Niki Moran's Blog

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Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:22:48 -0700

CALL FOR ACTION FROM NAR: PREVENT NEW TAX BURDENS ON REAL ESTATE

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:16:20 -0700

Congress is considering changes to the tax code in order to pay for a number of tax provisions expiring in 2010 and two of these provisions would impact real estate:

The first would require all owners of rental properties to file IRS 1099 forms for all contractors they do business with if they pay that contractor $600 or more in any given year. This onerous provision would apply to even the smallest landlord.

In addition, Congress is considering taxing "carried interest" at ordinary income rates instead of capital gains. Carried interest rules govern how general partners in real estate investments pay taxes when the investment is sold. These new tax burdens will further delay the real estate market recovery. These proposals are ill-advised, inopportune and potentially destructive. Please click here to tell Congress to oppose them today.

Facebook: Profiles, Fan Pages, and Groups… Oh My!

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:57:41 -0700

GREAT post about Facebook profiles, including how to add your Active Rain feed to your Facebook page.

Via Cheryl Waller - Facebook.com/CustomFanPages (Marketing Consultant):

Maybe you are new to Facebook and maybe you are not, but maybe you still wonder whether you should add a Fan page, start a group or even bother with any of it at all. I mean what’s the difference anyway? Right?

Actually… Quite a bit.

Let’s start with personal profiles

First and foremost; if you are currently using your personal profile to promote your business by using a business name and/or logo on your personal profile…. STOP! Personal profiles are for individuals, not businesses. Not only is it against Facebook terms of service, it also detracts from the whole idea of being ‘social’. Guys, really? It’s not called ‘Logobook’ or ‘Brandbook’. Personal profiles need to have a picture of you. No and ifs or buts… use your college photo if you want, that’s fine…

Your personal profile is the first profile you set up on Facebook. (In very rare instances there is a business management account, but I will not go into that with this post)With your personal profile you post an image of yourself, post information about you and share pics, links, information etc with other friends in your network. Personal profiles are only allowed up to 5,000 friends and pages combined. So that means if you are a fan of 100 pages, your friend limit is 4,900. Become a fan (now this has been changed to ‘like’ a page) of 200 pages and your friend limit is 4,800. You get the idea. Basically, you can only have ‘connections’ to 5,000 people, entities or brands COMBINED on a personal profile.

Why would you want 5,000 friends? Ok, this is where the lines get a little burred between business and personal. You can also get your account deleted by Facebook if you go about it the wrong way or try to do it too quickly. Having 5,000 friends in the same industry as you is a quite powerful business tool. I won’t get much into it in this post, but start seeking out 10-20 people inside and outside your industry each day and send a friend request with an introduction. Try to make as many professional connections as you can. Believe me 5,000 people that play Farmville is NOT going to help you in the long run.

That’s about as far as I am going with personal profiles for this post. Right now, if you are currently using a business logo, brand, trademark or emblem on your personal page, I highly suggest you jump over to FaceBook right now to upload a personal photo and make sure that you are using your real name and not your business name …then come back to read the rest of this post.

See Also How to Avoid Being Scammed on Facebook | Verifying Applications

Fan Pages

Fan pages are for real businesses, brands, artists or public figures and essentially are their own identity. You must be an official representative of that entity in order to create a page. Once a page is created it essentially IS its own person. Pages cannot be publically tracked back to the creator of the page or the admins unless you choose to reveal that on your page. Pages allow you to update fans by demographic, which is really useful for target marketing. Fans can interact with your brand and have discussions, leave reviews, watch videos etc. etc.

Using an application called static FBML, you can add a custom tab to your fan page which is essentially a mini-website within Facebook. You can create your own custom fan page or have a custom fan page professional designed and uploaded for you. You can then set the default landing page for new fans to be sent directly to your custom Facebook business page. Current fans will always be taken directly to your fan page wall.

Also see Video: How to Create Your Own Facebook Custom Fan Page

And How to Add Your ActiveRain Blog to Your Facebook Fan Page in 10 Mins

There is no limit to the amount of fans you can have for a fan page and you can mass update all of your fans via email and on your fans walls via the fan page wall. Fan page updates are also integrated into Google real-time search results, whereas personal profile wall updates are not. Fan page content is publically visible (and searchable by search engines) regardless of a visitor’s status as a fan. (This is controllable using FBML, however that is beyond the scope of this post)

Groups

Groups are different from fan pages in a couple of ways. While they also have no limit to the number of members within the group, you will not be able to email update the members of your group once its size reaches 5,000 members. Groups also give you control over membership to the group. With a fan page, fans just click to become a fan and that’s it. Presto. They are a fan of your page. With groups, you can control who can become a member. You can choose to make it a private group, open to the public or limited to a certain network of people. If you choose you can also require an admin of the group to approve each group member before they are allowed access to the group. You can change these settings at any time and also choose to block specific people from joining at all. The only setting that cannot be changed is a network-specific group. Once a group is network specific, it cannot become global.

