Trulia, Inc. (www.trulia.com),

a U.S. residential real estate search engine, has revolutionized
online home search by offering home buyers the best place
to start their real estate search. Consumers can quickly and
easily access information on homes and review local real estate
guides and agent-buyer discussions to help them make better
decisions in the home-buying process.

Trulia Snapshot

5.0 million unique users per month
6.8 million visits per month
3.0 million homes for sale
75.0 million property records
40.0 million page views per month
12.0 minutes average time on site per visit
Trulia.com Monthly Traffic

Trulia users are a valuable, affluent audience.

35+ years old………………………………….66%
Married/committed relationship………………..74%
Have children…………………………………..41%
Currently a home owner………………………….. 60%

Annual Household income over $100K…….42%
Annual Household income over $200K……. 11%
Graduated from college…………………….81%
Have a graduate/professional degree……..36%
Actively employed…………………………..80%

• 72% plan to purchase home in the next year
• 53% plan to buy a home in the next 6 months
• 42% are pre-qualified for a mortgage

The following are statistics that I have compiled from our company website:
CrossroadsRealtyNJ.com

Since the day I started tracking it, the search engine giant Google is consistently #1 when is comes to bringing visitors to our website. Most of the other top website sources continue to fight for their place to this day.

In 2006, Realtor.com held the #2 spot as Yahoo climbed up behind them at #3. Then, right around April 2007, Yahoo passed Realtor.com and never even looked back. During late 2007, Realtor.com managed to hold onto the #3 spot, but then, Trulia was starting to become strong competition. For almost a full year after that, Realtor.com and Trulia.com would trade places fighting for the #3 spot, each taking a turn in the spotlight for short amounts of time. That is, until we redesigned our company website and added a few key features.

The battle between Realtor.com and Trulia for the #3 spot would have still continued on until today if it was not for the new features of our redesigned website. Our new website started syndicating all active listings to Trulia during July 2008. Since that time, the amount of visitors that Trulia brings us has far exceeded that of not only Realtor.com, but also Yahoo. And when looking at the numbers, it is hard to imagine a chance for recovery anytime soon.

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• 3/08 - Animoto Videos for Facebook application
• 3/08 - Export directly to YouTube
• 6/08 - DVD Quality Videos via Download or a mailed Disc
• 6/08 - Animoto for Business (commercial use)
• 8/08 - Animoto for Education (learning)

I have already tried out the Facebook app and the YouTube export and they work beautifully. Next I have to check out the DVD download and see how it looks on my Flat Screen TV. Not to mention the possibilities with Animoto for Business…

Animoto for Business should come in very handy for our real estate agents here at Crossroads Realty. Some real estate agents and brokers are using Animoto videos to highlight featured homes that leave a long lasting impression in their clients minds. After all, an Animoto video is a drastic change from the standard slideshows and some of the less innovative virtual tours out there.

If you want to see an example of how one real estate agent is using Animoto for Business, check out Herman Chan’s California based real estate website.

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If you happened to get infected with one of these programs, I have found a new scanner that will actually get rid of it for you.  Now…  I typically scan with Symantec AV Corp, AdAware, and Spybot…  Although, none of these were able to get rid of the program entirely.  Well…  Thanks to a topic I found over at Bleeping Computer, I was able to remove Antivirus 2009 from a few infected computers using Malwarebytes.  This new scanner (well, it’s new to me at least) will remove several of the rogue antivirus variants as well as other spyware & adware objects that my other scanners missed.  I think I will be adding Malwarebytes to my personal arsenal from now on.  Oh, one other thing, I only needed the FREE version to get rid of the infections!

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The program “WinAntiVirus Pro 2008” may sound like an authentically named anti-virus program, but beware! It is only one of the many names now popping up on computer screens all over the world.

These programs are hiding behind the promise that they will clean your computer from harmful viruses and malicious software. It is only after installing these programs that some users finally realize “WinAntiVirus” is nothing but a virus itself!

If you trusted one of these programs to scan your computer, it will display a list of many “infections” that it claims you computer has, although none of these are usually legit. The program then offers to remove the infections, but only after you have purchased a licence for the “Full” version of the program which costs around $40.

If you think that there is no way anyone would fall for this scheme, think again. Watch the special report video below of a woman who is seeking a class action lawsuit against the source of one of these programs.

