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Twin Falls Idaho Jobs Online
Looking for a job? Have a job opening?
Visit www.TwinFallsJobsOnline.com to post your job openings online for FREE.
Post your resume for potential employers to view.
This service is free and brought to you courtesy of www.TwinFallsGuide.com
Tell your friends, tell your employers about our free community service for Twin Falls Idaho.
Visit www.TwinFallsJobsOnline.com to post your job openings online for FREE.
Post your resume for potential employers to view.
This service is free and brought to you courtesy of www.TwinFallsGuide.com
Tell your friends, tell your employers about our free community service for Twin Falls Idaho.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Land Buying Advice
by Janet Wickell
Finding the Perfect Real Estate for Your New HomeBuying land can seem intimidating, but it really isn't difficult at all when you analyze your needs and determine which types of land are most suitable for the home you plan to build.
Talk with a mortgage broker or bank loan officer to find out how much you can afford. If you plan to build right away, the loan officer should explain construction loans, including the closing procedures you'll encounter while the house is being built.
Get EstimatesTalk with area building contractors to determine the average price you can expect to pay per square foot for the type of home you wish to build.
Include estimates for building a driveway or road to the homesite.
Don't forget estimates for well and septic systems if your home will not be connected to community water and sewer.
To find the maximum amount you can spend for land, deduct the estimated building costs from your total budget--then deduct a bit more for unexpected expenses.
Your Wants and NeedsMake a list of all features that would exist on the ideal piece of land. Review the list, highlighting your must-haves, such as a great view, privacy, or a waterfront building site.
What's the minimum size lot or tract of land you are willing to consider? Keep in mind that a heavily wooded, 1-acre lot is sometimes more private than a 3-acre lot that's all open lawn. Tour a variety of neighborhoods and pay attention to the settings.
Land UseHow will you use the land? Consider only tracts of land where the home you want to build is allowed. Most developments are governed by restrictive covenants that dictate everything from home size to building type to paint color. Study covenants for potential sites carefully to determine if you can live with the restrictions.
Start Your Search
Look for 'For Sale' signs on your drives through favorite areas.
Search for properties on the Internet.
Note the exact location of interesting tracts, then visit your county tax office to find the owner's name. Contact the owner to ask if the land is for sale.
Talk with an agent about your wants and needs so that she can help you locate the perfect tract.
Does the Land Suit Your Home Plans?Ask a builder to accompany you to your top choices, to offer advice about the best building sites and to suggest home plans that will work with the topography.
UtilitiesCheck availability of utility services to the land.
EasementsAn easement is the right to use another person's land for a stated purpose. Does someone else have the right to use the property you want to buy? Find out before you make an offer, or add a contingency to the offer that you must approve existing easements before finalizing the sale.
Locate Property Boundaries
Look for iron pins at the corners of property, or at any point where the property line makes a turn. You might find iron pins flush with the center of the road, too.
In wooded areas, watch for pathways cut by surveyors when they marked a property line. They are often visible for many years.
Trees or bushes along property lines are might be marked with brightly colored paint or plastic.
Boundary SurveysSurveys are always a good idea and some banks require them. Updates to existing surveys are often acceptable and are less expensive than ordering a new survey.
If there's a question about the number of acres in the tract, your offer can be stated as "X dollars per acre as determined by a new survey." Now, you'll need to word it a bit better, and state who will pay for the survey. The method can work to either the buyer or seller's advantage, depending on how many acres are found.
Road Maintenance AgreementsIf the property is accessed from a private road your bank might require a recorded agreement that shows all owners have promised to help with road upkeep.
Environmental IssuesAsk for a signed statement that discloses facts about buried items, such as oil or gas storage tanks. Their removal and cleanup can be expensive.
ContingenciesBefore you make an offer, think about the what ifs--things that would make the property unusable for your purposes. Add these to the offer as contingencies, things that must or must not happen before you buy. For example:
Offers for land without sewer hookups should be contingent on your ability to obtain permits for a septic system.
If an architectural review committee must approve your home plans, the offer should be contingent on obtaining approval.
