Real Estate Loop POSH’D
Real Estate Loop has been Posh’d !
About Posh’d: Ever visit other Real Estate websites for inspiration? Ever notice how many of them are VERY similar? We support those of you trying to break the mold and make the real estate sites on the web a better experience for everyone. We’re here to promote you and your fine work, but we also hope that up-and-coming site developers will be able to use Posh’d as a place for inspiration. We want to raise the bar for all Realtors and their sites. Submit your site, and if featured, be proud of your accomplishments!
Real Estate Loop dot Net is still a very new site, but I have put a lot of work into it and it is nice to see it grow more and more every month. Please take a minute and vote for Real Estate Loop this month. Thank You!
Final Announcement - Blog Contest
April 2nd will be the last day to enter into the Blog contest with over $14,000 in cash and prizes. Head over to Winning the web now and check it out.
Loan requirements become even stricter today
More bad news in today’s paper for the Real Estate and Mortgage industry. The Sun-Sentinel has an article in today’s paper saying that Mortgage insurers have already flagged nearly a quarter of the nation’s ZIP codes where they refuse to insure some home loans. These types of loans that are being flagged and black listed are: Those for investment properties or second homes, those with riskier adjustable-rate or interest-only mortgages, or for buyers making down payments of less than 3percent.
“Lenders’ changes have removed 30 percent to 40 percent of the borrowers who could have qualified in recent years, estimated Tom LaMalfa, managing director at Wholesale Access, a Columbia, Md.-based mortgage research firm.”
Private Mortgage Insurance – is insurance for the lender in case the mortgagor is not able to repay the loan. Without it the lender is not able to recover its costs after foreclosing the loan and selling the mortgaged property.
You can read more of this article here.
Foreclosure - Tent City in LA
Discovered this video in my email box this morning sent over by a friend. I see some other Bloggers already have this video posted. I have watched people lose their homes in foreclosure before, but nothing like this. Tent City in LA
Real Estate and Craigslist!
Free Internet classified services such as Craigslist have become an effective tool for the Real Estate and Finance industry. I have been using these classified services for over a year now and I can tell you they bring in business. I wanted to share a few tips for placing your ads on one of these classified services. For the demonstration I will be working with Backpage.com. Below I have taken the basic steps of adding a simple flyer for my advertisement.
Step 1 - Design a flyer
Below I have designed a flyer using Photo Shop that advertises Real Estate Loop. This is the ad I will use in our classified listing. If you already have your business card or flyer finished then you are one step ahead of me.
Step 2 – Upload your flyer
I have uploaded my flyer using a web site called Photobucket.com. This site allows me to upload my flyer and provides me with the necessary html code needed for the advertisement.
Step 3 – Placing the ad
Now that we have our flyer ready we can go to Backpage.com and take the necessary steps for adding our web site flyer. I will first select my city and then choose a category where my ad would be the most effective.
Step 4 - The description
The description allows us to use HTML code for our advertisement. It is time to grab our flyer from Photobucket. Open a second window and log into your account. Highlight the HTML code for the image. You might want to use a word editor such as notebook or ms word. Copy the code in your editor. Here is the code below I have copied.
<a href – This is the link the user will go to when he or she clicks on the flyer image. Let’s change this to say http://yoursite.com. Place your URL address inside the quotation marks.
Copy and paste your new code into the description area of Backpage and add any additional information. Phone, email, name…etc
Step 5 – Activate your ad
Backpage will then send an email verification letter to your email. Once verified your ad will be displayed LIVE! Here you can see my ad up and running on Backpage.
Here is a list of some Free Classified Services.
Craigslist.com – The largest of all the free classified services.
Backpage.com – Offers a very clean interface and free of too many listing rules.
Loop Classifieds - Of course I had to give my own classified site a plug. Anyone can list their business or properties free here at Real Estate Loop.
Blogging for cash and prizes! - $6,113.00
Ok..everyone! I am going out of my way to blog about “The Craziest Internet Marketing Contest You’ve Ever Seen” This blog post gains real estate loop 10 entries into the contest increasing the chance to win.
Cash and Prizes Total - $6,113.00
The Cash and Prizes are listed on the web site so check them out. This marketing campaign is probably the best idea I have seen to increase traffic to your blog. The Cash and prizes are provided by all the sponsors so it did not cost winningtheweb.com a dime.
How to Gain Entries
- Sign up for the mailing list (required) - 1 entry
- Blog about this contest and link to this post - 10 entries
- Every 5 comments on WTW (now until March 31 with 5 comments per day limit) - 1 entry
- Subscribe to the feed and stay tuned for more opportunities to gain entries
Be sure to use the same email & website when performing actions for the contest. That way I’ll be able to easily track entries for each person.
The Future of Property Research!
This is a need to know about site for real estate investors. I have not come across another site that provides more information on a piece of property. The one down side of Property Shark is its limited availability across the United States, but if you are lucky enough to be able to take advantage of this site it could be a very useful tool.
From a single address, PropertyShark.com allows you to see a description of the property, its most recent sales price, an approximation of its value, its owners’ names and addresses, its title history, code violations, permits, photographs, and maps. You can even search which properties are in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure. This is a great tool for investors.
I found this little gem from another blog - NY Houses 4 Sale
Discover your position for the Presidential Election!
