Apple Valley Ohio Lake Community by Sam Miller

Yesterday was the largest single day interest rate reduction the Fed's have made since roughly 1984.  The 30 year mortgage rates dropped much faster than I expected they would and in our small community the banks reacted very quickly.  For those of you who live in smaller communities know that the local community banks often times have challenges competing with the bigger national banks but the service from the smaller home town banks generally outshine the big banks. 

I have been in the real estate business for more than 20 years and the recent interest rate reduction has really enhanced the affordability of home ownership.  I look back when I got into the real estate business back in 1986 when the interest rates were 11.5% for a year fixed and I compare that market to today and as real estate agents we really don't have it that bad.  Back in the 1980's there was no ZERO down loans other than FHA and the 5% down loans had such tight qualifying guidelines that only the client who had a killer job and lots of cash could generally get a 95% LTV.  My point is that the market has a lot to do with our attiitudes and how we react to the market and the media.

I put a quick little unedited video together that might help give some of the real estate community a slightly different view of the housing market and why today truly is a great time to buy a home.  If enough of us spread the word that the market is full of buying opportunities together maybe we can make a difference.

VillageMaker is a brand new web product by Real Pro Systems and you will want to check it out.  It hasn't been officially released yet but the announcement will happen at Inman next week.  I got a sneak preview of VillageMaker at NAR in Las Vegas in early November and once I saw it I haven't stopped thinking about the potential uses for it.  I have been playing with it for about a month now and until recently we have been required to stay very hush hush about it until the product was close to the release date.

VillageMaker is about building and enhancing relationships with your key clients and the top members of your sphere of influence (and there's WAY more potential uses).  I setup my own VillageMaker site as a non real estate site showing a little life outside of real estate.  Here are a couple of pages from my site:  

Our Pets Page:   http://www.knoxcountyfriends.com/sammiller/Posts/2264
Fishing Page:  http://www.knoxcountyfriends.com/sammiller/Posts/2208
Waterpark Page:  http://www.knoxcountyfriends.com/sammiller/Posts/2207

Main Page:  http://www.knoxcountyfriends.com/sammiller

I own KnoxCountyFriends.com which is ultimately the main site and KnoxCountyFriends.com/sammiller is my personal site.  I have the ability to add as many clients as I wish because they are all going to be
KnoxCountyFriends.com/whateverIwant and there is only one domain purchase needed ever.  This is key because you can add new client sites in just a couple of minutes and the site works instantly...it is that fast.

There is a feature called Mobile Gallery that is designed to work with your cell phone camera that really rocks.  You can take a photo with your cell phone and within seconds you can have that photo uploaded onto your
VillageMaker site entirely remotely from anywhere you have cell service andyou do NOT need to have access to your computer to make it work.  This feature is something your clients will LOVE.  My 77 year old grandmother is
still amazed at how fast the mobile gallery works. 

Understand that you are giving your clients MORE than a website...you are giving them a wonderful way to share their fun times and life experiences with their friends, family and co-workers.  The site is SO much better than using Myspace or anything like it because this site builds relationships between you and your client and it also brands you to their friends in a soft and subtle way.  There is no limit to the number of client sites you can have so you will be motivated to continually add new key people as your friends. 

Pricing...here is what I have heard:  $695 setup fee and I am hearing there may be an introductory price near $500.  There is a monthly fee of $50 per month for accounts with less than 25,000 photos.  For accounts over 25,000 photos but less than 65,000 photos the monthly fee is still only $100 a month. 

This is an AMAZING product and I am flowing with other potential uses!  Imagine creating a site for your church youth group, another site for your kids ball team, another site for your golf league, another one for your
Harley Davidson friends and there is no limit.  The key is that your clients will lead you to new ideas as they begin to create their own topics within their own sites.  This is a WIN/WIN product for you and your clients.

Tom Peters is one of my favorite speakers on the topic of business and I just ran across a YouTube video titled "People in China Starving For Your Job".  This video is not specific to the real estate industry but the ideas and concepts behind it certainly could change the landscape of the American Workplace as we know it today.  The video clip is only two minutes and ten seconds long and is worth a watch because sometimes we just need a small whack on the head to see things slightly different.  Here is your first whack in 2008.