Google has come a mighty long way regarding innovations pertaining to the World Wide Web.  They are much more than a search engine.  Thus far, I’ve divulged tips using Google applications such as Google Voice and Google Earth.

Today I’m going to focus on how you can utilize Google Maps when showcasing properties online.

These days it is typical for a property, especially one that is listed with a Realtor, to have a virtual tour of the interior of the house.  Google Maps will allow you to go one step further and create a virtual tour of the exterior of the house and it’s neighborhood.  I’ll show you how simple this is to add to your arsenal in the easy to follow steps below:

1. Go to Maps.Google.Com

2. Type in your address of the property for sale and click the “Search Maps” button.  For this example I’ll use a random house from good ole STL (1334 Brownell, Saint Louis, MO 63122), my hometown.

3. Once the search is returned, click on the red location indicator displayed on the map.

4. A pop-up menu will appear, you should have a “Street View” link available to you.  If you don’t have a “Street View” link, then this means that Google hasn’t sent their street van down that street to capture images, yet.  However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t choose a spot to showcase that Google does have imagery for in your neighborhood.  I imagine it’s not feasible for them to capture absolutely every street in the US.  That said, they do have an abundance of neighborhood imagery across the country.  (If your property’s street has no imagery, go to step 4a.)

4a. When you can’t get the street view of your house, you can drag the Street View mascot logo across your map to place him somewhere near your property, to showcase the neighborhood.  You may only drag and drop the Street View mascot onto a street that appears outlined in blue.  The Blue outlines indicate a Google-indexed street.

5. After the “Street View” link is clicked, you will be presented with the actual Street View of the property.  You can use your mouse to click around to get a panoramic idea of the property and the neighborhood as if your were standing there in person.  Below is the image for: 1334 Brownell, Saint Louis, MO 63122. You may click on the image to be taken to the actual interactive virtual tour.  Play around with this and get familiar,  you can click your way all across Saint Louis and further (just follow the arrows).

6. To find the virtual tour HTML source, once at the Street View of your property, you may click the “Link” link in the upper-right hand corner of the page.  You will then want to click the “Customize and preview embedded map” link.

7.  After clicking the “Customize and preview embedded map” link, you will be presented with 3-steps.  The First; customize the size of your Street View Map.  The Second; your preview of your map.  The Third; the raw HTML output that you can copy/paste into your MLS listing, eBay auction, blog, or even CraigsList (you will need to follow the same tutorial steps, except take a screen shot of the Street View image).  If you’d rather not embed the HTML of your virtual tour you can just grab the hyperlink.

Embed:

View Larger Map

Screenshot:

So that about wraps up another tip that can be used to give you an edge over your competitors.  Realtors, especially you should be using this extra bell/whistle to leverage your domination of the relocating-buyer niche in your market.  I broke this down so that it should be simple to follow.  If you think this is too difficult, get your kids to help you.  Or as always if you have any questions, technical or otherwise, leave a comment or hit me up at @Schwaps on Twitter and I’ll respond as soon as I can and am glad to help.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2009 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Google Street View: Virtual Tours your competitors don’t use

Today’s news seems to bring us a tale of opposites every time they report on the real estate market as it exists at this point in time. For example, an article by the AP just the other day said “the pace at which people fell behind on their mortgages slowed during the summer for the third quarter in a row. The bad news is the overall delinquency rate hit another record.”

I don’t know about you but a guy could go goofy if he just took what he read at face value. On the other hand, if a guy looked at these reports and decided to sift out the silver lining he could get by although be it at a slower pace.

TransUnion Adds To The Clutter

TransUnion plucked some numbers out of their database (total of 27 million consumer records per them) and said that mortgage delinquencies remain highest in the four states where the crisis has hit the worst:

• In Nevada, the rate reached 14.5 percent, up from 7.7 percent a year ago.
• In Florida, the rate was 13.3 percent, up from 7.8 percent last year.
• In Arizona, the rate hit 10.4 percent, up from 5.5 percent in 2008.
• In California, the rate jumped to 10.2 percent, from 5.8 percent last year.

TransUnion added the opinion they expect delinquencies to rise. Of the 50 States, they expect Nevada to reach 16 percent. Since I live in Nevada, I can fish for the silver lining to my heart’s content if TU is correct.

By the way, TransUnion also stated that the states with the highest delinquency and foreclosure rates will likely continue to see depressed housing prices. That sounds obvious but yet needs to be stated especially if fishing for the silver lining is your current means of finding real estate values.

Because TransUnion has a basket full of numbers, they also proffered that for the three months ended Sept. 30, 6.25 percent of U.S. mortgage loans were 60 or more days past due. According to them, that’s up 58 percent, from 3.96 percent, a year ago. Being two months behind is considered a first step toward foreclosure, because it’s so hard to catch up with payments at that point.

