September 6th, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, September 3, 2010—Measuring the success of your marketing efforts is always critical, but some media is built to be measured in the short term, while others are more structured for brand building, to be measured long term.

This is the case with social media. It is being utilized successfully today to augment the building of powerful brands of any size. The effect of regular, brand-building posts and interaction can create more transparency between you and your potential clients, and give them a feel for what you are all about. One of the beauties of this media is that you can use it to help build a local business brand or an international one.

When used properly, social media will accelerate the buying process, the speed at which you can go from awareness to sale. However, it’s more difficult to track and measure this type of benefit on your own. One way is to watch where new referrals are coming from. You may find a pattern of more referrals from those you engage with on social media.

There are tools you can enable in social media now to measure initiatives, such as recruitment and tracking links you can create between platforms, which can be helpful depending upon what you want to achieve. And remember, social media is a great research tool, too. This alone is extremely valuable to growing your business.

Keep in mind that timeless marketing rules also apply to social media. One in particular is, good media always works; it’s your campaign that failed. What can fail? Your message, delivery, frequency or follow up, and finally expecting an outcome from the media that it wasn’t designed to deliver. Social media is not free, so treat it like other media you use. It is a time commitment, and you only get out of it what you put into it.

Are you using social media too much, not enough, sending inconsistent messaging? If so, re-think your goals, strategy and the time you spend on it. Do more listening than participating to learn from those who are successful. Then, once you’ve learned how to manage this media to your benefit, your participation shouldn’t have to be exhaustive to build your brand. Finally, set expectations that make sense for the media and you.

Chris Kaucnik is marketing director for Home Warranty of America, Inc.

For more information, visit www.hwahomewarranty.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
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RISMedia » Real Estate

September 5th, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, September 3, 2010—The Élan Collection, a collection of luxury fractional private residences has commenced priority sales reservations for shared ownership opportunities in a contemporary 4,800 square-foot urban penthouse in downtown San Diego.

Envisioned as a modern pied-à-terre, the Harbor View West penthouse occupies the entire 37th floor of the Harbor Club’s elegant West tower, offering 360-degree wrap-around ocean views. Harbor View West features three bedrooms with en suite baths, a den with adjoining terrace, two offices and a master suite with a terrace for enjoying harbor sunsets.

The penthouse was designed for cosmopolitan entertaining: a dramatic circular glass space combines the living room, large dining area and full wet bar. High-tech touches include a Lutron lighting system, motorized blinds, built-in sound system, whole house water filtration, whole house vacuum, as well as individual room controls for heat, air, sound and blinds—which all operate with the touch of a button. Beyond the penthouse itself, the property offers two private terraces, four parking spaces and a private utility room off the entrance lobby. Owners of Harbor View West will also have full access to Harbor Club amenities, including a 24-hour lobby attendant, concierge, fitness room, sauna, a 95- foot swimming pool, bike storage and an outdoor cabana with kitchen.

Only 10 shared interest deeded ownership opportunities will be offered at Harbor View West. Priority sales reservation pricing starts at 9,000 per deeded interest, but only on a limited basis.

For more information, visit http://www.elanprc.com/component/option,com_residences/Itemid,66/id,18/lang,en/view,overview/.

To submit your Featured Listing, send 300-500 words on the property, surrounding area, and how you’re marketing it to Paige@RISMedia.com. Don’t forget to submit photos and an accompanying URL!

To see last week’s Featured Listing, click here.

RISMedia » Real Estate

September 4th, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, August 30, 2010—Are more Americans positioning themselves for home purchase? Although May’s data showed that home sales were down 26.8% as the home buyer tax credit concluded, a new survey conducted by Relocation.com suggests some families are opting for renting while they research—cash in hand—for deals on a new, more desirable home in their area.

Among the key findings of the survey: Of the 60% of individuals moving into rentals, 24% were previous homeowners who are renting temporarily while they look for a new home to purchase. Underscoring this finding is the fact that for many of these families, foreclosure was not the reason for moving—in fact, the number of consumers who moved due to foreclosure dropped by 70%.

Furthermore, many of these families stayed in the area (one in three made a short distance move of 100 miles or less), opting to remain in a location where they already know their schools, shopping districts and prime neighborhoods.

“While the housing market continues to flux from month to month, we’re seeing strong, continued interest as consumers looking to move start their research with us,” said Relocation.com Chairman and Founder Sharon Asher. “These findings suggest that more Americans may be poised to re-enter the housing market this year.”

The Relocation.com survey was conducted in early June 2010 and is a continuation of consumer surveys conducted since March 2009 to gauge moving and relocation attitudes and behaviors.

