Technology for Real Estate Professionals Blog

What you should be telling your sellers to get a price reduction

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:54:06 -0500

As I posted in "Time to Motivate your Sellers" in my local blog, the peak season for real estate is winding down. Sellers who are tempted to "wait until next year" need to be reminded about the effect of interest rate increases and REO inventory on prices.

Concern about inflation makes it likely that interest rates will be higher next spring. The rising number of foreclosures and NODs makes it likely that there will be more bank owned properties on the market next spring. Sellers who want top dollar need to price their listing agressively to generate offers now rather than waiting until next spring when higher interest rates and more REOs will likely drive prices down even further.

In my local market, "wait until next year" is a bad plan, unless you are willing to wait 3-5 years. What about your market? Is your local paper reporting increases in foreclosures and NODs? You can't fight facts, so you might as well make them work for you. Have a heart to heart with your sellers about why waiting for market prices to go higher doesn't make sense. Signs point to even lower prices in 2009 in most areas.

Does that mean buyers should wait until next year? Not necessarily. Interest rates determine the amount of their monthly mortgage payment, so even if buyers can purchase the same home for less money next spring, they might still end up with a higher monthly payment.

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

tech4REpros Digest: 8/17 to 8/23

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:27:18 -0500

REBHOF - Jennifer Fivelsdal

Jennifer Fivelsdal was recognized as an outstanding real estate blogger for using local content to generate business on her ActiveRain "outside" blog.

Industry: Bottom Calling and Sucker's Rallies

Serious investors don't wait for the market to "hit bottom" because they understand that there are plenty of good and bad buys in any type of market.

REBHOF - Jim Klinge

Jim Klinge was recognized as an outstanding real estate blogger for using a balanced presentation of the market to earn credibility and generate business.

Software: FREE WINForms Webinars!

Free thirty minute WINForms webinars on a variety of advanced topics are now being offered monthly to C.A.R. members.

Web: Meet the new Localism, same as the old Localism?

Rich Jacobson's announcement that ActiveRain was suspending pre-approval of posts to Localism raised doubts about AR leadership's vision for Localism.

Strategy: Are You Telling Leads To Punt?

A timely reminder of the importance of making sure links are working on your website and on your blog, especially the link to your contact information.

Strategy: Are Bus Tours Good For More Than Just REOs?

An article about bus tours for first time homebuyers in Philadelphia led to a discussion of the benefits of organizing a first time homebuyer tour in your area.

REBHOF: Jim Klinge

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:17:50 -0500

Jim Klinge - bubbleinfo.com

Jim Klinge understands that credibility is one of his most valuable assets.

It takes chutzpah to name your blog "bubbleinfo.com" when your brokerage is located in Carlsbad, California, the epicenter of North San Diego county's real estate meltdown, but Jim Klinge understands that the best way to sell your real estate services in any kind of market is to be knowledgeable and honest about market conditions.

Jim doesn't shy away from discussing high inventory, increases in the number of NODs and REOs, or even the dreaded Neg-Am Recasts that threaten to drag out the current lending crisis for years. In Jim's own words, "What you read here is based on what's really happening in the marketplace, not theory or speculation. I have no investment in the bubble, and I'll hopefully be selling homes whether the market is going up or down, so I'm not looking to influence one way or another. My goal is to provide an accurate description of what's happening, and present all the facts to help people make clear decisions about their real estate!"

As you read through Jim's blog, you won't find much local interest content, but that is because Jim targets serious real estate investors. Sophisticated buyers understand that all real estate is local and that good deals can be found in any market. They turn to Jim because he has a lot of credibility, even outside the industry on the dreaded "bubble" blogs.

The leaders of organized real estate seem to think that it is acceptable to oversell market conditions at the expense of credibility. NAR already had to replace David Lereah with Lawrence Yun following a series of embarrassingly wrong books and bogus bottom calls by Lereah. Jim doesn't try to dress up the market by cherry picking facts and figures. Sophisticated buyers respect that, which is why Jim's blog is generating plenty of business, even in a tough market like Carlsbad.

Click here to visit Jim's "bubble" blog, subscribe, learn, and "go and do likewise!"

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

REBHOF: Jennifer Fivelsdal

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:54:35 -0500

Jennifer Fivelsdal - Rhinebeck Living

Jennifer Fivelsdal knows how to use a real estate blog to generate business.

You may not have heard of Jennifer, but she's well known in her community through her "Rhinebeck Living" blog on ActiveRain and her posts to Localism.com. Jennifer is getting leads and closing deals by focusing on her local community, Rhinebeck, New York.

