5 Rules For Using Twitter
September 28, 2007 | 6 Comments
Lord help me, I’m on Twitter.
I’ll be quite honest with you, I wasn’t initially impressed with Twitter. It seemed kinda pointless to me. My opinion changed after I read an interview with Chris Brogan at Guy Kawasaki’s blog. Chris spoke about using Twitter as a way to engage in conversations, and keep an eye on what other relevant conversations are out there. So I started browsing around Twitter, and I found it sort of interesting. I also found it a bit inspiring. After I started thinking about Twitter and how I want to use it, I came up with some rules that I am going to try and follow, and wish others would, too:
1) Don’t tell me what you are doing– tell me what you are thinking.
2) Don’t tell me where you are going– tell me what moves you.
3) Don’t just tell me you wrote a new blog post– tell me why you did it.
4) Don’t just notify– engage and inspire.
5) Make sure you follow, but also try to lead.
I know that I am going to break these rules a few times here and there, and probably bore people with mundane stuff every once in a while, but I think that if I can write three posts that follow these rules for every one post that breaks them, Twitter could be pretty interesting.
I look at Twitter like this: it is a place for people to engage one another, instantaneously and very acutely. It can be so much more than “what are you doing?”. I’ll give you two examples of notable Twitter members who I think are wasting their tweets:
1) The New York Times: As near as I can tell, the only thing the NYT is using their tweets for is to push headlines from their website. Isn’t that what RSS is for? The NYT main feed has 25 followers, over half of which are just other NYT feeds. Robert Scoble, on the other hand, has over 5000 followers. Why? Because he is engaging people, sharing something interesting. The NYT is just pushing headlines. They have columnists, don’t they? Would it really kill the NYT to offer us something other than what we already have access to?
2) John Edwards: This is a man who is running for President of the United States, and all he wants to tell us is when he is getting on a tour bus or making a campaign stop? Is that all he has to say? Here is a perfect opportunity to engage voters on a daily basis, to inspire, to share insights in a personal way. For once in my life, I would like to see a politician get off the script and share something meaningful. I can go to a website to find out about the next public appearance.
So that’s it. Those are my initial thoughts about Twitter and my plan to use it more effectively. Sure, I’ll use it for pedestrian stuff from time to time, but wouldn’t it be cool if we could take something ordinary and transform it into something altogether different. . .
[tags] web 2.0, social networking, twitter, tweets, john edwards, new york times, robert scoble, scobleizer [/tags]
Charlottesville Real Estate to See More Accurate Days On Market Stats
September 27, 2007 | 1 Comment
I received a pleasant surprise this morning in the form of the new email newsletter from the Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS. The newsletter contained the following announcement:
Beginning October 1, the MLS system will track Cumulative Days on Market (CDOM). CDOM is a count of the total time an address or parcel ID has been on the market, as compared to DOM (Days on Market) which is a measure of how long a specific MLS number has been on the market. The rules for withdrawing and re-listing properties will also change on October 1 [. . .]
All I can say about this is. . .FINALLY! This should eliminate most of the DOM gaming that goes on. I can tell you that one of the most frustrating things that I have to do for clients is to try and determine the true days on market for a property. I am hoping that the system will be able to show both the CDOM and the DOM. This way, prospective buyers will know how long a property has been actively for sale, and they will also be able to tell how long the current listing agent has had the property.
I am definitely curious to see how the whole thing works out, and the new rules for withdrawing and re-listing properties should prove very interesting. More to come on that front.
As excited as I am about the change, I am still a firm believer in the Law of Unintended Consequences. I just hope that what should be positive change doesn’t become a snafu.
Time will tell. . .
[tags] real estate, realtor, charlottesville, virginia, days on market [/tags]
Why Your Answer to, “Are You on Facebook?” Will Determine the Fate of Your Business in 10 Years or Sooner
September 27, 2007 | 17 Comments
Brian Brady, contributing to the BloodhoundBlog, shared some information learned from a discussion about marketing to the Wired generation. The panel consisted of college students, and the discussion was moderated by Guy Kawasaki.
Everyone who reads this blog and works in the real estate profession should read, mark, and inwardly digest the information from Brian’s post.
