You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Technology, Web 2.0' category.
There’s a new acronym to add to your vocabulary – RPR. Not too long ago I reported in a post that there is no national database of houses
for sale. Now comes word from our National Association of Realtors® that they are working on RPR. What’s that you say?
“The National Association of Realtors® has acquired technology to create a database of all properties in the U.S. so Realtors® can better assist consumers in a high-tech, fast-paced business world.
The technology acquisition includes licensed data and secured data aggregation services from LPS Real Estate Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lender Processing Services Inc. (NYSE:LPS), a leader in real estate technology. NAR will use the assets to develop the Realtors® Property Resource™, a parcel-centric information database covering all of the more than 147 million property parcels in the country as a resource for NAR members. NAR is planning to launch RPRTM in the second quarter 2010.
‘Realtors® are the first, best source for real estate information, and the RPR™ is another emphatic feature to that resource. RPR™ will give Realtors® nationwide data on all properties at their fingertips so they can respond quickly to consumers interested in residential and commercial real estate. This is exciting news and a terrific NAR member benefit. NAR is committed to keep Realtors® central to the transaction and to the buying and selling experience with their clients and customers,’ said NAR President Charles McMillan.
RPR™ will provide nationwide access to public record information such as tax and assessment data, liens, zoning, permits, environmental information, and information on neighborhoods, school district and community demographics, along with advanced search features for property searchers, as well as market-to-market comparisons and referral opportunities not currently available.”
Obviously there have been debates across the U.S. as to whether this will in fact be a good thing for consumers. There are also those pessimists who feel that the Realtor® model will disappear. Frankly, I don’t think that will happen. I think providing information to consumers to assist them in making good decisions is always what a Realtor® should be doing. That’s the main reason and foscus of why I write this blog.
Further, if you’ve been reading my blog, there’s a lot involved in purchasing any kind of real estate investment that includes knowledge of laws, rules, regulations, etc. and the one thing that always comes into play is emotion whether a buyer or seller feels they are emotionally involved or not. As a Realtor®, I have the training, knowledge, experience and education to assist in keeping my buyers and sellers informed and on track towards making the best decisions for them.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No 
Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland
Recently, on another blog site I was told by a real estate agent I should “pack it up” and put my posting on vacation sinc
e real estate is slow, and come back again when things pick up. I’d then be so busy, I wouldn’t have time to post. Frankly that goes against everything I believe in.
In May 2008 when things were slow then too, I got my blog on-line and focused on social media and internet advertising. Nordstrom’s retail sales are down drastically, yet Nordstrom is still sending out their catalogs and advertising. They haven’t stopped. They aren’t waiting until their sales start improving. I have taken their approach and only expanded my on-line presence, not eliminating it or slowing its pace, yet not being distracted from my main objective of listing and selling real estate in the metro Portland area.
Last year another reader was also critical of my lack of presence on Twitter and Facebook and my ignorance regarding how important those sites are. OK so now I’m part of the Twitter and Facebook family. There was a great video recently that shows how important your on-line presence is not only if you are a Realtor®, but if you are another business owner as well. You can see it here.
So I’ve been busy focusing on my Internet presence:
- Photo Blog
Recently, I started my photo blog….Lake Oswego Living.A Photo Blog and a new photo was posted Sunday. If I had it to do all over again, I would only do a photo blog. I didn’t happen upon this idea until recently and it is a lot more fun than posting every day on ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate. I post a new photo every week, typically on Monday’s, devoted to Lake Oswego.
- My blog will soon have direct access to foreclosures.
RE/MAX International, Inc., announced a strategic partnership with RealtyTrac. Through the partnership, RE/MAX Associates will receive discounted subscription rates to RealtyTrac, the nation’s leading online foreclosure marketplace.
- New blog features
If it’s been confusing navigating my blog lately, I have been rearranging categories/posts and have added new search categories. In addition, I have started posting city profiles. Tigard, Lake Oswego, and West Linn are posted with West Portland to follow. There will also be individual neighborhood snippets for those areas. There are new links to mortgage calculators, FHA loan limits, rent vs. buy, credit reports, search investment properties, search for residential properties, videos, plus many more new links in the sidebar and some new ones to come.
- My blog is now on multiple blogging sites
My daily blog (this blog)appears on RealTown, Trulia, Realtor.com, Blogger, Linkedin, short tweets on Facebook and Twitter and, of course here on my main site – WordPress. They all contain the same information. From the beginning, I had committed to writing daily and since May 2008, I’ve been doing just that. I had started one more blogging platform, but have decided to stop my participation on ActiveRain.
- New website and blogging design
I’m upgrading my blog here at WordPress. Lots of new ideas and soon will incorporate some of them. Who said computers would make our lives easier??
- I continue to learn
A while ago, I attended a WordPress Camp (a techie conference). I was unable to go both days, but after one session, I was already on overload. Yesterday I listened to RealEstate Tomato on BlogTalkRadio. Stefan Swanepoel spoke about the new trends in social networking. He has for the last 20 years written TREND Report tracking real estate trends and now also writes about social media trends. I continue to learn but seem to have a million other questions. In addition, I hope to take some photography classes soon.
All this to better assist you in buying or selling real estate. P.S. Let me help, I’d love to be your Realtor®!
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland
Does all this new social media have you confused and guessing about what everything means?