Jennifer's blog covers everything in her area including upcoming events, scenic destinations, and local cuisine, with regular market reports and occasional real estate topics as well. From Bard College to a local produce stand to a local Thai restaurant, Jennifer presents the rich cornucopia of country living in the Mid-Hudson Valley.

Jennifer reports that she gets email from local readers as well as thank you notes from local businesses who appreciate being featured in her blog. If you've ever studied the Buffini System, you know the importance of reaching out to local businesses. Jennifer is doing that through her blog and she's getting results.

Some famous real estate bloggers scoff at platforms like ActiveRain, insisting that serious bloggers use WordPress or designer blogs costing thousands of dollars, but Jennifer's blog is proof that what you write is more important than the blogging platform you use to publish it. What really matters is appealing to people who live in your market and to people who are thinking about relocating to your market. That's not to say that Jennifer doesn't take advantage of the latest technology. On her blog, you'll also find plenty of videos and very cool slide shows.

Click here to visit Jennifer's "outside" ActiveRain blog, subscribe, learn, and "go and do likewise!"

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

REBHOF: Teresa Boardman

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:50:47 -0500

Teresa Boardman - Saint Paul Real Estate Blog

Two things set Teresa Boardman apart from most real estate bloggers.

The first and most obvious is the incredible pictures that grace her blog. Teresa produces original, amazing photos of local architecture, nature, and lifestyle that are so compelling they make you want to visit Saint Paul and perhaps even live there.

In fact Teresa's photos are so good that she's becoming known mainly for her photos. That's a shame, because the second thing that sets Teresa apart from most real estate bloggers is that she writes about her city and its neighborhoods as much as she writes about real estate.

Too many real estate bloggers focus on their daily real estate chores or industry issues. That approach attracts peers rather than clients and prospects. Teresa balances useful real estate information with focused local content. The real estate information qualifies her as an expert and reminds her readers about how she can help them, but the local content, with great photos, is what keeps her clients and prospects coming back.

You can pay people to help your blog get high Google rankings, but if all visitors find is a bunch of copied and pasted posts where you've turned all the city names into hot links to your website, they probably won't come back. Teresa Boardman's approach is designed to generate retention while also presenting her knowledge and experience. She's not just selling herself, she's selling her neighborhoods.

Click here to visit Teresa's blog, subscribe, learn, and "go and do likewise!"

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

Industry: Real Estate Blogging Hall of Fame

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:41:06 -0500

There's a famous scene in "Glengarry, Glen Ross" where Alec Baldwin berates the salesmen of a boiler room operation selling worthless vacation lots. One of the many great lines that sticks out in my head is "Go and do likewise!"

I've written numerous posts about how to write a great real estate blog. The advice in those posts was based on a survey of great real estate blogs I found on the internet. I've decided to recognize the best consumer oriented real estate blogs individually in the hopes that agents reading this blog will pay those blogs a visit, make the connection between what I'm recommending and what those bloggers are doing, and "go and do likewise" on their own real estate blogs.

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

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Real Estate Blogging Hall of Fame

Teresa Boardman - Saint Paul Real Estate Blog

Jennifer Fivelsdal - Rhinebeck Living

Jim Klinge - bubbleinfo.com

Strategy: Why real estate web portals need you!

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:11:53 -0500

Two years ago, there was a lot of buzz about outside companies trying to develop real estate web portals. Would they attempt to replace agents the way online travel portals had replaced travel agents or would they merely steal viewers from agent websites and then sell those viewers back to agents through sponsorships? Two years later the same questions remain, but a lot has changed in the growing real estate web portal sector.

Online Listings Are Now A Commodity

Trulia was one of the first outside sites with online listings. Last year Zillow joined the online listings derby. Six months ago, Zillow announced that they had almost 1 million listings. Two months ago, Overstock opened their new real estate marketplace with over 2.5 million listings. Clearly online listings have become a commodity. There are more than a dozen real estate web portals that now include listings. Most of these sites reserve the right to edit and sublicense your listings to other sites, so no matter where you or your broker send the listing, it will probably end up on most of the sites anyway. If the same listings are available everywhere, how will real estate web portals attract consumers?

Online Property Valuations Are Now A Commodity

Zillow's property valuation "Zestimates" were a great source of consternation when they debuted two years ago. Consumers loved the ability to see how much their home was supposedly worth, but real estate professionals disliked valuations that were based on incomplete data and a "one size fits all" formula. These days Zillow has access to more data and they have refined their formula, but it hardly matters. Competing real estate web portals carry online property valuations from Zillow, CyberHomes, and Eppraisal all on the same page. As with listings, it appears Zillow sublicenses their Zestimates. This raises an obvious question. Why settle for one valuation when you can compare several at once? If property valuations are available everywhere, how will real estate web portals attract consumers?

