Matthew Lind

I've been hearing from various colleagues, friends, title professionals and brokers that the local activity in Salem is picking up.

I'm noticing that my activity is picking up as well. I think that for the last few months I've been kind of in shock, almost like the wind was knocked out of me and I'm trying to grasp my breath... Well, this period of 'shock' has run its course with me and now I'm realizing that during these tough times and rough markets, you have to rise to the occassion.

I'm ready to take this market head on. I'm learning a lot from this community of very active and incredible brokers that you make your own reality. One thing I've really appreciated about this forum is how positive everyone is, it's absolutely contagious. I also must share my thanks to countless comments, and excellent blogs for all of the great advice. This is a valuable community to be a part of and I'm telling all of my friends about Active Rain!!!

In my local market of Salem Oregon, activity is starting to increase and I think it has a lot to do with the cabin fever that everyone has from being stuck inside for the cold winter being battered by the national news that our economy sucks.

Here's to turning over a new leaf.

For those of you brokers in Salem Oregon who might come across this blog, yes, it's a feel good story and it's supposed to be a self fulfilling prophesy. I'm creating my own reality and I'm expecting the market to turn around. Everyday my expectation is going to be greatness and change. My goal for the month of February is to re-bait the hooks, and get them all back into the water. I want to catch a deal and get things going!

Here at Facet Real Estate Investments, we're looking for self starting brokers who are ready for a change and a fertile environment to build their long term business. I've been focusing on Commercial real estate for the last 5 years, but I'm now actively pursuing a broker who can help build a residential brokerage business. I have a branch office in Corvallis who is actively working the residential markets in Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, and Sweet Home. They're working in Salem as well, and the fruits of their labor are paying off. Our brand is growing, their marketing efforts are creating opportunity in Salem, and yet the Salem market is still wide open for the taking.

This is why I need you to come help grow the Facet Real Estate brand.

Come visit us at www.facetrealestate.com.

All the Best during this beautiful transition into Spring!

-Matthew Lind

I'm in a very interesting moment in my career where several years of planning and strategic moves are coming to a head, and it just happens to be during one of the greatest downturns in the real estate market in recent history. This is a legendary time and will go down in lore.....

Those of us who persevere through this market and create opportunity will be stronger for it. We will make our careers on it! It's time to be adaptable, aggressive, work with a sense of immediacy, but use patience and skill to navigate this complex time.

In many ways I always knew that when you're a small business owner, building a brand and looking long term, every single move you make is critical. Big vision is vulnerable, it's demanding, it requires many variables to align...

It's an interesting feeling to be sitting on opportunity and be forced to wait for investor confidence to align once again with big forward thinking trends. I'm talking about sustainable design, creating architecture that redefines local communities, making developments that enhance life and last a lifetime. That's what we're after.

If you read this and you're curious about what I'm talking about, I'm talking about the Mechanico development in Independence, Oregon. Designed as a small brewery/distillery and pub. It's also an event center catering to the waterfront amphitheatre, a gorgeous facility that will continue to garner praise and admiration as Independence develops. I've offered this to Rogue Ale and they said we're just about a year ahead of the times, but our goal is to pull a larger named brewery to the reemerging hops 'capital of the world.' And by this I mean Rogue. As it goes in real estate, the developer really takes the early risk. We're the one's who go long on optimism and push the market. (I say this with conviction as much to create my reality and call it into being!)

Rogue is the shoe in for this location. They sniffed it out first and thus begins the quest for the hallowed agricultural heart of the Oregon Beer industry. Like Dundee is to Wine, Independence will be to Beer..........the return to the cradle of the robust Oregon Beer industry.

With Rogue's planting of over 50 acres of hops, Jamie Olsen's pinot planting marking the largest in Oregon, with historic hops connections, with an absolutely breathtaking amphitheater, and and event center in the heart of town.

Visit my website to see a really cool short video that my friend and architect sketched up. Check it out-

www.facetrealestate.com

So, for those of you who have contacts in the beer industry, know friends who are ready to sell their product, love this idea and want to drink beer here, please contact me.

Visit my blog at localism http://localism.com/neighbor/realestatenugget

Our firm is looking to bring on new brokers who are ready for a different experience. While I've specialized in commercial real estate, I've recently opened a branch location that is spearheading my residential brokerage effort. My team is a group of successful foreclosure specialists who were searching for a full service outlet for the properties that they were buying and rehabing. I'm so pleased with what we've created in a relatively short period of time. Their expertise has been highlighted in this interesting market we find ourselves in.

We're looking for an experienced broker who is seeking unique opportunity, not only to continue a successful brokerage business, but to help build our fledgling residential brokerage business.

