Sorry I haven't written much lately. I have been swamped with my companies. Just a quick update. Tropical Realty of Suntree, my Real Estate Brokerage is doing great. This past month we wrote 44 contracts. Not bad for only 20 Agents in this market. We have 41 scheduled to close this month. Very exciting! 100MPH Marketing is finally in beta launch with a couple of small brokerages being set up. We are just about to launch our basic crm which is great! The eHomes Realty Network continues to be the source for over 100 members who I help whenever I'm needed...a lot these days! Finally, our new company, 100MPH Referrals is brining on it's first market in Orlando Florida. We don't have a website on this yet, but will soon. If you are in a market where the average sales price is over $400k, we are looking for Realtor partners to work our leads. Drop me a note if you are interested in finding out more. All in all life is good and exciting! On top of that my wife hasn't left me yet! That's a good thing.
So one of the things I mentioned to my members the other day was what are the Three Biggest Challenges that affected them from getting what they want out of this business. There were a ton of things. Here is a short list.
Converting Internet leads to customers
Motivation - Self motivating yourself is quite challenging to many of us
Short Sale - Is there a great place to find the answers
Lead Capture - How do I get more Internet leads from my traffic
How to not lose listings to agents who over price their homes to get the listing
How to keep deals from falling apart
Market Data - Is there a way to use Market Date and if so, how
Focus
Time Management - Is there really enough time in the day to do everything
And more!
These are all challenges to all of us. It's so hard to beat all of these things, but what would happen to your business if you were able to beat two of these or three of these. Your business might double or triple. In the end, you have two choices in this business. You can either work and run this business as a business or you can treat it as a hobby and not put the effort in your business. For me, I believe in doing things the best of my ability. Does that mean I don't ever have my moments when I want to be lazy? Of course I do. I get burnt out like all of you. I know how hard this business can be on you. However, I also know, with a little effort, this is one of the best businesses in the world. Yes other Realtors can be pretty difficult and many have little ethics. But, where else can you start a business for a couple thousand dollars and earn a good income your first year. This business offers you a lot of benefits, but, it is a business. It must be run like a business and you must put the time and effort in, especially at the beginning, if you want to build your future. The only thing that separates you from the Agents that are selling 50 homes a year is a great plan and work ethic. If you have both these ingredients you can't help but be successful.
Tomorrow, Thursday at noon est, I will be holding a webinar for my members. I don't usually make these available to the public anymore, but as I was going through my presentation for tomorrow, it made me realize that there are a lot of people that would benefit from this webinar. If you are interested in attending please register at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/842832594
Well after 3 years of development, we are just two weeks away from launching our 100MPH Marketing Software. This system has three levels of usage from our basic service to our CRM on Steroids!
Tomorrow, at 2pm est, I will be doing an online demo to all those who are interested. If you have been struggling with your online lead conversion, this software might just do the trick for you. It's had a great impact on our office as we are headed to 350 sales this year from the Internet.
June was another good month in the world of Real Estate in Brevard County. For the month, 759 homes were sold which is a small increase over the 738 homes sold in May. However, this is a nice jump from 678 in April and 562 in February. It's also up significantly from the 620 homes in June 2008.
All of this is good news for the local real estate market. We are seeing homes that are priced correctly going within a week or so with mutiple offers. Foreclosures and short sales are all selling very quickly too with multiple offers. There are still so many homes on the market that offer a great value for the product. The key is to be open minded and a little flexible. Most homes in Brevard County are up to 44% lower than their 2005 prices.
With interest rates so low and the inventory shrinking, this is probably one of the best timesl we have had to buy in a long time. Actually, a few months ago was probably the best prices, but it's still a great time to purchase your home! This is especially true if you are planning on taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit.
As always, if there is anything we can do to help, just email us at thestaff@mitchrealty.com . You can click here to view all homes that are for sale in Brevard County. Our office can show you any listings any where in the county. We look forward to helping you!
It's been a while since I have written a blog about websits but while observing so many on here going in the wrong directions, I figured it was time. Over the past 5 years I have built my team to 34 Agents at its peak and currently down to 25 Agents as I weed out the Agents who are there to work and those who are there to play. It's amazing to me how many Agents get into this business with no real desire to succeed. They may want to succeed, but they certainly don't have the work ethic to succeed. I can go on about that subject for an hour or so, but we will keep this one to leads.
So what are you doing to capture leads? Do you have forced registration? Do you have teaser listings? Or do you just let people visit your site, use your tools and hope that they hit that "contact me" button. If you want to see what most Agents are doing, just go to Google, type in "anytown Real Estate" as a keyword and then click on the top 3 sponsored listings. I'll pretty much guarantee, but I could be wrong in a few areas, that the Agents listed are paying top dollar per click yet do not have a correct landing pages or capture tools.
