Top Five Reasons to Buy a Condo

"A growing number of people in the real estate market are looking to buy a condo rather than to purchase a home or to rent an apartment. But, why are condos so hot in the real estate world? Here are the top five reasons why so many are looking to buy condos rather than other forms of real estate.
Reason 1: Condos Do Not Require Upkeep
One of the biggest reasons that so many people are looking to buy a condo is the fact that they do not require the same type of upkeep as owning a house. For those that hate mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, repainting the house, or doing other chores associated with homeownership, it simply makes more sense to buy a condo. In addition, many people simply do not have the time to maintain a home because of their careers. Therefore, a condo provides a practical solution.
Reason 2: A Condo is an Investment
Of course, those that don t want the upkeep headaches associated with a house could always rent an apartment. The problem with an apartment is that it often feels like money is being thrown away as you pay your rent and effectively help your landlord buy a piece of real estate. With a condo, you can still buy the place in which you live while still enjoying the same conveniences offered by an apartment.
Reason 3: You Can Take Advantage of the Amenities
When you buy a condo, you also buy rights to a number of amenities. Since all of the money put into the condo is shared by those living in the building, it is possible to afford many of lives little luxuries that are difficult to afford on your own. For example, when you buy a condo, you might gain instant access to a pool, an on-grounds gym, and more. Even better, you don t have to worry about the upkeep for these little perks either.
Reason 4: You Can Get More Space
Often, buying a condo is a good alternative for those looking for a large piece of real estate but that do not have the funds. If you want to buy a 3,000 square foot home, you may not have the funds for it. On the other hand, it might be within your budget to buy a condo that provides 3,000 square feet of space. In fact, there are some pretty good deals going on in the condo aspect of the real estate market right now that some savvy shoppers are happily taking advantage of.
Reason 5: You Want to Socialize
If you do not have a large circle of friends and you are looking to socialize more, a condo can help make this happen. When you buy a condo, you also buy into a community. Therefore, purchasing a condo can easily and quickly provide you with a whole new group of friends that you can get to know and enjoy.
There are many reasons to buy a condo rather than other forms of real estate or rather than renting an apartment. At the same time, a condo is not the right answer for everyone. Therefore, you should weigh the pros and cons of all of your options in order to find the right place for you." Eric Bramlett is the broker & co-owner of One Source Realty in Austin, Texas. Eric currently manages his Downtown Austin Condo Guide, his Austin Condos company s website, & his Central Austin Condo Guide.



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How to Get Real Estate Leads from Your Website

