Eau Claire southside home for sale on Pine Meadow Golf Course 1713 Heartland Dr N 54701

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Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!

(In case you do not agree with something I said or feel that my blog or my beliefs could be construed as libelous I hereby declare that my entire blog is meant as a joke. I consider myself to be a comedian and everything I say or have said should be considered comedy. I want nothing I say to be taken seriously and if you do take it seriously take a break. If you do not think what I said is funny then that is your opinion. But for anyone who wants to sue me everything I said or say is meant purely as satire.The only thing that is not a joke is this disclaimer.)
 

Is Your Eau Claire Real Estate Agent Truly Marketing Your Home?

 This might seem like an easy enough question with a simple enough answer. You would probably say yes almost immediately, after all they said they were marketing your home so you probably just assume that they are. In fact they are marketing your home when they put the sign in the yard. They are marketing the home to anyone who happens to drive by. They are also marketing the home when they put it in the MLS system. Once the listing of your home is there it’s easy for anyone with MLS access to see your home and with a mouse click or a phone call come and see it. They might even do an open house for you and when they do the open house is probably advertised in the weekend paper. The open house might even appear online if they bother to even make this available on their website that is if they even have a website.

Now that their marketing system is complete what’s next? Well so far they have simply managed to put your home on a level playing field with every other MLS listing! I can tell you from experience that this might get your home sold. The key word here is might because it also might not get your home sold. If you really think about this “marketing plan” it’s not really much of a marketing plan. It’s just the most basic marketing any agent can and will do for you. Sure some won’t do open houses so I guess that puts your listing with that agent at an even greater deficit compared to those agents or agencies that do host open houses, but ask your Eau Claire real estate agent what they are doing specifically to market your home. I have a feeling they will come up with something but it’s probably not a straight answer. 

To be fair much of the marketing plan they aren’t discussing with you is advertising for their specific company. Much of our advertising budget is spent on this type of advertising and it works well. We are a very successful real estate company and we sell a lot of homes. This can be directly attributed to our overall marketing efforts. Very few companies spend as much money as we do and the numbers speak for themselves. But asking your agent to specifically market your home is probably not going to happen.

Why?

Well it’s a combination of a few things that basically makes it impossible for them to market your home. First of all most agents don’t know much about marketing. This isn’t something you are just born knowing how to do and most agents come from various backgrounds that have absolutely no specific marketing training. So marketing isn’t just going to happen magically and it’s something that they probably just don’t know how to do. Sure they will still sell homes because people have heard of their company and just listing it can sometimes get a home sold regardless of what the specific agent does. That’s because in order for someone to buy that specific house they have to buy it through that agent. But because of the lack of marketing potential buyers often buy something else!

The other problem associated with marketing is that traditional marketing is expensive. An ad in the paper can be hundreds of dollars and only appears for a short time. Real estate magazine ads are equally expensive and can easily be overlooked. What about mass mail marketing? This is extremely expensive as well. To target a large number of people you could spend thousands of dollars. None of these methods are cost effective. If you look at the average commission and start doing any of these things there is quickly nothing left. That’s one half of the coin as to why most agents don’t use these techniques.

The other half of the coin is that they just don’t work! If they did work, regardless of cost, more agents would use these methods simply because of the sheer volume of sales. Instead the actual number of people who call about a home after seeing an ad like this or getting a mailer approaches 1% or less (guesstimate). That’s the number who actually bother to call but out of that there are far less that want any more information other than price. Chances are the people who read the ad or got the flyer aren’t even in the market for a home, that’s right you are blasting a large number of people with advertising but it’s not focused and it’s not in the right target market. That’s why it doesn’t work!

So what happens is your agent is left with a choice, stick the sign in the yard and just wait for something to happen or spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars hoping that just by sheer chance they get someone to buy the house. But this directly affects their bottom line and most agents are not going to risk selling a house for absolutely no profit. After all they are a business and what business can afford to stay open if they are not making any money?