The offer should be contingent on obtaining the type of financing you desire.
Some contingencies are included in standard contracts, but your agent, contractor, or real estate attorney can help you determine if other contingencies should be added.
Searching for land can be a fun adventure. If you look hard enough, you may find a perfect building site just waiting to be cleared from an overgrown jungle of brambles and weeds.
Finding the Perfect Real Estate for Your New HomeBuying land can seem intimidating, but it really isn't difficult at all when you analyze your needs and determine which types of land are most suitable for the home you plan to build.
Talk with a mortgage broker or bank loan officer to find out how much you can afford. If you plan to build right away, the loan officer should explain construction loans, including the closing procedures you'll encounter while the house is being built.
Get EstimatesTalk with area building contractors to determine the average price you can expect to pay per square foot for the type of home you wish to build.
Include estimates for building a driveway or road to the homesite.
Don't forget estimates for well and septic systems if your home will not be connected to community water and sewer.
To find the maximum amount you can spend for land, deduct the estimated building costs from your total budget--then deduct a bit more for unexpected expenses.
Your Wants and NeedsMake a list of all features that would exist on the ideal piece of land. Review the list, highlighting your must-haves, such as a great view, privacy, or a waterfront building site.
What's the minimum size lot or tract of land you are willing to consider? Keep in mind that a heavily wooded, 1-acre lot is sometimes more private than a 3-acre lot that's all open lawn. Tour a variety of neighborhoods and pay attention to the settings.
Land UseHow will you use the land? Consider only tracts of land where the home you want to build is allowed. Most developments are governed by restrictive covenants that dictate everything from home size to building type to paint color. Study covenants for potential sites carefully to determine if you can live with the restrictions.
Start Your Search
Look for 'For Sale' signs on your drives through favorite areas.
Search for properties on the Internet.
Note the exact location of interesting tracts, then visit your county tax office to find the owner's name. Contact the owner to ask if the land is for sale.
Talk with an agent about your wants and needs so that she can help you locate the perfect tract.
Does the Land Suit Your Home Plans?Ask a builder to accompany you to your top choices, to offer advice about the best building sites and to suggest home plans that will work with the topography.
UtilitiesCheck availability of utility services to the land.
EasementsAn easement is the right to use another person's land for a stated purpose. Does someone else have the right to use the property you want to buy? Find out before you make an offer, or add a contingency to the offer that you must approve existing easements before finalizing the sale.
Locate Property Boundaries
Look for iron pins at the corners of property, or at any point where the property line makes a turn. You might find iron pins flush with the center of the road, too.
In wooded areas, watch for pathways cut by surveyors when they marked a property line. They are often visible for many years.
Trees or bushes along property lines are might be marked with brightly colored paint or plastic.
Boundary SurveysSurveys are always a good idea and some banks require them. Updates to existing surveys are often acceptable and are less expensive than ordering a new survey.
If there's a question about the number of acres in the tract, your offer can be stated as "X dollars per acre as determined by a new survey." Now, you'll need to word it a bit better, and state who will pay for the survey. The method can work to either the buyer or seller's advantage, depending on how many acres are found.
Road Maintenance AgreementsIf the property is accessed from a private road your bank might require a recorded agreement that shows all owners have promised to help with road upkeep.
Environmental IssuesAsk for a signed statement that discloses facts about buried items, such as oil or gas storage tanks. Their removal and cleanup can be expensive.
ContingenciesBefore you make an offer, think about the what ifs--things that would make the property unusable for your purposes. Add these to the offer as contingencies, things that must or must not happen before you buy. For example:
Offers for land without sewer hookups should be contingent on your ability to obtain permits for a septic system.
If an architectural review committee must approve your home plans, the offer should be contingent on obtaining approval.
The offer should be contingent on obtaining the type of financing you desire.
Some contingencies are included in standard contracts, but your agent, contractor, or real estate attorney can help you determine if other contingencies should be added.
Searching for land can be a fun adventure. If you look hard enough, you may find a perfect building site just waiting to be cleared from an overgrown jungle of brambles and weeds.