Real Estate Leads - Web Lead Generation - Get realty leads from my website There is no need wasting money with Real Estate Web Lead Generation Companies when you can generate local area web leads from your own real estate website. This article will tell you how to do it, step by step. Step 1 : Define Your Target Market
Web marketing is just like anything in life, you have to know what you want first before you get it. First question you need to ask yourself is, "Who your target market?" This may sound easy, in fact, you may think you already know who your target market is, but do you really?
One of the advantages to internet marketing is the ability to capture YOUR target market as opposed to someone elses. In order to define your market you need to determine the characteristics of the people you re currently selling to, or that you want to be selling to in your local area. Get as specific as possible for the best results remembering that it pays to be specific when marketing online.
Examples:
* Demographic Data (Age, profession, education, marital status) * Personality (Positive, Happy-Go-Lucky, Serious, All Business) * Financial Class (Upper-class, Middle-class, Low-income)
The key here is to be VERY specific. Now, I know some of you are thinking, "I sell to anyone and everyone." Before you click away, hear me out. I am just asking you to define qualities of your target market that will make an ideal web lead for you. We re talking ideal here. You can broaden your approach before you actually go after your web leads. Ultimately you want to create five separate personas of potential clients and build your web marketing campaign just for them, but each one should be considered separately and specifically if you want to appeal to them all.
Humor me for just a moment and define your ideal client. If you re not sure, think of clients you ve worked with in the past. Is there a common thread or personality trait that many of them have? If you can find that link, you will be closer to defining the market your after and closer to turning those folks into credible web leads for your real estate practice. It s also important to know that not everyone is your client. Step 2 : Gather Content that Appeals to Your Target Market
Sounds easy doesn t it? Yet many people misunderstand this part. Think about it. Mr. and Mrs. Potential Client sit down to their computer to find a home in your city. Let s say they are from New Jersey or New York or wherever. What would that person want to know? You got it! The want to know the obvious... What s are the schools like? What entertainment venues are most popular? What areas are considered good or bad? What s the weather? What s the cost of living? Don t forget to take some photos of the area too and paste them on your website. A picture is worth a thousand words to your potential client leads.
While you re at it, address the concerns of local home shoppers too. Is there something you get asked time and again that you could put on your website? Build rapport with web surfers by going above-and-beyond in gathering information and local photos. Step 3 : Personalize Your Web Content
I ve personally seen a huge difference in the effectiveness of real estate websites and quantity of realtor leads by the volume of personalization of the website. Sites taht are impersonal do not rank as well as sites that are revealing and personal. Here s a few ways to personalize your web content to attract leads like mosquitoes in summertime.
1. Dress your site up with real photos of you; 2. Use contractions in your content; 3. Write using personal pronouns; 4. Use an easy-writing style rather than formal; 5. Show photos of yourself with your pets, hobbies (don t over do it!)
Of course you want to brag on yourself a little on your website too. Don t be too modest, but don t gloat either. Let your prospects know about your style, your awards and your successes so they ll feel like they know you online before they meet you in person. Step 4 : Gather Web Content that is Unique from Your ompetitors
Step 3 is where things start getting a little tricky. This is where you set your website (and your real estate practice) apart from all the rest out there. You do this not only to appeal to your visitors and to persuade the ranking rulers at Google to keep you higher on the food chain and in the eyes of potential--potential clients.
Try thinking of content and information that will be useful to your potential clients, but not overdone in the market. Most of the real estate websites out there leave a lot unsaid, so it shouldn t be hard to create a unique and thoroughly interesting real estate website.
Step 5 : Add Calls-to-Action on Your Website
Calls to action are the parts of your webpage that ask the visitor to do something, like "Contact us now" or "Call 866-697-7638 for a Free Real Estate Web Lead Consultation." Without calls-to-action, your client may not know what to do after reading all your web content. We wouldn t want that, no way.
I have found it best to use a subtle call-to-action on the web as opposed to a salesly slap in the face. A subtle call-to-action would be a request at the bottom of a page, as an after thought, after you ve given them free information.
"Here s generic info on Kalamazu...
And by the way, if you re looking for a home in this wonderful city... give me a call. "
That works way better than a sales brochure on steriods that some websites are guilty of being.
Of course there are many more things you can do to generate homebuyer leads from your real estate website, but it all starts with a solid foundation of a well written and researched content written to answer the questions of your target market in a personal way and better than any one else online. It may sound like a lot of work, but as a real estate agent--you can always hire someone to help you.
Jenna Ryan is President & CEO of The Marketing Shop.com specializes in providing valuable full-service website marketing services that take the stress off the Real Estate Agent . Visit our Real Estate Web Design website today.



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Interest rates...

