The Real Estate Tomato

Our resident Internet Marketing Specialist, Marc Grayson of Webographers fame, has just sent over his first Tomato contribution of 2008, and it couldn’t have been more timely. I hadn’t told him when he submitted the idea, but I have been meaning to write on this topic for the last week. You snooze, you lose. Perhaps I’ll save my banter for the comments along with y’all. Are You IN or OUT With Real Estate Blogging? By Marc Grayson You may have thought I was referring to, "are you in with blogging or out with blogging". Actually, what we seeing today are differentiations in blogging and communicating online given: your peers (Inside) and to consumers (Outside). Should real estate professionals stick to one audience...having more than 1 blog? Why is this important? Let's take a look at what service providers are up to. What were seeing today in Web 2.0 are lines...

This week, Mr. Marc Grayson, our resident Internet Marketing Tool Specialist brings yet another insightful offering. Marc examines the value of developing a single ‘sign on’ username and password for your many (and growing) online real estate services. One Username And Password For All Online Real Estate Applications By Marc Grayson Yes, that would be nice, considering many people now-a-days have 10 username and passwords for all their online accounts and identities. You're not only inundated with many user accounts (agent profiles, logins and passwords), but moreover, many distinct, monthly or annual subscriptions with online RE Applications. Whether talking about your MLS, online forms provider, transaction management tool, agent website, virtual tour provider, Podcast provider, your many email accounts, and of-course social media websites (i.e. ActiveRain, RealTown, your own blog)…you're swimming in many online RE applications. Problem - More RE Applications Coming Guess what, more online real estate apps are...

Mr. Marc Grayson, our resident Internet Marketing Tool Specialist has returned with another insightful weekly offering. This week Marc examines the value of promoting properties for sale with the singular listing website. Thank you Marc. - Today, we see a number of sources to place listings on-line: your agent website, broker website, MLS/Association website, vertical search engines like Trulia, Propsmart and online classifieds such as Oodle, LiveDeal, GoogleBase, Realtor.com, Point2NLS, Zillow, Postlets, VFlyer etc. Given these numerous outlets to list properties to a nationwide audience, I'd like to present a listing tool that is a return to your "local" scene. Return to what is good and local Besides agent/broker websites, we've seen many posts on the Real Estate Tomato about being "Local" vs "National". Teresa Boardman talked about Keeping Local Real Estate, Well...Local, and how blogging can support and express your local knowledge and expertise within the microcosm of your...

A couple of weeks ago, Marc Grayson made his debut on the Tomato with a very informative article regarding the tools available for determining the value of a property. Ironically, the article has the Tomato coming up quite competitively for the search phrase: “What is my home worth?” So, I couldn’t wait for him to contribute another piece, expecting more great SERP success! This week Marc breaks down the process of how to take your real estate business paperless. This was a topic that was quite interesting to me, given I threw my printer away about 3 years ago, and have never looked back. Going Paperless: Bringing Value to an Undervalued Process As the Web 2.0 era is in full-swing, consumer-centric, real estate websites have allowed and inspired consumers to list their own homes, discover house values, conduct neighborhood searches, and further self-serve elements that were once the sole responsibility...

An exciting element of the Tomato platform is the fortune we have to showcase the efforts of some very capable contributors. Today we introduce a new member to our “vine,” Mr. Marc Grayson. Marc has been a big fan of the Tomato, and we are now able to return the favor of his readership by giving him the floor for the day. Marc is the president and founder of the National Institute of Webographers, the owner of the REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER certification found at Webographers.com. Here’s his piece on breaking down the distinction between the traditional Comparative Market Analysis and the newer Automated Valuation Model. Enjoy. What’s My Home Worth? CMAs vs. AVMs Given the online real estate arena, the consumer question of “What’s My Home Worth has spun technology providers to implement various services to answer that basic question. At the core of this question lends itself to thorough...