Dan Goodwin's Blog

The Real Estate Tweet Plan That Won't Cramp Your Style

Dan Goodwin (Keller Williams Realty Partners, Inc.) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:22:55 -0700

Just finished a webinar sponsored by Realtor.com where Nik Nik was the featured speaker. As a relative newbie for social media, it was very informative and really opened my eyes to the growing possibilities for the future. If you ever have the chance to listen in for her training, it is a MUST to be in the game. She ROCKS!!

Via Nicole Nicolay (MyTechOpinion):

Now more than ever real estate twits are working twice as hard. Do you really have time to tweet all day while you’re showing 18 houses, writing multiple contracts, and consulting with your clients? If you do, great…don’t bother reading the rest of this article. The Real Estate Tweet Plan is only for twits looking to organize and better balance social media marketing strategies.

RE TWEET PLAN DISCLAIMER: This plan may work great for those with little time in their day to tweet. But for some, taking time to organize tweets may actually be more time consuming that just tweeting off the cuff. This is NOT a plan for spontaneous tweeters and those of us that have adopted Twitter as a member of the family. This plan is for twits that want to tweet but are finding it hard to do so during their work day. Just remember, this is one Real Estate Tweet Plan example, what does yours look like?

Real Estate Tweet Plan created for @RENonna:

(1)   Choose Twitter Check-in Times - @RENonna checks in with Twitter every morning with her coffee from 6:30-7:00am and every evening after dinner with her glass of red wine from 7-8pm. During those times, she (1) learns about her followers and chooses to follow back or not, (2) selects new followers she’s interested in and can learn from, (3) updates her tweetlists, (4) looks for helpful resources/media, (5) schedules her Daily 5.

(2)   Start w/ your Daily 5 - @RENonna’s Daily 5 (which are her interest & expertise topics) include: (1) short sale advice & tips, (2) Pleasanton (local) events, (3) seasonal homeowner tips, (4) great buys (deals uncovered while previewing), and (5) weekender attractions. Other real estate specific topics could include: neighborhood stats & info, local tax and legal updates, credit tips and advice, etc.

(3)   Make a Tweetlist(s) - @RENonna creates a list of pre-planned tweets that she will either sporadically tweet or schedule throughout the day. Here’s her Tweetlist for a given day:

Tweet 1: Short sale tip: Remember to consult with your CPA - could make the difference between a tax consequence, or not.

Tweet 2: Pleasanton Holiday Food Drive, donations of non-perishables can be made here: http://budurl.com/tat5.

Tweet 3: Winter Weather Tips for Maintaining Curb Appeal: http://budurl.com/bjvl

Tweet 4: Local steal found on tour! Pleasanton charmer- 1234 Rose Ave, 4 bd 3 ba, 2450 sqft, .25 acre lot, walk to downtown, bank-owned $325,000!

Tweet 5: Ice skating in downtown Walnut Creek begins this weekend, check here for details: http://budurl.com/erdd

(4)   Schedule Tweets – Keep your tweetlist at your desk or on you if you’re mobile. If you don’t want to manually tweet, use Tweetlater or Twuffer to schedule your tweets. Schedule them for time periods you will be focusing on work tasks only (or if you are on a business trip, vacation, etc). For example, @RENonna set up her Daily 5 to be tweeted from Tweetlater at: 9:00am, 10:30am, 1:15pm, 2:30pm, and 4:15pm. @RENonna also created Bud URLs for all the resource links she shares so she can track her follower activity. If she notices that she’s not getting much local traffic from the morning tweets, then she may choose to schedule more tweets in the afternoon.

(5)   Create an auto-welcome message - @RENonna would like to personally review and choose her followers. But she won’t be able to do that working in the field showing homes most days. So she plans to investigate her new followers during her Twitter Check-in times. In the meantime, she would still like to send a basic ONE-TIME “thanks for following” or “welcome” message to her new interested party. So @RENonna composed a welcome message, “Thanks for following me. Nice to meet you, virtually!” and set it up as an auto-welcome message from Tweetlater to all new followers. NOTE: @RENonna is only sending a quick welcome message, NOT auto-following back. She waits until she can personally review new follower profiles, Websites, updates, etc. to make her choice on whether to follow back or not. OFF THE HOOK: Instead of just creating an auto message…include a “Welcome Video”.

(6)   Supplement w/ spontaneous Tweets – In between your scheduled pre-planned Tweets, you may find yourself with an occasional opportunity to conversationally tweet. Do it! Or if you have an experience or current event that you want to share, by all means, share away. You can also use your Twitter Check-in times to converse and share your most recent thoughts, ideas, ramblings, or happenings. The point is, when you can and want to share, get back in the Twitter conversation. Twitter will be there…most times.

ONE LAST TIP: Be sure to aggregate your Tweets on your real estate blog and other social profiles. (my example)You can get more mileage out of your Tweets by sharing them beyond the Twitosphere –with your blog readers and other networks (Facebook, FriendFeed, etc.).

This post is dedicated to Jeremy Blanton...who never gives up! Seriously! You rock!

How To Use Your Smartphone as a Safety Device

Dan Goodwin (Keller Williams Realty Partners, Inc.) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:24:23 -0700

Great article on real estate safety. We often tell our new (and experienced) agents to use the theory of CITO (Come Into the Office) when meeting new clients. My wife and I are a team and if at all possible, she does not show houses alone with a client until they are verified. I have even made our new clients come in before we go to a single house. Now I know the sign calls can be the siren song, especially if our closings need a boost. If you must do the pop-by, make sure someone knows where you are, who you are with, and what time you are expected to be done. Make a phone call and keep the line open. Write down the license plate number of the car you are meeting and text it to your accountability partner. Never let your car be blocked in a driveway. Never let a customer block your escape from a house. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Let's be safe out there.

To your success,

The Goodwin Team
Dan and Shelda

Via Moby (Moby):

If our previous post taught us anything, it is that Active Rainers are definitely passionate about their Smartphones! Smartphones, no matter what platform you are on, are great because of their apps; whether they allow you to upload a video, check in your location or e-mail a client. Considering there are over 200,000 apps in the Apple AppStore alone, it is no wonder many of us spend endless hours searching for the right apps.

But how about safety apps? Having safety apps downloaded on your Smartphone can create great peace of mind for both you and your loved ones. As we mentioned in our previous blog “Amber Alerts on ActiveRain & Tips on How to Stay Safe”, being a Realtor can sometimes mean putting yourself in vulnerable situations. That is why it is important to have the right tools and attitude to empower your safety!

To continue promoting safety within the Active Rain community we created a customized infographic that lists essential safety apps for Realtors. Rather than talk about the uses of Moby as a personal safety app, we decided it would be useful to take a look at other Smartphone apps that can come in handy during emergencies. Please feel free to share, reblog or print this however you would like to.

We created this list as a reference for our fellow ActiveRain members, and in no way are we associated with any of the apps that we have listed.

If you use any other app for your safety please share them with us in the comment section bellow.

Take care and be safe everyone!

Moby Team

YOUR personal safety service

OCWEN - Can you do the Short Sale Limbo?

Dan Goodwin (Keller Williams Realty Partners, Inc.) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:06:07 -0700

Ok, here is the question. The Goodwin Team has been successful in getting short sales to closing. 90% of the time we are the listing agent. We have a repeat client who has their own home under contract and a contract on their next home, a short sale on which the bank, through a series of mortgage sales, is OCWEN. Now, folks, I am not usually on the buy side of a short sale. I would much rather be in control (or, at least believe I am) on the listing side. The co-op listing agent has also completed a number of short sales, so my point is that neither one of us are short sale virgins. She was told today that the short sale approval she was given (verbally) last Thursday was cancelled because the homeowners may now qualify under HAFA. Huh?

Last Thursday, the listing agent was told she could expect the approval letter within 48 hours (by yesterday according to my calendar). When she called to follow up today, she was told the letter was cancelled due to the new HAFA regs. Now, I have studied these regs, went to the NAR website, perused the CDPE info, etc., etc. Now for the $64,000 question.

WHAT PART OF HAFA WOULD THESE HOMEOWNERS WANT TO CONSIDER?

Contract completed, BPO done, couple (ex at this point) moved out, inspections complete, let's get this house closed next Wednesday. Does anyone know why OCWEN would throw this roadblock a week before closing? I am truly puzzled about what the goal is here. I know I am probably preaching to the choir at this point, and I appreciate your indulgence. Now waiting on "the packet" to be mailed to the residence for the homeowner. Homeowner to work with listing agent to turn around paperwork to OCWEN stating they do not qualify or do not wish to participate.

Can anyone else think of next steps to move this file to successful close? Any advice appreciated!!

The Goodwin Team
Dan and Shelda

Federal Tax Credit Extension Approved by the House of Representatives

Dan Goodwin (Keller Williams Realty Partners, Inc.) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:44:58 -0700

Great news if we can get the Senate on board. I know it would help some clients in our office.

Via Patricia Kennedy (Evers & Company Realtors):

Inman News has just reported that the House of Representatives has passed a stand alone bill that would extend the settlement deadline on the $8000 Federal tax credit for first time homebuyers.

The bill must now go to the Senate because it's not the same bill that the Senate already passed, and Senator Byrd's death will probably delay passage. Still, I would be amazed if the Senate didn't pass it soon and send it off to the White House for the President's signature.

There were a lot of buyers, especially buyers mired in the short sale approval process, who were under contract in time but are still waiting for their "cleared for closing".

And luckily for homebuyers, Congress will probably take less time to get this through that a Bank of America short sale negotiator will take to approve their contract.

At least we can hope.