Google has just released the ability to use Gmail to make telephone calls. You can call anywhere in the US and Canada for free and get low rates for other countries with a small plugin.

We’ll be discussing this over the next few weeks, but you can find information out now on the Google Website. In the interim here is a short, fun ad. from Google:

Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability in the United States affecting as many as 1 in every 110 children. The ’21st Century Child: Picture the Future Campaign’ benefits children and families living with autism. Simply upload a photo to www.century21child.com today.For every photo uploaded Century 21 Real Estate LLC will donate $1 to Easter Seals Act for Autism program.

A house built with hemp makes a green alternative to standard construction. WLOS’ Karen Wynn reports.

Darity Wesley

“Control your destiny or someone else will!” – Jack Welch

It’s a big time right now in the world of privacy both from a personal and professional perspective. There is legislation pending in the U.S. House of Representatives that will craft the law for Internet best practices. As a cyber law expert, I have read both bills that are currently on the floor and have been watching with great interest the discussion they are generating. Business and consumer groups alike are all showing up and demonstrating the power of democracy at its best by expressing their opinions. This is volatile legislation because it could easilly change the way personally identifiable information is handled and what businesses need to do with the information they have collected.

This isn’t called the Information Age for nothing! The free flow of data is the lifeblood of most businesses. And that lifeblood is thicker than water and almost as costly. Not only are there big bucks in general business information like listing data, there is a monetary value placed on each bit of preference information collected about you. This Wall Street Journal article reveals that one of the fastest growing businesses on the Internet is gathering consumer information. Is this a bad thing?

It depends.

These great technology advances are helping to make the consumers’ online experience as personal as having a valet and assistant combined even to the point of being able to predict what an individual is likely to want based on history. That’s pretty convenient! I was talking to a friend who was looking up medical symptoms on the web and targeted ads appeared on the right side offering up remedies commonly known to help ease symptoms of that ailment. To some people, that is a great service. Some even say that this is the era of great breakthroughs in human behavior research.

On the other hand, if you are interested in maintaining a modicum of a private life, some of these great technologies are a bit disconcerting. Though the benefits of social networking are being proven, many people are still uncomfortable not being able to control information that is and is not gathered about them.

This sounds like a dilemma to consumers but to a number of forward thinking technology firms it is an opportunity. I came across this company, which helps consumers monitor what advertising networks have in your profile and gives you the control over your own interest data. Bynamite claims to have the world’s most honest privacy policy. It is well worth a read since it clearly explains what I believe, which is that the next generation of privacy is about controlling how your information is used.

What information you reveal, to whom and for what reasons, are your choice. Ask a business why they need your information beyond what you feel is necessary for your transaction. Be willing to say no. Research your privacy and opt-out options on websites and uncheck or check boxes to maintain whatever level of privacy you wish.

Or, as we say in each of our newsletters, it is up to you to stay aware and alert!

Darity Wesley is CEO and Legal Counsel for Privacy Solutions, Inc. a San Diego based consulting firm. You can always reach Darity at Darity@PrivacyGurus.com or (619) 670-9462.

In this short but informative video you learn how to disable places on Facebook altogether or just change your settings for better privacy.

Here is the photographic story of the construction of the Century 21 Advantage Gold corporate center from 1892 through efforts made to remodel the property 112 years later.

Linkedin InMail is just one feature of a LinkedIn Premium Account. Learn more at:

http://www.linkedin.com/upgrade

Should Realtors connect with other Realtors on social media? The following video from Ted.com touches on this very common question but looks at it from a global perspective. Sure, the web connects the globe, but most of us end up hearing mainly from people just like ourselves.

Blogger and technologist Ethan Zuckerman wants to help share the stories of the whole wide world. He talks about clever strategies to open up your Twitter world and read the news in languages you don’t even know.

CNN’s Ali Velshi talks to tech expert, Shelly Palmer, about the dramatic rise in information online and the threat of malware. My favorite line? “Information is not knowledge.” Hmmm, now what industry does that apply to?

Written By: Matthew Ferrara

Matthew Ferrara

In the beginning, when both dinosaurs and listing data roamed aimlessly across the web, nobody knew what would work with consumers. Many different approaches were tried to “get the consumer to contact us.” Most came from a deep psychosis that feared consumers would no longer “need” the agent. Worse, it was thought unreasonable for Gen X and Gen Y consumers to ask us to give them information – give it away! – without agreeing to work with us. Horrible!

Real Estatasaurus?

Many tyrannasaurus brokers and their stegosaurus siblings, MLS systems, contrived techniques for “mandating” the consumer contact them. They tried hiding the street address (even though they added maps to the page). They tried uploading photos so terrible, and descriptions so dull. And there was the most devious, most ugly, most tortuous trick of all:

Registration required.