Agent Blogs Are Now A Commodity

ActiveRain was one of the original social networks for real estate professionals. The main draw was free blogs for real estate agents, brokers, and related vendors which were organized into interest groups and geographic communities. ActiveRain recently celebrated their 100,000^th member. The same week it was discovered that Trulia was testing their own agent blogging platform. Trulia had already created a mechanism for agents to interact with consumers called Trulia Voices. That feature has been copied by other real estate web portals, too. If agent blogs and agent forums are available everywhere, how will real estate web portals attract consumers?

You Are The Only Competitive Advantage Left

Low barriers to entry and content syndication have made it easy for once innovative real estate web portals to copy each other to the point where none of them can offer consumers a unique, compelling reason to prefer their site. The only thing that can't be cloned or resold is you, the real estate professional. Your knowledge of the local area and your expertise in the area of buying and selling real estate is the only point of differentiation that is still available to real estate web portals, so when considering where and how you want to publish your knowledge and expertise, choose wisely!

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

Industry: Financial Title Company Closes All California Offices

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:01:22 -0500

Financial Title Company, a subsidiary of Mercury Companies Inc, closed all its California offices this week.

Click here for an article in the San Jose Business Journal.

Last December, Alliance Title, also a subsidiary of Mercury Companies Inc, suddenly closed all of their offices. This time it looks like Mercury may be in trouble after lenders pulled Mercury's line of credit. Mercury still faces numerous lawsuits over the closure of Alliance title. Financial Title is reportedly directing their former customers to contact their underwriter, First American Title Company.

When I worked in the title industry, my company used to quote their bond rating to agents and consumers as a sign of security. During the boom years, few people paid any attention. Given the sudden demise of several title companies and downsizing throughout the industry, agents and consumers would be well advised to pay more attention to the underlying health of title companies before making their choice.

Good luck to the former employees of Financial Title, to everyone in the title industry, and to all the former customers of Financial Title who are now stranded.

Frank Jewett

Strategy: See what you missed at Inman Connect?

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:41:23 -0500

Today, Inman Connect held a workshop on blogging. Highlights can be found by clicking here.

For those who couldn't make it or decided to spend $800 (plus hotel and travel) on something else, here are links to six posts on the tech4REpros blog covering many of the same issues.

Strategy: Objectives Of Real Estate Blogging

Strategy: Choosing Effective Blogging Topics

Strategy: Whatever happened to Real Estate Blogging?

Strategy: Is Anyone Reading Your Real Estate Blog?

Strategy: Sell Your Neighborhood!

Strategy: Choosing Real Estate Blogging Topics

In brief, blogging is a new publishing model. Real estate blogging is like drip marketing, the goal is to attract and retain clients and prospects by providing value to them on their terms. Because real estate blogging doesn't require printing and postage, you can communicate with clients and prospects more often. Frequent updates encourage frequent visits which increases retention.

You'll notice that "other agents" did not appear anywhere in the preceding paragraph. Would you send your newsletter or market update to other agents? No? Well then you shouldn't be blogging for them, either. Treat real estate blogging like the watercooler at the office and you will get sympathy. Treat real estate blogging like networking with your neighbors and you will get deals. What would you rather get out of real estate blogging, sympathy or deals?

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

Software: Microsoft Outlook Digest

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:49:43 -0500

This is a digest of Microsoft Outlook posts here at the Technology for Real Estate Professionals blog. If you would like more information about an Excel feature I have not yet discussed, please click comments and post your questions or suggestions here or contact me.

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

==========

Microsoft Outlook Digest

Software: Microsoft Outlook - An overview of the components of Microsoft Outlook.

Software: Using Outlook To Read Webmail - Links to instuctions on how to setup Outlook to read from a webmail account.

Software: Organize Incoming Mail With Outlook - Instructions on how to create Outlook rules to automatically sort incoming mail into subfolders.

Software: Importing Contacts From Excel Into Outlook - Instructions for importing contacts from Excel into Outlook to avoid the dreaded "no named ranges" error message.

Software: Outlook Contact Folders And E-Mail Merging - An overview of how to organize Outlook contacts to support e-mail merging from Microsoft Word.

Software: Managing Client Relationships with Outlook 2007 - How to use Outlook as a client relationship manager and how to show the contact linking button on all forms in Outlook 2007.

