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Category: Real Estate (page 103 of 266)

August 26, 2008

Why Are We Wasting Our Time?

by

CEO, Redfin.com

Author website

Over the past few days, Redfin got into it with a bunch of other real estate websites. What else is new?

In an argument about who has the most homes for sale, which began on TechCrunch and continued on Redfin’s blog, one participant argued that what consumers really care about is advanced filtering options, not inventory.

Which got us thinking. We spend a fair bit of time on advanced filtering options. And we’ve always thought we need to spend more: every week, we get requests for filters on parking, townhouses, waterfront location (Seattle), historic designation (DC), pool (LA).

So Redfin’s Jim Lamb just analyzed 70,000 Redfin searches from Thursday, August 21 to find out which of Redfin.com’s search filters people really use. It’s an analysis we’ve done before, to figure out whether a listing gets seen more if it’s priced to be included in web searches, like at $449,500 rather than $450,100.

What we learned last night was a little demoralizing. People filter on price, beds, baths, sometimes square feet, and new (or very old) listings, but not much else:

Redfin\'s Search Options

  • Price: Min 24.8%; Max 53.9%
  • Beds: Min 32.8%
  • Baths: Min 21.4%
  • Square Feet: Min 15.1%; Max 2.4%
  • Days on Redfin: 12.7% (this would include requests for new listings, listing on Redfin more than 45 days, or filters on on a specific number of days on Redfin; I suspect that almost all the volume comes from request for new listings)

On looking at this, Matt Goyer said, “Who doesn’t filter on square footage?” I could only sadly shake my head. Consumers completely skip the fancy stuff:

  • Lot Size: Min 5.5%; Max 0.55%
  • Year Built: Min 5.4%; Max 1.1%
  • Has view: 1.1%
  • New construction: 0.24%
  • Fixer-uppers: 0.36%
  • Open houses: 0.7%

So even as we argued that filtering options aren’t as important as inventory, we didn’t really believe it: our engineers have been hard at work on… you guessed it, more filtering options. Just now, it’s parking & townhouse filters. (Every week, I get a crazy screed from a consumer about how much people hate townhouses… which I read… from my townhouse.)

What do you think? Are we wasting our time? Confusing our consumers? As it is, we Read more

August 26, 2008

Clash of the Titans: Women shriek and children cower in blood-spattered suburban enclaves — when Realty.bots collide…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

There’s news and then there’s news. Consider:

A real estate industry study released today shows that most popular consumer real estate search engines, including Trulia, Zillow, Google and Yahoo!, offer home seekers only a small fraction of the homes actually available on the market — and that many of the listings are inaccurate or out of date. Real estate searches on these popular sites in three sample markets — Miami, Dallas and San Diego — failed to provide users with as much as 92 percent of available listings in their home searches.

“Holy cow!” you might think. “The mainstream media is writing something actually factual about the defects of venture-capital-funded Realty.bots! No puff, no fluff, just the straight dope!”

Contain yourself. This is not news. Like most “news,” it’s a regurgitated press release. “Cui bono?” “Who benefits?”

The study, commissioned by Roost.com and conducted by the WAV Group, points out the stark contrasts between different online property search methods available today and concluded that the most accurate source of listing information is the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The WAV Group specifically researched how popular consumer real estate search sites including Trulia, Google and Yahoo!, among others — which aggregate listings from a variety of third-party sources — stack up to sites like Roost.com, which are enabled by the MLS. The MLS is the real estate industry standard database for sharing information on local homes for sale and is available only to licensed real estate agents and brokers; all the listings on the MLS are derived from local agents and brokers. To serve the needs of agents wishing to make MLS property search available to consumers, MLS boards nationwide have deployed a standard called Internet Data Exchange, or IDX.

This again is obvious, of course, so it’s perfectly understandable that mainstream media mavens seem not to know it. But it’s completely self-serving on Roost’s part. The actual news in this “news” would be:

Trulia/Zillow available everywhere (even on your phone), Roost unknown to founders’ mothers

But when would you ever expect to find news in the newspapers?

In fact, in the cities where it operates, Redfin.com has the most Read more

August 24, 2008

With a new iPhone application and support for other mobile devices, Trulia.com is pushing the Realty.bot race into the cloud, but its new free weblogging platform may put ActiveRain under a cloud

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Who’s winning the Realty.bot race, Trulia or Zillow? There is a constant flurry of new press releases from the two companies, but their boastful claims often sound like a pair of garrulous amputees agreeing with each other that the two-legged world is off its rocker: “Five million visitors! Ha-ha!” “A hundred thousand new listings! So there!”

