I am very fortunate to be in a market where we still have consistent interest from people who are looking to either relocate or buy a second, third, or in some case fourth vacation home. With that said, many people come to the Virgin Islands thinking that they can find a home in one day. Upon pre-qualification of my customers, I have found that utilizing video as a major tool has been very beneficial.
Instead of driving around to 40+ homes that are on the market, my clients and I sift through all of the listings, throwing out ones that fit their needs, and leaving behind the few that they are very interested in. Now granted, many of them have been on island and I have had a chance to get a feel for what they want. However, instead of having to wait 6 months to a year for them to take another trip down here, I am now able to do a walk through on a property as if they were here.
I have a long way to go, but here are a few of my videos. Some are short, some are long... but nonetheless I have written offers on almost every home I have taken video of.
Any tips or ideas for how I could make this better?
IfIf you haven’t heard already, the Virgin Islands real estate market is starting to show signs that the market is turning around.
In order to stay ahead of the market I want to let you know what the market is doing and what we are doing here at Sea Glass Properties to make sure you have all of the tools you need to buy, sell, or rent a home.
1. July and August saw 12.6% and 21.1% increases in year over year sales.
2. I just published our very first HOMESVI.com real estate guide. 4,000 copies are currently on a ship coming to the Virgin Islands. If you would like, I can mail you a copy for free!
3. Sea Glass Properties has increased our local market share from 4% in 2008 to 13% in 2009. Our aggressive growth strategies and marketing will only further our market share.
4. You are now able to save searches and set up auto email on www.sellvi.com
5. If you are in the market for a condo, now is the time to buy. Prices are down and sales are picking up quickly.
6. Home prices are leveling off, and in some cases are raising prices.
7. Commercial real estate is still taking a hit. If you are looking for an investment property (office space or multi-family) now may be the time to make an offer on something.
8. Unlike the majority of real estate agents in the Virgin Islands, I offer buyer representation. Don’t be stuck buying a home without having someone looking out for your best interests.
9. Next month I will be launching a new RENTAL website: http://www.rockcityrentals.com – here you will be able to access many of the available rentals on island.
10. Sea Glass is expanding. If you know of anyone in the Virgin Islands who has real estate experience and wants to join one of the premier real estate companies on island please let me know.
If you are looking for a waterfront property, there is a great deal in Frenchman’s Bay. Also, there is a potential resort/ hotel opportunity in Red Hook. Email me for details.
Let me know if you are still in the market for a property here in the USVI.
What do Craigslist, Zillow, Backpage, and Point2 have to do with you? Nothing. Nothing at all. If you are just now signing up for these, then you are behind the curve. If you haven't signed up at all, then you probably didn't know a curve existed.
I want to share a few "firsty's"??? with you as inspiration that its worth giving things a shot:
#1. Yellow Foreclosure List signs - Sold two homes in '08 on a $300 investment.
#2. Craigslist Boise - Before there were 10,000+ listings there were 1,000 listings. I sold 5 homes in 08 on a FREE investment.
#3. REOBOI.com and Sellvi.com - $595 per year. Do numbers mean anything at all? Over 300 leads and $30,000 in direct monies brought in from these websites. Thats what we call R.O.I.
#4. Postcards - yes they work. Obtained a $3 million dollar listing from a .75 cent postcard.
#5. Real Estate Book - it isn't about the print advertising, it is about the fact that we are willing to think outside of the box and create a publication that can be distributed and mailed all over the territory/state. I can't put a number on this.
Maybe it isn't about being first. Maybe it is about loving what you do, thinking outside of the box, and doing whatever it takes to make this business work.
-- Please share a time when you have taken a risk or thought outside of the box and found it paid off for you!
We have been advertising in a local real estate book for almost a year and a half now. We usually purchase two full pages and the cover when possible. Unlike many advertisers in our area, we work to pay our bill early or on time to be certain we can pay for it.
Due to the market conditions, this book was unable to publish a new issue after May. We were out $1399. When we tried to get our money back, the person running the publication said "sorry, I don't have the money right now".
For us this is a huge set back because of the volume of traffic we receive. Months have gone by and we still haven't received our money. So I decided to create our own publication. And here is what I found:
www.PSPrint.com offers booklet printing for cheap. Here is what we got:
4,000 books
16 pages
Glossy print
Higher quality than previous book
$1400 w/ shipping to the US Virgin Islands.
I then went out and got three advertisers to pay a total of $1000 and one agent to pay for two pages. The results were a full color booklet advertising all of our services exclusively for the same price as we were paying before.
If you would consider having your own booklet made, contact me. For a small fee I can help set up the book for you, input listings, and give you guidance as to who to contact as potential advertisers for you book.
The art of real estate is simple; yet complex. A transaction often consists of a buyer, a seller, and half a dozen middlemen. I have spent four years trying to simplify the way real estate is conducted. The marketing, the sales, the expenses all add up to stress. Seven years is "supposably" how long it takes to build a successful real estate business. Yet, even in this economy long time agents are dropping like flies. Maybe the missing piece to the puzzle is right in front of you. Here are a few thoughts as to how your team can affect your brand and your long term stability so that when the time comes 20 years from now you can cash out.