So what does this mean for you trying to sell your house in Eau Claire, Altoona or Chippewa Falls?

If you hired a traditional agent and they are a pretty good agent then you probably have an ok chance to sell your house. Eventually it will sell because the price will be driven so low that someone would have to be crazy not to buy it. If it’s the only house in that particular area then people don’t have a choice but to buy your house.

But wouldn’t it be nice to know that your agent is working hard to specifically sell your house?

Wouldn’t it be nice to see ads for your home all over the place?

*Try to do that infomercial voice in your head here*

“Hold on just a minute Shane! You just said that marketing is expensive and ineffective!”

Traditional marketing is extremely expensive and hardly effective. But there are non-traditional ways that are quickly becoming “the thing” to do. If you would like to see a demonstration of how I can market your home in a way that no other agent in our area is capable of simply give me a call or email me today. In today’s market you want a competitive advantage. You don’t want a level playing field when it comes to your house.

Looking for Eau Claire Homes For Sale?

If you have something to say please leave a comment.

If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.

Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!
(In case you do not agree with something I said or feel that my blog or my beliefs could be construed as libelous I hereby declare that my entire blog is meant as a joke. I consider myself to be a comedian and everything I say or have said should be considered comedy. I want nothing I say to be taken seriously and if you do take it seriously take a break. If you do not think what I said is funny then that is your opinion. But for anyone who wants to sue me everything I said or say is meant purely as satire.The only thing that is not a joke is this disclaimer.)

Short Sales vs Foreclosure — Eau Claire – Chippewa Falls – Altoona Wisconsin

If you are in any sort of financial trouble and are facing a possible foreclosure it is very important that you understand there are alternatives to the foreclosure process. A foreclosure should be avoided at all costs and simply quitting making your payments is not a solution out of your problems. I understand that job loss and a variety of other factors can quickly spell trouble. I also understand that not everyone knows the options available to them. It is imperative that you speak with your lender about possible alternatives before you get further into a situation that there is only one way out of.

If you are looking for a competent professional with experience handling short sales and foreclosures please contact me immediately. You don’t want to wait. The further you get into trouble the closer you get to foreclosure. The sooner you contact me, the sooner we can get you out of this situation.

It is a very important decision as to who you want helping you. Very few real estate agents in our area have experience working with short sales or foreclosures. Experience in this area is crucial. You want to find an agent who you are confident will be able to bring you the strongest offer in the shortest period of time to prevent foreclosure. You don’t want an agent who just sticks a sign in the yard waiting for an offer to come. With so many other homes competing on the market this just won’t happen. You don’t want to rely on luck. You need an agent who will help negotiate with your lender a strong price that will attract a buyer in a short period of time. If the home lingers on the market for a long period of time this is bringing you ever closer to foreclosure.

Once you have an offer or multiple offers you need an agent who can help negotiate the best offer on your behalf and quickly present this to the lender for approval. This is the time in which an inexperienced agent can bring disaster to the short sale process. Without a firm understanding with the buyer and having specifically negotiated a larger period of time to work with the lender for approval, the deal can quickly fall apart. I have seen many offers fall to pieces because the listing agent is not aware of everything they need to do to see the short sale through. Buyers will not wait around if there are many unexpected delays and they are often unexpected simply because the agent has no experience dealing with them. It is the listing agent’s job to see that your interests are being looked out for from the moment the first offer is received until the deal is closed. It can be very disheartening to see an offer fall to pieces at the last minute because of inexperience and you don’t want to risk going into foreclosure. You don’t want to have to keep making house payments you can’t afford simply because your agent does not have the experience necessary to see that the short sale process is a quick one.

You can either call me at 715-894-1001 or email me Shane@EauClaireRealty.com. I can help you and your family avoid the stress and financial hardship associated with foreclosure.

Looking for Eau Claire Homes For Sale?

If you have something to say please leave a comment.
If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.

Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!
(In case you do not agree with something I said or feel that my blog or my beliefs could be construed as libelous I hereby declare that my entire blog is meant as a joke. I consider myself to be a comedian and everything I say or have said should be considered comedy. I want nothing I say to be taken seriously and if you do take it seriously take a break. If you do not think what I said is funny then that is your opinion. But for anyone who wants to sue me everything I said or say is meant purely as satire.The only thing that is not a joke is this disclaimer.)

Eau Claire Real Estate Search – Find Eau Claire Homes For sale

 I have added a quick way to search for homes in Eau Claire. Now you can search specific parts of Eau Claire and the surrounding areas with only one click. I have also separated it by school districts because I know that is often a factor in deciding where you want to buy a home. I hope this is a feature that everyone enjoys on my website.

Real Estate Search

Quick Real Estate Search – Just Click on the Areas Below

Eau Claire North Side              Eau Claire South Side              Eau Claire West Side    Eau Claire Schools Suburban & Rural Areas

          All Eau Claire Schools               Altoona Schools           Eau Claire & Altoona Schools             Fall Creek         Elk Mound – Colfax       Eleva – Strum    Chippewa Falls Schools

Looking for Eau Claire Homes For Sale?

If you have something to say please leave a comment.
If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.

Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!
(In case you do not agree with something I said or feel that my blog or my beliefs could be construed as libelous I hereby declare that my entire blog is meant as a joke. I consider myself to be a comedian and everything I say or have said should be considered comedy. I want nothing I say to be taken seriously and if you do take it seriously take a break. If you do not think what I said is funny then that is your opinion. But for anyone who wants to sue me everything I said or say is meant purely as satire.The only thing that is not a joke is this disclaimer.)

Everything you say and do Will be Used Against you

 Looking for Eau Claire Homes For Sale?

As Real Estate agents we know how important our word choice is and how we must be constantly careful of what we say or do or risk certain liability. Often we are placed in situations that we must know every detail of the law especially such areas as agency relationships or we risk some very huge consequences. Without proper agency disclosure, the simplest thing such as discussing price could get you in trouble with either the seller of the home, the buyer or the licensing board. Not only is it important that you constantly adhere to the law you have to realize that everything you say and do will be used against you.

This is even more important today as technology improves and it becomes even easier to record conversations on video or audio. Even a tiny mp3 player can have a voice activated recorder or a camera the size of a pin located in a house. I am not trying to say that we have anything to hide but you must understand that even the slightest stray from these strict standards could land you in a world of trouble.

As a seller it might seem like a great idea to be able to monitor people visiting your house. It might even feel a bit sneaky as you are able to listen in on conversations and it might even be overly tempting to want to know what people are saying about your house but this too could lead you into trouble. Without giving visitors the right to consent to being recorded you might even be breaking the law. I am no lawyer but regardless if it’s in direct violation of a law or not, it’s really just not nice. It could also lead to a lawsuit if a buyer chose to pursue it further. And really doesn’t everyone deserve some privacy?  This isn’t a reason to find an even smaller camera or try to hide it even better. Rather it’s a matter of respect. As Realtors we are very discretionary when it comes to who we bring through your house and if you are truly uncomfortable with having strangers in your house then maybe you can ask to be there.

Please try to put yourself into the buyers’ shoes and imagine what it would feel like to suddenly find out that you are being recorded. Do you really want people to have this kind of reaction when you are trying to sell your home? You could be scaring away potential buyers so why take the risk?

Check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent Website!

If you have something to say please leave a comment. 
If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.

Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!

First Time Home Buyers in Eau Claire, Altoona, and Chippewa Falls Wisconsin May Qualify for $8000 Tax Credit

  Looking for Eau Claire Homes For Sale?

If you are a first time home buyer in Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Altoona Wisconsin or any of the surrounding areas you might qualify for the $8000 tax credit available under the new economic stimulus package. The best news is that it’s not just for first time buyers. As long as it’s been more than 3 years since you have owned a home you can still qualify. Better yet this tax credit is a true credit in that you don’t have to repay it unlike the $7500 credit from last year.

