Christian Real Estate Blog

How to Scope out a Competitors Website -- And Learn From it!

It's always fun and interesting to check out what your competitors are up to. When you type in a search for your keywords, who comes up? Are your competitors ahead of you or below you? Why? Do you know what kind of traffic they get? Do you know how many liks are coming into their site?

These are all important questions to ask. In order to be competitive in the online world, you have to know the strategy of your opponent.

Here are a list of some things you can do really KNOW your competitor:

1. First of all, you must decide who your competition is. Do some searches on Google. Try to focus on the websites that rank higher than yours. These are the ones that you'll want to zero in on. It will give you a goal... how do I out rank, and out sell these guys.

2. Do a thorough examination of their website. What do you like or don't like? Write down your findings. This step alone should give you plenty of things to work on. Go over your thoughts on the competition and take the best parts of both sites, and try to implement them to your advantage.

3. Why is that competitors website ranking so high? Find out. Here are some tools to use:

a. Check out their link popularity with the free market leap link popularity tool

b. Analyze their back link with the free Back Link Analyzer

c. My personal favorite and by far the most effective for analyzing links is: Optilink

d. If you want the cheaters method, use this all in one tool: SEOmoz Page Strength Indicator

4. Examine the titles, content, and linking structure of their site. How is it different than yours. See if you can narrow down the reason why they rank higher than you.

5. Is your competitor paying for positioning on the search engines? What terms are they using? Pay attention to the titles and descriptions. This will give you an idea of the audience they are trying to target.

6. Periodically check out their rating on Alexa. This will give you an idea of their traffic trends, and tell you instantly if they are getting more traffic than you.

7. Research the competitors themselves... either an individual real estate agent, or maybe the ceo or founder of the company. Get in their head. What is their ultimate goal for the site. Pick apart their strategy... Don't be afraid to implement their good ideas on your site. Don't let them corner innovative ideas.

Hopefully these tips will allow you to understand your competition...

If all else fails, try one of these Japanese inventions

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/22/2006 01:27:00 PM 0 comments

Del.icio.us -- Do You use an Online Bookmarking Service?

Ok, so, does anyone use an online bookmarking services like Del.icio.us? It is a great tool that allows you to post all your bookmarks or "favorites" as they say in the dark world of ie.

Here are some useful things that you can do:

1. Import all of your existing bookmarks instantly
2. Create a a free account so that you can login from any computer to access your bookmarks
3. Share your bookmarks with other people through your "network", and through a customized URL given when you start your account: del.icio.us/hismove
4. Tag your sites with keywords for easy future lookup
5. Give all of your bookmarks descriptions.
6. Browse popular subjects and topics and discover sites that are popular to other users.
7. Bookmark your own site to see how many other people have it saved.
8. There is evidence to show that Google may look at sites like del.icio.us in the future to see what sites are popular and it may become a part of their search results.
9. Intall the Del.icio.us button on your browser so you can easily add your bookmarks.
10. Send private messages to other users with these 2 tricks: 1, 2
11. Create an RSS feed of your bookmars to let others know when it has been updated.


Here are a few tips on how to best search through del.cio.us:

Tags: http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/TAGNAME

Combined tags: http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/TAGNAME+TAGNAME

Popular: http://del.icio.us/rss/popular

Popular tags: http://del.icio.us/rss/popular/TAGNAME

Users: http://del.icio.us/rss/USERNAME

Someone’s inbox: http://del.icio.us/rss/inbox/USERNAME (hint: use YOUR inbox)

Media: http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/system:media:MTYPE+TAGNAME (where MTYPE can be AUDIO, VIDEO, IMAGE and DOCUMENT (caps are not needed, just for example))

Filetype: http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/system:filetype:FTYPE+TAGNAME (where FTYPE can be any audio or video file types (mp3, mov, etc…))

Have fun...

And, oh, don't forget your anniversary...

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/21/2006 01:20:00 PM 0 comments

A Rare Look Into the Mind of Google...

