Follow us and enjoy what's going on in Houston Texas at the REBarCamp this year.  We'll be posting Audio, Photos, Interviews, Podcasts, Videos, Links, and Updates in up-to-the-minute, real time "LIVE" feeds to this post.  I'm including the Utterli Widget, UStream.TV Widget, and Twitter to keep you informed of all that's happening at this event. 

Rich and I will be sharing as much as we can with you regarding the items of value and use of the information we learn and share with others.  I hope you'll take the time to check back here and see what we've posted.  There will be other members reporting and posting as well, so I'll try and keep this post updated with links to their sites and Blogs as well.

SO HAVE SOME FUN, and COME FOLLOW US at REBARCAMP:

What is an REBarCamp?  Why Would I want To Go? 
Who Is Going To Be There?  How Will This Benefit Me or My Business? 
What Are The Topics?  Where's it at?  How Much Will It Cost? 

The Door is Unlocked

Knock on the door of your choice to find out more about REBarCamp.  You only get one choice so make it a good one.  This is not "Let's Make A Deal" or the "Knock Knock Game", this is YOUR chance to see if "keys" to Industry Secrets and WEB 2.0 Successes lie behind these unlocked doors.  Activerain is taking the show on the road and hopes you'll come join us this year.  So what's it gonna be?  Door One, Two, or Three?

When certain doors of opportunity open for you, take full advantage of it, the rewards can be immeasurable!

You're probably thinking of the 1985 classic by Jefferson Starship aren't you?  This post is about AR Cities!

As I was searching for the "missing Blog link" the other day, I discovered an exciting change that you may not have seen yet.  It's the City pages on ActiveRain.  I was so excited, I actually forgot what I was originally looking for (the Web has that effect on me at times...LOL).  Click on States, Select your State or Province, Select Your County, and then Your City.  It's that Easy!

The changes made to the City Pages on AR look very different now.  In the past, the only thing on these pages were Agent Profiles in that city, and they were all sorted based on members with the most points.

Now there's an opportunity to "Build This City" and bring "More Value" to these pages:

Here's a feature similar to what Twitter Members are using:

Just post what's happening in your City, remember, it's just like a Blog Post and will get SEO & Google juice.  According to a conversation I had with Jon and Bob this morning, we are already seeing an increase in hits to the ActiveRain City Pages.  I'm anxious to see how and when these will start showing up on Google.

  
 ~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~ 

Now you've got to love this, I do.  I was the one that had to clean out the Q&A everyday that used to be up on the menu bar. This is a change I have been asking for since July. 

Now consumers can contact "Local" experts and get "Local" answers to their questions.  I hope members won't use this area to ask silly questions like, "How Do I Make My Font Bold?"  (but I guess you could)

This could really change some things with our direct consumer contact provided we use this feature appropriately.  I suggest  taking 5 minutes a day to see if you can answer any local questions from visitors or readers who find this and use it. 

My thought is this; if SEO will come from your short 140 character updates and community announcements, then inevitably, this City Level Q&A will get more exposure and in time, become another value added tool. Come see my City, I left a message there for ALL of you.

BTW - Everyone was so busy looking for the missing Blog link, that no one mentioned the "Referrals Link" or the "Q&A" links that were gone also.  Well, just like the Blog link, they were never really missing, just moved.  The Referrals and Q&A links are now under the Channels Section in the "More Information" box located on the Main page of ActiveRain.com.  Hope you will enjoy and use these features. :-)

ChicagoAgentMagazine.com who also runs MiamiAgentMagazine.com contacted me last week, they wanted to know if I would write an article for their magazines this week.  Zipporah Porton, Senior Editor, asked for Active Brad’s Top FREE sites or web-tools for REALTORS®.  WOW!  That's a BIG task.  There are so many FREE websites and applications on the WEB, I felt writing an article like this would be somewhat challenging.  I do love a good challenge, so here's what I came up with.  These are all sites I have personally seen, used and recommended to others in and out of the rain this past year.

TOP FREE Website Picks

Here's a link to the Published Article (PDF)

Since these Magazines obviously don't have links (though they might in the future) I decided to post links to all the sites listed in the article. I even threw in a few extras for all my AR friends. Yes, this took hours to complete, but don't ask me how many. It has taken me all year to build this list, here are my top 150 plus.

DISCLAIMER: All these sites are FREE.  Many Websites and Blog sites have certain restrictions or limitations, some of these sites and tools MAY NOT necessarily work on ALL Networks, Platforms, Websites, Blogs or Browsers.  Explore and Experiment at your own risk, but the most important thing.... Enjoy!

Normally I would have announced this RAIN Radio show before it took place, but this one just snuck up so quick, it bit me right in the you know what, so I thought I better get this out there today.  Why?  It was a good one.  We had one of our very own rainers, Janet Guilbault as our special guest today talking about the mortgage crisis.  Now wait!  Don't stop there, just because this topic has been beat to death, Janet answers some great questions that you might find useful for some of your clients in your area.

They included:

1. Can you name some of the loan programs that have literally gone extinct or become frozen as a result of the mortgage crisis?
2. How has this impacted the average home-buyer who would like to buy a house in this market?
3. How has this impacted the average homeowner refinancing?
4. How much do you think the difficulty of getting financing has impacted the value of real estate?
5. Who are the winners and who are the losers from the crisis?
6. Do you have tips for buyers to increase their chances of approval?
7. Name some pitfalls that people may be unaware of in terms of qualifying?
8. What is the biggest mistake made when applying for a mortgage?
9. What about people who have loans that are adjusting…are they in trouble now?
10. What can REALTORS® do to make certain clients can be approved?
11. Should a seller insist on something more than the standard pre-approval letter before they accept an offer?
12. What sign will there be when things begin to “thaw out”?
13. Do you see any of the loan programs returning?
14. Are things going to get better or worse by the end of the year?
15. Why would someone want to move forward now, as opposed to “waiting to see what happens”?

I didn't post all her answers, we all know how long this post would be if I did, so I included a link where you can listen to today's broadcast.  This was one of the better BlogTalk shows in my opinion because we covered all these questions and then some.  Take a listen if you have time or if you're just curious to see what Janet had to say, again, some of this information might be useful to you and some of your clients.