Here is a list of more programs like this:

• WinAntiVirus Pro 2008
• WinAntiVirus 2008
• WinFixer
• XP AntiVirus
• Vista AntiVirus 2008
• SpySheriff
• DriveCleaner
• PC-AntiSpyware
• SystemDoctor
• UltimateCleaner

For a longer list click here

Do not be fooled!

Beware of any program that you see in a pop-up or in advertisements. Do a quick Google search before clicking on them and see what you may be in for in the long run. Some of these are becoming quite hard to get rid of.

If you are looking for reputable software to scan for infections, download a legit anti-virus program from a well know company like Symantec (Norton), McAfee, Kapersky, or Sophos. You would also be wise to download an anti-spyware scanner as well. A few I can personally vouch for are Ad-Aware SE, Spybot - Search & Destroy, Windows Defender, and HijackThis.

UPDATE:  I found a scanner that will get rid of these fake antivirus scanners, read my update to learn more.

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This article covers the top ten points to take into consideration when communicating through business email with clients and colleagues. For most cases, write any business email as if you were writing on letterhead or talking face to face with the person. You want to present yourself in a fully respectful, professional manner.

• Your email should be free of spelling errors, use full sentence structure, and use proper grammar. Try to include a greeting (Hi, Hello, etc.) and have a proper sign off (Thank you, Sincerely, etc.) at the bottom. If your email program does not have a built-in spell checker, you can always do a copy/paste in Word for long letters and use that one. Sometimes I just need to check the spelling of a single word, so I use Google as a spell checker buy searching for the word and see if it corrects me.
• DO NOT USE ALL CAPS. Use proper mixed case letters and proper punctuation as though you were typing on letterhead or sending postal mail. When you use all capitol letters, IT LOOKS AS IF YOU’RE SHOUTING. While this is sometimes tolerated more in the “subject” line of the email, it should never be used throughout the entire body of the message.
• Sometimes the “Subject” line can determine if your email will ever be opened in the first place. If this is your first contact with a person, be sure to have a concise “subject” of your email that clearly indicates what the topic of the email is. Misspellings, all capitols or all small case can lend to the impression you may be spammer. Also, never leave the subject line blank, I am sure there are at least one or two words you can throw in there to describe the contents or your email.
• If you are responding to a business request, be sure to respond by the next business day at the very latest. If you are not able to fill the request at that time, you should at least send a response back letting them know that you did in fact receive their request and you will be sending more information soon. The keyword there is “soon”.
• When addressing an email to a large group of people, you should list their email addresses in the “BCC:” (blind carbon copy) instead of the “TO:” field as a courtesy. When you do this, each recipient will get a copy of the email but they will not be able to see the other addresses you sent to. This protects the privacy of your recipients from both each other, and also spammers.
• Refrain from sending chain letters, virus warnings, and jokes via electronic mail. Chain letters are also a good source of spam and are technically forbidden on the Internet. In the end, these emails just end up using valuable space in the recipient’s inbox. Also, apply common sense “reality checks” before assuming one of these messages are even valid in the first place.
• Make sure that any message you respond to was actually addressed to you. You might have been CC’d (carbon copied) rather than the primary recipient and a response from you may not necessarily be required.
• In order to ensure that people know who you are, be sure to include at least a line or two at the end of your message that includes your name and contact information. Some email programs let you create a file ahead of time and add it to the end of your messages. This signature file, or “sig”, acts as your business card. Your signature file should not exceed 4-5 lines of information. Having an excessive signature may give the impression that you are egocentric.
• If you ever receive a nasty email from somebody, try not to respond to it right away, if at all. People are very bold and overly critical on the other side of this screen at times. Once you hit the “Send” button, there is no going back. Sending heated or emotional messages is called “flaming”. If you happen to receive one of these flame emails, take your time to determine if the email warrants a response or if the person was just trying to get a rise out of you. This is also sometimes referred to as “trolling”.
• Finally, If you need to send a large attachment, it is good practice to compress or “zip” the files before sending them. You should contact the recipient ahead of time and find out if there is a limit to the attachment size they are allowed to receive. Also ask them what a good time would be to send the large attachment. One last point on the subject of attachments, make sure the recipient has the proper program to view your file you are sending. While everyone can probably read a standard JPG Photo or PDF file, not everyone has the latest version of PowerPoint or Word installed on their computer.

