Go Beyond MLS » Real Estate News

Join Real Estate Group at BlogCatalog

Vlad Zablotskyy — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 12:59:50 +0000

It was very surprising to find out that there wasn’t a Real Estate group over at one of my favorite online community- BlogCatalog. There are however many real estate blogs listed on BlogCatalog.

Anyway, if you are real estate blogger or a real estate agent who blogs consider joining both BlogCatalog as well as Real Estate Group. Evidently BlogCatalog is removing inactive groups and groups that are three members or less. I will be writing in the future how online communities like BlogCatalog can help you grow your real estate business.

If you are already active BlogCatalog member please comment and leave the link to your blog so I can review and rate it via BlogCatalog’s rating/voting system.Similar Posts:

Featured Website: Eirecon – Central Kentucky Home Builder

Vlad Zablotskyy — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:34:25 +0000

If you ever plan to move to Kentucky, make sure to consider building a home instead of buying one.

Eirecon Home Builder can help you out! Eirecon has been building affordable custom or semi-custom homes since 1998 and is currently offering 18 home models to satisfy just about any taste without depleting your pockets.

At the moment Eirecon has build and continues to build homes in following Central Kentucky communities: The Paddocks, Kearney Hall, The Home Place, Garden Meadows, Waveland Estates.

In some of these communities you can build your own home for as low as $120,000!

For more information and contact details visit this Lexington Kentucky Home Builder‘s webiste.Similar Posts:

PropertyMaps Featured On Tampa Chanel 8 News

Vlad Zablotskyy — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:25:05 +0000

Just found this video on PropertyMaps blog. Evidently there was an opposition to against featuring the data on sex offenders on their website. Currently any one can check this information at National Sex Offenders Registry, PropertyMaps just makes it a little bit easier for home buyers to locate such information:
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Foxtons May File For Bankruptcy???!!!

Vlad Zablotskyy — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:30:58 +0000

According to some reports Foxtons a New Jersey based real estate firm may be filing for bankruptcy. Foxtons were well known in New York Metropolitan area for selling homes for as little as 2% commission, while traditional brokers ‘ fee in the same are is about 6%.

Young real estate agents where often attracted by the monthly salary as well as use of the company car and some other benefits offered by Foxtons. But no more. Foxtons announced to release 350 of their 380 employees.

When selling your home through a real estate agent, generally two agencies are involved in the transaction, the sellers broker and the buyers broker. The traditional fee is generally divided on 50/50 split basis. While Foxtons have attracted many sellers by their low commission, other Realtors may have avoided showing properties listed by Fostons because of the low potential income.Similar Posts:

PropertyMaps- Cutting Edge Real Estate Website

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:28:31 +0000

PropertyMaps, a free map based real estate search website, is gaining in popularity. According to a recent press release, the website added all the MLS listings of Naples, FL area to their database.

PropertyMaps uses real Multiple Listing Service in combination with popular mapping tools such as Google Maps, Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth. Visitors can quickly and easy search and visualize millions of real estate listings.

While anyone can use the website to search for a property, there are certain benefits real estate brokers should not pass the opportunity to sing up for free- main of them being lead generation.

PropertyMaps when working with real estate brokers, does not require any up-front cost, while offering up to 10 contacts/leads for free.

From the technical point PropertyMaps is designed very well and provides a superb user experience. Unlike ePrerks, PropertyMaps focuses its services exclusively to real estate.

In the future we will continue coverage of PropertyMaps as well as other “cutting edge” real estate websites, so please stay tuned and subscribe to our website.Similar Posts:

A For Sale By Owner Website Introduces Audio Description

Vlad Zablotskyy — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:42:06 +0000

Fizber.com, a real estate website that provides "for sale by owner" services has recently introduced new feature where a seller can upload an audio file with narrative description of their properties.

From the press release:

“Some sellers are simply more comfortable describing their property verbally than having to compose a well-written description,” says Antony Fizber, CEO. “And with an audio file, the passion they have for the property will be heard by the buyer. It’s several steps up from overused exclamation points – too many sellers do this to show their excitement in a written description, but it tends to turn the reader off. Hearing a real person’s voice can contribute to the appeal of a place, too; it can really serve as the first connective step between buyer and seller.”

About Fizber:

Fizber.com is Miami, FL based for-sale-by-owner website. They offer their services to sellers all over the United States.