All the vocabulary is different, its uses are different and now comes word that a “poke” is a form of harassment. Who would’ve thought? Wasn’t a poke considered fun? I always thought a poke was a nudge, a friendly reminder, just a simple gesture, the elbow in the rib’s kind of thing or a thumbs up. Or, maybe its meaning is more like a “poke in the eye” because now you can go to jail and it’s considered harassment. According to Webster’s Dictionary a poke is:
poke (verb) : to send an electronic message intended as a reminder, salutation, or flirtation
When I started posting to Facebook, I admit I poked someone. I thought it was in jest, just a friendly nudge. I don’t even remember who I poked, but I thought it would be fun to say, “Hey, I’m here, just wanted to say hi, give you a wink, or just a reminder”. Never did I even consider it to be a bad thing or form of harassment. Who knew it wasn’t a good thing? There was no manual that came with Facebook. Who are the people who come up with this?
Conclusion
It all comes down to being as careful on-line as you are in public or face-to-face. Perhaps there are some people taking Facebook and Twitter all too seriously? However, now that I know, I guess I won’t be ”poking” anyone any more.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Copyright Michael Mahlum and used with permission
ANNOUNCING….my new photo blog…..Lake Oswego Living.A Photo Blog…..starting today, October 12th.
When you have as many hobbies and interests as I do, it becomes difficult to choose one from the other. And, now I have a new interest and challenge. Photography. My skills are frankly zilch. Precisely because I am not a good photographer is why I started a photo blog and took on the challenge to begin with. I want to learn.
It will be a companion to this blog ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate and will be a photographic journal of living in Lake Oswego-Lake Oswego Living.A Photo Blog. For the time being, photos will be posted weekly on that blog. Hopefully, as time passes, you will see my photographic skills improve. I have always cut the heads off people and the roof tops off houses when taking pictures. This photo blog will force me to step up my game. Are you ready for this? I am looking forward to the challenge (for me it’s a challenge) and taking the pictures getting better with time.
Any comments, questions or contributions will always be appreciated. I hope you enjoy it as I’ve already had fun with it. Check it out when you have a chance.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
As indicated in yesterday’s post today’s “Friday Facts: Price Changes & Reductions” for the past week will be late today and won’t be posted until late afternoon. Please check back and sorry for the delay.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Since Monday’s are my designated “fun” day, I get to write about something kooky, fun, just a little off base, different and typically never real estate related. Therefore, today this post comes from my Did you Know? file…..
Recently I watched NOVA Science Now on PBS. It was very interesting. If you already know this – hit the delete button now.
On NOVA, there was an interview with Luis von Ah. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. I’m sure all the geeks out there already have. He’s the very young Professor at Carnegie-Mellon who developed CAPTCHA™ and is now harnessing his efforts into reCAPTCHA™. What’s all that you ask? You see it everyday or most likely a lot and you probably don’t even realize what it is. I know I didn’t.
When you go into a site and they ask you to retype a word that’s distorted, or squiggly and sometimes hard to read – well, he developed that and it’s called CAPTCHA™. He did that so spammers couldn’t read what information you had just entered. That’s right to keep spammers away. People can interpret what they see but a computer can’t. Now he’s using all of “us” to help in another way.
Basically, we’re all working for him.
It says it next to the squiggly words “stop spam – read books”. I’ve never paid much attention to it. Perhaps you thought it was silly they were asking us to do that or got frustrated trying to figure out what the words were. However, old books are being digitized. Problem is, many of those words can’t be read by scanners. Each time we go into a program that asks us to retype the words we see, we are helping with the reCAPTCHA™ program i.e., helping the scanners translate all those books. There are many words the scanners can’t read so us humans are translating those words for those scanners instead. We’re all helping out each time we retype the words and you probably didn’t even realize you were doing that. How smart and cool is that?
Maybe you knew all this before, but I didn’t. It is always fun to learn something new.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter – JUNG’S JOURNAL – on my website www.bettyjung.com).
How many times have you sat in your car in front of a house for sale only to find there are no flyers in the flyer box, or that
you can’t get a hold of anyone for information? Although I try to keep the flyer boxes filled at my listings, there’s no guarantee that some kids won’t be riding by on their bikes and grab a handful or all of the flyers. It has happened to me more than I can tell you.
Now, RE/MAX equity group, inc. has launched its branded “Audio Home Finder” powered by VoicePad’s Mobile IDX Audio Search Technology. The Audio Home Finder allows home buyers immediate access from any telephone to all the broker shared listings from RMLS™ or the Willamette Valley MLS™.
What does that mean for you the buyer? That means not only can you call a local phone number for any RE/MAX equity group listing for immediate and detailed information on a specific property, but you can access every broker-shared listing (all real estate companies’ listings) that are in the RMLS™ and the WVMLS™. There is a recorded message you can listen to or have the information sent via text message to your cell phone. The detailed information is both in English or Spanish.
You simply call a number, enter the house address on our company’s listings or other listings on either of the local MLS’, and you will not only get the house information, but you can also receive the estimated mortgage payment.
If you’d like to have that resource available to you at your fingertips, at your leisure and your time-frame, email me with your cell phone number and I will set it up for you. You can have access to information on all the properties for sale – how simple is that? We’ve come a long way since printed multiple books. Just email me at bettyjung@remax.net and I will arrange it for you. I’d love to be your Realtor®!
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
At one time in metro Portland we had a Realtor® association for each county. There was the Clackamas County Board of Realtors®, 
Multnomah County Board of Realtors®, Washington County Board of Realtors® and even a Gresham Board of Realtors®. I don’t remember exactly when all the Boards became consolidated into one, the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors®, but I believe it was sometime in the late 80’s early 90’s, but I could be wrong on the timing. Prior to that consolidation, I was very active in the association to which I belonged, the Washington County Board of Realtors®, serving on committees and holding office. After the consolidation my involvement came to an abrupt halt. There was no conscious reason for it, but I also stopped going to meetings. Now I look back and realize perhaps it was because there were so many changes in real estate and computers coming at us that I had enough to do with just “keeping up” with the times and changes.
