10 Signs You're Married to a Real Estate Agent
"I can't quite place my finger on it, but I'm having suspicions that my husband is secretly pursuing a real estate career. Am I being crazy?" –Befuddled in Boise We get this question – and others along the same lines – all the time. It's time we address the issue of real estate agents in our communities head on. How to Identify a Real Estate Agent Real estate agents are all around you. They are your neighbors, your cousins, your brothers and sisters. Chances are good that a real estate agent sold you your house or manages your apartment complex. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at any given time, there are 422,000 real estate agents living among us. Their kids go to school with your kids. They may be sitting next to you at a football game. A few of them are even able to keep up the appearance of normalcy. Scientists aren't sure where real estate agents come from, though most are easy to spot. They send signals to each other by wearing small tokens of real estate agentism called "nametags" on their coats. These tokens not only communicate to potential clients what to call them, but with other signifiers, such as distinctively colored overcoats, may indicate tribal affiliation and status – much in the same way a silverback indicates the status of a gorilla. Some agents do not operate openly, however. Instead, they maintain "day jobs" during the week while sneaking off to "networking functions" at night, under the cover of darkness, and to "open houses" on the weekends, where they engage in elaborate rituals in an effort to find clients, listings and other like-minded people.

Best of 2015: 13 Listing Photos that Will Scare Prospects Away
We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published back in October and is #3 in our countdown. See #4 here. 'Tis the season for ghouls, ghosts, and all things that go bump in the night. However, if you're looking for something really scary, you need only look at some of the listing photos uploaded to MLSs around the country. Often, the most frightening thing about a bad property photo is that an agent thought it would somehow attract potential buyers. In the spirit of the season (and a good laugh), we've rounded up 13 of the scariest listing photos around. 1. Heeere's Johnny! The best way to show how "open and airy" your new listing is? Frame a random person in the hacked up opening of the basement door. Bonus points for flash-induced red-eye. It only adds to that perfect "The Shining" vibe! Tip: Keep people (and pets) out of your listing photos. Insist that your sellers be out of the house--or at least far from the room you're currently shooting. That also means no accidental appearances of the photographer in the bathroom mirror! There's no hope for that basement door, though.

13 Listing Photos that Will Scare Prospects Away
'Tis the season for ghouls, ghosts, and all things that go bump in the night. However, if you're looking for something really scary, you need only look at some of the listing photos uploaded to MLSs around the country. Often, the most frightening thing about a bad property photo is that an agent thought it would somehow attract potential buyers. In the spirit of the season (and a good laugh), we've rounded up 13 of the scariest listing photos around. 1. Heeere's Johnny! The best way to show how "open and airy" your new listing is? Frame a random person in the hacked up opening of the basement door. Bonus points for flash-induced red-eye. It only adds to that perfect "The Shining" vibe! Tip: Keep people (and pets) out of your listing photos. Insist that your sellers be out of the house--or at least far from the room you're currently shooting. That also means no accidental appearances of the photographer in the bathroom mirror! There's no hope for that basement door, though.

#RealtorProblems That Only Happen in Winter
We all know that during the winter you encounter certain...challenges. The true test of an agent is being able to put a positive spin on a house that doesn't quite meet the mark. One such time of the year is December thru February when the house you are showing is more than likely "winterized." It is possible to sell your house even when faced with less than desirable circumstances. Here are a few creative ways you can still make a house look appealing to sellers. 10 less-than-desirable showing situations (and how to put a positive spin them): 1. You go to show the house and all you can see is the attic window. "Just think of all the snowmen making and sledding the kids can do in the winter!" "The roses in the springtime are really quite lovely." 2. When all you can do with the driveway is see your reflection. "Just think, you never have to go to an ice skating rink again."

How to Buy a House – As Told by Memes
This post comes to us from the Market Leader blog: Having trouble connecting with Millennial homebuyers? This graphic may be just the thing you need to get your marketing efforts on their level. "I Can Haz Real Estate" gives Millennials and other aspiring homebuyers who are Internet-savvy a highly simplified version of the home-buying process. The vehicle this infographic uses to explain this frequently convoluted process is a "meme." If you're wondering what exactly memes are, they have been described as "virally-transmitted cultural symbols or social ideas" or cultural elements like jokes and turns of phrase that are created and disseminated by individuals. The memes contained in this infographic are simple images with text imposed over them. This type of meme uses standardized images with defined voices and contexts in which they should be used. (For example, the fist-pumping baby near the top of the graphic is known as "Success Kid" and is used to express happiness about a victory or success.) As most Millennials and Internet-savvy people can tell you, memes are commonly shared on social networks like Facebook and websites like Reddit.

