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As an avid bike rider I love to ride to work and just found an article in the Sarasota Herald that reminds me that there is one old but now incredibly important factor to think about when it comes to working with buyers and that is the bike commute for fitness fanatics and green consumers

But that does not really mean you should hop on the bike to do showings…just be aware.

With gas prices high, bicycles flying out of stores and a buyers’ market for houses, a handful of real estate agents around the country are touting the two-wheeled appeal of their listings.

Some even show houses exclusively by bike, wheeling through the neighborhood with potential buyers to show off bike lanes and bike-focused businesses and repair shops. Read the rest of this entry »

Well here is a good balanced article about what life is like for Realtors as a whole. We get to see lots of Realtors making a million + per year but as we all know the average Realtor makes less than $15,000 per year.

Housing Slowdown Smacks Realtors Hard

This article not only points out what we all know but also calls out that Realtors are struggling a bit more now than last year, at least in hartford, because of dropping prices and dropping number of sales.

This week we will look more at what you can do to start making the most of a tough market by cleaning up your schedule and filling quality hours instead of just filling hours.

I ran across this non real estate related articles and thought it was interesting enough to put it on the blog. What do you think? Is it possible to live off the grid? Real Estate-wise what would it take to not use city power and use your own instead.

In 2006 our family started contemplating the possibilities of living off the grid, producing our own electricity with Renewable Energy sources. Our electricity bill was about $200 a month and it just kept on growing. We knew there was a better way, so we looked at living off the grid. We decided we wanted to find ways of living off the grid mainly for economic reasons but we also wanted to keep the lifestyle we were already living.

We just didn’t want to give up all of our regular household appliances. As we dug deeper it became clear that with a bit of planning and patience and some serious conservation practices we could achieve this goal. It looked like we could be living off the grid within a few months if we worked hard at it.

Thankfully, we already owned a small cottage that we had been planning on moving to in the future anyways. It was an easy option for us, but there are a lot of country properties for reasonable prices out there too, if you decide to make this option work for you.

Our property was only 40 minutes from town, so there would be no job finding necessary either, just a slightly longer commute to work. We also made arrangements to work from home a couple days a week, so we could enjoy our new found off grid lifestyle.

Years before we had looked at bringing electricity to the cottage, but the hydro authority had told us that it would cost over $14,000 to do so. We didn’t proceed with it because of the high cost. Why would we bring in grid hydro if it would still cost $200 a month and $14,000 just to get it there. Living off the grid now made perfect sense from an economic point of view.

We could use the $14,000 to install Renewable Energy to run our cottage/home. Plus, if we added a conservative 2 years of electricity service expense to the total what would have otherwise been spent on electric bills that’s another $4800.

The total would be $18,800 we could spend on a Renewable Energy system and still be money ahead when compared to bringing in grid electricity. After 2 years we would be money ahead! We would not have to pay electric bills ever again.

We chose solar panels to install in our new home because they were easier to install. We found a great website that offered up tons of advice and really helped with the installation. We wanted to put up a wind generator but we just didn’t have the resources at that point. Later we actually built a wind generator with plans we found. We also had a back room that we could convert into a battery storage area and control room for the inverter, charge controllers etc.

We bought 12 Kyocera solar panels, all of them about 170 watts of power producing capacity. That would give us about 2Kw of production and that was a good start. An electrician friend helped us wire up the system with 16 huge forklift batteries and an inverter for AC power, all charge controlled and set up in case of lightning too. He said that it happens occasionally and you have to protect your investment, so we did.

We run a DC deep well pump and DC lights directly from the batteries. The whole house is run from this system and only occasionally do we have to start up the backup generator.

We didn’t have much money when we were done and we still wanted a wind generator, so we decided to build one. We found some great plans and all that helpful solar panel advice at www.off-grid-living.com We could not have done it without them.

