Tag Archives: advice

And then Ardell happened…

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In a comment the other day, I mentioned that I would write a post about the origins of Rain City Guide, and while my initial reaction was to talk about all the different influences that led me to think that blogging about real estate was a great marketing idea, I realized that (1) those influences were already discussed when Andy interviewed me last December and (2) that background is only interesting on a personal level.

So instead, I’ll take a different tack and start with the risks of starting the blog as I saw them… What did Anna and I have working against us when we started blogging about real estate?

  • Time: I had a full-time job as an engineer and could only devote a few hours a week to real estate writing
  • Knowledge: Both of us were new to real estate and had very little technical knowledge and/or experience to add value to existing real estate discussions
  • Money: We had no extra money to devote to the site. Life as a transportation engineer had pretty much tapped out our family budget.

However, I’m rarely one to look at the glass half-empty and instead I looked for ways to benefit from our weaknesses.

[photopress:sashas_shoes.JPG,thumb,alignright]To address the time, knowledge and money issues, the obvious solution was to attract knowledgeable professionals to write for Anna’s site. Not having many resources, my best bet for attracting others was to build something where “they” could directly benefit. Hence, the name change from Homes By Anna to Rain City Guide and a lot of altering of the design to highlight other contributors (like the photos by the side of each post, the photos along the sidepanel, and the listing of recent comments).

This led to the empowering realization that the site was no longer a marketing brochure for Anna’s real estate business, but rather, it was a destination worth visiting in it’s own right… For better or worse, I saw our main competitors being the online real estate section of the Seattle Times, although in retrospect they seem like an easy target. For a blog, we have a lot more freedom than they will ever have to be more controversial, interesting, and up-to-date.

My first steps were to read and study the types of things that the popular bloggers were writing about and how they approached topics. Much of my initial posts were copied from others except I’d add to the conversation by talking about how popular technology and/or marketing issue related to real estate. That strategy worked to my advantage because I definitely felt more confident writing about real estate technology than real estate transactions.

I then sent Anna out to attract additional writers at every opportunity. If she was on one side of a home buying transaction, I made her promise to tell the other agent about the site and see if they would be interested in writing on RCG. If a mortgage broker delivered a presentation to her office, I made her promise that she was ask him/her if they would write articles for RCG. This continued all through the Summer of ’05.

[photopress:dustins_shoes.jpg,thumb,alignright]The end result was that we dealt with our main disadvantages by getting experts to write for the site. Not only was the writing of these professionals free, but they also had time and added knowledge that went beyond what Anna and I could produce. Ironically, if we were experts, I bet this would have been much more difficult as the contributors would have been more likely to view us as a threat and/or competitor.

However, this set-up was not the panacea. We simply were not attracting enough eyeballs to get enough leads to keep other contributors interested in writing on a regular basis. It really wasn’t until Google began sending us a significant amount of free search traffic in the Fall of ’05 that we were able to attract other real estate professionals.

This brings us to early winter of last year when things seemed to be pretty good. We were getting decent traffic and I noticed that people started to link to RCG as a real estate resource. And then Ardell happened. It won’t surprise any long-time RCG reader to hear that when Ardell started frequenting the comment section of posts, her spunk and insider knowledge brought the energy level of every conversation up a few notches. Right around Ardell’s first posts, the traffic on RCG started to spike and has yet to let up.

Since then, getting people to write for RCG has been much easier (although not as easy as you might think!). I tend to troll all the local real estate blogs and contact the professionals that “get it”. Normally, the promise of more people reading their writing is enough to convince them to join us at RCG, but not for everyone. You might also find it interesting that I’ve never signed an agreement with any of the contributors. About as complicated as things get is that I make a vague promise that if they are willing to publish on a regular basis, then I will:

  • List them as a “Featured Contributor” on the sidepanel
  • Add a mini-bio (including their contact information) on the Contributor’s page

I feel pretty darn lucky that we’ve been able to keep things so simple and still have it function. If I had to give any advice to someone interested in starting a similar blog, it would be:

  • Keep it simple. Don’t start writing up complicated revenue-sharing plans before you have any revenue!
  • Don’t charge for things that should be free (i.e. blogging technology)
  • Focus on being interesting!

