Strong performance for Miami high-end homes, condos

Just like its surging rental market, Miami's high-end residential sector has been showing significant improvement in the first five months of 2011.

"What's happened over the last 24 months is really kind of phenomenal," EWM President Ron Shuffield told The Real Deal. "When you think about what a deep, dark hole we were in, now to see this real sold activity we're having, we're fortunate to be where we are."

In the first five months of 2011, there has been an average of 51 condo sales over $1 million per month, and 41 home sales in the same price bracket, according to MLS data provided to The Real Deal by EWM.

"That projects to about 1104 sales for the year," Shuffield said. "If we continue [at] that pace, we'll have about a 22 percent increase in the units of sales this year."

At the peak of the real estate boom, there were 1,498 sales in the over-$1 million market, and just 738 such sales in 2009. If this year's numbers hold up, that would translate to a roughly 50 percent jump from the worst of the downturn in 2009.

The high-end market, especially condos, have been driven by the influence of foreign buyers. They've come largely from Latin America, looking for easy-to-maintain foreign homes. But it's the highest niche of the high-end market that has been leading the charge.
At the $5 million price point, the numbers are even more positive, said Beth Butler, president of One Sotheby's International Realty.

"What's happened in the last 60 days is almost all of the high-end market sold," Butler said. "We're really looking at an inventory shortage. The deals that have been sitting on the market for a while are now selling, for good prices and multiple offers. So it's very encouraging."

Butler pointed to a pending apartment sale at Apogee for a unit which had been on the market for two years.

"It's kind of startling, because it sold for a price [of $11.5 million] that I think, six months ago, we wouldn't have thought would happen," she said.

These types of condos have seen a significant uptick in activity of late, Shuffield said.

"[The Miami market] is selling more condos over $7.5 million than we've ever sold in the past," he said. "Over the last nine years, we've been averaging 2.5 sales a year. In the past 12 months, we sold eight.

The sales included one at South Beach's Continuum for $10 million, the Apogee sale, a condo on Fisher Island that sold for $8.15 million, a unit at the Gables Club in Coral Gables that traded for $9 million, a $15 million penthouse at the Setai, an $8.7 million sale at One Bal Harbour, a penthouse at Fontainebleau II for $9 million and the Santa Maria condo in Brickell, which saw an $11 million sale.

As for the impact of all these large sales on prices, it may take time, but some of the drivers are in place, Butler said.

"I think we're going to see that prices are going to start going up a little," she said. "Inventory's decreasing [and] a price increase is soon to follow. I think that when we look at the six-month point at the end of this month, we're going to see that the price per square foot at a lot of these buildings actually increased."

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Short sale scam cheats banks, sellers

Short sale scam cheats banks, sellers
SANTA ANA, Calif. – June 8, 2011 – Banks and distressed home sellers stand to lose more than $375 million this year from a short sale scam that has sellers and banks agreeing to sell homes at very undervalued prices, according to a new study by CoreLogic.

In discovering the short sale fraud scam, CoreLogic analyzed 450,000 nationwide short-sale transactions in the last two years.

Here’s how the scam often works: Borrowers who are underwater or in financial distress are approached, often by an investment group, and persuaded to sell the property in a short sale at a low price. Soon after the bank accepts the lowball offer, the investment group then resells the house to legitimate buyers at a higher price.

Sixty-five percent of short sales resold within six months that net profits of 40 percent or higher were flagged “suspicious,” which means there is a high likelihood that the lender accepted a low offer, according to the CoreLogic study. These transactions often go undetected by banks, too.

Why It's Time To Buy form WSJ

Back in June 2006, when the housing market peaked, the prospect of a five-year national housing bust seemed unimaginable to most people. And yet here we are, with the latest Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller index showing that prices hit new bear-market lows, falling back to 2002 levels nationally and to 1990s levels in some battered regions.

April Home Prices
See the change in home prices from April 2010 to April 2011, state by state.

View Interactive
.Home Prices, by Metro Area
See data from the 20 metro areas Case-Shiller tracks.

