Since it was my first BarCamp, I can’t compare it to anything else, but it was pretty interesting.  I think my favorite part about the trip, was how intimate it was.  No, not like that, but in the sense that I was able to meet with and talk to people like Robert Luna(Diverse Solutions), Greg Robertson(Dwellicious), Michael Simonsen(Altos), Jason Benesch(Listing Press) and of course, Drew Meyers of Zillow, Carnival of Real Estate and GeekEstate (Drew, did I miss anything?).  It was cool getting to ask the speakers(the ones who came up with the products) questions and hearing about their product/services first hand.

I didn’t get to attend as many “classes” as I wanted to, but here are some of the ones I thought were pretty insightful/useful.

1. Dwellicious – This service is a simple way for consumers to bookmark properties during their house hunts.  Users can quickly and easily install the application to their browser’s toolbar and it’s ready to go.  Now when a home buyer is looking on Realtor.com, Trulia, etc, and they see a home they like, they can simply click a button and save it to their FREE Dwellicious account.

This way they can store all the homes they come across in one simple account.  Dwellicious also makes it easy to share their favorite homes with friends and family, by simply forwarding them their account info(ex. http://dwellicious.com/dennyoh).  There are no passwords, login pages, or anything else – you just send them your link.

With that said, no one can change your saved homes, unless you give them your login info.  And, if you don’t want anyone to be able to see your houses, you can make your profile private.  The nice thing about Dwellicious, is that now I can have my clients store all their “favorites” in one easily accessible site.  So when a buyer says, “yeah I like this one condo that was $550,000 and had two bedrooms, but I don’t know the address or MLS#,” I can just go to their Dwellicious account and see what they’re talking about.

Typically I create a custom page for my clients, where they can save the houses they like(which I can access), but we all know that buyers are looking all over the internet for houses.  They think they can find something on Realtor.com that I can’t.  This is why Dwellicious is nice.

2. Altos – In today’s market, buyers and sellers need some convincing.  I’m not talking about pushing them to buy when they shouldn’t, but I am talking about providing them with accurate and relevant information so they can make the best decisions.  Altos provides market info for agents to advise their clients.  They can tell you which price points are moving quickly, where the median home prices are, how long market times are, or anything else you want to know.

As they said at the RE BarCamp, people who are looking to buy or sell are interested in three things: What’s the Real Estate market doing, What’s for Sale and How Much is my Home Worth?  With the information that Altos provides, you, the Realtor, can use actual data to inform your client of what’s going on.

If they’re looking to buy a $300K home, do they need to act fast?  What’s the average market time at that price point?  Are homes in the million dollar range going up, or down?  Altos allows you to educate and counsel your clients so that they can understand what’s going on in the market and make educated decisions.  Being able to speak to your clients intelligently about your market is key and Altos is there to help you.

3. Listing Press – Listing Press was by far the most exciting application that I learned about at the RE BarCamp.  In a nutshell, Listing Press is a, rather the, new way to search for homes.  What sets Listing Press apart from any other IDX service I’ve seen, is that it doesn’t use an iframe.  Instead of having your IDX provider redirect the MLS information to your blog, Listing Press actually hosts the MLS on your site.  So what?  Well by doing so, your site will now contain all the content and keywords that home buyers are searching for.  Imagine how much your SEO would improve!

Another cool thing about it is that it’s an open source WordPress application.  You can make it look however you want and you can change its functionality.  The creator of Listing Press, Jason Benesch, is from the Real Estate Tomato, so you know what kind of product you’re getting.

I’ve seen Listing Press in action(just in beta form) and I can’t wait to get it going on my site.  For anyone who’s looking to improve their SEO, this is a no brainer.