Last year at the urging of a colleague in my office, I put my foot back in the water so to speak and started attending meetings. The first meeting I went to I was shocked to see the small number of Realtors® present and the “graying” of those in attendance. I realize our agent numbers have been dwindling the last few years due to the economy and our state of our real estate market. It was a lot of fun reconnecting with those agents from the past. What I also noticed, however, was the small number or lack of “newbies” and younger agents in attendance. Recently I read that the average age of a Realtor® is now 54 years of age and that companies are having a hard time filling the ranks with younger agents. I’ve written a past post indicating I was very young when I started selling real estate as well. It’s not as much about supporting the association we are all a part of but I attend because of the educational benefits, the camaraderie, connections old and new and the sharing that goes on among the agents. We share with one another what is going on in the real estate market and what we are facing on a day-to-day basis.
Last week I attended our PMAR (Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors®) luncheon meeting because David Gibbons from Zillow was the guest speaker about Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and blogging. Inasmuch as social media and marketing is such a hot topic I thought many more Realtors® would be in attendance, particularly those younger agents. I enjoyed the meeting not only because of what I learned, but met 5 of my “followers” from Twitter, and had been following them as well. A new agent did sit next to me and she went back to her office to “follow” me only to find out she’d already been doing so.
What I learned once more was that all the social media and marketing is great but it’s still that one-on-one, face-to-face contact that is the most rewarding and fun.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
(For more national and local real estate information, go to my website at www.bettyjung.com)
A while back I wrote a post about Twitter, Facebook, etc. and social networking. Inasmuch as I had just started writing this blog in May 
2008 and had committed myself to learning all about Web 2.0, I had my hands full just getting the blog up and running, not to mention writing posts every day. In addition at that time, I changed some of my marketing materials to my past clients, sphere and neighborhoods I focus on. I was not convinced I also needed to do the likes of Twitter, Facebook, etc.
OK so I was wrong. There’s someone who reads my blog who will be happy to hear me say that and admit that I get it now. I really do. Recently, on The Charlie Rose Show I watched the CEO’s and originators of the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Google. Each had their own full hour and it got me thinking at least about perhaps getting on board. Then the other day I happened to watch The Martha Stewart Show. On that show, perhaps an unlikely place, the light bulb went on and I got it. I really got it. Martha Stewart was talking about Twitter and it finally made sense to me. Someone in her audience had expressed the same opinion I had. Martha went on to explain that instead of looking at Twitter as merely a “social” site, view it as promotion and advertising. Then I got it! Thank you, Martha Stewart!
Therefore, soon, you will be able to follow me on the likes of Twitter and you can now already catch me on my Facebook page. One of the things I’ve been doing lately is updating my Linkedin site. Lots to do and lots of work. Everything takes time. It seems that the thing that’s supposed to make your life easier is complicating it even more. More than likely, as soon as I get everything up and running, there will be a whole new series of sites and more to do…watch for my tweets! WordPress has a new application that will show my tweets on my blog as well so I’ll let you know when I’m up and running.
Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. (Copyright applies fully and automatically to any work — a photograph, a song, a web page, an article, pretty much any form of expression — the moment it is created. This means that if you want to copy and re-use a creative work in another way (i.e. flyer, newsletter, print media), that you find online, you have to ask the author’s permission to re-use their information.)
(For more national and local real estate information, go to my website at www.bettyjung.com)
Well, it finally happened – writer’s block. For the first time since I started this blog on May 1, 2008 and after writing 288 posts, today I had writer’s block. I knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of time and when. I feel there’s been so much news, good and bad, that I became overwhelmed with all that’s going on in the world and economy. Sorry today’s post isn’t anything important, since there is so much out there that is. I just drew a blank today. In my arsenal, I have many posts in different stages of draft form but nothing inspired me.
Therefore, today you get this…..it still amazes me how people are finding my blog and where they’re coming from and, it’s the local information that people are wanting and reading.
My top five posts in 2008
The top five posts took an enormous amount of my time and have been copied and posted by other bloggers as their own and used by others in different forms of media which is against Federal Copyright laws. Because of those two reasons, I won’t be going into any great length in the future on local events. I will focus, however, on one event or locale at a time instead which I’ve been doing of late. My thanks to you for your continued readership.
Top Posts
BOO! Halloween Events & Haunted Houses 3,845 views
Pumpkin Patches Around Portland, Oregon 2,763 views
Music & Summer Concerts In & Around Portland, Oregon 2,370 views
Fall Festivals & Events Around Portland, Oregon 2,128 views
Winter and Holiday Festivals-Events & Bazaars 1,033 views
The Numbers
My most active week 3,327 hits, busiest day 1,029 hits, busiest month 14,267 hits. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays have been the busiest days. My blog is about real estate, but the most popular posts have had nothing to do with real estate at all.