Does any of this mean anything? There are wonderfully useful metrics for judging net.behavior. Unique visitors, for example. Pageviews per visit. Time on site. Even better: ROI per visit. But these measures are not independently verifiable, and the guides we do have available to us are inherently suspect.

So who is winning the Realty.bot race, Trulia or Zillow? Neither company has gone IPO. Neither company has gone belly-up. Beyond that, your guess is as good as anyone’s.

But: Tonight marks a decisive change in the game: Truila.com is releasing a fairly robust iPhone application as a part of a site-wide upgrade.

What’s new?

  1. Trulia Mobile will offer a limited set of location-based searches from Apple’s iPhone, from an array of Lightpole-enabled smartphones and from Dash Navigation GPS devices. The user-experience will differ by device, but the design premise is based on location-sensitivity: Your iPhone always knows where you are, so it can interact with Trulia’s file servers to show you a list of nearby listings or open houses. You can get a detailed summary for each home on your list, and you can then email the listing to a friend, contact the listing agent directly or map the home so that you can hop over for a quick peek.
  2. Trulia is adding a higher degree of user participation in the form of a new, free weblogging platform. Any registered user of the site will be able to start a blog.
  3. Finally, Trulia is offering greater personalization of the user experience in the form of a self-customizing home page. Your home page will reflect “new property listings, home prices changes, upcoming open houses, median sales price trends, recently sold properties,” all of these based on your past search history, along with “relevant blogs and Q&As from our Trulia Voices Community.”

In truth, personalization might Read more

August 24, 2008

BloodhoundBlog sports new iPhone theme: All the dog, half the drool

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I installed an iPhone-only theme this morning. If you land on BloodhoundBlog from any browser except Safari for the iPhone, you’ll see our normal theme. If you come in from the iPhone, you’ll get a theme optimized for the iPhone’s (or iTouch’s) screen size.

This is the way BHB looked on an iPhone until this morning:

This is how it looks now:

The theme rotates as you would expect it to, so you can get to a wider, shorter, easier-reading page if you want to.

The normal sidebar stuff is entirely omitted, so you’ll have to come in from a desktop browser to see that content.

Remember that you can easily add a BloodhoundBlog button to your iPhone home page.

I have to work out an algorithm, but, last night, in a fit of ecstatic romantic frenzy, Cathy and I worked out how to produce engenu-like pages on-the-spot. If I can figure out how to move iPhone photos to a file server, we could produce previewing web pages from within the house we are previewing.

Sufficient unto the day: If you have an iPhone, the new theme should make BloodhoundBlog easier to read on the run.

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August 23, 2008

Buy low? Sell high? You can’t sell high for now, but prices are low enough that a buy-and-hold strategy could pay off handsomely

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

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

 
Buy low? Sell high? You can’t sell high for now, but prices are low enough that a buy-and-hold strategy could pay off handsomely

Last week I met with a potential real estate investor. She’s an investor because she’s got the money, the credit and the will to dip her toe in the water. She’s a potential investor because she hasn’t yet been a landlord.

With new investors, I talk about premium suburban single-family rental homes. This is normally the safest, most economical way to start a real estate investment plan in Phoenix. That’s especially true right now, when the right rental home will be cash-flow positive from the outset.

But I also talk about other income opportunities in real estate, if only because land-lording is not for everyone. I would not advise a first-time investor to take the plunge in a large multi-family community or a strip mall, but there are plenty of other ways to take advantage of our current market conditions.

An example? Flipping. There never was heard a more discouraging word, but flipping has a horrible reputation because a horde of TV-educated tycoons bought at the top of the market and sold their refurbished masterpieces at auction. Now, when entry prices are low and trending lower, a slow flipping strategy promises nice rewards.

Here’s one slow strategy: Find a great flip candidate at a rock-bottom price. Buy it to own as a rental. Hold it in that state — with the monthly cash-flow covering your costs — until prices recover to your satisfaction. Then do the refurb and sell.

Here’s another one: Buy your cheap refurb candidate and move into it. Redo the home slowly, room by room, especially when the materials for doing a particular room are very cheap. Sell it after you’ve owned it for five years or more and take the capital gain tax free.

