Real Estate Websites and Consumers

I've been working on the Madison Monroe website. It's not easy-going. We have a lot of different properties and services, and I'd like to get them all online in a very organized and interesting way. The page hierarchy needs some major work. We have to put ourselves in the place of the consumer; and the different consumers, when it comes to real estate, are extremely different.

As it is right now, in my limited experience in real estate, I see our prospective consumers as follows:

1. The Investor
   The real estate investor may want to buy a piece of property and sit on it, they might want to buy a property that is already generating revenue, they might want to take a piece of property and spruce it up into a property that generates revenue. And then, they might want you to manage it, or they might want to manage it, and they want you to lease it. Maybe they just want to flip it. "The investor" might need its own blog entry to really get into comprehensively.
2. The Would-be Home-owner
   The would-be home-owner is someone who wants a house to live in. But they want to OWN it for whatever reason. Maybe they think that there's an investment opportunity there. Maybe they think they're fulfilling the American Dream, or they just want to do what their parents did or what their parents always told them they should do. Whatever the reason, they want a house that's theirs. They usually are in the midst of becoming experts on the subject and will quiz you. They'll also want to show you how much they know.
3. The Residential Lessee
   The residential lessee wants a place to live. But do they want a house or an apartment. How many people will be living there? How much do they want to spend. What neighborhood do they want to be in. It's hard to get lessees what they want. You have to check their credit and criminal reports and it's a dice-roll for a lot of them.
4. The Commercial Tenant
   The commercial tenant wants a place to do business. The best ones have clean business plans and think about bottom lines and square feet. They think about utilities and labor and all the things it takes to do as much as you can with as little as possible. The worst ones are dreamers who have ideas that sidetrack the real estate professional. They will sit in your office and tell you all the impossible things they want and how unwilling they are to compromise. But they don't ever have enough to build. The ones with enough to build sometimes do, but they often realize that what they've built is more than they need or less they need, and then they're stuck with a building they can't really use.The commercial tenant is very interesting because they are business people. Sometimes you can see which ones will make it and which ones will be unsuccessful in the first few moments talking with them.
5. The Developer
   The developer wants to buy land and improve it. The developer is either a gambler or a scientist or a scientific gambler. They want to put a lot of money on the table, and the best ones have studied the game. They know soils and rocks and angles and laws and the cost of almost everything. Developers are good people to know because they know a lot about the whole business. They are interesting and know a lot of people. They move millions and billions of dollars sometimes just to make a little bit in comparison.

If I thought about this more, the list would be longer. Trying to create a website for all of these kinds of consumers is difficult. It's probably why most real estate websites really suck. I could imagine having whole different sites for each type of consumer with a portal page simply linking to each.

A Website about Getting Your Real Estate License in VA

I found this site about getting your Virginia real estate license. I think it's a pretty good one.

I wish that there were more of it because the guys seems to know his stuff and want to help.

This is a preformatted review I did through GoodReads about TRUMP's BOOK, How to Get Rich

Trump: How to Get Rich by Donald J. Trump

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Donald Trump is one of those fascinating people I can't understand why I think he's fascinating. I'm sure I don't like him. I'm sure that he is a mean-spirited man who yells at people and micromanages them and destroys because he can. I don't think I would want to count him as a friend.



When I read his book, though, I could not help but think to myself, "if I were more like him, I would hate myself, but I would be rich." I also found myself saying things like, "if my father had been a millionaire, I might be a billionaire right now if I were the right kind of jerk."



Trump is like John Gotti. He's a celebrity criminal who's flamboyant enough to make books like this interesting enough to get through. His arrogance makes up for his lack of writing talent, and his short chapters are like a James Elroy homage or something.



This tasteless beast who builds golf courses and rides limos through the McDonald's Drive-Thru and stars in their commercials is hard not to psycho-analyze. . . and surely he's counting on that. So, all you amateur psycho-babblers, have at him. And while you're shaking your head at how horrible his mother and father must have been, you'll find yourself raising your eyebrows at the very few pearls of business wisdom sprinkled like scatter shot in this book.



Also, the title is bull shit. . . a joke or a marketing curve ball. And that's funny.



View all my reviews

Mike Brown is an Architect in Staunton

There are a few architects I like in Staunton. One is Chris Schooley, one is Marc Paxton, and one is Mike Brown.
I list them in no particular order. I like them and recommend them all.
If you need  an architect in Staunton, you should go with one of these.

If I Had the Time, I would Open a Record Store in Staunton

If I had the time, I would start a record store in the Queen City Marketplace.
The Queen City Marketplace opens in a few days, and I think a record store would be perfect for the space. I think it would be perfect for Staunton. I think we need a record store.

If I had the time or just a brain big enough to add one more iron to the fire, I would definitely open one. I think it would be awesome to own one, and I think it would make money. Probably, it wouldn't turn enough to live off right away, but I would start it small and grow it slowly.

Here's a link to an article about opening a record store.
Many of the issues opening such a retail effort are circumvented by having it in the Queen City Marketplace. Plus, there is a guy who repairs musical equipment and record players who is taking a space there, and wouldn't it be awesome to share a space with a guy like that? He could even help you hunt down a cheap turntable.

If you live in or near Staunton and want to start a record shop, please let me know.

Lead Poisoning

I've been reading about lead poisoning and its history because I was shocked to find that lead as a staple ingredient in many residential building materials, including paint, was not banned until 1978.

The link above is a brief history of the awareness of the illness commonly referred to as Lead Poisoning, and it illustrates something I think is very interesting. It screams conspiracy. We've known how dangerous lead was for a very long time. Long before 1978, anyway.

