Mike's Dyersburg Real Estate Blog

This morning I was reading the local newspaper  and saw that Dyersburg was listed as one of the top cities to retire to.

Several other news sources picked up this information and reported it. Among them were Fox Business News,Forbes.com and the senior Web Site Grand Times.

This story was based on information derived from The Council for Community and Economic Research. They did a study across the country and selected Dyersburg as one of (6) best cities in the southeast to retire to if on a fixed income. I have been writing about the affordablity of homes and property here in the Dyersburg area. In addition to that however, the study revealed the cost of living is lower here than in other areas.

Here is the article written by Kathryn Tuggle at Fox Business News.

A couple of years ago, I wrote an article on my Dyersburg Real estate Blog about Dyersburg being selected as one of the top(tied for 20th) micropolitan cities in the country. A micropolitan is a small city that is growing and attracting industry and jobs to the area. The article I referenced then can be read here. 

Dyersburg is a beautiful small city with lots of industry, jobs, shopping and reasonable priced housing, healthcare, utilities,etc. That is the reason we continue to be busy here at Carousel Realty relocating people from out of state.

Copyright © 2008 By Mike Frazier, All Rights Reserved. *Dyersburg picked as one of the top cities to retire to*

It seems that here lately the number of calls coming into my office for rental properties has skyrocketed! Normally we get anywhere from 6-8 rental calls a day. For the last few weeks the calls have at least tripled.

What gives? Also, the number of walk-ins for rentals has really increased. There has been three (now 4) in my office today looking for rentals. Normally we might get 1 a week.

One thing that disturbed me this morning was a guy came in looking for an apartment and told me one of my agents has his house listed. I told him to just stay there until his house sold and he told me he is moving out and letting the bank have it back. I guess a lot of this is happening right now but I told him to remain there and try to work it out with the mortgage company and he said no, "I'm walking". I researched his home on-line and sure enough he has one of those sub-prime loans fixed for 2 and then adjustable.

This new rental demand is telling me that rental property sales should start picking up!  

What are you seeing in your area? Does slower sales always translate into increased rental demand? I have noticed over the years that when interest rates drop so does rental demand. That may not be the case this time at least in my market!  

Last night at church, the current teacher (Chuck) in our Wednesday night class asked me(out of the blue) to pick up the class and teach about "grace". I am really proud of "Chuck" because we have been sharing God moments with each other over the last couple of years. Chuck was a very traditional Church of Christ member who has truly come a long way. One scripture that I believe he now has a handle on (we discussed it often) is

Be still and know that I am God! Psalm 46:10

Chuck and I are members of a small Wednesday night bible class where we can discuss anything as it pertains to the bible. Early on we were criticized by conservative opinionated members(who do not come in the class now) but we really have the opportunity to dissect the scriptures to see what they really say and we refuse to take what the church may teach as the truth. Very refreshing to say the least!

We have the opportunity to share personal experiences and we have all grown close to one another and we all feel accountable to one another. Kind of like how I feel right now with many of you!

Several years ago, I got in trouble here while teaching the Auditorium class(Sunday morning). I used a book titled, "Daring to dance with God" by Jeff Walling. Of course I quoted primarily out of the Bible but referenced some of Jeff's material as well. To make a long story short I was read the riot act that we don't dance here!

They missed the point entirely! We can have a personal relationship with the Lord and be happy in it! That was the point I was trying to make. Jeff was discussing David as he was returning to Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant. King David was dancing with joy that they now had God's Ark of the Covenant on its way home! 

I have been doing my teaching at church in a less noticeable way. However, maybe God is ready for me to again teach from the front? I am always trying to look for God's direction. I believe in God incidence and not coincidence.

So now my brothers and sisters I am going to start teaching this class about "Grace" and I welcome your input and advice as always.

Here is a great foreclosure listing. If you are considering a move to Northwest Tennessee and want to buy and live in a foreclosure, here is your opportunity. This home is in a wonderful neighborhood and the house itself is in pretty good condition. It has a fenced in back yard and it is on a corner lot. This home has 1728 sq feet of heated and cooled area with 3 bedrooms(master suite down) and 2 full baths and a one car garage.

This property is located at 2193 Oakmont Avenue Dyersburg,Tennessee 38024. The listing price is only $99,900.

This is the lowest priced listing in the entire neighborhood!

Copyright © 2008 By Mike Frazier, All Rights Reserved. *New foreclosure listing in Dyersburg,Tn. 38024*  

Just a short time ago I discovered that our localism posts were being found on Google by our buying public. At that point I felt like we had discovered a way to "beat the system" and get free leads. I also thought that somehow we must be manipulating the search engines. 

