Catherine's Must Read Musings

Long & Foster Names New President

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:37:57 -0500

Today it was announced that David H. Stevens, the President of Affiliated Businesses for The Long & Foster Companies would be stepping into the role of President and Chief Operating Officer. The announcement was made this morning by Founder and CEO Wes Foster in a company wide managers meeting at Long & Foster's new corporate headquarters in Chantilly, VA.

The move was a surprise to some of the company's managers, and will likely be received with equal surprise by some of the other leading brokerage firms around the country. Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. is the largest privately held real estate company in the country, founded in 1968 by P. Wesley Foster, Jr. and his partner at that time, Henry A. Long. The company has offices throughout the greater Mid-Atlantic region of the United States from New Jersey to North Carolina and has upwards of 15,000 real estate agents.

David H. Stevens is only the third person to hold the title of President in the company's 40 year history. The fact that his background is not general brokerage but mortgage and finance may cause some to wonder if this signals a greater shift in the real estate industry as a whole. Since arriving at the company in July of 2006, Stevens has demonstrated his grasp of the real estate industry on numerous occasions. And he has been active in working directly with Long & Foster managers and agents out in the field on initiatives to generate more real estate business - even while overseeing the management of the company's affiliated business units: Prosperity Mortgage Company, Long & Foster Insurance Agency, Inc., Long & Foster Settlement Services and the Home Service Connections program.

A shift to more fully integrate ancillary business units, which can create substantial revenue, into the core business model of real estate is not unique to Long & Foster. Many other brokerages have adopted this model as well. As the industry contracts and consolidates during this down cycle, these ancillary business units take on a greater importance to the health of real estate companies both large and small.

In a recent Inman News article, columnist and Realtor® Kris Berg lamented on the future of existing brokerage models in her column "Big brokerage model is 'on the roof'" giving voice to what many agents are feeling about the value of large brokerage firms to their business. The appointment of David H. Stevens to this critically important post at Long & Foster might very well indicate that at least one big brokerage firm is willing to step outside the box to look for new ways of doing business that benefit both the agents and the company. It will be interesting to see how it is received by those inside the company who are being asked to open their minds to change.

Simple and Consistent

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:21:36 -0500

I'm working on developing materials for a new class I'm teaching on Social Networking and Blogging. My first class, on Aug. 26th, is to a group of real estate agents. My second class is to a group of real estate branch office managers. Right at this moment I'm wondering why I chose one of the hardest ways in the world to earn a living.

The only thing I want the managers to understand is that their job is to support the agents in really simple ways. Not every agent is a born blogger. And that's okay. But at Long & Foster (where I do most of my work) every agent is given a free agent website. And there are two really simple things I am asking both the agents and the managers to do:

Put your website address in your email signature right under your name;
Say your website address in your outgoing voicemail message: "Hello, you've reached Nancy Pav. Please leave me a detailed message and your number; or if you would prefer to send an email, please visit www.GottaHavePav.com

Not very hard is it? But most agents don't do it and their managers don't call them on it. I come in and teach one class - inspire the room for about 2 hours - and then move on to the next office. And six months later I see agents emailing me with no website address or I leave a voicemail message with no email address in their outgoing message.

So I am challenging the managers to do this: on every email they receive from their agents, reply and ask why their website address is not in their email signature; and when they return voicemails to their agents, ask them why their website address is not on their outging voicemail message.

Success in sales frequently comes down to doing simple things on a consistent basis. I need everyone to simply work with me! How have simple and consistent habits helped your business?

Civic Minded Marketing

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:34:15 -0500

There's a great deal of activity these days among various organizations to register as many voters as possible in advance of the Presidential election in November. Citizens must be registered 30 days in advance of the election for the address where they are currently living at the time of the election.

So is this a good reason for agents to contact their past clients and their entire sphere of influence with this timely reminder? Who better to reach out and offer assistance and information than the agent who sold them their house? Whether it's a phone call, note, mailer or email, agents can explain that if anyone is unsure as to whether or not they are registered at their current address, there is no penalty to register again just to make certain.

Registration forms are available (in bulk) for free from county or city voter registration offices and can be mailed to clients who can then fill them out and mail them in directly to the appropriate registration office listed on the form. There is also an online option at www.RockTheVote.com

I am not suggesting that this should be a political effort. Voting is both a privilege and a responsibility, and agents would be offering a valuable reminder and service in reaching out to their sphere well in advance of the October deadline. I would also suggest that settlement companies should keep the forms in their offices. Clients waiting for their closing can fill them out, place them in the envelope provided, and the settlement company can offer the first class postage stamp and the courtesy of mailing it in from the office. That is a valuable service that should be offered even in years that don't have an election! Most people just don't have registering to vote on their minds until right before an election rolls around and they sometimes miss the cutoff.

