Archive for June, 2007
Bad MLS Photo of the Day #81
June 30th, 2007 Bad MLS Photo of the Day 1 Comment »
Oh sure I could get the whole house in…
…but then buyers wouldn’t have a reason to call for more information.
Thanks to Kelley Koehler aka Housechick for this photo.
Your bad photos are good here, please send me the horrible shots you find.
If you haven’t read and signed the comments for Reagent Manifesto: Improving Real Estate Photos please consider it.
See more Bad MLS Photos of the Day Read up on Rules of Good Photos
The Feed Bag - Refried and Served Again
June 30th, 2007 The Feed Bag No Comments »
Welcome to the Sunday summary of everything I flagged as Required Reading during the week. Special nod to Jeff Brown and Tony Gallegos for making the A+ grade twice and even three times this week. I’m encouraging both of them to write a book. Have a great Sunday. 
Jeff Brown starts a 20+ year story in Young Boise Couple Now Knows What They Don’t Know — A Happy Ending
Jeff Brown laments the passing away of a mentor, A Truly Great Man Has Left Us
Scott Ginsberg aka Name Tag Guy on The longer they take, the less they buy
Greg Swann does a fine job of explaining how trying to game Google with link farming gets you sandboxed. Google’s reciprocal link penalty for real estate sites explained Good links to click through on too.
Tony Gallegos… ya you know the drill. Off you go to Avoid Being A Jack of All Trades & A Master of None and Example of a Powerful Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
Kevin Boer makes a point seem so obvious that I wondered how I never thought of this original thought myself. What Buyers Learn Before Escrow, They Forgive; What They Learn After Escrow, They Sue
When Brad Inman titles something called Housing.bomb bust its time to pay attention.
Cathy Jager covers Boomers to Housing Market: It’s Our Party and We’ll Cry If We Want To. If the Boomer Generation are short on retirement money, which by all accounts they seem to be. Well, things will get interesting won’t they. I’ve argued in the past to not invest in 55+ communities.
Tony Gallegos is always great on mortgage issue, but Do You Inspire Loyalty Amongst Your Clients? transcends more than enough for all of us.
Brian Brady – that mortgage guy in suspenders on the Internet – explains just how that little trick got pulled off in Building an audience: Using blogging, social networks, email newsletters and viral marketing instead of SEO
…and you’ve been fed.
Every day I scan far too many blogs and writings related to real estate using the free Google Reader . The Feed Bag is simply what struck my fancy as I read. Want to follow my free RSS feed? Subscribe here.
Bad MLS Photo of the Day #80
June 30th, 2007 Bad MLS Photo of the Day 7 Comments »
If anyone ever had any doubt we need to stop bad photos
Thanks to Alex Weiss in Florida for this beauty.
Your bad photos are good here, please send me the horrible shots you find.
If you havent read and signed the comments for Reagent Manifesto: Improving Real Estate Photos please consider it.
See more Bad MLS Photos of the Day Read up on Rules of Good Photos
The Feed Bag
June 30th, 2007 The Feed Bag 2 Comments »
Births, Birthdays, Not Feeling Well, Deaths and what to do on the weekend…
Robert Scoble posted like fifteen times about the iPhone, as did half the blogs in the reader today. The better post was… It lives up to every bit of hype
Bloodhound turns 1 year old today. Seven Days of the Dog: Old Bushmills on the rocks . . .
The Real Estate Bloggers cover KB Homes Takes 174 Million Dollar Loss, Blames Oversupply
Jay Thompson has a PSA about *Sigh*… Another Child Cooked in a Car
Jeff Brown laments the passing away of a mentor, A Truly Great Man Has Left Us Required Reading.
Darren Rowse’s Weekend Blog Strategy
…and you’ve been fed.
Every day I scan far too many blogs and writings related to real estate using the free Google Reader . The Feed Bag is simply what struck my fancy as I read. Want to follow my free RSS feed? Subscribe here.
Bad MLS Photo of the Day #79
June 29th, 2007 Bad MLS Photo of the Day 3 Comments »
Standing about 20–25 feet back from the computer helps.
Thanks to an anonymous donor for the URL to this one.
Your bad photos are good here, please send me the horrible shots you find.
If you haven’t read and signed the comments for Reagent Manifesto: Improving Real Estate Photos please consider it.
See more Bad MLS Photos of the Day Read up on Rules of Good Photos
The Feed Bag
June 29th, 2007 The Feed Bag 2 Comments »
Odds and Ends today…
Really, I have to know. Why does Steve Jobs always wear a black turtleneck and jeans?