In the beginning, I had no idea what type of content would make for an interesting real estate blog. It has only been through a ton of trial-and-error that we’ve even approached the level of engaging conversations that occur today. With that said, I feel lucky in knowing that we are still in the primitive ages of real estate blogging and I’m still learning new things every day! 😉

Inspiring People to Comment

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The total number of comments on a post is probably one of the better indicators that a blog post met the interestingness test.

Here are the top 10 most commented on posts on RCG:

  1. 8 Common Mistakes Made By Real Estate Bloggers – 70 comments
  2. You Have to Wonder…. – 66 comments
  3. Paying for the Privilege of Marginalization – 56 comments
  4. Adding Some Sun to Rain City Guide – 49 comments
  5. Why Google Base Matters – 48 comments
  6. Agents and Consumers – A Perplexing Business Model – 43 comments
  7. Is Your Earnest Money Protected By The Finance Contingency? – 40 comments
  8. Redfin – Something to think about. – 39 comments
  9. The Lame List Part II – MLS Rules – 35 comments
  10. Something’s Afoot in the Real Estate Business – but what does it mean and where is it going? – 32 comments

Here’s some of the common themes I see running through these posts:

  • Controversy. They give a strong opinion on a controversial topic.
  • On Topic. Rain City Guide is about real estate and the blog posts that are most commented on are all about real estate. While not surprising, I think it is worth noting that off topic posts are do not generate as much interest.
  • Minimal moderation. This may not be readily apparent to everyone else, but I haven’t had to moderate or remove almost any comments on any of these blog posts.
  • No begging for comments. None of the posts asked the users to comment… For example, not one of them states “What do you think?” at the end. I like to think that a good blog post “inspires” users to comment as oppose to asks them.

So… What do you think? 😉

Update: Paying people to comment is pretty darn effective as well. Looks like Hanan is giving away 100 bucks to one lucky person if enough of us go over to his site and leave a comment!

The Best Client Relationships are Solidified in the Darkest Moments

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[photopress:austinpowers.jpg,thumb,alignright]“Allow myself to introduce….myself” – Austin Powers

I’m in my first few months as a full time working agent. I retired from my career with a successful Internet marketing company after 8 1/2 years of helping grow it from a six person start up to a public company with offices on three continents. I left because I had lost my passion for the industry; I didn’t go to work each day looking forward to the challenges that awaited me. I needed something new. It took me two years to discover it, but after spending the last year with my wife investing in real estate part-time, I realized that I had found my passion. I had found my bliss. Real Estate. I got my license initially as a way to list our own investment properties for resale, but realized that real estate sales and investing got me excited. Here I am, starting fresh in the sales industry, juggling a number of balls related to real estate – client acquisition, client management, project management (on my investment properties) and property acquisition. It’s been extremely stressful (waking up in the middle of the night, in a cold sweat, fearing that I’d calculated time incorrectly and missed an inspection deadline), but also extremely rewarding (I sure don’t miss rush hour traffic!). This is my first post of any substance, and the goal of my commentaries is to reflect the sum of my experiences (which are currently few in real estate sales) Right now, I have little sales experience, a modicum of investment experience, and lots of client service experience taken from my previous careers in tourism (during my 20s), and online advertising (the bulk of my 30s). I’m thrilled that Dustin invited me to post.

“Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong” – Donald Porter

One reason that I have succeeding in client service roles throughout my careers is that I tend to remain eerily calm when surprising and unfortunate situations arise (whenever one of my kids start choking, my wife completely panics and starts screaming; I set aside the adrenaline and calmly unlodge the blockage with a textbook execution of the Heimlich Maneuver). In business, I refer to the actions required to resolve these problems as firefighting. Most of the time, firefighting is required due to errors made by others outside of my control. However, no matter who is at fault, the client only has an opportunity how I deal with problems.

Rule Number One – Listen…Then Solve Problems

I get into trouble a lot with my wife whenever she starts telling me about her problems. I listen just long enough to identify the course of action needed to solve the problem, then interrupt her and explain how I’ll fix her problem. Big mistake. Most times, she isn’t looking for my to solve a problem, she just wants to unload her problems on to me…it makes her feel better having talked through it. After I validate her feelings, I can then ask if she wants me to help her with anything.

