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10 Most Beautiful, Unique and Amazing Celebrity Homes

Posted in Features on May 28, 2008

A few weeks ago, we introduced you to what we considered the Top 10 Ridiculous, Obnoxious, and Just Plain Ugly Celebrity Houses. Now, we’re going to do an about-face and show you the homes we believe to be the top ten most beautiful, amazing and unique celebrity homes. While some homes on this list teeter on the border of obnoxious, even the most expensive or largest homes have been saved by tasteful touches. We were not surprised to discover that the most beautiful homes were those that were modest, that seemed to fit into their surroundings, and that supplied just enough panache for each celebrity to call that house a “home.”

The list below is in no particular order. While the home sites are numbered, the numbering does not indicate that we favor one home over another or that they are listed in order of value.

1. Oprah Winfrey: This home, located in Santa Barbara, California, belongs to Oprah Winfrey. The property covers approximately forty-two acres and the house is 23,000 square feet. It has six bedrooms, fourteen bathrooms, ten fireplaces and a home theater. Oprah added a man-made lake stocked with rare fish and she had local Montecito sandstone bricks hand-laid into a quarter-mile long driveway. Although this house is nicknamed, “Oprah’s Hearst Castle,” we like it because of the landscaping, which is meticulous. To Oprah’s credit, this property contains the largest amount of green space in Santa Barbara. Its balanced elegance reminds us somewhat of the famous historic Biltmore estates located in Ashland, North Carolina.
2. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn: Actors Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell moved to Vancouver, Canada to support their son’s fledgling hockey career. This home, a Tudor-style creation located in the Shaughnessy area, is now on the market again and listed at $5.4 million Canadian. It contains five bedrooms and eleven fireplaces, a gym and a built-in theater room, and the house sports a grand oak paneled entrance hall with fireplace, two dens, new kitchen, private yard and a separate coach house. There is a formal living room and separate dining room, a conservatory, and the master suite contains a separate dressing area. The couple purchased the home in 2002 for $2,995,000, or $1,875,000 US dollars, and its charm and settings make the grade for this list.
3. Madonna: This pop-singer icon made a bid on Ashcombe, the former home of late photographer Cecil Beaton, in 2001. Friends including Rex Whistler, Salvador Dali and Augustus John returned Beaton’s hospitality by painting murals in the house. Located in Wiltshire, England, this 1,200-acre carried a guide price of £9 million. This was the first time that Ashcombe had been for sale on the open market since the First World War. It is an exceptionally private house, hidden in its own valleys which contain one of the country’s best shoots. The pop star learned how to fish, hunt and ride horses, so this home seemed to fit Madonna to a “T” in 2001. The couple also owns a mansion in London, and the Wiltshire property is within easy reach and close to the Wiltshire estate of Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler. They are close friends of the singer and first introduced her to her husband, Guy Ritchie. It appears recently, however, that Madonna has put Aschombe on the market again, this time to the tune of £12 million.
4. George Clooney: This sexy and talented actor purchased this 25-room Italian villa in 2001. Known as Villa Oleandra, it is said to contain an outdoor theater, a large swimming pool and a garage for Clooney’s motorcycles. Italian journalists and tourists swarmed to the small town of Laglio, where this villa is located, when they heard rumors that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie would wed at pal George Clooney’s lakeside estate. Clooney has some illustrious neighbors as well - designer Donatella Versace owns a home on Lake Como near the burial place of her late brother Gianni. Singer Avril Lavigne and husband Deryck Whimbey honeymooned in Lake Como a few years ago as well. Clooney really admires this home and says, “I go there whenever I can. It’s where I wrote Good Night And Good Luck and where I finished the script for Leatherheads. It’s a really peaceful place to go and write.” Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas are regular guests at the mansion, where Clooney also shot scenes for the film, Ocean’s Twelve.
5. Joel Horowitz: The co-founder for Tommy Hilfiger found his home - named Tranquility - in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. This home, conveniently located on the tax-free side of Lake Tahoe, contains a 20,000-square-foot main house that is modeled after a northern European mountain home. It also contains a 3,500-bottle wine cellar, an indoor swimming pool and an atrium as well as a 19-seat movie theater. It also boasts nine bedrooms, fourteen full and five half-baths, a private lake with docks and two par-three golf holes. While this home could be called “ostentatious,” it carries a glamor reminiscent of Europe. The living room features a double-height ceiling adorned with carved beams, large windows at one apse-like end and hand-carved antique fireplaces. The dining room’s floor dates back to the 17th century, and was salvaged from a French chateau. Its ceilings are hand-painted, not with Old World themes, but images of animals indigenous to Lake Tahoe. Want to purchase the home? It’s on the market again for a cool $100 million.
6. Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian Jerry Seinfeld purchased this lavish and luscious East Hampton, New York estate from rocker Billy Joel for the then record-setting price of $32 million in 2000. According to the magazine, OK!, this home beat out properties own by Donald Trump, Sir Elton John, and even George Clooney’s Italian villa noted above for the number one celebrity palace in 2007. This home has been described as a “magnificent Tudor-style waterfront manor … sited on over 14 acres of rolling lawns and naturalized landscaping. There are three buildings total with a sum of twenty-four rooms, including eight full baths and five half-baths. There are thirteen fireplaces, a gym, indoor and outdoor pools, a gourmet kitchen, a tennis court, a bowling alley, a guest cottage, a music room, a smoking bar and a wine cellar. Annual taxes are $208,463.
7. William Zysblat: William Zysblat recently purchased this modern beauty located in East Quogue, New York. Zysblat’s company, RZO Productions, has handled business and management affairs for rock icons U2, David Bowie, The Police and the Rolling Stones among others. The sale of the oceanfront post modern home on Dune Road closed in December for $6.2 million. The asking price for the 3,200 sq ft dwelling had been $6.7 million. The property includes 166 feet of ocean frontage on 2.5 acres. The home was designed by Quogue-based architect Jay Sears, and has a heated gunite pool, guest house, and tennis and bocce courts.
8. Tony Hawk: Tony Hawk shoveled his profits from professional skateboarding and gaming into this modest 5,000 square-foot home with a 4,000 square-foot skate park in Carlsbad, California. He grew frustrated from begin hassled by fans at public parks, so he added this unique skateboarding feature to his home. It comes complete with a rail, a center pyramid and a ledge that serves as a bench. Other outdoor features include a basketball court and a pool. Inside you’d find about $150,000 worth of gaming electronics hooked to a 65-inch plasma HDTV. Sounds like Hawk lives his work - all skateboard and video games. And, although this home seems a bit on the stark side, Hawk has made it his home. That, in our book, is truly amazing for any celebrity.
9. Brad Pitt: We chose Brad Pitt and his home(s) for several reasons. First, although this cliffside home isn’t shabby (worth about $4.5 million), it is just one piece of the Pitt puzzle. When you compare this home to their modest 1830s New Orleans dwelling, the cliffside home takes on a new perspective. This house is unusual, just like the house in the New Orleans that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Not to say that the home in Louisiana was inexpensive - it’s located near the French Quarter, and Pitt paid $3.5 million in cash on January 2, 2007, for the right to live there. According to the news story, “A real estate listing for the property shows the house has a grand spiral staircase, elevator, gourmet kitchen, a large private courtyard and a separate two-story guest house. It also has private parking for two cars - a luxury in the French Quarter.” Of course, it was a matter of convenience as well, as Pitt was filming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in Louisiana last year. And, in the process, he’s also overseer of the housing project in storm-ravaged lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. This effort, in our opinion, is a mighty one indeed. In contrast to his isolated home in California, Brad and his consort, Angelina Jolie, appear to be good southern neighbors in a busy and famous neighborhood.
10. Sandra Bullock: This home is the quintessential Tybee Island, Georgia beauty. Actress Sandra Bullock spent more than one million dollars to purchase this modest three-story home on the north end of the island in 2001. She also purchased empty lots on either side of the home to protect her privacy. She reportedly owns homes in Southern California, Jackson Hole, Wyoming and in Austin, Texas as well. Bullock bought the home after filming Forces of Nature. The island faces the Savannah river inlet east of Savannah where portions of the movie where filmed.

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The Foreclosure Investing Web Guide: 100 Useful Resources

Posted in Features on May 13, 2008

There seems to be no end to the number of foreclosure opportunities for investors these days. In keeping with this trend, a number of Web sites have been created to serve the foreclosure investor. To that end, we’ve listed 100 sites below, from tutorials to databases to articles and blogs. Although some sites are more useful than others, we’ve tried to avoid sites that offer no value to the investor whatsoever. These include databases listings without a clue as to who offers these databases and Web sites that offer advice without credentials. With that said, we may have missed a site or two that may truly be useful. If you know of a site that provides value to the foreclosure investor, let us know through your comments.

The list below is in no particular order, but each link is listed alphabetically under the provided categories. While the sites are numbered, the numbering does not indicate that we favor one site over another or that they are listed in order of value.

Tutorials

Few deep tutorials on how to purchase foreclosed property as an investment exist online. However, the basics are all anyone needs to hunt for further information. Remember that each state carries specific laws that relate to purchasing foreclosures, so be sure to check with local resources before you make a decision to invest in a foreclosure.

1. About Buying HUD Homes: Straight from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to you - a guide on how to buy a 1 to 4 unit residential property acquired by HUD as a result of a foreclosure action on an FHA-insured mortgage.
2. Buy Bank Homes: BuyBankHomes (BBH) and Real Estate Fortune, LLC have teamed up to offer BBH members the training and resources they need to have a competitive edge in today’s fast paced real estate market. This company provides distance coaching using the phone and Internet, and they offer a premier 90-Day Challenge Training live three times per year. They also offer a special “One-on-One Personal Mentorship Program.” You choose the training program that is the best fit for you.
3. Buying a Home in Foreclosure - The Basics: Foreclosure City offers a down-to-earth tutorial tht leads into more advanced topics and articles, including their Foreclosure Buying Toolkit.
4. Home Buying Institute: This site offers great advice for first-time home buyers, and this linked portion provides basics on how to purchase foreclosures.
5. Free Foreclosure Tutorial: This document, among others listed on this page, are free to download and read.
6. Foreclosure Free Research: A list of Q&A about foreclosure investment properties. If you can get past the Q&A on how to use this site, the questions are appropriate and the answers are short and sweet.
7. Foreclosure University: Although you’ll pay to take this course, the Web site is filled with plenty of free information, including individual state foreclosure laws, foreclosure listings for each state, free reports and articles and a glossary of foreclosure-related terms.
8. MSN Guide: This article explains the safest way to purchase foreclosures.
9. Realty Store Foreclosure Tutorial: The purpose of this tutorial is to provide an overview of the foreclosure process and to help you get started in achieving your real estate dreams.
10. Realty Trac Foreclosure Tutorial: This tutorial explains the do’s and don’ts when considering a foreclosure list.
11. Ways to Buy Foreclosed Property: U.S. News offers information about three keys ways to purchase foreclosed property.

Articles

Sometimes the investor can find further information about how to invest in foreclosures by reading recent articles about this topic. The following articles were chosen because of their relevance in content and to current market conditions, as each one was written since January 2007.

1. As foreclosures widen, a neighborhood erodes: This article that ran in the Boston Globe offers one perspective about what happens in neighborhoods where foreclosures have run rampant. This is just one perspective to keep in mind when investing in foreclosure properties.
2. AOL Foreclosure Topics: AOL has a new beta real estate section, and this article is just one of a developing course of articles provided by this site. Look in the right column of this linked article to find more information about foreclosure.
3. Before you Attend a Foreclosure Investment Workshop: Foreclosure workshops are springing up all over the country, and this article can help you save time and money if you plan to attend one of these events.
4. Buying Bank Owned Properties (REO): REO (Real Estate Owned) si a property that goes back to the mortgage company after an unsuccessful foreclosure auction. Walt Harvey, a Realtor located in Hawaii, offers his advice about this type of investment possibility.
5. Discounted Homes, Going, Going…: This piece on auctions covers more of the discount prices one might expect when attending one of these events.
6. Foreclosure Articles: This list at Ezine provides the investor with a plethora of articles abotu foreclosure investment possibilities written by a number of experts in real estate and in foreclosure properties.
7. Foreclosures hit some cities harder than others: This MSNBC article explains why some areas seem to be floating through this mortgage meltdown and why others are hit hard by foreclosures. The article may give you a clue as to where to look for your foreclosure investment opportunity.
8. Foreclosure Investment Nightmare: This article provides one example of why it’s important to talk with an independent, licensed real estate agent before investing in any foreclosure property or program.
9. Foreclosures slam doors on pets, too: Make sure the dog or cat doesn’t come with the property unless you want a foreclosed pet as well as a foreclosure investment.
10. Foreclosures up 75% in 2007: This article by CNN Money states that total foreclosure filings soared 97% in December 2007 alone compared with December of 2006. You’ll also learn about the states that have the least foreclosure filings from this article.
11. House Auctions and Foreclosure Sales: Not all auctions are intended solely for foreclosure properties. This article provides some insight into why auctions are used to sell homes.
12. How Foreclosures Work: Elizabeth Weintraub, who has more than 600 hours of real estate education, offers advice for the first-time foreclosure buyer.
13. Investing in Preforeclosures: Bankrate.com provides a concise article that explains preforeclosures as investment opportunities.
14. Notes from a Foreclosure Auction: A great article about an auction for foreclosures in Chicago provides readers with some sense of what to expect when attending these events.
15. Preforeclosure Flipping - the Key to Real Estate Riches: Some advice from Real Estate ABC on how to attempt a preforeclosure investment.
16. Real Estate Exchanging - an option to pre-foreclosure: The desire for new home ownership has, in the past few years, brought new problems into the real estate industry. It has also brought some solutions. Read this article about making an exchange as an option for foreclosure for the seller.
17. Real Estate Investment Articles: This list of articles focuses solely on foreclosure properties, and they’re written by a number of different authors.
18. Tips from a Foreclosure Investor: According to Ralph Roberts, author of “Foreclosure Investing For Dummies,” the best prospect for a foreclosure investor is “someone with a secure job, solid cash flow and lots of cash on hand — someone who wants to make some money on the side.” This and more in this interview in the Washington Post.

Websites

The following links will take you to all-inclusive sites that focus entirely on foreclosure investment opportunities, or to investment sites that have reserved entire sections for foreclosures. Some sites may carry blogs, discussion boards, tutorials and more.

1. All Foreclosure Information: When this site says, “All,” it means all. You can find tutorials, information about preforeclosures, foreclosures, auctions, listings and more at this site.
2. Bank and Government Foreclosures: This site focuses on bank-owned and government properties. They offer tutorials, listings, articles and more that focus on foreclosures, no matter the source.
3. Bigger Pockets Foreclosures: This link will take you to just one article about foreclosures at Bigger Pockets. Search through the menu at left on this page for more foreclosure information. The forums on this site also carry foreclosure-specific topics.
4. Foreclosure Connections: With over a decade of practical experience in the foreclosure real estate industry, ForeclosureConnections.com draws on contacts in all areas of the industry to provide our members with listings from all kinds of diverse sources, including mortgage brokers, lending banks, county and state registrars, and government agencies like HUD and FHA. But ForeclosureConnections.com is more than just another listings service, as this site provides news, market updates, detailed articles, tips and advice on investing in foreclosure property.
5. Foreclosure Data Online: Search through articles, foreclosure listings by state, tutorials, a blog and more at this site.
6. Foreclosure Databank: ForeclosureDataBank.com was established in 1998 as a one-stop source for information on regional foreclosure markets and listings for buyers interested in purchasing foreclosure homes for investment or as primary residences. Although the focus is on listings, this site provides users with tutorials, tools, a discussion board, news and more to help stay on top of the foreclosure investment market.
7. Foreclosure Fetcher: Unlike other foreclosure database sites, this site is upfront about their seven-day free trial. So users know on the front end that the service will cost some money. This site also is a bit more comprehensive, adding tutorials, foreclosure tools such as a home value checker and a mortgage calculator, and a blog.
8. Foreclosure Store: Although the services here are free, the user must register first to gain access to user guides, listings, training, and foreclosure investment tools. Information about listings are available to members only.
9. Foreclosure.com: This site is more for experienced investors. You can find listings for anything other than auctions, but you’ll discover few articles and no tutorials here.
10. Foreclosures.com: Learn how to invest in foreclosures through the kearning tools and expert help provided at this site. This site also carries foreclosure listings.
11. Government Repo Homes: This site offers more than listings by state, it also offers articles, news, resources and data for investors who want to pursue homes that have been repossessed by the government.
12. National Foreclosures: For nearly fifteen years this company has provided asset managers and private money lenders with a turnkey service for quick property disposal. They offer services such as property valuation, rehabilitation and security, marketing preparation for re-entry into the resale marketplace by our network of pre-screened local Bank REO Specialists and more. This site also offers an affiliate program.
13. RealtyTrac Foreclosures: RealtyTrac has a foreclosure niche that’s difficult to beat. They offer listings, tutorials, and users can chat with a customer service representative. This site is geared toward all levels of investors.
14. The Realty Store: The RealtyStore provides foreclosure information for all types of users. Their listings are similar to RealtyTrac, but you must register to peruse their offerings. On the plus side, this site contains some useful tutorials, but it’s fairly difficult to navigate through the site.
15. USHud.com: Although this site bills itself as “America’s only free foreclosure resource,” this tag already is out of date. But, this site is unique in that it focuses solely on HUD foreclosures. Users can pre-qualify, use email alerts, and search through a database designed to offer buyers HUD opportunities.
16. Yahoo! Foreclosures: Yahoo! offers a foreclosure section in their real estate guide, where users can find articles, tutorials, market trends and listings.

Auctions

Are auctions the right place to find a foreclosure investment? Some investment coaches say yes, others say, “stay away.” Learn more about auction procedures through these sites, many of which are offered by businesses that sell foreclosed homes under the auctioneer’s hammer.

1. Express Auction: This link takes you to the Express Auction calendar, where users can find information on upcoming foreclosure auction properties.
2. Foreclosures Auctions: This site has put together information on grants, foreclosure, auction and tax lien information from around the Internet. They go beyond auctions to provide news and resources centered on bank-owned, government, foreclosure properties and other real estate tools.
3. GovernmentAuctions.org: This is a membership Web site that helps users find and attend government auctions and foreclosures of every type. GovernmentAuctions.org is a division of Cyweb Holdings Inc., a closely held corporation headquartered in New York, U.S.A.
4. Government Real Estate Sales: Buy real estate the government has seized or doesn’t need. Commercial buildings, investment properties, land, multifamily, single family homes, condominiums, mobile homes, farms, ranches and more.
5. IRS Auction: Under authority of the Internal Revenue Code, the property described on this site has been seized or acquired for nonpayment of internal revenue taxes and is offered for sale by bid. If you can’t find the property you want, you can shop for jewelry, restaurant contents and more instead.
6. Modesto Real Estate Auctions: The Modesto real estate foreclosures provide investors with foreclosed home and property options throughout the U.S. They also educate investors regarding the forclosure property along with a strategic investment time frame and exit strategy.
7. Property Trac: This company strives to be the premier center for buyers, sellers and investors who want to maximize their return on real estate and properties in foreclosure. Get your answers through their informative resources, learn about how the aucton process works and more, even if you don’t use their services (they focus on the New York metro area).
8. REDC Auction Calendar: Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC) traces its inception back to 1990. At that time, REDC embarked on a course that established a dominant position in the marketplace for the company, by selling over one million dollars of real estate assets using the auction marketing process. Use their auction calendar to discover when and where this company holds its auctions.
9. Williams and Williams: This company is one of the few auction houses that accept online bids. Look for online auctions by zip code or place auction alerts by registering on the site. They also provide tutorials for the auction process.

Listings

The following sites contain databases filled with information about foreclosures, preforeclosures, HUD foreclosures and government and bank-owned properties. Some sites offer free registration, but check closely to understand that “free” often means a seven-day free trial. Other listings, like the Home Sales HUD listed below, offer much more information - truly for free.

