{"id":4550,"date":"2010-02-19T12:39:23","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T17:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bhgrealestateblog.com\/?p=4550"},"modified":"2024-12-30T14:35:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T19:35:11","slug":"week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the one year anniversary <\/a>of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), more than one million homeowners have gotten temporary reductions<\/a> in their mortgage payments, with 12 percent receiving permanent modifications. Although to date this is just minimal success, plans announced this week will increase this percentage significantly as banks<\/a> rethink their policies and qualifications. This kind of strategy is necessary, as new studies show that most efforts to modify loans with easier terms will only delay<\/a>, not prevent, the loss of homes to foreclosure (For those of you looking to understand the intricacies of HAMP or HAFA, here <\/a>is a good article).<\/p>\n

All of these efforts are to help the 2.4 million borrowers <\/a>expected to lose their homes this year, with the biggest blows in states like California, Florida and Nevada, where home prices have dropped the most. The looming exit of the government in the real estate market has experts wondering how severe the effect <\/a>will be, especially for these borrowers. What do you expect?<\/p>\n

One in five people believe their home\u2019s value increased during 2009, according to a Zillow survey. In reality, 28 percent of home\u2019s values <\/a>increased last year. Turns out, it\u2019s a little better out there than we think!<\/p>\n

NAR this week recognized the autonomy of today\u2019s homeowner with the launch of HouseLogic, <\/a>a Web site designed to help homeowners plan and organize their home projects as well as offer\u00a0 home improvement advice and how-to\u2019s, among other things. For those who want a hands-on experience, however, a duo in California opened a DIY Academy<\/a>, where homeowners can learn everything from hanging drywall and installing crown molding to painting and wiring. As homeowners increasingly consider renovating their homes,<\/a> we may see these types of schools pop up across the country. Anything like this in your area?<\/p>\n

As these DIYers understand, for all the talk about digital and online interaction, it is still nice to have the one-on-one experience. While it may seem as ancient as a hand-written letter in the email age, there are plenty of valid arguments on the value of open-houses<\/a>, including further engaging consumers and agents alike. What do you think is the biggest benefit for hosting open houses?<\/p>\n

In advertising news\u2026 We have come a long way since Hot Wired ran the first banner ad<\/a> in 1994. Now we can get as targeted and localized as you want, thanks to advertising exchanges like Google’s DoubleClick and others. Banner ads are still a great tool for the real estate industry. We should keep a close eye on this medium as Jon Brod, the executive vice president of AOL Ventures, believes “online local<\/a> is the largest commercial opportunity yet to be won.” I bet leaders will start to emerge this year.<\/p>\n

Following on the heels of Google\u2019s Buzz <\/a>announcement, Microsoft announced integration plans this week with Facebook and MySpace for its Outlook Social Connector<\/a>. Thoughts? Do you plan to use either?<\/p>\n

Speaking of, I know a lot of you are concerned with the ROI on social media efforts.<\/a> Let\u2019s be honest, being active in social media takes hard work and it is sometimes difficult to see the payoff. Fortune 500 companies<\/a> are also wrestling with this same issue. Yet, we have to remember that the most important thing about communicating with consumers is talking to them where they already are. And I bet a lot of your audience is online. The effort is worth it!<\/p>\n

