emongoo blog

rollin', rollin', rollin'...

We’re rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ - like the little engine that could once he got past the hard climb! Like all new companies, we have experienced some growing pains. What sets us apart is that we have gone through the furnace, and come out shining. Our innovation has really begun to pay off and people are recognizing that we can save them a lot of money, and help them get their properties sold. People are finally starting to see through the false standards of the real estate status quo.

So what is my point? Well, to quote the wise Ron Burgundy, “I don’t know how to put this, but…… we’re kind of a big deal. People know us. We have many leather bound books, and our office smells of rich mahogany. Merlin Olsen stops by on occasion.” Ok, so the leather bound books and rich mahogany may be an exaggeration, (especially for a company that started out of a basement). But, if you don’t know us now, you soon will. Emongoo.com is here to stay people, and we’re just gonna keep rollin’.

Technorati Tags: emongoo, real estate blogs, for sale by owner, real estate, FSBO, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Blogging, Real Estate Blog, Real Estate Blogs, Real Estate, Realty Blogging

Out with the old in with the new...

You know it has really been interesting lately as we here at emongoo have been trying to update our site a peice at a time.  We finally saw the light and realized that our old look was getting outdated and so we decided to update it. 

Well, after we came up with the idea it just looked so much better that we wanted to get it up as soon as we could.  So little by little as each new page is finished it replaces the old page on the site.  It's kind of like trying to build a new airplane out of an old one, while you're flying.  You have to make sure the next piece is ready to go up then switch it out for the old one as fast as you can and hopefully nothing breaks.  We are doing everything we can to make this transition a smooth one for everyone that uses our site. Unfortunately some of the old pages are still there. 

We ask everyone to forgive us for leaving the ugly old pages up for so long but it won't take too much longer before they are all gone.

emongoo.com

'the future of real estate...'

I have been watching this blog over the last few weeks and since my last post was about 'blogging' I thought I would post this blog out there.

The blog follows a lot of what I spoke about in my last post, minus perhaps the comments.  It is a new blog so we will have to see where it goes from here.  The blog does a good job of keeping up with the ever changing real estate world and new sites and ideas that are out there. 

I posted my first comment on this blog on a post about 'topix.net'  The blog owner has not yet posted my comment.  Take a look at the blog at:  http://realestatemarketing.wordpress.com

To read my comment click below.

blogs blogs and more blogs..

(I have had a lot of questions in the last few weeks about how to know if a blog is quality and can be trusted.  I will do my best to give some pointers in picking your next favorite blog site.)

Behold the power of the blog!  Did you know there are over 42.3 million blogs on the Internet today and over 30 % of people surveyed say they read blogs and more and more people are turning to blogs for daily news and information?  Wow! 

Well what about real estate?  Where are good blogs to learn about real estate?  How can you be sure the information you are reading is current and accurate? 

There are some simple things to remember when reading real estate blogs:

1.  Who is the writer?

When reading a blog about for sale by owner styles of real estate it is fair to say that a real estate agent will not give you the unbiased understanding of real estate as a for sale by owner.  If you are reading about investing then it is fair to say that someone who hasn't invested in properties themselves may not be your best source.  Many blogs have 'about us' or 'about me' pages, check them out and see who the writer is.  Now remember anyone can put up a website and anyone can put up a website and pretend to be someone they are not so do some research.  Great site to do research on about writers are www.yahoo.com and www.technorati.com

2.  What does the writer know?

I have never been to North Dakota, never known anyone from North Dakota, never read a single thing about North Dakota, but I have a blog called www.northdakotarealestateinvesting.com.  Do you see the problem?  When reading blogs make sure the writer knows what they are talking about.  Everyone can have an opinion, and opinions are great, but if you are giving information you need to know the facts.  Local real estate investors and professionals can really help when it come to understanding a certain area of the country.  For example www.curbed.com
seems to do a good job on keeping the people of New York up to date on ever changing issues in the  New York area.  Blogs that specialize on one or two markets tend to be more reliable then general blogs that try to cover all the real estate topics out there. 

3.  Comments

Okay so I have given you two ways to make sure you are getting the good stuff, but I am big enough to say that maybe just maybe a writer with no real estate knowledge can start a real estate blog and have wonderful content.   A blog writer from New York may have all the information out there about Rigby, Idaho real estate market place.  But there is one sure way to know if the blog you are getting info from is quality or not and that is comments. 