1. 4Viv: The purpose of this Web site is to provide access to the most informative, free foreclosure listings and resources on the Internet. You will find links and valuable information related to government, HUD, VA, and Bank/REO properties and much more.
2. Email Foreclosures: This site provides a service where they find foreclosure listings and deliver them to your email inbox as soon as they receive them. The listings are formulated by user criteria, so you only receive the information you request. Plus, this services will email you only if new or changed listings meeting your criteria become available. This service is “free for homebuyers.”
3. Foreclosure I: This site contains “the largest, most accurate, and comprehensive database of foreclosure, pre-foreclosure and tax lien listings in the US.” You have access to listings 24/7, and you can tap into a personalized listings update service based upon your request.
4. Foreclosure Data: This site belongs to National Foreclosure Data Company founded in 1998. With over 2.3 Million users and growing, this site offers specialized investment tools to help analyze data, detailed data on property listings, 24-hour customer support and more.
5. Foreclosure Deals: ForeclosureDeals.com is a leading online foreclosure listings service, founded in 1998. Working closely with banks, court houses, government agencies and local brokers, this site provides up-to-date information on foreclosure homes, pre-foreclosures, foreclosures and auctions throughout the day.
6. Foreclosure Free Search: Once again, another site that offers free research, but the user must register to learn details about a property, and the offer is for a seven-day free trial.
7. Foreclosure Investor’s Report: The Foreclosure Investors Report (FIR) supplies qualified investors with advanced information about upcoming foreclosure sales by offering its members accurate, current data on loans that are in foreclosure. While this company’s listings currently include only Arkansas and Tennessee foreclosures, they plan to expand to other states very soon.
8. Foreclosure Listings: This site makes it easy to find foreclosure homes and bank foreclosures for great prices. By compiling research gathered on real estate markets in every state, ForeclosureListings.com has created a comprehensive, searchable database of foreclosure listings and made it available to members for a fee. Members also receive 24-hour customer support and information geared to every level of real estate experience.
9. Foreclosure Listings Nationwide: You must register with a credit card to gain access to listings provided by this service. Unlike straight database services, this site also offers a blog, short tutorials and more. But, it is basically a listing service.
10. Foreclosure Warehouse: ForeclosureWarehouse.com was created to help investors with providing a convenient, online foreclosure resource that combines the latest information with top-notch personal service. You have access to listings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the site provides 24/7 costumer service.
11. Foreclosures 4 Investors: This mission of Foreclosures-4-Investors is to become the largest investment property wholesaler in the nation. This site focuses on both residential and commercial properties, and you can find useful resources here such as documents for the buyer, newsletter, tutorials and more.
12. ForeclosureNet: Use this site’s seven-day free trial to find bank foreclosures and government foreclosed homes that include single family homes, condos, town homes, multi-family unites, rental and income properties, office buildings, agricultural properties and more.
13. Free Foreclosure Listings: No registraton required to search through this database, which includes foreclosure and preforeclosure listings for all fifty states, including bank and government-owned properties. Choose from HUD, single family homes, town homes, rental and income properties.
14. Free Home Mortgage Foreclosure Listings: This site, like so many others that have popped up on the Web over the past few months, offers a database organized by state. While they offer searches for free, it’s a ruse for a seven-day free trial and users cannot delve into the details of an offering without registration.
15. Home Sales HUD: Unlike other listing sites, the investor can find actual images and information about HUD homes for sale here without a fee. These previously owned homes are for sale by public auction or other method depending on the property. An investor in a HUD home may need to find a real estate sales professional in your area who is authorized to show and sell HUD homes (most are).
16. House Repos: Like many of the foreclosure listings on this page, this site holds a database of house repossessions that users can gain access to for a fee. This site also provides a blog that focuses on foreclosures.
17. MSN Foreclosure Listings: MSN offers a foreclosure database, along with laws pertaining to foreclosures by state and a short tutorial on how to purchase foreclosures.
18. Preforeclosure Alert: Preforeclosurealerts.com offers investors the opportunity to find distressed properties before they hit the market. You must register first, then you begin to receive emails when the site lists new preforeclosure offerings.
19. Preforeclosure.com: This site contains more than 1.2 million foreclosure, preforeclosure, bankruptcy, FSBO and tax lien listings across the United States. They obtain their listings through hundreds of leading foreclosing lenders and government agencies, as well as an extensive network of corporate sellers, directly.

Blogs

Despite the wealth of real estate blogs, few blogs focus solely on the foreclosure market from the investor’s perspective. Some foreclosure focus is found in real estate investment blogs instead. If you have a favorite blogger who writes about real estate investment, search through that person’s blog to discover if he or she has focused on foreclosures within recent months. Also, be sure to check out the blogs that are included in the foreclosure Web sites noted above.

1. Ask Paul Wells: This blog is well worth the time for any foreclosure investor to peruse. More of a question and answer forum, Wells asks for questions about foreclosure investing and answers the questions in this blog format. Serious well of information.
2. Commonsense Real Estate: Anthony, the author of this blog, wrote “Real Estate Investing Made Simple: A commonsense approach to building wealth,” and he was a contributing writer to Donald Trump’s book, “The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received.” Lately, Anthony has been focusing on real estate investments in the foreclosure market in his blog.
3. Distressed Property Blog: This blog provides investors with practical tips, strategies and level headed warnings to help you succeed in developing a portfolio of foreclosures.
4. Finding Foreclosures: This is an interesting blog about foreclosures offered by two experts who have written a book about finding foreclosures across the U.S.
5. Flipping Homes 2.0: If nothing else, you can be amused by the humorous approach the writers take to this blog. Although the focus is on flipping, the latest craze is about flipping short sales homes. This blog tackles this topic full on, with notes like, “Ohio: Hired 1,000+ attorneys to work with borrowers to block foreclosures (FREE OF CHARGE TO THE HOMEOWNER!)” [emphasis from the blog] - this is a true roadblock for the eager snapper-upper!
6. Foreclosure Deals: This is more of a newsfeed than a blog, but the posts are frequent and the news is relevant to foreclosure investors.
7. Foreclosure Nation: This blog is more of a news service for the foreclosure investor who wants to keep tabs on U.S. foreclosure trends.
8. Foreclosure Pulse: This is a RealtyTrac blog, so the information provided here will be the most focused on the foreclosure investment market.
9. Foreclosures Daily: This is Mike Kane’s personal blog, and his idea of getting personal is to focus on foreclosure news nationwide. Unlike some blog newsfeeds, Kane does get personal, adding some opinion to national foreclosure topics.
10. Gammon and Associates: This blog provides another idea for foreclosure investors, as it’s written from the perspective of a corporate attorney. While some posts have no relevance to foreclosures, others hone in on this topic with stunning clarity. Worth a look to learn more from the legal angle.
11. Got Foreclosure!: This blog offers information on topics ranging from foreclosure strategies and deals to news, trends, foreclosure lists, and investment education in this active foreclosure market.
12. Real Estate and Investment Blog: Susan Reagor is an Associate Broker with Elite Realty in Mesa Arizona. Lately, Reagor has focused on the foreclosure investment side of real estate in her blog.
13. Real Estate Investing and Foreclosure News: This blog, perhaps, is the most relevant blog for foreclosures in this list. The authors post news and trends and offer information about the foreclosure investment market.
14. Real Estate Investing Training: Monique Fell, a real estate investment broker, recently has focused on foreclosures and has offered free information on how to invest in this market.
15. Simon Volkov: More of an article list than a blog, this tool can help the investor learn more about the foreclosure market. The articles are updated regularly, and are written by a professional private investor.
16. Tax Loopholes - Foreclosures: Although this blog focuses on tax loopholes, the foreclosure market has become a target for writers here. The perspective is toward the foreclosure investor.
17. The Foreclosure Report: This is one of Ben Jones’ blogs. If you’re not familiar with the name, he also writes for the Housing Bubble blog. The Foreclosure Report focuses more on foreclosure news from the perspective that might be of interest to the investor.
18. The Foreclosures Information Blog: John Nazareno has spent two decades in California’s Bay area, and he knows that region like the back of his hand. Although his Web site focuses on California foreclosures, his blog carries topics of nationwide appeal with a focus on foreclosure investments.

Forums

The forums that focus on foreclosure seem fairly few and far between and mostly inactive. Perhaps this is because foreclosures are happening quickly, and investors are busy buying rather than talking up the topics on the Internet. With that said, the following list contains the most active or interesting foreclosure forums on the Web.

1. All-Foreclosures: This forum is part of the All Foreclosure Information site.
2. Expert Law Forums: This forum provides a different insight into foreclosure investments. Learn more about the legal angles for this type of investment opportunity. The forum presents both sides of the foreclosure process, from buyers and sellers.
3. Foreclosure Forum: This forum also presents buyers and sellers, and the user may need to scroll through various questions to find any relevant information.
4. REI Club Forums: This forum belongs to the REI Club, but it’s free to browse through the various topics and threads. Both buyers and sellers pose questions here, and some even have posted investment opportunities for buyers.
5. Easy HUD Foreclosure Forum: There are four threads here focused on short sales, short sale flips, foreclosure course reviews, and a thread about how to use the Easy HUD site.
6. BK Forum: This forum, perhaps, is the most interesting forum on foreclosure topics. While the majority of questions and topics posed on this forum are from the seller’s perspectives, an investor could learn much from the questions and answers posed on this forum.
7. Foreclosure and Short Sale Questions: This forum is part of the “Wanna Network?” site. The topics situated here are specific to foreclosures, and many are relevant to investor-side questions and answers.
8. Get Real REI: This is probably the most active foreclosure forum found on the Web. Although the answers to topics posed aren’t frequent, the topics and threads have received plenty of views.
9. Foreclosure Real Estate Forum: This is an interesting layout for a forum. There are plenty of topic threads and questions with few answers. However, the investor may find something here of interest.

20 Comments

101 Tips & Resources for the Upside-Down Homeowner

Posted in Features on April 24, 2008

Are you upside down in your home ownership? If you are, then you know that you can’t borrow from your home equity for emergencies because you don’t have equity to borrow against. You may not be able sell your home unless you come up with the money to cover the shortfall between your home’s value and your loan. In this case, either your house has lost value, or the loan balance has risen, or both.

Sitting upside down with a home ownership is stressful, but there are plenty of tips and remedies for this situation. No matter if you decide to sell, walk away or sit it out, the following list contains ideas that may help you financially and emotionally as you go through this trying time.

The list below is in no particular order. While the sites are numbered, the numbering does not indicate that we favor one site over another or that they are listed in order of value.

Get Ready to Sell

Unless you’re ready to ride out a volatile housing market, then you’re ready to sell your home. In this case, preparation for selling a home is similar to any other home sale, but the tips below are provided with empty pockets in mind.

1. Limit emotional involvement: This house may have seen births, deaths, marriages and more. But, now it’s a product that must be sold. If you can’t step away from emotional perspectives, bring in a friend who can provide an unbiased perspective about what needs to be done to this “product” to make it more attractive to buyers.
2. Curb appeal: Potential buyers won’t take a house seriously unless its exterior is enticing. Sometimes a little elbow grease is all that’s needed to polish up that front door, to clean the windows and gutters and to mow the lawn.
3. Small stuff counts outside: New house numbers or potted plants go a long way to create an inexpensive and attractive facade. You might even borrow the potted plants.
4. Small stuff counts inside: No need to replace expensive items. You might be amazed at how quickly a kitchen can change simply by replacing doorknobs on cabinets or by painting those cabinets.
5. Less can be more: Sometimes the elimination of shrubs, plants, and the addition of mulch can open up a yard and make it more appealing. Once again, this effort just takes a work on your part.
6. Remove furniture: Sell it, give it away or store it. Home buyers often like to envision their furniture in a new home without the obstacles of your living arrangements.
7. Paint the interior smartly: If you’re painting for resale, many parents will appreciate an easy clean-up paint with a satin finish. This paint also does well if you plan to rent the house instead of selling. See if you can find what interior decorator Jeanette Fisher calls oops! paint, or paint that has been rejected by potential buyers to save a few dollars on this renovation.
8. Hold a yard sale: If your neighborhood is conducive to yard sales, use this opportunity to clear out the house, make money, and to tell people the home is for sale.
9. Use consignment shops: Or, thrift shops or second-hand to sell items you don’t need.
10. Go secondhand: Nothing can beat a dishwasher, stove, sink, pot rack, pantry door, and four cabinet units used for $435. Just ask Frugal Babe about that deal.
11. Spruce up the siding [PDF]: Siding replacement hangs in right up there with kitchen and bath remodeling for home sale ROI (return on investment). If all you need is new siding to make your home stand out for sale, then go for it. Otherwise, just spend the money on a power wash to make that home seem like new.
12. Don’t overspend: Don’t run up those credit cards to overspend on a home to make it the best in the neighborhood. Buyers will not overspend on you, so why should you overspend on them?
13. Be frugal: You can have every thing you need to fix up that home for sale if you’re frugal. If frugality is a new lifestyle for you, check out frugal Web sites such as this one to learn how to ready your home for sale for mere pennies.

FSBO in a Down Market

The ability to sell your home without the expertise of a Realtor is the goal for many homeowners. Here are a few tips for the FSBO (fizber) homeowner that can help to sell that home in a down market.

1. Learn how to sell your home: Even if you end up with a real estate agent in the end, learning how the home sale process works can only help you understand the process and save money in the long run.
2. You might not have a choice: If you’re upside-down in your home and you need to sell, you may need to forgo a real estate agent. No equity means no 5-7 percent commission for a broker.
3. Build commission into sale price: Money that would otherwise be paid to a real estate agent can be built into the asking price, offering the home seller greater flexibility for bidding. In many markets, this can mean the difference between a property sitting on a market and being sold.
4. Be prepared legally: You’ll need appropriate paperwork for FSBO transactions. Either consult a real estate attorney or look through FSBO sites on the Internet to learn what you need and why you need it. Realize that many forms are state specific.
5. Go about FSBO safely: Often the real estate agent provides a buffer zone between seller and buyer. This article provides some great advice on how to sell your home safely on your own.
6. No foreclosures in neighborhood?: You might want to tout the fact that there are no foreclosures in your neighborhood. People want to avoid “suburban slums,” the moniker that now tags many foreclosure neighborhoods.
7. Learn about MLS: The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is the primary data system that most real estate agents use to market and sell property. 75% of all properties sold across the nation are sold through the MLS. The two tips below show how you can gain access to this powerful selling tool.
8. Join FSBO Web sites: Sites such as this one and others linked here can help you gain a footing in your home sale, especially for Multiple Listing Service (MLS), tips, and FSBO education.
9. Go MLS all the way: You can bypass joining FSBO sites and on-site advertising fees by going straight MLS. This service still costs, but you can avoid paying a listing commission in many cases. The site linked here provides just one example of how you can go about this process, and this site provides yet another alternative. Weigh all options before spending money, and read all material to familiarize yourself with the process.
10. Research your options: Use the Web 2.0 real estate sites listed here to discover your home’s approximate worth and other scenarios before you make a move. You may discover options that will help you sell your home faster and with less cost.

Dealing with Realtors

Sure, you may have dealt with a Realtor or two when you purchased your home, but times may not have been what they are now. A rough market can change attitudes and your risks.

1. Learn about the ins and outs: Although this Wired article is dated 2005, the information contained in its perspective is just as relevant in 2008. In a down market, you can assure yourself that agents will want to push harder and faster to get your house sold so they can make that commission. While this may be what you want, a little less ‘fear factor’ could help you realize patience and more money down the road. Dealing with realtors is daunting, but don’t feel the need to start looking at Capella University reviews or applying to real estate degree programs — just check out this easy to digest guide, instead.
2. Cut paperwork expense: Even if you decide to use a real estate agent to sell your home, you might find you can cut down on the paperwork fees by doing some legwork yourself. Learn more about what you can do to cut those costs online.
3. Learn about buyer, seller, and duel agents: The duel agent may save you money (see directly below), and a seller - only agent will try to get you the best price. Either way, be sure to know who your agent really represents.
4. Send potential buyers to your (duel) agent: As a buyer, the ability to use the seller’s agent may benefit all concerned, since the buyer eliminates one agent’s commission at no cost to you. That’s a hefty incentive to buy your home.
5. Beware discount brokers: Not that discount brokers are “bad” - it’s just that they may not share your incentive to sell your home.
6. Consult a Realtor for a remodel: If you can stay put and improve your home for sale down the road, include a Realtor in your plans. Often, Realtors can provide great advice on what to remodel and how far to go for your neighborhood, saving you plenty of money in the long run (see “Weather It Out” and “Invest in Your Home” categories listed below).
7. You don’t need a Realtor for auction: If you want to try to sell your home quickly, you don’t need a Realtor to put it up for auction. You have options as well, such as refusing a bid or setting a reserve.
8. Maybe you need an agent: If you’re so stressed out that you can’t handle calls, set appointments to see your home or show your home. This blog entry, not written by a Realtor, can provide you with several reasons to use a Realtor.

Refinancing

A home loan refinance is a new loan obtained through your lender or a new lender to pay off existing loan. If you’re upside-down, however, your best recourse is to try to change the terms of your mortgage.

1. Be a Vanilla Borrower: If see personal financial troubles looming on the horizon, but if you currently have good credit, good income, low debt, and strong assets, then refinance now if you need it. You’re what is known as a “vanilla borrower,” and you may have an easier time refinancing now than later.
2. Refinance for a lower interest rate: Take advantage of lower interest rates for refinancing, but only if it makes sense in the long run. The trick is to know how long you intend to stay in your home.
3. Research your options: Refinancing involves many of the same steps as the original mortgage financing, along with expenses for an inspection and an appraisal. Crunch numbers to see if refinancing makes sense for you.
4. Then again, banks are skittish: Mortgage rates are rising, despite federal cuts on interest rates. Rising mortgage rates tend to keep buyers away, and it makes it more difficult for homeowners to refinance.
5. Forget the Cash Out refinancing option: If you’re upside-down in your home, this option isn’t available. Without appreciation and with debt on mortgage, you’ll see more debt instead of money in your pocket.
6. Don’t call a national lending assocation: Outside some of the problems listed here at Consumer Affairs, these companies can assign your input to mortgage companies around the nation, and many of those companies will take that information and query your credit report to qualify you for business. This mass attack on your credit report translates to a lower rating for all the queries. Instead, look to your previous lender or find someone through a friend who has had similar experiences and leave your credit report alone.
7. Another reasong to stay with your existing lender: If your credit rating has slipped, a previous good credit rating is known to this lender. They may be willing to cut some fees to help you refinance with them.
8. Beware of other options: On the other hand, be leery of options that provide seeming relief, as they have negative as well as positive sides to each issue. In this case, a government-backed guarantee to lenders who are willing to refinance upside-down homeowners might be fraught with problems.
9. The critical factor for refinancing is the appraisal: Learn how the appraisal can make or break a refinancing deal.
10. Get a fixed rate mortgage: If you have an ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage), then you know you don’t want to go there again. Instead, refinance to go after a fixed rate mortgage, one that won’t change on you no matter how long you own your home.
11. Trust your gut instincts: If, as this blogger says, you find no light in the eyes of your lender or any other person you deal with, perhaps you should wait before you make another financial decision.

Avoiding Foreclosure

Foreclosure is a black hole that keeps on draining you long after you’ve lost the house. No matter how bleak things may seem, there are many ways to avoid foreclosure and to save your credit rating:

1. Don’t live beyond your means: A story at Dr. Housing Bubble shows how easily and quickly a well-off couple can face foreclosure, thanks to overspending - even on a $130,000 gross budget.
2. Contact your lender immediately: Contact your lender before you hit the figurative brick wall. Your lender might have solutions for you that are specific to your state or region, and that lender would rather help you out than see you walk away.
3. Don’t ignore correspondence: Although you might think it’s all bad news, your lender and others may be trying to help you. Open and respond to all correspondence.
4. Learn about foreclosure laws: Foreclosure laws vary from state to state. This is your resource to learn more about your local laws.
5. Know your rights: You have rights as a homeowner. Read your mortgage and seek counseling. These rights vary state by state and new legislation may alter what you know already.
6. Seek independent counseling: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) keeps a state-by-state list of certified housing counselors on its Web site.
7. Learn about mortgage fraud: Although it may be a bit late to learn if you’ve been duped, you may have recourse or assistance available to you. Look through blogs or news services like this one to learn more about mortgage fraud and cases in your area.
8. Talk with a lawyer: Many lawyers will offer a free initial counsel to hear you out. These lawyers can help you make informed decisions, especially if you’ve been wronged in your mortgage setup.
9. Try a short sale: A short sale is a process by which you can sell your home for less money than you owe on it. Although still not a common way to avoid foreclosure, the short sale can work if the mortgage company is willing and your buyer is committed. Just know that the short sale may result in a 1099 that shows the debt forgiveness (this would translate to taxable income for you).
10. Learn about loss mitigation programs: Several programs exist that can help you forestall foreclosure. Some programs may require that you qualify with various standards, but the options do exist to help you keep your home and your credit rating.
11. Avoid foreclosure rescue scams: Various scams, including equity skimming, phony counseling agencies and more are there to take your house and the rest of your money. Use government agencies, legitimate banks and other companies to learn what you can do to protect your assets.
12. Learn about Hope Now: If your lender won’t talk to you because you’re upside down, read more about Hope Now to discover other options. This program was instituted by the Bush administration in 2007 to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
13. Don’t move: In order to qualify for assistance, homeowners often are required to be living in their home.
14. It’s illegal in California: Do not let anyone charge you an upfront fee for foreclosure advice and assistance. Instead, seek counseling and talk with your lender.

Avoiding Bankruptcy

When you try to avoid foreclosure, you try to save your credit rating as well as your house. Avoiding bankruptcy is a different animal altogether…

1. Don’t lose it all: If you don’t declare bankruptcy, then you can keep many things - like furniture, credit cards and more. If you decide to declare bankruptcy for debt relief and you own a home, other opportunities exist.
2. Think rationally: Both bankruptcy and foreclosure stay on your record for years. However, it’s easier to rebuild your credit when you still have credit cards in hand.
3. File Chapter 13: A debtor facing foreclosure can stop the foreclosure sale by filing Chapter 13, which is not bankruptcy, but a reorganization of debt.. The Chapter 13 plan permits the debtor to cure defaults on mortgage debts by repaying the arrears within a reasonable period of time.
4. Beware Chapter 13: While Chapter 13 remains the only option to stop a foreclosure, you might want to know that there is a likelihood that your payoff balance will go up and that you may have limited recourse to challenge these charges if you file.
5. Walk away: If you’re late on all your payments and if you have a non-recourse loan, then just walk away. You’ve already screwed your credit rating, and no one can “come after” you. Jim Cramer, for one, endorses this exit strategy.
6. Before you walk away: If your property is worth less than the total amount you owe on your mortgage loan, your lender could seek a deficiency judgment. If that happens, you not only lose your home; you also would owe your lender an additional debt with the difference in what you owe and the amount the house sale price. But - this may happen only if you refinanced your home and your loan is a recourse loan (and from what we learned, this action is rarely if ever taken).
7. Here, FICO! Credit scores are hurt much more by missing multiple payments - on credit cards, cars and so on - than by a single foreclosure.
8. Use an attorney: Beware of companies that make walking away from your home look like it’s a walk in the park. Foreclosure is a difficult decision, and one that needs common sense and localized legal advice.
9. Cash for Keys: Just like a home sale, you leave behind anything that’s attached to the house. But, if you feel like ripping out some plumbing on your way out the foreclosure door, try finding a local Cash for Keys program instead. Lenders and banks now pay homeowners hundreds or even thousands of dollars to put their anger in escrow and leave quietly.

Rent Your Home (or a portion of it)

If you can rent all or part of your home and see a way out of your tight financial situation, then why not? The list below links to information about landlord responsibilities and tax implications as well as tips on how to handle renters.