Here are my readers and where they come from:
| United States (US) | 20,863 |
| Canada (CA) | 305 |
| United Kingdom (GB) | 181 |
| India (IN) | 174 |
| Australia (AU) | 83 |
| Germany (DE) | 82 |
| Philippines (PH) | 57 |
| Netherlands (NL) | 46 |
| Thailand (TH) | 37 |
| Indonesia (ID) | 33 |
| France (FR) | 33 |
| Italy (IT) | 32 |
| Singapore (SG) | 29 |
| Turkey (TR) | 29 |
| Romania (RO) | 29 |
| Nigeria (NG) | 25 |
| Mexico (MX) | 24 |
| Korea, Republic of (KR) | 22 |
| Saudi Arabia (SA) | 20 |
| Egypt (EG) | 20 |
| Brazil (BR) | 20 |
| Japan (JP) | 19 |
| Spain (ES) | 19 |
| Vietnam (VN) | 19 |
| New Zealand (NZ) | 18 |
| Russian Federation (RU) | 18 |
| Ukraine (UA) | 18 |
| Malaysia (MY) | 18 |
| South Africa (ZA) | 17 |
| Pakistan (PK) | 16 |
| United Arab Emirates (AE) | 15 |
| Hong Kong (HK) | 15 |
| Cote D’Ivoire (CI) | 14 |
| Belgium (BE) | 14 |
| Israel (IL) | 14 |
| Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR) | 13 |
| Sweden (SE) | 13 |
| Greece (GR) | 13 |
| Bulgaria (BG) | 12 |
| Hungary (HU) | 12 |
| Norway (NO) | 11 |
| Colombia (CO) | 11 |
| Serbia (RS) | 11 |
| Poland (PL) | 10 |
| Ireland (IE) | 9 |
| Switzerland (CH) | 9 |
| Ghana (GH) | 8 |
| Europe (EU) | 7 |
| Argentina (AR) | 7 |
| Czech Republic (CZ) | 7 |
| Finland (FI) | 7 |
| Syrian Arab Republic (SY) | 6 |
| Estonia (EE) | 6 |
| Peru (PE) | 6 |
| Moldova, Republic of (MD) | 6 |
| Belarus (BY) | 6 |
| Slovakia (SK) | 5 |
| El Salvador (SV) | 5 |
| Taiwan (TW) | 5 |
| Denmark (DK) | 5 |
| Costa Rica (CR) | 5 |
| Portugal (PT) | 5 |
| Jordan (JO) | 5 |
| Benin (BJ) | 5 |
| Guatemala (GT) | 4 |
| Trinidad and Tobago (TT) | 4 |
| Croatia (HR) | 4 |
| Qatar (QA) | 4 |
| Jamaica (JM) | 4 |
| Panama (PA) | 3 |
| Sri Lanka (LK) | 3 |
| Georgia (GE) | 3 |
| Togo (TG) | 3 |
| Kazakstan (KZ) | 3 |
| Latvia (LV) | 3 |
| Chile (CL) | 3 |
| Virgin Islands, U.S. (VI) | 3 |
| Austria (AT) | 3 |
| Kuwait (KW) | 3 |
| Ecuador (EC) | 3 |
| Slovenia (SI) | 3 |
| Puerto Rico (PR) | 3 |
| Lithuania (LT) | 2 |
| Luxembourg (LU) | 2 |
| Lebanon (LB) | 2 |
| Bahrain (BH) | 2 |
| Cambodia (KH) | 2 |
| Maldives (MV) | 2 |
| Morocco (MA) | 2 |
| Bangladesh (BD) | 2 |
| Honduras (HN) | 1 |
| Gambia (GM) | 1 |
| Aruba (AW) | 1 |
| Yemen (YE) | 1 |
| Myanmar (MM) | 1 |
| Virgin Islands, British (VG) | 1 |
| Uruguay (UY) | 1 |
| Nicaragua (NI) | 1 |
| Netherlands Antilles (AN) | 1 |
| Mozambique (MZ) | 1 |
| Iceland (IS) | 1 |
| Ethiopia (ET) | 1 |
| Venezuela (VE) | 1 |
| Grenada (GD) | 1 |
| Montenegro (ME) | 1 |
| Dominican Republic (DO) | 1 |
| Macau (MO) | 1 |
| Cyprus (CY) | 1 |
| Afghanistan (AF) | 1 |
| Tunisia (TN) | 1 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA) | 1 |
| Angola (AO) | 1 |
| Malta (MT) | 1 |
| Monaco (MC) | 1 |
| Iraq (IQ) | 1 |
| Kyrgyzstan (KG) | 1 |
| Mongolia (MN) | 1 |
| Oman (OM) | 1 |
| Uzbekistan (UZ) | 1 |
| Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (LY) | 1 |
| Palestinian Territory (PS) | 1 |
| Bolivia (BO) | 1 |
| Algeria (DZ) | 1 |
Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter – JUNG’S JOURNAL – on my website www.bettyjung.com).
It’s Getting Nasty Out There In Blogosphere –
Recently there was a lawsuit that settled where a blogger wrote about a local property developer in another state. The blogger stated some derogatory remarks about the developer and his project. The blogger indicated the developer had gone bankrupt. Fact was the developer hadn’t declared bankruptcy and took the blogger to court. It was a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the blo
gger.
Locally there are bloggers making derogatory remarks about builders, remodeling contractors and sellers as to being in dire straights. Since I am not an attorney, I don’t know if they could be subject to a lawsuit or not. This post is more about being careful with what you say rather than pointing fingers because once you say something on the Internet, whether you are a Realtor® or not, you become subject to a lawsuit.
I’ve written a lot about copyright infringement etc. also. Recently there was another lawsuit against a blogger for $5,000 for copying someone else’s blog post.
My pictures and posts are being copied and not only am I not flattered, but it is against the law. It’s not just against the law if you copy material from a post and rewrite it for your blog, it’s also against the law if you copy and use the material, reproduce it to distribute anywhere else beyond the Internet. That also includes copying someone else’s photos without permission.
