Spoken Gently's Blog: All Categories


MLS Success In Numbers

photo Spoken Gently

The simple fact is that the Multiple Listing Service, otherwise known as the MLS, is one of the most effective home selling tools at the fingertips of real estate agents and for sale by owner sellers alike. As far as a resource compiling the homes for sale in a particular area, no service has yet matched the utilization and breadth of the MLS service, making it a staple of marketing efforts for all those looking to buy or sell a home.

The prominent standing can sometimes come in between a seller and his or her desire to go through the selling process alone without a real estate agent. Certainly, the MLS is a great marketing tool for real estate agent, but it has become accessible to for sale by owner sellers as well. That accessibility means that the…

Read Full Post

Posted: 1 year ago, Comments: 0, Average Rating: Views: 641

Chop Away At Your Real Estate Tax

photo Spoken Gently

Everyone loves a deal that will save them money on their income taxes, whether it is a credit of some kind, rebate to turn in or other incentive that will cut money off of the cash they have to pay the government. Refund checks are almost revered in this country because of the impression that they are almost like free money that was never expected to come back.

With that kind of environment in this country, it’s a wonder why ways to cut down on property taxes aren’t as widely published or commonly available as income tax techniques. The fact is, there are many ways the government has offered to cut you a break on your property taxes and going through a few of the methods might leave you surprised at some of the mechanisms out there to save money.

So,… Read Full Post

Posted: 1 year ago, Comments: 1, Average Rating: 5 Views: 728

Avoid The Selling Strong Arm

photo Spoken Gently

As EBay and any slew of online auction houses have taught most of America, prices skyrocket when two people bid against each other. Indeed, this has been one of the core tenets of selling probably since the beginning of time and the real estate industry has made significant work of that trait in trying to squeeze as much as possible out of a home.

There are two different situations when getting two people to bid against each other might help a real estate home’s value. One entails fielding similar offers and making counteroffers to both (though this can be sticky if both accept) or simply telling both sellers that there are two offers out there and whoever steps up with a better offer will secure the home.

The other situation involves intimating to one…

Read Full Post

Posted: 1 year ago, Comments: 0, Average Rating: Views: 626

Real Estate Investors Must Keep Their Balance Early On

photo Spoken Gently

Real Estate Investors Must Keep Their Balance Early On ~ There is a great amount of value in learning by experience in most walks of life. For infants that are unsure how to walk, those first few steps are all the impetus they need to learn how to walk. There is no handy guide that an infant reads before learning to walk and no amount of coaching can prepare an infant well enough that they are ready to walk at a moment’s notice.

Just as an infant has to learn how to walk, many Wa real estate investors believe that early on in their careers it is advisable to learn by doing and jump head first into an investment possibility without doing the proper background on the job or the industry to succeed. These initial blunders can discourage some investors,…

Read Full Post

Posted: 1 year ago, Comments: 0, Average Rating: Views: 855

A Friend, A Home, A Mortgage

photo Spoken Gently

There comes a time over the course of any renter’s time in a particular piece of real estate where it seems that the payments are providing a great stream of income for a landlord but little for you. Indeed, as incomes begin to creep up and the ability to handle at least a portion of a mortgage becomes a possibility, more and more renters are beginning to feel that way and enlist a friend to make their home ownership dreams happen.

There is a time in life where particular income levels can outgrow renting but perhaps be too small to take on a full mortgage. As a way to either bridge that gap or land a home above a single person’s income level, friends are beginning to team up in greater numbers to operate as co-owners on a home. As with any real estate…

Read Full Post

Posted: 1 year ago, Comments: 0, Average Rating: Views: 632

Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, And SEO; Infrastructure Status, January 2007

photo Spoken Gently

From Matt Cutts daily blog.  I quote, then link to the article.

""Okay, it’s been a while since my last infrastructure status report, so I’ll briefly cover the things that I know are going on. The executive summary is that things are relatively quiet.

The quarterly-ish PageRank export is underway. As always, don’t expect traffic or rankings to dramatically change, because these PageRank values are already incorporated into our scoring. The same quarterly-ish data push that updates PageRank in the toolbar also updates the data for related:, link: and info: (remember that operator?). You can read more about PageRank from this previous post if you swing that way. Also remember that the link: operator only shows a subsample of the links to a page that we…

Read Full Post

Posted: 1 year ago, Comments: 0, Average Rating: Views: 776

REITS Investing

photo Spoken Gently

You might think the first rule in Kennewick real estate investment is location but really it is to be cautious of who you are working with. As with any other industry the real estate world is filled with its share of bad apples including a large majority of those late night infomercial gurus claiming to teach you the way to become a millionaire through real estate.

For those who are thinking about investing in real estate there are a few things you will need to make it a successful venture. First off you need investment capital or some form of getting it without putting yourself upside down financially.

Location of the investment property is highly important. You don’t want to invest in an area that has a failing economy or has too many for sale…

Read Full Post

Posted: 1 year ago, Comments: 0, Average Rating: 4 Views: 665

Selling Your Life

photo Spoken Gently

The process of selling your Kennewick real estate can seem like you are doing nothing more than getting rid of the wood, stone and metal that has surrounded you for a period of time. In reality, selling your home is much more than that and in any real estate transaction, many more factors come into play that aren’t covered solely by the materials used in your home.

When you sell your Kennewick Wa real estate, it is almost like selling all of the aspects of your life. Everything from your neighbors, your lawn, your school district and your nearby commercial stores come into play whenever you place your home on the market. Just because you have the number of bathrooms and bedrooms that a customer is looking for, that doesn’t mean that your real estate is…

Read Full Post

Posted: 1 year ago, Comments: 0, Average Rating: 1 Views: 659