Now that the election is over and we know who our next president is going to be, we no longer have to listen to all the “hype” and focus on more important issues like what’s really happening with the real estate market here in Brooklyn, NY.

The fact is that even amongst all the economic turmoil as of late, the Brooklyn market is regaining its legs!

The primary driving force behind the real estate market in Brooklyn right now are first-time homebuyers who are taking advantage of the low prices along with near record low mortgage rates available. Many of these buyers could not afford to purchase a home in Brooklyn a couple of years ago, but can now fulfill their dream of homeownership. If you are a buyer with decent credit and a good job, it is still easy to get a mortgage! Buyers who have job security should be very motivated to purchase right now because they can use their strong qualifications to negotiate a better deal for themselves.

On a side note, inventory has gone down as of late due to sellers taking their homes off the market realizing that they cannot get the numbers they need. Other homeowners are taking a wait and see approach. This past weekend the buyers were out in droves, viewing open houses, and many have been leaving bids on the spot! Several of the open houses conducted by my office even experienced multiple bids during the open houses! This leads me to believe that Continue reading this post

Thousands of real estate professionals descended upon the HomeGain booth to learn about HomeGain.

On Saturday and Sunday Mitch Ribak and Joe Ferrara participated in our “Meet the Experts” program.

Joe gave blogging tips to visitors to the HomeGain booth and Mitch talked about how to use HomeGain’s Buyerlink in connection with capturing and converting leads.

From Friday until Monday, Realtors lined up to win their own Max and to pick up a Max button.

We will have a complete report on NAR later this week.

Here is Max hanging around on Friday afternoon waiting for the show to begin!

What were your thoughts about the NAR Convention & Expo this year in Orlando, Florida?

Louis Cammarosano

Use “spider posts” for new developments. Write a body post mentioning all the new developments, with location, builder, price range, amenities, etc. – a real master reference work. Then pick each one out for “leg” posts and talk about them again—maybe include a new or special listing. It’s a good idea to write about new developments or buildings because they often make the local news, whether in newspapers, magazine or ads. Folks wanting to know more will Google the name and find your spider post. That’s the power of blog marketing.

Blogging Tip courtesy of the HomeGain Blogging School Professor, Joseph Ferrara. Sign up for AgentView and the HomeGain Blogging School.

I am pleased to announce that the Web Marketing Association (WMA) recently has recognized HomeGain.com as a winner of a 2008 WebAward for Outstanding Achievement in Website Development within the real estate industry category.

The 2008 WebAwards names the best Websites in 96 industry categories. Nominations for best web site come from interactive agencies and web site marketing departments in more than 47 countries from around the world.

Congratulations to everyone at HomeGain who contributes to the design of HomeGain.com!

I am not a top Realtor in my market, nor am I seasoned veteran.  However, I am finally at a point where I understand the business of real estate and its complex, ever challenging nature.  Real estate is not a career for people with limited resources. 

Starting a real estate career is no different than starting a new business.  The main reason that small business start ups fail is lack of proper funding and resources. 

I have looked at the careers of several highly successful agents and have found some common threads. 

Many of them were rooky of the year when they started. 

Most of them had “sponsorship” from someone who was in a position to help them build their success.  By sponsorship I mean that there was a person of influence who could essentially feed them a continuous pool of clients.  It might be a family member who worked at a corporation that was moving employees to the area, a broker in charge who was giving them relocation clients, Continue reading this post

In everyone’s life we must all face opportunities and challenges. Some focus more on the challenges and others focus on the opportunities.  My recent opportunity and challenge can help you with your opportunities and challenges in this real estate market.  I saw an opportunity to come onboard with HomeGain and use my business development skills to help agents across the country grow their real estate business.

This market is full of many challenges. Do you also see the opportunities? The government is underway with the “bailout” plan and removing the bad debt of the lending institutions. With some of their previous activities curtailed, the lenders will have to make new loans to make money.  This will result in means more qualified Buyers. This is the next opportunity.  Are you ready for this?

Sales in several areas are increasing and foreclosures in some areas are decreasing. This can lead to a more stabilized real estate market with Buyers who are ready to buy and the beginning of the reduction of the foreclosure flow. Real estate professionals should be getting their marketing and internet exposure in place for the next phase of the changing market. Continue reading this post