Trulia Testimonial – Mark Wisterman – Broker/Owner of Realty World – Best Realty – Oroville California

Today, we’re sharing a Trulia Testimonial blog post by Mark Wisterman, a real estate Broker/Owner of Realty World – Best Realty in Oroville, California. In his most recent Trulia blog, he talks about the recent success he and his office have had on Trulia.

According to Mark:

As a rule I am normally not a big ”endorsement” kind of guy. I am very protective of my reputation. I just feel that putting my reputation on the line to recommend a company that I do not have much experience with is not a good idea.

Today I am going to make an exception to my self imposed rule by telling you about my recent success with Trulia.

The top 5 takeaways are:

1. Featured listings showing up on the top of the first 6-7 pages for Oroville, California property results pages
2. Getting Quality Leads
3. Opened one escrow from a Trulia lead last week
4. One offer pending from a client who found Mark on Trulia
5. Mark’s office had 6 property inquires from Trulia in one day

Check out Mark’s entire – Thank You Trulia – blog post on his Trulia Voices Blog.

Thanks for sharing your Trulia experiences with us. We wish you and your entire company continued success.

Creative Open Houses Bring Home the Buyers

If you’ve been following the Trulia Blog for the last couple of months, you probably remember that we showcased two 53 Hour Open House events by Trulia Pro Dan Polimino from Fuller Sotheby’s Realty in Denver, Colorado. In April, he got over 400 people in the door and over 1,500 unique visitors online and sold 1 of the 6 homes on the Open House tour – during a blizzard!

We followed up with Dan to see how the last 53 hour open house went:

So how did the last 53 Hour Open House go?

• 325 people came through over the three days – We were on track for more but we had tornadoes the last day
• Over 4,000 unique visitors came to 53HourOpenhouse.com to watch
• Two of the six homes on the Open House tour got offers and they are expecting another offer on house number three
• One home is under contract

How was your experience with Trulia?

• Very impressed with their willingness to help, be creative, break the mold and think out of the box.
• Appreciated very much their support via blogs, video blogs, sending coffee and pastries to the event.
• I worked with professionals that always responded on the spot and did what they said they would do when they said they were going to do it.
• Trulia provided me traffic to my web site

So How do you plan on topping the 53 Hour Open House?

We’re launching a unique First Time Home Buyer Program on July 1st.

• Educate the public that they have 6 months left to cash in on their tax credit
• First Time Home Buyers have lots of questions when it comes to buying their first home. It can be a confusing process. We built this site to answer those questions, eliminate fear and take them step by step through the process into their new home.
• We will give everyone visiting the site a chance to win their first home, up to $250,000 dollars brought to you Oakwood Homes. All they need to do is guess the correct seven numbers online and we’ll instantly tell them if they are a winner.
• We will be giving Free first time home buying seminars every month for the next six months to help people beat the deadline.

Wow! Did you hear that all you first time Colorado home buyers? On July 1st, visit the First Time Home Buyer Program website and take your 7 number guess for a chance to win a home up to $250,000.

So Do Open Houses Work?

Just like anything else, it takes a combination of things to make them successful including creativity, planning, marketing, staging, local buyer interest, awareness, demand and most of all – setting the right price from the start. Open houses have been the norm in New York City for both home buyers and listing agents but that may not be the case in Phoenix, Arizona. Local buyer and broker habits can play a key role in the success of your Open House. But above all, if you’re not doing something different and creative in your local market, something that makes you and your clients listings stand out and get noticed, your competion will.

We appreciated working with you Dan and wish you continued success in the future.

Trulia’s Heather Fernandez on The Wall Street Journal’s Marketwatch

Heather Fernandez, VP of Marketing at Trulia, met with Jonathan Burton of Marketwatch and talked about our recently released June price reduction study and how homes are still not priced to sell.