Exterior Home Photography: What NOT To Do
It's a fact: our loyal readers – that's you! – love photography posts. Real estate headshots, bad listing photos, pole aerial photography, photographic tools... these are the subjects of some of our most popular posts. Today we're going to take a look at exterior home photography. While we're not exactly trained photographers, we can certainly spot listing photos that just don't work. And with so many home buyers judging listings by their photos, you know that a bad exterior shot just might prevent prospects from clicking through, no matter how nice the property really is. Now without further ado – whether you choose to hire a professional or do it yourself – the six things to avoid in exterior home photography. 1. Trash In the case of exterior home photography, curb appeal translates directly to web appeal, so do your sellers a favor and suggest they at least take five minutes to roll the trash cans in off the street. No buyer wants to spend money on a trashy house.

Is there a market for haunted homes?
With a two-year-old and an eight-week-old at home, it's not often that I get a chance to kick back and watch a little television. However, last Friday I was fortunate enough to get a couple of hours to zone out in front of the tube. I caught a show on the Travel Channel called "Ghost Adventures," where a group of three "ghost hunters" lock themselves into a haunted location overnight and use various gizmos and gadgets to capture haunted activity. This particular episode featured a young couple who had recently purchased Black Moon Manor in Greenfield, IN. Since their purchase, the couple has experienced "unexplained" activity and asked the "Ghost Adventures" crew to investigate (cue the "Ghost Busters" theme music). As the crew interviews the owners and videos the inside of the house you have to wonder, why on earth would anyone buy this property?

House Poor: Big Losers and Short Sales
We're bringing back our Friday Funnies series with this piece from Steve Cook. In Mirage Mills, we've seen it all when it comes to the housing mess. Entire neighborhoods are so run down you would think Home Depot went out of business. Our kids think "bank owned" is an invitation to invite their friends to a weekend blow-out and trash a vacated house. The black market in copper stripped from hot water pipes and gutters is a major source of local employment. They don't call my town the Chernobyl of American real estate for nothing. So it's no surprise that Mirage Mills was the birthplace of the short sale. Back then, we didn't call it a short sale. We called it the Big Loser. The Big Loser was the brain child of Ernest S. Crowe, the smartest mortgage guy in town. His friend, Ziggy Callamitti, was farther underwater than Jacques Cousteau in a National Geographic special. The monthly payments were killing him, so Ziggy decided to walk away from his home and mail the keys to the bank. Today they call that a "strategic default." In those days we called it being a bum. Ernest had a better idea. "Your bank will lose a ton of money if they foreclose on you. It will take them years to sell your house. I'll ask them if they would consider forgiving, say, ten percent of your principal and refinance you at today's rates. Then you would be able to afford your monthly payments." "Why would they ever do that?" asked Ziggy. "They don't care if I lose my shirt. Ernest, these are the same people that sold me a loan they knew darn well I could never afford." "You have to think like a banker," said Ernest with a knowing smile. "Bankers aren't stupid."

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village
If you have ever Googled your full name, you may have experienced the panic of realizing so much of your life is accessible on the Internet. We are in the Information Age, and no matter how we resist, how we protect our information, our lives are more transparent than we may feel comfortable with.

Back in the Days When Cell Phone Calls Were Rude...
Do you remember when cell phones where boxy and as large as a brick? Do you remember when instead of cell service didn't only drop your calls (AT&T), a loud static sound drowned out your voice and theirs? Do you remember when Seinfeld was a hit TV show? Let's see what happens when all those sweet memories converge into a 1 minute video.

