BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Category: Real Estate (page 85 of 266)

February 5, 2009

Things not to do…

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

At Unchained this spring, we are going to cover a lot of what TO DO when it comes to making your web presence as a REALTOR search engine friendly. That is going to be fun and I am looking forward to it.

But lately I am seeing more and more BAD advice and examples go out to REALTORS and I figured it was time to post a couple of things NOT to do.

Google has made it clear that link exchange schemes (aka reciprocal linking schemes) are a no-no. Search engines use links as a method of gauging a site’s (or post’s) popularity and relevance. Yet if you Google real estate link exchange and look in the pay per click section, what do you see?

Several REALTOR sites openly asking for exchanges. Paying to get people to look at their link exchange directories. Good grief. And one of them ranks #1 for a major city’s real estate terms! Geez…If someone comes to you and says “This is how to do it.” Run, don’t walk. You are getting some insanely bad advice.

Sad part is…the REALTOR may not even know how bad this is.

Should there be ANY PPC ads from people asking for reciprocal link exchanges? I don’t think so.

Other bad examples…Google came out and said clearly that buying links was a no-no. The thing is, how can you tell whether a link is paid or not? It is difficult to tell. The best advice is to make sure that whoever is linking to you looks natural because they ARE.

Since I was looking at Trulia’s pages yesterday, here’s a page that may or may not be paid. Do I know? Nope. But the thing is, it LOOKS like a paid link because why would a REALTOR in Columbus IN put the exact links to the “most Popular” city real estate pages on Trulia. And these same links are on many pages of that site.

Here’s some more info from Eric Bramlett on Trulia and some of the things going on there. (He’s done a great job of breaking it down and making it understandable for Read more

February 4, 2009

Trulia hacked, Meh..WordPress security again

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

I started talking about WordPress security after my blog was hacked. It was not much fun admitting that it was, and it wasn’t fun cleaning it up. But it was a good opportunity to help everyone by letting them know what was up.

Like Microsoft, WordPress’s popularity leads to a lot of people wanting to use it. A lot of people using it leads to a lot of other people wanting to abuse the people who use it.

Many started speculating that Trulia got penalized by Google. I can understand why that might be a popular notion given some of their practices from the past, but in this case, one of the Dawgs uncovered the apparerent problem. HT to Eric Bramlett for the find.

As Eric correctly pointed out when we started talking about WordPress security back in the day, the best thing to do is set a Google Alert, for site:mydomain.com +viagra (or +cialis and several other terms commonly used by these hackers).

If someone has hacked your WP blog and inserted links to poker, porn and pharmaceuticals, you will then know it and can find the problem and take action by filing a reinclusion request.

As Eric Bramlett points out, the team at Trulia should have this corrected shortly. (at least that’s how it typically works). This will be a pain for them, but a good opportunity to remind us all to stay secure out there.

February 3, 2009

Are You an Innie or an Outie? The Answer May Be an Ancient Chinese Secret

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

I just finished Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, The Story of Success.  I found it a facinating read.  If you have not yet read his book, or any of his others, I strongly suggest it.  The premise of Outliers discusses the contributing factors, opportunities and cultural legacies that help shape the outcomes of individuals whom we recognized as highly successful.

One of the most enlightening discussions in the book provides perhaps a new perspective as to why people of Asian decent traditionally outperform people of Western cultures in math.  We often believe that academic achievement is attributed to IQ and intellect, yet Gladwell’s explanation is more basic.  It may very well relate to how Asians count and the character length of the actual numeric characters allowing them to retain more information in a smaller period of time.  Again, I found the author’s insight facinating.

Success is not solely a factor of intellect.  At a certain point, cultural influences/rules and situational circumstances contribute more to why an individual or individuals are successful.  Even more at the core of real success are the long hours of dedicated hard work.

I began thinking about how this all relates to the nature of real estate, both as a professional as well as the profession itself.

No doubt, we are currently experiencing a significant confluence of events both culturally and economically.  The theory that real estate was a fairly sure bet, rarely if ever losing value has been more than proven wrong.  Business models which leverage technology are not offering transformational change in how value is created in the real estate transaction.