The same principle applies with clients. They come under stress from parts of their lives to which I have no exposure or access. For example, they may start complaining that they haven’t seen enough houses, and imply that I should pick up the pace and increase the number of showings. Before I try to problem solve and start scheduling more showings, I’ll listen carefully and try to determine why they are asking this question – especially when there has been no hint of this kind of issue before. In most cases, compartmentalized stress from situations spill over into my world. Instead of taking it personally, and before getting defensive or simply agreeing to the request (especially when I know I have been working hard on the buyer’s behalf), I’ll listen to what they are saying, acknowledge that I appreciate what they are feeling, then ask a series of questions designed to determine if there really is a problem they may have with me. If there is, I’ll offer solutions.

When I worked for Princess Cruises, I learned of an interesting statistic about customer service. Clients who wrote to the company complaining of a negative experience on their vacation demonstrated a greater loyalty to the company – they more likely returned on a second cruise – versus a random sample of cruisers. Why? These clients’ feelings were validated with a reply from the company. Was this loyalty bought with credits or discounts on subsequent trips? No, in most cases, it was a personally written letter or return phone call, where the clients felt that the company listened to them.That amazed me at the time, and you know what? It has born out in practice many times for me personally.

Rule Number two – Admit Your Mistakes, and then Proactively Solve Them

Here’s a situation I just saw in my first deal. My client had asked for a bunch of repairs on the 35R, including a certification showing a resolution to a possible Carpenter Ant issue. We eventually arrived at a deal, but instead of a fresh blank amendment stating the new price, I included the original 35R showing the repair list. All of you seasoned agents can see where this is going. It’s the day of closing. Both buyer and seller have signed around. I’m ready to pop the bubbly celebrating my first deal. Then I get a call from the Mortgage broker. The lender is requiring that an inspector clear both the carpenter ant issue and a dry rot issue (also in the report). Yikes. This made it past both the mortgage broker, and the loan processor prior to closing. I could have started yelling at these folks for not catching the problem when I submitted it (they have enough experience to know that submitting such a list is a red flag). Nope. I went into firefighting mode. I called the listing agent, told him of the problem; I called my client, admitting my mistake and letting him know that I’d cover any costs or penalties associated with this mistake. I then scrambled to get a pest control company out to the house to treat it and clear it, and I called the contractor who has worked on a couple of my investment properties to check the dry rot issue (which truly wasn’t an issue), and he cleared it.

The listing agent was impressed with my dedication and focus on solving the problem. Not only for my client, but his clients would have been impacted by a scheduled, near simultaneous closing for their next home. The listing agent told me that upon sharing my efforts with his broker, she said she’d love to have me be one of her agents. The deal closed a day late, and cost me $250 for the pest control, but beyond that, there was no negative impact to either side. My client was thrilled, and appreciated my honesty and my hard work and scramble to fix the problem. In my opinion, this is the type of client service that wins clients for the long term (especially if the client is an investor, as this one is), and wins referrals from satisfied clients.

In closing, no one is perfect. When I first started my client service career as a tour guide, I tried to please everyone, all the time – trying for perfection. This is impossible to achieve. However, by communicating honestly, and by performing my absolute best under less than ideal situations, any negative perspectives my client had were turned into positives. Anyone can do well when nothing goes wrong, and the client may very well come to the same conclusion, and deciding to use someone else next time. However, when the client saw how hard I fought for him during this adverse situation, he experienced my character, and will remember that in future situations, I’ll have fought for him. This helps create loyalty.

“To Achieve Perfection is not Nirvana, It’s a Self-Imposed Life Sentence” – Seattle Eric

What is more dangerous: censorship or self-censorship?

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At yesterday’s seminar, the issue of liability came up (as it always does) with many agents worried that they could get in legal danger for content that they write on a blog. My summary of what Russ is able to say quite eloquently is that the type of content that is legally appropriate for an email or other correspondence is the same for a blog. In other words, if you’re not allowed to call a neighborhood “family-friendly” to a client in person or in an email, then you can’t do it in a blog. The take home lesson is that blogging is like all other business endeavors in that an agent needs to use common-sense when blogging.