For more information, visit www.relocation.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

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RISMedia » Home Buying 101

September 4th, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, September 3, 2010—(MCT)—Some rooms scream “Help!” Others say nothing, and that’s a problem, too. Take the typical bedroom. Michael Payne has seen thousands. “The bedroom tends to get forgotten—you spend all your money elsewhere in the house,” said Payne, a celebrity interior designer and makeover specialist best known for his “Designing For The Sexes” series on HGTV. “You end up with a totally forgettable room that you don’t want your best friend to see.”

Helping people find indoor harmony—particularly at affordable prices—is a common challenge for designers. Instead of moving, homeowners are staying put and trying to make the most of their current house.

“This has been the busiest year I’ve ever had,” said Folsom, Calif., interior designer Jennifer FaGalde. “Absolutely, a lot of people are wanting to stay put and put money into their own home instead of moving. They’re creating a nest within their own space,” she added. “People are staying home more now than they did five, 10 years ago. They want a sanctuary where they can relax.”

But where should you start if you are looking to refurbish your home?

Paint, lighting and flooring are three of the easiest, quickest and least expensive ways to update a room, say the experts.

Arizona Tile’s in-house designer Emitt Isaacks advises people to start makeovers with a very basic question: Who lives in your home?

“A retired couple is very different than a family with young kids. They have different needs and considerations,” he said. “Don’t forget dogs and cats either, as pets influence design decisions, too. Then, start thinking about style—modern, traditional, old-school—and color.”

FaGalde points to two recent makeovers she completed in Sacramento, Calif. A typical home in the Pocket area needed a radical update for its kitchen and three bathrooms. A Land Park house started with a termite invasion and ended up with a remodeled family/living/dining room.

“The Pocket house was a real challenge,” she said. “The bathrooms all had walls separating the toilet area. They had a closed-in feeling, the style of homes 25 years ago. And the rooms were so dark.”

The answer: “We knocked down walls, gutted to zero and started from scratch,” she said. “We added new lighting. It made a huge difference.”

In the aftermath of fixing termite damage, the Land Park homeowners started with paint and flooring, but then decided to update with new window coverings, crown molding and fireplace tile.

“It really transformed the space,” FaGalde said.

Lighting is key, “especially in older homes,” she added. “Lighting enhances your space and shows off the investment you put into it. You spend money on paint and flooring, you want to be able to see it.”

Quick bedroom makeover:
Makeover specialist Michael Payne offers these suggestions:
1. Less is more. An uncluttered bedroom makes for a more restful space. Make use of the area under the bed for storage.
2. Remember: It’s a bedroom. The bed should be the dominant feature. Other furnishings are secondary, but look better if they match in style, wood and stain.
3. Start with the right bedspread or comforter. Use that to pick up colors for paint and carpeting. The result will be more harmonious.

(c) 2010, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

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RISMedia » Real Estate

September 4th, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, September 3, 2010—U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced an unprecedented agreement with the nation’s top mortgage lenders to offer selected state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations a “first look” or right of first refusal to purchase foreclosed homes before making these properties available to private investors.

The National First Look Program is a first-ever public-private partnership agreement between HUD and the National Community Stabilization Trust (Stabilization Trust). In collaboration with national servicers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the First Look program is intended to give communities participating in HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) a brief exclusive opportunity to purchase bank-owned properties in certain neighborhoods so these homes can either be rehabilitated, rented, resold or demolished.

“This groundbreaking agreement will help rebuild neighborhoods that have been struggling with blight and declining home values due to foreclosures,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “Local communities will now get an exclusive option to buy foreclosed properties in targeted neighborhoods so they can turn the homes into affordable housing or, in some cases, tear them down. This agreement helps us level the playing field to give communities a better chance to stabilize these neighborhoods.”

“The Stabilization Trust is delighted to be working with HUD Secretary Donovan on the National First Look Program,” said Craig Nickerson, president of the NCST. “By serving as the operations ‘engine’ behind the First Look Program, the Stabilization Trust can facilitate the transfer of more foreclosed property for participating financial institutions to local community buyers, thereby accelerating the road to neighborhood recovery.”

HUD’s NSP grantees, which include state and local governments and non-profit organizations, often find themselves competing with private investors for real estate-owned (REO) properties, which can hinder their efforts to stabilize neighborhoods with high foreclosure activity. With today’s announcement, HUD and the Stabilization Trust, working with national servicers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will standardize the acquisition process for NSP grantees, giving them an exclusive option to purchase foreclosed upon homes in certain targeted neighborhoods.