I came across a great post today on some SEO tips. It compiles some of the best quotes from the famous Matt Cutts. Matt has worked at Google for a while now, and is known for his SEO prowess. When he speaks, people listen because he holds the keys to eternal Search Engine Nirvana... The Google Algorithm keys that is. If he doesn't like you, you can say goodbye to your online presence.

Anyways, this post is great because the quotes by Matt contain some rarely given insight into the mind of the Google monster.

A couple of excerpts:

9. LinkAssign unique, descriptive title tag and headings to every page. Vanessa Fox. 2006.

3. Link Google updates their index data — including backlinks and PageRank all the time. However, they export and publish new backlinks and PageRank data approximately every three months. New backlinks and PageRank are meaningless — it is not an update. The information is likely already factored in for awhile before you see it. 2005.

15. Link Google’s is against selling/buying links, and Matt indicates they are good at spotting them — both algorithmically and manually. Sites that sell links can lose their trust in search engines. 2006.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/21/2006 12:05:00 PM 0 comments

Do you Pay for Search Engine Positioning?

As a followup to my post earlier today, I wanted to write about the ins and outs of paying to have your website listed in the search engines. I haven't met too many individual real estate agents that use pay per click, but the ones that do seem to do pretty well if they know what they're doing.

When you visit a popular search engine like Google or Yahoo, you'll notice that the first few results for a search are usually in a special box called sponsored links. The advertisers in this section are paying every time a person clicks on their link. This is known as pay per click marketing, and it can be a great way to get traffic to your site.

The beautiful thing about search engines is that they deliver targeted traffic. A customer that goes to a search engine and types in a specific title for a book is much more likely to purchase that book than if another person clicks a banner ad because they are interested in the same book. That is an example of targeted advertising vs. passive advertising. Search engines have provided better closing ratios than any other marketing in the history of mankind.

So, the question is... does your site come up in the natural search results? If not, are you willing to pay for traffic coming to your website? Maybe you get good search engine placement already, but just want that extra boost in traffic and leads.

The first and most obvious problem is the competition. On Google for example, you can expect to pay an arm and a leg for the more competetive real estate related terms. Terms like: "miami real estate listings" can cost you upwards of $10-$15 per click. And at that point, you have to ask yourself, is paying that kind of money worth it? Will my website be able to convert this traffic?

Here are some practical ideas for real estate agents that want to try their hand at search engine pay per click marketing:

1. Make your website a lead generating monster. If you are serious about internet marketing, then you need to spend the time and money it takes to build a quality website. You need to have useful information about the community, and good blog content about your market. This will let your customers know that you are an expert on your community. Don't just have a website that lists your contact information and tidbits about yourself. That is basically useless, and if this is the case, a pay per click campaign is not for you.

2. You need to have free access to MLS listings in your area on the website. And if possible, don't make your visitor complete a lengthy application to view the listings. Since they don't know you, why would they give you a huge list of contact information? As an act of good will, just give them free access with an email and first name. They will appreciate it, and it will set you apart from the other sites that show listings.

3. Make sure your contact information is very clear on all of the MLS listing pages. I usually say something like: "to schedule a showing for this listing, please contact: your name, etc."

4. For your pay per click campaign, choose keywords that are very specific to your market. Don't use keywords like: "miami real estate", "miami real estate agent" etc. As a general rule with search engines, you don't want to use broad keywords. Specific keywords always produce better leads. Try narrowing down your area to specific sub markets (using Miami as our example) "westchester homes for sale", "coral terrace real estate listings", etc.

5. Another benefit to using specific keywords is that there aren't as many people paying to be listed, so the prices are almost always cheaper per click.

6. Do not use one title and description for all your keywords. Customize the title and description for each keyword so that it correlates to the person's search. People that search for "coral terrace real estate listings", will most likely click on a title and descriton that contains those actual keywords as opposed to a title that says: "miami real estate agent".

