Freddy Saavedra, Certififed REO Specialist

After reading many, many of the featured blogs I am still at a loss as to the reason some articles get featured and others dont. I have written about every subject I could think of and still no success. So like many of you out there I blog and blog looking to join the ranks of those lucky few individuals who get prominent display on Active Rain. Even though I have not found a definite formula that I can see to getting featured I do see a few things that many featured blogs have in common.

1. Make it interesting-> Subject matter is the end all be all of blogging on the Rain. Featured posts all tend to be interesting in whatecer subject they are covering. From comenting about the local market to tips on REO Listings, most featured sites have something important to say about the subject matter, either a unique prspective into a subject or a whimsical story to bring the subject home to the reader.
2. Make it fun-> Read a featured article and you will see that you have no problem making it through the entire blog. Precise and to the point is a characteristic of most blogs I see on the featured pages.
3. Jazz it up-> Though not as important as the other two items, I have found that many featured blogs have many items to catch the eye and make it more visually interesting. Be it a picture a drawing or simply a bright signature, many of theblogs I am finding are easy to navigate through since it is not just costant words but as well.
4. Post it to the right places-> Have you noticed that many of the featured blogs come from the same groups? That is because some groups are much more active than others and posting your blog to the right place will ensure more comments and therefore more attention. More attention, more peopleseeing and commenting on your blog multiply the possibility of someone posting your blog for featuring.
5. Practice makes perfect-> Needless to say that most featured posts are not the first posts for those individual bloggers. Most featured bloggers are very experienced and most are the daily rainers, who seem to be everywhere on the rain. It must be that once you get into your writing groove that you are able to post something that makes people not only read it but recommend it to others to read as well. Look through the featured blogs in your city or state page and you will find these and other similaritites amongst them.

Many more experienced Rainers may have the actual formula for getting featured all I have so far is the preceding tips, but, I'll keep trying to make it there, good luck to those of you who havent made it there either.

Freddy Saavedra

Realtor®, e-Pro, Certfied REO Specialist

Working REO Properties in Maricopa County:

85338,85099,85098,85086,85085,85082,85080,85079,85078,85077,85076,85075

85074,85073,85072,85071,85070,85069,85068,85067,85066,85065,85064,85063

85062,85061,85060,85055,85054,85053,85051,85050,85048,85046,85045,85044

85043,85042,85041,85040,85039,85038,85037,85036,85035,85034,85033,85032

85031,85030,85029,85028,85027,85026,85025,85024,85023,85022,85021,85020

85019,85018,85017,85016,85015,85014,85013,85012,85011,85010,85009,85008

85007,85006,85005,85004,85003,85002,

85001,85339,85353,85323

I recently ran into an investor who I was working for as a selling agent 2 years ago. Without saying names this was the type of client who would look to get as much as possible from his property, without taking anything else into consideration but his own demands.

I marketed his property for over 6 months at fair market value and brought him four contracts. My client would not even consider doing any type of assistance towards the buyer, not a home warranty, closing costs and of course not Down Payment Assistance. The market was coming down in a hurry and I suggested he reconsider not being so demanding in his counteroffers. This gentleman consdered to be doing the buyer a favor simply by selling him this home, which, was a simple run of the mill home for which he had paid cash as an investment.

My client purchased the home for close to 200k cash. I brough him an offer for 320k asking for closing cost assistance( which was perfectly normal for our market at the time), my client countered by actually raising his net even without giving the buyer any assistance. I tried as best I could to make him see that he was making very stringent counteroffers, at one time he wanted part of the counteroffer to reduce both agents commisions.

The home was vandalized 3 times during the year that I was in contact with him and he would still not bend from his frugal ways. I managed to bring the price down as the market was declining by over forty thousand dollars, but, bringing him a contract only upset him and he would refuse to negotiate, relying on the fact that the home was already reduced in price. Of course he would not take into consideration that the market was in a steep decline. Needless to say I was never able to sell his property. Many agents have come and gone and nobody has succesfully closed on that home.

That same home is today worth less than 75K. I was contacted by this client to see if I was willing to lower my commision for the privilege of marketing this home again. I politely declined and went about my business. I had already worked my butt off for this client for over six months and his inability to take advice and my inability to get through to him doomed us from the start. I know he has worked with many agents with that same property with no success.

