Edmond/NW OKC Real Estate

New Blog Directory = Increase in Traffic... SEO?

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:33:52 -0500

OK, so I posted yesterday about RSSHugger.com, a new blog directory. You never know when you post up on one of these directories if you're really going to see any noticable traffic as a result. Will it be found? Will it really help you with backlinks, etc?

Well, I checked in on the website this morning and, to my surprise, my blog made it into the Top 100 already. That's simply as a result of people clicking over from my first blog about RSS Hugger. But what's happened is that now my blog is listed in the Top 100, which is creating a little more traffic flow to my blog.

I'll continue to post here in the coming weeks as to whether or not I see a consistent amount of traffic from RSS Hugger, but so far I'm happy to see any effect at all. In the meantime, be sure to get your blog listed in the directory. All you have to do is click the link above or the logo to the right, and register your blog. It's free if you write a review of the site. Good luck!

16812 LaPaloma Ln for Sale in Summer Ridge of Edmond

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:46:11 -0500

Looking for a cutting-edge home that will stand out from the rest? Tired of seeing the same houses over & over as you drive around your neighborhood? This beauty may be the one for you.

2174 square feet MOL
3 beds
2 baths
Open floorplan
Large Upstairs bonus room
Cul-de-sac location
Family-friendly neighborhood
Edmond Public Schools
Modern styling
New carpet & paint
Lots of ceramic tile
Much, much more!

Call Ryan @ 405.802.4663 for more information, or to schedule your private showing.

Beautiful Home Open to the Public this Sunday!

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:34:36 -0500

Whether you're a tire-kicker or a family looking for your dream home, you owe it to yourself to see this beauty. We'll be holding it open to the public this Sunday, July 13th, from 2-5pm, so come by and say hello, but be careful... you just might fall in love.

View Larger Map

Edmond Real Estate Statistics for May 2008

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:35:24 -0500

It's been a while since I've posted the monthly sales statistics for the Edmond and OKC Metro area, mostly due to our still strong market keeping me more than busy.

So, I figured now would be a good time to get back in the groove. If you're curious what the real numbers indicate in our market, check out the latest statistics and see for yourself. I think both buyers and sellers will be pleasantly surprised, as we're beginning to see the slow shift back to a sellers market, yet the buyers can still take advantage of higher inventory levels and some sellers needing to get their homes sold.

Edmond's First Video Hotsheet

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:14:19 -0500

Well, I've been toying with some ideas (for a while now) of how to use video in my efforts to keep the public informed, and I've finally implemented one... Central Oklahoma's first daily hotsheet video. Here's day 1:

What do you think?

DIY Home Improvement - How To Install Kitchen Cabinets

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:08:42 -0600

Consistently improving on your home is one of the best investments you can make. Nothing makes your home more appealing to buyers than shiny new things. Pretty surfaces, modern technology, and up-to-date decor will bring out the checkbooks every time.

Sometimes these improvements can really get expensive though, so when it's an option, consider the DIY way. Personally, I enjoy do-it-yourself projects. They allow my creative side to come out and demolition is a great way to take out some frustration! The real benefit in the DIY approach though, is the savings. It's estimated that about 70% of all home improvement expenses are the cost of labor, so if you have the time and the abilities, why not save that 70% and increase your ROI even more?!...

Progression and Improvement? You Be the Judge

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:26:15 -0500

I started a new project this week, and each day I learn a few new things and find ways to improve on it. I'm a firm believer that if we're not moving foward, we're moving backward, so I strive to inch forward each and every day.

My new Edmond Video Hotsheet started simply as an idea in my head, and once I found time to actually put the first one together, it was rough. The next one was better, and hopefully this one is the best yet:

Thoughts? Advice? Comments?

Edmond Oklahoma Homes for Sale - Video Hotsheet - Day 2

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:56:34 -0500

Yesterday, I posted my first try at the Edmond Video Hotsheet and got some great advice on things I might do to improve on it. I also learned a few other things I could do to give it some 'flair.' So, I took another shot at it today, and here's what I came up with:

My end goal here is to have it be both entertaining and informative, with details on the overall area around each features home, such as schools, landmarks, shopping, community amenities, etc. Obviously, this type of information should be more valuable to home buyers, especially those who are relocating from outside the area.

As time goes by, I'm sure I'll get more comfortable in front of the camera and you'll see more of my personality. Hopefully, I'll also figure out more tips & tricks along the way to make it more appealing. Any of you know of a good video screen capture program that I could integrate into it?

Tornado Hits a Bit Too Close to Home

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:28:46 -0500

About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about Oklahoma tornadoes, and at that time I guess I should've knocked on wood.

You see, when I wrote this post, I had only been caught up in a tornado twice in my life. At about 1:45 this morning, that changed. I found myself, my wife, and my kids crouched down in our laundry room, riding out a tornado that hit dangerously close to home.

It had been a normal night for the most part. I was up late working and had the TV on, just to keep an eye on the severe weather that had been buzzing around the state for quite a few hours. Once the high winds hit our area, I started paying a little more attention.