I am always wary of giant corporations. I'm not the young man I once was who thought that all big businesses are evil, but when I'm in the water with them, as we all are all the time, you should be aware of what they are. When you a surfing in the Pacific Ocean, you should be aware of sharks and other perils that are posed to befall you at any moment.

Sometimes I feel like a lot of this kind of thing is still going on with the same culprits at the wheel. Big business, in this case the oil and energy companies, dampen the cries of those who raise flags regarding harmful materials, in this case lead. The real estate industry, older than the oldest industry, lets them fight the battles against cost and alarm. The builders are happy to have the work and stay quiet. Use lead paint. It's cheaper. The big businesses say it's safe. We know it's not rrreally safe, but use it anyway for now and while you still can.

This kind of thinking bothers me. Must we wait for regulation to do what's right?
As I become more immersed in this business, I hope that I needn't wait for regulatory measures to let my conscience keep it hand on the wheel. In fact, I resolve to make it so.

There are brownfields all over. There are uninhabitable buildings rotting because it would cost more to modernize them than tear them down. We can't leave the same artifacts and thought processes for the next generation.

Commercial Real Estate Trends

I really enjoy Agent Genius. They have interesting articles like this one that talks about trends to watch for in 2011, and they present their info in a way that isn't all doom and gloom.

It makes me feel like I'm getting into this biz at just the right time. I can't remember what the market was like when everyone was freaking out about how wonderfully easy everything was. I don't remember when you could just sit on your butt and wait for the money to come in. And I don't remember when you could do huge deals with hardly any work and maintain those contracts without actually having to do it yourself. I'm getting into it when the going is hard. . . and you know what? I'm better off for it.

Here's why:
I can position myself through hard work and perseverance to be the go-to person for any piece of real estate in this area. I will work hard to maintain those relationships. People will know me as the guy who works hard for a living and to make his partners money. Then, if the market ever looks like it did before I got into it, I will be be in the perfect situation because I will appreciate the high tide and won't ever be complacent or content to sit around and wait for things to happen.

It's good to start hungry.
It's good to stay hungry.

This industry is primed and ready for new leadership. I'm excited about that.

Waynesboro: The Biggest Deals EVER!!!

I started thinking about Waynesboro today because we're representing a property at Madison Monroe that's over on Main St. there. It's a huge space, 10,000 square feet. The price is so low I can't believe it.



$4.00/square foot!!!

Waynesboro sells itself a little short in this department, I think. I know that houses go for nothing out there because what was left of their demand for housing evaporated with the economy, and people don't want to commute to Charlottesville from Waynesboro anymore with gas prices where they are. Of course, the problem is much more complicated than all of that, but this is a blog.

But here's what I think about shops and business centers in Waynesboro:

1. Waynesboro is still close enough to Staunton and Charlottesville and Harrisonburg that if something worth driving for were there, people would make the trip.
2. Waynesboro has HUGE spaces. Warehouses. Giant retail locations. Old factories. All for next to nothing.
3. So why not keep the rents up and actively look for co-op factories and warehouse tenants?

I think Waynesboro can make it happen if they got together and looked for shared spaces tenants.
What do you think?

Meanwhile, here's a link to the property we have in Waynesboro. It's a really nice one for $4.00/sf.

Real Estate, Branding, and Hair Stylists

Agent Genius posted this article about a hair styling company in the UK that has found a very interesting way to keep their labor force AND their customers.
It certainly is interesting the way access to education keeps people around. I think that if I were to get free education on different things, professional development of my choosing, I would probably stick with a company for a long time and take a lot of crap from them. I value education a great deal, though.

Meanwhile, I brought in a lease at the Stratton Building that will include a new hair stylist. That industry is very secretive, so I'm not supposed to mention names for a bit, but now we will have two hair styling businesses in the same building. They both do massage and nails and hair. I think it's great that there are so many businesses like these in Staunton. Women love getting their hair done. Some men do, too. I cut my own hair, usually, to varying results. If there were a true barber shop here that did the whole shave with a straight razor and all of that, I would probably go to it. Men, for the most part, have lost their ability to pamper themselves in a way that's healthy and aesthetically pleasing to the opposite sex.

Also, there are still some great spaces in the Stratton Building. We have the third floor available, and there are still a couple small offices on the second floor. I love having an office in this building. We a have a koi pond and a huge lobby. I think I'll make a post just about the Stratton Building soon.

The Think Little Workshop

We did this thing called the Think Little Workshop at the Queen City Marketplace over the weekend. Different people talked about different things on a panel of sorts, and we all networked, might seem pretty standard. Maybe it was in a lot of ways, but I don't think we bored anyone, and I hope we stayed on message.

The message: It's time to stop thinking like some billion-dollar company or government plan is going to make a drastic change in your life; it's time to to think about your own life and business on your own scale; to think little.

My portion of this and why we hosted it at the Queen City Marketplace was about thinking little in real estate. This has been a difficult thing for me ponder because real estate comes in the size you get it. Sure, you can spend a lot of money and split lots and convert uses, but basically, once you get the real estate you can't move it shrink it or do much to it to change it drastically, especially in this economy and if you weren't born a millionaire.


I enjoyed this workshop a great deal, and I hope that other people did, too. It was a massive turnout, over 70 people, and the news channel and the newspaper were there to report on it. Some great publicity for Queen City Marketplace and for the Jack Morgan as realty person brands. It was also wonderful to engage people about their businesses. I want to do more of that. It's one of the reasons I love this industry so much.

I want to more of these kinds of workshops or seminars. I think they're great networking opportunities for everyone involved, and they keep me creative about what I'm doing.