This Week’s Real Estate Round-Up
Aug 15, 2008 Uncategorized
As I mentioned in my post yesterday about What to Write About on Your Real Estate Blog, I genuinely do enjoy going around and reading other real estate blogs, even if they are not for an area I am familiar with.
Today I’ve decided to round up some of the best real estate related blog posts I stumbled across this week:
10 Questions to Ask Your Prospective Home Stager: This article has a lot of great information if you have sellers who could benefit from a home stager.
Revisiting the Emerging Neighborhood: This helpful article has some great information on helping you decide if a neighborhood could be the next “big thing”.
How to Make Your Contract the Best: Michael offers some great tips on ways to make your offer appealing to sellers.
Home Selling During a Divorce: This article offers a lot of good ideas for dealing with sellers that may be struggling with a divorce.
Did you read (or write) a great article about real estate this week? Feel free to share it with me in the comments below!
I’d also like to remind everyone I am still doing FREE REAL ESTATE BLOG REVIEWS, so if you’d like a free real estate blog review for some tips on making your blog better, feel free to share that with me as well!
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What to Write About on Your Real Estate Blog
Aug 13, 2008 Uncategorized
I read a lot of real estate blogs. It’s a fun way to see what’s going on in different markets worldwide. But it seems to me like many agents might not really know what to write about on your real estate blog, since some of them might go months without an update (this looks really bad - if you’re too busy, fine, but don’t have market update reports or a “new listing” from 3 months ago as your last blog post!) So I’ve brainstormed for some ideas and came up with a nice list that should keep you fueled for posts for a long time.
What to Write About on Your Real Estate Blog
1. Local Community Events: Read your local newspaper and see what’s going on around your town. Maybe there’s an art festival or free movies in the park or a food drive. ..It doesn’t matter what the event is, it will make you appear like you are involved in your community. You may even pick up a few regular readers who are not currently looking for a house - but something to do in your town. This is something you can update weekly or monthly.
2. General Real Estate How-To’s: Anything a consumer could find necessary will work - how to choose a home inspector, how to become pre-qualified for a mortgage, how much house they can afford, how to stage a home, how to winterize a property, 7 Mistakes Buyers Make, how to choose a builder…the list goes on and on.
3. Find out What People are Searching For: Go to the Free Keyword Tracker and type in the names of cities, townships, or counties near you. For this example, I typed in “Cape May”, which is a great part of New Jersey. Out pops hundreds of keyword ideas and things people are actively searching for - the Cape May Lighthouse, Cape May NJ Foreclosures, Cape May Hotels, Cape May Bed & Breakfasts, etc. etc. Not only will this make your blog the source for information in your town, but again gets you in front of people who are not currently looking for a house - but could be in a few months to a year.
4. Target Different Niches: Writing for different niches can also help you hone into your readers. Write about the “hip” local scene, the best places to retire, raising horses, townhome life, downtown living, etc. etc. in your area.
5. Cover the Local School Districts: Anyone with children will need to know school district information when moving, and many people without children will still want to be in a good school district for their property values. Cover local board meetings, a calendar of events, sports teams, and other school related activities.
6. Highlight Businesses and organizations: Your town is probably filled with various businesses and organizations - write about the library, the fire department, the grocery stores, the dry cleaner, the chamber of commerce, etc. etc. Make sure anytime you do a featured business spotlight you email a link to the company.
7. Restaurant Reviews: Everybody likes to eat (or at least needs to!) so next time you go out somewhere, write about it. Talk about their menu items, the atmosphere, the affordability. Be sure you keep your review positive - bashing the place that didn’t refill your coffee won’t get you too far.
8. Get Involved With the Sports Teams: Where I live, you live and breathe football from September to January. It’s really the only thing anybody cares about during this time of the year. Write once a week about how the team did in their games, player news, their houses, etc. etc.
9. Talk About Decor: While you’re a real estate agent, and not an interior designer, there’s no harm in writing things like “10 Fresh Ways to Update Your Kitchen” or “How to Remove Wall Paper Without Banging Your Head Against the Wall”. You could also write about furniture placement, improvements that increase the value of a home, choosing laminate versus hardwood, etc. etc.
10. If All Else Fails, Enlist a Guest Poster: Is there anybody locally around you with a blog or website? If so, (and if they can write in a professional, entertaining manner), why not invite them to guest post? Let them write about their topic of expertise - whether it be pets by the local vet or an accountant with tax advice - having guest posts can be a great way to make your blog more interesting.
Hopefully these 10 ideas for what to write about on your real estate blog will give you a little inspiration on ways to interact with your readers, appeal to a broader base of people in your area, and even increase your traffic and RSS subscribers.
