tips: Communication Skills Are Critical in Real Estate. Period.
- 01/06/11 02:38 AM
Having been a part of this industry since 1996, I can emphatically state that agents who are good at communicating with their colleagues and clients are much more likely to succeed than those who struggle in this arena.
If you have trouble spelling, putting together a sentence properly, or speaking clearly and intelligibly, real estate will present a serious challenge. This career requires nuanced and layered communications, with many "moving parts" to keep track of throughout the average transaction.
Presently, I am in full-on hiring mode, having spoken with a handful of prospective agents over the past week or two. … (59 comments)
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tips: Just a Few Suggestions that Might Help - Real Estate Sales Tips
- 12/27/08 01:57 PM
I had a few recent experiences that made me want to write a post with tips for new and newer real estate agents who are trying to make it in this challenging business.
TIP #1 - MLS PHOTOS Keep in mind that the goal of your MLS photos is to get someone to take a look at the house. Well over a year ago, I wrote a post called Worst photo contest. It was one of my first attempts at humor, and it still brings in an occasional comment. With that in mind, I would like to share a photo that … (93 comments)
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tips: How ActiveRain's Re-Blogging Can Help Us All! A basic SEO concept that I finally appreciate now
- 09/24/08 12:57 PM
Not too long ago, ActiveRain launched the "Re-Blog" feature, which allows members to designate posts that they will allow others to post on their own blogs. I have been fortunate enough to have had about 8-10 of my posts re-blogged since this was launched. Each time this happens, I get an additional 25 points, which is great, but there is a much larger benefit at play here.
At first, I found this to be flattering, but I didn't really consider all of the SEO benefits, even though I have been studying SEO and optimizing my own site for the search engines since … (53 comments)
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tips: ActiveRain 101 - A Wealth of Tips for Newbies and Veterans Alike
- 09/22/08 04:52 AM
This may not be new ground for most veteran members, but if you are new to the site, you will probably find this information very helpful.
I first started blogging back in 2004 on another website, although it was not for business at all. Rather, it was just an assortment of personal stories and opinions. I guess not all that much has changed since then - I still write plenty of personal posts here on ActiveRain. I rarely wrote anything over there, but I have made a habit/hobby out of writing since joining AR.
JUST TO CLARIFY... BLOG vs. POST - … (200 comments)
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tips: Real Estate 101 - Handling Tough Situations Gracefully
- 05/18/08 03:35 PM
Over the years of my real estate career, I have grown a thicker skin, as it were. In some ways it has simply become easier to accept when things don't work out the way that I had hoped. I once lost a $213,000 commission when my buyer was snagged for money laundering. After that happened, I told my partners that any other deal that I happened to lose would be easier. Considering that it has been seven years since that transaction, I can safely say that this has remained true.
Last year, my business partner Frank lost a sale when the … (71 comments)
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tips: Did I miss an opportunity to sell a home to Jennifer Aniston? Take a risk - it might just pay off!
- 03/11/08 07:00 AM
About nine or ten years ago, when I was still pretty new in the real estate business, I had a couple of luxury listings that I was advertising in some national magazines (Robb Report, DuPont Registy, etc.). I wrote a post back in late September about some of the odd characters that came out of the woodwork from these ads:
Ad I Ran in a National Magazine that Resulted in Me Calling the FBI
During that time, I was also contacted by a man and woman who claimed to be representing a famous actress who was interested in purchasing property here in the … (31 comments)
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tips: How to generate and track backlinks for your Active Rain profile - A few basic SEO tips
- 02/15/08 04:56 AM
The first comment I made on Active Rain was August 5th, 2007. Since then, I have amassed 7404 comments made over the past 182 days. That means that I am averaging 40.68 comments daily here.
I could write (and have written) posts about the friendships that began as stray comments on AR, or the referrals that I have received (also covered that a few times in posts). However, I wanted to point out that the "Google juice" is a phenomenal side benefit of commenting that you may not have realized.
What am I talking about?
Well, it's really quite simple: The more you comment … (439 comments)
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tips: I am a WYSIWYG kind of guy who can't stand working with HTML clients.
- 02/11/08 03:52 AM
If you read my blog regularly, you can see that I don't have a lot of secrets. I share my life pretty openly here, and this is really very much like my online diary at times, although I feel that I do contribute some solid real estate information as well.
