Jeff's Blog

I Feel Very "Connected"

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:00:27 -0500

I attended Inman Connect in San Francisco last week. What a great experience it was!

I met some great people. Inspiring people. Crazy people. I learned a TON. I slept very little.

A big thanks goes out to Inman News for showing everyone such a great time and providing such a positive outlet for the Real Estate industry.

In the photo: Daniel Martin (MadMortgageWorld.com), Byron Van Arsdale (RealEstateCoach.com) and Bernice Ross (Inman News).

San Francisco was an interesting place. I'll definitely go back for more. The downtown area was nice, had good food everywhere, and some pretty entertaining people. The "Naked Cowboy" himself flew in for a special appearance at Union Square which was right next to my hotel. I snapped a quick shot with my iPhone for your viewing pleasure as I walked to my room.

Rudy from Trulia took it a step further and recorded a great video of Time Square's famous performer. It can be found here. Nice one Rudy...

Shortly after this performance, SFPD showed up and arrested the "allegedly" Naked Cowboy for performing naked in a restricted area. Funny, they didn't arrest the guy that was defecating in a box in front of the Palace Hotel the previous morning. I guess it's not a restricted area.

*Update: Upon the SFPD figuring out this was THE Naked Cowboy, the charges were dropped.

Anyway, I had a great time at the conference. If you haven't been to one of the Inman Connect's yet, you should seriously consider it. It'll be the breath of fresh air you may be looking for!

Is Your Listing "Plugged In"?

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:13:13 -0600

I've written before about ways to market your listings. I've recommended numerous tools, and services to help promote them. Well, now I'd like to introduce a new partnership with a local Portland company that is making it easier than ever to promote your listings.

Like Western Title & Escrow, Plugmylisting.com is a locally owned, Oregon based company.

Plugmylisting.com is your one stop shop for:

Publishing your listing to several classified ad websites with just one click
Automatically building a property specific website for your listing
Easily creating .PDF flyers for print use
Generating a professional, stylized Craigslist ad
Monitoring traffic that visits your listing website

In just a few short minutes you can increase the visability of your listings, while saving time and money. No longer do you have to upload the information and photos to several websites. Plugmylisting does it all for you!

Already have the listing uploaded into the RMLS system? Save even more time with the new RMLS Pull* feature just announced this last week.

Pricing is simple:

Start with 1 listing for $9.95 per month, or for the best value jump up to an unlimited number of listings for just $24.95 per month. For a full list of features, click here.

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to promote your listings, plug in!

Contact me if you'd like information on how to get your first month FREE!

*Additional fee may be required. Email info@plugmylisting.com for full details on the RMLS Pull feature.

Google Street View - Useful for Realtors?

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:37:51 -0500

Google Street View - Useful for Realtors?

Google finally added their new "Street View" feature to Portland area Google Maps this week.

You can now see full 360 degree street view imaging of properties in the metro area. They're still driving around imaging in certain areas, and will eventually cover the area entirely. I'm pretty impressed by the amount of coverage already though.

Here's an example showing a home I visited during last weeks Tuesday Tour for the low price of $1.6 million:

I think this will soon be replacing the mapping programs currently found on a lot of Realtor websites. Their clients will be able to see the house, the street views, the neighbors, etc...

That's pretty cool if you ask me.

Here's the same property from the John L Scott site currently using MS Virtual Earth technology:

You can clearly see the difference between the two. Plus, imagine how much more engaged a client will be by being able to manipulate the views of the homes they are viewing.

It'll be interesting (to me at least) to see who can implement this into their website first.

Lowes Marketing Program for Realtors

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:41:03 -0500

Lowes Marketing Program for Realtors

Did you know that Lowes and NAR have teamed up to offer exclusive marketing strategies and tools?

Realtors have access to free customizable direct mail pieces, free subscriptions to Lowe's Creative Ideas for Home and Garden magazine, 10% off Lowe's coupons, and more...

These are another great way you can provide added value to your clients.

I know I could have used some discounts when I bought my house. We spent thousands of dollars on painting, upgrades, windows, etc. If my Realtor could have provided me with something like this, she would have been my hero!