Membership types in a group

Members of a group can see content of that group based on the privacy settings set by the admins of the group. The number of groups a person joins does not affect their friend/pages limit but each person is limited to joining 300 groups in total. Group officers are listed on the group’s page and are essentially the same as any other member, besides being listed as an officer. Only group admins can make changes, send updates, set privacy or appoint other admins to the group.

So there you have it. There is a quick overview of the difference between personal profiles, fan pages, and groups. Keep your personal profile personal, your fans (potential clients and customers) updated and your members (current customers and clients) connected to your business through the use of these powerful business tools!

Also check out:

Press Releases: How and Why to Include Them in Your SEO

How to Set up a WordPress Blog on GoDaddy.com

Cheryl Waller
Marketing Consultant SEO, SEM, SMM
www.CherylWaller.com

Become a FAN!

CUSTOM FAN PAGES http://facebook.com/CustomFanPages

MARKETING http://facebook.com/VTMarketing

Great Google Search Tips

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:41:48 -0700

Here are some great tips for narrowing down your Google searches and finding exactly what you want, where you want it.

Tip: I saved it as a PDF file in my My Documents folder so I can reference it later (you could also save it as Favorite in your browser, but many times articles are purged).

http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2010/04/02/02gigaom-10-simple-google-search-tricks-58674.html

Come see IRES at the Realtor Rally

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:06:46 -0700

Headed to 2010 REALTOR Rally tomorrow (4/13) at the Colorado Convention Center? Stop by and see us at the IRES booth! Details and more info about the Rally can be found at www.realtorrally.org

FHA official statement: Now accepting e-signatures!

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:32:11 -0700

A press release from DocuSign®, our electronic signature provider, announces that e-signed third-party documents including real estate contracts, are now being accepted by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). See the April 8, 2010 FHA mortagee letter here.

DocuSign spearheaded an industry wide effort to encouarge the FHA to formally recognize e-signatures and this is the first in what is expected to be a series of responses to this initiative. Great news!

NO MORE PAPER BILLS FROM IRES

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:23:36 -0700

In an effort to maintain low costs and do our part for the environment, IRES Billing is going green the 2nd quarter 2010! All statements will be sent via email - no more paper bills. Therefore, be sure to check your email account for your IRES bill. The Subject line will be "IRES, LLC Statement" and it will be from accounts@ires-net.com. If your Employing Broker has received your bill in the past, they will continue to do so.

Our 4 payment options will be outlined in the bill and are:

Cash

Check (Payable to IRES, LLC and mail to 2725 Rocky Mountain Ave, Suite 450, Loveland, CO 80538)

Credit Cards (VISA or MasterCard). Your bill will include a link to pay online or go to the MyInfo screen, under the User tab in IRESis.

Automatic payment options (EFT or credit card) Click here to access the form to set up automatic payments.

Please note our NEW POLICY on past due accounts: Effective this quarter, if an agent has not paid their bill 2 weeks before the end of the quarter, their balance will be transfered to the Employing Broker's account.

Governmental Affairs in Northern Colorado

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:45:53 -0700

IRES posts weekly updates from our GAD (Governmental Affairs Director) on our Company site. Stay up to date on how regulations may affect your market. Go to www.ires-net.com then News/Governmental Affairs or click here.

Cloud CMA Tip!

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:54:23 -0700

Cloud CMA Tip: FIRST, perform your search and find your comps in IRESis. The MLS has extensive search capabilities that allows you to find the best comparable properties. THEN, open Cloud CMA and enter the MLS numbers. We do not recommend using the "Proximity" search in Cloud because location is the sole criteria. If you haven't used Cloud CMA yet, links are located on the Start Screen and under the Reports tab. This software creates attractive and dynamic reports to share with your clients: CMA's, Property reports (for Open Houses, presentations) and Buyer Tours (for showings). Cloud CMA is FREE to IRES subscribers.

See why IRES thinks you should consider online Transaction Management

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:53:44 -0700

New Stuff on IRESis Today!

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:14:50 -0700

Based on user feedback, we have made some improvements to the IRES MLS today. Check out the video!

