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Housing Market Outlook for 2009
Threat of global recession hinders home sales in major Canadian housing markets in 2008 & 2009, says Re/Max.
The Re/Max Housing Market Outlook for 2009 examined residential real estate trends in 22 markets across the country and found that average price held up remarkably well in 2008, despite 13 centres reporting double-digit declines in home sales. Solid gains earlier in the year likely served to prop-up housing values at year-end. The prognosis for housing activity in the first six to nine months of 2009 is somewhat static, given continued volatility in financial markets and the threat of recession, but as stability returns to the financial sector, housing is expected to recover.
Nationally, 440,000 homes are expected to change hands in 2008, down 15 per cent from record 2007 levels. Canadian housing values are expected to hover at $300,000, a nominal three per cent decline from last year¡¯s historic peak. By year-end 2009, unit sales should match 2008 levels, while average price is forecast to fall another two per cent to $293,000.
¡°Housing market performance will clearly be contingent on economic performance at a local, provincial, and national level in 2009,¡± says Michael Polzler, Executive Vice President and Regional Director, Re/Max Ontario-Atlantic Canada. ¡°Issues affecting the overall economy are impacting housing markets across the country and the situation is not expected to be remedied until consumer confidence is restored. That said, we could see a bounce back as early as spring ¨C if inventory levels remain stable, pent-up demand kicks into gear, and lower interest rates stimulate home-buying activity.¡±
Major markets are evenly split in terms of housing performance in 2009, with 11 centres forecast to match or exceed 2008 home sales and 11 expected to slide from 2008 levels. The highest percentage increase in unit sales is anticipated in Saskatoon, where the number of homes sold is forecast to climb three per cent in 2009. Housing values are expected to hold the line in 2009, with St. John¡¯s, Montreal, Kingston, London, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Regina posting modest gains in average price in 2009.
¡°Canada¡¯s real estate environment is considerably more complex than it has been in recent years,¡± says Elton Ash, Regional Executive Vice President, Re/Max of Western Canada. ¡°The landscape is definitely changing -- with most markets shifting into either balanced or buyer¡¯s territory. The shut out is over. Sellers no longer rule the roost. Opportunities exist for purchasers like never before, including lower interest rates, greater inventory levels, the luxury of time to make decisions, and the upper-hand at the negotiating table. Motivated vendors will need to take note of the new mindset and set their prices accordingly.¡±
Canadian sellers are slowly adjusting to new realities. For most markets, 2008 started in balanced territory and moved into buyer¡¯s market conditions during the latter half of 2008. The year ahead will prove challenging, especially for vendors.
¡°While the economy will dictate real estate performance next year, it¡¯s important to remember that demand still exists in the marketplace,¡± says Sylvain Dansereau, Executive Vice President, Re/Max Quebec. ¡°In the midst of stock market turmoil, sold signs continue to appear on lawns across the country. With affordable lending rates and increased selection, first-time and move-up buyers with good credit may choose to play their investment strategy safe and purchase a home. The comfort of a tangible investment like Toronto real estate goes a long way in tough times.¡±
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( 2.9 / 14 )
Marketing has always been an integral part of trade, in some form or the other. The most primitive form of marketing probably constituted the stories that traders told prospective customers, in order to convince them to barter their products. Since then, the methods for getting the marketing messages across have become far more advanced and efficient, especially with the help of all the technological innovations that have come about in the field of communication. The basic principles of marketing, of course, continue to be applied as before, with some minor modifications.
EMarketing research is the confluence of marketing principles and technology that has become available with the advent of the Internet. Making use of the Internet for building the identity of a brand, retaining existing clients or customers as well as attracting new ones, through various activities that can help achieve these purposes, is what eMarketing is all about.
An attempt is made to connect the clients or customers with the business, by utilizing various technologies for brand marketing through indirect as well as direct response methods, over the Internet. Online marketing, Internet marketing and eMarketing are terms that are often used interchangeably. To put it simply, eMarketing involves making use of the Internet for applying the techniques and principles of marketing.
The World Wide Web is redefining the clients' or customers' interaction with businesses in a major way. A large number of people can be reached very fast, through the Internet. Therefore, it is very difficult for companies with either online or offline business models to ignore the internet as a medium for communication with their existing as well as prospective clients or customers. The returns on investment that can be achieved through eMarketing can be substantial, especially for small and midsize businesses.
Advantages of eMarketing:
1. The kind of costs involved in equaling the reach provided by eMarketing, through traditional methods of marketing, are huge and can be afforded by large-sized businesses only. So, eMarketing allows even small businesses to reach potential clients or customers globally.
2. Sales, information management, customer service and public relations form a part of eMarketing, in addition to some other ways of reaching out to consumers, in order to offer them a broad range of services or products. So, its scope is much wider than that of traditional ways of marketing and is expected to expand even further, over the coming years.
