The Real View

Perhaps I am a dinosaur for just downloading Skype. The reason I had not done so sooner was my fear of interruption. Already my toll free line rings, as does the cell phone and home phone. I worried about one more ringer in my life.

I am about to surrender and put the Skype link on the websites and would love to hear from others who use it--and from anyone who took it off. I have already discovered a conflict with our MLS. This morning, I was going the click the Assessor's Parcel Number (APN) to check ownership--and the link had been turned into an auto-dialer for some Skype number in Senegal.

Help!

In a mood of curiosity, I searched “real estate blog” in the Google toolbar. At the top of the organic list was http://houseblogger.typepad.com/ , Tim O’Keefe’s  Real Estate Marketing blog.  

Some attributed nuggets:

1. Eight out of ten buyers who used the Internet to find a home, used an agent to help complete the transaction. 

2. A September 2006 survey of consumers by Discover Small Business Watch found that 61 % of home sellers said they would prefer the services of an agent versus only 4 percent who said they would prefer an online service to help sell their homes. (What about the other 35 percent???) 

3.The faster you get to being human with a prospect, the faster you will create more sales. (In other words, call those internet leads and put a friendly, approachable voice to your links and written words.)

4. “People buying a home do more research online than people selling a home,” said Sastry Rachakonda, director, Discover Business Card. 

This morning started off early, responding to emails from prospective clients and seeing a son off to school. My father is also on the "check -in list" but I delayed calling him until 9 a.m. because he has had difficulty sleeping lately. When I did call shortly after 9, I was surprised to hear a very weakened 86-year-old voice on the other end of the line.

My many-medaled-retired-Colonel-of--three-wars-father was struggling to breathe and weakly admitted that he needed help. My husband and partner Mike took over real estate details and I raced over to Dad's home. He was in no shape to walk, so I called 911 for assistance and within minutes the San Marcos Fire Department arrived. I was absolutely amazed with their high tech efficiency. Within 5 minutes, an IV was started, EKG readings were taken, a breathing nebulizer was in place and critical readings were being taken. The ambulance arrived shortly thereafter.

My dad was admitted to Scripps Hospital in Encinitas with a diagnosis of pneumonia in the upper left lung lobe, and I returned home mid afternoon. Throughout the day, I thought of how privileged (and challenged) I am to be in real estate. It is a profession that demands much, but is also one that can allow me to drop everything and attend to matters that matter.

I am also touched by comrades who understand these life emergencies and offer what they can. We may be independent contractors and business people, but our lives and businesses are uniquely intertwined.

--at least in the San Diego market. This morning's front page of the San Diego Union Tribune discussed the condo conversion craze, which San Diego once embraced. In that hot market a year or so ago, condo converters were snatching up any project they could find, ignoring size and condition. It seemed to be the perfect product for first time buyers and a ka-ching machine for apartment sellers, investors and converters.

The problem? Many investors overpaid for these apartment buildings and are now sitting on unsold inventory. Many of these investors will become unwitting landlords as they try to rent out fully or partially-renovated units. Another ugly problem will be the number of condo conversion buyers who may already be under water with their purchases,

The condo conversion glut is not limited to San Diego. Phoenix, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Orange County also make the list for unsold units according to this article:

San Diego, 6922; San Francisco, 6024; Las Vegas, 3632; Los Angeles, 1326; Inland Empire (CA), 842;Orange County (CA) 642. But the problem doesn't end there, according to writers Lori Weisberg and Mike Freeman:

Making matters worse for converters has been the record number of new condos neing built in downtown San Diego and elsewhere in the county, also vying for buyers. In June, there were 5,800 unsold condos in new projects, said Michael Carney, a real estate economist with the Real Estate Research Council at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. Couple that with a 36 percent decline in sales during the first half of 2006 compared with a year earlier, and it's no wonder few converters are taking on new projects.

I am no lover of gloom and doom real estate news, and try to see beyond reports such as this. What could be the outcome of this current glut? I believe affordability in San Diego home prices is already starting to happen. For the first time in a long time, coastal units can be had for under $200,000. This is information that can be used. First thing tomorrow morning, I am calling that builder to see if I can help promote the product!

It has been a long day of finalizing a tough offer and counseling another client about the pros and cons of resorting to a short sale. A desk drawer is pulled out. my legs are lifted and I just read a routine email from Advanced Access regarding Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development , who developed a web page about his home for sale that was already listed with his agent Mary Korbey of Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Read and wish this client were yours...or the property...or the listing:

http://www.enewslettersystem.com/28westelm/

I have such mixed feelings. I don't know whether to envy Mary, his agent, for having such a clever, talented and motivated client--or to greenly wonder why I haven't offered such a fabulous outlet for our listings. Of course, I could excuse myself by saying that I don't have clients who are such talented wordsmiths or graphic artists, but the finger of guiilt points to me.

We blogsters are storytellers and we should be telling stories about our listings on behalf of our sellers, and those stories should be worthy of framing--or at least stuffing into some scrapbook. Most importantly, those (true) stories should genuinely help our sellers as we move into Web 2.0 and the future-that-is-already-here.