There are also several readers that seem to follow the circuit of blogs here locally who post obnoxious or negative comments on local Realtor® blogs. When I started writing this blog I said you will never find that here. Not only will I not write in that vein but our Realtors® Code of Ethics bans us from doing so. In this day and age of the Internet, I guess people believe it is an open forum and can slander whomever they please. Here’s a recent post I read on Seth Goodin’s blog that says if you post a comment on a blog, the likes of Twitter or anywhere else you become a publisher and can be sued. That means everyone, not just Realtors®.
There was an article on Yahoo!® that initially prompted me to write this post. Your mother probably told you if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say it. Apparently, throughout the U.S., potential buyers who still can’t afford to buy even with prices so low, or those who have sold for considerably less than they had hoped for or wanted, are now making comments on real estate blogs that border on obscene.
This is just to thank my readers for being respectful and courteous in all of the comments I have received. I appreciate you as a reader. A big Thank You!
(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter – JUNG’S JOURNAL – on my website www.bettyjung.com).
You hear about all tho
se cameras around town, on street corners, banks, etc. but I’ve always thought those cameras were watching everyone else not me. Now with “world wide” presence, there are people, Internet sites, that are watching and tracking you and me.
My blog is being monitored, being watched not just by readers, but by those analytical types who want to know the numbers, who keep checking on things. They’re checking on me, actually they’re checking on you.
I happened to read about a site called Quantcast.com. Just on a lark, I put in my blog address not thinking I’d show up but ‘lo and behold there I was. Here’s my information…now what else do they know? What amazes me is how do they know? This site has tracked my blog and has actually 
produced a profile showing the age, income, education, gender, etc. of the readers of my blog. It shows the traffic, what else my readers are reading, where the readers are from, etc. Now to figure out what to do with that information, if anything.
The information is about you, my blog’s statistical information. At the time I wrote this post it said that 58 big businesses and 2 small ones are tracking me. The numbers always change, however.
There are a lot of tracking sites I am aware of, and I am sure there are many more that I’m not aware of. When I entered my business website, nothing appeared. That’s good, I guess they don’t know everything, but they are watching you!
(For more local or national real estate information, go to my website at www.bettyjung.com).
Good, bad or different, I’ve never been one to just “follow the crowd”. If everyone is going one direction, I tend to turn around and go the opposite direction. There have been times when I did pick up on a fad or the “thing of the moment” but for the most part, you won’t find me in with the rest of the pack.
One year in the 80s, I remember going to a big box department store where I was standing with approximately 5-6 other ladies around a dress rack all wearing pantsuits, those bow ties or scarves we used to tie around our necks, and a pin on our lapel. We were all dressed almost identical and it made me laugh. I never dressed like that again.
In the late 1990s when the buzz was to use the internet to prospect for clients in real estate, I changed course and used some of the old and proven techniques to prospect instead and went back to the basics. Lately all the buzz has been about social networking sites such as the Active Rain Network, YouTube, and Twitter among others. None of these are of interest to me at this time.
Active Rain Network: This is a site used by Realtors® to publish their posts. Basically a community of bloggers i.e. Realtors®, mortgage brokers, or others in related fields all blogging together rather than having their individual site as I have here. I tend to read it and it just seems to be about who’s the most popular, who’s getting the most points, and how many comments you have received. It just sounds like high school and a popularity contest to me so I am avoiding it. Granted, some are receiving referrals of clients from other Realtors®, but for now, I’m not interested in posting. Perhaps I’m missing the point, but again, since everyone is doing it, you won’t find me there.
YouTube: I happened to watch a show on TV where Mark Cuban was discussing YouTube. He said that it’s going to be fading fast because everyone is using it and appearing on it – mom, dad and all the kids! My point exactly and the main reason I won’t be exploring YouTube. Further, I’ve never taken the time to work on producing a video. Again, I’m not seeing the value in this but others seem to and it doesn’t compare to other videos that are more professional.
Twitter: Now, I find this site interesting mainly because I can’t understand why someone would want the world to know where they are and what they are doing every minute of the day. Frankly, being a Realtor®, I’m in the public eye all the time and when I go home or am done for the day (even if it’s at midnight) I don’t want the world to know about it. I like some private time, afterall! Although the other evening on my way home in the car, I saw the most incredible sunset and would have twittered that (or is it tweeted that?).
Linkedin: (Brought to you by the same people that bring you Classmates.com – I read this on Yahoo!® but it may or may not be true) Currently, I am linked to others but have not asked anyone to link to me. My main question is whether the public is really using this or rather, who really is? Maybe someone can enlighten me or tell me how it has worked for them and if it was beneficial. Strangers have asked me to link to them but I thought the whole reason to link to another person is so that you can recommend your services or their services to others. If I don’t know you, or know what kind of service you provide, why would I want to link to you? Again, maybe I’m just not getting it. As I was proofing this post, I came across this interesting article. The author feels the same way I do about all these sites. Here’s the article from BusinessWeek about Linkedin and some of the other social networking sites.
FaceBook: Basically my same comments as in YouTube.
Localism: It is a site for local Oregon bloggers to post stories that mainly are relevant to Oregon (and for other local bloggers from other states in the U.S.) I also read the posts on this site but don’t know if the public has general access to it. I have posted a link on my blog to it for readers here locally to view it if they like.
Plaxo: Yet another social networking site.
