I bet most of you didn’t realize that I had a second mortgage blog. That’s okay because it flies under the radar. When I talked to Brian Brady about it a couple weeks ago, he called it a Trojan Horse. I like that definition. The secret is, my other mortgage blog is cleverly disguised as a blog about Modern Homes in Denver. Yep, it’s a mortgage blog that never bothers to mention mortgages.
Some History
This blog is actually a couple years old now. But unti last November, I had pretty much been phoning it in. I really like modern homes, so it seemed like a good subject to talk about. I just never made the blog a focus. Meanwhile, I’ve been advising loan originators on how to blog. One of the biggest hurdels many of them face is that it’s really quite hard to talk about mortgages all the time. I used to do it on a blog that I’ve since sold. My advice to other mortgage bloggers has been to blog about real estate. Nobody seems to take me up on the advice.
In my own business, I decide it was important to connect with other real estate agents. I created Blog Fiesta to do that at the national level, but locally, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.
I revamped and refocused on Denver Modern with the idea that it would be a tool for networking with real estate agents. I decided to do it in a way that could be easily replicated by a loan originator. Especially one that didn’t want to talk about the bond market, the mortgage crisis, or how ARM’s are still better for many borrowers. Don’t get me wrong, if you can talk about that stuff (like many of our contributing bloggers do on their own blogs) more power to you. But I don’t want to talk about that stuff, so here’s my solution.
Here’s that basics on how it works.
It’s all about Real Estate Porn.
Blog experts like Dustin Luther will tell real estate agents not to blog about there listings. I disagree with the idea, especially if the homes you’re listing are actually interesting to look at. Walk into any Barnes & Noble and take a look at all the Home & Garden design magazines are on the shelf. It’s a heck of a lot bigger than the Men’s Interests section. In my local store, It’s the biggest section on the entire rack. People like to look at pretty houses.
So the idea is to make a blog about interesting houses. Much of this will depend on your market. It could be Tudors, or Log Cabins… whatever. It might be a high end neighborhood, or a local hot spot where all the cool people want to live. Pick something that REALTOR.com has a hard time sorting out, and is hopefully upscale enough to equate into some healthy sized loans down the road.
Take lots of pictures.
So long as you stay on the street, it’s perfectly legal to take picture of a private house. Don’t just take a few pictures. Take hundreds. You’ll throw out most of them, so be liberal. You never know when you’re going to get a good shot. I try to do this around dusk, or on a cloudy day. The pictures tend to come out better.
Get yourself a copy of Photoshop Elements, and start playing with it. Crop out stuff like parked cars, telephone poles, or trash cans. Now start loading them onto your blog.
I use a special gallery feature to host them myself. I’m also going to start exploring how to use Flickr to boost my traffic.
Start recruiting agents to contribute.
There’s a couple ways to do this. You can make them regular contributors, or just post their listings. I approached two agents who specialize in modern homes to contribute. But I also keep an eye out for appropriate properties to feature, then send them this email:
Hi Joe,
I would like to feature your listing at 12345 Main Street on my blog about Modern Homes in Denver. The only thing I need from you is your permission to use the pictures of the listing from your web site, and the best URL to forward my readers who might be interested in learning more about the property. Please phone me if you have any questions.
Sometimes agents are concerned that I will portray the property in a bad light. I tell them if I was going to bash it, I wouldn’t bother to mention it in the first place. About 90% of the agents not only say yeas, but then thank me for helping them. When was the last time and agent thanked you before you even talked to them about why you’re a good mortgage originator?
I supplement the blog posts by putting up widget that lists these homes well after the blog post has fallen off the front page. The beauty of this is that I get free blog content from real estate agents, and they thank me for it. It’s easy enough to get exterior photo’s from the street, but listings present an even easier way to get interior photo’s.
My blog gets great content, agents get exposure with the exact people who are likely to buy these unique homes, and readers get a great resource. Everybody’s happy.
Now, you’ll still need to call on these agents, and earn their business the old fashioned way. Plopping a listing up on a blog does not automatically mean they’ll do business with you. But at least you have your foot in the door in a very positive way.
Nicely done, Todd.
And you’ve just given me another idea!
You don’t have to answer out loud, but I hope you will be in Phoenix in May, I’d love to shake your hand.
This sounds like a great idea, Todd, and I’ve spent some time today thinking about how I could do something for real estate in the Ligonier Valley. I’m having a hard time with the RESPA angle. On the one hand, I think even without the quid pro quo expectation of getting business, just giving the exposure is a thing of value. On the other hand, isn’t that exactly what Cyberhomes is doing on a gigantic scale?
I don’t think there’s a RESPA issue because it costs no money for me to put a listing on the site. In fact, I can argue that those listings are more of a favor to me. Because I need the content.
It’s also an open relationship with Agents in that any agent can contribute so long as they have a property that fits to focus of the blog. I’m asking for no preferential treatment, not am I giving it to one agent or another.
Of course, I don’t originate loans, so I have nothing to worry about. But I’ve been structuring it in a way that LO’s could use. There’s no quid pro quo, there’s no exclusivity, and there’s no hard costs.
I have taken a different approach with the Florida Mortgage Report, as you probably noticed. Mortgages can get rather boring at times, so I mix in mortgage planning, financial planning, investing, current events, and other little tidbits to keep things “fresh” and hopefully entertaining. I really like to have fun with it, all I need to do is add some more controversy to it.
I do like the idea of listings, maybe I will start up another blog for that, but I just started another business and adding a blog to it (more tax write-offs and another revenue stream potentially). I also do not think you would have a RESPA issue with what you are doing. It isn’t that hard to offer extra services for “partners” without violating RESPA.
BTW – Teri, Thanks!
Robert. You have no idea how much respect I have for folks like you, Rhonda, Brian, Mike, Dan. Blogging about mortgages to average Joe’s is a talent I do not have.
One other note. Greg Swann has his own great take on blogging about listings, while Dustin continues to stand his ground (see comments).
Todd: After thinking on it last night, I believe tolerance for the free stream of listings to Cyberhomes creates the environ for title folks to move in a similar direction but on a boutique scale. Thanks for the idea. I think I’ve just created at least two more blogs. hmmmm…when to sleep….that is the question……
Buyers want to see homes and mortgage rates. I’ve been told not to quote rates but those posts generate calls. Laurie Manny has been told not to blog about listings but that generates calls.
Consumer calls drive our businesses. Consumers have spoken; they want to see homes and rates.
Why wouldn’t we give the consumers what they want?
Because we would actually be helping the consumer? Wouldn’t that be wrong?
I found your post while reading the article written by Justin Luther. It is interesting to read opinions in the comment section. I see that people have different views on the matter. I work for a realtor in Toronto and I think that it is a good idea to blog your listings although we have them just at our site now (here MLS listings Toronto). People like to look at pretty houses and as you said, if the houses are somewhat interesting and there is a story about them, then why not.
An excellent marketing approach, Todd, especially engaging other professionals in the process and the use of the sidebar widget/feed.
I have never bought into the notion that you should not blog your listings — in fact, I don’t buy into many blog rules. It is a matter of HOW you do it, how you add value to the reader experience. In fairness to those opposed to blogging about your own listings, they were concerned about overdoing it and falling into the salesman mode. A fair critique I’d say.
As a pragmatist, I say try it, experiment and see what works (and what doesn’t).
Todd,
Great idea. I can’t wait to share it with my clients. Thanks.