Plan for Sears mail order home

If you offer real estate Search on a real estate blog, it seems that the natural thing for visitors to do is Search, many times overlooking the brilliant insights of the Realtor/blogger in favor of  looking at glitzy presentations of available dream homes.

I did have a few posts that stood out from the pack in 2011.  My 2 most popular post here on Memphis Real Estate Buzz were originally posted in 2010:

1.  Your house may have come from Sears – is a primer on the Sears “kit” homes of the early 20th century, and an introduction to identifying if your house may have been shipped in on a train.

2. Memphis Lustron – Mid-Centrury steel – about one of a couple of intact, post-WWII, all-metal homes left in Memphis.

3.  Realtor Association gets deeper into politics (4/20/2011) addresses the National Association of Realtors increased political activity.

4. Practical use of QR codes in real estate (3/14/2011) – QR codes were a big topic in 2011. The 2-dimensional, mobile-scannable grids have not caught on on as much in Memphis as they have in other parts of the country, especially in real estate.

Lustron Home - Midtown Memphis

5.Ghost towns are the result of recession and the burst housing bubble (1/6/2011) -Economics, the housing bubble and the sluggish economy  have created ghost towns across America.

6.  Don’t overlook Midtown Memphis condos (7/28/2011)  Mention Memphis condos, and most people think of Downtown; however, Midtown has reasonably priced, convenient condos available.

Stick around in 2012.  I am sure there will be plenty of things happening in real estate.  The market might even improve, and I will be here to tell you about it.

One little housekeeping item:  I am trying to figure out a simple way to merge this blog with my updated main real estate site http://spake.com.  If you are an RSS subscriber, I have already addressed that.  Stay tuned, and check out the blog over at spake.com – It features re-posts from here, my other blog, and interesting real estate, social media and Memphis links.

If you have suggestions for topics you would like to see here, share your thoughts in the comments.

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

QR codes are a hot topic these days.  I see QR code gurus emerging to drive this new mobile technology bandwagon.  Actually the little 2 dimensional matrices have been around since 1994.  The Wikipedia history of QR codes provides lots of info about their history and how they work.  One thing’s for sure, you are going to see a lot more QR in a lot more places.   You will see them showing up in irrelevant settings;   you will see them embellished with embedded pictures and logos; and you will find some that are not compatible with your equipment, but that is all something to be covered in another post.

I just wanted to share one of the ways I use QR in real estate.  I have been experimenting with QR codes for over a year, but am now using them actively due to improvements in  the scanners currently offered. I am adding a 4″x4″ code to my for sale signs.  The code is optimized, and not as complex looking as some others you might see.  It can be scanned with your with your smart phone camera (with Quick Mark Scanner App)  from about 4 feet away, and starts loading a property-specific, mobile optimized URL within 3 seconds.  I hope we will see this technology replace those (mostly empty) flyer boxes agents like to  attach to For Sale signs.

Here’s a quick video to show you how it works for me.

Do you see QR codes in your future as a professional or a consumer?  What do you think some good uses of this technology would be?

Related articles

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• Ideas about how to use QR codes in my massage and skin care biz? (ask.metafilter.com)
• How to Create QR Codes and Share Them (lockergnome.com)

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

For Sale - Harbortown (click image for details)

On July 9, 2010, Joel Burslem, blogger with 1000 Watt Consulting, proclaimed The Death of the Real Estate Blog, following up on a report of the slowing of growth of new blogs throughout the world. There has been a continuing debate ever since about the relevance of real estate blogs. Most real estate blogs are pretty boring, featuring dry housing reports, glossy neighborhood overviews, and self serving advertisements for the Realtor/author.  Most are authored by working Realtors, and not industry pundits.  I depend on real estate sales for my living, so blogging for me is not just a passion and consumer service, but also a marketing tool.

Many Realtors have had a hard time adopting to the dynamic internet and social media.  In an industry noted for push marketing and hype, it is sometimes difficult to embrace the overall reality of market conditions, neighborhoods, cities, real estate companies, and individual agents by reporting the bad with the good, presenting it with the transparency web savvy users require.  It’s much easier just to leave out the negative stuff.  Negative stuff doesn’t sell houses.

That being said, I have tried to present a true picture in my discussions of both local and national real estate stories on this blog, but now I question whether the blog is the best way to get out real estate information to my readers, followers and friends.  To be very honest, Facebook provides me a whole lot more impressions on real estate content than this blog does.  It’s a lot easier to post there, and folks seem more loyal to their Facebook news feeds than to their RSS feeds.

