Debra Sinick

Archive for the ‘real estate marketing’ Category

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A Payment Protection Plan for Home Buyers Who Lose Their Jobs?

In 2009 stimulus package, For Buyers, For Homeowners, For Sellers, financing, real estate, real estate marketing on April 30, 2009 at 3:42 pm

I’ve been interested to see how the tax incentive is being handled in other parts of the country and found some interesting things going on. Washington State is implementing a program in which a first time home buyer will be able to use the federal first time home buyer tax incentive towards a down payment. In California  buyers of new homes receive a state incentive.

A payment protection plan for home buyers w ho lose their jobs? We’ve seen the commercials from KIA  for car buyer programs and other car manufacturers are getting with that program,  but I haven’t seen many for home buyers.  Long and Foster, a large east coast brokerage is now offering such a program to buyers who use their affiliate mortgage company and buy one of the company listings. The program offers up to 6 months of payments during a two year period.  Each payment would be a maximum of $1800.  Similar programs are happening in Florida and with home builder the Lennar Corporation in Las Vegas.

What have you heard happening around the country to stimulate the housing market?  Is payment protection a good idea?

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Seattle’s Real Estate Bar Camp-My Top Four Questions Answered

In Seattle, real estate, real estate marketing on February 16, 2009 at 10:24 am
  1. Does Real Estate Bar Camp take place in a bar?  No, question asked by my husband before I went.
  2. Do people look the same in real life as they do in their photos on the internet?  No
  3. Does Zillow’s downtown Seattle office have a killer view?  Yes, Real Estate Bar Camp was held in the Zillow offices, one of the sponsors of the event.  My camera was home sitting on my desk because I dropped it and broke it, but trust me, the view of Puget Sound, the city and the mountains would make you never want to leave Seattle.
  4. Can you be overexposed on the net?  (Talking about Realtors here)  Question asked at the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers Talk. No

What is Real Estate Bar Camp? It’s for people in the real estate industry who are “passionate about what they know and excited to share it, free of charge.”   It’s a very free exchange of ideas with opportunities to learn more about web 2.0 marketing and social media from some of the experts. There’s so much to learn and people are so willing to give.  People had come to present and lead talks,  but many of the meetings were determined by the  participants.  When I walked into the Zillow offices first thing in the morning,  I saw an almost empty white board with times blocked out. Some of the spaces were filled with the pre-determined presenters and others were blank.  As the day wore on, the spaces were filled in by people who wanted to talk about specific topics.  My goal was to learn about how to improve consumer experiences and bring more technology to the table for my clients.

Most of the people there were primarily from the west coast, Washington, Oregon, and California.  I got to see people I’d met online and offline before, Marlow Harris from 360 Digest and Seattle PI Real Estate Professionals fame,  Ardell, the very famous :-) , and Rhonda Porter from Rain City Guide.  Nick Bostic who’s down in Portland and blogs for Agent Genius was there.  Several of Windermere’s internet folks were also there. It’s nice to actually meet people you converse with online.

My most important take aways from Bar Camp:

  • The importance of bringing hyper-local and relevant real estate data to the consumer.
  • The need to hire a professional to re-design my website and move my blog from WordPress. com to WordPress.org.    I got some great tips on what needs to be done.
  • To continue write about more local events and real estate issues.
  • I’ve signed up on Facebook, and Twitter may be my next step on the web 2.0 chain.

Thing I forgot to take away:

I forgot to ask for another Zillow baseball cap!  The most important thing I should’ve done at Bar camp. The Zillow baseball cap is one of the few caps that fits me.

Thanks to all who sponsored, presented and talked at the event.  Special thanks to Drew Meyers of Zillow and the GeekEstate blog.

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Home Staging? Now It’s Boat Staging

In For Buyers, For Sellers, not real estate, real estate, real estate marketing on January 26, 2009 at 5:58 pm

Clearly it’s harder to sell a home  and even more difficult  to sell a boat these days.  However, there were a lot of people out at The Seattle Boat Show this past weekend, looking over some pretty snazzy boats.

