Counselor

Good for Greg Swann using one of the most powerful writing tools that a website and particularly a blog allows you to do. Be an advocate for his clients.

"Counselor? Come out, come out wherever you are"
                             Robert Dinero Cape Fear

It also allows other blogs to easily join in the conversation thru comments or trackbacks into his blog. He even uses a name for his cause. A powerful way to bring attention to your advocacy is to give it a name.

I am not sure if he invented this name, but I am giving him credit because he is the first I have ever heard use Divorced Commissions. The end of both ends. True representation. I hear a listing agent moaning in Manhattan Beach. But let's be real here. It is the fair and right way to operate.

And for those of you thinking about putting out the next "200 Ways to x" post, or "250 Great Blogs that x" link bait post. Look at what Greg is doing. That is what will get you juice.

On my own advocacy blogging, I recently saw that the SFGate was giving props to a Realtor website that is nothing but positivity on the current market.

Alexander Clark, whose blog theFrontSteps ( www.thefrontsteps.com) and newsletter (links.sfgate.com/ZBMW) offer similar testimonials from the real estate front, agrees that in the city, the sky is far from falling.

"The inventory for good properties is very low and there's a multitude of buyers for good homes," he says. "For turnkey places with good remodels, priced properly, they are going fast with multiple offers."

Established Areas good, New Building Areas Bad

The Author asked Ryan Ratcliff , an economist with the UCLA Anderson Forecast for his take on the current market nationally  and in the San Francisco market.

"We've noticed that the hardest hit areas are those like Sacramento, where there's been an abundance of new construction," he explained. But in areas like San Francisco, where there's mostly existing housing, he says homeowners set prices based on their desires and aren't in a hurry to sell, which keeps prices high. "But builders don't look at things this way," he added. "For them, housing is inventory, like toys are at Toys R Us, so they cut prices to move homes."