Chicago and Southern Illinois Real Estate Happenings

 This is a picture of an ad for the condo project 55 WEST right near Church Street Station in downtown Orlando, Florida.

The poster is set about 2 stories up and is inside a window on the left hand side of a covered pedestrian walkway over Chuch Street.

I am sure the poster gets visablility, BUT:

• It is set right next to the corner of the walkway near the adjoining wall.
• The poster is firstly inside the window.....not out on top of the bricks next to the window, more centrally located.
• Second...it is set INSIDE the facade of the colums making it harder to see.
• The whole poster is TOO BIG for the window and you cannot see the whole message.

Is YOUR real estate website like that?

• Have you found the right keywords people are using to look for homes to buy, rent or sell in your area?
• Is your website picture rich making it SLOW to load? (Most people click away from a site that takes more than 15 seconds to load)
• Have you put your keywords inside your pages in a comprehensible communicative way?
• Have you included items that will HELP people see you are the agent to go to on your website?

1) Where to find school informmation

2) How to find out about individual communities

3) What the interest rates are doing day by day

4) Items about your special niche you serve

5) Your contact information on EVERY PAGE of your site.

Have you made your website maintenance a daily or weekly part of your advertizing priorities?

• Fresh content once per month is sufficient.
• A new picture here and there does NOT hurt either.
• New information on the general area  you work in OR your in your special niche helps a LOT.
• Are you getting more quality (relevant) links to your site on a daily or weekly basis?
• Do you advertise your website EVERYWHERE you go.....

(talk about it to potential clients, give out business cards with the URL address on it, etc.)

Here is some help to do SEO on your real estate website:

1. To check your links go to: http://www.submitexpress.com/linkpop/ or http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/link-popularity/
2. To check your GOOGLE page rank go here: http://mygooglepagerank.com/
3. To check other things AND do a whole LOT more...go to http://www.webceo.com/ and download their program... it is FREE!
4. Here is a place to look at the mechanics of your website --- broken links, meta tags, incorrect HTML, etc...: http://www.sitereportcard.com/

I get no monetary compensation for mentioning the above program (Web CEO)...I just know that

MY real estate site went from a ranking in the MILLIONS to number 37 in MSN

in just a week or two after I did what the program recommended....

It is NOW number 2 in GOOGLE after 3 years of steady consistent work.

All the links in this posting are FREE...all it takes is time and effort on YOUR part to make it work for you.

Just like Ray Sanez says in His Blog on internet advertizing, it takes time, 

patience and consistent work to see results.

I have THREE FREE websites for advertizing real estate.

1. Point 2 Agent has a FREE introductory website at: http://agent.point2.com/ 
2. Rapid Listings has another FREE real estate website at:  http://rapidlistings.com/ 
3. You can set up a FREE real estate website also at: http://www.cyberinvader.com/index.htm

So there ya go...some really good information for you and some help as to where to go to get it. 

(Some of you asked me for advice and some help for your websites... if you need any more help, just contact me...I am more than happy to help!)

Now here is a bit of news that is not so good....or if you are an investor....it might be nice...

I wrote about this a while back and it seems the Orlando Sentinel is backing me up with hard data.

In central Florida (Orange County and the surrounding areas) the year over year statistics for foreclosures has hit 106%

• That means there was a little OVER 2 TIMES the amount of foreclosures as there were last year.
• If you bought a home during the HOT market and got one of those wonderful adjustable rate mortgages with the wonderful beginning "teaser interest rate", you are in hot water by now.
• If you are an investor... this is the beginning of a time for looking for homes with some equity in it.

I am NOT happy about people loosing their homes because they cannot make their mortgage payments.

It is a combination of a couple of things that led to this situation:

• People who should have bought LESS of a home, but didn't and used the "teaser rate adjustable mortgage" to justify the purchase....
• People who could not afford the current rates back then for mortgages, OR liked seeing the "teaser rate" on the wonderful adjustable mortgages thinking everything would be alright down the road.
• Mortgage companies who gave the teaser rates, knowing the rates would go up...a LOT...
• Agents and loan officers who did nothing to warn and/or aducate their clients about what was going to happen BEFORE they signed on the dotted line.

If you can re-finance your adjustable mortgage to a fixed rate, DO IT NOW......

If you need to sell your central Florida real estate and find a smaller home, let us know.