View Interactive
.
.Despite all the gloom, however, there are growing indications that it is a good time to buy. Mortgage rates, which fell to 4.55% for the week ending June 2, according to Freddie Mac, are near 50-year lows. Homes have become more affordable than they have been in years: According to Moody's Analytics, the ratio of home prices to income is now 20.9% lower than the 15-year average through 2010, and 12.5% lower than the 1989-2004 average. A historic glut of homes, meanwhile, has created a buyer's market: There were about 15 million vacant homes in the U.S. last year, according to John Burns Real Estate ConsultingInc.—some 3.1 million more than normal.

Such conditions might not last long. Moody's Analytics predicts that the number of distressed sales will begin to fall in 2013, and that prices will begin to edge upward then. Home building is at a virtual standstill, so the supply overhang isn't likely to get much worse. Meanwhile, demographic indicators such as "household formation"—the number of new households each year—are on the rise, and promise to take a bite out of the glut in coming years.

Discuss: Is home ownership a good investment?
.The upshot: "While we might not see rapid growth in the next couple of years, there are a tremendous number of positive signs that could lead to a rebound," says Anthony Sanders, a real-estate finance professor at George Mason University.

The short-term outlook isn't encouraging. Job growth remains weak, foreclosure sales are making up more of the market, and economists are predicting that home prices will fall more in the coming months.

But the long-term benefits of homeownership remain very much intact. For now, at least, you can deduct the mortgage interest on your taxes—a big perk for people in higher tax brackets. You get to paint your walls any color you wish, without having to clear it with a landlord. And assuming you can buy a home for about the same price as you can rent one, buying will give you the ability one day to live rent-free. Come retirement time, a paid-off mortgage means your monthly expenses are significantly reduced, and you have a chunk of equity to play with.

So what might the next five years look like? Once the foreclosure mess begins to clear up, say housing economists, the traditional drivers of the housing market—demographics, affordability, loan availability, employment and psychology—should take over.

Here is a glimmer of what the future may hold: While overall home prices fell by 7.5% in April over the same period a year earlier, according to CoreLogic, a Santa Ana, Calif., provider of real-estate data and analytics, if you exclude distressed sales, prices were off just 0.5%. So if you are in a market that isn't battered by foreclosures, you may be close to a bottom already.

"The regular marketplace is hanging tough," says CoreLogic chief economist Mark Fleming.

Here is a look at five key factors that will govern local markets over the next several years:

Demographics
Household formation fell during the economic downturn as a weak economy led some people to stay in school, double up with roommates or move in with family members. According to Moody's Analytics, the number of new households renting or owning a home dropped to 578,000 in 2008 from nearly 2 million in 2005, just before the peak of the housing boom.

But household formation increased to nearly 950,000 last year, says Moody's, and should average 1.2 million over the next decade.

Worksheets
The Mortgage Calculator
How Much House Can You Afford?
How Much Second Home Can You Afford?

.That, combined with increased obsolescence and higher demand for second homes, should begin sopping up excess inventory in much of the country over the next two years, Moody's says.

"Whatever the excess supply of housing is, it is shrinking pretty fast," says Thomas Lawler, an independent housing economist.

Some of the uptick in household formation is likely to come from the leading edge of the echo baby boomers, who have been waiting for the economy to recover before striking out on their own, says William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. That is likely to fuel an increase in demand for both rental apartments and starter homes.

The portion of people moving across the country has fallen to the lowest level since World War II, he adds. That is a sign that many people have put their lives on hold because of the weak economy.

"When things do pick up, there will be this pent-up demand for everything involved with starting a household," Mr. Frey says.

Of course, when prices in healthier regions begin to rise, many would-be sellers who have sat on the sidelines could begin putting homes on the market, muting the price gains at first, says Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Even so, she expects home prices to stabilize and begin to strengthen over the next two or three years.

There also are some powerful demographic cross-currents worth considering. The first baby boomers turned 65 in January, an age when demand for new homes falls and many begin to think about downsizing. "The baby-boom generation pushed prices up as they got older," says Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California. But in the coming years, "boomers will start flooding the market on the supply side" with larger homes, while fueling new demand for smaller properties with more services and amenities.

Affordability
Rising home prices made renting cheaper than buying in many parts of the country. But that dynamic has begun to change: Housing affordability, as measured by the ratio of median home prices to median household incomes, has fallen below pre-housing bubble levels in just over two-thirds of the country, according to an analysis of more than 380 metro areas by Moody's Analytics.

Renting is still cheaper than buying in most markets, but rising rents and falling house prices mean that, in some areas, this won't be the case for long. Buying a home is already cheaper than renting in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Orlando, Fla., according to Moody's Analytics. In other markets, including Dallas, Las Vegas and Sacramento, Cailf., the equation is likely to soon turn in favor of homeownership if current trends persist, the firm says.

In Ann Arbor, Mich., where home prices fell 11.2% between 2007 and 2010, according to Fiserv Case-Shiller, housing affordability has risen well above historical levels, according to Moody's Analytics.

That is good news for home buyers such as Steven Upton, a 42-year-old photographer, who in June will close on four-bedroom brick house on 10 acres in an upscale community in Ann Arbor. Mr. Upton paid $400,000 for the home, which previously listed for $600,000. "It's a tremendous deal," he says.

Before buying a house, it is wise to compare rental prices for similar properties. To be ultraconservative, wait until the monthly outlays, including taxes and insurance, are equal. You also could factor in the tax savings of owning, which would make buying more attractive even if the gross monthly outlay is slightly higher.

Employment
The strength of the housing market depends largely on the economy. Rising incomes and increased employment tend to give more would-be buyers confidence and buying power. For now, job growth remains sluggish: On Friday the Labor Department reported that just 54,000 jobs were created in May, far below expectations.

But signs of how a stronger job market could fuel housing demand are evident in the Dallas metro area, which added 83,100 new jobs in the 12 months ending in April—the largest gain in the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Dallas never had a big housing boom or bust and has benefited from trade with Mexico, a strong telecommunications sector and a central location.

The opportunities for a job with more responsibility drew Duane and Linda Elmer to Dallas from Des Moines, Iowa, where Mr. Elmer was a banker for nine years. The couple has agreed to pay $415,000 for a four-bedroom, four-bath house with a Jacuzzi and pool. Their Des Moines home, purchased nine years ago for $410,000, is on the market for $390,000. "We are willing to take the loss for the opportunity to live in a more diverse community and to take a job with greater breadth of responsibilities," Mr. Elmer says.

Borrowers like the Elmers who are relocating for job opportunities are a big driver of home sales in nearby Plano, Texas, says Harry Ridge, a real-estate agent. He says such sales accounted for 20% of his business last year.

A similar influx of job seekers is fueling housing demand in the Washington area, where 25,700 new jobs were added in the 12 months since April 2010. Washington was the only one of the 20 cities tracked by Standard & Poor's and Case-Shiller that saw home prices rise both on a month-to-month and year-over-year basis.

Credit
Mortgage financing remains plentiful for borrowers with good credit scores and solid employment histories. But for borrowers who don't fit traditional lending standards, getting a loan can still be nearly impossible. In the first quarter, about 10% of banks tightened standards for nontraditional loans, according to the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, higher down-payment standards are locking some would-be buyers out of the market. Just 35% of renters have the minimum 3.5% down payment needed for an FHA loan on the median-priced home in their market, according to a recent survey by Zelman Associates.

Credit is likely to remain tight for at least the next six months, says Clifford Rossi, a former Citigroup Inc. consumer-lending executive who teaches at the University of Maryland.

But conditions should improve over time, he says: "There's no question that it will gradually get easier."

That will be welcome news to borrowers like Greg Silver. The 50-year-old real-estate developer would like to buy a second home, but hasn't been able to secure a jumbo mortgage because his income consists of capital gains from sales of the properties he develops. Mr. Silver closed three sales in the past 12 months, netting him a total of more than $25 million, but didn't record any capital gains in 2008 and 2009. Sure, he could use some of that cash to buy a home outright, but he would prefer to mortgage it, get the tax deduction and keep his cash free for business purposes.

"It's a little devastating," says Mr. Silver, who is living in Greenwich, Conn.

Psychology
The long-term case for buying over renting remains in force. Yet nowadays, "People are simply scared," says Aaron Galvin, chief executive of Luxury Living Chicago, which finds rental apartments for wealthy clients.

Mr. Galvin says he has seen a 30% increase in business in the last year, driven by would-be home buyers who can afford to purchase a property but are choosing not to do so.

The portion of Americans who believe homeownership is a safe investment dropped to 66% in the first quarter from 83% in 2006, according to Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage company.

But it isn't clear whether the fear will result in a prolonged change in attitudes, as during the Great Depression, or have little long-term impact, as was the case for the housing bust that shook California and the Northeast in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Eighty-seven percent of people surveyed by Fannie Mae said they preferred owning to renting, though access to schools, control over one's environment and other quality-of-life issues now are seen as the key benefits of homeownership, with building wealth and other financial factors viewed as less important. In addition, 67% of renters surveyed by Zelman Associates said they planned to buy a home in the next five years.

Jeffrey Connor may be a bellwether for the future of the housing market. The 40-year-old finance director at a corporate law firm says he thought briefly about buying a house when he moved to Chicago from Washington in October. But he opted instead to rent a luxury two-story apartment in downtown Chicago for $3,559 a month. Mr. Connor says it will take substantial job growth and a sharp drop in foreclosures to convince him to buy.

"The market is clearly soft," he says, "especially when we consider it good news that the unemployment rate is hovering around 9% instead of 10%." Mr. Connor says he isn't worried about missing out on today's low interest rates and will consider buying once unemployment falls to 6%.

Other buyers are showing less willingness to wait for the absolute perfect time to buy. Doug Yearly, chief executive of luxury builder Toll Brothers Inc., told investors in May that "some of our clients, after waiting so long, are starting to move off the fence and into the market, motivated by attractive pricing, low interest rates and, most important, the desire to take the next step in their lives. The family with elementary-school kids and a puppy when the housing debacle began five years ago now has middle-school kids and the dog weighs 80 pounds."

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Property values actually increased

This is one of those article that you ahve to read betwen the lines . What we all have been waitting for a floor to the drop in valeus is what i get from this reading
give your opinion


Property values actually increased in 20 South Florida cities in 2010, offering the battered real estate market its first signs of life in three years.
Taxable property estimates released Wednesday were a glimmer of good news for property owners and those tasked with drafting budgets in South Florida’s hard-hit city halls and county chambers.

Overall, property values — commercial and residential combined — were still down 3.3 percent in Miami-Dade County and 1.9 percent in Broward County, according to county property appraisers’ estimates. But 2010 was markedly better than 2008 and 2009, when the declines were in the double-digits.

For those in charge of writing county budgets, this year’s estimates compare favorably to 2010, when county leaders had to grapple with value declines of $29.9 billion in Miami-Dade and $19.4 billion in Broward. A large chunk of revenue for cities and counties comes from property taxes, and for the past three years elected officials have had to either raise tax rates or cut services.

For South Florida property owners, the 2010 estimates signal that the darkest days of the housing bust may have passed, although a full recovery appears to be a ways off.

“We’ve got 10 cities whose taxable estimate went up, and we have 21 cities whose taxable estimate went down,” said Lori Parrish, Broward County property appraiser. “We’ve seen several areas where the values have gone up—predominantly on the east side of town near the water and in some higher-end communities out west.”

In Miami-Dade, 10 municipalities had value increases last year, after all 37 were in negative territory in 2009. Many of the cities that declined by double-digits in 2009 saw only modest declines last year.

Downtown Miami notched the largest year-over-year increase in the region, with the tax base growing 10.9 percent in 2010, after shrinking 11.2 percent in 2009. Most of the increase came from new construction in the area, as new condo buildings wrapped up construction and finally came online. New construction downtown was valued at $1.4 billion, up from $362 million in 2009.

Other cities to swing into positive territory included Key Biscayne (up 1.5 percent), Sunny Isles Beach (up 2.9 percent) and Pinecrest (up 0.8 percent). Coral Gables was just slightly better than flat for the year and the city of Miami had a 3.8 percent decline.

“The idea that we’ve bounced back is good,” said Key Biscayne Mayor Frank Caplan. “The decline took hold and now it’s ticking up again. It’s absolutely better than going in the other direction.”

New construction was down significantly across the region, an indication that South Florida is still hurting from the mid-decade building boom and the foreclosure crisis that followed.

New construction in Miami-Dade dropped from $2.7 billion to a net of $1.5 billion, the largest drop in the last five years. In Broward, new construction plunged from $1.5 billion to $633 million.

“That’s the biggest problem we have right now—nobody’s building anything,” said Miami-Dade property appraiser Pedro Garcia. “Before, you could sit in my office and you could see cranes all over. Now you can see two or three.”

Miami-Dade’s largest value declines occurred in the southernmost sections, with Homestead and Florida City posting losses of 9.6 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively. In 2009, Homestead values dropped 31.2 percent.

In Broward, Cooper City swung into positive territory, adding 2.2 percent to its tax base. Values were up 0.5 percent in Pembroke Pines, and up 1.4 percent in Weston. Values dropped slightly in a number of cities, falling 3.5 percent in Fort Lauderdale, 2.2 percent in Hollywood and 1 percent in Miramar.

Despite the drop, Miramar mayor Lori Cohen Moseley saw reason for optimism in the numbers.

“The one percent [decline] is a little bit better than we had estimated,” Moseley said, adding that the number of foreclosures in Miramar has stabilized. “We’re on the upswing, and that’s the most important message to get from this.”

The estimates released Tuesday give cities, school boards, hospital districts and other taxing authorities a basis to start drafting budgets for next fiscal year. Final tax rolls will be released on July 1, documenting any changes to the estimates, and property tax bills will be mailed to homeowners in August.

In Sunny Isles, where values increased 2.9 percent after 2009’s 8.8 percent drop, Mayor Norman Edelcup anticipated a much smoother budget-writing season.

“We were cautiously optimistic that we’d maybe see a 1 percent [change] plus or minus,” he said. “The fact that we’re on the positive side is a good thing.”

Edelcup said he would recommend holding the property tax rate steady this year, and the rise in values would make that an easier process during the budget-writing season.

“Everyone is very sensitive to the fact that taxpayers don’t want to see their taxes go up,” he said. “We’ll be able to get the same level of service without raising taxes.”

Not raising property tax rates appears to be a widely embraced decision this year, after voter backlash over 2010 tax hikes led to the recall of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Commissioner Natacha Seijas in March.

“Raising taxes is not on the table,” in Homestead, Williams said.

In anticipation of bringing in $1 million less in property tax revenues, Florida City has already reduced its spending, Mayor Otis Wallace said.

The city has cut three jobs and consolidated four jobs into two positions, a move that has saved about $225,000. The mayor’s assistant now serves as the city clerk and the personnel director is also the zoning director.

Property value declines, while modest, are likely to reduce revenue further in already lean county budgets. Miami-Dade’s property tax rolls had already shed more than $50 billion during the downturn to reach $192.2 billion, so another 3.3 percent drop is that much more painful. In Broward, the 1.9 percent slip means the county’s tax base, at $125.6 billion, is 28.7 percent below its 2007 total of $176.1 billion.

An 8 percent decrease in taxable values in North Miami will force city officials to consider even more cuts after last year’s budget shortfall forced layoffs, furlough days and salary reductions across almost every department in the city. The 8 percent decrease comes on the heels of a 20 percent drop the year before.