Fizber.com Introduces Home Listing Audio File Upload

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Join Real Estate Community at BumpZee

Vlad Zablotskyy — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:52:43 +0000

If you are a Realtor who has blog or a blogger that writes about real estate and related subjects, you simply must join Real Estate Community of bloggers at BumpZee.

Our blog has been a long time member of BumpZee even though we have not given this new a ever growing community proper credit in the past, besides having it’s widgets installed on our blog.

So what is BumpZee? BumpZee is a community where you can read blogs, participate in discussions, create your own communities and most importantly network with other real estate professionals. BumpZee’s membership is not limited to bloggers only, any one can join, however there are some benefits that you as blogger can not afford not to take advantage of.

BumpZee is in the top 10,000 website around the world.

To be exact, BumpZee is ranked 6,977 by Alexa. Bellow are some graphics that show BumpZee’s progress on the Internet. Keep in mind that the website is not even a year old and has already recognized widely among many leading bloggers.

If your real estate blog needs some extra exposure BumpZee is the right place for you.

BumpZee and Nofollow Tag

If you are not familiar what “noffolow” tag means just ask your webmaster about it, and if he does not know what it means, it is time for you to look for a new webmaster.

Nofollo is a tag that webmasters can attribute when embedding links to external websites from their blogs. What it does it tells Googlebot not to attribute any value to the links marked by “nofollow”. In essence using “nofollow” tag a webmaster tells Google that he can not guarantee that the website he is liking to is a reliable source. So if you engage in any sort of link exchange with other websites, your webmaster should be asked to exhange links only with the websites that will not attribute “nofollow” tags to the links pointing back to your website or blog.

Well the good news is that when you join BumpZee, you will have an opportunity to opt out from “nofollow” tags pointing to your blog!

BumpZee Can Send You Extra Trafic

Since BumpZee aggregates posts from your blog, it will likely to send your way some extra visitors. While Real Estate Community is far from being the most popular one, our blog recieves decent traffic from BumpZee. In fact BumpZee is our #1 referrer besides search engines and advertising campaigns.

At BumpZee You Can Create Your Own Communities

While we hope to see your blog in Real Estate Community, after you join BumpZee you will be able to start and manage your own community. You can also join other communities as well.

BumpZee Widgets
After you join BumpZee, you will be able to enhance your blog with a widget that either will allow you to show who visited your blog recently, just like the one you see in the sidebar of our blog:

Also your readers will be able to vote (see the upper left corner of this post) for your posts, thus placing your post in the top most “bumped” posts which again can result in extra visitors to your website.

Networking at BumpZee

With membership nearing 7,000 members you will be able to connect with other like minded real estate professionals and make new friends or even find new business partners.

If you have any questions about joining Real Estate Community on BumpZee please leave your comments or e-mil us. We will be happy to help you to get started.Similar Posts:

Filp Camcorder A Realtor “Must Have”!

Vlad Zablotskyy — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:12:03 +0000

This little camcorder can prove to be invaluable for Realtors. Take a look how easy is to use this camcorder! You can take it with you on a listing interview, make a walk through movie and within minutes have it on your website. You can get yours from Amazon!
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Realtor.com: Listings Are Updated Every 15 Minutes

Vlad Zablotskyy — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 06:22:10 +0000

In yesterdays press release, Realtor.com announced that websites is updating MLS listings every 15 minutes:

While purchasing a home is an exciting milestone, it’s also a major investment requiring relevant, accurate and comprehensive information. REALTOR.com, the nation’s most comprehensive real estate network, today announces it has begun updating property listings every 15 minutes, more often than any other real estate search website.
By increasing MLS listing updates from once-a-day to every 15 minutes in participating metro areas, REALTOR.com now offers house hunters up-to-the minute comprehensive data on new listings, price changes and important property details to help them make better decisions on prospective homes.
“Nothing’s more frustrating than going online to research properties and finding you’re basing a decision on old or out-of-date information,” says REALTOR.com President Errol Samuelson. “With 15-minute MLS updates, consumers now have access to comprehensive information on listings in as close to real time as possible. This means a seller’s home will be visible to potential buyers faster and buyers will be able to find new homes or price reductions faster.”