Scott Ginsberg aka Name Tag Guy on The longer they take, the less they buy Required Reading.
Maureen Francis notices things are changing and writes about The 24/7 Open House and the Death of the Realtor Tour
Greg Swann does a fine job of explaining how trying to game Google with link farming gets you sandboxed. Google’s reciprocal link penalty for real estate sites explained Good links to click through on too. Required Reading.
Jay Thompson steps for batting practice for when buyers ask Where are the Good Schools?
Just in case every fluffy bunnies store in America forgets to ask if you need batteries, here’s a tip to McGyver a C to D fix with quarters.
…and you’ve been fed.
Every day I scan far too many blogs and writings related to real estate using the free Google Reader . The Feed Bag is simply what struck my fancy as I read. Want to follow my free RSS feed? Subscribe here.
Bad MLS Photo of the Day #78
June 28th, 2007 Bad MLS Photo of the Day No Comments »
/cue gushy music
She’s been your wife for 25 years…
Show the world how special she is to you…
Buy her a house with doors…
Thanks to Catherine Myers from Walnut Creek, CA for this photo.
Your bad photos are good here, please send me the horrible shots you find.
If you haven’t read and signed the comments for Reagent Manifesto: Improving Real Estate Photos please consider it.
See more Bad MLS Photos of the Day Read up on Rules of Good Photos
The Feed Bag
June 28th, 2007 The Feed Bag 1 Comment »
A light meal today.
The danger in blogging is that someone might actually read what you say. It can be a fine line being “We’re transparent and proud” and “you fluffy bunnies said what?!?!” Robert Scoble tells a tale in Get on ScobleShow, get fired.
Jonathan Dalton reports on real world success from blog leads in A Tale of Two Internet Leads
Apparently the position is a Sock Puppet. Don’t call it a correction, call it ‘buying opportunities’ Jessica Swesey
Tony Gallegos… ya you know the drill. Off you go to Avoid Being A Jack of All Trades & A Master of None and Example of a Powerful Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Required Reading.
Dude have you been storing this stuff up somewhere? When is the book coming out?
…and you’ve been fed.
Every day I scan far too many blogs and writings related to real estate using the free Google Reader . The Feed Bag is simply what struck my fancy as I read. Want to follow my free RSS feed? Subscribe here.
Praying For A Better Real Estate Market
June 28th, 2007 Deeper Thoughts 1 Comment »
I stumbled onto Realtors attend worship service to pray for better market in a link from my feed reader.
Oh my word. Like a trillion comments on that post.
I’m in two minds about this one. I do think prayer, intention, positive thinking, call it what you will, is a valuable and good thing. It’s certainly better than being a grumpy nellie and leeching the life from everything around you. I do take this side of my life somewhat seriously.
But, the entire concept of a market is a rather pragmatic aspiritual thing. A market is defined as a place where buyers and sellers meet to trade. The fundamental negotiation point being price. A well run market is simply a market where there are few barriers or difficulties in making trades.
If the average price in a market is going down, thats the result of the interplay of demand and supply. It’s the market working as a market. It’s meant to be able to do that.
Frankly it’s never been easier to buy or sell a house. Mortgages get approved near instantly. You can shop from the Internet enough to narrow a home search from seven weeks to just two weeks according to NAR. Inspections of all kinds are set up and done within a few days. The entire process runs like a smooth well oiled machine compared to even a decade ago.
The real estate market is great. Really, it’s better than ever. Super job everyone.
Now as to home prices and prayer…
…well maybe God is just listening to the prayers of first time home buyers.
Bad MLS Photo of the Day #77
June 27th, 2007 Bad MLS Photo of the Day No Comments »
Take it away Cecilia…
Hello Athol,
We’ve had a brief flurry of showings so I was not house hunting for awhile.
I got back to snooping on the Oklahoma MLS today finally and I find this: Nice price! Plenty of land. Right size house, 3/2/2. Year built is OK. A barn!
But I don’t get to see ANY of the house. Not a peep. 7 frames of blurry and no house.
Where is the house?!
The first photo in the “See More Photos” list
The first photo of the listing, what you call the lead photo?
The driveway? I can’t see the house
Best regards,
Ceci
Note: I edited out the yard sign. You could just make out the brokerage and I think it’s unfair to spank thousands of agents for something one agent did. Athol.
Your bad photos are good here, please send me the horrible shots you find.
If you haven’t read and signed the comments for Reagent Manifesto: Improving Real Estate Photos please consider it.
See more Bad MLS Photos of the Day Read up on Rules of Good Photos
