http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news The latest news from Last Cut Homes and real estate video tours Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:04:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/2008/10/29/video-impact-of-buying-homes-via-the-internet/ http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/2008/10/29/video-impact-of-buying-homes-via-the-internet/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:08:22 +0000 tbanucci http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/?p=45

One message that came across in numerous sessions during this years Real Estate Connect conference, was that “video has captured the next hot trend mantle for real estate Web sites and individual real estate professionals’ blogs.”

Martin Nisenholtz, Sr. VP of Digital Operations for The New York Times Company, spoke about how the Times was about to roll out video for its real estate ads. Charlie Young, COO with Coldwell Banker, said that his company plans to do more with video on its Web site and elsewhere.

And how about the general public? They’re definitely on board with anything on-line. As recent as 2 years ago we have met clients looking to buy a house by getting in their car daily and driving around neighborhoods, spending numerous weekends going to open houses, checking out the market and looking for a real estate agent they wanted to work with.

Today, we meet home buyers that prefer to go online to do all their searching. They believe so much in the integrity of the online experience that seeing a video of a house is just like being there in person. This is a huge impact on how Realtors are listing and selling their properties today. If you’re still hoping one picture and a few Open Houses will get your listing sold, you are certainly not keeping up with the market.

Don’t let this happen to you. Contact us today so we can show you how to stay in front of your clients, your competition, and get your listings sold!]]> http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/2008/10/29/video-impact-of-buying-homes-via-the-internet/feed/ 2 http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/2008/10/13/economy-have-you-down/ http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/2008/10/13/economy-have-you-down/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:00:00 +0000 tbanucci http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/?p=32

The economy is in ruins right now, stocks are at an 8 year low, and the amount of houses on the market is amazing! The following is some economical advice that was sent to me. I don’t know if it’s true, but I like it!

If you had purchased $1,000 worth of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you would have $49.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 worth of shares in AIG one year ago, you would have $33.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 worth of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you would have $0.00 today.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drunk all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you would have received $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg.]]> http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/2008/10/13/economy-have-you-down/feed/ 0 http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/2008/07/07/how-to-get-customers-during-a-recession/ http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/2008/07/07/how-to-get-customers-during-a-recession/#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:39:48 +0000 tbanucci http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/?p=22

This week we videotaped and photographed a beautiful house in San Martin, CA, which is part of an exclusive golf club and winery. You can see it here. What was unusual about this particular tour is that we were not hired by the realtor, but by the home owner instead!

This is a rare occurrence that happens maybe twice a year, and I have to wonder why it happens. Why wouldn’t the realtor themselves pony up for a virtual tour to promote themselves or gain more sales by offering a tour as part of their listing package? After all, when the realtor is going to make approximately 2% of a $2.5 million dollar home ($50,000), $500 for a tour promoting their name, their reputation, the home, and decreasing it’s time on the market, can only lead to future business for that realtor with bigger and better homes, and is not that much of a burden on the overall profit.

I personally have witnessed realtors who were doing 4 home listings a year start using our services to where they now have 4 listings per month! To say that our service alone made those changes happen would be vain, but we have been told stories by these realtors that they were picked simply on the notion that the home sellers liked the fact that the realtor was offering a unique marketing service, compared to the same old drab photos and 360-degree tour that normally are furnished for a home sale.

I spoke with the home seller at length about the situation between her and her realtor out of curiosity of his marketing plan. Turns out this realtor is a friend of the family, which is another topic all together. He told her (after signing her to a contract) that he was only planning to market the home in the traditional sense because that is what worked for him, AND he was having cash flow problems. Cash flow problems?!?! Maybe the reason he is having cash flow problems is because he hardly sells any houses (if any). As an investor, as well as president of a company, I always remember the old adage: if your stock goes down because of the economy, don’t sell, invest more! This is the difference between people who only are looking for the quick buck, and people who are looking for long-term wealth. This applies to my company as well, when business slows down, re-create yourself. There is nothing so constant as change!

This idea of change has been around forever, and is recognized by the most successful businesses out there. I once taped a meeting room of a whole 200 person sales force chanting this slogan for a company wide video, that’s how badly the company wanted to ingrain this idea into the minds of their employees! Although not a new idea, this concept is also known as The Madonna Effect, for her ever changing music and appearance stylings (and I won’t talk about her current Alex Rodriguez change, since it’s still conjuncture).

As for this person’s realtor, I can’t say how long he’ll be the listing agent, but I did not get a good vibe from the homeowner when she asked me about what (our) typical realtors offer to their clients, that’s never a good sign for the current agent! Home sellers always want more, family friend or not! This guy better get his act together and start pleasing the homeowner right away or he is not only going to lose a friend, but a client!

So… are you feeling ill-effects from this economic downturn we are experiencing? Do something about it! Change the way you do things and invest in yourself and your business! ]]> http://www.lastcuthomes.com/news/2008/07/07/how-to-get-customers-during-a-recession/feed/ 2