The hateful comment was to this post.

Post by Russell Shaw

Should I Switch??

Being a long time Blackberry user, I keep asking myself, should I switch to an iPhone?  I played with one recently at the Apple Store and was not really fond of the whole touch pad concept; I do like my keyboard.  So I have been looking at the Blackberry Bold as my next phone. I am no rush, still have a few months left on my Verizon contract-so I will continue to ponder.   Here is a pretty good video comparing the two phones.

Post by Jamie Geiger

If you haven’t seen Zillow’s latest insanity, check it out… you’ll laugh, you’ll cry and at 1:02 you may pee a little. We wish Drew Meyers played the last character, but he clearly wasn’t smarmy enough:

Post by Lani Anglin-Rosales

The Future of Real Estate is HERE!

If I tell you that Mozilla Labs has released an open source project that allows natural language to rule how you interact with your Firefox browser, you’ll just skim past this article, BUT if I tell you with a click of a button, a map can be embedded into an email, highlighted text can be twittered and highlighted craigslist ads will autopopulate onto a map all while never opening a new window or tab to obtain such things, you will freak out because the FUTURE of the Internet has arrived!

Real Estate Applications

All this time, we assumed one of the mega companies would find the innovation for how to revolutionize home searching but the race is on- this open source project allows clients to productively search for homes. Right now it only works for Craigslist, but which search portal will get to the finish line first with synchronicity with Ubiquity (meaning you can highlight listings with your mouse, hit Ctrl + space bar and autopopulate a map with all the listings).

How can YOU use it? There are several ways that Ubiquity will begin to play a role in your business:

• Emails are done more quickly, cohesively, accurately and in true rock star style- your clients will never have to leave their emailer, they can print what you send them and it’s already mapped out because you typed in “2718 Costa Azul Cove, 78641″ then Ctrl + space bar and embedded the map for that property and the other 12 properties you want your client to drive by tomorrow.
• When telling your clients about an area, instead of sending links to area data, you’ll have it in your branded email already (that took you 2 minutes to make by the way) with embedded reviews of local attractions, restaurants and eventually (when someone hooks up with the open source project to create the option) school data.
• We predict that Ubiquity in the future will have the option for real time real estate data from the local Boards (the same as our current IDX feeds do) so you can simply drop that info into an email, zip it over to your clients and BAM, they’re up to date and they love you.
• You can highlight interesting information and with an easy click, you can tweet it! So, find an awesome stat (”home sales are up 139%”) and twit that bad boy without even opening your Twitter application!
• Search?! The possibilities are limitless.

Everyone gets analytical clients that need tangible data, maps and reviews and Ubiquity is the tool that makes the “I need to know everything” email take seconds instead of hours. It’s almost like a drag and drop system. It’s young and clunky and VERY buggy right now but the concept is so useful that we believe it will be an amazing tool as it grows and with each new version. How do you see YOUR business benefiting from Ubiquity?

Post by Lani Anglin-Rosales

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of constantly being sold.  It doesn’t matter what the cause is, good or bad, we are tired.  We don’t want to hear about it.  My grandfather died of prostate cancer just one year ago, yet it drives me batty when they ask me for $1.00 at Safeway to battle prostate cancer.  I give enough on my own.  I HATE being asked if I want a store credit card at every place I shop– Macy’s, the Gap, Target, you name it, they have a card and they want you to use it (don’t they care about my credit score?).  Sell, sell, sell. 

NO, NO, NO.

Today I went shopping for a new mattress, which I did eventually purchase.  My criteria for the purchase?  Best mattress?  Best price? Again, NO, NO, NO.  I purchased my mattress from the least sleezy salesperson. 

True story. 

Super slick salesperson #2 and super slick salesperson #3- Adios!  Au Revoir!  Good-bye!  So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodnight !  I can’t even stand to be in the same store with you.

Why did I buy my mattress from salesperson #1? 

• he listened to my needs
• he asked for my budget
• he questioned my long term motivations
• he didn’t try to sell me the most expensive mattress
• he explained his recommendations and how they fit MY needs
• he made me feel special and remembered that I had purchased a mattress from him before
• he showed me multiple options and the pluses and minuses of each
• he wasn’t pushy

He informed me, he advised me, he directed me to a decision, and at the end, he closed the deal by gently asking me what day I would like them delivered.

Inform.  Advise.  Direct. 

Be the resource for your potential clients.  I visited salesperson #1 first, and ended up returning to him because of how he treated me.

We don’t want to be sold.  They don’t want to be sold.

Post by Ginger Wilcox

Lawrence Yun Talks About Fannie & Freddie

National Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun talks about the Freddie & Fannie debacle noting the “confusion in their public mission” between their for-profit motives regarding shareholders possibly conflicting with their public mission of making credit available in times of crisis.

“What the policy makers need to really consider once we go to move past this crisis is to possibly implement some type of counter-cyclical housing policy, make mortgages available in times of crisis and perhaps restrain mortgage credit availability when the market is heating up.”

The video provides a great deal of market data and Yun addresses the backwards nature of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

h/t the real estate bloggers

Post by Lani Anglin-Rosales

Super Easy Animation Creator

1. Go to Gickr.com.
2. Upload the images you want to play in succession (flickr uploads coming soon).
3. Right click on final animated .gif and save.

Check It Out!

Post by Lani Anglin-Rosales

More Than A Carni

Reading the Art of Money Getting by P.T. Barnum it seems that the story teller changes - and so does the way they’re taught and told - but the story doesn’t.  There are some truths of life that are unaffected by time. 