We have been living off the grid for over a year now, and we could not have done it without the helpful folks at http://www.off-grid-living.com

Visit the linked site at the bottom of this article. There is a lot of interesting articles at that site as well.

I keep hearing horror stories about what is coming in the real estate market and thought that this perspective from George W. Mantor would be a bit refreshing.

Real estate hasn’t made much of a case for itself lately and it’s not getting much help from any of the sub industries, such as builders and mortgage makers. Just in the past few weeks, so called experts from the mortgage industry, the building industry, and the resale real estate industry have all been quoted as saying that the sky is falling.

Nice job guys!

And while real estate’s reputation as the number one investment is on the ropes, the general media and other investment categories have stepped up their attacks on real estate value.

What do you need to know?

The Sky isn’t falling.

The real estate market always fluctuates.

Real estate sales prices are largely determined by the principal of substitution and reflect the uniqueness of the property, at a specific point in time, competing against only those other similar properties that happen to be available for sale, at that point in time.

If there are many similar homes available at that time, there will be downward pressure on sales prices. As an expanding population absorbs the excess, competition for a dwindling resource will cause selling prices to escalate.

Real estate is unique.
There’s a reason that homes and real estate aren’t traded like commodities on the Chicago Mercantile. They are too dissimilar. Even each tract home has a somewhat different location, orientation, lot dimension, proximity, and view.

There is no bubble.
The value of real estate isn’t driven by speculation; it’s driven by its utility. If the economy moves away, such as in the rust-belt, that utility may decline. If high paying jobs are headed into a region, the value of the scarcest of all commodities, real estate will rise.

Increasing development costs absolutely guarantee that new construction will cost more than existing properties are selling for. This factor alone has caused many developers to mothball projects in the pipeline until shortages again push prices up.

Value is a complicated cocktail.
Assessed value, appraised value, market value, replacement value, and selling price all mean something different. When the media says that real estate values are falling, they really mean that the prices people paid for a small number of homes, last month, was less than what a different group of people paid for a different assortment the month before.

There is always a baseline of demand. An increasing population must be housed. There is a natural ebb and flow, not a boom bust. At various times, demand outstrips supply; supply is increased until the surge recedes to baseline or below.

There is always a baseline of mortgage defaults.
There will always be unforeseen circumstances that will bring some homeowners into default. Even in good economic times. And even with good mortgage loans. In an appreciating market, they are able to sell in a short period of time. So, in most markets, foreclosure activity has been below the historic baseline.

Now, it could increase, spiking a little to reflect those who can no longer survive on increasing equity and then may level out at baseline again. When the next rapid appreciation cycle begins, and it almost assuredly will, rates may fall back below the newly adjusted baseline.

There is no risk.
Save the term risk for high stakes poker in Vegas. Buying real estate isn’t inherently risky. But it isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, either. It’s a formula for building long term wealth.

Real estate is a great way to build wealth.
You have to live somewhere. If you rent, you are making some or all of someone else’s mortgage payment. But even if you have to work two jobs and barely scrape by to make your own mortgage payment, you are building equity that over time will be quite substantial.

So, perhaps, don’t believe every “the sky if falling” report or article. Educate yourself on the market and happy wealth homeowning!

In the short term we may see some downward spikes in proces and even in sales at some point but over time the market should correct back if it does get oversold. Just remember that the real estate market in this country is huge and there is nothing that can really let it drop out completley

One of the most visual elements of any home is the yard and gardens. They may seem to take a backseat to custom interiors and rooms but they play a huge role in a home’s appeal. If you are selling your home now is a great time to improve the yard as the weather is fantastic. Keep in mind that the front of your home is ground zero for first impressions. If the home is not attractive at first glance, people may not look any further.

Let’s break the yard up into a few different areas; gardens, trees & shrubs and the home itself. Taking the time to bring each area up to snuff is a good investment in your home and can help to sell homes quicker and generate lots of buyer interest.