I wish him the best of luck and truly hope he can get the home sold or leased to at least produce him some income. Unfortunately, I feel his frugaility will stay in the way of a succesful close, regardless of how good the agent is.

I know many of you out there have had a client like this and you feel like you are going to be that great agent who gets through to the seller and is able to come through where other agents failed, only to realize after much time and marketing dollars spent, that it is not the agent in this case but the client who is the problem.

I would offer this advice to any agent out there: If you are presented with a home to sell and it has been on the market for a long time with different agents, look closely and try to find out if theproblem is in fact the seller and not the agents. More often than not, I believe, you will find this to be the case.

Wow Ive been working so much on Active Rain that I almost missed this spectacular milestone in my Active Rain career. I have passed the 10,000 point mark and have actually gotten to the 1100 point mark as I right this. It has been a great experience to learn and read so many wonderful blogs and comments. Almost all the information on Active Rain is great and allows me to learn from realtors around the country.

There are many great bloggers out there who willingly help new Rainers as they begin their blogging and I know I would not be where I am today without so much wonderful advise. Thank you to all, and I hope to again be able to thank you soon when I reach the 20,000 point mark.

I have been working with many buyers over the last few months, who, are looking to take advantage of the sudden drop in prices around Phoenix. A few months ago you could go out on a buyer's tour and find some killer deals, and, see no other buyers anywhere. It made my clients think that we where the only ones actively pursuing purchasing a home, but, about two months ago it became extremely difficult to get a property into escrow. That is because the best properties out there are selling way too fast!

My most recent purchase contract went to a listing agent who received 33 offers on that same house. 33 Offers! I have submitted purchase contracts for the same buyer on more than 5 homes (one at a time of course) and have not been able to get one successfully into escrow. We are always getting outbid! I know that it is time to offer more(we are offering over asking price) but on average the listing agents on REO properties in Phoenix are getting at least a dozen offers on them (if they are priced right of course). My REO inventory moves too fast for the marketing to even get out there as well!

Most of these homes I am submitting offers on are priced in the low 100's and they sold only two years ago for over 200k. I figured that I would not have the only cliient interested in a given property, but, this is ridulous. I figured that once the Down Payment Assistance programs went away that the market would slow down a bit more. It turns out that the opposite was true, and, yes I know that DPA programs will not officially go away until Oct. 1st, but, over 90% of lenders will not accept an offer asking for DPA anymore. And from my understanding, almost all of these offers are not asking for DPA!

Can this continue? Surely the prices cannot stay this low and continue selling at this rapid pace for much longer, or, are the banks finally throwing in the towel and finally deciding to get rid of their REO portfolio? Either way, we seem to be as active as we where in the first quarter of 2005(which was the height of the market here), and, we have prices from before the year 2000. It is a great time to buy here in Phoenix, but, with so much competition I am afraid that it will end before those waiting on the sidelines to buy, decide to jump in. I am already calling clients who have been waiting for the market to bottom out. They can't afford to wait much longer the way this is going. Might I suggest you do the same, or, is your particular market still stagnant?

Is it just Phoenix? Or are any of you seeing it around the country? How long before the media catches on and floods the market with even more buyers? I think the REO party will have to come to an end soon for buyers, since the best and lowest priced properties out there are being quickly sold. I for one am putting the word out: The Phoenix Real Estate Market is rising fast, and, prices will probably follow as well.

After much blogging and commenting I have finally made it to the first page of my city on Active Rain.

Check out my cheesy smile on my profile and the featured members in Phoenix! Yup thats me all the way at the bottom, I have a long way to go to get to the top spot but I am blogging and learning and will continue to strive for it.

I enjoy Active Rain because it gives us a score, and, if you are competitive like me, that score will keep you coming back every day as you strive to reach higher and higher. Now, of course, if the Rain didn't offer any substance, then the points really would not be worth much. Those of us that are active in this blogging community know that points not only represent time spent in front of your computer blogging and commenting, but as we reach higher and higher we form bonds with each other and learn and share about our different careers in Real Estate.

The web presence is great on Active Rain, but, I feel that the knowledge we can get from so many wonderful bloggers out there is much greater. Luckily for me Active Rain gves me a small incentive to learn about my career from so many great Realtors around the country.

So for now I will continue blogging and hope that my presence on the first page of my city's featured members lets others know that I not only have spent quite some time on Active Rain, but, that because of it I have learned much and will not hesitate to share this knowledge with new members of our community.