Archive for the 'Stuff I like to talk about' Category
Bloodhound Unchained Brings out the Entrepreneurial Realtors | Applying Web 2.0 Technology to Real Estate in Alpharetta
categories: Stuff I like to talk about
This time last week I was sitting in a conference room in Phoenix with a bunch of "Unchained" realtors and mortgage brokers. As an independent business person, I don’t usually afford myself the luxury of much professional development in the form of seminars or conferences. My learning is all done on-line late at night; it is amazing what you can learn for free if you can (will) just read.
I made an exception when deciding to attend Bloodhound Unchained because I’ve been reading Bloodhound Blog for a while now and there are so many good real estate marketing ideas discussed there that I figured I must attend. The people contributing on Bloodhound blog are truly discussing the foremost methods to market real estate in this Web 2.0 world; and as Alpharetta’s self-appointed bearer of the real estate 2.0 mantle, I viewed attendance as mandatory, not optional.
Real Estate with Web 2.0 Allows You to Develop Trust
Deciding to attend this conference on on-line real estate marketing and social media really wasn’t that hard, though, because I used the very tools I was going to learn about when deciding to go in the first place.
The internet is a brave new world of commerce. No one likes sleazy
sales people, but sleazy sales tricks cannot work on the internet,
where every suspicious claim can be checked in an instant. Transparency
rules, and the practitioners who succeed with net-empowered consumers
are the ones who are prepared to back up everything they say.The bonus for people willing to work this way is that consumers will
have a much higher degree of trust in their Realtor or lender. Rather
than picking a name out of a phone book or off of a yard sign, they
will have gotten to know that person — passively and anonymously —
online.
The contributors at Bloodhound blog had developed with me over an extended period of time via the blog a high degree of trust. Trust is the hardest thing to earn, but also the thing that makes all relationships flourish or flounder. I think that you’ll believe me when I say the best client interactions you’ve had are the ones where the client trusts you and your expertise and you trust them to honor their business commitment to you.
My most sincere hope is that, like the Bloodhound blog earned my trust, that my blog is earning your trust.
Real Estate Entrepreneurs and the Yesterday’s Broker
One other "slap on the forehead" moment I had at Bloodhound Unchained was the idea of the "real estate entrepreneur." I know it sounds silly and maybe obvious to you, but I had never thought of myself as an entrepreneur. I’m a realtor, after all, an independent contractor for sure. Self-employed, no doubt. But entrepreneur? Aren’t those the guys in garages and labs concocting new products or services? There is nothing new about real estate…it is probably the second oldest profession.
But it hit me like an anvil hitting Wile E. Coyote when Greg Swan said that the audience was filled with a bunch of real estate entrepreneurs. Yes, that is exactly what we are - unchained from the traditional way of doing business: our real estate trade is the same as every other realtor, but how we go about the trade is radically different.
We are not company (wo)men. We don’t depend on our brokers for much of anything, certainly not business. We seek our own counsel first - and then the counsel of our social media network. We don’t hang out by the water cooler and bemoan the market; we make the market. We are idea-based and action-oriented. These attributes are actually why I wanted to attend Bloodhound Unchained: because it is comforting, reassuring, encouraging and darn-right stimulating to hang out with like-minded people/realtors.
Given that this is our DNA, Laurie Manny, a dedicated real estate blogger from Long Beach, CA, proclaimed that the brokers should be scared, VERY scared. Why, because the entrepreneurial agent, or more precisely the real estate agent who is going to succeed in the new world of web 2.0, does not need much of anything that a broker can offer.
So let me ask you, the reading audience who might be considering engaging me to help you with your real estate purchase or sale. Do you care that I’m affiliated with a national real estate brokerage? Can you tell me which one without looking at the footer of this page?
What if I were with a second-tier brokerage, one that would charge me much less to do business, but one without the brand name recognition? What if my broker were completely virtual? Would you mind meeting me at Starbucks instead of my company conference room?
When at Bloodhound Unchained, I surveyed other attendees on this question. Each and every one told me without hesitation that the broker doesn’t matter one iota. What matters is you and your ability to effectively sell and market and maintain client relationships.
What do you think? If you came to this blog tomorrow and found that I was with no-name broker, would you trust me less?
