FREE WEBINAR July 30 at 11 A.M.

Quickbooks for Real Estate

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Back by popular demand, we are offering another FREE WEBINAR. This one will feature Ed Freeman, a comptroller for small businesses. His expertise is using Quickbooks and how easy it is to keep track of your real estate business. Want to manage your finanance better? using QuickBooks you can easily track your business. Learn how to easily pay bills, enter commissions, track expenses andprint infomration tax time ready reports. Click here to register.

Just came back from a few days of "living on the farm." My husband is building a compound for a client at their retirement farm in Pennsylvania. Since he was going, I went. i spent three lovely days looking a green rolling hills and valleys, reading, walking and thinking.I think this sign was the epitome of the trip. Not into the biggest and the best, but what works.

So what works for your business as far as marketing, prospecting, making money to feed your family?

The Real Thing

And the real thing is YOU! Think about that.

Consumers have more power than ever before. Realize that and you will be successful.

The transparency of the Internet and the amount of places they can find you means you better be the real thing or you will be found out quickly!

Make a commitment - do not buy, do anything that doesn't reflect who you are. And you know what? This coffee is pretty darn good.

A great poet once said:

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~e.e. cummings

Facebook is one of the most hyped web service/platforms right now. Many people have already found Facebook to be a valuable addition to their web marketing strategy. Why? Because Facebook social networking can effectively connect you with potential clients, with no cost and minimal effort. Consider using Facebook as a tool for:

• Marketing to new clients

• Protecting your brand

• Testing out marketing ideas

• Measuring impact of your marketing

Think of it as an “addition” to your prospecting. As you connect on a consistent basis with your past customers, sphere and clients you are probably doing this with phone calls, emails and postcards. Here is a stat from the recently released 2009 REALTOR(r)  report on technology usage.

Facebook is an easy addition to your process. Do you prospect on a regular basis? Doyou try to connect with people in your sphere every day? Normally we use email, phone calls and print. Now you can find them on Facebook and make them your friend. You can write on their wall and comment on their milestones, an easy way to prospect. It can become a regular prospecting tool. If you update your status once day, make it a mix of fun and business. Think of it as the online cocktail party. You wouldn’t walk around a party asking everyone to list and sell, but you would network. That is what Facebook is for. People who are your friend will now see your daily updates. If you educate, and talk about real estate and have some fun you will be a connection they can count on for.

Video has consumed America. A tiny English woman sang herself into our hearts this week and convinced millions of the power of video.

Video allows an emotional connection with your friend or fans, you are able to communicate to more of the senses using video.

So we need to get started . . . now. Just play a little. Don’t be afraid – it is ONLY A CAMERA! Take Baby Steps!

So if you are really scared . . . think about using: Use your Virtual Tour Product.

Using your Virtual Tour Product ( I use and love Realestateshows) you can combine photos, text, music and voice to create a short video type experience for the consumer.

Some of the top ways I have seen agents use thes other than for their listings:

Just Moved – Buyer Video – For your next buyer closing, ttell them you will put together a few hots of the house and they can use it as a Just moved video to their sphere. Use 8 or 9 photos, and make sure that you include one of the happy family. Send them the link and viral marketing will take over. They will forward it on to their family and friends. There is usually a place for text in the tour where you can mention their new address and phone number and you were happy to help them with the move.

I like using a virtual tour for this because it sends a branded message of YOU.

Do and Don’ts of Staging. If you have been collecting photos of before and afters of staging that you have done, create a tour for your new prospects so they can see the power of staging to help get their home sold.

Vendor tours – We are working on one right now – What to expect on a home inspection. Our home inspector is putting together photos and text so we can send this out to buyers and sellers to set expectations.

Community Videos – Photos of a condominium area, a golf community, you get the picture.

So what are you going to try?

Facebook is one of the popular web service/platforms right now. Many people have already found Facebook to be a valuable addition to their web marketing strategy. Why? Because Facebook social networking can effectively connect you with potential clients, past customers and friends, with no cost and minimal effort.

Buyers & Sellers are interested in their “Micro-market”, where they live and work. Your goal is to give them information they can’t get anywhere else and they will be hooked.

Other than your all important status updates, adding applications selectively can help your business grow. Right now, there are over 2000 apps you can add to your Facebook profile. The temptation may be to try them all.

Click on this link to see the full list of applications.

Pick apps that won’t waste your time when you visit your Facebook home page, so avoid those that involve playing games, throwing things and just plain silliness. Read the app description carefully and know exactly what you’re getting, and what the privacy settings are before you go. It helps to see how your contacts are using the app first. But remember, if you add it, you can remove it. If you don't want to add applications that other people send to you, hit the IGNORE button. (They will never know.)

Think of your apps in two ways

1. What do you want to see (that will appear on your Facebook home page)
   
2. What do I want the world to see (that will appear on your profile)?
   

While it might seem like a small part of why you would want to set up a presence on Facebook, Applications can actually dramatically enhance your ability to manage your content and provide a compelling experience. Some examples:

Memorable Web address for Facebook - create a short easy to remember facebook link to your profile. Include it in your email signature.

Slideshare  - Share your PDFs and Powerpoints with potential clients. How about a prelisting presentation? Why work with a buyer agent? The real story behind buying a foreclosure. You get the idea.