My first experience in real estate was a team concept. There was a rain maker, a slacker, a builders wife, and a young college kid who thought he knew it all. Here is how it played out: The rain maker landed the developments. The builder's wife drove around all day selling her husbands homes, every now and then manning the fort at the development. The slacker spent his time at the project talking with builders and making false promises. The young college kid spent his time creating new marketing ideas for the homes and for the builders: all at the expense of the rainmaker. Where did everyone end up? Going there separate ways. The pie was cut too many ways, the agents had their own agendas, and everything that went into marketing the team went "POOF!!!"
The problem in this case is that without the rainmaker the team concept stinks. Do you have a positive or negative team story to share?
Maybe your team is a great success. If it is a great success, are you your own company? If not, why not?
(rant) I want to pick my real estate team like it is a baseball game. I'll take the REO agent, that short sale specialist, um and that bi-lingual guy over there. Shoot, I guess I'll take the good lucking secretary...
A brand. No. Nick Van Assche, REALTOR is not a brand. Why? Because I can't sell it like I can sell "Sea Glass Properties." But let's say for instance that you want to be 'self employed' AND have a brand. Then you need a niche. You need to focus on something and put all your energies towards it. However, this doesn't come without great research. You need to understand the need for your niche. If you live in small town with limited condo projects, then calling yourself "CONDO KING" probably won't work.
I recently learned the differences in marketing and advertising. There is a lot of energy that goes into building a brand. Colors. Fonts. Logos. However, if you don't have a consistent brand I would highly recommend getting on it! You can tweak the details later.
Products. Do you have one? Two? If I wanted to buy your company today, what would I be getting? I can tell you that if you bought my company today you would be getting:
Websites. Marketing Materials. A business that can run WITHOUT me. A brand. A business.
Agents were a dime a dozen when the market was hot. Everyone had a grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin, neighbor, who was in real estate. Many of these people have left the business. How many of them do you think invested $1000s of dollars only to walk away? If you had to leave your business tomorrow, do you have something that you can sell? Do you have something that can run without you?
Three ways to build a business:
#1. Create a plan. (to build a team, a brand, a product)
There are probably a dozen reasons why having e-fax is extremely beneficial to your business. Today's technology calls for a mobile office and being able to send or receive a fax is definitely a must.
However, today's number one reason that you MUST HAVE e-fax is simple:
So that when you go on vacation, you don't miss a beat!
Ahhhhhh! How annoying is it to have someone in your office have to check to see if the fax went through. And then if it did, either scan and email it to you, or fax it to another agent.
OR!
You spend half a day scrambling to find a kinkos or local fax machine so that you can receive the offer, only to have it come out terrible.
I am very disappointed in myself for not having done this already...
Do you have any stories about trying to send or receive a fax on vacation?
One year ago to date I was averaging 2000 hits per month on a one year old website. I was buying leads from lead to realty at $50 per lead (5 per month).
I also was part of a short sale system that cost me another $500 per month.
On top of this I had a team of investors from California that kept me as busy as I could be. I jumped into building a team because I couldn't property manage all the leads myself.
After leaving Idaho for the Caribbean for an opportunity of a lifetime I have already begun to build something big.
5000+ unique visitors per month in a one year span (brand new website).
I started out with no adword or yahoo marketing budget.
over 500 leads.
95% of my personal business comes from my website. Every now and then I get a referral from a client that I worked with in the past that I received from my website!
5 things you can do to generate business today:
Find 5 new websites to manually post your property to.
Add new listings. If you don't have any ask your broker. If they won't allow you to market the offices listings on your site... um... find a new brokerage??
Search wanted postings on your local newspaper website.
Add sales reports, school information, and other pertinent information. If you drive business to your site, make sure they come back. Check your bounce rate on your homepage.. is it less than 25%?
I'm in the process of building two others right now. NO, I'm not 100% computer savvy, but I am real estate savvy, I ask questions. I know what my clients want. I ask them about my site. I ask for feedback. I ask for testimonials. I tweak my site for them every chance I get. WHY?
Because without them. I wouldn't be in this business.
My brain seems to function like my business: feast or famine.
I often look to others for guidance to get back on track. My thought processes usually come in spurts and have been like this for years. Here are a few things I have found to help me focus.
You would think that for someone who has built a business around computers and technology that I would be all over social networking. For some reason I felt the need to backlash and not use any of these tools. Today I have come out of my shell and will begin to highlight the many different benefits that each social networking site manages.
One of the most consistent problems I have preached since day one with Social Networking and Internet Marketing is that you have to work it. You have to put the time and energy in to make it work. With 100+ new sites out there each day to make our business better we tend to get overwhelmed.
Make it a goal today to try one new website or social networking site. Report back and let me know if you think Facebook, Myspace, or any other site can or has affected your business!
It has been a while since my last post. In an attempt to jump start my business here in the Caribbean, I have had to take some time away from all of my extra-curricular internet marketing strategies and focus on my current business.
As I continue to take my online marketing strategies to new heights, I keep coming back to one consistent problem: my clients are either overseas or stateside, which puts a damper on me being able to provide them with everything they need to make a decision.
I previously toyed with using video in all of my listings back in Idaho. However, since many of my clients where either a short plane ride away, or local, I decided that I couldn't afford the investment: both in time and financially.
So, we have come full circle. My clients now need to see more. They want to feel the property. And thus, it is up to me to make this happen. Normally, this is where I list 20 different video hosting sites.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of experience in video, so I am reaching out to you:
Do you know of any good sites to use for a real estate video?
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.
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