I was emailed an interesting link today, and thought I would share it with the blog. This web site gives you your political landscape, and shows you which candidate you are most alike. It takes about 5 minutes to finish all of the questions. There are 36 questions. The questions Range from your stance on “Gun Control” to “Abortion” You then decide to agree, disagree or no opinion.
When you finish with the question it will give your results, and show you, the best and worst candidate for you.
http://www.electoralcompass.com
Just FYI:
I was closest to:
Hillary Clinton
I was furthest from:
Mike Huckabee
Adding Zillow to your web site or blog (FREE)
Zillow enables you to plug-in all of its capabilities directly into your personal web site or blog. It is a great advantage to allow your clients to check home values, neighborhood statistics, and mapping directions all from your blog or web site.
The Zillow API network has been around for quite some time now. The problem is most people do not know how to implement the API or (application program interface) code to their web site. This was the job for a web developer which normally would run you between $150 and $200 dollars to get the job done. I decided to search around for some FREE third party alternatives.
Here are some FREE and easy solutions to enable Zillow search on your site:
Zillow Lite
This one is not third-party but it is a free and easy solution. It does not give you too many options. A simple copy and paste of the code and you’re finished.
InfinityArts
This company has a very nice looking web application. It provides Yahoo map search and satellite view of the properties.
MarketWatch101
This is another great Zillow application. The widgets provide details about the property sqft, built area, comps of other properties in the area (includes recently sold too) and other information.
Realivent
This company has designed a Wordpress Zillow plug-in that looks really looks good. I myself will be giving this one a test drive.
If anyone knows of anymore, just comment them below!
The Foreclosure Hunt
With the foreclosure rates constantly increasing around the country, I decided to try out some of the online foreclosure listing sites. The 3 companies I selected were Foreclosuresdaily.com, Foreclosure.com, and Realtytrac.com. Realtytrac.com and Foreclosures.com offered a 7 day free trial where as Foreclosures Daily only offered me a video tutorial. The associate gave me a quick live demonstration via “GoToMeeting.com” in which I was able to view their computer screen in a new window.
The first one on my list is Realtytrac.com upon signing up for the 7 day free trial I had to input my credit card number. This means if I was not satisfied with them I would have to make sure I canceled my membership status or they would charge me 49.95 per month.
Reatlytrac does make it pretty easy to locate foreclosures in your area. A simple zip code will give you all the listings you need. They integrate with Microsoft Virtual Earth to supply satellite mapping of each property in the system. One thing I didn’t like was the loading time of the web site, it made navigation through the web site a bit time consuming.
The company seems to be pretty involved with realtors. The company offers a Real Estate Agent Network, and enables realtors to claim zip codes and list properties.
Pros:
- Rich in features
- Satellite mapping
-MLS comparisons
-Realtor Friendly
-Does provide some Lien and loan history
Cons:
- Load time was a bit long. (maybe it was my modem)
- I did not see any Commercial properties.
Prices:
7 Day Free Trial
49.95 (Monthly)
I was introduced to foreclosures daily about 9 months ago. In fact it helped me to purchase my first investment property here in Florida. I found the listing on the web site. I then went to the house and was able to secure a contract and take over the payments by warranty deed. The net profit from that house was $24,000 dollars. The downside to Foreclosures Daily web site is it does not offer a free trial period anymore. According to the representative I spoke with over the phone, the higher powers put a stop to the free trial subscription due to the fact of some “dishonest” people.
Foreclosures Daily is not available nationwide. You must check with them first to see if your county and state is available. The reason behind this is the company places an individual in every county court house that records the lis pendence and brings you the information the day of filing. This was a very big advantage during my foreclosure chasing days. I was able to be the first investor to knock on the door. Sometimes I would even beat the sheriff that serves the homeowners foreclosure papers.
Pros:
-The web site has actually proven to make me money!
-Company Offers free foreclosure seminars to attend.
-First one to receive the foreclosure information the day it is filed.
-Residential and Commercial properties.
-Most Information provided on the homeowner and house.
Cons:
-No more Free Trial Subscriptions.
-Foreclosure services not available in every state.
-Web site is not as high tech as the other web sites.
Prices:
$1299.00 - Annually ($108.25/mo.)
$799.00 - Bi-Annually ($133.17/mo.)
$479.00 - 3-month ($159.67/mo.)
I have to say in my honest opinion the best interface award goes to foreclosure.com. The company has a fast and clean web site that allows me to find the information I need in a timely manner. The web site uses Google maps to give property location but does not give the satellite imagery of the property. From what I can tell the company does not offer Lien or Loan History as well. This is disappointing because knowing the balance of the first and second mortgage is a big advantage.
The web site provides a blog and a newly developed forum that allows you to ask questions and chat with other members. The company also gives interactive online webinars and product assistance.
The site offers a 7 day free trial, but they ask for your credit card in advance. Therefore don’t forget to end your free subscription if you do not like the services.
Pros:
-Very competitive prices for subscriptions.
-Fast and easy to navigate.
-Google maps
-7 Day Free Trial
Cons:
-No Lien or Loan History.
-No satellite images of property.
Prices:
7day Free Trial
39.80/mo (1 Month)
24.90/mo for (12 Months)
29.99/mo for (6 Months)
33.32/mo for (3 Months)
If I had to choose one of the foreclosure listing sites above I would have go with foreclosuresdaily.com. I say this because the foreclosure information is provided to you the day of filing. The site is the most expensive so I guess you get what you pay for.
I suggest you try each one yourself and give your own opinions about each one. Please let me know. Write a comment below and give your opinions!