How many are there? Do we really need this many? Actually I know there are many more than those listed above such as MySpace, Zillow, Yahoo360, Digg and Stumbleupon just to mention a few.
There will always be new technology, new programs, new ideas and new social networking sites. I try to keep current on everything; however, for now, I don’t feel I need to be using every single new thing that comes along. Further, if I actively participated in every social networking site, I’d never have time to sell real estate. Sometimes it all gets to be too much and this blog already takes a lot of my time. Frankly, I feel like the lady in the photo above on occasion.
If you’d like to add a comment or try to convince me otherwise, please do so.
(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter – JUNG’S JOURNAL – on my website www.bettyjung.com).
The other day I went to a luncheon where someone at the table asked me a real estate question. I started rattling off statistics. At that moment, it hit me. When you blog, you become a better Realtor®.
What I realized at that luncheon was you think and talk differently with people. You know the market better than anyone else, if you’ve done the necessary research to determine the stats you’re reporting, you have that knowledge. You read from sources you probably never read before. Your thoughts are being tested with each post you write. In the early days of my career, it was called “quick speak”.
And, it’s not just about real estate but about local events, the community, economics and finance, the government, and even politics. You become different and more aware of things had it not been for blogging. You meet more people, you are inundated with ideas, marketing techniques, technology and you have an insight like at no other time in your career.
The benefit? The way you practice and conduct your business. When you are talking to the public, you are not just reciting empty phrases, you now have the background and the details to substantiate what you say. You say it more forcefully, you become more assured of what you convey to the buying public. You are not as forgiving of market conditions and you are able to quick speak about many topics and the consumer listens. You have the authority and apply it professionally. You are at the top of your game.
The other day I read a blog about how consumers are wanting to buy and sell real estate with Realtors® who blog for reasons mentioned above and because those Realtors® who blog have moved to the forefront of the community. Here’s also an article from Business Week that pretty much says if you’re in the business world, you can’t afford to be without a blog.
880 million searches for homes and all things real estate occur each month on the major search engines. Today, if you aren’t able to be found on Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL when Internet shoppers search for their dreams online, 84% of the business will pass you by. Are you blogging? Don’t you want to be at the front of the line?
(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter – JUNG’S JOURNAL – on my website www.bettyjung.com).
It seems as if every type of industry has some association affiliated with it. After reading Inman News , I see there’s a Media Bloggers Association dedicated to keeping bloggers legal and safe from lawsuits. CLICK HERE for more information on this association.
According to Inman News, the blogging community is “ripe” for further lawsuits (CLICK HERE for full story). Check out my “Bloggers Beware” post written earlier for more information. In fact, I read today that there’s talk in blogosphere of establishing and adopting a “code of ethics” for bloggers. More and more bloggers are complaining of others copying their written materials and images from the Internet. It is not ok to take photos from another person’s site and use them as your own. If you do want to use a photo you need to request permission to do so. Recently I had the French Consulate in Washington D.C. call and request permission to use one of my photos.
There’s also the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) a United States copyright law which implements two 1996 WIPO treaties. It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services that are used to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works (commonly known as DRM) and criminalizes the act of actual infringement of copyright. It also heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. Passed on October 12, 1998 by a unanimous vote in the United States Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 1998, the DMCA amended title 17 of the U.S. Code to extend the reach of copyright. (Reproduced in part from Wikipedia). CLICK HERE to read about this law. There was also an excellent post recently by Katerina Gasset at Wellington Florida Luxury Homes about copyrights. CLICK HERE to read her post. Here’s another blog about Creative Commons and advice on copyright laws.
When I read other Realtor® blogs, 99% of them are not identifying themselves as real estate agents nor do they post their company or contact information on their blogs. The National Association of Realtors® has made it clear that on-line advertising (blogging) must adhere to the same guidelines as print media. Yet, very few are abiding by these rules. Early on, my Principal Broker told me to make sure I included that in my blog and I did so before I ever made my blog public.
As blogging becomes more mainstream, more laws and rules will be imposed upon us bloggers and more plagiarism will occur. However, there are copyright rules and laws already in effect.
(For more local and national real estate news, check out my monthly real estate newsletter – JUNG’S JOURNAL – on my website www.bettyjung.com).
If you don’t feel blogging is important, or if you aren’t taking or making the time to blog, just read the stats below! Blogging has taken the place in many situations as the first in news or the first in a forum to express your opinions freely. Many times I will read a story or an important news item in a blog before I ever see it in the local newspaper or other print media. 95% of all major newspapers nationwide have blogs of their own as well. There’s a local news station in Portland that seems to get their “latest” news from blogs because as I listen I hear what I just read on the Internet!
Blogging numbers are increasing and will only continue to do so. A blog will be seen as even more important in the years ahead as a vehicle for free speech on Mainstreet. In fact, an on-line presence is absolutely mandatory for today’s real estate professional. What was once considered a luxury is now a necessity.
People are turning to blogs to get the latest and most recent information where you get many varied opinions.
“(Y)ou cannot afford to close your eyes to them (blogs), because they’re simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they’re going to shake up just about every business-including yours….Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They’re a prerequisite.” – BusinessWeek , May 2, 2005
Here are some recent stats from BlogWorld:
- Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
- More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
- Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
- 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
- 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
- 9% of internet users say they have created blogs .
- 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog .
- Technorati™ is currently tracking over 70 million blogs .
- Over 120 thousand blogs are created every day .
- There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day .
- 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs .
- 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006 .
- 51% of blog readers shop online .
- Blog readers average 23 hours online each week.
