Grayson Hodge

Atlas Van Lines' Annual Corporate Relocation Survey Reflects Growing Economic Optimism

RISMEDIA, April 25, 2011-After multiple years characterized by doubt and pessimism, relocation managers across the U.S. are expressing optimism that the worst of the recession is now in the rearview mirror. Responding to Atlas Van Lines' 44th annual Corporate Relocation Survey, 72% of the relocation managers polled say they believe their respective companies will fare better in 2011. The optimism rate among large firms surveyed (more than 5,000 workers) jumps to 80%.

"Our relocation research has served as a solid barometer of where the American economy is headed," said Jack Griffin, president and COO of Atlas World Group, the parent company of Atlas Van Lines. "The good news is that our survey respondents are focusing on growing their businesses and believe there will be abundant opportunity for expansion and increased revenues in 2011. This is encouraging for Atlas Van Lines and our relocation agents."

Additional encouraging signs include:

-Fifty-four percent of executives surveyed believe the U.S. economy will improve in 2011-the highest rate of such optimism recorded since 2006.

-Thirty percent of companies plan to relocate workers this year-the highest percentage in six years.

-Eighty-seven percent of companies will spend as much or more on relocation in 2011 as in 2010-the most since 2007.

-The Midwest is now the top destination of transfers (37%) followed by the Northeast (31%), the South (28%) and West (20%).

For more information, visit www.atlasworldgroup.com and www.atlasvanlines.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Easy Ways to Take Advantage of Social Media Marketing

By Susan Gunelius

RISMEDIA, April 18, 2011-(eM+C)-In just a few short years, social media marketing has gone from a fun task experienced by a few to a daily part of hundreds of millions of peoples' lives. For marketers, having a presence on the social Web and developing an audience of online brand advocates is no longer an ancillary marketing project, it's a strategic imperative. If your brand isn't there, a competitor will be more than happy to take your place in the social Web conversation and community.

Don't worry if your brand doesn't already have a social Web presence. There's still time to make your presence known, but every day you wait is a wasted opportunity. The steps below, from 30-Minute Social Media Marketing will help you jump-start your journey into the world of social media.

1. Identify your ultimate goals. What are your ultimate business and brand goals? If you don't know where you want to go, you can't figure out how to get there. Don't waste time and effort by taking the wrong path.

2. Determine your brand's image, message and promise. Decide what you want your brand to stand for in consumers' minds, then participate in activities, conversations and communities that accurately reflect that vision.

3. Find your best audience. Conduct keyword searches as if you were a potential customer of your company. Follow the links and look for social sites where your target audience already spends time. Join the conversations and start to build your network of online connections.

4. Create messages that consistently communicate your brand promise to draw your audience in. Once you find and build relationships with your target audience on the sites where they already spend time, you can then start to bring them back to your own website, blog, Facebook page, etc. It's there that you can share more of your content and deepen your relationship with them.

5. Diversify your social media presence to broaden your audience. Offer varied ways for people to experience and engage with your brand online. Some people like to read blogs, others prefer Twitter updates and still others prefer viewing videos. By offering different ways for people to connect with you and consume your content and conversations, your audience of online followers will broaden.

6. Join the conversations and build your network of brand advocates. If you build it, they won't come. You need to continually go out and find your audience, share their content, join their conversations and ultimately give more than you receive to be successful on the social Web.

7. Allow the online community to take control of the conversation. If you try to control the online conversation about your business or brand, you'll destroy most of your social media marketing efforts. Give up control, let the conversation flow and you'll benefit from word-of-mouth marketing that money can't buy.

8. Be real, honest, accessible, engaging and true to your brand promise. If your online content and conversations sound like you're reading from a corporate brochure or manual, no one will want to engage with you on the social Web. Be personable and remember you're not there to self-promote, but rather to build relationships that can deliver word-of-mouth marketing and sustainable long-term business growth.

9. Test and analyze results...then try again. Social media marketing is still in its infancy; there's no recipe for success yet. New tools are introduced all the time. What you're doing today might not be right tomorrow.

10. Be consistent and don't give up. The three primary steps to branding are consistency, persistence and restraint. Follow those steps in your social media marketing efforts every day and be prepared to commit for the long haul. Patience is rewarded on the social Web.

