If you are not familiar with Local.com, they are localized online search tool specializing in helping people find large and small businesses within their local area. Unlike other local search tools out there Local.com contains rich review content submitted by actual customers as well as free listings within their directory.
According to Compete, Local.com’s traffic has been steadily increasing over the past few years as well and they are now just under the 10 million visitor per month mark. more...
Hi - This is an article that I recently wrote for an online trade publication that I thought would be relevant here.
Thanks
Mike
Too many marketers live in silos. Their strategy too often fails to address all the ways they could be reaching their target audience. In many cases if they are reaching their audience through the right channels the message is not consistent or integrated properly. more...
A commenter on my blog post about Craigslist, real estate and HTML said that CL is getting more aggressive about removing accounts and ads that are re-posted multiple times. The commenter is based in Austin. Is anyone else noticing this behavior?
Mostly it sounds like they are just enforcing their Terms of Use (which is probably a good thing).
The results for the XXIX Real Estate Olympiad are in.
Wow, what a huge undertaking it has been to tally the scores, taking all factors into consideration, weighted scores, removing highest and lowest scores and of course double checking the hanging chads. Thank you to all paticipants, nominees,voters and judges!
So the Medal Winners of the 2008 Real Estate Pacesetter Award, as voted by the Inman Real Estate Trends Group, are: more...
Mason Pruner, Branch Manager of Wells Fargo on Glades Road in Boca Raton recently sent me this update from Washington on The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. If you haven’t already heard, I’m sure you would like to know the new facts. more...
With the market as difficult as it is are you doing everything you can to sell your clients homes? Have you considered home swapping? If not, then why? The service we provide is FREE and easy to use. Just log into www.pad4pad.com, find your listings, claim them, add the exchange information and do a swap search. If your listings are not on our site, request your agency set up a feed to download them for free. Why not?
Greg
This is in follow up to the post last week titled Real Estate Olympics
Recap of Beijing
Mark Spitz's 36-year old record of 7 gold medals at one Olympic event, across all Olympic sports, was shattered when 23-year-old swimming machine Michael Phelps grabbed his 8th gold in Beijing and 14 all-time gold medals. Who will ever forget his 0.01 of a second photo-finish with Serbian - Wow. more...
My husband and I run our own mortgage broker office. We have never aligned ourselves to any particular Real Estate Agent, but marketed directly to homeowners hoping to refinance or move up in life. Because we have had very good success with this, and have always been the people referring TO agents instead of getting referred BY agents, we haven't depended on Agent business.
Now, however, we are being approached by four different agents in our area who want to co-market with us. more...
Curb appeal - it isn't what it used to be. There was a time when a savvy agent could get a buyer to overlook 'flaws' seen from the road. Well in today's online world, curb appeal has taken on a whole new meaning.
When buyers scan listings on REALTOR.com(r) or other real estate websites, if they aren't impressed with the photos in THREE SECONDS, they "bounce" and click onto the next listing. No matter how many print ads, how many brochures, baseball + football schedule refrigerator magnets they mail, the photos are the be all, end all for getting a listing noticed online. more...
Interpretation and Reality of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 - Arizona (Maricopa County)
Recently the House and Senate passed broad-based housing legislation that was signed into law by President Bush last week. As expected, Fannie/Freddie/and HUD has not yet communicated a majority of the program requirements to the mortgage lenders and investors.
With that disclosure, here are several key changes and how it affects you: more...
It is my pleasure to share another exciting incentive enrolled by the governor’s office toward making Florida an environmentally sound and beautiful locale for living.
On June 24, 2008, the South Florida Water Management District began negotiating an agreement to acquire as much as 187,000 acres of agricultural land owned by the United States Sugar Corporation to reestablish a part of the historic connection between Lake Okeechobee and America's Everglades. more...
BREATHE EASIER IN FLORIDA: Reducing Greenhouse Gases
As of the 16th of July 2008, a Memorandum of Understanding was drawn between the United Kingdom’s Carbon Trust and the State of Florida. The memorandum, signed in London by Michael Rea, COO of The Carbon Trust and Governor Charlie Christ, is summarized as follows: more...
Governor Charlie Crist and the Florida Association of Realtors aggressively supported the now-passed Amendment 1, originally known as the Save Our Homes Amendment begun in 1995. For those residents unsure of how Amendment 1 affects their real estate plans, here are facts from Florida Realtor Magazine: more...
Looking back on the unprecedented growth in the real estate market for the past ten years, the well-muscled housing prices seemed to have been on . . . well, steroids. While lenders matched loans and interests rates to the swelling real estate market, many observers knew the day would come when the high would hit a low.
An interesting article in Continental Airline’s July in-flight magazine called, The Silver Lining Strategy, by Chris Warren, cites real estate developers and investors across the country excited about the new real estate diagnosis. more...
