What is a lead? - 08/31/06 09:17 PM
Today's Inman News has a story titled: "When is a lead a lead?" written by a college professor, Manager of Real Estate Services at HomePoint.com, and broker-owner of a real estate firm named Kyle Cascioli.
HomePoint is apparently another online lead generation ‘service' and Active Rainer Bonnie Box is quoted in the article.
Kyle could have saved himself a lot of time and writing if he had just looked back to a story written by Peter Miller who is "OurBroker" on AOL and a free lance real estate writer.
http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/19991116_numbersgame.htm
"Online Numbers Game No Substitute For Results"
Peter called me and asked what my definition … (3 comments)
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Don't do it and keep your sellers happy too. - 08/30/06 09:07 AM
What do you NOT do that sellers typically expect?
There are 2 things I almost never do that many of us perceive sellers expect in order to get their home sold.
Is to run lots of ads in your local newspaper.Host a public open house at least once during the listing period; some do more.I do not do either one of these things and yet keep my sellers happy with me and my services.
After sitting down with typical sellers during a listing presentation and going over my marketing plan including a list of things I promise to do in order to get their house sold, … (13 comments)
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Good Grief!! "We has met the enemy and he is us." - 08/29/06 12:52 PM
2 of my favorite quotes from the comics; "Good Grief!" is Charlie Brown of Peanuts fames favorite saying. "We has met the enemy and he is us" is from an old comic strip called "Pogo". Pogo was a cartoon opossum and the originator of that saying.
There has been a lot of noise on the net lately about automated home valuation models along with an increase of websites offering them to John Q. Public.
Unfortunately for those that put a lot of stock in these online appraisals they're generally overly broad and very, very often not valid for today's prices in a … (8 comments)
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If you do the same thing everyone else does who needs you??? - 08/28/06 03:32 PM
One of the ways I advertise and market my services and my listings is in the monthly magazines most every town has several of.
You know, the ones that are either full sized magazines or smaller versions about the size of a "Reader's Digest, "The Real Estate Book" is one that I believe is nationwide.
http://www.therealestatebook.com/ and if you have a print ad they also throw in the same ad on their website.
Our Real Estate is right now around 250 pages and all the ads look alike to me: "New Listing" "Motivated Seller" "Won't Last Long At This Price" and … (13 comments)
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My computer can beat your computer. - 08/26/06 10:45 AM
So you think your Dell XP 10,000 BLT special is pretty speedy??
If you line it up against Oak Ridge National Laboratories newly upgraded "Jaguar" supercomputer that runs at 54 teraflops, or 54 trillion mathematical calculations per second you'll get left in the dust so fast you won't even have time to blink.
Oak Ridge National Labs (or ORNL as we know it locally) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, just doubled the speed of their super computer by hooking up 54 Cray XT3 supercomputers to run in tandum making their computer the fifth fastest in the world.
http://tinyurl.com/pwlwt
I actually got to visit the computer room … (9 comments)
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More business building ideas - 08/26/06 09:41 AM
Here's a quick and easy promotional idea.
Each time you have a closing make 2 extra copies of the closing statement.
Write the buyer and seller each a letter dated January 2nd of the following year that says something like:
Dear Tom and Denise,
Before you know it tax time will be on us again.
To save you some time (and hopefully some money) I'm enclosing a copy of the closing statement from the real estate transaction we had this past year.
As you probably know some of these expenses could be tax deductible; your accountant or tax preparer can best advise you … (8 comments)
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Business promotion ideas - 08/26/06 02:07 AM
With Halloween not too far away here's something I've done for the past few years that has actually generated some business.
I get a few boxes of Baggies and put our Halloween treats in them along with two of my business cards.
Knowing most parents look very closely at their kid's candy these days I have found this to be a great opportunity to get my name in front of them in a positive manner.
I also feel that adding my card acts as sort of a "Good Housekeeping seal of approval" that the treat is safe for their children further adding to a … (8 comments)
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Cool programs for real estate - 08/25/06 06:32 PM
One very cool and easy to use program I've had to years and use several times a week is Microsoft Publisher.
It's the easiest desktop publishing program I've came across for designing flyers, post cards, business cards, brochures, and any other variety of printed material.
For instance when I want to do a "Just Listed" post card I open up Publisher, pull up a saved format, plug in the new house photo, print it to a PDF file, and e mail it to http://www.expresscopy.com/ in Oregon.