All in all, my first RE BarCamp was pretty cool.  I met Drew and a bunch of other people of the RE blogosphere and I learned about some cool now(at least to me) products.  And Drew, FYI, you’re a lot taller and thinner than I’d imagined.  I’m not sure why I thought you were short and fat, but you proved me wrong.  Oh and as far as I could tell, the only meaning to “bar” in RE BarCamp, is that everyone drinks at these things – it was awesome.

ps – I think the next one is in Portland if you’re interested.

There are several companies that do this, but I’ve only tried Odiogo. There are a few things that I really like about this plugin…

1. It’s free.

2. It’s easy to use.  Once you install the plugin, you’re done.  It automatically sets up and you don’t have to do anything again.

3. It allows people to listen to your posts, opposed to reading it.

Now I realize Odiogo can’t read your links and things like that, but it does allow you to hear the posts on your iPod, computer or whatever else.  Wouldn’t it be nice to shop online, workout, cook dinner or drive home while you listen to your favorite blogger? 

The voice Odiogo uses is surprisingly tolerable.  I’ve heard other “human” voices before, but this one’s not bad.  I think this is a great tool to have, just in case your readers want to be read to and not always have to read your blog.  It’s also another way let your fans subscribe to your blog.  Check it out…who knows, maybe now people will “read” your blog!

Here’s what you may not know.  Since WordPress is open source, meaning free and free to change and study, people everywhere are creating their own applications that you can download and use – plugins.  What I didn’t realize is that people are also creating themes for WordPress.  These themes are basically layouts and designs for your blog. 

There are tons of sites where you can download free and premium(pay) themes.  Once you download them, you can then go in and alter colors, fonts, etc.  I haven’t actually downloaded anything yet, but I’m looking and am excited to try them. 

There are all kinds of themes and by simply Googling “wordpress themes,” you’ll find more than enough to sort through.  This is perfect for those of you who want to start blogging, but don’t like the basic layout of most free blogsites.  This way, you can just download a theme you like and make it your own.  You can also save a lot of time by either using one of these themes, or modeling your own after one.  And for those of you who manage your own sites, this will give you some cool ideas on how to make your site more appealing and user friendly.  Good luck.

At first, I only posted a blog about my new service and added a “Foreclosure” tab to my nav bar.  This unfortunately, didn’t do much at all.  SanDiegOh.com averages about 80 visitors a day and I quickly realized that this was not enough to get the FLX function to be noticed.  After a week, I sent out a mass email to my database, informing them of my new tool.  I instantly had people respond with “property info requests.” 

This was awesome!  For one, this showed me that people actually read my emails and two, that they were using the FLX function.  Within 24 hours, I had 8 requests for more info on specific properties – granted they were from clients I’d already been working with, but so what.

One thing I found though, is that the FLX charts and info are a bit difficult to understand if you’re not familiar with how Notice of Defaults, Trustee Sales and Foreclosures work.  I thought I was fairly familiar, but I was wrong.  For each property, Foreclosure Radar provides you with loan amounts, estimated value, estimated equity, sale amount, the winning bid….and much more.  It doesn’t look like the MLS info I’m used to analyzing, so this took some getting used to(as well as several calls and emails to their office).  On the other hand, customer support is incredible.  With each email I sent, I got an immediate response and when it was clear that I had no idea what was going on, they’d call me and walk me through the info.

Here’s my biggest complaint…

People have to request information from me.  When they run a search, they have to submit a request for more info, which I must research and then send them.  In addition to that, the request form isn’t just one click – it requires a full name, email and phone number(in the proper format).  Then when I look up the home, there’s no way to just send them a report.  I have to summarize it and email them from my personal account.  FLX does have an “export” function, but not all my clients are comfortable looking at an Excel CSV spreadsheet.

I know FLX has to be run this way since they are not the listing agents and there are IDX rules, but it is a pain – especially when my clients can search through the “regular” MLS on my site with complete autonomy. 

I think the best use for FLX is to A) use it as a marketing tool to get new leads B) contact home owners who have been given NOD’s or are in distress and try to list their homes C) research the distressed properties that your client wants to put an offer on.