“Those who really desire to attain an independence, have only to set their minds upon it, and adopt the proper means…and the thing is easily done. But however easy it may be found to make money, I have no doubt many of my hearers will agree it is the most difficult thing in the world to keep it.”

If only it were as simple as it sounds - maybe it is. 

“‘I know all about economy.’ He thinks he does, but he does not.”   Barnum reminds us that there’s a difference between being frugal with our money and being stupid.

Avoid Debt

“There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt. When you have it mastering you; when interest is constantly piling up against you, it will keep you down in the worst kind of slavery. But let money work for you, and you have the most devoted servant in the world.”

Fight For It

“When a man is in the right path, he must persevere. How many have almost reached the goal of their ambition, but, losing faith in themselves, have relaxed their energies, and the golden prize has been lost forever.”

Whatever You Do, Do It With All Of Your Might

“Work at it, if necessary, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well now. The old proverb is full of truth and meaning, ‘whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.’”

Do Not Scatter Your Powers

I love it when I’m right.

Systems Systems Systems

“Men should be systematic in their business. A person who does business by rule, having a time and place for everything, doing his work promptly, will accomplish twice as much and with half the trouble of him who does it carelessly and slipshod.”

The Golden Rule

“Be polite and kind to your customers. Be charitable. Don’t blab.”

Preserve Your Integrity

“It is more precious than diamonds and rubies.”  And in the end, it’s all you’ve got.

Post by Vicki Moore

Before I start

let me just say ….TWITTER ROCKS!!

I love when people share articles in Twitter that they are reading, but no one shares better articles than my mentor Paul Chaney (yes Paul….one day you will get tired of my plugs - he’s @PChaney btw)

Paul shared Nathan McGee’s post on 3 Rules of Social Selling Etiquette which is a must read for every Realtor involved in Social Networking. Blogosphere rules are ever changing and only by being here can you even begin to understand what’s happening. I remember my first comments on Active Rain a couple of years back where I would sign with my name and web address…… It was in a nice e-mail from Rich Jacobson that I found out that doing that was considered spam - OUCH!!

To get back to the point - Social Networking HATES hard sells, so don’t do it!! My hat goes off to Nathan when he says:

social media is about connecting. If you are truly as great as you think you are and dominate the field where you feel you are an expert, you will be able to let others do all the promoting for you while you continue to provide stories and advice that highlight your expertise. Actions speak louder than words and you can sit there talking about how great you are or you can show it by providing useful information or entertainment.

So here are his 3 Social Selling Etiquette Rules - and please pay attention, a lot of you are breaking these.

• Rule #1 No Blatant Self Advertising.

• Rule # 1.5 It is ok to “plug” yourself (but there’s a fine line, so be careful with this one)

• Rule #2 Be true to your motives (I love this one because it is important to go back to the basics, to the beginning and really think of the reasons you are there…..don’t forget ROI)

• Rule #3 Do not just add “friends!” (I’m still working on this one - the whole concept of turning down “a friend” is hard for me to swallow).

A lot of people will knock me for twittering (my kids are included in that group), for facebooking, linkedIn’ing (there’s no way I can make that one a verb), powncing, seesmic’ing, or flickr’ing…… what’s important is for you to feel comfortable with the medium and to analyze your intentions and your ROI, if any. Paul asked a few of us yesterday to describe in one word what it takes to be successful in social media and my answer was “time”….but “respect” and “transparent motives” are up there as well.

Post by Ines Hegedus-Garcia

What IS MoFuse?

MoFuse is a mobile application that launched last fall which automatically converts your site into a .mobi web address meaning anyone with a web-capable cell phone (not just iPhones) can open up your .mobi site and it is formatted specifically for a cell phone. There’s nothing worse than opening a website on your phone and having funky squares that don’t line up. Above is what AG looks like on our .mobi address.

MoFuse Integrates YouTube

As a blogger, I simply embed video into the article du jour and move on, but when people hit up blogs from their cell phones, videos are not always formatted properly and the context of the article is lost on anyone on the go. MoFuse now transcodes video automatically to play nicely with your cell phone… this has been one of my biggest complaints about reading blogs from my Treo- no video integration because the coding/formatting was off!

Integrated Mobile Comments

A big problem with mobile phone users is that commenting sometimes is not possible (and even less possible is remembering where you wanted to comment by the time you are done at the doctor’s office). MoFuse has launched integrated mobile commenting for WordPress and is working on other blog platforms as we speak!

Button Addiction

For the button addicted, MoFuse offers a visitor count button for your sidebar so you can show off how many visitors come to your mobile blog. I’m not a megafan of buttons, but apparently they’re like crack- some people are addicted, others are not… who am I to deprive you of your addiction?!

Featured Recommendations

The MoFuse Recommendation Engine, or M|RE, is a feature that allows your mobile readers to discover new content on their mobile device. Essentially it is a recommendation engine that will show other mobile sites at the bottom of posts on your mobile site. These are related and relevant sites to yours. Your site will show up at the bottom of others’ posts and others’ sites will show up on yours. The .mobi sites are still young so the promotional advantage goes to the early adopters!

AG’s landing page

Takeaway

New MoFuse Features:

• Automatic transcoding of YouTube videos
• Commenting on the go is now possible
• Recommendations keep readers online
• Buttonmania is alive- get yours today!

How will you use MoFuse? Mobile web use is not just for Steve Jobs fans, it’s growing wildly and we are excited about the new features!

Post by Lani Anglin-Rosales