1. Rent your home: If you’re in a situation where you can find a cheap place to live (like moving in with a sibling or parents), then you might think about renting your home to make ends meet on those mortgage payments. Remember to charge enough to take care of any necessary repairs.
2. Rent a portion of your home: If you have a basement (or an attic or garage apartment) with an outside entrance, you might want to share your home with a renter. Learn about what you might need to make that basement rental-friendly.
3. Determine your capitalization rate: Is it worth it to rent or sell your home? Learn about your options through the Forbes capitalization calculator.
4. Learn how to handle renters: Learn ten great tips on how to handle renters before you rent.
5. Two years out of five: That’s the rule when it comes to the IRS determining whether you were a resident at your home. If you’ve lived there for two years, then you have three years to weather out the market by renting your home.
6. Personal residence tax exclusions: During those three years you can still receive the full benefit of the personal residence tax exclusion on a sale — $250,000 for a single owner and $500,000 on a joint return.
7. Military fares differently: The Military Family Tax Relief Act, signed into law on November 11, 2003, allows military member homeowners to suspend this five-year period for up to 10 years of extended duty overseas or at a domestic location that is more than 50 miles from the residence that’s being sold.
8. Learn how to become a landlord: If you’re thinking about renting all or part of your home, you might want to study some implications to being a landlord.
9. Landlords play by state rules: If you think you might want to rent your home, learn how to play by state rules. This link provides resources for Minnesota landlords, for example.
10. Rental depreciation benefits: Even if the rent covers 100% of your out of pocket expenses, you may be able to take deductions. The loss will come from the depreciation on the rented portion of the house.
11. Learn more about tax benefits: For taxpayers in general, rental losses are limited to $25,000 (filing as single or married filing jointly; it’s only $12,500 for married filing separately), regardless of the loss amount. But when your income is over $100,000, your deductible losses are reduced by $1 for every $2 of income. At $150,000, you are totally phased out of the rental loss deduction.
12. Be an active participant: You are apt to lose the right to that $25,000 loss when you turn your home over to a property manager to rent, manage and maintain.
13. Report your income: On the down side, rental income is considered just that - income. You must report this money on your tax return.

Weather it Out

If you still have a job and if you can make your mortgage payments, then why worry? Just keep an eye on the markets and your neighborhood to learn how the markets may affect you in the future…

1. Patience is a virtue: If you can sit out this current economic free fall, then do so. Otherwise, you may be lowballing a home that could be worth much more in a better market economy. After all, if Bernanke’s hands are tied, perhaps your hands are tied as well…
2. Don’t sweat the equity: As with a stock market portfolio, the value of your home will rise and fall with the markets. If you’re upside down now, that situation may change within months depending upon market movements. Sitting tight only means that you’re a long-term investor in your home and that you need to have faith in your choice.
3. Your neighbors may hurt you: Another reason to sit out the down market is to determine if your neighbors are foreclosing. If so, the market value on your home may have plumeted and it may be difficult to sell - at least for now.
4. Keep an eye on new legislation: Lawmakers want to help homeowners, as a bad housing market affects the entire country’s economy. Keep an eye on legislation such as this one in Michigan that can help you now or down the road.
5. Watch the stock market: Some good companies are taking a beating thanks to the housing slump. If you have the means, do some research and find stocks that will increase along with your house property as the country climbs out of this financial fiasco.
6. Pay on your principle: If you have extra cash, you might want to avoid a volatile stock market. Instead, pay more on your home’s principle to help bring your upside-down mortgage right-side up.
7. Reduce credit card debt: If the interest rate on your credit cards is more than your mortgage rate, then pay off those cards. This is one step in bankruptcy avoidance. Learn more from blogs like Blogging Away Debt.
8. Search for accurate pundits: While you’re twiddling your thumbs waiting for the housing slump to end, search for pundits (like Tamara J. Erickson) who predicted this situation over a year ago. Maybe these are the analysts you need to follow in the future…
9. Recession-proof your career: Why lose your job when your mortgage is upside down? Not a good idea, right? Learn how to make your career recession-proof. Maybe that will take your mind off your lack of equity.
10. 11 Recessions since WWII: It’s a cycle. If you can sit this one out, then position yourself for profit on the upswing.
11. Four years? Maybe five? Some pundits put recovery somewhere around 2011. Can you hold onto your property that long? If so, maybe you’ll need to do a little renovating to get your house up to speed…

Invest In Your Home

Many investors believe that the best place to put investment dollars these days is into a home, because that’s where they’re gambling the most equity will accrue even with this mortgage crises. If you’re in a position to weather out this financial storm, then think about what will make your home worth more down the road. Here are some suggestions:

1. Don’t expect refinancing for remodeling: You’ll need cash on hand or adequate credit for these projects, as it will be difficult to get a bank to offer refinancing for remodeling if you’re upside down in your home.
2. Look at ROI: If you have the cash or credit to spruce up your home, consider your return on investment before you lift a finger. Some projects are well worth the time and money spent. Other projects may be a waste.
3. Get a second opinion: Consider your region and even your neighborhood before you assess ROI. Plus, time makes a difference - don’t remodel a kitchen years before you sell it, otherwise it will appear dated.
4. Look around the country: A bathroom remodel might not bring as much money in New England as it would in Texas. Learn more about what improvements are bringing in more ROI at Remodeling Online.
5. Major kitchen remodeling isn’t necessary: Small fixes will do. But, if you plan on living in the home for four or five more years, perhaps that those green avacado appliances can go and you can enjoy the new appliances.
6. Bathrooms high on list: Next to the kitchen, bathrooms can add value to your home and will rate high on ROI. Fix current bathrooms or add one for more equity in your home.
7. Add a room: Sometimes you can add a room simply by adding a closet - that small effort may change the focus of the room and add value to your home.
8. Add a bedroom in the attic: Even if the housing market isn’t up, your thoughts don’t need to stay in the basement. If you can add a bedroom in your attic, you’re likely to recoup 82.7 percent of the estimated $35,000 cost of installation.
9. More isn’t better: Even if you don’t lift a finger for renovation (but you should for repairs), you’ll realize a profit later. Why? Because inflation will work its wily wonders, making your home more valuable down the road than it is today.
10. Think twice before you go top-dollar: Although you may love that granite countertop, think about your neighbors. Do they have granite counter tops? No? Then, perhaps the laminate they use in their homes is just as good for yours.
11. Do it yourself: You can save tons of money on remodeling projects if you take the time to do the work yourself. Save electric, plumbing, and major projects for the pros, however.
12. Do it for yourself: If you’re feeling down about the down market, a remodeling project may be what you need to feel good about your home and yourself again.

18 Comments

Top 10 Ridiculous, Obnoxious, and Just Plain Ugly Celebrity Houses

Posted in Features on April 10, 2008

What type of house would you live in or build if you were a celebrity? Would you build a home that depicts your hobbies, or would you build a place that is so “you” or so overpriced that you couldn’t sell it no matter how hot the market? With those questions in mind, we sought the ten top most ridiculous, obnoxious, and just plain ugly celebrity pads around. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so what we think is tacky might seem gorgeous and practical to another beholder…The list below is in no particular order. While the sites are numbered, the numbering does not indicate that we favor one site over another or that they are listed in order of value.

1. Britney Spears: According to public records, Spears purchased the Malibu, California house through her Love Shack Trust in October 2004 for $6,300,000. The 7,400 square foot home boasts a pool, a spa, tennis court and gym, a maid’s quarters, seven bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms. Spears put the home on the market in January 2007 for $13.5 million, but the price dropped in March to $11.8 million. The house, which is located in the exclusive gated Serra Retreat area where such stars as Mel Gibson live, may have priced itself out of the market for the moment. Additionally, rumor has it that the gated estate was too overly-customized to Mr. and Mrs. Spears’ tastes. According to the linked source, “A bar in every room was too over-the-top for the average potential buyer in that price range - not to mention the lavish poolside bar built over which once was the tennis court.” This past March, papers were served to Britney and she was almost evicted because she hadn’t paid the rent. It appears that Britney’s financial team screwed up, but that all payments now are current.
2. John Travolta: No, this isn’t an airline terminal. It’s the home of John Travolta and family, built specifically to house his Gulfstream and Boeing 707B. The home is located immediately off a main airstrip in Ocala, Florida, and it’s designed so his jets can taxi right up to two outbuildings connected to the main structure that’s shaped like a truncated air-control tower. Although the property came equipped with a 7,500-foot runway, Travolta extended the taxiway to reach the house. Actress Kelly Preston, Travolta’s wife, can tell when John’s home, as the planes are visible from the living area inside the home. If that’s not enough airline for you, wait until you see the mural in the dining area that was culled from a 1937 Fortune magazine ad. Diners can pretend they’re eating in the lobby of a 1930s Paris airport.
3. Michael Jackson: Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch served as the pop singer’s private amusement park and home when the facility opened in 1988, but it’s no longer in operation. This ridiculous property, which lies over 2,800 acres, contains a zoo, a theme park with Ferris wheel, merr-go-round, zipper, spider, sea dragon, wave swinger, super slide, dragon wagon kiddie roller coaster, and bumper cars. Named for Neverland, the fantastical island in the story of Peter Pan where children never grow up, the ranch is located near Los Olivos, California. As of March, 2008, the property remains in foreclosure proceedings, with a possible auction slated unless Jackson clears his debt. The auction may be forestalled by a loan extension offered by his loan holder Fortress Investments, according to Fox News.
4. Ira Rennert: Rennert, a publicity-shy billionaire founder of the Renco Group, is known more for his obnoxious New York Hamptons home than he is for anything else. This mansion is considered one of the largest occupied residential compounds in America, and - if put on the market - may be the valued as the most expensive home on earth. The home sits on 63 acres, and the buildings cover over 110,000 square feet including the 66,000 square foot main house. The main building contains a 91-foot long dining room, 29 bedrooms and 39 bathrooms. Fair Field, named after the adjoining Fairfield Pond, also contains a bowling alley, tennis and squash courts, and a $150,000 hot tub.
5. Candy Spelling: Producer Aaron Spelling tore down Bing Crosby’s old home to build this ridiculous 56,000-square-foot, 123-room Los Angeles, California estate. Unarguably the largest estate in California, this hotel-sized mansion sports a bowling alley and a single room devoted entirely to gift wrapping. While rumors ran rampant that Aaron’s widow, Candy, would sell the home in 2006 following Aaron’s death, Candy dispelled the rumors and continues to reside alone in the mansion. Candy Spelling is the mother of Tori and Randy Spelling, both actors. Candy and Tori have remained hot in celebrity mags, thanks to their feuds over Aaron’s inheritance, Tori’s portrayal of her mother in a VH1 sitcom, and other family feudal issues.
6. Will Smith: This is Will and Jada Smith’s ridiculously obnoxious mansion, located in California. Their estate is described as a Calabasas castle, as it has its own lake, basketball court, tennis court and a pair of private par threes in the backyard. The estate took over seven years to build at $20 million. Smith stated, “The problem is that you build your dream home, but then you’re seven years older so it’s the house you used to want real bad!” By 2004, when they had seven months until they could move in, Smith added, “We’ve got about seven more months (before we move in). Everybody is excited because we went (to the house) and we let the kids come in and they picked out their rooms. Some of them are not gonna live there because they’re gonna have their own home by the time we actually move in!” The Smith family was forced to leave this home in 2005 when a bush fire threatened to destroy it and several other houses in the same area.
7. Donald Trump: Donald Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida mansion was primed for the real estate market in 2006, and this 80,000-square-foot estate was priced at $125 million well before the housing meltdown. This obnoxious mansion, which resembles a civic center, totals 62,000 square feet, with nine bedrooms, a ballroom, media room, art gallery, beauty salon, and a 4,100-square-foot conservatory. Additionally, the 6.5-acre property with 475 feet of ocean frontage includes two guest houses, a pool, and parking for 40 cars. Trump purchased the estate for $41.35 million in a 2004 Florida bankruptcy-court auction. Trump renovated Maison de l’Amitié during his tenure, and during the sale it was listed as the most expensive home on the market anywhere in the U.S.
8. Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz: Shortly after His Royal Highness Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz was appointed Secretary-General of the National Security Council by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on October 16, 2005, he put his house in Aspen, Colorado up for sale. His reason for purchasing this home, which sits on 95 acres, includes his position as Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States of America from October 24, 1983 to September 8, 2005. However, it appears that His Highness rarely stayed at this U.S. palace. The main portion of the house, which is larger than the White House, includes 16 bathrooms, 15 bedrooms, stables, a tennis court, an indoor swimming pool, outdoor water features and a snowmelt driveway. The price? At the time, the asking price was $135 million, ten million more than what Trump asked for his Palm Beach estate. The Prince took the house off the market in November 2007 after a lack of offers.
9. Michael Vick: The former quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons is languishing in jail and no longer lives in this somewhat tacky Surrey County, Virginia home since he was convicted for dog fighting. The house includes 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a white brick exterior, hardwood floors, and a full basketball court in the backyard. Although the Surry County, Virginia Commissioner of the Revenue stated the dwelling itself is valued at $647,000, and the 15 acres of land upon which the home sits was valued at $100,000, it would be very spooky to live in a home where this celebrity buried dog carcasses. The home sits across the street from a Baptist Church and is surrounded by a large, white fence and was sold at auction in November 2007.
10. Martha Stewart: Would you pay $8.9 million for this house? That’s what Martha Stewart wants for her Westport, Connecticut home called “Turkey Hill.” The Georgian style house sports nine bedrooms, three baths, several outbuildings and “the nicest garden in town.” However, we feel that - given Martha’s gift for creativity - this house really is a turkey. At least it has plenty of room to roam on 4.03 acres. But, that wallpaper effect on the stairwell needs to go (follow the link to view the images).

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Top 10 Man-Made Island Paradises

Posted in Features on March 20, 2008

Have you ever fantasized about building an island paradise? Although many people dream about creating an island, few can dredge up the money or materials to realize those inspirations except in the most unusual circumstances. But, within the past century, developers have created habitable islands where individuals can live in communities or where they can visit for entertainment and relaxation. Investors now can own a piece of man-made island paradise, all shaped from dreams and blueprints or expanded upon with reclamation efforts. Although much of the world’s attention has been drawn to the creative island-building efforts located in Dubai, such as The Palm, the list below includes man-made island paradises located in the U.S., Japan, Spain, and other areas as well as the mideast. Some islands were built specifically for tourists, while others were created only for homeowners. Some blend both community life with tourism to offer a wide variety of possibilities for all concerned. Some islands have been inhabitated for decades while others recently have invited investors to the table for projects that will be finalized within the next decade.

The list below is in no particular order. While the sites are numbered, the numbering does not indicate that we favor one site over another or that they are listed in order of value.

1. The World: One way to add land mass to a city is to add a series of world-class islands to that city’s coastline. Dubai developer, Nakheel, has added more than 1,500 km of beach front to the Dubai coastline with various island-building projects over the past decade. These islands include The Palm, The World and Dubai Waterfront, and they’re located off the Dubai city coastline, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the eastern Arabian Peninsula. The World is the latest complete island paradise, with the last stone on the breakwater added on 10 January this year. Investors and developers can choose among 300 islands in the shape of the continents to create estate islands and residential and resort communities. All 300 islands are accessible only by marine or air transport, with world-class marinas to berth boats, yachts and cruise liners. Two mainland marinas will service The World, and 4 hub islands in The World will service the islands. Nakheel integrates a series of waterways, canals and lakes to enhance the overall design. Investors have the freedom to create their own personal vision on the islands for private or commercial use, whether it is for leisure, residential or tourist developments. The 300 islands will be offered for sale on a freehold basis to selected investors only. If The World doesn’t suit your taste, perhaps the next Nakheel project, The Universe, will be more your cup of tea.
2. Tokyo Disney Resort: Tokyo Disney Resort may or may not be the ideal paradise destination for adults, but adults with kids in tow might prefer this Japanese Disney destination over California’s Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Tokyo Disney Resort was the first Disney park to be built outside the U.S., and it will celebrate its 25th anniversary during 2008. The park was constructed by Walt Disney Imagineering in the same style as the U.S. parks. The Oriental Land Company purchased the theme license from the Walt Disney Company although it follows the Disney ideal. The island contains 115 acres, and it is located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. The island resort contains five hotels within walking distance from seven themed areas within the park. If you don’t have children in tow when you visit Japan and you want to visit a man-made island, you can plan to fly through Chūbu Centrair International Airport, Kansai International Airport, Kobe Airport, or the new Kitakyushu Airport. All four Japanese airports are built upon artificial islands.
3. Eden Island: Imagine living on a private island, with secluded beaches, a world-class commercial precinct, international marina capable of handling super-yachts as well as a range of activities and leisure facilities for your exclusive use. You can find this paradise on Eden Island, located in the Seychelles archipelago nation. This archipelago is located in the Indian Ocean, some 930 miles east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar. Situated just off the coast of the main island of Mahé, Eden Island is a 99-acre residential marina development that sports a minimum of 480 luxury freehold apartments, mansions and private villas. Homes are spacious, with large verandas and high-pitched red roofs. They feature breathtaking views over mountains, ocean, forests and nearby islands like Cerf and Ste. Anne. Unlike Tokyo Disney resort, Eden island is for property owners only and these owners qualify for residency. Only property owners within the development have exclusive use of facilities such as private beaches, parks, private moorings, clubhouse facilities and much more.
4. Venetian Islands : You don’t need to leave the U.S. to find first-rate man-made island paradises. You can find several situated near Miami in the form of the Venetian Islands. Although this little piece of heaven isn’t for the hermit, it’s perfect for anyone who wants to own a piece of community real estate in the one- to five-million dollar range. The islands, originally built in the 1920s, are connected by the historic Venetian Causeway from the Miami mainland to Miami Beach. The islands did not exist when the Venetian Causeway was first envisioned. Beginning in 1922, the Biscayne Bay improvement Company sold lots for underwater plots with contracts specifying that the buyer would receive land on an island once it had been dredged, filled, and improved. Construction of the Venetian Islands proceeded quickly and work on the Venetian Causeway began in 1925, consisting of viaducts, fill, and drawbridges. The Venetian Causeway was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Today, the this causeway is a popular stretch for joggers, bikers, dog walkers and sightseers.
5. Balboa Island: In 1908, Balboa Island near Newport Beach, California, was little more than a sandbar. Then, real estate promoter William Collins received permission from the Orange County Board of Supervisors to dredge the surrounding bay. He piled more sand on that little sandbar and built Balboa Island. Collins originally sold lots on the island for as little as $25. It’s a little late to purchase a lot on Balboa Island for that price, as some bay front lots now are appraised at over three million dollars. Despite this price increase, the island has retained its early twentieth-century charm. It is home to professionals, families, retirees, students and celebrities, but Balboa Island also entertains tourists and vacationers who return year after year to enjoy the scenery and activities. Local tradition has it that Balboa Island is where the frozen chocolate banana was first marketed, and tourists and residents alike count on stores to carry bags filled with salt water taffy and Balboa Bars (a brick of vanilla ice cream on a stick dipped in chocolate and rolled in chopped peanuts). Sounds as though a visit to this man-made paradise could sate your sweet tooth!
6. Sentosa Island: Singapore is no stranger to land reclamation, as they have constructed at least eight artificial islands over the years. The one that is most popular among tourists and residents who seek man-made island paradises is Sentosa Island. This 1,235-acre island was originally an island that has experienced man-made expansion. Complete with championship golf courses, spas, and world-class entertainment, the Sentosa HarbourFront contains over 20,000 square feet of retail space and attractions that run the gamut from adventure rides to historical exhibits amidst a retail environment. Located on the western tip of Sentosa island, Rasa Sentosa Resort is Singapore’s only beach front hotel. But, HarbourFront masterplans include a 10,000-strong residential community alongside this integrated family resort. Within the year, the Capella Singapore, developed by Millenia Hotel Pte Ltd (an associate company of local property conglomerate Pontiac Land Group), will open a six-star luxury resort that boasts 170 rooms and a number of private villas. Architectural genius Lord Norman Foster and legendary hotelier Robert Burns will see this multi-million dollar hotel project to fruition.
7. The Pearl-Qatar: Not to be outdone by its Dubai neighbor, Qatar is building a multi-billion dollar artificial island located less than one mile off the Doha coastline. The island will create almost 20 miles of new coastline, and it will provide 985 acres fronted by more than 12 miles of pristine beaches for over 40,000 residents in more than 15,000 dwellings within 12 precincts by 2010. The Pearl-Qatar is this country’s first international real estate venture. It represents the largest real estate development in the country and the first venture here to offer freehold and residential rights to international investors. Shaped like an exotic string of pearls, the Pearl-Qatar will allow room for800 guests among its 40,000 residents to enjoy three marinas, three 5 star hotels, plus almost half a million square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space.
8. Zoran Island: Mr Gulu Lalvani, developer of the Royal Phuket Marina in Phuket, Thailand, has his eye set on a new project - Zoran, a man-made island located off the Phuket shoreline. Lalvani told local press that Bill Gates and his 54-meter yacht.provided the inspiration for this island. Phuket lacks a marina that can handle superyachts, a significant failing in light of the increasing number of super-rich tourists such as Bill Gates coming to this area. An Australian consulting firm has been hired to survey the proposed project site, which Lalvani named after his youngest son. Plans are developing for a hotel, luxury villas and berths for superyachts. So, if you have a hankering for such a place, then keep an eye on this future project.
9. Sovereign Bay: If you’d prefer to live in Spain, then this proposed marina development, planned by Foster and Partners, might be your idea of luxury. This man-made island paradise is located on an existing area of reclaimed land to the east of the Rock of Gibraltar. The scheme includes a comprehensive environmental strategy, which capitalizes on the regional climate, location and orientation of the buildings, including using seawater from the surrounding Mediterranean Sea to cool the buildings. The new harbour is spacious enough to accommodate a boutique cruise liner terminal as well as a full marina for yachts. According to the Web site, the sweep of the marina arm will hold retail, cafe and restaurant life, terminating in a luxury residential development on the land-side. “The residential component will include a range of apartments with private swimming pools, terraces and sea views. Two beaches on each side of the development will be regenerated, with a spa and hotel located at the land-side gateway. The harbour will be connected to a series of landscaped public squares and plazas, with naturally-lit underground parking and direct pedestrian access, which will include a variety of leisure facilities, such as swimming pools and tennis courts, in addition to a full compliment of retail and designer outlets.” With those amenities, you’d never need to leave this island paradise!
10. Reef Island: You don’t need to wait until 2010 to invest in Reef Island. This man-made island paradise is gathering momentum as a flux of Bahraini and European investors have rushed to book up to over half the proposed housing units to date. Previously known as Lulu Island, this reclamation project is being built as a joint venture between the Bahrain government and the Bahrain-based Mouawad Group Real Estate Development Company off the coast of Al Manama, in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The development was designed by Australian-based Spowers and Pentago, and it is designed in the shape of the number nine. This freehold development project’s land reclamation is complete, and it covers an area of 6.23 million square feet. Construction has begun on approximately 1,200 condominiums, 65 villas and 49 beach fronted homes. Future plans include a 250-room five-star hotel, marina and yacht club, an aquarium, a well care center, a shopping mall, and a multi-function exhibition center.

