Your Home on the Web

What do you want your Realtor to do with his marketing of your home for sale? The information that folks searching for properties are entering into the search engines are for pictures (lots of Pictures), virtual tours, (either movie or good stills), enough information to make an initial evaluation that it covers their wants and needs.

If your agent is writing the initial listing to the MLS with minimal information, then it is not going to give the web surfer anything to decide to view the home on tour. When I speak with my clients about the information in their layout, I advise that if you don’t catch the buyer’s eye from the start then you won’t get your listing viewed by everyone. The key is to bring buyers through the front door.

Marketing homes now days is an art that I spend many hours developing to give my seller clients the best bang for the buck. The listing should paint the picture enough to make the Web site viewers want to make the effort to come and walk though your home for sale!

Photo of the Day - Boise Depot as taken by me!



Happy Halloween!

There are plenty of things going on in the City and surrounding areas for Halloween this year. Boo at the Zoo, this is a yearly occurrence that is fun packed.

Boo at the Zoo-

Join Zoo Boise for the best Halloween event in town! Saturday, October 30th we'll have costumed characters passing out candy, costume contests for all ages, bat toss, pumpkin patch photos, face painting, and, of course, the zoo!


The zoo will be open from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, with last admission at 4:30 pm. Admission is $7.00 for adults, $4.25 for children (4-11), $4.50 for seniors (62 & over) and free for children (3 & under). Friends of Zoo Boise Annual Pass holders may enter for free (with pass and photo id) and have a special entrance gate!

Eagle Fire Department Haunted Woods

Today, Saturday, Oct 30 5:30p to 11:00p

at Merrill Community Park, Eagle, ID

Tickets are $10 for adults, children 5 - 12 are only $6. Advanced tickets for groups of 10 or more receive a $1 off. Bring a can of food for the Eagle Food Bank and receive a free glow stick.


Idaho Capitol

Trick or Treat” Halloween festivity on the front steps of the Idaho Statehouse on Saturday, October 30th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Photo of the Day - Sunset off Hill Road as taken by me!

Marketing for winter

So you plan to place your home on the market during the winter months? What are some of the pros and cons to doing this? First of all, I am not against listing homes during the non warm months. I have had some very busy times from October to March.

If you have pictures that you have taken over the past year of your yard and landscaping, these will work fine if they are of good quality and clarity. Remember that pictures sell your home before the information that you place in the listing gets attention.

If you live in Idaho, your sprinkler system has been blown out and if the home is vacant the entire house has been winterized if the power and water are shut off, (that is another factor we won’t talk about right now). When preparing your flyers and listing for the Web, use a mix of winter and summer photos. Make sure you have shoe removal areas when folks come to view. Have the temperature set to a comfortable level.


Many homeowners will keep their home off of the market during the winter months due to the holidays and winter conditions. The thinking is that not many buyers are looking during this time. So grab the market and get it listed, there is always someone looking to buy...

Photo of the Day - Idaho City Masonic Temple as taken by me!

Real Estate Maintenance

What happens on a normal day when you are not showing property or writing contracts for your clients? This is it; you keep up on your blogs and websites. Having 4 websites related to real estate and buying homes and property takes a lot of work. Not just in the content of the sites, but making sure that they are in the search engines for all to locate.

Even though the websites are out there and ready for searchers all over the world to view, some of the content may be out dated such as open house dates, and other websites you may have linked to that have gone by the wayside. Then there is the Twitter, Facebook and other daily rituals that you attend that gets the word out...

Another aspect is checking your email and your email listings that you have going out to prospective buyers. At any time most realtors have a number of lookers that wish to learn what properties are out there before they buy. Then I must delete all of the website placement companies that say they can get me better exposure on the web. They insist that searchers can’t find our sites. If this is true why do I have up to 50 emails a day from companies that have found my sites?

Maintaining your sites is a big job, some pay to have others do this for them and make the time available to do other realtor things. I choose to do it myself and keep everything on the sites new and fresh. Visit the websites and see what all the fuss is about…

Photo of the Day - The Idaho Statehouse as taken by me!

Condos and Townhome Search

I have had many requests to make a page with just Townhomes and condominiums; here is the link to bring up all of the property for sale on the MLS that covers the class.

These contain all of the listing searches together including Bank Owned and short sale sellers. Give me a call if you would like to view any of these properties.

Sunday thoughts on home purchases!

As a real estate professional, I must look back and have re-gurgitation all of the past weeks news in the housing market and home mortgage news.

First of all is the Bank of America continued fiasco playing with home mortgage short sale and bank owned paper. I received an email from my broker last week stating caution when entering into contracts with homes that are owned by or mortgaged to Bank of America, the warning was that several transactions have been put on hold as they get to the closing table. In my opinion having dealt with BOA in the past on several short sale transactions, it is not in your clients best interest to write a contract with a bank that still does not have a handle on its past.

Too much work an energy go into the process and then there are the emotions of your clients that are heartbreaking to empower an institution to stall and slow an otherwise smooth process.


What have I learned from the experiences of dealing with this group? There are too many other properties out there to waste your clients time and dreams…

Visit the Boise Fall Home Show!

The fall home show going on at the fairgrounds Expo Idaho. October 22-24th, 5-9 Friday, 11-7 Saturday and 11-5 Sunday.

Everything for your home, get ideas on remodels, landscapes and just updating your house. Attend the semenars to raise your own backyard chickens…

Admission is $5 dollars for adults $4 dollars for seniors and all others are free.

See you there, visit this link for details.

World Center for the Birds of Prey

Taken just south of Boise, Raptors at the Birds of Prey Center! Enjoy...

Fall Parade of Homes

This year the theme is “Home Sweet Home”, don’t miss the final weekend for the Building contractors association fall version of tours. With 33 homes to view you will not be disappointed. Hours are 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, free for all.  Take a look at the links below for maps and information!

What is a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist

he Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) designation program teaches the technical, business management, and customer service skills essential to competing in the fastest growing segment of the residential remodeling industry: home modifications for the aging-in-place. The NAHB Remodelers Council, in collaboration with the AARP, NAHB Research Center, and NAHB Seniors Housing Council, developed this program to provide comprehensive, practical, market-specific information about working with older and maturing adults to remodel their homes for aging-in-place. (read all)

Photography Spending Pays Off

No shocker here: Sales listings taken by higher-end single-lens-reflex cameras (SLR), preferred by professionals, garner higher prices than those properties whose sellers use point-and-shoot cameras, according to Redfin Corp., a Seattle-area real estate firm.

Redfin analyzed listings in Boston and Long Island and determined that houses with better photos sold for anywhere from $934 to $116,076 more compared to listings using photos from point-and-click cameras. The data also showed that properties with better photos got more online views.

Only about 15 percent of sellers use professional photographers and better cameras. Redfin says that about half of $1 million-plus listings were shot with cheaper point-and-shoot cameras.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Emily Peck (10/04/2010)