While liability is interesting, I find the concept of censorship to be a much bigger danger for the real estate community. To give an example, yesterday someone requested that I take down a set of comments he had written (over a month ago) on RCG because the powers that be (most likely his broker) did not want him blogging. Considering his comments were part of a long dialog that was already read and commented upon by hundreds of people, the request seemed hopelessly short-sighted on the part of his broker. Nonetheless, I did make the changes he requested. But this got me thinking… There really are two types of censorships that are common in the way that the real estate industry operates online:

  • Censorship: When agents are censored by their brokers/industry
  • Self-censorship: When agents simply refuse to take part in an online community because they are afraid that the “powers that be” might not approve of their comments

Personally, I think self-censorship is the real danger in that agents don’t even take the chance to push the limits of what it means to create an online community. If the censorship is overt, the conversations over and an agent can either live with the consequences of not having an online “voice” or move to a new broker. But when the censorship is self-imposed based on a climate of uncertainty, I think agents will have a much harder time demonstrating the expertise that they can provide to their potential clients. It seems obvious to me that agents need to have a high level of freedom if they are going to differentiate and successfully market themselves online.

Thanks to SoCal Agents for Another Successful Bloginar

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Russ and I just returned from giving a Bloginar in Bel-Air today and it was a blast!

I’d call it a success as the audience seemed engaged and there were lots of side questions and side discussions during the breaks. It is obvious to me that blogging in real estate is still in its infancy, and while it may not be an appropriate tool for all agents, the technologies involved are here to stay. Personally, I have a lot of fun at the seminars as I enjoy engaging others in a conversation about how real estate professionals can use blogging to create a community around real estate.

Note that if you’re looking to see how a blog post can generate a fascinating discussion around a real estate topic, check out Russ’ post from two days ago where he inspires people to discuss real estate commissions with a simple two paragraph post (and a link!).

By the way, if you were one of the attendees at today’s seminar, please consider leaving some feedback on how you think it went. Your feedback is crucial for us to know how to improve the seminar into the future!

Thanks again for everyone who showed up for making it a success!

Free Bloginar in L.A. for 200 Agents!

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Russ Cofano and I are giving our 2nd Bloginar for agents next week on how to use blogs to effectively generate leads. Interestingly, the sponsor of the event, Coldwell Banker, decided to open up our seminar to all southern california real estate agents and not just Coldwell Banker agents (WOW!)… Not only that, but they decided to make the even free (Double WOW!).

The catch is that the facility can only hold 200 people and they’ve decided to offer seats on a first-come, first-serve basis! The only place to register is on this fancy flash page they created for the event! (A little bird has told me that there are already over 50 people 70 people 80 people 100 people registered for the event, and the organizers are expecting a full house!)

The event is scheduled to start promptly at 9:30am and last until 12:30 on July 19 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Brentwood.

Last time, we ended up rushing things (and skipping one of two planned breaks) because we really have four hours worth of material we’re trying to condense into three hours. I’ve attempted to filter things a little more this time, but with the inevitable (and valuable) questions that real estate blogging encourages from the audience, I’m sure we’ll be rushing to cover everything in the end this time as well!

Some of the reviews we had from our first bloginar were very encouraging…

Dale Crockatt:

Dustin and Russ, your first bloginar class was awesome! I have not been so excited about a new idea in years. We have been searching for an idea for the fourth generation of our website www.MountHoodHomes.com and I am convinced this is it! I was surprised you were not selling something at the end of the “show

What is a .25 bathroom?

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[photopress:9t.jpg,thumb,alignright]Nine times out of ten when someone asks me this question, the house does not actually have a .25 bath. The mls here in the Seattle area requires us to count bathrooms in a specific, and somewhat outdated manner, causing many homes to appear to have a .25 bath that do not. 

[photopress:5t.jpg,thumb,alignright]I will shortly be listing a two bedroom condo in Kirkland at the north end of Lake Washington for about $200,000 that has 1.25 baths. While many homes show 2.25 baths or 3.25 baths, these homes do not actually have a .25 bath at all. A .25 “bath” is one extra fixture, usually not housed in a separate room at all. The 1.25 bath condo I will be listing has a sink and vanity area located in the master bedroom between the full bath (with jacuzzi) and the walk in closet. You enter this dressing area from inside the master bedroom. This is the best example of a real .25 bath. It is an area inside the master bedroom, just outside the full bathroom, where one can shave or put on their make up while the other is in the bathroom taking a shower.

Most homes that show 2.25 baths actually have 3 “bathrooms” involved that total this configuration. The most common setup is one “full bath” plus one “3/4 bath” plus one “1/2” bath, that totals 1 + .75 + .50 = 2.25 total baths. The 3/4 bath is most often attached to the master bedroom and has a shower stall and no tub, making it a toilet + sink + shower stall = 3/4 bath (3 fixtures – no tub). The full bath is usually located off the main hall and is used by the persons in the “other” bedrooms and has a tub (with shower in it) + toilet + sink equalling one “full” bath. A 1 3/4 bath home would normally be a rambler style on a single level, with the full hall bath doubling as the “guest bath”.

A 2.25 bath home would normally be a two story home with a 3/4 in the master, a full bath in the hall and a half bath on the main level, with a toilet and a sink only, so that one does not have to go up to the second floor to go to the bathroom. On the East Coast this is called a “powder room” from the old days when women pretended to be “powdering their nose” as opposed to relieving themselves 🙂 A 3.25 bath home would be similar, but might have four bedrooms rather than 3 with both a hall bath and a “Jack and Jill bath”. A “Jack and Jill bath” is a term used to describe a bathroom set between two bedrooms that can be accessed from either bedroom, but not from the hallway. I had one once, though in my case it would have been more aptly called a “Jill and Jill bath”, but I do not recommend it. The occupant of the bathroom enters from their bedroom and locks the door to the other bedroom from inside the bathroom while bathing. They are supposed to remember to unlock that door when they leave, but often don’t, causing the occupant of the other bedroom to be locked out from their side of the bathroom.

Another example of a .25 bath seen in some very old homes with basements, is a “below grade” toilet only, usually in the basement and sometimes called a “service toilet”. It is a stand alone toilet or a toilet in the washer and dryer area near the “utility sink”. It is often just sitting out in the open in an unfinished basement area used by a guy who is working on his car or in his workshop area in the basement, saving him a trip up the steps to the main bath.

I say this system is “antiquated” because housing trends have expanded, but the mls method of counting fixtures has not expanded with the times. For example, my master bathroom has a separate enclosure for the toilet area, a jacuzzi tub, two separate and distinct sink areas, and a large two headed shower stall. Technically that equals six “pieces” 2 sinks plus 2 showers plus jacuzzi tub plus toilet equals 6. But the mls makes no distinction between that type of elaborate master bath and a “full” bath. That is why you will often see the term “five piece bath” in the marketing remarks of a home, meaning there is a single head shower stall and a separate tub and double sinks. The “uitility sink” located in the washer and dryer area is never counted as a “fixture” when totalling up the bathroom fixture count.

So when you see a home listed as having 2.25 baths or 3.25 baths, stop looking for the .25 bath. It generally does not exist inside that home. Instead, expect to have a 3/4 bath with no tub in the master and a .50 bath on the main level with a toilet and sink only.

The Five-Minute-a-Day Habit

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[photopress:brazilsoccerhead_small.jpg,thumb,alignright]It’s been a while since we did a plug for David’s AHI blog. His blog is insightful, fun and for the price of only a few minutes a day, you can learn a lot! I don’t know how he does it, but he manages to write a quality article every day and they are almost always at the high level of today’s article on the relationsip between the World Cup, the world’s future, and affordable housing.

(You can learn more about David from this RCG interview!)

The Importance of Using the Digital Darkroom…

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Back in February I wrote my first and only article on Real Estate Photography for Rain City Guide with suggestions for improving the quality of real estate photography images. I guess I had high expectations. But sadly, there are still listings out there with what I’d have to call ‘awful’ pictures. I’m somewhat disappointed. I thought I could change the world, or at least the quality of marketing images of Real Estate. Today I picked up a very slick, glossy Real Estate publication of premier listings to ogle what I expected would be some awesome and inspiring interior photography and I really couldn’t believe what I saw. There were certainly good exterior photos, including aerial views of sweeping estates, but I saw several poor interior images on full page listings of multi-million dollar homes which must have been a significant advertising expense for the Realtor. Several of the interior images were much too dark to really show off what must have been beautiful interiors and many of them showed converging verticals created by the use of a wide angle lens, which may not have mattered much anyway as the images were so dark. I have to tell you, a digital camera in the hands of someone who doesn’t know what he/she is doing is a dangerous thing. I don’t know if the Realtors don’t think it’s important, they don’t recognize poor image quality or some other esoteric explanation.

However, I have a confession to make. Some of the images that come out of my camera are pretty darn bad. Fortunately no one sees them at this stage and I wouldn’t want you to. So how do I get people to pay me to photograph their listings? Well, the image capture with my camera is only the first half of the photographic imaging process. The other half is image editing or post processing that takes place on my computer with software such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. And it’s amazing what image editing tools can do to transform an image. Referred to as the digital darkroom, I learned fairly early at my entry into
digital photography to regard image editing as an extension of the camera. Although camera manufacturers strive to create cameras for the point and shoot crowd that will require little or no post processing, almost all images will benefit from some editing and the high end digital SLR camera’s are intended more for user involvement in the post processing. This involves making necessary corrections in lighting, color balance, saturation and perspective. Sometimes even a few more tricks are at our disposal for a photographic faux pas or a special touch like a sky replacement. Ideally, photographers consider a good original capture important and reliance on too much editing to be a bad strategy. In the case of interior photography for real estate professionals, I have a choice between bringing in and setting up lights (a time consuming process on location) or simply shooting with both flash and/ or available light and working out the results on the computer. For most homes, the Realtors or home owners are comfortable with about an hour of their time to be present while I’m shooting the interior. After about an hour for the average home, I’ve worn out my welcome, so I’ll only set up the lights in a situation where I consider it a necessity.

For the purposes of illustration, I’m going to be brave and show you how one of my images looked when it came out of my camera and follow it with what it looked like when I submitted it to my customer.

[photopress:kitchen_before.jpg,full,centered]

Pretty bad, huh? Would you pay me for something like this? I could try to convince you that the carpenter was really incompetent to explain those slanting cabinets and walls, but would you believe me?

[photopress:kitchen_after.jpg,full,centered]

The final image may not be quite ready for the cover of Architectural Digest but most people (agents and buyers) when they see the ‘after’ image are likely to respond ‘wow, what a beautiful kitchen!’ After all, it’s one of the primary selling points of this home and it should make that impression. Do I make my point?

Inman’s Innovation Awards!

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Congrats goes out to all the contributors on Rain City Guide! We were nominated as a finalist for the “Most Innovative Blog Award” by Inman News. In my world, contributors are not only the people with their photo up on the sidepanel, but also those of you who return to give your comments on a regular basis. This site thrives off of your continued involvement!

The winners in each category will be announced in SF at the Inman Connect Conference. I’m definitely going to be there (I’m speaking on a panel on lead conversion)… Additionally, I would really enjoy organizing a meet-up of bloggers one evening. If you’re interested in joining us, then leave a comment below and I’ll send details as things get closer!

[photopress:Luther_engineering.jpg,thumb,alignright]In the meantime, I’m not proud to say that I didn’t know many of the non-blog nominations so I spent some time this evening on google researching the other companies nominated. Here are some notes (or at least links) I took while scanning the other nominees.

Most Innovative Brokerage

I wish Inman provided some more context so that I could know why they picked these particular real estate brokers. If anyone can let me know what sets these firms apart, please share!

Most Innovative Web Service

[photopress:Luther_engineering_2.jpg,thumb,alignright]Most Innovative New Business Model

Most Innovative Real Estate Blog

Most Innovative Real Estate Data Site

[photopress:Luther_engineering_3.jpg,thumb,alignright]Most Innovative Technology

Most Innovative Mortgage Company or Service

Most Innovative Media Site

Most Innovative Rental/ New Home Online Service