RSS and Blog Marketing for Real Estate
Submitted by Tinu Abayomi-Paul on Sat, 07/30/2005 - 12:49.
Earlier this month, Realtor Magazine announced that they would be featuring an article about Tampa Bay Realtor John Mudd and the success he has been having in attracting prospects and media attention with his blog on real estate.
Since then, many others in the Real Estate market have been curious about how to implement similar strategies to capture leads in their areas.
This article is part of a series that provides insight to the unique ways that the strategy of blogging and the use of RSS and/or Atom feeds can be applied as part of your web promotion strategy.
1. Capture better search engine positioning for your local market with a blog.
By now it's apparent that blogs with unique content can bring you better search engine rankings. This advantage is strengthened when you use a blog software tool that enables you to publish posts on your own server, which we'll go over in more detail in part two of this article series.
RSS and Blogs bring you special web promotional opportunities that can help your blog and the site where it resides rank higher in search engines, due in part to the way they are organized. Particularly for narrow local markets, this can both widen and deepen your audience within 3 - 8 weeks with proper implementation.
By far, this is not the only benefit of blogging or RSS - though if you're looking for better organic search engine ranking across a multitude of keyword phrases, this just may be the answer for you.
2. Dominate your local niche by becoming a resource for information for home buyers and sellers in your area
The ease of publishing content to a blog, coupled with one of the easier ways to implement RSS, its accompanying feed, gives you the ability to provide fresh and relevant information, often at the same rate of time it would take to write a short email.
With the proper blog publishing system, the speed at which you can now provide information means that you can publish updates more often, drawing more attention to your web site from search engines and visitors alike.
After landing in your blog, links to other relevant parts of your site can draw visitors to the areas you most want them to pay attention to, such as your updated listings - which can also be made available via RSS if you so choose.
Why RSS?
It can mean 100% delivery of your message to your prospects, in a fashion that they choose to have pulled to them. Rather than attempting to digest all the information at your blog in one visit, they can skim your headlines, read a summary or post, and then click through to your site upon finding information that draws them in.
You can supplement this with email for users who are more comfortable with receiving your information the traditional way.
While promotion and updates via email are not necessarily to be discounted, the use of RSS and other feed formats lend themselves to additional promotional possibilities.
3. Have yet another reason to remind prospects to return to your site - and shorten the sales cycle using a multiple feed strategy
With the combined power of blogging and RSS, you can construct multiple outlets for information that are each hyper-targeted to several segments of your market. Instead of attempting to force your static web site to capture home buyers and home sellers for your area, as well as provide the statistical information on your locale, you can build several focus areas and promote them side by side.
For example, if your local area is Frederick, Maryland, you can dedicate one blog and its accompanying feed to recent Frederick listings, and then have a separate feed that automatically provides updates on area schools, crime rates, cost of living and other statistical information home buyers consider when making purchasing decisions. Separate blogs and feeds on the same site could focus on the needs of home sellers in the area
The possibilities are truly as endless as the number of markets you wish to capture.
It is often said that it may take up to seven times for a prospect who comes across a marketing message to buy. Therefore, the faster the opportunity arises for you to contact your potential client, the closer they may be to a buying decision. If you are able to provide them with the information they need to make that decision with updates from your site, the likelihood that they may ultimately make that purchase decision through you increases.
Updates to blogs and RSS feeds can give you the power to make this transition happen at a faster pace, as the production cycle of the content takes only the time you would need to publish that information.
Rather than contacting your web content management department, forwarding content, and waiting for the page to be published, then picked up by search engines, with a blog, you simply log into your administration area, type and publish.
These pages can also get picked up by search engines faster through the power of syndication - those already following your feed receive your update instantly.
There are more ways that you can use RSS to draw more qualified prospects to your business which will be covered in part two of this series.
Tinu Abayomi-Paul is the co-owner of Leveraged Promotion,which provides many solutions for companies who prefer toout-source their online promotion needs. Athttp://blog.leveragedpromotion.com you can find out moreabout how RSS, Blogs and Podcasting can increase youronline visibility.