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 4 Comments »
“The Donald” is Coming | Trump Rumored to be Interested in Echelon
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Golf Communities, Stuff I like to talk about
By all accounts, Echelon a.k.a. The Georgia Tech Club, so far has not lived up to expectations. Its rival high-end golf course community, The Manor, has done significantly better in terms of home sales and overall build out.
The Manor is not breaking any sales records, but Echelon has performed so poorly that people are wondering what the future holds - and this uncertainly has absolutely affected buyers’ decisions to not buy in Echelon. I have personal experience on that front.
The developer at Echelon, The Melrose Group, has a track record of under performance as evidenced by Bloody Point in Hilton Head.
Enter Trump, or so the rumor goes. Here is a man who appreciates a smooth seven iron from the middle of the fairway. Trump is also no stranger to golf course development. He has an entire portfolio of beautiful courses under the Trump National brand and courses outside the U.S. as well.
Plus, Trump is already building in Atlanta at the new Trump Towers of Atlanta, in midtown, so he is likely familiar with Alpharetta’s market demographics and the huge upside of investing in this area.
Trump could be the 6 handicapper in the shiny golf cart that rides in and saves the day at Echelon. I’ve always maintained that Echelon is a diamond in the rough. The golf course is outstanding and its advantage over The Manor is that it has acre-sized lots - and fewer of them, precisely because they are larger. Echelon will be a smaller and perhaps more exclusive community once it is built out and we are 20 years down the fairway.
The proposed deal I heard rumored is that Trump would buy out the lender’s position at Echelon and complete the development with The Melrose Company, but again, this is all speculation.
Someone needs to step in, though, whether it is Trump or someone else. A golf course as good as that one is a terrible thing to waste (and by the way, you can currently get a membership there for only $15,000 regardless of whether you went to the North Avenue vocational school ;-> ).
A Trump development in Alpharetta would be just another jewel in a crown of high-end developments (Prospect Park being the other big one) that is really putting Alpharetta on the map nationally.
Let’s tee it up, Donald. And I want strokes from "the Donald" just to say that I got them!
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently Comments Off
Searching Online for a Home in Alpharetta? What Would You Like Your Search Engine to Do?
categories: Buyers, Stuff I like to talk about
I was online last night looking at various home search websites, comparing and contrasting and trying to determine what works best. I stumbled upon the Real Estate Book and while it is not that different than any other online home search engine it has some nice features.
You can search for foreclosures (there is an integration with RealtyTrac) and you can search for "new listings," although it doesn’t tell you how new. What would you like in a search engine that you haven’t been able to find to date?
I’m not exactly sure where The Real Estate Book is getting its listing data. However, it provides a database of over over 400,000 homes for sale in the US, which is an over kill for me but I guess if you want to price things around the country it could be useful. It is showing 654 listings for Alpharetta homes for sale.
I picked a larger city for my area, Atlanta homes for sale, and it allowed me to check other nearby towns by hovering my mouse over the city tags. For example there are 356 homes for sale in Roswell. However, it didn’t allow me to select cities like Johns Creek or Milton from the list. I know these cities are new, but I think what we have is a generic solution built for Anywhere, USA and it fails to understand the local housing landscape and political boundaries. Guess you have to rely on me for that ;-> and perhaps a more local solution.
Unbelievably, there seem to be lots of people who are not using the Internet as the Free Real Estate Book magazine still has a distribution of over 8.5 million copies. This is the same Real Estate Book that all the agents in my office used to advertise in religiously but which I haven’t heard a whisper of in a loooooooong time. It looks like they are switching their strategy to online. Duh.
Please let me know which are your favorite online home search engines. I’m always looking for ways to improve the way people can search for homes and my own website search engine. Remember, one of my latest projects is working with the guys at softrealty.com on their new search engine. It is still in beta but has a lot of promise.
Let me know what you’d like to be able to do, but have a hard time doing currently when searching for a home online. What would be your killer application?
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 5 Comments »
How Easily Can You Be Fooled by a Home’s Price
categories: Stuff I like to talk about
Since it is April Fool’s Day, I thought that I’d see if I can fool you. No better place to start that with home prices.
It’s old school to price a million dollar house for $999,900. Were you fooled?
