Would you lie for God?

Yesterday’s theme was PreFab, today I’m back to simply providing links to 10 interesting real estate conversations…

  1. Prosper is an online marketplace for people to lend money to other people. Shaun has been playing with Prosper and has some interesting observations.
  2. I don’t agree with Mark’s conclusions, but I think he makes an interesting case that a good time to “upgrade” is in a down market. (via Steph)
  3. For those looking to improve things before they sell, Rory provides some great home improvement links.
  4. If you are going to be upgrading (up market or down), you’d be wise to follow Noah’s advice and sell first!
  5. Will the number of sold homes rise in August as Bill suggests? But I sincerely doubt it.
  6. Todd, since you asked… My take is that if you are going to change domains, you want to do it sooner than later. You’ve still got lots and lots of growth left in your site, but the longer you wait, the harder it will get. Even better, consider getting a hosted version of WordPress that you can put under your own domain. Many hosts have made it so that there is a “one button” install of wordpress and they even manage the upgrades on the backend. (WordPress.org has a list of their “preferred” hosts.) In the long run, this will definitely give you the most flexibility with things like video/podcasts and stat tracking.
  7. Jim’s thinking he wants a sideblog plugin… I’m thinking just take notes and when you get to 10, hit publish. Have you noticed? 🙂
  8. Fran is good for providing a useful tip every few days… Today it is about the importance of the buyer walkthrough.
  9. Jay Thompson (of AZ) gives us a “pick of the week” that includes one hell of a house!
  10. Larry Cragun tells us to watch out for real estate transactions involving religious institutions. Some people are more than happy to lie for God.

I’m actually shocked at the number of emails these lists have generated. Don’t people know I have a job? 😉

Flowers from a "fan"

[photopress:flowers.jpg,thumb,alignright]I received these flowers today with this note: “Thanks So Much For All Your Help. Despite Your Protests and Warnings I Went Ahead & Formed A New Santa Cruz Chapter Of The Ardell Fan Club. (& I’m President) :-)”

Since we never know what the flowers look like that we send by phone, I thought I’d post them here with my thank you, so he can see what was sent. They will get better every day as the gladiola open.

Anna’s probably thinking the same thing I did when they arrived. Hey, I can bring them to the Open House on Sunday because they match the rug in Anna’s basement LOL

To the President of my Santa Cruz chapter…that’s ARDELL (bold and all caps) I know you are an “engineer” type who has sworn off ALL CAPS…but I must insist 😉 Branding, as Dustin says.

[photopress:heathbillboard_1.jpg,thumb,alignright] Russ and my exchange regarding whether or not Broker’s will ultimately have to deal with complaints about an agent’s blog, reminded my of this “Got Real Estate” Billboard.

It had mixed reviews nationally. Given Wendy works in Belmont Shores where lots of people have seen her with her husband and children, and dog of course, in her bikini, it really wasn’t a big deal. But it made national news when she was fired because of the billboard. Another broker picked her up immediately (no pun intended) and she actually got a lot of business in support of her, when people heard she was fired.

In agent forums, a lot of people from those landlocked states thought it was indecent and unprofessional. But in Belmont Shores CA, someone walking around in a business suit and pumps would actually look weirder than someone walking around in a bikini. When I worked in Manhattan Beach, I had to change my whole wardrobe. I actually stopped traffic when I walked around in my East Coast business attire, pinstriped business suit and white sneakers, like Melanie Griffith in Working Girl. My broker told me I had to ditch my Philly digs if I was going to “work the beach”. I compromised and bought some really cool black Sketchers.

What do you think about Wendy’s billboard ad?

Speaking of Google…

[photopress:google_troll_logo.gif,full,alignright]I was all ready to go to bed and not post anything else tonight when I saw this article from the Seattle PI that says Google is possible looking to open up an office in Fremont. The article itself is not very memorable except for the fact that someone at the PI has a great sense of humor as they subtlety included Google troll logo above the map of the proposed location. Hilarious!

If you’re looking for a smile, it is quite easy to find fun Google logos on the web.