This will not be the last time you see changes here at ActiveRain. In fact, because we are fresh off a major overhaul to the underlying technology upon which ActiveRain is built, you should expect to see changes and updates more frequently.

That's very exciting for us. But we don't want it to come as a shock each time something new is introduced, so Nikesh (click that link and subscribe to his blog) will often give you a chance to test it out and give us feedback before it goes live.

In fact, last Monday Nikesh introduced a new look and feel for ActiveRain. For the last week our members have had a chance to play with the upgraded ActiveRain on our testing server, beta.activerain.com. We are really excited today to be releasing the first upgrade to the layout of the site in quite some time.

What all comes along with this new design? As Nikesh previously mentioned, here are some of the highlights:

1) New Logo & Design:

We have updated the design and header of ActiveRain to bring us into 2012. We also made some tweaks to the logo to modernize it and make it ring with the promise of ActiveRain as an aspirational community that is looking to connect, share and learn from each other.  We have moved the clouds & the sky to be part of the logo to represent the idealism that ActiveRain represents. 

2) Search Bar:  The search bar is now present across ALL pages on ActiveRain, since search is such a core part of using the Internet.  We will be making more changes to search on ActiveRain in the near future. 

 

 

 

 

 

3) MyHome: This is where you will see the majority of the changes.  MyHome on ActiveRain has consistently been the single most visited page on ActiveRain, but was the least optimized for the core activities that we want members to engage it.  From an ActiveRain perspective, we want members to CONNECT with other members, WRITE/COMMENT, and READ.  

 

We also have made the "Activity Feed" the core content of the MyHome tab.  Over time, we will move blog post content and group posts into your activity feed as well, so you can see them all in one area.  

 

Making MyHome cleaner and more focused required us to move links around.  We have moved links up in the navigation that promote managing your profile, writing a blog post, viewing the traffic to your blog, and seeing your points.  All the links that were on the left side of MyHome should still be on MyHome.  Some of links which were used less frequently have been moved to "Blog," "Setting" or "Other."  You can click on the arrow to see all the links.

 

4) Settings: In the upper right now, you will see your name (or part of your name that are including your city & state in your name field).  When you click on your name, it will show your settings and billing information.  Only YOU will be able to see your billing information.  Some members have added more text to their first name and last name in the upper right.  For example, if you made your first name in the system, "Bellevue's Home Buying Expert" and your last Name "Bob Stewart, Specialist at Keller Williams Bellevue,"  the system will only show the first 20 characters.   Again, ONLY YOU see this.  Consumers do not see the name in the upper right.

 

Listening to Feedback:

For the last week, since the release of the update to our Beta server, we have been listening to the feedback of members who have been using the new version of the site. Have we made some adjustments? You bet we have. We've found that the collective brain power of a community like ActiveRain is always capable of making improvements. If you have ideas on making ActiveRain better based on this new upgrade, or just based on anything you've thought up, please email:  beta@activerain.com.

 

ActiveRain Partners Program:

To go along with the new design on the 'my home' page, we are also introducing a new ActiveRain Partners Program on ActiveRain. Interested in what it means to be an ActiveRain Partner? Feel free to stop by our post announcing the new program. If you are interested in a more powerful way to further your connections with real estate agents on ActiveRain, ActiveRain Partners may be for you.

This is a story that is being repeated all over the country.  Boomers want to downsize.  This is hardly a surprise.   The surprise or even shock is that it is going to cost them money to live in less space.  To some, it is so appalling that they have decided to stay in their current home.  

Boomers own their home in the suburbs.  Most are mortgage free.  The home has four bedrooms, three baths, a family room, a rec room in the basement, two or three car garage and a huge yard full of trees and shrubs and maybe a pool.  Okay, there may be variations of this but the essence is - the boomers own family friendly property.  Now......  The kids have finished school and left the nest.  The Boomers are rattling around a big house and find that they live in the kitchen - family room space and their bedroom.  It seems that it is time to move to something smaller.

Here is the rub.  The new home or condo may cost more than the proceeds from the sale of the big home in the suburbs. What?  

1. The market has reacted to the demand for large condos and retirement homes by placing a premium on the sales price.  Remember, the Boomers are a tidal wave moving through demographic data.  If you, a Boomer, are thinking of downsizing then so are millions of your fellow 1946-1964 birthday buddies. Simple supply and demand economics at work.
2. Your lovely home is a wee bit tired.  Forty plus years of the same kitchen, with the wrought iron railings, pink carpet, parquet flooring and paneled rec room is telling the story.  Although you have house size you have a house waiting for updating and renovations.  Your home is not competitive.  It is not giving Buyers what they want in updates.
3. You want to move but you are certainly not going to settle for apples to apples.  Your tastes are now refined and you want granite and a bungalow backing on a golf course with grounds keepers or the whole top floor of a condo in the downtown area.  You are selling a MacIntosh apple to buy an organically grown Star Fruit.   Would you be happy buying the little bungalow down the block from your current home with the need for the same updates as your current home?  Would you be happy with the location?   No?  