How about $19.99 for a twenty-dollar book. Even my third grader sees through that and quickly rounds up.
What about that little raised "9" at the end of the gas price? I didn’t pay $1.35 this morning for gas; I paid $1.35-NINE. Really, who are we fooling?
Well, while you say you’d never fall for any of the price tricks above, it turns out there you may be falling for a "pricing strategy" widely used by retailers and you might not even know it.
Researchers at Cornell University have discovered that consumers perceive that when an item is priced at a round number, say a $500,000 house, it is more expensive than one priced at $512,433. Interesting, huh?
While we don’t realize it, we are subjected to this strategy everyday: At Wal-Mart, the paper towels are $2.19, not $2.00. At Home Depot, nails are $3.79 a box; washers are 67 cents a piece. Are you telling me that they know that exactly the cost of a washer and what they "need" to charge to make their margin? Nope, they know we perceive something listed at $2.89 as a bargain because we might think it was reduced from $3.00.
I am thinking about using this strategy when marketing homes for sale in Alpharetta and considering that it might work better for home price below $500k than above. What do you think?
At a minimum it might cause buyers to take notice and ask: "How the heck did they come up with this price?"
I don’t think I will take the price all the way out to the pennies, though, although that would really be a good April’s Fool test. So, let me know: Are you a price fool or not? Would this strategy work on you?
NOTE: I initially heard about this research on National Public Radio last week. To hear the whole story, go here: Study Shows Precise Pricing More Enticing to Buyers
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 3 Comments »
Blogging for Alpharetta Real Estate Has Lighter Side
categories: Miscellaneous, Stuff I like to talk about
I’ve been blogging about Alpharetta Real Estate now since September, 2006, and mostly it is a pretty sober affair here: North Fulton housing trends, the latest information on schools, new home construction in Alpharetta, etc.
I appreciate all the kind phone calls and emails I’ve received since I started this blog and the new clients and friends I’ve made; I’m a blogger for life given my experience so far.
Along the way, I’ve tried to find the lighter side of real estate when possible: I recall the post on front doors as noses. In fact, I recently came across some new information on garage doors innovations and how they can dress up a home. If a front door is the nose of a house, then what is the garage door? I digress.
Anyway, yesterday I attended the first RETechSouth conference in Atlanta, a conference for realtors focusing on blogging, social networking and video for real estate. It was right up my alley: all these things are the future of real estate, and I you read this blog you already know that.
At the conference, they played this video. Now you kinda have to BE a blogger to appreciate it, but many of you have asked me about my blogging, how much time I spend on it and how thorough it is, so you will definitely appreciate this. I’ve watched it probably five times and laugh out loud each time. Laugh with me and have a funny day.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 2 Comments »
No Picture Available | How Not to Market a House for Sale
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Photography, Sellers, Stuff I like to talk about
No Picture Available. Like shown on the left, that is what is displayed in the MLS when, duh, the agent has not loaded any pictures.
Pictures increasingly tell the story in our visual age. That explains why home buyers who are browsing homes online are frustrated when they come across a listing with no pictures. Can the seller even be serious about selling if they don’t post a picture? Are they trying to hide something?
Would you be surprised if I told you that in February of this year, of the 65,663 Residential and Condominium properties listed in the Multiple Listing Service for the Atlanta metro area, 5,023 had no photos at all? On top of that, 11,474 only had one photo, when the MLS now allows you to post 12 photos per listing.
I’m not sure if it is malpractice or laziness, but it is unforgivable for a listing agent to not have at least half a dozen well-taken, well-lighted, well-cropped photos of the home they are marketing. And solid quality photography should not be reserved only for million-dollar homes. Digital photography is too inexpensive and easy to learn for every house for sale not to have a photo.
Additionally, the way that people and agents search for homes these days is with "saved searches." Buyers have predefined searches (if you want one, just contact me and I’ll set you up) that automatically notify them of new homes on the market that meet their criteria. If there is no photograph when that buyer gets the notification, that buyer is likely to never consider your home again. You missed your shot.
Photography is a mini-hobby of mine and I take pictures of all sorts of things besides houses, but I’m always looking for ways to take and display house pictures better. One of the coolest new tools I’ve found is piclens, and you can see an example here of some home photos I’ve taken of an awesome home for sale just north of Alpharetta in East Cherokee county.
