From the category archives:

Communication, Presentation, Conversation

Facebook Introduces New, Improved and Easier To Manage Security Settings – 10 New Security Changes You Need To Know

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on May 27, 2010

Is It Better To Ask For Forgiveness or To Ask For Permission?

Generally speaking, I’m in the “Ask For Forgiveness” tribe.

Facebook is a monster.  It’s super cool.  It’s fun and useful.  But at the end of the day, Facebook is a business.  They aren’t going to invest dozens of millions for the good of humankind.  They want everyone on planet earth to use and enjoy Facebook.  In exchange, they’re going to serve up targeted ads and things we don’t even know about yet.  It’s their right.  No free lunches, etc..

Recently, Facebook has pissed people off by making some undesirable changes to what the users post, where it goes, who sees it, how it’s indexed, etc.  In fact, if you follow this kind of thing, the uproar has been loud and even Congress is eyeballing them.

This isn’t the first time.  It seems every time it happens, Facebook asks for forgiveness, changes a few things, throws a couple of bones to the cry babies and makes a few positively viewed changes.  This is the case recently.

One more thing, before I share some Easier To Manage Facebook Settings info, if you’re using Facebook as a tool for business, or as I do, you believe Hugh MacLeod’s cartoon below speaks the truth, then you really don’t care.  Why?  Because you want to connect with as many people as possible.  The more people know you or about you, the more they can decide if they should trust you or not.  It’s that simple.  In the real estate business and in all business I guess, TRUST is everything.  Plus, if you don’t want people to see what you write or share, don’t post it.  Honestly, I really do believe that privacy on the internet is a myth.  Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, most everything we do is tracked or trackable.

Facebook Announces How Their New and Easier To Use Privacy Settings Work.

When I find things I think you might need to know or be curious out, I share them.  For Facebook updates, I rely on a site called AllFacebook.com.  They know what’s up and are happy to share.  If you want super detail, they have books and stuff.  So, here’s LINK to their Security Settings Post.

Here’s what you’ll discover in the blog post.

10 Things You Need To Know About Today’s Facebook Privacy Changes

  1. You Can Opt Out Of Applications
  2. You Can Hide Your Friends List
  3. You Can Hide Your Interests
  4. Instant Personalization Is Still Opt-Out
  5. You Should Review Your Settings
  6. Privacy Now Only Takes One Click
  7. You Can Hide Your Friends List
  8. 3 More Tips

There you have it.  Now we can all rest easy.  For the moment.

Hey, if we aren’t connected on Facebook yet, ping me.

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How To Deal With Goof-Ball Decisions, Idiotic Choices and Cognitive Bias.

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on May 24, 2010

This is a snippet from my Monday morning blog post at AgentGenius.com.  If you want to just read the whole thing, CLICK HERE.

One Hundred Seventeen

That’s how many Ah-Ha and Ha-Ha Cognitive Biases I counted.  117.

I say Ah-Ha, because reading about them explains why people make the stupidest decisions and behave boldly-irrational.

I say Ha-Ha, because I have to laugh at myself and how many of these decision-making, behavioral, belief and social biases I allow to tarnish my day-to-day adventures.  Turns out, I’m biased as hell.  Just like everyone else.  But, I’m gonna do something about it.  How about you?

Because familiarity with the In’s and Out’s of human behavior is valuablelearning more about Cognitive Bias is wise.  When we understand why normally sane and reasonable we and others make goof-ball decisions and behave idiotically-irrational, we can do something positive to correct or avoid them.

Of the 117, I wanted to talk about 2 of them.  They aren’t really related in nature, but I think you may be familiar with both.

First up, the…

Illusion of Control Bias

You can Read the rest of this blog post at http://www.AgentGenius.com – CLICK HERE

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Sometimes, Acting Smart Is Stupid and Pretending To Be Stupid Is Smart. For Example…

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on April 12, 2010

I wrote this for AgentGenius.com and I thought I’d share it here too.

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We Over Estimate What We Think We Know and We Under Estimate What We Don’t Know.

We think we’re pretty smart.  We move fast.  We think fast.  We know how to solve problems and get things done. We’re pretty smart and we act like it.

Guess what?

Acting Smart Is Stupid

When we believe we Know-It-All, we don’t…

It’s a quick read, CLICK HERE for the rest.

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Thanks for reading.

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If You’re A Real Estate Agent, You’re In The Business Of Being Chosen. Take this Scrape-The-Label-Test and see if you’re Bright, Focused and Distinctive.

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on March 23, 2010

I write all week long.  I post on Monday’s for AgentGenius.com.  Here’s a link to what I’ve shared over the months.

Here’s a taste of what I shared this week.  To read the whole article, click here.

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Generic Sucks In Real EstateIt’s important EVERYTHING…

How people perceive us…

Are we trusted?

Are we interesting?