If you’re still not convinced on whether to blog or not, Technorati™ just completed a survey of the blogosphere and below is only part of their results. For the rest of the report, go to Technorati’s™ latest state of blogging report.
Global Snapshot of Bloggers
| Demographics | U.S. Bloggers | European Bloggers | Asian Bloggers |
| Male | 57% | 73% | 73% |
| Age | |||
| 18-34 years old | 42% | 48% | 73% |
| 35+ | 58% | 52% | 27% |
| Single | 26% | 31% | 57% |
| Employed full-time | 56% | 53% | 45% |
| Household income >$75,000 | 51% | 34% | 9% |
| College graduate | 74% | 67% | 69% |
| Average blogging tenure (months) | 35 | 33 | 30 |
| Median Annual Investment | $80 | $15 | $30 |
| Median Annual Revenue | $200 | $200 | $120 |
| % Blogs with advertising | 52% | 50% | 60% |
| Average Monthly Unique Visitors | 18,000 | 24,000 | 26,000 |
Global Bloggers by Gender
| Demographics | Female |
Male |
| Personal Blog | 83% | 76% |
| Professional Blog | 38% | 50% |
| Age | ||
| 18-24 years old | 9% | 15% |
| 25+ | 91% | 85% |
| Single | 29% | 36% |
| Employed full-time | 44% | 56% |
| Median Annual Investment | $30 | $60 |
| Median Annual Revenue | $100 | $200 |
| % Blogs with advertising | 53% | 54% |
| Sell Through a Blog ad Network | 16% | 7% |
| Have Affiliate ads | 41% | 32% |
| Have Contextual ads | 61% | 73% |
(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter – JUNG’S JOURNAL – on my website www.bettyjung.com).
Photo from Microsoft Office
No, Mena and Ben Trott aren’t buyers or sellers of mine, but they are the 30s something couple who became millionaires. What did they develop or start? They developed what we use today as a ”standard” – the personal blog – i.e. Movable Type!
This young couple were featured in Yahoo!® Finance recently. CLICK HERE for the story.
Blogging came into its own in 2001, but I had no idea as to the “how” or the “why” of the story.
Here is part of the Yahoo!® article:
“High school sweethearts from Petaluma, Calif., Mena and Ben Trott got into blogging after losing their jobs at a small San Francisco-based Web design firm in the dot-com bust. With extra time on their hands, they developed a software tool to help Mena post her personal blog. It worked. When they put the tool online in October 2001, nearly 200 people downloaded it within the first hour.”
“Initially working out of their apartment, the couple launched a software company, hired dozens of employees and raised over $10 million in venture capital. And as blogging took off, the tool they called Movable Type (after the Guttenberg printing press) became an industry standard.”
“The couple, both in their early 30s, have since added to their fortune by launching other blog publishing applications, including a successful hosting service. After the rapid growth of Movable Type, the couple says their current strategy is to build momentum slowly with a diverse line of inter-related products.”
It reminded me of something I have believed in for very a long time– that ”jobs” are everywhere. You can create something from nothing and in a few cases become rich or at least get your bills paid.
Some years ago, actually in 1998, I started an on-line, part-time business. The first year of taxes for that business my accountant said to me he was surprised it was such a “money maker” just after its first year. It really was never intended to be a “business”, but was a hobby of mine and it supplemented my income so that I could travel more. Although I haven’t done it for a very long time, I know it is something that I can always fall back on should I ever need or want to.
People complain they are unemployed and there are no jobs to be found. This story about this young couple reminded me again that there are job opportunities you can create for yourself. Many of my friends have created businesses that have turned into regular full-time jobs instead. You just have to be attuned to what is going on in the world. Sometimes “dire” circumstances, or the simplest of ideas can turn into opportunities. It’s all about entrepreneurship.
Across the country and around the world, legions of people are abandoning their dependence on big business and seeking independence through their own enterprises. Every month, about 1 million Americans go through some type of job change or loss, and increasingly they are deciding to start their own businesses.
Selling real estate has taught me a lot about running my own business, being an entrepreneur and being self-employed. A simple idea, a hobby or passion, can turn into a career (read my post – “From Child Play to Realtor”).
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
A Thank you For a Reader's Comment. All Rights Reserved. 2008 Betty Jung. Photo from Microsoft Office.
Recently I wrote a post entitled “In Awe“. I received a comment from a reader we’ll call “Tim”, that I had spelled the name of the river – Deschutes – incorrectly. Even though I had spell checked my post, apparently the spell checker didn’t recognize the famous river in Oregon. In fact, I just spell checked this post, and it didn’t recognize the name.
The reader also pointed out to me that I was taking credit for the photographs of the lightning strike and Mt. Hood I used as the photos and encouraged me to research the “intellectual property” law. In fact, what I was trying to take credit for was the post and not the photos at all. Further, I paid for the right to use the royalty free photographs from iStockphotos. It was my mistake for not acknowledging where the photos came from on my post but I was not trying to take credit for taking the pictures rather only for writing the post.
Then to complicate matters, I wanted to thank him publicly for pointing all that out to me and making sure I did things correctly. And in fact I tried but wound up deleting his comments by mistake instead. Once you delete the comment, you can’t retrieve it again. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to post my comment to him on my blog as I hadn’t done that as yet. I had sent the reader an email thanking him for pointing these errors out to me and I made the changes/corrections to my post. I tried to do the right thing and didn’t take it as being confrontational but only as constructive criticism, which I appreciated. And, in fact, I have received other criticisms from friends which I took to heart and made necessary corrections. Now, through the “grapevine”, I hear that I am being criticized for not posting a public thank you for this recent reader’s comments.