After finding out that their home is not the gold mine that they hoped for, many potential Boomer Sellers make the decision to stay in their current home. In some cases, the Boomer will update the family home, adjust the buying expectations and make the move at a later time.  

Photo Credit:  UK Baby Boom and Bust by David Willets

 

Valerie Zinger  

valeriezinger@gmail.com 

613-859-7759

  

When preparing to purchase a home, whether you’re a first time home buyer or looking for an investment home, it pays to do your homework before house hunting. But where do you start? Do as the experts do! Here are some insider tips Real Estate Agents follow to know where to find great homes for their clients.

Study The Local Pricing
Every agent knows to study current house price trends in their areas, and you should too. See what the average home price is in the town you’re looking at, then compare them to the average price in neighboring towns. This will reveal what town is more in demand as well as which properties are priced “fairly”. You can find home prices online or in your local newspapers.

Check School Rankings
Check your state’s board of education website or PSK12.com to see what schools near you are at the top or moving up in the ranks. This is obviously beneficial if you have children, but can also be a good investment if you don’t as homes in a good school district will be more desirable if you decide to sell.

Look Out for Development
When driving around possible neighborhoods, keep an eye out for any new roads, schools, etc. This is a sign that the community is set for a growth spurt and home prices could end up increasing in future years.

Watch the Outskirts
If you’re looking to live in a major city, but are finding that the home prices are overpriced, check out the outer fringes of the city. These areas will soon be in demand and are still a short commute to the center of the city!

Explore Low-Tax Alternatives
This information can be received from a local tax assessor or your real estate agent once you get one. Check to see how much the town charges in taxes per $100 of house and compare it to the neighboring towns

For Additional Questions call me, Michal Bander at Guaranteed Rate - 954.684.9227

Karl Hess was good enough to remind me that it's been more than a year since I published my perennial favourite blog.  So I'm republishing, and updating it now... and thus far, each year I've been able to add a reason.

Back in August of 2009, I published a post called 6 Reasons why your house won't sell.  It garnered an unbelievable (at least unbelievable for ME) 192 comments, after being viewed 8667 times, and having 7,934 people "click" on it.  That means that 2.4% of the people who viewed the post, were moved enough to leave a comment behind.

The average, at least for me, has been less than half of that return... more like sightly under 1%.  It was also "reblogged" by an astonishing 47 Rainers to share with their readers.

Soon after posting, a local Chicago Realtor publication contacted me, having found the article on Active Rain, and asked if they could publish the article, with my byline, of course.  As you might imagine, I said "yes", and picked-up 438 copies of that issue (my mother loved them). 

The last iteration "7 Reasons why your house won't sell", had over 60 reblogs and 258 comments... (with over 11,000 clicks +68 short URL clicks, and over 12,000 actual VIEWS!) which was in-freakin'-credible...WOW so I thought there might be a fresh generation of Rainers who hadn't yet seen it... so here is my newest iteration.  As you can see, now we're up to EIGHT reasons.

________________________________________________________________________________________

8 Reasons why your property won't sell.

1. Your property won't sell because your photos are "less than impressive". Yep, this is an actual photo from our MLS, just came on brand-new this morning.  Apparently the place must be really awful, 'cause the agent didn't even dare step out of her car, to get close to the property so you could see any details.

The vast majority of home buyers begin their search for a home on the internet, so your property had better look fantastic in print. Not just nice, it has to look downright fabulous.  Today an internet view is the same as a 'virtual showing'... if your house gets past that, then they might (just might) make an appointment to see it in person... You should really consider that your SECOND showing. Today's online viewers are expecting good quality photos (and lots of them...the picture below... taken from Google Maps... is completely unacceptable.  That's a $500,000 listing, take a moment and your digital camera and force your agent to go earn their commission), a virtual tour, maybe even a floor plan, and they need to be high-quality, or don't bother.

2. Your property won't sell because it's overpriced. It's important to be as objective as you possibly can.  Look at the home as though you were a "buyer"... if necessary, make an appointment with your Realtor to view other properties that are priced comparably to yours.  Be brutally objective.  Given the other options on the market (and yes, you DO have to include short sales and foreclosures on your list... your potential buyers are!), would YOU buy your home, over the others that are currently available on the market?

If the answer is "NO", (and try to be as honest as you can) well then you have your work cut out for you, don't you?  You either have to "update" your home to meet or beat the competition...(that might mean an updated bathroom or kitchen, or neutralizing some decorating... remove that old wallpaper that was there when you bought the house or lower your price to adjust for it.  if you can't afford to sell it for the price, that you KNOW it should sell for, this may not be the right market for you to sell.  Consider taking it off-market.

3. Your property won't sell because it shows badly. This could mean almost anything... from the 60 pound Rottweiler, barking and drooling at the potential buyers from behind the safety of the flimsiest child-gate, to the lingering smell of 30-years of smoking.  Maybe the carpeting shows traffic-pattern wear, or your nicotine covered windows allow in slightly less than daylight.  All things that aren't visible from the internet, but whoa.... once you get inside the house... they show up, like a cat-urine-soaked-shag carpet on a 95 degree day in New Orleans!

4. Your property won't sell because you're invisible. Today's buyer comes from the internet, almost exclusively.  Have you (or your agent) simply plopped the property on the MLS, and started praying?  Are you on all the websites...(Trulia, Zillow, Craig's List, Google Base, etc...) all the places that buyers are searching?  If not, you need to be, now! Don't try to be a secret, in today's electronic world.  You want to be found, and the sooner the better.

If you're not making full use of the internet today, you're out of business before you've started.  C'mon people... get on board, the train is leaving the station. (I love a good train metaphor).

5. Your property won't sell because your listing is tired and stale on the market. Okay... yes, you overpriced your home initially when you first came on the market a year and a half ago.  But since then you have reduced your price almost monthly, constantly chasing the market down. Now, finally you're truly priced where you believe should be, but your listing (not your house) has become tired and stale.  Everyone who is looking for your type of property (ie: 3br/1.1 bath) in your area has already seen the listing online, or in person and they remember that there was "something" about it that they didn't like... but what they don't remember is... what they didn't like.... was the price.   Time to take the listing off market.  Let it cool off (3-6 months), and bring it back on fresh in the Spring.  Yeah, you'll have 6 mos. worth of holding-costs... but you'll more than make up for it in your purchase price.

btw... Resist the temptation to bring the house back on at a higher price, than when you left the market.  Just "don't do it"!

6. Your property won't sell because your house won't appraise. The house looks great... you've finally gotten someone to bring you a bid on your slightly over-priced, but beautiful pied-a-terre.  But the bank appraiser says it's worth $20,000 less than your buyer has agreed to pay.  Heavy sigh... bite the bullet.... negotiate with them.   If you have to drop the price $20,000 to make it work.... "make it work"... chances are, anybody else trying to buy your house will run into the same problem. If you're not willing to negotiate the difference, you may find yourself with no buyer, and accepting a lower offer somewhere down the line.  Appraisals carry a great deal of weight these days.

7. Your property won't sell because it's unavailable to show. You have a baby, and a 1-year old.  And they need their naps.  So you've told your Realtor in no-uncertain-terms, that you'll only allow showings between 9:00a.m - Noon, and then again from 2:30-5:30 p.m.  And no showings on Saturday or Sundays.  "After all", you've told him "we still live here.. it's our home!".  Well guess what?  They can't buy it, if they can't see it.  As good as your online photos are, they're no substitute for an in-person visit. "If they really want to see it, they'll reschedule", you're already answering as you read this.  Nonsense!  What they'll do, is they'll just move on to the next property in line (there are dozens like yours available) and maybe they'll buy that one instead.  Once you put your property on the market it stops being your "home", and has become your "product".  And you want your product to be seen by as large a buying audience as possible.

8. Your property won't sell because you have the heat and power turned off. Okay... maybe it's an REO, or maybe you're no longer living in the home.  But viewers need to be able to feel comfortable when they've viewing your home.  You want them to spend time in the home and get a sense of the place.  You don't want them standing in the darkened foyer shivering, breathing on their hands to keep their knuckles from freezing in position.  If they can see their own breath, the house is too cold.  It's just not an invitation to spend time in the home.  Have the power on, and leave the heat running, at least high enough to keep viewers from shivering.  It doesn't have to feel like a tropical paradise, but it shouldn't feel like the north pole, either.  Ain't nobody gonna buy that igloo.

- 2.5

ALAN MAY, Realtor®
Specializing in Evanston Real Estate and North Shore Real Estate
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, 2929 Central Street, Evanston, IL 60201
847.425.3779      Cell: 847.924.3313      Email: Almay@aol.com
Evanston Real Estate & North Shore Real Estate

    

Do not copy the content of this blog, without first contacting the author for permission.  Reblogging is allowed. All other use is strictly prohibited without express permission from me. This blog is tag-resistant... Do not tag me, I don't participate in tagging, no MeMe's don't even think about it

Green Building Can Be Fun!

