This last year has been an amazing one.  I knew that the market and the rules would be changing.  Changes would be coming and they would be dramatic.  Those expecting them are not disappointed.  Those doing business the same way they did in years past are probably not doing so well or may have already left the business.

In my market, sales activity has cooled over the record sales volume of a couple years ago.  Sellers are seeing homes sit on the market for months instead of days.  They are looking for the best agent they can find and no longer just looking for the cheapest.  Buyers are on the internet and loaded with data.  They have a better knowledge of the market and the numbers.  They are also prescreening agents online before contacting them.  Real estate agents without a strong internet presence can't are not doing so well these days.

We went from having a website to have a blog like on Active Rain to now being on social networks and having multiple websites with IDX engines and multiple blogs.  Our listings a few years ago were posted on the MLS.  Today we post them on dozens of websites, have virtual tours and create a website for each and every listing with its own domain name.

Listing presentations went from tax records and comparable sales to now adding satellite photos, demographics, maps, charts, detailed marketing plans and computer demonstrations.  In this information age what we did a couple of years ago is no longer even the bare minimum.  You need to take it to a much higher level and you need to incorporate technology.

You also need to take your personal marketing to a much higher level.  Clients are looking at your personal marketing.  If you are not doing a good job of that, what message are you sending about the kind of job you will do for them?  Many of the new clients I picked up the last two years specifically mentioned my personal marketing as a reason.

Clients are looking at your bio.  Have you invested in your career?  Do you have professional development and designations?  I hear the argument that those are just alphabets and the public has no idea what they are.  WRONG!  They are on the internet and they are reading.  Even if they do not know what they mean, they know they need them.  While taking a class a couple of years ago the instructor made that very point.  When he had to have oral surgery, he had no idea what the designations after his surgeons name were; he just knew he needed them.  He did not want the surgeon without them.  I am sure in today's world he will Google^TM them.

So if you do not feel the need to utilize technology in your real estate business, not to worry.  The world need ditch diggers.  If you are looking to buy or sell residential real estate in Hawaii, please check me out.  You will receive the VIP treatment.

I have to run.  I am meeting today with a new client who met me through my website:  www.HawaiiRandy.com