Realtor.com is the official website of the National Association of Realtors.Similar Posts:

eNeighborhoods Newsletter: Prospecting, Conversion and Sales

Vlad Zablotskyy — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:41:24 +0000

Florida based eNeighborhoods announced free monthly newsletter for real estate professionals. According to the press release, the newsletter will feature how-to articles, best practices and success stories from top real estate industry professionals and will help agents to:

Take control of prospecting and lead generation to develop an effective slaes pipeline
Learn best practices for effective prospecting and lead conversion
Organize lead generation into a system to prioritize and handle high volumes of leads
Recognize prospects with greater potential
Identify effective business strategies for local markets

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Realtors Listings on FSBOs Websites

Vlad Zablotskyy — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:49:43 +0000

BOCA RATON, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Continental Real Estate Group Inc., Hackensack, New Jersey, is the latest real estate company to post its real estate for sale listings on ByOwnerMLS.com, which features an online search engine loaded with virtually every “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) property.

Continental Real Estate is a licensed real estate brokerage in 11 northeastern states and operates several websites, including MultipleListingSystem.com. According to Derek Eisenberg, e-PRO, Continental will leverage this new outlet to extend its reach in the marketplace.

“Pursuing every possible avenue for connecting our clients with eligible homebuyers is just part of our service,” said Eisenberg. “We are always seeking new opportunities to promote the properties we list. Our clients are selling high quality homes and there are buyers out there looking for properties like these.”

Continental’s listings are already on a number of Internet websites. Unlike many real estate brokers across the country, Eisenberg does not fear the FSBO movement. Rather, he plans to capitalize on it, leveraging sites like ByOwnerMLS.com to get his listings in front of buyers nationwide. Similar Posts:

Kushner Companies Sells 17,628 Units

Vlad Zablotskyy — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:15:49 +0000

NJBIZ :

Kushner Companies has agreed to sell part of its multi-family residential portfolio comprising over 17,500 apartments in five states. The announcement comes just eight weeks after the Florham Park-based real estate firm put its portfolio of residential units on the market in the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New York.

About The Company:

Kushner Companies is a diversified private real estate organization involved in the ownership, development, redevelopment and management of prime single and multifamily housing, commercial, retail, industrial and hotel properties throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, with executive offices in Manhattan, the company manages and grows its residential and commercial portfolios through its corporate offices and operating divisions. These include Westminster Management LLC, the residential management arm; Westminster Communities LLC, the construction division; Kushner Properties, the commercial leasing and management division; Westminster Hospitality, the hotel division; Westminster Capital Corp., which coordinates financing for the firm; and various acquisition and land development teams. The Company delivers in-house site selection, planning, development and acquisition, construction, financing, leasing, sales, marketing and property management.

Source: http://www.kushnercompanies.com/Similar Posts:

Foreing Real-Estate Funds Are Booming

Vlad Zablotskyy — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 09:18:12 +0000

The Wall Street Journal is reporting boom in foreign real-estate funds:

It is getting easier to invest in Australian shopping malls and Norwegian office towers.
Financial-services firms are rolling out scores of foreign real-estate funds. In the past few weeks alone, Charles Schwab Corp. launched a global real-estate fund that is betting in part on strong rental growth in London office properties. WisdomTree Investments Inc. listed a new exchange-traded fund that tracks an index heavily weighted to Australia, Hong Kong and Japan.
Just this year, real-estate investment trusts were introduced in the U.K.
Several new closed-end funds, aimed at more-conservative investors, also have been launched, including Alpine Global Premier Properties Fund that began trading in April after raising $2 billion.
Investors have poured about $6 billion into foreign real-estate funds this year, substantially more than was invested in domestic property funds, according to Morningstar Inc. Those big inflows follow strong past returns for foreign real-estate-investment trusts, the main holdings of these funds, which rose nearly 31% a year in the three years ended April 30, according to Fidelity Investments. By comparison, U.S. REITs rose 22% in that period, while the S&P 500 was up 8.5%.

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Tenant Reps and Commercial Realtors – What’s the Difference

Vlad Zablotskyy — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 12:55:54 +0000

Tenant Reps and Commercial Realtors – What’s the Difference
By Tim McEvoy

When you think of a business about to relocate to a new area, or renegotiate a lease for its present location, you might think the proprietors would consider employing a real estate agent or a lawyer to handle the various issues involved. While both are reasonable options, it may be more beneficial to the business owner to consult with a tenant representative instead. While a tenant rep is involved in commercial and industrial real estate, there are subtle differences between reps and Realtors every businessman should know.