If that is anywhere near true, the silver lining becomes easier to find. I don’t know what that silver lining is for you in your market, but it could be a variation of the loan called a bridge loan. In this case, instead of the usual meaning of bridge loan, you make the delinquent party a loan for their two months mortgage payments. For collateral, use your imagination. Personally I wouldn’t make it the house. I’d use another object. But that’s me.

Another Time Frame

The government tells us we are climbing out of the mess. However, number crunchers like TransUnion tell us they don’t expect the figure (late payers) to start declining until the middle of 2010. Who to believe, right?

That is a good question but we do know two things must get better before mortgage delinquency rates start reversing themselves. We need the unemployment picture to improve, i.e. more of us go back to work. We also need home values to improve.

This may sound like a tall order given both are more macro than micro. On the other hand, if more of us started looking for the silver lining and get busy with our piece, maybe, just maybe, we can use the micro to manage the macro.

Photo: lamentablemente

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2009 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Foreclosures and Mortgage Delinquencies: A Tale Of Opposites

My grandfather was born in Guayaquil Ecuador in 1906. He came to America in the 70’s and would tell me stories about his business in Ecuador exporting bananas to the United States. He loved America and all it stood for; he wouldn’t drive anything but American made cars. Chevy to be exact, lol. He stated that he got into the business when exports to America were just beginning to take off, and got into the business on the GROUND FLOOR. After getting into the banana exporting business the industry took off with the economic expansion of America after World War II. He was in the game a tad before the expansion — he was ready and poised to gather the harvest.

After the fall to the floor is always the rise to top. There’s always expansion after contraction. Makes sense right? Yes.

We all agree that we have seen the worst the real estate market has thrown at us. Home prices seem to be leveling off or rising in some local markets. Yes, I know, some are still dropping, but collectively speaking, real estate seems to be on the up.

This my friends, is the GROUND FLOOR to an exciting new real estate market. This is your chance that you have waited all your life for — the chance to purchase real estate on the ground floor. 2010 is the new GROUND FLOOR where millions will be made for those that enter into real estate investing and acquire real property.

Here is a list of all the richest people that got in on the GROUND FLOOR in their respective industries:

Bill Gates (PC Software)
Andrew Carnegie (Steel)
John D. Rockefeller (Oil)
William Henry Vanderbuilt (Railroad)
You (Real Estate)

Would you have liked to have been on the ground floor when these industries boomed? I am sure you would, as would have I. Good thing for us, we are on another Ground Floor and this time it is in Real Estate.

I want to see your name on that list of billionaires one of these days; under mine of course.

If you haven’t already done so I advise you to sign up for BiggerPockets.com. Use it wisely and ride it to the top.

Good luck in all you do America!

Photo: Wonderlane

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2009 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Invest on the Ground Floor

A good number of Realtors are getting on the ball and putting up a blog. This is smart. It’s a powerful communication tool. It’s a powerful way to build your presence online. However keep a couple important points in mind:

• It will only serve as a powerful communication tool if you actively use it to communicate. It’s an ongoing process!
• It will only build your presence online if you actively build it!

In other words, a blog doesn’t build itself. Putting it up is step one. Step 2 through to step 10 million-bazillion are all up to you. And if you don’t do it, who’s gonna?

To put it better than anyone else I’ve heard…

One of the keys to blogging is to freaking post to your blog. – Grant Griffiths

When I read that in a recent post to his own blog, I knew I was going to have to quote him at least once, but that quote is awesome! It couldn’t be more true. This business is very simple.

It’s hard work to build your business online, but Realtors are already used to working very hard. If you commit yourself to the work that’s necessary, your blog can become the most cost-effective and powerful marketing tool you have ever used, period. And I mean that with every fiber of my being. I am 100% convinced your blog can change your business for the better a myriad ways, but you have to be willing to write regularly.

This is something many Realtors seem to struggle with.

An Unfortunate Trend in Real Estate Blogging

There’s a trend out there. And it’s a bad trend. The trend is that 99% of real estate blogs seem to be 99% listings. I’m generalizing of course, but this seems to pretty much be the norm. Why is this a bad trend? Because posting your listings is not blogging. Yes, you can share any information you want on your blog, and posting your listings to your blog is 100% valid. But trust me please…your readers (if you have any yet) and NOT going to your blog to see your listings. They’re not. They’re just not.

So if your readers aren’t interested in your listings, what the heck do they want from you? Believe it or not, they want to know what you think about the market! They want to hear from you…on a personal level…and regularly. And the more you can make your blog follow suit with this, the more success you will build over time.