You see, night-time tornadoes, IMO, are the most dangerous. During the day, you can step outside, take a look around at the clouds and get a pretty good idea of what's going on, but at night you have to rely completely on what the guys on TV are telling you. Thing is, they're going almost completely by what the radar shows because, big surprise, they don't have any better vision at night than you and I do.

So, they're showing radar coverage of the 'hook' and how this slow-moving storm is just dumping tons of rain and hail all over the metro. Next thing you know, they're fully geared up, talking about a 'touchdown' (do you know the two types of touchdowns that occur in Oklahoma?)around Danforth & Western. Yep, that's exactly one mile West of us, and this storm's moving East. Sounds like trouble right? Yeah, that was enough for us to go get the boys out of bed and make a mad rush for a safe room in the middle of the house.

Long story short, we faired well. This thing skated by about 1/8 mile South of our home, taking down power lines and snapping the poles in half. The boys had a great time & I guess they thought we were playing hide & seek or something. They enjoyed playing with the flashlights & stuff.

Later, we found out that several homes in the Valencia area (just west of our church, and 3 miles from home) got hit pretty hard, but praise God, there were no reported injuries. One house in particular had almost the entire roof ripped off, with Mom & her twin boys inside.

It was quite a site this morning, as I drove around checking on clients & friends and their homes. Several of the main intersections were closed to through traffic as the power company worked to get the lines back up. I couldn't really get any pictures of the damage to homes, but you can see here one of those utility poles snapped in half.

By the way, I want to applaud those from my church who decided on their own to go over to Valencia this morning and help those residents any way they could, with cleanup and prayer. What a great bunch of people!

So, here we are, a month after my first post, and I now have to increase my number by 50%. Yes, it's true, I've been in that crouching position 3 times in my 36 years.

Here are some of the local news articles on last night's storm:
http://www.koco.com/news/15747998/detail.html
http://www.koco.com/news/15747998/detail.html
http://newsok.com/article/3223273/

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MY BLOG 3/31/08

What's all this Social Networking and Online Marketing Stuff About Anyway?

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:34:42 -0500

It's a question I see in the eyes of many clients, and even more of my peers, so it's always fun to get a little love from those who recognize what you do right. It was no different when my online presence was recently noticed and used as an example in an article written by Dustin Moore of a la mode, inc.

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.

Caption This!

Sun, 04 May 2008 11:47:35 -0500

Those of us in the real estate business get a lot of laughs from the things we see each day, and sometimes from the photos we see on the MLS. I thought I'd have a little fun this morning and see what captions the braintrust here at AR can come up with for this photo I took earlier in the week:

LEAVE YOUR CAPTION HERE

Another Way to Generate Traffic on Your Blog - Part II

Fri, 02 May 2008 16:48:10 -0500

So, I posted last week about the possible benefits of getting your RSS feed on RSSHugger, and since then have seen a more dramatic flow of traffic from this source.

It seems that the higher I climb up their Top 100 list, the more direct traffic I'm getting from it. After the last post here on AR about RSSHugger, I moved from the top 25 to the top 10, which basically doubled the number of traffic flow. But at the start of each month, they wipe out the Top 100 and start all over. I ended last month in the top 5, and now I'm on top of the entire list. Guess what that means. Yep, you guessed it, more traffic again. Now I'm seeing about 4 times as much traffic from here as I was when I was in the top 25.

Guess being #1 benefits you in places other than Google too, right?

Get your feed hooked up on RSSHugger now!

Another Way to Generate Traffic on Your Blog

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:13:27 -0500

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?

My Easter Gift to You

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:36:29 -0500

In the spirit of this wonderful Holiday, I thought I'd share something with you that was passed along to me by a dear friend recently. If you have a few minutes to spare, this video is WELL worth the time it takes to watch.

For the faithful, it puts in perspective what He did for us, and what he continues to do for us each and every day! For anyone out there who may be struggling with demons and battles of any sort, it serves as a reminder that He is ALWAYS there for us, no matter our past or present shortcomings. As I experienced church this morning, I was overwhelmed with the reminders that He is love, and He is there! Happy Easter to all of you!

Summer Ridge, Edmond OK Activity Report, March 2008

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:09:19 -0500

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MY EDMOND REAL ESTATE BLOG on 3/22/2008

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):

ML#

Status

Address

SqFt

Built

List Price

LP/SF


310261	Active	16628 Valderama Way	1972	2005	$189,900	$96.30
320828	Active	16620 Valderama Way	1972	2005	$195,500	$99.14
319942	Active	16800 Valderama Way	2052	2005	$199,897	$97.42
310874	Active	2641 NW 166th St	2076	2003	$204,900	$98.70
316737	Active	16612 Valderama Way	2044	2005	$205,000	$100.29
314400	Active	16712 Ventana Blvd	2013	2005	$208,760	$103.71
319046	Active	16608 Cordillera Way	2103	2003	$225,000	$106.99
Averages					2,033	2004	$204,137	$100.36

**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.