Are we competent?

Are we attractive?

Are we memorable?

Are we referable?

Will we attract and hold attention?

Are we worth our price?

We’re in the business of being chosen. Chosen to manage the successful sale or purchase of real estate and the everything in-between details. In our markets, there are hundreds of choices, you and I are but one of them.

73% of our competition is no competition, their quest for attention, relevance and selection in chaotic, haphazard and sporadic. 27% of our competition is most likely, bright, focused and uniquely distinctive.

Bright. Focused. Distinctive.

Bright: The opposite of dull and boring. Interesting. Engaging. Memorable. Trustworthy. Candid. Surprising. Generous.

Focused: Consistent in quality. Consistent in design. Consistent in intent. Consistent in delivery. Consistent in response and reliability. Consistent in communication. Consistent in execution. Consistent in follow through and follow up. Consistently reinventing and evolving.

Distinctive: A combination of bright and focused, plus, unique in design, interaction, commitment, communication and delivery.

Intellectually, I believe we all understand the importance of creating and delivering Bright, Focused and Distinctive services and solutions. I believe that you and I press forward, daily, in our quest to do so. I’m certain that how you and I might define and deliver Bright, Focused and Distinctive would vary, the more important question is, how do civilians define it and will others know it when they see it? Would they know it was us if our labels and branding wrappers were scraped away?

To answer the questions, we can test ourselves. We can…

Click HERE for the rest of the story and to take the Scrape-The-Label test.

Cheers and thanks for reading.

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Mathew Ingram & Craig Newmark Pre-Cog/Glimmer The Future and Trust Networks

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on March 19, 2010

I’m relaxing on the white couch.  Sorta watching the NCAAs and perusing my feed reader.  Everyday there’s some interesting and useful stuff.

Today There Was This…

Mathew Ingram interviewing Craig Newmark

And Mathew sharing what they talked about….

Craig Newmark on the Web’s Next Big Problem

Here’s a snippet:

Newmark called some form of distributed trust system “the killingest of killer apps” for the web over the next decade (he said he wasn’t sure that was the best way to describe it, but was trying out to see how it sounded). He talked about “reputation and trust ruling the web, just the way it does in real life,” and how he was looking to big players such as Google, Facebook and Amazon as the kinds of entities that would have the scale to handle such a distributed trust or reputation management network.

Imagine A World…

What kind of insanely great world would it be if you were the real deal and were certified.  Not some commercial, smoke, mirrors and polish, but real and trustworthy.  Wow right?  Even better, the shammers and scammers, posers and pretenders are exposed and driven into the sea or motivated to come-correct.

Think it will happen?

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What To Consider When Pricing Your Property For Sale. The What’s, Why’s and How’s Of Creating A Useful CMA (Competitive Market Analysis)

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on March 19, 2010

How To Price Your Listing So It Sells For Top Dollar and In A Timely Fashion from Ken Brand on Vimeo.

I’m sharing the why’s and what’s and how’s of creating a useful CMA (Competitive Market Analysis) for pricing your property. The goal is to sell it for the highest possible price, in your desired time frame.

Experience has shown that Qualified Home Buyers comparison shop. Typically, they will define a price range and an area or areas that they are interested in, the style and design, desired amenities, etc., and they go shopping, looking at pre-owned homes and New Homes.

After viewing all of the available homes that meet their criteria, a buyer will narrow their choices down to a short list of one or two homes.

In this day and age of Buyer Representation, the buyer’s representative will prepare a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) to assist the buyer in the decision making process and offering price. At this point the buyer…having viewed all of the available homes (competition) will want to know..what similar homes have actually SOLD for, average number of Days on Market, Price Per Square Foot and List Price to Sales Price ratio.

This research is used to help determine their offering price and ultimately their own limits to what they feel a home should sell for relative to it’s competition.

Also, once the Buyer and Seller agree on a price and the buyer’s mortgage is being processed, the lender will send an appraiser out and they conduct the same research.

What we provide is the research on homes that a buyer interested in viewing your home may also consider and data the appraiser will also look at also.

By reviewing this market data we can select a price that will position your home competitively in the market place so we can meet your goals.

If there’s anything we can do for you, give me a call:  Ken Brand 832-797-1779

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How To Succeed In Real Estate Workshop Schedule – Realtor Icons – The Woodlands TX – Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 March 18, 2010 Read the full article →

Facebook Is The Most Important Tool Of Your Future. Social Media Is Taking Over The World

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 March 16, 2010 Read the full article →

Interviewing Real Estate Brokers? Consider Wild Success, Fun, Personal Satisfaction, Profit and Professionalism With Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors.

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 February 24, 2010 Read the full article →

How To Block Certain Facebook Friends From Seeing Your Wall Posts and Other Facebook Privacy Tips

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 February 17, 2010 Read the full article →
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