Carbon Monoxide Alarms... when required.

During the December 2006 storm in Western Washington over 1000 people were treated at emergency rooms and 8 people died because of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. It is an invisible, odorless and tasteless gas that is caused by all combustion. People did bring charcoal burners into properties. But, if your neighbor does that you could be poisoned by the gas seeping through walls.
The Washington State legislature passed a law in April 2009 requiring CO alarms. The statute requires building code council to adopt rules to require them in all new residential properties.
The statute also says that all owner occupied single family residences legally occupied before this act are exempt.
However, for any owner occupied single family residence that is sold on or after the effective date of this act (July 2009) the seller must equip the residence with CO alarms in accordance with the requirement of the state building code before a buyer can occupy the residence. RCW 19.27.530 (1)b.
In April 2010, there was a proposed change in the law as passed. The change as discussed in HB 2886 which is in committee "removes the statutory requirement for the installation of a carbon monoxide alarm when an owner-occupied, single family residence is sold."
The Bill also extends the date to January 2013 that all existing multi family residential occupancies must have a CO alarm.
It also requires the building council to adopt rules that are consistent with the smoke detectors, when applying for building permit.
But, the proposed change did NOT go through the legislature... maybe the CO alarm companies had a big lobby... because as the way the law is right now over 10,800 alarms will have to be installed per WEEK in Washington state to meet the deadline of July 2011!

So that is the latest on that issue.

Classes in Pierce County this week!

Get yourself into social marketing with classes this week in Pierce County.

Wednesday, Jan 20 at 10 am Get Connected on the Internet at
Home Team NW in Puyallup

Thursday Jan 21 at 9 am Blogging and 1 pm Twitter at
Keller Williams on Tacoma Mall Blvd..


Email Natalie or just show up for any of these classes! You are welcome to come! Get yourself online and connecting this new year! Don't wait.. NOW!
Natalie
clockhoursatgmail.com

There's so much to learn ... I can barely keep up!

This social media revolution is like raising kids. They grow... regardless of what you do they get bigger and change. As a parent I was always trying to catch up with the new lingo, the new toys, the new activities, the new teachers, the new fads. I always felt a little behind the 8 ball. But the more I kept informed, the better relationship I had with my kids.

Its the same for social media. You will never know it all. The guru's that I try to be close to on a regular basis are also learning every day. I think... "Gads, you are brilliant! Look how much you know! You have it.. you can do it all! " .... and then the next time I see them they have taken another leap into some other aspect of the social media world.

So I try to make sure I do something every day. I keep myself on Facebook all the time. Really, I am amazed how many people I communicate with about work! I made appointments, scheduled classes, helped a couple agents with clockhours etc!
I go on Twitter every day. If I do anything I just send a tweet but also make sure I am responding to anything someone tweets about or to me!
I try to write in my blogs or post photos.
I make sure that I tell at least 10 people about my website, a blog or my YouTube channel.

Every day I make an effort to learn something. Today I watched a video about how Steve Jobs is a magnificent presenter. Do I zap my audience with enough visuals and an "ah ha" moment? I saw a 4 minute video on TED talks where a guy explained the power of the internet connections using example of naming the Greenpeace whale "Mister Splashy Pants." (amazing example!) Then, I read Seth Godin's blog and went to links about iPhone apps. He has an app which I need to download that on my iPhone! Then I jumped to Anil Dashes blog about his take on being on the Twitter.com Suggested User List. I learned so much about noise on Twitter and the effect or non effect millions of anonymous followers can have and how important it is to go for your target. Then I followed real estate agent, Rich Jacobson's tweet about how Kitsap Peninsulas sales have climbed a bit. I registered for a Biznik event featuring the author of "Drive" about what motivates us. I clicked on a blog with a photographer takes one photo a day in Seattle... where did he go yesterday? And I either commented or shared what I learned with someone else via email or blog or facebook!

So learn something new online every day... every single day. And then do something every day to connect with people. Because, this keyboard in front of me is my connection to the world like no other tool ever! A television is one way communication. But, the internet and social media tools let me connect back!

But the seller EXPECTS me to put ads in the paper!

I remember in the past century when I would sit at my desk with a pen in hand creatively describing a split level home for an ad in the homes type magazine or the Sunday classifieds. The ad would no show up for days or weeks depending on the medium. Sometimes the office would have a space in the full page ad and I'd throw my listing in at the last minute. The budget for every listing had to include a substantial sum for all the print advertising. I would provide the seller with a nice copy of the ads.

Real estate agents are still doing that today! Instead of using all the free sites available on the web, agents are crafting ads for printed medium. The sellers may have come to "expect" this as marketing for their property, but it is up to the real estate agent to educate sellers about how the market has changed.

This past summer a representative from a homes type magazine sent me information about the advantages of print over online advertising. The full color flyers were artfully done with graphs and pie charts. But, every statistic was from a survey that was more than 3 years old. Back in the year 2006, they have been applicable. But, in that short period websites, blogs, and online classifieds have grown astronomically. Print newspapers and magazines are in trouble because income from reduced readership and advertising does not support the cost of printing.

