Blind Eye of the Law Just Got Glasses
As Realtors you have a number of liability issues that can send you checking for that E&O policy. Disclosures, fiduciary responsibilities and more seem to make your business less about sales and more about CYA. Well, the Wild West of the Internet, where you thought you did not need to worry...
Page Rank is Dead
Page Rank Well there has been a flurry of blog activity complaining of Google's draconian "slap" of prominent sites such as the SFGate, CopyBlogger, Washington Post, Forbes & many many more. As Page Rank levels have dropped 1 or in some cases 2 levels. Now Page Rank is the relative importance...
Real Estate Twit
Just when I was about to look for ways to reduce my categories I go and add a new one about Social Media and Real Estate called Socially real estate. What motivated me was that I saw that the LA Fire Department is using Twitter to announce incidents. Check out the page. This would be a great...
Fire Relief Resources
Relief Efforts to help the victims: Beach Cities Health District is collaborating with Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach to collect clothing and household items on behalf of Goodwill Industries. Checks made out to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund also will be accepted....
Southern California Burning
As an Angeleno I feel I must make mention of the single largest fire emergency in California's history. Fully 1 Million people have evacuated their homes. Many of those do not have a home to call home anymore. People are living in their cars and stadiums like Qualcomm and Del Mar Race Track ....
Countrywide to Refinance Mortgages
Countrywide to Refinance Up to $16 Billion of Loans The so called bubble is wrought with blame. From Greenspan to Realtors, certainly everyone can pick up a piece of the blame. However, I have always maintained that the blame has to fall mostly on the lender and borower. To blame the Realtor is...
Real Estate Marketing and Keyword Meta Tags
I cannot tell you how many times a week that I get a phone call from a client or a potential real estate client whom asks about keyword meta tags. Now, I must say in case you do not know, the meta keyword died a decade ago. Well at least it seems like it was that long. It was a wonderful way to...
The Great Equalizer
Compare Title Insurance Rates The CLTA the California Land Title Association has finally launched the obvious. A title insurance comparison tool. Here it is. This is not likely to make our Title Agents happy. Especially if the end user, the homeowners get wind. However, it might be some secret...
How Does Google Work?
Portfolio.com has a nice interactive time line on the evolution of Google from Search to Adwords to YouTube. But they also have a terrific schematic of how Google works once you make a query. From the query to the results page. To the un-initiated you will find this quite illuminating as you will...
The Great Realtor Giveaway
The Great MLS Listings Giveaway This is a story about how a listing can get contracted and sold in today's internet environment. And how NAR is giving Billions of Dollars in Listings of homes away this year. I bet you didn't even hear about it. Heck, I bet most the people at your Board don't even...
Strategy and Tactics
I just read this quote and it got me motivated. I hope it motivates you too."Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." Sun Tzu
This Real Estate Market’s Silver Lining Right Around the Corner
I admit it’s getting betterIt’s a little better all the time yesI admit it’s getting better The Beatles A Freddie Mac economist, Fred Nothaft told a crowd of Realtors in Anaheim that the end of the real estate slump will be sooner than later. He told the California Assoc. of...
Foreclosure Niche
Despite the terrific foreclosure figures last month that showed an 8% decline, it still is a great niche to get yourself involved with. NOD's , Shortsales, and Repos offer tremendous listings and sales possibilities. I am curious. Can you let me know what kind of niche you specialize in, if any...
More Reasons To Tear Down Those Walls
Recently I posted an article declaring everyone a liar. The premise was that people are becoming so distrustful of everyone because of the deluge of ads we get and the fact that we are by our nature not trustworthy. It is best to let your website or blog be transparent. Since writing the post...
The Eyes Have it
Big Ecommerce sites have known for years that if you want to sell a product you put a happy human in front of it. And nothing sells like a pretty girl. Well now there is evidence that it is best to point the pretty girls eyes at your product, or in your case your house. How can you apply this:...
Content Content Content
The 3 most important words in real estate? Content Content Content. At least on the web anyway. The web was supposed to be the great equalizer. Today, it is becoming more and more expensive in money and time to compete. Arianna Huffington recently described her visit to the WebbyConnect...
Agents Get Slapped By The Hand That Feeds
As the market has shifted the buyers and sellers are starting to question the ethical and legal responsibilities of the real estate agent. Sunday's LA Times investigates this question. In a price sensitive market often the best price gets sold. However, this can cause a difficulty for the honest...
Smiling and Buying
So what if I was tell you that I know of this investor who is buying up property all over Orange County-The O.C.? You say that this guy is nuts right? Would you believe they are buying it up by the thousands of units? Well The Irvine Company, as reported by the Wall Street Journal is buying...
Is Your Website Leaking Secrets You Don’t Want Anyone to Know?
Earlier today I was futzing in my log files and followed a link. I visited that site and was amazed that I was in the back console of the website. I had access to emails, editors, personal information. You name it.I immediately took snap shots and sent them off to the owner of the site and the...
Everyone is a Liar?
I love to study human nature and psychology. My interests have run from Jay Abraham, Gary Halbert to the seminal book "Clambake Orgy" (that was passed onto me by a football player while I was on a recruiting trip in High School).This is a book about subliminal suggestive advertising. This all...