Sarasota MLS Attacks One of Their Paying Members

This is a different post for this blog. But it is needed. An Internet REALTOR friend, Marc Rasumussen, has been in a lengthy battle with his local Sarasota MLS. You see, he purchased a domain name over 5 years ago called "thesarasotamls dot com". If you do a Google search for Sarasota Real Estate you'll find Marc at the #1 position. And I think that's what caused the witch hunt.

What agents were taught - by NAR!

The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) offers training for its members, including articles (magazine and online) by Mr. Internet. Years ago, Mr. Internet published ideas for creating good real estate domain names for agent websites. He suggested using area real estate or area MLS, etc.

Marc tried getting Sarasotarealestate dot com but it was already taken. The only good domain name, according to Mr. Internet, was thesarasotamls. So he took it and spent thousands of dollars and many hours getting his website to top positions on Google and other popular search engines.

And he made other agents mad

Why else would they go after him (the Sarasota board of REALTORS) and actually file an ethics complaint against Marc (which he won)? Why, after losing this ethics complaint, would they take it as far as ICANN? ICANN, despite the ethics ruling in favor of Marc, ordered the domain name to be returned to the Sarasota MLS board. So Marc cannot use this long-standing domain any longer.

His webmaster, Morgan Carey of Real Estate Webmasters (REW) is trying to use a 301 redirect to his new domain, http://www.luxurysarasotarealestate.com/, so Marc can retain some of the authority he built over the years. This will help him while he's trying to build this brand new domain, which will take some time.

But we don't yet know if he'll be able to continue doing this. Once the redirect is removed I'm sure we'll see Marc's long-standing positions decline. All of those thousands of dollars and hours of work down the drain, plus having to start over from scratch in the highly competitive real estate community on the Internet.

Other's envy is hurting a family

Anyone else who has a website that falls below Marc's in the search engines could spend money and put in the same amount of hours to try to beat Marc or at least show up right below him, which will still give them business. Instead, a group formed to complain about Marc's site and finally got their way. What will they do to the next webmaster who outranks them? And I hope they'll chase the other websites with MLS in the domain name, no matter how low they appear in the search engines. But I doubt they'll bother with those.

Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate

The #1 site for Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is so popular on the search engines that many prospective buyers and sellers find the site that are looking in other areas. The link above shows the different suburbs that this site covers. In fact, some of those areas are going to be deleted as the areas served is getting revamped.

It really doesn't matter if buyer prospects from the north side find the site as the Northern IL MLS covers a huge area including all of Chicago and north, west and south suburbs. So any buyer for Northern IL can create an MLS search from the site.

For sellers that want an Internet CMA that reside out of the area might have to get referred to a local agent to do this for them. If buyers that use the MLS want to start seeing homes in areas not included in this site they also might need to be referred out. But that's OK as we have a great list of good referral agents so you can be assured you'll be well taken care of.

Find Your Dream Chicago Suburbs Home

Although it's certainly fun and interesting to search the Northern IL MLS, if you're busy and don't feel like going back or just don't have the time, you might be missing the perfect home. There is an easier way.

Just fill out the Automated Chicago Suburbs Real Estate Home Finder Form with as much information as possible. By doing this, you'll receive all active listings in the MLS sent to your e-mail. You can access the listings at your convenience.

The search will be made using your search parameters such as location, price and amenities. You can easily change any of those search items by just sending an e-mail.

Even though it's a Buyer's Market right now and there's a slew of real estate for sale, homes priced correctly are still getting multiple offers or are selling quickly. So don't let the perfect property pass you by. Fill out the form now and you can still use the MLS search whenever you'd like, but you'll receive listings from the Home Finder Search whether you do or don't.

Suburban Real Estate News

For another blog that offers a lot of real estate news please click the link. This blog is part of the Real Estate Webmasters (REW) website that offers a real estate forum (click to join) and blogs for buyers, sellers and other real estate professionals. The site also offers beautiful website designs.

The Real Estate Blog

This blog offers a little more technical information geared toward other real estate professionals. You can also access multiple blogs written by other agents. Some of the blogs are related to local areas, some are general real estate. You'll be able to find a little bit of everything going through these blogs.

The Real Estate Forum

Although most forum members are in the real estate industry, this forum is also for buyers and sellers to ask questions. Although no real estate agent can act as an attorney (and many of the questions asked need an attorney's advice), a lot of buyers and sellers can get answers or ideas from this helpful forum.

Please check out the REW blogs and forums by clicking on the links above to find a whole new world of real estate articles, news and advice.

MLS Search for Chicago and Suburbs

Most real estate web surfers want one thing whether they are buying and/or selling, and that's access to the local MLS. But what many prospects don't understand is that there are different ways to access the local MLS.

One way is IDX, which is a sampling of active MLS listings. There is no registration required but only a portion of the MLS is available using this kind of search. So if you are not being asked to register in the Northern IL area, you're not getting all of the listings for sale.

Cook-County-Real-Estate.com offers full Chicago MLS search including all suburbs. In fact, it is one of the largest MLS's in the nation. Not only can you search the Chicago suburbs but you can go into parts of Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin! You can also search pretty far south such as Kankakee and other "far-away" areas from what most of us consider Northern IL.

Registration is required but all you really need is your name and a working e-mail account. Once you sign up you can save your searches and come back as much as you want to continue with your search. In fact, if you log-in at least once every 30 days you don't have to register again.

So if you want access to each and every available home for sale (plus condo/townhouse, rentals, mobile homes and vacant land), the only way you can access this information is by registering. You don't want to miss what might be the perfect property for you!

You don't have to worry that your information will be sold or shared. This is simply a requirement of the MLS to allow access to the complete active database of homes for sale.

If you want to set any appointments for these properties give Judy Orr a call at 708-536-8200.

www.cook-county-real-estate.net

This Chicago Suburbs real estate website is geared for both buyers and sellers of southwest chicago and southwest and near west suburbs. Click the link for a list of suburbs covered.

I will be introducing this website in more detail as it is extremely comprehensive and has a lot of information. It's a large website that cannot be viewed in one sitting so I will try to break it down in this blog.

It offers full MLS search and listings that are available to view without registering. There are lots of buyer and seller links and information to help you buy and/or sell your next property.

When you first click on the site you are drawn to the photo slideshow header that takes you to many area features and outdoor views. There have been many compliments on the beauty and usability of this website and is the most popular site for the southwest suburbs of Chicago.

Click the photo below to get to the home page:

Selling a Home in Southwest Chicago Suburbs

Most real estate websites are geared toward buyers. But the Chicago Suburbs Real Estate website offers information to buyers and sellers.

• There is a link for an Internet Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) that a seller can quickly fill out and get a CMA sent directly to their e-mail.
• There is a link to an extremely informative step-by-step article on selling a home.
• A link is provided to a real estate glossary.
• One easy-to-read page with links to helpful websites for Chicago suburb home sellers
  

Some of the marketing tools utilized are mentioned to get your home sold. This is the only Chicago suburbs home sellers page on the website that can be accessed through the navigation menu. That is what keeps the site focused mainly on buyers and simple to use without bogging visitors down with so many links that a visitor just gets confused and leaves.

The goal of this website was to keep it simple, and offer buyers what they want; listings with photos and descriptions. Those same listings can also help sellers keep up with their competition and help them price their homes better.