N'Marie Crumbie

~~ATTENTION REALTORS~~

For a Limited time only!

HartfordGrapevine.com is allowing 50 Realtors in Hartford County the opportunity to list their homes for FREE...

Regularly the price is $25 per listing for 30-days.

HartfordGrapevine.com will allow you to post unlimited video, slideshows, and images of your listing. Listing will be selected randomly to be featured on the homepage and in our e-newsletter. We accept postlets codes as well.

Don't miss this opportunity to post your listings on the up and coming social media site, Hartford Grapevine, for FREE!

Limited to first 50 Realtors only, so sign up today at www.HartfordGrapevine.com!

Offer ends July 31,2009

There is plenty of blame to go around for the downturn in the economy but the bulk of it should be placed squarely on the unregulated credit bureaus. These agencies have absolutely no incentive to maintain accruate information on consumers. The more inaccuracies in a credit file the more credit monitoring subscriptions they can sell. It's like having the "fox guarding the hen".

When a credit report is disputed the credit bureaus are pretty much useless. All they do is forward the dispute to the reporting creditor. They may or may not research your issue but is more than willing to respond to the credit bureaus that the current reporting is accurate and should remain unchanged. Of course the credit bureaus don't care to question the due deligence of the creditors or lack there of. So now...what do you do? They oblige you with the option of including a statement in your credit report stating that the issue has been disputed. So what? That doesn't change a thing. Your score is lowered, the credit bureaus get to sell another credit monitoring subscription, and the predatory lenders get to charge you higher interest rate and put you in unaffordable mortgages and consumer loans.

In the words of T. Harv Eker, the roots create the fruits (results). Now let's imagine a tree. Let's suppose this tree represents the tree of a credit bureau. Hanging from this tree are the fruits (struggling consumers). So we look at the struggling consumers and because they are not doing so well we tend to put more attention and focus on them. But what is it that actually creates those particular bad fruits?

"It's the seeds and the roots that create those fruits". It's not complicated, if the struggling consumers are to be saved, first the credit bureaus (roots) and the creditors (seeds) must be regulated for change.

I say, regulate those credit bureaus, force the creditors to report responsibly, and there will be little or no need for predatory lending.

N'Marie Crumbie

Director of Public Relations

crumbz@ctgrapevines.com

www.ctgrapevines.com

MISTAKE #1: Thinking it's too late. There's nothing you can do anyway, and you're "only one or two payments behind" so you may as well wait and see what happens.
It's easy to sink into depression and come to a grinding halt when you feel like things are closing in on you. But this is the worst possible mistake you could make.
You've got something working against you that no amount of effort can bring back: TIME.
The longer you wait to "see if things will work out", the greater the chance you will be left with FEW or NO options at all. Don't wait until the sheriff is literally pounding on your door to throw you and your family on the street. Don't watch a bad situation turn into a public humiliation you (and your family) will never forget.
IF YOU TAKE ACTION NOW, THERE'S AN EXCELLENT CHANCE OUR PROFESSIONALS CAN HELP YOU.
It's just that simple. Make one simple decision to take action, and one of our professionals can find the smartest solution for your particular situation.

RISMEDIA, January 6, 2009-Realtors know that today's real estate prospects and consumers are using the Internet in ways that are revolutionizing the industry. By the time a prospect or customer contacts a Realtor, they have been looking at real estate on the Web anywhere from 10 to 40 hours. And so today, savvy Realtors are getting ahead of the information curve-using the power of the Internet to attract qualified prospects to them.

Getting Started

The attraction of social networking sites for most small businesses is cost, or lack there of. Setting up an account on any of the social networking sites out there is free, but the range of services they provide rival the abilities of costly, full-fledged media advertising campaigns. With a low-cost video camera and a laptop or desktop computer, any Realtor can become a community reporter and post valuable content on the Web.

Becoming a Local Expert

Placing your knowledge of a particular area on a high visibility social networking site can lead prospects to your door. But first, in order to do so, you need to be willing to set yourself apart from the pack-as an expert in a particular area or niche. This requires both a commitment and desire from you.