Localism 3.0 - Three Ways To Make More Money From Localism

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:04:02 -0500

LocalisMLM

Members can sponsor neighborhoods for just $15.00, then sell sponsorships within that neighborhood for $15.00 to generate an additional revenue stream. 50% of monthly sponsorship fees will be paid out in commissions to upline sponsors. If you missed out on Quixstar and VMDirect, this is your chance!

LocalismEX

Members can purchase the right to sponsor a neighborhood for $7.50 per month in perpetuity. These rights are fully transferable in the new LocalismExchange aftermarket, subject to a $5 administrative fee. Buy sponsorships in the path of progress today and build a retirement portfolio for tomorrow.

Localism.org

All we need are you and 97,454 other members to click the breast cancer banner, then we can get back to displaying your localism blogs. While we wait, here's Rich Jacobson to show us the thank you gifts for contributions at the $50, $100, and $500 levels, including a one-year subscription to Trulia Pro.

Web: Localism Redux

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:18:38 -0500

On Wednesday, July 9th, ActiveRain unveiled a new version of Localism, their consumer facing real estate blogging platform. It didn't take long for the screaming to start.

Realtors Blogging For Realtors

Almost 100,000 real estate professionals have signed up for free accounts with ActiveRain. Most of them didn't last long, though the same can be said for all forms of real estate marketing. For those that did stay, the challenge was reaching consumers in network that fostered mainly peer-to-peer discussions. ActiveRain's answer was Localism, a platform that organized content by state, county, city, and neighborhood.

What Happened To Localism 1.0?

Members flocked to Localism, flooding it with listings, commercials, and even a few good articles about local areas and events. ActiveRain tried to raise the value of Localism to consumers by creating a meritocracy where posts would be ranked by the membership so that posts could be displayed in order of value.

Unfortunately members began creating straw man accounts and reciprocal agreements to inflate their ratings. ActiveRain took over the ratings system, but the problems continued as perfectly useful posts about upcoming Easter Egg hunts lingered at the top of the page well past Halloween. Localism 1.0 was hopelessly broken.

Why revisit the past when a new day is dawning for Localism 2.0? Spanish philosopher George Santayana once wrote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." It's important to look at the reasons why Localism 1.0 failed so that we can understand the challenges that Localism 2.0 will have to overcome to succeed.

Quality Content

Consumers want quality content, not a steady stream of ungraded information. Previous attempts to use a "self-policing" system failed, so Localism 2.0 will employ editors to weed out low value posts in an attempt to maintain the level of value needed to attract consumers.

Scarce Resources

Hiring editors to oversee content costs money. ActiveRain has had difficulty monetizing their platform to generate the revenue needed to expand their network and provide much needed oversight. It has been a chicken-and-egg situation. They need to spend money to raise the value of the platform to make it attractive enough to generate revenue from sponsors.

Agent Ambition

ActiveRain and subsidiary ventures like Localism were organized as communities, but when it comes to real estate marketing, most agents want to be #1. Localism 2.0 is attempting to solve the issue of scarce resources and agent ambition by selling neighborhood sponsorships.

That's when the screaming began.

Panic In The Rain

Agents who spent months or even years building up the value of ActiveRain and Localism 1.0 weren't pleased to discover that ActiveRain would be licensing that value to their competitors through neighborhood sponsorships on Localism 2.0. The RE.net blogosphere lit up like a Christmas Tree with a mixture of angry complaints, well wishes, and "I told you so" posts. You can find them by searching for "Localism and ActiveRain" on Google.

Perspective

Did you ever wonder why Google is larger and more successful than all of the content providers it covers? Clearly internet consumers believe that the best way to find quality information is to use search engines, particularly Google, rather than relying on individual websites to deliver consistent quality. This raises an interesting point regarding Localism 2.0 sponsorships.

Sponsors appear on community pages at the state, city, and neighborhood level, but they don't appear on any blog posts other than their own. The only way sponsorships will pay off is if consumers decide to browse Localism by using the community pages. If consumers rely on search engines, they will click straight through to the member's post without ever seeing the sponsor. In that sense, Localism 2.0 still offers as much free Google juice to members as ActiveRain and Localism 1.0 did. Whether it offers value to sponsors remains to be seen.

Ambition 2.0

Did I mention that agents are ambitious? Localism 2.0 is counting on that. They are staging a sponsorship selloff which they are comparing to the famous "Land Rush" where the government gave away former native american land to settlers on a first come, first served basis. It's a slogan with an uncomfortable double meaning given the feelings of many bloggers who helped create the communities that are now being put on sale.