Why did Rockerfeller become wealthy?  Gladwell surmizes that he became wealthy due primarily to his time of birth, coupled with America’s dynamic economic transformation.  Along with his hard work, his fate collided with enormous opportunity.  It seems Bill Gates too collided with good timing – he came of age during the era of the birth of the personal computer.

It takes more than just smarts to make it to the top.

I sense we are again at a cross roads of transformational change, both culturally and economically today with even farther reaching Read more

February 2, 2009

Saint Badda Bing

by

Chicago Broker Owner Realtor | RE 2.0 Blogger

Author website

I know someone who knows a guy who might know of a ‘pocket listing’  back in the old neighborhood. That’s how everybody refers to a certain kind of good fellow in one particular ‘Near West’ Chicago block of stoop and brick row homes—guys. They call them guys. Guys from the Neighborhood.

“He’s a guy.”

“Who?”

“Him.”

“Him?”

“Yeah, him.”

“He’s a guy?”

“Yeah, he’s a guy.”

“He ain’t a guy.”

“Sure he is.”

“No he ain’t”

“He ain’t?”

“Nah.”

“I thought he was.”

“Nah. You’re thinkin’ of his cousin.”

It’s the sort of community where adult children inherit the homes from their parents and never move away; the same homes their parents inherited from the grand parents.  The housing stock is a  block-by-block mixture of  row homes,  traditional city bungalows, wood framed Two and Three Flats circa 1900, and turn-of-the-century brick Multi-Unit tenements. The same Italian restaurants, corner bars, and beef joints have lined Grand Avenue from Ogden to Ashland for generations. Guys, both young and old,  loaf in front of their social clubs three seasons a year blocking the side walks in both directions, their Caddys and Buicks double parked against the curbs.  Nobody gets a ticket.  Nobody seems to have a job.

“His cousin?”

“Yeah.”

“But not him?

“Nah. They got the same first name and hair.”

“I did not know that.”

“Yup.”

“I thought they was the same guy”

“Nah. Different guy. Same hair though.”

“I did not know that…”

And so on for hours.  Or years. Generations.  Anyway, I know someone who knows someone who has a place he might want to sell on the down low  (that’s Not Listed on the MLS for all you traditional RE peeps).  A real guy, apparently—and like I said, also someone from the old neighborhood.  Of course, this guy my friend speaks of doesn’t live in his building anymore and hasn’t for almost a decade. He’s been…well…he’s been away.  Away, serving his country and the great state of Illinois to the tune of  concurrent life stretches which, I learn from my friend (who is my age and stills lives at home with his mother who is also seated at the table in a house coat this snowy morning) is much better than consecutive life Read more

January 31, 2009

Ask the Bloodhounds: “What are your top recommendations for a Realtor just starting out in today’s market?”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

An email from Nicole Ford, a newer agent working on the Gulf coast of Texas:

Hi Greg,
 
I’m a new agent (started in July) and have recently started reading the Bloodhound Blog. First, I want to say thank you for providing such an incredible resource. Second, I have a question that I’d like to ask of you and all of the other incredible writers (and readers) on your site: What are your top recommendations for a Realtor just starting out in today’s market? What are the most important things that I can be doing to guarantee my future success?
 
I realize that I have picked a very difficult time to start as a Realtor, but I’m convinced that once I weather this storm and become successful now, I can look forward to a great career in the future. I also believe that a positive outlook (even in the toughest times) can be a tremendous asset.
 
Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice that you share. I look forward to reading (and contributing to!) your blog in the years to come.
 
All the best,
Nicole Ford
 
South Padre Island Realtor
NicoleFord.com

I’m interested in answers to this question from all perspectives. I get the impression that Nicole has things more together than most new agents, but some sincere advice for beginners will be welcomed, I’m sure, by the ninety-and-nine folks who didn’t have the guts Nicole exhibits by asking the question.

So what should a new agent do to keep body and soul together in this market?

Technorati Tags: , ,

January 30, 2009

Your Child Is Ugly

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

My conversation with my client earlier today started off rather pleasant, really.

Our talk was lighthearted – what were the plans for Superbowl Sunday, the latest buzz about work – the winter weather in Chicago and the prospects of warmer weather arriving soon – hopefully.  It wasn’t the reason for my call, but the banter was really my attempt to put off the inevitable.  I needed to have “the talk.”

“Your child is ugly.”

No segway – no transition – I just came out and said it.

“Your child is ugly.”

Again – silence.  I inhaled deeply expecting the click and then the drone of the dial tone, but I could still hear the background noise of the TV on the other end of the line.

“Excuse me?”  my client asked?

“Everyone thinks your child is ugly.  Especially me.”

How many times have you run into an acquaintance – maybe at the mall – where their little infant or toddler was with them in-tow.  You’re introduced to the little one – and perhaps you are taken off guard – a little.  Let’s face it – sometimes some people have ugly kids.  You wouldn’t say anything out loud or to the parents – usually – you’d smile – but in the back of your mind, you think  – “geeshh – that’s one damn ugly kid.”

Okay – I really didn’t tell my client that her child was ugly – but in a round about way, I sorta did.

Last year, at the end of October, I again sorta initiated the talk – it wasn’t as harsh as “your child is ugly” – more like – “your child may not have everything going for him, but at least he has a nice personality”.

I’ve had my client’s listing on the market now for eleven months.  We’d renewed once and reduced the price as well.  Traffic came to an absolute standstill in October – miraculously, I showed it three times this week – but with no feedback.  Just buyers starting their search – they’re testing the market.  But time has finally run out – the listing was about to expire.

Rather than continue the masquerade, I Read more

January 30, 2009

Times Are Tough – But That’s No Reason To Be A Thief

by

Associate Broker

Author website

I haven’t had a good rant in a while… and unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to have one right now – so the Reader’s Digest condensed version will have to do.

Most agents who have been in this business a few years or more know when something doesn’t look right. We’ll see something – and although we don’t know the underlying logic… we instinctively know it’s just not right.

This morning, I was perusing some rental properties for a client. As with listings for sale, it’s not uncommon to find some agents who are offering a ridiculously low co-broke. This morning was no different.

This particular agent is offering a 10% co-broke if you show the property. Since many brokerages charge transaction fees – the co-broke on this listing could easily be less than the transaction fee. Kinda gives “co-broke” a whole new meaning.

Now don’t get me wrong – a 10% referral fee for sending the client to a property shown by the listing agent is just fine. But 10% for bringing the tenant and showing the property is a non-starter – I don’t care who’s doing the paperwork.

Just for giggles and grins – I pulled up this agent’s recent history. One sold listing and more than sixty leased listings. Every single one of them offered a measly 10% co-broke… and all but two were leased out by – drum roll please – the listing agent.

[snarky comment] What an unexpected surprise! [/snarky comment]

Of course, both of those co-oped listings rented out for full asking price… while nearly every single one of the double-ended listings involved a rent reduction… sometimes several hundreds of dollars in rent reduction.

Now maybe you think that I’m just whining about some agent who is too greedy to offer a more generous co-broke – that’s fair. Maybe you think that I believe that a co-broke of 25% is more appropriate. I will tend to agree with you on both counts.

But there is an underlying ethical problem here.

When you list a property for lease and offer a ridiculously low co-broke – you are denying your client the best possible chance for Read more

January 29, 2009

The rest of the real estate industry might be Pinocchio — false in every particular — but nothing prevents you from being genuine

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Real estate is the most unbusinesslike business in the history of business.

I don’t want to defend that statement comprehensively, because it’s late and I’m tired, but I can offer some data points.

When we sat down with Greg Tracy, I argued to him that licensing inhibits the kind of competition for reputation that we expect and depend upon when deciding which restaurant to go to, for instance, or which auto mechanic to use. Instead, in real estate, after 90 hours of nonsense classes, we say, “Here’s your license, kid. Get out there and wreck someone’s finances!”

I met with a new buyer client on Wednesday, and we had a wonderful time cataloging all the things Realtors and brokers would do if residential real estate were organized like any other sort of business.

What kinds of things?

If real estate were a real business, Realtors would market the damn product, instead of engaging in two or three acts of rain-dancing and then waiting — for months or even years — for the rain to come.

If real estate were a real business, Realtors and brokers wouldn’t be so transparently mercenary about using, abusing and burning through their clients. One of the huge benefits of real estate weblogging is that Realtors are openly discussing the tricks they deploy to strong-arm their “leads.” In no other business do vendors have such contempt for consumers.