7. Almost all real estate agents I've met have the best success using keywords that advertise the fact that they show MLS listings on their site for free. I've never met anyone that has had success using keywords like: "miami real estate agent". You have to realize that the average consumer isn't going to be looking for a real estate agent online, but for listings. And if they find a site that is really easy to use, and lets them look at properties in your market, there is a good chance that they will call you when it comes time to look for property

8. Feature your listings on your website. Post as many photos as you can, and have a virtual tour whenever possible.

9. Being first in the search results is not always favorable. There was a study done a while back showing that a huge percentage of people... I think it was like 30%, do something called impulse clicking. Which means that they almost always do a search, then click on the top result no matter what. This may sound good, but it almost always means traffic that doesn't convert as well. It is not always a bad thing especially if you want to set yourself up as the dominating presence for a particular keyword... but just something to keep in mind.

10. Make sure that your landing page, (usually your home page) somehow relates to that specific keyword. For example, if you are using keywords like: "Westchester homes for sale", make sure there it is clear on the landing page that the visitor can search for listings for free in Westchester. If you have more time, and want to really get sophisticated, create a custom landing page for each keyword that has information about the particular market that person searched for.

11. Get on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This way you will cover approx. 95% of all internet searches.

I hope this was helpful, please comment if you have any questions.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/19/2006 08:52:00 AM 0 comments

Post Blog Content onto your Website Through RSS

Do you find that your website lacks a certain stickiness? Do you only have information about yourself, contact information and links on your site? Are you blogging yet?

If the answer to those questions is yes, you might want to consider making a few changes to your website that would include adding the content from your blog directly to your website. This will allow your visitors to see the current things you are writing about without actually having to visit your blog. They could read the headlines on your home page and decide whether or not it is something they are interested in.

You could also have feeds from other sources as well, like real estate news headlines, or feeds from your favorite real estate blogs.

This is how to do it:
First you will need to be able to make small changes to the html of your website. I've discussed this in previous posts. If you don't know where to start, just ask me.

Then, take the URL for the feed you want, in this case we will use the feed from our blog: http://activerain.com/blogs/hismove/rss

Go over to this website: RSS-to-Javascript and follow the directions to create your feed. Once you are done, the site will spit out some html code that you will need to copy and paste into your website. That's it! Here is a sample of the finished result: http://www.hismove.com/test4

This code you just pasted will automatically update itself when the content changes on your blog. Presto! You now have dynamic content on your homepage that ads more value to your site.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/18/2006 11:42:00 AM 0 comments

Book Review: Raving Fans - A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service

I wanted to briefly mention a great book I've read on customer service called "Raving Fans" by Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowels.

It is hands down the best book on customer service I have ever read. If you want to read a book that will change your outlook on how you view your customers... this is it.

It is a short 160 page very large print easy read. I think I read it in about 2 sittings.

The book teaches lessons through a series of narrative stories about everyday people and the extrodinary efforts they go through to be the best at what they do through great service.

The narrative approach was great for me because I lose interest in books quickly. And I'm not usually a fan of books like this. I usually look at the "motivational" books and seminars and kind of scoff... I mean, I know there is some great stuff out there, but I think I just get lazy. Anyways, I highly recommend this book for anyone that is serious about really serving the needs of their customers.

You can get it for about $3 on Amazon. You definately won't regret it. Anyone else have any good recommendations on customer service books?

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/16/2006 10:13:00 AM 0 comments

Microsoft's new Pay Per Click Search Engine -- Live.com

I just received a gift card from Microsoft for $30! It is definitely the first time I've ever received anything free from 800 lb. Gorilla software giant in Redmond...

We just started on their new pay per click service about 4 months go. It's called Adcenter and it seeks to turn some profit for Microsoft. The only problem is, they are about 7 years too late. Google has all but cornered the search engine market with 70-80% of all searches.

Our budget for Google is close to $1,500/month, and using the same keywords, our budget on Adcenter is only about $15. So far, I'm not impressed. Last week, Microsoft finally took the wrapping off their new search engine called Live.com, and it definitely has some good features although the SE results seem like junk so far.