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Top 50 Web 2.0 Real Estate Sites

Posted in Features on March 4, 2008

What do Web 2.0 and real estate have in common? Well, at the moment, you might say that commonality includes the various mashups of Google maps, where little colored balloons may indicate homes for sale or rent. Or, those balloons could point to rotten neighbors or even to homes you can rent for a month in an exotic location. But, that’s just the tip of the real estate Web 2.0 revolution. Ever since Dion Hinchcliffe tried to visualize Web 2.0 through mere words in 2005, the user experience has blossomed to include blogs, shared photos, video, social networking and more. A person who wants to purchase a home today can first research the latest market news at a real estate & finance news social site, then go to a listing site, and describe his or her desires in a few written words and have that home appear as if by magic through a widget that is tuned to keywords and locations. The buyer can view photos, floorplans, videos, three-dimensional tours, learn about the neighborhood, talk with residents who live in the area, and contact the seller directly. Almost every detail that goes into a home sale or purchase can be initialized and even finalized online by the buyer or seller.

This is the current state of the Web, where users generate and influence content. Granted, some of the sites listed below are more on the leading edge than others in what they offer (not all of the sites are pure Web 2.0 — many are Web 1.0 sites that are slowly evolving Web2 features). But, if the list below is any indication, then the buyer and seller have the advantage as transaparency becomes the norm.

The list below is separated into various categories that will guide you to sites that specialize in everything from real estate auction mashups to vacation home purchases and management. While the sites are numbered, the numbering does not indicate that we favor one site over another or that they are listed in order of value. They are listed alphabetically under each category.

Auctions

1. 2RealEstateAuctions: More of a directory to eBay listings than an actual real estate site, 2RealEstateAuctions provides a perfect example of a web 2.0 mashup. This particular mix is between Google Maps, eBay’s API, and U.S. Census data for housing & occupancy. The items you see listed on these pages are provided by eBay users, and you can sort by residential and commercial property, land for sale, and timeshares.
2. CondoBid: CondoBid provides users with the opportunity to join in on online bidding events for condominiums provided through motivated sellers worldwide. You’ll see agent fees, most of which are paid by the seller at closing. The “Buyer’s Premium” is what the buyer pays to purchase a discounted condo through CondoBid. All it doesn’t appear as if they many listings yet, their integration of clickable maps, and video makes them a web 2.0 real estate contender to watch out for.
3. RealtyBid: If your market is sluggish and you need to sell that real estate property, you may have a solution with RealtyBid.com. Thousands of residential homes and properties have already sold across the nation through this site’s easy-to-use online bidding platform. The site has attracted a growing contingent of real estate agents, and buyers have learned that this site is a great vehicle for purchasing residential, commercial and luxury properties and land at discounted prices. Although condominiums are listed here, you’ll find fewer listed here than you would through CondoBid, a sister site listed above. This site seems a logical platform for new developments, pre-foreclosures, and other real estate that suffers from sluggish market atmosphers. Fees include Buyer Agent Fee, transaction fee and deposit.
4. RealtyTrac: There are dozens of foreclosure sites on the Internet, but this site comes the closest to representing the Web 2.0. RealtyTrac is a search engine that allows agents and buyers to find foreclosure properties nationwide. The foreclosure process offers three bargain-buying opportunities, an the pre-foreclosure, public auction, and the purchase of bank-owned properties are represented by six different property statuses on RealtyTrac. Buyers must pay a fee, as with any other foreclosure site, to view all information about the foreclosed property.

For Sale by Owner

1. ChoiceA: Users are encouraged to list their property for sale for free, and you can then cross-post your ChoiceA listings to Craigslist or Backpage. Buyers can browse listings with new technologies including drag-n-drop favorites, endless scroll searches and compare listings with data, pictures or maps. ChoiceA provides free downloadable real estate transaction forms. This site went live in November 2007, so keep one eye on this site while browsing other FSBO sites. Keep the other eye on the blog, as you’ll understand the motivation behind the site and may champion their cause. Their very simple interface is refreshing.
2. Fizber: Home owners can place a listing with Fizber and they will add your listing to 70+ partner sites. This is a one-stop shop for yard signs, ad writing tips, home staging advice and more for the seller. For the buyer, Fizber provides city and school profiles, crime rate statistics, mortgage lenders and cost of living advice. The blog focuses on various areas throughout the country and the forum provides users with an outlet to learn and teach others how to buy and sell without a real estate agent. The tools include integration with Microsoft Virtual Earth maps (a hybrid of streets and aerial photography), photos, and a means to contact the seller directly. You can also use Webcam to sell your home’s features.
3. For Sale by Owner: Buy or sell a home online through this site that incorporates Google Maps. Otherwise, the site is very similar to the one previously mentioned. The huge difference is that this site has been around since 1999, whereas Fizber is newer (no specific date of development found). While Fizber seems more competitive with the incorporation of new ‘widgets’ and tools to help the independent buyer and seller with transactions, FSBO relies on their long-standing reputation with their standing as one of the top 5 real estate websites, and the fact that they offer a home selling guarantee. If you want to buy or sell through a for-sale-by-owner situation, check out both sites as they both carried different listings as of the writing of this article.
4. Owners.com: This site claims to be the largest FSBO marketplace for buyers and sellers. Founded in 1995, it is the oldest if not the largest FSBO site online. This privately held company has helped owners in all 50 states market over 1 million homes, accounting for more than $200 billion in home sales. The integration with Google Maps is a popup, so be sure to allow popups if you have them turned off while studying this site.

Potential Home Buyer

1. DotHomes: This search engine originated in the U.K., spread to South Africa, and now has made its debut in the U.S. Only agents can list, and agents must have a Web site so the search engine can crawl through it to pick up listings for free. Buyers simply type the description of the home of their dreams into the home page search box and await for the crystal ball to reveal their choices in brick and mortar realities. Instead of hitting an “I’m feeling lucky” button like a searcher would at Google, buyers can tap into the “I’m feeling wealthy” button at DotHomes to be surprised with the results (when you hit that button, the word “expensive” shows up in the search box). Once the homes come up on the page, you can map them via Google map, find the realtor and more.
2. HomeGain: Brokers and agents can sign up so that potential customers can find them through a localized search. Buyers and sellers can then compare agents to find one to work with in a given area. This site also offers home valuations, mortgage options, and a way to view MLS homes nationwide. MLS listings are through HomeGain, where a buyer can click on a state to find homes in the city or town desired; however, foreclosure listings lead to RealtyTrac and new construction leads to HomeScout.
3. Homethinking: Homethinking helps you find a real estate agent by showing you sales histories and reviews from clients. Homethinking is a real estate application with a difference. They take an Amazon/ eBay approach in that you can find agents and see “reviews” of that agent, as well a list and a map of what properties they are handling at present. Details of how many properties they have sold are also provided, including location, house details, and asking and final prices. A random query for Atlanta showed a list of agents for whom no reviews were present. However, Homethinking claims over 1.5 million listed agents and nearly 2.5 million transactions.
4. HomePages: This was one of the first professional sites - after HousingMaps - to use map mashups as the primary display and navigational vehicle for real estate listings. This site provides complete MLS data, and buyers and sellers can use agents to place or search through various neighborhoods for buy and sell opportunities. This site is an extension of HouseValues, a free home valuation service (not included in the list at the end of this article).
5. International Listings: This is the premier listing service for luxury homes worldwide. If you are shopping for luxury property, you can browse listings by location. If you are selling a property, you can submit a listing online. You can describe the property any way you want as a seller, as the site owners review the listing only to confirm that sellers have included essential information. Sellers also can include up to 12 interior and exterior photos of the property for sale. Buyers can find links to online auctions for exclusive properties as well.
6. Move.com: Launched in May 2006, Move.com is a comprehensive real estate search engine with exclusive access to REALTOR.com’s® listing content as well as new home and rental content from all over the Web. The “move” aspect covers a magazine-like addition to the site that provides articles and advice on everything from the actual moving process to renovation and beyond. The search and sort feature gives quick access to homes and rentals in your area, with a Microsoft Visual Earth map of the area.
7. MyRealPlace: MyRealPlace brings together buyers, sellers, and home owners with realtors, mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, home stagers, architects, legal services, moving services and contractors. In fact anything that consumers may need when buying, selling or owning a home. It’s a mashup that is under beta as well, as this site is pushing out new Web 2.0 technologies as we write this article. By the time they complete the site, they intend to have will have over 80,000 realty related professionals and over 70,000 property listings including rental and for sale by owner properties to peruse.
8. Propsmart: Propsmart is a next-generation, independent real estate search engine. They crawl and index millions of homes for sale and other properties, then organize and display them on a slick Google Map interface. They already index a majority of the listings in the top 25 US metropolitan areas. If you’re a real estate broker with a large number of listings you can help by letting the site owners that your site is available to “crawl.”
9. REALTOR.com®: This real estate search engine is probably the most popular if for no other reason than it’s been around the longest. You can find a neighborhood, buy a home, rent a home, find a realtor, lender, and a mover. Sellers and buyers can find out what a home is worth, stay on top of market conditions and local mortgage rates, and use calculators to find financial parameters. They’ve added more “web-twenty” features recently, including a map search and web 2.0 style graphics across the site.
10. Redfin: Redfin is an online real estate brokerage that puts you in charge of buying or selling your home. They combine listings direct from every broker with data on past sales & days on market, then their local agents guide buyers and sellers on price and negotiate the best deal. Areas are limited to larger U.S. cities at this time, where you can see the location of a house for sale, contact a Redfin agent, schedule a tour and more all through one site.
11. Retrove: Retrove is a national vertical real estate search engine that allows buyers to search all types of real estate listings such as MLS listings, FSBO, foreclosures, classifieds and other types of property for sale across the nation. Once users plug in parameters, Retrove will provide all the listings in an easy-to use list. More than anything, this search engine saves tons of time for buyers who are looking to buy in a given region. Users can search by state as well.
12. Roost: Roost offers two services in parallel - a consumer search engine for places to live and a technology platform for REALTORS®. Their mission is to make it easier for everyone to find their next home. But, beyond this, Roost is a search engine for residences for sale that sits atop a network of real-estate broker sites that you can search by city, state, region or zip code. The Google map mashup helps you to define housing possibilities by location. They partner with local Multiple Listing Services, brokers, builders, data providers and more to help ensure viewers that they’re getting the freshest, most comprehensive data available.
13. Terabitz: Terabitz is a comprehensive and customizable real estate search engine that allows buyers to search by area, number of baths and beds, price range and more. Once the boundaries are laid out, the search will take you to a portion of a Google map that shows all the listings within your parameters in that given area, along with the usual satellite and hybrid options for viewing. Additionally, the listings are shown to the right, where you can view price, address, and more. Terabitz also helps renters. They also list foreclosures, but the listings will take you to Realty Bargains, where you can find information via a free trial.
14. Trulia: Trulia is a real estate search engine for the United States that provides options for specifying price range, property type, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and square footage in the search. You can specify region by city or zip code, and a search produces not only a list of properties and a link to the appropriate seller, but a Google map of the region with icons marking each. They also offer interactive heat maps which show price trends. So if you are interested in investing in one or more properties, Trulia gives you a birds eye view of what’s available that fits your criteria. Trulia announced its Trulia Publisher Platform, or TPP, in January 2008. With TPP, media companies and publishers can have their own version of Trulia’s real estate search capability, and publishers can serve their own ads, at no cost, on the search page of the sites that Trulia builds for them.
15. Zillow.com: Zillow has a database of millions of residential properties natonwide that buyers can browse, along with maps, estimates of a property compared against nearby properties, advice on loans, and a loan calculator. Sellers can get an estimate of their home and keep it private or make public. They can also compare profiles of nearby properties. Current homeowners who are neither buying nor selling can get an estimate of their home and compare it to other properties.

Rental Properties

1. Apartment Finder: Search this user-friendly database for apartments nationwide. You can find apartments listed near colleges or military bases, or directly by address; however, you also can find rental properties through map-based and keyword searches. The site allows you to create an account and save your apartment prospects for later review. Only drawback of the site is its design: perhaps the webmaster should go back to web design school?

1. Apartment Ratings: If you plan to rent and you don’t know the area, go to this site before you sign the lease. While a few folks do post positive remarks, you’ll mainly find the problems with any given rental property. Read all the comments about a specific property to find a common thread throughout about issues like noise or lousy maintenance. Then you’ll know that there probably is an issue with noise or maintenance at that property.
2. Hubbuzz: Although the locations are slim, Hubbuzz takes pride in finding a rental for you that’s based upon your personal lifestyle. Once you find a selection, you can view relevant community information, neighborhood maps, descriptions and photos. This site also incorporates extensive neighborhood information and user generated blogs and comments from anyone in the community.
3. Rentomatic: If you became familiar with all the Web 2.0 hype generated around iiProperty, then you might become confused if you search for that site and end up at Rentomatic. Still owned by Investment Instruments Corporation, Rentomatic is just a change of name and face. The services are improved. You can mange investment property with software that allows you to track rents, bills, advertising, and invoicing. If you list your property, you can post photos, send notices to tenants, and view status indicators and alerts as well. If you want to test this tool out, start with the Lite (free), where you can advertise property, post to Craigslist, and track online ads, leases, tenant records, rent due and more. Tenants also can pay online through this interface. If you’re happy, you have four more levels that you can buy into to manage more complex properties.
4. Rentometer: The Rentometer is owned by the same company that owns Rentomatic. Landlords and tenants can use this meter to discover if they’re being gouged or if the rent is too low for a given area. This tool utilizes Yahoo! maps and “data from publicly available sources on the internet and in print.” Be aware that the meter gauges areas within approximately ten miles, which can cover a lot of territory within a city. So, the median rent may be low and your rent may seem overpriced if you live in one pocket of hot properties among many pockets of lower rent properties.
5. That Rental Site: That Rental Site is a free directory filled with apartments, houses, condos, duplexes, and garage apartments for rent nationwide. Anyone can embellish a rental, so if you post a rental property for free, then someone else may post a photo and someone else may add that link to their Web site. Once an ad is posted, you can expect fast cross-posting on Google, Craigslist, Oodle and more. Some areas of the country are more active with this app than others; so be aware that places like Louisville (Kentucky) haven’t caught onto this site yet, whereas you can find huge activity from other areas like Washington D.C. and some California cities.
6. Visulate: Visulate is another Web-based software system that focuses on developing an online relationship, but this time it’s between property manager(s) and investor(s). This system allows for multiple managers and investors to focus on one property or on many properties. The main point is to eliminate time-consuming emails, because investors and property managers alike can view reports online. Property owners with between ten and 100 properties may find this tool invaluable. Investment clubs can maintain transparency for all club members, and investors may find the read-only access to the tenancy records and the ability to record loans and property appreciation invaluable.

Sellers, Buyers, and Renters

1. BiggerPockets: BiggerPockets supports an online community filled with real estate investors, homeowners, and real estate professionals. The site was designed to help people network, make deals, and learn real estate so they can make wise decisions about their property investments. According to this site, you can get ‘bigger pockets’ when you spend time in their forums, by reading their blog and articles, by networking with other users, and by using their tools, resources, and listings. The reason this site is listed here rather than in the “For Sale by Owner” category is that this site reaches out to real estate professionals as well as to buyers and sellers (who sometimes are real estate professionals!).
2. Blockhunter: Use blockhunter as a way to find a new place to live in and around London. If you want to move into the area, you can let people know that you’re looking. If you want to sell or let a place, you can find interested parties quickly. No estate agents involved - this is a no hassle, no obligation way to find a place to live. Hopefully Blockhunter will expand to include other cities!
3. CityCribs: Not all U.S. cities nationwide are listed, but a good sampling is available to view rental, ‘for sale’ and furnished properties from Acworth (Georgia) to Honolulu (Hawaii) to Zephyrhills (Florida). The real attraction is the amount of apartment listings in New York City. Sign up for the “Crib Alert” to learn about new availabilities in the area where you want to live.

1. HotPads: There are a lot of factors that come into play when deciding whether to buy or rent your next home. Buying is often better for the long term, but what if you know you’ll be moving to a new city in 2 years, or you’ll need a couple extra bedrooms in 5 years. We supply housing shoppers with the info they need to make sound financial decisions about whether to buy or rent. Will renting or buying leave you better off financially? Find out with our Buy vs. Rent calculator. Try saving a search to receive email updates on the latest homes and apartments
2. HousingMaps.com: Use this Craigslists + Google Maps mashup to find properties for rent or for sale in your area. Simply click on a green bubble to zoom in on an area, then choose whether you’re looking for a room, to rent, to sell, or sublets. The closer you zoom in, the more information you discover. It’s like digging for buried treasure! The site has a simple and clean design, and wins the award for best real estate mashup site.
3. NeighborhoodScout: This site focuses more on neighborhoods than on actual listings. This is a Web-based patent-pending neighborhood search engine that uses neighborhood statistics to build area profiles. This tool allows individuals and families instantly find the neighborhoods that fit them, no matter where in the U.S. they choose. The site doesn’t have a very web 2.0 look but their neighborhood matching and mapping technology spices the site up tremendously.
4. Rotten Neighbor: Probably the most creative idea for a site on this list, Rotten Neighbor is the first real estate search engine of its kind allowing you to rate and review good and bad neighbors before and after you move so you can make a smart real estate decision. But, be careful, as your neighbor could rate you as well! Celebrities are not immune. Founded by Brant Walker, RottenNeighbor is privately owned by @ttenunit.com.
5. Your Street: YourStreet scans thousands of newspaper sites and local blogs each day to bring you the most comprehensive local news available anywhere. Their algorithm interprets the articles, identifies specific locations in the text, and plots them on an interactive map, where you can zoom down to the news around the actual street where you live - or on the street where you want to live. Get the skinny before you move…

Valuations

1. Altos Research: Not every town in the U.S. can be tracked with this free tool, but it’s a fascinating way to stay on top of market trends in major U.S. cities. Even if you’re not in the market to buy or sell a home, you may learn that comparing home prices in Chicago to home prices in New York is like comparing apples and oranges. Lots of charts to help you visualize trending in the specified area whether your a realtor looking for hard data or a FSBO seller just doing some extra homework.
2. Cyberhomes valuations provide users with access to most of the same information that real estate professionals use to evaluate homes. Whether you own your place, are thinking of buying, or even just looking around, you can explore data ranging from property facts, value estimates, and a variety of important indicators of local and national changes in the housing market. Now you also can search through a database of more than 2 million homes for sale. You can enter an area, and the price range, size, bedrooms and baths to narrow the search. This is a Fidelity National Financial Web site.
3. eppraisal is a free service that allows anyone to quickly and easily take the first step to buying, selling, or refinancing a home by providing instant access to property valuations, real estate professionals and additional services. eppraisal pulls together public record data from over 70 million homes to quickly and easily provide users with an estimated value range. You also gain access to access to neighborhood information like schools, lifestyle, employment, local professionals and more.
4. HomePredict: HomePredict is a service of my-currency and a tool that helps users predict home values in areas defined by zip code. The valuation is determined by individuals who are involved with the site and who live in a given area. In other words, this Web 2.0 application actually is a community-based-wiki type site that takes a little reading to figure out how it actually works. I couldn’t find any listings in some areas in the US, but you can expect the number of listings to increase substantially as the site starts to catch on.
5. Real Estate ABC: This company, which was founded in 1998, uses a valuation tool that mixes Google maps in its mashup. Plus, it allows users to adjust values of properties given certain market conditions. Their “how to” guides appear on over 30,000 real estate web sites, and their site has had numerous mentions in the media including being named “Cool Site of the Day,” featured on CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” and named by PC Magazine as one of the “100 Best Sites You Didn’t Know You Couldn’t Live Without.”

