Breaking news about a brokerage posting reviews of listings? Redfin or FranklyMLS.com

This just in... Redfin posting reviews of active listings on the MLS. Well, that's not new. franklymls.com has had reviews of active listings for years. If you want news, how about video reviews of homes listed for sale on the MLS. These videos have close ups of defects as well as attributes of these MLS listings some of which have one or no pictures and no descriptions in the MLS at all.

These reviews can be posted by anyone who has actually viewed the listing in person. This is a great tool for agents who wish to give their customer clients more information about listings that they see online. It's also a great way for home seekers to warn other home seekers about properties that don't have pictures on the MLS because the pictures would keep buyers away.
www.franklymls.com has been posting listing reviews for years. It's nice to see others jumping on the band wagon.

I for one will not forget that Frank was the first and that he has allowed agents from other brokerages to post reviews since day one. I was an early contributer to the site even before I joined Frankly Real Estate Inc. Although I am no longer one of the top contributers on the front page of franklymls.com, there is still a section that displays the top contributer for the week which is fairly easy to attain.

If Redfin decides to allow other agents to contribute, and allows multiple pictures and video reviews, then it may have something there. In the meantime, there is always franklymls.com to give us a place to inform our customers.

OPEN HOUSE 4240 Brittany Ct. Woodbridge, VA 22192

This open house will be catered by Panera. The home is over 5,000sqft 5bdr/3.5ba with a great view of woods and the Westridge lake. The home features hardwoods, granite countertops, ceramic tile, fully finished basement with Au pair siute, master bedroom with dressing area, sitting area, fireplace, two walk-in closets, and a Master bedroom that is beyond words. Two car garage, two level deck, second floor front balcony, landscaping, and the list goes on and on. Check it out on Franklymls http://franklymls.com/matthewryan/PW7542928

New testimonial from one of my recent listings...

I would like to thank Ron Davis for taking the time to write a letter to me concerning the sale of his four bedroom single family home on Fisherman's Ln. in Springfield. Some of you may remember this listing as the one where I put several videos on youtube.com/matthewryanre while preparing the home for market. I also shot a few videos about Huntsman Lake and one video where I attempted to walk from the front door of 9100 Fisherman's Lane to a favorite fishing spot of mine on Huntsman Lake in less than five minutes. It two takes but I did do it without running. I did a lot of work on the house and had a professional stager rent furniture and add decorations to make the home look it's very best. I had a landscaping company tear out old bushes and elevate the maple tree in front of the house so that one could actually see the house. I had seasonally appropriate flowering plants put in to accent the stone finish on the front of the house. When the property was ready I hosted an open house with catering by Panera. I also shot one of my famous walk through videos of the listing which I published all over the internet.

I wrote a blog post about this as well. Enough of me talking about the listing, read Ron's letter. He put it very well...testimonial letter.pdf

Video tour of Lakeside Plaza unit 1107 Falls church, VA

OPEN HOUSE Jan 16th 2011. If you can't make it don't worry. There is a video walk through of the unit that is almost like being there in person. Using a Kodak V570 in video mode I walk from the elevator to the unit, throughout the unit and outside on the balcony showing the features of this completely renovated unit. I hope that you enjoy the video and keep an eye out for more videos as I shoot a video for each of my listings...

The Virtual Walk Through of 3800 Powell Lane unit 1205

The Virtual Walk Through of 3800 Powell Lane unit 1205 is almost like being there. If you can't go to the Open House on October 24, 2010 from 1-4pm, you can see the the virtual walk thru at http://videosbyaddress.com/FX7430729 The Lakeside Plaza condominium is one of the best run and most prepared for the future condominium buildings in Northern Virginia. If you haven't had the chance to read my blog post about Lakeside Plaza, you should take the time now. Great amenities like indoor swimming pool, 24 hour front desk, and a convenience store.

If you can't make my open house don't worry about it - See it online...

Everyone is welcome to come to my open house on Sunday Aug 15th from 1-4 at 9100 Fishermans Lane Sprinfield, VA 22153. if you can't make it to the open house, I'll bring the open house to you. Walk through the house virtually via video on youtube.com, if you miss something IM me or email me and I'll shoot whatever it is that you wanted to see more of.

It is getting to be that more and more people don't have the time to go look at dozens of houses in person. They usually can't tell much from the pictures online or the lack of pictures that some listings have. What they really need is a virtual walk through the house and lot of pictures to see the details. I have done a video walk through for each of the homes I have listed for sale this year on www.youtube.com/MatthewRyanRE, that's my channel. You can see this virtual open house at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM57488iV0Y

I am going to have sandwiches and sodas at the open house. I like to feed people if they are willing to come and look at the work that I do. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch. Once I actually made hot dogs and hamburgers and showed a movie in the family room. Open Houses are the best part of the job as far as I'm concerned. I hope to have some interviews with open house goers this time and I would love to see a few video responses from anyone that watches the virtual open house on youtube.

See the review and the virtual tour by visiting www.franklymls.com/FX7411841 see the review at the bottom of the page and click on the link to see the virtual open house. Thanks for reading and feel free to repost any content.

That old, old House.

A short discorse between a client and myself, enjoy...

Matthew, what do you think of this listing for us?

I actually have two answers. The first is short and to the point. I like this house a lot. I like the location and the land that the house sits on, but it is old.

The second answer is a little longer so grab a cup of coffee.

I firmly believe that houses are like human beings. They have a life cycle. Some are short, some are long, and the rest fall somewhere in the middle. Some homes were made to live a long, long time, case in point, the castles in Ireland, Bunratty castle comes to mind. It's hundreds of years old. A little less impressive is the White House, a couple of hundred years of age. Some houses were not built to live quite as long, case in point, my house. My house is a typical brick cape cod. It was built in 1940. It is nearing the end of it's lifecycle, granted it was not well cared for in the past, but there isn't a whole lot you can do to extend the life of one of these old cape cods. You can replace or refinish the hard woods, replace vinyl with ceramic tile(face-lift), replace Formica and wood countertops with granite(collagen injection), extend the house with more rooms(boob job), or you could even go so far as to change out entire bathrooms(liver transplant), HVAC system(lung transplant), or kitchen(heart transplant). There are many of these things that can be done to extend the life of a fifty year old brick cape cod, but it is still a fifty year old cape cod. You can do all of the fixes that there are but you can not turn back time the bones will continue to get old(framing and trusses), and it's soul or essence will continue to get old(foundation). My house is on life support and the doctor(my architect) is asking my wife and I if we want to pull the plug. If we had the money we would. We would build a new house where this one is now. But for now, it's life support for this old house.


So in short a fifty year old house is fine if it is built to last for a hundred years. But the cape cods in this neighborhood were built in the fifties and are getting to the end of there life cycle. You and Jill are looking at some very nice new homes that are in your price range. You would probably be better off going for one of the newer homes. Less yard granted, but who wants to mow the thing. I had to get a riding lawn mower for my 1/2 acre. This is all, of course, my opinion. I hope that answers your question.

Photos:

old house courtesy of Library of Congress

house with snow courtesy of Matthew Ryan