Basically, what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) when it comes to my personality and the way that I deal with people. You can learn about my family, which songs I listen to in the privacy of my car or the shower, things that irritate me, situations that I am … (53 comments)
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tips: Are you a Google Juicer? ActiveRain Offers You Some Incredible SEO Power
- 02/03/08 01:44 PM
I read Jeff Belonger's post from earlier today (Bah Humbug, just SHOW ME the MONEY, not the points...... ), and while I was commenting, it inspired me to write this one. I wanted to take a minute to explain how powerful the ActiveRain "Google juice" really is, and how you can harness the power of this network to your advantage.
Why does Google (or Yahoo, or any other search engine) like ActiveRain posts so much?
Well, the key is fresh content, and AR is a site producing thousands of pages of content everyday. When a site is able … (76 comments)
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tips: Excuse me for asking, but do you have any intention of doing ANYTHING correctly during this negotiation?
- 01/21/08 10:42 AM
My business partner has been working with some high-end home buyers over the past several months. As you might well imagine, the buyers are very...particular about their needs/wants, so it took awhile to find the perfect home. They made an offer about a week ago on a brand-new custom home, and since it had been on the market for quite awhile, and the listing agent indicated that they were negotiable, the offer was about 5% less than the asking price.
For the sake of example (i.e. not the real numbers), let's say that they offered $45,000 less than the asking price of … (81 comments)
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tips: So, You're Going on a Listing Appointment? How to Win Almost Every Time
- 01/13/08 07:35 AM
Over the years, I have gone on hundreds of listing appointments. These days, it seems as though I am competing less and less often, since they probably found me through a friend of mine or a past client. When I do compete, I haven't really kept track of the percentage of times that I win the listing, but I would estimate that about 9 out of every 10 choose me. No, I am not exaggerating.
Why have I had such a strong track record with listing appointments? Hey, I'm glad you asked. You did ask, right? Well, either way, you … (164 comments)
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tips: A couple of Active Rain tips for newbies (and perhaps some veterans, too)
- 12/28/07 03:33 PM
I have discovered a couple of items here at Active Rain during my time here, and I thought it might be valuable to share this information with my friends.
I am probably not the first to write about this, but I only recently figured out that it is possible to invite others to any group in which you are a member. I guess I have spent a lot of my time in the groups where I am a founder and/or moderator (Family Ties, Active Rain Addicts, and Inspired by Song!). I have invited countless people to my own groups over the … (83 comments)
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tips: Cake in One Hand, Eating it in the Other Hand - You Must Choose!
- 10/19/07 06:03 AM
I have had some interesting and frustrating experiences with sellers in our market lately. It seems that clients just don't seem to "get it", sometimes. We are still in the slower winter season (at least it is slower here in Austin typically).
At any rate, it seems logical that if they are buying another home locally, they can get a lot of bang for the buck, right? Well, the quick answer is probably yes. However, the part that is always fun to explain is that this principle affects their home as well.
Here is a typical exchange with someone looking to both sell and buy … (56 comments)
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tips: The ER Nurse and the Convenience Store Employee - Where do you see yourself?
- 10/16/07 07:21 PM
My wife and I both had a rather long day today. I took care of our three kids and ran various errands with them, and visited a friend of mine who is in the hospital with a second bout of cancer (this will probably be a separate post of mine soon). At any rate, we wrapped up the day assisting my mother-in-law in the emergency room of the North Austin Medical Center. It is a very involved story, but suffice it to say that she was admitted in order to get a blood transfusion and she will be leaving in the … (58 comments)
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tips: You've Got them in the Car - Now What?
- 10/03/07 11:26 AM
In today's market, getting a buyer into the car with you to look at property is difficult enough, so you want to ensure that your trip is as productive as possible. I have probably taken 500 or more buyers in my car since I first started in real estate in early 1997, and is now second nature for me, but occasionally I have an awkward moment or two, so perhaps you can learn from my experiences.
First and foremost, it is important to make sure that they are pre-qualified/pre-approved for the financing. If they are planning a cash purchase, you need … (51 comments)
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tips: How to Present and Use Buyer's Representation Agreements
- 09/07/07 04:39 PM
As the broker and owner of a company with almost 20 agents, I have mulled over the topic of buyer's representation agreements with fellow brokers and Realtors for years. Not to toot my own horn (well, maybe a little), but I have represented buyers in almost every area of Austin and central Texas, in every conceivable price range (from a $15,000 lot to a $4.1 million ranch property). I typically represent more buyers than sellers (probably 75% or so).
So, you are probably wondering, how does Jason present his buyer's representation contracts? I'm guessing that if you aren't wondering this, … (44 comments)
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Having been a part of this industry since 1996, I can emphatically state that agents who are good at communicating with their colleagues and clients are much more likely to succeed than those who struggle in this arena. 
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