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Articles from BlueRoof Blog

Trulia- Tech Guys in Realtor’s Clothing 2008-02-04 01:26:32 The real estate industry has been in a major state of flux for two years now, with new technology and innovation entering the market constantly. It’s truly an exciting time to be in this industry. Some of the technology has really benefited the consumer and real estate agents alike. Many agents are becoming much more efficient and are offering much better service than ever before. Some technology (virtual tours, online fax) has become so common and accepted that many would not want to think of working without it. One of the areas that has seen major growth is in the third-party, tech-guy’s turned real estate entrepreneur’s, listings.bot arena. First there was HouseValues, which was an innovator in that it saw how weak real estate agent’s were at attracting business from the internet so it capitalized on that weakness and got it’s own internet leads and sold them to real estate agents. Then, Lending Tree jumped in with it’s bid-for-mortgage busines ...

BlueRoof at Inman Connect NYC 2008-01-31 10:56:18 One of the best parts of attending a convention is the networking that takes place. Getting your story out, building those connections and relationships, and learning from others- these are all intregal pieces of growing a brand and a successful career in an ever-changing industry. From the convention comes this write-up from Marc Davison, head of 1000Watt Consulting, who is helping to guide real estate brokerages into the future with consulting services. This interview from brokerIPTV.com, who captured many of the speakers from the convention for private interviews. With the launch of BlueRoof360, we are hoping to help change the industry for the better through guiding agents and helping them craft their own online presence and value proposition for consumers. Having fine companies spread the message about us is an enormous help, and I’m grateful for the generous publicity both of these companies are giving us. ...

At Least it’s not a Meth House 2008-01-22 03:33:12 Hey, no house is perfect, right? ...

BlueRoof360- Industry Best Realtor Websites, Lead and Client Management 2008-01-18 18:23:15 In 2007 we closed 114 homes because of our website. While the majority of real estate agents were seeing their businesses slow down significantly and the overall market lose energy, our business has stayed very consistent. You may, or may not, want to be a top-producing agent, but I’m sure you wouldn’t mind an extra sale or two each month.  Technology does not take the place of personality and personal contact but, when utilized correctly, it can help us connect with our clients and also bring us business. Understand, I am not a technology guy getting into real estate. I am a Realtor (over 14 years) who uses technology very well. As a real estate agent, if you want to get business from the internet and offer real value to your clients what are your current choices? You can use Point2, Advanced Access, Homes.com or myriad other template websites, you can (even worse) use a page on your broker’s website, or you can spend a lot of money building a custom website and ...

Realtors are Just too Damn Old 2008-01-17 17:43:12 Ever been out with friends at the local bar filled with 20 and 30-something’s having a drink and you notice the old horny dude in the back just sitting, watching? He’s probably a nice guy and has a lot of great stories about the “good old days” when he actually belonged at this college hangout, but he doesn’t quite fit in with the vibe and environment. Many Realtors are that old dude. Experience is good. Knowledge is good. Stories wrapped in nostalgia can be good. Being  outdated and unwilling to evolve and offer effective service because you’re too (old, lazy, experienced, busy, set in your ways, dumb, etc) whatever -  that is bad. I’m not a fan of the blogging movement that seems to be happening where agents simply bitch and whine about everything just to gain some sort of credibility with consumers, as if to say, “See I’m complaining- I’m on your side, so give me business!” I am not complaining to get business- I ...

Inman Connect NYC, 2008 2008-01-14 03:05:47   Most of the attendees to Inman Connect are owners, corporate people, or start-ups in the real estate industry- not many Realtors attend. It’s a fantastic way to teach, learn and network from those who are pushing the industry into the future. And there are some great conversations floating around in the halls between sessions. With normal company or Board of Realtor Association conventions much of the conversation is, “How do you get your business?” or “What do you think of the market?” At the Connect event there are so many technology companies and owners of brokerages that the conversations have a bit more sophistication. Throw in a few beers and they get very interesting. Some of the things I saw, realized, remembered, liked, and noticed from the convention; There are a ton of start-ups launching in real estate right now It is a blast meeting up with other bloggers at these conventions Google offices have arcade games and a cool view Dustin (dramatic ...

MySpace Wants to be BlueRoof 2008-01-07 22:32:48   Or at least they want to take my blog, slap their branding on it, and put it on their new “News” section of the site. There are many ways to break into the news business, but simply taking other people’s content and branding it as your own is not the best way to do it. It’s always nice to be recognized, especially to be considered newsworthy by a well-known source, but this goes a bit far. Nobody contacted me to ask if they could use my content. I suspect they have a spider or program that goes through each category and finds the sites with a certain level of traffic and then copy the content from those sites. There’s not much flattering about that. MySpace has mastered the whole get-kids-to-make-silly-websites-and-post-naughty-pictures thing, now they might want to learn good business practices. ...