Actually what we all discovered is a way to be rewarded by Google for hard work. It is time consuming pulling in all the information and putting together the localism post. It is time consuming naming the pictures, resizing the pictures and getting the pictures just where they belong on the posts. Don't forget coming up with a catchy title that the public likes and Google likes, and the time we spend grouping posts with cloud tags.

What is Google accomplishing by indexing our posts so high? Well for starters, people are looking for information and Google has found a way to provide that information. A SEO lady here in Activerain told me she thought that Google has a spider parked right here just for activerain posts. I believe it! Just  10-15 minutes after posting localism information, it is usually already indexed. Incrediable to say the least.

Who are the winners here? Google is! They are providing valuable information to the public who just keeps clicking on Google for their searches. Who are the winners here? We are! The phones keep ringing and the people who found us on our Google indexed Activerain posts are now our "bread and butter". Who are the winners here? Our potential and new clients are who are finding our valuable information and calling us to help them execute their relocation plans.

About 4 months ago I found Activerain while working on seo for my many websites. After 1 week of reading all of your posts and checking Google to see the indexing I decided right then that Activerain is the most dynamic real estate innovation that I have ever seen (I have been selling real estate since 1992) and there was no way I was going to miss taking advantage of this incredible opportunity.

Welcome to the relaxed living at LAKEWOOD COMMUNITY. This is a beautiful residential area. It is one of, if not the most, desirable place to live NW Tennessee. Residents include - Professionals, business owners, teachers, and retirees. 

The native trees are so tall they seamlessly reach out to touch the sky. The temperature at Lakewood is always a few degrees cooler than the city because of it's rolling hills and natural shade. All the roads in Lakewood are private roads and most end in a private cul-de-sac.  You can walk to the waterfront from almost all the properties at Lakewood.

Lakewood is a community of active friendly people who love to walk, boat and fish.  You won't be disappointed if you're looking for a place to raise your family with the security of the country feeling and yet close enough to town to get all your living necessities. We have room in Lakewood just for YOU!

History of Lakewood

Lakewood was developed by Jere Kirk back in the mid 1980's. Jere built 5 lakes on the acreage with some of them connected to each other. Back before this area was developed, the northern part of the city was ocasionally bothered by flash flood problems but much of this has ceased as these lakes take up the runoff water upstream.

 One of the real achievements by Mr. Kirk was convincing the state to relocate an historic bridge that used to span the Obion river. I can remember as a child riding with my dad across this bridge in our car. When it was built in 1917 by the Vincennes Bridge Company spanning the Obion River on CR S8025 west of Lenox, the Lenox Bridge reflected the growing importance of over the road commerce and paid respect to the region's dominant method of transportation during this era-steamboats.  After serving the area for over 60 years, the bridge was closed and the Army Corps of engineers needed to move the concrete support column. While doing so, Corps archaeologists discovered that the Lenox Bridge was the only surviving "swing span, pony Pratt through truss bridge" in the country thus giving it significant historic importance.

Located since 1987 at the entrance of the Lakewood subdivision in Dyer County, people from all over the world have visited to see the impressive structure that stands as a symbol of respect for the spirit and ingenuity of those who helped develop West Tennessee into a productive farming region.  Kirk's interest in obtaining the bridge stemmed from his grandfather, A.A. Kirk, who helped build the span by hauling steel from railroad yards to the construction site in 1917.

Another factor contributing to Kirk's selection was the cost of relocating the structure.  The site offered by Kirk, Lake Residential Development, is located three miles north of Dyersburg and is less than 10 miles from the bridge's original location. In September 1987, a relocation and restoration contract was awarded to the Dement Bridge Company of Jackson.  Soon after its successful move in November, sand blasters, ironworkers, and reassembly crews started work on the bridge at the Lakewood site. Sparkling with fresh paint in a landscaped park surrounded by new homes and plush forests, Lenox Bridge now spans a boat canal between two scenic lakes.  The site of the bridge has become the first public park within Dyer County. Lenox Bridge was reopened for pedestrian traffic on June 27, 1988, with a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony featuring a high school chorus, U.S. Air Force Color Guard, and guest speaker,  Representative Ed Jones, D-Tennessee, and Army Colonel O'Brene Richardson, Memphis District Engineer.  Following the dedication ceremony, Kirk threw a barbeque and boat ride party for the more than 500 people attending. Today, Lenox Bridge represents an important link to the region's transportation past and stands as a symbol of respect for the spirit and ingenuity of those who helped develop West Tennessee into a productive farming region.

Today, Lakewood is the home to many homeowners with prices for homes averaging from $200,000 and up. Many workers across the river in Missouri and Arkansas chose to live in Lakewood because of the short drive to I155. Also, I am relocating a lot of Florida residents to Lakewood because they want waterfront without the hurricanes and because the prices here are just so much cheaper than other parts of the country including Florida.

Right after you get on your feet here in activerain, you have to start forming a mental picture of potential buyers finding you on the internet!

Isn't that why you are here now on Activerain? You are trying to figure out how the cyberspace buyers can find you!

Realtors, the landscape is changing so quickly. People are on-line right this second looking for information about an area of the country they are planning to move to. We have to be the source of that information. These people are not just looking for information about their dream home but also their dream town or city, their dream neighborhood, the local schools, availability of health services, what the parks and recreational areas are like,city services,and the list goes on and on.

We are not longer the "keeper" of the real estate information. They can find out about your listing on the Internet almost as quick as you enter your listing. They do not need us to find them a house. They are already doing that on-line. They have access to courthouse information and map-quest or google maps.

Be the information expert for your area. Write about your city or town. Write about neighborhoods that you or your friends live in. Write about what is going on in your community that is positive. These potential clients want to read postive encouraging information about the area where they plan to live. They can go on-line and read the local newspaper and get all the garbage and bad news. Be a source of good news.

Now, first thing you must do! Join the groups "posts to localism", Localism Brainstorming", and "Localism Beta". Start reading the posts about how to post on localism, information you should post on localism, what to post on localism,etc.

Start reading within those groups posts by Margaret Woda, Brian Block, Melissa Grant, Christina Williams, Lisa Heindel,Jason Crouch,Nestor & Katerina Gasset and many others. Better yet, go directly to their blogs links directly above and start reading!

These great localism bloggers I mentioned up above are doing their localism posts on localism and on "Posts to Localism". The localism posts are directed toward the buying public who are online searching for homes. Localism posts get picked up rather quickly by the search engines(sometimes within 15 minutes). The "posts to localism" posts are to show you and I what they are actually putting out there for search engines to pick  up. Be sure to read Laurie Mannys post discussing how to post to localism.

Again, this is critical to your success in your real estate business!

I was thinking last night about why I have been unable to convince more agents to join Activerain. Could it be that I am not a great sales person?

What happens when we show a house to a young couple(first time homebuyers) and you know in your heart that this is what is best for them? You know their financial situation, you know what they told you they were looking for and you know by pulling the comps for the area that this is a fantastic deal!

What do we do? We persuade them that they need to buy this house. We list all the things they told us they are looking for, we show them the comps for the area, we remind them that it is priced "right".

More times than not, we sell them that house. We use all our selling techniques and abilities and we get the job done!

I personally have not used all my sales techniques to get the job done on potential Activerainers. It is my fault that many of my invitations go unaccepted. I know in my heart that they will benefit tremendously from joining Activerain but I do not "sell them".

I challenge all you Activerainers to start using all your sales techniques and get the job done.

The other day I made the comment on someone's blog that I thought that Huckabee should now bow out.

I couldn't have been more wrong! Brother Huckabee needs to stay in this race until McCain realizes he needs our right wing evangelical conservative vote in the general election. I believe Mr. Huckabee is staying in until the time that McCain picks a truly conservative VP candidate.

In my opinion, if Mr. McCain names his running mate and that person is conservative, then Huckabee should and will bow out(even if it is not him as running mate). Huckabee is still in this for you and me(right wing evangelicals).

Thank-you brother Huckabee for standing on the high ground and continuing our fight for a voice in this election!  

Earlier in the day I sent Melissa Grant a message through the Activerain server. I was trying to give her encouragement to get to the very top of Tennessee Activerainers and also asked her about featured posts.

Currently she is only #2 for all of Tennessee Activerainers. 

I have included her advice to me down below and I am sure she would not mine me sharing with you what she shared with me. 

 Mike,

 I have to be honest when I say that the points really don't matter to me and being ahead of someone. I try to write valuable post's that will reach the consumers eye and get to the heart of the matter whether it be for members only or towards consumers. I have learned a long ago when you start competing for points you take the fun and professionalism out of it.  

 Keep blogging, you are doing a wonderful job! But remember don't always focus on the points, the features...what matters is the content and the heart and soul in which you write....that is what is going to make you stand out from the rest ! And more importantly, whether you get a gold star or not from AR doesn't matter...what matters is if your telephone is ringing..because if it is even without the gold star from AR it is still a featured post in the eye of the consumer.  

Have a great day  

Melissa