Eric Blackwell's Blog: All Categories

Is it possible to be posted out?  (grin)

After a ton of well thought out posts (at least that's what I attempted!), I am suffering from being posted out. It is kind of like fatigue of the creativity muscle in the brain. We no longer get writer's block. We don't have time.

In today's world of post. publish. post. publish. research. post . publish, it is VERY difficult to be prolific all of the time. Sooner or later the juices run dry and you have to stop and let your body have some rest and your head and heart get some perspective.

Maybe if I take a day or two off, the crativity will return --or maybe just a little bit of reading and relaxation will help.

Nah. I think I can work through it (grin).

OK guys...unvarnished opinion time. (Warning long post ahead!)

Here are some things to consider BEFORE going down the "let's SPAM the hell out of other forums and blogs and sites road" (Which we already seem to be well on the onramp of in the SEO world today for those who haven't been reading the road signs )

Consideration 1: Q.Why does SPAM exist?  A. Because it does (or at least DID) work at one time. (We likely all agree on that) What was at one time mainstream is now considered bad form in many cases.

Consideration 2: And then there is the consideration for HOW long it will work --which DIRECTLY relates to the longevity of my site STAYING at the top.

Consideration 3: Does it still generate the value it once did? MANY older tactics (now… Read Full Post

Yesterday, I received an email from a friend. It told me of a local girl scout here in Louisville who was taking on raising awareness of autism in a unique way. They had seen an article in the paper about her. For one of her girl scout projects, she built a website, had a Kentucky license plate designed and was going on a publicity campaign to get the 900 needed license plates purcjhased to get them to make the Autism specialty license plate an official specialty license plate option. Take a look at the webpage here.

This kind of effort from a 16 year old was pretty cool to see in my book.

I have never been a girl scout.... but If this is the kind of character that they build into kids, then I am all for it.

For those who may not know it about me, my…

I am writing this as a parent--a dad- with four kids. Two of my kids have special needs. One of my other kids is VERY gifted and needs to be in an accelerated settign to challenge him or he will get bored. My daughter is the fourth kdis and she is mroe or less a typical 5th grader. My wife works as an assistant is a special needs class at school as well.

I am telling you that because I want you to understand where I am coming from. I see THOUSANDS of families move to and from Louisville each year as part of my work  with the real estate firm. So how do they decide WHERE to live...WHAT schools to send their kids to and etc.?

Most people (whent hey get transferred or a job brings them to the Louisville area), they worry about the schools. They wonder about…

Are you REALLY ready to invest?

Most of the self help real estate investment books out there make real estate investing look EASY. And to some degree they are right. It IS easy to buy real estate at a LITTLE bit off of retail. However, after the purchase is where things get sticky.

A REALTOR friend of mine, Anne Mayhugh and I were discussing this a couple of days ago. Most people who start into investing are SOMEWHAT prepared to buy. Most are NOT prepared to manage. Real estate ivesting is every bit as much about management as it is about buying. What do I mean? Here are some examples that they (usually) do not provide in the "everything you need to know " manuals:

You buy a property with the intention of flipping it and selling it quickly. The market…

The greatest compliment for a condominium unit is that the REALTOR who is selling it actually lives there. That way they are not asking you to do something that they haven't. Joann Rankin feels that way about the Clifton Lofts condos.

She has been there from the start, lives there now and plans to be there for a long time to come. When you buy a condminium, you buying neighbors as well as a home! One way that Joann introduces prospective buyers to the other condo owners is to host parties on the rooftop garden! (BTW-This is another of my FAVORITE features of this place!

What intrigues me about the Clifton Lofts is their location. Frankfort Ave. is right in the heart of Louisville's urban scene and yet outside of the typical downtown or riverfront.…

One of our agents, Michal Kruger came into my office the other day and started showing me pictures of one of her listings...2174 Park Boundary Road.

if you know one thing about me, it is that I like to cook. My son Craig and I cook together all of the time and our entire family likes to hang ou together in the kitchen. Well, since I am the technologist for a real estate office, I thought I had seen everything. Boy was I wrong!

Check out the kitchen--chock full of GE Monogram appliances...and gold leaf trimmed cabinets...

(note--the picture does not do this kitchen justice--it's to die for...)

and here's the kicker...a glass floor that looks down into a climate controlled wine cellar...amazing!

I don't even drink and…

The Southern Indiana MLS is coming! The MLS is coming! Our site will soon have bothLouisville and Southern Indiana MLS listings available for clients on both sides of the river!

Why am I so excited about this...well, for starteds, I actually live in Utica and have lived in Southern Indiana for the past 10 years. I have watched our real estate values suffer simply because out of town potential buyers get their MAIN exposure only to Louisville homes and the southern Indiana homes only get incidental exposure.

RE/MAX Properties East is going to change all of that. We have the #1 Most trafficked real estate website in Louisville, with over 330,000 home searches done in 2006. We have #1 Search engine exposure on Google.  I have included a link from a Google…