3 Tips for Sellers of Real Estate in 2012

Hi Folks,
   Hope all is well so far in this shiny new year!

   If you were waiting for the Holiday season to end before selling your home, there are some tips you can follow that will help you during the new world order of the 2012 Housing Market. To be exact, we have highlighted 3 tips just for you, and hopefully, these will be very helpful for you.

Tip #1: Price Flexibility. Make sure either you or your agent have all of the local sales, including those of short sales and foreclosures, so you can see what they sold at vs what they were asking, writes Steve McLinden in an article on Bankrate.com

Tip #2: Clean up. Neaten up. Paint, etc. Neglecting even the cheapest repairs can turn a buyer off. You want to make sure that you have dotted every "i" and crossed every "t" when it comes to curb appeal. It's more important than ever before, it seems (due to the over-abundance of homes on the market to choose from).

Tip #3: "Trump your techno-fears", writes McLinden, and suggests hiring a listing agent "steeped in mobile platforms", and mentions Facebook and other social media. He even eludes to a trend where Some owners are even making YouTube videos to showcase their homes, and thus, "making it easier to quickly link to potential buyers via email"

McLinden listed a total of 12 Tips in his story, but I feel that these 3 tips (not in the same order as his story) will be the dominant factors to help sell your home in 2012. What do you think?

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Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #SellRealEstate #HousingMarket #shortsales #foreclosures #listingagent #mobileplatforms #Facebook #YouTube #video #socialmedia

5 Tips to Protect Your Home from Robbery

Hi Folks,

   As the Holidays are fast-approaching, we'd like to focus on one of the hottest trends this Holiday Season (and all Holidays Seasons); Home Break-ins and Burglaries. As a matter of fact, the FBI says that a home is robbed every 14.6 seconds and the average dollar loss per burglary is $2,119.

   Now, however, even though burglaries were down from 2009 to 2010, writes Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman for the Consumer Reports Website, in her article, "Break-ins are down, but your house may be screaming 'rob me'", locking your door and windows is not the only thing you should be doing to protect yourself. Lehrman names 5 things that she says you are, "probably doing that make your home a target, and what you should do instead".

   One of the first tips provided by Lehrman, in light of the explosion in popularity of Social Media, is in regards to posting vacation photos on Facebook, as she says that, "Burglars troll social media sites looking for targets". The suggestion is to post the photos once you get back, or to tweak your Security Settings to allow trusted friends only to see your adventures.

   Lock your garage from the inside! Lehrman says that if you don't, a burglar can gain entry to your home via an internal door by using "any tools you haven’t locked away" to break into your home "out of sight of the neighbors".

   Hiding Spare Keys is a bad thing. "Burglars know about fake rocks and leprechaun statues and will check under doormats, in mailboxes, and over doorways", says Lehrman, who suggests that you give a spare set to a neighbor or family member.

   Ladders should be kept stored away and out of sight. Lehrman says that they can be used to "reach the roof and unprotected upper floor windows".

   Let's not overlook the home security alarm factor. Silent alarms are great, and noisy alarms are irritating, However, noisy alarms are also irritating to burglars, but the smart thieves, says Lehrman, know that "it can take as long as 10 to 20 minutes for the alarm company or cops to show up after an alarm has been tripped", and she suggests using both silent and audible ("noisy") alarms.

   One bonus tip for you; beware of people calling with a survey in which they ask if you have an alarm system. They could potentially be "casing" your home as a target. Additionally, an answering machine saying you are not home is also bad (instead, make it a generic message).

   Do you have any other tips? We'd love to hear.

Would You Like Our Blog Posts Sent Directly to your E-mail? Here's How:

1. Locate the "Follow this Blog by Email" box on the Right Side of your Screen.
2. Type your E-mail address in the box, and click "Submit"
3. Check Your E-mail and Confirm Your Subscription...it's That Simple !

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #HomeBreakins #Burglaries #homesecurity #homealarmsystem #socialmedia #Facebook #Consumer Reports

What Are The Hottest Real Estate Internet Trends?

Hi Everyone,
   Glad you could make it back with us today.

   Today, I'd like to discuss some of the hottest Real Estate trends on the Internet. Some of them will be familiar to you, and some of them will be new ones that will surely become a part of the mainstream for Real Estate on the Web.

