Heath's Blog

I read in one of the emails I get in my junk box that one of the larger real estate franchises is slowing and possibly stopping their advertising on TV.  That is an interesting re-allocation of funds.  Their focus will now be on the promotion of their brand on the Internet.

What does it mean to us non-franchisees?  It means our real estate marketing on-line will become even more complex anddifficult. With the deep pockets of the franchises, out SEO (search engine optimization) will be even more important. Niche keywords and excellent content are even more imperative.

If you are an independent broker, brace yourself for competition on-line unlike we have experienced before.  Learning about SEO, if you haven't already, will become even more important than it already is. 

For consumers, finding a variety of real estate agent and broker sites will become more difficult as the largest companies divert their advertising dollars to the Internet.  Smaller companies, especially in larger markets, may find their search engine placement efforts dwarfed by the larger franchise dollars.  This will make Internet portals that aren't influenced by SEO more important to consumers. 

Happy Selling and Listing.

I just heard a new take on the bail out funds and why they haven't hit the streets yet.  The idea was postulated that the larger banks are holding funds rather than lending them with the plan/hope to buy some smaller banks.  This idea is becoming more well traveled (especially since I heard about it).  So now there may be some pressure from the bail out gods for those holding money to begin lending instead of holding.

If they are holding funds to try an take over other financial companies, and they are pushed/directed to start lending again, we may see movement in the real estate markets in many areas.  Has anyone else heard about this?  Who do we need to encourage?  I am looking forward to some loans being made again!

Well we are having another snow storm.  This isn't bad if you like snow.  It is supposed to change to rain by tomorrow.  In any case, I thought I'd take time to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

I hope that 2009 is Fine!  May your new year bring lots of cheer!  May all your real estate deals be great!

Here is me and my Family Jumping for Joy!

We were on the beach in Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard to take this picture.  One of my cousins was with us and took it.  My girls have a thing for pictures of them all in the air, so we did one as a family.

Joy to your World!

Happy Listing and Selling.

This is a local post.  I love to watch hawks for some reason.  As a kid I read about them and watched them fly.  I have always loved to watch them soar.

Yesterday, as I went to an appointment in Falmouth, I ran across the one below and I had to stop an take a pic.  I walked up very close and he just turned his head to inspect me.  The pond he was watching has ducks and varmints around it so I'm sure he was planning lunch.

This isn't a real estateentry, but I enjoyed the encounter and so I post it here.  I get to live in a fun place.  (Kathrine Lee Bates wrote "America the Beautiful" when she lived in Falmouth MA).

Happy listing and selling!

I just got notice of Suzi Orman's new book about what she thinks happened in the US real estate business/industry, and how we should think now.  You can download it free for a limited time in .pdf formatting.  It only has 227 pages and is a pretty fast download if you aren't still on dial up. (Is anyone?)

Maybe there are some items we can quote in our blogs that are positive!  She says she wrote it fast so people can keep what they still have.  I will probably read it tonight.

Happy listing and selling!

Here's the link

http://media.oprah.com/sterm/action_plan_english.pdf

(Update: 1/14/09  I just tried it again and it is still active at 5:18pm EST)

In December 2008, while reporting of the demise of real estate continues in the media, there is still a lot of activity in real estate markets across the country.  At REindex.com, (pronounced Are-ee-index) we have started publishing reports of where our site visitors are looking at real estate.  The following is information that real estate buyers, sellers, and investors will find interesting.

The top states searched on REindex.com in December were: New York, Illinois, Texas, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Virginia.  These states were searched most often on REindex.com.  Each town in every state has a separate page on REindex, so the states with more towns might get more numeric results.  But the states in this list also have economic reasons that people are searching them.  The New York real estate market has been in the news lately as a good place to buy.  Illinois has both the attraction of the latest political news, and economic news that attracts bargain hunters.  Texas continues to have attractive areas for investment.  The other states also have positive reasons for both relocaters and investors to search for real estate.

A second way to look at the search inquiries, is by the number of searches per the number of towns.  This is to try and give smaller states some parity, and to expose some economic indicators that might not be apparent otherwise.  The states that comprise the top of that weighted list are: Florida, Pennsylvania, Maine, Texas, New York, Alaska, California, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Minnesota.  The states in this list usually have economic programs that are being watched by investors.  Many factors can influence searches.  Investors may be doing preliminary research ahead of job relocations, or for delinquency sales.  Companies may be researching states as they get encouraged to relocate or expand.  And solvent buyers may be looking for the property they have been seeking.

The traffic through REindex benefits from a streamlined conduit that helps researchers and buyers access more local agent web sites faster than other sites do.  It is a directory of agents who are actually working, and it provides direct and unimpeded links to their web sites based on the towns they actually have listings in.  No fees are charged to agents who make their own listings easy to find.  REindex.com,The Site Engine® has been operating since March of 2000 and is operated by MA real estate broker, Heath Coker.

Tomorrow I will be posting the stats for where people were searching for real estate.  Every month I post the top ten states that are searched for real estate on REindex.com.  Where do you think most people are searching for real estate?

In the past I have been surprised by the places that showed up on the list.  For example in the height of foreclosures, Michigan showed up.  What I found out through research was that solvent buyers were looking for foreclosure deals.  When Michigan appeared another time, I found it was due to the efforts of the state's economic development efforts and the attraction of new businesses.  Other examples have been Alabama and Texas that have cities and towns that are working hard to attract economic attention.

So where do you think "they" were looking for real estate in December?

Happy Selling and Listing!

Yesterday we got "some" snow.  Today the sun is shining and we are off to play soccer!  Indoor soccer that is.

A clean blanket of snow on a bright sunny day makes the world look fun.  The temp is colder than I prefer, but for the few days the snow will stay, I can enjoy bundling up too.

Enjoy the pics.  Woods Hole harbor before the storm, Main Street during the storm, and from the deck this New Year's day.

We are looking forward to a great year in real estate!