Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Welcome Friends

Welcome! Beides old newsletter posts you will find lots of information on the real estate blog: http://kdsfarm.blogspot.com . It’s nice to have posts handy, like Home Staging Tips and Can You Say Syndication? And I can post things and reference them without being redundant. As unstable as the real estate market is today it’s good to know there are some things we can count on.

Data feeds. Here’s something we can count on. Like Murphy’s Law, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” If there’s a data field in your listing that says 3.5 acres, it may be picked up by some sites as 3 acres, and some as .35, and some not at all. This is due to the vast difference in mapping data fields. If you match A to A, there’s no problem, but it you’re using the alphabet and you go to 27 well, then… things just got interesting. I can not map data fields in our system or change how they are mapped, but I can make corrections if needed in the MLS and sometimes by logging into an outside account I can turn off fields. As real estate becomes standardized across the nation we will see some improvements, until then, bear with me. If you find your listing on a website with something weird in it, let me know. I’ll fix it if I can and if not, we can get pretty creative in the public remarks.

To those of you who have had your lots cleaned up thank you. Local landscape firm owner/operator Clayton Self has completed several. If you’d like to keep him on for maintenance, Clayton will be happy to put you on a regular schedule. Since he lives in Bostic and his crews start and end up here, he can swing by your lots, and get these small jobs without sending an entire crew from town. Call him early in the morning 828 245-5213; you‘ll probably have to call before 8 to get him. Call later and his wife, Pansy, will take your call and have him call you. If I need to meet him or direct him to your property let me know and we’ll get together. Clayton is NOT the only firm in the area, Scott Mayhew with All Quality Landscaping 828 245-9245 and Brad Ford 828 245-9309 with BRS Landscaping are both excellent. These are all local companies. I can only recommend firms because of the problems that arise if someone gets hurt doing a job for you on your property. An accident could be charged against your homeowner’s insurance – lot owners? That could get as complicated as data field mapping. I don’t want to go there.

I’ve been really busy getting things together so someone can step into my shoes and run my business for a few weeks. Dropbox has been a large part of that and I’ve nearly met my 2GB limit. Dropbox is a file sharing program that synchs automatically across several devices. I have it on my desktop, laptop, and smartphone. Files are always available and I don’t have to duplicate an upload because they synch. I can add documents from any of my devices and they’ll be in my Dropbox folder. If you need file storage “In the Cloud” Dropbox will host up to 2 GB for you free. I’m soon going to need more storage and you can help me get it for free. Dropbox will bonus me and help you get started with a free account and plus a 250 MB bonus if you’ll join with my link: http://db.tt/3ZwnKPu  Remember to install Dropbox in your computer after signing up, otherwise we won’t get the 250MB bonus.

If all goes as planned I will be having my left hip replaced June 26th. I have lined up buyer’s agents, Teresa Lederer and David Brackett, and my United Country Broker / Owner, Annette Stover (who can help with anything at all) 828 286-2313 while I’m out. I am having the least invasive, anterior, procedure and expect to be using a walker for a couple of weeks. Since it is typically slow here in the summer, with a peak in the spring and in the fall, this is the best time for me to have this done. So, I’m taking a two week “staycation” and taking care of me. I’ll return to limited duty after two weeks and expect to be back at my desk in four and hopping rocks across creeks in eight. If you need me you may reach me at home. 828 245-3886.


Someone called and said they were publishing a menu for Becky’s Country Store and asked if I was interested. When I found out I could run my QR code which opens my personal website, and gives me an opportunity to invite buyers to Be My Guest and use the MLS on me, for free, I decide to try it. KDMcCall will run on a smart phone. Let’s see if I get any calls. (Proof Attached).

There’s always something happening in real estate. I like to send my Newsletter out the first week of every month. The reason this letter didn’t get out the first week of the month is because I had buyers and sellers.

This is a good thing!

Hope you are well and that life is treating you fine and remember if you don’t hear from me, I need to hear from you.

Best,
 KD McCall

Bostic Real Estate Trends, June 2012 with Karen D McCall

See Bostic Real Estate Trends. Bostic average and median listing prices - Trulia.com

I love graphics, don't you? It's easy to see, at a glance that the average list price is falling and the number of listings is rising. Because real estate follows the laws of supply and demand, we would say the market is trending down, as supply rises, prices fall. While I love graphics, I do not love what this graphic is saying about current market conditions.



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Lauren Donaldson, Take Better Photographs of Your House Part 1

Taking Pictures of your House on Houzz.com

Saturday, June 9, 2012

116 N Mitchell Street Rutherfordton NC 28139

116 N Mitchell Street Rutherfordton NC 28139 for sale.



Walk To Town

The above link in blue, should open to a slide show in Picassa, it's partly an experiment to see if you can use a Picassa slideshow URL in a blog, and to see if you can use a Picassa slide show in a blog to drive web traffic. I am very curious to see it this will "Google" in the next few days. In the meanwhile, perhaps you are interested in a Rutherford County Historic home, here's a lovely old gal, and at well under $150,000 she's a nice buy.