Different states have different rules and regulations that need to be followed. It's quite easy to find the information and get the forms through your local voter registration office or through either of the two political campaigns. This is just another way to reach out and remind people that real estate agents are always thinking of the folks in their network and offering assistance as needed. Participating in local voter registration drives is also a great way to meet other people in your community! And certainly make sure as you go forth in this effort that you are registered to vote yourself!

Do It With Passion

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:26:54 -0600

What is so remarkable about the agent website I just finished? It's for a 91 year old real estate agent who decided she needed to boost her online marketing presence. That's right - 91 and a real estate agent for 50 years right here in Northern Virginia. When I got the call from Sandy Augliere on Friday, I wasn't too surprised since I had been in the Long & Foster Falls Church Office on Tuesday giving a presentation about effectively using web based marketing. What is more striking to me is that just the night before, I had purchased the domain name www.SellingLakeBarcroft.com thinking it was too good to leave available and surely one of the Falls Church agents would want it. Then Sandy called on Friday saying she had a listing in Lake Barcroft and it was the most expensive listing in the history of the community; a community she has lived in for the 50 years she has been a real estate agent. I said, "Sandy would you like to have the domain name www.SellingLakeBarcroft.com for your website?" And she thought that would be a pretty good idea, so that's what we've done.

Now I'm not a person normally prone to superstition and looking for "signs." But sometimes what we call "signs" are nothing more than life unfolding the way it is meant to. Every Thursday morning I get an email from Harvey MacKay and I have for years. He is one of the most inspirational business writers I know and his columns always provide something of value: a perspective that is fresh or a reminder of things worth remembering every day. His column on Feb. 28th was one of his best: Facts Inform but Passion Moves. It is about those who live life with great passion. And living with passion is surely a choice; one that I have made and one that Sandy Augliere has made too. Reading Harvey's column is to understand why those who love what they do truly don't work a day in their life. When I grow up (if I grow up) I hope to still be doing what I love at the age of 91 the way Sandy does it every day. She is a credit to the profession of real estate and an inspiration to all who know her!

Using Every Available Resource

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:53:06 -0600

Dave Stevens had written another excellent blog post addressing how to use LOGIC in helping buyers and sellers understand this current housing market. There are opportunities here despite what the media would have us all believe. As real estate professionals, it's up to you to go into every one-on-one meeting armed with the information necessary to get prospective clients to move forward in becoming buyers and sellers. Use all of the information that is so generously shared among agents in this Long & Foster Active Rain group.

Does Character Matter?

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:17:37 -0600

There's an interesting article in today's New York Times written by one of my favorite writers, David Brooks. The article is entitled "The Character Factor" and it's about Senator John McCain, who is running for the Republican nomination for President. In this article Brooks talks about how the media treats presidential candidates: "We tend to view them like products and base our verdicts on their market share at the moment. We don't so much evaluate their character; we analyze how effectively they are manipulating their image to appeal to voters . . ." And I suppose that struck a cord with me after spending much of my day today writing agent bios for agent websites, and trying to come up with alternate language and better phrases to describe this particular agent or that one.

How much does the public care about character? If we aren't terribly concerned that our political leaders have a good one, how concerned are we about anyone having a good character? Real estate agents are not universally held in the highest esteem by the general public. I think we've all read negative things about the real estate industry as a whole and sometimes agents in particular. (An example is the bestseller Freakonomics, Chapter 2 is entitled "How the Ku Klux Klan is like a Group of Real Estate Agents.") I think in recent years there has been an increasing level of professionalism in the industry and I think the consumer has come to expect more from their REALTOR® than they ever have before. But does character matter in their decision to choose one real estate agent over another?

In writing content for agent websites day in and day out, I am over-saturated in the same phrases saying the same things. I sometimes wonder if every agent espousing their ethics, integrity, dedication, enthusiasm, energy, commitment, expertise, passion, knowledge, training, and promises for a problem free transaction - are actually piercing the consciousness of the consumer. I suppose it's not something most agents ask their clients: "So was it my ethics that was the deciding factor in choosing me, or the fact that my website came up first in the Google search?" So maybe it doesn't matter very much. I would like to think in my own idealistic way, that on some level, it matters to each of us and we would all prefer to work with people of high integrity and good moral character. But having said that, how does one demonstrate good character to a consumer and potential client?