In Pembroke Pines, the city scaled back employee pension benefits and implemented a 4.5 percent pay cut for City Hall workers last year, so this year’s 0.5 percent value increase is welcome news. Still, it’s not enough to spark any significant spending increases, said mayor Frank Ortis.

“I think we have turned a corner, but we’re not there yet,” he said. “Without a doubt, no raises right now.”

While property value estimates cover the housing market during the 2010 calendar year, property appraisers have also been tracking property values this year. Both say prices have either hit or neared a bottom, but what happens next will be determined by the trajectory of the foreclosure crisis.

More than 91,000 cases are currently pending in South Florida courts, with banks and homeowners sparring over who owns the note on the property, and whether or not the foreclosure documents were improperly signed.

Additionally, 14.4 percent of South Florida homeowners are behind on their mortgages, and thousands more are underwater, meaning there are many more properties set to enter the foreclosure pipeline.

Parrish said she noticed significant housing value differences in well-maintained neighborhoods and in areas where foreclosed properties have been left to disrepair.

“Until we get all these foreclosures processed — some of them have been abandoned for three years — and get them sold and families move in and give them some [tender loving care], our property values aren’t going to stabilize until that happens,” she said.

In the meantime, the deep descent of home values is likely to taper off, meaning little relief for thousands of homeowners who already owe more on their properties than they’re worth.

Tom Blumer, of Miramar, bought his house in 2001 and is hoping to move to Aventura in the future. The problem: his house is now worth substantially less than what he bought it for.

“I want to try recoup the investment on my house,” he said. “I keep hearing that the market will get better. I don’t know. Maybe eventually it’ll turn around.”

Miami Herald reporters Tania Valdemoro, Nadege Green and Mike Vasquez contributed to this report.





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© 2011 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/01/v-print/2246503/20-south-florida-cities-see-increase.html#ixzz1OS6wb9St

Top 10 Reasons YOUR Online Prospecting Doesn’t Work

This is a GREAT Posting from Trulia i think i need to rethink my online prospecting

Top 10 Reasons YOUR Online Prospecting Doesn’t Work
1. Google doesn’t know who you are.
Getting found by Google isn’t always easy. Search engine optimization can be costly and it can be tricky to find a reliable SEO specialist. Blogging can be an effective way to be found by Google, but it’s not a get rich quick strategy.
TIP: Don’t wait for them to come to you, go where the buyers and sellers already are! Buyers and sellers are talking online in forums like our own Trulia Voices, on Twitter, Facebook, and more. Seek out the places they are participating and engage!

2. Your online marketing is all about you.
You are awesome, I am sure you are, but no matter how great you are, prospective home buyers and sellers don’t really care. They care about numero uno- themselves and what they need.
TIP: Focus your marketing efforts on what is in it for the consumers. How can your services help solve their wants, needs and problems? Tailor your online efforts to address your consumers needs and your success rate is likely to rise.

3. You don’t have a complete profile with a photo.
I am shocked at how often we see online profiles that don’t even have a picture and basic contact information. People want to talk to people and your profile photos gives them a sense of what you are like.
TIP: If you start an account, complete your online profile. Add a professional photo of yourself, complete your online resume and make sure to have up to date contact information. This simple step can be the determining factor if a prospective client is going to pick up the phone or move along.

4. You have an active Twitter presence but you spend all your time talking to other agents.
But they might send you a referral you say? It is possible, but your best chance to generate quality prospects on Twitter is to connect with local buyers and sellers in your target market.
TIP: Get out of your comfort zone and interact on Twitter with the people in your community. Not sure how? Check out my Twitter Tips for Real Estate Agents.

5. You are lurking on Facebook.
You say you aren’t generating business on Facebook, but do you engage with the people most likely to do business with you? I have to admit that I was active on Facebook for quite some time before I realized that the people I tended to engage with were the people the least likely to do business with me. Two of my best past clients were Facebook friends and we hadn’t communicated on the network in over 6 months. Then lists came along and I created my “A” list.
TIP: Facebook Lists are a powerful way to stay engaged with your most important clients first. Go to http://www.facebook.com/friends/ & click +Create A List.

