A few weeks ago, our very own Andy Capelluto, from the Power of Staging in Seattle, WA, held a photo contest on ActiveRain.  Members were given an opportunity to submit "before" and "after" photos of properties they have staged.  I had the pleasure of helping Andy wth the effort; we received a lot of outstanding submissions reflecting some great talent out there for stagers and agents alike.  This week Andy announced the winners:

I wanted to take a moment to make the introduction for one of our newest blog contributors, John Alexandrov.  John joins us from RealEstateInnercircle, a coaching and training company.

As the author of the books, Affirmations of Wealth, Your Spiritual Gold Mind and The Money Chi, John has created a wave of financial momentum and wealth in the lives of thousands. 

I watched Glenn Beck's dig on NAR's former and current economists, David Lereah and Lawrence Yun.  I found it amusing if not a bit sympathetic for Messrs. Lereah and Yun. 

The highlight of it was Glenn's graphical overlay showing dates on which optimistic announcements were made by the NAR economists about the housing market superimposed upon a declining Price-Date trend line.

Click the video above, you be the judge.

McKinsey just published their second annual survey on the business use of Web 2.0 technologies.  Naturally, it piqued my interest.  Not only because I'm a nut for that kind of stuff, but as it so happens, I'm currently wading through proposals to eventually develop an online training/community site for my company.

In a previous article I posted on another blog earlier this year, I gave accolades to Randy Pausch's  "last lecture."  A tradition in academia where a retiring professor gives a departing speech/lecture.  In 2006 Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  In August last year, he was told he likely had 3 to 6 months of good health remaining.  Yesterday, we heard the news that, regrettably, Randy passed away.

He left a legacy, though, in the inspirational messages he left in his last lecture.  Some key takeaways:

o  The purpose of barriers:  to weed out the things we don't want bad enough.

I had an opportunity recently to re-read Dirk’s post about Time Blocking and thought it was right on point -- especially where he suggests blocking time for our personal life before time blocking anything else. 

I came across a thread Stephan Swanepoel started in the Real Estate Trends group on Inman News.  The subject of the thread and the title of this post were one in the same. While Stephan's article was insightful by itself, I was also intrigued by some of the comments.

In response to an underlying theme about leaving "virtual bread crumbs" as a way of establishing agent credentials, readers offered the following:

The question in the subject of this post was one I came across in another forum.

I was feeling a little flippant today and also in somewhat of a mood to pander to my real estate buddies.  Here was my response.

I came across a couple of questions today posted on another social network.  The questioner asked Why it's important to use a Realtor? and Why so many people choose to take the real estate transaction into their own hands?

One respondent, the owner of a home inspection business, offered that there are so many "curves" in the process that it makes sense to use the services of a Realtor who would ostensibly know those curves.

What do you think about the idea of marketing to your network contacts?

Personally, I frown on it.  But, before you get the wrong impression, you should know I don’t get all puritanical about it.  It’s just a frown.  Y’know:  furrowed brow, quizzical expression (why’d he do that?), maybe a smirk.  Then I quietly place a checkmark next to my new contact under the “Remove Connections” page.

Washington state's HB2791 goes into effect tomorrow, June 12, 2008.  (Sucky disclaimer:  I'm not a lawyer... no legal advice here... consult yours...yadda, yadda...)

What's the deal?  Basically, Washington state has come out with new legislation intended to protect homeowners from scammers.  Unfortunately, it apparently also has some unintended consequences for agents.  Specifically, as they pertain to areas in which agents -- and, unbeknownst to them in some cases, even an agent's buyer client -- can become legally classified as a DHC -- Distressed Home Consultant.  Presently, there are no waivers for real estate agent/professionals as in other states where similar legislation may exist.

If you're an old "Popeye" fan, then you might remember Wimpy's favorite line, "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." 

That was the phrase that came to mind when I first heard about a new business model that lets home owners get cash out today from tomorrow's equity.  But here's the kicker:  "no monthly payments, ever".

Here's what I thought could be a great training tool for some of us desk-jockeys on floortime or for those roleplay training meetings where we hone our delivery skills on listing presentations and buyer consultations.

Did ya ever wonder about that preamble you hear when you call into many customer service lines that says something like, "... for training purposes, this phone conversation may be recorded..."? I always wanted to validate that it didn't just go into some dark hole somewhere; and that there actually was some traiing value to those recordings. 

