Real Estate Tips and News

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August 2006

• Aug. 31, 2006 - Advertising Spending Up, But Not in Newspapers

Classified Intelligence, LLC has an interesting press release. In part it says: real estate agents are spending more money on advertising this year than last, but are actively using free-classified sites like Craigslist and Google Base and are planning to steadily reduce their advertising in newspapers, a new report from Classified Intelligence shows.

More than half the real estate agents (51 percent) who participated in a Classified Intelligence survey said they were advertising on free classified sites, and many said they plan to cut their newspaper advertising because it is no longer necessary.

I'm not sure how much I agree with them but I know some of my clients have started using both Craigslist and GoogleBase. Right now about 7% of the agents in the local MLS are using Craigslist. Not sure how many are using GoogleBase. I'm interested in seeing what kind of results my clients see.

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• Aug. 29, 2006 - Exercising Your Index Finger.

A recent Logitech study revealed that people, on average, have six applications open on their computer at any one time, and the active window switches or a new window opens every 50 seconds. To navigate the vast content at their disposal, people spin their mouse´s scroll wheel approximately 26 feet in an eight-hour day.

26 FEET. What did we ever do before scrolling mice?

On a side note, here's a few more facts about the index finger courtesy of Wikipedia: It is usually the most dexterous finger of a hand and is usually used to point to things (a direction, an object etc.), thus it is also called the pointer finger. It is also called the second finger, index, digitus secundus, or digitus II in anatomy.

As mentioned above, the forefinger can be used for pointing. However, this gesture is considered rude in some countries (Brunei, for instance), and other gestures are used instead.

A lone index finger often is used to represent the number 1, or when held up or moved side to side (finger-wagging), it can be an admonitory gesture. With the hand held palm out, it represents the letter d in the American Sign Language alphabet. In sports, it can also represent victory, as some championship-winning teams raise their index finger while posing for a championship team photo.

During the Bosnian war, Serbo-Bosnian troops raised three fingers in a sign of victory, Bosnian Croats raised the two-finger V-sign and Muslims raised one (after the strict monotheism of Islam).

The two index fingers are generally used for hunt and peck typing. Which is not to be confused with the one handed (two fingered) typing I've been doing for the last two weeeks following my elbow sugery.

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View more entries tagged with: Finger, Logitech, Mouse, Typing, Anatomy

• Aug. 27, 2006 - Virtual vindication for real estate agents

Interesting article on marketwatch this weekend by Amy Hoak. The link from the Marketawatch Real Estate page is, "Can home buyers, sellers benefit on the Web without agents?" Sounds kind of like your typical "we've got all the information so we don't need you over paid agents" article. Then you go to it and find the article is titled "Virtual vindication for real estate agents."

Here's just a few quotes to wet your appetite:

Without brokers, home buyers and sellers find limited success on the Web
His story helps illustrate how the Internet, while undoubtedly growing in popularity as a tool for buyers and sellers alike, has turned out to validate the role of the real estate professional.
the housing slowdown now unfolding only underscores how crucial of a role that brokers have
What the Internet does is educate consumers about what's out there, preparing them for the real estate road ahead of them.
the Internet has become more of a research tool for prospective home buyers and sellers -- not a replacement for a real estate professional
sellers may want to consider an agent's online marketing plan before giving him or her the job of selling their house

Interesting reading.