I just listed this property after the owner had their home on the market with another Realtor for 6 months. You tell me what a difference a good photo - and a good Realtor - makes.
Which do online real estate tire kickers prefer? I've posed this question before, and according to a recent poll of 500 adults by Obeo, a residential real estate marketing company, photos are a must. More specifically, it was found that "94 percent of all women surveyed said photos of a home would be very helpful in their search for a home while nearly 70 percent said 360-degree panoramas would be very helpful." I'm not sure what the men had to say about the matter as that information wasn't given, but 94% is a pretty staggering number that speaks volumes.
I post this information because, IMHO, many agents and sellers waste money on virtual tours when people would rather scroll through 10 pictures and be done. So why did the women overwhelmingly want pictures over a virtual tour? Shockingly, I have an opinion on the matter. First, we must ask, "what is the purpose of a virtual tour or multiple photos?" To get your happy a** into the home, of course! I want that person scouring the internets for a home at 11:37pm to see one of my listings and say to themselves, "I want to see this home!" And then send me an email or call their Realtor up and say, "Meet me at this house tomorrow!" Multiple photos can accomplish this without a virtual tour - which may or may not take 30 seconds (about 7 hours in internet time) to load. Whereas, you can click through 10 photos in less than a minute and get a good "feel" for the home. And when you're sifting through 168 homes in East Dallas between $300 and $400K, who is going to wait for a tour to load?
And don't even get me started on bad photos. Or even worse, no photos.
Which do you prefer?
So i'ts been about a hundred years or so since my last post. I went to blog rehab, refocused on my business and things couldn't be busier or better. So what better to post about than the great news that is Dallas real estate.
The PMI Group just released it's Summer 2008 U.S. Market Risk Index that "ranks the nation's 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) according to the likelihood that home prices will be lower in two years." At the top of the list is Riverside, CA which is most likely to experience a (continued) price decline 2 years from now. At the bottom of the list? Drum roll please...well, it's Ft. Worth and Arlington. But right above them is Dallas, Plano and Irving! So we're the 2nd least likely city in the nation to see a price decline in the next 2 years. Not too shabby. Here's the Top 10 "most riskiest cities".
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario; CA
Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach; FL
West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach; FL
Orlando-Kissimmee; FL
Las Vegas-Paradise; NV
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater; FL
Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine; CA
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale; CA
Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall; FL
Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville; CA
And the Top 10 cities least likely to experience a price decline in 2 years:
Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord; NC-SC
Kansas City; MO-KS
Columbus; OH
Cincinnati-Middletown; OH-KY-IN
Indianapolis-Carmel; IN
San Antonio; TX
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown; TX
Pittsburgh; PA
Dallas-Plano-Irving; TX
Fort Worth-Arlington; TX
So quitcherbitchin'. Glad to be back!
I got an email last week from someone who happened upon my blog asking me what areas he should check out while he's in Dallas for the first time to view some serious real estate. I sent him to Strait Lane, Lennox, Ursula, Park Lane. I even gave him Mark Cuban's gated estate location. Then I advised him to check out Beverly, Armstrong and the picturesque Lakeside Drive (my fave). What did he think? Oh, he liked. He sent the following email after he returned home. We should take note of his Beverly Hills/Park Cities impression. Go Dallas!
Hey Jeff,
I am back from my trip to Texas. I had a great time and thought Dallas was very nice. As for the Park Cities and Preston Hollow, all I can say is wow. I have done a lot of traveling and always try to check out the prime real estate and I think your area is perhaps the best. The homes are so beautiful and they all blend in so nicely with each other. The flats of Beverly Hills, similar to the Park Cities, has been ruined with very large and ugly new construction. The new homes in your area fit in pretty well and the occasional modern houses are cool.
All the beautiful parks and the nice shopping areas also add nicely to the community. I was very impressed and will now spend the coming days obsessing about this area. Somebody on Wikimapia had placed on the site a lot of information on many of these homes. At the time I saw this I did not realize I would be coming to Dallas and the information has since been deleted. This also happened in Palm Beach. I guess the owners of these properties got upset. I can't blame them but it was great information and now that I have been there, I wish I could go back and review it.
Thanks for your best street list. I made it to all the streets you recommend and it was a big help since the area is so large. You definitely sent me in the right direction. I forgot to ask you where Volks Estates is? River Oaks in Houston is also very nice but was much more impressed with your area.
Thanks again for all your help
John
Thanks for your emails and comments over the past 12 days. I'm sure all 3 of you are on pins and needles as to when and what I will post next. Sorry to keep you waiting. But I have a little dilemma and I need your help and support. Since November of 2007 I have spent roughly a good 3 hours a day working on my blog whether posting or reconfiguring the layout, etc. And I probably spend another 1 to 2 hours reading other blogs which is where I get a lot of information and ideas. In my Blogger profile I prophectically wrote, "Jeff is new to world of blogging and only time will tell if his business will suffer because of it." Let me be clear, my business hasn't suffered since starting this blog but it sure takes a lot of effort and time to keep it full of information that is only slightly entertaining to a handful of you regular readers. And then I read this opinion article in the latest edition of Texas Realtor Magazine about how social networking and blogs can be a huge waste of time for business professionals.