I do like FLX and based on my experience, have found it to be the most accurate and updated source for foreclosures.  Whether or not my clients like it…well, we’ll have to see. 

Yesterday, April 8th, 2008, the company release a new product called Foreclosure Listing Exchange (FLX).  This service allows users to search for homes that are bank owned, going to auction, or preforeclosures.  The system uses a 120 point validation system and is updated around the clock to ensure its accuracy.  According to O’Toole…

Here’s the deal, in a nutshell:
 
o It’s IDX search for foreclosure listings
o It’s a search widget that integrates seamlessly with a broker or agent’s site
o It gives consumers foreclosure information they previously had to pay for (on sites like RealtyTrac, etc.)
o Foreclosures outnumber MLS listings in many markets; broker now have a tool to market them

FLX tells you where the property is located, what the estimated value is, the loan amount and of course the basics like square footage and number of bedrooms.  From what I’ve briefly seen, this tool looks to be very appealing.  As a Realtor, I think this will help agents track down foreclosures(with accuracy) for their clients and also provide ammunition for writing those low offers, by using foreclosures. 

Next week I will begin a month long evaluation of FLX and Foreclosure Radar.  Obviously my results will be limited by my location and the amount of traffic to my site, but I will report back with my findings.  And in case you’re curious, O’Toole has purchased over 150 foreclosure properties…I think he knows a little about the business.  That’s all for now.

1. Hard to Get

The method in which one pretends not to be interested, or at least less interested in the other person, as they really are.  Actions related to this method may include, but are not limited to: not calling someone who’s number you got for several days, letting the other person acknowledge your presence before you acknowledge them, maintaining limited communication with the other person and not showing too much interest.

Pros: If the other person is into you, they will most likely want you more if you are good at playing hard to get.  The lack of interest you display makes you more desirable.  You become a challenge.

Cons: If you are too good at playing hard to get, the other person will quickly get over you (unless they are crazy and/or desperate – neither are qualities that you want to involve yourself with).  Also, this is a game – games can lead to trouble.

How it Relates to Blogging: Ok…this method has no role in blogging. If you’re not trying and you’re not blogging, good luck. 

2. The Shotgun Approach

Known for its wide range and shallow efforts, the Shotgun Approach is when one attempts to meet someone by covering a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time.  Like a shotgun, the pursuer makes contact over a wide range, with as many people as he/she can, believing that probability is in their favor and that something will produce a hit.  I think we all have a few friends, or at least know/knew someone who fits this M.O.  

Pros: You meet a lot of people in a relatively short amount of time.  You don’t have to invest much time, money, or effort since you don’t care if you please everyone – you’re just trying to find one or two people who respond favorably. 

Cons: You probably won’t find any quality dates and your friends will probably laugh at some of the people you talk to.  Often times, after trying over and over, your standards for a good date get lowered and you might end up settling for anyone who cares to listen to you.

How it Relates to Blogging:  When you blog, it’s important to provide articles that appeal to a wide variety of readers.  This will pull in new readers, keep old readers happy and it will also give you the opportunity to show your knowledge of the area (i.e., talking about Farmer’s Markets, or new restaurants in the area, etc.).  Just be careful this isn’t what you focus your blog on – people want to read about specifics and not just the fluff.  You want lots of readers, but they’re worthless (minus the increased traffic) unless you attract real, quality, leads as well.  This doesn’t produce leads, it just maintains them.

3. Dating Services

While I have yet to try this, services like Match.com, eHarmony and others are taking advantage of people’s busy schedules and the infusion of the Internet with daily living.  This dating method involves paying for a service that introduces you to single people with similar interests, or in some cases, actually selects prospects for you.  In either case, the participants answer a series of questions and are in one way or another, paired up with matches.  I would relate this to your friend setting you up on a blind date, only your “friend” is a computer who is looking for key words and terms. 

