Virginia Real Estate and Musings

ThinAir Wireless has created an app that many real estate professionals may find useful.  Offender is an application that searches around your current location or another address for registered sex offenders.

Since the app was released on June 2, 2009, they have seen over a million downloads.  There are 2 versions:  a limited free version and $1.99 for the full version.  The app has also cracked the iTunes top 10 list in popularity a few times.

Read more at:  Wolkia.com

hud, fha

As most people know, electronic signatures are becoming more and more common and widely accepted as a legitimate form of signing documents.  Many in the legal field see an electronic signature as being more secure than a faxed signature.

So, WHY?  WHY?  Are some banks and government agencies refusing to accept electronic signatures?

2 weeks ago, HMB, Inc., the HUD Home servicer for Virginia (and many other states) refused to accept my Docusign'ed contract.  They insisted that I obtain an original signature (but not send them any proof of the signer's identification) and then MAIL them the contract!  Are you kidding me?  

Last week, the underwriter for Bank of America refused to accept a Docusign'ed contract and wanted FAXED signatures instead.  I fought back on that one and it went to the regional head of underwriting for Bank of America; who said "NO" to the electronic signature as well.

Today, I vented my frustrations on Twitter and heard from an agent that Wells Fargo refused to accept an electronically signed contract from him a few weeks ago.

It appears to me that all of this "greening" the banks are advertising and claims that they are committed to reducing paper are the equivalent of sending  smoke signals.  They definitely are not practicing what they are preaching.

From now on, when we call to verify a pre-approval letter, we will ask the lender if the bank accepts electronic signatures.  If not, we will politely advise the buyer to take their business elsewhere....and let the bank know of their decision by sending them a letter on a floppy diskette.

Tina in Virginia

I see it happen to others all the time....their accounts get hacked.  Today, it was my turn.

At 7:15 this morning, my mother-in-law called me to inform me of the hacker.  The hacker was chatting with my friends, telling them "I" was stuck in London and desperately needed money wired to get home.  Thank goodness no one listened and sent money.

I immediately tried to reset my password.  Didn't work.  Tried again...no luck.

Then, I went into my husband's account and posted from there on my page that my account had been hacked.  So, the hacker "unfriended" my husband.

The hacker wasn't smart enough to turn off my SMS alerts so I was able to post from the "real me" onto my page.

Fortunately, one of my friends went into "my" Facebook profile and got me the email address the hacker was using.  I reported the hacked account to Facebook and it is being fixed.

What have I learned?  I thought I had a good password.  Unique for each profile/account I have and always a combination of letters and numbers..  From now on, I'll make my passwords more complex - letters, symbols, numbers, lower-case and upper-case.

On the bright side, I have heard from friends today that I haven't spoken with in years!  They called me to check on me and let me know my account had ben hacked.  Not a great way to start a Monday morning, but great to hear from so many incredible people!

So, please, this week - put it on your to-do list to update those profile passwords.  Make them complex and make each one unique.

Tina in Virginia

Randi Thornton of PCMS Consulting recently came out with this study analyzing the SEO practices of the top 50 real estate companies.  The study is very thorough and very insightful.

The study evaluated traffic ranking, search terms, Google page rank, number of pages indexed by Google, meta descriptions, page titles, and Web site validation errors.

Unfortunately, only 6 of the top 50 achieved a top SEO ranking on Google.  Who had the best SEO practices?  GMAC Real Estate landed on top.

The rest of the top 6 are:  Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, Crye-Leike Realtors, John L. Scott Real Estate, Hanna Holdings Inc., The Long & Foster Companies, Northwood Realty Services, Prudential Georgia Realty, and Ebby Halliday, Realtors.

This study is a great read and should be an information source for any agent who is thinking about changing Brokerage firms.  You can access the entire study by clicking here.

Feel free to share yours too! 

1.  Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 Sheet Fed Scanner

2.  Dell M-109S On-the-Go Projector

3.  Motorola Deluxe Bluetooth Car Kit HF850

Product Description
The Bluetooth 1.2 Wireless Car Kit provides a neat and convenient hands-free solution for your car. It provides premium hands-free audio performance with echo and noise reduction while utilizing your car's internal speakers. So easy to use, simply turn on the ignition and the Bluetooth link will automatically be established with your phone - also, stay connected while your ignition is off. Answer, end, mute, or place a call from the car kit's control panel. You can use the voice dial feature in your phone to conveniently dial numbers stored in your phone's phonebook.

