BRER Real Estate Marketing Blog

Another way to write the title of this post would be:  thoughts that get you into a continuous loop.  And, there aren’t many of those types of thoughts.  At least not for me.

Some people think the question, “Which came first - the chicken or the egg?”  is a thing with no end (TWNE).  But, I don’t get caught up in that one.  To me, it’s true that we don’t know the definitive answer to that question, but I think everyone agrees that there is an answer.  It had to be either one or the other.  I might guess that creationists are on the side of the chicken and evolutionists lean toward the egg, but I don’t really want to get in the middle of that discussion.

For one woman in 1994, this question was a TWNE:  “If you could live forever, would you and why?”  Sound familiar?  That was asked of Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss America Contest.  Amazingly enough, lots of folks must have agreed with her - about the question being a TWNE.  She was chosen as Miss America 1995.  Here’s her answer:

“I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,”   

Note the comma after that last “forever”.   I’m not sure that she wouldn’t still be stating and restating that TWNE if the MC hadn’t needed to give some of the other contestants a chance to nail their questions.

Here’s my TWNE:  What holds up the planets?  I don’t see this as a religious issue — however you want to think the planets got here, how do you think the whole place stays together?

Here’s the loop I get into.  So, the planets are just out in space.  But, the centrifugal force of us going around the sun creates a gravitational pull that keeps all the planets in place.  Although I don’t see how.  It seems to me that the level of gravity that would be required to keep the Earth in place should be enough of a pull so that if you dropped something really light - like a Kleenex, it should fall up, not down.

So, then what holds the Sun and stuff in place?  Well, we’re in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is a “large system of stars held together by mutual gravitation and isolated from similar systems by vast regions of space”.  So, now we’ve got regions of space which certainly aren’t solid, and which have black holes in them which suck in anything in their path.  Except for the galaxies and planets.  For some reason.  And whatever does get “sucked in” disappears and goes. . . where??

And, here’s the kicker.  If you could sit high above all this stuff and see as far as there are galaxies, what would you see at the “horizon”?  Is there a horizon?  Are there an infinite number of galaxies and regions of space?  This is where I get a brain freeze, and it’s not from chugging a frozen Margarita.

So, I finally give up trying to get my head around it and decide that we just may be encased in an amulet hanging around a cat’s neck. . .

Had a few discussions about ways to get contact information from Internet visitors lately.  There seem to be two schools of thought:

• If someone wants information from my site they’ll have to give up their contact information for it!!  After all, I’m not running a charity!!!
• I hate it when I’m on a website and I have to complete a form to get access to information.  So, I can’t bring myself to require registration for anything on my site.  People will just have to want to contact me! 

Hmm . . .  How about a middle ground?  Give a Little, Take a Little??

Try this exercise the next time you have an idea for adding tips or tools to your website:  Write an outline.  Now, you probably haven’t written an outline since you were in school, but I’m sure you remember how it goes.

I.  First Main Topic
       A. First Sub-Topic
       B.  Second Sub-Topic
II. Second Main Topic
      A.  First Sub-Topic
      B.  Second Sub-Topic
And, so on………

Then, take all the Main Topics and summarize them in prose (meaning paragraphs, for example).  Take all the Sub-Topics and put them into a checklist or a chart or something a bit spiffier than just paragraphs of content.

Put the Main Topic prose on one of your web pages, followed by an offer for the chart or checklist.  Naturally, if you make the prose interesting and valuable enough, people are going to want the details, and they won’t feel put upon if they have to fill out a form to get them.

The best way to do the form is to have the chart sent to the email address the visitor provides immediately after they complete the form.  Instant gratification - always a good thing!

So, you give a little and take a little.  And, starting a relationship with that person just got a bit easier because you know of at least one topic in which they are very interested!

I’m running a bit behind on the blog this week.  But, it’s not my fault, really.  I’ve been spending time that I would have normally devoted to the blog on updating our www.BuildRealEstateResults.com website.

Just like the cobbler’s children, poor BRER.com hadn’t had a facelift since it was created in 2005.  What tends to happen is that our sites get tweaked when we have something new to add, but those additions don’t always flow well into the overall structure of the site.  So, the poor site was beginning to look like a coat of many colors — random copy and images tacked on top of what did make sense at one point in time.

If you haven’t seen the site in the last couple days, please do stop by.  Any feedback you have on design or content would be most appreciated!

 PS - Did you notice the buttons on the top of the left column here on the blog??  Finally got some links to and from the main part of the site.  Better late than never, as they say…

It’s really puzzling that the powers that be make completing a short sale such a time-consuming and frustrating process.  I don’t mean that I think lenders should be happy to take a loss on a mortgage, but I would think they’d act more aggressively on their fiduciary responsibility to minimize losses.

A Clayton Holdings, Inc analysis quoted by the Wall Street Journal found that a short sale typically results in a 19% loss of the loan amount.  Homes that are sold after foreclosure typically result in a 40% loss.  Really, I didn’t need someone’s analysis to tell me that.  I think it’s pretty much common sense.

