things you need to know about Russell Shaw: (1) his accomplishments dictate that you should schedule appointments for his time (2) his welcoming nature affords you an open door, so that it isn’t always a requirement. You’ll have to travel very far to meet a man more welcoming than Russell.

Russell is a night owl, like I am. I think it’s because he is most creative at night; I know my best creative thinking comes after 10PM. I wasn’t surprised and was certainly delighted when his invitation to talk came immediately.

“Call me now- I’ll pick up,” he beckoned.

When Russell Shaw invites you to call, you just do it. Let me give you some background, first:

I lived in Phoenix for 12 years. I’ve been a lender there, since 1995. Anyone familiar with Phoenix knows that Russell is an institution. Everyone within reach of the Phoenix television and radio airwaves knows Russell. I’ve watched Russell lose weight and gain gray hair, over the years, as THE spokesman for Maricopa County real estate. His presence is overwhelming with his plain-spoken “no- hassle listing” offering.

If you’re stuck on Interstate 10, driving into work, you’ll hear this, on the radio. When you return home from work and settle down to enjoy the Diamondbacks game, you’ll see this, on the television. Ubiquity is Russell’s middle name. It is not a mistake that I’ve modeled his offline presence with my own brand of online ubiquity. I’m not brilliant, just smart enough to model successful people.

I’ve hardly started and I could continue for hours. While Russell’s success is chronicled in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, a true testament to his success comes from a story from last Spring.

Russell hosted a lecture series (for FREE) that Bloodhound Blog, North American Title, Read more

April 16, 2008

Introducing Chris Johnson, New Market Survival Enthusiast

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Until today, I thought Richard Riccelli had the best job description among our contributors: “Marketing Provocateur.”

Loan Officer Chris Johnson offers plausible competition with “New Market Survival Enthusiast.”

Chris Johnson calls the tiny town of Westerville, Ohio, home — a challenge for a loan officer. A prolific weblogger and an incipient father, Chris is a tireless advocate of continuous self-improvement.

Chris and I have been dancing with each other for months. Time will tell, but I think he’s joining us now because he wants to deliver unto us a deep and difficult-to-master marketing philosophy: Get behind the mule and plow! Sounds like a BloodhoundBlog message to me.

At the same time, I am pruning our Frequent Contributors roster by a few names, folks who haven’t had as much time for us lately: Lani Anglin, Bill Leider and Galen Ward. We’ve never retired a contributor account, so it could be they’ll rejoin us in future.

Our recent additions have all been very big dogs, so it will be interesting to see if Chris can out-howl them. Nothing like a big challenge to bring forth big results.

Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate, real estate marketing

April 14, 2008

The Odysseus Medal: “This stuff is simple to learn. No heavy lifting.”

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Sunny and 93 degrees outside right now. This is warm for April, but not hugely so. I rode my bike when I should have been writing this post. Dock my pay. I deserve it.

There was a lot of great stuff on the nets this week, but nothing totally slayed me, so I’m not awarding an Odysseus Medal. We’ll see what next week brings. (I’ve already see one insanely great Black Pearl.) Here are this week’s awards:

The Black Pearl Award this week goes to Russell Shaw for I Want To Be A Lister – The Listing Presentation – The Objections:

About a year ago I wrote what was really part 1 of The Listing Presentation. Anyone wanting to increase their listing skills will likely find time spent on this post and that first post time well spent. I have mentioned the short list of different things a seller might say (or objections they might have to listing) to you. All good listers know these objections and are not startled or thrown off by the seller bringing them up. In fact, great listers know the objections so well that they want the seller to bring them up and if the seller does not bring them up the agent will bring them up. That’s correct. If you already know what they are thinking, why not just address it before they even mention it? It is usually fun to hit a softball when it is a slow underhand pitch.