Google Search Secrets by Sellsius 2008-01-06 10:38:16   Sellsius gives us a fantastic list of Google Search Secrets that expose some really cool tools found inside our favorite search engine. A few of the secrets; Find similar terms with the tilde (~): ~cheap homes. You get auctions, foreclosures, etc. Use the wildcard star (*) if you don’t know the missing word: a man’s home is his *. Get a list of definitions with “define:” define:foreclosure. Use Google as a calculator (good for figuring a commission): 548,000 x 6%. To search a term in a particular blog or website use “site:”. Useful if a website or blog doesn’t have a search box: site:blog.sellsiusrealestate.com zillow. (Dang, 960 Zillow posts. We must have a crush on Zillow.) Type in the area code to find out the city: “646″. Time & Weather. “Time Hong Kong” gives you the time in Hong Kong. “Weather Hong Kong” (or weather (zip code)) gives you the weather. Local Movie times. Type the movie and your city or zip code: “I am ... Google

Cry-Baby Board of Realtor Associations and MLS’s Continue Desperate Rule-Making 2008-01-06 10:23:35 The Northwestern Wisconsin Multiple Listing Service, operated by the Realtors Association of Northwestern Wisconsin, is realizing that it is a lame monopoly that is going extinct, in fact, an MLS system. And they have decided to take the same ridiculous position that the Regional MLS of Minnesota and the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois and Northwest MLS in Washington have taken… They cry about it and demand that the term “MLS” is theirs and demand that people stop using it. Do they have a copyright or trademark on the term, you ask? Of course not, but that doesn’t matter to these cry-baby pissy-pant’s- what matters is they want to continue their monopoly of information. Here’s how the MLS works: Broker pays MLS a fee to become a member, Broker takes listing, Broker displays listing on MLS, Broker pays MLS more money to display MLS listings on website, MLS sets ridiculous rules that broker must follow or be completely cut off from ...

2007 Magnificent 7 Finalists 2008-01-03 18:51:12   Larry Cragun at RealEstateUndressed just released his 2007 finalists for his Magnificent 7 awards. I’m honored to be among the nominees for an article I wrote in August. I met Larry last year when we both shared a speaking role (about blogging) at the Inman Connect convention. I am pleased to say that he wasn’t undressed. That would have made things a bit uncomfortable. The cool things about Larry’s award is that it is specifically for articles written for consumers, which knocks about 95% of the articles written on real estate blogs right out of contention. There is a lot of discussion right now about “knowing your audience” and writing for them. Well, most of my audience is real estate professionals, and roughly 40% of my readers are consumers. So who do I write for? I write what is on my mind and hope that is finds an audience. I enjoy reading about real estate so I read real estate blogs, even if the articles aren’t written for me. Just as a ...

Help Wanted 2008-01-02 23:34:11 Coldwell Banker agent Dian Hymer needs some help. She is suffering from cancer and needs a bone marrow transplant. According to InMan, an initial run of the National Marrow Donor Program registry showed no matches. I don’t know Dian, but I do know that somewhere out there is someone who can help. You may be a match. Registering for the program is simple- register now.   ...

Republican vs Democrat- See the Political Dashboard 2007-12-27 15:45:11 Yahoo has the political dashboard. I’m not sure if this helps you in your decisions much, but it’s a nicely displayed group of information either way.  (h/t to Eric Bryant) ...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 2007-12-25 01:37:29 ‘Now, I’ll tell you what, my friend,’ said Scrooge, ‘I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore,’ he continued, leaping from his stool, and giving Bob such a dig in the waistcoat that he staggered back into the Tank again; ‘and therefore I am about to raise your salary!’ -A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ...

Video is Over-Rated 2007-12-21 15:05:34 Video has been the “new” thing now for while and some people are really into using video for blogging and for real estate tours. But not everything that is new is better.  I have not embraced using video in real estate sales or in blogging (vlogging), and here’s why… The written (typed) word inherently allows you to go at your own pace- read fast or slow, re-read over and over- stare at and study, or speed-read at a very fast pace. Moving video of something standing still (rooms in a home) accomplish nothing more than a still-shot photo does. Moving around a room with a video doesn’t really show you anything you wouldn’t see in a few photos. Copy/paste. With a written blog I can copy certain text I want to share, and simply link back to the original. With a video I have to show the whole thing if I want to share it. With virtual tours I can share the photos I want and only the photos I want. Sometimes people don’t look as good as they ...

It’s Black and White- How to Sell Your Home 2007-12-20 21:12:17 Daniel Rothamel from the Real Estate Zebra Has produced a video that discusses how to sell your home. The beauty of this video is that it applies to most all real estate markets around the country. If you are selling your home, this is a must see. ...