Why do you do Speechless Sunday Photos?

I didn't do Speechless Sunday's for awhile, not that I didn't like looking at others photos, I did but...it seemed like the content was just not there.

Then....

I got an email from a consumer that wanted to know where they could find the sunflower field I shot last August.

Good contact...

I try to make my Speechless Sunday's pertinent to my area, Ann Arbor and Saline.

I converted.

More photos on Ann Arbor Real Estate Photo Blog.

Shot in the hallway of University of Michigan Hospitals.

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Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

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Preparing your home to sell before coming on the market is critical. Your first showings are always your best, most interested buyers. If the home is not in tip-top condition at the beginning in this Buyers Market it will be passed over.

Are you honest with your sellers?

Do you tell them the truth?

We talk a lot on here about pricing the home correct from the start, being honest, walking away if the sellers won't listen or are unrealistic about the price.... but NOT telling them the truth about condition is NOT doing them any favors in the long run.

Here is a cute little video by Howcast. If you have a hard time being forthright about what needs to be done, then send this their way in a funny little email.

Enjoy!

Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

• Free Home Evaluation

• Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS.

• Google Profile

• Market Reports in Real Time Updated Weekly

• Profit from Technology for Realtors and Lenders

Is Google a Scraper site?

If not then why is NAR lumping Google and all search engines together in the same policy?

On this post you wil read the conversation Morgan Carey had with Cliff Niersbach concerning this policy.

If you don't know what I am talking about, then you need to read the following posts and get a grasp of this issue before us. Colleen and Joe Lane posted on it this week, and it was featured. But, only 45 comments??????

The issue began on Agent Genius with this post.

You need to go read this post and then come back so you have a grasp of the issue. Go ahead I will wait.

Folks this is a Critical Issue, the rule is outdated, and needs to be changed immediately. It in a nutshell prevents us from having our listings indexed by Google and other search engines yet allows the 3rd party vendors to take our data, sell it back to use in many cases and not allow us to promote our listings or any other listing through our IDX sites.

My goal when I list a home is to GET AS MUCH EXPOSURE FOR MY SELLERS AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

I don't care if I am a Keller Williams agent and my listing is on another site, I want it there. Consumers come to us through many portals, the more the merrier.

I want that house sold.

I want Google to index them.

Now my IDX site is framed so I don't get indexed per listings but I don't want 3rd party vendors, who don't belong to NAR and don't have to follow the rules have an unfair advantage. I certainly don't want Realtor.com to be able to do what we can't do which is index them according to how they choose, and not allow Realtors to do so.

Do you ?

Do you want Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow ranking higher than you in SERPS because of an old antiquated NAR, MLS rule created in 2005? Shouldn't we all have an equal advantage in the indexing of our data if we want it?

The MLS Forum will be held The MLS Forum will be next Thursday, May 14, 2009 beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Regency Ballroom, Lower Level, Omni Shoreham Hotel.

Jay Thompson and Paula Henry have been asked to speak before the committee. If you are going to NAR Mid-Year attend this meeting. You  can also contact Chris Niersbach at: cniersbach@realtors.org and express your views.

This comment is from Morgan's blog on his response to Mr. Niersbach at NAR.

The "NEW" arguement here seems to be that Google (a search engine) is being lumped in as a scraper site - and our contention is that Google is NOT a scraper site, rather a technology (just like a browser) with a significant user base with which the public access websites. Google simply tells the user where to go - they are not creating web pages of their own out of the data they index. I am sorry, but I just simply do not see how NAR could consider a search engine to fit under the same designation as a "scraper site"

Here is the defination of a Scraper Site from Wikipedia: A scraper site is a website that copies all of its content from other websites using web scraping.[1] No part of a scraper site is original.[citation needed] A search engine is not a scraper site:[citation needed] sites such as Yahoo and Google gather content from other websites and index it so that the index can be searched with keywords. Search engines then display snippets of the original site content in response to a user's search.

My favorite part of the discussion is from the Zebra, Daniel Rothamel, "the fact that REALTOR.com uses the same data that brokers use, from the same source (the MLS of the local association), but are not required to adhere to the same rules, is UNCONSCIONABLE. It is completely indefensible. The fact that our National Association controls the use of its data by its paying members, but not by a private company, is a disgrace."

So to answer my own question?

No, Google is not a scraper site and this rule needs to be changed so our listings can be indexed.

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Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

Thinking of selling your home?

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Search homes for sale

Every year in January, we send all of our clients out a copy of their HUD statement. We do this so they don't have to go digging for those closing statements and to remind them to share the information with their accountants to see if anything is deductable.

Actually here is the system we use:

• After the closing we make a  copy of the HUD
• We address the envelope with their address on it
• We put it in a file
• Then in January we attach a letter, thanking them for their business and include it.
• It is a way to provide "after the sale" service
• We get a great response from it

Here is copy of my Yearly HUD letter, you can use it or modify it. (Colleen is my assistant so that's her name, not violating any privacy)

December 30, 2008

Colleen Bean
1372 Armstrong Dr.
Chelsea, MI 48118

Dear Colleen Bean,

Sincerely,


Missy Caulk and TEAM®
(Christa, Betty, Pattie, Terry, and Judy)
Keller Williams
(734)821-0757
(734)216-2822
Missy@MissyCaulk.com