Realtors and boat brokers are pulling out all the stops or they should be to get homes and boats sold. Everyone’s getting into staging to sell lifestyles these days.  People, if they are buying at all, want to buy a lifestyle, whether it’s a boat or a home.  Agents must be top notch marketers and convey the lifestyle and the ambiance of a living in a home or of cruising on a boat.

Down at this week’s The Seattle Boat Show there are some gorgeous, staged boats.  Here’s an example of what one boat broker did to “dress up” a boat for sale and set the stage for living and using the boat.  The room descriptions in parentheses are for those of you who are landlubbers.

The salon (main living area) was nicely decorated with its own flat screen TV, which was designed to pop out only when in use, a nice settee, and chairs.  Notice the beautiful wood used throughout the boat.

boat-staging-salon

The galley (kitchen)  came complete with granite counters and stainless steel appliances.

boat-staging-the galley

Both staterooms had elegant heads (master baths) decorated with granite counters, undermount sinks and the expected fluffy towels and white shell decoration.

boat-staging-the head

Each state room (bedroom) came complete with a queen sized bed decked out with an elegant spread and decorative pillows. Notice the plant to the side of the bed and the decorative throw casually tossed on the bed.

boat-staging-master bedroom cabin

The space felt like a small condo, a very small, nicely decorated condo with a water view.  So how much is a little piece of heaven or should I say water worth?  About one million dollars.

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Real Life, Real Estate, and Facebook

In not real estate, real estate, real estate marketing on January 12, 2009 at 9:03 am

Okay, I’m the one out there talking about web 2.0 marketing and social networking. I do a lot of marketing for my listings on the internet, but I’m coming a little late to social networking. It’s been on my to-do list for a while, but somehow, I could not seem to find the time between working as a Realtor, blogging on 4 different blogs, following about 20 blogs on Google Reader, writing occasional articles for my local newspaper, reading the Sunday New York Times, listening to NPR, reading books, eating, sleeping, spending time with friends and family, taking photos of local events, and working out.

A few weeks back I received an email about a social networking webinar being put on by Jim Cronin of The Real Estate Tomato and Brian Brady , mortgage broker extraordinaire, blogger, writer, and speaker.  He’s a contributor to one of the premier real estate blogs, the Bloodhound blog. Jim has a business in which he advises Realtors on  web 2.0 marketing and blogging. Brian Brady uses social networking like it’s been part of his life for years. He’s a master at it. So I sat down at my laptop for 1 ½ hours and listened to Brian and Jim talk about LinkedIn, “the business, buttoned up” networking site, Facebook, the “casual Friday”, and MySpace, “the Saturday night” of social networking. (Brian’s characterizations, and good ones)

A week and a half later, I still hadn’t done much more than sign up on Facebook, a pretty weak start.  This past Saturday morning, I had a message from a friend asking me to join her on Facebook and I was off and running. I posted some photos of myself and my husband, David, and, most importantly, of Henry our dog. I filled out my interests, my activities, my schools, place of birth, and place of work. And then the connections started coming.

My husband decided it was also his time to join Facebook. We sat dueling it out on our computers, calling out the number of friends we were up to. We were both hooked. But he beat me, hands down. He has far more friends than I do! On his first foray on Facebook, he ended up with 48 friends, while I ended up with only 23. Since he is an ex-techie from Amazon, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. His community is pretty wired.

I’ve connected with people from high school, college, California, an art gallery, family, neighbors, and a few past clients. Will Facebook be an asset for me in my real estate career? Time will tell. My guess is it will give me the chance to connect with people on a more casual, personal level. It’s an opportunity for anyone and everyone from my business and personal connections to know more about me as a person.   Besides, I think it’ll be fun!

I’m curious, how has Facebook has been working for you? Do you find it more of a truly social, fun site or is it a networking opportunity, too?