There is a common investment idea behind these strategies: Buy low. Sell high. You can’t predict when you’ll be able to sell high, but you know for sure you can buy low right now. If Read more

August 22, 2008

Aufedersein Lip Syncher!

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

… and now back to our regularly scheduled program – sorry for the technical difficulties!

True Confessions:

  • I am a reality TV junkie – American Idol, Big Brother, Top Chef, Flipping Out, Million Dollar Listing and of course Project Runway – glad I have DDR – there are others – but these I won’t miss – even for a showing request – kidding – of course.
  • I eat lunch at Costco – I sample the samples.  Don’t knock it – I have seen many of my astute colleagues binging off of the sample trays too, only I openly admit it – I have no shame.
  • I love country music.
  • Being an American Idol fan, I sing Daughtry and Carrie Underwood at the top of lungs in the car – sometimes – unknowingly – with the sunroof open – windows down – stopped at traffic lights – allegedly.

* cleansing breath*

That was so cathartic – and so much better than kneeling behind a curtain in a small, dark box filled with the distinct aroma of peppermint schnapps.

Yesterday, one of my esteemed colleagues made the mistake of confirming my delusional rock star status.  I have one of eleven listings in a high rise on the famed Lake Shore Drive – great unit, smartly updated I might add.  Glorious views and a terrific value – yet in a building that can be a challenge in which to sell.  Traffic up until now has been sporadic if non-existent.

Two weeks ago, in an attempt to generate buyer traffic, I decided to coordinate a joint building open house.  Not an uncommon marketing tactic – contact all of the other listing agents, get them all to agree to a time and a date – encourage everyone to market the open house independently and VOILA! Buyers!

I put together a joint marketing piece highlighting the fact that there would be nine units open, committed to an ad in The Tribune.  I’d do it for my client anyway, so why not for the other units?  Hopefully we can generate greater power in numbers.  Well – needless to say, buyers did come.  I had 20 visitors – Read more

August 22, 2008

Mortgage Market Week in Review

by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

Here we are on Friday again and it’s time to take another look at what’s going on in the mortgage markets. This week we’re going to talk about two economic reports and two big question marks.

First the economic reports from the week:
1. The Index of Leading Economic Indicators came out and it was down quite substantially. What is that index about? Basically it’s the conference board’s way of looking at what they think the economy is going to look like going forward. That’s why it’s called “Leading” rather than most reports that are essentially reporting what happened. This looks at what they think is going to happen based on trends and such. The fact that it’s way down doesn’t bode well for an economic recovery any time soon. It doesn’t specifically mean that we’ll have (or are in) a recession, but it does mean that things aren’t pretty.
2. The National Association of Home Builders reported that builder confidence came in for August at a record low. Gee, for any of you who read this who are a builder, know a builder, or work with one, it’s probably no surprise at all. We’re going through a fundamental shift in the building capacity that is needed in this country and the weeding out that is going to (and is) happening is not a fun thing by any means. Whether is was building, lending, or real estate sales, the bubble allowed way more people to get into the businesses than what the overall health and growth levels could handle. That’s an ongoing readjustment that needs to continue before we can hit bottom and go up from there.

Now for the two question marks. Actually, it’s one question about two companies. What’s the real story behind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? I’ll make a couple of points to tell you what my take on them is:
1. As “quasi governmental” institutions, Fannie and Freddie have been able to borrow money at rates that are better than what other companies can borrow money at. That’s because of the implicit backing of the Read more

August 21, 2008

Rhapsodizing the iPhone: A full day of my chaotic life, hours of phone time, a trip to Pleasantville — and I could not love it more

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I’m totally loving my iPhone, so far. Wine Dog is right about power. I think I want two, one each for in- and out-bound calls. But it’s so far beyond any other phone I’ve ever had, I would never even think of stepping back to yesterday’s phone.

I have a piece of software called HandBrake for the Macintosh. It will convert DVDs to other file formats. It’s how I made this clip of Pleasantville last Summer. In early July, I ripped a full copy of Pleasantville in the iPhone’s ideal video format. I just watched it now. Excellent video, and theater-quality sound through the headphones. I’m ready to convert a DVD a night, while I sleep, and park them on a big hard disk for easy syncing.

I had calls drop today when I was in the mountains — nothing new for Phoenicians. Otherwise, the iPhone was fault free, and it works beautifully with the Jawbone headset. I do see power as being an issue, but it was with the Treo 650, too. I often drive for part of the day with my phone plugged into the cigarette lighter (what’s that?). With a hands-free headset, it doesn’t matter. Give me a strong voice dialer, and it will matter even less.