Check it out at http://www.lowesrealtorbenefits.com/
*You will need your NRDS ID to take advantage of this program

-Jeff

Portland Makes Yahoo's Top 10 Greenest Cities

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:02:41 -0500

Portland Makes Yahoo's Top 10 Greenest Cities

Yahoo chose 10 cities to represent their "Top 10 Greenest" in the Nation. Although the article says the cities are in no particular order, Portland is on top, and the final sentence states that Portland's rep as the Nation's greenest city makes sense.

Of course it does.

Even ski resorts in the surrounding areas are constructing LEED certified buildings for their ski patrol headquarters. See for yourself.

What does this have to do with Real Estate and Mortgage marketing? Not much.

But, it's the first time that in a couple days I've opened my news reader and seen some positive news so I'm running with it.

Is the media tired of covering the "Credit Crunch?" Is the "Mortgage Market Meltdown" losing it's steam?

One can only hope.

Keep your heads up out there. There's light at the end of the tunnel.

-Jeff

ALTA Launches New Consumer Focused Website

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:48:34 -0500

ALTA Launches New Consumer Focused Website

In the wake of last October's big uproar about the title insurance industry (great article on Transparent RE) the American Land Title Association (ALTA) recently launched a consumer focused website. This comes in response to the Government Accountability Office's year-long review of the title industry and how it works, (which was probably influenced by articles such as the one found in Forbes) that recommended certain agencies improve consumers' ability to comparison shop for title insurance.

Even though these recommendations weren't directly aimed at ALTA, they listened and took action. The results can be seen on the new website: http://www.homeclosing101.org/

The website is a great resource for Realtors, Lenders and their clients. It has a user friendly layout and provides consumers with the information they will need for their closing.

While I don't really see the need to comparison shop for title insurance in Oregon (its state regulated) I do like the idea for the states that aren't.

So, take a look at the site and hopefully you'll find some useful information for you or your clients.

Creative Marketing Idea of the Year (so far)

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:46:25 -0500

Creative Marketing Idea of the Year (so far)

Being in sales and marketing related positions pretty much my whole life, I thought I'd seen it all. Then on my way to work one morning last week, I saw something I had never seen before.

It all started last Monday as I was coming off the Interstate 84 off ramp to my office. It was just like any other work day. But today, I see someone standing in the median with a cardboard sign, begging from the cars stopped at the left turn light. I figured it was just another Vietnam War vet with 1 leg looking for help,(Anything Helps, God Bless!) but as I drove by in the far right lane, I noticed the person was dressed nicely in a dark blue suit. Hmmm. Oh well, gotta get to work!

I was sick Tuesday(cough, cough).

So Wednesday morning rolls around. I feel better. Well enough to head to work. Just another day, until I get to that same off ramp and notice the man dressed in a suit was there again. This time, I pulled into the middle lane so I could get a look at this fellow. As I get closer, I'm impressed by his appearance. Another nice suit, pinstriped even, nice shoes and even a nice messenger bag slung over his shoulder. Why the hell is this guy holding a crappy cardboard sign begging from people?

As I get closer I can finally read his sign. It says "Mortgage Broker - Who Wants to Give You Your Next Mortgage" in the typical black marker handwriting found on most beggars signs. I see he's also holding some sort of flyer or brochure and trying to hand them to people as they drive past.

Was this a joke? Did some poor guy lose a bet in his office? Not sure, but the guy was smiling and looked like he was having a good time. I can't help but wonder if he had any success.

So, if you're out there Mr. Mortgage Broker, do tell. Inquiring minds want to know!

-Jeff

My Top 10 Online Marketing Sites

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:39:35 -0500

My Top 10 Online Marketing Sites

One of the biggest challenges mortgage brokers and Realtors face today is finding a creative way to market their services. I won't bore you with the statistics; we all know that most potential customers start their home/loan search online somewhere. So how do you go about getting in front of those potential customers, and get yourself the maximum exposure you deserve?

Easy, you look at my Top 25 Online Marketing Sites!

In this 3 part series you'll find my Top 10 Online Marketing Sites(this post), my Top 5 Social Networking Sites, and finally my Top 10 Multimedia Sites.

My Top 10 Online Marketing Sites:

Craigslist - Free classified style listings. Post locally, or nation wide.
edgeio - Free classified ad site.
Google Base - Free classified ads. Post it on Base, find it on Google.
HomeGain - Create a professional profile. Exposure to buyers and sellers.
HomeRummage - Classified ads on steriods! (Locally owned too)
Live Deal - Exposure for your services.
oodle - Yet another free classified ad site.
Trulia - Bringing the Real Estate search local.
vFlyer - Create 1 ad, and automatically submit it to multiple sites. Plus cool widgets and other tools.
Zillow - Post listings for free. Cheap targeted advertising by zip codes.