Susan Gunelius is president and CEO of KeySplash Creative, a marketing communications company and author of 30-Minute Social Media Marketing.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Real Estate Deep Dive: Raleigh, NC

By Greg Rand

April 8, 2011-In our last installment, we talked about the Las Vegas market and likened it to investing in stock options - volatile and risky, but with incredible upside potential. Not for the faint of heart. Today we go to the other side of the spectrum. The Blue Chip market of Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina - stable, reliable, with very attractive fundamentals. First let's look at the "what," and then we'll dig into the "why."

Raleigh is located in northern-central North Carolina. Its housing market defies the real estate "meltdown" we all hear about on the evening news. The median price of a single family home was about $150,000 10 years ago, peaked at about $210,000 last year and has "crashed" back down to $200,000 at the time of this writing. The chart looks like a steady climb with no sign of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression:

Raleigh Median Sale Price

Raleigh Home Values - Interactive chart

Bear is mind that Raleigh did not see the 18% annual appreciation enjoyed by Las Vegas during the boom, but only saw a 33% rate of appreciation over the last 10 years. No roller coaster ride there. Just steady, reliable, dependable growth. If dull is the new sexy in real estate markets, Raleigh is as sexy as you can get.

Now that we know what happened, let's consider why, and see if this is instructive as a way to choose a real estate market worthy of investing in. My next step is to research the migration patterns that impact Raleigh. Are people coming in or going out? Check out this chart that shows exactly that. http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/04/migration-moving-wealthy-interactive-counties-map.html?preload=37183

At a glance you can see that something is very attractive about this state and city. They are drawing population from every major city in the Northeast, as well as from virtually every major metro in the country. And then there's the "half-backs." The story goes that people who moved from the Northeast to Florida in decades past are so tired of all the New Yorkers crowding them out that they are coming half-way back to the Carolinas. Again, the chart proves it out. What's the draw?

Raleigh ranked #7 in the 2010 Milken Institute Best-Performing Cities Index in creating and sustaining jobs (Durham is #15). The unemployment rate in Raleigh is 6.7% as of December 2010, down a point from a year earlier. How can that be? Three words - The Research Triangle. Anchored by North Carolina State University, Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, plus a blue chip list of corporations such as GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco, Verizon, Nortel, IBM and many more, Raleigh is gaining jobs and attracting population at a time when so many other markets are hurting.

You are beginning to see a clear picture of a market that works. Combine these tangible drivers of demand for real estate with the climate, scenic beauty and a hint of southern hospitality, and it becomes obvious what the draw is.

Finally, Raleigh is a place where investors can readily find investment properties that generate a positive cash flow. According to Trulia's Rent vs. Buy analysis, it is less expensive to own than it is to rent in Raleigh. If you can buy a home cheaper than they can rent it, that difference is positive cash flow.

This process is how professional investors find markets with upside potential. You've heard the saying "all boats rise with the tide?" Raleigh is a rising tide. If you are looking for a place to put your money where you can feel confident that you will be able to cover your expenses and see steady and dependable appreciation, it looks like you've found one.

Greg Rand is the CEO of OwnAmerica, a company dedicated to teaching real estate professionals and consumers how to build wealth in American housing. OwnAmerica offers a web-based certification course for real estate agents who want to capture the residential investor market. Learn more about the course, "OwnAmerica Real Estate Investment Certification Program," (OICP) by visiting 8billionupforgrabs.com for details.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

What to Watch Out for When Buying a Foreclosure: Help Your Clients Know Which to Buy...and Which to Walk By

By Dan Steward

RISMEDIA, April 7, 2011-The economy is improving overall and, as a result, some bright spots are showing up in the real-estate market. However, the foreclosure spike, which began around the same time the recession did, isn't a distant memory just yet. In many areas, foreclosures are still happening; in some areas, those numbers have increased. Surprisingly, foreclosures have even encroached into some key cities that were formerly thought to be unshakable real-estate markets - like San Francisco, where foreclosures actually rose in 2010 (including in luxury neighborhoods like Pacific Heights, where a condo that sold in 2007 for $2.3 million recently sold for $1.44 million as a foreclosure).

This "second wave" of foreclosures - combined with the fact that many people's 401(k)s have bounced back with the stock market, and most economists agree that the bottom of the recession has hit - means that competition for these foreclosed homes is, in many cases, fierce. There's a renewed, final dash to get in on what some perceive as the best real-estate deals they'll get in awhile. But how do you know which foreclosure is a good buy, and which to walk by? Here are some tips to help guide your clients:

Get it checked out by a pro. Perhaps the most essential point: Never go by looks alone as an indicator of whether a foreclosure is a good buy. A $2 million mansion may look gorgeous on the surface but might have toxic mold hiding beneath, which will require extremely pricey, lengthy repairs. On the other hand, a Mission fixer may look dilapidated but may have excellent bones and can be repaired at reasonable cost. Stipulate to your client that a certified professional home inspector must be contracted to check out a property before making a deal on it, to determine what repairs need to be done - so they can truly assess whether it's worth it for them. Don't rely solely on previous inspections, even if relatively recent - a vacant home can deteriorate quite a bit in a short time, especially in an area with climate extremes.

