Jan O'Brien - Real Estate Coach

Top 50 Blogs on Real Estate Industry Trends and Topics

Real Estate is an enormously exciting, fast-paced and diverse industry. Whether you are interested in the foreclosure market, property investment, commercial reality or even in the economics of real estate, there is ample opportunity to make your mark.

Follow the patterns of the market, the advice of professionals, and even the personal stories of first-time realtors by using the links provided below. These engaging and insightful real estate blogs will give you the tools and expertise you need stay on top of trends, overcome obstacles, and stand out in the real estate industry.

via guidetocareereducation.com

Jan O'Brien - Real Estate Coach has been featured on Guide to Online MBA's list of the Best Real Estate Blogs found here: http://www.guidetocareereducation.com/tips-and-tools/real-estate-blogs.

Thanks for the include on this extensive real estate resource list!

Posted via email from jan obrien's posterous

Stay Informed with These Key Mortgage, Housing & Real Estate Industry Blogs

One of the ways I stay updated on what is happening in the real estate industry and specifically with the economy and our current housing and mortgage default market is by subscribing to the resources listed below.

I highly recommend signing up for the daily email alerts so you can have the news and resources come to you.  I just take a few minutes a day to scan the emails with the current headlines and either read or bookmark the articles I want to save for later.

Calculated Risk - http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/

DS News - http://www.dsnews.com/

Housing Wire - http://www.housingwire.com/

RISMedia - http://rismedia.com/todays-real-estate-advisor/

Inman News - http://www.inman.com/signup

2009 in Music - Music Mashups by DJ Earworm

Last year I posted a 2008 Year in Review - and discovered DJ Earworm - creator of brilliant video and song mashups.  From his About page… Basically, what I do is take a bunch of songs apart and put them back together again in a different way.  I end up with tracks called mashups, which I post to this website."

Visit his website and checkout all the great mashups - you can also download the MP3s.

Here is the latest mashup from DJ Earworm:  United States of Pop 2009, with the Top 25 most popular songs according to Billboard:

• The Black Eyed Peas - BOOM BOOM POW
• Lady Gaga - POKER FACE
• Lady Gaga Featuring Colby O’Donis - JUST DANCE
• The Black Eyed Peas - I GOTTA FEELING
• Taylor Swift - LOVE STORY
• Flo Rida - RIGHT ROUND
• Jason Mraz - I’M YOURS
• Beyonce - SINGLE LADIES (PUT A RING ON IT)
• Kanye West - HEARTLESS
• The All-American Rejects - GIVES YOU HELL
• Taylor Swift - YOU BELONG WITH ME
• T.I. Featuring Justin Timberlake - DEAD AND GONE
• The Fray - YOU FOUND ME
• Kings Of Leon - USE SOMEBODY
• Keri Hilson Featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo - KNOCK YOU DOWN
• Jamie Foxx Featuring T-Pain - BLAME IT
• Pitbull - I KNOW YOU WANT ME (CALLE OCHO)
• T.I. Featuring Rihanna - LIVE YOUR LIFE
• Soulja Boy Tell ‘em Featuring Sammie - KISS ME THRU THE PHONE
• Jay Sean Featuring Lil Wayne - DOWN
• Miley Cyrus - THE CLIMB
• Drake - BEST I EVER HAD
• Kelly Clarkson - MY LIFE WOULD SUCK WITHOUT YOU
• Beyonce - HALO
• Katy Perry - HOT N COLD

And I absolutely LOVE this Mashup of Annie Lennox songs....

Free Download of 3 Classic Motivational Books

If you haven't read these classics before (or even if you have, they are worth revisiting), download a PDF version today and be prepared for a motivational-inspirational deluge of information to apply, remember, reinforce in your daily life.

FREE eBook Downloads:

Think and Grow Rich -Napoleon Hill

The Master Key System-Charles F. Haanel

Richest Man in Babylon - George S. Clason

Here is a link to the books I recommend on business, personal development and blogging/social media:

Recommended books on Business, Blogging & Social Media, and Personal Development

Five Agreement that Can Change Your Life

Here are 5 Agreements that if you truly comprehend, accept and live by can dramatically change your life!  The agreements are taken form 2 outstanding and highly recommended books:

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz 

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

1.    BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD. Speak with integrity.  Say only what you mean.  Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.  Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2.    DON’T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY.  Nothing others do is because of you.  What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream.  When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3.    DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS.  Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.  Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.  With just this one agreement you can completely change your life.

4.    ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST.  Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick.  Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

5.    LIVE IN THE NOW.  You have ONE moment, this moment. The past is behind you, the future has not yet arrived. Presence is power. Be here. Still. The next moment is already on its way. The past doesn’t change. Put your attention on today, free yourself.