A Tale of Two Yard Signs

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:13:29 -0600

My dog Murphy and I preview homes every morning from about 5:30 am to 7. We don't go in, of course, we just like to look at what's new on the market and what's still on the market. We take a different route every day making a mental note of who has listings from companies we've never heard of, how many FSBOs are stubbornly staying the course, and how many "For Sales" are now "For Rent." We look at knock downs being re-constructed, and the new homes going up in what used to be an empty lot and we evaluate our little marketplace on a daily basis.

We live in an older neighborhood in Fairfax City. The houses are over 50 years old and there are still some original owners here. But the demographics are changing. Every weekend morning for 3 years now, Murphy & I go down and hang around at our neighborhood 7-11 with a group of guys who were born and raised right here in the city, some right here in this neighborhood. We talk a little real estate and they give me the scoop on what's going on in the 'hood. Real estate is an amazingly universal topic of conversation. It surprises me the number of agents who don't wear a nametag when they are out in public because doing that is an open invitation for people to talk to you about what you do. When I used to wear my polo shirt with the company logo on it around town, people would frequently stop and ask me, "Are you a real estate agent?"

Sometimes it's easy to overlook the simple and the obvious. Research I read recently says the majority of inquiries on listings are still being generated by yard signs. The ever so humble, low tech, yard sign. So Murphy and I started looking at yard signs more closely in our morning tour and discovered that some designs are more practical and appealing than others. Some are easier to read and and are not as cluttered with their information as others. Our case in point are the two yard signs here.

I will tell you up front that I am partial to post signs. The information is up higher making them more visible and they just have more curb appeal. I don't know what the norm is in other parts of the country, but in the Washington, DC, metro area, it's mostly post signs. Which automatically makes the squat metal low-to-the ground signs . . . well, lesser. In an earlier post on Choosing a Domain Name, I had specifically suggested a custom name rider with a website address. And lo and behold! Murphy and I found one, exactly one, only one right here in our own neighborhood. With a SOLD sign on it. A coincidence or a sign of the times? You be the judge.

I do think it's easier to remember a short, simple, easy to spell website address over a phone number. Especially if you are driving by it. The other sign here also has a website address, but it's longer and therefore smaller and it's sharing space with a phone number as well. Too cluttered, too noisy. The other wasted advertising space I've seen is directional signs for open houses. They either have no information at all or the one I saw this weekend said "Tom & Cindy." Tom & Cindy who? How do you search that way? The same space could have been used for a domain name. Phone numbers are not as easy to remember as words. And if you get them to your website, they then have a choice of emailing you or calling you on the phone number that's there. I would be interested to know how many agents are using domain names on yard signs and directionals. Better yet, show me! Please post a photo of your amazingly appealing yard sign so we can all benefit from the people who are ahead of the curve on this form of marketing!

Client Interests vs. Company Interests?

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:25:40 -0600

An article appeared in today's Washington Post, "Realtor Discourages Use of Outside Lenders," that was sparked by an email sent from Wes Foster, CEO & Founder of Long & Foster, to his agents urging them to refer clients to Prosperity Mortgage instead of "outside lenders." Like many large real estate companies, Long & Foster has affiliated business relationships and Prosperity Mortgage is one of them. The mortgage company is a joint venture with Wells Fargo and has been in existence for many years. The upshot of the article and the furor in the mortgage industry this email created is based on the assertion that there are improprieties in asking agents to refer their clients to the affiliated mortgage company.

From my perspective, this stance is based on a very key presumption that what is good for the company can't also be good for the consumer. Is that true? Are clients ill served in being referred to a well established local mortgage broker backed by one of the largest mortgage lenders still operating (Wells Fargo) just because it is affiliated with the agent's brokerage? Even with all of the lengthy and detailed disclosures required by RESPA? I would be interested to know what you think.

I am not an unbiased observer. Until recently, I was an employee of Long & Foster. In my capacity there I worked with the Prosperity Mortgage managers and loan officers, and also with all of the other Long & Foster affiliated businesses. I also worked with the managers and agents in Long & Foster offices in every region of the company. I'm asking if you feel that agents are best serving their client's interest by "pre-screening out" company affiliated services just because they are company affiliated? Does the consumer really have a problem with affiliated business arrangements, or is the industry just projecting their own issues with these relationships onto the consumer? Can't a consumer figure out for themselves what is good service or bad service, regardless of where they are referred?