Don't abandon common real-estate logic. Too many people, when shopping for a foreclosure, abandon their real-estate sense and focus on price alone. Remember, things like a sub-par location, poor light, terrible view, below-average school district, high local crime rate and other negatives might be part of the reason why a home went into foreclosure in the first place. Don't assume that financial problems of the previous owner are the main reason for every foreclosure. The last owner may have bought the home ignoring some of the aforementioned problems, and seen value sink because of them. Don't ignore those problems, especially if your client is considering selling in the next 5 to 10 years. Let your client know how long the home has been empty; the longer it has, the more of a chance this isn't a good deal. Also, if there are plenty of other foreclosures nearby, that's also a bad sign.

Skip - or, at least, very strongly rethink - the flip. "House-flipping," i.e., buying at bargain-basement pricing, updating, then selling for much higher - is very 2006... and hasn't exactly been hot since. Even if a house looks like an incredible flipping opportunity, beware of this temptation unless your client is a pro, with incredible contractor connections. Tell them to automatically triple the amount they think they'll be spending to fix up the home. Clients should avoid the temptation to make fast money unless they think it through and talk to their real-estate professional, a home inspector, contractors - and possibly even a therapist!

Go over the budget. A fixer-upper means nothing if you can't afford to fix it up - and that's especially true for foreclosures, where those fixes can cost a pretty penny. Before buying, make sure your client has an ample budget to do all the repairs needed, after truly taking stock (with the help of a home inspector) of what those needs are. Make sure they have at least half of that money in cash, and preferably all of it. They don't want to take more loans than needed, especially private loans, which shouldn't be taking at all - the interest on them will, little by little, chip away at the initial foreclosure bargain.

Do your homework on lenders. Fewer people are getting financing for home-buying than they did before the recession, but good financing is luckily still available to many qualified buyers. Just make sure, as with regular home buying, that you enlist a reputable lender. A good lender will take the time to do a review of your client's financial life and long- and short-term goals, to truly pick the best solution for them, rather than just spitting out options. Also ask about hidden costs, rate locks, prepayment penalties, origination fees and whether underwriting is done in-house. Make sure everything is explained to them clearly, and recommend that they review all of the answers with a real-estate attorney, who will also be able to check out the lender's overall reputation. These are things that many people do during the standard home-buying process, but might gloss over when lured by a low foreclosure price tag.

See it in person. Finally, advise buyers never to buy a house without going in person to see it. Ever. Foreclosure or otherwise.

Dan Steward is president of, Pillar To Post Professional Home Inspections. For more information, visit www.pillartopost.com.

RISMedia welcomes your comments and questions. Email realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Economy Embarking on Period of Expansion, According to Fannie Mae's Economic & Mortgage Market Analysis Group

RISMEDIA, February 28, 2011-Continued improvements in economic activity driven by strong growth in consumer spending are moving the economy beyond the recovery phase and into a period of expansion, according to the February 2011 Economic Outlook released by Fannie Mae's Economics & Mortgage Market Analysis Group. For 2011, economic growth is projected to accelerate to 3.7%, up from 2.8% economic growth in 2010.

Housing has yet to see robust movement and continues to lag the rest of the economy, according to the group. On the upside, the excess supply of housing appears to have peaked. In addition, the rental vacancy rate fell, indicating the excess supply of housing is being worked off slowly-a trend necessary for housing to return to stability. The downward trend in the rental vacancy rate is consistent with the downward trend in the homeownership rate, which implies a rising share of households have chosen renting over owning. The homeownership rate fell to 66.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010, down from a peak of 69.2% in late 2004.

"We have confidence that the economy is on stronger legs with a sustainable growth path. Our projected annual growth rate for 2011 is nearly a full percent higher than the annual growth rate for 2010, which is a significant event," said Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. "Economic cross currents such as the lack of sustained strong job growth, state and local fiscal issues and geo-political uncertainty in the Middle East present downside risks. Nevertheless, the positives outweigh the negatives."

For more information, visit www.fanniemae.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.