We'll wait and see if this new service is goes anywhere. In the mean time, if you are looking into starting a cheap pay per click campaign, now might be the time to start. You can still get pretty cheap rates with adcenter. One thing is certain, once it catches on, your "Miami real estate listings" keyword will be at $7/click.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/15/2006 09:52:00 AM 0 comments

Follow-Up Post on Building Incoming Links to Your Site

I received quite a few questions about attaining incoming links after my last article... so I will try to clear a few things up. I don't want to get into a complete SEO discussion as there is so much more involved that just incoming links. I enjoy SEO consulting, but hung that hat up a few years ago when our real estate business took off.

It seems like there is some confusion about Meta tags and what they are used for. Back in the 90's this was good tactic to get a solid ranking in the search engines since the SE algorithms weren't yet sophisticated enough to consider other factors. I remember people paying thousands of dollars to have custom written tags that "would be certain to get you TOP placement!!" lol

Since then, meta tags have become basically irrelevant when it comes to ranking a website. Yes, they can be useful to tell the search engine what the site is about (or at least what you say it is about), and the meta description is often used in the search results, but used to raise your ranking... no way. It is simply too easy to manipulate. This goes for many onsite factors that used to important, but in terms of ranking in 2006... not so much.

Today, the most important onsite factors include a search engine friendly site, good keyword rich content, and a healthy internal linking structure. And by the way, you don't have to be afraid to use pictures or buttons as links. The Search spider will still find them. But in general, if you are able to use text links, this is preferable because the keywords in the text link can be important in your ranking. Search engines do pay attention to pictures, and it can be a great way to get more keywords into your page by labeling the pictures on the html side.

To answer a question about quality links: In general, most links to your site will help your ranking unless the site they are coming from is totally unrelated in content. So, if you have a real estate site, and you are getting a link from a mortgage site, that is great. Whenever possible try to get links from pages that have your keywords in the title, body, and other outgoing links. Also, try to focus on quality sites with a high google page rank . And whenever possible, try to get your keywords into the text link itself that points to your site.

Hope this is helpful...

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/15/2006 08:39:00 AM 0 comments

Favorite Real Estate Blogs & News Sites

Here is a list of some of my favorite real estate blogs and news sites. I find that in order to blog effectively, you have to be on top of the latest news in the industry, and these are a few of the better sites I have found. Lately, I've been finding myself reading at least an hour a day in the morning to keep updated on all the "going ons" in the madness that is the real estate field today.

So, in no particular order, here are some of my favorite real estate related sites....

• Hismove.com/Blog
• The Future of Real Estate Marketing
• Realtor Marketing on the Internet
• Real Estate Tomato
• Blood Hound Blog
• REMBEX
• Sellsius
• Zillow
• Redfin
• Inman News Blog
• Hot Property Blog
• Open House- a Real Estate Blog
• Realty Blogging
• 360 Digest
• Follow Steph
• Mike's Corner Web 2.0 for Real Estate Pros
• Real Blogging
• Real Estate Marketing Blog
• Realty Thoughts
• Rain City Guide
• Flat Fee MLS Marketing Blog
• Matrix
• New Homes on Nubricks
• Inman News
• Real Estate journal
• RIS Media
• Topix Real Estate News
• Realty Times
• BizJournals Res. Real Estate
• International Real Estate Digest
• CNNMoney.com - RE News

Keep in mind, there are hundreds more that are good reading that I would suggest, but a person has to draw a line somewhere. Have you ever been just overwhelmed at the ammount of information online? I know I have...

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/15/2006 07:58:00 AM 0 comments

Anyone else have a Moving Truck for Clients??

We have a great agent in our network named Linda Craft. She happens to be rated in the top 5 agents for sales in the Carolinas. Last I heard, she had over 10 assistants that helped her full time!

I visited her site about 5 years ago only to discover that she had a 30 foot moving truck that her customers could use for free during their move! It was brilliant. Since then, I have started to see alot more agents using this strategy, and it seems to be pretty effective. It's always good to see innovation in the real estate industry... and it doesn't always have be in the world of 010100011010100111001.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/14/2006 11:22:00 AM 0 comments

Are you Worthy of a Referral??