This is a great time to make one of the best investments you can make. If you would like more information about this tax credit please contact me anytime and I would be happy to go over the details with you.

If you like you can search Eau Claire Homes For Sale right now.

You can check out my Eau Claire Real Estate website for more details about this $8000 credit.

Check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent Website!

If you have something to say please leave a comment. 

If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.

Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!

Search Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate!

Buy Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate

Sell and List Your Eau Claire Wisconsin Home

Work with Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate Agent & Realtor® Shane O’Gorman

How is trying to buy a home irresponsible? Isn’t that the epitome of responsibility?

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I have seen a lot of talk about how the financial meltdown was apparently caused by people who were irresponsible or shouldn’t have been given loans or were just lazy or stupid. (Have I missed any?) To me this doesn’t really make much sense. I know the media seems to have painted a black and white picture surrounding these events and they are really trying hard to make it seem clear that its stupid poor people who screwed this all up for everyone else and as Rick Santelli eloquently points out why the heck should he have to help these people? In case you missed this you can watch him talk below.

But there is a reason the powers that be want to point the finger at the delinquent homeowners. It’s either point the finger at them or we start figuring this out and point our fingers at Rick and his buddies. But since they control the media it’s going to be a lot harder for our fingers to win. And really Rick is right about one thing, this whole mess is about one thing: responsibility. But it’s not in the sense that you are probably thinking especially if you watch a lot of news because if you do you might even have agreed with what Rick had to say or what the rest of the media has said. They certainly are convincing and it sounds reasonable enough. People with bad credit were given homes they couldn’t afford. Simple right?

But it’s not as simple as that because as I asked in the title since when is wanting to own a home irresponsible? Seriously think about this for a moment isn’t that the epitome of responsibility? I think it is. Everything we ever learned growing up taught us that some day if we worked hard enough and held a good job that someday we might be able to own a piece of the pie and have our own place to call home. That’s the American dream for most poor people but I guess that’s not enough for people like Rick. But you have to really look at the situation to understand things fully.

What Rick is saying assumes an awful lot and it goes against basic psychology. People become emotionally attached to homes, ask anyone in the Real Estate industry because we all know that. It doesn’t make any sense that people would just throw it all away and just not care because it defies all logic to do so. It’s not in our nature to act this way, even if as they often point out they have no monetary investment in the home because they didn’t need a down payment and got a 100% loan. But again this defies logic because then you could argue that anyone who got a 100% loan could care less if their homes burned to the ground because they “can just walk away” as you often hear. But it’s simply not true in either case. The powers that be try to make it sound this way for a reason, it’s either that or we start blaming them.

Bad Credit?

What exactly is bad credit? If you really look at the financial record of someone with bad credit you will notice a pretty remarkable pattern. It’s not the gambling and ridiculous things that the media tries to portray but typically a pattern of simply not having enough money. Not that they are any more irresponsible with money than anyone else but when you have no leeway with how much money you make versus how much money it just costs to live in this country, when something happens you are out of luck. The bigger the gap between your cost of living and your income the easier it is to save. Sure you could argue that someone should have substantial savings before they buy a home but how many do or did in the last few years? Not many. So the ones that make it they were responsible while those that suddenly lost their jobs or who weren’t lucky enough to have good health insurance and find themselves facing large medical bills, those are just irresponsible people? That doesn’t add up to me.

And what’s bad credit? Someone who gets $10,000 in medical bills and suddenly can’t pay them or is forced to use a credit card and then the interest rate racks up and they can’t afford it? Or they could afford it and suddenly lose their job(s)? After all look at the unemployment rate, there is a reason I am stressing the job thing. People at the top typically don’t lose their jobs while those at the bottom are routinely picked off like a scab when times are lean because those at the top certainly aren’t going to take a pay cut.