The issue may be academic for the thousands of people who debate the "what if's" in imagined scenarios, but I am interested in your real life experiences with this. I have my own real life experience with the subjects of this debate. I'm interested in hearing where exactly you stand on this issue.

Home Stage Your Web Presence

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:11:19 -0500

It's interesting how agents can drive up to a potential listing and start making mental notes before leaving the car about what needs to be done to the yard, the front door and the windows to give the house some curb appeal. Inside, the mental note-taking assesses what clutter needs to be removed: knick-knacks, crowded framed photos on every wall and shelf, stacks of reading material, too much furniture in the room, the outdated floor lamp, the faded sofa pillows. And so very tactfully the seller is told that some "staging" needs to be done so their home shows better. The idea is that nothing should detract from the home itself. Furnishings should enhance the home, not be distracting or take away from what the potential buyer is actually thinking of buying - the home.

But when you visit agent websites, profiles and yes, even blogs, this good sense seems to have vanished for many. Sites have lists, logos, links, maps, menus, buttons, banners, drop down boxes, graphics, music, videos, flash animation, counters, the weather report, forms, translator buttons, photos, icons, downloads, .pdf files and paragraphs of text on everything from the history of the town to information on the local zoo. All in a riotous display of colors, fonts and graphics on multiple pages.

At what point did good sense leave us? It's when we stopped looking through the eyes of the consumer - which we encourage home sellers to do - and we became the sellers ourselves. No one is telling us our extensive and noisy collection of wind chimes is not adding a thing to what we are trying to sell. The goal of having a web presence is to tell the consumer what it is we can do for them as experienced real estate professionals. It's not just information they need, it's the services of a great agent.

We talk too much. We tell everything we know on every subject we can think of. It's like handing the web visitor a big brown paper bag full of information and assuring them that inside there - somewhere- is really valuable information they want. The problem is they can't see it very clearly and they aren't willing to work that hard to find it when they have a hundred other choices one mouse click away. What we need them to do is contact us. A good website, profile or blog should be compelling enough to make the person reading it reach out and engage us.

Don't take your consumer hat off when you become the service provider. One of the most appealing things about websites like Craigslist and Google is what they chose to leave off.

Conjugating "Google"

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:31:43 -0500

I have Googled, I will Google, I must Google, I will Google in future. Google is the "it" verb of this decade. If you want to find something, you Google it. I Google to find the phone number for a cab to the airport. If I own a phone book, I honestly don't know where it is.

So I always ask Long & Foster agents if they've Googled their own name. A few hands go up, sometimes more than few. But for the most part they look at me. So I ask them how they think the consumer would go about looking for them. It's interesting how we all have different ideas about how consumers will do a search for real estate - whether it's for property, for an agent, for a specific town, neighborhood or county. We really can't second guess what goes on in the mind of the consumer, but agents really only have control over their own name and their own domain names. What the brokerage does is not within agent control, so whether your company is first, last or in the middle of search results, you can only work on making sure the consumer can find YOU.

Inman News ran an article on Oct. 29th by Glenn Roberts, Jr. entitled "Survey: Agents Still Clinging to Print Ads." There were some amazing statistics in there, including the fact that "about 58 percent stated that the investment they made at their Web site or sites 'doesn't bring the return I hope for,' while 31 percent said they do see the expected return." So it's safe to say there are a number of agents spending a fair amount of money for websites, meta tags, and search engine optimization and they are disappointed in the results. At the end of the article, Glenn states "Another significant change is the rise of blogs and online networks among real estate professionals -- 21 percent of respondents reported that they have their own blog and 25 percent said they participate in at least one social-networking site." These things were not even present in the survey for 2006.

Then as part of my class, I Google Long & Foster agent Nancy Pav. I do this because I know that Nancy will come up as almost the entire first page of the Google results. And then I tell the class she didn't pay a penny for it - not for her website which is provided by Long & Foster and not for all the sites where she created a profile - including Active Rain. While I believe in investing money in marketing and adverstising, the prize does not always go to the agent who has spent the most. Leverage what is being provided for free. Search for your name on Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com If you aren't in the top 5 results, work on leveraging online resources to place your name and your website address where the search engines will pick them up.

Choosing a Domain Name

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:45:53 -0500

I've spent much of the past month in Long & Foster offices giving classes on "Building a Web Presence." A fundamental part of that class is discussing how to maximize the free agent website that every Long & Foster agent is given by the company. The sites themselves are customizable, but the URL uses a naming convention that is awkward for the consumer: "yourname.lnfre.com." So it makes sense that as part of a branding and marketing strategy, a domain name be acquired with a ".com" or ".net" extension that simply points to the Long & Foster URL. In fact, more than one domain name can be purchased and pointed to the agent site, and at roughly $9 a year in cost, it's an effective and inexpensive marketing strategy. There are many registration sites where domain names can be purchased and forwarded: NameCheap.com, Yahoo.com and GoDaddy.com just to name a few.