The most powerful marketing tool a real estate agent has to sell a property is the multiple listing service. We all know that when we look for a property for a buyer that we don't pick up a newspaper or even go to CraigsList.com or Realtor.com. Most properties sell because of the buyer's agent finding the property on the MLS.

But, that is not to say that marketing a property isn't effective. It brings attention to it from prospective buyers and also brings the real estate agent and company brand recognition.

Get that listing posted on as many sites as possible. Many agents use a service that does that or their office takes care of it. Take photos of the listing and even videos. Think outside the box. What can you do to encourage people to look at your photo tour that would make it different from the others? What if you took a photo of your bicycle in front of the house and wrote, "This is my bicycle and, by the way, the house behind it is on the bike trail and listed for $0000!" Be a bit creative so people pass info on your listing to others!

Mos importantly.. FIND you own listings on as many sites as possible. Often agents don't search on sites like CraigsList.com and Zillow.com and see their own listing just as a prospective might. You may need to "claim" it as your listing and post a profile.

Then, print the listing out and show it to your sellers. In many cases, sending the sellers a link is effective if they are connected online.
Go to clockhours.com for more information about real estate classes in Washington state!

How Will your Past Clients Find You?

So let's say that one of your past clients wants to list their home. You sold them the house 5 years ago. Because of a job transfer they want to sell the property. You have moved to another real estate company. They have received a calendar and some postcards from you over the past few years. What is the first thing that they would do to find you? Would they look for that calendar? Did they save the postcards? Do they remember what company you work for?

Yes, you guessed it! They would "google" you. Either on their laptop or cell phone, the past clients would look for you on a search engine.

When was the last time you "googled" yourself? Did you show up on the front page of the search? How can you make sure that you have a presence on the internet? How can you do that without spending money on a geek?

Take Natalie's Clockhour class "Get Connected on the Internet!" She is teaching it all over town... Check out her website www.clockhours.com for the dates of her next class.

If it looks like a fish, smells like a fish.. it's a FISH... same for fraud!

For over a half dozen years I have taught classes on Real Estate Scams and Fraud. Agents would fill the classes but there were many that would argue that the "fraud" I was talking about was perfectly legal and being done every day. In one real estate office in Pierce County every agent in class at the time was involved in some aspect of a fraudulent real estate transaction! Not only that, but I went to a class from the Washington State Association of REALTORS and an attorney teaching was condoning all the types of fraud I was warning about! She asked if anyone in class had taken a Fraud Class from my school? Then the attorney proceeded to tell everyone how the information was wrong and that you CAN inflate the sales price on a transation as long as the information is on the blank addendum. I sat there AGAST! There I was almost daily teaching about fraudulent mortgage and real estate transactions while attorneys, loan officers, banks, the news, real estate brokers etc.. were all deciding they didn't want to be left behind when they could make some quick cash... Because... "everybody is doing it!!!"

I spoke at the Washington State Department of Licensing Real Estate Commission meeting back just after the new milennium began about the surge of fraud and they even dismissed it. One broker on the commission said there was "no fraud in his office!" And, I knew actual transactions that were happening with his agents that were totally fraudulent. I did get a section added in the first Core Curriculum on Predatory Lending!

I had no idea that the mortgage industry would take such a drastic tumble... that the real estate market bubble wouldn't pop it would EXPLODE!

I wish that there were more people that contributed to the fraud were prosecuted and sentenced. Today the Seattle Times reported about one case but it is just like what everyone was doing. Why aren't they reporting about dozens of cases being taken to court. Where is all the money that these people made in this "fake" market that was created?

Now, the scams out there surrounding Short Sales are multiplying. They are hurting the banking industry even worse. And, yet, agents tell me... "but at least my listing SOLD!"

Follow your gutt... if it looks like a fish, feels like a fish, smells like a fish... it is a fish.. no matter how hard you try to convince yourself it isn't a fish! The same goes for FRAUD!

Is there a market?

The news is constantly filled with information on foreclosures, short sales, stimulus, bank failures, mortgage money freeze etc. It's enough to make you believe that everyone is going down the drain and the real estate market is gone. Yes, the market has slumped and the bubble burst.
But, there are sales happening! There still is a market. There are people in the Pacific Northwest that have been waiting.... waiting for the market to come down... waiting for the "right time" to buy ... waiting until they have paid off debt... waiting for the right property.
I was taken by Maureen Nolan's blog about some interesting real estate sales and the buyers market. You'll have to check it out. NWwineandrealestate Wow... it was sooooooo interesting!
We are fortunate to have such an active economy here with large employers that are making profits and countless numbers of self employed people that are marketing their talents. When the news of layoffs hits the front page those companies growing and hiring are hidden on the back.
There are jobs ... there is money... there is a market in the Northwest. We have to work harder to find it. We also have to position ourselves so that when it comes back we are ready.
For my school in the real estate world, I have had to hustle and work not just harder but smarter. I have to have better follow up with customers, work on my databases, talk to more people and market more effectively. Because there still is a market... go find it!