A T-Mobile Royal Wedding Tribute
It takes a lot to make me watch a phone company's ad. I do not normally attribute humor to cell phone companies. When given the choice, I'd bypass a Verizon or AT&T ad as soon as possible. But with over 19 million views and enough posts to my Facebook, this T-Mobile ad made it to the desk of our CEO and into my inbox. It was unavoidable.  That's the power of viral social media marketing. If it's good, and enough people like it, it stalks you until you like it too. So now I'm dropping this into your world too! I hope you feel the love! To commemorate the Royal Wedding between Wills and Kate last week, T-Mobile's marketing team released a genuinely funny and staged "dance-off" between members of the royal family at the wedding. It just goes to show edutainment is a great way to market your services to your target audience. I may never have given T-Mobile the time of day before, but they made me laugh and now I'm more open to listening. Does this marketing video have the same effect on you? Watch and see!

CIA's Facebook Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs
This week's new story from The Onion demonstrates the real advantage of Facebook.  Here on RETechnology.com, we float around in a happy little bubble thinking Facebook is most useful as a way to share our messages to family and industry friends. But according to the Onion, in the seat of government espionage, the data you and I help to populate on a daily basis is being catalogued, analyzed, and used to drive their operations. But wait, there's more! Mark Zuckerberg's bourne identity surfaces!

Google's April Fool's Joke!
Here at RETechnology.com we're nobody's fool.  Least of all Google's. With our always-dialed-in Project Lead Chris Murtagh on the loose, we do happen catch wind of some entertaining online trends. Today, he messaged me a hilarious link that prompted me to do the unthinkable... post 3 Friday Funnies in one day! I know we only produce two Friday Funnies per week, but with April Fool's Day colliding with this Friday, what else do you expect? Google just leaked a "new product" called Gmail Motion.  How do we best describe this new solution?  It's kind of like wii for email... excuse me, gmail.

3 Entertaining Real Estate Advertisements
There's another type of "real" when discussing estates.  Watch this reel of funny real estate commercials! It's Friday!  If that doesn't make you smile, then we'll give you something that will. 1.) Real Estate has been essential to the American way of life, as far back as the Wild West. To watch the original video, please click here.

Taking a Sales Pitch to a New Low
Sometimes sales people take the concept of "the glass is half full" to such an extreme it's hilarious. Yes, even real estate agents are guilty of this.  Phrases like "natural barrier outside the porch" start to make you wonder what that means or if it's really a positive. Every now and then you get both the description as well as a photo.  That is a gold mine for humor. Enjoy this video that pokes fun at agents' use of hyperbole when trying to sell the high points of a home.

Salespeople Rock!
Can anyone name the ABCs of sales? A - Always B - Be C - Closing Here is a stream of funny sales humor straight from some of our favorite movies, highlighting sales strategies. Seeing them in play is always worthwhile!

Middle Ages Tech Support
Tech support today is always a subject of great consternation for both sides of the conversation. On the one side, it's frustrating to have to call/walk in, to have to explain again and again, to at least two people, what your novice diagnosis of the technology problem is.  Often this banter goes around and around till they come to the conclusion that something is defective... either you or your device.  Taking this experience out of the 21st Century can be just as entertaining...

How Will the End of Print Journalism Affect Pack Rats?
Technology is changing the face of many American past times. Take newspaper for example.  The Internet is slowly taking over print journalism.  Many people are concerned about the ramifications?  If newspapers disappear, what will pack rats do?  What will they use to stack in their homes?  How will school teachers continue to use crafts like paper mache to teach our children? The Onion News Network reports live, dealing with this travesty.

Geek Out! Twas the Night Before Christmas
‘Twas the week before Christmas, when alone in my houseI was finishing shopping, with a click of the mouse;Then I cleared out my browser cache, cookies deleted,In hopes of nefarious snooping, defeated.Yea, the whole ecosystem lay snug in their beds,While visions of cookies alit in their heads;But these weren’t the cookies you baked, or you ate,That you left out to cool, on a red and green plate.No, these cookies told advertisers about you,About all of the things that you wanted to do.Did you buy electronics, a guitar from Fender?Were you that most precious, an auto intender?In what Zip did you live, And in what DMA,And to whom were your eyeballs worth the most, today?The consumer press had quite a panic createdOver issues of privacy wholly invadedAnd now there was talk about some “Do Not Track”Which the whole ecosystem feared would set us back. Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Twitter Spoof of the Office
If the following quotes ring any bells... "I guess the atmosphere that I've tried to create here is that I'm a friend first and a boss second, and probably an entertainer third.""One word, two syllables: Demarcation." ...then you too shared the love of "Office" humor. Between Dwight's neurotic antics, Michael's unique ability to make any situation awkward and Jim's ability to remain the cool prankster and female heartthrob, the TBS show The Office rarely fails to take everyday normal and make it hilarious. HubSpot's Marketing team are also fans of The Office, as they have created a number of parody skits mirroring characters from the popular show. This week's Friday Funny showcases HubSpot's expansion into video entertainment. The topic of this episode is of course Twitter.

