FamousAgents.com Real Estate Blog

If you have done any business on the Internet, you’ve surely noticed how many companies and freelancers – ready to take your business – that are NOT based in the United States. This includes companies in Canada and other countries that the US has trade agreements with – it’s not as easy as you may think to protect yourself. We want to caution you to know who you hire and know your rights and obligations up front. Read the rest …

You may have noticed some new “faces” in the last couple days contributing articles to our blog. We are looking for more authors to write articles of interest to the real estate industry.

If you have a unique perspective or valuable information on a particular real estate related topic, we want you!

We are looking for articles on a variety of topics ranging from real estate marketing, copywriting, mortgage news, website success, search engine optimization, guru reviews, real estate humor, and more…

Just think of the benefits of becoming a FamousAuthor: Read the rest …

Seen any recent news stories or blog posts about sub-prime loans and alleged mortgage fraud? Seems to be a hot topic. It’s also been a topic of discussion with some of my own past and prospective clients.

The recent uproar about sub-prime loans and mortgage misrepresentation could have been predicted and foreseen by many of the real estate industry leaders.

During the past five years, prices for residential real estate soared and interest rates dropped to historical lows creating an environment for emotional rather than logical buying. In turn, this spawned unparalleled growth of real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate from sales, lending, appraisal, and title/escrow. The cause for the growth was the ease of making large sums of money from the various real estate disciplines. Along with the growth came the untrained, undereducated, inexperienced, and of course, unscrupulous persons looking to make the “quick buck.” Read the rest …

You may have been reading lately about the troubles of one of the nation’s largest sub-prime mortgage lenders, New Century Financial Corp. This once ‘high-flying’ company was trading over $50 per share last summer, but has now been de-listed by the New York Stock Exchange and was trading for less than $1 last week. It seems they are headed for bankruptcy.

Sub-prime loans target people who have troubled credit histories and/or low down payments. Concern about the sub-prime mortgage market is one of the factors that led to the drop in the stock market on February 27th. The question is – how does this impact me, my clients, and our marketplace? Read the rest …

Rae Hoffman, aka Sugarrae, interviews five of the world’s top link experts to talk about link campaigns, linkbaiting, buying links, backlinks, the link landscape, automated link acquisition, linkability, reciprocal linking, and on and on…

Bonus: The five link development gurus even specifically target Real Estate Agent Websites.

This is a must-read for all real estate webmasters!

Read it now: Five Link Development Experts: A Group Interview

via Yahoo! Search Blog

We’re adding support for the Meta tag called ‘NOYDIR’. While we continue to pull from various sources to provide the best title and abstract for a given page in search results, we realize that webmasters may still want the ability to exclude titles and abstracts from the Yahoo! Directory. So, as promised, we’re providing support for ‘NOYDIR’ which will recognize the following Meta tags on your pages: Read the rest …

In order to sell more houses, you must first sell yourself to potential clients. Your marketing message and client testimonials can truly set you apart from the competition.

What others say about you may be just as important as your own marketing message. In today’s information age, people tend to do a little homework before making a purchase or hiring for services. Often, folks rely on the referrals and testimonials of others.

The fact is that testimonials work. If at the end of a listing presentation you provide Mr and Mrs Seller with a list of names and positive comments from other happy sellers, this automatically gives you credibility. Or while a homebuyer is searching the web, they come across several testimonials showing how you have helped others save money and time, this person now feels you might be just the expert they are searching for.

You now have an advantage over the competition and a better opportunity to turn leads into clients. Read the rest …

Sales across America have slowed down since our infamous “housing bubble” deflated in 2006. REALTORS and homesellers alike have felt the twinge of slower sales and lower prices.

Many states saw double-digit drops in the percentage of home sales in the 4th quarter of 2006 compared to the prior “good times” 4th quarter of 2005 (according to statistics from the National Association of REALTORS). The study included sales of single family homes, condos, and co-ops.

In my home state of Arizona, sales dropped by 26.9% – we were beat only by Nevada at -36.1% and Florida at -30.8%. Ouch!

See how your state compares Read the rest …

On Friday I attended a free seminar hosted by the Mike Watson Institute of Real Estate Investing. This company sells programs designed for REALTORS who want to be investors themselves.

As REALTORS, we spend our time finding our clients homes or investment properties and we work for commissions. Our clients often make money in appreciation, income, and profits from these properties. This company focuses on you becoming your own best client and learning to work for both commissions and profits.

Sound intriguing? Read the rest …

We all know that sensationalized news stories sell magazines. But one reporter has gone too far by unjustly bashing REALTORS – of course, as a REALTOR, I take this personally and am offended.

But the worst part is that this reporter is giving false information to consumers – and not only that, but if people actually follow some of his advice, they will clearly be harmed. I can only hope that anyone who reads his article will realize the absurdity.

Stephen Gandel of Money Magazine flaunts his foolishness in the article, “Is your realtor on your side?” (Yes, he also failed to use the proper REALTOR trademark.)

The subtitle of “Make sure your agent gets you the best house at the best price” indeed has redeeming qualities. After all, any of us hard-working REALTORS would agree that this is our job and we strive to do it well.

But instead of providing homebuyers with helpful tips on choosing the best REALTOR or avoiding common pitfalls, Mr. Gandel chose to bash REALTORS as greedy and “susceptible” to putting their interests above their client’s interests. Read the rest …