Diane Richardson

You may hear rumblings from Realtors® who don’t blog that it takes too much time or that the audience they reach isn’t focused enough in their market.

These excuses don’t hold water with me. For starters, as professionals in this business we should be thrilled to have a platform to share our knowledge, not just in our market. As Realtors® we all have experiences that would benefit people in any market and aren’t we in the service business after all?

Yes, it does take time to use the technology, but I am in the business of marketing real estate in Victoria so really, it’s my job.

The minimum your Realtor should be doing to market you property on the Internet is:

• A content-rich website that gets found by search engines
• Regular blogs about all things real estate, including your new listing
• Monitor Twitter and tweet about all things real estate
• Post your listing on sites in addition to the local MLS® system

So when you’re talking to a Realtor®, ask them if they use the Internet to market real estate (and I’m not talking about just having a website) because in my opinion, if they’re not actively posting and tweeting they’re not doing their job.

That’s just my opinion and I’d love to hear yours. Send comments about this posting to me at diane@drichrealty.com.

Learn more about how I use technology to help with your home sale or property search at www.DIANE-RICHARDSON.com. Be sure to check out the Marketing page and see how powerful these online tools are, you’ll be surprised who’s using Twitter.

Diane Richardson is a real estate professional with Macdonald Realty Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

I just took the conditions off the sale of a lovely 2 bed/2 bath condo in the Gordon Head neighborhood of Victoria, BC and I gotta say, I owe a great deal of it to the power of Active Rain.

I have a techie background, starting my computer career as a mainframe administrator for a trust company in Vancouver in 1987. So for me the marriage of Real Estate and the Internet was a no brainer, I love the technology and I love real estate. I'd like to briefly explain my latest transaction and how the Internet and more spcifically Active Rain helped make it happen.

I had posted the listing on my website (www.DIANE-RICHARDSON.com) in mid-October (this was actually a listing taken by another agent in my office), sat an open house and met a couple of people that might be interested (you all know the story). Anyway, the price was reduced on Thursday, October 22nd which I changed on my website and sent out a blog about on AR. Since I was scheduled to do another open house on the Saturday I sent out another AR blog on Friday promoting it, I had barely hit the send button when I got a call from the listing Realtor, he had an offer. So I contacted the people who had shown interest only to be told they were no longer interested.

I finished up what I had to do at the office and decided to head for home; about 15 minutes later I received a call from a woman saying she had seen my condo on the Internet and was very interested (remember this wasn't my listing so the chances are very high that it was my AR blog that she spotted). I explained that there had been an offer made which was open for acceptance until later in the day, her reply was that it was not a problem and if she liked it she was prepared to put an offer in immediately. I made arrangements to meet her at the unit 20 minutes later and 5 minutes after viewing it and answering her questions she wanted to make an offer, the rest as they say is history.

I post this to say a big thank you to AR for your effectiveness and this great tool that you make so easy for us to use. And, to any of you who may be on the fence about whether to blog or not, do it! It does make a difference.

On a side note I'd also like to say that the encouragement I've received from other AR users in blog comments really brightens my day. This is a great community to belong to, while it may take a bit of a time commitment I feel it's worth it.

OPEN HOUSE - Saturday, November 7th from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
3555 Promenade Crescent, Colwood, BC

COURT ORDEORED SALE with NEW PRICE! Well below assessed value, appraised at $770,000 now on the market for $688,000. Over 3600 square feet in this 2004 home with a one bedroom suite located in prestigious Royal Bay community. Beautiful water and mountain views, maple floors and nicely finished this house is a perfect family home. Some work needed which is reflected in the price. Offers are subject to court approval and must include Schedule "A".

For more information on this property or others available in this area please contact Diane Richardson at 250.588.3861 or email me at drichardson@macrealty.com.

For buyer and seller resources and details about my techno-centric marketing programs please visit my website at www.DIANE-RICHARDSON.com

OPEN HOUSE - Saturday, November 7th from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
3555 Promenade Crescent, Colwood BC

Please come see me this Saturday, November 7th between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM at 3555 Promenade Crescent in Colwood.

This is a court ordered sale of a 2004-built home in prestigious Royal Bay development. Appraised at $770,000, on the market for $688,000. 5 Bedrooms, 4 Bathrooms, 3600 square feet with maple floors and nicely finished, does need work as is reflected in the price. Stunning mountain and ocean views, don't miss this opportunity on the best-priced house in this neighborhood. Offers are subject to court approval.

For more information visit my website at www.DIANE-RICHARDSON.com or send me an email at drichardson@macrealty.com.

For a no-cost market evaluation of your home or for other comparable properties please give me a call at 250.588.3861.

The biggest benefit in a down market is that it’s the perfect time to upgrade your property. Whether you want to move from a condo to a house or just need another bedroom now is the time to make the move.

I’m not saying that we’re in a down market; house sales in the Victoria area are going strong. However, we are experiencing prices that are still down from when the market was at its peak a couple of years ago. There is the side of the argument that says wait until prices go up so you can get maximum dollars for the property you own now. The flaw in this logic is that if you wait for the value of your home to go up so will the prices of what you want to move to.

The most over-looked part of the equation in real estate purchasing is the impact the interest rates have over time. Current rates are as low as they’re going to go, the Canadian government has said that they won’t raise rates until June of 2010 but we know what the promises of politicians are worth. They may not be able to keep rates down for any number of reasons but the bottom line is they will go up.

So let’s have a look at the impact of the interest rate on a mortgage. On a $500,000 purchase with 10% down, a 25 year amortization at a 5% annual rate with a 5 year term, your mortgage will cost $105,317.13 in interest in those first 5 years. That’s just interest; it does not include any money which is paid to the principal (with these terms $51,716.21 goes to principal).

If we take that same purchase and increase the annual rate to 5.5% (only ½ a percent) you’re now paying $116,149.45 interest in the first 5 years – that’s an increase of $10,832.32!

As you can see interest rates have a huge impact on what your home actually costs. I know this is all very dry and not very exciting but when you consider that upgrading your home now could get you what you need and save you more than $10,000 in the next 5 years it’s really worth weighing your options.

All calculations were done using the mortgage calculator at http://www.diane-richardson.com/MortgageCalculator.ubr and are used as an example only. For mortgage information please contact your lending agency or a mortgage broker.

To make a comment about this blog or to request a no-cost market evaluation of your home contact Diane Richardson at 250.588.3861 or email: drichardson@macrealty.com.