3. Companies can be more adaptive and dynamic, with the help of eMarketing, as clients' or customers' responses can be received and processed faster than ever before, thereby allowing the company to derive the maximum benefit from the channel for two-way communications that has been made available by eMarketing. This can be a vast improvement over traditional methods employed for marketing, mainly aimed at conveying a brand's message to current or potential consumers.
4. Spending the same amount of money on advertising, as before, can create immediate leads through eMarketing. This is because eMarketing enables the speeding up of the buying cycle. Responses from consumers can be obtained soon after they are provided with the necessary information.
A potential consumer can order a trial or demonstration or even order the service or product itself, soon after finding out all that he or she wishes to find out about it. This is, of course, not restricted in any way by whether it is day or night, at that point of time, or whether it is a working day or a holiday. This is not achievable through traditional ways of marketing, since people cannot acquire a product immediately after finding out about it, in that case. Therefore, the impact that eMarketing conference provides almost immediately is unique to it.
Targeted groups can be catered to, through niche marketing, over the Internet. People are more likely to respond to marketing messages when these provide information that is of interest to them. Marketers can easily locate potential consumers for niche markets, online. This is because a large number of people tend to form focused groups, in accordance with their interests, on the Internet.
In addition to that, the purchasing power of Internet users is also of interest to marketers, since they tend to mostly belong to the middle or upper echelons of society. When considered as a group, they constitute a market that no marketer can afford to ignore.
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( 3 / 20 )
Emarketing can simply be described as the marketing of products or services over the Internet. It is the process of growing and promoting an organisation using online media.
This form of promotion has saved many businesses thousands in advertising. It is effective and every business should take advantage of the success that using Emarketing research can bring. The same rules apply to this as they do to other forms of advertising such as in newspapers; you need to locate your target market, address their interests and show them how they can benefit from your business.
Emarketing ties together creative and technical. It includes the design, development and advertising as well as the sales of products and services. There are several ways in which this form of advertising can be carried out such as search engine marketing, display advertising, email marketing and pay per click. It can be the difference between your business succeeding and failing.
Emarketing offers your business many benefits such as if your business is a small corporation it can appear large on the Internet, which will allow it to grow into a bigger corporation. This form of advertising also makes it possible to connect with a large number of customers 24/7. By using it you are opening your business up to customers that you otherwise would not have had access to. You can communicate your products and services to customers worldwide who can access your site whenever they need to.
The one downside that knocks many businesses back on the Internet is the level of competition that is seen on there. It can be very hard to compete with other businesses especially if your site is new and you are competing with a well established site or if your area of business is highly competitive and you are up against a lot of other corporations. This is why Emarketing is of great importance to you. You need a good Emarketing research campaign to ensure that you give your business the best chance against your competition. Your campaign should aim to get your web site ranked in Google and to get it into a high spot within search engine results.
As well as search engine optimisation you could also produce ezines which give out information about your business and what you can offer customers that they can¡¯t get by going anywhere else.
Pay per click is another effective method of marketing that can bring your business instant results but could be expensive depending on the level of competition that you are facing. Pay per click is an advertising model used on search engines etc. The way in which pay per click works is advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an ad to visit their website. In order to get these adverts to show up advertisers bid on keywords they predict their target market will use when they are looking for a product or service. When a user types in a keyword query matching advertiser¡¯s keyword list or views a page with relevant content the advert may be shown.
Using a combination of pay per click and search engine optimisation as well as aspects such as ezines will ensure that your businesses website will have the best possible chance of becoming a success.
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( 3.1 / 22 )
If you already own a home cleaning service los angeles, you have to advertise it to your friends, relatives and even the community where you live. It is one way to let them know that you started your own home cleaning business. You can even ask for personal referral. Serve your customers well and maintain good quality of work. There are different kinds of advertising you could use, make flyers and post them. You could either post them in mall, stores or groceries in your community or place an ad in the local newspaper. Post your ad briefly and accurately.
One way to promote your home cleaning service, Give discount to the customer who can gives referrals; for every 10 referrals they give they will get free vacuum service or any free service you want to give them. Compare your prices among other competitors. You service charges must be affordable but not too low; they might think your cleaning service give poor services.
Concentrate on your community first. Post some advertisement in your car in which it is more visible to your prospective clients. Your ads must look professional. Your ads must be accurate in any way. You can make your own flyer and print them on your computer. But customers are more attracted to professional printing flyers. If you cannot decide for the design you want you can search on the internet. For 1000 prints of flyers, you¡¯ll pay approximately $125.00 plus the shipping. It is cheaper than printing them in your computer. You can save money from paper, ink and time.