Like I said this is about responsibility. But it’s not a few people not paying their mortgages because they just don’t feel like it. It might even be a lot of people not paying simply because they can’t afford to but that’s not our problem. The problem is responsibility and it’s the people at the top of these financial schemes who would rather throw out all responsibility for their own greed. They would rather see the lives of innocent people completely left in financial ruin and kicked out of their only home just so they can own that 3^rd or 4^th home that they never even see.

Our country is in a state of panic and turmoil because of a few people who have so much power and who already have so much wealth but it just wasn’t enough. They needed more and they just took it. But they have the audacity to say that it was other people who are not responsible? So yes it is about responsibility and those at the top are ultimately responsible for this entire mess. They can try to use everything at their disposal and every media outlet that they own will send the same message as they have from the start but I will never for a moment believe that average hard working Americans are somehow irresponsible enough and had enough power to bring our country to its knees. Since when have poor people ever had power in this country?

Check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent Website!

If you have something to say please leave a comment. 

If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.

Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!

Search Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate!

Buy Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate

Sell and List Your Eau Claire Wisconsin Home

Work with Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate Agent & Realtor® Shane O’Gorman

Eau Claire Wisconsin – Local News and Sports

I recently updated my Eau Claire Real Estate website to include more information about our community. My goal has always been making my website a community portal and basically a one stop shop for information about Eau Claire Wisconsin and the immediate area. So far I have implemented a weather page and now recently I have added local news and sports as well. I intend to continue adding more relevant information from a variety of topics. I hope this is a service that you will enjoy using. I know that the site is growing very rapidly and I intend to keep up pace with the site as well by continually adding content that is relevant.

Make sure to check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent website!

If you have something to say please leave a comment.

If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.

Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!

Search Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate!

Buy Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate

Sell and List Your Eau Claire Wisconsin Home

Work with Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate Agent & Realtor® Shane O’Gorman

Looking to sell your Eau Claire Home? Get a Free Comparative Market Analysis!

If you want to sell your home in Eau Claire Wisconsin give me a call today for a free comparative market analysis. This is an important first step in the sale of your home and getting the right price the first time can be everything when it comes to getting your house sold. It can be a tough market to sell homes especially if you are not competitive when it comes to price. Simply put overpriced homes are just overlooked. Buyers are smart shoppers and they have a wealth of market information at their disposal. When it comes down to deciding which home they want to see they seldom pick the ones that feel overpriced. Instead the focus of their energy goes to homes they feel are a good deal.

Call me at 715-894-1001 for a free consultation today. I will show you what we can do to get your home sold in today’s market.

Make sure to check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent website!

If you have something to say please leave a comment.

If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.

Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!

Search Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate!

Buy Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate

Sell and List Your Eau Claire Wisconsin Home

Work with Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate Agent & Realtor® Shane O’Gorman

$8000 first time home buyer tax credit Eau Claire Wisconsin

The 2009 First Time Homebuyer ( $8000 ) Tax Credit

For Buyers in the Eau Claire Wisconsin area

This new tax credit is one of the biggest deals in real estate in many years. It certainly has great potential to heat up the market so to speak. I am busy contacting every buyer in the area who might qualify because this program is such a great deal. I am including some information below but if you have any questions please call me.

Here is the official statement from the NAR (National Association of Realtors)

Here are some FAQ about the credit.
 

Just hover over any of these links and the information will appear. This information is provided by the NAR here.

This is a great opportunity to buy a home in the Eau Claire area. If you have been on the fence thinking about it don’t hesitate and miss out on this huge credit. If you have any other questions please contact me immediately or give me a call at 715-894-1001.

Find out about the $8000 tax credit for first time homebuyers in Eau Claire Wisconsin here.

Make sure to check out my Eau Claire Real Estate Agent website!

If you have something to say please leave a comment.

If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.

Buy or Sell, I’ll Treat You Well!

Search Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate!

Buy Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate

Sell and List Your Eau Claire Wisconsin Home

Work with Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate Agent & Realtor® Shane O’Gorman