Earlier this month, Realtor Magazine announced that they would be featuring an article about Tampa Bay Realtor John Mudd and the success he has been having in attracting prospects and media attention with his blog on real estate.
Since then, many others in the Real Estate market have been curious about how to implement similar strategies to capture leads in their areas.
This article is part of a series that provides insight to the unique ways that the strategy of blogging and the use of RSS and/or Atom feeds can be applied as part of your web promotion strategy.
1. Capture better search engine positioning for your local market with a blog.
By now it's apparent that blogs with unique content can bring you better search engine rankings. This advantage is strengthened when you use a blog software tool that enables you to publish posts on your own server, which we'll go over in more detail in part two of this article series.
RSS and Blogs bring you special web promotional opportunities that can help your blog and the site where it resides rank higher in search engines, due in part to the way they are organized. Particularly for narrow local markets, this can both widen and deepen your audience within 3 - 8 weeks with proper implementation.
By far, this is not the only benefit of blogging or RSS - though if you're looking for better organic search engine ranking across a multitude of keyword phrases, this just may be the answer for you.
2. Dominate your local niche by becoming a resource for information for home buyers and sellers in your area
The ease of publishing content to a blog, coupled with one of the easier ways to implement RSS, its accompanying feed, gives you the ability to provide fresh and relevant information, often at the same rate of time it would take to write a short email.
With the proper blog publishing system, the speed at which you can now provide information means that you can publish updates more often, drawing more attention to your web site from search engines and visitors alike.
After landing in your blog, links to other relevant parts of your site can draw visitors to the areas you most want them to pay attention to, such as your updated listings - which can also be made available via RSS if you so choose.
Why RSS?
It can mean 100% delivery of your message to your prospects, in a fashion that they choose to have pulled to them. Rather than attempting to digest all the information at your blog in one visit, they can skim your headlines, read a summary or post, and then click through to your site upon finding information that draws them in.
You can supplement this with email for users who are more comfortable with receiving your information the traditional way.
While promotion and updates via email are not necessarily to be discounted, the use of RSS and other feed formats lend themselves to additional promotional possibilities.
3. Have yet another reason to remind prospects to return to your site - and shorten the sales cycle using a multiple feed strategy
With the combined power of blogging and RSS, you can construct multiple outlets for information that are each hyper-targeted to several segments of your market. Instead of attempting to force your static web site to capture home buyers and home sellers for your area, as well as provide the statistical information on your locale, you can build several focus areas and promote them side by side.
For example, if your local area is Frederick, Maryland, you can dedicate one blog and its accompanying feed to recent Frederick listings, and then have a separate feed that automatically provides updates on area schools, crime rates, cost of living and other statistical information home buyers consider when making purchasing decisions. Separate blogs and feeds on the same site could focus on the needs of home sellers in the area
The possibilities are truly as endless as the number of markets you wish to capture.
It is often said that it may take up to seven times for a prospect who comes across a marketing message to buy. Therefore, the faster the opportunity arises for you to contact your potential client, the closer they may be to a buying decision. If you are able to provide them with the information they need to make that decision with updates from your site, the likelihood that they may ultimately make that purchase decision through you increases.
Updates to blogs and RSS feeds can give you the power to make this transition happen at a faster pace, as the production cycle of the content takes only the time you would need to publish that information.
Rather than contacting your web content management department, forwarding content, and waiting for the page to be published, then picked up by search engines, with a blog, you simply log into your administration area, type and publish.
These pages can also get picked up by search engines faster through the power of syndication - those already following your feed receive your update instantly.
There are more ways that you can use RSS to draw more qualified prospects to your business which will be covered in part two of this series.
