Real Estate Investing

Back in March I told you that housing swaps aren’t just for vacationers anymore - that people are making the swaps permanent. It may have been here a half year ago, but I didn’t notice until now… housing swaps are on Craigslist.org.  I love this!  Here’s a home in Florida someone would like to swap for a home in the Nashville area.  Well the POOL of the home, anyway.

This one is worth $309,000 according to the ad on Craigslist. Lets look around and see what else is out there!

This gent wants to swap a duplex fixer-upper for a place in Albuequerque, New Mexico.

This one looks nice.  Massachusetts country home is offered for a city condo.  It reminds me of the New Hampshire house in the movie Baby Boom.

Now we’re talking… someone wants to swap a home in Florence, Italy for a place in Boston.

Here’s someone who wants to relocate from Austin, Texas to Las Vegas.

Craigslist, my friends.  Craigslist has everything.  Houses for sale, roommates wanted, houses to swap, furniture for sale, discussion boards.  I believe it’s true that we’ve just started with what the internet will bring to our lives, shape our lives, be an integral part of our future.

Let’s start with the good news before we get all funky here… housing and manufacturing have started the drive to an economic recovery according to a report released today by Federal Reserve, as reported by MSNBC.com.

The Fed’s latest snapshot of business conditions nationwide found “many sectors” of the economy either stabilized or logged modest improvements over the last six weeks. The pickups, though, often were from “depressed” levels of activity.

Still, the new report adds to evidence that a recovery has started from the worst recession since the 1930s.
An $8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers boosted the housing sector.

There’s been concern among private economists and some lawmakers that recent gains in housing will fizzle out when the credit ends. It is slated to expired Nov. 30, although some in Congress are mulling an extension.

Good news, but this recovery will still take some time to find a full strength economy.  There are too many people who still need work, so it’s great to also see manufacturing in a little bit of a bounce.

Speaking of bounce, you could bounce into a new house through clicking on an advertisement in this what-I-hope-will-be-brilliant online marketing plan.  The home sellers plan to sell ads, and beginning November 2nd people can earn chances to win by click-throughs.  But more about the house being given away,

Our stone, character detached property of approx 1800 sq ft plus secluded small garden and drive was valued at £425,000 prior to the economic downturn which according to recent media reports prices have risen again.

Good luck!

Finally, Lovely Listing is quickly becoming one of my favorite real estate sites because of photos and writing like this…

“Motivated seller!” says the listing. And why? Because they can’t stop imagining what it would feel like to gnaw on the walls with their fillings. *zap zap zap*

Brilliant!  Enjoy your hump day.

I don’t know if it’s the famous Rod Stewart I’m following on Twitter or some guy who happens to share the famous one’s name or just some guy or gal using the name Rod Stewart, but this Rod Stewart makes me laugh.  From talk of buying leather pants to linking to 30 ways to lose your job on twitter, I’m happy to follow and be entertained by Rod Stewart.

You can twitter your way out of a job as the link shows:

What a FREAK!  Twitter truly is a riot.  I wish I had more time to spend there.  I also spend a lot of my online time with Facebook.  With this application, you can post links to videos, set up for automatic blog updates, and just stay in touch with your friends (and sphere).  I’ve seen many REALTORS use this site to promote their new listings or just to subtly (and not so subtly in many instances) remind people they are real estate agents.

I am very curious about learning what the latest greatest technology will be for selling a home, buying a home, and for agents to use.  If you have any ideas, I ask you to comment below and share the wealth of your knowledge!