Utilizing Zillow’s Video Walk-through Feature
Your Listings on Zillow: How to Triple Your Views & Capture More Leads
While a great profile can be a powerful (and free) lead magnet, there is another even more powerful way to generate leads on Zillow: your listings. After all, the entire reason Zillow exists is to allow homebuyers to browse homes for sale. (more…)
- Published in On the House, Real Estate & Mortgage Industry, Technology
Go?
Pokemon might be coming to your neighborhood. The app claiming to get gamers off the couch has sent them into the streets, roaming parks and other public places in a zombie-like state. Online real estate resource Trulia couldn’t resist getting into the game (and probably tapping the phenomenon for publicity) by creating a “cheat map” for enthusiasts that works like this according to Trulia’s senior public relations manager Andrea McDonald: “Assuming the Pokémon in Go are popping up based on the habitat they thrive in, we have tapped into our map making prowess to showcase the potential hotspots across the U.S. for Electric, Fire, Grass, Psychic and Water Pokémon types.”
Whether you’re looking to “catch ’em all” or for someplace to live, apps can be a great help. They don’t replace the expertise of great real estate agents though. We happen to know a lot of them and we’re happy to connect you. The GCS Title team also works really hard to make sure buyers and sellers don’t feel like they’re walking blindly through the closing process…we love being part of your home buying and selling experience. How can we help you? ~Charlie
- Published in On the House
We “Get It.”
If you read the team bios at gcstitle.com, you’ll notice themes: We all appreciate how every day in this business is different, we thrive on solving problems and we love helping people – not only buyers and sellers who are going through an important transaction that they only do a handful of times in their lives, but the Realtors as well. The 2016 National Association of Realtors member profile came out recently and I noticed that the median gross income for agents with 16 years of experience or more went up $4600 last year – great news for those seasoned pros. Not so great news was the fact that NAR members with two years of experience or less fell $600. Being self-employed and working on straight commission is challenging and we understand the importance of every client and transaction to the Realtors we work with and we consistently work to help agents and loan officers to develop business instead of simply asking them for it.
Closings and everything that goes into them is our business at GCS but we believe our role extends beyond that in the industry and beyond. We also work with our real estate and lending partners to reach out to the buying and selling public, participate in community events with Spare Key, support our veterans through organizations like the American Warrior Initiative. We believe we’re all in this together and we’re always looking for ways to support our partners and community. How can we help you? ~Charlie
- Published in On the House
No Cause for Alarm
Home prices are up again, though not as much as previous months. It’s funny…the real estate and lending industry trades announce things like the 5% year-over-year home appreciation gain noted in the April S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index cautiously because the April gain was less than the one in March. Here’s where you need to grab the grain of salt: The gain was 5.1% in March – so the “drop” was a whopping .1%. Here’s what the Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at the S&P Dow Jones Indices had to say: “… the greatest threat to U.S. housing may come from across the Atlantic and from the domestic political scene.” While the Brexit vote and the crazy presidential race we’re watching are important, they don’t change the fact that we all need a place to live and the biggest expense most people have each month goes to housing. SO, as industry experts and TV pundits wring their hands in print, on air and online, talk to local industry experts about what’s going on in your neighborhood, city and personal housing scenario. Ask questions…find out how you’re doing personally and if there are any adjustments that you should or could make to protect yourself or advance your goals. Checking in with experienced real estate and mortgage professionals should be part of a regular routine. The news can be really scary, but your local experts are here to interpret markets and events and can give you great advice and peace of mind.
~Charlie
- Published in On the House
Appreciation – Want Some?
Pretty much everybody wants a pat on the back, but absolutely everybody likes money in their pocket. New home price information doesn’t exactly put money in your pocket – more like in your portfolio. CoreLogic says home prices went up 2.1% between February and March and they’re up 6.7% year over year between March 2015 and 2016. Here’s what CoreLogic’s chief economist Frank Nothaft said:
“Housing helped keep U.S. economic growth afloat in the first quarter of 2016 as residential investment recorded its strongest gain since the end of 2012. Low interest rates and increased home building suggest that housing will continue to be a growth driver.”
To real estate and mortgage professionals, these numbers are encouraging for the market and business. Consumers may take them either way…renters in particular may get nervous and think homeownership is out of their reach before they’ve taken even the most preliminary steps to pursue it. Let’s work together to get the word out that while “timing is everything,” it’s also very individualized. Getting help and guidance from professional Realtors and loan officers will help determine the right time to buy a home and getting into one will help people start building equity. Their pocketbooks will appreciate it. Let’s help them get started! ~ Charlie
- Published in On the House
Info Abounds
Info Abounds
The Spring-Summer market is underway and everywhere you read and watch, you’ll find comments about the real estate market, interest rate movement, shortages of homes for sale in certain areas and price ranges. People outside the real estate and mortgage industries may wonder what it all means – and if they don’t, they should. It’s so easy to draw a conclusion about how the market’s doing, whether or not it’s a good time to buy or sell, if mortgage interest rates are good and so on. The problem with that is, it’s virtually impossible to know whether or not that conclusion is true without information from a real estate and mortgage professional that was researched and prepared specifically for an individual or family. Here are some questions consumers should NEVER try to answer by reading the news or surfing the net alone:
- Can I afford and qualify for a home?
- Can I get enough money for my home to buy a different one?
- Are interest rates good or should I wait to see if they’ll go lower?
- Is it a good time to buy a home or are prices going to hold steady or go down?
These are just a few typical questions that should be verified with a review of your personal situation. Drawing the wrong conclusion based on general information or statistics can cause you to miss an opportunity. Don’t worry – you don’t have to “sign your life away” to get a professional, specific opinion. We at GCS Title work with many experienced professionals and can connect you with people who can answer your questions with no obligation or pressure. Let us know what questions are on your mind – we’re happy to help you get them answered. ~ Charlie
- Published in Uncategorized