Take the 10 minutes to watch this video – Real estate can be an all-consuming experience. Setting limits is more crucial when one is self-employed, because frankly, if you’re not working, you’re not earning.On a related note – an occasionally more crass answer to the question: As a 16 yr old, I will be looking into colleges soon and setting the foundation for the rest of my life. Is there anything you wish you knew at my age?
Date Archives October 2007
The Carnival and the Odysseus medal come to Charlottesville
And Charlottesville was represented well. We might not be the epicenter of real estate blogging, but to win the Carnival of Real Estate and the Odysseus Medal in the same week – wow.Daniel’s Carnival winning post on social media and mine on the Wharton School of Business’ ignorance of Buyer-Brokerage.I am humbled and honored to have been among the 12 finalists.
Cyberhomes and Realtor.com
Cyberhomes has Realtor.com in their cross-hairs.For the real estate buyers/sellers/consumers in the Charlottesville area – which site has better, more useful data, and data display, for your house? Realtor.com has the current listing data:But Cyberhomes has more data, and is working on acquiring the “current” data.From an (subscription required) Inman News Article in May: Fidelity will keep property listings content fresh at the Cyberhomes site by updating brokers’ data directly from MLSs, said Marty Frame, senior vice president and chief information office for Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions, a division of Fidelity National Financial Inc….In addition to past sales and for-sale home information, Cyberhomes also offers “heat maps” that allow consumers to visualize data on a map that is color-coded for home values, changes in value and property density at the neighborhood level…. This is what consumers want:users can also learn about the neighborhood and community, including the weather, economy, commute times, diversity, even air/water quality.As a Realtor, that is what I want to provide to my customers.Users don’t have to login to either Realtor.com and Cyberhomes, but here is one of the many distinct (and detrimental to Realtor.com) differences between the two. To get the “value” of a home in Cyberhomes, create a login, search and get this data-rich page with options – neighborhood, schools appreciation rates, demographic information:Do the same search on Realtor.com, and users get this roadblock:1) They don’t have the data.2) There is no way to choose “your” Realtor, among other deficiencies noted earlier this year.When you do find a home you like, there is nothing more than information on the property itself (and there is no “maximum square footage” search limitation – only “minimum square feet” – a significant limitation in the search).It’s been said before – consumers want all the information, they want it now and they want it for free.Cyberhomes has the potential to move up the ladder in of usefulness for on the list of “Empowered Buyers’ Online Tools.”Take this example – I was previewing a home for a couple this past week.
Marketing real estate internationally
With that being said – here is a “first-to-market” for Charlottesville – This is a property video that is professionally done and translated into English, Spanish and Portugese.The world is flat. Buyers are coming from all over, not just English-speaking countries – reaching those buyers is key.Visitors to my real estate site come from Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Boliva, India, Australia among other countries…. With the value of the dollar worldwide taking a dive, our real estate is much more affordable.”Implicitly, Paulson and the Federal Reserve are happy with a gradual fall in the value of the dollar,” said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University and president of Roubini Global Economics, a consulting firm that also operates a popular economics Web site. “They’ll never say they favor a weak dollar, but the benefits to the U.S. in terms of competitiveness are significant.”Take a look at their value proposition as well as this post – Extending The Concept Of Distribution “Hubs And Spokes†To Include Value Measurements.
Where did Albemarle Place’s site go?
It’s gone. Much has been written about the massive development known as Albemarle Place over the last couple of years … most recently the news that it will be delayed by at least a year. Where’d their site go?
Treehugger doesn’t like Charlottesville’s water conservation efforts
In fact, restrictions have been loosened a little bit.From a post yesterday noting our efforts in 2002:Promote bottled water and use paper plates. While we applaud anyone taking up the old “Act Local” mantra, we would counsel them to not forget its preceding phrase – “Think Global”. Even bottled water comes from somewhere, and the water and other resources that go into making plastic bottles and paper plates are likely to far outweigh the amount wasted from table service of tap water…. We finally have a plan for a 50-year water supply plan (that, with all the red tape, might be implemented in the next 50 years).
Saturday links – 20 October 2007
We pamper our kids, over-schedule them, overemphasize fairness in competition (the score ends in a tie …… and keep them indoors too much, to the point that we’re doing them a huge disservice. Kids aren’t learning how to get hurt, lose, fend for themselves, find their balance and discover minor dangers on their own – all important parts of growing up.Posts like this are why I read Seth Godin’s blog. Add passion, and it’s nearly complete.An interesting twist – absorption rate versus “sales rate” – this will likely find its way into my data analysis of the Charlottesville market soon.Navigating social networking toolsThe shift from Charlottesville to Waynesboro continues.