Not hard to believe from an industry that for years held the keys to the castle. When confronted with an era of information openness, the last vestiges of mercantile thinking tried anything to force consumers to “need” them. So they hid vital listing information behind a registration page, requiring consumers to trade personal information for product information. No registration, no information. Nah-ne-nah-nah-nah.

And for a while, with few alternate sources online, it made sense. (Almost.)

Yet the next generation of real estate buyer or seller was not to be denied. That’s why you can find the same listing on a dozen websites, maybe ten dozen, today. Consumers said “no trade.” Those websites that refused to listen saw new sites built in their shadows. Soon anything you wanted to know about a home, whether or not it was for sale, was available with no registration required. In fact, a bountiful explosion of useful data happened – saturating modern consumers with all the information they could absorb.

All of which makes it so puzzling that I bumped into a dinosaur website this week. Some online marketing pushed me to the site. Upon arrival, what I saw made me laugh out loud.

Turns out there are plenty of dinosaurs still roaming the web.

When I clicked to see a listing in my neighborhood, I was able to see the price, and a few pretty pictures. Then, like an archeologist finding a live specimen (not just bones) I was shocked. Standing between me and the property description was silliosaurus realestatus:

The pattern was repeated throughout the listing, obscuring an entire table of property features with the requirement to feed the dinosaur before proceeding. And while the website did append lots of “extra” information about the neighborhood, schools and local market below further down the page, it begged the question of who reads that stuff after being scared away by the registration-osaurus?

Did I register? Did I call? Did I send an email? Of course not. I just did what any other modern consumer would do: I opened another browser window, went to REALTOR.COM, and copied the street address into their search box. Within seconds, I found the property (by matching the price), clicked, and here’s what I saw:

This is why I love REALTOR.COM, and so do most consumers. It shows me exactly what I want to see without any hassles. We can argue all day whether the site is fast, elegant, cluttered, whatever, but when it comes down to it, Gen X and Gen Y want the facts. Without hassles. They don’t engage websites that put barriers in their way. They simply go around. That’s how they were trained; it’s what they do.

Which proves the point that while new consumers are ready for the next generation housing industry, old habits die hard, even on the internet. There is still too much “Hey, buddy! You wanna buya watch?” thinking in the minds of real estate agents. Ironically, this “hide the information, make them register” thinking is also what’s responsible for the “Mickey Mouse” registrations at these websites. Any wonder why agents love to say that “internet leads” are bad?

In the final analysis, the existence of such websites proves another point for the future of real estate. Those companies who will attract the next generation consumers won’t be those who just have the right technology. It will be those that have the right thinking, as well.

I’m not sure how I feel about the marketing strategy of HomeVesters of America; it’s either genius or something I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.

They claim to be “the #1 buyer of houses in the U.S.” having bought more than 45,000 houses since 1989. But would I want their for sale sign outside my home? I’m guessing that beggars can’t be choosers but I’m still not totally convinced I would chose them over a more positive real estate brand. Would you?

CNN’s Errol Barnett talks to Google spokesman Brian Richardson about increased concerns about user privacy.

Written by: Peter McCullough

A strategic default is when a homeowner walks away from their home when they owe more on the home than it is currently worth. In some circumstances, the homeowner can afford to make the mortgage payments, but due to the decreased value of the home under the current market conditions, they feel it is a financially sound maneuver simply to leave their home behind and rent or try to find another home which has also lost value.

Thousands of homeowners have strategically defaulted on their homes and have left the mortgage company holding the bag. The mortgage company now has an asset for which they do not have a revenue stream. Plus, the property is now a liability because the mortgage company is obligated to maintain the property so that adjacent homes do not further lose value.

Due to the enactment of new Fannie Mae regulations, a strategic default will now have more severe consequences for the homeowner than in the past. Starting in July, Fannie Mae has indicated that they will no longer guarantee loans to homeowners who walk away from their mortgages for a seven year period. It will also attempt, where legally possible, to force the homeowner to pay for losses incurred through the default.

However, if a homeowner makes an attempt to work with a mortgage company through a short sale or by obtaining a deed in lieu of foreclosure, Fannie Mae has indicated that they would be willing to offer new loans within a two year period.

If the homeowner can demonstrate hardship, Fannie Mae will be willing to offer new loans, loan modifications or short sales to help the homeowner.

Real estate agents should view this as an opportunity to help homeowners through difficult financial times. Count on the fact that a homeowner will be eternally grateful and more likely to provide referrals if the efforts of an agent help them keep their home.