The Stabilization Trust pioneered the ‘First Look’ model to create a transparent and streamlined process to facilitate the transfer of foreclosed and abandoned properties from key financial institutions to local government housing providers. First piloted in 2008, the model has gained recognition as a critical tool for positively tipping the scale in neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosures. NSP grantees will also be aided by REOMatch, a Web-based mapping and acquisition management tool developed by the Stabilization Trust. REOMatch will assist NSP grantees to easily identify REO properties and make more strategic decisions about which properties to acquire, based on real-time data on an interactive mapping platform.

The nation’s leading financial institutions are participating in the National First Look Program, representing approximately 75% of the REO marketplace. Participating institutions include: Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Deutsche Bank, GMAC, Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial Corporation, Saxon Mortgage Services, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

The National First Look Program will allow NSP grantees the exclusive opportunity to purchase available REO properties located within the defined boundaries of NSP target areas. NSP grantees will be immediately notified when a property becomes available and will have 24-48 hours to express interest in pursuing a specific property. Furthermore, these institutions will provide NSP purchasers with the opportunity to purchase REO properties at a discount of their appraised value, reflecting the cost savings of a quick sale. NSP grantees may acquire these properties with the assistance of NSP funds for any eligible use.

After expressing interest in a property, the First Look Period will last approximately five to 12 business days during which the NSP Grantee will conduct inspections and establish costs to repair in anticipation of the financial institution’s price offer. In the event that no NSP grantee exercises its preference to purchase an REO property during the First Look period, the financial institution will follow its normal process to sell the home on the open market.

Currently, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) offers a complementary pilot program in which NSP grantees receive an exclusive option to purchase so-called ‘HUD Homes’ at a discount prior to those homes being made available to the investor community. The FHA pilot, alongside today’s agreement expands the opportunity for NSP grantees to gain access to REO properties through a national first-look standard option.

For more information, visit www.hud.gov.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

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RISMedia » Real Estate

September 3rd, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, September 3, 2010—(MCT)—For anyone under the age of 57, mortgage rates are now the lowest they’ve been during your life. This fact isn’t lost on a growing number of homeowners who have started a new wave of refinancings.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported this month that refinancing applications are up 26% during the past four weeks and account for about 82% of all mortgage applications. Not since May 2009 has the volume of refinancing applications been higher.

“We are extremely busy, and it feels good,” said Charles DiPino, Jr., a senior vice president at New Penn Financial, a mortgage banker in Columbia, Md. “The phones are ringing off the hook.”

The calls started coming during the past month or so as rates continued to drop week after week. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac last week reported the average 30-year fixed-rate loan dropped to an average of 4.36%, a rate not seen since March 1953. (Harry S. Truman was president then, and the Academy Awards was shown on TV for the first time.)

Meanwhile, the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hit a record low of 3.86% last week; while a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.52%, more than a percentage point lower than a year ago, according to Freddie Mac.

“Rates continue to hit new lows because of the weak U.S. economic recovery and the concern that it could fizzle altogether,” said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com.

But McBride and others advise against waiting to refinance in hopes that rates will fall further. If they do keep falling, that means the economy is getting even more anemic.

“You can win the battle and lose the war,” McBride said. “You might lose your job and not qualify for the lower rate.”

Refinancing to a lower rate, of course, can reduce your monthly payment. But some homeowners are refinancing to shorten the term of their loan, particularly baby boomers who don’t want this debt hanging over them in retirement, McBride said. And some want to trade in the uncertainty of an adjustable-rate mortgage for the dependability of a fixed-rate loan, he says.

Amy Crews Cutts, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist, said despite the uptick in refinancing applications, the numbers still aren’t as high as they should be, given the record-low rates.

Homeowners could be having difficulty qualifying, Cutts said. It could be their creditworthiness has deteriorated. Or their income dropped because of a loss of overtime or they were forced to take a new job that pays less, she says.

So who can qualify for these great rates?

“We’re still in a very tight credit market,” DiPino said. Homeowners with credit scores of 660 or 680 can qualify for refinancing, but the best rates are reserved for those with scores above 700, he says.

Also, generally if you don’t have a certain amount of equity in your home—20% for the very best rates—you might have to pony up more cash to get a new loan, McBride said. Homeowners’ equity has fallen along with a drop in home prices or because they took money out of their house the last time they refinanced, he says.

Some homeowners, though, won’t need that much equity in their homes to get super-low rates if they qualify for a streamlined refinancing program for loans owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, said DiPino, the mortgage banker. The program, which requires passing a credit check, is designed for those seeking a lower monthly payment, he says. In other words, you can’t refinance to tap the equity in your home.

Of course, there are other factors to consider, such as how long you’ll remain in the house before determining whether refinancing is for you. But with rates these low, it’s worth taking a look.