The Jawbone is so much better in sound quality that I’m thinking of pushing a lot more work toward Jott or other transcription software. Cathy is playing with OmniFocus, an iPhone-optimized GTD app. The iPhone is a software universe, rather than simply a set of tools like an ordinary smartphone, so there are almost unlimited horizons for us to discover.

My biggest challenge, I think, is to get Cameron interested in the iPhone SDK. Brian already has a project, and we can come up with dozens more. It’s not that this is the ultimate computing solution — far from it. But in many ways it is the optimax solution, the tool that offers the most, the most-flexible and the most-available computing power relative to its portability and form factor.

An example: I was talking to a reporter today from a business magazine about the availability of Read more

August 21, 2008

Splendor versus squalor: The part you throw away

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

[I wrote this in March of 2007. I’m revisiting it now because it fits so well with the essay I wrote last night about honesty. At just about the same time I wrote this post, I penned an essay about an idea I call The Implied Accusation — the elephant in the room. I lucked upon a sweet cover of the Tom Waits tune quoted below, so I’m adding that as well. –GSS]

 
I believe in integrity, but I believe in a very Latinly kind of integrity. It’s normal for me to translate words in and out of Latin, to write and think in those words in the way that they are composed from their Latin atoms. So when I think of the word “integrity,” what I think of is “all one thing.”

And I try to live that way, too, with my whole life, as best I can manage it, being the expression of one idea: Splendor.

I’ll give you a definition, which I will immediately qualify:

Splendor is the interior experience of being so enthralled by the act of creating the values that contribute to and ultimately comprise your idealized perfect self that, while you are experiencing it, you are your idealized perfect self.

What’s the qualification? Splendor is not words, and it is not merely thoughts or deeds. Splendor is the tone and the timbre, the warp and the weft of a life spent pursuing it. Words, deeds, thoughts, actions, hopes, dreams, plans, memories, work, leisure, solitude and companionship — everything you do in the pursuit of positive values and nothing that you do in quests for disvalues.

This is such a simple idea, and I love it better than anything. It is everything I want to be when I am being the best person I can be, and it is everything I want for everyone I see. It’s one of the reasons I love being a Realtor, because this job, at its best, is all about Splendor, helping people get the most and the best that life can offer.

I don’t talk to my clients directly about this, but they get the idea. We Read more

August 20, 2008

“Shoot the elephant in the room before he breaks all the furniture?” Yes, because even if we don’t always do well by doing good, we must always do the right thing — even when no one else is watching.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I had a house close yesterday, and there was a little incident as I was trading keys with the buyers that I found instructive.

Back story: These folks came to me through my Arizona Republic column. That column produces almost no business for us, and I don’t milk it for business. But the clients it brings out are invariably very interesting, and they often bring with them multiple transactions. This particular family will do two listings and one purchase, and it was the purchase that closed yesterday.

They had started out thinking in terms of $800,000 homes in very tony desert locations. There are health issues, so I suggested that a smaller home closer to town might work better. We ended up buying a very nice home that comped for $425,000.

They were willing to risk losing the home in order to make sure they weren’t overpaying, so we offered $335,000 — $90,000 under two recent comp sales. We got that price, and the seller didn’t flinch at our repair requests. A fun, painless transaction, my kind of deal.

But wait. Didn’t I betray my sacred duty to milk the consumer for every last penny? I talked myself out of a commission on $800,000, then talked myself down again to a commission on $335,000. I don’t even think that way. I got a smokin’ deal for my buyers, and we all had fun every step of the way.

Because we’re doing multiple sides, we gave them a break on all three commissions. They didn’t ask, we just did it. Commission is always the elephant in the room, so, no matter what we plan to do, we always raise the issue first.

Why? Because doing the right thing is always the right thing to do, no matter what.

But also: Because affecting to ignore the elephant in the room only serves to make you look oily, evasive and corrupt — and the other party can use your presumptive corruption as leverage against you.

