We had the pleasure of interviewing Megan Barber, a recent REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHERTM (REWTM) certificant.
Megan is a Professional Real Estate Virtual Assistant (PREVA) and is both an EthicsChecked VA and Certified Real Estate Support Specialist (CRESS), by the International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA). She has also earned Real Estate Sales Person's licenses in the states of New Mexico & New Jersey. Megan owns and operates her own VA company, Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions, and maintains an active account on activerain.
In light of her experience and certifications / designations, we took a few moments to ask some questions on her thoughts of the program.
1) What is your background?
I have been involved in working "behind the scenes" of the real estate industry for nearly 10 years. I started as a support staff for a large real estate office, and worked my way up within Oregon's largest real estate company to become a marketing assistant and newspaper advertising coordinator in their corporate office. Later, I gained additional experience through being a real estate office manager, and an "in-house" RE assistant. In January, 2005 I started Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions, and have enjoyed being a Real Estate Virtual Assistant ever since.
2) Why did you undertake the REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHERTM (REWTM) certification?
I am always searching for ways to better myself, improve my education and enhance my service offerings for my clients. I always like to stay on top of what's new in real estate technology. When I came upon the REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHERTM certification, I was happy to find a program that could help me sharpen my skills with programs and technologies important to the real estate industry.
3) What are your impressions of the online experience?
The online classroom was a great interface. With my busy and very unpredictable schedule, I especially enjoyed the self-paced environment that I could start and stop when ever I needed to. The presentations were very well laid out, clear to understand and paced well.
Getting the chance to use demos of the products discussed in the courses was also a major plus. Also, I learn better by doing, so it's better if I can dig in and "get my hands dirty" with the programs and products.
4) How long did it take you to complete the certification?
Overall, it took me about 10-11 hours to complete over a few months. Again, the self-paced environment was nice so I could fit it into my free time.
5) What would you tell those who are considering this certification?
I recommend this certification to any and all VA's that are considering serving real estate professionals. I think it especially will be of great value to those who that may not have an extensive real estate background and will help them gain the knowledge and experience necessary to confidently meet the administrative needs for real estate professionals. Even those that have real estate experience will benefit greatly from the training available in this certification. It doesn't hurt to sharpen your skills and you will discover new technologies and internet marketing strategies that you may never have thought of before.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Lindsay Pendleton, a recent REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER™ (REW™) certificant.
Lindsay's experience, skill and familiarity with the Baton Rouge real estate market are essential ingredients in providing her clients with an enjoyable Real Estate experience. Her RE Certification and Designations, such as e-Pro and REW™, strong communication and negotiation skills, high energy and effective marketing tactics make her service offerings unsurpassed in today's market!
Lindsay is really taking her website, http://www.forsalebylindsay.com, to the next level. Not only does she have an extraordinary amount of useful real estate tools accessible directly from her site (such as mortgage calculators, property searches, etc), she has already implemented some of the competencies available in the REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER™ - such as Blogs AND Single-Property websites! Combined with appealing aesthetics, she is truly creating a viable and successful web-presence and demonstrating her understanding of Real Estate Technologies! Because of this success, we took a few moments to ask some questions on her thoughts of the program.
1) What is your background?
I am currently a Real Estate Agent with Prime Location Realty, located in Baton Rouge, LA.
2) Why did you undertake the REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER™ (REW™) certification?
I am proud to say that I have my e-Pro and REW™ certifications. I took both certifications back-to-back and enjoyed both of them. e-Pro definitely benefits the real estate agent who is just entering the technology world. It expresses the importance of the Internet (i.e., e-mail, websites, domain names, DSL, forums) and the impact it is making on the real estate industry. I learned a number of things from e-Pro that increased my Internet knowledge. I think and know that the e-Pro class is imperative for every real estate agent.
REW™ is the follow-on to e-Pro, in my opinion. In the REW certification, I learned so many amazing new things. A great example is "single-property websites". I'm proud to say that through the knowledge of single-property websites I learned within REW™, I was able to create my own single property website allowing my customers to get 24/7 information (http://www.beaudarren.info/). The REW certification is a step further - it really delves into all of the technology options that are available to real estate professionals.
3) What are your impressions of the online experience?
Being that my time is limited, and I truly love utilizing the Internet, I was elated that I could take REW™ online.
4) How long did it take you to complete the certification?
I signed up Dec 20 and was done on Christmas Day! 5 days with an hour or so each day.
5) What would you tell those who are considering this certification?
People underestimate the power of e-mail, websites, domain names, blogs and so forth as highlighted in e-PRO. A number of RE professionals are overwhelmed by all the new technology. Technology is taking real estate in a new direction and it's time to jump on board.
When comparing e-Pro to REW™, they do not compare - rather, they really compliment. While e-Pro was very informative and detailed, REW™ went a little deeper into the technology options of today.
While e-Pro teaches and explains the basics of technology to newbies, REW™ enhances it. Every single course that REW™ offered was extremely beneficial. I actually felt more capable and confident with technology options, instead of being overwhelmed. It was very detailed and easily formatted.
I consider e-Pro and REW™ like peas and carrots. While they are both based in Internet technology education, they teach different aspects. They both offer great, in depth information - but it's information that compliments one another. Collaborating e-Pro and REW™ just makes sense. I cannot express how both certifications broadened my horizons and made me feel like an Internet real estate queen! Thank you both, e-Pro and REW™, for making this available to all real estate professionals who want to go above and beyond.
The information available in REW™ and e-Pro combined is priceless!
Sellers are facing tough-times and buyers are cautious in buying, due to blows in the lending industry and high prices of homes in select parts of the country.
There are thoughts today amongst RE industrialists of opportunites for agents, brokers, and assistants to "make moves" in the rental space; to supplement or replace income normally generated during steady or "boom" housing markets. Jessica Swesey of Inman News hints at the idea towards the tail end of the blog post titled A case of accidental landlording.
Many sellers see renting out their home as a short-term, Plan "B" to selling; given needs to relocate and/or act swiftly with 2 or more looming mortgage payments. Potential Buyers currently residing in apartments are increasingly inclined to rental homes for their Plan "B" instead buying outright; to put their feet-in-the-water to reside in a single-family residence "until the market becomes more stable" to purchase a home.
Real Estate Technology & the Rental Market
As various business models arise (keep your eyes peeled at Inman.com) for agents/brokers and assistants to "make moves" in the rental space (rent-to-own, property mgmt), let it be known that real estate technologies, the marketing and "showmanship" of it's use, run parallel in the rental space, having equal importance to the brokerage of real estate.
Let's run through a few examples where real estate technology has great similaries with (a) rental vs (b) for-sale properties:
(1) Agent Websites
Many of today's vendors of agent/broker websites have specific listng fields in-place for rental properties. In addition, instead of "list price" one could utilize "rent-per-month". Many times, agents can add menu and navigational buttons to their website to list only the "For-Rent", or "For-Lease" properties. So essentially, the core web presence of an agent currently conducting for-sale business, could venture into the for-rent marketspace and not have to engage a new core website.
(2) Online Classifieds / Syndication of Listings
For those real estate professionals who utilize syndication of their listings to various, online real estate classified websites, they will still have the option to send For-Rent listings. An agent or an assistant should check with their provider (likely their agent website) to inquire about syndication of "For-Rent" listings. Also, check with online classified websites themselves to see if they currently showcase "For-Rent" listings.
(3) Virtual / Online Tours
Virtual / Video / Online Tours should absolutely exist for rental properties. An online walk-thru is equally imperative for a prospective renter as it is to a prospective buyer. Just as the home is staged for great photos for virtual /online tours, these tours are essentially different. They are different because they have a longer-shelf. Turn-over in rental properties have a higher frequency than For-Sale properties. Once these tours are created, they should not be deleted, rather they should be reused the next time the property is for-rent, which could be as early as 1 year (or simply, the term of the lease)
(4) Single-Property Websites / Online Flyers.
The 123MapleSt.com's are just as equally important to the marketing of a For-Rent property. As with online tours, single-property websites should have a long shelf life. Given property management and solicitation of the property for For-Rent, the URL should be renewed annually, and, if posssible, purchased for multiple years. Again, these single-property websites should not be deleted, as they can be used again when the property is available for rent.
(5) Electronic Forms
As with many electronics forms providers, you can define a transaction as "For Lease" as displayed within ZipFormOnline below.
In addition, real estate professionals serious about entering the "For-Rent" marketplace, should inquire with their forms provider about form libraries (as shown below); forms custom and particular to (a) Rentee documents (the owner renting out their home) and (b) documents for the Renter/Leaser if not already inclusive of their member forms library.
These are just some examples of how real estate technology that you currently use or administer can be effectively used in the renter marketplace once you find a sound business model to work within that space.
Excited about my first post here at ActiveRain. Looking forward to meeting more folks in the RE world, as I have been fortunate enough to have already met many incredible agents, assistants and RE technology companies.
You'll hear more from me on various real estate technologies and strategies, much of it stemming from my company's REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER(tm) Certification at www.Webographers.com.
May this post find you all well. Glad to have joined this community of well-spirited folks. Looking forward to connect w/ you all !!!
Marc Grayson
Marc Grayson - REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER(tm) Certification Avondale, AZ More about me…
REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER(tm) Certification
REW™ certification, online modules for Agents and Assistants include: Agent Websites, Single-property Websites, Lead Generation and Management, Virtual Tours, CMA and AVM technology, Neighborhood Search, Online Transaction Management, Electronic Forms, Blogs, Mobile Technologies, Virtual Assistants, and the Learning Laboratory™, where candidates can access an array of showcased technologies for hands on learning.
Marc Grayson - REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER(tm) Certification
We had the pleasure of interviewing Lindsay Pendleton, a recent REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER™ (REW™) certificant.
Sellers are facing tough-times and buyers are cautious in buying, due to blows in the lending industry and high prices of homes in select parts of the country. 
Many of today's vendors of agent/broker websites have specific listng fields in-place for rental properties. In addition, instead of "list price" one could utilize "rent-per-month". Many times, agents can add menu and navigational buttons to their website to list only the "For-Rent", or "For-Lease" properties. So essentially, the core web presence of an agent currently conducting for-sale business, could venture into the for-rent marketspace and not have to engage a new core website. 
For those real estate professionals who utilize syndication of their listings to various, online real estate classified websites, they will still have the option to send For-Rent listings. An agent or an assistant should check with their provider (likely their agent website) to inquire about syndication of "For-Rent" listings. Also, check with online classified websites themselves to see if they currently showcase "For-Rent" listings. 
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