As a home seller, you may feel challenged in trying to anticipate what you can do to make your home more inviting and attractive to a prospective buyer.  However, the following easy steps can welcome your buyer instantly and help them to feel as though they are “coming home” when they enter your property, so read on.

First, look out your windows.  Are they clean and inviting?  Do you have a pleasant view or can you camouflage it with some temporary plants just outside the window?  Whenever you leave or anticipate a home showing, remember to leave the window coverings open so natural lighting can show off your property.  The more light the better, so evaluate whether additional room lighting should be left on,  as well.  If the weather is nice and the outside noise quiet, consider leaving a window open to create a slight breeze.

Is your home comfortable looking?  Is the temperature moderate and the ambiance set without being overdone?  Soft music, flowing water from a fountain, or fresh flowers can leave a lasting impression about the “feel” of a home.

Your goal is to intrigue the senses throughout your home.  Whether it’s a soft blanket or an antique desk; if you have an unusual and beautiful showpiece, show it off.  Creating a lasting impression through touch or evoking a memory, since these are often reasons later given for why a particular home was chosen.  The sense of smell is very powerful, too, so keep in mind that baking cookies REALLY can help in the sale of your home.  If you do have the smell of baked goods lingering in your home, please make sure the cookies are available for potential buyers so disappointment does not cloud their view of your property.

Lastly, leave the house.  That’s right – let the potential buyer have a chance to feel that the house is theirs – if even for 15 minutes.  Your home buyer needs to feel as if they are in their new home.  For this reason, many professional home stagers recommend eliminating personal effects and photos when a home is being shown.  Remember, your main job as a home seller is to prepare your home so potential home buyers feel a sense of ownership and an urgency to make it theirs before they leave.

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Well, we’ve done it again.

We understand that your TWO major challenges are LEADS and TIME.   We have created something that will make a difference in your life by freeing up TIME for you to engage clients.  Oh, and we are giving it to you FOR FREE.

Starting today, you can subscribe to be a part of the new Virtual Results PubSub Network. “VRPubSub” is our innovative blogging syndication service delivering extremely high quality real estate blog posts to your website twice weekly, AUTOMATICALLY.

Once subscribed, you will have the opportunity to not only get fantastic content for your website (with YOU as the author), but you can also edit, link, and share the posts as you like.  This is NOT just more regurgitated content.  Every VRPubSub blog post is written by our top Virtual Results’ real estate blogger, a professional journalist with over 20 years national writing experience, ensuring you the quality that your clients  appreciate and WANT in their inbox.

All you need to do is choose WHAT delivery method you would like.  You have 3 choices.

1) The automatic option, which will automagically just post the VR post to your blog.  No Muss, No Fuss and you get to choose who the author is.

2) The draft option, which places the post in draft mode so you can edit it, make it YOURS, and manually publish it to your blog.

3) The “I dont need no stinking blog posts” option which allows you to turn off posting completely, although why you would choose this is beyond us.

However in the interest of vacations, (wouldn’t you prefer auto posting while you were away) or a need for less readership (you are overwhelmed by positive comments on your blog), we needed to give you that choice.

If you would like to receive your posts in Draft Mode, you dont have to do anything.  We have you handled.

However, If you would like NOT to receive posts OR Receive them Automagically?  Its just 3 easy steps..

So, look for the notification emails that signify we have sent a new post..  and watch your VR Blog grow!

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The last five weeks have brought mortgage rates to historic lows according to Freddie Mac, with many averaging below 4%. That means more buying and bargaining power for you, the home buyer. In fact, according to last Thursday’s Primary Mortgage Market survey by Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 15 year mortgage was 3.16% with fees and points averaging .8 and the average rate for a 30 year mortgage was 3.89% with fees and points of .7.

Keeping those stats in mind, it’s always wise to do your homework and ask your lender for a list of current rates and determine if those are lowest for that day or week and if the rate is fixed or adjustable, as that answer will affect your payment significantly. Keep in mind that the APR (annual percentage rate) considers all fees, including points and other charges such as origination, underwriting, or closing costs fees, so it may be advantageous to use in comparisons. In a constantly evolving real estate market, it’s always wise to educate yourself and shop around, listen up, and be ready to make the best deal you can on your home purchase and your lending costs.

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Jobs’ thoughts on Microsoft & Bill Gates were interesting to say the least. One concept that was discussed at length throughout the book was closed versus open systems — Apple versus Microsoft. Apple is an example of a closed system, since Apple controls the hardware, operating system, software, and user interface. Compare that to the most notable example of an open system approach, Microsoft, which controls the operating system, but nothing else. I don’t think there is any question which user experience is better. Is Apple’s more expensive? Sure. But quality costs money. Will open systems reach a broader audience? Yes. Margins are higher on closed systems, but open systems have historically made up, and surpassed, that with volume.

I used to be pretty firmly in the camp of open systems but have shifted a few notches toward closed systems after reading the Jobs biography. Don’t get me wrong, I still think open systems have a place — and it’s clear based on the volume of Android’s being purchased that many agree with me. Microsoft has proved that with Windows. But I’ve come to appreciate the power of great products — and great products require a more controlled environment. Individuals don’t know what they want, until you show it to them. The Model T, iPhone and iPad proved that. At Virtual Results, we’re not shy about telling agents and brokers we understand websites and consumer web behavior better than they do. We have millions of clicks of analytics behind what we do. Frankly, if an agent or broker thinks they can build better websites than us — they should probably go start a website design company rather than sell real estate.

