Census Data- Over half of U.S. counties shrank in population from 2010 to 2020

 In this Wall Street Journal article from August 13th, 2021, they go through several things the latest census data (2010-2020) shows.  The article goes for the clickbait issue of "White Population declining" to get people to actually read the article.  That's mainstream writing these days, I get it, you have to grab people's attention to get people to check out the article.

Here's the data point I found most interesting in this article:

52% of U.S. counties shrank in population between 2010 and 2020. 

The financial world is in a kind of Never Never Land right now, with the Covid shutdowns and then buoyed up by trillions of new money the Federal Reserve has created in 2020.  Things are really out of whack, and now inflation is growing.  There's a ton of confusing, and often contradicting data.  So here's one solid point.  52% of counties, primarily rural and small town areas, are losing people, and the big metro areas, are gaining people, generally speaking.  That was before 2020, but it's a major, longer trend.  Real estate may be really cheap in small towns, but there's a reason for that, the majority of rural and small town areas are shrinking in population.

If you're in real estate, and looking at areas nationwide, this is big.  The major metro areas are much higher priced, but generally speaking, they are still growing.  There has been a lot of talk about people migrating to smaller towns and cities, and a number of upscale people did, during 2020.  But it looks like many are heading right back to areas like New York City, we are starting to see those reports now, even though the pandemic is still going, despite having vaccines available here in the U.S..

There are several other data points in the article, so check it out. 

Why Pinterest is a great promotion tool for real estate agents and designers

Covid era selfie in front of the Brady Bunch house.  Yeah, it's a real house, at 11222 Dilling Street, in Studio City, CA.  

I'm a blogger whose self-publishing roots go back to a zine about BMX freestyle in 1985.  I started blogging seriously while out of work in late 2008.  I began by blogging about my BMX industry days in the 1980's, the blog took off, found an audience in that weird niche, and I've been blogging ever since.  By blogging, I don't mean, "I write one blog post a month, and 12 people have read my blog in three years."  

In 12 1/2 years I've tried over 25 blog ideas out, written over 2,400 posts, and attracted over 438,000 page views on niche blogs.  None of my blogs have been financially profitable in and of themselves.  I blog about things that interest me.  To make some money with my audience, I took to promoting a weird form of Sharpie marker art I invented, and selling that with the help of my blogs and social media, in 2015.  

It was in that search to find cheap ways to promote my Sharpie marker art (#sharpiescribblestyle), that I got into Pinterest.  I'd heard of Pinterest, of course.  My sister is a teacher, and told me she loved it, back in 2011 or so.  But I knew it as a social media platform for women looking for recipes, craft projects, and DIY home improvement ideas.  So, as a guy, I ignored it for years.  

Then, in 2016, as I started getting steady work for my art, I wanted to keep that going.  I googled "Sharpie art" to see how other artists were promoting their work.  I clicked over to an image search.  As I looked at photo after photo of artwork, one thing became clear, most of those top images were on Pinterest.  

So I signed up to Pinterest, and took to YouTube, looking for how-to videos about Pinterest.  Over the next couple of years, I found out that Pinterest is a monster form of free promotion for anything visual.  Don't believe me?  Do a Google image search right now for, "#sharpiescribblestyle, Steve Emig."  (That's sharpie scribble style). I just did this on my laptop.  The first 31 images that came up were all my artwork.  Over half of the next two rows of images were my work as well.  I OWN the first page of Google results, and it didn't cost my a dime.  I did it with blogs and Pinterest.  For free.  It just took a bit of time on a regular basis, and not that much time.

If you are a real estate agent, broker, or in the home design or decorating field, would you like to OWN the the whole first page of Google search results?  Not just the top spot, but most or all of the entire first page or both text and image results?  Yeah?  I thought you would.  Pinterest, as it turns out, is a monster, when used right, to help build your web presence, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and to promote real estate in particular.  In coming posts on this blog I will go into more details of how to use Pinterest effectively, particularly for real estate and home businesses.  

For now, here are some current stats on Pinterest, to get you looking at it for its real estate possibilities.

-Pinterest has 478 million active monthly viewers.  Facebook has about 2.8 billion, for comparison.  Yes, Facebook is much bigger, and has many uses in communication and promotion.  But Pinterest is much bigger than most people think it is.

-Pinterest users are 60% female.  That's actually down, percentage wise, for about 80%, 3 or 4 years ago.  Pinterest has grown tremendously in users over the last 2-3 years, and got a big boost in 2020, like all social media.  But it still skews towards women, who use it for "aspirational and motivational" purposes.

-The average user age on Pinterest is 40.  That, combined with the large number of monthly users, is another reason it's a great platform for real estate businesses.  

-34% of Pinterest users have an income between $50,000 and $74,999.  That's individual income of the user, not household income.  So by promoting on Pinterest, you're targeting an audience that's 40 years old and fairly affluent, right form the start.  

-Home decor and design ideas is the number one reason people use Pinterest.  

All of these stats are available with a quick Google search (August 2021).  There are many more.  But I think I've got your attention.  While Pinterest worked well to promote my artwork, my Sharpie art, by it's nature, isn't very profitable.  My drawings just take to long to draw.  I was looking for new areas to blog about, and to use Pinterest because I just like Pinterest in general.  

When I thought about real estate, I was amazed.  

Hardly anyone in the real estate world uses Pinterest, and only a handful of people really use it well.  It's a huge Social media platform that almost seems to have been designed for real estate professionals, and very few of them use it.  It's wide open.  So I decided to write a "How-to use Pinterest for real estate" book.  In the process of that, another idea came to me.  Why not blog about real estate trends, something I've had and interest in for years, and build a really cool Pinterest page to promote the blog?  So that's what I'm doing.  I decided to have some fun with my Pinterest page.  Here it is.

Big Transition Real Estate Trends Pinterest page

Tip #1 for starting a Pinterest page to promote your real estate business.  Start a personal Pinterest page, and learn to build boards on subject that you find interesting.  Start with a personal page, and build it a while, learn the platform.  You can turn a personal page into a business page at any time, with a few clicks.

 Stay tuned for more tips that I've learned about using Pinterest, and other real estate related topics.  

Disclaimer:  This blog is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  I am not a real estate agent, broker, financial planner, designer, or any other kind of traditional real estate professional.  I'm a blogger and artist, with an interest in real estate, financial, and social trends. 

What is a home?

A new sunrise, a new blog, a new beginning.  This photo is one I took at sunrise over the mighty James River, on the east side of Richmond, Virginia, when I was living there in 2019. 

 We all want some place to call home.  But what does that mean?  I've lived a pretty weird and creative life, with a lot of ups and downs.  The downs have included extended homelessness, where the things most people take for granted become luxuries.  That has shaped my thoughts on what it really takes for a place to move beyond an apartment or a house, and become a home.

A home is where:

You can tell your stories

You can sleep soundly (unless you have small kids)

You can cook a good meal, and keep plenty of food on hand for most occasions

You can charge your laptop, phone, and other devices, and have fast wifi (unless you have teenage gamers)

You can relax... at least sometimes

You can feel comfortable in super casual clothes

You can get your snail mail, and have a physical address for those pesky forms that require one

You can listen to you music loudly (though headphones may be needed)

You can work... on your job or your hobbies, and if you're really lucky, both at the same time

You can dream about how to make your home, and your life, more rewarding