Gardens - Gardens are one of the easier things you can focus on to improve the look of a home. Start by weeding and removing any old plants that may not be as appealing as you want.Once the garden is free of weeds and old plants, lay down some new topsoil. When thinking about flowers and plants try to pick colors that accentuate the colors of the home, glaring differences in color can be unappealing to buyers. Once the flowers are planted, laying down a mulch can help the garden to retain it’s beauty and color, it also stops weeds from coming back.Also, try to consider what climate you are living in and plan your flowers appropriately, some plants will not do well in some climates. Want to try something different? try making a rock garden!

Trees & Shrubs - Trees and shrubs can be the anchor points of a yard. There is nothing like a well-maintained hedge to bring privacy to a yard. Trees need some special mention as their majesty can enclose a yard and give it that special foresty feeling. Evergreens are a great choice for this as they do not lose leaves and maintain their beauty year-round. Shrubs can be utilized to create pathways and areas of respite and tranquility and are easy to maintain. Shrubs can also be an attractive sidebar for driveways.

The Home - Well here is the focal point of the whole property. Attractive homes equal easy sales, there is no two ways about this fact. Take some time and asses your home. Does it need paint? A new roof? Maybe it just needs a good cleaning. Whatever it needs, make sure you do what is necessary to bring the home’s aesthetic value up to par. Remember there is a lot of competition out there!

Eric Badgley is a motivated and professional realtor located in beautiful Whatcom County. For information on Bellingham WA real estate contact Eric or visit online at www.belllingham-realestate.net

I think that there are a few things that you need to look at when you buy a computer and i am not sure if you really need one for real estate. I would just like to point out why you may not want to have a laptop.

A laptop kills time.

As useful as a computer is it distracts from your message. If you are in a listing appointment instead of looking at the marketing plan the sellers will want to look at the other listings, over, and over, and over again. You want the CMA out there and then close for the listing instead.

With buyers the same thing can happen, there are too many parameters and the buyers will want to see lots of variations on their wants and needs and we all know the emotion of seeing a house in person will overcome almost and objection to so many other considerations that users may think are important

Just read a fascinating article about how Zillow is not a very good Realtor and am not surprised.

Last year I reported how I thought that Zillow was an interesting web 2.0 company and again the news in general seemed to say that Realtors times were numbered. Well look again Zillow is not too good at forecasting and that is because it does not see houses it only see statistics.

There are many ways that computer program algorithms can be set up to take things into account but a Realtors job is to do this plus look at what a buyer would be looking for as well as condition and salability of a property and house.

I remember back when i first became a Realtor and one of the most important things I thought was to crunch the numbers and find out house prices but I was amazed that seasoned Realtors in the office were able to pull the sales price just about out of the air and be far more accurate than I could be sitting down with stats for a half a day.

Let’s face it, a Realtor that is serious about understanding the market already knows what Zillow will tell you already, that is the easy part. The seasoned Realtor is also going to know all of the small nuances that Zillow can never know.

If you are just starting out in real estate sometimes I think it is best to just hide away from every trainer and broker and just decide what is best to do of course this would not work as you do not have the knowledge yet to decide what is most important and what your priorities should be. Everyone from the rank beginner to the top producer in your office will have advice about what you should do first and what is most important to get you career started

The trouble with every ones advice sadly, is that they can not very well remember how they felt and what they knew on those first days so they are telling you things that would probably be more useful 6 months or a year from now. What you really need is a transition plan from where you are today, just after taking your real estate course and test to a time a year from now when you will be actively working with buyers and sellers and have a working and established sales funnel that you are putting these buyers and sellers through.

I have just found a good book that will help you through these first few months of real estate and teach you these first few things that you will need to know now that will stick with you as your career moves forward.

One of the big problems out there is that I have always had an easy time finding tapes and videos but I have not seen many good real estate specific sales books. Becoming a Real Estate Agent changes this. Starting with the sales page for the book there is a great 5 part mini course on starting in real estate which is a great intro to letting you see the power of auto responders but otherwise teaches you a few things for free.