For my post today, I wanted to share a few ideas and guidelines for the content every Realtor should post to their blog. Please comment and let me know what you think!

• Listings should be 10% of your content, maximum.
• Local stories, news, history. Do you love your town? Talk about it! What’s going on tonight? Are you going to a show? Are you meeting friends at a great historic pub downtown? Talk about what’s going down? As a committed and networking Realtor, you likely know a LOT of people and are very involved in your community. Seriously, talk about what’s going down in your town.
• Respond to inquiries. As a Realtor, inquiries come in from a lot of different places. You get inquiries on the phone, by text, by email. You get questions at cocktail parties. You get questions from your website. And if you’re new, you can find TONS of real estate questions on Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn and a million other places. Answer the question, and post it to your blog! It will seriously take you 5 minutes, and you’re sharing valuable expertise with your readers. When someone asks you a question, answer it, and then say something like “That’s a great question! Do you mind if I put that on my blog too?” Of course they’ll say yes, and guess who’s going to be stalking your blog for the next week, looking for their name in print?
• Have something go very wrong with a client lately? Lessons are learned every day in real estate. Share your insights. This is the GOOD stuff. Leave names out when necessary of course, but lessons are lessons. This is the foundation of your true expertise. If you’re not talking to your readers about these things, you’re withholding valuable info from them and practically begging them to cause the same problems with you in the future on future transactions
• Have something go very right lately? Put it on your blog. Success stories are awesome. Everyone loves them! If you’ve been in the business for over a year, I guarantee you have some interesting stories!
• Have a closing? Blog it! Congratulate your clients publicly and sincerely thank them for business. Also, publicly ask them for referrals! Email em a link to your post.
• What do you LOVE about real estate?
• What do you HATE about real estate?
• Do you think NAR has done something god-awful-stupid lately? I know, this NEVER happens, right?
• What challenges are you having in the current market?
• What problems are you having with clients lately?

See, Realtors often tell me two things:

1. I don’t have time to blog
2. I don’t know what to write

Here’s the answer…I’ve given you topics that will keep you busy for years. And any post in any of these categories doesn’t need to take you more than 20-30 minutes maximum. Many posts could be written in 5 minutes. Don’t have time to blog? Are you kidding me? If you don’t have 5 minutes to throw down a post every day, how are you possibly going to have time to answer the phone when those leads come in? Don’t know what to write about? Seriously, give yourself some credit. You’re in an industry that the majority of people out there find pretty fascinating. You have a LOT to talk about.

How’s your blogging going? Do you have a blog yet? Do you have any questions?

Photo: DeclanTM

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2009 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What Realtors Should Put on Their Blog

Before you get the wrong idea about this post, let me start by saying that I am a huge advocate of learning both before and while doing anything new with real estate investing. I’ve invested plenty of dollars on solid education and mentoring over the years and will continue to make these investments for years to come. There are unlimited options available for e-books, home study courses, systems, and mentoring programs. Many of these products are excellent and will provide you with enough education to get started and be successful. Other products? Well, perhaps not so much.

With these seemingly unlimited options, I was truly overwhelmed when I was first getting started in real estate investing. Everything sounded like an awesome opportunity for success and I didn’t know who to trust, what product to buy, whether I should buy anything at all!

I know that I’m not alone here so I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts on what you should consider before buying any system, course, mentoring program, or e-book.

Ask yourself “What was the last training product I purchased, and is it collecting dust on my bookshelf?”

If the answer is “Yes, its collecting dust on my bookshelf” go pick that sucker up, dust it off, and read it again. Unless it’s a complete piece of junk, take action with what you already have available! Grass always looks greener on the other side when you’re seeing examples of other’s success, but try out what you have! Your issue may not be lack of education, but rather fear and/or lack of action.

Ask yourself “Do I get excited and feel inclined to purchase every time I watch a new webinar, see the pictures of huge checks, and read the super long sales pages?”

Do yourself a favor and be honest about this (nobody else will know)! Effective sales letters and videos for products – whether they are awesome or a piece of junk – are designed to evoke emotions out of you. Don’t lose your head! If you’re the type of person who gets excited each and every time and quick to pull out your wallet, you have to be doubly careful.

My advice is to do a little free research online on the various ways to get started in real estate and ask questions (again for free!) in some real estate investing forums first. After you’ve done that, then you should begin to take a look at the product options in your area of interest so that you can follow the lead of someone who was successful in that area.

Once you’re determined your area of focus and are ready to invest in education, consider your available resources

The truth is that you do not need to spend thousands of dollars up front on real estate education. There are so many options available that will cost no more than a couple hundred dollars and can get you started. Once you’re at the point where you have more resources available to you, you may want to consider spending more on an advanced level of real estate education and/or mentoring to help you get to the next level.