Pros: You are busy and it’s hard to meet new people.  These services offer exposure to people you’d otherwise probably never meet.  They also allow you to search for people who you know have similar interests, before you even talk to them. 

Cons: You have to pay and while it’s becoming more and more common for people to use these services, your friends will still probably make fun of you – at least until they sign up. 

How it Relates to Blogging: This method of dating is most similar to paying for keywords and SEO services.  You pay for a service that enhances the exposure to people who are looking for whatever you’re blogging about.  This can be helpful, but isn’t the answer.  Content and volume are still the most powerful tools, but sure, spending some(or a lot) money to help you out won’t hurt(except your bank account).  This will help you get leads, but only if you have the content to keep the reader at your site.

4. Blind Dates

Similar to dating services, but much better (depending on how well the person setting you up knows you, or likes you).  In a nut shell, someone you know sets you up on a date with someone you’ve never met before, simply because they think the two of you would be a good match.  In my experience, this doesn’t work, but then again, I’ve only done this twice. 

Pros: You don’t have to do any work to get this date – it comes to you.  Typically, expectations are low, so as long as you’re not a complete fool, you can at least have a fun time.  This also exposes you to someone new and supposedly, someone who you’d like.  And while some would define blind dates as nerve racking, I’d describe them as exciting.

Cons: It’s a blind date.  You’ve never met this person and they’ve never met you.  As with any first date, people may not “be themselves” and you’ll have to look past the nervousness.

How it Relates to Blogging: This dating method is like a blog about a neighborhood, or the market status.  It’s not as general as talking about what a home represents, or why a certain area isn’t over built, but it’s not as specific as a particular building, or even deals on specific condos.  These types of blogs will help get clients who are B clients – they’re not quite ready to pull the trigger, but they will be soon.

5. The Friend of a Friend

This is my favorite.  The classic scenario goes something like this: your friend invites you over for dinner, or to a happy hour, or whatever.  You go and are hanging out with the usual crowd, when someone new catches your eye and because it’s not a date, you’re relaxed and there’s no pressure.  The two of you hit it off and the next day, you text your friend and get the scoop on you’re new acquaintance and assuming they’re single and you didn’t get too drunk the night before, you’re in! 

Pros: The casual environment creates a stress free environment to meet the new friend.  And since you have a mutual friend, chances are you share some common interests and will probably get along fairly well(ex. Joe and Tina are friends.  Tina and Sue are friends.  Joe and Sue should/could be friends).  Plus, the mutual friend will be pulling for you, unless they think you’re wrong for each other, which is a good thing to know anyhow.

Cons: It’s your friend’s friend.  If something goes wrong, you’ll probably see this person in the future and it could be awkward.  Also, if you date too many of your friend’s friends, you risk the chance of getting a bad reputation.

How it Relates to Blogging: This is one of the best leads you can get.  It’s most comparable to someone who reads your blog that shares it with their friend, or colleague.  Simply put, it’s a referral.  One person likes what you write, they send it to someone who will probably also like it.  In terms of actual posts, I would compare this to a blog about a specific building.  A post like this should produce a quality lead who is a serious buyer, or seller.  Be specific and provide the reader with information that they can’t get from searching the MLS, or just by driving the area.  You work this market and know the little things that make buildings unique.  Chances are they’ve been doing their homework and are narrowing their search – this is a great lead and they will probably act within 2–4 months.

6. Mail Order Bride

Sure, it’s not very romantic, but it gets the job done.  This is generally used as a last resort, but since I don’t know anyone who’s tried it, I can’t be certain.  Basically, you look in a catalog and find your future bride.  I’m not sure if this is real, but it’s worth talking about.

Pros: There are surprisingly a lot of women to choose from (I didn’t find any mail order groom services, but I’m sure they’re somewhere out there) and based on their pictures, they’re all very attractive.

Cons: “Oh, it’s a funny story actually…I picked her out of a catalog from Russia and bought her…” probably isn’t what your parents want to hear when you introduce them to each other. Also, I’m assuming it’s pretty costly and I’d be weary of anyone who was offering themselves via the Internet – especially for marriage.