Feel free to contact me if you'd like more information on how any of these sites can help you and your business.

-Jeff

My Top 10 Multimedia Sites

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:35:16 -0500

My Top 10 Multimedia Sites

As the final part of a 3 part series, My Top 25 Online Marketing Sites, I've compiled the top 10 sites I recommend for your multimedia needs. Whether you're a Realtor looking to create a slide show of your listings, a professional virtual tour, or you're a loan officer creating a video of your local market report that can be uploaded to your website/blog, these 10 sites will help get the job done.

My Top 10 Multimedia Sites:

1. Blinkx - Broadcast Video, similar to YouTube.
2. InmanTV - Real Estate television providing relevant market and technology news.
3. ListingDomains - Property specific websites, ie. 615NorthSt.com.
4. OneTrueMedia - Create slide shows, montages, and virtual tours. See my example here.
5. RealEstateShows - Create "Internet Commercials" for your services.
6. Slide - Another site for creating slideshows with various added "effects".
7. Transpera - Share videos to mobile phone users.
8. TubeMogul - Upload videos and distribute to top video sites.
9. WellcomeMat - Upload videos, find local videographers.
10. YouTube - Broadcast videos, integrate into your site/blog.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions.
Jeff

Introducing HomeRummage.com, where everything is worth something

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:32:36 -0500

HomeRummage.com is a newly launched marketplace that allows users to buy and sell goods and services. Similar to Craigslist, but with some pretty cool built in features that add to the user experience.

My personal favorite, is the preview picture next to each ad. How many times have you opened up a craigslist ad for whatever you're looking for, thinking "this is the one" only to find the item is the wrong size, or a different shade of pea green than you were hoping? Well, with the preview pictures, this will happen no more. Here's a screenshot of the ads with preview pictures on the left side: (small, but you get the idea)

Another nifty little feature that HomeRummage offers is a view counter. Now you can keep track of how many visitors actually look at your ads.

So, how is the Real Estate section looking? Well, pretty empty for right now. But, just look at this screen capture of one of the ads. It has a place for several property photos, and a built in google map function showing the property location. Need driving directions? No worries, it has a built in box to get them for you.

Not bad... The layout actually rivals some of the better online flyer companies.

The best part about HomeRummage.com is that it's FREE. *Premium ads like the one shown are usually $29.99 but are free for a limited time.

So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

A Redfin Clone Already?

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:10:51 -0500

I stumbled upon a site called $500 Realty a couple days ago...

The Tacoma, WA based company will list your property for, you guessed it, $500. Not only do you get it thrown into the local MLS, but you also get a professionally installed post and sign! Killer deal for some people I suppose.

Here's the real kicker, and the part that ties in Redfin, sorta:

When it comes to buying a house through $500 Realty, they will refund 66% of the commission back to you. Or, if you'd like, they can credit the closing costs (at the lenders discretion). Or, maybe they will apply it towards the down payment (again at lender discretion). Or maybe...

OK, no more maybes. That's probably confusing you enough as is.

The whole idea reminds me of a great post by a local friend, Larry Morris, in which he asks "Are You Committing Fraud with Seller Paid Concessions?"

In Oregon, any sort of rebate back to the customer is illegal. I wonder what will change first, Oregon Law, or the laws of other states that are allowing this to happen?

Project Confidence in Everything You Do

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Fri, 25 May 2007 17:29:19 -0500

It was on this day back in 1961 that President John F. Kennedy announced his goal to put a "man on the moon" during his special address to congress on the importance of space.

Sure, some people thought it was a crazy idea, but most of the nation stood behind the President as he spilled the craziness to the public. You want to know why? He displayed confidence. He truly believed the words he spoke.

Imagine what you could acheive if you projected that kind of confidence in everything you do. Family, friends and even your clients would want to be like you, act like you and most importantly, do business with you.

Believe in yourself. Send a man to the moon.

Looking for a Way to Improve Your Image?

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Fri, 25 May 2007 17:28:00 -0500

AIW Creative is a Portland based full-service marketing communications and consulting firm.
If you're looking for a one stop shop for logo design, business cards, postcards, letterhead, updating your website, or trying your luck with radio or television advertising, check out what AIW has to offer.

