Peaceful Retreat unlocked 10 Times Posted By: S. Gleason - view profile $650,000 3 votes Location: Buhl, Id Located on 1.2 acres,this property brings privacy, solitude and peacefulness. 3600 sq ft 3 bed, 3.5 ... More >> *****************************************************************
If you enjoy our free service, please visit our sponsor:
For information about sponsoring our service, email lisam@lockboxdeals.com *******************************************************************
Grants are available now from the United States government for developing low-income housing, veteran's housing, and community redevelopment. Find out how to find them and how to apply with this concise, easy-to-use guide. Order Simply: Grant Writing now and find funding today!
Don't forget to post your free listings to www.lockboxdeals.com. And now there is an added benefit - new listings are posted to www.lockboxdeals-blog.com and sent to our subscribers!
There has never been a better time to take advantage of this free resource for Realtors.
Investors can always find the best deals in real estate at www.lockboxdeals.com.
I just posted a new article on my blog at www.lockboxdeals-blog.com about bottoming out of prices. A new survey by the NAR shows some areas on the upswing and some lower than last year. Give us a shout out about your area, and if it is a great time for investors, post those free listings at www.lockboxdeals.com.
The holidays are closer than I like to think, and if you haven't ordered your personalized gifts by now, it is probably too late.
But don't despair. Mark Nash of http://www.1001realestatetips.com/ recently sent out a great email discussing a focus-group he did a couple of years ago asking his clients what kinds of holiday gifts they most appreciated. The overwhelming answer was something that didn't scream It's From Me! Your Realtor!
That year, he sent out Starbuck's gift cards, and it was a big hit. I can attest to that fact - a customer of mine once sent me a gift card, and every time I used it, of course I remembered who had sent it to me. It didn't have to have her name on it or mention her business.
What are some of your favorite gifts, for either holidays or closings? Some of Mark's other suggestions included items of local interest, such as restaurant guides or local magazines. That's a great idea for someone who is relocating. I happen to be a vegetarian, and every year I receive a food basket from a customer who I know makes special effort to send me non-meat products in my basket. Other than that being a case of the thought really making a difference, I don't know if food items are a good idea. Depending on your locale and budget, cards by a local artist, a plant in a planter that can be reused, or coffee mugs are good ideas.
And don't forget, if you are on a budget, check out affiliate programs. http://www.linkshare.com/ and http://www.commissionjunction.com/ have some programs that offer their affiliates special discounts - this can make a difference when sending presents to your entire client roster. If you aren't a participating affiliate, I always try to offer coupons and discounts for the programs I participate in when choosing sponsors for my weekly Top Ten Deals in Real Estate newsletter (you can sign up at http://www.lockboxdeals.com/), but in the interest of full disclosure, I'll get a percentage for anyone who clicks through from one of my ads. Is there a type of gift you'd most prefer to receive a discount for? Let me know and I can pass one along.
Although it is easier to send out uniform presents, Realtors have a great opportunity to really get to know their clients tastes, so individual, custom gifts might be appropriate for your closest customers.
Least favorite items seem to be calendars and refrigerator magnets with the company name on it. I do receive several school year calendars from Realtors and always keep one, but only one, usually whichever arrives first.
Anyone else want to share your ideas?
Lisa
If you would like to receive all of my posts by email, sign up for my blog at www.lockboxdeals-blog.com.
I just started a blog - outside of Active Rain - and love blogging. Check it out if you get a minute at www.lockboxdeals-blog.com.
I even entered a blog carnival (www.blogcarnival.com) - "A carnival for smarter real estate investing" - and won a feature article on boozwatt.com.
I am curious how many of you blog regularly? Looking at the Inman Wiki (www.inman.com) blog list, there seem to be a lot of real estate bloggers out there. Does it increase your contacts? Improve your reputation? Bring additional revenue through other sources (ads, products, etc.)?
I hope to create a niche blog that discusses the use of technology in real estate marketing. If you would like to receive regular notices of my posts, please sign up. And I'll be glad to provide link exchanges, just let me know.
I'm so excited about blogging that I've decided to offer a new service for Realtors, to design your first blog! You can find all the details at my - what else - blog about it, http://letmebuildyourfirstblog.blogspot.com.
Not to take anything away from Active Rain; I love the community here, and it is definitely great for networking. But one more free marketing piece can't hurt.
If you are interested in reaching an intelligent, tech-savvy, young new market of potential future customers - and what Realtor wouldn't be? - try out Chris Garrett's new promotion for guests posts to his blog:
"I'm on a mission to increase my Technorati rank. For a while my "authority" has hovered around the 900 mark, I think I can do better. My solution will also benefit you so read on
"What I propose to do is offer you, my lovely readers, a free guest post. To get a guest post you need to let me know that you want one and to be eligible you only need to meet one requirement and that is your blog must be confirmed to be indexed by Technorati. You can link to me with a post or if you are sure any links from your blog will show up write a comment saying why you should get one of the guest posts. That's it
"As well as the guest post itself you will get a link from this blog. Some great content and a link, all for free! Win-win. Seem fair?
I've been subscribing to his blog (check out Chrisg.com) for a few months now, and in addition to a great free ebook for signing up, I always find something of relevance to my real estate internet marketing endeavors in the daily emails. His posts are loaded with useful sites, tips for using new technologies, and strategies for increasing your internet presence.
While not specifically related to real estate, any business operating on the internet can benefit from his information. His guest post offer will give you a tremendous opportunity to reach out to a new market and increase your own internet presence. Also, if you haven't established yourself on Technorati, now is the perfect time to do so!
I have a Realtor friend who is developing his first site, and he is struggling to balance creativity, usefulness, and SEO features.
I recently read on another blog that for agents, perhaps sacrificing SEO in order to give customers what they want up front - access to listing searches - is more important, as it will bring customers back again and again. We all know that sites that feature great search categories but very little text are difficult to optimize, but sites that feature tons of keyword rich text might be confusing to customers who just want to see listings. Where is the balance between getting repeat customers and finding new customers? Is it more important to optimize to attract new customers and then let good old fashioned great service keep them coming back?
Of course, for my site www.lockboxdeals.com, since it is a listing service and supported by ads, SEO is one of the most important (and expensive!) priorities I face everyday, so perhaps my opinion is a bit....skewed!
What do you all think? Does it depend on area of the country - for instance, is SEO more important in major metropolitan areas that have international clients? Does the type of brokerage make a difference - independent versus aligned with a Coldwell or other larger firm? Does a creative site bring more visitors than a site that is functional but similar to a lot of others?
If you are reading this, then I am sure that you know how important it is for anyone involved in real estate to have a substantial presence on the internet.
One useful - and free - resource to increase your reach is to write reviews on Amazon.com. By reviewing books on real estate, you can find new customers, prove your knowledge of your subject area, and increase your internet ranking.
You can also create a profile and reference your own website in your signature line, offering you another source of traffic for your site.
I had a new property uploaded to my listing site, www.lockboxdeals.com, for $4,990. That's right, under $5,000 for a home. Not the downpayment price, the total sales price. When I followed the link, it led me to eBay!
There are many houses listed on eBay for auction, some with no reserve and bids starting at $1, some as classified advertisements that list a more traditional price. Has anyone ever tried this method for selling a house in a hard to sell area?
I've tried to follow through on a couple of the listings to see if the final sales price was comparable to a regular listing. There are also many ways to improve the ending sales price (Buy it now price, setting a reserve). There are also investment deals available. One foreclosure looks like it will sell for close to the Buy It Now price, but the property for $4,990 is still at that price with only 13 hours to go!
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
;)
;)