Brian’s final paragraph may be a bit facetious, but he has hit on a critical issue:
Does this mean that the real estate weblog of the future will be written by Paris Hilton on Facebook? If you sell a home to Matt Leinart, you’ll want to make sure your Facebook profile publishes his video endorsement (cross-posted on YouTube). That Facebook profile will need a widget that allows for a text message question so you can provide quick, relevant information.
When I think of the real estate customer of the future, I think of my brother. My brother (another Bryan, with a “y”) is currently a college student at High Point University in North Carolina. He, and just about everyone he knows, has a Facebook profile. For them, Facebook is absolutely critical to the way they communicate and interact with each other and the world at large. I converse with my brother far more through Facebook, text messages, instant messages and email than I do on the phone. He doesn’t use a land-line (neither do I, for that matter). He reads the newspaper, but online and through his RSS reader, not in the paper form. Unlike the students on the panel, he does write a blog (I’ll take a bit of credit for getting him started there). I know he reads a lot of other blogs, too (even that of his big brother, from time to time). He fits right into the demographic of the panel.
The question becomes, how will he find his REALTOR when he needs to buy a home in a few years? This is assuming, of course, that he isn’t buying a home in the Charlottesville area. I hope I know who his REALTOR of choice will be in that situation. I’m willing to bet my bottom dollar that he won’t be trolling the newspaper for REALTOR ads. I’m willing to bet that one of the very first things he will do when he moves to another area is meet people through the Facebook network for that area. I’m willing to bet that the first way he will contact a REALTOR is by email, IM, or text message. The REALTOR that has the most exposure to all of those means of those communication stands the best chance of working with my brother– and the MILLIONS of other prospective customers just like him.
Mark my words– any REALTOR who is not on Facebook will be irrelevant in 10 years, maybe even sooner.
With that said, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc. are just the tip of the iceberg. Those types of social networking sites are still in relative infancy. I am sure that people will come up with all sorts of creative uses for them and even create new networks that are even more effective. For better or worse, all of this technology is creating a “want it yesterday” world. As this trend continues, I think that people’s tolerance for those who aren’t utilizing the technology will go down. It still astonishes me that there are REALTORS out there who aren’t proficient with email. And heck, email is becoming old-fashioned as we speak. The point that I am trying to make is that the Internet is changing the world faster than most people can keep up with. If you are a real estate professional, and you aren’t at least trying to keep up, woe be unto you.
[tags] real estate, realtor, charlottesville, virginia, facebook, myspace, linkedin, guy kawasaki, technology, marketing, web 2.0, social networking, realtorsaurus [/tags]
Internet Real Estate Marketing Will Change the Industry
September 26, 2007 | 6 Comments
Check out this article in last week’s edition of the C-Ville Weekly regarding the Internet and its impact on the real estate industry.
In the article, I was quoted thusly:
Realtor and real estate blogger Daniel Rothamel says that while sellers listing their homes on MLS without a realtor do cut into some of the services he offers, marketing a house is just the first step. “Sure, now your house is marketed,” says Rothamel. “But now you’re also responsible for coordinating showings, doing the open houses and negotiating the contract. I think what you’ll see in the future is that the emphasis in real estate will start to shift towards representation, towards agency, as it becomes a lot easier to market property.”
I meant what I said, but I said a lot of other stuff as well that I would like to share here. I think Jim knows the feeling.
The internet has, in fact, made it much easier for people to advertise the sale of their home. It has made it so easy, and so much emphasis has been placed on advertising your home for sale on all the Web 2.0 outlets, that I think people may be forgetting that there is a lot more to successfully selling a home than simply advertising it.
One key component to selling a home, and I wish it would have made it into my C-Ville quote, is pricing a home. You can advertise a home in every outlet know to mankind, but if the price is wrong, it won’t sell. Professional knowledge and consultation with regard to pricing is one of the most valuable services that a REALTOR can offer. This is especially true in the Charlottesville real estate market, where reliable, timely comparable sales data is almost non-existent outside of the MLS.
While we advertise all of our listings in as many places as we can, Internet, print, TV, etc., that is not the only reason that our clients hire us. They hire us because of our knowledge and expertise in the field, and because of the advice and service we can offer them during the course of their transaction.
With all of the emphasis that is being placed on the ability to list a home for sale for free through so many outlets, I hope one of the side effects of this change will be that it will encourage REALTORS to improve upon the skills that make their services truly valuable. In the end, I believe the ease and proliferation of Internet real estate marketing will serve to enhance, not detract from, the value of true real estate professionals across the country.
[tags] real estate, realtor, charlottesville, virginia, c-ville weekly, internet marketing, real estate marketing, web 2.0, disintermediation [/tags]
The Anglin Family Needs Your Help
September 25, 2007 | 4 Comments
I have come to learn that the real estate blogging community is just that– a community. The community has suffered a tragic loss and could use your help.
The brother of real estate blogger Lani Anglin died in a tragic car accident. His family was injured as well. The blogging community has come together to start and promote a donation fund for the Anglin family. You can learn more about it on Greg’s blog by clicking here.
If you would like to help by making a donation, you can click on the link below, or on the link in the sidebar.
Please keep the Anglin family in your thoughts and prayers.
Agent 2.0– The Anti-Realtorsaurus
September 24, 2007 | 1 Comment
If you don’t want to work with a Realtorsaurus, who should you be looking for?
If you don’t want to be a Realtorsaurus, what should you be aspiring to?
Try Agent 2.0 .
Kelly Roark, a contributing author to one of my favorite blogs, the Future of Real Estate Marketing, gives us a definition.
I like it.
[tags] real estate, realtor, charlottesvile, virginia, realtorsaurus, web 2.0, agent 2.0, technology [/tags]
Follow the Adventures of Chilton Treakle
September 22, 2007 | 2 Comments
Who the heck is Chilton Treakle?
Chilton is a friend and business associate of ours here at Strong Team REALTORS. Currently, Chilton is romping through Europe, and he will be doing so for the next few weeks.
Because I know so many of you would probably welcome a distraction from the daily grind, check out the site and blog Chilton has created. You can follow his adventure by the day, check out his pictures, and even encourage or harass him from a world away.
Chilton is a really cool guy, and I would imagine that his trip is going to be quite entertaining, for him and us.
New Technology Will Make, and Break, Real Estate Careers
September 21, 2007 | 1 Comment
Remember the Realtorsaurus?
The Realtorsaurus is alive and well, I am afraid. I came face-to-face with this reality yesterday at a REALTOR ethics class that I attended. Many of the latest changes to the REALTOR Code of Ethics addressed the use of the Internet. In one such change, Standard of Practice 12-10 prohibits REALTORS from “deceptively using metatags, keywords or other devices/methods to direct, drive, or divert Internet traffic, or to otherwise mislead consumers. (Adopted 1/07)”
When we came to this section of the code during the class, the instructor asked everyone in the class who knew what a “meta tag” was to raise a hand. . .
Out of a class of about 30– four people raised a hand.
I must admit that I was very proud to be related to two of the three, other than myself, who raised a hand. That means, however, that had the three of us not attended, only one person in the room would have raised a hand. Yikes!
I’m not sharing this story to embarrass or make fun, but the reality of the situation is that at the rate technology is changing the real estate industry, if you don’t know what meta tags are, you are way behind the game. NAR is already behind. While it may be great to have language about meta tags in the code, SEO technology and strategy is already moving past that.
Think about it for a second, the code is talking about meta tags, but the industry is talking about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, SMS, RSS, SEM, wikis, and the blogosphere, just to name a few. While none of these subjects has anything to do with becoming a REALTOR, they have everything to do with having a sustainable, successful career in real estate.
I think that the reasons are many that REALTORS have little knowledge about the technology that is changing our industry by the day. I won’t go into all of them right now, but there is no reason for this to continue. Each individual REALTOR must make an effort to learn about the technology that has the power to make or break their future success. To ignore these subjects is to risk extinction.
Realtorsaurus, your days are numbered. . .
[tags] real estate, realtor, charlottesville, virginia, technology, realtorsaurus, twitter, linkedin, facebook, rss, [/tags]
Bail-Outs, Personal Accountability, and Getting Booed
September 20, 2007 | 3 Comments
Last week, I told you what I thought about government bail-outs for the real estate industry. Yesterday, the Fed stepped up and took action. What the Fed did was more of a band-aid than a bail-out.
Not to be upstaged, and since politicians are generally moved by their insatiable need to do something, the House of Representatives passed bail-out legislation for homeowners. I expected the House to wait at least a day so that the legislators would get more publicity from the move, but maybe their intention was to be more stealthy with it. Whatever their motivation, I still don’t like it.
All of these federal actions provide and interesting backdrop for a discussion that has been going on at the BloodhoundBlog about the viability of the National Association of REALTORS. Greg wrote an excellent post last night about committees and why they usually fall short of our misplaced expectations. Kris Berg responded with an excellent post describing her own take on the issue. The debate is interesting because it parallels the national goings-on in some ways. While we debate whether or not the NAR is truly an organization that offers any benefit to its members; and while we debate the actions of the NAR, which governs the actions of its members, the Federal Government (an organization to which we all belong, one way or another, like it or not), is busy takings its own highly debatable actions that effect the real estate industry. The beauty is that it is all up for discussion and debate. Allow me to add my own perspective on the issues at hand. . .
Do You Want Learn About Personal Accountability and Bail-Outs? Become a Referee.
A person’s perspective on any given issue is largely the result of that personals personal experiences. Sprinkle in a little bit of the second-hand experiences of others, and, voila! An opinion is born. In this case, my experiences as a basketball referee most certainly color my opinion on the matter. You see, in my job as a basketball referee, I get to experience a very real demonstration of personal accountability every time I blow the whistle (or don’t). Example:
Two years ago, I was officiating a high-school girls’ Varsity game. The game in question was at a school well known for its raucous crowds. Unfortunately, their team wasn’t playing very well that season, barely winning any games. This game, however, they were winning. With 2 minutes left in the game, the home team was bringing the ball up the court when went a pass went out of bounds. My partner blew the whistle and indicated the ball belonged to the visiting team. At this point, I made a MONUMENTAL mistake (two actually). First, I was 100% sure that the visitors had touched the ball before it went out of bounds (mistake 1– I was 100% wrong). As such, I gave this information to my partner. We decided to change the call. I then proceeded to point in the wrong direction (towards the visitors goal–mistake 2). I then had to change the call AGAIN, and point in the other direction. The whole thing looked very ugly. To make matters worse, everyone on the sideline knew the call I made was wrong, including the visitor’s bench (who was also behind by 20 points at this time). I didn’t find out how wrong I was until after the game, but I knew something was up just by the reaction I was getting.
As can sometimes happen with officiating, that one call, one simple out-of-bounds call, destroyed our entire game. The play looked terrible, which hurt the credibility of the crew. The visiting coach went ballistic (understandably) and my partner had to give her a technical foul. This riled up the players. . .it just went on and on. The last two minutes of that game were the longest two minutes of my officiating career. It was horrible. It was the worst moment in my officiating career (so far). I had to suffer through the whole thing. There was no-one to help, no one to turn to, no one to bail me (or my partners) out of the mess I had created.
More importantly, it is a moment I will never forget. You can bet your bottom dollar that I learned a lot from that experience. I have applied those lessons in my other games so that I can avoid having another similar screw-up.
. . .Back to the Real Estate Industry
What does this have to do with the real estate industry? It’s simple– sometimes, we need to screw up. We need to make mistakes, we need to be hurt. Suffering real, direct consequences is one the fastest ways to learn something important. When I am on the basketball court, the consequences of my actions are immediate, and they sometimes aren’t pretty. I’ve been roundly booed, I’ve been screamed at, I’ve had very not nice things said about me. Sometimes those consequences were warranted, sometimes they weren’t, but experiencing them has helped make me a better basketball official.
If the federal government simply relieves foreclosures by offering assistance, what lesson is learned? How are people going to know when they have done something wrong if we turn around and make everything right again? I fully understand the desire to step-in and help people who are suffering, but going through a foreclosure isn’t going to kill anyone. It certainly will not be pleasant, but everyone will survive. There are times when the best thing you can do to help someone is to do nothing at all.
I also don’t blame the Federal government for getting us into this mess. Getting here was a collective effort. It took a little bit of greed, over-exuberance, and mistakes by a lot of people to put us into this situation. Now, we are charged with learning from those mistakes, avoiding greed, and working to avoid a similar situation in the future. As a student of the economy, and the causes of the Great Depression, you can rest assured that Dr. Ben Bernanke is working hard to learn from the mistakes that were made in the past and avoid anything remotely similar in the future.