As the nature of the objections has never really changed it is really sort of silly for any agent wanting to take a lot of listings to not know – in advance – that these are the concerns of the seller. I know that the internet and these new-brand-new-all-new-discount-really-really-low-maybe-even-no-commission companies have changed the very nature of life on earth, as we know it – but I am pretty sure the main objections that you could hear from a home seller back in 1968 were still the same in 1978. They are still the same in 2008. I am thinking they may be still quite similar in 2048. Just Read more

April 14, 2008

Is Eric Blackwell the best father? The best friend? He could be on his way to being named Greatest Real Estate Agent In The World

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Eric Blackwell showed us all yesterday what a great job he’s doing as a father.

Today, Ryan Ward offers potent evidence that Eric is a very good friend to have: He is throwing his support behind Eric in the SEO contest to determine who is the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World.

I have been an honorary member of Team Eric — a member in the sense that I have done what I can, honorary in the sense that I don’t know how to do much — but Ryan has been a serious contender in the competition. Advising his supporters to send their links to Eric’s entry instead is a stunning tribute to their friendship and to the respect they share for each other.

This contest has been fun and very instructive. It doesn’t matter who wins if we all learn from it. Even so, if you would like to help Eric in his final push for the finish line, put up a link to his Greatest Real Estate Agent In The World post.

Here’s some sidebar code if you want it:

<p><a href=”http://www.ericonsearch.com/greatest-real-estate-agent-in-the-world-your-name-here/” alt=”Is Eric Blackwell the greatest real estate agent in the world?” target=”_blank”>Is Eric Blackwell the greatest real estate agent in the world?</a> Copy and repost this link to help him win!</p>

Copy all the code from within the box and paste it into the sidebar of your web site or weblog. It’s plain vanilla HTML, so it should work fine in any page.

At this point, every drop of Google juice is going to matter, and we don’t want for Eric to finish the race on fumes. He’s been a great friend to everyone who reads BloodhoundBlog. Here’s our change to pay back a little of what he’s given us.

Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate, real estate marketing

April 13, 2008

“It’s the difference between grabbing junk food from the drive-thru and sitting down with people you love for a leisurely and lively dinner.”

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

That’s Teri Lussier talking about the experience of settling in for a serious read at BloodhoundBlog, as against cruising the blogiverse.

I’m inclined to agree — and I’ve never been stingy with words. But here’s a thousand words Cathleen wrote yesterday afternoon while she was staging and preparing a house for listing:

The world is rich with Splendor. Sometimes you have to sweep a little debris out of the way to catch sight of it, that’s all.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate marketing, real estate photography

April 13, 2008

The Odysseus Medal competition — Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

We have 17 entries on the short list this week, out of a long long list of 60 posts. This week I’m showing nothing but Black Pearls, practical hard-headed ideas for working better, faster and more profitably.

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 Monday. 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 ( "Barry Cunningham -- What Would You Do? What Would You Do?”,
“Brian Brady — How to save a declined loan Mortgage 911“,
“Chris Johnson — Blogging is Not Prospecting Blogging is Not Prospecting, Or Even Close.“,
“Courtney Tuttle — 10 Ways to Improve Blog Traffic 10 Ways to Improve Blog Traffic in 30 Minutes or Less“,
“Dan Green — Do-It-Yourself Divorce Why A Do-It-Yourself Divorce Requires Professional Mortgage Advice“,
“Dave Smith — A Tool to Help Pick Keyword Targets A Tool to Help Pick Keyword Targets“,
“Eric Blackwell — Seller / REALTOR relationship What a Seller / REALTOR relationship should NOT feel like.“,
“Jonathan Dalton — Why Blogging is Prospecting Roll Over, Secretariat – Why Blogging is Prospecting“,
“Loren Nason — Who is Your Webhost and Why it Matters Who is Your Webhost and Why it Matters“,
“Mary McKnight — How to use demographics How to use demographics to craft real estate blog posts that target your readers“,
“Richard Warren — Real Estate Wholesaler So You Want To Be A Real Estate Wholesaler?“,
“Russell Shaw — The Objections I Want To Be A Lister – The Listing Presentation – The Objections“,
“Steve Leung — Generating a Lead Using an E-Book The Anatomy of Generating a Lead Using an E-Book“,
“Teresa Boardman — Know when to Walk Know when to Walk“,
“Teri Lussier — Working with engenu Working with engenu; a painless geek tool even an ‘I’ can love!“,
“Tony Schuricht — start investing in real estate again Five reasons to start investing in real estate Read more