This list is in no way the be-all and end-all to Netiquette, these are just the main ten points that come to my mind with proper email techniques.  For a much longer and also more descriptive list of tips, visit NetManners.com where there is much better coverage on this subject.

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After my first look over, there does not seem to be too much different in the functionality of the new resource center now referred to as the “Solution Center”. All I can see at this point is layout and cosmetic changes. For example, the login section in now located in a column on the left fo the page instead of the right and the graphics have been changed. As I learn more information on this new Realtor Solution Center, I will let you know.

You can check out the new solution center HERE.

Also, I would ask that you let me know your thoughts on this new look and if it has any impact on your business.

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Nice work Animoto. Keep the new features coming!

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This article is an update to the Vista printing issues described in my previous articles like this one and this one. I have NOT tested these drivers yet in a network environment to see how well they work…

ARTICLE UPDATED

The Following printers are supported:

• HP LaserJet 1015 (this one was always supported)
• HP LaserJet 1018 (New Driver as of 12/2007)
• HP LaserJet 1020 (New Driver as of 12/2007)
• HP LaserJet 1022 (New Driver as of 12/2007)
• HP LaserJet 1022n (New Driver as of 12/2007)

Still waiting on this one as of September 2008:

• HP LaserJet 1012 (will be supported “soon”)

Last, we have very bad news for these model printers:

• HP LaserJet 1000 (not supported)
• HP LaserJet 1005 (not supported)
• HP LaserJet 1010 (not supported)

Sorry, your product is not supported in the Microsoft Windows Vista Operating System.

For more information of upgrade programs and new product information, please go to the HP Trade-In/Trade-Up Website, or HP Shopping.  We are sorry to inform you there will not be any Windows Vista operating system printer drivers available for your product. If you are using the new Windows Vista operating system on your PC, consider an upgrade to a newer HP product that will work with Microsoft’s new Vista operating system.

If you have any trouble downloading with the links above, HP recommends using this driver support page.  Fill in your model number and search for the driver you need.

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Overview

For this walk-through we will be setting up the HP LaserJet 1012 black and white printer in a network environment. This printer is one of the most popular laser models found in small businesses and home offices. The 1000 family of HP laser printers also include the LaserJet 1010, LaserJet 1015, LaserJet 1018, LaserJet 1020, and the LaserJet 1022. These are all basically the same printer, which model you happen to have just depends on when it was purchased. And according to HP’s website, none of these printers are fully supported to work on Windows Vista with the exception of the LaserJet 1015.

* you can click on the thumbnail photos in this document to enlarge them…

Step One: Start Menu

We need to get into the printer setup window, so click on Control Panel in the start menu.

Step Two: Control Panel

Click on Printer under the Hardware and Sound section in the Control Panel.

Step Three: Printers

Now that you are in the Printers window, you can see a list of printers that are already installed on your computer. Click on Add a Printer a the top of the window.

Step Four: Choose a local or network printer

Click the bottom selection for Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer and then click Next.

Step Five: Searching for available printers

As Vista searches for all the printers that you can connect to, keep an eye out for the one you are looking for. When you spot the one you want, select it and then click Next.

If you don’t see the printer you are looking for, click The printer that I want isn’t listed. You will then be able to browse the entire network for the printer. Once you find the printer you are looking for, you can continue on with this walk-through.

Step Six: Connecting to printer…

Vista now attempts to connect to the printer. This usually does not work successfully the first time with this model printer.

Step Seven: ERROR # 1

At this point you will see the first of the errors associated with this model printer.

Windows cannot connect to the printer. The local print spooler service is not running. Please restart the spooler or restart the machine.

Click OK to close the error message. Then right-click on Computer in the start menu and select Manage. This will open the Computer Management Console so that we can restart the spooler service.

Step Eight: Computer Management Console

On the left side, double-click on Services and Applications, and then single-click on Services. Now, a long list will be displayed on the right side. This list is all the services that run your computer, in alphabetical order. Scroll down till you see Printer Spooler and then right-click on it and either select Restart or just select Start (whichever one is available to you at the time). The spooler service will start back up and then you can try to connect to the printer again…

Step Nine: Connect and ERROR #2

Go back to the printer window, select the printer again like we did back in Step Five, and then click Next. You will then probably see the error below…

Adding the printer connection failed. The local print spooler service is not running. Please restart the spooler or restart the machine.