by Joe Samson, Calgary Realtor
WOW, what an incredible year we had, real estate prices have increased by 36.4% since last November, interest rates are on route to drop next year, and Alberta s economy is humming away at an unprecedented rate and no end in sight for a real estate turnaround.
In my last newsletter I had provided a few fundamental points explaining some of the major influential factors that affect the real estate market and why there isn t going to be a bubble in Alberta. This month I would like to share with you what is happening with interest rates and the driving factors behind it.
First things, first. Let s take a look at why Bank of Canada needs to control the cost of borrowing or interest rates. In a well balanced economy a healthy economy s growth is 3% per year otherwise known as the speed limit of the economy. If the economy is churning too fast than people will earn more and proportionally spend more as well. An unfortunate side effect of this situation is that the demand for certain products increases and causes greed among suppliers therefore prices will rise or inflation will occur. To keep inflation under control Bank of Canada adjusts its lending rates to keep the economy s speed limit where it should be. In a circumstance where the economy tends to be underperforming (below 3% GDP) Bank of Canada will decrease the posted lending rate to stimulate spending and investing which will generate a higher demand for certain products and services therefore creating employment opportunities which will ultimately cause people to earn and spend more money and causing the economy to speed up again. When the economy is performing above the normal speed limit than the exact opposite is expected to happen to interest rates. Rates go up, people will earn and spend less, unfortunately some companies will have to lay people off due to lower demand for their products or services and the economy will eventually slow down until the interest rates are adjusted downwards again.
All right, but where in the world are we today and where are we heading to? One of the major misbelieves that I would like to iron out is that Canada isn t as US dependant as many might think. Today the US is only responsible for 15% of the world s combined economy where China and India makes up almost 50% of the total global GDP. In a nutshell it means that it s extremely important to look at a global picture than just what is happening in our neighbour s backyard.
For simplicity, let s use oil as an example to prove my point and I think we all agree that it plays a very important factor in our local economy.
Not that long ago George W. Bush has admitted that the US is addicted to oil (by the way of which we have lots of) and they need to outsource more reliable exporters other than the Middle East and South America. As I had mentioned before, and have the world s fastest growing economy with the highest amount of growing middleclass citizens. alone has 25 million people moving into the major cities each year that needs to purchase a vehicle, house, build factories etc. All this comes with a higher desire of consuming more commodities such as oil.
Not that long ago George W. Bush has admitted that the US is addicted to oil (by the way of which we have lots of) and they need to outsource more reliable exporters other than the Middle East and South America. As I had mentioned before, and have the world s fastest growing economy with the highest amount of growing middleclass citizens. alone has 25 million people moving into the major cities each year that needs to purchase a vehicle, house, build factories etc. All this comes with a higher desire of consuming more commodities such as oil.
Absolutely nothing as far as Quebec and Ontario is concerned. Alberta is doing exceptionally well with a 6.9% GDP (remember 3% is normal) where in the East, they are toying with a recession if interest rates would go up. Quebec and Ontario is heavily manufacture oriented to the US market, however the US is slowing down therefore ordering less products from Canada due to lower demand and secondly due to a more expensive Canadian dollar.
This is a very unique dilemma to the decision makers at the Bank of Canada because they have to control the economy of Canada equally with the same principal which is adjusting interest rates. If they would decide the faith of the interest rates based on the Western economy it would be guaranteed to go up for the reasons I had discussed before. However if int
As a conclusion it only makes sense to make the decision (lower interest rates) that will create the best possible results to the most economically sensitive region within Canada
One might wonder about how Albertans are going to be able to afford to survive with prices escalating so fast? The fact is that Albertan households are in the best shape among the rest of the country. The average Albertan household has $250,000 of net assets compared to rest of Canada s which is $200,000. Most workers in Alberta had enjoyed a 6.3% increase in their disposable income where the rest of the country only saw a 3.9% raise. A general prerequisite for real estate prices to increase is that people need to earn more money before they can spend it on housing, this is known as the Housing Affordability Index. As obvious as it may sound this indicator plays a very important role of the prices of real estate. In Calgary the average family spends 37% of their pre-tax household income on housing vs. someone in Vancouver who spends 72% of their pre-tax earnings on housing.
The bottom line is that there is no need to worry about the housing bubble or prices not having any room to grow, or cost of living becoming too expensive because as strange as it sounds Calgary is still one of the most affordable Cities to live in and it sounds like it s going to be even more attractive once interest rates begin to fall.
Posted by www.JoeSamson.com



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Selling Real Estate on eBay

Selling real estate over the internet may sound like an awkward idea. However, the exposure the real estate receives over such a widespread media like the internet is every realtor s dream.
Can eBay be used to market real estate? The answer is a resounding yes!
eBay provides functionality that is clearly adaptable to the needs of most realtors. It provides a widespread medium of advertisement for the real estate. It is also a relatively inexpensive method of advertising.
One of the best things about selling real estate on eBay is that it "markets" to many areas around the world, not just a local area. Advertising on eBay makes the property available to more than 100 million potential buyers, including those from other countries. Visitors can browse through the property details 24 hours a day, 7 days a week all without the realtor having to explain the details about the property to every single prospect wanting information.
Advertising Your Real Estate on eBay
When one has a house or other real estate to sell, he or she may list it for auction on the eBay Real Estate site. This is found at http://www.pages.ebay.com/realestate.
There are many different ways to present the property for sale on eBay. If the realtor seeks to sell the estate at a fixed price instead of having the property go through an auction, he may request eBay to display a real estate listing in a format much like a local paper.
eBay s Real Estate page has three selling formats. These are the auction, fixed price selling, and the traditional real estate listing.
For each of these selling formats, the "user" furnishes additional information regarding his or her property. Details may include lot size, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, type of property, year built, and other information. The auction listing period must also be specified, where the choices range from 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-, or 30-days, or a 30- or 90-day non-auction listing.
The eBay Real Estate website charges two types of fees for listing a property. There is a simple fee for listing the property and also a fee is based on the final amount of the property sale. The charge for a 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, or 10-day auction listing is typically around $100. A 30-day auction listings cost about $150. A non-auction listing costs $150 for 30-day listing, and about $300 for a 90-day listing.
Fees for Timeshare property and land are usually slightly lower. The final fee amount for Timeshares and land is generally about $35.
Selling real estate on eBay is growing in popularity as the internet stretches it s outreach to more countries. Although nothing beats direct and personal inspection of property, the convenience of having eBay connect seller and potential buyer is definitely appreciated.
Paulina Jenkins http://www.mywebcashstore.com/jenkins3755 http://www.24hourwebcash.com/jenkins3755 http://www.e-knights.com/finance cheatle894@aim.com
This article should be reprinted in its entirety



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