Blogging
If you are a Real Estate professional you already know that it is highly competitive profession, especially in the large markets such as The Valley of The Sun. Everyone is looking for an edge, something that will make them stand out from the rest. What if there was a way that could make you stand out and also bring you clients, build your brand, and become the expert that people will come to when they need your service? Well, there is such a thing and it’s called a web log or Blog.
A blog can give you the opportunity to get your properties and services out to a huge number of potential clients. Imagine having people on the edge of you their seats waiting for you to post your next property and then getting questions and requests to see that property immediately after posting it to your blog. Granted this type of exposure won’t come overnight but, it is not any means a stretch down the line if you run your blog right.
Where most bloggers go wrong is they just post their properties and services and expect for people to go to the blog to read their ads. I don’t know about you but I believe ads are annoying and I don’t enjoy reading them. To get people to trust you and even think about getting in to your properties you must give them content that they want.
What do they want, you ask? Information is king in this department you want to show that you are very knowledgeable in the area you are working. If you have statistics of sales over the last month or quarter you can write about that. Do you get asked a specific question over and over? That would be a perfect place to start a blog post.
Once you have gained the readers trust you can begin lightly putting in a property here and there. When you are first starting your blog you just try to just post informational posts. Then, after a couple weeks start introducing your properties onto the blog by writing an informational post then posting a property, this will make it more likely for the reader to read about your property. Finally once your readers are comfortable with the listing you can start just put up a property without an informational post, this does not mean you can stop doing informational posts. If you do this you will begin to lose readers and will have to start all over again.
This is a basic overview of what a blog can do for Real Estate business if you would like to set up a blog for yourself or company check back tomorrow for the next installment of this series How to Set up a Blog.
Matt Kennedy
Internet Marketing
RAUKOV LLC.
Pulling the plug on some home appliances can save energy and reduce your risk of an unexpected home emergency.
When does it make sense to unplug? According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), home appliances can pose a risk to health and safety if they are not used properly. You may not give the coffee maker a second thought once you’re through the door, but Consumer Reports, in a February 2008 issue, suggests that may be a risky practice. Recalls of toasters and toaster ovens during the last decade have become a regular occurrence. In fact, almost half a million Hamilton Beach and Proctor-Silex toasters were recalled last year because of their propensity to continue heating even after the toast has been removed.
Coffee makers have had a similar history. In fact, last year, the Signature Gourmet and Kitchen Gourmet coffee makers, sold at popular pharmacy chain store, were recalled because of their potential for creating a fire hazard, While no injuries were reported, the CPSC reported 23 fires caused by the coffee makers.
The whole point of crock pot cooking is the crock’s ability to stew while you’re away.
But is this a safe practice? Opinions vary, but most people believe them to be safe, as long as the units are in good working order, with no frayed cords. To insure their operational safety, some users suggest placing a crock pot atop a large cooling rack while it is cooking, to keep it separated from the counter top.
Space heaters are one of the leading sources of home fires every year, according to the CPSC, causing an estimated 21,000 fires per year. To prevent property loss and serious injury, heaters should be used properly, including turning heaters off when a room is unoccupied, and always unplugging a heater when no one is at home.
It’s nice to think your appliances are working while you are away, but one appliance that should be resting while you’re away is the clothes dryer. Dryer lint filters need to be cleaned regularly, and there are now small vacuum hoses that can snake inside the filter pocket to remove hard-to-reach lint. An unattended dryer with a full lint screen can spell real trouble. According to the CPSC, about 15,500 fires are associated with clothes dryer fires each year. As a result, dryers should never be left running when a home is unoccupied. They should also not be used to dry plastic, rubber or foam, which retain heat and are quite combustible. Consumer Reports suggests people use common sense when considering what appliances should be unplugged. A clock radio is probably less dangerous to leave plugged in than a curling iron. As a general rule, it makes sense to unplug any heating appliance after their use.
As an added bonus, you’ll save energy and kilowatt hours by unplugging those appliances as well. Many electronic devices in use in our homes draw electricity all the time, whether they are being used or not. This happens with appliances including most coffee makers and microwaves, to name a few. This energy use is known as standby power or vampire power (so named because the appliances suck power even in the middle of the night). To defeat vampire power, unplugging the appliance or turning off a smart power strip can eliminate the extra electrical load.
How does a smart power strip work? Because it may not be practical to constantly plug and unplug every appliance after each use, several companies have developed smart power strips that do the job for you. They monitor electricity use in each plug and shut off the ones that have been idle for a certain period of time. Until you purchase a smart strip, unplugging appliances will provide the same benefit. Unplugging the devices that have the highest standby power – such as TVs and computers — will help. Unplugging and powering down could help save some of the over four billion dollars spent on standby power in the United States every year.
Post courtesy of:
Advantage Inspection Service
Phone: (602) 864-8331
What is Home Stripping?
Home Stripping is when a Homeowner going through a Foreclosure removes fixtures from the home before or after they lose the home to Foreclosure. This includes (Light Fixtures, Stoves, A/C Units, Bath Fixtures, etc.). These fixtures wind up on places like CraigsList or at garage sales.
What is a Fixture?
A fixture can be classified as anything that is attached to Real Property (Home). If you can’t just pick it up or roll it out it could be considered a permanent fixture. If you need a screwdriver or wrench to remove an item then it is probably a fixture.
Is this Illegal?
It can often be difficult to prove, but it can be considered illegal and you could be prosecuted for it. There have been a handful of arrests in the Valley over the last month and these people are being charged with criminal damage and defrauding a secured creditor, both are Felony offenses.
Who is the Victim?
Not only are the Banks who secured these loans the victims, but so are the neighbors. What Stripping a home does is it devalues the home. Someone has to pay to put the fixtures back into the home, either the bank when they are Marketing these homes or the new buyer. Most likely scenario is the bank will be forced to discount the price of the home so that the new buyer can replace the fixtures. This can have an adverse effect on the values in the whole neighborhood. So your next door neighbor who may need to sell his home within the next 6 months may be forced to sell his home lower because of the devaluation caused by the removal of the fixtures in the neighbors house.
What if I am trying to Short Sale my house before a Foreclosure? And, I remove fixtures?
Officially, unless the Bank or Mortgage Company has taken ownership of the property there is no crime. But, I would contend that your neighbors are still being victimized by the devaluation of removing fixtures. Here is something else to consider – If you are trying to successfully Short Sale your house, don’t you want it to Sell? You can be greatly hurting your chances of Short Selling your house if you remove fixtures. The home still needs to be Marketed and would you rather Buy a home that has no light fixtures or bathroom sink or the one down the street that does??
All information I have written is based on my opinion and experience from my years working as a Real Estate Agent as well as a Wholesale Mortgage Account Executive.
Mike Jones
RAUKOV,LLC
Director of Sales
(480) 747-2835 – direct
Guardian Realty & Investment Group
Realtor