Stay Tuned

Will the "Land Rush" scheme generate a windfall that allows ActiveRain to fund Localism 2.0? Perhaps. The more important question is whether the sponsors will receive any return on their investment. For all the complaints about disintermediation, aggregators, and lead generation models, the real problem has been that most of them didn't deliver results, because most agents would gladly pay if they could effectively outsource some of the burden of marketing.

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

Software: Microsoft Excel Digest

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:34:50 -0500

This is a digest of Microsoft Excel posts on my Technology for Real Estate Professionals blog. If you would like more information about an Excel feature I have not yet discussed, please contact me.

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

==========

Excel Digest

Templates: FREE Microsoft Excel Templates for Real Estate - Where to find free Excel templates from Microsoft for closing costs, loan calculators, and expense reports.

Software: Importing Contacts From Excel Into Outlook - How to convert Excel data into CSV (comma separated values) format prior to make it easier to upload into other programs.

Software: How to freeze panes in Microsoft Excel - How to get the headings at the top or left of your spreadsheet to stay on the screen as you scroll.

Software: Merging Cells in Excel - How to merge two or more cells so that you no longer have to struggle to try to center titles on your Excel documents.

Software: Combining Text In Excel - How to combine text from two different cells in a third cell using Excel's concatenation operator.

Software: Using AVERAGE and MEDIAN functions in Excel - How to use Excel's average and median functions to calculate those values for a CMA.

Industry: July Real Estate Calendar

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:07:29 -0500

SCCAOR and tech4REpros are offering several helpful technology classes in San Jose in July. Here are the dates and times for those classes, along with other important Santa Clara County real estate events that you may want to add to your calendar.

Wednesday, July 9th - Richard Calhoun's monthly market update at Old Republic Title at 1:30 PM

Thursday, July 10th - SCCAOR's Annual Membership BBQ and Whistle Stop Rally

Wednesday, July 16th - Microsoft Excel for Real Estate Professionals at SCCAOR from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM

Wednesday, July 23rd - IREBN monthly meeting at Old Republic Title at 9:00 AM

Tuesday, July 29th - Microsoft Publisher for Real Estate Professionals at SCCAOR from 9:00 AM to 10:30 PM

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

Industry: Real Estate Is A Numbers Game For Brokers, Too

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:23:10 -0500

If you are still visiting ActiveRain, I'm going to assume that you've decided to commit to another year in real estate. Otherwise there isn't much point in sticking around through the slow fall and winter seasons only to leave at the start of 2009, before the next spring bounce. With respect to the bubble bloggers, many of whom I read on a daily basis, there is always a spring bounce relative to the rest of the year, even in a dismal market. If you have decided to stick around, you'd better have a marketing plan, because this year is going to be different.

Since 2005, brokers have adapted to the slowing market by playing the numbers game. Just as agents need contacts to generate prospects to generate clients, brokers need agents to generate clients to generate commission checks. When agent productivity started to fall, many brokers responded by bringing in more agents. Recruiting is always important for brokers and sales managers, but over the past few years there has been a higher premium on recruiting. Even unproductive agents were being offered generous splits in a desperate attempt to increase revenues to cover overhead.

We're going to see a change over the next few months as brokers recognize the need to adapt their business model and reduce their overhead. We're going to see more accountability programs as the number of available desks and the amount of available overhead for agent expenses shrinks to fit the decreased number of available transactions. In some cases this may be due to office closures or downsizing, but in other cases brokers will simply come to the realization that taking a "lean and mean" approach is more practical than the "panning for gold" volume approach of recent years.

This means that agents will have to have a marketing plan, not just a license or a track record. How many people are in your database? How are you engaging the people in your database? How are you adding new people to your database? How do you present yourself to your clients and prospects? What is your competitive advantage? I've known veteran agents who had less than 100 people in their database and were adding only one or two new names per month. That's not going to be good enough to make it through the next year or two, even if you have your own broker's license.

This is the year brokers start running out of patience, money, or both. This is the year recruiting standards rise above the level of having a current license and being able to fog up a mirror. This is the year that if you don't have a marketing plan, you'd better start working on one, because pretty soon you're going to have to compete for desk space. I'll be discussing a variety of marketing plans this week in my local blog.

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

Strategy: Underwater Farming in California?

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 18 May 2008 03:37:10 -0500

I was sitting at my desk, trying to think of what a real estate agent could offer clients, when my eyes fell on my IRA statement from Smith Barney. That's when it hit me.

Wouldn't past real estate clients like to receive an annual statement (CMA) letting them know the value of what is likely the largest investment in their portfolio, their home?