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Trouble Selling Your Home? Try One of These Ideas

In For Homeowners, For Sellers, Real Estate Tips, real estate, real estate marketing, real estate opinion on December 5, 2008 at 8:30 pm

Dress up like a drag queen or Marilyn Monroe, get the spirits out of your home with the Native American tradition of smudging or use a little feng shui. Some interesting ideas to generate traffic and interest were presented on this morning’s Today show.

Funny, I thought it was price and condition that got buyer’s attention and a home sold!

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Where Have I Been For The Last Two Weeks?

In not real estate, real estate, real estate marketing on November 5, 2008 at 9:39 pm

The week started with 595 email messages, 898 spam messages and no posts on this blog.  Ironic, since the last post was about how I was staying in the real estate game, and then I disappeared. (I did write a short post telling people to vote.)

Here’s what happened over the past week or so:  I’d had some intermittent problems with my computer as I reported on my Kirkland and Redmond blogs and then my computer decided it must have a complete full-blown breakdown.  Combine the computer breakdown with my trip to Rancho Mirage, CA last week for the Windermere Symposium and blog postings were toast.  The first part of the week involved attending meetings, which, to no surprise, involved real estate.  The second part of the week involved wiping my computer clean of everything, and I mean everything, and having all of my programs re-installed.  I think I got a working computer back on Friday of last week.  (Thanks to my husband for reinstalling everything for me.)  At first I was completing stressed out.  How could I go for days without email?  How could I respond to my clients?  How could I keep up with my blogs?  All a problem.  At the end of the week I did post my weekly statistics on my other blogs, but did not get to post anything regarding real estate on this blog. 

It was very strange to be without my “mouth-piece”, my laptop.  It was strange not to be checking email every few hours.  It was strange to not be posting on my blogs on a regular basis. 

So what was good about what happened last week?:

  • I learned some interesting stuff at the Windermere Symposium that I will incorporate into my real estate business.  1000 Watt Consulting did a couple of presentations about better ways to market real estate and utilize the internet.  I’ve heard them present at Inman’s Real Estate Connect conferences and the two principals, Brian Boero and Marc Davison always have a lot to bring to the table.
  • I got to be in warm, sunny Southern California.
  • I ate great Mexican food.
  • I read a book in a day.

So what was bad about last week:

  • I was disconnected from email for a couple of days and communication with friends, family, and clients.
  • I missed out on following the New York Times online, so was behind on important news.

In a sense it was a bit liberating to be not so tied to my laptop.  I slowed down a bit, got to sit by the pool, and read a book while my husband fought the fight with my computer.  It was a strange feeling to be so disconnected from “life” and real estate.

But gee, can we have my computer breakdown again sometime soon?

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Home Staging Gone Awry Or How Not to Have Fun Selling Your Home

In For Buyers, For Sellers, Real Estate News, Real Estate Tips, real estate, real estate marketing on August 21, 2008 at 2:14 pm

  This is really bad staging, but it’s nothing compared to the staging problems in this video on the Sellsius real estate blog .  Here’s an example of bad decision-making and really bad home staging combining to create a terrible home selling situation.   Something like what’s portrayed in the video rarely ever happens, but home sellers should take the right steps to minimize any problems.  

The video proves the point that in real estate, as in life, many things can happen and many things can go awry.   However, you can limit your risk by making sure you pick the right staging company to stage your home.  In 99% of the cases, staging is a huge benefit to getting a home sold at the best price the market will bear.  I always recommend staging a vacant home. I’ve got a list of great staging companies I know I can count on to bring quality furniture and design into an empty home, bringing more $$ to the closing table for a seller.

To help minimize problems and get the best service, seek the advice of a real estate agent who can recommend good staging companies or get references and photos of staged homes from other sellers.  If possible, see homes staged by the staging company.  Check the staging company out with the Better Business Bureau. Review the staging contract and contact an attorney if needed.  Most staging companies do a stellar job, but be careful out there!

And, in case you haven’t figured it out, don’t let someone move into your home while your home is for sale!  In the State of Washington, there could be a whole host of issues with landlord-tenant law.  Certainly no way to have fun or get your home sold!