The possibilities are endless, but there are several things to consider when choosing a domain name. It needs to be fairly short, easy to remember and easy to spell. That might mean using your own name, which can be a powerful form of branding. When you train people to go to your website for information, you are also "training" them to refer other people to you that way: e.g. "My agent is Gail Hayden - GailHayden.com" Many names are unavailable at this point, but you should search for your name with "realtor" after it. "REALTOR®" is a registered trademarked of the National Association of Realtors and there are guidelines regarding its use. It can be used with a proper name, but not with a descriptive term such as a place name. "ChrisRussellRealtor.com" is acceptable but "FairfaxRealtor.com" is not. A recent article in Inman News regarding RealtorGenius, which the NAR deemed an improper use of the term, went over the rules of its use.

Domain names that target certain geographic areas by region, town or even community can be very effective, and since you can have more than one, it might make sense to own domain names for the areas you target or farm and direct your URL advertising to those communities. "SellingAshburn.com" or "SellingMcLeanHomes.com" and "FallsChurchSales.com" can be used on sign riders or directionals when marketing in specific areas. You can also leap-frog off corporate branding using location such as "LongandFosterFairfax.com" While search engine placement is important, there are many other ways to direct consumers to your website like having it on your business cards and putting it in your email signature information. Recent research has shown that "low tech" marketing such as yard signs and word of mouth still generate the bulk of good quality leads in real estate.

Some agents choose to use a slogan, such as "GottaHavePav.com" which can be an excellent foundation for branding. However I still recommend buying your own name as a domain name and pointing it toward your site. There's always a possibility that someone will search for you by name instead of your advertised slogan, and it takes that domain name out of play so that someone else can't take "your" name and use it for purposes that are not in your best interest. The domain names WesFoster.com and PaulFoster.com are both owned by someone other than the Founder & CEO of Long & Foster and his son who is a Regional Vice President. There's a valuable lesson in protecting what's yours.

I also suggest buying domain names that are misspelled in addition to having it spelled correctly. If you are determined to use your name but there are two letters that are frequently transposed, or people keep trying to add a "c" or an "e" or spell it with a "k," then simply buy it spelled that way. A frequent misspelling is "Reality" for "Realty" so buy your domain name in its commonly misspelled form and consumers will still land on your site.

Use upper and lower case letters to break up your domain name into easily recognizable words that people will grasp quickly - like when they are driving past a yard sign. Longer domain names like "HouseHunterDan.com" and "PamSellsFineHomes.com" benefit from using upper case letters. Teams should also keep it short and simple with "BernieandRita.com" being purchased as "RitaandBernie.com" as well. The key is to think like a consumer might think and be one step ahead of the consumer experience. Your domain name is an important part of your overall branding and marketing strategy, so consider carefully what you are trying to convey and how you want to be perceived as a real estate professional.

Wes Foster's Mortgage Offer

Catherine S. Read (Creative Read, Inc.) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 17:15:33 -0500

On September 9th, an ad appeared in every major newspaper in the Mid-Atlantic Region where Long & Foster does business. In this ad, which appeared in the Sunday Real Estate Section of the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, etc. Wes Foster stated that he guarantees that if Prosperity Mortgage fails to fund a loan at closing, the buyer will receive up to $5,000 toward their mortgage payment.

Having been out in the Long & Foster branch offices recently teaching classes to L&F agents on building a web presence, I am surprised at the number of agents who don't seem familiar with this ad or with this offer from Prosperity Mortgage. It makes me wonder how many consumers know about the offer. It's actually an awesome marketing tool, but like so many other things at Long & Foster, it seems to be woefully underutilized as such.

What was even more interesting about the ad that appeared in the paper is that it simply directed the consumer to "Ask your Long & Foster agent to put you in touch with a professional Prosperity Mortgage loan officer today." No website address, no phone number, no email address. So I've been asking Long & Foster agents if they know what it looks like to try and find a Long & Foster agent on the web. Or more to the point, I ask how many of them have searched for themselves on the web. It's been interesting to see what Long & Foster agents really know about what the company has to offer, and how many have actually gone to the trouble of trying to duplicate an actual consumer's experience in finding a Long & Foster agent.