Edmond/NW OKC Real Estate

I posted last month about RSS Hugger and thought I'd post an update now.

When I originally posted, I had just created my feed to RSS Hugger and wasn't sure if I'd see any benefit from it at all, and really most of my traffic from it at that time was from those of you here on AR who read my post.  That's partly why I haven't posted about it since.  I wanted to see if I continued to get traffic as a result of having my feed on RSSHugger.

Each month, their Top 100 list is wiped clean and started over, and I pleasantly find myself in the top 10 this month with no promotion of my own, which tells me that people are click on my feed from RSS Hugger, which is also verified by the statistics on the back end of my blog.

So, even if you only gain a small influx of traffic, why not go ahead and get your feed set up on RSS Hugger?  Every little bit helps, right?

Dustin was touching on the real, tangible benefits of social networking, as in what it can do for your business. I can personally attest to a 'smarter not harder' result over the past year and a half since I really discovered what social networking is all about. In 2006 I gained absolutely no (zero) new clients as a result of my online presence, but 2007 was much different. Almost 20% of my new clients in 2007 found me directly through my social networking sites, such as ActiveRain, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and my own Edmond real estate website (Yes, I built new client relationships as a direct result of each one of these sites in the last year). This year is on track to produce an even higher percentage.

The real benefit, though, has been the added exposure that my clients' homes get as a result of my diverse approach to the internet. When I list a client's home, I promote it on about 35 different websites. Many of those 35 websites then feed that information out to other partner sites, so in essence my listings end up on an untold number of places on the vast WWW. This equates to more eyeballs seeing my listings, which then equates to more showings, quicker sales, and ultimately higher sales prices.

Think of it this way; If you were searching online for information about homes for sale in Long Beach, CA, where would you start? Would you search Google, Yahoo, Realtor.com, Remax.com, Ask.com, Trulia, Zillow, or one of the other thousands of real estate websites out there? Good question right? YOU might start with Realtor.com, but your neighbor might start with Zillow. Which one's better? Who knows... doesn't really matter. Fact is, over 80% of home buyers start their search online, and each of them start in different places.

So, the question then is, do you want an agent who puts your home on the MLS and on one or two websites... or do you want an agent who gets your home into every possible corner of the internet. Do you want to attract only buyers who start their search on Zillow, or do you want to attract buyers from everywhere?

I would think you'd want the agent who covers it all, so that no matter where a buyer begins searching for Edmond homes, they'll see yours!

So anyway, back to this social networking thing; it's nice to be recognized and all, but what this really does is drives even more traffic to my websites, which translates into more relationship building (with both peers and consumers), which then turns into better results for my clients.

By the way, I've also noticed a new flow of traffic from RSShugger.com lately, where my Edmond Real Estate blog is currently listed in the top 50.

A good friend of mine bought a gorgeous home in Summer Ridge last year, and he's really in tune with what's going on in the neighborhood. Of course, I'm always interested too, since it's one of the communities I had a part in developing, so I thought I'd dig in to see what's been going on in the neighborhood over the past 60 days.

So, what’s selling, what’s not, and what’s new on the market in Summer Ridge?

Here are the Summer Ridge homes that closed within the past 60 days:

And here are the homes currently on the market in Summer Ridge (Active & Pending):

**All statistical and listing information provided to and compiled by MLSGateway.com, Inc. covering a period (1/21/08) through (3/21/08). MLSGateway.com, Inc. does not guarantee or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Listing information is deemed reliable at the time of this posting, but subject to change without notification, and should be verified through a licensed agent for accuracy.

For more information about a specific home, or to find out how to get yours SOLD for the most in the shortest time, call or email me.

It's amazing how many people are searching for more information about the tornado that swept through Edmond Sunday night/Monday morning, and I've since discovered that I actually know several of the home owners who were affected by this storm, so it's been a crazy couple of days.  Our prayers are with you guys, and we're so thankful that you're all safe!

The city still has Danforth closed between Western and Santa Fe, while the crews work to get all the power lines back up in the air, and those folks who live in Valencia are still working to get things cleaned up and repaired.  I've posted some photos that I've taken over on my Edmond real estate blog, for those of you interested in the mystery of what a tornado can do.