Vacation Rentals

1. 1st Home Exchange: Home exchange / house swap is a vacation alternative where you allow someone else to stay in your home while you stay in theirs. During a home exchange you swap your home at a time that is convenient to both parties. A house swap may also include an automobile exchange. This is really a great way to get to know an area before you make a move, especially if you’re planning a move to a very different part of the country, let alone a different part of the world. You can book for a short vacation or for a long sabbatical at significant savings on hotel and car rental costs.
2. All Star Vacation Homes: A visitor to this site will need to drill down a bit to find the true 2.0 spirit behind this vacation home rental/purchase service. But, we guarantee you can spend hours on this site dreaming, if not actually changing your perspective on how to buy and rent a vacation rental in Florida. Use maps, neighborhood information, videos, photos and more to pick and choose among four- and five-star rentals and other properties as both investment and personal property choices. Once you’ve made a decision, most of the ‘legwork’ involved in finalizing the processes can be conducted online.
3. Black Tomato: According to creators Tom Marchant, James Merrett and Matt Smith, the Black Tomato is a refined variety of fruit found in rare locations and climates, but when discovered offers an amazing tasting experience. They named their travel agency after this fruit, as they want your travel experiences to be just as unique - after all, time-off is short and time to plan it is even shorter. None of their experiences are recommended unless our staff have been there, seen it and done it for themselves. So you can feel safe that at least one or two people have been to Madagascar, Cuba or at least surfing in Ecuador. They will take care of everything for you, so just go to the site and book (you can always tweak the trip before you leave).
4. EscapeHomes: Escape Homes bills itself as “The Leading Real Estate Marketplace for Vacation Properties & Second Homes.” You can research cities, find local experts, search real estate listings for vacation, retirement, investment, and more at this interactive site. Founded in 1998 by Clark Thompson, this service focuses exclusively on the second home buyer, bringing together people searching for vacation property with the real estate professionals and properties that meet their needs.
5. i-escape - Hip hideaways and boutique hotels have already been rated for you. Discover art motels in Wales and a sanctuary in Thailand. But, are they for you? Read the reviews and learn whether the plusses or minuses really mean a hoot to you. If you’re intrigued by the settings, then make a booking enquiry or just save as a favorite and come back later to compare your finds. The venues here are all rentals, but they provide very unique places to stay while checking out local real estate.
6. Island Outpost: With properties located throughout the Bahamas and Jamaica, Island Outpost can provide users with an easy way to enjoy Caribbean hospitality. Plan a wedding (or let them plan it for you), a honeymoon, or just use their services for a spa or retreat vacation. You’ll need to call to book the first time you use Island Outpost, but from there your reservations are just a click away.
7. Domegos Vacation Rentals Directory: Domegos is the first website that allows vacation rental owners to advertise unlimited properties for free, with the goal to provide the world’s largest vacation rentals directory. Renters can search for properties by country and narrow it down to state or territory and dates for vacation or business rental.

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The Ultimate SEO Resource for Real Estate Agents - 100 Tutorials, Blogs and Resources

Posted in Features on February 13, 2008

SEO, as a rule, isn’t easy. Of course, this goes double if you’re a real estate agent with hundreds of competitors in your area–all targetting the same keywords. The real estate industry is large, it’s competitive, and the average realtor has a million other things to worry about besides their SEO strategy. But that doesn’t mean you should give up–leveraged successfully, the Internet has the potential to be the largest and most profitable sales channel in an agent’s marketing mix.

The following list is filled with tools and resources that will help any real estate agent achieve their SEO goals. You can choose to learn from blogs, tutorials, or forums, and we’ve also pointed you to specific blog entries and forum threads that will get you started. You can study search engines to learn what they require from you, and you can choose among some professionals to help you refine your Web site or to take over completely. The choice is yours. The links to each tool are listed alphabetically within the categories listed immediately below. The numbering does not indicate that we favor one site over another or that they are listed in order of value. Finally, all the sites listed below are targeted specifically to real estate professionals.

Blogs | Recommended Posts from Real Estate Bloggers | Forums | Recommended Threads from Real Estate Forums | Real Estate Search Engines | Resources | SEO-Friendly Web Design | Tutorials

Blogs

The following blogs are written by individuals who are in the real estate field, yet who also have become experts in the SEO realm. While some blogs focus specifically on SEO, other blogs contain a category that holds their SEO articles.

1. Active Rain: This link will take you to this site’s “Blogging and SEO” category, where several real estate professionals and writers offer their perspectives on SEO and blogging practices.
2. Best Practices: After a decade in real estate, Latham Jenkins brings his passion for this field and for Internet marketing and search engine optimization to readers through his blog.
3. Future of Real Estate Marketing: You won’t find “SEO” per se on this blog, but Joel Burslem is a regularly quoted expert on the impact of the Web 2.0 and real estate and has been interviewed by the Wall St. Journal, BusinessWeek and the International Herald Tribune, among others. Follow his advice and SEO is the result.
4. Geek Estate: GeekEstate Blog was founded by Zillow as a resource for real estate professionals who want to learn more about how they can grow their business through smart use of technology. Topics discussed here range from a review of the latest cell phone to Web site tips for search engine optimization.
5. Internet Marketing, Social Media, SEO & PPC Strategies: Online Internet Marketing topics and strategies.
6. Kay’s Real Estate SEO Blog: Enjoy Kay’s real estate SEO blog and get a double dose with her SEO Diva blog.
7. Kevin Harper: This link takes you to all the SEO entries that Harper has written on his real estate blog. He also provides an SEO Glossary for readers and a podcast.
8. OnTheAvenues: Bonnie Burns provides web site analysis and search engine optimization services specifically for real estate web sites and shows her expertise through her blog.
9. Personal Insights on Web 2.0, Blogging, and Business: Drew Meyers provides his professional insights on how to utilize the ‘new’ Web to promote your real estate business.
10. Real Estate Blog Lab: A former computer programmer and database administrator and current real estate assistant reated this blog “lab” for other agents to talk about topics like SEO. This is a good place to begin if you know nothing about online marketing, let alone SEO.
11. Real Estate Marketing: Marketing advice and commentary for online Realtor success. Author Tim O’Keefe also manages Spider Worx, a business that specializes in helping Real Estate Brokers and Agents increase their lead count and sale conversion with marketing and SEO.
12. Real Estate Marketing Blog: This blog offers SEO tips as well as upcoming courses on how to market your real estate Web site.
13. Real Estate Marketing Tools & Coaching: Justin Smith is a coach for the Real Estate Tomato and employed at the Christian Real Estate Network. He offers his expertise and sound advice on blogging and search engine optimization.
14. Real Estate Search Advisor: Brandon Cornett is a real estate marketing specialist and long-time Internet publisher. He has published “Search Engine Success for Real Estate Agents,” and he maintains a blog that talks about SEO management for real estate professionals.
15. Real Estate Toolbox: Brian Rodgers remains “out in the trenches” so he doesn’t lose touch with what is actually going on in the industry as he writes about online marketing and SEO management for realtors.
16. SEO Web Design & Search Engine Marketing: While Web design and SEO marketing is the focus, the blog is the most informative and upfront part of this site. Jeff Hendrickson also leans toward a focus on the real estate market.

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Recommended Posts from Real Estate Bloggers

The following posts cover some far-reaching territory within SEO. Learn from the experts about tools you can use and strategies you can employ to achieve the highest ranking possible.

1. 7 Ways Your Site Can Be Sabotaged: Bonnie Burns from DIY SEO chronicles seven ways unknown forces can sabotage your Web site. This list provides the problems and the solutions, if any.
2. 20 Week Course on Link Building For Real Estate Websites: At this point in the game, Real Estate Marketing Blog is up to week number four. The link here is pointed at the first article. This guide is specifically designed for real estate professionals.
3. Kicking a New Post to the Top of the Search Engines: Real Estate Blog Lab shows readers how to increase rankings of new blog entries.
4. Multiple Categories and Onsite Duplicate Content: Justin Smith at Real Estate Tomato clears up any confusion about multiple categories and onsite duplicate content.
5. OMG! You are just like Britney Spears: Real estate professionals, unlike many other industry professionals, often rely on personal name recognition to market their goods. Damon Pace, from the Incredible Agent Blog, shows readers how they can maximize the potential of a name on Google.
6. Real Estate Websites With No Frames: It seems impossible to believe that Web designers still use frames, and this blog entry will tell you why they shouldn’t be used. Not only will it destroy any online marketing efforts, frames also will cut accessibility to your site.
7. SEO-Friendly Website Templates: If you can’t or won’t afford an SEO-friendly Web site builder, then try a template and do it yourself! This article is a guide from Real Estate Search Advison on how to use Web site templates the right way to ensure maximum search engine visibility for your content.
8. The 7 Worst Pieces of SEO Advice that WILL Kill Your Blog: Mary McKnight offers advice on how to avoid SEO scams. Plus, she reiterates what reputable SEO masters will tell you - what worked in the past to increase your search engine ranking may not work anymore. She also offers a list of SEO experts that she’s come to trust.
9. The Rules: Blog Comments for Linkbuilding: Kay Frenzer, real estate SEO Diva, writes a guide on how to build effective links as you leave comments on other people’s blogs. No sense in a long article - the tips are short and to-the-point.
10. Web Publishers Can Now Clone Trulia: Joel Burslem from the Future of Real Estate Marketing introduces “Trulia in a Box,” the real estate search engine’s tool that’s free for all publishers, including small newspapers and regional media (as well as bloggers) to use to create their own Trulia portal.

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Forums

The following forums may not focus entirely on SEO, but look for this specific topic as you browse. Most forums will contain a topic that centers on Web site marketing at the very least, and those topics usually carry SEO threads.

1. Agents Online: Scroll down to the threads listed under “Successful Web Presence” to learn about link exchange possibilities and more.
2. At Hand 24: Although not heavily populated yet, this forum does contain a topic that covers “Real Estate and Web Design.” Threads include a Web site review, Web site development, and link exchanges.
3. Bigger Pockets: Look under the topic, “Real Estate Professionals,” for the thread entitled, “Real Estate & The Web.” This is where you can discuss link strategies, search engines, real estate web design, SEO, and anything else related to real estate and the web.
4. Fast Real Estate Forum: If you want to find some real DIY SEO tips, visit the threads listed under “SEO & Online Marketing” at this site.
5. Pro Real Estate Network Forums: An entire topic is devoted to “Search Engines and Search Engine Optimization” at this forum. You’ll find threads dedicated to search engines and link building here.
6. Real Estate Discuss: This forum contains a “Website Related” topic where threads about search engine optimization, Web site design and more are discussed.
7. Real Estate Forum: This forum contains several topics that deal with Web site development and marketing, including a topic devoted to DMOZ and other directories under the topic heading, “Search Engine Marketing.”
8. Real Estate Webmasters Forum: A real estate forum where the real estate agents and brokers teach and learn about how to generate leads from the internet. This is the only forum devoted almost entirely to marketing, both online and off, and where SEO tactics are covered so thoroughly. This forum was created and is maintained by SEOGuy Morgan Carey.
9. RealtyChat: This link will take you to the RealtyChat forums, where you’ll find a number of topics that cover SEO materials. Click on “Link Exchange,” for instance, to discover two pages of threads about this topic.
10. Wanna Network?: This forum contains a topic entitled, “Real Estate Web Design Forum.” Threads include SEO, Web design, blogging, link exchanges and more.

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Recommended Threads from Real Estate Forums

The following topics and threads were chosen based upon their usefulness. If you don’t have time to browse thorugh all the forums listed above, you still may find some juice in the listings below.

1. 10 Ways to Drive Buyers to Your Website: Despite what you might believe after you read this article, page rank isn’t the be-and and end-all of real estate marketing. Other tools can be used to drive traffic to your site. This post offers ten tools you can use outside search engine tactics, with some great responses that include additional advice.
2. Backlinks: This thread at Wanna Network? offers tools, explanations, and methods to handle your site’s backlinks.
3. Determining a Site’s PR: We’re running on the assumption that you know how to determine a site’s page rank. If you don’t, then this thread at the Real Estate Webmasters Forum will help you learn how you and your competitors rank.
4. Free SEO Tracker: An individual was searching for a free keyword tool, and a few people responded to the inquiry with some relevant information that you may find useful.
5. Link Building 101: This thread, located under the Search Engines and Search Engine Optimization topic in Pro Real Estate Network Forums, calls attention to how links and link building can help page and site ranking. How to release press releases, how to list in real estate agents directories, etc.
6. Net Success: In this thread at Agents Online, users talk about various ways to gain ranking on different search engines. Additionally, you’ll find other topics that deal with new technology as well as other online marketing tips.
7. Real Estate & The Web: This is the best topic on the Bigger Pockets forum for Web site marketing. You can ask for a Web site review, ask questions about page rank, and more. It appears that you will receive an answer, although you’ll find more lurkers than experts in most cases. One thread in particular, Stolen Blog Material, might interest you in that the issue was posted and resolved in short order with appropriate actions and results.
8. SEO Tools: This post lists several dozen SEO tools that the average person has access to and can use to help rankings in search engines.
9. Social Networking: Instead of being thread-specific with posts from the Real Estate Webmasters Forum, we wanted to point to an entire topic that covers everything you want to know about social networking. Is it worth your time and effort? Will trends change? Discover answers to your social networking questions here.
10. Some thoughts on SEO Basics: This is a ’sticky’ thread posted under “Search Engine Ranking Tips” at the Real Estate Forum. This post puts the Web site structure in focus as one part of SEO success. Outside keywords and links, structure is rarely mentioned; yet good Web site structure, or accessibility (separating code from content), is one way to obtain higher site rankings.

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Real Estate Search Engines

Despite the fact that it seems new real estate search engines are proliferating faster than rabbits, it can’t be denied that people are using them. So this list is not exhaustive, but it’s a reminder that you might submit your site to search engines beyond mainstream search engines. This list doesn’t include Yahoo! Real Estate, MSN Real Estate, AOL Real Estate, or Google’s new algorithm that leads viewers to certain properties when the appropriate keywords are utilized. Some ’search egnines’ listed below are advertising sites in disguise. So, be sure to do your research before you submit your Web site, articles, press releases, or listings.

1. DotHomes: This search engine originated in the U.K., spread to South Africa, and now has made its debut in the U.S. Only agents can list, and agents must have a Web site so the search engine can crawl through it to pick up listings for free.
2. HomeGain: Brokers and agents can sign up so that potential customers can find you through a localized search.
3. HomePages: You can “lock up your neighborhood” with this company, but there’s no indication of the price for that lock. If you’re interested in listing your properties with this search engine, then you need to contact them to learn more. This was one of the first professional sites (after HousingMaps - a mashup of Craig’s List and Google Maps) to use maps as the primary display and navigational vehicle for real estate listings. This site provides complete MLS data.
4. HomeThinking: Homethinking users are here to decide which Realtor to buy or sell their home with. They don’t fill out a form for you to contact them, as they expressly contacting you. Real estate professionals can purchase advertising for specific positioning.
5. Move.com: Launched in May 2006, Move.com is a comprehensive real estate search engine with exclusive access to REALTOR.com’s® listing content, as well as new home and rental content from all over the Web. So, if you’re connected to REALTOR.com’s® listing content, you don’t need to lift a finger to become listed (see below for REALTOR.com’s® ’s search engine).
6. NeighborhoodScout: This site focuses more on neighborhoods than on actual listings. This is a web-based patent-pending neighborhood search engine that uses neighborhood statistics to build neighborhood profiles that allow individuals and families to instantly find the best neighborhoods for them, in any part of the United States they choose. When you join as a partner in their Realtor Network, your listing could lead people who want to live in your area to your door.
7. REALTOR.com®: This real estate search engine is probably the most popular if for no other reason than it’s been around the longest. You must be a member of REALTOR.com® to take advantage of this search engine.
8. RealtyTrac: This search engine focuses on foreclosures. Agents can join the “RealtyTrac Agent Network” to promote your services through this search engine to those who seek help with buying and selling property.
9. Roost: a new real estate site that bears a strong resemblance to Oodle. It now will enter the very competitive online real estate market for consumer and realtor attention. A potential difference between Roost and its competitors (e.g., Trulia, Zillow) is that it is working with the MLS databases to attempt to get complete for-sale coverage in the markets it serves, which are currently 13 major US metro areas. It also has FSBO listings.
10. Trulia: According to this Web site, they’ve sent 20+ million visitors to their partners’ businesses since they launched in about 2004. Additionally, they claim that more than 1/2 million agents and 90+ of the top U.S. real estate brokerages use this search engine to place their links. It helps to have a Web site to link to, but Trulia also allows linking to other online listings. This search engine aggregates broker lists.
11. Zillow: Post your listings on Zillow for free, and your photo and contact information appear with your listing. This company also maintains a Virtual Sold Sign™ program (VSS). VSS allows your branding and contact information to remain a part of your sold listing’s page on Zillow.

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Resources

These resources are aimed at those individuals who want to find an SEO professional to handle their search page rankings. Every site listed here focuses on the real estate market. Even so, you might compare businesses and get references before you begin to work with any one of these companies.

1. AMLA SEO Real Estate Services: This company (Association of Multiple Listing Agents) does one thing - they claim to put you on page one in Google for the keywords that matter to your business.
2. Austin SEO Guy: Brandon Cornett has helped clients from various industries improve their search engine visibility — often dramatically. He focuses on the real estate industry, as he has written hundreds of articles and several e-books on the subject of real estate search engine optimization.
3. Boston Logic: Take note of Boston Logic’s real estate SEO services, which are derived from their years of experience in the online marketing and real estate industries.
4. OptiTrex: Consider this company your personal virtual assistant. Their “Real Estate Search Engine Optimization (Real Estate SEO)” program is customized to deliver results, so they give your company more leads from buyers and sellers.
5. Real Estate SEO: This company’s Real Estate Search Engine Optimization (Real Estate SEO) program is customized to deliver results, and they promise to give your company more leads from buyers and sellers.
6. Real Estate SEO: A Smarter Approach to Search: This company provides expert SEO services to improve your real estate website’s search engine ranking and traffic levels.
7. Realty SEO: The Realty-SEO three step process includes an in-depth marketing analysis of your current web site standings,search engine presence, html code structure, and search phrase popularity. This analysis allows this company to optimize your site for the most relevant phrases and terms.
8. SEM Worldwide: This company’s SEO experts have extensive experience servicing the highly competitive real estate, mortgage, legal, and retail industries and also have general experience working in these industries.
9. SEO Real Estate Services: This company offers a website review designed to provide the information that you need to determine your next step for achieving top search engine rankings through ethical search engine optimization.
10. Social Media Systems: This company takes a bit of a different approach - theysell Social Media Marketing, which includes and results in SEO, traffic and sales. You write content, this company edits, sends your work to Real Estate Magazine (RISMedia.com), and this link leads to higher rankings. This is not a free service.
11. The Kosloff Group: The mission of The Kosloff Group is to drive top line revenues for their clients by developing quality real estate web site design, search engine optimization, and web site marketing services and strategies.
12. VKI Studios: VKI Studios specializes in real estate Internet marketing and has created a step by step process that will help you sell more houses.
13. Voyager International: Bart at Voyager International only accepts six new clients per year for SEO marketing, so you might be on a waiting list depending on your area as Bart only accepts one broker or agent per market. Typical engagements are two to three years and results are 100% guaranteed.
14. Website4Me: This company’s real estate SEO services go beyond typical optimization, as they claim to have one of the largest online network of real-estate sites.

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SEO-Friendly Web Design

This list contains businesses that design real estate Web sites with an eye to SEO management. We suggest that you get references and compare services before you decide to work with any one of these Web design businesses.

1. Agent Image: In addition to custom real estate web design, Agent Image offers a range of services to help support and maintain your real estate website. These services include Web marketing, TrafficPro lead generation, and SEO services.
2. Agent Website: Agent Website was developed by individuals with first-hand Real Estate experience who recognized a need for high quality, yet reasonably priced internet marketing services for Realtors and real estate agencies.
3. Baytech: Baytech designs Web sites with an eye to SEO. Additionally, they specialize in the real estate market.
4. Builder Consulting: This Web site design company focuses on some of the larger names in the real estate industry for their projects. Founded in 1995 and nationally recognized for its Web & Technology solutions, Kansas-based Builder Consulting offers advanced solutions for companies planning to accelerate their business processes and activities through technology and the Internet.
5. Collins Internet Website Solutions: Collins Internet is a Colorado website design firm that creates, clean and professional websites for businesses, Realtors and non-profit organizations. Our mission is to provide top-notch services at competitive prices to our clients and maintain high levels of customer service.
6. HoopJumper: HoopJumper’s real estate Web sites feature Industry Best MLS Search Tools, SEO, Top Producer® connectivity and individual attention to logos and other artwork to provide you with a professional edge.
7. Montecito Media: Montecito Media specializes in producing business websites and designing custom Internet marketing plans for all businesses, but they do focus on the real estate market.
8. Park City Web Design: Park City Web Design focuses on Web design that is SEO-friendly, and they also cater to the real estate market with multimedia presentations for exclusive real estate properties and luxury resort developments.
9. Real Estate Trafffic Pros: This company offers to build Web sites for real estate professionals. They also offer SEO services and a full array of marketing tools including business development. This company was founded by an account executive for REALTOR.com.
10. Real Estate Webmasters: This company offers templates to those just starting out, and more robust SEO-friendly sites to long-time real estate experts. They utilize an IDX solution that integrates MLS directly into a Web site.
11. RNC Internet Services: Doug Towes, former realtor and founder of RNC, designs Web sites for usability and “stickyness” using principals and techniques deemed to be optimal by the Software Usability Research Lab at Wichita State University. He focuses entirely on the real estate market.
12. SalemGlobal: SalemGlobal’s mission is to build and market the best and most cost effective interactive online presence for your business. Although they specialize in many businesses, they also focus on real estate, including lead generation and commercial property.
13. SEO & Internet Marketing: SEO & Internet Marketing specializes in Web site design and SEO marketing for real estate professionals. They seem to focus on realtors in North and South Carolina, but a stop by their site wouldn’t hurt anyone interested in demanding quality from any other Web site developer. You can use this site as a comparison against what you want from other Web site developers.
14. SEO Realty: This company offers Web design and redesign, where their writers will develop search-engine friendly copy for your site. They also provide SEO services specifically to real estate agents.
15. The Marketing Shop: The Marketing Shop.com specializes in Real Estate Web site marketing, advertising, SEO and more. This is a boutique agency that caters specifically to the real estate market.
16. Webeddy: This company states on the front end that they “work way too hard and too many hours, and if we can’t laugh a little it’s just not going to be fun for either of us.” So gear up you laughbox if you want this company to build and manage your real estate Web site and its SEO marketing.
17. Webfodder: This link will take you to Webfodder’s real estate section, where they show you how they build SEO-friendly sites for agents and brokers.

