Archive for October, 2007
Blog Action Day 2007 – The Environment
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It’s Blog Action Day, 2007. The purpose of Blog Action Day is to get bloggers to unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind. In this inaugural year, the issue is the environment. There are over 15,000 blogs and websites reaching an audience of over 12 million people who are participating, including Google and the United Nations.
So, this post is not intended to preach or influence. It is what it is: simply my contribution to the discussion.
My main concern about the environment is the changes we’re seeing in the weather all around the world. Whether you call it global warming, and subscribe to everything everyone is saying about that, it’s pretty obvious to me that something is changing. And, I admit to being a bit frustrated over the fact that our elected officials don’t seem to be as concerned about the environment as a lot of the rest of us.
In fact, the EPA prefers the term “climate change” rather than global warming – evidently because climate change encompasses a number of causal factors such as changes in ocean circulation and changes in the Earth’s orbit. On the other hand, they also say:
- “Scientists are certain that human activities are changing the composition of the atmosphere, and that increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases will change the planet’s climate. But they are not sure by how much it will change, at what rate it will change, or what the exact effects will be.”
Personally, I don’t recall a lot of talk about changing ocean circulation or orbital changes. And, I don’t really care what the exact effects will be. Messing with something that’s been working for all of recorded history just doesn’t sound like a good idea.
So, I’m hoping our governments at all levels will increase their focus on the issue of the environment, and I’ll place a lot of emphasis on that issue when casting my vote in the next elections.
I tried to think of ways to tie this post about the environment in with real estate marketing. Here are some of the ideas that came to mind:
- Save trees by increasing Internet Marketing and reducing direct mail.
- Reduce the time your car is on the road by providing links to detailed online listings with virtual tours, and encouraging your clients to only visit those homes they’re really interested in.
- Establish a home office – real estate lends itself extremely well to working from home, and you’ll reduce the carbon emissions you produce whenever you can avoid going into the office.
Here are some useful resources that address the issue:
- Things we as individuals can do to help stop global warming
- The EPA’s website on climate change
- An initiative of the Sierra Club called Cool Cities – visit this site to find out what your city is doing
- There’s a number of resources to learn more about environmental issues on the BlogActionDay.org website
Prices for Domain Names Increase
· CommentsAs you may know, we host a registrar account through GoDaddy at http://GIWIDomains.com. The reason for that is to encourage everyone with a domain name to set up their own domain registrar account, and GoDaddy is one of the best registrars out there.
You may wonder where the domain name came from. Even though our sites’ logo says: “Build Real Estate Results with Getting It Write, Inc”, most people think Build Real Estate Results is our corporate name, but the actual incorporated name is Getting It Write, Inc (that’s the logo to the left that you may have seen before) - thus, the name of the site.
You will notice that the pricing on our registrar page has increased. This is due to the fact that ICANN approved a price increase, and we needed to respond accordingly. Unlike some companies who sponsor a registration site, we keep our prices in line with the ones you would get if you went directly to GoDaddy.
I like GoDaddy because their prices are fair, the support is good, they provide a number of free services that other registrars charge for, and they are quick.
The time it takes to change where your domain name ends up when someone types it into their web browser is typically quoted as 24-48 hours. Even GoDaddy quotes those numbers. However, my experience has been that the changes happen much more quickly than that with GoDaddy, usually the same day you make a change.
The issue of domain registration is important in the real estate industry because there are so many people who register their domain names through their vendors. That puts another entity between you and your control of your domain name.
After your Internet presence is linked to a particular domain name, it is your Internet presence, and you need to control what happens to it without checking with someone else.
So, if you don’t have your own domain registrar account, consider creating one today! You will receive a one-year extension on any domain name that you transfer, too.
Are Short Sales in Your Future?
· CommentsThere’s a lot of talk about the 100% mortgages out there, major adjustments in existing mortgage interest rates and areas where home prices are falling. Many homeowners are going to end up in trouble and will need to sell their homes before they end up in foreclosure.