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More Ways to Use Google for Real Estate

In For Buyers, For Sellers, Real Estate News, real estate, real estate marketing on August 6, 2008 at 10:30 am

Look for information on Google?  Duh! It’s second nature to all of us these days, but here are some other ideas about how you can you use Google in real estate. Kris Berg’s piece on Inman News blog  talked about a multiple offer situation in which the agents bringing the offers were googled.  The agent who didn’t appear professional online to the seller did not get their offer accepted.  Hmm.. never thought of checking agents out online before accepting offers, but this is a great idea.

Want to know more about a potential listing agent?  Google the agent to find out more about the agent’s online presence. 

  • Does the agent have a personal website (in this day and age, one would hope)?
  • Does the agent blog about real estate? 
  • Does the agent appear knowledgeable about real estate from what’s written on the blog posts? 
  • Does the agent appear to be trustworthy and competent?
  • Is the agent doing any business?
  • Is the agent’s online marketing strategy evident? 
  • Does the online marketing look fresh, interesting, and relevant?

When you get an offer for your home do you want to know more about your buyer? 

Past sellers have googled the buyer on a number of occasions to learn more about the buyer.  As agents, our job is to ask questions about the buyer’s financial qualifications, but not about the buyer’s personal information.  In fact, we agents have to be very careful to not violate fair housing laws and ask any questions which could be discriminatory. Since I work in Microsoft country, we can ask if the buyer works at Microsoft, since Microsoft is not a protected class! If you, as a seller, have your own questions about the buyer, google him/her/them.

The internet can tell you as a potential buyer or seller a lot of things about the people involved in the process.  Google them!

Any other ideas about what you can Google to help with real estate listings, buyers, sellers, and agents?

 

 

 

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On Becoming an Inman Real Estate Connect Groupie

In Real Estate News, real estate, real estate marketing on July 23, 2008 at 10:19 am

I’m at my third Inman News Real Estate Connect Conference.  I’ve traveled coast to coast in the last year and a half to follow this Real Estate Connect.  Why have I become a Real Estate Connect groupie?  Because it’s one of the best, if not the best, real estate conferences out there today.  It’s a chance for me to learn about the latest in the real estate industry from some of the top technology gurus in the country.  1000 Watt Consulting is here, as they will be at the Windermere Symposium this fall in the California desert.

It’s also a chance to hear from the industry leaders.  Is the real estate market at the bottom or is there more to come?  On Friday Alex Perriello CEO of Realogy, the parent corporation of Coldwell Banker and others, Joel Singer from The California Association of Realtors, Jonathan Miller from Miller Samuel, Inc. and Patrick Stone, Chairman of The Stone Group, will all give their opinions.

Today’s Blogger Connect, a day in which we bloggers get to hear about some of the crucial issues that affect the blogging world.  Kris Berg of The San Diego Home blog, Joseph Ferrara of Sellsius Real Estate Blog, Seattle’s own Ardell of many blogs, including Rain City Guide, will speak.  Jillayne Schlicke has already written about SF Connect. Of course, the conference started out last night with the all important Beer with Bloggers event.

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Video Cameras, Fireworks, and Real Estate Marketing

In Kirkland, Local news and information, real estate, real estate marketing on July 5, 2008 at 5:18 pm

The Fip Video Camera is a really cool, easy to use tool that easily works for videos of anything, including real estate.  The Seattle Times had a great article about the camera, which is inexpensive and easy to use.  Remember when “easy to use cameras” first came out and the expression was, “Push here dummy” Well, the same high level of skill applies to the Flip Video Camera!

 I’m beginning to experiment with YouTube videos and plan to use them a lot more in marketing neighborhoods, parks, schools, all the amenities in an area people like to see and know about when they’re buying a home.

Just for fun, this is one of the YouTubes I did of last night’s Kirkland Washington’s Fourth of July fireworks show. Enjoy!