6. Your website gives the same information as everyone else’s.
The average real estate agent’s website looks like many others in their local market. It is templated and not customized to fit the agent’s personality, market niche and more.
TIP: Writing a blog is one of the simplest and most cost effective ways to stand out from the pack. You can use a blog to demonstrate what you know that can benefit your target consumer. Don’t tell your prospective customers why you are different from everyone else- show them!

7. You place ads online that lead back to the main page of your website.
If you don’t direct your ads to a contact page or other landing page with a compelling call to action, you are likely to lose the prospect. Trulia’s local ad customers report that a significant number of their leads come directly from the good ol’ telephone.
TIP: Make sure your online advertising efforts direct consumers to a page that tells them how you can help them and how they can contact you. Don’t forget to include your phone number!

8. You don’t have follow up systems in place.
As I mentioned before, the sales cycle for online leads can take time. You may need to follow up and nurture the prospects over a period of months and years. I have had people call me to list their house two years after they registered on my website. I signed them up for my weekly market stats report and we remained in touch.
TIP: Whether it is market reports or an email newsletter, you should have a regular campaign in place so that when they are ready to move, they think of you first. Some of your web leads will never move, but their friends & family will.

9. You haven’t defined what “working means”.
How do you know it is or isn’t working if you haven’t defined what working means?
TIP: If you want your internet marketing to work, you need to define what that means to you, and how you are going to track your success. Without performance goals in place, it is impossible to measure success.

10. You aren’t calling/email people back.
This sounds so simple, but yet it happens all the time. Our consumers complain that they fill out web lead forms and don’t receive a follow up back. So agents are spending time and money prospecting, but when it comes time to handle the new lead, they don’t call the prospect back.
TIP: Call/email prospects back as quickly as soon you can! The quicker you follow up, the more likely you are to convert them as a client.
In the coming weeks, we will be talking about different methods of online marketing and diving deeper into how to make online marketing work for your business. We will also be sharing our TruliAmazing Marketing Tips from our readers. Stay tuned!
About the author
Ginger Wilcox
Ginger Wilcox is Head of Training at Trulia. Ginger has sold real estate in California and Arizona. Follow Ginger on Twitter

Miami Heat = More Real Estate Sales ?

Of all the images captured during the first game of the NBA Finals at home— heroic three-point baskets, seemingly impossible passes, energetic dunks — it was a different kind of shot Tuesday night that warmed the heart of Miami’s image boosters.
“When they do the cutaways and they show the skyline and the downtown shot, you see the water glistening, these are Chamber of Commerce moments,” said Rolando Aedo, chief marketing officer for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Those aerial shots are manna from heaven and hopefully we’ll see lots of them.”

While not necessarily rooting for a seven-game series between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks, local tourism officials wouldn’t mind the extra exposure — as long as Miami wins, of course.

This year’s finals will be the most widely distrubuted in NBA history, the league contends, reaching fans in 215 countries and territories. Ratings for Tuesday’s game were the highest for a first NBA Finals game since 2004. And more than 2,000 members of the media are credentialed to cover the series, including 315 from outside the U.S.

After Thursday’s game, the championship moves to Dallas for the next three match-ups. A full series would mean four games in Miami, which would equal millions of dollars in brand exposure for home-sweet-home.

Front Row Analytics, a sponsorship and naming rights evaluation firm, calculated that the exposure the city garnered from the live coverage on ABC Tuesday was worth more than $900,000. A 7-game series would result in overall media exposure for Miami of $3.3 million, said Eric Smallwood, the firm’s senior vice president.

While the immediate impact is far less than a Super Bowl, which packs hotel rooms at high rates around the region, four potential nights of Miami-centric coverage could do more for the area’s image. The region’s last experience in the national sports spotlight — the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami — was heavy on sports and light on shots of palm trees and beaches.

