Homes For Sale Twin Cities

Craigslist to Strip HTML - Give Them Your Feedback!

2008-05-24T00:42:00Z

Craigslist is planning on stipping some HTML elements from postings.
Click the link below to see the list of HTML to be stripped.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/html_in_craigslist_postings/details

Give Craigslist your feedback on the proposed change by clicking here:
http://craigslist.org/cgi-bin/emailForm.cgi

Stripping HTML may affect the posting of listings on Craigslist.

Media Fueling Home Sale Slump

2007-07-04T01:15:00Z

"The days of a slower market are upon us." You hear and read this message nearly everyday. Radio snippets, nightly news segments, and newspaper articles reporting that homes aren’t selling, foreclosures are up, and prices are slipping. The “experts” say things are bad, getting worse, and not likely to improve anytime soon.

Many buyers who are hearing these reports are reacting with a wait-and-see attitude. Some buyers might think “Why would I want to buy now if I can get a better price later?” others say “Why would I want to buy a house if it is going to go down in value after I buy it?”

What if the media found just one “expert” that sees good things for the housing market on the horizon? What would happen if the media came out with a report that said “The housing market will turn around by fall 2007! Buyers should buy now to get the best value/lowest price!”? What do you think that would do to the market? Would buyers jump back into the market in an effort to get the best price/value? I bet some would.

The point is the media is not helping by churning out negative doom-and-gloom information to the very people who could turn the market around - the average home buyer.

Once the positive messages hit the airwaves and newsstands of America the market will start to recover. It'll take just one or two mainstream reports saying things are starting to look up and they will.

Is there a reporter out there who will find that 'expert' and begin to turn the tide?

Pete Shrader

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

2007-06-11T17:23:00Z

Today in the Twin Cities it's 90° (F)! So here is my question . . .

Can anyone tell me - why do I still see snow pictures on active listings on the MLS?

Come on agents! Is it really that hard to swing by and take a new picture of the front and back of your listings once the grass greens up?

If I was your client I would wonder about you!

I feel like sending a postcard to sellers that asks them if they think their agent is doing a good job marketing their house.

Better yet I feel like calling the listing agent and asking them:

What are you thinking!?

Failure is Not an Option . . . It’s Required!

2007-05-31T21:59:00Z

Recently an article was forwarded to me that was written by a semi well known public speaker gurus about failure. In the article he strongly discounted the tried and true “sayings” that most of us have heard such as:

“Learn from your mistakes”

“Never make the same mistake twice”

“You only fail when you quit”

"Failure is an event not a person"

The author says that failure is an event and a person.

He pushes that "failure can be avioded" and that that “It’s stupidity or mediocrity that stops you” from succeeding.

He lists 18 reasons why people fail. He says people fail because they. . .

are self defeatists
have a lack of belief
have a limited self image
are lazy
are not prepared
don’t do their homework
procrastinate
have poor timing
say the wrong things
show greed
are insincere
are not perceived as trustworthy
don’t work their butt off
don’t follow their plan
try to do everything themselves
make excuses
don’t do their best
don’t love what they do

Not to argue with somone in the national spotlight but I believe that all of these “reasons” can be overcome through trial and error or what I call “perseverance through failure”.

Persevering through failure. . .

produces success which proves to us that we can succeed
builds our belief
improves and expands our self image
proves we are not lazy
makes us more prepared
forces us to do our homework
is the opposite of procrastination
improves our timing
helps us correct the way we speak and what we say
keeps our greed in check
increases our sincerity
makes us more trustworthy
is hard work
is the roadmap to success
causes others to share your vision and to want to help you accomplish it
eliminates the need for excuses
forces us to be better and do our “new best”
causes us to love what we do or leads us to something else

If we were all automatically able to do everything perfectly from the start there would be no value in what we do. Everyone would be as good at everything as we were and, likewise, we would be as good as everyone else at what they do.

Those who try, fail, and quit a particular business or sport (insert any business/sport/etc) make those who try the same business or sport and subsequently fail, not quit, try again, and succeed, worth their salt.

Failure is the foundational cornerstone for success - other people's failure as well as your own.

Failure is the mother of competition. There can’t be a winner if there are no losers.

Failure makes people try harder, be better, become more, look for new solutions and ways of doing things, and be more efficient.

Failure is not optional but quitting is.

Quitting is the decision to give up, not trying again, not becoming better at what you are trying to do, or trying to do it a different/better way.

Success is where opportunity and preparedness meet.

Persevering through failure prepares us for opportunities and increases our ability to see the opportunities that are all around us.

The biggest mistake we can make in life is to think we “are” failures just because we fail at something.

The second biggest mistake that we can make is to think failure should be avoided.

If we aren't willing to fail how will we ever discover what we like to do, what we are good at, or what our purpose/calling in life is?

The third biggest mistake we can make is to take advice from people that are misguided.

There are three types of people in the world. People that can help you, people that can hurt you, and people that don't make any difference.

-Pete Shrader

Been to the Point lately?

2007-05-18T04:53:00Z

Have you all (Minnesotan for y'all) seen the new Point 2 quarterly online magazine?
Check it out here:

Postcards to Nowhere

2007-05-02T21:46:00Z

In April '07 we sent nearly 500 postcards out to our farm area, past clients and some friends, relatives & aquaintences. We used a reputable company that we have had good luck using before.

On April 23rd we got an email confirming the delivery to the post office for mailing. With a 4-5 day mailing time per the postal service the postcards were sure to arrive by April 30th.

It is now May 2nd and they still have not shown up.
The postcard company says they mailed them so they did their job.
The post office says they don't have them so they can't help me.

I tried looking up the number for the post office located in Nowhere but they must be unlisted!

Anybody have any experience with this? What can we do? I'm just glad it wasn't 5000!

-Pete

Don't answer these questions. . .

2007-05-02T16:21:00Z

The questions?
How much would you pay for a Point2 website? What if Point2 went away?

P2 is increasing their rate for Professional members to $49.99 on June 1st. My questions are for those of us who have invested much time and effort building, maintaining, and promoting our sites.

What if P2's price significantly increased? Or, what if P2 went out of business? Some of us are completely dependent on our P2 sites for 100% of our new business (outside of referrals).
Most real estate coaches will tell you to have at least 3 or 4 marketing systems in place that generate leads consistantly every month. What's the saying? "A one or two legged stool will not stand". Or was it something to do with "eggs in basket"?

Other than P2, what systems do you have in place that produce leads each and every month?

Hopefully you can answer that question! If not consider hiring a coach that can help you.
Point2 has some good coaches that can help you. For outside support try Google-ing "real estate coaches" or get a recommendation from your broker or a big hitter in your office.

You can also try these free online teleclasses: http://www.jointodd.com/teleclasses.php

-Pete

What's your date of birth?

2007-04-26T21:43:00Z

Can anyone think of a reason why a buyer needs to disclose their date of birth to a seller in order to purchase a bank owned property? Since when does a seller (whether they are a bank or an individual) need the buyer's date of birth? The bank is not doing her loan - they are only the seller.

Simple Truths of Service

2007-04-25T14:27:00Z

This is a great story.

Click Here To View The Movie!

Ever tried radio?

2007-04-25T13:41:00Z

Has anyone had success using radio advertising to drive traffic to their website? Please share your experience.