Ok...so I installed WordPress through my GoDaddy account.  I'm excited. First step, change that boring theme.  Confidently, I start browsing the hundreds of themes available for WordPress.  The artist in me LOVES this.  But wait...some of these themes don't work with WordPress. What?

Ok. now I've unzipped my new template and I'm starting to feel a little confused.  How can that be? I'm really good at all this internet stuff.  I love zipping around and designing my website.  But this theme install is not going well, so I humbly go to the tutorial about how to change my theme and I find myself in Oompah Loompah land.  What language is this written in and when did I become illiterate? 

I really try to break it down into little pieces...but I think my PHP's have fallen into a wad of post meta data.  blah blah blah and something about MySQL (do I really need a squirrel?  We don't have squirrels in the desert). I have to have a header.php and a footer.php and my index.phpfile should run the WordPress Loop (there's a loop?  I didn't see a loop) between the header and footer calls.  What happened to Plug N Play?

Please someone tell me there's a WordPress for Dummies somewhere out there?

From "Let your fingers do the walking", to "Let your plate do the talking"

Thought it might be fun to share and see how clever we Realtors REALLY are! 

Sign me~    1CASA4U

Being relatively new to Blogging, I'm a little confused, well...actually I'm clueless, when it comes to Blogging platforms.  My Point2 membership comes with a Blog, however, I notice that most of the more experienced Bloggers with Point2 websites aren't using their Point2 blog, but are using like WordPress.  Does it make a difference as far as the search engines go?  Are they more likely to pick up a Blog from WordPress than they are the Blog that's attached to our websites?

My "Realtor car" is a Lexus 330 with a lease that is soon expiring.  My other car is a Prius.  After I'm established with clients I have no problem showing up in the Prius to take them to a showing or two (though I never use it for a listing appointment). 

I once pulled up at a property with a client and my Prius.  Parked right behind another agent showing the same property who was driving a Hummer.  Talk about extremes.  I started wondering what the clients who were riding around in a Hummer thought when I pulled up with my client.  My client & I had a chuckle about it, but I also wondered if I had unknowingly emasculated him in front of his peers.  (I, on the other hand, think driving a tank around town is overcompensating for something and actually makes about as much sense as me tossing dollar bills out my window when I drive.)

One agent in my office drives a beat up Honda with over 200,000 miles on it.  He also wears a bright orange fanny pack when he shows homes.  Laugh...but he's very successful.  However...could he be even more successful with a shiny luxury car and a fanny packectomy?  Another not-so-successful agent drives a Hummer and is probably also working as a human sign holder just to put gas in that monster.  I'm thinking of buying him a fanny pack for good luck.

So, the questions of the day are:  What do you drive?  Do you think your car should say you're successful or might it just say you're ostentatious and overpaid?  Or do you think it's strictly based on the type of clientele you represent, in which case I might as well be wearing a fanny pack when I show up to list a Milliion Dollar home in my Lexus? 

I was recently showing homes to a couple with 2 small children and had made appointments to show several homes. 

After ringing the bell at one home, no one appeared to be home so I used the key and we all entered. But what to my wondering eyes did appear...but a middle aged and not so slender woman standing there stark naked which resulted in what I'm sure to this day was an out of body experience for me. 

Each of us stood there, paralyzed with perfect "deer in the headlights" looks on all of our faces. I quickly (though it felt like slow motion) turned and threw my arms around "my family" and corralled them out of the house.  I'm not sure what the woman did at that point.  As we stood outside the front door catching our breath, I asked them if they had seen enough of the house to want to go back in (while silently pleading "please say no, please say no").  They hesitated for a moment and said "what house?"

Message to sellers...Please check your answering machine when your home is on the market!

In a strong buyer's market where some very top-notch listings aren't even being shown, I started to compare certain buzz words within a listing that may put it at the bottom of an agent's tour list.  When I have a Buyer in from out of town who has a limited amount of time to view select listings, There are some things that will keep a listing from making the tour.  #1 is no photo (unless I have time to preview).  Some of the others include "Don't let the CATS/DOGS (plural) out" or "tenants, must schedule appt 24 hours in advance"  and even "security alarm is on, call for code" (Gosh I hate running to find those alarm boxes), I have to admit, with the number of pristine properties to choose from...unless the buyer has specifically asked to see a particular property...some of these buzzwords may cause the listing to end up on the bottom of the pile.

I'm curious as to what are some of the other Buzzwords or items that may limit a property's showings. And, on the flip side...are there any Buzzwords that may be intriguing enough to help the property make the short list?

Has anyone heard anything about Main Street Host for optimizing your website for the search engines?  I used Coracle (until they went belly up) and didn't really notice any increase in my website hits.  Are these SEO companies worth the money or are would I be better off utilizing my own energies to optimize me website?

Just wondering if anyone thinks e-mail flyers promoting listings(that are sent out by a company to all agents in a geographic area) are beneficial?  I know I usually delete them without opening them. However, If I have a buyer for a certain area or type of home, I will open one that might fit the bill. 

 I know sellers think they're wonderful as way of getting the word out about their listing to agents in the area. 

 Any thoughts?