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Tutorials

The following stray tutorials were discovered in our searches. They come from SEO sites that don’t focus on real estate, or from real estate sites that don’t focus on SEO. As time goes by, surely this list will grow!

1. A Basic Real Estate Web Site Plan For Visitors and Search Engines: Jim Kimmons, a real estate broker in Taos, New Mexico, provides a series of articles on how to optimize your Web site for SEO and for visitors.
2. Craigslist and YouTube Make Great Roommates: Yes, this article is dated. But, the premise is current - if you aren’t using YouTube to market your sites, then this article will explain why you should. While this article doesn’t address SEO directly, you can realize cloning potential through using another site to market your expertise.
3. Effective Online Real Estate Advertising; Look at What This Sarasota Realtor Has Done: This article is a bit over the edge, as it’s more of a directory for specific services than an informative instructional piece. But, it’s an excellent article to lead you to SEOAware, where you can find numerous articles to help you refine your SEO skills.
4. Improving an East Bay Real Estate Site and Putting a Blog in a Realtor’s Hands: SEOigloo provides great insight into how they rebuilt and improved a real estate Web site to become SEO-friendly.
5. Improving SEO on WordPress Websites For Real Estate Agents: Writer Angela Parker begins a series of SEO articles for real estate professionals with this article.
6. Optimizing Real Estate Web Sites for Search Engines: This is a free article on how to optimize a real estate website for search engines provided by YAERD.org.
7. Real Estate Paradigm Shifts in Keyword Research for SEO: An SEO expert offers insights into how shifts in customer behavior can alter how your keywords work - or don’t work - for your site.
8. Real Estate SEO for Beginners: What is search engine optimization and how do real estate agents profit from basic knowledge about SEO? This article was written by Toby Munk from Aspen Real Estate.
9. Rebuz: With at least 60,000+ visitors and 230,000+ page views per month, this site can offer tremendous marketing potential for real estate professionals. Find a place on their pages through paid advertising or through press release submissions. You also can submit your site for listing in various categories.
10. SEO Explained: From the Echo Forum, a site that focuses on real estate. This short article explains keywords succinctly and offers links to popular SEO tools.
11. Terrific Real Estate Search Tools: An article by Gary Price at Search Engine Watch that talks about search tools which are specific to the real estate industry.
12. Top 10 Myths of Real Estate Search Marketing: This is just one of many articles written for real estate professionals by the folks at The Marketing Shop.
13. Using HubPages.com to Improve SEO: This is a YouTube instructional video about how to write an article and make the links work for you to increase page ranking.

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Top 25 Most Beautiful Castles in the World

Posted in Features on January 23, 2008

By Sarah Scrafford

Everyone seems to know that the most luxurious castles are located in Europe. Or, are they? As we traveled the world we learned that castles exist everywhere. From South Africa to Louisiana and from New Zealand to Iran, a curious traveler can find a castle in just about every corner in the world.

Just to prove this theory to you, we’ve gathered twenty-five amazing castles from around the world for your perusal. This selection represents some of the most intriguing castles in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North America, and from around the world. The oldest castle is being restored in Iran after an earthquake destroyed eighty percent of its buildings. The newest castle was built during this century on a stretch of private land on the Sinai coast. No matter when these castles were built, most of them are available to book for special events or as tourist venues. So, you can always visit to see if the royal lifestyle is up your alley.

Although numbered, this list is not in any particular order. So, the numbering does not indicate that we favor one castle over another or that they are listed in order of quality, size, or historic value.

Europe

It seems that you can’t turn around in Europe without bumping into a castle. Europe is the heart of pomp and circumstance, and every country holds amazing stories about their palaces and fortresses. But, if you can visit Europe only once, the following castles are on the “must see” list for your trip. Once you see them, you’ll realize that photographs don’t do justice to the sheer size and luxury that were bestowed on these current and former residences.

1. Windsor Castle: If you plan to visit England, you’ll discover that you could spend months visiting all the castles on this island. However, Windsor Castle is probably the most well known castle in the world, as - together with Buckingham Palace in London and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh - it is one of the official residences of England’s Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. This building and its complex have provided a home and fortress for royalty for over 900 years. Originally made of wood, the castle was built for William the Conqueror to guard the approach to London. The site sits above the River Thames, on the edge of a Saxon hunting ground and one day’s march from the Tower of London. Visitors can walk around the State Apartments, which are extensive suites of rooms at the heart of the working palace. Once you’re through with this castle, you can visit some of the top castles in Britain listed at the Travel Channel. Those castles all come highly recommended, but don’t forget to visit some of the smaller castles such as the one located in Dolwyddelan, Wales. This castle is a lovely place to visit along the road from Betws-y-Coed to the western coast and provides a chance to view Mount Snowden, the highest mountain in Wales.
2. Castello di Strassoldo di Sopra: While there are more magnificent and famous Italian castles, this choice is far from the maddening tourist crowd. This castle is the ‘upper’ castle, which is located near the Castello di Strassoldo di Sotto (”lower” castle), and both castles are located in northeast Italy. Both castles also are privately owned by the Strassoldo family and have been in this family for almost one thousand years. Since they’re privately owned, they aren’t open to the public; however, the owners open their halls for two fascinating exhibits in the spring and fall each year. Additionally, important wedding banquets and other memorable events are personally organized by the owners. The castle’s splendid and fully furnished halls can host several hundred people, while the park can be used for open air buffets and wonderful photos. The owners of the Castello di Sopra have recently restored a fifteenth-century small house called “la Vicinia,” which they rent out overnight. This building and the castle are located in the heart of a lovely medieval village, surrounded by a centuries-old park that’s fed by spring waters.
3. Frankenstein Castle: Darmstadt, Germany is home to the setting for Mary Shelley’s Gothic horror novel, Frankenstein. This castle was the 18th century home of Lord Konrad Dippel Von Frankenstein. There are many theories about Dippel, including one that he sold his soul for eternal life. In reality, Dippel was a highly controversial alchemist in whose laboratory the colour Prussian Blue was discovered. Maybe his enemies tried to ruin his reputation with the legend about the monster created in his laboratory. Visit Frankenstein Castle during Halloween to get the maximum scare factor, as an elaborate monster-themed theater show is performed, along with actors who lurk in the castle shadows. If this castle isn’t enough for you, you can visit a few other German castles that might tickle your luxury bones.
4. Bran Castle: This is another castle that the faint of heart might want to avoid! Commonly known as Dracula ’s Castle, the Bran Castle was originally a stronghold built by the Knights of Teutonic Order in 1212. The first documentary attestation of the Bran Castle is the act issued on 19 November 1377, giving the Saxons of Kronstadt (Brasov) the privilege to build the Citadel. The building started in 1378 as a defense against Turks and later became a customs post on the pass between Transylvania and Walachia. From 1920 the castle became a royal residence until the expulsion of the royal family in 1948. Today it functions as a very attractive museum of medieval arts. The official Romanian site will provide you with the lowdown on this country’s castles, so be sure to visit that site if you plan to visit Romania.
5. Château de Versailles: This castle complex is Louis XIV’s masterpiece, a structure so magnificent that the state treasury was almost depleted during its construction. Also known as the Palace of Versailles, and located now on the edge of Paris, this palace became home to French nobility during the seventeenth century. As the complex grew through four “building campaigns,” Versailles became the center of French government. Louis XIV lived at Versailles, and government offices, homes of thousands of courtiers and their retinues were built there, and nobles of a certain rank and position spent time each year at the court complex. Louis XIV’s attempt to centralize the French government succeeded, as few could match the ostentatious glamour represented by Versailles. Visitors now can visit this UNESCO World Heritage Site and view luxuries such as the Hall of Mirrors (pictured here) and the magnificent gardens among other features. The official Web site also contains a gallery and podcasts where individuals can learn about the castle before they actually visit. If this castle isn’t enough for you, then visit this list of French castle sites.

Middle East

The most significant castles in this region include those created by the European Crusaders who arrived in the Middle East during the Middle Ages to protect Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulcher. All total, eight crusades were carried out between 1096 and 1270, and an entire network of castles was built during this era that stretched from deserts in south Jordan to northern Asia Minor Mountains. You can gain access to a map that shows the sites of the Crusader castles located in the Levant.

What this map doesn’t show is the large percentage of castles built upon Byzantine architecture and with a strong influence from Armenian art. These castles often influenced European architecture, which borrowed upon this Greco-Armenian influence. On the other hand, an enterprising traveler could use this guide to soak in more than a handful of castles during a short trip. We chose five of the best castles within this region that we feel you shouldn’t miss - including one that was built recently.

1. Krak des Chevaliers: T.E. Lawrence once described this castle, located in Syria, as “the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world.” It is the easternmost of a chain of five castles intended to secure the Homs Gap, atop a 650-meter-high hill along the only route from Antioch to Beirut and the Mediterranean Sea. This castle and Beaufort, located in Lebanon as well, were the most important connection castles in the Middle East and they planed a major role in coastal defense for the Crusaders. In 1142 the castle was given by Raymond, Count of Tripoli, to the Knights Hospitallers, and it was they who, during the ensuing fifty years, remodeled and developed it as the most distinguished work of military architecture of its time. The castle remains one of the most complete pieces of military architecture dating from this period, and it holds some of the best preserved Crusader frescoes in the world. The complex contains two concentric walls that sandwich a ditch. The outer wall is an impressive three meters in width, and originally featured a dry moat and drawbridge and was designed to be able to withstand a siege lasting up to five years. Three of the eight round towers were built following the Crusades. Additionally, a chapel within this complex was later converted into a mosque.
2. Castle Zaman: Castle Zaman is perched atop a desert cliff midway between Taba and Nuweiba in Sinai. The simple architecture provides amazing views over the Gulf of Aqaba, and into Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The exact site signifies a landmark on the ancient road that connected St. Catherine’s Monastery with Jerusalem. But, while a distant perspective might fool your eyes into believing this is an ancient ruin, Castle Zaman was built along a local theme to accommodate the contemporary tourist market. Used for honeymooners, parties, film or fashion shootings, the castle and its amenities are available for rent on a weekly or daily basis depending upon availability. Zaman’s private beach, with its pristine sand and crystal clear waters, is the only virgin beach left in the Taba and Nuweiba area.
3. Arg-é Bam Castle: This enormous citadel, situated on the famous Silk Road, was built some time before 500 BCE and remained in use until 1850 CE. It is not known for certain why it was then abandoned. Located in Bam, Iran, this castle is the largest adobe building in the world. The entire building was a large fortress in whose heart the citadel itself was located, but because of the impressive look of the citadel, which forms the highest point, the entire fortress is named the Bam Citadel. It is listed by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage Site, but an earthquake in 2003 destroyed more than 80 percent of the buildings. However, since it is a World Heritage site, several countries - including Japan, Italy, and France - have joined forces to reconstruct the buildings. The World Bank has also granted a large sum of money to the restoration project.
4. Rhodes Castle: The Island of Roses, or Rhodes, is famous for its historic Medieval town, great shopping, and the site of the Colossus of Rhodes. This ‘castle’ was built within the Old Town walls at the beginning of the 13th century CE by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The building is comprised of 205 rooms and a conference area that hosts summits for European and world leaders. Today it attracts visitors from around the world as it houses the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes. Rhodes lies between Crete and the near East along the Aegean ocean. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands and popular even among the Greeks as a holiday retreat. Rhodes holds about sixty thousand permanent residents, and it is the financial and cultural center of the southeastern Aegean area. The excellent tourist infrastructure that includes a wide variety of entertainment makes Rhodes a popular destination.
5. Kolossi Castle: The Kolossi Castle is stronghold located a few kilometers outside the city of Limassol on the island of Cyprus. It held a great strategic importance and contained production of sugar, one of Cyprus’ main exports in the Middle Ages. The original castle was built about 1210 by Frankish military when the land of Kolossi was given by King Hugh I to the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers). It is a stone fortress and the baseground was probably used as a store with two underground cisterns. You’ll enter the first floor via a suspended bridge, and on the south wall of one of the two lower rooms there is a wall painting representing the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the Blason Magnac, which is testimony to the royal devotional use of this room. The next room with the fireplace was likely to be the main dining and reception room. On the second floor there are two more rooms, which were used for lodging. On the roof of the monument, a scalding bowl and loopholes bring the thought of the visitor back to medieval sieges, along with the thought of boiling oil. Former inhabitants of this castle include Richard the Lionhearted and the Knights Templar.

Asia

Like the Middle East, you can find maps that show castle locations throughout Asia. One map, which illustrates castle locations in Japan, clearly demonstrates the proliferation of these Oriental castles in the southern region of the islands. You also can learn about Japanese castles on a site written by a person who has visited over thirty Japanese castles. Maps for Chinese castles are few and far between, but this country’s marvelous architectural structures are beginning to enjoy global attention. Korea also holds a number of castles. Most of these buildings were created as fortresses with entire cities built within their enclosures, but many ‘castles’ in this region consist of temple-cities as well.

1. Forbidden City: As the seat of supreme power for over five centuries from 1416 to 1911, the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, contains four high towers on the four corners of the city wall. This is a fort that contains a city, and the walls are approximately one meter thick. Landscaped gardens and many buildings (whose nearly 10,000 rooms contain furniture and works of art), constitute a priceless testimony to Chinese civilization during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty in Shenyang consists of 114 buildings constructed between 1625–26 and 1783. It contains an important library and testifies to the foundation of the last dynasty that ruled China before it expanded its power to the center of the country and moved the capital to Beijing. This palace then became auxiliary to the Imperial Palace in Beijing.
2. Himeji Castle: Himeji Castle was originally built in 1346 by Akamatsu Sadanori as a fortification against local shoguns. However, the castle has never seen battle, so it is the best preserved example of medieval castle architecture in all of Japan. Himeji is a hill castle that employs the surrounding geography as a bulwark against an enemy attack. The three moats - inner, middle, and outer - served as three lines of defense. The building has expanded over the centuries, and now stands intact on a hill in the center of Himeji City. It is surrounded by a tangled network of spiraling paths and high white walls and, in Japan, it is known as ‘White Heron Castle.’ In 1931 it was designated a national treasure. After several aborted attempts, restoration work began in 1956 and was completed in 1964. It 1993 it was put on the list of UNESCO World Cultural and Heritage Sites. The castle is said to be haunted by a servant girl named Okiku, who is said to have spurned a wealthy warlord’s attention in favor of her true love.
3. Gyeongbokgung or Gyeongbok Palace: While Seoul, Korea, contains five castles (or, palaces), this building may be the largest and most spectacular palace in Korea. It was originally built in 1395 by Korean architect Do-jeon. King Taejo then added on to the building to make it the main palace of the Joseon dynasty. The Japanese burned the building during an invasion in 1592, and it was left in ruins until King Gojong restored the area in 1868. At one time there were 330 buildings in the palace complex. Many of these are being reconstructed. It is said that the Korean alphabet, known as Hangeul, was created inside this palace during the fifteenth century under the reign of King Sejong.
4. Angkor Wat: The ruins of Angkor Wat are located amid forests and farmland to the north of the Great Lake (Tonle Sap) and south of the Kulen Hills, near modern day Siem Reap in Cambodia. Although not a castle per se, Angkor represents the seat of the Khmer empire that flourished in this region from approximately the ninth to fifteenth centuries. This period of rule began when the Khmer Hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself the “universal monarch” and “god-king” of Cambodia in about 802 CE until 1431 CE, when Thai invaders sacked the Khmer capital and caused its population to migrate south to the Phnom Penh area. The temples are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the main building, Angkor Wat, is said to be the world’s largest single religious monument. Many of the temples at Angkor have been restored, and together they comprise the most significant site for Khmer architecture. With the help of satellite photographs and other techniques, an international team of researchers concluded in 2007 that Angkor Wat was the largest preindustrial city in the world, with an urban sprawl of 1,150 square miles. The closest rival would have been the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala, which was roughly fifty square miles in total size.
5. Malacca A’Famosa: When you go to the Web site linked here, you might wonder where the castle went. Well, for the most part, all that’s left of this sixteenth-century Portuguese fort is a tiny gate called the Porta de Santiago. In 1511 a Portuguese fleet arrived in what was then known as Melaka in Malaysia, under the command of Alfonso de Albuquerque. His forces attacked and successfully defeated the armies of the native Sultanate, and Albuquerque built a fortress near the sea. This commander believed that Melaka would become an important link between Portugal and China along the Spice Route. As Melaka’s population grew, the fort was expanded around 1586. The fort changed hands in 1641 when the Dutch drove the Portuguese out of Malaysia. The property changed hands once again in the early nineteenth century when the Dutch handed it over the British to prevent Melaka from falling into Napoleon’s hands. Knowing that they would need to hand the property back to the Dutch at the end of the Napoleonic wars, the British tried to make the entire city useless. Sir Stanford Raffles, Singapore’s founder, convinced the British to allow the population to remain, but all that remains of the buildings was the gate that stands today.

North America

Yes, Virginia - castles do exist in North America. Canada holds the largest castles on this continent, but there is something to be said about a castle that’s small enough to serve as a fishing camp. The following five castles represent a handful of approximately one hundred castles scattered throughout this continent.

1. Chapultepec Castle: When you’re in Mexico City, Mexico, look up on the tallest point in the middle of Chapultepec Park. You’ll discover a building that has been used as a military academy, an imperial palace, an observatory, and a museum. It currently houses the Mexican National Museum of History, but you may recognize it as the 1996 film location for the Academy Award-nominated movie, William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It is the only castle in North America that was occupied by European sovereigns. Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez ordered the construction of a country house on Chapultepec Hill in 1785. After a series of misfortunes and conspiricies, the municipal government of Mexico City purchased the building in 1806. The building went through more occupations and periods of disuse before President Lázaro Cárdenas decreed a law that established Chapultepec Castle as the seat of the National Museum of History (Museo Nacional de Historia) with the collections of the former National Museum of Archaeology, History and Ethnography.
2. Hearst Castle: On the other side of the U.S. in California, you can find the home of newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst. Located halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, construction on this home began in 1919 on a 40,000 acre ranch that Hearst inherited from his father, George Hearst, and that was purchased originally in 1865. San Francisco architect Julia Morgan designed most of the buildings, but the estate was never completed during Hearst’s lifetime. He would tear down structures and rebuild them at a whim, making it difficult to complete the estate while Hearst had a hand in it. Additionally, the estate is a mix of architectural fancies that Hearst enjoyed on his European trips. The facade is modeled after a sixteenth-century Spanish cathedral, while the outdoor pool features an ancient Roman temple front that was transported wholesale from Europe and reconstructed at the site. The indoor pool, shown here, is modeled after Roman baths with gold mosaic tiles. The castle was donated by the Hearst Corporation to the state of California in 1957, and it is a Sate Historical Monument and a National Historic Landmark open for public tours.
3. Casa Loma: Located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, this castle was the former estate of Sir Henry Pellatt, a prominent Toronto financier, industrialist and military man. Construction on this castle began in 1911, and it took 300 men and nearly 3 years to complete at a price of over three million dollars. Pellatt enjoyed the castle for about one decade before he declared financial ruin. The city seized Casa Loma in 1933 for $27,303 in back taxes. While one critic called the mansion “a mixture of 17th century Scotland and 20th Century Fox,” many visitors tour the decorated suites, secret passages, an 800-foot tunnel, towers, stables, and five-acre estate gardens. The house was commissioned to Canadian architect. E.J. Lennox and, at 98 rooms, it was the largest private residence in North America upon completion. Many of the rooms were left unfinished, and today serve as the Regimental Museum for The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada.
4. Frontenac Castle: The Frontenac Castle is actually a Fairmont Hotel that is located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, about one-half mile from Quebec’s parliament. Although the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac is actually a hotel, it is as symbolic to Quebec as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. This Renaissance style castle was build in less than a century by the Canadian Pacific Railway company. With its castle-like architecture and turrets, Fairmont Le Château Frontenac plays a huge role in the heart of the city’s activities, and it has been designated a United Nations World Heritage Site. It may be difficult to book a room in 2008, as this year represents Quebec’s 400th anniversary.
5. Fisherman’s Castle: Anyone who’s driven along I-10 between the Mississippi-Louisiana border and New Orleans in the United States has seen this small and simple castle sitting on the other side of Irish Bayou. Contractor Simon Villemarrette built the ‘home’ in 1981 and he based it upon a fourteenth-century French castle. He purposely built the castle with round turrets and with enough concrete to withstand 140 mph wind gusts. Unfortunately, Villemarrette died before he could occupy the home. This building did survive Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with little damage other than the chunks cut from the sides by flying debris. Jon Digman currently resides in the home as a caretaker, but it’s unknown who owns the home or what the future of this castle holds. The image shown here was taken in 2007, so it’s obvious that any damage created by Hurricane Katrina has been repaired. This little replica goes to show that any home can be a castle.

Around the World

The following castles aren’t as grand as those found in Europe or even in the Middle East or in Asia. But, for their owners and inhabitants, they represented all that was powerful, protective, and princely. And, the castle in Colombia, South America, would rival many European castles in sheer size. Many of the ‘castles’ located around the Caribbean were forts that housed a city complex complete with soldiers. On the other hand, some of the castles shown here were meant as private homes. Yet, these latter buildings are spacious enough to host large functions.