Of course this year's statement might not evoke positive feelings toward the real estate agent, especially if this large investment had depreciated and the client was underwater.

That's when it hit me again. That client probably hasn't heard from the real estate agent asking for referrals. In fact, the agent might not even be returning that client's phone calls.

Why not make that client your client? Why not earn that client's loyalty and future referrals by reaching out with the perfect item of value for the underwater homeowner?

Let that client know that it is possible to appeal to have their property tax assessment reduced to reflect current market conditions. Click here for more information (PDF).

Personally I'd rather get that information from my previous agent than from another agent, but if my previous agent hadn't kept in touch, I'd be ready to find a new agent.

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

Strategy: Something Of Value For Less Than A Dollar?

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 11 May 2008 02:32:56 -0500

On Monday, May 12th, the cost of first class postage will increase by one cent.

Last time the post office raised their rates, a local broker gave me a card to remind me about the increase. Inside the card, he had placed a strip of 10 one cent stamps. I held on to those stamps and every time I used one, I thought of him.

Brian Buffini suggests periodically giving your clients something of value to let them know that you're thinking of them so that they will keep thinking of you. I can't think of a more efficient item of value than that strip of 10 one cent stamps.

If you're planning to meet with clients next week, pop by the post office first and buy a few sheets of one cent stamps. You can remind your clients about the increase and save them a trip to the post office. Ten impressions for ten cents.

Thanks!

Frank Jewett

Info: Santa Clara County Secured Property Tax Search

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:48:18 -0500

Whether representing the sellers or the buyers, a real estate professional should always try to get as much reliable information as possible. Here in Santa Clara County, we have the luxury of being able to research secured property taxes online through the Santa Clara County website.

Click the Santa Clara County Tax Collector - Secured Taxes link under the Government Resources links on the right side of the tech4REpros blog.

Enter the APN (Assessor's Parcel Number) or property address and click Search. If a matching address is found, the system will display a summary of secured tax payments for the current year.

The summary report will display the amount of each tax payment and the current status, along with any applicable penalties. It's important to discuss any outstanding property taxes as soon as possible to avoid unpleasant surprises that could derail your transaction.

Thanks!

Frank Jewett

Strategy: The Tao of Real Estate

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:03:42 -0500

Your real estate business is a duality comprised of two aspects, a technical aspect and a marketing aspect. The technical aspect consists of various activities that are performed between the listing and the closing, from filling out contracts to ordering inspections to handling negotiations. The marketing aspect consists of the various activities that are performed to generate listings and buyer clients.

Like Yin and Yang, these aspects can oppose each other. For example, time spent learning to use online forms software is also time taken away from marketing. But, these aspects can also compliment each other, as in the example yesterday where learning to use a TMS platform to manage the technical aspect of a transaction created an opportunity for stronger marketing. These aspects also wax and wane. Agents spend more time on the technical aspect during a transaction and more time on the marketing aspect between transactions.

Is balance the key to happiness? Not exactly.

Certainly it is helpful to look for ways that technical knowledge can compliment marketing. The most important part of selling yourself is believing in your advantages and being able to communicate those advantages to your prospects. Acquiring technical knowledge is a way to build your confidence if you don't have a lot of experience or if you've been in a slump, but ultimately it is the marketing aspect, not the technical aspect, that will determine your success in real estate.

On the technical side you can get plenty of help from your broker, your transaction coordinator, your assistant, and in some cases your escrow officer and the other side. If you haven't submitted a necessary form, someone connected to the transaction will probably remind you. On the marketing side you are mostly on your own. True, some offices generate referrals and pass leads to agents, but you are responsible for marketing yourself and generating most of your business.

The key to happiness is leverage. Take advantage of opportunities to get help with the technical aspect so that you don't lose focus on the marketing aspect when you are managing several transactions. If you do invest time and money in software or hardware related to the technical aspect of real estate, such as buying a tablet PC to collect digital signatures, leverage that investment by marketing the benefits of your use of that technology to your clients and prospects.

Focus on complimentary relationships between the technical aspect of the business and the marketing aspect of the business and remember to always tend to the marketing aspect so that your real estate business will keep thriving.

Thanks!

Frank Jewett

Strategy: Are You Marketing Your TMS Platform?

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sat, 03 May 2008 21:51:59 -0500

Is your office currently using a transaction management system like RELAY, SureClose, or Transaction Point to provide online escrow coordination? Have you made your use of a TMS platform part of your listing presentation?

There are a number of advantages you can claim over agents who are not using a TMS platform.