I believe that we do well by doing good — that consistent virtue reaps commensurate rewards in the long run. But even if we don’t, doing the Read more

August 19, 2008

HomeGain Releases AgentView, a RE 2.0 Rifle. Will it Fire True Or Shoot Blanks?

by

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

Author website

I don’t hide my admiration for Louis Cammarosano.  We “met” first on Active Rain, last winter.  Louis noticed a comment I made about how third-party lead generation companies weren’t inherently evil and invited me to be the inaugural “expert blogger” on the HomeGain Blog.  I thought Louis would transform Home Gain from a Web 1.0 leads aggregator to a Web 2.0 platform, with a suite of online marketing tools for agents.

Louis hasn’t disappointed me.

HomeGain releases it’s “Agent View” service tomorrow morning.  From the press release:

AgentView connects HomeGain visitors with its real estate agent members by showcasing useful real estate content alongside prominently featured local real estate professionals. Visitors can view agent listings, agent profiles, agent blogs and local information. Visitors can also get an instant home valuation estimate from HomeGain’s home valuation tool or use Home Sale Maximizer™ to determine which home improvements will best help increase the resale value of their homes.

In short, Home Gain is allowing its agents to add featured listings to their “blog homes” and providing useful valuation tools for the consumer…that keep the consumer on the agent’s page.  What’s this mean to you, the agent who may be on the far right-hand side of the learning curve?  Probably nothing…for now.

What is DOES mean is that HomeGain is unleashing a RE 2.0 platform to its customers. As some 5000 customers connect with consumers , from the powerful HomeGain site, their listings, blog posts, and profiles will get some legs in the SERPs for their particular keyword search terms.  We’ve seen Trulia, Zillow, et al dominate the SERPs and challenge the individual practitioner’s RE2.0 efforts.  Now, the 800 lb gorilla could be an army of HomeGainers throwing content off of a Google PageRank 7 site.

At $40-$50/month, the tool is affordable enough for the novice to “get engaged” in the interactive web evolution.  Why would anyone pay for a blog when WordPress or ActiveRain gives it away for free?  Results.  HomeGain is, in my opinion, a traffic wholesaler.  Through SEO, SEM, and affiliate marketing they drive a heckuva lot of TARGETED traffic to its site.  The Read more

August 19, 2008

Pricing Analysis is Greek to Me

by

Real Estate Renaissance Man

Author website

I think most of us can agree that real estate agent, as a profession, lacks “street cred”.  The reputation for our industry is not high and I say this despite the reputable people I meet here and elsewhere.  Two ways to effect a change in that perception are: raise the bar of competition and adopt a better model.  Sometimes we can do both.

In a recent post called It Takes More than Comps to Beat the Competition, I introduced a pricing model based on how assets are valued in the securities industry.  As a former stock broker and options trader, I can tell you that the methods employed in the real estate world for valuing assets and advising clients are rudimentary.  A more thorough understanding of what a property is worth and a framework for better understanding what that knowledge suggests would not only help us to do our job better, but it would separate those that use the tools from those that do not.  Adopting a better model de facto raises the bar of competition.

A Quick Primer
From a securities standpoint, price is rarely the sole motivation behind a buy or sell.  We are usually trading volatility or time or both.  An asset’s value then, is affected by these two items.  This is evident in real estate too.  Good agents take these factors into account when they do comps, but we are generally lacking the common language and function for applying them.  By adopting a better model, we gain these tools.

Volatility
Let’s use options as an example: an options contract is valued in relation to the underlying stock.  This valuation is called its delta.  On a scale of 1-100, a delta of 100 means the options contract might as well be stock.  It is traded, hedged and valued as if it were the underlying stock.  A delta of 20, on the other hand, means the options contract is very unlikely to approach the value of its underlying stock.  It has only a 20 percent chance of holding value.  I would therefore trade, hedge and value it quite differently.  Now a delta Read more

August 19, 2008

Content development in the new model (aka: Jessica is Right)

by

IDX Search Entrepreneur

Author website

This started as a comment on Jessica’s earlier post about content. Welcome aboard, Jessica, and thanks for the grist.

Jessica points out that the average agent is no better than the average owner at generating content. I disagree with that a little: FSBO listings with owner-generated content are often better than agent-generated content (which isn’t saying much).

Owners just know more about their property and its surroundings, have more at stake, and have just one listing to worry about. Not to mention that, if they are even going the Web-based FSBO route, they know their way around a computer and the Web and are more likely to be an educated professional in their own right. All they really need to do is develop the content they know they would like to see themselves.

eCommerce professionals know that content sells. Period. Just compare the quality and depth of content Amazon has around a $10 copy of Home Buying for Dummies to the average listing for a $500k ranch on Realtor.com. The only thing I’ve seen that plays in that ballpark are Greg’s single property Web sites.

