Today, July 13, 2005, you can visit your local bookstore and request my book "Real Estate Websites: How to Become A Top Producer."

As of this morning, it appears on the websites for barnes and noble, borders, and amazon.

Yippee..I wonder if I should ask Borders to change their release party for Harry Potter to coincide with a release party for my book?

Either way, life is good. Thanks Lulu!

Posted on Wednesday 13 of July, 2005 [21:46:00 UTC]

This week, I learned an important lesson in book writing: be prepared for critics.

Now, I know that this is hardly an unknown adage, but it is still a shock when they come from places you wouldn't expect.

This past week has been a whirlwind for me, as my book was published, and I started sharing its release with my coworkers. Our agents, and office, have always been outstanding when it came to sharing new information that could help others in our group. So I was excited when I was allowed to share news of my book with my fellow agents.

It was later, when an agent I'll call "Dave" sent an email to all the same agents I did, did I realize a mistake I had made. And thanks to him, I am better because of it.

His email basically told all our agents that he had researched my rankings, and found that I was not in the top 100 of searches he performed. Therefore, my book had little credibility for him.

It was later, after I had fumed about him trying to sabotage my book sales, that I realized I never bothered to share my credibility with my fellow agents. I merely wrote a book and told them it was good.

For you see, Dave was correct. In today's search engines, I am ranked somewhere around 185 on MSN, and probably further down on others. So what gives me the right to write any kind of book on website optimization?

You see, my current rankings are MY choice, not those of the website spiders. In 2003 and 2004, I was ranked as high as 12th in MSN, 24th in Google, and 17th in Yahoo and even #1 in July, August, and September 2004 on Alltheweb. Searches such as "Orlando homes for sale, Ocoee homes for sale, and real estate Orlando" all placed me on the first two pages of some of the most popular search engines. My business was exploding, and I was consistantly closing 4, 5, 6 or more transactions a month, with new clients in the dozens, and showing homes constantly.

However, in July of 2004, my second daughter, Catharine, was born. During the summer and early fall, my wife stayed at home, raising both girls (Caitlyn was about to turn 2). It was near Christmas when my wife decided to return to work after my office contacted her to become the receptionist at our office. This was a pay raise, less hours, and only a 5 minute drive from home. So, she chose to do it.

I also learned that fall that I had never budgeted for day care in my business plan. Having strong belief in the formative years of our children, we decided that I would watch the children during the day, and only drop them off at "mom's" when I was scheduled to work at the office, or was off meeting clients for listings or showing homes.

It was after I had to begin turning over leads to other agents that I decided that I had to back off on new clients. Mom can't handle all the little ones for hours at a time, and I was having difficulty scheduling appointments during the week. So, what did I do? I changed my keywords, my meta tags, my description. I deleted many of my links, even removed a few pages that had high search probabilities.

Now, I still work with clients. I still list homes. Almost all my business still comes from my website...but on a much smaller scale.

So, yes, Dave is correct. I do not have high rankings. But you know what? I know how to get them. And I wrote it down in a book. So even Dave can use them.

Thanks, Dave, for teaching me a valuable lesson. Like Michael Douglas said as a character in "The American President,"

"People don't drink the sand because they want to. People drink the sand because they don't know any differnce."

Now, you can all know the difference between sand and water. My knowledge came from books and experience. And my book combines both so that any agent can benefit from them.

Posted on Monday 27 of June, 2005 [00:48:00 UTC]

If you've been struggling with your real estate website, I have written the book for you! Real Estate Websites: How To Become A Top Producer! is now available!

If you have a website, learn how to make it better.

If you are thinking about getting a website, learn how to choose the best for you, how to get started, and what to look for.

If you have a successful site, but have been spending a lot of money on website marketing, this book can teach you how to make the effective changes of the professionals, all without costing you money!

If you're a broker, and wonder where all your money is going, this book will help you!

Regardless of your skill level, this book is written so that you can start at the beginning, and learn to add simple, effective tools to making a dynamic, rankable website....again, at NO COST!

While you debate buying this book, other agents' websites are outranking yours due to the changes they have implemented from REAL ESTATE WEBSITES: HOW TO BECOME A TOP PRODUCER!

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Posted on Friday 10 of June, 2005 [16:13:52 UTC]

Today's real estate market is similar in demand of the California Gold Rush. With lowered interest rates, competitive mortgage lenders, and public awareness, buying a home today in many markets is like a running of the bulls...if you don't get there first, you may not get a chance at all.

So how do you compete in such a hot market?

Well, you need a few important tools in your arsenal. Whether you have just decided it's time to move, or have been in the market for a while, you probably have witnessed how quickly homes are selling. In Central Florida, homes have sold in hours, not days or weeks. People have camped out in front of a home, with a tent and all, waiting for the chance to put in the first offer.

1. First, get a copy of your credit report. If you have never reviewed it before, pay attention to a few important details:

A. Are there things that have been charged off, unpaid judgements, or delinquent accounts? Whether you like it or not, these must be paid before you can close on a home. But take heart...if you read the report, it tells you the amount, the company that holds it, and their contact information. If you contact them, you can oftentimes negotiate to pay pennies on the dollar instead of the full price. WHEN YOU PAY ANY OLD DEBT OFF, GET A LETTER IN WRITING FROM THEM! Do not forget this part, as you will need this for your new lender! You also need to make sure that your credit reports in all three companies reflect these changes: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax.