Recently I was doing a demo of my 100MPH Marketing Software. We will be launching both our basic crm product and crm on Steroids in about a week. Finally after 3 years of development and 1 year of using the software in my office, we are ready. Anyway, I told my potential customer to pick anytown real estate which he picked Coral Gables Real Estate. Here are the results of my findings of the top three sponsored listings.
Agent 1 - Top Sponsored Listing - We clicked on her site and it didn't open...it just kept trying to open. We closed it down a few times and tried again with no success. The final time we waited a full minute and yet the site didn't open. Unfortunately for this Agent you have about 10 seconds to capture a visitors attention or they are gone. After a minute we opened another browser and went to the next Agent site. Once the site opened it was full of graphics. It was nice looking, but the graphics to the site were so big it would be tough for anyone to get into this site in 10 seconds. On top of that the landing page was her home page and there were no capture tools accept for...you guessed it, "contact me".
Agent 2 - 2nd Sponsores Listing - Not much better than the first. This site did open quickly which was great. I clicked on the area to search the MLS and went in and did multiple searches. This person had an IDX solution that allows for registration, but this Agent chooses not to ask for registrations. I'm sure if you talked with this person they would be excited about all the traffic coming to their site and maybe even about the one or two sales they received the last few months. However, my question is not about what this Agent received, but how much business did they lose. Just think, if you are paying on a per click basis, then wouldn't it make sense to try to capture the information of as many as possible of those who clicked?
Agent 3 - 3rd Sponsored Listing - This site was very basic, which I actually like. It didn't have any of the bells in whistles that would distract visitors away from the IDX. When I clicked on the IDX, it was a link to the local association IDX which has no potential means of capturing leads.
So as I went through these sites with my newly enlightened customer, he was amazed at the difference in how much registration is important in Internet Marketing. Now I know that some of you out there believe this is taboo and bad to do. In reality, this is a business. Do you market in other areas just so people can see your listings, or do you do it so the phone will ring? The Internet is no different than print. It's all about getting leads. If you don't believe that, then look at your numbers. Are you getting anything out of your website? I'm sure many of you are getting a sale here and there because someone clicked the "contact me" button. However, have you ever thought of how much business you are losing?
A few years back I did a test and found that my lead capture rate without any capture tool accept contact me was less than 1/2%. Basically less than 1 person out of 200 contacted me. I don't remember the exact numbers as this was probably 5 years ago. We currently have about a 12% capture rate or 12 leads out of 100 visitors. Sometimes this is as high as 15%-18%. But let's use 12% as our example.
When we did our non registration test we receive 1 sale out of 10 leads. Not bad. However it took 2000 clicks (around $2,000) to get that sale. Hmmmm...did I really make a profit. Sure if we sold homes in California or NYC. However, in Melbourne Florida that's our average commission check. On top of that, most of you don't spend anywhere near that amount of money even in 6 months. So are you getting one or two sales per 6 months. Say you did double my numbers, that's still $1,000 cost per sale.
Let's compare that to what $2,000 in marketing does for even my average Agents who close 1 lead out of 40 leads (my best Agents close 1 out of 24 leads). 2,000 clicks equals 240 leads which equals $8.33 per lead. This means that each sale (8.33 x 40) cost me $333. Also, that same $2,000 spent on marketing equaled 6 sales. Of course this get's even better for my better Agents, but I think you can see the numbers. They don't lie.
I have to run to get ready to drive to Atlanta. My son is turning 30 this weekend which I can't quite fathom. I was just 30 a few years ago wasn't I? However, take a look at this and see if it makes sense to you. There are definitely exceptions out there from Agents who have done well without the forced registrations or teaser listings. However, based on the hundreds of Agents I talk to from my eHomes Realty Network, this is not the norm. Being in Real Estate means being in business for yourself. I can't imagine that anyone would spend a penny on marketing and not want to generate leads. It's like throwing money away and most importantly, it certainly isn't good business. I will hear from a few people now and then who think it is just wrong to make people sign up to use your IDX. Those are the Agents that really need to decide why they have a website. If it's to generate information for your visitors in the hopes that they like the info enough to contact you, then great. If you are actually looking at your site as a potential money maker, then you need to rethink your strategy.
I hope that helps some of you in making your decisions. Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions as I'm always available to help Realtors take their business to the next level. I'm not just a coach, I'm an active Real Estate Brokerage that has been the number 1 Brokerage in Brevard County in Buyer Transactions for our 3rd year in a row (we have only been in business for 4 years). A strong Internet program with strong capture and conversion programs will take you to the next level and beyond!
So here I am, it's 8:30pm and I'm about ready to call it quits for the night and go home. My wife is waiting and I'm sure she isn't happy that I'm still here. I am in the middle of training a couple of new Agents and sometimes that takes longer than expected. We are just getting ready to start their training on goal setting and action plans. If you have read anything that I have wrote, you know how important I believe this is for your business. You must have a goal and a plan to really acheive the next level in this business.
With that said, it made me realize that I need to have a new meeting with all my Agents to see where they are in their plans for 2009. I actually know exactly where they are right now and which ones are not going to make it in this business and especially in my office. The hardest part of that for me is that I truly like and care about all that work for me, but in the end, it's a business and they are costing me much more than they are making me. So why is that? I ask myself that regularly. Why would I have some Agents that are on track to hit over 36 sales this year and others that will be lucky to hit 10 sales. It all comes down to work ethic.
So where are you right now compared to where you wanted to be at the beginning of the year? How many of you are hitting your numbers? Who has exceeded their numbers? Who is failing miserably and can't figure out exactly why this is happening to you? My first question for you is about your work ethic. Are you working 40-50 hours per week? If I paid you $100,000 a year would you work 40-50 hours per week? I bet you would. However, I bet you don't now. I'm not a big believer in the theory that you can work part time and make full time money in this business. I know there are a lot of Agents who think otherwise, but I'm not one of them.
Secondly, what was your plan at the beginning of the year? Did you follow your plan? Did you do it for a month or two and then abandon it because you got off track? Maybe this is the time for you to really look at your goals and action plans and started revamping them. There is nothing saying you can't change your mind or your approach to anything. If it ain't working, then change it up a little.
In the end, regardless of the market, there are going to be some of you who do well and some of you who really could use some help. Of course that's the purpose of my eHomes Realty Network. You can be successful if you choose to be, but you can be failing in this business if you choose also. What are you going to choose? Where do you want to be at the end of the year? Where are you going to be in a year from now....are you going to be in the same place you are now or are you going to take my advice and get on the ball.
Hopefully you will realize that you can do so much more. Hopefully you will realize that this just isn't that hard when you have an understanding of how to create a plan and stick to it...and be successful.
As always, if you have any questions or need any help, that's what I do. Please feel free to call or write.
It's been a bit since I wrote here. We have been so busy at my Real Estate office and with The eHomes Realty Network. Both are going great!
This week, tomorrow (Thursday) actually, I am hosting a webinar on the use of USP's. You have all seen them, they are things such as "If we don't sell your home in 60 days, we will buy it!". I'm not a big fan of some of these as they are all relying on using the fine print. However, there are many USP's that you can use in Real Estate that will get your phone ringing and your website visited.
USP's are a great tool if you are limited on cash. Many of these can be advertised through the Internet or in local classified advertisements. If you can come up with a great USP, you don't need to break the bank to get great results.
A couple of great USP's that have been used over the years...
"If it's not delivered in 30 minutes, it's free!" - This of course was made famous by Domino's Pizza and it's the one line that changed their business forever.
"When it absolutely, positively, needs to be there overnight." - This is the line that grew FedEx.
There are so many great USP's that have been developed over the years. Our goal tomorrow is to help teach our members, as well as those of you who decide to join us, how to come up with your own USP to help drive more traffic and customers to you.
Well it's been an interesting few years to say the least. We have been extremely busy at Tropical Realty in Brevard County Florida. Over the past few months our sales have doubled and it's very obvious to us that we finally have hit bottom. Most people don't realize that we actually started our decline about 6 months ahead of most of the country. With that said, it makes sense that we would hit bottom first.
So how do I know we are at the bottom? It's pretty easy to see. Our inventory is down from 8,000 at the peak to 4900 right now...almost half. On top of that, just about every home that is priced correctly is selling within 30-60 days and the best properties have multiple offers on them.
It's pretty funny actually what happens. We work hard to educate our buyer by supplying them with stats. For instance, homes right now are selling at 91.8% on the list price on average with the lower homes selling at over 95% of the list price. Of course our customers don't believe us. I can understand that with all the national media saying that Florida is in so much trouble. However, once they lose a house or two to other buyers they start paying attention. An Agent of mine said it well. She said that everyone is paying attention to the national media, but Real Estate is a local commodity. She is so right.
If you are seriously thinking about buying that retirement home or vacation home or even your first home so you can take advantage of the $8,000 credit currently available, then this is probably the time to get your best deal. Actually it was two months ago, but right now our prices are stable and with interest rates at or around 5%, I can't think of a better time.
And if you are looking for condos, there are some great deals. A few years ago you couldn't touch an Oceanfront condo for under $500k. Now we have some that are at $300k and some less. There was a one bedroom one bath last week, on the Ocean, for $89k. As you can guess, this was gone within a day or so....it's also not the norm!
At Tropical Realty, most of our customers come from out of state. Last year we were the number 1 Brokerage in Buyer Transactions than any other office in the county (out of 500 offices). We are very proud of this as it shows that hundreds of customers have put their trust in us to help with their relocation to Brevard County. If you would like to look at homes, you can click here to start.
We are always here to help. If you would like to talk to an Agent, call 321-259-9115. Our phones are answered by real people every day, 7 days a week.
It's Friday, the beginning of a long weekend of sun (maybe not for us in Brevard County Florida this weekend) and time to get together with our friends and families to eat hamburgers (or veggie burgers) and hot dogs. This is probably my most favorite holiday of the year. It's certainly the most emotional holiday for me.
While we are here enjoying our families, the smell of hot coals and the beauty of a late spring day in America, we have thousands of our children fighting our battles oversees. I think that it's so important on this weekend to recognize these kids and what they have done for all of us throughout the generations. Every day these sons, daughters, fathers and mothers put their lives on the line to ensure that we maintain our lifestyle and freedoms that we sometimes take for granted.
Since the beginning of this great country, we have had soldiers spilling their blood so we can enjoy the moments in our lives. Sometimes we do take our freedom for granted. We shouldn't. Especially in todays climate where every day someone wants to take away another piece of our freedom. I for one will never take this freedom for granted. I wake up each day and drive to work to have fun selling real estate, meeting new people, training my Agents and training my members of The eHomes Realty Network. I love what I do and I love that I am free to do it.
Today, like every Friday since we went to Iraq, I am wearing my red shirt and my American flag on my collar. I had heard somewhere back in 2003 that this is what we should do to show support for our troops. So, every Friday I wear my red. In fact, today, I actually was half way to work when I realized it was Friday and I didn't have my red shirt on. I turned around and drove back home to put my shirt on. I feel better now! I figure if those kids can risk their lives every day, then I can show my support on Fridays by wearing my red shirt!
After I changed and was back on my half hour ride to the office I heard a beautiful rendition of God Bless America. I know this might sound wimpy, but it caused tears to roll down my cheek. In fact, as I'm writing this I'm getting misty. I have been thinking lately of all that has and is going wrong in our country. I usually don't let negativity get into my life, I'm much stronger than that. But lately it's been hard to watch our politicians ruin our country. It amazes me every day when I hear the garbage that comes out of the Washington Elites mouths. So this morning, when I heard this song, it really hit home. I love our country and everything that we stand for. I love that fact that when any country in the world is in trouble we do our best to help. I love when there is a natural disaster we are the first ones to offer aid and money to those affected areas. I love that when I walk down the street I don't have to look over my shoulder and wonder who is spying or following me. I love that I am free to teach my kids to be free and to go after their goals and dreams. I love that they can still do that.
So as I said prior, please thank a soldier or a veteran for their service. Thank them for doing their part in keeping American safe and free. Thank then for doing the dirty work of fighting our wars so most Americans don't have to fight. Be sure my heart and mind will be on all our kids oversees fighting right now. Please join me in saying a prayer and well wishes to all our service men and women.
Just a quick reminder to sign up for our free short sale webinar from The eHomes Realty Network. This is a great informative webinar on how to do short sales. Chris Badger from Strategic Loss Mitigation is excellent!
Last week The eHomes Realty Network held a free, open to the public webinar on Short Sales. Our guest speaker, Chris Badger, from Strategic Loss Mitigation did a great job presenting a basic outline on understanding short sales. One of the biggest things I learned about Short Sales last week was the fact that even if the bank only says it will pay a smaller percentage than advertised, they will settle on your original number. This alone will save me thousands of dollars in lost commissions. Who would have thought?!
This week, on Thursday, May 14, at 1:30pm, Chris will be back with a detailed look to dealing with Short Sales. In this webinar he will be getting to the nuts and bolts of participating in the short sale game. If you are involved with Short Sales or thinking about getting into Short Sales, you won't want to miss this free webinar!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. These free webinars that we offer from eHomes is our way of helping our fellow Realtors succeed in this business with straight honest advice and education.
My blog is dedicated to the years of marketing experience I have in sales, advertising, Internet marketing and conventional marketing
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