We have recently embarked on on the challenge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for our website. For those who are unfamiliar with the world of SEO, it is the science (or art) of optimizing your website to become better positioned in the search engines for certain terms.

For instance, if you google “For Sale By Owner Albany” we consistently enjoy the #1 spot for our domain fsbosearch.com. In fact we have literally hundreds of keyword phrases that are in the #1 spot in Google, Yahoo and MSN. I will expand on this in a future post.

Interestingly, we are starting to see some positive results from our efforts. Our traffic is up significantly from this time last year. But the real interesting thing is that we are starting to see more and more traffic from outside the Albany NY Capital Region.

For instance, I was browsing through our traffic logs this morning and looking specifically at the recent visitors by location. Check out the two screenshots below (click on the images to enlarge):

As you can see, 10 of the last 40 visitors were from outside of the Capital Region. Furthermore, five were from outside of the country – 2 from India, 2 from Italy and 1 from France. While we know that 90% of all real estate is sold to local buyers it is encouraging to see visitors from outside the area on our site. Are these visitors on our site because they are truly searching for Albany Homes or because of some of our real estate related content brought them here?

We will monitor the traffic logs to see if this is a trend or simply an aberration. In either event we will post again with our findings. In the meantime, don’t be surprised if your phone rings from a potential buyer with an Italian accent!

Albany, N.Y. was named to the Forbes magazine list of the “Top 25 Strongest Housing Markets” in the country, ranking #21.

According to Forbes, the list is based on analysis done for the magazine by Moody’s Economy. Moody’s analyzed housing forecasts for metropolitan areas with populations over 500,000 through 2011.

Moody’s compared the forecasts to housing prices in the 2nd quarter of 2008 to determine how far prices are likely to drop before hitting bottom.

Albany accompanied it’s Upstate NY metropolitan neighbors Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo on the list. Syracuse ranked #2, Buffalo #4 and Rochester was #15.

Forbes does not anticipate price increases in any of the metro areas before the end of the year, predicting the strongest metro areas will be “flat at best”. That is significantly better than Moody’s forecast of the 15 percent average drop for the entire country in 2009.

For hundreds of years in this country huge fortunes have been made in land. You buy a piece of land in a remote area that you believe is headed for growth and expansion and you sit on it. A wealthy developer comes along and offers you many, many times what you paid for it. That is the lure of investing in land.

But before you go out and invest your nest egg on that piece of property you are sure is ripe for profit you may want to consider the following:

1. Land as an investment is hard to monetize. In general land purchases generate no income and at the same time incur ever-increasing property taxes, thus creating a negative cash flow. So while you are waiting for your ship to come in you are losing money every year on your investment.

2. There is no depreciation allowed on raw land for federal income tax benefits.

3. Development of land is regulated by the municipality in which the land is located. Where land subdivision and development used to be not much more than a formality, it has become increasingly arduous to get approval, mainly because of tighter environmental restrictions.

4. Raw land is the most illiquid of all real estate investments. It can literally take years to sell some parcels – others may not be marketable at any price.

5. It is very difficult to get traditional financing or borrow against equity on land.

While opportunities for profit still exist, most financial advisors generally advise against land purchases for almost all independent investors; saying that it is, at best, a place to invest only money that you’re quite sure you won’t be needing anytime soon. As always, it is prudent to consult your professional advisors before making any significant investments.

Yet another wonderful success story from one of our satisfied home sellers. It took James just 3 months to sell his Schenectady, NY home and he saved over $14,000 in commissions! 

James C. said…
“I have sold several homes through your service. It’s very good and I would recommend it to anyone…”