IRES MLS serving Denver locally. Join IRES for classes at the Denver Board of Realtors

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:22:08 -0800

Your chance to learn more about SureClose

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:41:02 -0800

If your business improved by having online contracts, consider the revolutionary benefits you could receive by accessing your entire transaction file online. SureClose and IRES will be holding a free educational event on March 18^th from 10:00-11:00 to share information about the state of the art transaction management system now offered to IRES subscribers. SureClose is a powerful tool that assists your office in transitioning into the age of paperless transactions. It allows your office to manage risk, operate efficiently, save time & money, communicate easily, and give clients superior services. For more information about SureClose, please click here.

You can choose to attend via webinar from your own location (must have high-speed internet and a telephone line) or you can join us at the IRES office. Attendance to this session is free to IRES subscribers. Click here to register for the webinar or click here to attend at the IRES office.

Learn Social Media Tips from Dell

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:52:45 -0800

Here's an interesting Facebook page from Dell on social media for small businesses.

Click here to check it out

An all new mapping system is on IRESis!

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:12:35 -0800

Press Release regarding IRES & SureClose partnership

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:19:43 -0800

Click here to read the press release!

IRES MLS in Denver news.

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:28:43 -0800

Denvering.com

Jennifer Pollock discovers Denver.

Is Denver Metrolist system an MLS of choice?

by Jennifer Pollock on February 11, 2010

As a current member of the Denver Board of Realtors, I am posting my thoughts on the changes happening in the real estate community of Denver.

For many years the Realtor community of Denver had only one avenue to promote and sell Denver homes online.

This system is called Metrolist. Since I became a Realtor almost 8+ years ago we did not have options on where we could post and sell our homes. We all used Metrolist in Denver.

Welcome to 2010 and things have opened up in terms of promoting homes for sale online.

Currently in the Denver marketplace there are two options to promote our homes online.

These two competing entities are called Metrolist and IRES. We finally had a choice as to which MLS system us Realtors could choose to pay for.

I was introduced to the IRES model around 1 year ago and found it an incredibly powerful tool to provide to both my buyers and sellers here in Denver.

I love the way IRES offers me a program to have my buyers receive listings three times per day as new homes come on the market. This allows me and my buyers faster access to the best homes quickly. I have many happy homebuyers because of this system.

Additionally, IRES has a new CMA (market analysis) program that is efficient and produces beautiful documents for me to deliver to my sellers to discuss how to price and sell their home. Metrolist currently does not offer the Cloud CMA program.

Cloud CMA is easy to use and offers a beautiful electronic/print format CMA program that meets my needs as a busy, active, full-time realtor. There are many more features that IRES offers but I will not bore you with all the details here.

I chose to subscribe to the IRES MLS service for a full year in December 2009. After making this decision and paying up front for a full year I have been told that I must subscribe to a $38 per month fee to belong to Denver's Metrolist.

Metrolist does not offer me as a broker at a large real estate firm the option of paying a small fee to appease Metrolist while I continue to access all my data on the IRES system.

By being a willing subscriber to IRES and an unwillilng subscriber to Metrolist I am essentially paying almost $900.00 per year to access the same data on two different systems.

All I want to do is subscribe to the system that I choose without being punished and forced to subscribe to a system I don't like and won't use other than to input listings so they look good on the Metrolist system and receive IDX feeds to my website.

I would love to get comments from other Denver Realtors, friends, business owners on this practice and your thoughts on the Metrolist subscriber issues.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Pollock, Happy IRES subscriber.

To post a comment, click on the comment tab and a form will show up. Thanks for listening.

January 29, 2010

Calling all skiers and non-skiers to downtown Denver this weekend! The 1st ever Apres Ski Party is being held in celebration of Denver's 1st ever hosting of the SIA (snow industry trade show). This tradeshow is one of the USA's biggest snow tradeshows held every January.
Find yourself enjoying all the fun events beginning at Skyline Park where you [...]

Read the full article →

The crown jewel of Denver's Park system, Washington Park in Southeast Denver.

January 26, 2010

Wash Park, as it is lovingly called in and around Denver, is the crown jewel of the Denver Park system.
The park covers over 165 acres of land in the center of Denver.
This park seems to always have people walking , biking, running, playing with dogs, playing tennis,
shooting hoops, serious summer volleyball tournaments, kids fishing in [...]

Read the full article →

Winter Brewfest at Mile High Station on January 22, 2010

January 25, 2010

This year's Winter Brewfest was held at Mile High Station near Denver's
Invesco Field. Tickets were $30 dollars in advance and $35 night
of the party, for $40 dollars you had the opportunity to attend the
VIP event which included special brews paired with cheese
supplied by Cabot cheese. There were over 20 breweries
represented from Colorado and Wyoming. Some of the breweries
that [...]

Read the full article →

Welcome to Denvering.com and The Pepsi Center of Denver!

January 25, 2010

Hi Everyone. Well, this is the very first post on Denvering.com
but if you have followed me at MayfairDenver.com then you have an
idea of how much fun stuff you can see and read on my blogs.
Hope you find this new adventure in discovering Denver a wild ride
with lots of twists and turns. Feel free to comment or [...]

Read the full article →

Denver Videos Rock Bottom Brewery monthly tappings of freshly brewed beer. 17 views 08 Feb 10 01 Jennifer Pollock, realtor extraordinaire, welcomes you to De 27 views 28 Jan 10 02 Denver's Washington Park 21 views 26 Jan 10 03 Winter Brewfest 2010 Mile High Station 33 views 25 Jan 10 04 Untitled 24 views 25 Jan 10 05 see all 25 videos > I collect with vodpod Previous 5 Next 5
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The SureClose & IRES partnership has begun!

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:50:17 -0800

The SureClose & IRES partnership has begun!
SureClose is the answer

The teams at IRES and SureClose have worked hard to put together a solid training curriculum and incredible savings opportunity for IRES offices that want to utilize SureClose as their paperless file management system. With input from an awesome group of pilot offices, we've developed detailed base templates that will allow new offices to implement and enjoy the benefits of SureClose quickly and easily.

Testimonial from Broker Owner Lew Kingdom from Wright Kingdom in Boulder.

Want to learn more?
Call IRES: (800-596-4901)
Read: SureClose Benefits
Visit: www.propertyinfo.com/ires

for FAQ’s, videos, and more.

Cloud CMA Testimonial from broker Dean Semelbauer

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:42:43 -0800

I absolutely love it! As usual, IRES has come through with flying colors. Not only is CloudCMA extremely intuitive and easy to use but it produces a very professional report. I really like how some of the report, i.e.-letter to seller, is customizable. That makes my job so much easier when I go on a listing appointment. As always, IRES has gone above and beyond!

Dean Semelbauer
Link Point Properties, LLC

To create your own free account, log into IRESis and click the Cloud CMA icon on the Start Screen.

Cloud CMA included in your IRES MLS Fees

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:14:31 -0800

Create professional CMA, Property, and Buyer Tour reports with CloudCMA, now available on IRESis at no extra cost! Check out the Start Screen for more details.

Click here to read a kudos blog post about this new application.

Be a part of the IRES MLS and SureClose partnership

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:30:30 -0800

Via Beth Young (PropertyInfo Corp. - SureClose):

Over time, valuable tools have come together to form great combinations.

What would you do with nails if you didn't have a hammer?

How could you use thread without a needle?

How useful could your computer be without a keyboard?

Another great combination has been formed that will make history in 2010...

SureClose® and IRES MLS

The teams at IRES and SureClose have been working hard to put together a solid training curriculum and incredible savings opportunity for IRES subscribers who want to utilize SureClose as their paperless file management system. With the input from a stellar pilot group of Colorado brokerages, we've developed detailed base templates that will allow new users to implement and enjoy the benefits of SureClose quickly and easily.

For more information, visit: http://propertyinfo.com/ires

If you love statistics, become an Everitt Real Estate Center Member

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:01:25 -0800

Right now is the time to register for your 2010 Colorado State University Everitt Real Estate Center Membership. Take advantage of membership in 2010 to grow your affluence and business. Associate Membership has a value of $400, SIGN-UP NOW for $200 ($150 if you are an IRES subscriber).

Top 10 reasons to become a member:

• Free admission to top tier events analyzing the latest trends and issues in the industry and local community

• Opportunities to attend private speaker presentation or receptions

• Access to industry research and analysis completed in conjunction with the Center and Colorado State University

• Semi-annual updates of the CSU Everitt Real Estate Center House Price Indices

• Interdisciplinary education and networking

• Enhance real estate students learning experiences by supporting real estate student scholarships by becoming a member (a portion of all memberships go to scholarships)

• Employing knowledgeable interns and future leaders

• Receive all your required continuing education credits and gain valuable statistics and tools to help grow your business

Cutting Costs in a Tough Market

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:38:17 -0800

See how IRES can help you cut costs in this tough market!

SureClose

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:35:57 -0800

The SureClose release is coming soon! We've created a handout called "Tell me more about SureClose" to give you the inside scoop on what you get when you sign up for this top quality system with extremely high security, preloaded templates, extensive training, and more.

For more information, please visit www.PropertyInfo.com/ires. We are very excited about this partnership and hope you will take advantage of this exceptional tool.

Generate leads by framing ColoProperty!

Niki Moran (IRES LLC) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:55:52 -0800