JL's Columbia SC Real Estate Blog: February 2009

 I have heard the phrase many times that there is a fine line between bravery and ignorance. Well when you take that into account, on the surface it sounds like a great saying. But let me throw out some things from my point of view on the subject. Let's say we just do away with the word brave and replace it altogether with the word ignorant. If this is the case then July 4th, 1776, a lot of really ignorant people put their lives on the line so I could one day sit here and write this post in a free country. They further proved their ignorance by doing battle with England for our independence and they won. So now I can write this and you can read it.

 This world is full of ignorance in every way that you can imagine. Both the bad kind and the kind of ignorance that skirts that fine line and creates greatness. You just have to be willing to step outside yourself long enough to know that you are a part of something larger and you must be willing to fight even when the cards are stacked against you. I would say our fore fathers entered that battle with a heavy heart and many across the world thought that they would be crushed in the blink of an eye. Yet we all know how history turned out and we can never truly know if they walked into that fight believing they would lose or not. But they were willing to fight for what they wanted regardless of their chances of achieving it.

 Ignorance can be such a great thing when you think of it in this sense. When I decided to start my real estate career, there were more than enough people that told my how I would never make it. There were more than enough people that told me that it was practically an impossible mission and yes, that I was ignorant for choosing to do so. Now with all the set backs that are taking place in the nation's economy, there are even more people who have given way to this ideology and believe that I truly am ignorant for the choices I have made.

 Well you're damn right I am and I couldn't be more proud of my ignorance on the subject. Times are hard and it is impossible to survive in today's market, but I am too damn ignorant to realize this. We can't turn this thing around and we will suffer the consciences of our actions in choosing to remain on the sinking ship of real estate. Yes sir, but I am too ignorant to understand this so I will stay until the surface of the water is so calm that there is no trace of the ship that I rode to the bottom. You are fighting for nothing, because no one can get approved and no one is buying or selling houses. Yes, but you guessed it, I am too ignorant to figure this out so I will just have to see for myself.

 I take pride in my ignorance, it has brought as far as I have made it in this life. And I can promise you beyond the shadow of a doubt that it will take me even further. I'm just too ignorant to understand that I am suppose to be cowering in fear from the current market and that I can't make it no matter how hard I try. Oh yes, I take great pride in my ignorance and if this is a fight, it's not one I plan to run from. No, I will here here until the last bloody blow is thrown. And if the world is coming to an end, then so be it. But my ignorant self will be right here fighting until it does. Whose with me?

www.jlboney.com

 One way or another fear itself motivates everyone.  It causes people to recoil in horror or lash out at everything around them. It causes people to break down or build up. It all really depends on the individual in a given situation and how they handle it. You can embrace things or fight them and either one can be right or wrong at any given moment.

 Fear of the unknown- Much like a fear of change that grips people when they are faced with something new, a fear of the unknown usually causes two distinct reactions. They either attempt to avoid it and or altogether pretend that this unknown thing doesn't exist or they lash out at the unknown with resentment. Either way, the fear of such a thing has motivated the individual with whom it has come in contact with.

 Some people will go to any end necessary to avoid the unknown. Dig themselves into a rut and refuse to except anything new within their protected walls. But somewhere along the way, something find it's way into your bubble and you will have to deal with it. How you do such a thing is in the end entirely up to you.

 Fear of Failure- This is not altogether an uncommon fear, in fact it is somewhat natural to fear failing. It is a harsh reality of life and a bitter pill that too many people have had to swallow. This fear can create people who are afraid to move forward because they do not want to feel the pain of failure. These people rarely manage to go as far as they should for the simple fact that they don't take the chances that would lead them to success in order to avoid failure.

 Of course there are also those that manage to overcome their failure and use it as motivation to move forward in their lives. Not everything is meant to be, but in some ways I feel that everything does happen for a reason and that includes failure. It's not always a bad thing, just a tough lesson that makes us stronger when we get up and brush ourselves off again.

  Fear evokes a reaction from everyone whose path it crosses. Fear itself is not exactly a bad thing, in fact it's quite the logical response to a given stimulus. But no matter what your fears are in this life, the most important thing is keep them from crippling you. You can't go anywhere in this life without moving forward and that's just a fact. Use fear to your advantage, it can be done. No one on Earth is truly fearless, there are just people that control their fear rather than allowing fear to control them.

www.jlboney.com

 The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of Realtors out there that are all too comfortable with listing a property on the MLS, throwing a sign in the yard, and just waiting around. Don't kid yourself, that is not how it works, and there is lot more involved than that. Maybe when the market is ultra hot, you can get away with it due to the overwhelming interest in the market and the mass of buyers beating down the door. However, in this day and age, that will get you two things, an expired listing and an angry client.