"The Knights Team" is a concept built on the principal of being a Knight:

 "A defender, champion, or zealous upholder of a noble cause or principle." 

Our clients real estate transaction is our noble cause and our clients best interest is our noble principle.  

• We do NOT just help you sell your central Florida real estate or help you buy it, We counsel you and give you guidance and sound advice.
• There are over 200 steps to a real estate transaction...we make it as smooth as possible for you from beginning to end. We walk you through everything and make sure all inspections and ALL needed paperwork is done..... even if it is someone elses job to do it.
• We sit down with you and LISTEN to your needs, wants and desires...... and we tell you the TRUTH, not a fantasy that might be what you WANT to hear so you will NOT get burned down the road. The truth can hurt, but it is always better for you if you live by it.

That is why more people interested in Orlando Florida real estate and central Florida real estate are talking to "The Knights Team"........

What is happening in central Florida lately?

These are some of the theatre, movie and concert happenings going on in and around central Florida:

• WHAT: The songs may sound familiar, but the concept is new in I Love a Piano, a musical revue of the songs of Irving Berlin, conceived by Ray Roderick and Michael Berkeley. The show, which features more than 60 of Berlin's songs, focuses on a piano as it moves in and out of American lives during the first half of the 20th century. It's receiving only its second production in Florida at Winter Park Playhouse, with direction by Michael Edwards, choreography by Roy Alan, and a cast featuring Todd Allen Long (from left), Cristi McKay, Roy Alan, Heather Alexander, Mark Richard Taylor and Ame Livingston.
  
  WHERE: Winter Park Playhouse, 711-B Orange Ave., Winter Park.
  
  WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, through April 21.
  
  HOW MUCH: $28 and $30 evenings, $22 matinees, $20 students and entertainment professionals.
  
  CALL: 407-645-0145.
  
  ONLINE: Winterparkplayhouse.org.

• MOUNT DORA -- The two-person play Me & Jezebel is the story of a movie star who comes for an overnight visit with a fan but stays for more than a month.
  
  A fan's dream, right? Not when the star in question was the temperamental Bette Davis. The play, based on a true story, opens at 7:30 p.m. today at the IceHouse Theatre.
  In the first production since she was named interim artistic director, Darlin Barry takes the part of the imperious house-guest.
  "Bette Davis was a demanding person, but she also stood her ground with the movie studios and took the flack for it," Barry said. "She was ahead of her time."
  The part of the acquaintance, Elizabeth, whom Davis visits in Connecticut during a 1985 New York hotel strike, will be played by two alternating actors, Alexsis Balaoing and Elizabeth Dean. Fuller wrote the book and play.
  
  Balaoing has appeared with the Mount Dora Theatre Company before, in The Glass Menagerie, Phantom of the Opera and Proof.
  Dean appears for the first time at the IceHouse, although she is known to audiences in Orlando.
  The play's humor arises from Fuller's attempts to ingratiate herself with Davis, while her husband grows grouchier by the day and her child runs through the house muttering, "What a dump."
  Rick Paulin, the production's technical director, collaborated with Barry on the set, lighting and sound design.
  
  The play will continue at the IceHouse Theatre, 110 N. Unser St., through April 1.

Other events in and around central Florida:

Just to inform you...I did a search of central Florida real estate theatre happenings in central Florida

and I came up with OVER 500 performances for one week.

These were the top 5 in that grouping.

There is so much to do and see ~~~ let alone doing Disney or Universal Studios on a weekend.

Go out and have some fun this weekend!

You do NOT need to spend a fortune!

Contact us at 407-572-5107 for more information on

central Florida real estate happenings!

(All information was taken from the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper website.)

This is a picture of the tree I sat under at a Christian Mens retreat shortly after my dad died.

I was so close to loosing it because the pain of loosing my dad was so terrible.

A funny thing happened in the middle of that pain....

I called my wife on the cell phone;

She helped me through it.

That is one of the reasons I KNOW she was Gods choice for me;

She didn't say,"Chin up, shoulders back...tough it out, BE a MAN.." 

She knew I was hurting and met me where I was in my pain.

That is how God is when we hurt because of a wrong we have committed. He does NOT say:

• Now look where you're at... yer in BIG trouble now....
• Ya should have asked me FIRST....now look at what you did...
• Why didn't you take my advice, yer a hurtin bunny now...
• Now you have to go through this all on yer own.... ya should have listened to me...
• Yer friends are gonna hate you...and don't even try to think of how I feel about you...

THIS is more like Gods reaction when we go wrong..(hurting because of it shows you HAVE a conscience):

• Did I make you perfect...without sin to overcome?
• We can see what went wrong and take care of it from here...TOGETHER.....
• Nothing you do right can make me love you more.....
• Nothing you do wrong can make me love you LESS....

1. When you have screwed up the first thing to do is recognize it and admit it.
2. Ask forgiveness from the one(s) you did wrong to.
3. See and act on what you need to do to make up for what you did...no matter how painful.

Then You have done YOUR part....... the rest is in Gods hands......

• You will be able to rest at night with a clean conscience.
• Your shoulders will not sag because of the weight of your guilt on them.
• You will feel lighter and have more energy though the day because you don't have to carry the burden around anymore.
• You will get more done and keep doing more because you have more energy to do more!
• Your smile will be seen or more noticeable to those around you.
• Etc. etc. etc. hehehehehehe =-D

Click on the picture of the tree I sat under for a really cool movie to inspire you.....

It is a GREAT movie...I PROMISE!

(If you don't like it, let me know and I will apologize to you!...hehehehehe)

=-D

(This blog was inspired by Brian Brady...... he is AWESOME!!)

Now I know you know what makes this Space Shuttle keep going UP, right?

It's those two furry tails of FIRE coming out of those TUBES on either side of the underbelly of the ship, right?

You would only be partially right if you agreed with me.

It's ALSO the wings, the little nose fin pointing up in the air on the end of the shuttle, the three little glowing orbs at the end of the shuttle, the fuel in the tanks of the boosters on either side, the computers making the little adjustments to the attitude and navigational situation, and THOUSANDS of other things working together in HARMONY that are keeping that bird going UP, up and away!!

Gee, lets NOT forget the pilot, navigator, and the rest of the TEAM....yup those humans have their hands full "hauling the mail" so to speak!! In the beginning though, the shuttle has to achieve a certian speed...it is called "Escape Velocity".

• That is the speed at which the rocket can actually escape the pull of the the earths gravity and achieve a stable orbit.
• The speed has to be maintained or else the ship will fall back to earth and more than likely burn up in the atmosphere (if it is high enough up to do that.... if it is not so high...they would have to eject ----- and I am NOT sure they have that option YET..only fighter jet pilots can do that right now).

Can you apply this kind of thinking to your business?

If you heat water to 211 degrees...Nothing happens except the water gets VERY VERY HOT.....

• If you heat the water just ONE MORE degree... it will boil........
• Steam will escape into the atmosphere......
• If that boiling water were in an iron you could steam press your clothes and give them a really sharp look!
• If that boiling water were in a tea kettle you would know it is time to put the water into a cup so you could make a nice cup of tea! You would HEAR the whistle!

What if you did NOT heat the water to 212 degrees....

• You could NOT get that really nice sharp crease in your ironing......
• You would NEVER know when to go and get the tea kettle if you were in another room (lets say typing a BLOG)...and you would more than likely forget about the water.... shame shame.... ;-)

Applying this thinking to your business is easy..... click on the shuttle

to get a REALLY neat movie about that extra degree!

I PROMISE YOU WILL LIKE IT!!

(TURN UP YOUR SPEAKERS..)

Lately I have had so many times during the day that I have had ideas for a good blog.

BUT I did NOT write them down.

=-/

GEEZE..... how many times that has happened is staggering to me!

I would walk around just being me..not looking for anything special AND BOOM.....

An "Idea" would come to me for a REALLY cool topic to post here in "The Rain"....

I am beginning to wish my GREAT ideas would come to me ONLY while I am sitting here at the computer, hehehehe!

=-)

I MAY have to get a tape recorder to put the ideas down and listen to them later...

 OOPS...I HAVE a voice recorder in my CELL PHONE!!

(MOST of the newer models do.) 

I JUST KNEW there would be a BETTER way than having to go out and pay $39.95 for a cassette recorder at Walmart!!

Technology...what a CONCEPT!!

This is what happens when you have patience...

This is what happens when you have endurance....

This is what happens when you keep at it...

 This what happens when you DO NOT give up...

 I have had so many financial hardships it is unbelievable in the past two and a half years.

• I was involved with HouseValues and lost about $7500 to them because of the CRAPPY leads they sold me over a 10 month period of time.
• As a result of my putting all my marketing dollars into this hair brained idea that another agent in the office I was working at turned me on to, I LOST a LOT of momentum...
• I got an hourly position at a restaurant and was doing pretty well until I left there to get a BETTER paying job at an air conditioning company. Well, I got layed off because of the construction slowdown. So I was forced to go back into the restaurant industry for income...

I was NOT slack during this time in real estate..... I diversified my marketing by stressing FREE ways of doing marketing and waiting for a better ROI on paid marketing:

• I handed out my business card to EVERYONE I met.
• I found a way to get quality FREE business cards.
• I talked to EVERYONE I met about real estate.
• I learned about search engine website optimization.... I even got Certified in it.
• I downloaded a FREE program that would help me do what needed to be done to optimize my website.
• I bought MORE domains and started by pointing them to existing websites I had.
• I found out about MORE FREE websites I could use to help me get MORE leads.
• I began to optimize those websites also.
• I linked the websites together and started advertising that I wanted relevant links to my sites.

Slowly the ranking of my flagship website rose in google.

It was already #1 in MSN and had been for quite a while.

When it came out of the google sandbox it came out at #37.

Over the next couple of months it slowly made it's way higher......to #23.

It sat there for a while till I understood why it was stuck..... and I made changes....

It rose to #12 and stayed there for a while.

I then started to "tweak" my site.......and it got to page ONE....debuting at #9.

• The number of hits rose and the number of leads was increasing from the site every month.
• I now get hundreds of hits every month and a number of leads EVERY WEEK.
• All this took was TIME and work....No MONEY at all........

The site is now #5 in google and has maintained it's place in MSN......#1!

My site is ranked ahead of some very heavy hitters that have lots of marketing money and have "webmasters" on their payrolls in central Florida.

I now have an hourly position that is paying me about $300 more per month than my old job AND I am working one DAY LESS..... so I DO MORE real estate deals.

That is what patience gets you...

That is what endurance gets you...

That is what "Staying in the game" is all about...

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen..."

My faith is stronger and my hope is unwavering now......

I am so glad I went through what I went through...and it is NOT done yet.....

BTW...the place for FREE business cards is http://www.vistaprint.com/ (all you pay for is shipping).

.........the place for the FREE website optimization program is: http://www.webceo.com/ (NO shipping costs...hehehehe).

.........If you want the places for the other FREE websites, just ask in your comment to me....I am not stingy...

All you have to do is put forth the TIME and EFFORT to work with

these things and you WILL make money......or you will make MORE MONEY...

(if you are already doing well).

Have fun out there....I KNOW I do......

(CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO GET A MOVIE ABOUT not QUITING.....IT IS EXCELLENT!!)

What is happening with The Knights Team?

Things are changing for the better....more visibility and MORE leads are happening...

Central Florida Real Estate is seeing a real estate team that serves their customers AND works in an ethical way.

They are seeing a group of agents that live what they say to EVERYONE.

How many times have you been told something by an agent or

office assistant and been lead to believe something....

And after a while find out what you were told is just not true....

Then you have to go and "pick up the pieces" and start over again.

It happens to prospective customers AND to those of us who are licensed to do real estate:

• A phone call was not returned when you were told it would be.
• An offer was not submitted when you were waiting for one to come on the fax machine.
• An inspection was late or DID not happen and you were NOT notified.
• Title work was not done because of some problem and you were not told.
• A group of hoodlums tore into your vacant house listing...and you have to pick up and clean up.
• You were told you had the BEST cell phone coverage, but the call just got dropped for the Nth time.
• The underwriter is taking their time to fund your clients loan, but has NOT told you why.
• A mortgage company says one thing and then you find out has done another.

These things and much MORE can happen to you in the course of a typical day helping clients buy and sell real estate.

That is why it is so essential to choose wisely the people you do business with....