How it Relates to Blogging: Similar to looking through a catalog, this style of blogging requires some research.  This is the most specific, targeted type of post you can offer.  The mail order bride is like a post about a specific home, or condo.  It’s a deal.  Your main objective is to highlight a specific property and clearly layout why someone should buy it (i.e. the home is under priced, the sellers are getting a divorce, the property is unique and/or rarely on the market, etc.).  Provide comps, rental rates, estimated payments and anything else that you think would be beneficial to a potential buyer.  This blog targets the low hanging fruit and even though it won’t appeal to everyone, if you identify real deals, you’ll be happy with the results.

With that said, find the style of blogging that suits you and get to work.  My theory is do a little bit over everything.  It’s kind of like old school ice hockey for Nintendo…you can’t have a team full of the skinny fast guys – you need a few short fat guys to help you out too.  If you have no clue what I’m talking about, then read this. 

And if it’s your first 4 year renewal, then make sure you take the new required 3 hour Risk Management course.  Any first time 4 year renewal, as of July 2007, is required to take a 3 hour Risk Management course.  I just took mine online, via Kaplan(formerly Anthony’s school or RE), for $19.  It was quick and painless(it took me about 30 minutes).  In addition to this, you’re still obligated to take the old classes, so get to it!

I like the Buffini concept, working by referrals, but I felt like I’d learned what I needed to learn and that it was up to me to just do what I needed to do.  See, for those of you who don’t own your company, or work solely on commissions, you might not realize how easy it is to take the day off and go to the beach…or just sleep in…or go to Vegas…or whatever.  Being your own boss means you work really hard, but you also lack discipline at times – at least it does in my world. 

Currently, I don’t receive any coaching, nor do I recall when the last time I attended a motivational, or coaching, seminar was.  These days I find myself working on my blog more, as I try to pull in more clients.  For me, I think learning how to blog and what to blog about, is far more valuable than hearing some rich salesman/stand up comedian go on and on about how I need to write down my goals and tell myself I’m an amazing, successful person in the morning.  No disrespect, but come on…we’ve all heard it before. 

Now I’m not saying all that stuff isn’t important, but once you’ve heard it, I think it’s just up to you to take over.  If you need someone to constantly tell you to do something, you shouldn’t be in this industry.  At this point in my career(and considering how much of a role the Web plays in real estate), I’m convinced that my blog will make me one of the top agents in San Diego.  Blogs are so effective at getting search engine recognition, my 9 month old blog now comes up at, or near the top, of several real estate related searches.  It amazes me when I look at my Sitemeter stats and see what people are searching and where www.SanDiegOh.com comes up.  Not only is this rewarding, it’s encouraging! 

Now the question I pose to all of you is, what have have you found to be the most useful, educational and effective resources to make you a successful blogger?  I for one, am a Real Estate Tomato product and I must sadly admit(don’t get me wrong – I LOVE the Tomato, but I feel guilty for not broadening my horizons), this has been the majority of my blogging education.  I have a lot to learn and a lot to read up on.

I know Webographers can train you and offers a certification program, but what does that really mean?  Does one really need a blogging certification these days?  Then there are sites like Agent Genius, Bloodhound Blog and obviously the incredible Geek Estate Blog, but what’s helped you the most?  And how do you take care of your clients, keep up with inventory and blog regularly?

I guess this blog is my first attempt to really reach you, the reader, and create a forum for us to help one another.  Better yet, I’d love to see someone blog about my blog…perhaps a mini Carnival on blogging?  Yeah, I know no one will do it, but I just wanted to flatter myself for a minute.

For me, I’ve found my classes with the Tomato to be most helpful.  Aside from that, I’ve really learned a lot from reading other agent’s blogs.  My next step is to ask my clients what they would want in a real estate website.