I've been lucky enough to work with the owner, Jeff Selby, on several projects in our neighborhood association where he is the editor of our newsletter, and business association where he helps with event marketing and creative design. I'm continually impressed by the work he does.

Check out some samples on AIW's website. Then give Jeff a call when you're ready to take your image to the next level.

Realtors: Have you heard of the Ugly Yellow Sign method of generating leads?

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Fri, 25 May 2007 17:26:10 -0500

Ugly Yellow Signs are just that: Big yellow signs, usually written in magic marker. In a world with thousands of highly polished ad messages, these signs get noticed because they aren't polished. They are ugly, yellow, and hard to ignore. See my lovely example:

The Ugly Yellow Sign gets people interested with a simple headline such as "Buy This Home - NO MONEY DOWN. (888) 555-8888 ext. 500" or "Must Sell - Call for Recorded Info: (888) 555-9999".

Once the potential buyer calls the toll-free #, their information is captured either by caller-id or through asking for their info to be left as a voice mail message.

Some of those that use the caller-id method have a small message on the yellow sign with a disclaimer stating that those who call give permission for follow up calls. An easy way to make sure you're in the clear for the do-not-call list.
The Ugly Yellow Signs attract people who were interested enough in your headline to call. If they called, odds are they are interested in purchasing a new home soon. One of the tricks of these leads is to call them back quickly. When calling these leads, you'll definately see a difference between calling same day vs. even one or two days later.

Your Ugly Yellow Sign, paired with a good call capture system or text messaging service like Bouncepad, could drastically increase your book of business.

This signage is what you might call "unconventional", but it really makes the phone ring!
Click here for a quick testimonial video from someone at the By Referral Only main event seminar.

Recommend any good Escrow Officers or Assistants you've done business with

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Wed, 16 May 2007 17:14:28 -0500

OK folks,

I'll keep this short and sweet. I'm looking for several new escrow agents and assistants to bring into our company. We have several offices in the Portland Metro area (Lake O, Lloyd Center,Washington Square,Tanasbourne). New offices coming soon too.

If you are, or know a good escrow officer that is looking for a better opportunity to grow their business or maybe you're an assistant that is ready to take on building a new desk but being held back at your current position, let me know. I'd love to chat with you and get you in touch with the people you need to get in touch with.

It's hard to find good escrow people these days. The people that are good, are usually a little reluctant to make the move. I'll be the first to agree, it is a scary decision. But, with a culture like we have at Western, and a sales/marketing team like mine, you can't go wrong.

Any Realtors or Mortgage Brokers that want to give me names of people they've had good experiences with will also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

Another Step(or Two) Forward for Mobile Real Estate

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:06:26 -0500

This week was a busy week in the Mobile Real Estate world. There were a couple new products and services announced that caught my attention. I might even go so far as to say it was a busy week in the Real Estate world in general, at least in my territory in Portland. I visited several busy open houses, had lunch with various agents, and spoke with plenty of others who were all too busy to get together. So, it seems business is picking up...

Here are the two products that caught my eye this week:

Vflyer.com rolled out their vFlyer mobile service. This allows vFlyer users to access, view and distribute their flyers via SMS text messages or email, all from the convenience of their mobile phones. This new service, along with the vFlyer widget (vFlyer Introduces New Widgets) makes vFlyer one step closer to being a one stop shop for sydicating your listings and promoting them on your personal websites. These guys are pumping out some good stuff, and I can't wait to see what's coming next!

Bouncepad.com is a cool new service that allows agents to supplement advertising their listings with an SMS text messaging service that provides property information, statistics and pictures all directly to a prospective buyer's cell phone. There are still a lot of buyers that like to drive around neighborhoods looking for their next home, and this is a great way to get quick information to them and from them.

The service is similar to the 1-800 call capture numbers that everyone seems to be using now, but better in a few ways. There are no expensive setup costs, the service is under $20 a month. Plus, you get unlimited activity which is trackable, so you can show your potential listing clients the successes you've had in the past in order to gain new listings.

Thanks goes out to both these companies for creating such great, easy to use products for our industry.

Portland, OR Gathering?

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:05:16 -0500

I love the idea...

I'd be willing to help put together a gathering for people in the Portland area if anyone is interested.

Just let me know...

