realweenie

The Missing Bloggers

This rare photo of Rudolph D. Bachraty III, of Sellsius Real Estate was taken on July 31st, 2007 in San Fransisco just days before he and the notorious Joseph G. Ferrara disappeared from the real estate bloggosphere, leaving behind this cryptic message:  "see ya"

We can only speculate as to where they might be, or if they will return.  Some of us miss them and wish for their safe return.   It is rumored that the cross country trip was just too much for them and that they are too heavily medicated to write blog posts.  The two are such close freinds that I heard from an inside source they are sharing a straight jacket.

I can relate to what they must be going through.  I met some of the real estate bloggers in person and have been having nightmares ever since.  I can only imagine what it must have been like for Joe and Rudy, if those are their real names, as they traveled across the country and met so many of us.  I know they were truly frightened when they met me and I did try to keep my dark glasses and baseball cap on at all times, but it just wasn't enough.

Gents, I really do miss you both but understand that you have probably gone to a better place.  Just keep taking the little pills the nice lady gives you and when you feel better come back to us.

Collegiate Cliques on RE.net

When Teresa Boardman floated an invitation to me to contribute a guest post to the weenie, my thought was, "How could I possibly add to the conversation? I don't have any hot dog pictures". Then I remembered Jabo's Bar Be Que. This is how the weenie rolls in Denver yo. That's a quarter pound hot link covered with half a pound of slow cooked pork and topped with a secret recipe BBQ sauce strait out of Kansas City. Even my man Chris  would be impressed. I'm on a diet, but was compelled to eat the entire thing anyway. I felt I owed it to the loyal weenie readers. The heartburn suffered as a result reminded me of the general tone of RE.net over the last few weeks.

If you read a lot of RE blogs, you may have noticed the alliances, rivalries, and camp mentality that's taking seed. In many humorous ways, these cliques remind me my days in collage. It's still early, and there's plenty of time to take sides, so here's a quick rundown on who to position yourself with in the growing soap opera that is RE.net.

RSS Pieces  and The Real Estate Tomato . If you have a blog built by either of these companies, sorry, you don't get to choose which camp you're in. By birthright, you are sworn enemies. Stop trying to leave friendly comments on each others blogs. It's like Buckeye Fan breaking bread with Wolverine Fan. What are thinking?

Remember the "in" crowd? Cheerleaders, jocks, Gregg, Babs, Neidermeyer, and the rest of the Omegas? If you want to be "in", BloodHound Blog  is the camp to join. Here, one can feel unencumbered by the bonds of social niceties usually present in the business world. Tell it like it is, and don't worry about making friends because everyone already loves you. If you do decide to join this camp, make sure Greg gives you the Super Secret Odysseus Decoder Ring. Otherwise, you are not truly in. Kind of like the nerd who does the quarterback's homework, and gets invited to some parties, but not the really good ones.

What campus would be complete without a socialistic, communal clique where thousands of worker bees all contribute to the greater good ?  Most people are assimilated through indoctrination invitation, but you can join on your own as well.

If you don't have anything good to say, but want to say something anyway, try hangin' with the goth bloggers. This one is easy, Just start pining about fraud, the real estate bubble, or sub prime lenders.  You'll be in the clique before you know it.

Then there's the Corporate Sell-Out camp. To join, just start contributing to GeekEstate, the Zillow Wiki, Trulia Voices , or best yet, get yourself a gig blogging for Redfin! Watch as your efforts lead to actual business and take solace in the notion that the rest of us are secretly jealous behind our mantra of "keeping it real".

Finally, there's the Sellsius camp. I consider myself a proud member. We are the Deltas to Bloodhound's Omegas. Can't we all just get along? Let's sing kum-by-ya, smoke a bowl, and have another Jabo Dog. Togas are optional, but highly encouraged.

So there you have it. The Blog and the Beautiful of RE.net. I've been blogging for two and a half years now, things are finally getting interesting. Make sure to pick sides soon. Maybe we can all square off (West Side Story style) at Inman Connect this winter.

BY: Todd Carpenter - REMBEX Blog Fiesta!

We welcome guest posts from both Deltas and Omegas, don't be shy.  Find my contact information on the St. Paul Real Estate Blog

Active Rain - New referral network

Referral exchange

Read all about it: http://activerain.com/blogs/activerain

Starting next year agents can pay $20.00 a month to belong to the Active Rain Referral Exchange.  There is already an agent who is looking for someone to buy one of her listings.  Not sure how this is all going to work.  I honestly have no comment at this time.  I have never paid to receive referrals.   Active Rain started last year as a social network and has grown to over 35, 000 members.  They have not charged agents for anything but on the other hand we are giving them free content for their localism section, that is going to attract buyers and sellers from all over the country. . . I think . . . eventually . . . who knows?   We also provide the content for Active Rain.  I am not sure if I should send them a bill or not.  Should I?

For consumers - it might be just as easy for you to send an email to an agent and do some interviewing.  The agents on Active Rain know each other through the internet and have never actually met in person or worked with each other. 