The hallmark of our brand is 'Independence.' I take great pride in the fact that I've successfully started my own firm. This required a tremendous effort; competing against the larger national brands takes a tremendous effort...but ultimately, I believe that we deliver an experience that is tailored, intimate, and successful. Our story is about doing what you believe in. Our goal is to share this perseverance, motivation, enjoyment, and strategy with our clients. We're hungry for business! We truly do NEED our customers! We're living the dream on a daily basis to continue our success and develop our business.

I would love to hear any feedback from those of you who have started your own brokerage firms, perhaps you have some advice that you can share with me. How to snag the best and the brightest brokers....what to look for, keys to success, etc.

Also, if this is read by anyone curious about opportunities with Facet Real Estate Investments, LLC please respond!

For those of you in Salem, Oregon looking for opportunity, give me a call!

-Matthew Lind, Esq.

Owner/Principal Broker

www.facetrealestate.com

This topic is not a new topic... A friend of mine who is quite involved with our local MLS brought to my attention the exploits of Dave Barry and his sinister approach to the real estate market. Our conversation got me thinking about the various listing services and MLS in general. I started searching for more information on line and on varous blogs, and really couldn't find a very good source of focused discoure on this topic.

So I guess I am sort of throwing this question out to this community to see what people are thinking.

Do brokers oppose the free listing services available? What are the biggest conflicts with the NAR and MLS? A lot has been talked about regarding the REALTOR code of ethics and how Dave Barry's Open MLS was contrary to this. Obviously Dave Barry's biggest problem is that he seems to be flying in the face of copyright law, and wanted to take proprietary information straight off of MLS websites and make this available to all for free. This is extreme and clearly would never work because it's illegal. But what about the more generalized issue, that of free listings, free information, and its adverse affect on MLS and the brokerage community in general?

I just don't see the connection here. Ultimately, my loyalties lie with my clients. My service to them is to provide maxium exposure for their listing, or seek out maximum information for their search. Plain and simple, this responsibility should be on the top of any Code!

I think the trend is that information is freely available and needs to be organized in a way that brokers and customers can easily access it. If such services wipe out some portion of the brokerage community, while this is an unfortunate result for these people, it is simply the sociological trend of where our industry is at right now. My personal opinion is that our industry in many ways is outdated and many of the practices our outdated, and it is for this reason alone that the exlusivity of information and models such as the MLS model is clawing to hold on.

Bottom line, brokers are nickled and dimed to death...and these fees are simply becoming way too expensive, especially in light of the fact that information is freely available.

Consider your trusty title company. I use AmeriTitle almost exclusively because they provide such a high level of customer service. But the information they have is available to the public at large. Due to their excellent service in collecting and sharing this information, I am a loyal customer.

I think that ultimately, if you're a broker who is afraid or fearful of what the demise of the exclusivity of information will bring to our industry, I think you should reconsider what your best service is! There will always be a place for brokers in the world of real estate transactions. But I think that us brokers are going to need to embrace technologies and start diversifying our portfolio of services because the trend is firmly in place and the momentum is undeniable, the days of exclusive information collected by big companies (non-profit? or not) are numbered. The cat is out of the bag.... The information is out there, and it's our job as brokers to be the master of this domaine. Yes, every Tom, Dick and Harry can search for real estate of all types easily and for free...but can everyone as easily navigate the complexities of a real estate transaction? NO.

There will always be a place for an expert broker who delivers real value to their customers.

I'm eager to hear any responses, for or against, because I'm trying to gauge the market place and figure out what the future of these institutions is.

All the best-

Matthew Lind

www.FacetRealEstate.com

Craigslist Exposure....How Valuable Is It?

Over the last two years I've really noticed a significant value to listing my properties on Craigslist. It's probably the most productive advertising that I can do, and it's free.

I'm fascinated by this trend and am curious how many of you are using Craigslist? What does this say about our changing market?

I think that what we're experiencing is a real transfer of information. Listing information used to be so exclusive, giving brokers a distinct advantage in their local market. Now that this information is so readily accessible, I believe that it's evolving our industry and forcing brokers to become experienced Information Managers, Artful Deal Makers, and ultimately this trend is raising the bar of customer service.

I believe that this trend is honing the skills of the modern day broker. We're just not able to be the master of the information and use this as our best attribute.

I'm curious to hear other's thoughts about this trend in information and particularly how many of you are using Craigslist.

Additionally, how many 'sites' are you currently posting on? There are numerous choices out there... I wonder how many postings are enough? What does a broker have to do to be able to confidently say, " your property is getting the maximum exposure available." Where do we draw the line?

Thanks for your thoughts-

-Matthew Lind

www.facetrealestate.com