Attending RETechSouth this week I had several instances which impressed upon me that the above card may be the business card of the future.  I have dubbed it “The Social Media Card”.

First I was at the pre show “tweetup” and nobody wanted a business card they wanted to know my twitter name, facebook name, facebook pages and blog address.  In other words they wanted to connect with me online.

So that night I went home and made up the above card to take to the show the next day.  The reverse side had my personal addresses which I am more discriminate about giving out and am not displaying here but will be glad to give out upon request.

As I passed them out to a few people, most were thrilled, a few looked at me as if I had a third eye.  Or maybe that was just the rip in the seat of my pants that Mitch Levinson with Mrelevance had the courage to tell me about on Friday.

The second sign that I might be on to something was during the presentation about Gen Y buyers by Ilyce Glink of Think Glink.  She reported that when she met someone at the conference they had informed her that business cards were a “dead” medium and she meekly hid her ample supply of business cards.

The final sign that I am not insane with this was the introduction Mike Rieman of Flammer PR made to me of a rep from Mobilezen.  They are touting – set up your text account where people can text your name to the number and receive back a text message with your customized message – one message which could of course be all your contact info including Social Media sites.

hmm – One number ALL info

Maybe I will set that up.

kevin b. morrow

HEY!!  

TWITTER QUEENS!!

CONSIDER

YOURSELEVES

 SERVED!!

ReTech South (a/k/a) RETSO has spawned a new Twitter gang and they are  – The Sweet Tea Mafia.

This new gang led by @kdrewien also includes founding members @marisasharpe, @kbmrg and @iamdandc. @Iamdandc however is still in disguise as a middle aged fat man.

Yeah -@mayareguru and @beerealty - we weren’t in your class at Retso to learn – we were scoping you out.

GAME ON!!!!

So watch out ladies – this gang will be coming soon to a tweetdeck near you.

kevin b. morrow

RETechSouth got started tonight with it’s first official event.

A TWEETUP!!

Held at The Arena Tavern Restaurant in Duluth, GA.

Here is a very brief synopsis of the happenings.

Primary scene was happening out on the patio.

@kbmrg - (Me) was there.

@kdrewien - Had sweet tea with her burger and shared some of her french fries with me.

@AtlantaPR - Was feeling sassy with her “RSS – Does Not Mean Really Simple to Steal” T-shirt.

@Realtor_Brent and @SocialCPR are still showing off the pictures of themselves and @bnix in drag at last years RPAC fundraiser for the Cherokee County Association of Realtors. Specifically to a young girl from Indiana.  They seem very proud.  I did offer to provide them with incriminating photos of  non-attendee @cherokeecamille  (Click Here to View Them).  It really peeves @atlantaPR when I use “Click Here” – GET OVER IT.

@CreativeThunder is still feeling a little under the weather but says she will be at full strength tomorrow.

@Mrelevance - (Who hosts this blog) Loves him some chicken wings and was wearing a 100% polyester sportcoat

A lot of mocking was done of one attendee that no one I talked to knew who she was. 

@ATLMarketing - Took issue with my pre tweetup tweet saying Gwinnett – site of the show was “Not Great” I apologized

@FloridaSunsales and @kmcusick - two of the TWITTER Queens were a delight to meet in real life. Another Twitter Queen @MayaREguru was there but we did not meet

@Patty_anotherme - was another great IRL meet. Did you know she is the owner of a Virtual Assistant company

@AtlantaRobert is much quieter in person than you would expect.

The rumor is true @IAMDANDC was there he was simply in disguise – No Feathered Hair and wearing a fat suit.

On a side note not related to the Tweet Up.  Based on The #retso feed it seems that the Holiday Inn near the venue is almost new and smells good according to several reports.

I know I left out people and events but GET OVER IT, It’s 2:30 in the morning and I have registration in a few hours.

kevin b. morrow

As regular readers of this blog know I am on a lot of Social Media and Social Networking sites including Four Square.  Four Square is an application that allows users to check in from their physical location notifying their “friends” and accumulating points.  The most popular check-ins seem to involve giving your location from business meetings and specifically business lunches.