Jeff Bullas highlights all thirty, here are the first ten:

• Al Pacino’s face was on the original Facebook homepage
• One early Facebook function was a file sharing service
• The first “Work Networks” as well as the original educational networks included Apple and Microsoft
• The meaning of the term poke has never been defined
• The average Facebook user has 130 friends
• There is an ‘App’ to see what’s on the Facebook cafe menu
• Mark Zuckerburg (CEO of Facebook) calls himself a “Harvard Graduate” when in fact he didn’t graduate (apparently his reply is that “there isn’t a setting for dropout”)
• California is huge on Facebook with over 15 million users (41% of the population)
• Australian’s spend more time per month on Facebook than any other country at over 7 hours on average
• A Facebook employee hoodie sold for $4,000 on eBay

For the complete list click here.

As reported on ABC, a family about to foreclose, has been saved by the strangest of events; a ‘fortuitous find’ that will help them keep their home.

Yesterday Nielsen released details of a new report that details what American’s do online.

The data, while fascinating, is hardly surprising. Highlights include:

• Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites and blogs
• Video activity grew from 3.5% to 3.9% over the past year (in June the number of videos streamed passed the 10 billion mark)
• Online games overtook personal email to become the second most heavily used activity

Nielsen analyst Dave Martin stated:

“Despite the almost unlimited nature of what you can do on the web, 40 percent of U.S. online time is spent on just three activities – social
networking, playing games and emailing leaving a whole lot of other sectors fighting for a declining share of the online pie.”

To see the whole report click here.

Written By: Matthew Ferrara

Matthew Ferrara

Every day, homeowners decide to list their homes at prices the market supposedly considers “over priced.” Even with the benefit of the internet, showing what other homes nearby recently sold for, they do it anyway. Despite years of industry and media attention, overpricing remains the norm, in every market, every price range. Truth be told, nobody really tries to stop them from doing it either. Few and far between are the agents who refuse to list overpriced properties, or managers who reject the responsibility and cost of advertising them.

What I’ve never really understood, however, is why both owners and agents do overpricing so badly.

Once you make the decision not to put the home on the market – which is what overpricing effectively does – and just list it for the benefit of wasting time, money and further messing up the MLS data – adding “just a little” extra onto the market-indicated price seems counterintuitive.

By overpricing their homes, owners are indicating they believe there’s someone “dumb enough” to pay more for their home than others in the market. Why look for the “marginally dumb” consumer by tacking on a mere $20,000, when you can look for the “truly idiotic” buyer who will throw an extra $100,000 on the table? Isn’t there a “certifiably insane” consumer out there just waiting to pay an extra million for your home?

As for the real estate industry, once a seller expresses an interest in overpricing their home, their agent should insist on gross overpricing.

It’s the only logical way to compensate for the amount of lost time, advertising money and negative public perception they will incur for listing an unsellable commodity. Since they get paid by commission, agents and brokers will need that extra money – should the truly idiotic or certifiably insane buyer come along – to cover their damages, er, expenses in listing a home not for sale for months.

There are other logical conclusions in defense of gross rather than marginal overpricing. Imagine all the time the real estate industry will save not having to sit through training classes on how to properly price commodities in a marketplace. Consider the millions of dollars saved in newsletters, training tools and marketing materials trying to educate the consumer against something they clearly have little or no interest in doing. Most of all, think about all of the money saved in stress-relief medication once we stop asking agents to argue with sellers about the negative effects of overpricing.

It will be joy, joy, joy for everyone once we all agree to overprice homes with gusto!

In fact, I think there is an opportunity here for a company to secure a new niche segment of the market. Since nobody has taken the opportunity in the last two decades to secure the “we only take good business” niche, we can only assume it’s because market research shows the sellers have no interest whatsoever in proper pricing. In fact, every shred of evidence shows they expect overpricing: Why else would they insist on getting overprice for their own home, then underprice their own offer to buy their next home?

This means there’s a niche opportunity to position a company squarely within customer expectations. Imagine the marketing possibilities. An infinite number of tag lines are possible:

“Supply and demand be damned!”
“Pick your price! We’ll find you an idiot!”
“You’re gonna do it anyway – so let’s go for it!”
“Why sell it, when listing it is so much more fun?”

Maybe the real estate industry has been going about this whole pricing thing the wrong way for years. How much more fun will it be to list homes without the fear of the pricing discussion during the listing presentation? How much happier will sellers be when they find an agent who encourages them to get $100,000 or $200,000 more than their neighbor did? How much less stress will managers have, once they give up entirely on bringing homes to market, when they can go around town bragging about having the most listings worth the most in the MLS!

I think every agent should call their clients right away, and have the converstion everyone’s been waiting for: “Good morning, Mr Owner! I’ve been thinking… I know we overpriced your home when we listed it, but heck, I don’t think it’s overpriced enough. What do you think if we bump it up to just under a million?”

It’s not like anybody – especially buyers – is even going to notice.