Reading the book made me better understand Jim’s perfectionist nature when it comes to products. There are times where we’ll show him something, and his immediate reaction is “that’s crap” (not unlike Steve Jobs’ reaction to many early products shown to him by the Apple team). He doesn’t mean it’s literally crap, he means it can be better…and that we need to spend the time it takes to make it perfect. There are certainly tradeoffs; operating to perfection takes longer to ship and costs more money. But we believe it’s worth it.

What’s the take away from all of this? If you want the cheapest website solution on the market and/or want to spend a ton of your own time figuring out how to build a website that works? That’s your choice.

But if you want a product that just WORKS without the hassle? Contact us so we can get you up and running for 2012.

Contact Us

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Lifestyles of La Jolla is a custom blog dedicated to exploring the La Jolla lifestyle.

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Here are some tips:

1. Make sure you get an adjuster who is licensed!
2. When calling the public adjusting company, make sure you talk to the person who will actually be adjusting the loss. Too much gets lost in translation when reps hand off your claim through departments.
3. Ask about the adjuster’s experience and credentials and even for references for past claims he or she has handled. He or she should also have a helpful and friendly personality.
4. Make sure the company you call is not taking on too much business and sacrificing quality and attention. Also, consider where the firm is located. Is it in your area?
5. Be aware that public adjusters work on contingency fees ranging from 5% to 15% of the monies the insurer pays you. Agree upfront and to a fee that considers the size and type of your loss.

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1. Bremerton-Silverdale, Wash. 300 miles of greenery and rugged coastline, U.S. Navy presence and nearby Tacoma and Seattle: 5.22 percent
2. Glens Falls, N.Y. Adirondack Mountains, Lake George, medical device manufacturing magnet, attractive to business: 4.71 percent
3. Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo. Breathtaking Rocky Mountains, thriving energy industry: 4.06 percent
4. Corvallis, Ore. Nature’s splendor, public agencies and support of small businesses: 3.95 percent
5. 5. Anchorage, Alaska. Wilderness majesty, growing economy : 3.8 percent
6. Duluth, Minn.: 3.74 percent
7. Sandusky, Ohio: 3.66 percent
8. Santa Fe, N.M: 3.57 percent
9. Pittsfield, Mass.: 3.51 percent
10. Decatur, Ill.: 3.44 percent

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URL: https://www.facebook.com/LifestylesofLaJolla?sk=app_320201431331067

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URL: http://tsegroup.com/

Description: Tse Group is powered by our Bravado theme and covers Saratoga, CA and the surrounding area.

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Introducing VR Broker’s Choice, THE Website Choice for Brokers who value their agents’ success.

Leading real estate Internet marketing firm Virtual Results, LLC is pleased to announce a new, strategic broker/agent website platform and partnership. The newly released VR Broker’s Choice is a powerful real estate WordPress website solution built for Brokers to provide to their agents as part of their technology package. Agents can choose from a variety of beautifully designed themes and Virtual Results designers will customize their choice to produce a personal, stunning, finished website that will reflect their brand.

M Squared Real Estate, a leading Washington, DC brokerage, known for cutting edge technology, was selected to pilot the program.

“With the growing percentage of consumers searching for property on-line, it’s more important than ever for brokers to guide or provide to their agents, the best designed and best converting websites on the planet. Websites are an agents “curb appeal.” said Jim Marks, Virtual Results founder and President. “We’re thrilled to have M Squared as our initial VR Broker’s Choice partner. They are leaders in Internet marketing we are proud to bring our world class design and conversion to their agents at the most affordable price imaginable.”

Unlike traditional broker-offered website solutions, VR Broker’s Choice doesn’t “lock” an agent to their brokerage solution. While branded and enhanced with brokerage provided content, the agent always has the ability to migrate their website without losing content… or momentum.

“At M Squared our top priority is to provide agents with theVR tools they need to succeed in today’s marketplace. VR Broker’s Choice gives our agents a first-rate website themed for their individual brand, and customized for their target market areas.” Says Dominic Morrocco, M Squared Co-Founder and Partner, “When making the decision to offer WordPress websites to our agents, we evaluated vendors extremely carefully. We needed a scalable solution to incorporate our existing technological offerings with that in-development and planned. It was evidently clear the team at Virtual Results understands the needs of today’s agent better than anyone. Their Broker’s Choice program provides industry-leading IDX with world class design to create a complete, easy-to-use solution for both the agent and client alike. Moreover, Virtual Results’ management of plugins, hosting and general website upkeep, allows our marketing department the time and freedom to work one-on-one with our agents to truly maximize their online potential.”

The first two example VR Broker’s Choice websites are MyDupontCircle.com andDCRealtorCapitolHill.com. M Squared Real Estate chose to base their Broker’s Choice websites on the latest theme developed by Virtual Results, LLC, called Moondance. According to Jim Marks, “Moondance is the culmination of the best of class design and accessibility for clients seeking a classy, simple and effective website.”

Virtual Results, LLC

To learn more about opportunities, call a Virtual Results sales representative at 888-99-RESULTS, or visit VirtualResults.net/vr-brokers-choice/.

About Virtual Results, LLC
Virtual Results is the leading provider of real estate WordPress websites that convert traffic into leads. In addition to websites that work, Virtual Results provides world class Internet Marketing Consutling to Brokers utilizing real estate SEO, traffic and lead acquisition, Google Analytics consulting, and social media branding packages. The company operates Virtual Results.net, GeekEstateBlog.com and is headquartered in beautiful Laguna Beach, CA . Learn more at http://virtualresults.net

About M Squared Real Estate
M Squared is a Washington, DC, independent real estate brokerage focusing on technology, marketing and agent offerings. M Squared has been recognized within the industry and received national attention for its unique, non-traditional brokerage model and service offerings. Learn more at http://msqrealty.com

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