Should you refinance?
Mortgage rates hitting the lowest levels in decades have caused a rush of refinancing. Check out calculators at Bankrate.com to see if refinancing is worthwhile. The refinance calculator can tell you how much you’ll save and how long you must live in the house to recoup refinancing costs. The FICO score estimator will give you an idea of your credit score. To qualify for the best terms, you’ll need a score in the 700s.

(c) 2010, The Baltimore Sun.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

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RISMedia » Real Estate

September 2nd, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, September 3, 2010—Following a sharp drop in the months immediately after the expiration of the home buyer tax credit, pending home sales have modestly risen, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator, rose 5.2% to 79.4 based on contracts signed in July from a downwardly revised 75.5 in June, but remains 19.1% below July 2009 when it was 98.1. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, cautioned that there would be a long recovery process. “Home sales will remain soft in the months ahead, but improved affordability conditions should help with a recovery,” he said. “But the recovery looks to be a long process. Home buyers over the past year got a great deal, and buyers for the balance of this year have an edge over sellers. For those who bought at or near the peak several years ago, particularly in markets experiencing big bubbles, it may take over a decade to fully recover lost equity.”

Yun added, “Affordability could reach a generational high in the second half of this year because of rock-bottom mortgage interest rates, helped partly by the Fed’s very accommodative monetary policy. The loan underwriting standards are tighter, but home buyers can improve their chances of getting a loan by staying well within their budget.”

The PHSI in the Northeast rose 6.3% to 62.5 in July but is 21.1% below a year ago. In the Midwest the index increased 4.1% to 66.7 but remains 25.7% below July 2009. Pending home sales in the South rose 1.2% to an index of 86.3, but are 15.6% lower than a year ago. In the West the index jumped 11.6% to 95.0 but is 17.6% below July 2009.

The national index had fallen 29.9% in May and another 2.8% in June.

For more information, visit www.realtor.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

RISMedia » Real Estate

September 2nd, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, September 2, 2010—“The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is giving homeowners and buyers until October 4, 2010 to lock in a low monthly insurance premium,” said Gibran Nicholas, chairman of the CMPS Institute, an organization that trains and certifies mortgage bankers and brokers. “After October 4, the monthly insurance premiums on FHA loans will increase by over 63%.”

What does this mean for home buyers?
A home buyer purchasing a 0,000 home using a 3,000 FHA mortgage before October 4 would pay an insurance premium of .46 per month. If the same home buyer waits until after October 4, the insurance premium would jump to 8.01.

“In this example, the home buyer would lose .55 per month, or ,146 over a ten year timeframe,” Nicholas said. “Although the upfront mortgage insurance premium is going down after October 4, the real impact to the home buyer is actually a net increase in their out of pocket costs because the monthly premium is going up by 63%. Remember, sellers can pay the upfront premium or it can be financed into the loan amount, so home buyers rarely pay the upfront premium out of pocket. On the other hand, the increase in the monthly premiums will be paid right out of the home buyer’s pocket with their mortgage payment each month.”

Ironically, home buyers who plan to be in the mortgage for less than three years and decide to pay the upfront fee themselves (instead of having the seller pay it for them), may actually save money by waiting until after October 4 to apply for an FHA loan. “Home buyers with a short term time horizon may actually benefit from this change because the upfront premium will be reduced to 1% from 2.25%,” Nicholas said. This change will impact over 30% of the home buyers in today’s market who use FHA-insured financing. Home buyers considering an FHA loan should find and contact a CMPS professional in their area to discuss their options and what this means for their situation. Also, you can follow CMPS Institute on Twitter to stay updated on these and other mortgage and housing industry developments.

For more information, visit www.cmpsinstitute.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

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RISMedia » Home Buying 101

September 2nd, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, September 2, 2010—What’s the number one absolute best way to get more organic traffic to your real estate blog, website or lead capture pages?

Content creation. (“But, what on earth am I supposed to be writing about or videoing, and how will it get me business?”)

We’ve talked about this concept a number of times before, and a few months ago we detailed a plan for how this might work, called the 2010 Real Estate Broker Market Domination Plan. The plan itself lays out a strategy for how you might go about creating an architecture for leveraging agent created content to zoom the GCI of your office or team, but it doesn’t go too much into specifics about what kind of content you might create.

So here’s a list of possible topics you and your team might be contributing to a central real estate blog monster site on a regular basis.

9 killer niche content creation ideas for real estate agents and brokers:

Before you read the rest of this, imagine that you have one person on your team assigned to each of these ideas, with the requirement that they deliver the related content to the site you own on a regular basis. Or if you are a single person shop, simply pick one or more and make it your job to create one piece of content for your real estate blog or website each and every day.