   The first "trend", if we can even call it that, since it has become super-mainstream, is Social Media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. Earl Miller of 5Star Investment Group, feels, "that the hottest Internet real estate trends are social media", and says that, "Studies have shown that 90% of all buyers that are looking for a home will start their search on the Internet.", and that, "The old way of doing showings on properties with a Realtor are really fast becoming outdated. People want to see more of the property in a smaller amount of time before they actually drive out to see it." One of the many services that capitalizes on the soaring popularity of Social Media is "Tweetlister.com", which, "takes MLS listings and turns them into tweets, then allows agents/brokers to schedule them to tweet to selected Twitter account", as explained to us by Lloyd Chrein, an individual that is familiar with the service. There are numerous other utilities and services that piggy-back on Social Media, but that would encompass an entire Blog post by itself.

   Another hot trend is the Housing Search experience on the Internet. Paul Gleger, Director of Communications Office for HotPads.com, says that he is seeing a, "Particular emphasis on creating a granular and personalized housing search experience.", which he says is being done through, "interactive map technologies, neighborhood search filters, integrating the social graph into the search process, and there is an especially strong growth in mobile tools." Along the same theme, Sam Debord, a Managing Broker/Realtor with Coldwell Banker Danforth, says that one of the biggest Internet trends in Real Estate are, "tying in localized services to MLS listings.", and that, "Every web site has home listings with photos, but the more advanced real estate sites have a suite of features from multiple vendors/providers all on one page." Debord says that, "Users shouldn't have to click around to find these features, they're all on one page.", and he gives examples such as map search, area maps, Google street view, walk score, census data, school data, and pricing history. As Debord says, "Many different data sources, but no need to search around."

   Video Tutorials are also becoming increasingly more popular, and as Christine Schwalm, an Interior Designer that specializes in home staging for Realtors says, the videos she creates are, "Nothing fancy." Schwalm says that she shoots it, "with a flip camera and don't do much to edit the footage." She informs us that she does, "A one take video that lasts several minutes that follows the realtor around the space as he/she explains the property. Home buyers know that it is fairly easy to manipulate pictures, so the videos do a more accurate job of selling the property--and featuring the realtor."

   The final trend leans more toward the lending side of the industry, and Dave Galanter, President of freeMortgageFix.com calls it, "DIY Mortgage Modification". Galanter says this is a free online utility to assist homeowners in, "preparing a Mortgage Modification Application which complies with HAMP guidelines as well as individual lender's own programs. It works in a way that is very similar to Turbo Tax, with helpful hints and prompts.", and says that he is, "quite sure it is the best assistance for the DIY Mortgage Modification Applicant on the web."

   There are some exciting trends on the Internet for those of us in the Real Estate industry. I hope these have been helpful. I'm sure we missed a few and we'd love to hear about them from you.

Have a Great Day, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com


TAGS: #realestate #socialmedia

Mixed Message from The New Residential Construction Numbers

Hi All,
   It's time for the mid-week "Hello"...so, Hello.

   As the title suggests, the New Residential Construction Numbers were released yesterday, and it has arrows pointing all over the place. There are 3 main components: Building Permits, Housing Starts, and Housing Completions.

   In terms of Building Permits, for privately-owned units, the numbers came in below the August rate and well below September 2009. Single-Family authorizations were slightly above August. What can we tell from this component. Not much, just that the privately-owned side has taken a large hit.

   For the Housing Starts component, privately-owned starts were slightly above August and well above September 2009, while single-family housing starts were also well above September 2009.

   Finally, for Housing Completions, privately-owned housing completions were well above August, however, substantially below September 2009, while single-family housing completions were well above August. Within these figures, we can certainly see some positivity over the past month vs. the past year. However, I don't want to rain on any ones parade, but the HUD does add a disclaimer as follows, "In interpreting changes in the statistics in this release, note that month-to-month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often show movements which may be irregular. It may take 3 months to establish an underlying trend for building permit authorizations, 3 months for total starts, and 5 months for total completions."

   OK, now onto a new topic, which is a response to a question from one of our readers, who has asked us for the locations of our other Social Media accounts. Since we are listed on quite a lot of them, I have listed the main ones for her (and your) convenience:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/homerunhomes
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/homerunhomes
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/lease2buy
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/homerunhomes
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lease2buy
Google Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/lease2buycom
FriendFeed: http://friendfeed.com/homerunhomes
Plurk: http://www.plurk.com/homerunhomes
YouTube: http://youtube.com/user/renttoownleaseoption
ITunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=373351426

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!

Baby Boomers and Rent to Own...

Hi Everyone,

We hope you had a great summer-like pre-summer weekend, and welcome back !

There is an important topic that we wanted to touch on, and that is the topic of Baby Boomers, and whether they should Buy, Rent, or Rent to Own. The last two options might strike you as odd - Rent and Rent to Own - but we will explain here.