 

Heard about the Triple Bottom Line in Green Building techniques and haven't seen a real life example? Well here you go. . . .

Who Says Green isn't Fun! A house "spotted" in Wallingford.

There's a remodel in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle underway with an obvious sense of humor. Green Canopy Home's latest endeavor has the moniker of  "Keaton" after the famous actor Buster.  If you aren't familiar with this company, they are 'house flippers'.  While this might have a negative connotation to some, this partnership has a unconventional business plan.  They look for existing homes throughout Seattle to improve and spruce up just like ordinary investors do.  What they do differently isn't always easily apparent. Sure they add the usual bells and whistles buyers look for, but they go beyond the obvious and put in energy efficient windows, insulation and install energy efficient heating (and cooling) systems.

Don't trust that behind the walls might not be what they promise?  This company tests the house before and after their improvements with a blower door test and provide the buyer with the Energy Performance Score (EPS).  This is an objective measure of efficiency and can give the buyer peace of mind knowing what to expect for heating and cooling bills. The completed houses are certified with Built Green of King and Snohomish Counties.

What Green Canopy Homes also does extremely well is marketing. They get the neighbors involved; you can vote for the exterior paint color on their facebook page (a lesson they learned the hard way and turned it into a positive!). They hold events for the neighbors and the public with behind-thewalls tours, and educate whoever is curious through the whole process. If you happen to tour one of their completed homes there's information about what was done and a real time energy monitor so one can see how much energy is being used in the moment.

Flipping houses in this market is perceived as a risky enterprise. Green Canopy seems to be a great example of the working business model. The neighbors appreciate that the existing homes are kept in scale with the rest of the  block. Less waste ends up in landfills. The homes perform much better than they did before and will last for at least a few more generations. In the process people are educated on what a green building is and get excited with the process and results.  Green Canopy homes tend to sell for a slightly higher price and typically aren't on the market for long. It's a business idea that seems to work well for everyone involved.  A very tangible example of a 'winning!' Triple Bottom Line.

Are you looking for home to do an energy efficient retrofit on?  If you would like more information on how to make your house more efficient, I'm here to help!

We are excited for our second RainCamp Online coming up December 14th. You can see the RainCamp announcement post here where we divulge the presenters who will get you ready to dive into 2012.

Since the theme of RainCamp Online will be 'Make 2012 Your Best Year Yet', we wanted to really make this a reality for one lucky attendee. Many of our advertisers are interested in participating in RainCamp in some way. The challenge for us is striking a balance between great information from our presenters and effective 'commericals' from our advertisers.

We think we've found an awesome balance for this RainCamp Online.

One lucky attendee (must be present to win) is going to walk away from RainCamp Online on December 14th with a complete makeover package for their business. Over the next few days we will be sharing some of the exciting tools that the winner will get to really make 2012 their best year yet.

Here are three of the products that the winner will receive:

 

Market Leader: IDX and Lead Management

As part of the makeover package, you will get 6 months FREE of the industry leading ‘lead management system’ that includes an IDX website and tools designed to effectively engage today’s online consumer using the latest technology.  (A $774 Value)

 

IMSD: Internet Marketing Specialist Designation

As part of the makeover package, energize your online marketing with a one year IMSD membership.  The Internet Marketing Specialist Designation provides agents with live training calls, homework assignments, and on-demand classes, PLUS Ben Kinney’s advertising copy, scripts, and listing presentation. This is a proven training program that will help you grow your business through lead generation. (a $599 value)

 

Happy Grasshopper: Contact Management

As part of the Makeover package you'll get a Free Basic Annual Subscription to Happy Grasshopper.  Their professional writers draft and send timely, engaging messages to your database that actually get read and responded to keeping you top of mind and helping you get more referrals! (a $205 value)

 

More to Come

Here are links to the other great prizes we will be giving away for this Makeover Package at RainCamp Online:

Over $1500 in tools for your business

Over $1600 in tools for your business

 

Our first RainCamp Online had over 2,000 members sign up whereas GoToWebinar maxes out at 1,000.  We want complete satisfaction this time around so we are securing a $25 fee to attend this invaluable class and we will ONLY be allowing the first 1,000 members who sign up.  Once you close just one deal from the tips and tools implemented your business will snowball from there. 

Use the link below to register.  After you complete the registration page on GoToWebinar you will be redirected to our EventBrite page to process your payment (it may take a few seconds to load so please be patient).  Also, a Kodak Playtouch will randomly be given away to one early registrant.  Be sure to register by December 5th for a chance to win.