The title speaks for itself. Put yourself in your client's shoes for a minute... would they refer you to a family member or a friend?

It is an important question every real estate agent needs to ask themselves. Are you earning your business through excellent customer service? In my opinion, a good agent should be able to make a living purely from referral customers after 5-10 years of being in the business. Easier said than done of course, but I believe that this should be the goal of every agent (heck, of anyone in a service based business!).

The 2nd followup validating question is: How often do you actually receive a referral? And I'm not talking about from a lead/referral generating source. A qualifying referral in this case would be from a past client or from someone that knows about your great service.

I've seen so many agents that really stretch for referrals... and sometimes go a little too far. I mean, I don't think it's a bad thing necessarily to offer incentives to people that refer you customers, or to constantly ask your current clients to refer someone. But is that the only way that you can generate referrals for yourself?? If so, it may be time to re-evaluate your business model.

The ideal referral is from someone that was so overwhelmingly pleased with your service, that they can't help but shout it out to everyone in their sphere of influence. That is the kind of business I want.

So... back to the original question: Are you worthy of a referral?

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/14/2006 09:32:00 AM 0 comments

The Ultimate Guide to RSS

This technology has forever changed the way I look at the internet... Does this graphic look familiar? It's an RSS feed button. Get used to it because it's hear to stay.


RSS stands for Really Simply Syndication. It is basically a technology that allows you to take different "feeds" from multiple sources and pull them all into one centralized location usually known as an aggregator or feed reader. For example, say you visit 3-4 news websites every morning before you start working. RSS brings all of the news to you in one centralized location in real time.

So how can it be used in the real estate field you ask... Well, first of all, many markets around the country now have their MLS' tied to RSS so that you can have news listings fed directly to you with a certain search criteria. I use it primarily to keep up on real estate industry news. Instead of visiting my favorite 50 real estate websites and blogs every day, I simply have them all fed to one place.

In case you hadn't noticed, we are in the golden age of the Blog. And it just so happens that practically every single blog has an RSS feed, even if it's not advertised. The way to find this out is through a good RSS feed reader. I'll list a few here for you starting with my favorite:
Bloglines.com
RSS Feed Reader
News Gator
RSS Reader.com
Google Reader
Yahoo Reader

2 of the above are software that you actually have to download to your desktop, the others are online based. And there are many, many more. If you are just starting out and happen to have a google or yahoo account, I'd start there. In just a few minutes, you can customize the home page of either of these sites to show all of the RSS feeds you want. I used the Google home page for a long time to read my feeds until I got to around 30 feeds, then I needed a better system and switched to Bloglines.com.

So, once you get your reader set up. Start visiting your favorite blogs. Once there, look for the RSS button and subscribe to the feed. If you don't see it right away, copy the domain name and paste it into your feedreader so it can search to see if there is an active feed on the site. After you get a few feeds into your reader, you will notice that it will update itself in realtime.

This technology is a HUGE time saver!

Here is some more reading that will get into more detail for you:
Great Guide on RSS
Wikipedia
About

I hope this is helpful for you. Don't be afraid to just jump in and try it. Remember when you first tried email?? Think of it as a new discovery. Trust me, it will change the way you look at and interact with the internet.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/14/2006 08:41:00 AM 0 comments

Healthy Website Linking Practices

Everyone that has an active website tends to get spam from other webmasters that want to trade links with you. This is especially prolific in the real estate industry as there are a plethora of individual real estate websites. Here is one email I just received recently:

Hi there,

My name is The Universal Hosting and I am the owner of http://www.theuniversalhosting.com.
We are very interested in exchanging links with your website at http://www.Hismove.com. Exchanging links will increase search engine rankings and website popularity.

If you are interested in exchanging links, please add the following details to your website and click the approve link below:

and it goes on...

This one was obviously automatically generated by special link building software. Besides being very annoying, the following link practices will actually lower your Search Engine Ranking and maybe even get you banned from the serps (search engine results page). This has been very well documented over the last year or so... but just in case you are new to web or SEO (search engine Optimization), let me explain why this is the case.

