Welcome to RealTown

It is no longer sufficient to be at the "Center of the transaction." If a REALTOR® waits until the transaction, it is too late. To be at the center of the transaction, the REALTOR® must be at the "Center of the conversation" about real property and participate with consumers far in advance of the actual listing or sale.

The Zillow Listings Feed program allows participating listings providers to automatically gain free marketing exposure for their listings on one of the most-visited real estate sites in the country, while providing Zillow’s users with a more robust search experience.

Significant increase in Detailed Views and Interest associated with increased photo count confirms that more photos on a real estate professional’s website is engaging and directly impacts stickiness on the site.

A listing is merely a moment in time of the life of a property. MLS data is a subset of a larger body of data relative to a parcel of real property. Of value to REALTORS® and consumers is information about a parcel before the property is listed for sale.

Price changes motivation. A better offer will move an indifferent seller, just as a lowered price will help a kick-the-tires-type buyer.

Learn more about the growing phenomena of Google and the impact it will have on your life in business and personally, and what you can start doing right now to leverage Google Power.

White Mountains REALTOR Yvonne Coelet adds foreclosure resources to her blog and designs a more cohesive Web presence in a No Blogger Left Behind Laser Blog Coaching session with Frances Flynn Thorsen.

Hello everyone! I found this great article in Realtor magazine online about Electrical Systems. I just wanted to share it with you. It was written by Leslie Banker in August 2008.   Home Electrical Systems: 4 Questions You Should be Able to Answer Practically all of your listings will have an electrical system. Whether working with buyers or sellers, it pays to understanding the basics. By Leslie Banker var author="Leslie Banker"; var date='Aug 1, 2008'; if (author!="" && date!='') do...

The FDIC took over IndyMac Bank on July 11, 2008. It was the 5th bank failure in 2008. Shortly after taking over Indymac, the FDIC temporarily halted all IndyMac foreclosures on July 14, 2008 as reported by Reuters. FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair has been critical of banks and lenders for not doing enough to modify loans to help customers that are in trouble. Based upon the conversations that I have had with various people, I would have to agree. The banks would rather take the property and lose mo...

A contract offer to purchase real estate includes sales price, mortgage to be obtained and down payment. Down Payment The buyer’s down payment is somewhat fixed. It is generally that amount of money they have saved, or have available, for the purchase of a home. However, there are minimum down payment requirements depending on the type of mortgage to be obtained. When applying for a mortgage loan, the lender does verify the buyer’s assets. Commonly referred to as deposit verificati...

Many REALTORS' web sites are way behind the curve in terms of meeting consumer expectations for a Web 2.0 experience -- interactivity and a chance to communicate. Blogging offers REALTORS an easy way to embrace technology that consumers are looking for in growing numbers.I have been blogging since January, 2005, and I will share some thoughts based upon personal experiences as well as countless discussions with bloggers online and offline EVERY DAY.SEO is certainly an advantage to blogging. Mor...

HI Mike, good question and the replies have been dead on. But no site can possibly answer all the consumer's questions. Consumer Centric  for me means the proposition you make.. "visit my website"  and you will be rewarded by time savings, relevant content and urgency in response to your questions. Thats why we built realPING.. to be one click away from NOW. Agents spend all sorts of money to get consumer to their website yet many fail at offering Conversion tactics. Al Clark Creator, real...

In a recent posting, Andrew Himes noted a listing obtained as a direct result of his participation in the social media site Facebook. I contacted Andrew and found out that the transaction closed and he has several more in the pipeline through Facebook contacts. Does anyone else have a success story from their participation in social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, SecondLife, etc....ThanksJohnJohn Reilly e-PROCEO and PublisherRealTown® John@RealTown.com San...

Rich Levin will be conducting another free educational tele-seminar this Thursday (August 21) at 3:00 PM EST.Topic: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Leads (And Didn't Know to Ask!).Rich will discuss how to effectively get leads even in a soft market.  Rich will provide tons of scripts plus information about FSBO and Expireds. He will also continue his discussion on the focus of appointments to meet goals.Simply call 1-605-475-6000 then 317175# when prompted for the pin number. Everyone...

Hi Sheryl,"Can I get some feedback on using Verizon Broadband compared to RoadRunner."The benefit of using DSL broadband over your phone line vs. a service like RoadRunner through your cable TV connection is primarily one of having a dedicated connection. The DSL connection is specific to you and isn't shared with any others while a broadband service over cable is not. While you may not notice much difference in speed, cable broadband can fluctuate as more cable users fire up their computers and...