After a comment on Twitter by Desiree Scales of Bella Web Design that someone should be watching Four Square for marketing information, I did a little observing.

No big  surprise – the three martini business lunch is dead.  I don’t know that it had ever been alive in my circles since I began working in the very early 1980’s.  Maybe some big fancy dinners involving a few bottles of wine for out of town consultants or clients.  No fancy lunches though but maybe that is because I never worked on Wall Street.

Most of my business lunches over the years have taken place at mid priced sit down full service restaurants.

Now even that civilized custom seems to be thrown by the wayside.

The most popular meeting places for people in my Four Square group of “friends” (and this includes people acroos the country) are places like – Waffle House, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, local Pizza places and Panera Bread.  Starbucks sales may be down overall but I have a feeling the amount of time customers spend in the establishment is WAAAY up. 

I myself recently had a business lunch with a colleague at a local restaurant that offered counter service only.  We were asked to leave very shortly after we finished our food because they had people waiting.

Hardly lunch at The Ritz Carlton.

The outlook for Dinner isn’t much better.  People are now having dinner where they had lunch just a few years ago.

Another Leading Economic Indicator that Economists may want to observe.

kevin b. morrow

The big news this week was the drop in sales of both new and resale homes.  Economists had predicted increases.  This caused James Boyce to write “My Pet Rock Is Qualified To Be A Leading Economist”  on The Huffington Post a definite must read. 

This post reminded me that I had predicted this back in November of last year.  My prediction was based on two factors. 

One was common sense, that even though the tax credit would be extended, we  had pushed forward our demand so that new contract activity in November, December and possibly January would be lower.  My basic idea was that everyone who wanted to buy and was in a position to buy had done so in order to make sure they received the tax credit originally scheduled to expire in November.

My other indication that this was occuring was an early detection system where I can tell what showing, contract and closing of real estate transactions is occuring – FACEBOOK.

I am Facebook friends with probably 1300+ Realtors across the nation.  During the months of August, September and October, Status Updates commenting on showings, contracts and  activity was HEAVY.  EVERYBODY was working weekends, talking about lots of activity and getting clients into homes to get the tax credit. 

November came and suddenly a lot more Realtors were playing Mafia Wars, Farmville, going on family outings and taking vactions.  

I guess leading economists aren’t on Facebook.

kevin b. morrow

Americans chief activity seems to be WORRYING and coming up with dire predictions for all things at all times. 

Today’s big hullabaloo on Twitter is about a new website called PleaseRobMe.com .  It’s moral mission is to point out the dangers of location mentioning social media like Twitter, Facebook and Four Square.

Andy Baio at waxy.org posted a great rebuttal which included the photo included in this post along with several other activities that  in the past people thought would put them at risk for being robbed. 

Aren’t we at risk with everything we do? Isn’t life dangerous?  Don’t you put yourself at the risk of being killed by a drunk driver everytime you get on the road?  Why should social media be any different?  There are risks. 

There is also the reasoning that if someone is stalking you or staking out your house wouldn’t they know that you had left your house before you post it on twitter that you are “waiting at the airport for my flight to Tahiti”.

I do not post my home address on Four Square or any other social media site.  When I check in in my neighborhood I use the main clubhouse address.  BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN I THINK I AM SAFE.  There are internet searches galore that people could use to find me.

I knew we had nothing to worry about when my wife who is the habitual worrier of safety said – How do they know there isn’t somebody else at home or what kind of big dogs you might have?

If my wife isn’t worried then I know I have NO reason to worry.

In other words PleaseRobMe.com is just another propaganda incitement vehicle much like the movie Reefer Madness was in it’s day.  Also it’s creators are getting some MASSIVE publicity.  Isn’t that convenient.

kevin b. morrow  

Larger homebuilders are beginning to make land acquisitions in the Atlanta market and starting homes in these communities.  Some people think this may cause the end of small builders in this market.  I have this scenario where I think they MIGHT actually help small builders in the long run. I also have others in my mind where it could cause their destruction.  I generally try to keep my posts upbeat so I won’t discuss the bad scenarios today.

