BusinessCasualBlog.com

Can a virtual community write a book together?

A team comprised of senior members from Shared Insights, Wharton, MIT, and Prentice Hall are launching an interesting project related to the power of communities.  (We are Smarter than Me)

The central premise is that large groups of people can, and should, take responsibility for traditional business functions that are currently performed by companies, industries and experts. And, they're going to test the concept by writing a book as a community.

Switching gears.

By now, many of my real estate clients know that I'm switching gears.  Oh, I'll still be involved with real estate. But, rather than representing buyers and sellers directly as an agent, my real estate activities will now be settling around helping other agents and home owners with a new service that I'm pleased to say taps into my creative side. 

Early this year I started videoHomeStories.  It started as a brainchild when I began creating short web videos (no more than 2-3 minutes) to market my clients' listings.  With the proliferation of bandwidth availability and improved video compression, video is finally a viable web markting tool.  And just in case you're thinking "whutever, it's just another virtual tour but with video this time,"  well, no. 

We actually tell a story, giving the seller (or the agent) an opportunity to guide the viewer through the home, its history, its community, its schools, local parks, Friday night lights... basically, all the "other" things that a property flyer or a virtual tour doesn't say outside of "3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, beautiful upgrades, yadda, yadda..."  (see Demos).

And, perhaps the best part:  Not only did I rediscover the power of story-telling, but I'm able to feed that side of me that likes to create things.  (Sort of like that ineffable "thing" that compels me to post to blogs in the middle of the night.  And, oh, don't get me started on wikis...)

What's next?  Well, I also have another idea kicking 'round in my head about extending videoHomeStories' services to short video tutorials focused on the needs of real estate agents... But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Anyway, I've still got a few more clients to touch base with to let 'em know about the gear change.  But, if any of you know someone who'd like to collaborate on some projects, let's talk.  They can find me here, or also on the 'Xing' network at:  https://www.xing.com/profile/Mel_Aclaro.  (I'll leave discussion about networking sites as a topic for a future blog post.) 

What's the difference between a mortgage and a home equity loan?

When you buy a home, the loan that you get will be the "first" mortgage.  After you've built some equity, you may decide to tap into it by taking out a loan using the equity as collateral.  This is called a home equity loan.  This loan is generally talked about as the "second" mortgage and it's separate from the original, first mortgage.  If you decide later to refinance, then any mortgages that you have on your home -- the first and second mortgages -- are paid off at that time.  The outstanding balances are typically rolled into the new loan which then becomes a new first mortgage.