In other situations, you may obtain a listing, and then discover that the price you recommend setting for the home is less than what the seller owes.
One way or another, you may become involved in handling ”short sales”. A short sale, in simple terms, is a sale where the lender allows the homeowner to sell their home for less than the amount of the mortgage.
If you’re thinking about getting involved in short sales, you’ll need to study the pros and cons in depth. To get started, you can review NAR’s Field Guide to Short Sales. That page contains links to a variety of resources that discuss the impact for the homeowner, the buyer, and you as the agent.
In particular the article about succeeding at short sales is a great read. The article addresses a number of critical issues including the pros and cons, alternatives, how to approach the lender, pricing a short sale home, what compensation you can expect as the selling agent, and the overall long-term impact on the seller.
It’s obvious that short sales are not going to put you in a full-commission situation, and a lot of patience is required. But, if short sales are becoming a fact of life in your market, these resources will help you determine if and how you will get involved.
I live with a really old cat. Her name is Jenny, and she turned 21 in March of this year. I started my life as a cat-hater. My family had a cat when I was young, and we shared a mutual animosity.
I’ve known Jenny her entire life. There was a time when I travelled frequently and having another dog just wasn’t in the cards. And, since my brother was adopted by a cat who turned out to be pregnant, he ended up with 7 cats instead of one.
So, strictly to help him out, I adopted two of the family. The deal I made with my brother was that I could take the kittens on a trial basis. But, as it turned out, I became one of those rare breeds – a dog and cat person. But, I digress.
If you’re an animal lover, you probably consider your pets like members of the family. When you live with a really old cat, you discover how human cats really are. A really old cat acts very much like the really old people I’ve known.
Jenny is very set in her ways. And, at this point in her life, she doesn’t feel the need to beat around the bush to get what she wants. Mornings are spent sleeping on the packing box with the comforter on top that puts her at just the right height to look out the window behind my desk.
At mid-day, her schedule calls for eating a few cat treats. If my schedule is not running on time, she will bat at my legs complaining loudly until I make the trip to the kitchen for the required treats. Jenny is deaf as a post, and her conversation has increased in volume accordingly.
Her most important job, however, is making sure I get enough sleep. If I stay up too late, she’s always quick to remind me that it’s past time to go to bed. Bed time for Jenny consists of some cuddling after which she curls up at the foot of the bed. Once I am asleep, she repairs to the office to sleep on the packing box.
If, however, I get up during the night, all her hard work has gone to waste. Complaining loudly, she stalks back into the bedroom, and we repeat the earlier process of cuddling, curling up, then back to the packing box. I know because I can fool her into thinking I’m asleep to see what happens.
Living with a really old cat is similar to living with your mother. But, I’m not really complaining. She can yell at me all she wants. I know she’s only doing it for my own good.
How Valuable are Online Lead Generators?
· CommentsThere are lots of online lead generators. And, for every company providing leads, there are lots of stories from customers – some are happy with the service and some wouldn’t work with another lead generator if their life depended on it.
I’ve noticed that for every legitimate company providing services to the real estate industry, there are many more who are just out to make a quick buck. It seems to me that the real estate industry has more than its fair share of service firms of dubious value. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are a number of reasons for that phenomenon:
- Real estate is often more than a full-time job, and it’s tempting to make decisions without doing all the due diligence that would be helpful
- When leads are few and far between, it is very tempting to try an approach that “guarantees” quality prospects
- Many agents put reviewing their marketing strategies at the very bottom of their To Do list – the result is that agents don’t cancel marketing services that aren’t providing a return on investment, and those marketing firms continue to make money and attract new clients
Most of the work we do is to help real estate professionals set up lead-generating websites, so I’ll admit that I don’t have a lot of experience with online lead generators. But, if you’re looking into online lead generation opportunities, here’s an article from RISMedia that might be of interest.
If you have an opinion about online lead generators, good or bad, feel free to leave a comment!
