Max, the HomeGain Gorilla, made his appearance on Mt. Rushmore today just in time for President’s Day Weekend.

Louis Cammarosano

Louis Cammarosano

Anyone who thinks they have to be tech savvy to succeed as a blogger had better wise up… or go stand in the corner. Blogging is about building relationships. And, as you all know, the best and strongest relationships are built on personal interaction. So, how do you build personal relationships when you are busy typing blog posts?

The answer is USE THE TELEPHONE. Yes, that age old piece of technology that some folks think disappeared with the advent of the internet is a blogger’s secret weapon.

Here’s why. Folks will talk to reporters and journalists easier than they will talk to real estate brokers and agents. One is perceived as an objective information gatherer, the other as a biased salesman. Use the telephone to reach out to folks to build relationships by focusing on them. Remember, your blog takes you into the space traditionally owned by reporters and journalists. You are the new reporters and journalists. Use this new power to your advantage. Use your blog to open doors that are otherwise difficult to open.

Blogging Tip courtesy of the HomeGain Blogging School Professor, Joseph Ferrara. To receive the weekly real estate blogging newsletters, sign up for AgentView and the HomeGain Blogging School.

Tomorrow, HomeGain will announce that the Washington Post has selected HomeGain to power its instant home values tool on washingtonpost.com.

HomeGain, the company that created the first web based instant home valuation tool, is of course delighted to be providing this functionality to the Washington Post.

Since the integration is already live you can check it out here.

Louis Cammarosano

Home Sales Results by MSA For AgentEvaluator Subscribers

As the country ushered in the 2009 New Year, all of us eagerly anticipated the swearing in of the new administration, hoping for nothing short of a miracle for the real estate, and other, markets. 

Well, it is a “New Day” in Washington and there’s more activity in DC these days than Dorothy’s tornado touching down in central Kansas.

Hopefully, the swirl of activity turns out to be generally positive, and sends nothing but good vibes through the various economic sectors. Only time will tell. 

Looking Back

2008 was a successful year for HomeGain customers, both home buyers and home sellers, as well as our member agents.

Tens of thousands of home sellers and home buyers visited HomeGain during 2008 and completed requests to Find a Realtor to help them with their real estate needs.

In what cities did many of those consumers end up transacting with a HomeGain agent?  We tabulate sales closed by HomeGain buyers and sellers and report by major Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

And here are the top ten areas for both home buyers and home sellers where HomeGain consumers closed sales during calendar year 2008.

The top 10 MSA’s are:

Continue reading this post

When you see this picture, what do you think of? RCA perhaps? It is the RCA dog, Nipper. 

He was born in 1884. The breed is thought to be Rat Terrier or possibly a Fox Terrier. I also have Rat Terriers. When they were puppies my friend told me they look like the RCA dog. 

Here are pictures of my puppies. What do you think?

Continue reading this post