This week I have been busy cheering on both of my \u201chome countries,\u201d Canada and the United States, as the world\u2019s best athletes battle on the slopes of Vancouver at the XXI Olympic Winter Games. Besides the competition, there is a lot to be said about the advertising opportunities available on this world stage. Many brands, including Procter & Gamble<\/a>, tied the launch of campaigns to the lighting of the torch, leading to one of the most concentrated periods of big-name marketing efforts<\/a> in years. Although your companies\u2019 soapboxes will likely never allow you to be as \u201cloud\u201d as these mega-brands, we can take an important lesson from these brands: talk to your consumers when they will be listening. If the Olympic Games are inspiring more than just your branding and you\u2019re looking to hit the slopes and challenge the likes of gold medalist Lindsay Vonn, <\/a>there are new interesting (and cool) GPS ski gloves<\/a> that could navigate you safely. I might have to get myself a pair!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the one year anniversary of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), more than one million homeowners have gotten temporary reductions in their mortgage payments, with 12 percent receiving permanent modifications. Although to date this is just minimal success, plans announced this week will increase this percentage significantly as banks rethink their policies and qualifications. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[1351,5151,5761,6681,9441,11501,11831,15051,15341,17271,17811,17871,18601,19511,19831,21371,24031,25641,27631,28201,28331,28711,29901,32711,32861,33981,36031,36241,37221,39901,40221,45061,47531],"class_list":["post-4550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","tag-agents","tag-borrowers","tag-brokers","tag-california","tag-consumers","tag-digital","tag-diy-academy","tag-florida","tag-foreclosure","tag-gps","tag-hafa","tag-hamp","tag-home-affordable-modification-program","tag-homeowners","tag-houselogic","tag-interaction","tag-lindsay-vonn","tag-market","tag-mortgage","tag-nar","tag-national-association-of-realtors","tag-nevade","tag-olympics","tag-prices","tag-procter-and-gamble","tag-real-estate","tag-reductions","tag-renovations","tag-roi","tag-social-media","tag-social-networking","tag-vancouver","tag-zillow"],"yoast_head":"\nWeek in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the one year anniversary of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), more than one million homeowners have gotten temporary reductions in their mortgage payments, with 12 percent receiving permanent modifications. Although to date this is just minimal success, plans announced this week will increase this percentage significantly as banks rethink their policies and qualifications. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-19T17:39:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-30T19:35:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Clara Chang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Clara Chang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Clara Chang\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/person\/308f862442a883f8eed5e8866ca70e7d\"},\"headline\":\"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-19T17:39:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-30T19:35:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/\"},\"wordCount\":754,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Agents\",\"Borrowers\",\"brokers\",\"California\",\"consumers\",\"Digital\",\"DIY Academy\",\"Florida\",\"Foreclosure\",\"GPS\",\"HAFA\",\"HAMP\",\"Home Affordable Modification Program\",\"homeowners\",\"HouseLogic\",\"Interaction\",\"Lindsay Vonn\",\"Market\",\"Mortgage\",\"NAR\",\"National Association of Realtors\",\"Nevade\",\"Olympics\",\"Prices\",\"Procter and Gamble\",\"Real estate\",\"Reductions\",\"Renovations\",\"ROI\",\"social media\",\"Social Networking\",\"Vancouver\",\"Zillow\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Commentary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/\",\"name\":\"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-19T17:39:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-30T19:35:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/\",\"name\":\"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\",\"description\":\"Insights into the Real Estate Industry\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/11\/BHGRE_bug.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/11\/BHGRE_bug.png\",\"width\":76,\"height\":76,\"caption\":\"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/person\/308f862442a883f8eed5e8866ca70e7d\",\"name\":\"Clara Chang\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Clara Chang\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/author\/cchang\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","og_description":"On the one year anniversary of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), more than one million homeowners have gotten temporary reductions in their mortgage payments, with 12 percent receiving permanent modifications. Although to date this is just minimal success, plans announced this week will increase this percentage significantly as banks rethink their policies and qualifications. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/","og_site_name":"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","article_published_time":"2010-02-19T17:39:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-30T19:35:11+00:00","author":"Clara Chang","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Clara Chang","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/"},"author":{"name":"Clara Chang","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/person\/308f862442a883f8eed5e8866ca70e7d"},"headline":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was","datePublished":"2010-02-19T17:39:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-30T19:35:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/"},"wordCount":754,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Agents","Borrowers","brokers","California","consumers","Digital","DIY Academy","Florida","Foreclosure","GPS","HAFA","HAMP","Home Affordable Modification Program","homeowners","HouseLogic","Interaction","Lindsay Vonn","Market","Mortgage","NAR","National Association of Realtors","Nevade","Olympics","Prices","Procter and Gamble","Real estate","Reductions","Renovations","ROI","social media","Social Networking","Vancouver","Zillow"],"articleSection":["Commentary"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/","url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/","name":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-02-19T17:39:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-30T19:35:11+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-10\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/","name":"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","description":"Insights into the Real Estate Industry","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization","name":"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/11\/BHGRE_bug.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/11\/BHGRE_bug.png","width":76,"height":76,"caption":"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/person\/308f862442a883f8eed5e8866ca70e7d","name":"Clara Chang","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Clara Chang"},"url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/author\/cchang\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68836,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550\/revisions\/68836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}