Reps Work on Behalf of Tenants, Not Landlords

Many commercial real estate professionals exclusively represent tenants. Such exclusive tenant reps never work on behalf of owners and developers. Other real estate professionals divide their practice between both tenant and landlord representation.

The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors reports that more than half of those who have earned the Societyâ€™s coveted professional designation â€“ â€œSpecialist, Industrial and Office Real Estateâ€ â€“ have practices that include tenant representation.

Tenant reps have made a name for themselves during the past 10 to 15 years, since real estate agency laws required real estate brokers to disclose that they are working on behalf of the landlord, not the tenant. Your goal in working with a tenant rep is to obtain true economic savings and secure space on terms that best serve your needs over the life of your lease. While working on your behalf, a good tenant representative should generate savings and benefits that far exceed the cost of his or her professional compensation.

The Benefits of Working With a Tenant Rep

Having a tenant rep on your side can greatly empower your business and save you money in the long run. A tenant rep can:

Analyze your space needs.
Investigate all available properties and determine which are the most appropriate for your needs.
Create a bidding war among several landlords for your business.
Protect you during lease negotiations so that you come away with terms that meet your present and potential future needs.
Serve as a buffer between you and the landlord.
Identify lease provisions that could cost or save you money during the lease term.
Handle the paperwork and other details of the lease negotiation.
Settle disputes that arise even after the lease is signed.
Spotlight the savings.

The goal of the tenant rep is to satisfy the business owner, and determine the perfect location for all companies seeking to do business anywhere they choose.

Tim McEvoy operates Exclusive Tenant rep, a Virginia-based agency specializing in tenant representation for businesses and companies seeking to move to or with the greater Norfolk and Richmond area. Exclusive Tenant Rep serves companies by counseling business owners on lease negotiations, commercial property appraisal and inspections, and relocation solutions concerning Virginia commercial real estate.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_McEvoy
http://EzineArticles.com/?Tenant-Reps-and-Commercial-Realtors—Whats-the-Difference&id=607941

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Review: athand24.com- International Real Estate Website.

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:18:03 +0000

If you ever thought that it is impossible to have an â€œinternationalâ€ real estate website, think again. Athand24.com is attempting to do just that. Currently website has only 15 real estate listings, although the website was registered in July 2006.

One of the of the problems to attract advertisers to such a website is the complexity of real estate transaction. Here in the United States, regulation on selling and buying real estate are quiet complex and may differ significantly from one state to another, and often a real estate agent moving from one state to another may be required to take a real estate test or even go to school in order to be permitted to practice real estate in that respective state.

In the attempt to feature international real estate listings, much legal details should be considered. For example, in order to advertise real estate property in the United States the listings need to comply with Non-discrimination Act. While this is not news to a real estate agent, any one else outside the real estate professionals may not be familiar with this detail and potentially find legal problems I they do not comply.

Athand24.com offers their services to real estate agent as well as to private owners. In theory any one can register and list a property with Athand24.com, however those listings found for the United States may not stand some scrutiny in regards to local laws, which may very from state to state and range from compliance to â€œthe truth in advertisingâ€ to â€œnon-discrimination actâ€.Similar Posts:

Real Estate Agent Earns REALTOR e-PROï¿½ Certification

Vlad Zablotskyy — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 09:51:53 +0000

As more and more consumers begin their search for real estate-related information on the Internet, it is critical that real estate professionals are well educated in the use of technology to the benefit of both the consumer and the agent and/or broker.

Realizing the importance of technology training, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) now offers its members the e-PRO certification course — the only technology certification program offered by NAR. The program is designed to prepare real estate professionals to make the most of Internet technology and to identify, evaluate, and implement new Internet business models. The elite group of course graduates represents only one percent of all REALTORS in the country including Nathan Thomas of John L. Scott Real Estate.

“The real estate industry has undergone a fundamental change over the past five years,” Nathan Thomas said. “Today, more than 70% of all buyers and sellers begin their search online. As an e-PRO certified agent, I have knowledge and tools needed to provide my clients with the information they need and the customer service they demand. It’s both hi-tech and hi-touch.”

Article Source:

Portland, Oregon, Real Estate Agent Earns REALTOR e-PRO® Certification

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A Web2.0 Approach To Real Estate: Hawaii Life

Vlad Zablotskyy — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:25:01 +0000

Searching for a property in Hawaii? Than you should consider take a closer look at Hawaii Life- a real estate search engine that maps properties in Hawaii MLS with the help of Google Maps. Any visitors can search for Hawaii Real Estate property, but there are benefits to register an account so you can save the properties you are interested in for the future review.