“The Super Bowl was about two teams coming here to play a football game, so the focus was on the two teams that happened to be playing in Miami,” said Bruce Turkel, a brand consultant whose firm is the advertising agency for Miami-Dade’s visitors bureau. “The difference here is that Miami is the team. People don’t separate the team from the community.”

He said he expects the impact of the NBA finals to be “off the charts.”

“When the game is over, people have a relationship with Miami,” he said. “I want to go to Miami. Why? Because Miami’s cool. Look at those guys.”

Aedo said he’s hoping potential visitors around the world will have just that reaction.

“The huge payoff is the Miami brand being broadcast throughout the U.S., throughout the world and the halo effect of the Dream Team being in Miami,” he said.

For now, hotels surrounding the AmericanAirlines Arena say they’re seeing a bit of a boost from the finals.

Eric Jellson, sales and marketing director at Kimpton’s Epic hotel downtown, said between fans and guests put up by corporate sponsors, the hotel is seeing a 5 to 7 percent increase in business.

Miami’s InterContinental Hotel, where plenty of Heat jerseys could be spotted in the bar on game night, is flying a Heat flag out front for the finals.

“We have a lot of Heat pride,” said spokeswoman Aurelia Vasquez. “If I could drape a jersey over the side of the building, I would.”

And the new Tempo Miami, across the street from the arena, is offering half-priced food and drinks on game nights at Amuse Lounge to encourage Heat frenzy.

Hotel manager Ryan Roche said he has spoken to basketball fans from Orlando, New York and Washington, D.C. — Heat supporters all — who have come down for games.

Despite being from Cleveland just like LeBron James, Roche said he’s rooting for Miami.

“What’s good for the city, what’s good for downtown is good for Tempo Miami,” he said.

Unlike 2006, when Dallas and Miami last battled for a championship, downtown Miami has established itself as a place to do more than watch a basketball game. The district has added several new upscale hotels, a booming restaurant scene and thousands of residents in condos that surround the arena.

Tadd Schwartz, spokesman for the Downtown Development Authority, said his firm went on the offense to remind the national media that the Heat play downtown, despite James’ announcement last year that he was taking his “talents to South Beach.”

The message, Schwartz said: “Take notice of where the Heat actually play.”





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Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/01/v-print/2246595/miami-hopes-to-score-through-heat.html#ixzz1O9IGagOi

Hey Take a look at were we rank in rent vs buy

Top 10 Cities to Buy vs Rent
The real estate market continues to trundle along, now that the homebuyers tax credit has expired and with it, the rush to sign a contract and qualify for $8,000 of free money. On June 22, the National Association of Realtors announced that existing home sales completed in May were down 2.2% compared with April, confirming expectations that the housing recovery will slowed down once the government’s incentives expire. (There was some good news, though: compared with the same period in 2009, sales were up 19.2%.)

That said, relatively low home prices throughout the country have caused many people to consider the issue of buying versus renting. In some areas, prices have declined so much compared to rents that buying a house may actually make more economic sense. In others, despite price declines, renting is still more economically viable. Real estate listing website Trulia.com recently released its new Buy vs Rent index, ranking the top 10 cities in the United States where buying makes most sense, as well as the top 10 cities where you should rent. How did they decide? With the help of the so-called buy/ rent ratio, which is basically the average price of a home in an area divided by the average rent charged per year. If the result is 15 or lower, that means homes in that area are priced so low that buying is cheaper than renting. If the buy/ rent ratio is 20 or higher, the case is stronger for being a renter.

Ultimately, of course, the decision to buy or rent should be based on much more than plain numbers and statistics. Homeownership enables you to build equity over the long term, but comes with costs beyond a home’s purchase price (such as property taxes and maintenance, the broker commissions and other costs associated with selling that home) that require a committment of at least five or six years to be recouped. You build no equity by renting, on the other hand, but you have the freedom to move at a month’s notice. The debate could go on and on.

In the infographic below, we give you the results of Trulia’s analysis, along with some interesting facts on buying versus renting, including the average net worth of home owners compared with that of renters in recent years, from the Federal Reserve Board.