1. Weekly market update – Take a 5 minute video or screencast interpreting data from your MLS and the general mood amongst buyers and agents in order to deliver a public update on the state of the local real estate marketplace

2. Daily/weekly transaction report - Cut and paste the reported transactions from your MLS as this will garner a lot of organic traffic especially long tail stuff related to property addresses in your area. Be sure to include “real estate sales transactions” in the title of each post—wherever you are, people are searching those keywords.

3. Restaurant of the week - Want to charm the pants off of a local restaurant owner and provide a valuable resource for folks relocating to your area? Do a restaurant review once a week and be sure to include a picture of your dish and why you loved it so much. Chances are good that especially for smaller restaurants and markets, your post will rank organically for people doing a direct search of the restaurant name.

4. Business of the week – This is the same as the restaurant idea listed above: recommend doing actual video tours of each business highlighting the coolest service/product to buy from the place. Can you see this helping you gain top of mind status with the local business owner, then a bunch of referrals as he talks you up to other patrons?

5. Local dog parks – People moving to your area with pets are going to do a search engine search for dog parks in the area. Talk about a non-competitive keyword.

6. “Where in (insert your area here)?” - Take a random photo of a person, place, or thing in your area and post it to your site. Offer a prize to the first reader who guesses what the picture is. Be sure to offer an e-mail signup for folks to receive your latest pictures so they can be one of the first to take a guess.

7. Weekly neighborhood news update – Give each agent in your office an assigned neighborhood and require a piece of hyper local content. Run with this for a month and see what happens to your recruiting/retention efforts.

8. Resident interviews – Interview someone in your area and ask them what they like about their town, what they like to do, where the best place to grab a drink with friends is and anything else along those lines. This is an easy way to generate content that’s interesting to onlookers.

9. Contract chronicles – Grab a clause from one of your real estate forms and tear it to pieces—a nice way to demonstrate competence while creating content that’s sure to be indexed and searched. If you don’t already have an article and a downloadable copy of the standard “Residential Lease” for your state on your website, be sure to get this on your site now.

Here’s the thing, the content you create today will most likely equal traffic to your website tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and probably years and years for now.

If you invest a few minutes creating content for your website today, it’ll pay off for years to come.

If you get 20-50-100 agents in your office each investing a few minutes a week to create content, it’ll pay off for years to come, help you establish local market dominance and make your website the most valuable asset your business has—your piece of cyberspace could be worth 6 figures a year from now if you play it right.

Now that we’ve given you nine great ideas, find out the simplest way to put those ideas into action (hint: its video) by visiting http://realestatevideotoolbox.com.

Josh Schoenly and Ryan Hartman are co-owners of ReTechulous, LLC.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

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RISMedia » Real Estate

September 1st, 2010 by admin

RISMEDIA, September 1, 2010—With existing U.S. home sales diving to 15-year lows and millions of homes stagnant on the market, home sellers are suffering increasing anxiety, uncertainty and financial stress. To address these symptoms, motivational author Joan Gale Frank has published Home Seller’s Blues (And How To Beat Them).

“This is the first book of its kind to cheer people on and up when their home isn’t selling,” says Frank, a long-time real estate investor domestically and abroad. “It also provides hundreds of practical tips on how to sell a home faster using buyer/seller psychology.”

When her own Arizona home didn’t sell for a year, Frank gathered extensive home selling advice from top real estate experts, home stagers, landscape artists, psychologists and marketing whizzes. Her research paid off. Frank said, “I was able to pinpoint potential buyers and appeal directly to them, which helped sell my house faster. I also discovered how to be happy instead of miserable while waiting for a buyer.”

Home Seller’s Blues was created to share Frank’s findings with other frustrated home sellers. It features comprehensive home selling tips, including quick, inexpensive ways to make a house memorable, attracting more buyers, finding the best Realtor, win/win pricing, easy ways to get a house ready to show in minutes and identifying little problems that cause home rejection.

Several chapters of the book are dedicated to overcoming negative emotions ranging from fear and frustration to insomnia and helplessness. The book also emphasizes how to enjoy life during the entire home selling experience. “Ms. Frank’s insights into the emotions, psychology and real estate strategies of home selling are right on,” says Alexis Halmy, a Portland, Oregon Realtor.

Home Seller’s Blues is available for .99 at the Apple iBookstore, on Amazon’s Kindle, and at http://www.homesellersblues.com. Frank also provides inspiration and often humorous home selling advice on her blog, http://www.housesellingblues.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

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RISMedia » How to Sell Your Home