So, I’ve always been puzzled about the lack of support lenders seem to give to the short sale process.  Once a lender is convinced that a mortgagee doesn’t have the ability to either continue payments or sell the property to pay off the mortgage, why wouldn’t they want to take the next best alternative?

That same WSJ article announced a couple of things Freddie and Fannie are finally starting to do to make the short sale process more reasonable.  Within the next few months, Fannie Mae says it will try to streamline the short sale process by giving brokers an up front indication of the minimum offer that would be acceptable in a short sale.

Top service organizations for Freddie Mac have already been given greater latitude to accept short sales on homes where the homeowner is still able to make monthly payments.  I’ll bet that policy will provide motivation for more people to find a solution to their mortgage problems - maybe rather than just abandoning the house.

Right now, if an owner wants to do a short sale to save their credit history, it seems counterproductive for the lender to force them to stop paying their mortgage to illustrate their financial troubles.  I think that’s what calculators and net worth statements are for.

We can’t make the sub-prime mess go away, but it’s heartening to see lenders supporting the more reasonable ways to handle the situation.

I can’t bring myself to trust my gas gauge.  I know it’s silly, but I just don’t think the gas gauge looks like a very trustworthy instrument.  I don’t usually try to fool with the gauge.  I’d rather put gas in the car before I need to than take a chance of running out.  But, I’m not driving a lot of miles these days, and I must admit I forget to look at the gas gauge.

So, then the little red light comes on telling me I’m running low on gas.  What does that mean?  How low is low, anyway?  I saw something on TV once where a reporter was testing the gas gauge on his car. 

His owner’s manual said he could drive something like 30 miles after the light came on.  He even had one of those gauges that tells you how many miles you’ve got before you come to an abrupt halt.  According to his test, he drove something like three times as far as he was supposed to be able to go.

Even that didn’t convince me, though.  So, I’m always torn.  If the light comes on and you’re late for an appointment, what do you do?  Do you stop for gas and end up being later?   Or, do you assume that the car company was trying to be nice and turns on that little light way before it’s necessary?  It’s a puzzle.  I usually go with the conservative alternative.  I don’t know why - I’ve never had a bad experience running out of fuel.

In fact, the only time I ever ran out of gas was the time I was in a car with what I found out later was a defective gas gauge.  And, that wasn’t really a bad experience. 

As it happened, the car engine sputtered to a stop at the top of a pretty good incline I needed to go down.  And, there was a gas station at the bottom of the downgrade.  So, I put the car into neutral and prayed that I’d have enough momentum to make it to the station.

Actually, I had momentum to spare.  I made the turn into the station without even needing to screech the tires, I pulled around the busy gas pumps and came to a stop in front of a pump on the far side of the station.

As I got out of the car, I felt like people were staring.  Looking around, I discovered that indeed they were.  What hadn’t occurred to me was that what they saw was a car, evidently operating without an engine, pulling into the station and rolling up to a pump.

I thought about trying to explain, but gave it up as way too complicated.

TREC - Sounds like something run by someone named Jean Luc Picard or one of the Vulcans.  But, of course it isn’t.  Actually, it’s a gateway national MLS consumer tool well, it’s supposed to be an information-rich national property database intended for use by REALTORS®.

The acronym stands for The Real Estate Channel, and there’s an Interim Report out about it that was prepared by the Presidential Advisory Group that is putting the project together.  Before you pass it by as another one of the thousands of real estate information sites, think about some of the possibilities.

The Advisory Group’s report states that there isn’t good, trustworthy real estate information that can be easily accessed.  I don’t think anyone can argue with that.  The group also said that “Without convenient, immediate access to information to analyze/interpret for their clients and customers, REALTORS® will no longer be at the center of real estate transactions.”  I don’t really agree with that conclusion.

I do see all the consumer-oriented informational websites adding confusion to the process of analyzing real estate market information.  Without consistent and accurate information on those sites, it goes back to the REALTOR® to sort things out. 

Even if all consumers believed that they could get all the accurate information they wanted from the Internet, agents are still going to be the best resource for negotiating, winding through the quagmire of paperwork, anticipating and heading off glitches in the process, etc.

But, imagine yourself in the position of having the definitive information - the accurate information.  Imagine the information being in a form that you can get to easily and quickly.  Imagine that the information has already been “analyzed and categorized” so that an advanced degree isn’t required to understand it.

While we’re at it, imagine that this system does promote the setting of standards so that the information is consistent across the country.  Then, imagine that consumers looked to the real estate agents to provide this Rosetta Stone* of the real estate industry.

Pretty interesting picture, isn’t it?  And, I’m sure that this project will generate quite a bit of discussion over time.  One comment I saw online was a derisive comment about the system being national.  The idea was that since real estate is local, why would an agent need a national system?  Well, because there are agents all over the country.  Duh.  I think that’s a sign of that knee-jerk “Oh, this must be a stupid idea” reaction.

Can NAR pull this off?  I don’t know, but I think it will be interesting to see what happens!

__________

*a clue, breakthrough, or discovery that provides crucial knowledge for the solving of a puzzle or problem

More and more of the agents I talk to have listings in areas that attract overseas buyers.  Most of the time an agent looking for an international audience is in a resort location, or they live in a city that’s easily reachable on international flights.