Here's the real estate blurb:

Historic Rutherfordton Home, built in 1927. Classic town home with a hip roof, nearly 4 square, with 5BR/2BA, all large with high ceilings, heart pine floors, and great flow for entertaining. With a garage and a workshop out back, it's a classic town home from the era. Facing the road you have the traditional 9 windows and a door. A covered porch makes the home inviting and would have been used by the family throughout the summer. The porch and door to the right opens to an office, typical for professionals in the day. A undercover patio out back has been added for grilling and outdoor activities. The Firedepartment next door is a good neighbor, and dispatches with lights only, not lights and sirens. You can walk to town. If you love older homes you're going to love the plaster walls and deep baseboards, the stairwell that leads to a landing upstairs. The home is charming and elegant, has central heat and air, but has not been fully rennovated. If you are interested in acquiring and rennovating an older home, in a charming town, look twice at this 1927 brick street front home. Furnishings negotiable. MLS 37957

And if you're interested in lovely antiques, you will find some really lovely ones here and they are for sale, if you're interested let me know and I'll put you in touch with the seller. And if you'd like to see her showcased on the my site at United Country: 116 N Mitchell Street Rutherfordton NC 28139

Sunday, May 20, 2012

What Can I Offer Sellers?

In the REAL Talk Real Estate Experts Digest a REALTOR named Joe says he's looking for something he can offer sellers so they'll fill out his Capture Form then he can follow up and get the listing. Following are my comments.

Joe,
Do you have a listing presentation? What do you offer that other agent's don't? For instance, I'm putting together an expired letter, it'll read something like this:

Dear Mr and Mrs Seller,

Your property with XYZ Company recently expired. This is a really tough market. Do you think it would have made a difference if your property had been marketed? Really, seriously and deliberately marketed with:
  • Visual Tour hosted on YouTube
  • Syndicated Online Exposure (3,000 plus feeds)
  • Hyper-Local Print Marketing (with the Real Estate Book and Homes and Land)
  • National Franchise = National Exposure on Specialty Websites
  • Local, Regional, and National Website distribution
  • Franchise advertising in 60 magazines and 100 newspapers to drive on and offline buyer leads
  • Personalized URL with QR Codes 
This, in addition to what nearly every REALTOR offers: local MLS listing with an IDX feed and a yard sign, online photo hosting and syndication to Zillow, REALTOR.com, Trulia...

You can build a capture form around nearly any criteria. Who in your market do you want to list? Are you looking for any seller or a specific group of sellers? What would be an item of value to them? Information? Service? A Guarantee? Home Warranty? Answer these questions and you'll be well on your way to targeting your market and creating a capture form that will attract the clients you want to work with.

I rarely use lead capture and I do NOT use Lead Capture on the website I maintain for my buyers. I hate to be captured and I'm not going to do any capturing. Internet shoppers want to find what they're looking for. Toward that end I push my listings as far as possible, with as much power as UnitedCountry.com and their publications can put behind me and with as much power as I can get from my own syndicates. I PUSH listings, via several vehicles I manage. It's called funnel marketing, I don't have time to go after people. I am using search engines to drive traffic to my listings. People come to me. I field phone calls from self-qualified customers instead of running down targeted market leads. I help people, instead of convincing them. What I do involves no coersion, it involves overcoming no objections, it involves cooperating with and helping people to get what they want. It involves bringing together two halves of a real estate transaction with skill and finesse. It involves negotiation skills, tactical skills, human relations skills, and technical skills. If you acquire these skills, you'll be plenty busy without capturing leads.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Home Staging Tips

Friday, May 11, 2012 and I was meeting with a home owner to discuss staging her home for resale. Her home is absolutely lovely, in a desperate reach to find something wrong I suggested that she refold the towels in her linen closet so they would be tidy when you opened the door. "When buyers open doors," I said, "and they find towels folded, precisely, just so, when they open closets and they find clothes hung on identical hangers, just so, they feel like they're buying from a persnickety homeowner and they trust that the meticulous attention to detail carries over into everything, mechanical, and maintenance, and usually it does."

In an effort to help her with some staging tips, and this sort of seller needs no help, the house is immaculate, I dug around online and found this absolutely brilliant offering with a share button. Thank you twice Julea, once for writing the piece and again for sharing it.

10 Home Staging Tips to Make Your Listing Look like a Model Home 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Interior stylist Julea Joseph produces the blog “Reinventing Space” and is a home stager and interior designer based in Chicago. Joseph launched her home design business, Reinventing the Space, in 1999. She also stages model homes for builders and has appeared on HGTV’s “My First Place.” Learn more about Joseph at her web site and blog.

Realtor Magazine has some great online material too. Home Staging Guide: http://realtormag.realtor.org/home-and-design/staging-tips here you'll find several links to articles that, if you're preparing your home for sale would make sense to peruse. Some of them will be interesting, as with anything, take what you want and leave the rest. I saw one about curb appeal, I think I'll pop back over there and read it.

Call me if you have questions.