For real estate blogs there are a few givens

• Consumers not actively in the real estate market or about to enter it, or concerned about their own home’s value, don’t care much about real estate.  They get enough real estate news watching Barbara Corcoran on The Today Show.
• It’s hard to come up with consistently relevant and interesting local content that people would be interested in reading about on a real estate blog, especially when I am also authoring another blog focused on Memphis goings on and social media.
• We all have a finite amount of time each day to gather and process information.

What real estate topics interest you?

Image by joespake via Flickr

You are reading this.  What keeps you coming back?  Are there certain topics you would like to see me address?   What would you like to see here?  What should I do that I am not doing now?  What should I stop doing?  Comments and feedback are always welcome.
If you are only visiting real estate sites and blogs because you are actively looking for a home, there are plenty of links everywhere I am online for free, no obligation home searches.

Check out my Facebook Real Estate page, I am posting news articles there regularly.  I would like some feedback on the usefulness of that information also.  Comments, likes and shares are always welcome there too.

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

If you visit Memphis Real Estate Buzz on an irregular basis, you may be missing some of the best content.  There are a couple of easy ways to subscribe to  this blog to make sure you never miss a post.

Subscribe via Email

You can receive blog posts in their entirety, soon after they are published, right in your Email inbox.  This is the simplest way to automatically receive posts.

Just click here to subscribe to Memphis Real Estate Buzz via Email

Subscribe via RSS

RSS is Real Simple Syndication.  Posts are directed to a “feed”, which can be subscribed to and directed to a reader. RSS is much more robust than email subscriptions, and is an excellent choice if you like to receive information automatically from a variety of sources.  If the site has an associated RSS feed, you will usually see the little orange symbol (left) in your browser bar. With Google Reader, I am able to subscribe to over 200 blogs and news media sources, which I scan for items of interest.  It replaces the morning newspaper, and most magazines, as well as providing the latest in website-only news.

Here’s a short RSS tutorial from CommonCraft.com:

Click here to subscribe to Memphis Real Estate Buzz via RSS.  [Note: You will need a reader- there are lots of them out there- Google for "RSS readers" to find one that suits your needs or try the free Google Reader- my favorite.]

I really appreciate your support!  Please keep on reading!

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

I have written about my fascination with the 2-dimensional matrix QR codes a few times, and recently did a presentation at BarCamp Memphis.  There must be something to this QR stuff, as about 15 vendors at the NAR Convention and Exhibit selling QR-related products.  Memphis seems to often be on the trailing edge of new technology, but open any magazine, visit a trade show display, or check out some cutting edge business cards, and you will find QR codes.  I am still experimenting with applications for QR Codes in the Memphis real estate market.   The image at the left is from a sticker I made for the door of one of my listings in Harbortown.   The door is just a few feet from the sidewalk and an easy scan target.  If you are interested and have a scanning app on your smart phone,  a scan of the code will direct you to a mobile optimized version of http://117harbortown.com, where you can get all the details about the home, including interior pictures.    Agents around the country are beginning to use QR codes on for sale signs.

Basically all you need to decode the codes is a barcode reader from you smartphone’s app store, and, of course, a smartphone with a camera.  If you want to make your own, just  Google for “QR code generator”.  I like the generators at QR Jumps, which will make codes in .png or .jpg format in most any size you want, and keep stats on your codes’ usage.  The codes can be generated from text, URLs, or can direct the scan to generate an SMS (text message).  Also,  the popular URL shorteners goo.gl and bit.ly will automatically generate a QR code from any URL.  TIP:  If you are generating a QR from a URL, the shorter, the better.  Shorter URLs make for a less complex matrix that can be more easily scanned and can be shrunk for other uses like business cards.

If you want to get a little fancier and personalize your codes, see Brad Andersohn’s informative post on the subject.

Bottom line here:  If you haven’t noticed, EVERYTHING seems to be going mobile.  We all need to be looking at ways to effectively integrate mobile technologies into our businesses.  As people realize the power of QR coding, use of the codes will be limited only by your imagination.

Related articles

• QR code infographic (heyjude.wordpress.com)
• QRs are us (memphisrealestatebuzz.com)
• A Quick QR Code 101 (prsarahevans.com)
• Bit.ly to Generate QR Codes (appscout.com)

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed. 

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.