So many blogs, so little time

Zillow Vs. Craigs list

Joe and Rudy from Sellsius, roasting some Weenies in St. Paul.  I thought the picture was in keeping with the hot dog stand motif I have going on here, and when they were here we did talk about real estate and about the internet.

A couple of days ago I was looking at my listings on the internet.  I advertise them on Zillow if my clients request it and on Craig's list because it is a great place to advertise.

I know Craig's list has been around a lot longer than Zillow and the sites are very different.  To introduce a new food group here on the weenie I will suggest that comparing Zillow and Craig's list  is like comparing apples and oranges.  While Craig's list is free of graphics and pretty plain looking the Zillow sites is full of wiz bang technology and awesome maps.

There is a bigger difference between the two sites.  When a listing is put on Zillow it will get up to 20 clicks a month.  On Craig's list it is hard to tell how many clicks they are getting but when I watch the traffic to my listings web sites I am seeing at least 30 or 40 people a day are finding the listings on Craig's list and doing further research which brings them into my web site.  From this I have concluded that my listings are getting a lot more exposure on Craig's list than they are on Zillow, as only a small percentage of Craig's list users are going to be interested enough to click.

I am being contacted by buyers via email and by phone through Craig's list on a regular basis.  No one has contacted me through Zillow.  I look at Zillow periodically so that I can see all the conversations about houses, neighborhoods and real estate. I am not seeing any conversations going on, at least not in my area.  There are always conversations about real estate in St. Paul on my blog and through my email.  In fact I stopped while I was typing this post to answer a question about the brewery neighborhood in St. Paul.  I am just guessing but I may have had more conversations about real estate in St. Paul in the last 10 minutes than Zillow will take place on the Zillow site in the next several hours.

For now I am a Craig's list fan

The Real Esate Industry Reads like a Cassic Novel

In the classic novel "Gone With the Wind"  we learn how the civil war changed a way of life.  The wealth of the Southern plantation owner came from the rich farm land worked by unpaid slave labor.  When the countryside was ravaged by the war and the salves were freed and economic model and a way of life died.

The heroine in the novel Scarlet O'Hara mourned the loss of the world she had lived in but she did something about it because she decided that she would never be hungry again and was not about to wait around for someone to solve her problems.  There are other characters in the book who knew that the world they had once enjoyed was gone and were not able to adjust or evolve so that they could be happy and not hungry in the new world.

The real estate industry today is changing.   Realtors are viewed by some consumers as superfluous over paid middlemen, and technology has changed the land.   We can be like scarlet and change our way of thinking or we can become obsolete like Ashley Wilkes in the novel who can not or will not develop the skills he needs to survive or even thrive in the post civil war world. 

I read about and see course descriptions for the training and coaching that real estate companies are providing for their agents and have concluded that these companies are trying to preserve the old ways,     encouraging agents to use more scripts and dialogs, send more post cards, do more open houses and work harder. What worked well in the past is quickly becoming irrelevant. 

Advertising homes

This home doesn't appear to have indoor plumbing.  Do I need to mention it in my marketing materials?  I was going to describe it as cute and cozy, great starter home, plenty of parking, move in ready.  Does it need a virtual tour?

Should I show what I found when I opened the red door?

My parents owe me an apology

My parents owe me an apology

They failed to put an H in my name.  Schools have messed it up, employers have misspelled my name on paychecks.  At one point not too long ago the social security administration decided that I didn't  exist.  The US government is real fussy when it comes to names and numbers.  To them it is an exact science, with no room for an extra H.  The IRS is just as picky as the friendly folks at the social security office.

To some I may seem like an unreasonable person for wanting my name spelled correctly. I know it is silly but it is my name.  I don't use my legal name for business because it is too long and confusing with more potential for spelling errors, not to mention hard to fit on a business card. 

I joke about the misspelling of my name by saying "get the "H" out of Teresa".  Many people just spell it "T", which is fine with me.  I keep waiting for them to add an "H" after the "T" and after they see this post they probably will.

None of this is my fault.  My parents owe me an apology. (Dad, if you stop by just leave it in the comment section.)

This post has nothing to do with hot dogs or real estate.  Though I would throw that out there to avoid any confusion.

Do you have something to say?

If you have something to say consider saying it on the real estate weenie.  Not for everyone, but it can be fun. 

I'll be back on Tuesday with a post.  I have no idea what it is going to be about but I am sure I can think of something obnoxious, or maybe funny, and if not my fall back option is stupid.  Stupid can be fun too.  I see a lot of it on the internet these days and people seem to read it.

Carnival of humor

Here is is the first Carnival or Real estate humor.  Well one entry anyway.  The rest can be found on Pat Kitano's most excellent Transparentre.com.

Writing humor, and accepting the risk that goes with it is not for everyone and neither is the Real Estate Weenie.

Thank you Kris Berg for this post that we can all realate to: Communists and Libertarians - Open House Signage, Kris can be found at The San Diego Home Blog .  We love this entry from Mariana Wagner

Colorado Springs Real Estate , Derek Wagner demonstrates the drawbacks of video marketing for the amateur. See the entire post, "It is harder than it looks".

You can also find the Wagners on Active Rain