Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant

I have been reading many different posts, articles, watching videos and my eyes are starting to blur. I see there is another $15,000 tax credit being discussed for first time home buyers that some want extended to all buyers, all investors, with no required payback.

Borrow, borrow, and more borrowing.

California is ready to issue IOU's for state tax refunds...not sure if they will be sending checks for education or welfare at this point. Wisconsin is down to it's last 1 1/2 days of operating capital.

Yet still we want to spend more.

$850 TO $950 Billion to $1 Trillion....I read somewhere today a figure of $1.5 trillion. Last evening they announced an unemployment rate that was double that of last year. At 7.6% officially, unofficialy at 13.9%. The lifeblood of any economy, a working population, is quavering in the wind.

So we can keep on throwing pieces of paper at the economy to try to bring back a false foundation....OR we can start looking in the mirror and prepare for the ride. We can learn that in sacrifice a cleansing can occur or we can continue to live in fear and prolong this smoke and mirrors economy.

My vote, though it's tough for me to concede, is the first....BECAUSE I don't want to live in fear based decision making. Whatever happened to "Change?" I don't like the idea of my grandchildren shouldering a burden that my generation helped to create.

That just doesn't seem fair.

Someone show me how we are not setting up for an even worse downturn and relying on borrowed money that we don't have. AGAIN.

I've been on a website kick lately.  In the evolving process of having my website built, and my eight years of exploration into real estate websites I find that my blog serves as a great platform for me to lay down the tracks for a real estate evolution.

I am talking about a website revolution.  Come and join me.

What is the gab that keeps most real estate websites in a state of past grace?  Statistics that tell you,

"Eighty-seven percent of all home buyers and 94 percent of buyers aged 25 to 44 years used the Internet to search for homes."- NAR Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers 2008

Home buyers are online in droves and they are looking for real estate listings, home value information, community information.  Who am I to disagree?  I don't.  What I do say is why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary.  Home buyers (and sellers) expect to see the staples on your website.  Real estate listings, home values, and community information are staples and they should be prominently placed, beautifully displayed, and updated often.

Can you name any business that was hugely successful by remaining ordinary?  I can't.  Even Krispy Kreme was hugely successful by selling ordinary donuts in an extraordinary way.  When they stopped selling warm Krispy Kremes at stores and started stocking the shelves of grocery stores with cold, ordinary donuts they eroded their branding and became a muted label.  Dunkin Donuts, on the other hand, has re-emerged in regular street conversations.

Are you with me now?  Be an outkast.  Build a website meant to last and outlast the competition. I'm reaching inside the archives of my blog to give you a step by step and show you how.

STEP 1- Research

You are never going to get the results that you desire unless you realize what a website can do for you.  What do you want to offer to your customers? Dream and think big.  If you were buying or selling a house what kind of information would you like in one place without searching a million places on the internet?  Write those down. 

Get educated on what website offerings exist to satisfy your needs.  Write those down.  Your list should be full now.  Take that list and start shopping for website vendors.  Interview at least three.  Remember this is your prime storefront real estate.

Push the Easy Button to Prevent Buyers Remorse

STEP 2- Plan

Real estate buyers are coming online primarily to research real estate listings.  Except for the national websites outside of the industry real estate buyers do not know that they can expect anything else from a real estate agent or brokerage's website.  The expectation for the home buyers just isn't there based on their general experiences.

You will get leads from having listing information on your site.  I am moving this conversation beyond the age old debate of the lead form.  Go one step further and give home buyers a pleasant surprise by giving them more than they had anticipated. 

The give and take away of real estate websites....How much freedom should there be?

STEP 3- Touch Up

Existing websites need maintenanceand touch ups.  Here are two posts with 7 ideas you can use for new or existing websites.  I hope they trigger your real skillz.  You've got some great information to share with home buyers and sellers who need guidance now more than ever.  Don't hold back anymore.

1-2-3 Easy Updates for Website Relevancy Today

Pre-Spring Cleaning:  How to Stage Your Internet Storefront and Create an Engaging Presence

Here's one more idea to round out the list to an even number eight (the number or prosperity, yes I have a lot of modern day hippie in me).  Continue to keep yourself abreast of trends in other industries that you can translate to your real estate website offerings.  You will find plenty of inspiration in other industries, read ReadWriteWeb,  WebsiteMagazine, and Revenue .

Three steps, a little reading, and an action plan.  Be an Outkast and build a website meant to last and outlast the competition.

Start a revolution and build a generation of new websites that REALLY connect with home buyers and sellers.

You have GOT THIS.  You know you'll be just fine.

You've found your dream house and the next few days 'til your appointment you are pumped up with anticipation. Showing day comes-yahoo! You jump into your car and drive to meet your real estate destiny.

Traffic cooperates and everything is zipping right along until you pull up to the curb.

Uh-oh, what is this? The house looks much smaller, the driveway is narrow with big cracks running through the now gray asphalt, the greenish-brown lawn's decorative border is weaved with the yellow heads of dandellions and other hearty weeds.

What the____? The pictures didn't look like that online. How did this happen? Let's rewind.

Hope Floats

It starts innocently enough. Your scrimping and saving has enabled you to afford to buy a house. You go online to view properties and than...badda bing badda boo...your home buying quest has become a part time job.