As a general rule, one of the primary factors that SE's (search engines) use to rate websites has to do with incoming links. Back in the late 90's, before the SE's got any wiser, building up thousands of links through link farming and reciprocal linking was the best and fastest way to get better results in the SE results. Not anymore. Search engines now focus more on what they call link relevancy. This means that if you have a real estate site, and you go out and get thousands of links from a gambling related site, it will have no effect on your search engine ranking, and may even be detrimental to your ranking. They also pay attention to the quality of the links coming to your site.

Here are some tips to healthy website linking:

1. Do not subscribe to a service that promises to get you thousands of links in a short period of time. Otherwise known as link farms.
   
2. Do not participate in reciprocal linking. Similar to what the person in the email example was trying to do.
   
3. Do not place hidden or invisible text on your website with links to your primary URL.
4. I know it's tempting, but it's better if you don't purchase links from a link broker. The SE's frown on it, and if they find out, you could be in trouble.
5. Try not to add too many incoming links at one time. "unnatural" linking could get you banned. The SE's want to see a slow steady build up of quality links.
6. Do your best to get links from domains that end in .edu, .gov, etc. Submit your site to DMOZ.org... or better yet, sign up to be an editor for one of their categories that could include your website.
7. Always follow the 10 Linking Commandments hehe...
   
8. Try to get incoming links from pages that have a high Google page rank
9. whenever you can, place you top keywords in the anchor text of the link itself
10. whenever you can, try to make sure the title of the page you are linking from has your keywords in it.
11. Try to only get links from sites that are relevant to your own.
12. Use a service like Market Leap to check your incoming link periodically.
    

Hope those are helpful....

If you want to read more, here is a great link that gives very thorough detail on various linking strategies.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/12/2006 11:40:00 AM 0 comments

5 ways to use MapBuilder.net for your Real Estate Business

I wrote a post on this a couple of days ago, but I've had many questions from agents on how they could integrate MapBuilder.net into their everyday agent toolbox.

Here are 5 ideas...

• You could actually use their real estate service $19.95/mo. Here is the demo This service offers a pre-packaged solution to add your listings to the map, and add the map to your website
  

• It may take a bit more work, but you can use the basic/free service on MapBuilder to plot and list your properties yourself. Each point that you plot on the map can include pictures, text, and even links. (1)Set up a free account (2)enter in a listing address (3)add info on the listing to that point on the map (4)then link it to the page on your website that further describes the listing and gives your contact information.
  

• Use the map to plot all of your past sales. If you've been in the business a while, this could be a great way to impress your clients. It would look good to have a map full of hundreds of pin points showing your past business success. This could impress a prospective client by showing them that you sold another house in close proximity to their own.
  

• If you own a real estate office and want to visually identify what particular market each of your agents is farming, this could be a very usefull tool.
  

• Use it as a database to visually keep track of your clients. You can plot them on the map, and include all of their contact information. And since everything is online, you can pull up the information anywhere you have internet access.

The beautiful thing about MapBuilder is that you can build your own maps for free... so be creative. You can literally plot anything you want in the entire country using an address, city, or zip code. And because it's built with Google, you can switch to the satellite or hybrid view to get some serious detail on all your maps.

I hope this followup was helpful. This site is just exciting because it really lets a web layman like me to integrate cutting edge technology without too much work.

Posted by Hismove

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/12/2006 09:56:00 AM 0 comments

Remembering 9/11

I just wanted to take a moment to offer a prayer for all of the people affected by the WTC attacks 5 years ago today.

My prayer is that God will use what happened for His glory, and that people will come to know Him through all of the aftermath.

Here are a few links I've compiled from popular news stories and blogs today about 9/11

The picture is of the new freedom tower that was approved, and of the other buildings being proposed. Here is a link to more pictures

Here is what the Google home page looked like on 9/11/01

Here is some archives of video footage from 9/11

Today's coverage of the 9/11 attacks on Fox News

other stories and articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/11/2006 12:39:00 PM 0 comments

New Web 2.0 Bible

A great new Bible website has been launched called eBible.com. It uses some great Web 2.0 technology.

I found it through a new site I've been on recently called digg.com It's a way to rank blog posts and news. In just a couple of hours, the news release on Digg received over 1,000 "diggs"

It has a great search tool that lets you search by keywords, or references, has commentaries, and more. I'm pretty impressed with it.

Hopefully it will be a Blessing to the Body of Christ.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/11/2006 10:57:00 AM 0 comments

The Scoop on Reply.com

Have you ever received an offer from someone to buy your house when it wasn't on the market? Seems pretty strange right?

Well Reply! Inc. is trying to change all that with a new service it launched last week that lets users make unsolicited offers on homes for a small fee.

For $24.95, the company will deliver a package to the door of a property you'd like to make an offer on. The homeowner then has to logon to the website and review the terms of the offer.

One of their primary slogans is:

"Every Home In America Is Up For Sale!
Make An Offer At Reply.com"

They seem to be trying to include themselves into the ever growing list of Web 2.0 real estate companies like Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, etc.

Will this model work?

What if a package came to your door with full details about your property including satellite photos of your house, and an offer to buy it? Personally, I think I'd feel a little... I don't know... Violated.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/08/2006 01:22:00 PM 0 comments

Myspace for Real Estate Agents?

I'm sure all of you have heard of the hugely popular social networking giant called myspace. It is ranked the 6th most popular website in the world by alexa!

I may be out of the loop, but I have been wondering lately if any real estate agents have had success with this website, as a way to promote their business. I was able to find a few real estate related myspace pages that seemed to be pretty travelled: therealestatetwins jonnakagawa & Kamey Hawk

My first thought is that the type of client generated from myspace probably isn't the right demographic. Almost all of the real estate related pages I found were for agents that were under 30 years old. And it just doesn't seem like a professional atmosphere to me. But a preliminary look on google tells me that there are pleny of people trying to promote themselves with this service.

Are any real estate agents out there having success by using myspace? What is your strategy?

*** As a side note for my Christian audience, I'd like to present 2 alternatives to myspace that don't include scantily clad women and bad language. Both are Christian run and operated, so if you're looking for something to replace your teenager's myspace page, check out these:

Xianz.com & DittyTalk.com

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/07/2006 01:41:00 PM 0 comments

Quick Post -- Pending Home Sales Slide

Source: WSJ

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/07/2006 10:14:00 AM 0 comments

MapBuilder.net -- Are Real Estate Agents Paying Attention?

I have to rave about a free site I found a couple of months ago. It's called MapBuilder.net It takes Google maps, and lets you plot your own locations on a map using a cities, zip codes, addresses, etc. Since Google made it's API code public, this new site is just one of many useful map mashups.

The Christian Real Estate Network implemented it immediately into our websites. We added a google map with list of members to our Property Manager site, Home Inspector site, and on our private member website to look up loan officers and commercial members.

It's suprising to me that I haven't seen this service used more by the real estate industry. It's a perfect fit. Agents can place an interactive map on their websites showing directions and details about their own listings, or other listings in the area. MapBuilder even has a special service dedicated to real estate agents.So, just in the way of an FYI. Real Estate agents, take notice! Don't let Real Estate 2.0 pass you by.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/06/2006 10:55:00 AM 0 comments

Dont' fire your real estate agent yet...

Here is a post from the Sellsius Blog about a poll done by Zillow. Results show pretty conclusively that in general, people don't trust the price estimates that Zillow puts out, and wouldn't make a decision simply based that information.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/04/2006 11:30:00 AM 0 comments

Average Closings Costs

Bankrate.com just released an annual study that shows the 10 most expensive states in the country for mortgage closings costs. Have a look:

1. New York $3,887
2. Texas $3,578
3. Hawaii $3,407
4. Ohio $3,354
5. Florida $3,349
6. Connecticut $3,284
7. Alaska $3,265
8. New Mexico $3,239
9. Kentucky $3,206
10. Alabama $3,189

Here is the original link from RealBlogging.com

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/01/2006 07:20:00 AM 0 comments