Tim Houk

What good news for Realtors in my area I tell ya! Now, we never see those HUGE spikes in appreciation that other areas see. But, we stayed steady throughout the 'Recession'. Housing Predictor has forecasted Baton Rouge to increase over the next few years. We actually moved up a spot from predictions earlier in the year. Read more about the article here.

If you have any investors or clients relocating to our area...feel confident that they will be making a purchase in a solid market.

Call me for any referrals!

Tim HOuk

225.301.7467

More good news about the Baton Rouge housing market: A real estate forecasting service says the Capital Region is one of the 10 best cities in terms of future home prices. Local Market Monitor, which produces the Home Price Forecast for more than 300 cities, says home values should remain level locally over the next 12 months. Officials with Local Market Monitor credit the same factors for Baton Rouge’s stability that have been repeatedly said during the national housing crisis: Home prices in the Capital Region never got out of hand, and economic growth has remained steady locally. Other cities with populations of more than 600,000 in the top 10 include Dallas, Houston and Rochester, N.Y. Alexandria, Monroe and Shreveport-Bossier City made the top 10 list for future home prices in cities with populations under 600,000. The worst housing markets were mostly cities in California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada, where price speculation got out of hand, places such as Las Vegas, Phoenix and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Read the article here

Getting a ton of visitors to your website will only happen one of two ways:

1. You have a truly unique product or service that EVERYONE is searching for (very unlikely)

2. You WORK to create traffic.

There are many ways to create bursts or immediate jumps in traffic, and it can be costly. But are these clientele who are really interested in your value proposition? Will they return to your website for real estate? Your goal is to create a flood of traffic of visitors who not only want to do business with you, but are motivated enough to do it soon. Here are a few ways that you can increase your traffic, it is then your job to focus on conversion.

1. Offline marketing - Lots of people forget this crucial piece of the puzzle when marketing online. Does your email sig have your website? Does your signs, vehicle, business cards, mailers, riders, stickers have your website on them?

2. Ensure that your website has something to offer - Buyers come to search for property. Sellers want information on how to sell their homes. Ensure that these major pieces of the puzzle are there and expand from there. Also, there should be some sort of registration on your website...just how far will you let them go before it is required?

3. Site map - Create a sitemap for your site. This will allow the search engines to better understand your site and the pages within.

4. Pay per click - This is one of the best ways to get traffic. You can target what audience you are after. It may be pricey to get 'homes for sale in Baton Rouge' (for example). However, it may be much easier to target a hot neighborhood or area of town with those keywords. It would be much more specific and a lot less expensive and competitive.

5. Social Media - ok, who hasn't been hearing how important social sites are becoming? It is everywhere. Facebook, twitter, active rain, linkedin, etc. Use these sites to your advantage. Post links to your site, let everyone know when you put up an interesting blog, added a listing to your page, etc. Attacking with a balanced and well thought out plan is key to success when marketing online. You will need a consistent and steady amount of traffic to get the leads, convert to appointments, and take those to the closing table!

Tim Houk

I blog about this quite frequently. It appears we are starting to feel the pinches of the recession in housing market.

According to the Baton rouge Business Report, “Louisiana still ranks low for foreclosures, even though percentage of homes facing seizure went up by nearly 79% in April, when compared to the year before. According to RealtyTrac, one out of every 1,653 homes in Louisiana is foreclosed, compared with the national average of one out of every 374 houses. That put the state 38th in foreclosures during April. The number of foreclosures nationally went up by 32% in April, when compared with April 2008. Nevada once again had the highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 68 houses facing bank seizure. Vermont was once again ranked last; there were two foreclosures in the whole state during April. RealtyTrac says April had the highest number of foreclosures since it started keeping an eye on the numbers three years ago.”

While searching for properties this morning I noticed quite a few short sales (pre-foreclosures) just in general listings. What is NOT helping is just how dang hard it is to get a mortgage to help eliminate some of this inventory. Stay posted for more updates on Baton Rouge Real Estate foreclosures!

Have a GREAT day!

Tim Houk

For those of you from Baton Rouge, the name 'Gardere area' makes the ears burn when you speak of it. I have been selling property out there for a few years now so I am immune to it. It is an area that I saw prices rise drastically...and then fall even further. Most units currently on the market are foreclosures due to the high amount of negligence from out of state owners and terrible local managment. This particular area of Baton Rouge is surrounded by a LOT of growth. Casino coming, new homes, roads being expanded and run through it. I say it is a GREAT area to invest in...if you have the cash to do it. For example, their is currently a fourplex unit that has 3 tenants each renting for 450.00 a month. 1 vacant unit that needs renovating, and a new roof. A new roof will cost about 8,000.00 and the unit about 3k. Within weeks the unit could be rented out for 500 for a total of 1850. Thats a fantastic return!!! If anyone has investors interested, contact me or go to my page to do a search. My new search feature on beautifulbatonrougehomes.com is easier to use than my main website until later this week.

Tim Houk

www.timhouk.com

tim@timhouk.com