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(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton\'s Arizona Homes

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In keeping with today's theme on the RSS Reader, I present some of the best posts from this blog over the final six months of 2006 (the blog was up and running earlier in the year but I didn't really start writing seriously until July.)

This is post number 204 - I'll take it down to the best five:

1) Fun With Bubbleheads. A discussion on the so-called real estate bubble, which led to a firestorm on a pair of housing bubble blogs.

2) Do Buyers Care Who Pays their Agent? An argument in defending value with service and attracting a long-term repeat clientele versus offering rebates to attract one-time business.

   2a) A related post on my Active Rain blog about Pandora and the buyers' commission.

3) Procuring Cause and You. A quick primer on procuring cause and how it applied to one erstwhile home buyer.

4) Again from Active Rain - Bigfoot, the Open MLS and Other Myths.

5) Zillow Listings - the first taste is free.

Honorable mention: the not-consistent enough series on absorption rates here in the Valley. I've tracked it consistently but missed a few weeks of posting when other items (such as actual real estate) got in the way.

What was your favorite? There's no mechanism for a write-in vote, but feel free to post your favorite in the comments below. I'll be adding a list of favorite posts on the right-side of the blog within the next week and all feedback is appreciated.

Have a safe New Year's ... we'll see you before kickoff tomorrow morning.

Favorite Blog Post of 2006
(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes

For me, 2006 has been the year of educating my peers about the Internet. I've taught several classes on building a web presence and recently discussed the benefits of starting a real estate blog, assuming of course that there is something of worth to say. As I discuss these things, I see heads nod and eyes light up (or glaze over, depending on what tangent I'm on) but within a few days the interest disappears.

On some level I don't mind at all - this is a competitive business and I'll be happy to be the lone ranger reaping the benefits of the Internet. (Right now my wife is smiling.) On another level, I feel like I've failed in my quest to "pay forward" the web advice I was given when I first started. (Right now my wife is hitting me with a skillet.)

So here's one final Internet primer ... my closing gift for 2006 to my peers ...

WEBSITES
    Expensive doesn't always mean better. Template-driven sites can work, as long as you take the time to make that template yours. Here are some options absolutely worth exploring in 2007:
    Century 21 Web Builder - $60 a year, includes hosting. You can also pay for additional options. It's WYSIWYG format - What You See is What You Get - and is relatively easy to use. This is made more for someone who wants the website for their own clients but not necessarily as a prospecting tool. Not sure where to start or lacking the time? I'm available to help get your website up and running: $35 per hour, three-hour initial minimum bill.
    Point-2-Agent - I have this on the list because I've heard some good things about them. There are free sites and paid template sites - if you contact Jay Thompson with Century 21 Aware, he can give you more details.
    Sharkzone Design - Tom designed my web site and has a substantial portfolio you can review.  He's offering three different packages for the real estate set, depending on how extensive you want your site and how much SEO (search engine optimization) work you desire. You basically have a one-time fee then only pay for a hosting, which is a piddling in the grand scheme of things. A must call/e-mail if you ask me.
    I also can assist with some website design on a consulting basis - you can check my Arrowhead Ranch and Westbrook Village sites to see what my sites look like.

    The big key with the website is spider-friendly code and quality content. Without those, your site won't get very far.

BLOGS
    There are multiple pay options available. Two free options are Active Rain and Realtown Blogs. You can join Active Rain off this link - you'll have access to continuing real estate-related subjects and get your own free blog. You also have the opportunity to be listed as a featured agent in the city of your choice, all by simply participating in the discussion.
    The second option is Realtown Blogs, brought to you by Internet Crusade, the folks who put together the e-Pro certification classes. There are several templates available - if you would like a more personalized look, I'm able to assist for $25 an hour, two-hour minimum billing. (Needless to say, this blog is designed with a customized template.)

    One last thing ... if you don't use Google Reader or another RSS reader to keep up with trends in the real estate market, get one. Yesterday. There's far more out there than your manager possibly can tell you at a weekly sales meeting. Changes take place in minutes much less weeks right now.