Best of 2008 - Year in Review

Year in Review from WashingtonPost.com

CNN: Year In Review 2008

Time's 50 Best Websites of 2008

Amazon's Best Books of 2008

NPR - Best Books of 2008

Lifehackers Most Popular Top 10 Lists for 2008

Rolling Stone Best of 2008 (Albums, movies, DVDs, Songs)

InfoWorld:  Best Tech Lists of 2008

Yahoo! Year in Review 2008

NYT:  2008 Year in Pictures

Mashup of Billboard's Top 25 Songs of 2008 by DJ Earworm "United States of Pop 2008"

4 Questions for Maximum Productivity - Focus on Results

Are you focusing on what you want or do you find yourself stuck in the negative trap and putting energy on what you don't have?  The following information is adapted from Brian Tracy's abundant material on the subject of productivity and performance.  I recently revisited and read these Brian Tracy Books:

• Eat That Frog - 21 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
  
• Focal Point - A Proven System to Simply Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve all your Goals
  
• Maximum Achievement - Strategies and Skills that will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed
  

Tracy states in Eat That Frog:
"You can get control of your time and your life only by changing the way you think, work and deal with the never-ending river of responsibilities that flow over your each day." 

Your "frog" is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on.  It is also the one task that will give your the greatest positive impact on your life, business and results at the moment.  The key to achieving high levels of performance productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning.

4 Questions for Maximum Productivity - Remember to focus on results and what you want as you answer these questions for your business and life:

1. What are my highest value activities?
2. What are my key results areas?
3. What can I only do that if done well will make a real difference (in my life and business)?
4. What is the most valuable use of my time right now?

Here are some best practices and action steps to implement in your daily plan now:

• Do the Worst First
• Resist the temptation to clear up small things first
• Identify your high value tasks and do them first
• Examine each of your personal and work activities and evaluate it based on current situation
• Select at least one activity to abandon immediately or at least put off until more important goals are achieved
• The key to success is ACTION
• 80/20 Rule Applies to Everything!
  • 80% of salespeople spend 80% of their time on people who are not going to buy or sell
  • m20% of activities will account for 80% of your results

Identify Your Key Business/Sales Results Areas and the targeted activities for each area:

1. Prospecting
2. Trust & Rapport Building
3. Identifying Needs
4. Presenting Persuasively
5. Answering Objections
6. Closing the Sale
7. Building Referrals

• Grade Yourself in each area
• What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?
• What am I really good at?
• What do I enjoy most about my work?
• What has been most responsible for my success in the past?

Continuous learning is the minimum requirement in any field:

1. Read in your field minimum of 1 hour/day
2. Take every available course and seminar, workshop 
3. Listen to audio programs in your car (average car owner spends 500 to 1,000 hours/yr in their car
4. Practice, practice, practice
5. Hire a coach or mentor!

Did You Know? Shift Happens Slideshow

In case you have never come across this eye-opening presentation on the web already... Check it out:

Download Shift-happens-23665

Recent Articles from Realtor Magazine - Green Marketing, Technology and more

I finally caught up on some reading this weekend - you know those magazines that pile up with the intention of getting around to them in a free moment!  I read the August issue of NAR's REALTOR magazine and wanted to share some highlights with links to the online articles.

• NAR's Newest Designation Is Green - the first certification courses will be held at the NAR Convention in Orlando, November 5-6.  For more information about the designation, or to register for the course, visit www.greenresourcecouncil.org or e-mail greendesignation@realtors.org.
• Green Your Marketing With Eco Features - This article offers some advice on how to separate yourself from the competition by positioning yourself as an "EcoBroker". 

1. Get Certified - Check out EcoBroker and US Green Building Council
2. Market yourself as green-friendly
3. Partner with other professionals

• Buyer's Guide: Automate Your Marketing
  • Automate Your Marketing
  • Develop a Marketing Plan
  • E-mail Do's and Don'ts
  • Product Guide; Marketing Tools 
• Mr. Internet - Michael Russer on Let's Twitter

Then I started surfing around the REALTOR Magazine website and rediscovered some excellent tools and resources:

From the July issue - some good info on using video:

• YouToo Can YouTube

• Buyer's Guide: Video

Handouts for Customers - loaded with educational articles your can print or download and customize for use with buyers and sellers. 

• Download AllBuyerHandouts.doc
• Download AllSellerHandouts.doc

NAR has several blogs also:

• The Weekly Book Scan (Like an online book club with book reviews, author chats and podcasts)
• Center for REALTOR Technology Blog (All thinkgs technology from Realtor.org)
• Speaking of Real Estate (from the editors of REALTOR magazine)
• YPN Lounge (Young Professionals Network)

Lists of Real Estate Blogs and Resources

If you are searching for lists and links to real estate blogs - everything from real estate agent bloggers to real estate marketing, industry and news - here are some resources I've bookmarked for future reference:

Bloodhound Blog maintains this  potentially canonical list of real estate weblogs.

Todd Carpenter of Lenderama and Blog Fiesta created REMBEX, a customized Google search of a thousand+  real estate blogs  You can also add the Rembex search engine as a widget for your blog.  See my sidebar for an example - just scroll down to right above the list of blog directories.  Don't forget to submit our blog for consideration if your blog is it is not already listed. 

International Listings has compiled these informative lists:

• Top 50 Real Estate Marketing Bloggers
• Top 50 Web 2.0 Real Estate Sites

A Directory of Real Estate Blogs has a comprehensive listing of real estate blogs sorted geographically and by categories like real estate agents, industry, home inspection, appraisal,  and mortgage.

Blogflux - Blog Top Sites for Real Estate

BlogTopList also has a Real Estate Top Blog List - includes stats on visitors and blog rank.