Jeff

On This Day in History, 1977: The Apple ][ was Born

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:56:23 -0500

In an industry where technology plays such an important part of our day to day operations, I think it's good to take a look back at some of the original technologies that paved the way for the tools we all use in our lives today.

So I'm going to turn back the clock to April 20th, 1977. The day the Apple II was released to the public. Special thanks to oldcomputers.net for the details that have slipped my mind over the last 30 years.

Upon it's release, the Apple II quickly became one of the most popular computers ever sold in the United States. Although the performance specs(1mhz processor, and 4k RAM) remained the same, it's vast improvements over the Apple I included a keyboard, a color screen, more expansion slots (up to 48k RAM), and a built in operating system. For the base price of $1295, it was ready to go right out of the box making it truly the first "user friendly" computer system.

What made sales of the Apple II really begin to take of was the built in "spreadsheet" program called VisiCalc. Basically VisiCalc was a simple version of today's MS Excel spreadsheet program. Pretty much all it was good for was adding columns and rows of data, giving you the results of the calculation. At the time, this was an amazing feat. It could perform in seconds what it took accountants hours and sometimes days to calculate!

Then in 1978 (year I was born) Apple released the floppy disk expansion drives. You could actually store, copy and transport your data between computers. What a concept! You no longer had to worry about using up all 48k of the computers RAM, assuming you paid the premium price of $2,600 for the top end system.

From there Apple and other 3rd party programmers created new programs that enhanced the user experience and kept the Apple II alive for over 15 years. Of course various enhancements were made over the years, such as adding a 10-key keypad, and other expansion capabilities and programming languages. In the end, over 2 million Apple II's were sold before they were discontinued and Apple introduced the Macintosh to the world.

Thanks to Apple, we now have such devices as the iPod, which seems to be everywhere I look, and the upcoming iPhone, which I wrote about back in a January post titled: 2007 - The Year of the Apple. It will be interesting to see what they come up with next. I'm sure they're already working on it, whatever it may be.

Some of my clients tell me there's no way they could get through life as a mortgage broker or Realtor, without all their devices and I always think to myself, I wonder how people did it back in the 70's and 80's? For those of you that were around and practicing real estate or doing loans, share some stories with us. It's always good to take a trip down memory lane and visit the past every once in a while.

Could it be True?

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:01:03 -0500

From my blog: A Little Mid-Day Fun Before I Hit the Streets!

I love watching game shows when I have extra time, mainly Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. It keeps my mind sharp. So, I thought this was a fun way to shamelessly plug my company. ;)

Any agents or mortgage brokers in the Portland Metro area that are looking for a "better closing experience" should contact me. I'd love to grab some coffee or lunch and see if we'd be a good match.

Jeff

Mini Web Commercials

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:01:26 -0500

I recently signed up for a free trial at Imprev.com to see if it would be something I would like to actively promote to our clients as a marketing tool.

One of the many products they offer is a Web Commercial.

I figured I'd give it a thorough testing by creating a Web Commercial for our Portland Metro office locations. I have added the end result to my blog (www.titlerep.info) in the upper left corner under my picture. Check it out by clicking the Western Title & Escrow Logo!

I can see this as being a very useful tool to create mini web commercials for mortgage brokers, Realtors, their listings, open houses or other special promotions. There are also several output methods so if you're looking to create a link to the file, download a file to add to your webpage, or create a self running CD for a presentation, they have you covered.

So far Imprev has me Impressed. Has anyone else used any of the other products and had success?

A Virtual Title and Escrow Company in Second Life?

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 02:17:11 -0500

See the original post and many others at my blog: www.titlerep.info

After reading a blog post or two about Coldwell Banker opening up a virtual office to serve the needs of those looking to buy real estate in the virtual world of Second Life, I began to wonder if there could be a need for a "virtual" Title and Escrow company? See Joel Burslem's post at FoREM for a little background on the Coldwell Banker office: here.

Why not? They already have hotel chains, strip clubs, several car dealers, and an island owned by Wells Fargo. There is real money trading hands here. A lot of it.

According to the Second Life stats as of this this evening:
Total Residents: 5,177,278
Logged In Last 60 Days: 1,626,207
Online Now: 19,773
US$ Spent Last 24h: $1,616,951

Can that be right? 1.6 million dollars in 24 hour? Must be. A little research and I found an article (here) that mentions a couple of companies forming a partnership and purchasing 150 million Lindens, the currency used in Second Life, which would equal just over $550,000 US dollars.

