Trulia at the 2009 Prudential Real Estate Conference in Las Vegas #prulv

Trulia is proud to be attending the 2009 Prudential Real Estate conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you’ll be in town, please visit our booth as we’d love to talk to some of our favorite clients.

You can also follow us – @trulia, @nypierre, @seanblack, @apurva212 -  and the conference on Twitter by entering #prulv on Twitter Search. If you’ll be tweeting, please use #prulv in your Twitter updates so we can follow you too.

Have a great show everyone!

Where are all the newspaper advertising dollars going?

I saw this morning that the Newspaper Association of America released the 2008 figures for advertising revenues. Here is the news:

• Total newspaper advertising revenue fell 16.6 percent in 2008 over the previous year to 37.8 billion dollars.
• Print advertising revenue fell 17.7 percent to 34.7 billion dollars while online advertising revenue dropped 1.8 percent to 3.1 billion dollars.
• Classified advertising revenue continued to plunge falling 29.7 percent to 9.97 billion dollars in 2008.
• Real estate classified spend fell 38% to 2.5 billion dollars.

(More charts below.)

Many people have been asking where the newspaper advertising dollars are going? Scott Karp has a great post on this using the recent closure of the print edition of the Seattle PI as an experiment. He says:

Logically, one or a combination of the following will happen to the newspaper’s advertising dollars:

1. Vaporizes, i.e. the advertiser stops spending the money — given the economic crisis, this seems likely for some advertisers
2. Shifts to Seattlepi.com — which is hiring its own sales force following the dissolution of the joint operating agreement with the Seattle Times
3. Shifts to another newspaper, i.e. Seattle Times — through the JOA, the same sales force sold ads for Seattle PI and Seattle Times, so it only makes sense that some advertisers will shift some or all of their spending to the Times
4. Shifts to competing local online media, e.g. The Stranger, West Seattle Blog
5. Shifts to non-local media that can target local audiences, e.g. Google, Craigslist (inc. Trulia.com)
   

What do you think will happen?

How to Write a How-To Blog Post

We all have moments where we want to learn how to do something new or how to do something better. Whether it’s How to Make Chicken Marsala or How to Find a Home Improvement Contractor, we have an innate desire to learn. Learning provides us fulfillment. It makes us more capable as human beings.

The challenge is how do we best learn how to do things? How do we share our knowledge with others more effectively. One way is to author a How-To article, intriguing post or video. Have no fear, it’s really not all that difficult. By following a few steps and ideas, many of you can start offering some of your unique knowledge by writing your own how to tips. To get started, I thought I’d share some tips with you on How to Write a How To Blog Post. Enjoy.

Be the Subject Matter Expert

Before you can write a How-To blog post, article or email, you have to know what you are talking about. You have to “own” that topic. If someone wants to learn about golf or how to play golf like Tiger Woods, they want to learn from Tiger Woods, not someone who read a book on how Tiger Woods became Tiger Woods. Real life personal experience matters.

Have a Focus

Narrow down your How-To tip or advice to something specific. If you’re a Foreclosure expert in Orlando, Florida, a good idea might be share tips on How to Buy a Foreclosure in Orlando, Florida.

Become a Storyteller

People love stories. A How-To article or blog post is like a short story. Learn how to get your point across quickly and effectively. Take a workshop from a master storyteller where you can learn the art of storytelling. It will help you put your words and presentation together better which ultimately helps your audience digest your content better.

Create an Outline

Take a moment to highlight the key steps and points you’d like to share. By organizing your thoughts in a rough draft, you get a chance to visualize the flow and content. Use bullets, headlines and images to help make a better presentation.

Think Like a Publisher

Mainstream media, magazines and newspaper publishers are masters at getting our attention. They use creative headlines, images, video, etc. to attract us. You can too. Make sure that the content flows and that it’s scan-able and easy on the eyes.

They are also sticklers for proper grammar and punctuation. Ideally, you should be as well. But no one will bite your head off if you “misss-spelll” something So focus on content and delivery.

Create a Killer Headline

The headline is one of the most important if not the most important part of a How-To blog post, article or video. Before anyone can read or see the great How-To tips you put together, they have to be interested first. You need to create a headline that will get someones attention. You only get a short window to do that. Make it memorable and intriguing.

How-To vs. How

Experiment by using different forms of “How” – you might get different results while peaking a persons interest. A How-To title may be for a post that’s more of a step-by-step guide where a “How” title may be more appropriate for a combination of a how-to guide that includes real life examples of what actually worked or didn’t work. Experiment to see which works best for you.