 Take a long hard look at the property you list and decide how to effectively market said property. Let's say for the purpose of this conversation that you have listing a $250,000 house in a community with 3 bedrooms and two baths. What can you do to insure that this property reaches maximum exposure for your clients and ultimately sells? Well, market the property of course.

 I like to send out just listed post cards when I list a home for sale. Yes I am aware of the fact that it is print media and that print media is a little out of style at the moment, but some times it still works when done correctly. For the listing above I would find communities that are just under the price range of the listed house. Therefore I would find communities in the same area of town as the listed property that are in the $150,000 to $200,000 range as these are the people that are most likely to move up to the $250,000 price range for their next purchase.

 Then of course there is the Internet. I mean I know it's a long shot what with practically no one using that thing in this day and age, but we have to try. I have a list of about 40 websites that I will advertise my listings on. Not all of them are huge name websites like Zillow or Realtor.com, but I am a firm believer that the more places people can find a property, then the more people will find it. That's why I advertise on so many of them. It's a matter of trying to leave no stone unturned and in today's market we really can't afford to in my opinion.

 Then I do open houses. I do them on Saturdays and Sundays when people are more likely to be out and about looking for their next home. I do them in the afternoons usually from 2pm to 5pm and some times longer if the traffic is good. Don't short yourself by not spending enough time on your open houses. I bake cookies and provide drinks for those that pass through. I also put out as many directional signs as I possibly can, because that will be the main way to drive traffic to your open house. Put them on every major road near the property and make sure you put one at every turn to ensure that people find the house with ease.

 Here in Northeast Columbia, we have a military base close by, Fort Jackson. They have a housing department and you are allowed to advertise your listing there provided you go through the proper channels. If I list a house in Southeast or Northeast Columbia, as they are closest to the Fort, I send in the info to the housing department so relocating soldiers will be able to see that it is for sale. We have many soldiers here and we a lot that relocate here due to the fort, so it can be a great resource for advertising a home.

 Yes in this day and age we can't sit back and hope that another Realtor just hands us a deal. And while I have seen some really nice for sale signs, they shouldn't be your last line for marketing either, just a part of it. We have to act like we want to sell the property and the best way to do that is through aggressive advertising and marketing.

www.jlboney.com.

 The fact of the matter is that anything you invest your time and money in, you expect a return on investment. That's just the way it is, and I for don't blame you one little bit. You see if you are doing anything with no return on investment, then you should honestly stop doing it. You are running in place and going nowhere, and you are wasting your time and your money if that's the case.

 Your Life- You will get out of this life exactly what you put into it. If you sit on the sidelines, afraid to play the game, then you will be a bench warmer. If you go out there after everything you can, eventually you will succeed, you just have to do what it takes to move forward and be progressive. The people in your life need to see the value of being with you just as much as you need to see the value of being with them.

 Your Business- Well I would assume that just about the same goes without saying. You have to be willing to fight, scratch, claw, kick, bite, and scream your way through your competition. You have to be willing to do what the rest are not. Provide great service and care for your clients, and do the job right. The rewards will come. You have to show people the value of using you and your service to achieve their goals.

 Your Blog- The fact of the matter is that if you see no value in writing one, then you should stop. But the fact of the matter is that provided you do what you are supposed to with your blog, then you will reap rewards from it as well. It can greatly improve your Internet presence and give people the ability to see a side of you that is simply not conveyed by your website alone.

 It's all about value, and the value that we place on any particular thing is subject to change over the course of time. When you're young you may value your video games and when you're an adult you likely value your home and family a lot more. Granted I think I still know some adults that value their video games more than their home or family, that's another post entirely. But the simple fact is that in the end, it's all about value.

www.jlboney.com

 We all know the importance of a good search engine ranking when it comes to Internet advertising. Most consumers start right there at their computers when it comes time to search for anything from car rentals to Realtors. The Internet is only getting bigger and people are only becoming more dependent on technology and the Internet itself. And where is it that most people begin their searches, well, search engines of course.

 Without a doubt the largest and best known search engine is Google. Feel free to scan through Active Rain and you'll likely find about a billion posts on the importance of having a page one ranking on Google if you want to compete on the Internet. Well, I am lucky enough to have page one rankings on Google for several keywords that drives a great deal of traffic to my website. There is no doubt that it comes in handy for many reasons, such as exposure for myself as well as exposure for my clients whose houses I have listed and are advertised on my website.