Video takeaways and observations:

1. Nationally, $27.4 billion dollars have been cut from asking prices between June 1st, 2008 and and June 1st, 2009
2. 1 of 4 homes has had a price reduction
3. On average home prices have been cut 10%
4. Foreclosures are putting pressure on asking prices of non-foreclosed homes
5. Better to price your home right from the start
6. One major price reduction better than multiple smaller price reductions – multiple reductions can give buyers perception that home is “damaged goods” per se – sellers can loose leverage with multiple cuts
7. Buyers, see if you qualify for 1st time home buyer tax credits
8. Talk to your lender about your financial situation, credit and purchasing power
9. Utilize sites like Trulia and do research- take your time and make informed decisions
10. Negotiation strategies – be patient – plenty of inventory to choose from

#rebcden and #rebcphl – The Recap -It’s All About Relationships

Over the last two weeks, I had the pleasure representing Trulia at 2 real estate bar camps – #rebcden in Denver, Colorado and #rebcphl in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If you’re not sure what an rebarcamp is, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Essentially, it’s a gathering of like minded people who have a passion for real estate, marketing, technology, social media, blogging and more. Throughout the day via various breakout sessions, attendees share their knowledge, experiences, tips and strategies with each other. It’s about learning, teaching, listening, sharing, educating and gaining ideas that can help them in business and in life. It’s all about building quality relationships.

Kristal and Vali by @tboard

#rebcden

Rebarcamp Denver proved to be a huge success. Kristal Kraft, Vali Wimberly and their Denver team organized and set the stage for a smooth flowing, faced paced day of learning and sharing.

Jeff Turner wowed the crowd with his opening presentation – “I cut my own grass” – His metaphor for using what works for you in social media. There are many tools that can get the job done, but you have to decide which ones work best for you.

The wall #IRL - Wanna talk about something? Just add your topic and time to the wall

Lorelle VanFossen a.k.a. @lorelleonwp talks about blogging and WordPress -  “Blog, Sweet Blog”

Had super conversations with Brad Hanks, a fantastic real estate and technology speaker/educator about Linkedin strategies and talked with Lorelleonwp about Woopra website analytics – already had an account and started using it more thanks to Lorelle’s class.

I talked about “The Art of Tru” – Tips and Strategies on how to best use Trulia

@tboard and @jerseydebmadey

To follow my activity at #rebcden, just click this Twitter Search  - Trulia #rebcden

#rebcphl

Kim Wood, John Lauber, Bill Lublin, Judy Moriarty and the whole Philadelphia bar camp crew did a fantastic job bringing everyone together – congrats on a well done event guys!

Kim & John by Kim

The evolving day schedule….Photo by Kim Wood

#Twitterqueens on the scene

The opening ceremony presented by Kim and Bill

Always enjoy sharing great conversations w/ @julietjohnson

Candid Camera – @realtyman, @zipvogreg, @wolkia, @jamesshiner

Photo by @zipvogreg

I had a “presentconversation” where I shared real life examples and case studies of “How Trulia Uses Social Media”

Saying goodbye to friends at #rebcphl

To follow my activity at #rebcphl, just click this Twitter search – Trulia #rebcphl

I’m a fan of new technology and love testing new products and services. At #rebcphl, I tested Tweetmic, a new iPhone app that allows you to tweet your audio recordings directly from your iPhone. To put it through a real world test, I interviewed various attendees of bar camp and asked them to share one social media tip under 20 seconds or so. To listen to them all, click this twitter search link under the hashtag #trulia tweetmic - really great stuff!

It’s always great seeing old friends and making new friends. The ReBarCamp movement is something special and just seems to grow in interest and attendance with each one. If you haven’t attended one yet, go for it. The amount of information you can learn in one day is invaluable. At the end of the day, it’s about giving more than you receive. It’s all about relationships. Cherish the ones you have and nurture the new ones you make.

Hope to see you at the next one…… #rebcboston, here we come…..

P.S. – Trulia is helping host the 1st annual anniversary for #rebcsf on August 4th along with the innaugural San Francisco crew including Andy Kaufman, Brad Coy, Todd Carpenter and Ginger Wilcox.

Freddie Mac Video – Making Home Affordable and Avoiding Foreclosure Rescue Scams

According to Freddie Mac:

A report from the fourth quarter of 2008 shows that a growing number of homeowners are seeking lower mortgage payments through loan modification programs and mortgage refinancing.

In an effort to stabilize the housing market and help millions of American homeowners reduce their monthly mortgage payments, the federal government has launched “Making Home Affordable.” A new effort with Freddie Mac, this program offers some of the most aggressive refinancing and loan workout opportunities for financially strapped borrowers to date.

Link to this Answer

Link to This Answer

Have you tried the new Trulia “Link to this Answer” feature yet? It allows you to easily share and highlight answers you like on Trulia Voices Q&A real estate social networking community with your friends and sphere of influence.

Benefits:

1. You can now better promote your answers on your blog, website or social network of choice.

2. If you like an answer (even if it is not yours) you can link to it and send it around to your friends to see it.

3. After clicking “Link to this Answer” - the answer you selected will be highlighted and will appear first in the thread, just below the question.

How does it work:

1. Click on link to this answer

2. Click “Share this URL”

If you want to link to this from your blog: Copy paste the url and enter it in your blog or website

3. Select how you want to share the answer that you like

If you want to share it with your friends or fans on Facebook or Twitter: click on one one of the options above.

That’s it! Enjoy.

Trulia, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter on NY1 TV

Trulia’s very own Pierre Calzadilla and Trulia Voice Luke Constantino recently appeared on NY1 talking about how home buyers, home sellers and real estate agents are using social networking sites like Trulia, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. Great job guys!

“What’s changed is the medium in which the consumers and the agents are connecting. And how consumers are finding information, and how agents are connecting to these consumers,” said Pierre Calzadilla of Trulia.com.”

“Facebook has become the online cocktail party. Great way to agents and consumers to connect, very light touching, not heavy selling,” said Calzadilla. “LinkedIn has become the online chamber of commerce, professional, a little more rules when you connect. Twitter is like riding the bus and hearing someone talk about real estate and can say, hey, I’m an agent and I can help you sell that home.”

“I believe less is more, it’s a social media, it’s like a lounge, they’re friends. If they want, they will contact you, they know you are in real estate,” said Constantino.”

Agents and consumers who have embraced social networking tools and sites are the ones reaping the benefits. Simply having a basic profile with you name and contact info on these sites is not enough. You need to add more details about yourself and complete your profiles as much as you can – the details matter. Most social networking sites allow you to add more details about yourself, your business, your accomplishments and your interests. Take advantage of it. Think of your profile as your resume. You wouldn’t want someone reading a blank resume now would you? On Trulia, think of your profile as your Real Estate Resume. If you’re looking to make a connection with someone, a good first impression can make all the difference in the world.

Consumers like DJ Waldow are finding their real estate agents, Michael Colvin, on Trulia Voices to help them buy and sell their homes. Some agents like Karen Fiddler, are doing extremely well on Trulia. Social networking on sites like Trulia does work!

Have you created your free Trulia Real Estate Resume yet?

How Trulia Uses Twitter for Business – We Listen, Engage and Educate

I have been the head of communications at Trulia since July of 2008 and I have always been impressed with the way social media is part of our DNA. Social media brings us closer to our customers and consumers. Rudy is our “social media guru” but online his user name is “Trulia” on Twitter. If your company is ready to make a commitment to social media, that means you better be ready to have a dedicated evangelist(s).  This evangelist(s) should represent the company and not their own personal brand.  Rudy has turned this role into an art form and I wanted to share with you the secrets to our success.  It comes down to three key areas: listening, engaging and educating.

Listen
By listening to our audience, we have been able to provide better customer service and roll out new features that we know folks want.  It is important to digest what customers and consumers are saying.  Twitter is like an online focus group and you will be amazed at what you can learn by listening to your customers and consumers.  I know this isn’t rocket science but how many companies out there are compiling reports and feedback from Twitter that can be presented to executive management and key product folks within your organization?

Engage
Engaging in conversation will allow you to fix problems and thank people for good feedback and comments.  It is also an opportunity to correct misinformation.  Once interactions begin, you are setting the bar high that you will always be available and that is why this needs a dedicated resource.  We live in a world that expects instant gratification and if you can provide that, you will build a dedicated group of followers. Ideally this dedicated group of followers will turn into your biggest online and offline evangelists.

Educate
Education comes in many shapes and forms.  We use Twitter to share educational blog posts on how to refinance or how to get your listing noticed.  We use Twitter to share stories about cutting edge agents and the success they are having for the clients  and we use twitter as platform to market our upcoming webinars.  We also use twitter to share the latest product functionality and to share good product reviews like the one from Mosseberg’s column back in February. I could go on and on in this area but I think you get the picture!

My advice, embrace Twitter if you haven’t already.  If you have, ask yourself if it has become part of your DNA? Lastly, ask yourself if your organization is realizing the full power of the service?  If you are interested, you can follow our social media guru, Rudy (@trulia), our CEO (@peteflint), our VP of marketing (@heathermirj) and myself (@sanphrancisco)

Real Estate Broker Joe Adame Defeats Incumbent Henry Garrett to Become Mayor of Corpus Christi, Texas

There’s a New Mayor in Town

Commercial real estate broker and political newcomer Joe Adame defeated incumbent Henry Garrett to become the first Hispanic Mayor of Corpus Christi, Texas. Wow! As a life long resident of Corpus Christi, Adame and local residents felt it was time their city was ready for a change. They had some common goals to unite the people of the community where they can work together in harmony and get things done.