As the first group of Baby Boomers approaches 65 years of age, the youngest of the Baby Boomers is in their mid-upper 40's. Since we are trained to think about who would normally rent or rent to own a home, we think of people just starting out in life, and looking to either rent for a while before finding a home to buy, or renting to own a property and converting it to a purchase within a specified period of time. However, this can be faulty thinking for a number of reasons, and to make a long story short, the Economy has really blurred these lines. There are plenty of folks out there who were close to retirement, and then they have lost it all, only to start all over again. In these such cases, a Rent to Own would be ideal for them, since they can still pursue the home-ownership option that they lost due to unfortunate occurrences often beyond their control.

I tried not to rant much on this, but we have seen so many people who have been hurt so badly by this economy, that it is absolutely heartbreaking. When you hear a 60 year old couple crying over how they lost their life savings and their home, and they have come to our website looking for a Rent to Own home, it is just painful. It is something that you literally want to cry over. It's days like that where we know that our site is there for people who are in need of finding or selling a Rent to Own Home, and we know that people are finding what they need so they can regain their dignity, pick up the pieces, and carry on with their lives again.


On a much lighter note, we are proud to announce that we have just surpassed 1100 Friends on our Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/homerunhomes), 217 Fans on our new Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/lease2buy), and are we are now well over 900 Followers on our Twitter Page (http://twitter.com/homerunhomes). We would love to have you as Friends, Fans, and Followers on all of our pages, so be sure to check them out. Please note that our Blog Posts update those sites automatically soon after they are posted.


Have a great week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!

Facebook, Twitter, Podcast...

Hi All,

Hope you had a great week!

We just finished up with an interview for a new website focusing on home buyers in the 20-35 year old range, and that article should be out late month (or early June), so we will keep you posted.

It's been a really quiet week in terms of Economic News for the Real Estate/Rent to Own Market. We are just watching the market and that horrendous spill in the Gulf.
We pray that they cap it before it damages the wildlife and the local Gulf businesses. As a side/personal note - Gulf Shrimp and Gulf Oysters have always been my weakness.

We have just had our Facebook profile shortened to a much prettier address:
http://www.facebook.com/homerunhomes, and as some of you already know, our Twitter Address is: http://www.twitter.com/homerunhomes

Do you see a pattern emerging in the naming?


OK, so a News Flash: We are boldly looking to endeavor into the world of Podcasting, which for those of you who are not aware of them, they are basically Blog Posts, but in a voice recording that you can download and play on your Ipod or MP3 player.

Now, I am not crazy about my recorded voice, however, a lot of you have spoken and asked me to do this. So the answer is, "Yes", I will give it a try.

If our team is able to successfully organize the techie side of it, I will post the Podcast here on the Blog. Apparently, this saves a lot of time when you can listen to the Blog as opposed to reading it. Please be patient as we try to figure this one out - I'm off to do some voice exercises now (kidding).

Please check back Monday for more news!
Have a great weekend, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !




My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-820fd66e75f39e338c13a2a4fd033585}

Site Design, Social Media, & Housing

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to thank you for being regular readers on our blog, and also, repeat visitors to our website (www.Lease2Buy.com).

A few notes on our website, as we have continued to re-design quite a few key pages and remove some fluffy text. Additionally, we will be adding newer features to get your Ads out in front of more (even more!) potential buyers or sellers, so please keep checking the site regularly for these changes and additions.

On the advertising front, we have continued working with some solid companies in terms of expanding our Social Media presence, and you can check a few our profiles here:
Facebook (Click Here)
Twitter (Click Here)

We are also listed on every major social media site, and we are developing our profiles on them substantially, as well.


On the economic front, New Residential Sales were released last week, and the numbers dipped 2.2% from January...but 13% from Feb 2009. These are some very telling numbers, and this tells us we are not out of the woods yet.

Continue to keep all creative buying or selling options open.

Thanks, and Happy Rent-to-Owning.

An Eventful Week !

It's been quite an eventful week here at HomeRun Homes
We have been working with a sampling of some of our customers/visitors, and we began a massive re-design of our home page, code-named "Word-Slim" ! Why that name? Mainly, since every visitor commented how wordy the home page is, and we listen to our visitors, one and all. Your experience on our site should be Rent to Own Homes...not having to read through clutter to get what you need. Please see our changes Here, and feel free to comment.

The week ahead, we'll be working on a more robust contact system, some more Social Media penetration, and since we are on the topic of Social Media, please check out our Facebook Fan Page Here, and show us some "Facebook Love" by becoming a Fan of the page.
Similarly, you can follow us on Twitter Here

Side Note: Existing Home Sales are coming out on Tuesday 3/23 - the name says it all....keep your ears open for some progress.

Lot's of exciting things happening - which means more traffic to your Ads on our site, which means finding or selling a Rent to Own Home even faster...which is why we exist !!

Have a great day, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !