Monthly Archives: February 2009

Raining Updates: Ads on RCG, Contributing Update, Footer Candy, New Feed, Email Tools, the HUGE list of RCG plugins and more!

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There are so many updates to give, I decided to record a video to describe them all:

In the video, I talk about a number of changes and updates I’ve made to RCG recently including:

  • Rain Drop Ads on RCG… and if you’re one of the first five who signs up, then I’m willing to offer you a particularly good deal!
  • New page on how to get involved in becoming a contributor to RCG
  • Update to the theme by putting the active contributor information at the footer
  • Added MyBlogLog widget to the footer (as well as a few buttons)
  • Switched the main RCG feed over to Feedburner
  • Made it easier to email articles to others. Look for the “Email this Post” prompt at the bottom of every post
  • Speaking of email, you can know subscribe to RCG by email
  • Cleaned up the categories and hopefully made them more useful

And finally, because I haven’t done this in a while, I thought I’d list out all the plugins I’m currently using on Rain City Guide.

Plugin Description
Akismet Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not. By Matt Mullenweg.
All in One SEO Pack Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog. By Michael Torbert.
Exclude Pages from Navigation Provides a checkbox on the editing page which you can check to exclude pages from the primary navigation. By Simon Wheatley.
FeedBurner FeedSmith Originally authored by Steve Smith, this plugin detects all ways to access your original WordPress feeds and redirects them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber. By FeedBurner.
Get Recent Comments Display the most recent comments or trackbacks with your own formatting in the sidebar. By Krischan Jodies.
Google XML Sitemaps This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO. By Arne Brachhold.
Maintenance Mode Adds a splash page to your blog that lets visitors know your blog is down for maintenance. By Michael Wöhrer.
Photopress Photopress adds some image handling tools to WordPress, including a popup upload and browse tool, a random image template function, and a simple album. By Isaac Wedin.
Post-Plugin Library Does nothing by itself but supplies common code for the Similar Posts, Recent Posts, Random Posts, and Recent Comments plugins.  By Rob Marsh, SJ.
Register Plus WordPress 2.5+ ONLY. Enhance your Registration Page. Add Custom Logo, Password Field, Invitation Codes, Disclaimer, Captcha Validation, Email Validation, User Moderation, Profile Fields and more. By Skullbit.
RSS Footer Allows you to add a line of content to the end of your RSS feed articles. By Joost de Valk.
Seesmic Enables Seesmic video in wordpress. By Seesmic Inc.
Similar Posts Displays a highly configurable list of related posts. By Rob Marsh, SJ.
Subscribe To Comments Allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry.  By Mark Jaquith.
WordPress.com Stats Tracks views, post/page views, referrers, and clicks. Requires a WordPress.com API key. By Andy Skelton.
WordPress Database Backup On-demand backup of your WordPress database.  By Austin Matzko.
wp-cache Very fast cache module. By Ricardo Galli Granada.
WP-EMail Allows people to recommand/send your WordPress blog’s post/page to a friend. By Lester ‘GaMerZ’ Chan.
WP Ajax Edit Comments Allows users and admin to edit their comments inline. Admin and editors can edit all comments. By Ronald Huereca.
WP Status Notifier Sends email notification of posts pending review. By iDope.

With the exception of just one plugin that will remain nameless for now, that’s the full list. If you have any questions about why or how I use any of the plugins, feel free to ask away!

UPDATE:

  • I JUST realized I also forgot to mention the “new” RCG search box.    I added a Google custom search box that searches not just RCG, but contributor websites and blogs as well.   It’s pretty slick and I was even able to integrate it with the site so that the search shows up on right on the page.

Kids and Foreclosure

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This morning I received an email of a poem that my niece wrote for a school assignment she read to her classmates.  

Just Maybe

I came home from school to a notice on the door. 

It’s not the first time, it’s been happening more and more.

This time it’s our water, last month the gas

Who knows what it’ll be next time, the money just doesn’t last.

This month we’ll make the car payment, we’ll hold off on cable for now.

Next month, we’ll work on credit cards, it’s hard, we’ll have to figure out how.

Maybe that will be enough to save the house.  Just maybe.

Don’t cry, honey, and don’t answer the phone.

Maybe I can get a second job, or maybe a family loan.

I can sell my pet hamster, one less mouth to feed.

I will baby-sit, mow lawns, go without, whatever you need.

Don’t worry, she says, tears on her face,

You shouldn’t have to struggle to save this place.

Maybe that will be enough to save the house.  Just maybe.

I came home from school to moving trucks outside.

My belongings in boxes, my tears I try to hide.

We tried in vain, and tried so hard

New house, new school, new friendships to start.

I’m nervous and scared, but cover it with a smile

I’ll be back on my feet, but it may take awhile.

Just wasn’t enough to save the house.  Just wasn’t.

by Shayann ~ 16 years old

Her words touch me…yes, she’s my sweetie-pie and I’m so sorry that her family lost their home last year.   I wonder how many other classmates of Shayann and kids like her are feeling the pain of foreclosure.    

Short Sale Listings: Leaving Out Key Details Is Like Telling A Lie..

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[Editors note: It’s always exciting to introduce a new author to RCG… and today I’m especially excited to introduce Courtney Cooper of Cooper Jacobs as the newest RCG contributor!  Far from a newbie, she’s been running an entertaining blog on ActiveRain for over a year now (and racked up tens of thousands of points in the process!), so I’m pretty sure she’ll have no problem making her impact on the RCG community.   Welcome Courtney!   ~Dustin]

Hello RCG!

Thanks Dustin and ARDELL for the encouragement! I am a huge fan of RCG and look forward to what lies ahead!

Pushing openness with short sale listings…

A lot has been written on Rain City Guide and elsewhere about short sales in the Seattle area, but 2008 had me working with far more buyers than sellers and one sentence kept popping up: “that house is a short sale

Sunday Night Stats

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As of tonight, prices are showing at down 5% in January vs. the 4th quarter median price per square foot in the graph below.  That would take prices back to the 2nd quarter of 2005 at $185 MPPSF (vs $195 4th quarter median).  That would also be 20% under peak price of $230. ($230 minus 20% – $184)

I expect the median for the 1st quarter to be higher than that, and the median for the second quarter to be higher than the first.  Not by a lot.  But clearly there are more people out to buy property in the last week to ten days, than we have seen for the 6 to 8 weeks prior.

Given Friday was the end of the month, I don’t want to post the January stats yet, as some sales will be recorded by the agents during the coming week.  That could affect the median pricing somewhat, but as of now, January prices are down, and fairly significantly.

Good for buyers…not so good for sellers.

For now, stick a big red dot on the chart below at $185 MPPSF.  That’s where we are as of tonight for MPPSF, King County, Residential vs. Condo.

No stats in any of my posts are compiled or published by NWMLS. All are hand calculated by ARDELL (required disclosure)

mppsf

Click here for previous Sunday Night Stat posts