While real estate buyers are sitting on the fence, they are jumping right over it to participate with homeowners in the many online water cooler conversations surrounding real estate. They are talking about everything from how much to underbid on a listing price to what the rents are like in Atlanta, Georiga.
The conversation is buzzing.
Search needs to get better. I am finding it increasingly difficult to find what I need online by doing simple searches through the major search engines. I know they tweak their algorithms and are always exploring ways to gauge a site’s content so the consumer can get more relevant information, but I am still unsatisfied. I find that lately the returns I get for my results are taking me to the second or third page of Google.
A few years ago, I would have been satisfied with page one’s results.
The real estate consumer might do a few online searches for real estate and land on a website through an organic or paid advertisement. Some consumers are just going to type in their address bar what they are looking for–”3 bedroom homes in Sacramento CA”–and see where that gets them. Others might be pointed in the direction of a blog post by a social network service like Digg and StumbleUpon real estate listings.
And let’s not discount household names Craigslist and Zillow for real estate listings and home value information–consumers are going there too.
Enter the phenomena of wildfire-spreading video networks like YouTube. Recently
While looking at a recent slideshow of my children, I was moved to tears of joy. When I shared the pictures with friends and family, they too were touched by the untold story that unfolded. Acquaintances who hadn’t met my children were even moved by the pictures.
The pictures tell a story–a story of three young children finding their own way but bound to each other as siblings.
How do you make a “to-do” list that keeps you on task? Are you still writing in an agenda book or day planner? Do you use a Blackberry or other smart phone to sync your Outlook tasks, so you can connect to them while mobile? Is it working?
I know how busy life can be. Managing a career, a family and a personal schedule can feel like building an intricate pyramid. Each layer of tasks is interdependent but independent. One slip in the carefully built layers of plans can have a domino effect on the rest of your tasks.
If you enjoy walking, then check out this website that calculates the “walkability” of a city. Walk Score measures how easy it is to get around town by walking. It doesn’t weigh the most scenic walks in an area, but it does let you know if you can conveniently get to the grocery store or restaurants on foot.
My walking history
Walking. I used to do it all the time when I was a kid. I would walk to my friend’s house rather than have my parents drive me. I would walk to the convenience store in our rural downtown to get the latest pre-teen heartthrob magazine and a slushie.
Walking was fun, and a primary mode of transportation.
Enter high school and my teenage years. It sooo wasn’t cool to have anyone catch me walking.
Sweeping a big net, the recent Operation Malicious Mortgage crackdown resulted in the arrest of 400 mortgage brokers. This effort by the FBI comes in an attempt to restore consumers’ faith in the housing market and police fraudulent actions.
Most reports are applauding this effort and taking a “You play, you pay” stance. I agree with squelching fraudulent efforts. What I am more interested in are the actions that encourage the players not to begin.
Mother Nature has recently stretched her mighty power down on Missouri, Iowa and several counties in Wisconsin. Torrential rains have resulted in flooded towns and counties, leaving displaced homeowners and those trying to save their homes from the water.
Steven Stearns, a fellow associate of a real estate community network I participate in, lives in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin–one of the towns that was hit with flooding. I guess what struck me the most were the pictures Steve added to his blog post, “GRAB YOUR BOOTS AND LEND A HAND: A WEEK IN THE WISCONSIN FLOOD”.
If you read his post, you’ll see a picture of the flood waters creeping up in his backyard. You will also see a rainbow in the sky.
Take a look at the video below. Through Steve’s lens and narration, you see what the effects of flooding have done to his hometown of Fort Atkinson. I am touched–Fort Atkinson is only about 40 miles northwest of my hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Except for the heavy rains and constant tornado warnings last week, we were untouched.
There are many volunteers and Wisconsin folk are generally always ready to give their neighbor a helping hand. The best place to direct assistance and donations is by pledging with the Red Cross.
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Connect2Agent has been assisting real estate buyers and sellers in finding the real estate agent that is best suited to their needs since 2002. Akin to dog years, you could equate that to 41 offline years of serious matchmaking business.
All that expertise amounts to a sizable amount of data. When it comes to real estate, the reports on the Internet are vast. You can find out what has sold and listed in the past 30 days in your town, where to relocate to and what towns have home values that have appreciated the most.