At the moment Hawaii Life offers your an opportunity to search for Kauai Real Estate and Big Island real estate. Hawaii Life is promising to also include Maui and Oahu real estate listings some time this months.

Hawaii Life provides a unique way for a potential buyer to find their home in Hawaii Real Estate Market. In the snapshot below you can see that after performing your search for the properties, hovering with the cursor over the property picture will match the location of the property on integrated Google map an vice versa, if you point your cursor to a property on the map it will match with the picture of the property on the right of your screen:

With just one click you can save the properties you are interested in for a later review or even if you need to find out more information about properties, send a request to Hawaii Life:

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House4Cell A Revolutionary Lead Generating Tool For Realtors

Vlad Zablotskyy — Mon, 28 May 2007 04:06:25 +0000

Named by the Illinois Realtor Magazine a Prower Tool and by the Realtor Magazine as â€œCool Toolâ€, House4Cell offers unique and revolutionary opportunity for real estate agents to deliver instant information on their listings, while capturing lead information.

The new tool is designed to provide prospective buyers with information about listings via â€œtext messagesâ€, a capability found on most cell phones. All that a prospective buyer needs to do is to send a 1-word code to a special number. Within seconds a text message is send to the buyers cell phone with property description along with several photos of the property, while the homebuyer’s number is captured and sent immediately to the agent for follow up.

At the present time the website offers following plans to real estate agents:

$29.99/month- this plan allows to send up to 3 listings at one time and offers 10 additional free inquiries.
$39.99/month- this plan allows to send up to 6 listings at one time and offers 20 additional free inquiries.
$49.99/month- this plan allows to send up to 10 listings at one time and offers 30 addition free inquiries.

Each additional inquiry, beyond what is included in a plan are just 20 cents. A one time charges $10 per code applies to all new orders.

The cost effectiveness of this tool speaks for itself. With the lowest plan, a real estate agent will pay $8 per one property delivered to a potential buyer which in turn can generate a valuable lead!

Homes4Cell was developed as a result of branching out of Cellit Mobile Marketing- a leading provider of mobile marketing solutions.Similar Posts:

Free Listing Offer for Owners of Vacation Rentals in Florida

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 24 May 2007 05:09:28 +0000

Traveling2Florida.com, which connects hundreds of owners of vacation rentals in Florida with interested renters, has extended its free listing offer for an additional three months. Owners of rental properties can now apply to the site for a free listing for their Florida vacation rentals, and free listings will remain active until October 8, 2007. Current participants in the free listing program will also have their expiration date extended. As before, there are no charges associated with this offer and owners are not obligated to renew when the free listing expires.

The free listings for rental properties are comprised of the same information as paid listings, including an extended description, a link to the home’s website or to a virtual tour created by the owner, and up to 12 images of the home. Visitors to Traveling2Florida.com who are interested in renting any of the listed rental properties are connected directly with the homeowners by filling out a simple form.

Source:

Traveling2Florida.com Extends Free Listing Offer for Owners of Vacation RentalsSimilar Posts:

RealEstateLimeLight Offers SEO Optimization To Real Estate Websites

Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 24 May 2007 05:00:55 +0000

In the competitive world of real estate, agents can pay thousands of dollars for a web site that produces just a few leads a year. At last, real estate agents have a solution to getting high quality, area exclusive exposure from the Internet. The leading authority on search engine marketing for real estate agents and creator of Real Estate Limelightâ„¢, Shaylor Murray, puts it this way, “Our goal was to give consumers an easy way to find the expert agent in their local area, without having to sift through a mess of data or competing agents.

We use SEO techniques to optimize real estate agent profiles with every major search engine in the country. This includes MSN, Yahoo and Google, plus hundreds of more specialized search engines.” And unlike other services, RealEstateLimelight.com doesn’t make customers wait days for a response from an agent. Contact information for each local RealtorÂ® is right on the agent profile page so the customer can contact them directly. No cryptic message system to put off potential customers. “In a highly competitive business like real estate,” says Shaylor, “it’s our goal to give the best local agents an edge by providing national exposure through this new, dynamic Internet tool.”

Source:

Unique Internet Tool Breaks New Ground for Real Estate Agent MarketingSimilar Posts: