Market update provided by Claudia Armbrister of RE/MAX Savannah in Savannah, Georgia.

With more than 8,131 active home listings (not including more than 5,000 new homes for sale under construction & spec homes) as of 1 October 2008 – the trend has been towards a “BUYER’s market” – with a definite increase in sales overall!

We averaged approx. 1,000 new listings per month in 2007 and thus far in 2008 the same applies, plus some. More supply than demand – great for home buyers, not so great for sellers. Higher end homes are languishing in this “SOFT” market. Homes priced to sell (not overly priced) and in great condition are usually under contract in 1-3 weeks, while others linger or incur increasingly lower offers, due to time on the market and the rising costs for seller(s) to “hang on” for that offer they “want”, and ultimately negatively affecting the bottom line.

If sellers want top dollar and to get their home sold in under 60-120 days, they need to price according to THIS more cautious market and have it Model Home perfect and seriously entertain ALL offers – even if it might be lower than they had desired.

Listings are more in demand for homebuyers of homes under

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One of the things that I often hear as a guy who helps guide people in their online marketing efforts is: “Help me get to the top of the search engines. I am spending WAY TOO MUCH on Pay per Click or (insert marketing venture here).”

That always concerns me to some degree. I want to take what I believe to be basic economics principles, throw them out here, and let’s see whether you agree.

Principle 1:

This is when a given geo-targeted market will have MANY channels that make up its online niche traffic potential. For example, the Louisville real estate market is accessed by MANY marketing channels (TV, radio, natural search engine optimization, Pay per Click, BuyerLink, etc.

Principle 2:

This is when the most effective first step in marketing to a geo-targeted market is to gain dominance of and HOLD a particular marketing channel WITHIN that given market. (Example: someone does PPC and gains a consistent and dominant presence there.) It helps them brand and has SOLID Return on Investment. That return on investment (since it is positive) may be higher or lower than another marketing channel, but it is YOURS.

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Last night we launched a new design of our web site.

The new HomeGain.com  makes it easier for visitors to find real estate information and to connect with local Realtors quickly.

We’ve made the agent blogs, agent profiles and  agent listings more accessible with direct links to these sections from HomeGain.com.

Also available directly from HomeGain.com is our instant home values tool and the popular Home Sale Maximizer tool that helps home sellers determine which home improvement will provide the best return on investment.

Visitors to HomeGain.com can also find and compare Realtors with our Agent Evaluator product and can search MLS listings in the View Homes For Sale section.

Please take a look and let us know what you think.

Louis Cammarosano

Become a keyboard warrior.  If you want to win the online war against Trulia, Zillow and Yahoo, you need to know the 10 secrets that will put and keep your website or blog on top of the engines and generating leads. 

Learn advanced SEO, SEM, Landing page optimization and lead generation strategies employed by professional online marketers tailored to real estate in this easy to understand and implement techniques.

I will unveil one never before heard SEO secret exclusively to the HomeGain.

Your Keyword Cheat Sheet:

How many clicks will you get when your site hits the first page of Google?

Number 1 receives 42.1%

Number 2 receives 11.9%

Number 3 receives 8.5%

Number 4 receives 6.1%

Number 5 receives 4.9%

Number 6 receives 4.1%

Number 7 receives 3.4%

Number 8 receives 3.0%

Number 9 receives 2.8%

Number 10 receives 3.0%

So, this means you are shooting for the NUMERO UNO position!  Anything else is FAILURE.  Your mission is clear, so put on your camis and start fighting!

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Let’s face it. If you blog you are at the cutting edge, which means most folks aren’t doing it. And if most real estate agents aren’t doing it, chances are good most homebuyers and sellers are not aware of blogs either, unless they stumble upon them via an Internet search.

Therefore, it is important to market your real estate blog “offline” .

One way is to use traditional marketing techniques such as mailings. You probably mail postcards, holiday cards and calendars (these, by the way, should include links to your blog). Maybe you pay to send out pre-packaged newsletters. All well and good. Why not “tweak” the technique to showcase your blog content?

Without further adieu, here’s my list of preferred plugins for Wordpress blogs:

Akismet - There’s a reason this plugin comes standard with every WP install.  It’s the only spam plugin you need.

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