Comments are a great way to see if the information you are getting is quality.  Read the comments, see what others are saying about issues.  Now oddly enough there are a lot of blogs out there that are not built to get comments, but only to share a writers opinion.  With that said blogs that's main purpose is to provide you with information should be receiving comments.  Company blogs, (like emongoo's or even zillow.com's or even IBM's blog) are not necessarily built to receive a large amounts of comments, but are meant to keep clients up to date and in some cases give tips.  ( like this post you are reading ).  In the world of real estate there are millions of blogs that claim to know all there is to know about the industry but they just may not.  Read the comments see what people are saying and make good judgment calls.

4.  Content is King

Simple enough, make sure there the blog is always updating content.  I have ran across blogs that haven't had new posts posted for months and in some cases, even years.  Odds are the writer lost the steam and has moved on to greener pastures, as should you.

There are a lot of good real estate blogs out there.  One that I just ran across is www.thehousingbubbleblog.com .  Now the writer is focused on the ever debatable topic of the 'bubble' in real estate.  thehousingbubbleblog.com seems to get a lot of comments each time a new post is submitted.  One that was submitted less then 2 hours ago already has 46 comments on it.  (pretty good for a Friday afternoon)  A place that one of our staff members here at emongoo.com found to find real estate related blogs is, www.pubsub.com.  Not only does pubsub.com list out blogs on real estate topics, but they also rate them to give you an idea of the quality of the blog.

Now with all the above said there is still not a  magic way to know if a blog you are reading is good one or not so do your research and always, always get a second opinion.

Technorati Tags: emongoo, real estate blogs, for sale by owner, real estate, FSBO, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Blogging, Real Estate Blog, Real Estate Blogs, Real Estate, Realty Blogging

the stats don't lie...

Here are some fun stats and properties to check out!

Popular homes listed by property name:

New Carpet and paint (TX)	1236 New Land Drive (VA)
Canton Home (PA)	Rexburg Property (ID)
3052 Meadowbrook Ct (PA)	HICKORY ESTATES (NY)
PUEBLO STYLE (NM)	GOLF VILLA - Furnished (CA)
BEACH HOUSE (CA)	The Reserve (WA)

Most expensive homes:

$5,495,000	Santee (CA)
$3,000,000	15625 state rd. 62. (FL)
$2,699,000	Battery Kemble Place (Washington D.C.)
$2,600,000	Historic Brooklyn (NY)
$2,500,000	Island View Property (British Columbia)

Most expensive land:

$4,800,000	Skyline Valley (ID)
$4,000,000	Teton Spring Meadows (Driggs, ID)
$3,500,000	Jackpot, Nevada Resort (NV)
$3,500,000	land (NY)
$2,500,000	Huerta Ranch (TX)

Most searched states:

California	Washington
Florida	Pennsylvania
New York	Utah
Arizona	New Jersey
Idaho	Illinois

spam...not in a can!

There are good things that come with growth and there are not so good things.  One of the signs of growth in the website industry is that of 'spammers'.  emongoo has experienced a 'spam' attack.  We are happy to report we have weathered the first attack and have put in place more security features to help protect our clients. 

If you have gotten a spam email, we are truly apologetic, but ensure you we do all we can to protect our clients and we are serious about it.  We will and do take all legal actions against spammers.  As an Internet user there are things you can do if you are spammed.  First you can report the email address to the email provider, like google.com, hotmail.com, msn.com, yahoo.com and so on.  Then you can fill out a form with the FBI at www.fbi.gov.  Don't fear spammers, just hit delete.

emongoo will and does report all spammers.  If you are a 'spammer', shame on you!  There is nothing you will get from emongoo or our clients.  As a client of emongoo.com understand that spammers have nothing to do with emongoo.com and we are doing all we can to stop them.  If you fill you have been spammed contact us, let us know and never hesitated to share the 'spam' with us.

On a final note 'spammers' are not just in email form.  Unwanted phone calls, letters, visits or etc. are all forms of 'spam'.  We have placed a 'Warning to Solicitors:  Complaints will be filed with the National Do Not Call Registry' on our site and have other protective statements for our clients in our TOS.

Again don't fear spam or the Internet.  The Internet is as safe as going to the mall.  Just know and understand your surroundings and you will be fine. 

If you feel you have been 'spammed' then contact us today.  contact us

the fashion is launched...

We thought we should add a merchandise store or a 'fun store' where our clients and end users could pick up some t-shirts, hats, mouse pads and more.