All in all, with this post I am trying to publicly thank him for “keeping me on my toes” which is what I said to him in my personal email. Thank you and I hope you keep reading and commenting! I’ve only been doing this for a little over three months, and admittedly, I am still learning! I’m trying to absorb everything there is to learn about blogging so that in fact I do things correctly. I’m always trying to improve my blog and I know how important it is to make sure you don’t make mistakes.
Thanks to all of you for all your suggestions, corrections, comments, and criticisms, etc. I guess the good news is that someone is actually reading my posts! I’ve come a long way since May when I first started posting. I appreciate that you’re reading my blog.
Have some fun this weekend. There are lots of farmer’s markets, festivals and movies in the park still to be enjoyed! It will be HOT!
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Photo from Microsoft Office
When the number 5,000 showed up on my screen I was surprised. 5,000 hits on my blog in such a short period of time from May 1 to July 21, 2008. A little more than 2 1/2 months of posts. I don’t know if that’s good or bad but it really doesn’t matter. What amazes me more than anything is the far reaching effects of the Internet, the growth of the on-line community, how connected we really all are and what a small world this is. Spain, Pakistan, Turkey, Morocco, China, UAE, Australia, Europe, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Phillipines, Japan, Russia, Africa are just some of the countries that have somehow found All About…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate not to mention from all the different states across the U.S. No one knows this, but the reason I started my blog on May 1, is because that is when I immigrated to the U.S. – it has always been a special day for me. So, to have all these countries connecting in this way is sentimental to me in someways and none of these countries now seem so far away.
You can click on the map in the sidebar to see the major countries that have viewed my blog. There’s another view at the top of the map (under navigation) where you can click to see the smaller dots (or hits) that shows everywhere the hits have come from. I didn’t add this widget until midway through the month of May, so there are even more countries, I am sure, that aren’t shown.
When I first started blogging, I was surprised how people would do their searches. Some people would just search by typing in “Betty’s Blog”. There are millions upon millions of “Betty’s” in the world, yet they found this blog. That is amazing to me. Did they really expect to find my blog that way? But they did! Oh, the power of search engines!
There is a learning curve in anything new you attempt. There is still a lot to learn. Every corner I go around, there’s yet more to learn. There are lots of things, I wish WordPress would change or add. There are a lot of tricks to blogging. However, this blog is forcing me to also sharpen my skills and mind as I research and delve into whatever subject I am discussing at the moment. There hasn’t been anything in my real estate career, I don’t believe, that has taught me as much in such a short period of time as learning how to write a blog, except when I first starting selling real estate in ‘75.
For example, just last night I found out I can make the box bigger, much bigger, that I type my posts in. What a find! I thought I had to use the small box that WordPress has but you can change the size. Geez, only been blogging for 2 1/2 months and I never knew that. It’s in settings. Now I can see the entire post on a full page just as it would appear. I’ve been depriving myself all this time without realizing it. This has taught me again not to take things at face value- guess I had to learn that again. So unlike me not to question. All the books I’ve read never said you can make the typing box bigger. This is much better and so much easier. Maybe the rest of you already knew this. For those of you that don’t blog you may not understand what a find this is.
Learning yet again!
When I was in grammar school I used to love going on scavenger hunts. Blogging to me reminds me of that. I happen to have an insatiable curiosity about everything and when I get an idea I have to “check it out”. Sometimes it takes more time that I would like but in each post I write, I am also learning along the way. Not only am I learning more about the subject but I am learning more about the Internet and the world we live in and are all a part of. I hope you are too.
Thanks for tuning in….and please come back again, and again.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Photo from Microsoft Office
Some of you may have already read the article by Inman News (CLICK HERE to read it) about a lawsuit that has been filed against a blogger. In my blogging journey, I have been trying to be very careful with what I say, whom I quote, whose pictures I use, etc.
However, I have noticed that some Realtors® who write blogs don’t identify themselves as being a Realtor®. One of the things my manager told me right away was to make sure my name, contact information and company name appeared somewhere to identify that I am real estate agent. I’ve seen many blogs where even I can’t figure out if they are a real estate agent or not. Just this week I read our NAR (National Association of Realtors®) magazine that said the same advertising rules for Realtors® using print media also apply on-line.
The other thing I’ve been careful of and have read about in all my blogging books, is not to use photos that are copyrighted. It’s not ok to just copy photos off the Internet without checking whether they are copyrighted and it’s not ok to use other people’s material as your own because of copyright rules and on-line courtesy. If you’re going to use someone’s story, provide a link and an email address back to their original post. If you’re going to quote someone it’s ok to quote them in part but identify where the quote actually came from and, if possible, post their email address as well. In fact, the other evening when Donny Deutsch was interviewing Bill Gates on The Big Idea TV show, Donny asked Bill Gates how we can obtain information ”accountability” for what is being said and who is saying it on the Internet. The show was a re-run but aired on the day Bill Gates stepped down from his post at Microsoft®. Donny Deutsch was in favor of “controlling” the information whereas Bill Gates wasn’t (interesting).
Now, back to this particular lawsuit. My concern is that we won’t be able to say what we really want to say and that we will be censored. However, my personal commitment to my blog is that I will not defame another person’s character nor speak ill of another real estate agent or company (or anyone else for that matter). Further, I’ve tried to temper my criticisms. There’s lots I know about other companies and other agents, but our National Association of Realtors’® ethics dictate that I not say anything nor would I want to. You won’t find any of that here!
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Betty Jung
Betty's Most Recent Comments