"...you can pour endless hours into without any substantive monetary return. Stop it already, and implement what works because it works, not because it is neat or new." says Michael Parker, principal at Blackwater Consulting Group.He goes on to say,
"What, then, is important? Hits, page rank, page views? No. Once you cover the Web-site basics in a professional manner, the only things that matter are results: the quality of leads you derive from your efforts; how many of those leads you convert to sales; and whether Internet buyers can find your site in one click."I agree with his logic from a business standpoint. And this is the root of my dilemma. I truly enjoy reading blogs about real estate and sharing my thoughts on real estate issues. But is it a good use of my time if it's not bringing in revenue? When I talk with other people who read blogs on a daily basis I can't think of one person who hasn't said, "I'm addicted to reading blogs". I'm sure there are many of you out there who have said the same thing. I know of one person who has blocked blogs from his work computer because he wasted so much time reading them. I don't want to become that person. Like alcohol and crack, use in moderation. Just kidding about the crack. I'd love to hear what you think.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when other Realtors - and even clients - tell me they didn't fulfill a commitment or duty because "they were busy". I am currently co-chairing a committee for a Leadership program and one of my committee members told one of the slackers that we expect more involvement from them. The slacker's excuse was that she has "had a busy year and her schedule has just been hectic". What she didn't realize is that she was speaking to a lady whose father-in-law had passed away 2 days prior and still made it a point to fulfill her duties and then some.
When you tell someone you didn't return their email or phone call because you have "been busy", you are basically telling them your time is more valuable than theirs. Realtors are notorious for spitting out this poor excuse like it's second nature and I simply can't stand it. I have even caught myself saying it at times but my friends and colleagues have been nice enough to call me to the carpet when this happens.
Next time you hear this excuse from anyone, make sure to tell them no one person's time is more valuable than another's. So that excuse doesn't sit well with me, nor should it with you.
Just saw this in my RECON email.
RESIDENTIAL TOWER OPENING NEARS
DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Spectrum Properties Ltd.'s downtown 17-story luxury residential tower — called 1407 Main — is set to open officially April 21.The tower includes ground-floor retail, a parking garage, a rooftop pool deck, a bowling alley, a theatre and more than 80 residential units. Rents range from about $1,495 for a 751-sf unit, to more than $4,000 for a 1,700-sf penthouse.Good, Fulton & Farrell Architects designed the project.
Bowling alley? Really? With 80 units I'm sure there will be no arguments over who can use it and at what times. Oh yeah, how come have I NEVER heard about this building until this very day?
In the immortal words of Pink, who knew?
What I know about hedge funds wouldn't fill a Post-It Note. But the little I do know about them seems a bit sketchy. Not all of them, mind you. Just the ones that are banking on the demise of the US economy. For example, T. Boone Pickens, a legend in oil and gas across the globe, has his own hedge fund, BP Capital. They bet that oil prices would rise beginning in 2005 and it ended up making him over $1.5 billion dollars that year. Yes, billion. So basically it's like gambling in Vegas but for mega-rich businessfolk. And the "big game" they're betting on is real life. Are rising oil prices good for the average Joe? Of course not. And isn't it a bit odd that one of the world's richest men, who hangs with the most powerful and influential businessmen and women across the globe, is hoping for gas prices to reach $4.00 a gallon? I'm not saying Mr. Pickens assisted in the rise of oil prices but if anyone had the power to make this happen, it would probably be him. There is an inherent conflict of interest here and his gain is the average Joe's loss.
Blanche Evans discusses this phenomenon using Robert Shiller, a finance professor at Yale University. Apparently he's a pretty important guy and makes up one half of the S & P Case-Shiller real estate pricing index. According to Evans, the Case-Shiller Index wields quite a bit of influence on how newspaper headlines read across the country and are notoriously pessimistic. We all know how doom and gloom headlines can -and have - affected the psyche of today's home buyers. And it's interesting to note the Case-Shiller index tells a different and much more disheartening story than 3 other well known real estate indices. But here is the kicker from the Evans article.
"The Case/Shiller Index is licensed by Macromarkets LLC. In partnership with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Macromarkets created the "Housing and Futures Options" for trading. The CME Group, a Chicago Board of Trade Company, describes trading housing futures as having multiple benefits to investors:Is this not a glaring conflict of interest? Isn't there a huge opportunity for abuse here? Is this a good thing for the powerful and ultra-rich to bet on economic downturns?
- A new means of risk transfer to a broad range of investors
- Low cost exposure to real estate values without direct ownership of properties
- Access to a unique asset class
- Opportunity to profit from a movement in housing prices
- A way to make trading in real estate a short-term and liquid investment
This is a hedge product, folks, and guess who one of the owners of Macromarkets LLC is? None other than Shiller.
"Every time a CME hedge is made, revenue flows to Macromarkets," says Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the National Association of Realtors. "People would hedge only if they believe prices will fall big time."
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