According to Caller.com, “Adame was encouraged to run for office by a group of his employees at his real estate firm, Joe Adame & Associates, after he became frustrated with years of sluggish city growth. He said during the campaign he felt inspired by younger residents involved in his bid for office and at peace with his decision to run.”

According to KRIS 6, “”They’re ready for business people to get involved [and ] make this a business-friendly community. [We need to] live up to the potential we have. So, I am ever so grateful. I give all the credit to the Lord. I’m excited about that opportunity to get involved and make things happen,” Adame said.”

Adame used his real life social network and sphere of influence to build a team of supporters and volunteers that helped him win. He also used Web 2.0 social networking communities to expand his reach such as Youtube, MySpace and Facebook. Congrats to Joe and the residents of Corpus Christi for bringing the community together. Best of luck to you all.

New York City State of the Housing Market

On my way to work today in our New York City office, I was listening to Bloomberg Surveillance on 1130 with Tom Keene and Ken Prewitt as I usually do. I got excited when I heard they would be having my friend, top NYC appraiser and all around great guy Jonathan Miller from Miller Samuel, the Matrix blog, Soapbox blog and the new Housing Helix podcast on the show. It was a great conversation about the nuances of the current state of the New York City housing market.

Listen to the entire Jonathan Miller Bloomberg Surveillance podcast here

Here are some screen shots from Twitter that I LIVE Tweeted [LIVE notes of what was being said]:

I tweeted that Jonathan Miller would be talking with Tom Keene on Bloomberg 1130 at 9am EST and Tom asked Jonathan if it was a good time to buy…..Sadly, I missed the 1st few minutes of the conversation as I just entered the Holland Tunnel

Jonathan said:

• A $1,000,000 property would be approx 25% less today than a year ago
• Inventory is up 25% in NYC

Tom asked:

What’s the lag in assessment?

Jonathan said:

At least 2-3 years

75% of housing is Co-op’s and 2/3rd’s of sales

Foreclosures less likely in Co-op’s – strict board guidelines

Jonathan said:

Market trying to find itself after September tipping point

Read Jonathan’s entire Q1 Manhattan market report here.

Co-op Fees on the Rise in Manhattan

According to the New York Times, “CO-OPS across the city have raised their maintenance charges by as much as 15 percent in recent months, and one of the main causes is rising property taxes.”

One reason is that the 7% homeowner tax cut was eliminated at the beginning of 2009. Another reason is that many multi-family properties have seen the assessed values of their properties go up. The rise in taxes means many Co-op building will pass those costs directly on to their shareholders in the form of assessments.

Traditionally, Co-op buildings have have numerous sources of revenue to help offset rises in operating costs such as direct revenue from commercial tenants in their building and from flip taxes paid by sellers or buyers. A flip tax is like a transfer tax where the seller or buyer [depends on the building] pays a % of the sales price or on the profit to the Co-op board. These funds are added to the buildings reserve fund which helps in building upkeep and operating costs. When either of these sources start to dry up, the reserve fund starts to deplete the Co-op board may implement what is known as an assessment to all of it’s shareholders to cover the costs.

“Retail tenants are all hurting,” said Richard Siegler, a lawyer who represents about 150 co-ops, “and they’re all coming to boards and asking for relief. If the economy improves, then a lot of this will go by the by, but if not, then boards will have to contemplate losing tenants, even though they’d rather not have a vacancy.”

In this economy, as sales slow and inventory rises, even some of Manhattan’s most prime Co-op buildings are starting to feel the pinch…….

Apthrop Condo Price Drop – Largest Since the Fall

The Real Deal reports that the Apthrop Condominium has slashed it’s prices per square foot from $3,000 to approximately $1,950 from last June……

“The price chop is the largest across-the-board reduction for a new condo or conversion project since the Wall Street meltdown this fall, said Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The closest contender was a recent price cut at Northside Piers in Williamsburg that averaged 20 percent.”

Click the image to see the Apthorp using Trulia’s ComprareIt!

390 West End Avenue #10A, New York NY 10024

390 West End Avenue #9DN, New York NY 10024

390 West End Avenue #10G, New York NY 10024

390 West End Avenue #9E, New York NY 10024

I would love to hear more about what New York City real estate agents and tenants are seeing and experiencing themselves…….