 

And maybe this error also…

Spooler SubSystem App stopped working and was closed. A problem caused the application to stop working correctly. Windows will notify you if a solution is available.

 

You know what to do now… Go back to the Computer Management Console and start the spooler service back up again like we did in Step Eight. Then go back to the printer window, select the printer again like we did back in Step Five, and then click Next.

Usually, the third time is the charm in this printer setup. But, in case you still get errors after the third time, just keep trying… I have seen it happen up to five times. Continue on to Step Ten when you stop seeing the printer spooler error.

Step Ten: Success!

When you finally see this screen, you will actually be setup to use the printer. Use the button to print out a test page and see for yourself. Then click Finish!

 

* Having other Windows Vista problems? Let me know and I will write a new walk-through on how to get around it!

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Overview

Being able to convert your own documents to PDF files is becoming a necessity today with such a heavy reliance on email correspondence instead of the high volume of phone calls and faxes of the past decades.

PDF (Portable Document Format) files are a standard now and about 99% of all people have the free Adobe Acrobat READER already on their computer. This ensures that whoever you are sending PDF files to will be able to open it and read it without any compatibility problems.

PrimoPDF is a free tool for high-quality PDF creation, comprising a user-friendly interface that enables printing to PDF from virtually any Windows application. Additionally, PrimoPDF provides the ability to optimize PDF output for screen, print, ebook, and prepress …

“Primo PDF” is the free program that this article is all about, and you can download it from download.com’s website by using this link here: Click Here

Ok, download and run the install program and then we can get on with the step-by-step walk-through…

Step 1: Open a File, any file…

First off we need a file to test this out with, so I decided to use your typical MS Word file shown below…

Step 2: Open the Print Menu

Now, go to the File menu and select Print just as if you were going to use a regular old, physical printer…

For some of you this may not make any sense at all, we are obviously not printing to a physical printer. Instead, consider a PDF file as a “virtual” page that is printed as an electronic document instead of a physical document. This electronic document will be viewable on your screen as opposed to in your hands. It will appear exactly the same way, and in the same format as if it was printed on paper.

Also, since all programs on your computer have the ability to print, all programs will now have the ability to create PDF files as well. Pretty ingenious if you ask me…

Step 3: Select “PrimoPDF” As The Printer

When you are presented with the print menu, select PrimoPDF as the printer. It will show up in the list of printers if it was properly installed like shown below.

Step 4: Changing the Default Settings

Now, a new window should pop-up and you will have the ability to change the default settings for PrimoPDF. I suggest selecting Screen and changing the default location where to Save As.

What the screen option does is make the quality of your document suitable for viewing on a computer screen and also keeps the file size small so it can be emailed easily.

This is opposed to printing out on a physical printer that typically requires a higher quality resulting in a larger file size which is your alternative here for the quality settings.

If for some reason the screen above did not pop-up for you, you may need to “bring it to the front” by clicking on the program icon down in your task bar like shown in this next picture.

OK, after you select the quality settings you want and click on the little button with the three dots “…” as shown in the other picture above, go to the next step…

Step 5: Set “Desktop” as the Save Location

This is purely my own preference… I choose to save all my PDF’s to the desktop, which is the main screen of your computer where you see all your desktop Icons.

Since I save all my files to the desktop, they are always there in my face to remind me to either file them away where they belong or delete them when I am done. Since most of the PDF files I make are just for a temporary reason, this helps me keep up on the “cleanup” of computer files that I need only once.

Step 6: More Settings…

Ok, here is another quick setting that you can choose. In the event that you create two PDF files with the same name, the program wants to know if you would like to overwrite the original or append to it.

Most often, you will want to overwrite it so that is the setting that I show here as an example. If you think that this will be your preference for all other PDF files as well, then be sure to check the box where it says Remember my choice.* as shown below:

Step 7: Create The PDF file

The last step you have, is to click the OK button to create the PDF file. Click on it now and it will create a PDF file located on your desktop that will look exactly like your document would if you had printed it out on a physical piece of paper.

Step 8: Your Done!

That’s it, you have now successfully converted one of your files to a PDF. You can now email it out without having to worry about people not being able to view it.

Notice my icon has the little Adobe Acrobat logo in the bottom right corner. Now, that little icon may just be a feature of Windows Vista that I am testing out. I am not sure, your mileage may vary…

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