4.  Sony VAIO TT Series Notebook PC

Redefine on-the-go freedom with the worlds' smallest Blu-ray Disc™ notebook. Melding powerful computing with a luxurious design, the ultra-portable VAIO® VGN-TT190UBX notebook features an Intel® Core™ 2 Duo SU9400 processor with 4GB of RAM and is wrapped in premium carbon fiber casing. An integrated Blu-ray Disc™ optical drive and vivid 11.1-inch widescreen LCD with XBRITE-DuraView™ technology are perfect for watching your favorite HD movies. You can also enjoy your HD entertainment on your compatible HDTV via the HDMI™ output. There's also an integrated MOTION EYE® webcam and microphone along with advanced wireless LAN technology to help you stay connected while you're on the road.

5.  2 Weeks off of uninterrupted time to learn new technology!!!!!!!!

Tina in Virginia

Yes, that is REALLY what the Google Gods have created!  With the tagline, "Stop Sending Emails You Later Regret", Google has created Mail Goggles to help crack down on drinking and emailing.

When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you're really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind?

By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend as that is the time folks are most likely to need it. Once enabled, it can be adjusted when it's active in the General settings.

What in the world will Google think up next?

Thanks for reading!  Tina in Virginia

Just announced...the VERY unofficial results of the Twitpoll:  Thanks to @PRsarahevans for taking the time to research and put this together!  You will see some very familiar names in here and then some interesting new ones to follow.  These 50 fine Tweeters are the result of a very unofficial poll conducted recently on Twitter.

Congrats to @realestatechick and @laniar!!!!!!

JUST ANNOUNCED: Unofficial 2008 Top 50 Tweeples to FOLLOW

1.      popgloss (Up and Coming Tweeples)
2.      skydiver (PR/Marketing/Advertising)
3.      chrisbrogan (PR/Marketing/Advertising)
4.      jennalloyd (News/Media)
5.      coachdeb (PR/Marketing/Advertising)
6.      marismith (Up and Coming Tweeples)
7.      barefoot_exec (Entrepreneur)
8.      agingbackwards (Lifestyle/Entertainment)
9.      guykawasaki (Technology/Web 2.0)
10. newmediajim (News/Media)
11. garyvee (Entrepreneur)
12. mashable (News/Media)
13. realestatechick (Other)
14. fussypants (Other)
15. problogger (Technology/Web 2.0)
16. badbanana (Other)
17. jowyang (Technology/Web 2.0)
18. nwjerseyliz (Up and Coming Tweeples)
19. Scobleizer (News/Media)
20. briansolis (PR/Marketing/Advertising)
21. pistachio (Up and Coming Tweeples)
22. timoreilly (Technology/Web 2.0)
23. williecrawford (Entrepreneur)
24. mailourmilitary (Education)
25. dreaminaction (Up and Coming Tweeples)
26. joehageonline (Up and Coming Tweeples)
27. pprlisa (PR/Marketing/Advertising)
28. warrenwhitlock (Technology/Web 2.0)
29. statesman (News/Media)
30. jeanannvk (Entrepreneur)
31. jpostman (PR/Marketing/Advertising)
32. pitchengine (News/Media)
33. megfowler (Entertainment)
34. stacybrice (Technology/Web 2.0)
35. sweetsue (Up and Coming Tweeples)
36. auctiondirect (Automotive)
37. drmommy (Business/Finance)
38. annepmitchell (Technology/Web 2.0)
39. zachflauaus (Up and Coming Tweeples)
40. jessicaknows (PR/Marketing/Advertising)
41. laniar (Entrepreneur)
42. married (Home/Family)
43. techcrunch (Technology/Web 2.0)
44. gwenbell (Other)
45. katjapresnal (PR/Marketing/Advertising)
46. napp_news (News/Media)
47. fakesarahpalin (Government/Politics)
48. cheeky_geeky (Government/Politics)
49. jspepper (PR/Marketing/Advertising)
50.  ezrabutler (Other)

Tina in Virginia

Follow me on Twitter!  @tinainvirginia