 However, in the great race to place high on Google, I think it's important that we don't overlook our placement on those other search engines. The other two main search engines are Yahoo and Live Search from MSN. Fortunately, I also rank on page one of those for several of my keywords as well. And, believe it or not, there are still people who use both of them over Google. If you only focus on Google alone, don't get me wrong, you have a lot of the field covered, however, you are abandoning any hope of catching any of the traffic that's driven from the other two.

 I make a concentrated effort to move my website up through the rankings of each of the three search engines mentioned in this post. It gives myself and my clients even more exposure than Google would alone. In fact, I do have a good deal of traffic to my website that comes from both Yahoo and Live Search. It's just one more thing to think about when you are focusing on your SEO strategy. Why focus on just one search engine and cut yourself off from the rest, they all have people that use them, and the more people that run across you, then the more business you can get.

www.jlboney.com

 I get questions all the time about the current state of the market and what is going to happen in the future. Just for the record, I can assure you that I am not the only person in the world that has noticed we have never seen a headline in any paper that reads psychic wins lottery. That's mainly because no one can predict the future or what lies ahead for any of us. This market has presented many challenges that many people have never faced. It will simply take time for everything to come around, level off, and get back to "normal."

 However, one thing that I have been suggesting lately to all those that ask me questions about the market, is to run out and buy a magic eight ball. It's guess would be just as good as mine on many of the answers that the general public would like to have. Or that we in the industry would like to have as well for that matter. The truth is that no matter how in the loop we are, it's still a guess.

 Now all the various economic stimulus programs are the latest set of confusions running through the industry. The fact of the matter is that none of us know exactly what Congress is going to do either, and it's not like we ever have. But, there was a good deal of excitement created in my clients at the thought of possibly cashing in on the $7,500 tax credit and this one I understood and could explain. Now, with all the new proposed stimulus packages, such as extending the tax credit and raising the amount available, and including more than first time home buyers, people have a ton more questions. Again, I have to offer them my magic eight ball. I have no idea what they are finally going to pass and what they are not going to pass. Everything for now is just a rumor.

 So, I will continue to watch the market closely, like everyone else. I will hope for the best and prepare for the worst and see where it all ands up. As for time frames on any of the questions that are asked of me, who really knows how long any of this will take. I usually give the same answer all the time. When people ask, "so when is the market going to completely turn around?" I always say it will do so in the Spring, I just don't know what year.

 www.jlboney.com

 The point of social media is without a doubt to have the ability to reach a wide audience. Any number of these networks can give you the ability to connect with thousands if not millions of people. The young generations that grew up with constant access to computers have firmly embraced this phenomenon, and more of the so called "older generation" have begun to join the ranks as well.

 These days anyone that wishes to can join a site such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn, Wordpress, Blogger, and this list goes on and on. Anyone that feels they have something to say and wants others to hear it can simply join up, log on, and type away as much as they like and it's absolutely free. The fact is that the vast majority of social networking and blog sites are completely free to the members that join up and go to work.

 For those of us that use social media as a form of advertisement for our services, the possibilities are limited only by you. There are tons of them out there and they all have tons of users, users that might be willing to use your services. But if you are spreading yourself too thick by not getting your word out to as many outlets as possible, you may be doing yourself a disservice. Obviously there are too many for you the focus a ton of time on each one, so you will have your favorites that get the majority of your time and attention. Nothing wrong with that, I have my favorites also.

 But, I do make a concentrated effort to spread my words as far as possible and once get a routine together, then it's not that hard. But the more places people see you, then the more they will remember you. Your face will be there in front of them on a regular basis and this makes you stick out from the crowd. Much the same way that sending out postcards and newsletters on a monthly basis used to put you in front of your target audience, now social media sites have given you the ability to do the same for free.

 So why not take advantage of this free offer? If you spend all your time in one place, then you miss the opportunities that you would have had if you spread yourself a little thinner. Maybe everyone is not involved in the one place that you play and you would be better off somewhere else. You never know until you try and all it takes is a little time on your part. It can be well worth the effort I assure you.

www.jlboney.com

 I have a dog named Peter Parker, that's right, you heard correct he is named after Spider Man. I inherited him when my wife and I first got together, but that's neither here nor there. We also have a two year old cat named Scooter. They don't exactly like each other all that much, but they tolerate each other due to the fact that they have to. They have a mutual agreement to simply avoid one another whenever possible and that's just the way it goes in our home.