(Incidentally, although I say this all the time, apparently no one believes me: Consumers read industry-focused weblogs. When you admit that you do certain things to “force people to call,” you’re not telling them anything they didn’t already know about the real estate business.)

If real estate were a real business, commissions would be divorced and incentives would be aligned to put the agent and the client on the same side in negotiations. The longer the real estate industry delays in reforming its practices, the greater the opening it offers to vendors offering a better or cheaper alternative to traditional real estate.

I love it when I really get to talk to my clients, because I conceal nothing from them. We do well by doing good: This is Read more

January 27, 2009

Turning LiquidBlue into steady green: Is it possible to found a new real estate brokerage without going broke?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Cleveland real estate broker John Kalinowski and I have been batting around some ideas of his on how to structure his new brokerage to make it work well for everyone — clients, agents and ownership. Surely I’m not the best person to ask about this, since we are doing everything we can to avoid adding agents. So John decided to throw it out to the Bloodhounds — contributors, commenters and readers — to see if y’all can come up with better ideas.

Here’s John’s epistle to the dawgs:

Hi Greg!

I’m reaching out to you and the Bloodhound community for a little advice as I prepare to take the next step in the fascinating world of real estate brokerage. I left RE/MAX in early December to start Liquid Blue Realty with a secret weapon of sorts, a custom sign sign idea built around your original concept. So far the response has been beyond incredible. It takes a ton of work to create each sign, and they’re not cheap, but the attraction is unlike anything I’ve seen in our area.

Our market is in a state of transition, just like everywhere else, with agents concerned about whether or not their brokers will survive, and struggling with monthly desk fees and transaction charges. Right now I have one other truly excellent agent working with me, along with two part-time admin assistants who have the ability to work full time. I’m ready to start talking to other agents, and I plan on being very selective in who I choose to join our company. Our approach to listing homes is an important part of our business, and providing a reliable, repeatable listing experience to the public is one of my main goals.  No matter who a seller works with at our company, I want to make sure they receive the same attention to listing detail and transaction management as I bring to my clients.

Where I’m stuck is how to best create a compensation plan that makes sense, particularly with all the extra services we intend to provide to our agents.  We will partner with them on their listings, taking Read more

January 26, 2009

No One On The Corner Has Swagger Like Us: A Game Plan For Twitter, and Comments on the RE.NET.

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

Twitter is mostly useless.  Mostly.  For Realtors, it quickly descends into an online echo chamber of people telling one another how great they are, and how they’d never cold call…and oddly, how much their business is down, and how many people screwed them out of something.  What a drag.  Realtors, PLEASE.  Support each other, don’t spread the misery.

Twitter is mostly useless.  Most Realtors are also mostly  useless, so A would follow  B.  Now, I’ve been on the record saying twitter is mostly useless.  I do it anyway.  This will get mumbling idiots crying, “HypoTwit” as if it was the worst sin I can commit.  Whatever, I’m here to win.  Think whatcho like.  I intend to continue, and I intend to sift through the useless BS and make the most out of Twitter.  I intend to make $25,000 on Twitter in the next 65 days.    Any Realtor could, so could any mortgage broker, or any of us revolting ‘vendors.’

The plan is untested and I know it will work.  Watch:

1.) Add people in my area/field.   For a Realtor® it’ll be people in the area.   A chorus of other Realtors® thinking they are cool does nothing for their AMEX bill, and creates a false sense of efficacy.  Cut through that.

2. Have an auto responder.  http://tweetlater.com is.  I’m genuinely interested in people, so I invite them to send me their best blog post.  I’m going to something better soon, but you get the gist.  (follow me, I’m @genuinechris).

3.  Hat tip to the mighty Brian Brady.  Pick up the phone.  I get 6-9 adds a day.  About 3 are Internet marketing douchebags that offer no value.  About 4-6 are worthwhile people in various stages of Social media development and proficiency.   These are the people I’m going to call. Hi, thanks for adding me on Twitter, is there anything–anything–I can do for you right now?  Think of me when you….