1. Stollmeyer’s Castle: Modeled after a wing of Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and created by the Scottish architect, Robert Gillies from the firm of Taylor and Gillies, this fantastic residence is definitely under Scottish influence. However, it’s located far from Scotland, as the home is located in Port-of-Spain in Trinidad. The wife of the original builder, Charles Fourier Stollmeyer, did not like the house, so it was passed to the Stollmeyer’s son, Conrad C. Stollmeyer. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Stollmeyer lived at the house until their deaths in the 1960s, and the house then passed to the Stollmeyers’ only son, Dr. John Stollmeyer. In March, 1972, John Stollmeyer sold the home for $215,000 to Jesse Henry A. Mahabir, an insurance executive. The building was to be used for residential purposes only. The building was acquired from Mr. Mahabir by the Trinidad and Tobago Government in 1979. If you’re visiting Trinidad and Tobago, you might want to take in this home as well as six others that make up this country’s Magnificent Seven architectural treasures.
2. Larnach Castle: Visiting New Zealand? If you plan to spend any time in this area, then you’ll want to visit this country’s one and only castle. Australian-born William Larnach, merchant baron and politician, built this home for for his first wife in 1871. Over 200 workmen spent three years building the Castle shell and master European craftsmen spent a further 12 years embellishing the interior. Larnach spared no expense on this dream home, which features the finest materials from around the world. The building is the centerpiece of a 35-acre property atop a hill midway along the Otago Peninsula, eight miles from the city of Dunedin on the east cost of the country’s South Island. Still privately owned, the Barker family celebrated their 40th anniversary with Larnach Castle in 2007. Weddings, balls, official and formal functions and celebrations are held often in the home’s 3,000 square foot ballroom. But, be aware that this castle is haunted by both the first and second Mrs. Larnachs, and daughter Katie. The specter of Larnach himself might linger, as he shot himself in the head in 1898 when he learned that his young third wife was embroiled in an affair with one of Larnach’s sons from his first marriage.
3. Castillo San Felipe del Morro: Over two million visitors a year explore theme windswept ramparts and pageways in this fortress/castle, where the history of 400 years of Spain in Puerto Rico comes alive. Begun in 1539 by Spanish settlers to defend the port of San Juan, El Morro’s architecture follows well established Spanish military fortification design principles. Similar Spanish fortifications from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries can be seen on islands throughout the Caribbean and in Florida in the U.S. Named in honor of King Philip II of Spain, the Castillo was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1983 and is part of San Juan National Historic Site.
4. Castle of Good Hope: The Castle of Good Hope was built in Cape Town, South Africa, between between 1666 and 1679, which makes this castle complex the oldest surviving building in this region. The current pentagonal fortification replaced a small clay and timber fort built by Commander Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 upon establishing a maritime replenishment station art the Cape of Good Hope for the Dutch East India Company, better known as the VOC (Verenigde Oos-Indische Compagnie). In 1936 the Castle was declared a National Monument. As a result of an extensive, ongoing restoration and conservation program launched in the 1980’s, the Castle of Good Hope remains the best preserved of its kind built by the VOC in regions where it had interests. The Cape of Good Hope houses the regional headquarters of the South African Army in the Western Cape, the famous William Fehr Collection of historic artworks, the Castle Military Museum and ceremonial facilities for traditional Cape Regiments.
5. San Felipe Castle: Castillo de San Felipe, Cartagena, Colombia, South America, was founded in 1533. This forted castle is a walled city and a World Heritage site. It took slave labor over a century to build this fortress that dominates the landscape and that protected residents from pirates. The fortress is thought to be Spain’s most successful military engineering project in the Americas. Built from red brick and concrete, this citadel is designed so even if one part of the fortress fell to invaders (which never happened), the defenders could fire from another part. Its size is startling, and visitors begin to realize this building’s magnitude when they begin to explore the underground tunnel network.

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25 Simply Amazing Mosques

Posted in Features on January 11, 2008

Considering that Cairo, Egypt alone contains over 1,000 mosques (Masjids), it wasn’t easy to pick the top twenty-five mosques in the world. But, when we added the words “amazing” and “largest” to the equation, we found some mosques that are worth a plane ticket to visit the sites. We also tried to provide a wide geographic area so that you can visit at least one of these architectural wonders during your lifetime. Mosques are places of worship, but they also lean toward education; therefore, you’ll find many mosques that also contain a madrasa (madrasah, madarasaa, medresa, madrassa), the Arabic word for any type of school, secular or religious. But, don’t expect to always find domes or minarets, features which have become symbolic of the Islam faith. You may discover that local culture often colored the architectural styles on many mosques.

The mosques listed below are listed in no particular order, and the numbering does not indicate that we favor one mosque over another or that they are listed in order of quality or even of size.

1. Faisal Masjid, Islamabad, Pakistan: If you’re into visiting large buildings, the enormous Shah Faisal Masjid is your ticket to “big.” It’s the largest mosque in the world in terms of area. The building, which sits on approximately 1,89,705-sq. meters, has an area of 5,000 square meters. The building and its courtyard can hold about 300,000 worshippers. Situated at the foot of the Margalla Hills, the 88-meter-high minarets appear to be rockets on a huge launch pad, which provides a modern look. Yet, the main building area resembles a traditional Arab Bedouin’s tent, with its large triangular prayer hall. The designer, Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay (1927-1991), was chosen from an international competition, where architects from 17 countries submitted 43 proposals. King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia approved of the design and location, and Saudi Arabia paid for the construction as a gift to the Pakistanis. The honor was returned when the mosque was named in honor of King Faisal. The masjid’s architecture is a departure from the long history of south Asian muslim architecture, however in some ways it makes a bridge between Arabic, Turkish and Pakistani Muslim architectural traditions. The complex houses the Islamic Research Centre, a library, museum, lecture hall, cafeteria, and the offices of the Islamic University faculty. If you plan to visit, dress conservatively with clothes that cover the body except for the hands and the head for men. Women need to wear a scarf to cover the hair.
2. Great Mosque of Djenné, West Africa: Built entirely of ferey, or sun-baked mud bricks and covered with mud plaster, this mosque originally was built in the 13th century and was demolished in the year 1834. The only original portion of the building is an enclosure containing the graves of local leaders. The mosque you’ll see today was built at the beginning of the 20th century and completed about 1909. At that time, Djenné was part of the French West Africa colony, so the French may have offered political and economic support for the construction. The walls are between 41 cm and 61 cm thick, and bundles of palm branches are included in the structure to reduce cracking caused by frequent drastic changes in humidity and temperature. Although built in the Bani River basin, the Great Mosque was constructed on a raised platform with a surface area of 5625 m², which has protected the mosque from floods. The local residents have installed indoor plumbing and electrical wiring, but otherwise have resisted modernization in favor of historical integrity. Every year, Djenné’s mosque is repaired during a festival that is “at once awesome, messy, meticulous, and fun.” You can visit this mosque, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988, but don’t expect to enter the building unless you’re Muslim. The Great Mosque was closed to non-Muslims in 1996, after the French Vogue magazine offended local officials with a fashion photography shoot inside the building.
3. The Grande Mosquée de Paris (”Great Mosque of Paris”): Unlike the previous mosque, this building is open to visitors, students, tourists, and Turkish bathers. You can enjoy a short tour of the building, its central courtyard, and its Moorish garden while listening to a brief history of the Islamic faith. The locals like to use the marble Turkish baths during the winter, and the Muslim Restaurant de la Mosquée de Paris, a cafe and restaurant that adjoins the mosque’s courtyard, serves North African cuisine such as couscous, tajine and sweet mint tea. This restaurant is popular with Parisians and tourists alike. Despite all this activity, the mosque remains an active place of worship for North Africans living in Paris, especially on Friday, the Muslim holy day, and during the holy month of Ramadan. This mosque is located in the Ve arrondissement, and it was built in 1922 as a symbol of gratitude from the French to North African Muslim tirailleurs who had fought against Germany during World War I. The pink marble mosque was built as a hybrid of Islamic styles (although it leans toward the mudéjar style), and the imposing structure features a large, sunken garden, fountains and a 33-meter high minaret. The internal courtyards, lined with Andalusian mosaics, are offset by dark eucalyptus and cedar trim. The Paris Grand Mosque oversees the affairs of around 400 of the 1,800 facilities described as mosques throughout France, which can include simple one-room structures. The head of the mosque, Dr. Dalil Boubakeur, described by the Le Monde newspaper as “the ideal Muslim,” is the most prominent Muslim in France and a friend of President Jacques Chirac. The mosque’s theological institute runs courses that it hopes will train a new generation of French-born imams, which is a hot topic in France. The courses are open to both Muslim and non-Muslim individuals.
4. Centro Cultural Islámico Rey Fahd (King Fahd Islamic Cultural Center): Located in Buenos Aires, this mosque is the largest in South America. President Carlos Menem granted 34,000 m² of land for this mosque after a visit to Saudi Arabia in 1992. Construction began in 1998, and the center opened in 2000. The project cost about US$30 million, and it includes the mosque, library, two schools, and a park. Interestingly, Menem is Catholic, but he is of Syrian Muslim descent.Sporting traditional Arab mosque architecture with minarets and prayer hall, this building has been translated into a modern format. The Cultural Center is open to visitors for free tours twice a week in English and in Spanish. During this short tour, you’ll visit the gardens, the interior courtyard, the library and other spaces. The center offers classes in Koran and Arabic language and its library is open to the public daily. The mosque is striking at night, as both minarets are lit. The Cultural Center, which was named in honor of King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, is located near the polo fields in Palermo Gardens, where you can find the imposing statue of Sarmiento created in 1900 by the sculptor Auguste Rodin, the famous Rose Garden with its lake, and the Galileo Galilee Planetarium among other tourist delights.
5. The Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque,Cyprus: If you think you’re seeing Gothic architecture in the image shown at right, then you would be correct. This building was originally known as the Saint Nicolas Cathedral and later as the Ayasofya (Saint Sophia) Mosque of Magusa, and it’s the largest medieval building in Famagusta, Cyprus. Built approximately between 1300CE and c.1400CE, the building initially was consecrated as a Christian cathedral and the western facade is remarkably similar to the Rheims Cathedral in France. The cathedral was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman Empire captured Famagusta in 1571, and it remains a mosque to this day. The upper parts of the mosque’s two towers suffered from earthquakes and were badly damaged during the Ottoman bombardments of 1571; they have never been repaired, but a minaret was added to one tower. The mosque was named after the Turkish leader who laid siege to the city in 1571.Other changes may have included the removal or covering of any depictions of saints or frescoes, as Islamic tradition excludes depictions of animals and humans from their religious architecture. Stained glass windows and the altar were also removed; although, since the area is prone to earthquakes, the removal of stained glass was probably more out of practicality than any other reason. A few tombs remain in the north aisle from the fourteenth century, and a guide will show you those tombs should you choose to visit. To the left of the facade is a small Ottoman tomb dating from 1700CE, and a small shrine. The old tree in front of the main door is said to have been planted in 1250, and is an East African fig tree. It is said to be the oldest living tree in Cyprus.
6. Islamic Center of America, Dearborn, Michigan: The Islamic Center of America is a mosque in Dearborn, Michigan, opened in 2005, that claims to be the largest in North America. It caters to mainly the Shi’a Muslim congregation; however, all Muslims may attend the mosque. The Islamic Center of America traces its origin to the 1940s, when Muslim immigrants from Lebanon and Syria began to settle in Detroit and brought young author and scholar, Imam Mohammed Jawad Chirri, from Lebanon as a religious leader in 1949. Chirri became the leader of the then-new Islamic Center Foundation Society in 1954, and this group decided they needed a new religious center. Chirri raised fund for the center in Egypt in 1959, and the Society purchased land from the Ford Motor Company. By 1963, the Islamic Center of America opened its doors for the first time. By 1967, the Center had already outgrown this space. Additional classrooms, an enlarged social hall, and a minaret were added to serve the growing membership. The 92,000-square-foot, $14 million building was completed on 12 May 2005. From the road, the face shows golden domes, Moorish arches, a stone exterior of desert tones, deep-green decorative tiles and two 110-foot-tall minarets topped with crescent moons.Chirri died in 1994, and his successor is the current Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini. Al-Qazwini founded the Young Muslim Association (YMA) in 1998, and affiliated this youth organization with the Islamic Center in Dearborn. This organization,one of the largest Muslim youth organizations in North America, is aimed at creating an environment in which Muslim youth can actively promote Islam and effectively channel their efforts. Al-Qazwini has also authored the book, “American Crescent,” where he pleads with Muslim Americans to integrate into American life while simultaneously deepening their identification as Muslims.
7. Jumeirah Mosque, Dubai: Dubai is one of seven sheikhdoms that form the United Arab Emirates, and this city can trace its history back 5000 years. The Jumeirah Mosque, one of the largest sacred structures in Dubai, is built in the medieval Fatimid tradition from stone. This building is one of the most photographed sites in Dubai. Although non-Muslims are not allowed to enter Dubai mosques, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding organizes visits to the Jumeirah Mosque for non-Muslims. This effort is aimed at promoting cultural understanding and first-hand experience with an insight to the Islamic religion. As with visiting most mosques, the tradition is to cover hair for women, and to dress conservatively and cover all parts of the body but for the hands, and for the heads of the men. The two minarets and the lacy domes on this building look spectacular at night (see photos), and they’re just as impressive in daylight.
8. The Great Mosque of Xi’an, China: Like the Gothic mosque in Cyprus shown above, this first Chinese mosque reflects the Tang Dynasty architecture that was prevalent when this mosque was built during the 742CE (reign of Emperor Xuanzong, 685-762). Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty later renovated the mosque, but never added domes or minarets. The important feature in this type of architecture is its emphasis on symmetry, a contrast to the building’s surrounding gardens, which are a fine example of extreme asymmetry. This mosque is a fine example of Sino-Islamic architecture.This particular mosque is located near the Drum Tower (Gu Lou) on Huajue Lane of Xi’an (Sian), Shaanxi province, China, and it is one of the oldest and most renowned mosques in the country. The mosque was the religious center for Arab and Persian merchants who operated in China. The threads of commerce were established during the Tang Dynasty and the Silk Road was established. This trade route connected Xi’an to the Middle East and Europe, and opened China to the Western world. The 754 A.D. census showed that five thousand foreigners lived in the city; Turks, Iranians, Indians and others from along the Road, as well as Japanese, Koreans and Malays from the east. Many were missionaries, merchants or pilgrims, but every other occupation was also represented. Today’s Muslim community, which supports several mosques in this area, runs its own primary school, foods shops and restaurants, and continues to remain an integral part of Xi’an’s daily life.If you cannot visit this mosque, then visit this Web site about Islamic architecture. This site contains many pictures and detailed descriptions of the Great Mosque of Xi’an, as well as some history about the area. If you do visit, you might want to avoid the hours around noon, when - according to one tourist - animals are slaughtered and skinned in the courtyard.
9. Assyafaah Mosque, Singapore (The Modern Mosque): Designed by the Singapore-based Forum Architects for the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), this mosque breaks with tradition with its lack of a dome. Located on the north side of the island in a neighborhood filled with high-rise residential buildings, the architecture blends with its companion buildings in a statement that was intended by principal architect Tan Kok Hiang. He was concerned with the population’s ability to relate to each other “in a harmonious, or at the very least, tolerant manner,” so he planned the building with that leaning toward a building with no physical or visual ethnic or religious boundaries. Yet, it had to signal to the Muslim community that this building was, indeed, a mosque. So, a ten-story minaret built from rusted steel plates coated with colorless polyurethane marks the territory.Masjid Assyafaah opened in 2004, and it is the fifth mosque to be built under Phase III of the Mosque Building Fund program to serve the needs of the Muslim community in northern Singapore. It also acts as a replacement for the closure of two old mosques in the Sembawang area - Jumah Sembawang Mosque and Naval Base Mosque. This mosque can accommodate about 4,000 people at one time.
10. The Shah Mosque, Isfahan, Iran: A visit to the south side of Naghsh-i Jahan Square in Isfahan, Iran, will bring you face-to-face with The Shah Mosque - renamed to Imam Mosque after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. But, the mosque is also known as Masjid-e Shah, Masjid-e Imam, Royal Mosque, Mehedi Mosque, Masjid-i Shah. To simplify the matter, we’ll remain with The Shah Mosque, which is located roughly 210 miles (340 km) south of the capital city of Tehran on the north bank of the Zayandeh River.This mosque was built as the space for public worship in Shah Abbas’ new urban plan for Isfahan, but was not completed until the reign of his successor, Safi I. The reason it took so long to complete is that Abbas I built a whole new city. According to one description, it contained “162 mosques, 48 madrasahs, 1,802 commercial buildings, and 283 baths.” This mosque survives as one of the finest monuments to Islamic architecture. The portal is formal, and it addresses the square with a recessed domed vestibule that enters the apse of the north iwan at a 45-degree angle. This transition accommodates the angle between the median axis with which the portal is aligned, and the mosque’s orientation toward Mecca. Minarets are paired at both the entry portal and the south iwan (a mosque in which the prayer hall is an iwan or up to four iwans that surround a courtyard - it was the most popular style in the medieval period, and remained dominant in Iran). The southern dome, a bulbous form supported on a tall drum shape, is the largest and the only one decorated. When you visit this mosque, you’ll enjoy the wall painting and the vivid blue tiles. Once you’ve taken in the mosque, you can take tea in one of the teahouses located under the nearby bridges.
11. Al-Azhar University and Mosque, Cairo, Egypt: In this city that holds over 1,000 mosques, this building is the one to see. It claims to be the oldest and foremost institution of higher learning for Muslims, but the Moroccan mosque that follows this one also makes that same claim. The mosque was built within two years after the foundation was laid in 969CE. The school of theology (Madrasah) connected with it was founded in 988 AD. Studies began in Al-Azhar in Ramadan by October 975CE, when Chief Justice Abul Hasan Ali ibn Al-No’man began to teach the book “Al-Ikhtisar,” on the Shiite jurisprudence. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the school became affiliated with Sunni Islam, and it retains that orientation today. With that said, the university also offers secular classes in medicine and engineering.With a building this old, you can expect to see a variety of architectural styles incorporated within the gates, courtyard, and minarets. Latticework with a nod to gingerbread style creates a peaceful and quaint atmosphere for worshippers and students. Learn more about this building’s history before you visit.
12. The University of Al-Karaouine and Mosque, Fes, Morocco: It wouldn’t be fair to offer the oldest institute for higher learning in Egypt (above) if the competition wasn’t listed as well. This university claims that it was founded in 859CE. No matter if the date is right or wrong, this university remains one of the leading Muslim spiritual and educational centers. For the record, it is listed as the oldest continuously operating institution in the Guinness Book of World Records. Unfortunately, non-Muslims are not permitted to enter the Kairaouine Mosque, but you can either peer through the gates or catch a good overview of the entire building from the roof of the Medersa el Attarin (Koranic school) if you can get in.While this site is more known for its university, this school would not exist if the mosque had not been built by Fatima Al-Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Mohammed Al-Fihri. The mosque soon developed into a place for religious instruction and political discussion, gradually extending its education to a broad range of subjects, particularly the natural sciences. In 1957, King Mohammed V introduced math, physics, chemistry and foreign languages to its curriculum. This king also “jolted traditionalists” by setting up a female branch that year and 1,197 women were enrolled by 1960. While the school expanded, the mosque grew in stature as well. Within the past ten centuries, this mosque has become the largest in North Africa, with a capacity for more than 20,000 worshipers.Before you visit this mosque and university, you might want to read more about this building’s architectural qualities. While you cannot enter the mosque if you’re a non-Muslim, you can surely wander around portions of the university. Don’t get lost!
13. The Sixty Dome Mosque, Bangladesh, India (also known as the Sixty Pillar Mosque, or Shait Gombuj Mosque): This mosque isn’t as garish as some, nor is it as spectacular as others. But, it’s old, and the architecture is one of the most impressive on the Indian continent. It was built by the general Ulugh Khan Jahan in the early 15th century, a military man who escaped Delhi after Timur sacked that city in 1398. The walls are thick and tapered in the Tughlaq style (native to Delhi, and a once popular style for tombs). It is decorated with terracotta and brick, with a hut-shaped roof that is supported by slender columns which culminate in numerous arches inside the mosque. Despite the site’s name, this roof sports over 77 domes and columns.
14. Jama Masjid Delhi, Delhi, India: Masjid-i-Jahan Numa means “the mosque commanding a view of the world,” and one reason for this moniker is the fact that the mosque stands on a five-foot tall platform. Three flights of steps lead to the mosque’s interior from the east, north, and south. The name Jama Masjid also is a reference to the weekly service observed on Friday (the yaum al-jum`a) at the mosque. This makes this mosque the principle Islamic center for India’s Old Delhi, and also provides the mosque its nickname of the “Friday Mosque.” It was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and completed in the year 1656CE, and the expansive courtyard can hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers. Its location at the busy Chandni Chowk also makes this mosque a popular place for tourists and locals alike.
    This mosque’s floor is finished in white and black marble that imitates the Muslim prayer mat. Additionally, a thin black marble border is marked for the worshippers. There are 899 such spaces marked on the floor. On your visit you might want to climb one of the smaller minarets in the rear of the mosque, where you can capture a birds-eye view of Old Delhi. You can view images of the floor and other delights that belong to this mosque at this gallery.
15. Masjid Sultan Suriansyah, Indonesia: This mosque is the oldest mosque in South Kalimantan, dating about three centuries old (1526CE-1550CE). It was built during the reign of Sultan Suriansyah (Pangeran Samudera), the first Banjarese King to convert to Islam. The location is near the site of the palace complex that was destroyed by the colonial Dutch. Fortunately the mosque was spared, as it’s a fine example of pre-Islamic Banjar architecture. This building lacks the traditional dome and minarets, features that did not appear in Indonesia until the nineteenth century with the spread of a more orthodox Islamic tradition. The multi-level roofs shown here are very similar to Balinese Hindu temple pagodas and other traditional Indonesian architecture. What makes this mosque especially unique is the mihrab that has a separate roof from the main building.
16. Great Mosque of Samarra, Iraq: This mosque was built in the 9th century, commissioned in 848CE and completed in 52 years by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil who reigned (in Samarra) from 847 until 861. At one time, this mosque also claimed the right to the largest mosque in the world, as its minaret (the Malwiya or al-Malwiya Tower) is 52 meters high and thirty-three meters wide at the base with a spiral ramp. This spiral is so respected that it’s a feature on Iraqi banknotes.In a list of Al-Mutawakkil’s building projects, the then-new “Congregational Mosque” and up to 20 palaces are mentioned, so this leader seems to have been fond of architecture. The mosque was originally designed to hold eighty thousand worshippers. The baked brick walls surround an area that is 240 meters in length, 158 meters wide, and 10 meters high, and the walls were paneled with dark blue glass mosaics.The minaret was featured in the U.S. Department of Defense’s Archaeology Awareness playing cards that were designed to educate U.S. troops about cultural heritage while on active service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, on 1 April 2005, the top of the Malwiya minaret was damaged by a bomb. Insurgents reportedly attacked the tower because U.S. troops had been using it as a lookout position. Ironically, Iraq’s antiquities officials also had expressed concern that US soldiers had caused significant damage to historic sites in Samarra, including the walls of an ancient palace. Despite the war in Iraq, this mosque remains a popular tourist site.
17. Masjid al-Haram, “The Sacred Mosque,” Makkah al-Mukkaramah: If you’re going to go on a serious mosque search, you cannot miss the largest mosque in Islam, situated in the city of Mecca (now recognized as Makkah al-Mukkaramah). The structure currently covers an area of 356,800 square meters, which includes both indoor and outdoor praying spaces. It can accommodate up to four million worshippers during the Hajj period. This building surrounds the Ka’aba, the place where all Muslims turn towards five times each day in prayer. This Ka’aba is a cube-shaped structure that is believed to have been built by Abraham in God’s honor, so it is considered the holiest place on earth for the Muslims. Some believe this mosque was erected on the original site of a sanctuary established by the first Prophet, Adam.Every Muslim who can afford it is required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca as one of the Five Pillars of Faith. Every year, approximately three million individuals gather for this Hajj during the Muslim month of Dhu’l-Hijja (which varies according to the Muslim calendar). Many more worshippers perform the minor pilgrimage, or Umrah, at various times throughout the year. Dhu’l-Hijja is not the time for non-Muslims to visit this area, as they are strictly prohibited from entering Mecca and Medina. Roadblocks are stationed along roads leading to the city. So you might conduct some research on current dates for this event before you visit.
18. Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque, Colombo, Sri Lanka: This mosque, one of the oldest in Colombo, remains a tourist landmark in this capital city simply for its striped red and white decorative architecture. Located at Second Cross Street in the Pettah Bazaar area, Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque was completed in 1909. H.L. Saibo Lebbe was named the architect for this building in 1908, and he completed the project in one year. Some claim that the Jami Ul Alfar mosque was recognized as the Colombo landmark by sailors during the twentieth century.As a tourist, you may be treated as graciously as this person, who shares his photographs of the inside of the mosque online. But, if you can’t make it to Sri Lanka, you can try to visit the Masjid Jamek in Kuala Lumpur. This mosque was also completed in 1909, it’s one of the oldest mosques in the area, and it bears a slight resemblance to the Sri Lanka mosque.
19. The Ulugh Beg Madrasa, Uzbekistan: This mosque looks like a large piece of candy, with all the multi-colored tiles that are installed on its façade. This variegated decoration was executed in hazarbaf brickwork, haft rangi tiles and mosaic faience, and it covers every exterior surface. Marble is used to form dados and moldings. This mosque is the sole survivor of an entire complex that included several mosques, caravanserais and a bazaar. Also known as “Ulugbek Madrassah,” this building was erected in 1417, as the inscription on the door’s bronze plate claims.Like the Chinese mosque shown previously, this area benefited from the Silk Road culture, and a viewer can only imagine a whole complex of buildings that were just as ornate as this mosque. The mosque is named for Ulugh Beg, a Timurid ruler, astronomer, mathematician and sultan. He was interested in learning, so this site received scholars, both religious and secular, during the Timurid period. The building welcomed worshippers until the late seventeenth century, when it became a grain storage for more than a century. The building was reclaimed for education in the early twentieth century.
20. Dublin Mosque, Ireland: This is another mosque that reflects the regional culture, as this place of worship is situated in what used to be a house in Dublin. This mosque, which was opened in 1983, owes its current status to a group of Islamic students who arrived in Dublin in the early 1950s to study. They formed the first Islamic Society in 1959, and a decade later the Society began to petition for funds for a building. They first purchased a four-story house on Harrington Street, but a rise in the number of worshippers forced the group to find a new building. In 1983, this current building, a house on South Circular Road, Dublin 8, was purchased and the other mosque was sold.The Islamic Foundation of Ireland uses this building as its headquarters, and this society represents all Muslims in Ireland. There are other societies in various Irish counties that also service the Muslim community. The current number of Muslims in Ireland totals about 1,300.
21. The Saint Petersburg Mosque, Russia: When this mosque opened in 1913, it was the largest mosque in Europe with minarets at 48 meters in height and the dome rising 39 meters high. But, it still operates as the largest Muslim center in this Russian city, as it can accomodate up to five thousand worshippers who are separated by gender during a worship service. The mosque was built to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Abdul Ahat Khan, Emir of Bukhara (Turkistan), and a founding stone was laid in 1910 in his honor. Originally, there were many opponents to the construction of this building, but Nicholas II authorized the sale of land to the Muslim population in St. Petersburg in 1907. The announced architectural contest was won by architects Krichinsky, Vasiliev and Gogen.The walls in this building are faced with dark gray granite, which is a somber choice when compared to some snow-white mosques. The dome and minarets are decorated with multi-colored tiles and the facade is adorned with quotes from the Koran. The St. Petersburg Mosque closed and used as a warehouse during World War II, but the building was returned to the Muslim worshippers in 1956 at the request of the first Indonesian President, Soekarno. Major restorations were made to the building in 1980.
22. The Mezquita, Córdoba, Spain: Construction on the Mezquita (Spanish for “mosque” or Muslim “masjid”) began in the sixth century BCE as a cathedral. Beginning at about starting in 784CE, the building began its incarnation into a Muslim mosque under the Moors. At that time it was known as the Aljama Mosque and - at that time - it was the second largest mosque in the world, taking over two centuries to complete its transformation. During this era, Córdoba was the largest, most prosperous cities of Europe, outshining Byzantium and Baghdad in science, culture and the arts. When Fernando III captured Córdoba in 1236CE, the mosque was once again converted to a cathedral.Now you can visit this expansive mosque/cathedral for a few Euro. The alternating brick and stone arches and the more than 850 colored granite jasper and marble pillars that seem to reach across time and space will take your breath away. The Moorish, Baroque and Gothic architectural mix is something not to be missed. Artists and architects continued to add to the existing structure until the late 18th century, making the Mezquita an outstanding architectural oddity.
23. The Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque, Gibraltar: If you’re sightseeing in Gibraltar on the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar, it would be difficult to miss this statuesque mosque. Also known as the King Fahd bin Abdulaziz al-Saud Mosque or the Mosque of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, this building is located at Europa Point at the southern tip of Gibraltar . The mosque was a gift from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to the 2000 Muslim inhabitants in Gibraltar . It took two years to build at a cost of about five million pounds. The building, which was completed in August 1997, contains a school, library, and lecture hall.This mosque has an underground tank believed to have existed since the time of the Moors (742CE - 1300CE), located on a flat ground next to the building. The area was known as Nun’s Well, and according to theory, received that name because the nuns from the Shrine of Our Lady of Europa, also located in Gibraltar, could have used it during early times.
24. Dar al-Islam Mosque, New Mexico: If you happen to visit the hills of the Rio Chama Valley, you’ll find a stunning structure of adobe topped by a softly sculpted dome that seems very much at home in its high-desert environment. You might think Georgia O’Keefe, or even The Alamo. But, you’d be far from the mark, as you’d be admiring an Islamic mosque built in 1981 by renowned Egyptian architect Hassan Fathi, the mosque resembles buildings of the same stature in north and West Africa. Dar al-Islam was originally intended to serve as the centerpiece of a community of schools and living quarters for North American Muslims. The planned village doesn’t exist, but the mosque has developed programs in connection with educational institutions to promote a better understanding of Islam. Retreats, study groups, and workshops allow Muslims and non-Muslims to study with visiting scholars. In the valley below sits the natural wonder known as Plaza Blanca, also immortalized as “The White Place in the Shadow” in a 1942 painting by O’Keeffe (so you weren’t too far off the mark, after all!).Situated on 1,600 acres, the mosque and adjoining madrassah includes vaulted ceilings, domes, archways, gardens, courtyards, and a library. The Dar al-Islam community of several dedicated families consists of educators, artists, poets, and writers who want to “build bridges between Muslims and the wider North American community by communicating the deep spirituality and beauty of the Islamic tradition by living it.” The Dar al Islam Foundation sponsors many projects across the continent to bring Muslims and non-Muslims together to discuss Islam and other related issues. Among its most popular programs is the yearly Teachers’ Institute, which has brought together over 200 educators from the United States and Canada to learn about Islam.
25. Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, Brunei, Borneo: This dazzling mosque sits on an artificial lagoon near the Brunei River in Kampong Ayer on the island of Borneo. This mosque is the largest in the Far East, and considered one of the most beautiful mosques in the world. Topped with a gold dome and supported by walls and columns of Italian marble, the structure reaches 52 meters in height. The stained glass windows were made in England, and the carpets were imported from Saudi Arabia. A stone replica of a 16th-century barge rests in the Brunei River in front of the mosque. The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque was named after the 28th sultan of Brunei. Designed by an Italian architect, the mosque was built in 1958. There is an elevator that goes to the top of the 44 meter minaret.If you can visit this mosque, you’ll discover a bridge that leads from the mosque to as Kampung Air, which translates as “water village.” In this area you’ll see hundreds of homes and businesses built on stilts in the Brunei River. Although some writers have equated the appearance of this village to a slum, you’ll discover that people choose to live in this manner because it’s cooler. Many of the residents in this village own boats and cars. No matter where you wander in Brunei, you’ll see the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque’s minaret, which is especially magnificent at night when lit.