Your online R&D unearths so many websites, so many photos, dizzying virtual tours and house descriptions on steroids.

You've remained anonymous for three months by filling out forms with bogus names and phone numbers to be able to get to the good stuff- those covered listings for sale. You feel you've got a good handle for the prices of houses where your looking and your just waiting for the right buy.

Your waiting for the golden ticket in the sea of gold foiled offerings.

And then one day you open your email and find the contents beneath the wrapper to be delicious. You call to schedule an appointment to see the house...this could be the one.

You make an appointment with the real estate agent and mark the date in your Blackberry.

Time for a Remix

"Cut!!!", Rebecca, blogger, marketing consultant, and director interrupts the narrator. " O.k. , let's rewind, back up...and edit this film. Beginning from the scene where your filling out forms online. We can bring one of the main characters into this scene right now, a real estate agent. Let's put the real estate agent at the office on the phone with the home buyer.", she says emphatically.

"O.k. good...now let's add some more lighting and turn off the dimmer switch....o.k. good, now let's reshoot this scene...places....and...Action.", Rebecca commands.

Narrator: "You've done this now for the past month, looked at listings online. You've engaged in the assistance of a local real estate agent, who has added you to her real estate listing feed which is tied directly to the Multiple Listing Service. You are now receiving notification of new listings every day in your email that come unto the market. "

"You've got a good handle on the price ranges because of the market condition reports delivered to your email inbox each month by your real estate agent. A few listings that have been emailed have recently caught your eye. You also found a listing on a few websites that you'd like to check out. You send them over to your agent explaining what you like about these real estate listings."

"Your local real estate agent goes to the houses and previews the listings for you. One of the listings is much smaller than the photos. The dimensions were missing on the description- scratch that. The second listing needs major updates to appeal to your tastebuds...updates you don't have the money for.

The third listing is...well... the agent said the neglect is so prevalent you'd better bring some tissues 'cause you might shed a tear or two."

Home buyer: "O.k. Well I guess we'll keep looking"."

Narrator: "Thing is, you're looking for a decent house with a moderate price tag. Prices are not cheap in your part of town and even though they've come down you don't want to stretch yourself thin. Your almost ready to quit this house hunting search and wait, and then your real estate agent calls. There's a new listing that's about to come on the market and you have the opportunity to look at it before it does. It's in your price range, great features, and your real estate agent has already previewed it.

This could be your foil wrapped golden ticket.

Behind Door Number 4

The next few days 'til your appointment you are pumped up with anticipation. Showing day comes-yahoo! You jump into your car and drive to meet your real estate destiny. Traffic cooperates and everything is zipping right along. You pull up to the curb, step out of the car, and walk up the wide, black-topped driveway, past the short cropped green grass, bordered by bright yellow daylilies, irises and asters. You open the door where your agent greets you as you tour the digs that will be your new home."

Director/Real Estate Blogger: "Cut!- That's a wrap. Everyone take a break and we'll meet back at 5:15 p.m for the closing scene of "How to kick real estate ass-mptions to the curb. Great job everybody", she exclaims.

December 10th is a a day that vloggers, podcasters and bloggers will come together to use their voice and create awareness about violation of Human Rights.

Instigators of thought will instigate thought provoking content for change.

I encourage you to choose to use your voice for change.

I'll let my hero Martin do the talking.

These atrocities can occur overseas. They can occur right here at home. Don't make the choice to live in silence.

"A True Revolution of Values". Yes it is. Yes it needs to be.

December 10th is One Day for Human Rights. Make the Choice to Use Your Voice.

Dear Mr. Stein,

I came across your oh so enlightening article on Yahoo Finance! today, “Why I’m Still Buying” and wanted to share an important lesson with my readers, using you as a perfect example.

Thanks in advance.

Dear fellow Americans,

Mr. Stein wrote a post last Friday, “Why I’m Still Buying” in which he gave his oh so narrow sighted views on why our great nation is experiencing financial turmoil and what a glimpse into the future might look like.

Mr. Stein’s bent on the source of the weakened economy goes like this,

“Groups involved with civil rights issues and activities for poor people began to complain that poor people and especially non-white poor people got mortgages much less often than white well to do people.”

And foolishly continued….

“…the advocates for poor and black people had immense political clout. Under President Bill Clinton, they passed legislation that called on banks to be required to lend to non credit worthy borrower”

Stop…I need go no further. Stein continue to wax inanely, blaming the uprising minority homeowners for the subprime mortgage debacle and the shakedown of the American Economy.

On the housing front:

There certainly weren’t any middle to upper middle class trying to buy up on interest only, adjustable rate mortgage, and 110% financing products.

There weren’t any homeowners using their home equity like atm machines.

There weren’t any investors left holding houses, unable to flip them.

Did you, Mr. Ben Stein, not profit from the subprime?  Did you Mr. Ben Stein, complain about these loan products way back when?  Did you, Mr. Ben Stein, not enourage your audience to invest as you do today?

Thou doth protest too much, methinks, Mr. Ben Stein.

Let alone the problems with credit, the auto industry, healthcare and others that have remained near stagnant, needy for real solutions.

Mr. Stein-You could have used your platform wisely....but took the road adjacent to the gutter.

Thanks for showing my readers yet another example of a person in a glass house who threw one hell of a stone.

Get past the blame and get on with the solution.