4. Add EVERYONE into Heap.  Connect on LinkedIn/FaceBook (and MySpace, while it still lasts).  Fill in the puzzle, try to get ’em everywhere else, and get some type of  newsletter out.  Call ’em on a regular (six months) Read more

January 25, 2009

I Prefer Vera Wang

by

Chicago Broker Owner Realtor | RE 2.0 Blogger

Author website

I am not a gay man but I’d play one on television if I thought there was a Golden Globe in it for me.  In fact, my wife insists that her next husband will indeed, be a gay man and I’m cool with that as long as I’m not still around to witness all the fabulous shopping thrown back  in my face.  And  just so you know that this Op-Ed is not coming from a squinted biased eye, I’m hereby going on cyber-record to announce to the entire Blogosphere that our bride’s maid was a male fashion designer, my best man was a lesbian, and we first encountered our bisexual ceremonial minister at a coffee shop in Boystown.  If you don’t believe me,  just ask our poor parents.  And perhaps this is why a certain Jason Wu recently ‘Requested’ my Friendship on Facebook.  (The fact that I even know who the man is serves as the premise for this piece.)

And thus, without doth protesting too much, if you ever met me in person you’d clearly see that I’m not physically fit enough to be gay—or at least, not the sort of gay I’d prefer if druthers were in order. I do know a little bit about fashion, though, and I have to declare that I am totally pissed that Michelle Obama did not wear Maria Pinto at the Inauguration. There, it’s out. I said it.

Allow me to digress.  Maria Pinto is a well known Chicago based fashion designer who studied under Geoffrey Beene.  She is the twin sister of my best friend and managing broker, Joe Pinto,  and a personal friend and designer-of-choice of my wife, Mona. For the past 18 months,  none other than the Michelle Obama, has been  frequenting  the Pinto showroom for complimentary couture and thus, dangling the possibility of  wearing Maria Pinto for The Inauguration.  There were nods and winks but I can say no more.  And since ‘ The Dress ‘  will ultimately hang in the Smithsonian alongside the likes of Jackie Kennedy and First Ladied others…well, needless to say…this was all a pretty big deal Read more

January 23, 2009

David Bartels Redefines Mortgage Originators as “Borrower Advocates”

by

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

Author website

I had fun today because  I got to hang out with a bunch of mortgage salespeople.  I drove up the 5 to Irvine, epicenter of the sub-prime mortgage industry, to see the High Performance Strategies Seminar, hosted by David Bartels and Greg Frost.  David Bartels is an executive with Loan Magic .  Greg Frost is America’s first billion dollar originator.  The cool part about their accomplishments  is that they do the right thing.  Both are highly-principled salespeople who hustle.

David impressed me with his definition of our job as a “borrower’s advocate”.  He suggested that we would do well to align ourselves squarely with the borrowers.  While he never suggested that our lender partners are the enemies, his message was quite clear.  Originators need to help borrowers FIRST.  Banks are so puckered today that borrowers need a guide to help them interpret loan offerings, argue their case for approval, and secure the best terms possible.  When mortgage brokers fully embrace that concept, we will have earned the public’s trust.  Here’s David on Mortgage Sales Blog:

For some reason, originators get offended when a potential client wants to know detailed information about the terms of their new loan prior to completing a full application.

The mortgage rate question is a buying sign, not a shopping sign.

They ask about rates because all of the advertising in the news and media leads borrowers to believe that mortgage rates are a consistent means of measuring one broker or banker over another.

In reality, most borrowers have more important criteria for selecting a loan officer to do business with, like whether or not they can trust you.

The rate question is basically a qualifier. They’re not shopping rates, they are shopping you. It gives the borrower some insight into you level of transparency and ability to communicate on their terms.

How you answer the rate question will ultimately determine your success or failure at earning a borrower’s business.

Think about it, if a potential client is willing to speak with you about rates, then they are obviously interested in opening a dialogue about how your mortgage options will impact their financial goals.

What would Read more

January 22, 2009

Active Rain + Trulia = ?

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

Before everyone goes off on me here, let me state CLEARLY that I have no confirmed knowledge of the two joining forces. No marriage license, no paparazzi photo of one proposing to the other. No formal announcement arriving in the mail. So is there a wedding? Shacking up?

Who knows…only the two people involved.

I have no “scoop” here…but enquiring minds want to know. 😉

Jon Karlen reported some interesting happenings here. That was a while ago. So AR is looking to pick up MLS feeds.

Then a thread popped up a couple of days ago at Real Estate Webmasters here.

Read the links in there on Active Rain as well. You will see what’s making people think that at a BARE minimum, there’s some reason to believe that something is going on.

From my vantage point, I can see benefits to both entities if they were to tie the knot, shack up, or form some kind of alliance, either publicly or just a backseat (so to speak) sort of thing. From their point of view it would be great. They are certainly each primping themselves for the date described in the REW post.

From a REALTORS vantage point, and from those who have written content for months and years on AR or Trulia, would this be a good thing? My guess is the REALTOR community would say a resounding NO. From an Search Engine perspective, I’d agree. Big time.

Two questions. To AR & T execs: Are you in talks? To REALTORS: Does it matter to you?

I have far more questions than answers, and I think it will be interesting to see it play out…

More (if) as this develops.

January 21, 2009

Selling real estate the engenu way: Because I can make content-rich web sites so easily, I can make my points more convincingly

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Can premium rental homes in suburban Phoenix throw off positive cash-flow at 75% of market rents?

An investor asked me that question the other day. It’s an academic problem, really, a matter of costing out typical homes to see how they perform under that scenario.

I can do that much standing on my head, but answering a question like that with a spreadsheet is not terribly satisfying. We live in a data-rich world, and I wanted for my investor to understand exactly what we were talking about. So not just the spreadsheet, but also MLS listings of typical homes. And not just the listings, but also detailed photos of those homes, with descriptions of what might be wrong with each one.

In fact, I could have answered the question any way I wanted, from tap-dancing on the telephone to an attempt to set a showing appointment. But I know from experience that the more questions I can answer in a completely credible fashion, the greater my chances of forging a long-term client relationship.

And that’s a big “Duh!” — isn’t it? How would I want to be treated if I were thinking of dropping some substantial fraction of a million dollars on investment real estate?

And this is where engenu comes in. I can shoot the spreadsheet across immediately, as an appetizer. But I’m not selling spreadsheets, I’m selling houses, so I put together a list of houses that I thought might be financially impressive. I toured each one, taking photos of everything, then came home and built an engenu web site from my findings.

I’ve been talking about engenu for nearly a year, but I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten the point all the way across. We use engenu to build our single-property web sites and to provide supporting documentation when we blog about homes for sale. We use it as a way of previewing homes for out-of-town buyers and investors, and as a way of communicating staging advice to our sellers. The language of real estate is photography, and engenu enables us to build (and rebuild) large, photo-rich web sites with minimal effort.

So: I came Read more

January 18, 2009

A Tale of Two Paradigms

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

Glenn Kelman’s recent Call to Arms brought to light for me the two  paradigms that exist within the realm of transacting real estate – the traditional broker/agent-centric view and the evolving consumer-centric view.  Ultimately both paradigms attempt to better serve the consumer, however, the perspectives are very different.

Glenn’s post queries why traditional brokers, i.e agent-centric business model, don’t embrace the consistent measure of customer satisfaction on an agent by agent basis after the completion of a transaction.   The question is extremely valid – measuring customer satisfaction is a way to preserve the integrity of the broker and/or agents’ brand.

I question the validity of the metric – customer satisfaction – what is the criteria?  In fact Glenn asked, “how do you measure customer satisfaction?”   Defining the criteria is critical to measuring the ultimate value of the outcome – is 9 out of 10 a valid measure?  What does 9 mean?

I’ve held the QSC – Quality Service Certified – Certification for almost 6 years.  After each transaction, a third party administers a survey to measure how satisfied my clients were with the service level I provide.  Interestingly, never once in 6 years have I had a potential client or prospect contact me because of my rating.   In an agent-centric model, I measure customer sat by referral and repeat clients.  I get measured on a scale from 1 to 5 and have been able to maintain a high level of satisfaction, but ultimately my clients have spoken more effectively about my skills and knowledge rather than my score.

While it may be important to know whether or not a particular consumer may recommend or even use the services of an agent and/or broker, I believe I need to know the “why?”.

The question has been asked many different times – what do consumers want?  Again, Glenn asserts that consumers are seeking more metrics on agents.  Depending upon whether or not a client is buying or selling, their wants have remained fairly consistent.

Buyers want assistance finding the the right home.  They also want help negotiating the sales terms and price.

Sellers want to price their homes competively Read more

« Older posts Newer posts »

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.

Media Contacts