Tinu Abayomi-Paul is the co-owner of Leveraged Promotion,which provides many solutions for companies who prefer toout-source their online promotion needs. Athttp://blog.leveragedpromotion.com you can find out moreabout how RSS, Blogs and Podcasting can increase youronline visibility.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Using Real Estate Feeds For House-Hunting
Using Real Estate Feeds For House-Hunting
Tuesday, December 19, 2006, 10:17:49 AM
Web feeds, or RSS, has exploded in popularity over the last few years. It's a powerful marketing tool that will have a major affect on real estate marketing. Millions of people use web feeds every day. Most users view feeds through Newsreaders, but many web browsers and future operating systems are incorporating this technology.
If you are looking for a house or a place to rent, use web feeds to keep up with the latest listings. You can use feeds to easily keep track of properties from a wide variety of sources. As new properties are added to the feeds, you are notified almost immediately. If you see something you like, you can go directly to that property's web page. This saves time over continually checking individual web sites for updates.
Many real estate websites offer the ability to subscribe to email updates. Unlike e-mail, web feeds have a 100% delivery rate and there is no risk of spam problems.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult these days to find real estate professionals offering web feeds, let alone feeds that are purely property-driven or contain news specific to a certain geographic area. A majority of feeds are offered through 'blogs' of various qualities. More savvy professionals break their web feeds into categories, such as commercial, rentals and residential properties. Even mortgage finance professionals can use web feeds to keep customers and potential customers aware of market changes.As web feeds become more popular with the average user, expect more real estate professionals offering their listings via web feeds. If you aren't finding the feeds you want, ask for them by name!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006, 10:17:49 AM
Web feeds, or RSS, has exploded in popularity over the last few years. It's a powerful marketing tool that will have a major affect on real estate marketing. Millions of people use web feeds every day. Most users view feeds through Newsreaders, but many web browsers and future operating systems are incorporating this technology.
If you are looking for a house or a place to rent, use web feeds to keep up with the latest listings. You can use feeds to easily keep track of properties from a wide variety of sources. As new properties are added to the feeds, you are notified almost immediately. If you see something you like, you can go directly to that property's web page. This saves time over continually checking individual web sites for updates.
Many real estate websites offer the ability to subscribe to email updates. Unlike e-mail, web feeds have a 100% delivery rate and there is no risk of spam problems.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult these days to find real estate professionals offering web feeds, let alone feeds that are purely property-driven or contain news specific to a certain geographic area. A majority of feeds are offered through 'blogs' of various qualities. More savvy professionals break their web feeds into categories, such as commercial, rentals and residential properties. Even mortgage finance professionals can use web feeds to keep customers and potential customers aware of market changes.As web feeds become more popular with the average user, expect more real estate professionals offering their listings via web feeds. If you aren't finding the feeds you want, ask for them by name!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Major Boise Idaho Events
Annual St. Ignatius Basque Festival
Boise
Last week in July '07
Boise Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration
Boise
November 23, 2007
First Thursday
Boise
Thursdays
Gene Harris Jazz Festival
Boise
April 4 - April 7, 2007
Alive After Five
Boise
May 2, 2007 - August 29, 2007
Annual Idaho Shakespeare Festival
Boise
June 1, 2007 - Sept 30, 2007
Annual Western Idaho Fair
Boise
August 17 - 26, 2007
Art in the Park
Boise
September 7 - 9, 2007
Annual Hyde Park Street Fair
Boise
September 14 - 16, 2007
Annual St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration
Boise
September 20 - 22, 2007
17th Annual Booth Family Spaghetti Dinner
Boise
September 29, 2007
Boise
Last week in July '07
Boise Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration
Boise
November 23, 2007
First Thursday
Boise
Thursdays
Gene Harris Jazz Festival
Boise
April 4 - April 7, 2007
Alive After Five
Boise
May 2, 2007 - August 29, 2007
Annual Idaho Shakespeare Festival
Boise
June 1, 2007 - Sept 30, 2007
Annual Western Idaho Fair
Boise
August 17 - 26, 2007
Art in the Park
Boise
September 7 - 9, 2007
Annual Hyde Park Street Fair
Boise
September 14 - 16, 2007
Annual St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration
Boise
September 20 - 22, 2007
17th Annual Booth Family Spaghetti Dinner
Boise
September 29, 2007
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