Monday, April 30, 2007

How to get PageRank 7 for my Pune Real Estate Blog?

Desperate Blogger:
I didn't believe what i saw on my Google Firefox Toolbar. I opened my Pune Real Estate blog and for the first time in my life that PageRank window was not empty. There was some green color in it! I was tempted to touch the cursor and check the page rank. I do it every time. Even when i know very well the exact page rank of the blog. Lately, i am sort of obsessed with it. But who is not?

My PageRank3!
But this time, i didn't dare to do it. I just closed my browser! Got out of the chair. Went to the fridge and gulped down a glass of cold water. Came back and opened the browser and logged on to my Pune Real Estate blog. Yes, this time too, there was some green color in the page rank window. Now i couldn't hold myself back. I checked it. Yes! It was there. I read it very loudly, "PageRank is Google's view of the importance of this page (3/10)"

PR Tool and Toolbar!
I took the cursor away and it vanished. Again i touched it. It was there! " PageRank is Google's view of the importance of this page...." i went on reading. I did it again and again. Touched the tool bar. Read the statement. Oh! what an experience. Even you can do it if you are using Firefox Google Tool bar with page rank. If you don't have download it here, on my Pune Real Estate blog - Yes, i can encourage you! (of course, you can see my 'prchecker' button on the side column) I never felt so proud of myself before! Sorry, i felt it once. When my kinder garden teacher praised my hand writing and gave me the permission to use the fountain pen!

Algorithm!
I don't know, how many times i checked it again and again or was i reading loudly or shouting? My dear dog, Don didn't take it in the right spirit and started barking at me. This disturbed my wife's sleep. She cried from the bedroom, "come to me or go out with the dog but shut that damn computer off." I had to stop feeling proud of myself. But i preferred to take the dog out for a walk.

Danny Sullivan and Matt Cutts: Web gurus!
While walking i realized that to improve my Pune Real Estate blog's ranking, first thing i have to do is get rid of this dog. Dogs are of no use. Even Danny Sullivan didn't blog about his dog, Daisy, till this month. I will Google for some one like Emmy, who loves blogging. Who will sleep on my chest when i am blogging. Even some one like Ozzie, Matt's other cat, will also do. Or should i go for 'googlebot'? According to the poll 225 out of 1023 people have it as a pet!

As i went on thinking, i realized it is a very serious issue. But getting a 21K+ rss subscriber's and page rank 7/10 may be difficult but not impossible target for my Pune Real Estate Blog!

Monday, April 16, 2007

'Pune Real Estate Blog': I am in Top 10!

In Google Search for the search term 'Pune Real Estate Blog' i am on 5th position!

First is 'Real Estate Times' which covers Indian real estate news.

You can publish your free housing classifieds in the city pages of 'India City Pages' which is second.

"Sramana Mitra" is a strategy consultant from silicon valley. I request all of you to read her blog for the seed, venture capital and strategy for your startup!

It's honor to be in this company!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Pune/L.A./NY: Real Estate Agent has to deal with Saddam, Batman, Lawn Jockey and 1Bathroom House.....and what not!

  1. "Americans have decided that we like a private bathroom for ourselves and another bathroom for our guests and children. " So 1 Bathroom houses from 1970 and earlier have become obsolete! From Virginia Real Estate Settlement Service. Their 'Home Owner's Manual' has very useful tips.
  2. "What to do with Monuments in Iraq?" Mr. Al Brophy says," The same monument may mean very different things to different people" (!) His blog 'PropertyProf Blog' is a member of the Law Professor Blogs Network.
  3. "Like living in Times Square West" claims the ad of 'Sky Lofts', a real estate project in Los Angeles!
  4. "April Fool!" Read this and you will come to know why Mr.Tim O'Keefe (Real Estate Marketing Blog) is called the guru of online real estate marketing.
  5. "Holy Smokes, Batman, That Was Fast!" within 3 hours after the publishing the blog post, from no ranking '3Ocean Real Estate' blog becomes number 14 on Google! Congrats Mr.Kevin Boer!
  6. Advice to home sellers? Mr. Al Brophy, ProperyProf Blog, raises a question about the advice to 'de-black' homes while selling by removing pictures, books and even poster of Martin Luther King. He also talks about 'Lawn Jockey' - symbol of white supremacy or tribute to faithful slaves?

Monday, April 9, 2007

Booking a flat in Pune? Get valuable tips, subscribe to my 'Free Newsletter'!

Yes! By subscribing to my 'Free Newsletter', you will automatically become a member of the "exclusive inner group"! Naturally, you will get lot more than a regular readers of my blog! Let me tell you how you will benefit:

  1. The first thing is that you will not miss the topics of your interest. How? Simple, when you subscribe you will give your e mail id. I will email you my 'Free Newsletter' on that address. In the 'Free Newsletter' i will tell you on which topic i have written. Plus there will be a link which will take you to that post on this blog! For example, if you are interested in Domain names you will not miss reading "My name is Bond, James Bond; James Bond Dot Com!"
  1. Your can take more profitable investment decisions. Why? Because in my 'Free Newsletter' i will give you some exclusive insights and advance tips about investment opportunities in the Pune Real Estate Market.
  1. "What more could i get if i subscribe to 'Free Newsletter? Any exclusive special offer?" Hopefully yes ! See, i have just started this blog but for more than decade i am here in Pune Real Estate Market. The Idea behind starting this blog is to keep serving my clients, spread all over the world, even after a particular transaction is over. Still, being very modest i will only say, "Why not?"
For this 'Free Newsletter' i am using services of Zookoda. Zookoda is owned and operated by Quivalent, based in Sydney, Australia. Quivalent specializes in commercial email campaign management solutions and services. They deliver millions of emails for large and small corporations.