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How to Get That Buyer’s Agency Agreement Every Time
Jul 29, 2008 Uncategorized
Getting a buyer’s agency agreement is not always easy. Most states now have adopted and required some type of disclosure and buyer’s agency agreement however, so if you’ve been waiting until the sales agreement is drafted to get the buyer agency form signed, it’s time to start doing it before you even look at houses.
While the Buyer’s Agency Agreement (Or BAC as it’s commonly known as) is meant to protect the buyer, it is equally important for protecting yourself. It keeps you out of trouble, and if a buyer ever strays and works with someone else, you can have a chance to fight for your hard earned commission.
I have never had any problems ever in getting a buyer’s agency agreement signed. I don’t know if this will work for everyone, but this is exactly what I say to clients:
“This is a buyer agency agreement form. It allows me to fully represent you and your best interest and work solely for you. It provides that everything you tell me will be completely confidential. We can make this contract for a week, a month, just for the houses that I show to you so if you decide you wake up tomorrow and don’t like me you’re not stuck with me. But we need to have it so I can look out for you and fully represent your best interest.”
After I let them look at it and read it and answer any questions they had, I would ask them, “How long should I make this contract for? A day? A week? 3 Months?” I always explained it will automatically renew but after x amount of days they are allowed to cancel anytime for any reason.
Granted, Buyer Agency agreements are going to vary from broker to broker and state to state, and you may or may not have the flexibility I had with being able to change the dates, but it worked for me every time in securing the Buyer’s Agency Agreement.
How do you get Buyers to sign the Buyer’s Agency Agreement? Share your techniques in the comments below.
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Tags: BAC, buyer's agency agreement, how to get buyers to sign a buyers agency agreement
Keyword Luv
Jul 25, 2008 Uncategorized
Upstart Agent is a do-follow blog, encouraging & rewarding commenters with backlinks for anyone who leaves a comment.
We are now also a Keyword Luv blog, which enables you to leave your name AND get a keyword with the comment you leave. You can learn all about the Keyword Luv Plug-in here.
All you have to do is write your name in the name field like this: Your Name@Your Keyword (Example: Chelle@Real Estate Marketing)
Then write a MEANINGFUL COMMENT (spam, “fake” comments, and otherwise inappropriate comments will be deleted!)
Anyone else using this plug-in? I’d like to build a list, so if you’re using it, please let me know.
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Social Networking for Real Estate: Interview with Dan Eason of EnergizedSeller.com
Jul 22, 2008 Uncategorized
Recently I was contacted by Dan Eason of Energized Seller, a refreshing new social networking site for real estate professionals and consumers to meet.
The site is geared at helping sellers get real answers to their questions on selling their homes. For real estate agents, home stagers, and others involved in the real estate industry, Energized Seller is a new outlet to let your expertise shine - and even attract new clients.
Dan was nice enough to agree to an interview, so here are some of my questions for him and his answers.
- When did you first start in the real estate industry and doing what?
I’ve had my real estate license for about 5 years. I just recently got my broker’s license to further my education. I have never practiced real estate full-time. I dabble with my own investments and use it to broker water permits.
What made you think of Energized Seller?
I’m a big fan of web 2.0 and online social networking. I also used to do marketing consulting for small businesses and preached time and time again that if a business owner doesn’t want to compete on price alone, they have to differentiate themselves from the competition. I believe home sellers have to do the same. My desire in starting Energized Seller was to utilize the latest web tools to help home sellers learn what they can do to make their home more appealing than all the other homes on the market. There are A LOT of things home owners can do to help improve the marketability of their home; I hope Energized Seller becomes the practical resource for helping them do it.
What are the top things agents will love about Energized Seller?
It’s actually easy, free, and less time consuming than keeping up with their own blog every week. If they have specific home seller information then this is the place to put it. Otherwise, they can just answer questions periodically. They’ll see that they’re fun and easy to answer. This isn’t a site to take the place of their current blog - it’s a place to compliment their current blog/web presence.
How will agents benefit?
When over 80% of the people looking for homes to buy or sell look to the Internet as a resource, they can’t be too many places. This is one more place to be found and seen as an expert. Additionally, they can choose to get e-mail questions from home sellers in their area, be highlighted on the home page, and be listed on the directory.
Anything else you’d like us to know?
The about us page and video explains in more detail what we are all about. You can learn more about it here.
Thank you so much Dan for the interview and introducing us to this new site. I know I personally look forward to trying it out. To sign up and get started, visit EnergizedSeller.com.
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