So, back to my original idea. Who will be the first Title and Escrow company to offer their services on Second Life?

Don't Make $500 an Hour? Why Should Your Realtor?

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 22:44:57 -0500

Have you seen these billboards popping up around Portland? I've seen a few, along with several bus stop benches that read the same, scattered around town. This particular one caught my eye as I was out and about today delivering credit hour certificates to Realtors that attended our class last week. (I have edited out the company name, logo and phone number)

This billboard is located about 500 yards from the entrance to the new South Waterfront and River Blocks development. 38 prime acres where hundreds of condos, several restaurants, a theater, a museum, Portland's Aerial TRAM and a few retail shopping stores will rest along the Willamette River. The area is scheduled to be completed by 2010 and will have a $1.9 billion value. Yes, that's billion, with a B.

Here's a picture of The John Ross with The Meriwether and The future Atwater Place in the background:

It's no secret that many Realtors in the area already dislike this particular company for openly advertising their lower listing fees, which they claim may be misleading to the average home seller.

Although it's meant for consumers that are selling their current property, I wonder how the R/E company that is selling these condos feels about the placement of this billboard?

I have my own personal opinions, but what do you guys think?

Defending Your Value: Continued

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 18:52:21 -0500

After putting on a very successful class of roughly 120 attendees on Wednesday about ways Realtors can defend their value and commissions charged to their clients (See Defending Your Value: Explaining the Services you Provide your Clients) , I figured I would post a little follow up information.

The speaker, Phil Querin, brought up a good point in that a lot of the Realtor Associations are starting to run campaigns targeted to the consumer touching on what value Realtors actually provide their clients. He mentioned one example of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association having a document on their site that lists 183 value added actions, steps, processes and review stages. Even though this is all the way accross the country, the concepts are the same and I think this is something every agent should at least take a look at. For your viewing pleasure, here is the document. Throw this in your listing presentation, and you shouldn't have anyone ask "What do you do that justifies charging me 6%?" anymore.

PMAR, Portland Metro Association of Realtors has a similar campaign on their homepage, but it's not quite as in-depth. It only lists 11 reasons to use a Realtor. Check it out, you might find something useful.

My personal favorite: (Thanks to FoREM for the good find)

The Canadian Real Estate Association has created a great site that combines flash and live video (if that's what you'd call it) to convey the same message to consumers. HowRealtorsHelp.com is a very crafty way of engaging the consumer and getting the end message across. I don't know too many home sellers or buyers that would actually sit and read 183 reasons to use a Realtor. I didn't even read them all! But, I found myself on this website for far longer than I would have expected. It's truly a work of art!

Anyway, I look forward to seeing some more positive steps from the R/E Associations around the country. If you see any others that are worth a look, let me know.

Jeff

Upcoming Class by Phil Querin: "DEFENDING YOUR VALUE - EXPLAINING THE SERVICES YOU PROVIDE YOUR CLIENTS.”

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 12:06:56 -0500

Right now the Real Estate industry is getting hit from all sides; The Department

of Justice, the Press, Consumer Groups, The Banking Industry, etc. Because

of this, the industry has become timid about explaining what they do that justifies

their commissions. What the rank & file need to hear is how they can defend

themselves from the onslaught and explain to customers the valuable services

they provide.

Date: Wednesday, March 21st

Time: 8:30 registration & breakfast

9:00 -10:00 Speaker

Location: Location: Oregon Zoo Banquet Room

***The Banquet Room is just inside the Zoo's main gate and to the right.****

1 Elective Credit Hour Provided for Agents

This class is offered free of charge courtesy of Western Title & Escrow

If you'd like to attend, email me and I'll add you to the RSVP list.

-Jeff

vFlyer adds Video Support!

Jeff Bernheisel (Homequest/ M Realty) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 23:11:28 -0600

While poking around on one of my vFlyers tonight, I noticed something new. They've finally added video support! This was my first recommendation to the boys at vFlyer and they weren't kidding when they said it was coming soon.

So, now you can add YouTube video tours of your property to your vFlyer listings. How great is that?

Of course you'll need to pay the $19.95 a month fee for the upgrade, but that's still a great price for the features that you're provided. Plus, it's a tax write off!

Speaking of tax write offs, I guess it's about time I get my taxes done.