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Saturday, April 7, 2007

Welcome to Bill Gates' digital home!

Flat is not only a bunch of rooms but a place for people to live ; which is called 'home' is very well accepted by one and all at least in Pune Real Estate Market. Particularly by builders and architects! So now on, all of us are going to focus on making a suitable living space. Yes, built up area, fsi, tdr and all are legally and commercially important but focus of the planning is human beings who are going to live happy family life in it. Naturally, people are booking fast, paying premium price and new projects are sold out in no time.

But are we really going to enjoy living our life on this planet in these homes? Some times, i not only wonder but start worrying about. Particularly when i read what has happened at Consumer Electronic Show this year as well as last year.

Most dangerous is that fellow who is actually on the way of retiring from business but still we have to watch his moves. We all know and admire him. His softwares made that box on our office table very useful for some time. But since the web has come it has lost it's charm. So this fellow is now trying to come in to our homes. First he tried to make a toy on which we can play some games. 'Good fun!' we said and let him in. But now he is planning to take a control of our entire home!

In this year's show he actually showed a mock up of his Bedroom which has multi wall size screens for multitasking! I fully agree with Mr. Nicholas Carr about the impending danger. From the time we get out of the bed till we go back to the bed, this fellow wants us to use, play and work with software. If we go on fiddling with software day in and day out like this what will happen is we will start living in geeks paradise but loose touch with family members and fellow human beings. We will be trapped in the box in our own homes! If you think i am over exaggerating try to discuss this with your wife when she is watching Ekata Kapur's serial. He knows we are quite prone to get hooked to the box and lose touch with reality.

As a real estate professional i wish you happy 'family life' and not a digital life. But how does he live? I was very much curious to know. Thanks to Mr. Amit Agarwal, he has very good post "Inside Bill Gates House- Pictures of Bill Gates Home" Have a look!


When you book a flat in Pune, do not even think of negotiating car parking charges!

A Great thing about Pune Real Estate market is, we charge very less for reserved car parking! In the last couple of years practically all good projects have podium parking or basement parking. Provision for one car park per flat is not enough any more, ideally there has to be minimum provision for two car parks per flat! This is substantially increasing the cost of construction. While booking a flat, you know parking becomes a big issue. Naturally, you are tempted to negotiate about charges as well as location. But before you think of doing that, please consider "the full social cost" your car and even your two wheeler is imposing on the economy!

Mr. Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar has written a great article "The Hidden Social Cost of Vehicles" in the Times of India. Mr. Swaminathan is not among those who want cars to be abolished and replaced entirely by buses and trams. He believes in the 'freedom to travel where and when we want to' but referring to 'The Center of Science and Environment' he says, "This freedom imposes a wide array of hidden costs on a city economy, and car-owners should pay these costs in full. Otherwise we will be subsidizing pollution, fuel adulteration, congestion, respiratory disease, and the disappearance of green spaces."

After reading his article, i am sure, you will be more than happy to pay
car park charges!



BRT, Bus Rapid Transit on Ganesh Khind Road in Pune!

Any thing moving in speed on Pune's Ganeshkhind Road to Aundh, is beyond imagination. Moving itself is a dream come true. But not any more! ( Is this going to fuel prices in Pune Real Estate Market?)

In a joint report submitted to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) , Delhi, and the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), Pune, has recommended that Pune should have 117 kms network of BRT Routes spanning 26 roads. According to them Ganeshkhind Road, Paud Road and Sangamwadi to Kharadi riverside expressway and Pune-Mumbai highway are among 8 top priority routes.

But there is one hitch. Most of the roads in Pune are less than 10 kms in length. And BRT experts may object! I fail to understand why.. length of the road may be less but the route can be 10 Kms! And what about traveling time? Paud Road or Ganeshkhind Road may not be 10 km long but see the volume of the traffic and traveling time.

Along with the BRT, i would like to see the special reserved lane on the left side of the road for two wheelers and bicycles. Like we have on Rajbhavan Road. Do you know, why i prefer to work in Aundh annex area? Only because, i can conveniently go to project sites on my bicycle! If you don't mind, i would like to ask you one simple question. Do you remember when was the last time you walked from your home to the vegetable shop at the corner? There used to be 'foot paths' on the both sides of the road for us to walk. Are we all some what forgetting that?


"Buying a House? Wait for a while!"

Every body who is looking around to book a flat in Pune, desperately wants to read this kind of a 'head line'. It sounds great! Isn't it? That is what 'head lines' are all about. But when you read the complete news, you realize that there is no point in waiting at all!

Particularly for you who want to book a flat in Pune,
Gulam Zia, national director for advisory services, Knight Frank (India) Pvt Ltd, is suggesting not to wait at all! In an hour-long chat on rediff.com on Thursday, April 5, he says "We can expect prices melting down in a few months"! Now, when you read these words, particularly when temperature is going above 40 degrees, what you see is a plate of melting slice of ice cream! But you know this is real estate. Here 'melting down' means, prices coming down by.... how much? What is your guess? 10% or 13%!

Wait, before you make any guesses, see what he says about Pune Real Estate Market in particular. "The
prices are still in the affordable range unlike say Mumbai, Delhi, etc." So be happy! Or does it mean that, since the price is still affordable it will not come down or what? But don't be sad, according to him, "You will still find good deals to invest in specially in the areas near upcoming IT destinations." (Aundh, Nagar Road, Hadapsar)

Now, tell me, should we wait? or go ahead and book right now!