• Look into their lives to see what kind of people they are...... do they tell off color stories that THEY think is fun to tell either during working hours or after hours in the name of "fun"?
• Have you checked references from professionals they do business with? What type of people are THEY? What are the references like...were the references professionals themselves?
• Will your being associated with them tarnish YOUR professional image?
• Will you start to draw to yourself people who are like the wrong ones you have chosen to do business with?
• How long will it take till you see the error of the decisions you have made..... if you don't see what you have done? How many thousands of dollars in lost commissions and really terrible circumstances will happen before the reality sets in? Will you make the connection? Or will you just attribute it to --- "chance and fate" and blindly go on?

Life tells us....."Bad company ruins good morals.....and a person

who stands by and lets bad things happen is brother to one who destroys."

I have found out the hard way about people who SAY they are professionals,

but either are out for themselves only, or have a hidden side to their lives that is distasteful

and NOT in line with what they billed themselves as.

I am glad I have found a great company in Keller Williams Real Estate.

• I have found great teaching materials.......and teachers.
• The companies philosophy is: God, Family, Company and I like that!
• I have a mentor that is not afraid I will make more money than her.
• I have met several professional real estate business people who stand for what they SAY they believe. Brian Brady, Loreena Yeo, Jason Price, George Souto, Diane Rice, Brain Foxworth, Dan Allred, Gabriel Silverstein and Bob Sloop are just a few of those I have the privilege of being associated with through Active Rain.
• I now have a more secure feeling in this real estate endeavor........

I know I do NOT have to watch my back with these people.

As I said..."Bad company ruins good morals."

And I am adding, "The success and future of a person who does what is right gets better and better....."

"Even as painful as those lessons are for them. "

Meadow Woods is a community on the edge of Orange and Osceola Counties......gotcha didn't I..... it sits right in the middle of the two counties.  =-)

It is a middle income to low-higher income homes selling currently from about $250K to just over $450K.

There is a quite a mix of homes in the community with single level homes on up to homes with 3 stories.

Homes with wrap around driveways and 3 car garages can be found here along with screened in pools and many properties with other extras.

It borders Buenaventura Lakes to the south and Southchase to the north. Hunters Creek, an upscale community is on its west and Narcoossee is on its east.

Meadow Woods has access to Orange Ave which runs north-south from south of Kissimmee through Downtown Orlando.

The Floridas Turpike is just a stones throw away as is Route 417 which runs east-west from Disney all the way past the Orlando International Airport. If you have relatives visiting you by plane it is very easy to go and meet them and bring them to your home.

Are your relationships with your clients set in stone?

Have you impressed them with YOUR honesty and integrity?

Will the relationship weather ups and downs?

What if "ANOTHER professional you sent them to" jerks them around?

Will your relationship stand the test of time?

Will they STILL want to work with YOU after they have been BURNED by someone you said they could trust?

This exact senerio is playing out for one of my clients.

• They TRUST me and know I have integrity.
• I have been working with them on thier situation for almost one year.
• When they call me on the phone, they know I WILL communicate with them and give them TRUTHFUL answers.
• They are first time home buyers and have their certificate for a downpayment from the Government with them.
• They were BURNED by a mortgage company I just started to form a relationship with.
• I found them Knightlines Mortgage after that (Here in Active Rain) and got them approved (not pre-qualified) in just a couple of days.

Since the mortgage company I first had them with decided to approve them for a mortgage

for MORE of a downpayment than they were comfortable paying, but did NOT tell them, I then FIRED

THAT company and got them approved for a payment they were comfortable with, but at a

lower asking price. They were discouraged because of the lower asking price ceiling and I did NOT hear from them for several months.

Here is what I did after they did not return my calls:

• I called, Jason of Knightlines Mortgage and asked him to get in contact with them  ~~ they would not talk to HIM either.
• I called another agent that I was working with on these clients to try to get in touch with them (she is bi-lingual), but they did NOT talk to HER either.
• I DID NOT let go of them..... I just left them alone and kept on sending them houses from daily MLS new properties for sale that would appear.
• I DID NOT bug them by trying to call them again and again on the phone..... I LEFT THEM ALONE to recover from what THE OTHER "Professional" did to them.

They called me yesterday and they are excited!! They WANT to see houses again.

I am so glad this client of mine has stayed with me. I LOVE to see

first time buyers at the closing table to recieve the keys to their NEW house!

It is so nice to know they saw that I WAS NOT the one who hurt them and betrayed their trust.

Central Florida real estate is seeing more and more of The Knights Team in action!

And I am GLAD about that!