Read a few of my recent responses to a couple of commenters and you'll notice I've been a little off tone lately.

In one comment, Bob rants about "lazy agents."

>>LAZY AGENTS!!!!! ...When real estate was booming, they were making tremendous commissions with very little work as homes were selling in just days. Now they have to work for their money and all they do is complain..."<<

In another, William wonders why agents couldn't take a tip from wall street.

I wanted to take a moment to make the introduction of one of our newest blog contributors, Greg Ferrera.  Greg joins us from Peak Achievement Corporation, a sales training company Greg founded in 2003.

Greg himself grew up in the small town of Bend, Oregon and graduated from the University of Oregon.  He then joined the Sheriff's Dept. and spent approximately 10 years in Law Enforcement.

Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman Angelo Mozilo was recently panned in the media for his inappropriate use of the "Reply" button.   Well, okay, the word "Disgusting," that crept in to his email reply to the homeowner seeking help with a loan modification may have contributed to the raking, as well.

But, as far as that singular act goes, I can't say I blame Mr. Mozilo too much.  I, myself, have mistaken the Reply button (or worse, Reply All) for the Forward button.  I mean, geesh, have you seen where these buttons are relative to each other?

Who'd a thunk?  This article brings attention to yet another offshoot of the foreclosure mess impacting areas you wouldn't think to look otherwise. 

As people become homeless, some enrolled kids are now being hunted down by school districts for removal.  Fiscally, I guess it makes a degree of sense:  officials give estimates of $7,000 to $14,000 for the cost of educating one student for a year.  If a student's address no longer reflects community membership, then overcrowding and increased costs can ensue.

... the "mosquito fish."  (AKA: Gambusia Affinis.)

image courtesy: wikimedia commons

It can apparently eat up to 500 mosquito larvae a day and give birth to up to 60 little gambusians a month while surviving adequately in oxygen-depleted water. That is, environments similar to those stagnant swimming pools and back yard spas on properties left vacant in a foreclosure; great breeding grounds for mosquitos-borne diseases, like West Nile virus. (Source: WSJ.)

...These visuals (download here) from Ben Bernanke's "heat maps" show a striking picture of some of the hardest hit areas for mortgage delinquencies. I pulled out just one of those maps for display below, showing the change in mortgage delinquency from 2004 to 2007.  What particularly jumps out is that almost all of California and Florida are caked in red.  Others hard hit: Michigan, Maine, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

There's a bit of buzz about Redfin's recent site upgrade. 

Live as of last Wednesday, the upgrade has added bank-owned foreclosures and FSBO listings to their inventory display.  

The bit of the controversy comes the question of how they were able to get around the MLS co-mingling display issue; the FSBO listings are listed alongside those from the MLS.  (Ref. 4.13 in MRMLS IDX policy... "Listings obtained through IDX must be displayed separately from listings obtained from other sources...")

...or can they?  It was hillarious reading the thread on real estate webmasters initiated by Mr. Ron Park.  Mr. Park was miffed about the results of his $10,500 outlay to try and clone Redfin. 

It's a beautiful day today in Southern California.  So, this post is a quickie and addresses a couple of questions I got on a previous article I wrote about Google's Street View, and which I've been meaning to post here on a slow, rainy day... (ahem).

I debated whether or not to post this article seeing how it isn't exactly one of those "strategic" or "tactical" articles we're used to seeing on this site.  But I didn't debate too long.  I figured it's important, I can write and I have one of those covetted RealBlogging Contributor's accounts.  ;-)

You've probably seen some of the same sound bites and news stories I have about the other/silent victims in home foreclosures: abandoned pets.  

As a developer of online media, one of the drawbacks I've always hated about placing media up on the web, such as videos, podcasts, webcasts, audio streams, and so forth is the hit I take in discoverability.

That is, the major search engines can't find any of the words that are spoken inside a video or podcast.  Let's say, rather then typing this weblog entry, I instead decide to make it a  v-log (video blog) entry. You get the picture?  Same thing, by the way, for those nifty videos of your property listings, as well as any video testimonials you've placed on your web site, let alone if you're one of the growing number of agents who publish their own version of online talkshows.  Nope.  Can't find what you say.