Remember, success in real estate investing results primarily from acquired knowledge, a positive attitude, and massive focused action. No course, e-book, or system runs by itself without work from numero uno (yep, that’s you). Once you’ve found something that works for you, don’t let Negative Nellies tell you “I bought that and it didn’t work for me” without questioning them on the actions that they took to be successful.

I wish you the best and encourage any comments or other suggestions below!

Photo credit: dslrninja

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2009 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Wait! Before You Buy That Real Estate Course or E-book…

One of the most important aspects to a successful wholesaling career is being able to build and maintain a list of active investors to sell your deals to. If you want to keep your buyers happy and turn them into repeat customers, avoid the following three actions at all costs…

• Underestimating Repairs

Like I mentioned in this post, you don’t need to be an expert at estimating repairs in order to be a successful wholesaler. What you don’t want to do, however, is paint a picture of a property that does not represent it’s actual condition. No one likes to have their time wasted, so be as thorough and accurate as you can when describing the property condition to your investors.

To give you an example- I recently went to check out a property that another wholesaler sent to me via email blast. According to the description in the email, the house needed “cosmetics.” When I got inside the property, I found that it needed a full rehab- the roof was trashed, the A/C condenser was missing, mold was all over the walls, etc. Needless to say, I will not be going out to look at any more deals this person sends out.

• Overestimating the ARV

If you’re going to provide an estimated ARV (After Repair Value) to your end buyer, don’t try and pull a fast one on them by only including the highest comparable sales with your estimate. Unless you are dealing with a complete novice, the investor is going to do their own due diligence on the deal, and you are only making yourself look like a jerk by trying to jack up the value of the property.

• Repeatedly Sending out Crappy Deals

One of the best ways to ensure that your buyers send your calls straight to voicemail, is to present them with crappy deal after crappy deal. It’s your job to find out exactly what your end buyers are looking for- what parts of town they like, how much they are willing to pay for deals in those areas, etc. If you are constantly sending them overpriced deals, or properties that do not fit their buying criteria, they will lose interest in you in a hurry.

Repeat buyers can put a lot of money in your pocket, so if you want to keep them coming back for more, make sure to avoid these three pitfalls.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2009 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Wholesalers: Three Sure-fire Ways to Alienate Your Real Estate Buyers

Yesterday was a first in the world of real estate.  The first ever Virtual real estate Barcamp was held with 27 presentations in three simultaneous webinars.  The subject matter was as varied as the presenters.  From Stefan Swanepoel’s enlightening thoughts on Social Media Trends in 2010 to Matthew Fetick’s 10 Tech Tools and Tips.  This was all possible due to the efforts of Jim Cronin and his cronies (he’s probably never heard that before) at the Real Estate Tomato.

Lessons Learned… Ideas flowing

If you didn’t get a chance to get in on the webinars today I’m pretty sure they will all be available for free.  Keep an eye at VREBC.com for updates or follow them on facebook.  I consider myself pretty on top of most things related to technology and social media in the world of real estate but I gleaned a few interesting things from today’s event that I’d like to share…

1. Stefan Swanepoel convinced me that the basics of social media are no longer enough.  There’s too many people in the conversation… too much noise.  To rise above it and earn people’s trust and business you have to do more.  50-90 minutes of purposeful networking per day is what it’s going to take.  He used a great analogy… Become the conductor of your social media symphony.  While one instrument may make beautiful music, a planned, cohesive, concerted effort of will from many different instruments will create a fuller, richer experience.
2. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been neglecting video.  As Howard Hughes would say, “It’s the wave of the future.”  There are so many ways an opportunities to powerfully brand and market yourself and your services with video on YouTube alone that it’s staggering.  Create a branded channel, create playlists, create videos.  Then share them, embed them, email them, and syndicate them.  This is at the top of my list for early 2010.
3. Here’s one for you… add yourself and your business to wikipedia.  It always comes up at the top of search rankings and is a trusted source (even though it’s user generated content…. what isn’t these days?)
4. 14% of people trust traditional advertisements…. 78% trust their peers.  Make testimonials an integral part of your marketing plan.
5. Become hyperlocal in 2010.  Learn about Spatial Match, long-tail subsites, and lifestyle searches.

I could go on but I invite you to take a look at the site and view some of the recordings to get your own take.  I know some of you out there had a chance to watch and interact (there were nearly 2,000 registered attendees) so what did you get out of it?  What would you like to see addressed next time?

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2009 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Lessons From the First Ever Virtual Real Estate Barcamp