1. How to Sell Your Home in 30 Days In Orange County, California
2. How I Sold My Clients Home in 13 Days In Las Vegas, Nevada
3. How Not to Market Your Clients Home

Show Tangible Benefits

How will this help me? Highlight the benefits a person will get if they follow your How-To tips. Immediate gratification is something people want when reading how to articles or watching how to videos. Walk them through each step and explain why each step is important.

Share Real Life Stories – Walk the Walk

Be real. If you are going to talk about how to use Facebook to get real estate business or how to use Trulia Voices to connect with real home buyers and sellers, share some real life experiences where you have done that.

Provide Closure

Close the deal. If they follow each step, they will get “x” or understand how to do “y”. There is no magic bullet. We learn through others and through our own personal experiences. How to tips are meant to help you learn how to do things yourself and how to do them well.

Good luck and have fun.

Trulia Pro – How To Create a Spotlight Ad and How to Track your Stats

How-To screen-casts such as the one I created above or videos are another great way for you to get your message across. It’s takes some more work and tools but can help those that are visual grasp your message better.

Are you ready to How-To?

1. Pick a subject or topic that you are an expert in and you think consumers want to learn more about – e.g. How to Buy a Foreclosure, How Do I Pick the Right Neighborhood for Me and My Family, How to Best Negotiate Home Prices, How to Renovate My Home to Double its Value, etc…… You get the idea!
2. Write the post on your Trulia Blog and select the “How To” category
3. Comment on THIS blog post and share the link to your blog post here too

You have until April 15th to publish a new original ‘How To’ blog post on your Trulia Voices Blog and notify us by commenting on this post. We will hand pick top three how to tips and promote them at the weekly consumer newsletter which reaches thousands of consumers on the last week of April.

It’s a great opportunity for you to shine!

Would You Stop Selling Real Estate if You Won $5 Million?

Source – YouTube

According to BizJournals, the husband of Real Estate Broker Carol North of C.A. North Realty in Clifton Park, New York recently won $5 million from a scratch-off New York State Lottery game. Some asked her if she would close her real estate brokerage because of the winnings.

Carol said, “Some people seem to think we’re closing the business, but we’re not.”

Instead, she will close one of her two offices and support the 11 agents she has in her Malta office. She didn’t want to close up shop in these difficult times even though the agents all could go to another office. A good move as a principal broker which shows she cares about her agents.

After taxes, it’s not really all that much money anyways. Would that be enough to entice you to stop what you are doing, quit work, retire or take a new path with your new found wealth? Or would you still have the drive to continue doing what you’re doing?

It does beg the question of, What would you do if you won $5 million dollars today?

Real Estate Signs of the Times – Shirley, You Can’t Be Serious?

Source – YouTube

According to WCVB TV – thebostonchannel.com, starting in May, the town of Shirley, Massachusetts is thinking of charging real estate agents and others $25 for each “for sale” yard sign they display in the community. Shirley is trying to close the gap on a $1.17 Million deficit. Is this the best way to do it?

Watch the WCVB TV Coverage by clicking the image above or here

Local RE/MAX Colonial real estate agent and Trulia Pro Mark Tavenner says, “I may put up 15-20 signs every weekend. Every weekend I’ll write a check?”

Watch the WBZ TV Video Clip by clicking the image above or this Link

Traditionally, real estate agents and brokers have used their for sale signs as a way to help market their home sellers home, their company brand and themselves. It’s been a staple in many real estate bokers offline marketing budgets as it helps drive home buyers to the home or open house. Now, the ROI can be debated but from my experience and from speaking with a number of agents over the years, it’s one form of traditional offline marketing that I think is here to stay.

But, if a permanent fee were to be imposed for each for sale sign, would brokers and agents reconsider using the signs? I’m not so sure they would. Would they pass the cost along to their sellers or possibly include it as one of their marketing expenses?

As a real estate agent, would you pay your town $25 to display a “for sale” yard sign?

Trulia Testimonial – Tim White, Real Estate Pro in Hart, MI

This week we want to give a big shout-out to Tim White, Real Estate Pro in Hart, MI.  Tim recently heard of Trulia through a fellow agent and decided to check it out.

Here’s his experience as written on his Trulia blog:

“I jumped on-line, created my profile, and started looking around. I went to the Q&A section, and there was a post from a buyer looking for a couple acres of land in one of the markets I work in, and I replied simply:

‘Scott – Give me a call and we’ll see what we can find. All my contact info is available at http://www.timwhitehomes.com‘

Within a couple of hours, my cell phone rings, and I am talking to Scott directly! I asked him to provide more details about what exactly he was looking for, and collected his contact information. I told him I would start looking for some opportunities for him, and call him tomorrow.