If you have questions, I'm always only an e-mail away. Happy 2007, kids.

(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes

These are the moments when I find humor in those who endeavor to practice real estate as a part-time endeavor. Some would say that perhaps they are to be envied, as they have their regular career upon which they can focus ... their drive is not to become the best agent they can for their clients, but to be a choice of convenience for those they know, hoping all the while they don't make some crucial error along the way.

It's 11:02 in the evening ... two of the three children, the wife and the beagle all are in bed. (The 14-year-old likely will not be asleep for another couple of hours in keeping with her gradual transition into a teenage vampire, avoiding the light in favor of her cave-like bedroom.) I've finished glancing at my RSS reader, searching for articles of interest. I've continued tinkering with the formatting on this blog, searching for ways to make it more user-friendly than I already hope it to be. I've tinkered with my other three websites, searching for any missing element that could cause the sites to rise in the search engines. And still sleep eludes me.

My 7-year-old believes I work all the time which, naturally, isn't quite true. But I am on call for large portions of the day. And real estate is a job that demands immediacy.

Yesterday afternoon I received an e-mail from someone in Wittmann looking to place their home and acreage on the market. By the end of the night last night, Christmas evening be damned, he had a response. We'll be meeting Thursday and I'm confident it will be my sign being placed in the front yard of the house.

Last weekend I was dropping off some paperwork at an acquaintance's house, on my way to meet some prospective clients in Surprise. It ends up she wants to put her home on the market, too. We'll be meeting this weekend, once my daughter is back at her mom's and I have a little more time with which to work.

The bottom line is when my clients need me, I am here. I may not answer the phone every time they call (usually because I'm already on the other line), but they will hear back from within the hour. This has held true whether I'm mowing the yard or sitting through a movie. If one of my clients also was having trouble sleeping and e-mailed me now, they'd have a response within minutes. It's what they expect, what consumers in general expect in this Internet-driven age, and it's what I deliver.

Though I have more free time than those punching a clock, the time rarely feels as if it's my own. There ALWAYS is one more phone call I can make, one more web page to update, one more e-mail to send. For a part-time these may not be high priorities. But they aren't building their career on a foundation of service. To fall into a poker analogy, they're waiting for the nuts and being blinded off one fee at a time.

(Translation ... while waiting for the low-hanging fruit of friends and colleagues, they're spending money they may not earn back on licensing, renewals, continuing education and board fees.)

Are they the lucky ones? At 11:12 p.m. (yes, this took 10 minutes) it sometimes seems so ... they're asleep in their beds. But at 5:30 tomorrow morning when their alarms go off, they head to their jobs and they do nothing to expand their real estate knowledge ... I don't think so.

(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes

The Carnival of Real Estate made its way to Active Rain, one of my favorite online addictions. Aside from the carnival posts, Active Rain is a huge repository of real estate- and mortgage-related information from those in the trenches. One of the unique features for those outside either of the two industries are the number of tips shared among those of us in those industries - call it an inside look at how we do what we do.

Tobey and I made the cut for our article on Zillow, "The First Taste is Free." Here's the rest of this week's top 10:

Brian Brady's light-hearted article with the heavy name, "The Six Stages of the Long-Term Real Estate Play."

Kevin Boer at 3 Oceans Real Estate, "Wow! You Leave for an Hour and Zillow Changes the World."

Gerhard Ahe provides a masterpiece in "Real Estate Theatre."

Evan Kane, writing during the Open Mike segment at Sellsius, on "Broker Gets MLS Grief for $1 listing."

Toby Boyce on "When is TMI ... well ... TMI?"

Elizabeth Weintraub at the Real Estate Tomato on "What Buyers and Sellers Expect from a Real Estate Agent."

John Novak in Henderson, Nevada on what sellers' agents can do in "Don't Take it Personally ... It is what it is."

And last but not least, Mary McKnight at RSS pieces on "How to Write a Blog that Generates Leads."

(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes