SpencerBarron.com

or at least trying to. I’ve been busy expanding some ideas I have with internet technologies. As such, I haven’t been completely focused on writing much lately but I’m still here. I’ve been working on expanding my very limited programming background. I’ve been learning web development and have been trying to pick up as much as I can before it all changes. Outside of the classes I’ve been taking, I think I’ve actually made some progress. I don’t really enjoy formal classes. I find that it’s usually structured in such a way as to not teach you enough to move forward on your own. When it comes to technology, it seems a typical local college just doesn’t have the ability to keep up with what’s new. And of course, my biggest peeve: colleges like to separate crucial components in such a way so as to fill their 30-40 credit requirements for a certain program of study overcomplicating the learning process so they can sell you more classes. You would think you would go through a class that covered the subject broadly early on, perhaps building a web application without going into much detail of every little thing. That way, as you continue down the road, you’ll have a better grasp of where each technology comes in to play. Of course, if you knew that, you could probably just pick up a book on the subject.

So what have I learned so far? I’ve learned enough C++ to know that I hate when things become very tedious. That really helped with pushing me towards learning more about Ruby and Ruby on Rails. I was able to use C++ for an actual application though. I wrote a parser to convert an online directory of addresses to a comma delimited file so it could be used to create mailing labels. Pretty exciting stuff isn’t it.

I learned more HTML and CSS. No time wasted there. Besides all the CSS you come across playing around with blogs, you can also use it to help with designs of actual websites. Who knew? Hopefully, my site, ValueRents.com will be online sooner than later. That’s the website I’ve been working on in a round about manner for a couple of years. I dusted the concept off and developed a frontend for the site but still need to plug in some sort of backend. One day ValueRents.com will help landlords find the best properties then manage their rental properties from one location. I apparently have a few more things to figure out before it all comes together. I might make some attempts to redevelop the theme for this site. How hard could it be?

And to wrap it all up, a few classes in database design and SQL. I got to tell you, there’s nothing like bending raw data to your every whim. Hours of fun. I can’t even begin to explain how happy I am to finally stop using Excel to run calculations on the thousands of foreclosure records I have. Mysql and SQL Server are so much more fun. So maybe I can start using Excel for what it was intended–spreadsheets and quick and dirty charts.

So that’s what I’ve been up to while the real estate megalith cracks and crumbles. I’ll have more on that in coming posts. I can’t help but think though, where there are problems, there is an opportunity. I haven’t seen such great deals in Denver real estate since I moved here 8 years ago. Hopefully, the web development education I’m giving myself will help me take advantage of the dozens of opportunities I see every day. Time will tell.

 Out of curiosity, I had to check to see what people were reading outside of my main page and feed.  Essentially what posts attracted the most hits from search engines and links from other blogs.  Here’s how they show up in order of popularity.  

1. Why Johnny Can’t Code and How to Help Him. by Curtis Barron  - What!  I find it hard to believe that my Dad’s post is the most popular post on my blog.  It’s actually kind of painful.  I wonder how much this speaks to the fact that niche expertise is the real strength of a search engine.  Thanks for the contribution Dad.
2. Money Magazine – Buyer’s agents Co-op and how to get a better deal buying or selling a home.  Ah yes, the outcome of my complaint about Money printing misleading  information about the Denver real estate market.
3. Thanks to Blogs. My only guess here is that this is the intersection of people searching my general interest and personal categories.  And of course, this post seems to have a penchant for automated spam.
4. What should be in a Comparative Market Analysis and how long will it be accurate?   This was my take on how to evaluate the value of a property, seems to be popular with investors and appraisers.
5. Apple’s New iphone, up to the hype?  Nothing like mentioning some pop culture to turn up the heat.
6. The Top Ten Most Common Complaints about Homes for Sale – Useful Feedback.  This is my take on the feedback you get, if any when selling a house.
7. Most Brokerage Business models don’t benefit the Agent.  It’s true!
8. Zillow Returns Power to the People with Site updates.  I still love Zillow.  I don’t think they’re going to make any real money for a long time but they’re headed in the right direction.   Oh, and I love the fact that if you mention Zillow in any post, there is a high likelihood that the hard working Drew Meyers will stop by. 
9. Where to spend my marketing budget?  This has become a lot more popular over the last 2 months.  I think agents are rethinking were they’re putting their money.
10. Blizzard of 2006 – Buried in Snow and loving it.  What I love most about Denver is that the sun comes out after it snows.  As long as the suns out, you probably don’t even need a coat.  It’s just when the sun goes down…. Brrrr…

And a few honorable mentions.

• Most Denver homes are overpriced.  I attempted to illustrate the difference between the list price and the sale price and drive home the importance of some due diligence on the part of the buyer. 
• Buying a home? Think before making your first offer. My opinion on what a buyer needs to think about before making an offer on a home.I truly hope people find my writing useful, informative and perhaps even entertaining on some level.   Thanks for reading.

It’s quite tempting to want to write about everything that’s going on. I mean, isn’t that where the majority of good blog fodder comes from? But to be fair, I realized that if the agents that were on the other side of the table were anything like me, I would want to watch what I say. I mean, I wouldn’t want to be tipping my ‘hand’.

I’ll admit it. I love to research. I don’t like surprises. I want to know everything I could possibly find out about the agent I’m dealing with and his or her client. How much business do they do? Is the agent busy or just faking it? What’s their style, what’s their office like? Do they need the money? How long have they been in the business? Do they have any listings? What have they sold? What’s their target market, if any? What does the buyer currently own? Are they selling anything? Where does the buyer work?…oh it goes on and on. Anything on Google?

I love to encourage conversation. Even aimless banter. I like the agents to like me and feel comfortable and confident dealing with me. They should; I wouldn’t do anything shady, illegal or even underhanded. But that doesn’t mean I’m not working for my client. If my client wants a certain goal to be achieved, that’s my aim and I work very hard to gain any ground I can.

Everyone gives up little clues about their motivations, but they don’t always know they’re doing it. That’s why I don’t want my sellers having any sort of contact with the other agents or their clients. It’s also why I don’t want my buyers being too interested in the site of the homeowners. Any sort of contact is compromising my power to negotiate. An agent should be insulation from these situations.

I think of real estate business like a high stakes game of poker. I can’t see the cards but I can read the signals. There are sharks out there while others are just minnows. I’m not a shark but I play one on TV. Which one are you?

You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to say that. I actually bought a cube six years ago and could solve the first 2 layers. Unfortunately, I never really had a good reason for actually trying to finish it. It’s not as entertaining as one might first think. It’s actually quite frustrating. There is one correct combination out of 43,252,003,274,489,856,000! So I soon became distracted with something else; my cube ended up just like so many other unfinished cubes around the world, left in their imperfect form, forgotten in a closet.

When I read the Wired article about Joshua Green’s quest for “cognitive improvement”, it really hit home. I just haven’t been feeling like I’ve been operating at my peak lately. Read the rest of this entry �

I’m not sure how this helps MyHeritage.com get you interested in your family tree. But it’s a great gimmick to get some traffic to your website and put you on the map. A little P.T. Barnum to get the web traffic rolling. I’m still working on how to put some spin on a real estate website to drive a little traffic. Zillow did this pretty well with the introduction of the Zestimate. Exposure is an absolute necessity for success. Often though, even with a great promotion, the exposure won’t translate into dollars. Without it though, you’re destined to fade back into the crowd. Sometimes, when I need an idea to get more business, I think, “What would Phineas do?” Read the rest of this entry �

I love the snow, and Denver blizzards are so much nicer than the East Coast and Midwest blizzards of my youth. The snow is fun for the first couple of days, but it wears on you after a couple of days.

I love to look out and see a smooth white blanket over everything. It appeals to my desire for order. All the mismatching colors and hard lines created by the mismatched architecture now have a unifying theme. I curse the first person to walk through my nice snow. I know it’s just a couple of days before someone will stumble through my yard thoughtlessly leaving their stumbling footprints and breaking up the serenity. Read the rest of this entry �

In an earilier post I had mentioned how I had emailed Stephen Gandel of Money magazine with some corrected information on the Denver market. In particular I had been displeased with some of the advice they handed out to buyers. The information for the article had partially been drawn from a local Realtor who suggested that all his clients were getting 15% lower than the asking price. As a concerned member of the public and having access to the correct information, I presented my poorly written but unpoint analysis of each item with which I disagreed. Well, what do you know, Steve read it. Read the rest of this entry �

“I love Zillow.”  “I liked them before they were big.”   

Saying that I was a big fan of Zillow.com from the start is kind of like saying, “I liked Dave Matthews before he got big” (My wife, a Virginia native, loves to say that).  For one, nobody believes you, and second, nobody cares.  Regardless of what people would think of me, I’ll say it. I love Zillow, specifically, the Zestimate™.   If you haven’t been following along, Zillow has come of age. I personally like to go on the record with my likes and dislikes ahead of time. I keep a record whether I’m right or wrong. I feel that there are a couple of components missing that will have to be incorporated quickly if Zillow wants to become a fixture in real estate. One of them is probably the most important.   It’s built off an assumption.  

Assumption - People are inherently lazy. If someone doesn’t have to do something, they won’t.  If it doesn’t look easy, they will put it off for later (and probably never do it!). Bottom line - people will choose the path of least resistance. I know this doesn’t apply to Read the rest of this entry �