So what are you going to do?
[tags] real estate, realtor, charlottesville, virginia, house of representatives, federal reserve, bernanke, FHA, basketball, officiating, referee [/tags]
The Fed Takes Action; and Why it Probaly Won’t Affect Your Real Estate Transaction
September 19, 2007 | 2 Comments
Remember my post from yesterday about Ben Bernanke and Judo Economics? Today, we got to see the plan in action as the Fed announced a 1/2-point reduction in the federal funds rate. Wall Street rejoiced. You can read the announcement from the Fed here. For additional coverage, check out USAToday and my personal favorite, Financial Times.
While the cut in short-term interest rates is significant, historic relative to recent Fed actions, what does it mean for the real estate market? Not much. Sure, there is a psychological effect on the market, but the real effect on the real estate market will probably be negligible, if at all. Consider what Financial Times wrote about the cut:
To the extent that they are able to reduce the recession risk, their actions should help stabilise financial markets, in particular the market for mortgage-backed securities.
Some of the most senior officials favoured a 50bp [basis point] move to create a positive psychological effect on the markets.
Notice that the quote mentions stabilization in “financial markets” and “mortgage-backed securities” in particular. For those of you who are thinking, “that’s good. That means mortgage rates will be lower.” Not necessarily the case. What the Financial Times article is talking about is the secondary mortgage market, and reducing volatility for investors who are seeking to invest in mortgages, not changing things for people applying for mortgages.
For further evidence, look to the USAToday article:
A cut from the Fed should “help alleviate some of the tensions in financial markets and provide a boost to consumers and homeowners currently feeling the pressure of relatively tight lending conditions,” Ruesch International said in a note to clients Tuesday morning. What it means:
• Banks were expected to immediately cut the prime rate, base rate for many business and consumer loans, such as home equity lines of credit and credit cards, from 8.25% to 7.75%.
• Rates on adjustable-rate mortgages may fall, although many are based on other interest rates. The Fed has even less control over fixed mortgage rates, which are tied to 10-year Treasury yields. Those have fallen in recent weeks as investors flocked to the safer investments. Bond yields fall as prices rise.
The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.31% last week, down from 6.46% the previous week and 6.43% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac.
Notice that mortgage rates are not directly tied to the Fed funds rate. The 1/2-point reduction may have a trickle-down effect on mortgages, but there probably won’t be significant jump in mortgage applications just because the funds rate dropped. Mortagage rates are already quite low, lower even than the same time a year ago. Expecting them to go significantly lower is unreasonable.
If your home is on the market right now, and you were hoping that the Fed was going to do something to change the real estate market, your hope was misplaced. Buyers aren’t going to come flooding into the market now that short-term rates have dropped; and prices aren’t suddenly going to go up in areas where they have been receding. But then again, the Fed knows this. As I said yesterday, Ben Bernanke’s job is not to correct the real estate market, it is to monitor the entire economy. The Fed said just that in its press release today:
Economic growth was moderate during the first half of the year, but the tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing correction and to restrain economic growth more generally. Today’s action is intended to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets and to promote moderate growth over time.
The only mention of the real estate market is a possible intensification in the “housing correction.” Notice, however, that there is no mention of the real estate market when talking about the intended effect of the rate reduction, only mention of the “broader economy.” If you were waiting for Bernanke and the Fed to help sell your house, you are going to be waiting a long time.
There is no magic potion that will cure what ails the real estate market in most areas of the country. The market fundamentals are pretty screwed up in a lot of places. Until prices come down to the point where they meet demand, homes will continue languish on the market. No action that the Fed will take can remedy that situation.
[tags] real estate, realtor, charlottesville, virginia, federal reserve, interest rates, bernanke, wall street [/tags]
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Disclaimer
My name is Daniel Rothamel. I am a licensed real estate agent in the Commonwealth of Virginia and a member of the National Association of REALTORS. As such, I adhere to a strict code of ethics and all laws with regard to equal housing, which is reflected in the content of this blog. My broker is Strong Team REALTORS, 86 Joshua Lane, Palmyra, VA 22963; (434) 589-5800. My VA Real Estate License number is 0225 077325. All of the opinions in this blog are mine, unless otherwise noted.