Becoming a Real Estate Agent also teaches you all of the basics that you will want to know. The book deals with:

How to get started getting clients from the Internet
How to find a buyer or sellers desire to act
Tips to help the sales process along
Professional sales techniques
How to organize your real estate business working from home
..and lots more stuff

Becoming a Real Estate Agent is really a great book that hits all of the basics and even better lets you know what you should be doing in these first few weeks and months so that you aren’t stuck spinning your wheels doing the things that do not pay off and making sure that all of your hours are spent doing high return task that will make you money today as well as getting you started in building tomorrow’s business at the same time.

I get a weekly email from Randy Charach about internet marketing and this week he had a list of how to catapult your sales. I liked the list although one of the items, offering discounts, is not allowed. See what you can glean from this list:

1. Swap endorsement advertisements with other
web sites. Endorsement ads usually pull more sales
and traffic than regular advertisements.

2. Outsource part of your workload to save time
and money. You can spend more of your time and
money promoting your business.

3. Include a signature file on all the e-mails you send
out. Provide your business name, phone number,
e-mail and web address,etc.

4. Use pictures or graphics on your web site that
support the product you’re selling. They could give
your visitors a clearer vision of your product.

5. Create a friendly, long term relationship with all
your customers. Practice good customer service
and follow-up with them on a regular basis.

6. Create strategic alliances with other web sites.
You could exchange banner ads, sell each other’s
products as backend products, cross promote, etc.

7. Increase the perceived value of your product to
skyrocket your sales. Add on free bonuses, after-
sale services or an affiliate program.

8. Give customers a discount on their total order
to increase sales. You could give them a discount
for ordering over a set dollar or product amount.

9. Allow your visitors to reprint the content on your
web site. Just ask them in exchange to include your
resource box and a link to your site.

10. Provide a free contest or sweepstakes at your
web site. It’s a fact, people like to win things. If you
can fulfill that need, people will visit.

Potential buyers are more likely to check out a house that’s on the market if it looks appealing from the street. This tip has been shared before, but more and more evidence is emerging to support it.

If homeowners still aren’t sold on the power of a well-manicured lawn and won’t buy your services, share this story from the Miami Herald:

He was a mid-level government manager who dreamed of building a custom cottage where he could retire. Just one barrier stood in his way: selling his 20-year-old ranch-style house.

After he saw his house sit on the market for a month without so much as a nibble of interest, discouragement set in. The manager’s listing agent, Sid Davis, knew the source of the problem: the dozen overgrown pine trees that cloaked the front of the place.

”Some years ago, this guy planted the pines too close to the house. Back then, the trees were little and cute. But they grew into a thicket that towered over the roof line, hiding the outside of the house and making it dark and gloomy inside,” recalls Davis, a real estate broker and author.

For weeks, Davis had urged the owner to remove the trees, but the appeal fell on deaf ears. Then one Saturday morning, he called the seller with a plan.

”I told him I was coming over with my chain saw and he should get his out, too. Three hours later we had cut down all those trees, turning them into a neat pile of firewood. The total cost was just $15. That covered gas and oil for the chain saws,” Davis remembers.

Removing the trees transformed the place. Showings picked up, and within two weeks the owner had a full-price offer.

‘Plain and simple, it’s that old notion of `curb appeal.’ If you have lousy landscaping, people won’t even go inside.

They’ll just drive on by,” says Davis, author of the forthcoming book: Home Makeovers That Sell.

For sellers, failing to rectify landscaping problems is a common blunder. Trees and bushes that grow alongside a home shouldn’t be allowed to crowd the property or to rise above the bottom line of window frames. Lawns should be kept weeded and fertilized. And all plant life should be neatly trimmed and healthy.

So the next time you are having trouble moving a listing look again at what the house looks like from the sreet, if the competition is nice and your house…well needs a little work from the curb then that may make the difference.