The Atlanta market is comprised of many, many, many different submarkets and demographics.  That has always been one of the problems large production builders have encountered when entering this market.  They find out quickly – one size does not fit all.

Currently, larger builders are entering sub-markets/locations where the one size fits all approach can work at current pricing levels.  Smaller builders, especially those who build in lower price ranges tend to be located in further out exurban locations where market demand and pricing can not justify new construction of any magnitude. 

Here is what I see happening as the larger builders start gaining sales momentum in the next one to two years in their current locations.  They will raise their prices in order to maximize margins (I’ve already seen this start to happen).  At the higher price, buyers will begin to reject the one size fits all approach.  This will push buyers out to the exurban locations where smaller builders will be able to offer more market specific designs, features and finishes.  They will also be able to capitalize on small quantity lot areas overlooked by larger homebuilders. 

 The sales volume and margins being obtained by the larger homebuilders will then give lenders the justification to issue construction loans to the remaining creditworthy builders.

Basically – The big builders can re-build the base on which smaller builders can then start their recovery from.

This is not a 2010 scenario – 2011 at the EARLIEST and probably will take place in 2012.

As the market recovers I think there will be more pieces of pie than people think today. 

kevin b. morrow

The local media and online homebuilding community here in Atlanta are “buzzing” about “The Big Builders are Coming to Atlanta”.  My response at this point in time is the same as when Fred Armisen on Saturday Night Live does his imitation of Joy Behar – “Who Cares?”

Everybody talks as if they are coming in massive numbers.

Here are the facts – We already have some of the nation’s largest builders here and active in the market and have for years.

But

Centex is gone, absorbed by Pulte.  KB Home left early on in the downturn.  Levitt was here went bankrupt and their developments have been purchased (by non-national builders).

Three gone.

Who has made a formal announcement of entering the market?  Lennar.

That means we still have two less National Builders than we did approximately four years ago.

Hardly an onslaught at this point.

kevin b. morrow

The International Builders Show in Las Vegas is still going on but – haven’t seen anything that interests me enough to write about today.  Will post if I hear anything of interest.

What do me, @sanjayguptaCNN   and @souljaboytellem have in common?

We are all on the same Twitter list.

@sanjayguptaCNN is of course Dr. Sanjay Gupta, medical correspondent with CNN who is based in Atlanta.  @souljaboytellem  in case you are an old white person like me, is a rapper also based out of Atlanta.

The three of us are included on a list created on Twitter by @Huffingtonpost - featuring ”Local celebrities, journalists and other personalities in Atlanta, GA.” whose tweets they follow.  My assumption is at best I am a personality. I am also working under the assumption that anybody reading this does know that  The Huffington Post  bills itself as THE internet newspaper. 

There are only 13 people on this list and other than Sanjay, and Souljaboy I have no clue who any of the others are.

I also have no idea why I am on this list.

I do think it is PRETTY COOL.

Check out the list at - www.twitter.com/huffingtonpost/atlanta-people

My twitter ID is @KBMRG

kevin b. morrow

It is now day two of the International Builders Show and I am still following from Atlanta via Twitter.

The big news of the day should have been the Super Sales Rally featuring my Twitter friends @MyersBarnes and @CreatingWOW  but it wasn’t.

The biggest news coming out of the 2010 Builders Show actually started yesterday with a post by @spheretrending.

It is the cookies being served at the Sears booth.  At points in the day this was dominating the stream.  There are rumors that #searscookies is a trending topic on twitter. 

There is one minor controversy however.  Some one tweeted that the “Sears Ladies are making 4500 – 5000 cookies a day”.  If Sears is indeed only using Ladies to make their cookies – Isn’t this sexist?

Sears had better watch out anyway – People have started talking about the cookies at the Lowes booth now.

kevin b. morrow