B. If you have an existing mortgage, look to see how many times you have been 30 or more days late. This will affect your ability to get the lowest rate possible. While you can't do anything about how late you have been, it is helpful to know what was going on at the time. Take a moment to investigate the times you were late. Why? Jot down some notes. Perhaps you were sick, or a tragic event took place. Your lender may take this information into account when processing your loan. Even if you have a bankruptcy, you can still buy a home. But just like everything else, you are charged more than some because of the risk factor associated with delinquency. The good news is twofold, however. First, you can typically buy a new home only 12 months after the discharge date of your bankruptcy. Secondly, even with bad credit, your rate is still no where near as high as they were in the early 1980s, when interest rates were over 10%!

C.Make sure everything on there is accurate. If not, you must dispute them to have them removed from your credit report. Do this immediately, as it takes time! Once things are removed, GET A LETTER FROM THEM THAT IT HAS BEEN REMOVED!

2. Now that you have knowledge of what is on your credit report, you a ready to do business. Contact several lenders within 1 month of going to buy a home. For example, if you are waiting to save $1,000 more for a down payment, and you anticipate having that money at the end of June, start shopping lenders in Msy. Pick the three you like best, and get quotes from them. You may be able to give them a copy of your credit report, so that they can review it without having to pull your credit to do so. This will give you a general idea as to closing costs, interest rates, fees, etc. Pick someone that is accessable, a good personality match to you, and seems knowledgable. Let the others know who you have chosen, and why, so they can improve what they missed. Then, supply all the information they need to get you pre-qualified, and then preapproved.

Pre qualified basically means that based on what you told them about your financial situation, you can qualify for a mortgage price of xxxxx dollars at xxxx interest.

Pre approved means that they have gotten all your proof: bank statements, pay stubs, credit reports, income, debts, etc., and have reviewed them all. Based on this information, the bank has committed to give you xxxxx dollars towards a home at xxxx interest.

Pre approved is like a check in your back pocket, and has tremendous weight when shopping for a home in a hot market. Pre qualified is like negotiating to buy a car on Monday, saying "I get paid on Friday from so and so." It means you have taken the time to get the information, but things can still go wrong. It carries more weight than someone without a prequalification letter, but not as much as a preapproval letter.

Share this information with your REALTOR. Give them a photocopy of this letter, so they can include it in any offers to present on homes. In hot markets, contracts are discarded without one of these two letters.

Shop for not only best price, best interest rate, best fees....but SHOP FOR SERVICE!!! Many people find companies across the US that offer little or no fees, yet when they try to go to the closing table, the lender drags their feet, or worse yet, can't deliver what they promise.

3. Find a REALTOR. A real estate agent is someone who went to school and got their license. A REALTOR has taken additional training and has joined a real estate association, binding them with a Code of Ethics. You may have heard from someone you know about a bad agent, or something that didn't go well. Typically, this is an agent that was not a REALTOR. Secondly, check out a few agents. Find someone who knows the business, knows the market, and is someone you can work with. While experience is fantastic, sometimes it can get in the way. An agent that has been working for 30 years may know all the tricks, but may have either come complacant or are so entrenched in thier ways that they are not current with the times. If you find a fairly new agent, say 1 or 2 years in the business, with a proven sales record, they may have more "fire in their belly," and willing to go the extra mile, to help you find a home.

Finally, a good agent can give you information that you desperately need. Most importantly, they have access to homes that come on the market on the same day! If you have email (if you don't, get a free account from MSN or Yahoo or something), your REALTOR can email you properties the second they become available on the MLS system. Make it a daily ritual to check these emails, and try to create a way so that you can view a home the day it hits the market, if it interests you. If you don't, it may already be sold.

4. Have your checkbook ready. Realize that in a market like this, you either jump on board or get left at the station. The old adage is: "The house that you are looking at today and will think about tonight is the same home someone looked at yesterday and thought about last night." In a booming market, you have hours, not days, to make a decision.

Don't be scared of this. First, only look at homes that fall in your needs. If you need to be a certain distance to work, don't look at something too far away. If you have kids and schools are important, take the time to research what school the home is zoned for BEFORE going to see it. That way, when you walk into the home, you have already settled some of the problems you would have encountered later that could have broken the deal.

Now, when you see the home and like it, there's only two questions that need to be met....

A) Can I afford it?
B) Does it meet the needs I have? Keep in mind every home is a compromise. You may have to give up space for location, or storage for living area, or land for house size, or older versus newer. Whatever the compromise, take a realistic view of whether or not it is a compromise you can live with. If it is, don't hesitate.

To write an effective offer, I recommend an escrow deposit of about 2 - 3% of the total offered price. However, I always recommend paying it in installments. First, offer a 1% deposit upon acceptance of the offer. Then, write your contract so you have 5-10 days to get all your inspections done. This will give you reports on roof, plumbing, electrical, structure, termites, etc. If your inspection period lasts 10 days, give yourself 24 hours after all the inspection reports have been presented to you so that you can evaluate them before rendering a decision. If all is acceptable to you, offer the remaining 1-2% escrow deposit. Your REALTOR can help you write this in a contract.

5. Inspect, Inspect, Inspect. Some people cut their budget so close to get the home they love, they have no extra money to hire the inspectors. This is a bad, bad thing. Hiring an inspector is not a way to find how to lower the asking price. An inspector is a way for you to "peel the cover" off your potential new home. Keep in mind a reputable home inspector, termite inspector, pool inspector price according to the size of a home. Typically, you will probably pay somewhere between $350 to $500 for an average sized home...more for a larger home. A typical example for a 2500 sq ft home, with a pool, is around $550.00.

These are just a few basic ideas to get you started. I hope they are helpful to you. If you have any questions, feel free to post them here, or email me directly at cliff.cox@century21.com. You can also visit my website at www.cliffcoxrealty.com for buyer and seller tips, home tips, searching for homes, or if you interested in selling your home.

Cliff Cox,REALTOR

Posted on Monday 30 of May, 2005 [16:53:18 UTC]