Online Disclosures
Visitor Tracking

You and your transaction team can save trees by using your TMS to post disclosures online. Disclosures are available 24/7 to all agents and buyers who are interested in the property. To access those disclosures, agents and buyers must provide their name and e-mail address. The TMS platform captures that information, giving you an opportunity to follow up with interested parties to collect feedback on the condition of the property and the price.

Online Contracts
Activity Tracking

All of the contracts will be posted online, so it will be easy to make them accessible to your client's advisers, such as attorneys and accountants, without having to pay for shipping or wait for the contracts to be scanned. TMS platforms track document access, providing proof that documents were accessed by various parties to the transaction. TMS platforms also provide an opportunity to track the activities needed to successfully complete the transaction.

24/7 Transaction Status
Check Online Or "Call Me"

Clients can monitor their transaction online or they can call you and you will be able to provide an update without having to wait until office hours. The key to keeping that promise is learning how to log in and check your own transactions on your TMS platform. Your transaction coordination team may take care of all the details, but you need to learn how to access your TMS platform so that you can respond quickly to your clients.

Transaction CD With All Contracts

Clients will receive a CD after closing that contains all of the contracts they need. Having all of the contracts on a CD is a lot more convenient than having to keep a phone book sized file of hard copy documents. A transaction CD is also a great branding opportunity because clients are more likely to retain this CD than anything else you could give them.

If your office is using a transaction management system, it's time to start telling clients and prospects how your use of that system allows you to provide better service than your competition. It's also time to learn how to access your TMS yourself so that you can take advantage of 24/7 online access to take your client care to the next level.

Thanks!

Frank Jewett

Strategy: Recycling And Repackaging Blog Posts

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:39:07 -0500

Another strategy for consistent blogging is recycling good posts from the past that are still relevant. This week, I taught a workshop on real estate blogging. Since I had directed my students to my blog, I decided to recycle a pair of posts discussing the objectives of real estate blogging and tips for maintaining consistency. These posts reinforced our workshop discussion and also tied in to my recent posts about common real estate blogging mistakes.

Brokers and agents can also recycle old posts. Buyer and seller tips are always relevant, but they could easily be missed in the archive. Once you've written them, you can simply cycle back through them occasionally to make sure that new visitors and subscribers don't miss them. Seasonal homeowners tips should be recycled every year as reminders.

You can recycle posts in Blogger simply by clicking Post Options and changing the posting date from the original date to the current date. This does not change the "permalink" URL, so links from other posts and blogs still work. In ActiveRain you actually need to repost the material and you may get docked 200 points for trying to "game the system", though if you're still blogging for ActiveRain points, you're missing the real value of both real estate blogging and ActiveRain's peer-to-peer discussions.

An alternative to recycling is to create a "digest" post which contains links to all of your posts on a particular subject, organized in some logical fashion with brief summaries. Every time you make a new post on that subject, add another link to your digest. You could also promote the digest in the new post so that people who find that subject via search engine won't miss your other posts.

An example of a digest post is my WINForms® Digest, which is permanently linked in the right side of my blog under the profile. Click here to read my WINForms® Digest. Brokers and agents could create digest posts for real estate tips and also for entire neighborhoods. Each neighborhood digest post would link to blog posts about shopping, dining, and events in that neighborhood.

Thanks for reading!

Frank Jewett

EDIT: I've posted my own example of a neighborhood digest and added a link on the right.

Strategy: Are You Still Blogging For Other Agents?

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:53:49 -0500

There are some things that are worse than copying and pasting jokes from chain letters into your real estate blog. One of them is devoting precious consumer facing blog space to writing for and about your real estate blogging buddies, otherwise known as "the blogosphere", especially when they are fighting.

When you see a pie fight forming, don't reach for a pie.

Earlier today, a conflagration sprung up when an agent made fun of Redfin and a Redfin agent responded. Naturally most in the industry sided against Redfin. That's all well and good on peer-to-peer blogs, though most of the participants who thought they were covering themselves in glory were actually covering themselves in pie. Is this any way for professionals to behave?

There is no "right side" for a professional in a pie fight.

What's worse is the spillover effect where many agents began commenting on this pie fight in their consumer facing blogs. Before someone responds to accuse me of hypocrisy, this blog is written for the benefit of brokers and agents, not to attract buyers and sellers. That said, I'm not going to waste your time trying to enhance my reputation with the blogosphere, the group of "celebrity" bloggers whose names you've probably seen on flyers for seminars you haven't attended. The people I respect are focused on their clients, not their internet clubhouse.

I point out this incident to remind my readers to focus on what is really important.

