Ryan Ward's Blog: All Categories

As a consumer there is no question - the market is down. But, what does that mean, how does it affect you and what is the most important indicator? Well, there are lots of long winded answers with plenty of nuance and different people might give slightly different answers. To me, and I think to most, the most important part of the market is what the value of homes are and where they are trending. Most of the other things like supply and demand, the amount of foreclosures, pending sales, absorption rates and the like all filter in to the bigger equation of value. So here in Atlanta, the value of homes are down. Way down. Here is a chart going back a year showing the value of Atlanta real estate which has been on a steady decline.

I think this chart…

Unbelievable would be what I thought when I first saw it. Poor business decision, if that's what it is would be the reality. You see, MSN has some very unusual search results here in Atlanta. Typically, the most frequently searched term by consumers looking for real estate will be "city real estate" and in Atlanta, MSN returns the same website something on the order of 498 out of the first 500 search results! Here's a screen shot:

O.K. So I guess it's not exactly the same result - they are all subdomains of the same website. Now if you were a consumer searching for Atlanta homes for sale using the most used keyword phrase, do you think it might be a good idea to serve up the same website over and over again like this? Seriously.

Here is the search…

We just listed a fantastic property in the heart of Sandy Springs inside of I-285 that offers an amazing 1.4 level acres with a pool for less than the average sold price for all of Sandy Springs. Located about 3 minutes from Chastain Park, this home at 750 Crest Valley Drive has one of, if not the best, lot I have seen for less than $1,000,000.

We just launched the exclusive single property website which will have even more information added to it over the next few days, but we already have about 100 photos up along with a nice slideshow and 4 virtual tour views - and yes, we know - two of the virtual tours will need to be shot again as the lighting threw off the panoramas...you can view this Sandy Springs home for sale at 750 Crest Valley Drive here and…

What? That's right! I have joined Team Eric - and I have thrown all the weight of my entry behind it. I found out where I stacked up so now it's time to give back to those who have the most to gain from a victory - Eric Blackwell. Besides, what would I do with another REW website with a custom IDX? I already have one.

And one more thing - I want to help prevent some other people from attempting to sneak in the back door just before the contest ends to claim victory. This will mean that my entry will begin to fall - it already has because I did this a few days ago and Eric should now be benefiting from the additional strength passed on from me now. For any of you following the contest, you might have seen some shifting taking place on the first page over…

Recently there was a big bloggers conference here in Atlanta and I missed it. For good reason, but, missed it none the less. Anyway, seems a big topic at the event dealt with "web 2.0". A search for web 2.0 from wikipedia suggests that what it is more than anything is the idea that we should be creating more interactive websites. Sort of take some of the anonymity away and get users involved. I'm not sure as to its effectiveness in general, but, it seems like something that we should all be trying to shoot for - make it easier for consumers to contact us. More of an evolution of ergonomics and methods of contact rather than some really new great idea.

So I've fooled around and added a new tool, Plugin actually, to my Atlanta real estate blog for…

In an effort to improve marketing for all of our listings, I've finally decided to add single property websites as an additional marketing tool. These single property sites have been around for a long time and agents have been using them during listing presentations to woo their prey into listings, but, the truth is that these sites do little more than garble up the internet with more junk as none of them (at least none that I have seen) do anything except inflate the agent and seller while not really performing well in the search engines. Now, before I get comments about this post to the contrary, let me say that this is a generalization. Of course there are agents around that know how to effectively market on the internet and many have been able to use…

No Joke! I received a phone call late last week and I answered it in the typical way and the man responded by saying that he found me online and that I was supposedly the greatest real estate agent in the world. Certainly I thought that this was a joke, but, as it turns out he had a serious question and was seeking advice from the greatest real estate agent in the world. He turned to Google and that's how he found me. funny as it were, the man had a question that the greatest real estate agent in the world certainly would know better than to answer.

So I thought I would share that even though this is, well, at least I thought was an obscure phrase, I actually received a phone call from it. I can't help a disenchanted buyer by answering legal questions…

I had a closing today where I represented the buyer. We asked for a home warranty to be included at no cost to the buyer and at a cost of no more than $500. So, we got to the closing table and as I looked over the settlement statement I saw that there was a warranty on the statement, but, it was for $319.

I always order my warranties the day of closing and had done so today just about 2 hours before the closing and I knew that the one that I had ordered for my buyer cost $469 and was more comprehensive than the one that was on the settlement statement. While the buyers, sellers, closing attorney and both of us agents were sitting at the table, I said:

"I believe that this is the wrong warranty. I ordered the comprehensive warranty which was $469…