Connect2Agent would like to share the top 25 cities in which real estate consumers have searched for a real estate agent on its website. Ladies and gentlemen, drumroll please for the top 25 searched cities for a real estate agent:
Interestingly enough, only half of these cities made the top 25 list in the first quarter of 2007. The following cities were bumped down the list in the first quarter of 2008:
If you are looking for the perfect real estate agent match, get started by using Connect2Agent’s electronic search feature today.
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“I am a consumer, service me now.” This is the message I heard in a recent company meeting. A website visitor wanted to work with a real estate agent. He emailed a few of the real estate agents on the company home page with this statement at the end of his message:
“I will work with the first real estate agent who responds to this email.”
This struck a chord with me. Why this plea to respond? Real estate professionals have a myriad of instant communication tools: email, cell phone, text messaging, PDAs and Blackberrys, instant messaging and social networking.
The idealist in me thinks the consumer would have to write,
“I am looking for a serious real estate agent who has x years behind their belt, knows x information about the area, is local and closes x amount of transactions. If you do not meet these qualifications, please do not respond to my email.”
The ability to assist a new client from a real estate agent’s end should be easy. Proper systems like email auto-responders, with a prompt return phone call or email that day, need to be a priority for a real estate professional.
A steady market with steady house prices is the key to real estate in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Welcome to the 13th edition of the Real estate recap: Week of real estate in review. Take a seat, roll up your sleeves and dig in as Connect2Agent dishes on short sales, motherly woes and new real estate statistics.
Real estate is shaking up the nation all over the place. Tales of short sales and foreclosures abound, sprinkled with a few success stories of real estate buyers who were able to buy a move-up property and sellers who got a list price they were hoping for.
And then there are the stories starting to make the news. The stories that grace the back alleys, covered in the shadows and a half moon. In this first of a two-part series, Connect2Agent’s Real Estate Victims Unit unearths one of these stories.
The case of the unsuspecting real estate victim
Homeowners are not the only ones who have faced declining margins in real estate these days. Renters
have a battle on their hands as well. How could this be? Some consumers rented properties from frenzied flippers whose timing wasn’t quite right.
We have crossed the halfway mark and are nearing the end of our six-part series of the most affordable housing markets ranked in the latest report issued by Housing Predictor.
Our third edition discussed a popular city known as the Crossroads of America–Indianapolis, Indiana. In this edition we’ll discuss the city with a Gulfside view and a three-hundred year history to boot–Biloxi, Mississippi.
Biloxi, Mississippi was settled in 1720 as the capital of Louisiana. In 1763, it changed hands from French to British ownership.
A Gulf Coast city in Mississippi, Biloxi boasts a temperate climate year round and an abundance of recreation. Golfing, fishing and boating provide water recreation for visitors and residents alike. Biloxi also hosts five community centers and nearly 30 outdoor parks.
A great place to move your family, Biloxi was ranked as one of the safest places to live. It has a school system that is one of the best in the state and has received an accreditation rating of 5.0 out of 5.0.
When I purchased my first house, I was given a gift. The real estate seller had been diligently collecting receipts, warranties and a little black book of preferred service providers they had done business with during their years of homeownership in the house I was purchasing. They were even kind enough to leave behind extra tile for the bathroom and basement.
Can you say priceless?
Having moved from a large suburban town in Northwest Illinois to a smaller town about an hour away, I was lucky those first few months to find the best dry cleaner, let alone the best painter or plumber. The previous homeowner saved me money, time and sanity by keeping everything organized and providing me with a long list of references.
We are only halfway through tornado season and it is throwing some heavy weight around Tornado Alley these days. Typically tornadoes peak during May and June and the season doesn’t taper until around August. Meteorologists are professing this year to be record-breaking for tornadoes if the pace continues.
Friday set off a series of tornado warnings and heavy thunderstorms in Southeast
Wisconsin and my lovely town of Lake Geneva. Lake Geneva is in Tornado Alley and I was certainly reminded of this by the alarms that resounded throughout the weekend.
Friday was the last day of school for my children, but they were late coming home because they spent the last part of the day crouched in their book bag cubbyholes in a squatting position with their arms covering their necks and heads.
This is all part of the joy of preparing for a tornado. All was safe and sound and my children returned home unscathed. Little did I know the warnings would continue throughout the weekend. When I was not running errands close to home–timed between hours of tornado watches and warnings–the basement became my family’s second home.