I just got off the phone with him this morning! He has the day off today, and we are going to look at some properties this afternoon.

It took me all of ten minutes to create my profile on Trulia, and about 30 seconds to post my reply to Scott. I think that’s a pretty good return on my time investment! Best of all, it didn’t cost me a dime! Seeing the results so quickly was extremely satisfying, and I would recommend that every agent be using Trulia.”

This is AMAZING Tim! Thanks for sharing such a positive experience with us!  Please keep us posted on how everything turns out with Scott.

Mortgage rates going up/down… What’s going on?

This morning I saw a interesting status update on Facebook, by the ever opinionated and knowledgable Brian Brady.

Here are snippets from various sources:

1. Coming out of the two day policy meeting, the Fed is purchasing an additional $750 agency mortgage backed securities + $100 billion more for mortgage debt to help spur private credit markets.  Business Week
2. This caused a rally in bonds and mortgage backed securities which SHOULD cause lenders to reprice.  Lew Corcoran, Trulia Voices
3. But…it’s not happening (see Facebook dialogue above) because….lenders are keeping the spread?  Because markets will revolt against inflationary policies?  Because…

What do you think?  What will happen and why?  We’d love to hear your opinion.

New site to help home owners: MakingHomeAffordable.gov

Earlier this month, President Obama rolled out his mortgage relief plan to help millions of families facing foreclosure to stay in their homes.  Today the Treasury Department has launched a new website to help home owners better navigate the information in the Making Home Affordable plan.

This new site includes the same information featured at financialstability.gov, but in a much more user-friendly design and some cool new tools like a quiz to see if you’re eligible for mortgage modification and a calculator that allows home owners to estimate the reduction to their monthly mortgage payment that they might get under the plan.

The page is intended to provide the same information available by calling the Home owner’s HOPE Hotline (888-995-HOPE), which has been overwhelmed with calls – more than 124,000 homeowners have called since the announcement on March 4th!  Of course the hotline is still available, but MakingHomeAffordable.gov is a great first resource for home owners.

Are you being helped by the Making Home Affordable plan?  Share your story in the comments!

Second wave of foreclosures – look out Baby Boomers in the Northwest!

Washington State has joined the list of states affected by recession, with the rest of the northwest following close behind.  As they join this unfortunate club, foreclosure rates are starting to climb.

Why?

This second wave of foreclosures is no longer due to just bad loans – rising unemployment is a major factor.  The New York Times reports “Companies like Boeing, Starbucks and even Microsoft have laid off thousands of employees.  Unemployment is rising faster here than in most other states.”

Plus, a recent study shows that it’s baby boomers who are getting hit particularly hard in the current housing market.  The Center for Economic Policy estimates that 30% of homeowners between 45-54 years old are underwater – a pretty scary statistic. In addition, they found that baby boomers in the 45-to-54 group saw their overall net worth decrease 45 percent over the last five years!  This is bad news for not only the housing market, but for everyone who’s hoping/planning to soon retire.

It’s sad to hear how so many people are slowly losing their homes as the economy worsens – but there are a few rays of light at the end of the tunnel.  For those who may be facing foreclosure, check out the Details of the Mortgage Relief Plan – Making Home Affordable to see if you qualify for mortgage relief.

Green at Trulia means many things

From St. Patty’s to our logo, “green” means a lot of different things to Trulians, so I didn’t think it’d be right to ignore such a welcome excuse to don our favorite color.  Here’s what green brings to mind for me:

3) Fun on a Tuesday: Who doesn’t like street parties and green beer?  We live in San Francisco for pete (flint)’s sake, the day-drinking capital of the country.  You can too if you code Java or are great at sealing the deal (money’s green too) — I guarantee St. Patty’s wouldn’t be the last day you’d be celebrating during the week ; )

2) Eco-friendly homes: We’re into the crunchy, green homes sprouting up all over the country these days.  We’re talking wind energy, solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, double-paned windows and so much more.  Mmm granola.

• Miami, FL – Check out the first eco-friendly family development in Miami

• Brooklyn, NY – How about a Big Green Apple with this one bedroom in trendy Williamsburg

• Austin, TX – One of the greeniest cities around… and not just in Texas

1) The marker man: In case you hadn’t noticed, we have a peculiar thing for our oblong lime-ish logo and mascot.  While the marker man’s record hasn’t always been clean, we’re pretty proud of what he stands for: Power to home buyers, owners, sellers and agents that want easy tools AND unbiased information.

Besides, who doesn’t like costumed crusaders that push the limits?  Happy St. Patty’s Day!