Google Calendar – Share your calendar of events

Birthday and Social Calendars – choose one to keep on tops of friends birthdays

Blognetworks – Promote other blogs that you read

Free Conference call nice and easy to use program

Facebook Video Facebook Video provides a high-quality video platform for people and pages on Facebook. With Video, you can upload video files, send video from your mobile phone, and record video messages to your friends.

Business Card  With this application, you can: * create a Business Card and customize it * attach your Business Card to Facebook messages * browse other cards and read comments

RSS Reader Applications These enable you to leverage the content updates you are probably already doing on your main online presence. Why bother cutting and pasting when RSS can do the work of syndicating the content on your Facebook Page?

My 12minutetechbyte for this is: Pick one application, add, it use it see if you like it. And then selectively add others that you like.

 Since January I have been beta testing a technology coaching program, I havde 12 students, and every month we have a live online class where we review some of the top technology issues that my students need coaching on. We cover everything from Facebook and Twitter for Business to bringing video in to your marketing mix.This past month we did an in depth class on taking better photographs.

Why, well have you looked at MLS lately?

Because most of us are taking our own photos with our point and shoot digital camera. I asked Jay Groccia, Principal Photographer of OnSite Studios™ and Founder of the OnlinePropertyShowcase™ to discuss the 7 most important photography tips that a real estate agent needs to learn.

Remember back in the day when you chose the houses to show buyers? Remember when curb appeal was defined as how a house stood out relative to it’s neighboring properties from the curb?  Jay coined a new term, Curb Appeal 2.0 which is defined as how a house stands out relative to similar properties on the web. With a click of the mouse, the buyer is now INSIDE the house.

Statistics have proved to us that Web surfers feel no sales pressure or even a need to be polite – if they don’t like what they see - then can CLICK away. Pictures may not ‘sell’ the house, but they will absolutely kill the sale. A COMPELLING online presentation must be the foundation of your marketing plan.

So I asked Jay, "What makes a compelling online presentation? He supplied me with the following points.

"The photography isn’t for an insurance report or a bank appraisal – it is to sell the lifestyle of the home.

1. Angle – No security camera mentality, most people hold the camera up high. Lower the camera the bigger the room. Think about where the average women's eye go, it is usually about 5 feet off the ground. Take a look at that angle next. time. Keep the camera low – a camera looking down makes the room look small.

First picture - looking down, not wide angle enought and lighting poor:

The after - correct angle, and lighting

2. Exposure – Lighting. Balanced light is critical. Do you have blown out white windows, where it looks like an atomic bomb went off outside? Expose for the window and correct for the room. Increase shutter speed and fill with flash but don’t use the camera’s built-in flash - use a flash slave. Windows should be brighter than the room.

3. Unless the toilet is made of gold keep it out of the shot, if you can’t at least close the lid.

4. Give the viewer a sense of space. Walls should be PLUMB, counters and tables should be level. Homes shouldn’t lean back left right or forward. Would you buy a crooked house? A wide angle lens is useful to accomplish this.

5. Staging and decluttering is a must. Another post on this coming . . .

6. Color Fidelity - Color is relative to the light that is eliminating the object. Learn how to adjust your camera's white balance to compensate and have great photos. Find the white balance adjustment on your camera. The camera default is for daylight, so play witht he settings. Remember the halogen and tungsten lights give yellow cast to pictures and make them look brown.

7. Time of day to take photography – the early morning or late afternoon can work best. Always take exterior pictures with blue sky.

Jay and I will be holding a free webinar - explaining these points in more detail with a check list to follow up with. To register click here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/739529725

An associate of mine Rona Fischman has the distinct privilege of being a blogger on Boston.com, in the real estate section for the Boston Globe. In a recent class she attended, we had an animated discussion on what Buyer Agents and Buyers would prefer to see on listings. When we got to virtual tours, Rona volunteered to post the question for me on her blog and here are the results.

Enjoy!

Click here to read the FULL POST!

NAR released their 2008 numbers in the report Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. I have been getting this report for a few years and have kept track of how some of the statistics have changed.

One set of numbers that is intriiguing is what today's buyers wants to see when they are looking for properties. Of course the ubiquitous photo - thats is the fodder for many of post, but maps and the need for them went up. For a while maps were for directions, but now with GPS that need is going away. It seems now that consumers need more of the neighborhood information if they are not familiar with the area.

Google Maps can be personalized by creating your own annotated maps. Then share them with clients, family and friends.There is a directory of interactive content that you can add to Google Maps. Go to their website to learn more. How can this work for real estate?

Create a map with listings for showings, or properties for a CMA. Add place marks, shapes, photos descriptions and videos on the map. Use line tools to draw paths from one property to the other. Use the street view so they can see the actual house. You can make the map private and only those with the URL can view it. And don't forget Google earth. You can fly anywhere on earth and view images, maps, terrain, and buildings. Save the tour and share with others.Enjoy photo-realistic buildings, Swoop Navigation, Light and Shadow and Street View.

So, how do you build a map in seconds?  Identify locations of schools, recreations, etc for online visitors. In Google Docs, open an excel spreadsheet.

Insert a Gadget called Google Maps

Select the range of data from the excel spreadsheet to populate the addresses of the map.

Publish the map to its own web page or to a blog. Start connecting with prospective buyers with your knowledge of the area with the help of Google maps.