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Top 50 Real Estate Marketing Bloggers

Posted in Features on December 18, 2007

Every real estate agent and developer is different, and each one believes one form of marketing works better than another. Word of mouth, or viral marketing, represents just one method of marketing. Others include print, radio, television, Web sites, and blogs. This marketing “to-do” list can grow, and it would take a ’superperson’ to take advantage of every marketing situation - let alone to use each one to its peak performance.

This is where marketing bloggers can come to the rescue. The list below includes bloggers who focus on general and online marketing, including blogs. More specifically, the list below focuses only on real estate marketing, a necessity that can prove both very expensive and time-consuming unless you learn how to get around those obstacles.

Please note that the blog numbering is not meant to be a ranking, as each blog topic is listed in alphabetical under five different categories.

General Marketing

Location is important to realtors, and it’s no less important in where you place your print ads, your radio spots, and more. The blogs below will provide tools, tips, and advice on how to promote your listings in the general marketplace from other real estate developers and agents.

1. About Real Estate Business: The About Web site maintains plenty of real estate blogs, but James Kimmons’ column focuses specifically on real estate business and how to market that business. Kimmons is a real estate broker in Taos, New Mexico. He has been previously licensed as a broker in Texas and currently also holds a broker license in Colorado.
2. Ask Chester: Real Estate Advice: Real estate agent, Judy, speaks through her dog, Chester, as she offers advice on real estate, including marketing tools that go beyond her Dallas real estate market.
3. BRER Real Estate Marketing Blog: Kathleen Allardyce, founder of Build Real Estate Results and Getting It Write, Inc., offers tips and tools that will provide your real estate business a competitive edge. Allardyce also maintains a real estate marketing “lens” at Squidoo.
4. IBS Team: Yes, this site is known for its real estate listings; but, the blog focuses on real estate marketing. The news categories are varied, as they range from blogging to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Web 2.0.
5. Real Blogging: Yes, this is a blog, but it’s a blog about community and how that real estate community can drive markets to your business. A variety of agents blog about coaching, specialty services, technology and more at this site.
6. Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Brandon Cornett is the author of many real estate marketing guides, having earned a reputation for “spilling the beans” on marketing secrets that other experts hold in reserve. The blog is an arm of Cornett’s Web site, Arming Your Farming.
7. Real Estate Blog: David Cowgill created this blog in 2006 to help others already investing in real estate to pick up a few more ideas, and for those who are beginners and want to learn exactly how to get started. If you type “marketing” into the site’s search engine you’ll discover some real estate marketing gems.
8. REALonomics: REALonomics analyzes, critiques, polls, editorializes and conducts interviews that are posted to this blog as a service to real estate company owners. The advantage to the real estate agent is that he or she can learn much from various business models, including how to analyze business models for the most effective and profitable ways to conduct business.

Internet Marketing

The days when you didn’t need a Web presence are over. But, you may wonder whether the expense is worth the effort. The following blogs will help you sift through the Internet hype, to decide whether you want a static site or a blog, and to decide whether you want to go it alone or join a group of other real estate bloggers.

9. 3plainsReal Estate Internet Marketing Blog: Ryan Trask converted to Internet Marketing from working previously for the media industry. In 2007 he began to create useful online real estate website guides and building real estate Web sites. He shares his expertise with agents and developers in his blog.
10. Best Practices: Latham Jenkins has been in real estate marketing for ten years. He brings his passion for real estate and for Internet marketing to readers through this blog.
11. Future of Real Estate Marketing: This blog, brought to you by Joel Burslem, examines the impact of Web 2.0 and the Internet on real estate and real estate marketing. Burslem has over ten years’ experience in high tech marketing and consumer public relations, and is a regularly quoted expert on the impact of the Web 2.0 and real estate.
12. Geek Estate: Zillow.com founded GeekEstate Blog as a resource for real estate professionals who want to learn more about how they can grow their business through smart use of technology.
13. Kim’s Tips and Tricks for Marketing Real Estate Online: Kim Morlan, a marketing coach, provides articles and info on real estate marketing, with an emphasis on online marketing and websites.
14. Mike’s Corner - Real Estate’s “New Rules - New Tools™”: Michael Price is the president of 360Podcast, LLC, the parent company of MLBroadcast.com. He’s been involved with the development of web software, marketing and listing enhancement tools for real estate since 1995, and he now offers his advice to anyone online.
15. New Home Marketing: Bo Gilbert, Senior Consultant at Mitch Levinson Consulting, has over 12 years of experience working in the new home construction industry and he’s also a member of the Institute of Residential Marketing (MIRM). He focuses on Internet marketing and blogging for the home seller.
16. ParticleWave: John Lockwood’s goal is to get you more escrows through advanced Internet marketing. He uses his blog to share tips and tricks.
17. Real Estate Internet Marketing: Mert Sahinoglu is a White Hat SEO Consultant who hopes to share his Internet and marketing expertise with fellow real estate industry professionals through this blog.
18. Real Estate Marketing Blog: This blog offers real estate marketing advice for the wild, wild Web. “The Sheriff and his posse of consultants defend the value of real estate websites around the globe to the search engines by warding off the renegade throngs of bad SEO practitioners, inefficient spam lords, and boring form-letter outlaws.”
19. Real Estate Marketing Platform: Rather than location, location, location, this blog focuses on relationships, relationships, relationships. Realivent aims to connect real estate agents to potential clients in a non-obtrusive, helpful, and friendly manner by providing tools to promote efficiency and the ever-increasing need for transparency.
20. Real Estate Marketing Tools: Justin Smith, a coach for the Real Estate Tomato and employed at the Christian Real Estate Network, offers his expertise on blogging and search engine optimization.
21. Real Estate Toolbox: Brian Rodgers is one of the most sought after trainers and copywriters in the real estate industry while maintaining his successful real estate practice. Brian remains “out in the trenches” so he doesn’t lose touch with what is actually going on in the industry.
22. Realtor Tech: Marc Everlove, the Director of Information Technology at the South Bay Association of REALTORS®, shares some insight and knowledge regarding technology in the real estate industry.
23. Realty Blogging: This blog fosters a network of blogging evangelists who write on how to conduct effective real estate blogging. Interested realtors will find tips on effective blogging techniques, trends, and tools that can be put into practice as agents learn how to efficiently use their blogs.

Coaches

Coaches teach, monitor, and hold agents accountable to their goals. Additionally, coaches teach the skills required to meet those goals. This includes marketing tips and tricks that only the experienced coach would know. The following coaches have businesses, but they also take time out to write blogs about motivation, skills, and selling techniques.

24. Jan O’Brien - Real Estate Coach: O’Brien has over 22 years’ worth of training, leadership, business and coaching experience. She seeks to inspire, educate and counsel others to discover their full potential.
25. Colm Dillon - Real Estate Development Coach: Colm Dillon, real estate developer, has created workshops that he holds in the U.S. and in Australia. Additionally, he provides software and more - including this blog - that help other developers to get a leg up on their businesses.
26. Doug Crowe - Real Estate Coach: Doug Crowe offers a blog, a podcast, and other online tools to help real estate agents create and meet goals.
27. Luxury Clues: This blog is dedicated to real estate agents who represent luxury properties. This tool will help you learn their “Language of Wealth ™” as well as what’s hot and what’s not in the upper echelons. Their posts include timely training tips, updates on the statistics you need to know, and strategies for providing the services that wealthy clients expect and require.
28. Tom Ferry: With a current focus on real estate and financial service professionals, the Tom Ferry blog leads readers deeper into this company’s materials and mentoring programs.

Development Properties

Marketing development properties, condos, apartment and office buildings and other large properties is different than marketing a home. The blogs listed below are geared specifically toward those individuals who seek to invest and/or sell larger commodities and to the accompanying marketing issues.

29. 1031 Like-Kind Exchange Blog: Why worry when a 1031 expert can help you to avoid the tax man — with little to no marketing! Bloggers Chad Hallberg and Richard Dance are qualified to facilitate a 1031 like-kind exchange, and and they about the advantages to this real estate development tool as well.
30. CondoLeaf: Marc Vitorillo, broker/owner of Schaaf & Vitorillo Realty and CondoLeaf.com LLC, believes it’s time to “turn over a new leaf” by focusing on a savvy consumer-driven market. While CondoLeaf specializes in buying and selling condos in the Tampa Bay area, Vitorillo’s advice provides great inspiration and ideas for any condo agent.
31. Curbed: What better place to learn about development markets than in New York (although there are links to Curbed LA and San Francisco from this site as well). Not only does this site provide a wealth of information that New York agents can use, it provides great insights into tools that other agents can use across the country.
32. EcoHome Guy: So you have your hands on some properties, and you want to catch the wave of the latest green technologies. Visit this blog to learn about Burke Sisco’s perspectives on this market in the Atlanta area. What he imparts, you can adopt.
33. Landlords and Property Managers: The authors of this blog, who also participate with LandlordAssociation.Org, provide services and resources to help landlords, real estate investors, property owners, or property managers make or save thousands of dollars each year. This includes networking and marketing.
34. Multifamily Technology 360°: Look up this blog to find the latest news in technology and telecommunications services for apartments, condos, student housing and mixed-use developments. This is one way you can advance the marketing of your properties, and this blog shows you how to do that as well.
35. The Trump Blog: You don’t need to attend Trump U. to take advantage of the wisdom imparted by writers on the Trump blog. You can even catch blog entries written by “The Donald” himself.

Marketing Tools

Business owners who also offer real estate marketing tools such as Web site design and virtual tour development write the following blogs. While business owners also write other sites listed above, these blogs are geared specifically toward the tools that they market for your success.

36. 1st Online Realty News Blog: This blog compiles real estate marketing and technology news articles that will help you get a leg up on your competition.
37. Base 10 Web Solutions: Base 10 Web Solutions is an internet marketing firm headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. They specialize in online marketing services such as Web site design and development, strategic Web marketing solutions, and graphic design, and they provide a blog filled with real estate marketing tips.
38. Guru Real Estate Marketing: Bruno Roldan studied marketing and international business before he started his first business based on developing virtual tours for real estate marketing. Now, he promotes the first donation-based online real estate software for agents worldwide.
39. ISREP Member Blog: International Society of Real Estate Professionals members use this blog to interact with the public and other members on the subject of real estate and the business of real estate, including marketing. Although no advertising or solicitation is allowed, the benefits derived are transparent. This is a form of marketing for the member, and the reader learns more about the real estate business. If you’re an agent, perhaps you should join or become a member of another group that provides this same benefit to its members.
40. Kay’s Real Estate SEO Blog: Kay is a Search Engine Optimization Strategy Specialist, and she has a great deal of experience working with real estate agents, ranking their sites in Google and other search engines.
41. Livepads: LivePads provides real estate professionals, home buyers, and home sellers the necessary tools for all real estate needs. People can search for homes, sell their homes, utilize social networking, and find valuable web resources for real estate. The bloggers try to write about 25 real estate sites a week.
42. On the Avenues: Although the blog provides generic yet valuable SEO information, Bonnie Burns also provides web site analysis and search engine optimization services specifically for real estate web sites.
43. PropertyTech.org: This business offers practical technology for trainers, practitioners and students in the real estate industry. Their blog carries the same focus, and it brings an emphasis on the services that they provide.
44. Real Estate Blog Site: Chris Frerecks and Kristen Veraldi provide real estate agents with Web-based products and services, but they also provide a blog that offers advice on how to promote your business through blogs.
45. Real Estate Marketing: This blog is a collection of tips, techniques and real-world advice for marketing real esate projects. Renderings.com, a full-service real estate marketing company, maintains this resource.
46. Real Estate Marketing Blog: This blog is a promotion of Proquest Marketing, a business that offers marketing products to real estate agents.
47. RSS Pieces: RSS Pieces makes no bones about the fact that they design Web sites for real estate professionals. However, they also interact with the public through a blog where they offer advice on Internet marketing.
48. Sorted Sites: Sorted Sites is a leading company on Web site design and internet marketing. They offer complete solutions for small to medium real estate companies, and they also provide a free blog filled with substantial Internet marketing advice.
49. Viral Marketing with a Real Estate Twist: This blog is provided by 4MySales, and it focuses on viral, or word of mouth, marketing.
50. VTRevolution: This business combines photos or video, voiceover and music to create multimedia presentations for real estate agents. On the side, they write a blog geared toward the real estate market, which also shows some of the ‘other’ agents who are using this business product.

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