Then Never Shut Up

September 30th, 2007 Deeper Thoughts 2 Comments »

I think the “trick” to good blogging, is to find your voice. Which is in a sense, to give up on trying to do tricks, whether for points or SEO or leads or money.

Some people have a local voice, some a national voice, some a tech voice, some an extreme voice, some a coffee in the nook voice, some a dusty library voice, some a cigar and adult beverage voice.

Just find your voice.

Bad MLS Photo of the Day #170

September 30th, 2007 Bad MLS Photo of the Day No Comments »

Once again… the secret to selling real estate is…

… rotation, rotation, rotation.

 <—– MLS Watermark.

 Sent in by reader Irene Robertson, thanks again. 

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

September 30th, 2007 The Feed Bag 2 Comments »

Here’s this weeks recap. Dominated by the Active Rain failed sale to Move.

In a similar vein Daniel Rothamel at The Real Estate Zebra has Why Your Answer to, “Are You on Facebook?” Will Determine the Fate of Your Business in 10 Years or Sooner 

Dave Smith at The Real Estate Blog Lab suggests waiting to upgrade to Wordpress 2.3

I didn’t 100% believe my MyBlogLog widget that TechCrunch had visited here yesterday, but apparently TechCrunch did take an interest in the whole Active Rain fails to be sold to Move thing.

Kevin Boer discusses Reaping The Fruits Of Others’ Labor? Or Adding Value To It? Where’s the value in Active Rain coming from?

And I’ll pump myself with What Would Have Happened If The Active Rain Deal Went Through?

…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 #169

September 29th, 2007 Bad MLS Photo of the Day No Comments »

Dude, the TV is off.

Sent in by Daniel Rothamel.

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 - Still Thinking About The Active Rain Thing

September 29th, 2007 The Feed Bag 5 Comments »

I didn’t 100% believe my MyBlogLog widget that TechCrunch had visited here yesterday, but apparently TechCrunch did take an interest in the whole Active Rain fails to be sold to Move thing.

“Active Rain look like absolute fools for trusting Move.com with their core customer information before a deal was locked up, and Move.com look like serious jerks. It will be fun to see how this sorts itself out.”

Greg Swann digs into the legalize and discovers Active Rain didn’t even have a written contract. If only someone at Active Rain knew a good realtor I guess. Duh.

If you value your Active Rain content, I strongly suggest you back it up somewhere.

Can anyone find the Terms of Use page for Active Rain? I Googled for it but couldn’t find it.

Kevin Boer discusses Reaping The Fruits Of Others’ Labor? Or Adding Value To It? Where’s the value in Active Rain coming from?

Meanwhile… and better done all round, Radar Logic to Acquire New York Real Estate Appraisal Firm Miller Samuel at Sellsius.

Oh Oh Oh BIG NEWS! Google is going to buy something! (maybe)

And least you all think I’m an Active Rain hater… there is a sizeable community of generally good people there. Check out 250 Pounds of Underwear for Africa by Jeff Turner.

Breaking news… Active Rain pull the links to the legal complaints. But the Internet is forever…

…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 #168

September 28th, 2007 Bad MLS Photo of the Day No Comments »

WTF is that a Triffid in the corner?

And oh yeah. Light? Date Stamp? Too tired to stand up for the shot? Love the back of the couch.

Thanks to John Lockwood for this picture.

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 - Another Miamism!

September 28th, 2007 The Feed Bag 8 Comments »

Erik Hare Marketing or Great Big Lies?

Douglas Heddings discusses Foxton et al in Discount Brokers in a Slumping Housing Market

I’m pretty dulled out by local real estate blogs. That being said, I’ve been impressed by the consistent effort and visual and verbal appeal of Miamism. I just love the posts that end with the tag line…

…….another MIAMISM!

Matt Heaton at Active Rain clarifies that the person who produced the content is the owner of the content on Active Rain. Which begs the question, what was worth $30 million dollars?

For Lani.

…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.

What Would Have Happened If The Active Rain Deal Went Through?

September 28th, 2007 Deeper Thoughts 13 Comments »

The big news of yesterday was the lawsuit from Active Rain for Move failing to buy them out. Yesterday I saw Active Rain as somewhat the victim in this scheme, though the more I think about it, the less I see the Active Rain owners as victims.

Now imagine if the deal had actually gone through. Move would have to try and recoup $30 Million in revenues somehow from the Active Rain product. And believe me, at a price tag of $30 million, there better darn well be a product.

Ultimately the most likely source for that recouping would be from Active Rain contributors. That’s right Active Rain peeps, you’d in one form or another be required to pay to provide content. Read that slowly. Pay to provide content. (You know, just like you pay to provide your content aka listings on Realtor.com)

Something simple might work, like maybe a $10 per blog post fee. Power bloggers could buy posts in bulk I assume. For the lazy, or well off and busy, straight up points buying would also be an option.

Lets not forget the possibility of enhanced blogging options. Say $30 a month gets your agent headshot to appear next to your posts. Or Showcase blogging where for just a bit more money your post stays on the front page for a bit longer.

The other option would be to just turn the whole thing into a banner advertising ghetto. Though this wouldn’t work unless Active Rain readers actively clicked and shopped from the banners.

Suffice to say, the Active Rain “community” would have been happily sold knowing that immediately after the sale the pillaging would have to begin.

That was the plan all along.

That’s why all the corn was free.

Other posts on this topic from around the blogs…

Jonathan Dalton Someday My Princess Will Come

Joel Burslem Move.com Tried to Buy Active Rain

Four posts at Bloodhound. Greg, Brian, Brian, Greg.

Kevin Boer Today’s Real Estate Gossip: Move.com Does A Microsoft; Foxtons Does A Countrywide

Good Vibes - A Little Blue Vase

September 27th, 2007 Good Vibes, Photography No Comments »

I shot a house that “needs work” today. Going to be listed around $130,000 or something. Junk in a few rooms, very dark, clutter on every flat surface. Trying to find things to feel good about, I decided that the built-in between the dining room and the room of no discernible purpose was kinda nice.

I removed everything off the built-in except the two little glass vases. You can still see some junk in the background too. I tried a HDR shot to even out the windows, but no joy as every combination of images just crapped out junk.

Lit from underneath and behind, the little vases just glow.

There’s a number of things wrong with the photo.

But I can’t not smile when I look at the little blue vase. 

Bad MLS Photo of the Day #167

September 27th, 2007 Bad MLS Photo of the Day 4 Comments »

Git-R-Done

Sent in by Julie VanDuyne. Who writes;

Hi, I stumbled across your blog and just had to send this photo to you. The pic is attached - you can almost hear the banjo playing!

I’m not an agent and not in any way affiliated with the real estate industry; I am merely an interested potential buyer in the Philadelphia suburbs and have waded through more photos and listings than I care to remember.

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks Julie.

I edited out a sentence that would potentially ID the agent in question.