Will an iPad Blend?
This Black Friday, many post-Thanksgiving shoppers will be off weeding through commercials and sales pitches in search of the right product.  Whether winter mittens or new digital cameras, there will be a lot of informercials and product demonstrations to wade through. Real estate technology is no different. But in honor of today's antics, this week's Friday Funny is dedicated to the creative sales pitch behind the renowned Blendtec. To prove the virility of this blender, the maker routinely documents the hearty technology products this food blender can reduce to mere ashes. This week's demonstration: the iPad. 

Are You Stuck in the Past?
The convenience of the Internet has replaced many walk-in, not-so convenient stores.  Blockbuster, Borders, Virgin Records and drive-ins. The technology revolution propels us online and in doing so, leaves some practices and people behind.  Marketing trends move away from billboard and onto website leaderboards.  Networking moves from cocktail parties to Twitter streams. As many elements of industry move online, the question is, where do you and your business practices stand? Online, or will your current practices become be the next subject matter for what the Onion News Network calls museums of the past?

Fox4 Roast of Social Media
Don't get us wrong, we love social media.  We use it to promote our business, and it keeps our ears to the ground, listening actively to our real estate world. We get our news most of time via social media channels. So, what would a news channel like Fox News look like with social media running the show? We weren't the only ones to wonder! It's time to come out of a busy work week and laugh! Continue reading to see this YouTube video...

The Perfect Buyer?
In a bad real estate economy, what makes the "prefect buyer?"  Is it realism or a FICO score? This cartoon showcases the irony of a less than perfect buyer, compliments of xtranormal.com, as seen on YouTube. Please continue to watch...

Apple Introduces a Revolutionary New Laptop with No Keyboard!
Do you hate keyboards? Do you wish you could power your MAC computer for a full 18 minutes before re-powering? Do you want a computer that is virtually indestructable, unless dropped or hit? Would you like to send your friend an email in just 45 minutes? MAC has what you need!  Do anything on the new MAC Book Wheel in just a few hundred clicks! Not to steal all their punch lines, but if you like to poke fun at Apple and would care to have a laugh before you head into your weekend, check out the Onion News Networks' latest spoof, as seen on YouTube.

New Apple Friend Bar Gives Customers Someone To Talk At About Mac Products
Chances are, if you know people who have bought and loved an Apple product, they have most likely been converted by what is called "Apple evangelism," or are on the path to becoming an evangelist themselves. Apple evangelists express brand loyalty like few consumer groups; they can be seen spending their Saturday mornings in the Mac store, simply to enjoy playing with the latest and greatest Apple products. We at RE Technology, Inc., have several on staff (you know who you are, Victor and Melissa). Yes, even I, devoted PC user since infancy am writing this from a 28" Mac. Go figure. If you are not lucky enough to have several Apple evangelists in your organization, here are a few signs to look out for: 1.) Inventing technical difficulties to justify their loitering habits 2.) The urge to buy the latest product 3G, 4G...just wait till the 5G. Hint: start saving now! 3.) Amazing resilience to AT&T's attacks to the iPhone, notice it's never Apple's fault, even if the phone dies!! Stupid AT&T! 4.) They visit the Apple store at least once a week, and usually go with a fellow Apple evangelist Aware that the magnetic attraction to their store locations could potentially put Apple evangelists in harm's way, as far as local loitering legislation is concerned, Apple has reached out to their devotees and has created a new innovation called the Apple Friend Bar. Watch this Onion News Network video and learn how you too can be welcomed into this elite group of Apple evangelists.

Want to Escape the Information Age? Google Opt-Out Village is Here!
If you have ever Googled your full name, you may have experienced the panic of realizing so much of your life is accessible on the Internet.  We are in the Information Age, and no matter how we resist, how we protect our information, our lives are more transparent than we may feel comfortable with. The good news is that Google has benevolently created an alternative form of life for those with privacy paranoia.  It's Friday and it's time for a laugh!  Enjoy!