Atlanta, for example, isn’t really a resort town, but it is easy for international travelers to reach.  For example, a number of years ago a friend of mine worked in an art gallery in Atlanta.  Sir Elton John stopped in one day.   I’m not sure if he still lives in Atlanta, but he’s an example of the type of person who might be looking for luxury real estate in the states.

In case you’re interested, Elton John purchased some tens of thousands of dollars worth of paintings when he was at the gallery.  My friend was pretty amazed when he mentioned to his companion that the art would really brighten up his closet. . .

In any event, I’ve rarely heard any mention of using Craig’s List to reach an international audience.  Take a look at the real estate listings in London and Berlin, for example.  Most of them are in English (yes, the London listings are all in English), and many are from the US and other countries.

I know there is controversy over whether Craig’s List is useful for advertising real estate.  If anyone has an opinion, especially about international listings, please let us know!

Google Does It Again

Some days it seems like keeping up with all the Google toys could turn into a full-time job!  The latest thing I’ve come across is a free online chat facility that is driven by Google Talk.

Google Talk is Google’s version of Instant Messaging.  I’ve never used it because I started using Yahoo’s IM and just never worried about other messaging systems.  Google Talk gives you access to instant messaging, PC to PC voice calls, file transfers and GMail Notifications.  And they’ve fairly recently added Chatback.

The Chatback icon is what you’re seeing over to the right.  You’re shown as Available any time you are logged into Google Talk.

I tried it out just talking to myself.  Yes, it seems that not only do I talk to myself using voice, but now I can even talk to myself online.  That’s the only way I tested it and it seemed to work fine.  If someone has a minute, try clicking on the chat - I’d like to see how it works when I’m not talking to myself.

Trying It Out

If you want to try it out, here’s what you need to do:

• Download Google Talk

• Get the Chatback code by clicking on the link under “Chatback” on the page where you downloaded Google Talk

• Put the HTML code on your website

• Login to Google Talk

When a visitor on your website clicks to chat with you, you’ll get a pop up window on your monitor that has an amazingly long link on it.  When you click on that link, a browser window will open with a link you must click to initiate the chat from your side.  A chat window will open on your monitor and you’re ready to sell a house!

I’m writing this late on Tuesday, April 15, 2008.  And, you know what day that is, right?  Due to some fiddling around with a new CPA, tax time got a tad bit delayed this year, and I ended up spending a lot more time today worrying about it than I wanted.  And, the bottom line numbers were not as advantageous as I’d hoped. 

So, since I’m still rather grumpy, there will be no typical whimsy in this post.   If I wrote about something that bugged me today, I’d probably be taken away by the people from that three letter agency.  But, I did come across an issue that I’d like some feedback on, and today would be a good time to ask.

Do you ever find that the more people who become involved in a real estate transaction, the more complicated it gets?

If you do, have you seen the article at Inman about a new site called Fairclosingcosts.com?  This site is being developed so that home buyers and real estate and mortgage professionals can comparison shop for title insurance, appraisers, home inspectors, surveyors and termite companies.

The founder wants to be the “Zillow” for settlement services.  Their website isn’t fully active yet, but there is a call for service providers to start signing up:

“We invite you to learn more about participating in America’s first, one-stop online shopping directory empowering borrowers to find information regarding low-cost settlement services providers anywhere in the United States.”

What do you think? 

• Does this seem to you like a way of encouraging consumers going to the lowest bidder, not necessarily the best provider? 
• And, my experience has been that the closing process goes so much smoother when the parties involved have worked together before.  I don’t think anyone should have an unfair advantage by insisting on the service providers to be used.  But, if I have trusted the agent, then I’ve always thought it would make sense to work with providers they know and can vouch for.
• Does it seem like the real estate industry has just too many people finding ways to get involved?  There are a lot of other industries that could be set up so providers compete.

So, what do you think?  Is this really a bad idea or am I just being grouchy?

The mortgage and finance issues facing your clients are getting more complex all the time.  Given the mess so many mortgages are in now, the lenders are naturally changing the rules and tightening requirements.

One way to keep your visitors coming back is to provide them with good information and easy to use tools related to the mortgage industry.  You can find several things for your website or blog at MortgageLoan.com.

I’ve used average rate widgets from BankRate, but I wasn’t familiar with MortgageLoan.com until recently.  They have quite a few mortgage widgets that might be of interest to your prospects and clients, including:

• A 20 in one calculator that can help answer questions such as, “Should I pay points to lower my interest rate?” and “What if I pay more each month?”
• National rate averages
• State rate averages
• A finance glossary
• News stories

The widgets are easy to use.  All you need to do is copy the code from a pop-up box and add it to your real estate web site or blog.  The widgets can be customized to blend into your site with the color controls that can be set before the code is generated.  You can also utilize an RSS Feed of current stories and articles that is updated regularly.

Overall, I was impressed with the number of tools that are available.  And, I like the look of the site.  I saw a Google ad on one page, but overall, the site is very clean.  When contrasted to the Bankrate site, it’s a nice change.