steve's White Mountain Blog

 

My wife forwarded me an article about the “Ken” doll turning 50, this coincided with my own recent 50^th birthday. I was never into dolls; the closest thing we boys played with was the little green army men. You got a whole bag of them for a dollar…and if you shot them in to the sky on the back of a bottle rocked, or didn’t retrieve one after a dirt cave in at the sand box it was no big deal. But my sisters had Barbie and Ken dolls, and there was hell to pay if you hid one or attempted to see if they would fit in the toilet.

 

I always assumed “Malibu Ken” was a California native, turns out Ken Carson was from Willow Wisconsin…heck who knew? Like many of the serious cyclist Ken was hairless and Aerodynamic (if you know what I mean?) and does in fact fit part of the way down a toilet…but only part of the way.

 

Ken didn’t in fact turn 50 recently…he was seen in a commercial 50 years ago this month, but was at least old enough at the time to drive a Barbie dream car. This would mean he is really in his late 60’s and that officially means Barbie was the first cougar. That’s right Barbie was on the scene two years ahead of Ken…and reached the beach prior to Ken’s arrival from Wisconsin.                        

                                                             

The Love affair lasted 45 years, before a guy from down-under named Blaine …threw another shrimp on the Barbie. Poor old ken with no working man parts discarded for a guy with an accent. I hope he had a pre-nup and got the dream house, Jeep Wrangler, Winnebago, or one of the Harley’s the two were sporting as the manufacturer used product placement in their selling of this American icon.

                                                              

So Thanks for the Ken is 50 references “Honey”…but remember if Barbie was so popular why did you have to buy her friends? P.S. If Ken is in his late 60’s that would mean Barbie is pushing 70. We all talk about branding now like we marketing gurus made it up. These dolls suggest someone learned about marketing to millions while we were in diapers.

So thanks to my lovely wife for pointing out that Ken and I came in to the world at nearly the same time, but despite the fact he is an American Icon and I am not...I'll continue to try to brand myself while Ken is relegated to a shoe box under the bed.

 

How many Links, Websites ,social networks can you stay on top of?

*Growing your Internet business can be time consuming*

Here are the sites I use for my real estate contacts, content and blogging everyday. This is a large part of my overall marketing plan and much of the success I have seen is derive from these sites.

Activerain network – 200,000 Real estate professionals

      www.activerain.com/mountainwater

My outside Blog & White Mountain NH based stories

      www.steveswhitemountainblog.com

Events, and points of interest in the town of Lincoln NH

       www.localism.com/nh/lincoln

Alpine Lakes Realty website offices in Campton & Lincoln

       www.alpinelakes.com

Slope side property, land, condos, & Adirondack homes

 www.slopesideatsouthmountain.com    www.cargillconstruction.com

Some of the Social network accounts three facebook sites

    www.facebook.com/loonmtrealtor

   www.facebook.com/alpinelakesrealestate

   www.facebook.com/Graftoncountynh

Twitter – Wordpress – Linkedin – Zillow –Trulia –Etc

   www.twitter.com/mountainwater

  http://alpinelakes.wordpress.com

  www.linkedin.com/steveloynd

  www.trulia.com/blog/steveloynd

IDX property search links *my web site *agentave.com

 www.whitemtproperties.com (a market leader site)

Some of the free accounts I promote links and listings on:

Craig’s list, Zillow , Postlets, Yelp, Short sale superstars, real estate global network, broker agent social network, & realbird.

When a seller asks me "where are you advertising my listings?"

  My Answer is everywhere I can possibly think of!!

I missed a few But was running out of room for this post.

 

 

Many things are purchased on impulse, I once owned a Red Convertible with rear wheel drive and I live in one of the snowiest parts of the country. With real estate that is not the case, most buyers spend more time searching the Internet – ads, and seeking advice from friends that have more experience than the soon to be buyer before calling a Realtor. We want to be found, our product to be seen and our reputation to be highly recommended by everyone in our sphere of influence. My Marketing plan is flexible so I can react to new opportunities, but it has a mixture of: Internet, Constant contact, newsletter, print, mailings, blogging and social media. The Target of my marketing campaign has remained largely the same over the years, but subtle shifts can’t be ignored. I started blogging three years ago, it was becoming obvious that real estate classified ads were going the way of the Dinosaur…and I didn’t want to follow that path to the tar pits.

 

 

A sales pitch and some foliage pix.

I was hoping to plug in one of the photos on the new activerain MLS page, but when I did, I got a message that the listing needed # of Bedroom & # of Baths.

 

 

Here's how:

1.  Go to http://activerain.com/action/listings and click New Listing
2.  Upload photos, enter the address, description and stats
3.  Click Save Listing
4.  Click Activate

 

 

 In other words, land was not what the A/R gods had in mind for the new application. If you are a rainmaker and wish to load some of your listings in the new featured - benefit…they will appear on the right margin of your blog (see mine).

 

While I have your Attention ,Here is the scoop on this home site: This half acre site sits on one of the highest points (that is not Forest service land) in the town of Woodstock New Hampshire, It will have a steep driveway…but these are the views. The site has an approved 3 bedroom septic design and access to the community water supply, and has an asking price of $100,000.  Listing info here.