Next I export however many addresses I need from our online MLS tax records, save … (5 comments)
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Are you using your e mail program to its full potential??? - 08/25/06 04:46 PM
Lots of full featured e mail program do more than just send and receive e mail.
Probably one of the most underutilized features is the spellchecker. When you're sending or replying to email involving a buyer or seller it's very important to not only use proper grammar but also to make sure your spelling is correct.
I have used Eudora Pro for my e mail client for many years now and the spellchecker is one of the features I use most often.
www.Eudora.com
Often used e mail addresses can be put into an address book within a email program so you don't forget … (1 comments)
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I sell houses, not interest rates. - 08/24/06 04:33 PM
As interest rates slowly edge up from a huge dip news stories are staring to predict the end of the housing boom, the bursting of the bubble, and even a housing recession.
However, as anyone who's been in this business longer than 15 years will probably agree, interest rates have been high before just as interest rates have been low before.
Personally I got my license in 1978 and remember those dark days in the early 1980s when FHA & VA rates were in the 18-20% range.
People were buying homes then and getting new mortgages.
We did have to apply some … (4 comments)
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Turnabout is fair play - 08/22/06 08:29 AM
After enduring dozens of e mails from the "Reverend Franks" of the world wanting me to help them find real estate, received their 'over invoiced' oil revenues, loot fictional dead people's bank accounts, etc., etc., ad naseum, it's time to fight back with a little dose of their own medicine.
"August 21, 2006
My Dearest Reverend Frank,
Thank you for your recent missive looking for an American Realtor to help you buy property in this country for your flock.
Unfortunately I can't help with that task right now because I'm busy with another, much bigger project that maybe you could help me … (7 comments)
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How to sell income property - 08/21/06 10:41 AM
"Income Property Brokerage" by John Peckham, CCIM
I just received my copy of and am anxious to not only start reading it but start doing it was well.
$22.86 delivered to my office from www.Amazon.com
I buy and sell single family homes both as an investment for myself and for clients. I've long thought of moving up to small apartment buildings and other income properties for several reasons.
My favorite reason; the commissions are much bigger since your usually dealing with more expensive properties than single family residential properties. You're dealing for the most part with fairly savvy business people so not as much hand holding … (6 comments)
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Location, Location, Location!!! - 08/20/06 09:27 PM
NOTE: This blog is mostly a totally shameless promotion for a great new golf course listing, golfers will understand. ;-)
All this has inspired me to start a new blog on my website: www.KnoxvilleMLS.com
http://knoxvillerealestate.typepad.com/
Picture yourself sitting on the patio of your new home, sipping a cold beverage, and watching Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, and other golfing greats stroll down the fairway adjacent to your lawn.
233 feet of frontage on the #1 fairway and just a long drive from the clubhouse.
http://www.visualtour.com/show.asp?T=713266
This breathtaking lot is "the absolute best choice" in the great, new "Tennessee National" gated community featuring a Greg Norman designed golf … (2 comments)
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"Be careful what you ask for" department. - 08/20/06 12:43 PM
I've had a long time hate/love relationship with the folks that operate Realtor.com for NAR since around 1995 when they first went into business with us and were called RealSelect.
Back then I thought Realtor.com was the greatest thing since pockets on a shirt and would revolutionize the way we did business. That was moderately true.
Since then they've done some really dumb things with their business not to mention some pretty crappy things to us; their "Realtor partners" (their name for us among others).
One of their biggest stumbles was "cooking the books" back when Stuart Wolfe and his band of … (11 comments)
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Title Insurance, who pays where you are??? - 08/19/06 03:01 PM
I’m always fascinated by the way real estate customs and practices seem to differ from one part of the country to another.
For instance in Knoxville, Tennessee where I practice real estate, buyers pay for their lenders title insurance and also their owner’s title policy should they choose to purchase one.
However just 100 miles south of me in Chattanooga, Tennessee it seems to be the custom there for sellers to pay for their buyer’s title insurance.
I had a client a few years back that had just sold their home in Chattanooga, moved to Knoxville, and made an offer on … (7 comments)
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Stop and smell the roses. - 08/19/06 11:16 AM
Saturday morning, 7:00 AM. Wife and I rode our bikes in the nearby Great Smoky Mountains Park
9:00 AM Wife and I had breakfast at local restaurant after bike ride.
11:00 AM Wife and I dropped by estate sale in our neighborhood; bought a couple of things we have absolutely no use for.
12:00 Noon. I went to an auction because they had advertised several firearms I might have been interested in. Unfortunately they sold them first while I was peddling through the mountains. Wife is happy they did. ;-)
So far today no real estate business has been transacted and frankly I hope the … (4 comments)
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What makes a great real estate website??? - 08/18/06 10:02 AM
Starting off would be a powerful design; that is one that is visually appealing, has a ‘clean' look, and easy to navigate.
Here's the link for Alice Held's website; Alice is a Realtor in Arizona and I've always thought she had one of the best real estate websites I've seen.
http://www.come2az.com/
Clean, visually appealing designed, lots of compelling content, and tons of great information about the area she serves.
Second would be lots of useful content to today's real estate consumers. People buying and selling, first and far and away most important; want to see ALL the homes for sale in a certain area. … (5 comments)
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BYOC (Bring Your Own Commission) - 08/16/06 01:11 PM
http://www.inman.com/inmannews.aspx?ID=55517
In today's Inman News there is part 2 of a 3 part series of articles by Brian Larson, a Minnesota attorney and well known real estate law practitioner.
http://www.larsonlegal.com/
"Brian Larson provides copyright, trademark, Internet/computer, and technology and licensing counsel to individuals and small and growing businesses. He also represents trade associations and multiple listing services in antitrust, policy development, and strategic planning. His firm provides services to clients throughout the United States and in Canada."
He's been advocating the end of "interbroker compensation", that is, the buyer's agent or facilitator being paid a portion of the commission paid to the listing … (4 comments)
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Graduate, REALTOR® Institute (GRI) A sign of professionalism in real estate - 08/14/06 04:07 PM
Become a GRI
One of the oldest designations offered by NAR is the GRI (Graduate, REALTOR® Institute)
It's been around more than 25 years and has been constantly updated over those years to remain valuable and beneficial to today's real estate practitioner.
Currently I believe around 19% of the current NAR membership have earned their GRI designation.
One huge reason to want to earn the GRI is income; according to an NAR study back in 2003 Realtors with any sort of NAR designation earned an average of $33,200 more than Realtors with no designations.
Second would be to increase your skill levels and … (3 comments)
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"After the fact referral fees", you can fight them and win - 08/13/06 06:55 AM
This may have happened to you.
You have a client, buyer or seller, who signs up to do business with you. You do what they asked you to, sell their house or help them buy one, and suddenly just before the deal closes the "Relocation Fee Fairy" (RFF) taps you on the shoulder with her magic want and says: "Great job, by the way those are our clients too, we get a 35, 40, even a 50% referral fee from you for the privilege of working with ‘our clients'.
Back in the old days there really wasn't much you could do … (6 comments)
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Buyer Agent designations - 08/11/06 08:10 PM
Do you like working with buyers?? Maybe you should consider becoming an ABR or an EBA.
ABR is the acronym for "Accredited Buyers Representative" while EBA stands for "Exclusive Buyer Agent"
An ABR usually works for a traditional real estate firm that both takes listings and sells them; an EBA however only works with buyers, they never work with sellers or take listings.
REBAC or the "Real Estate Buyer Agent Council" is the umbrella group for ABR designees and is owned and operated by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Their official website is http://www.rebac.net
To earn the ABR designation you must successfully meet 4 … (4 comments)
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It's the listings stupid! - 08/11/06 08:54 AM
Sometimes I get a headache reading about all the new ways some really smart boys & girls have found to search for houses in the www.
Vertical searches, pay per click, organic searches, etc., etc.
Ever since Bill Chee gave that now famous "Lion over the hill" speech back in 1995, in which he predicted the demise of Realtors and the real estate industry as we knew it then because of competition from folks like Microsoft & IBM; newer, better, faster, smarter boys & girls have been coming up with ways to "help" us sell houses, "help" us sell house cheaper, "help" us … (5 comments)
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How to become a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) - 08/10/06 09:57 AM
The highest professional designation awarded to all Realtors is the CRS or "Certified Residential Specialist"
It's also tougher to earn a CRS designation than any of the others I've done, in fact less than 4% of all the 1,000,000 plus current membership are CRS designees.
First there are production requirements; you must meet:
Participate in 75 transaction sides within any 5 year period of do a gross volume of $25,000,000 during any five year periord.
Successfuly complete any two Residential Sales Council RS core courses (business planning & marketing, listings, sales, wealth building, technology, or referrals.
AND complete a total of 4 more elective units such … (6 comments)
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Ice Cream Contest, please cast your ballot for Extreme Moose Tracks - 08/09/06 08:49 PM
Boys & Girls please pay close attention!A local dairy is having a "best ice cream" contest to decide which of their 4 promotional flavors will become a part of their regular line up.If you've even been in an area served by Mayfield's Dairy you may have had an opportunity to sample what to me is the clear, hands down, winner, "Extreme Moose Tracks" Funny name I know but Extreme Moose Tracks is chocolate ice cream with a huge ribbon of chocolate running thru it and accented by mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I ask you what could possibly be better.I ask … (9 comments)
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More Cool Stuff - 08/09/06 09:37 AM
Do it yourself virtual tours.
For several years now I've used http://www.visualtours.com/ for my virtual tours. All my listings get one and a special place on my website titled "Featured Homes".
http://www.visualtour.com/ in my hardly ever humble opinion has one of the best and easiest to use, ‘do it yourself' virtual tour products on the market today.
In addition to being easy to use a lot of Realtor MLSs' can automatically insert one of their virtual tours into your MLS listing making it more valuable to the users.
They also can integrate that tour into your listing on Realtor.com and free of … (3 comments)
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Cool Stuff - 08/08/06 08:22 PM
I just got off the phone with the leadership of our state CRS chapter. We had our 45 minute meeting using http://www.gotomeeting.com/ which is a very cool piece of meeting technology that lets up to 10 people ‘meet' in real time via either your web browser or telephone; sort of like a conference call on steroids.
Our state association funds this tool for members to use; the annual cost for unlimited meetings is $468.00.
You can do demonstrations, presentations, or just have a secure conference call with no conference call charges, just your regular phone charges.
They also have a corporate option … (2 comments)
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The real estate industry drills Congress - 08/07/06 11:09 AM
Which makes Congressman Michael Oxley (Republican embarassment from Ohio) 0 for 3 in his assault on our industry.
He also struck out on his "Fair Choice in Real Estate Act" which didn't get out of the starting gate and failed to prevent the Senate Appropriations Committee from approving legislation that would permanently ban banks from engaging in real estate brokerage.
Realty Times has a great story today about how our industry gathered their facts and drilled holes in all of Congressman Oxley's theories and bad facts about how consumer unfriendly and non competative this business is.
http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20060731_industrystrikesback.htm
Congressman Oxley needs to get a real … (2 comments)
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NAR's e-PRO certification, it will make you better online - 08/06/06 04:58 PM
Several years ago NAR decided this www thing was probably here to stay and decided to roll out a program to educate the membership about how to use it to their best advantage.
The program was named "e-PRO" for "Internet Certified Professional" and after a bump in the road with the original company that started it, NAR gave the job to an outfit called "The Internet Crusade" who picked up the ball and ran very, very well with it.
Saul Klein, Mike Barnet, & John Reilly are the founders and principals of the Internet Crusade and the operators of the current … (8 comments)
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Real Estate Specific Contact Management Programs - 08/05/06 02:56 PM
For those of you thinking of a real estate specific contact management program or wanting to learn more about the one you have both Top Producer and Agent Office are on 2 Realtor operated forums with lots of members that use those programs.
The Top Producer one is: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/topproducerusenet/
with 1,121 current member/users
and Agent Office is:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/onlineagentusers/
with 502 member/users
Also several trainers, resellers, and tech folks from the respective companies are on these groups so you can get most any question you may have answered by someone who knows what they're talking about.
… (5 comments)
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NAR designations, what they mean and where to get some - 08/05/06 01:42 PM
One of the many, many benefits the National Association of Realtors provides to it's members is the designations program.
"REALTOR® Family Designation ProgramsThe NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has nine affiliated Institutes, Societies, and Councils that provide a wide-ranging menu of programs and services that assist members in increasing skills, productivity and knowledge. Designations acknowledging experience and expertise in various real estate sectors are awarded by each Affiliated group upon completion of required courses. In addition, NAR offers two certification programs to its members."
I have personal experience with several of NAR's designations including CRS (Certified Residential Specialist), ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative), GRI … (10 comments)
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Technology dos & don'ts for your listings. - 08/04/06 01:25 PM
I just received my July/August issue of "The Real Estate Professional", a great magazine sent to all REBAC (Real Estate Buyers Agent Council) members.
A feature story is titled "Technology and Home Sales: How the Internet is Changing the Real Estate Industry". Boy, ain't that the truth. ;-)
I found some of the technology do and don'ts for using technology in your listings to be especially relevant.
I think a lot of us don't quite realize yet is that most buyers (and sellers) are way more tech savvy than the average Realtor. Probably something to do with their average age being in … (7 comments)
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Great copy source - 08/04/06 11:57 AM
This may sound somewhat like a commercial but I have no interest in http://www.ExpressCopy.com except as very satified customer for many years.
They do a marvelous job on color flyers for only 39 cents each in batches of 100 minimum.
Express Copy is located in Portland Oregon but before you worry about the drive and finding a parking space it's very easy to e mail stuff to them in PDF format which they then print and ship overnight at no extra charge, back to you, usually the next day. Orders received by noon Pacific time are delivered the next day.
Another area … (4 comments)
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Do you have a home office??? - 08/04/06 08:31 AM
Great article in today's Realty Times about having an office in your home.
http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20060803_homeoffice.htm
I've had one for over 10 years now in addition to an office at the real estate firm I'm affiliated with; I see each as a great compliment to the other.
I find I'm very productive in the morning hours working from my home office. I can go work out with my wife and then come home, fix a nice breakfast, and do some work from there before getting cleaned up and heading in to the ‘other' office.
It's also very convenient to have this setup in the evening … (9 comments)
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"450 Ideas To Help Your Home Sell Faster" - 08/03/06 09:35 AM
is the title of a great e-book (electronic book, you print it yourself, or better yet, 'they' print it themselves) you can hand out to sellers, FSBOs, and prospective sellers.
For only 67 bucks you can buy unlimited reprint rights to hand this book out to clients or potential clients.
http://getyourhousesold.com/
Wendy Jones, a very smart lady who apparently moved a lot created this book to help her own house sell in a down market; the house sold in 3 days after applying the knowledge from her own book to her house.
Used and endorsed by Alan Hainge's "Cyberstars", real estate trainer Joann Fossland, and … (2 comments)
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Another one bites the dust........well, get's a taste anyway. - 08/03/06 08:37 AM
Zillow, that much ballyhooed property valuation site finally came online after months of speculation about what it was and what it was going to be. Like many others before it the debut was sort of anticlimactic with immediate reactions from the real estate community about it's wildly inaccurate automated home pricing. Zillow became sort of the Segway scooter of the real estate valuation game. ;-)I read an article in Inman News today about their 15 minutes of fame at the just ended Inman Connect super geek conference in San Francisco. After hitting a huge, online home run with travel giant Expedia.com, … (6 comments)
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No bursting bubble in sight here yet - 08/02/06 03:48 PM
I just referred a buyer inquiry to another Realtor in a resort area about 60 miles from me.
While making conversation I happened to ask her how her business was right now. Her answer; "I'm slammed, buyers seem to be coming from everywhere."
While I'm not exactly "slammed", I have been fairly busy with buyers over the past 3 months, almost all moving here from other states.
Frankly I'm not seeing this bursting real estate bubble I've been reading about during almost all of this year.
Talking to another Realtor this morning at the health club my wife and I go to; she … (4 comments)
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www and the Internet; what's the difference??? - 08/01/06 09:23 AM
Just as all poodles are dogs but not all dogs are poodles, the World Wide Web (www for short) is a part of the Internet but not by any means the entire Internet.
So what's the difference???
The Internet as we commonly know it is a series of computers all over the world that have the ability to communicate with each other and that gives us the means to communicate with each other.
The www is merely another way to use the Internet, but not the only way. However to keep this short we'll only deal with the difference between the two.
The Internet … (1 comments)
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Is your favorite home inspector licensed??? - 08/01/06 08:49 AM
Tennessee now licenses home inspectors
After much ‘hem hawing' beating around the bush, and lots of other wrangling, Tennessee finally has a licensure law for home inspectors.
As of July 1st of 2006, this year, anyone conducing a home inspection in the State of Tennessee MUST have a license (and hopefully a minimum degree of competence)
Our Home Inspector Licensing Program is operated by some very nice people (so far anyway ;-) ) who go out of their way to be helpful.
Unfortunately not all the home inspectors seem to have caught on yet and to date there are only 10 who are … (4 comments)
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