To introduce this we are running a simple contest.  We are looking for 'quotes' and 'statements' to place on the emongoo merchandise.  The contest is simple.  Email us your ideas ( email to merchandise@emongoo.com ) and if we pick your statement then you will win an Apple iPod.

Click here to visit our merchandise store

Our 'fun store' is powered by CafePress.com

My Name is Chad...

My name is Chad and I work here at emongoo.com in the R & D Department.  I have been working for emongoo.com for about 3 months now and am loving what emongoo is able to offer the world.

I have been reading lately the comments and blogs that mention emongoo and have noticed a trend - many people have the wrong idea about us.  Let me explain.

First of all, who in the world is FrankK? I like him, but I have to say that I don't know a FrankK that works here.  Some have eluded that he is in some way affiliated with emongoo,which would be hard to hide, there being 10 employees and all.

Because I work with the web site side of emongoo, I will help clear up some of the misconceptions that are circulating about our site.

e - tour:  I have seen blogs written about our e - tour feature that allows home owners to take video recordings of their homes and upload them to the site. This is done with new technology from VideoEgg that allows the user to upload video in a very short time, edit the video before it is completely uploaded, and start viewing the video in a matter of seconds. This is unlike any real estate/FSBO site out there. 

map search: I have read blogs that mentioned our property searching combined with the google maps. Some have compared us to sites like craigslist and other sites that offer free listings, and sure housingmaps.com combines google maps with the properties sold on craigslist. However, to have:

 
• map search and listings in one place
 
• the ease of use that emongoo offers
 
• at the same price as craigslist (FREE)

emongoo.com is sure to be more appealing then other sites.

Now, I know that my opinion may be considered a little bias, but emongoo.com is not just another FSBO website. I have visited many of the other FSBO websites and have been shocked that blogs would ever compare us to the other FSBO sites and say that we are no different. Taking the e-tour and map search out of the picture, we are still not the same. Many other FSBO sites charge a small fee, emongoo is 100% FREE for your property to be listed on our site. Of the other FSBO sites that are free, they usually don't have the name that emongoo has, and those that do usually lack in services.

Another thing you get with emongoo.com is a fast growing website to post your property on with over 3 million hits a week and thousands visiting our site each day. According to third party tracking websites emongoo.com averages in the top 5 for sale by owner websites in the world. Visit emongoo's why us? page for more information.

I read on one site that emongoo.com will try and up-sell those who place their properties on our site. We offer free listing on our site. This free listing includes many useful and powerful tools that can help our customers sell their property.  However, we also offer many other useful services that, compared to our competitors, are the most affordable in the industry.  These additional options will help you sell your property even faster and at a fraction of the cost of using a real estate agent.

This brings me to point that was brought up by a blog I ran accross. We here at emongoo.com are not Realtors. Like I said earlier, there are 10 employees, and there are no Realtors running the show. We want to offer the FSBO world something new.

We want to offer: 

• an alternative to spending thousands to sell your home
 
• a one stop site for both sellers and buyers
 
• services that can help sellers get the price they need for their home

The bottom line is, emongoo.com is offering something new, helpful, and needed; and it is here to stay.  One last thing - why us?  Simple.  We are real estate - nothing else, just real estate. We aren't the classifieds, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, or a website with a bunch of other focuses. We are simply real estate.

a new look...

As some of your may have noticed, emongoo.com is getting a makeover.  We felt it was time to give emongoo a fresh new look.  We will be simplifying emongoo.com even more and we will be adding new features to the site.  Give us your feedback; let us know if you like the new design.

Old page:

New home page:

 

New pages:

 

the power of the tour...

I spoke with Ruth Bailey for the first time last friday.  Ruth lives in Canton, PA and she was looking for an effective way to market her home. I told her that becoming a featured listing on emongoo.com was a surefire way to get people looking at your home.  What really got her attention was our “e-tour” feature that is included in becoming a “featured listing”

The e-tour gives you the ability to film your home inside and out and explain what you’re filming to potential buyers.  What could possibly put potential buyers at ease more than an actual insider’s view of the home that they are interested in?  Ruth saw the potential of what the e-tour could do for her and uploaded her footage over the weekend.  It looks great!  Click here to take a look.  To view Ruth's property click here.

Innovation is the name of the game at emongoo.com and that is why we’re quickly becoming the hottest name in real estate.  Our "e-tour" is a new feature to emongoo.com and we look forward to more and more tours being uploaded as the word gets out.  Stay tuned, you never know what we will come up with next.