April 13, 2008

The REAL Team Eric – and what my boys teach me about marketing…

by Eric Blackwell

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

You have probably noticed me talk about Team Eric–a group of Real Estate Agents who work with me as part of the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World contest. (Thankfully, this effort concludes in two weeks! It has been fun!). But here is the REAL Team Eric.

That would be the lovely Mrs Eric (codename: Jen) along with our 4 kids. Why am I getting personal with this post? Well, because I have learned MUCH about marketing from THIS Team Eric. (and would like to share some of it.) Especially the one in the upper right (Cameron ,16 ) and the lower left (Jordan, 9).

What do a 9 year old and a 16 year old know about marketing? Actually quite a bit. You see, they are in the business of marketing real hope to parents and other kids with Autism. Cameron has Asperger’s syndrome and Jordan has classic Autism. They speak at seminars nationally on the subject. Yes it is kind of wierd to be the parent of kids who regularly can comfortably get up in front of hundreds of people and talk about “their life with Autism” and “Autism Mythbusters” and other such fun.

So, anyway, here are some quick things they have taught me:

1. Be online. Promote it. They wanted me to help them create AutismNotes.com. So we did. They wanted to give up their anonymity (to a degree) to help others. So we did. They are NEVER too busy to let someone know about the site and are always talking with people about it.

2. Manage your Reputation. Google “Cameron Blackwell autism” or “Jordan Blackwell autism” you will see quite a bit about stuff they are doing. If you Google your name, how are you doing? Cam has 6 of the top 10 for ‘Cameron Blackwell’.

3. Make Friends. That has been the theme of what I have tried to do with the Google contest, but the idea was NOT original. Cameron over the years has actually befriended SCORES of the worlds leading minds in the field of Autism. Many have had dinner at Casa de Blackwell! His Read more

April 13, 2008

Zillow.com’s Mortgage Marketplace brings anonymous apples-to-apples mortgage rate quotes to consumers, free consumer leads to lenders

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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

Zillow.com’s Mortgage Marketplace brings anonymous apples-to-apples mortgage rate quotes to consumers, free consumer leads to lenders

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get a broad array of mortgage quotes without having to make dozens of phone calls? And what if you could make a true apples-to-apples comparison among quotes? Better still, what if you could remain anonymous, making yourself known to the lender only when you are ready to do business?

Seattle-based real estate start-up Zillow.com last week released its long-anticipated mortgage lending product, called the Mortgage Marketplace, and it offers all those features and more.

Unlike Zillow’s “Zestimates,” the loan quotes are generated by real people, working lenders. Zillow will basically be acting as a hands-off intermediary between borrowers and loan originators.

Consumers using Zillow’s new Mortgage Marketplace will be able to anonymously solicit bids for loans from participating lenders. The consumer will fill out a detailed form disclosing all pertinent financial details.

The form will be submitted anonymously to participating lenders, who will, in their turn, produce estimated loan quotes, submitting them, through Zillow, to the consumer. The consumer will then have the choice to make direct contact with particular lenders to decide whom to do business with.

To a very large degree, the information asymmetry between lender and borrower will be done away with, since the loan quote will detail every fee associated with the loan. Moreover, Zillow will be implementing a reputation-management system whereby borrowers will be able to rate lenders on their performance.

In return, the lenders will receive Zillow’s mortgage leads at no cost.