With time, I’ll report back and offer what I’ve learned.  In the meantime, good luck to all of us and keep blogging! 

I own a Treo 700p and have had my fair share of ups and downs with it. I could go on and on about my problems, but this post is about an application called PdaNet. There are several sites you can download it from, but the only one I’ve tried and can vouch for is by June Fabrics.

PdaNet is an application that you can install on your Treo and connect your laptop to the Internet anywhere you get cell service. For a one time fee of $34, users can download the application and almost instantly be mobile. Once you Hot Sync and install the software, you can take your laptop on road. You can connect via Bluetooth, or with your Treo USB cable. I’ve tried both and can’t tell if the USB connection is that much faster – but the USB connection doesn’t seem to randomly disconnect.

I’ve checked with Verizon and they charge $60 a month to access the Internet and they also charge a $35 activation fee and you have to sign a contract – which means you’re subject to a $175 early termination fee. Why would you ever sign up with them? Well, the only reason I would give in, would be to get a faster connection. Keep in mind, this is only for the PC card and Internet access – you still have your separate data plan (probably what you have now).

With PdaNet, I can just push a button and use my laptop to do whatever it is I need. Typically I only use this when I’m tired of typing emails on my Treo, or if I have to access the ELS and perform a proper search – not just check on one or two listings. Be careful when you connect via Bluetooth though, as the connection will drain your battery. If you’re going to be online for several hours and have the luxury, use a USB cord and plug in your laptop – yes this will also charge your phone.

So…if you own a Treo and are thinking about signing up with your wireless provider to get Internet on your laptop, you might want to check out PdaNet first. For $34 dollars, it might be worth it. Just make sure you check the phone and OS requirements first.

Oh and by the way, I wrote and posted this blog with my PdaNet connection. If anyone reading this is associated with PdaNet, or June Fabrics, feel free to send me some free stuff.

My most recent problem with Verizon came when my Treo 700p started randomly resetting on me. It would reset while I was talking on the phone, when it was just in my pocket, when I was trying to send an email – no rhyme or reason, it would just reset. And this didn’t happen once or twice, it would happen 10–20 times a day.

Having had issues with Treos in the past, I tried to trouble shoot it by resting it(soft, warm and hard – feel free to insert comments here), updating the software, updating my network…nothing worked. I finally made the dreaded call to tech support and after talking to multiple employees, they asked me to take it in to the store.

After taking it into the store and performing another hard reset, the tech guy finally told me that I had to get a new phone. Wasn’t that what I told you from the beginning? And since they didn’t have a replacement on site, they shipped me one. I will say, they shipped it to me in just a day and a half – at least something was good about their service.

I performed a Hot Sync on the new phone and everything was back to normal – at least until a few days later when the new phone started resetting as well. This time I called tech support and told them that I was having the same problems and that I had performed multiple hard resets and that I was still experiencing problems. This time, the guy simply said, “well if you’ve performed a hard reset, there’s nothing else we can do but send you a new phone.” YES! Finally they were helping me, without wasting my time.

So I got my new phone a few days later and this one had a burn mark on the screen – you know, the darkened areas you see on the touch screen. So I called them once again and they sent me a new phone…again. I’ve now had this phone for about two months and everything seems to be working well.

What did I learn?

– Sync your phone regularly
– Perform a Hard Reset if you can’t resolve any phone problems
– If the problem persists, tell your provider what your problem is and then tell them you have performed a Hard Reset and it hasn’t helped.
– They will ask you to perform a Hard Reset…Tell them you already did and that you don’t have time to waste doing something you’ve already done.
– Make sure you know how to perform a hard reset – they will ask you.

As we all know, technology is great and we all depend on it. Unfortunately, when it isn’t working, our work, our lives and our convenience must pay. Hopefully these tips will at help to minimize your discomfort and help you bypass some of the customer service BS.

If you’ve had a similar experience and want to share any other tips you have, please do!