                                                   The deck pictured above is on a house below the lot I have for sale.

     If the folks at Activerain decide to allow land listings, or can tell me how to get around the number of bedrooms and baths as a requirement for posting a listing I would love to hear from you. I have some beautiful sites in the White mountains that I would love to share using this great feature.

In the mean time, feel free to click on the MLS button at the bottom of this post and search all of the listings in Grafton County New Hampshire (44 towns in the White Mountains) by type of property or price.

I was asked by a client “what are you doing to promote my listing?”Aside from the quarterly 16 page color brochure, local free hand-out, news papers and regional real estate classifieds…that a seller can see or pick up.

I realized there was a ton of on-line work that went in to promoting their listing that these clients wouldn’t know about, without a comprehensive list.Here are the ways I promote your properties…Mr. & Mrs. Seller, I hope this gives you a glimpse of what goes in to marketing something for sale.

I may share this blog with a client that asks this question again in the future.

 

  * Here is what I came up with for daily interaction, listing links, blogs,Promotional sites, outside advertisements on-line, affiliations, site Subscriptions, memberships, and government required data. I work With and post on every day…for updates and marketing purposes *

 

 

 

NNEREN – state MLS

Postlets…free account

Craig’s List free account

Zillow …”      “

 

Twitter / Mountainwater account.

Facebook / Realtor feed

Steves White Mountain blog

 

 

Activerain/mountainwater

Localism.com/nh/lincoln

Real Estate Global network

Trulia.com/blog

Short Sale Super Stars

Yelp business review

Mortgage News Daily

 

Linwood Chamber of commerce/ current events and activities

NHDES, New Hampshire Dept of Environmental services- Wet lands- rules & Regs

Loon Mountain Recreation Blog – local ski resort, current news & events

NH.gov corp search, Current corporations and registered LLC doing business in NH

Grafton County registry of deeds, research, recordings, & records, and print out account

WMUR- Channel 9 Photo – and story submission account…free PR.

Jack O’Lantern Golf Resort – recreation, rentals, and real estate offerings

New Hampshire Tourism – events and free photos for state wide happenings

Town of Woodstock – real estate office link

Cargill Construction – preferred builder and parent company

Alpine Lakes Realty News letter – monthly update, with public subscription.

 

Alpine Lakes Real Estate donates $50 after each closing to a local charity of the buyers’ choice, we publish a list of 6- 8 with a short write up of their involvement. The buyer may also choose any other registered charity they wish for the donation.

 

A web link to our local preferred vendors – recommended businesses & tradesmen

A web Camera, real time views and traveling updates concerning the local weather.

A new South Peak at Loon Mt…web site, listings and custom homes, slope side.

 These accounts are alerted each time I post a new listing...this is what I have done lately to promote your property listed for sale.

I would love to receive comments about any sites that have brought my Activerain friends success, in promoting listings.

Thanks For your Feed Back and recommendations Steve Loynd

 

I sent a photo to a customer, who's #1 criteria is a great view; Photo sent below, Am I puffing?

The Customer sent me back a note, "you are right this is an awesome view- where did you take it from?"

I took the photo from the deck..right in front of the picture window..I returned  as my response. Here it comes, well no offense but before we drive 2 hours to take a look at the property, can you show me that this was taken from the house you are representing? I was offended, but the interior pictures were enticing enough for (this would be buyer) to follow up with a simple (if not accusatory request) so off I went to take the following photo..through the living room window (Second photo taken 10 feet from the first-facing the same direction).

I forwarded this note: Sorry about the dark photos, it's hard to take an outdoor shot through a living room window. Be assured this is the subject property being offered in the short sale. There is a 22 foot wall of glass looking out at the most spectacular view in my area, I opened the binds just enough for the enclosed photos.

Have we soiled our reputation to the point where actual photographs of a property are called into question?

  Customers want a great deal, a great view and have lost some level of trust with us. This saddens me I have been selling real estate for 25 years and have never had a customer question my ethics. A man or woman's reputation is only as solid as their character. What do my fellow Realtors think of this dilemma? Is there something you say to a potential client or customers that smooths the path to trust, prior to a face to face meeting? Or is it the market that is making everyone gun shy and question our representations?

Property listed 12 months ago $799,900 - Current Asking $499,900..Subject to a bank short sale ...What's wrong with this Picture?

 

Here are but Three of the 258 emails I got Yesterday:

From; CraigsList / Subject: Posting Reply  Could it be an answer to my ad in CraigsList? No it is a cash gifting program that will "crush the competition".

From: a nameless Short Sales co. / Subject : Important Certification Changes  Could it be one of the BPO companies I work for on opinion of values?, No it's a Company that will sell me an authentic certificate that says I'm a short sales expert - and If I hang it on my walls, like magic the money will roll in.

From : Real Estate Sale Etc.. / Subject: I saw your classified Ad  Could it be the print media is still working and someone wants to see a property I'm featuring? No apparently there is some deep dark secret that these folks are willing to share with me for a boat load of cash, to tell me how I can improve my market share.

If you are not really answering the ad I wrote, or paid to be in the news paper, please stop telling me how to make more money. I know how if you were emailing me with a genuine interest in what I am offering I would be making more money right now. Instead of reading your stupid come on designed to look like you are answering my ad.