Mayfair International Realty (one of Premier Estate Properties’ affiliates), based in London, England, provides me with valuable market data and an opportunity to promote some of Fort Lauderdale’s finest luxury residences. The latest report from Mayfair International Realty revealed the following facts:
1. Some Florida Statistics more...
GOOD NEWS ON FLORIDA'S HOUSING PROGNOSIS
Florida Trend Magazine has an interesting article in the July 2008 issue. A ‘prognosis’ made by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness states that the U.S. will begin recovering from its “mild” recession right about now. Good news. Florida, however, is supposed to be delayed in its recovery due to the statewide housing slump. more...
IDENTITY THEFT AND THE STEALING OF CONFIDENTIAL DATA
“Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the nation - especially in the suburbs,” says Congresswoman Melissa Bean. The FTC receives over 250,000 reports of identity theft every year and USA Today reported that in 2007 an estimated 260 million records were stolen - that amounts to 8 records stolen every second of every day.
In real estate this is also a growing concern. Here are three possible vulnerable areas of our industry that I see: more...
Margot Larkin, Assistant Vice President and Mortgage Office from Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust, recently commented on the emerging trends towards luxury real estate, which she claims is always the first asset to be super-sized, ultra-designed, and updated with the latest technology and trends.
• Design and Layout
Today’s high-end luxury residences are brimming with amenities never dreamed of years ago. “Smart” homes have been the rage for a few years, but now you can “call” your residence and pre-set the temperature, lighting, television, and more. more...
I am a successful mortgage banker in Northeast Phoenix,Cave Creek and Carefree area.I have many realtor relationships that have been very succesful in the past and now. more...
Have you ever wondered how competitive a real estate market is online. Well an agent with a very limited web presence brought up the very question on the REW Forums.
The agent wanted to know how competitive the term, Glen Cove real estate would be. Here is the link to the test page http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/thread26290.html
I'll be keeping an eye to see if the forum thread ranks within the first two pages of Google. If the thread does rank within the first few pages, then it's a clear indication that the agent needs to launch a site asap.
Do you have a real estate website? If not, you can do a Google search and find 100s if not 1000s of companies that provide real estate web design. However, only a few website companies can provide a quality site that's search engine friendly.
It's of little use to have a Great looking site and no visibility. I've known associates that have spent 10s of 1000s on sites that never seen a lead, much less a decent ROI. more...
...well, I think if you don't blog now, you may miss the boat when something leapfrogs blogging.
Either that or your laptop might fall off your lap.
Seriously.
Steve
steven.stearns@obeo.com
Obeoman
I love the internet, but I forget how much time goes by once I get on. It is also like going to the store for one item and then doing all your shopping. I love all the information and just keep clicking away. There must be a name for that, OC maybe? What will we be like in the future; just arms and head, something out of a Scifi movie? I just upgraded my laptop to Broad Band so I think it's all over now. I don't have a Blackberry yet waiting to see the next generation. What will it do next? Great time we are living in. I wonder if I see a real estate office on Mars? more...
I think that "listing websites" are a great addition to the marketing plan for home sellers. Does anyone else use them and do you have a favorite company?
Hello again!
I was just curious how many of you use guest authors on your blog? I try to write every day on my reverse mortgage blog but it's tough. I have been thinking about trying to bring on some guest contributors but wanted to see if anyone had experience doing that or having guests write on your blog. Are there any networks of guest blog writers out there?
Let me know your experiences, i'm interested to see who does what..
Thanks,
Rogan McGillis
Founder, Sr. Editor
ReverseMortgageCity.com Media Center
www.reversemortgagecity.com/blog
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to introduce myself. I"m pretty new here, it looks like the site is pretty new itself. Not sure if you all have the same issues with some of the sections as me?
Anyways, I just wanted to introduce my Reverse Mortgage blog. I try to update articles every day but it's tough. If you have any comments I would appreciate them, and if you had anything you would like to see on the blog feel free to email me. I have a lot of things planned for the site in future that should be pretty neat as well so remember to bookmark it or join our email list.
Thanks! more...
It seems that there are 2 inman groups here called "Real Estate Marketing" . The other is "Real Estate Marketing 2.0" but I don't see that it's any different. Should these not be combined? Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Lori Turoff
It seems that there are 2 inman groups here called "Real Estate Marketing" . The other is "Real Estate Marketing 2.0" but I don't see that it's any different. Should these not be combined? Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Lori Turoff
It seems that there are 2 inman groups here called "Real Estate Marketing" . The other is "Real Estate Marketing 2.0" but I don't see that it's any different. Should these not be combined? Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Lori Turoff
by Maggie Griffin, Realtor
Politics in Real Estate
Politics in the real estate industry can hurt those who choose the right from the wrong. For example, the affiliation of which a real estate professional chooses to hold their license under. Who said this, who said what, how to we really know how a real estate career for a professional can advance itself. more...
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