Saint Francis Talk

Beautiful 3 bedroom home that backs up to Annadel State Park!  Oh, you don't feel like going for a stroll in the park... then sit in the living room and take in the panoramic view of Santa Rosa and the west county hills!  Every detail of this high end home says "I enjoy luxury living". Wine cellar, marble and hardwood floors, 2 fireplaces, cavernous master shower, jetted tub, double ovens, trash compactor, walk-in pantry, wet bar, landscaped multi tier backyard with horseshoe pit, redwood decks,  3 car garage. 

This home is located in the hills of beautiful Bennett Valley.  At .64 acres, it is on one of the larger lots in the area.  The home backs to Annadel State Park and has a private gated entrance to the park.  Annadel is a beautiful 5000 acre  park with excellent fishhiking, mountain biking, equestrian trails, and fishing.  Annadel State Park is connected to Spring Lake a large county park, and Howarth Park, a large city park with lakes, boating, playground and barbeque areas. 

World class wineries are just a few miles away.  Take a 15 minute drive out scenic Bennett Valley Road  and  you'll find yourself in the heart of Jack London's Valley of the Moon with world class wineries such as Matanzas, Blackstone, Ledson and Kunde!

Call for more information or a tour today!

If you missed 60 minutes last Sunday night, you missed a great technology story.  Not so much technology for the future, although that was part of it.  No, most of the story was about technology of the past.  Morley Safer spent some time with Marty Cooper, the inventor of the cell phone.  I don't want to rehash the story for you, but I thought it was incredibly interesting and embedded the story here for you see.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  Oh, and by the way, the inventor of the cell phone carries a Droid.

Watch CBS News Videos Online 

Okay, so I hear about all this social media stuff.  How do I know what to sign up for and what not to sign up for?  Here's my answer.  Sign up for it all and see how it might work for you.  I signed up for FourSquare, which I heard on ARU (Active Rain Universtiy) last week.  I had no idea what it was, and after I heard about it I still wasn't sure I wanted to play. 

Here's what FourSquare is, and how it might enhance your business (for free). FourSquare is a game where, using the GPS in your smart phone, you "check in" every time you enter a business or "venue".  Now, I've been a member for less than 24 hours so I don't know if there is an automatic way of checking in, but I do know that by opening the app on your phone, you can click on the "check in" button (oh by the way, when you open the app, it already knows you're at the business).

Okay, so what?  Well FourSquare keeps track everytime you check in somewhere, and if you're the person who 'schecked in the most you're declared the "Mayor" of the venue i.e. Starbucks, or your local market.  So...  who cares?  Well, every other person who uses FourSquare will see you as the mayor!  "Realtor Jim Cheney, Mayor"  Not bad for a guy who is trying to establish himself as the Rincon Valley Realtor.  Everywhere I go in Rincon Valley, I'm the mayor, including the park!  I think we call that free advertising!  Now, I can choose to not check in certain places such as the adult bookstore (we don't really have one in Rincon Valley) or perhaps a liquor store, or some other place you'd rather not be the mayor of. 

Okay so what else is there?  Glad you asked that. FourSquare is promoting that businesses award discounts or special service for Mayors, and other persons who acquire special badges for doing certain things.  This rewards you, rewards the business etc.  Maybe it's 10% off, or a free shake with your hamburger, or a free coffee cake with your latte. 

You can also find other people.  You can identify your friends who who use FourSquare.  They can then tell what places you frequent.  Suppose you're at the fair, or a concert and you want to know if any of your friends are there, check FourSquare, and it will show you.   It's crazy!  And like Facebook, could really grow and develop into "the next big thing". Of course it could go away, but IT'S FREE!!!!   Get where I'm going with this? 

So, how's it going for me? Well Santa Rosa is a bit behind the technology curve, however it seems that everywhere I go, there's a mayor already established.  I'm slowly building up my "Check In" credits and have established myself as mayor of 3 businesses.  When (if) this catches on, I'll be ahead of the curve.  FourSquare can scan your Facebook and email accounts to see if there are any of your contacts already doing FourSquare.

Good luck

Jim Cheney, Your Rincon Valley Realtor (and Mayor)

Stairs along Santa Rosa Creek at the Prince Memorial Greenway

I was contacted through ActiveRain by a writer who saw that I was the featured blogger for Sonoma County.  She wanted me to make a few comments for an article she was writing on what type of on-line marketing I do, and how effective it is.  I wrote more than a few  comments then thought, "Hell, this could be a blog post" so here it is:

I've been a real estate agent since 2003 and mostly advertised in the local newspaper & Homes and Land Magazine.  The newspaper was about $400 a month for classified and open house ads, and Homes and Land was $800 per issue for a full page ad. At the end of the year I would have spent thousands of dollars on advertising. 
 
In 2009 I took a technology in real estate seminar presented by Dick Betts, National Real Estate Trainer.  I learned of the positive aspects of blogging. Learned how and where to blogs.  I try to blog daily, and am the top blog producer on Active Rain for Sonoma County. 
 
I recently began "Hyper Local" blogging where my blogs are about local issues related not to my city, buy to my neighborhood (Rincon Valley).  My blogs are key word rich, which makes it pop up on the the first page of a Google search containing Rincon Valley property as the search term.
 
I get 1 - 2 contacts per week from potential clients who visit my web page.  When I ask these contacts how they became familiar with my web site, they tell me they found it while searching for property on the internet. 
 
I no longer do print advertising.  I get more leads now at a minimal cost ($30 per month for an Active Rain premium membership) and the cost of my web site, www.SaintFrancisProperty.com  
 
I'm lucky that most of my peers have not realized the power of blogging or SEO, and still rely on print advertising. I'd be willing to bet only 10% of the agents in my office know what SEO stands for.   I laugh when I look at the local newspaper classified section and see 7 listings advertised in a city that has hundreds of active listings.
 
I know that eventually my peers will catch on and I will have more compitition for internet client, however, I will be far ahead in the game, and to tell you the truth, am not really concerned.

I saw this freebie on Peggy and Al's blog.  It looked interesting, so I looked into it and found it quite appealing.  I made a google/YouTube commercial for myself in about 15 minutes with no help.  It's all self explanatory.  When I was done, I watched it about 10 times, and sent it to everybody I knew.  I've embedded it into my web page.  Check it out here,

So here's what you do.  Go to: www.youtube.com/user/SearchStories  and then follow the 3 simple steps. 

1) type in your 6 search keywords.  Notice that there is a window at the bottom of your screen that will show what the Google search results are.  If you don't like the results, tweak your search keywords!  Each line of search keywords, lets you choose (on the far right) if you want the whole web searched, or just maps, images, etc.