Tony & Darcy - The C Team's Blog

I was up late again thinking about ways to make properties stand out, especially in this market with high inventory levels.  We all know the impact of the Internet on home sales and especially the exposure that homes get from buyers.  The internet has caused some progress in the way that we do business.  In the old days we had the MLS books with the listing inside.  We would research these books that came out monthly (at least in our board) to find what the client was looking for.  Often we would need to go and preview the property prior to setting appointments with our clients.

Things move much more quickly now.  New listings have to be on our MLS within 3 days of securing the listing.  That gives the agent much more up to date and accurate information.  Many agents no longer preview large quantities of homes prior to showing them to our clients.  The IDX systems have exposed our listings to the Internet directly from our MLS system.  Now potential clients can see new listings within minutes of them being uploaded on the MLS.

An article that I read on RIS Media about the effects of photography on todays buyer.  It was an article about making a home stand out from all of the other listings that are out there.  The statement in the article that stood out to me was the survey that VHT Inc conducted where in respondants stated they were 7 times more like to view a listing if it had photographs and those listings with video and professional photographs made them much more likely to see the house with a Realtor.  The quality of the photography was key in maintaining the interest of these clients.

The fact that buyers are 700% more likely to stop and check out a listing on the internet than one without any photographs.  I wish that they had quantified the level of success that high quality photography and video had on sales of those homes.  I believe that the fact that so many people demand photographs and good detailed descriptions of listings should tell us that we have to make a much better effort with our photography and videography of listings.

Many Realtors spend a lot of money and time establishing and maintaining a strong Internet presence with their web sites, and by blogging and doing other thing to enhance our SEO, yet some get lazy with their photography.  I will admit that I have much to learn about SEO and other things Internet, but I do realize the importance of making our listings jump out at prospective buyers.  There are agents that really impress me with their photographic skills, many of them blog here, Robert Swetz comes right into my mind, if he takes photos of his listings that are as good as the ones that he posts on his blogs.  He is really doing a good job for his clients!

The evidence is clear and the fact is that our clients deserve our effort to do everything we can to market their properties.  The very least that we can do is make sure that we take photographs of our listings so they will at least have someone look at them.  Anyway I guess that is enough of my rant for one day!  Have a great day and a great and safe Labor Day Weekend!

Well it's the last big weekend of the summer.  How many of you are travelling?  Ok, How many are planning on working?  It should be a great weekend to do both.  We are staying home and doing a little work.  The long weekends in an area like ours is usually a good opportunity to come into contact with people looking to relocate or buy a second home.  Each market is different, and I have heard that some areas Holiday weekends aren't great weekends to find new buyers.

I only know our market area, and it is usually pretty active.  The great thing about Iron County and Cedar City, is that there are generally a lot of great activities going on for the entire family.  I have already blogged about the County Fair in Parowan.  This is a great opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery in the surrounding mountains and National Parks.  There are 4 great choices within 2 to 3 hours drive from Cedar City.  That isn't including Cedar Breaks National Monument. 

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello!  If you do come, I warn you this place, like Active Rain is addictive!

Earlier tonight I was catching up on the Sports scores on ESPN.com, I found this story about a 9 year old pitcher that was banned from pitching because he is too good.  How ridiculous is that!  The league reported told the boy and his coach that he could play anywhere that he wanted except pitcher, a day or so after the ban the boys coach put him in to pitch and the other team forfeited the game, they just quit and walked off the field.

What is this league teaching these children?  It can't be that excelling in something is a good thing.  It also can't be that to be the best you can be, you need to compete against the best that you can find.  This young man wasn't banned because he pitched wildly and hurt kids, he was banned because they couldn't hit the ball when he pitched. 

I wonder how many of these kids in this league will quit the first time things don't go their way?  It is a shame to say things about the kids, but honestly how can we expect them to act differently than they have been taught?  Especially when it is done so dramatically.  The league went so far as to disband this kid's team and distribute the players to other teams in the league.  Again I have to ask, how ridiculous is that?

I was thinking of when I played little league, it wasn't uncommon to have some kids that were a lot better than I was, but that was what practice was for, to improve and better our skills.  I wonder if the other coaches thought about teaching their charges to bunt, or here is a revolutionary thought, bringing in an older kid to throw batting practice to make the kids on their teams better players? 

Come to think of it, it would be easier if our Board of Realtors would ban several of the top producers in our market.  Then we would have a much easier time competing.  There would be little or no reason to invest all that money on books and training, and we could just set back and enoy ourselves instead of improving ourselves!  It would be great!

Who am I kidding, it would be awful!  There would be no looking at myself in a mirror, nor feeling of growth nor accomplishment.  No growth, and a burning desire to quit the first time someone did something better than I could.  That would be just awful!

I can't believe that with this blog, we will go over the 100,000 point level.  It just doesn't seem like it is possible!  We usually spend more time reading the great blogs that other people post!  We just marvel at the talent and wisdom that is found in the blogs that everyone posts!  We have learned so much from each and every one of you and wish to say thank you for sharing your talents with us!

We admit it, we are addicted to Active Rain, we love it.  We would like to say thank you to all of you for understanding, sharing, teaching and just for sticking with it!  This is a great profession that we are associated with!  Where else do you have the opportunity to help some one live the American Dream as well as build wealth!  We have not found anything that we enjoy doing more.  Well, there are a couple, one is travelling, but without Real Estate, we couldn't afford to do that, and the other shouldn't be discussed in public!

Thank you again for your inspiration, training and words of kindness!  See you at the next 100,000 points!

Working a lull in floor time trying to catch up on my local blog.  The Great American Stampede will take place in Cedar City Sept 4th through 6th.  There will be a horse parade, including the famous Budweiser Clydesdales, as well as music from local bands, cowboy poetry and two nights of Rodeo!  For those of us that long for the simpler times of yesterday, harkening back to the era of John Wayne, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and the rest this is the place to be! 

Come on up and enjoy the fun and activities!  While here check out the great selection of Real Estate that we have along with some of the most spectacular scenery in the world!  Here is a link to the web site:http://www.greatamericanstampede.com/