You could distribute your flyers by hanging them in any bulletin board of groceries, supermarkets or even coin laundries. But you have to ask permission to the owner before you hang the flyers. Do not post flyer in any window business. You could rather place your flyer in any residential front door or gate. Or you could advertise your business in a personalize pre printed door hanger. Surf any websites on the internet for best pricing. For 5000 door hanger you will pay $189.00 or you can even find much cheaper price for this door hanger on the internet.
Business cards are also effective in promoting your business. Give them to your friends, relative and asked them to distribute the business cards for you. The best way to promote and advertise your business is through internet. Most working women shop for service in the internet because of their busy schedule in work; they don¡¯t have time for domestic chores. You will get more customers if you post your house cleaning service los angeles on the internet. It is a great way in advertising your cleaning service.
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( 3.1 / 21 )
A career in the maid and cleaning services industry is void of any form of glamor and, though sounding like a cliche, is not for the faint-hearted. After all, who in their right mind would want to clean for other people, let alone strangers?
However, there are some enterprising people who have seen the silver lining in the perceived dark clouds that hang over the house cleaning services los angeles business. Surprisingly enough, they have succeeded and were able to expand their venture. Having witnessed this rise, more and more people are now considering entering the maid services sector.
The rule of thumb in this industry is that if something can get dirty, there is a high chance that someone somewhere is willing and ready to pay somebody else to get it cleaned up. Cleaning is not a fun thing to do for the majority. If it were, then there wouldn't be any need for maids. If it were, then people would be singing happy tunes while getting down on all fours to scrub grime off the floors for an entire day.
Nobody likes to clean. So the best thing you can do as a quick-minded entrepreneur is to offer to do it yourself for a considerable fee. A quick survey around the block will have you surprised at discovering that people are willing to pay a lot just to escape having to do clean up duties themselves.
If you're thinking of capitalizing on an increasingly lazing population by offering your own maid and cleaning services, then you've come to the right place. Professional cleaning can open up a wide range of opportunities for you.
The Cleaning Family
The two key markets in the cleaning services business are commercial and consumer. In commercial markets, maids and cleaning crew are hired to clean up offices, building lobbies, hotel hallways, windows and the like. The consumer market requires a smaller team of workers, even just one is enough, because most only involve houses and lawns.
When you're thinking whether you should go into the commercial or consumer realm, you might want to consider combining both. Well, depending on your budget, of course, as commercial needs require a larger number of employees and more equipment.
The maid services offering is relatively easy and less costly to maintain because the job only entails basic cleaning and dusting. Maids don't really need to bring high-tech equipment with them when they come to clean so you'll only need to worry about her training, professionalism, trustworthiness and uniform. In contrast, if you're eyeing janitorial services, then you might as well invest in mops, cleaning aids and high-powered vacuum cleaners to get the job done.
Can You Do It?
The minimum requirements for getting into the maid and cleaning services industry first depends on what type of service you want to offer. However, as with any other business in the world, you need to begin with a willingness to make the customer happy and a lot of determination and drive to make your business thrive. There are many maid and cleaning services ventures out there, and you have to make sure your customers ask for you again whenever the need for another job arises.
To do this, you should instill the virtue of honesty among your employees. Most maid and cleaning services ventures have failed because of the lack of call-backs. Clients have stopped seeking their services again because it's either the maids and cleaning crew failed to meet their standards or something had gotten lost while they were there.
Aside from proper conduct, the one thing you should also teach your employees is uniformity. There should be a single set of cleaning guidelines which your customers should also read and understand before you begin the job. This way, both you and your clients know how far you can go and where your limits are. This will also give your potential client an idea on how you go about your business, to prevent conflicts in the future.
In addition, before starting your maid services business, you might also want to consider if you want to go it alone as an independent operator or seek partnership with an existing venture. Some people find that franchising is easier because it already has a set of guidelines that need to be followed. Also, franchises already have established a name in the industry, so you don't need to worry about marketing.
However, you can also opt to go independent if you want a more personalized and hands-on experience. Why, you can even join in on some cleaning jobs yourself. By being an independent proprietor, you have the liberty of making your own rules and setting your own standards, which may or may not be higher than if you decide to get a franchise.
This also its downside, though, as every job you take will have to a trial and error experience since you don't have uniform guidelines to follow. This can happen at the start of your business. But rest assured that once you get the hang of it, you'll begin to conjure up styles and strategies that make your maid and home cleaning service los angeles offerings unique and stand out against your competitors.
Taking Care of the People
Since cleaning is not exactly a very pristine job, most of your staff might need a pat on the back or two for jobs done well. Sure, they might be called maids and cleaning staff, but their jobs do not define who they are. What they do does not entail their lower status in life.
As an employer, it is your responsibility to not just train your work team on proper cleaning techniques; it is also your duty to help boost their self-esteem and have them enjoy what they're doing. Cleaning is a dirty job and somebody has to do it. However, this doesn't mean that these somebodies are to be disrespected and looked down on.
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( 3 / 19 )
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