What’s in it for Zillow.com? When you fill out a form requesting a loan quote, Zillow will be writing “cookies” to your local browser. They won’t be storing your financial details on their own servers, but they will be able to access those cookies in the future to target specific ads at you according to your demographic characteristics. Zillow will also be selling access to these cookies to other ad-supported sites.

So, just as with free-TV, in exchange for looking at advertising, you will get free anonymous Read more

April 12, 2008

What Would You Do?

by Barry Cunningham

Real Estate Broadcaster and Investor

Real Estate Radio USA | What Would A Real Estate Agent Do to Help A Homeowner In A Foreclosure Mess?

Here’s the scenario. A consumer calls you based upon a blog post that you have recently made. He is in dire NEED of the services of a competent and professional real estate agent.

He must sell his house quickly. He is in foreclosure and he does not want his credit damaged. He already has had a short sale denied by his bank because he has too many other assets. His only alternative is to sell the home.

Here are the vital signs:

1. The home is worth approximately $300,000.00 as determined by comparable analysis
2. He owes $208,000.00 on his first and second mortgage combined
3. He has a Federal Tax Lien in the amount of $22,500.00
4. He has a municipal lien for not maintaining his pool (it’s a green slimy mess) and it has been running since October 2007 at the rate of $1,000.00 per day
5. He has not paid the County Property taxes in 2 years and he owes the County $12,500.00
6. He has not listed the property because he thinks he can not afford to pay commission and he’s not willing to sign a listing agreement that he can not terminate at will
7. His wife is on title with him but she’s now in Chicago living with her parents and wants $5,000 from the sale of the house
8. He needs at least $5,000.00 himself to be able to move on with his life
9. He will also need to stay in the house for 30 days AFTER the closing because it will take him that long to move because he can’t move until he gets the money from the closing
10. The house has pretty good bones but will need:
a. basic cosmetic work
b. new landscaping
c. the pool drained, cleaned and refilled as well as a new pump
d. the roof needs to be replaced (estimate from local roofer is $8,500.00)
e. the garage door needs to be replaced

Other than what has been stated above, the home is located in an upper middle class neighborhood with good schools and is in close proximity to great amenities like a major mall, fine restaurants and exciting nightlife activities. It is Read more

Category: Marketing (page 76 of 191)

Will Realtors be disintermediated by on-line tools? Probably not, but tech-savvy Realtors will supplant those who do not adapt

by Greg Swann

Marketing performance: BloodhoundBlog is the last place crybabies should go when they need to have their boo-boos kissed, and, therefore, it is the last place to go looking for crybabies

by Greg Swann

It’s Raining Soup. Why Are You Starving?

by Brian Brady

The practical value of living by abstract principle: “I do not compromise with bullies and I would rather spend fifty thousand dollars on defense than give you a dollar of unmerited settlement funds.”

by Greg Swann

Is managing your URL structure enough to achieve Truliamazing long tail search results in your target market?

by Greg Swann

Who can reinvent real estate marketing? At MikeCanDoIt.com Mike Rohrig howls like a Portland Bloodhound…

by Greg Swann

A Special Sunday Session at BloodhoundBlog Unchained: Russell Shaw UNPLUGGED (And: Why I’m Going to Win My Pricing Battle With Greg)

by Brian Brady

Introducing Chris Johnson, New Market Survival Enthusiast

by Greg Swann

The Odysseus Medal: “This stuff is simple to learn. No heavy lifting.”

by Greg Swann

Is Eric Blackwell the best father? The best friend? He could be on his way to being named Greatest Real Estate Agent In The World

by Greg Swann

“It’s the difference between grabbing junk food from the drive-thru and sitting down with people you love for a leisurely and lively dinner.”

by Greg Swann

The Odysseus Medal competition — Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open

by Greg Swann

The REAL Team Eric – and what my boys teach me about marketing…

by Eric Blackwell

Zillow.com’s Mortgage Marketplace brings anonymous apples-to-apples mortgage rate quotes to consumers, free consumer leads to lenders

by Greg Swann

What Would You Do?

by Barry Cunningham

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