Lack of information is the biggest frustration most Internet users have. Except for a few major sites, most of the information on the Internet is fluff, or flat out advertising. More and more, people are growing tired of that, so any content that actually fills a void makes an impact. If that content is yours, they'll remember you when it's time to select a Realtor.

Thinking Like a Prospect

The basic marketing concept you're using with social networking is the same as it has always been in real estate. Think like the prospect and then show them what they want to see. Realtors have been doing business this way for over a hundred years, as it's the basic premise of real estate marketing. The difference now is how you're getting your message across.

If you don't think you can make an impact using social networking sites, do this. Go out to YouTube and search anything real estate related in your community. You'll probably notice that there is not a lot going on. It's a gap. It's a gap you can fill easily and inexpensively.

Using any of the social networking sites provides you with an incredible opportunity to carve out a market niche for your business. When you consider what it actually costs you to take advantage of what's available, it's hard to consider not using the tools to build your business.

Peyman Aleagha is the founder and president of RealtySoft.com. RealtySoft provides Realtors with Real Estate Web Design (http://www.realtysoft.com), Real Estate Print Marketing and Free IDX (http://www.realtysoft.com/freeidx.php) solutions.

CTGrapevines.com

The http://www.ctgrapevines.com is a business and social networking local community Website that offers so much more. In a nutshell, members can do a lot with its own network of members. People can join the ctgrapevines community, create a webpage, put a bunch of cool stuff on it (videos, photos, music, blogs, live chat, background screen shots) and then invite friends within the ctgrapevines community to join them on their webpage.

Realtors can can create their very own customized listing with unlimited photos, virtual tour, video tour, and an extensive description of their listing. Realtors are not limited at the ctgrapevines community like they are at the MLS. At ctgrapevines, Realtors can really showcase the great features of their listing and can combine the same concept as YouTube by creating a video that highlights the features of that signature home they're so proud to sell. They can also create a series of videos that capture the lifestyle and quality of living in their community. Realtors are able to really showcase it all at the Grapevine.

Members can also find local restaurants in the business directory (just as one example of the use of the Business Directory for members), spend hours playing over 700 games in the arcade, find local, national, world and offbeat news, sell or buy stuff in the classifieds, find things to do in the calendar of events, get strategies to play the lottery in any state in the country, print out grocery store coupons, post and find recipes, and much more.

A www.ctgrapevines.com social networking website in your local community will provide you with incredible opportunities to carve out a market niche for your business, your expertise, or just for fun.

N'Marie Crumbie is the Public Relations Manager for the www.hartfordgrapevine.com and www.newhavengrapevine.com.

MISTAKE #1: Thinking it's too late. There's nothing you can do anyway, and you're "only one or two payments behind" so you may as well wait and see what happens.
It's easy to sink into depression and come to a grinding halt when you feel like things are closing in on you. But this is the worst possible mistake you could make.
You've got something working against you that no amount of effort can bring back: TIME.
The longer you wait to "see if things will work out", the greater the chance you will be left with FEW or NO options at all. Don't wait until the sheriff is literally pounding on your door to throw you and your family on the street. Don't watch a bad situation turn into a public humiliation you (and your family) will never forget.
IF YOU TAKE ACTION NOW, THERE'S AN EXCELLENT CHANCE OUR PROFESSIONALS CAN HELP YOU.
It's just that simple. Make one simple decision to take action, and one of our professionals can find the smartest solution for your particular situation.

BE SURE TO CHECK BACK DAILY FOR REMAINING MISTAKES...CAN'T WAIT...THEN LOG ONTO WWW.HARTFORDGRAPEVINE.COM FOR MORE IMMEDIATE INFO. THANK YOU.

N'Marie Crumbie (Crumbz)
House Everything Reatly Group, Broker
www.houseverything.com
crumbz@houseverything.com

CTGrapevines, Public Relations Manager
www.ctgrapevines.com
crumbz@ctgrapevines.com