Bob Pavey asked in my earlier blog how our website ranked for area searches. I responded that search term ranking is a lot like juggling and it depends upon the search term and the search engine. I also wish that every term for every city or community or neighborhood or home could lead to me. That, regrettably, will never be.

But sometimes, visitors land on our site using some pretty strange search terms. We use Advanced Access, because it is robust and allows for some pretty cool web statistics and search minutiae. Once in awhile, I browse search terms to see what lead a visitor to our site. One that puzzled me was rimless shower doors.

Huh? How did someone find our real estate site via the search term, rimless shower doors--and where did they land on our site???

I don't know why this visitor was seeking shower doors, but Google or Yahoo or whoever, had apparently found that term within our site and indexed it. This is was not a front page term; it was buried deep within some listing description on the site. And for what it's worth, that shower door hunter stuck around and visited a number of pages within the site.

Rimless shower doors still stand as a reminder that we never know which search door will lead visitors to our sites. Certainly I am not alone in quirky discoveries such as this. Inquiring minds would like to know if there are others here who have seen strange entries such as this?

Enough search trivia for today. I am off to work!

Two weeks ago, I wrote about surrendering much of my website work to a talented virual assistant. It turns out she is an animal with search engine optimization, understands how to tweak things I could only imagine and has ideas I had never considered. For a brief period, I thought I would have more time to play this fall.

That is not to be. I received my homework assignment from Jennifer two days ago, and must supply content--lots of original content--to further flesh out the website. This is not a revelation of any sort, because I have long known that bots and spiders have voracious appetities for content. The technical tweaking done by our VA is only creating a larger pantry into which I can store content.

I got it and now I get it.

So, instead of kicking back last night, I was at the desk doing a page on Coronado and Coronado real estate--and thought it would be fun to link to the ghost story that haunts the Hotel del Coronado, but of course had to read about the sad fate of Kate Morgan first. And what about the story of how Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis shot Some Like it Hot on the sands of Coronado? More content for the pantry, more food for the spiders. Somewhere into the assignment, I began not to really care. My appreciation of Coronado may be a quirky one, but nowhere is it written that a real estate website can't talk about or link to old ghost or movie star stories, or whatever tweaks the interest of the website owner.

Our websites are ours and reflect who we are. Canned vegetables fare well in the pantry; canned content does not. Most of us supply IDX searches, information for buyers, information for sellers and information about schools. That information is all on the table. But perhaps if we enrich our content pantries and leave the door open, visitors (as well as Spiders and bots) might wander in and get lost...just as I did...in the story of young Kate Morgan, who tragically died and now walks the halls of this still-elegant hotel searching for...contentment?

Last year, I made a singularly stupid move when I switched from Sprint to Verizon and ended up paying over $1000 for the cancelled contracts. The move to Verizon wasn't doltish, but not knowing that we had an alternative was. Since that time, I have referred several clients and friends to http://www.celltradeusa.com/  This upstart has developed the world's first online marketplace that gets dissatisfied cell phone customers out of their service contract without paying early termination fees--and helps those seeking new or additional service.

There is no fee for Get In users, and Get Out members pay a fee of $19.99 once they are satisfied with their response. Membership does not expire until you have successfully moved your cell contract to someone else. In some cases, Get Out members offer cash or equipment incentives to transferees.

Celltradeusa does not handle the account transfer. That is done by the Inners and Outters, and it appears almost all cell phone service providers are cooperating.

Last week, we began short sale negotiations for one of our clients whose Encinitas property value has dropped below what he owes on the home. He is no deadbeat. He is not behind in mortgage payments or property taxes. But with a baby, a toddler and both husband and wife working at full capacity, they can no longer afford the extra $4200 per month for a property sitting vacant. 

A short sale settlement will allow this owner to sell the property for less than the mortgage balance(s). He is prepared to take the income tax hit on the "gain" for debt forgiveness and the ding on his credit report for the sake of saving his family and his sanity. This has been a painful decision for all.When they bought their current home 18 months ago, they opted not to sell or lease their old home because it required so much work. It became a "weekend project" and was only listed a couple of months ago. Two years ago, Countrywide had appraised the home at $800,000 for the home equity loan. The home has been repaired, but is now upside down financially—to the tune of about $85,000.

I am not here to tell a war story, but to provide some anecdotal evidence of what may be around the corner--at least in Southern California. 

1. The escrow officer handling this transaction has already taken on 5 other short sale transactions this month. Her company is offering a large short sale class to agents next month and the event is already booked.

2. I understand Countrywide is in the process of hiring 50 new people in their loss mitigation department,

3. Short sale contingencies in San Diego MLS listings have risen substantially in the past two months.

I have had a difficult time culling current statistical reports on short sales and am wondering if other markets are experiencing similar issues? Is there other current research available? I think this is an issue that may severely impact some regional markets—and I think many of us share these concerns.