Once again, here is my golden rule for determining if a post is worthy of space in my blog.

Would I pay to print this post and mail it to my clients and prospects or proudly hand it to them at a meeting?

Would you proudly hand out a blog post ridiculing your competion to your clients and prospects? Of course not. You'd look unprofessional.

Would you proudly hand out a blog post discussing how stupid other people's blogs are to your clients and prospects? Of course not. You'd look unprofessional.

Don't write your blog for your real estate blogging buddies. Write your blog for your clients and prospects by focusing on topics that matter to them. They are the community you should be trying to build through blogging.

Thanks!

Frank Jewett

Strategy: Are You Still Blogging For Points?

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:57:22 -0500

There are a variety of reasons for writing a blog post. Most blog posts fall into one the following categories.

A) Advertising myself or my listing

B) Attracting readers in my target audience

C) Establishing my professional expertise to my target audience

D) Sharing my values and perspective with my target audience

E) Communicating with my peers to exchange information

F) Collecting 200 points

Category A is clearly business related. Categories B, C, and D are also business related. Real estate bloggers should attempt to attract the right audience, establish their own expertise, and share their values and perspective to establish trust. Blogging is drip marketing without the cost of printing and postage.

Category E is also business related, though in most cases it won't help pay your bills. ActiveRain is a great source of free advice, information, and feedback. ActiveRain is also a great source of bad stream of consciousness posts written mainly to collect 200 points. I won't point any fingers, but a lot of posts could start with the phrases "Dear Diary...", "Since this is free...", or "I just thought of another excuse to collect 200 points..."

Imagine if you were actually successful at attracting a repeat visitor with a post about interest rates and the next post they read was about taking your dog to the vet or the problems you are having with your Blackberry or the joke you just copied and pasted from a chain letter. That clicking sound is your reader heading for the exit.

Unless ActiveRain starts awarding steak knives for 50,000 points*, it doesn't make sense to put posting "whatever" for points ahead of posting content designed to attract and retain an audience. Peer-to-peer communication is also a valid objective, but it won't pay your bills. Ask yourself how many of your last ten posts were simply written to collect points. Accountability is great, but only if the activity leads to a meaningful objective. Achieving AR points goals is not a meaningful objective. Collecting 50,000 points will not generate leads. Achieving reader loyalty and the business that flows from it is a meaningful objective. What you write about can generate leads... or it can drive readers away.

Here is a simple guideline I apply to my posts:

Would I pay to print this post and mail it to my clients and prospects or proudly hand it to them at a meeting?

I'm Frank Jewett, and I believe this post was worth my time to write and your time to read.

Thanks!

Frank Jewett

Strategy: Do Photos On Flyers Help Sell Listings?

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:49:40 -0500

The other day I stopped in at a local office that I used to call on when I worked for the title company. I had an appointment, but I wasn't charging for my time. The purpose of this meeting was to exchange information and maintain my relationship with that office. I've never been a broker or an agent, so I learn by listening.

I asked an assistant about listing flyers to see if they used corporate resources, free templates, or local talent. The answer, much to my surprise, was that they did their own black and white flyers in Microsoft Word with no photos.

"Why no pictures?", I asked.

"He says he doesn't want to give it all away", the assistant replied.

Is that an excuse or a clever strategy to get people to come and see the property for themselves?

Before you answer, I should let you know that this broker personally closed almost 20 transactions in 2007. I verified it with an outside tracking service. That number puts him in the top 1% in Santa Clara County.

It would be unpardonably arrogant of me to dismiss sales tips from a veteran broker who consistently delivers strong numbers even during a down market. I have to be open to the possibility that he's on to something.

Do any of you avoid "giving away" photos on your listing flyers?

Frank Jewett

Strategy: Happy Birthday to Me!

Frank Jewett (tech4REpros) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:41:28 -0500

It's my birthday. Hold on, I'm not fishing for well wishes. I've already received plenty today.

I got a birthday card from Southwest Airlines. I got a birthday card from the dealer who sold me my Charger. I got a birthday card from the auto broker who sold me and my wife her Buick. He also left a phone message. I even got a birthday card from the Buick dealer forty miles away who we've never actually met.

I couldn't tell you what any of the cards said. I didn't keep them, but they did make an impression. I remember who sent them to me.

Are you letting your previous clients know that you remember them? Better yet, are you taking the opportunity to remind them that you're still out there at a time when so many agents are leaving the business?

Please don't wish me a Happy Birthday. Save it for your clients. It doesn't matter what the card says. The point is that you remember them and you're still there if they need you.

Don't overthink it. Just do it!

Frank Jewett