 They both seem to want what the other has, but not as far as toys go. They both seem to think that the other has special privileges, and in a way they do. The dog sheds and it drives me nuts, so he is not allowed on the furniture. That cat being much smaller and usually all too willing to hop up on the couch and visit anyone that resides there, often is allowed on the couch. This leaves Parker visibly irritated and he must feel a little left out, because Parker often barks at Scooter while he is on the couch.

 Scooter on the other hand seems to be irritated that Parker is allowed outside while he is not. We have a privacy fence and we let Parker in the back yard often to run around and take care of business. But, due to Scooter's ability to jump the fence and our inability to catch him as he runs away from us laughing the whole way, we do not allow Scooter out on purpose. That's not to say he doesn't make it out once and a while, when we let out guard down.

 So, when Scooter is on the couch, where Parker wants to be, then Parker barks at him in disgust. And when Parker is out back running throughout the yard, Scooter stares at him out the window and stews over the fact that he can't run free too. They each want what the other has and can not see what they themselves get to enjoy. What they have means nothing, it's what they don't have that drives them mad.

 So what on Earth would this have to do with sellers in today's real estate market? Well, since you went through the trouble of asking, then I will explain. It's a matter of having your cake and eating it too, things just don;t work that way unfortunately. For sellers who are attempting to sell their current house and purchase a new home at a discounted price, there is a little dilemma that many do not get. You can't buy low and sell high at the same time. Maybe in a perfect world, but this has never been a perfect world, and some times we just have to get real.

 I apploud anyone who is taking advantage of the opportunities the current market has presented them with. I truly plan to do so myself. However, if you have to sell your house before you can buy a new one, then you have to be realistic about the situation. If housing prices are falling, then you have an excellent chance to buy a new home at a discounted price. However, if you are attempting to sell your home then you also have to follow suite and price your current house accordingly. It's just the way it is. I wish that you could command top dollar for your house, and get a huge discount on the next all at once, but that has never been the way real estate works. Price itself has become the most important factor I have seen driving current buyers to the market and that needs to be taken into consideration.

 So, remember, while you are looking for a great deal, you are not the only one. Everyone else in today's market is too and over pricing your current house will almost definitely cause buyers to overlook it as an option for their home. You just don;t get the luxury of having the best of both worlds, and neither does anyone else.

 www.jlboney.com

 Realtors- There are more opportunities before you these days than you realize. You have the ability through the Internet to spread your message across the world like never before. Times are hard and now is not the time to give up or give in. You have to want it and you have to ask for the business. Most of the time business is not going to find you and while you are kicked back waiting on it to come your way, someone else is already chasing the business down and claiming it as their own.

 You have to see past all the negatives that surround our every day lives at the moment and know that if you are willing to do what it takes to make things better then they will usually get better. Now is not the time to walk past a stone and leave that stone unturned. Rather, now is the time to make waves and make noise and reap the rewards of your best efforts. Are you giving it your best effort, or are you just waiting on everything to turn around on it's on in the hopes that you will some how survive to remain standing? This is a decision that you and you alone will have to make. Are you willing to throw your hat in the race or are you content with hanging out with the pit crew in hopes to battle another day?

 Consumers- The economy is a scary place at the moment, and I will refrain from making everything sound rose colored. The fact is that times are just as hard for many of you as they are for many of us. But are you willing to allow fear to ruin opportunity and just give up on what you want out of life? When I was younger I wanted to own a home. I wanted a place to call my own and the ability to say that it was mine. I couldn't afford much, but what I could afford I was proud of and my wife and I made it our own.

 Interest rates are at historic lows, days on the market are up, and there is a ton of inventory available on the market. The ball is firmly in your court and you have an excellent opportunity to have a place to call your own. A house that you can buy and make a home instead of that apartment that will never show you any return on investment. The fact of the matter is that the real estate market and the economy at large rises and falls. It always has and it always will, and where we have fallen now, we will again rise. So will those interest rates and away will go the incentives that so many new home communities and sellers are willing to fork out in order to sell their homes at the moment.

 We all have to live in the present and at this moment, sellers have to be very realistic about the fact that they have more competition in the cuurent market than the buyers do. Lately here in Columbia I have noticed an increase in traffic and business and I have spoken with others who have seen the same. Buyers are slowly but surely starting to come off the fence and realize that they have an ecellent opportunity to snatch up that perfect home before someone else does. While I am not asking you to take my word for, I can almost assure you that this too shall pass. And when it does, will you be left with the feeling that you allowed it to pass you by?

www.jlboney.com.