See a listing you like on fhallen.com? Let your friends know with the new “Like” button – just added to all of our listings and news items.

Over 400 million active Facebook users are already familiar with the thumbs-up icon that will start appearing all over the web. Now if you read a story you enjoy on CNN, or find a movie you want to see on IMDb, or discover a house you think is nice on fhallen.com – just click the “Like” button and the item will post to your Facebook news feed. Then, depending on your privacy settings on Facebook, the “liked” content can become part of your Facebook profile, visible to your friends or to everyone.

This is just one of several changes that Facebook recently announced at the f8 conference in San Francisco, and we’re excited to be one of the first real estate firms to take advantage of the new tool. For more information, CNN has a great write-up on these changes. You can also find good information on the social media website Mashable.

Because of these changes broadening Facebook’s reach, it is wise to revisit your privacy settings and make sure that you are only sharing what you want to share. To view or update your settings, locate and select the “Account” tab at the top right of the Facebook screen; choose “Privacy settings” and then “Profile information.”

Posted by:Jennifer Masterson

Twitter recently launched a new list feature which allows users to create a custom list of people that others can follow with one-click. This is a wonderful tool, especially for those new to Twitter, as lists can be a great way to quickly find worthwhile folks to follow. In essence, these lists contain Twitter accounts that have been vetted by people with interests similar to your own so you can narrow in on specific groups such as Real Estate Pros, North Bay Happenings or Marin County Resources.

For example, if you’re interested in Social Media, Mashable (a leading site for Social Media news and resources) has created several lists you may be interested in following, including @mashable/social-media. Watch this list for a while and you’ll get great insights into Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more.

For an extremely robust list focused on real estate, Pat Kitano (Real estate/tech speaker and commentator and co-founder of a Bay Area management consulting firm) created a Real Estate list that is 500 deep. As there truly is wisdom in numbers, follow this list and you’ll be up-to-date on what’s happening in the local and national real estate market in no time. Currently, Frank Howard Allen has created three lists which contain our most recommended folks to follow.

• Marin County Resources (70 people and companies): This is a list of local companies, media, non-profits, schools, and bloggers. Including the Marin IJ, Marin Humane Society, Tam High School, Marin Mommies and more. Go here for all things Marin County.
• Sonoma County Resources (40 people and companies): This list includes wonderful North Bay / Wine Country resources, including the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Sonoma County Vintners, Petaluma Downtown Association, and more.
• Real Estate Best Of (41 people and companies): There are hundreds of real estate-related accounts to follow on Twitter. We have handpicked our favorites for this list to provide you with a great way to stay current by following some of the most influential real estate accounts on Twitter. Go here for wonderful insight from the experts behind Inman News, NAR, WSJ and more.

New lists are added every second on Twitter, so we recommend going to Listorious, a phone book, if you will, of Twitter Lists. You can search by hundreds of list topics and find the ones of most relevance to your interests.

If you would like to learn more about Twitter lists, click here for a wonderful “How To” guide.

If you’d like to be added to one of our lists, please follow @FHAllenRealtors and send us a DM or @mention..

Happy Tweeting.

Posted by:Noreen Smith

You have found a neighborhood that intrigues you with good prices, a charming feel, but you want to know more. The easiest way to research a neighborhood is to go online.

You can start by going to the following sites:

• The city’s website
• The county’s website
• The local visitor’s bureau website
(These local links can also be found on our website.)

Other online resources:

• Local newspaper sites – Marin County: www.marinij.com; Sonoma County: www.pressdemo.com
• Google
• Local blogs

Additionally, you may want to know more about the local schools and area demographics. We offer this information through our Neighborhood Navigator research tool. To use this tool, launch Neighborhood Navigator, and enter your desired City, Zip, School, etc…

 

Neighborhood Navigator provides in depth information on community information with population, turnover, and housing inventory, age demographics, and crime versus the national average.

School information including student to teacher ratio, discretionary spending per student, and school test scores are also available.

Of course, when you are looking at a neighborhood it’s important to go offline as well.

• Walk through the neighborhood
• Attend open houses
• Drive through to get a feel for the daily traffic patterns, especially during traditionally busy times, such as school drop-offs and commute hours

For more information, please contact our local specialists at 800-336-0899 or info@fhallen.com.

Posted By: Noreen Smith