The current model (agent responsible for everything, gets paid nothing unless they sell), has Zero capacity for generating consistent, quality content that consumers are accustomed to when they buy anything else on line, and that violates the most basic principle of merchandising: Use the consumer’s learned behaviors to encourage them to do what you want them to do (like contact you).

So how do you change that when the entrenched interests have a dis-incentive to do the right thing? To wit:

  • Agents don’t want to dip into their split to pay professionals.
  • Brokers take advantage of the indie contractor tax loophole to make sure they don’t have to pay agents in the first place, and even the very best admins (the people who really keep the wheels on in every RE office I’ve visited) make, what? $30/hr.? That is not a mindset that is conducive to paying specialists.
  • The NAR and the MLSs have a stake in keeping the agent population over-stuffed with dues-paying half-wits.
  • The franchises consider consumers secondary customers: Their majority of their Read more
August 18, 2008

Bloodhounds Don’t Belong In Politics: But I’m here anyway..

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

Still needed is regulation of yield-spread premiums — cash rebates paid to third-party brokers as a kind of reward for funneling unsuspecting consumers into higher-rate loans

-Rich Cordray, Ohio Candidate For Attorney General, Demonstrating for the record his utter lack of understanding of how real estate financing works.

That is in my inbox.  Enough to make any broker mad.  And, while I’ve responded to the industry requisite “spam your congressman,” and occasional political action calls, I have never been as ready to fight as after I was reading that.  Cordray enjoys a congenial reputation, but I can’t stand willful ignorance. 

Rich Cordray is the anointed Democrat who is in line to succeed disgraced (also Democratic) Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann (the link is precious).  There is a Republican running, but he’s even referred to himself as the sacrificial lamb of the Republican party. 

This email was sent from my friend Jeremiah.  One of his small “l” libertarian buddies, Robert Owens got drafted by the Ohio Liberty Movement. Would I pitch in to stop the madness?  Would I give my time energy and effort to a longshot race?   Hell yes. 

I’ve regarded politics as an onastically futile pursuit, someone must do something.  And I’ve got the time, the interest, and hopefully, the acumen.  I’m responsible for creating a social media and blogging plan to raise enough money to compete.  We want our electorate to be especially cognizant of the anti business positions of our candidates.   Oh, and the candidate?  His biggest issues are following the constitution, and having transparency in government. 

So, I’ve got a few weeks (80 days, which is 11.4 weeks) to come up with a plan to get enough money to be viable, to get the funds to keep our professional campaign staff in the hunt, and to fight, fight, and fight some more.  Can I successfully apply the lessons I’ve learned over the last 9 months to this fight?   All eyes are on me as I’m the one Read more

August 18, 2008

Just because a Realtor® can do something, does it mean that they should?

by

Free Market Cowgirl

Author website

OK, boys and girls it’s Pop Quiz time!

Quick, without beautifying your answer, be honest and name one of the normal pickup lines a Realtor® would tell a FSBO in order to get their business?  This one comes to mind:

“If you let a professional sell your home, you will walk away with more money.”

IF, that’s the case (third class condition, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t depending on the agent, property and market) then why are Realtors® so darn stubborn about following their own advice?

Is it that we have to do everything ourselves? That we can do it better? Faster? Cheaper? What drives this mentality? Since when did passing a multiple-choice examination on specific real estate matters make us omniscient about all things under the sun having to do with marketing and selling homes? I’m not being overly critical. I’m just asking. I believe it’s a very fair and valid question.

For Example:

Photography: Sure, I own a digital camera and have taken hundreds of pictures of my family. That doesn’t even begin to qualify me as a professional photographer. I’ve read a few things about lighting and the rule of thirds, but I’m still not an expert. I’m experienced enough to be dangerous. And that might not be a good thing for my client. You know what they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, I’m being paid thousands of dollars to make the photos speak to buyers. Maybe an expert could help more accurately express what needs to be said through them? Just a thought…

Video: Yes, I own a flip camera and Jason has a $5,000.00 Sony pro-consumer video camera that he loves to play around with. He has filmed videos of the kids opening birthday presents, Brutus jumping into the pool, and many other wonderful and exciting things (don’t even go there). But Peter Jackson making Lord of the Rings, he is not! We’ve always hired a professional for any project that wasn’t just for our enjoyment. A video of your client’s home 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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