As time permits, I’m also adding "face shots" of Alpharetta real estate to Zillow. I don’t sweat every detail of these photos, but do post them to Zillow so that people using that service from out of state and relocating to Alpharetta can get a better feel for what the properties look like. They might even call me when they are ready to move…if they like my style ;->
Lastly, I have a collection of what I call lazy realtor photos. I’m not sure if these are humorous or sad. For more on bad real estate photos, check out Athol Kay’s MLS Bad Photo of the Day. Athol has carved a name for himself in the real estate blog sphere just by cataloging other realtors’ photo atrocities.
My Collection of Atlanta Real Estate Photos by Lazy Agents
Agent is either too lazy to get out of the car or doesn’t know how to crop a photo.
This agent can get out of the car, but doesn’t know how to park on the street.
This agent was (too) short ;-> Nice roof, though.
This agent went to art school before real estate.
This agent can’t see the houses for the trees.
This agent was actually a fencing contractor!
So, which is worse, a bad picture or no picture at all? You should never have to find out.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 1 Comment »
Southern Lacrosse Gets Boost from Northern Schools | Alpharetta Lacrosse Ranked #2
categories: Announcements, Stuff I like to talk about
Between the tornados that battered Atlanta this weekend, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team battered the Big Green of Dartmouth. It was fantastic to see a Division 1 lacrosse game played in Atlanta (promoted by BreakAway Lacrosse and played at Lovett High School) and the support the northern schools are giving to the growth of lacrosse in the South by scheduling the game in Atlanta.
Kids from all over the metro area game dressed in their game jerseys giving you an idea of just how wide spread the game has become in Atlanta and how much it has grown in just the past 3-5 years. Lacrosse is now a viable extracurricular activity for your children if you live in Atlanta or are planning to relocate to Atlanta. That’s sweet news for families moving to Atlanta from El Norte, where lacrosse is more mainstream.
One of the season’s best boy’s high school teams to date is Alpharetta High School. They are ranked #2 behind Lovett and are so far unbeaten at 8-0. They dominated #7 Lassiter this past week 14-2 and will play #8 Roswell High School on March 25 and #1 Lovett on April 23rd at Lovett on the same field that Notre Dame took Dartmouth to task 19-7.
I captured a few images from the Notre Dame - Dartmouth game. This is my favorite. To see the rest, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kevinwarmath/NotreDameVDartmouth
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently No Comments »
Slicker Than Baby Snot: Using Piclens to Display Real Estate Photography
categories: Lots, Luxury Homes, Stuff I like to talk about
I’ve said here before that I really don’t care for virtual tours. It is so tedious to watch still photographs zoom in and out to muzak.
In an effort to find something better, I was recently introduced to PicLens. Now THIS is the way to display photos of homes for sale.
I’ve been working on a demo; CLICK HERE to see it and I’d really appreciate your feedback. Be sure to click on the "Start Awesome 3D Slide Show" link. You might want to download the plug in from the PicLens website, but it should work just fine if your browser already has a Flash plug-in.
Is this a better way to view photos? I think so, but it is all about you, the user, so please let me know.
These pictures are of a house in The Shoals at Arbor Hill. The house is one of those that is on the "sleeper market." The owner would like to sell it but it is not on the active market. Therefore, I just take the opportunity to introduce it to my clients who are interested in The Shoals, a great Chatham-built neighborhood in East Cherokee with multi-acre lots and horses allowed, and million dollar homes.
In my opinion, this particular home is a better value than others currently on the market; it has a better lot and it has a new $22,000 well for both water use inside and irrigation outside. But, of course, you wouldn’t know that unless you called me ;->
By the way, I also have one of the few remaining lots for sale in The Shoals. It is probably in the top three if not the best lot in the neighborhood. It is 3.5 acres with a small lake on the back. There is a gentle slope that would allow for a great terrace level and the lot is almost all hardwoods. $289,000, but make an offer if you are interested.
Back to Piclens. If you like this, please let me know. If you are interested in how I can do this for the marketing of your home, please give me a call. A listing agent’s job is to inform the market about your home for sale and that includes pictures, the more the better. I think this is a better way to inform the buyer!
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 2 Comments »
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