ActiveRain - What is the True Meaning Behind the Community?
First off, let me start out by saying that this post has been in draft mode just waiting to be finished for several months now, but I was waiting for the right time to do so. Well, I feel after my experiences over the last several months here on ActiveRain, that there could be no better time than now to post this, so here it goes. Secondly, I apologize, it is kind of a long post, but hopefully worth your time.
After several conversations with other agents over the past couple of weeks at my RE/MAX of Texas Powerstart Training, as part of that conversation I, of course mentioned the ActiveRain Real Estate network, especially when the trainer mentioned that each agent needed to start a real estate blog, but not the one inside their RE/MAX of Texas website, due to SEO purposes. (If you don’t know what SEO is, that is for another conversation, sorry). When the instructor said that, it was like a lead in for me to say hey, are you currently on Active Rain?
There was one agent there from another office (will remain unnamed), that was a newly licensed agent, (with no disrespect intended, and not very knowledgeable in basic contract matters, internet marketing, etc…) but totally understandable. I know with the help of RE/MAX’s training programs, she will be up and running soon. But that is not what stuck in my mind.
When I was telling her about ActiveRain’s blogging platform and how if she needed help getting started to give me a call and I would help her out in anyway I could. You see, I kind of see myself as an ActiveRain Ambassador in the making. (AR Gods, if you are reading this, I am ready to step up to the plate.) Except for #3, (which should be rectified by the end of the week, should be able to qualify on all other points.) Just Saying! :0)
She ask me why would you do that and how much would it cost her? Because she had asked someone in her office that if she had any questions regarding contract issues or what not, as a new agent, which there will be many I’m sure, that the other agent said sure for a referral fee, (now I can understand a set fee of a couple hundred dollars, depending on how much assistance is provided, but not 25% referral for asking a question.) My mouth dropped when she said this as well as a fellow agent' from my office. We both told her that if she had any questions going forward to give us a call. I don’t know who this other agent is and frankly I don’t want to know, we are not all like that.
I hated to state a cliché, but I told her what goes around, comes around, and that goes for the real estate industry just like any other business industry out there. I firmly believe that if you are good to others, that good things will come to you and visa versa, if you're bad, then you should expect bad things in return. My fellow office mate firmly agreed with me 100%.
I explained to her that the ActiveRain Community was not like that, and that was one of the things I love so much about it. We are there to help each other out regardless of brokerage affiliation. And in some cases that I have developed stronger relationships with agents within the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, the State of Texas and outside the State that may or may not be a part of the same brokerage affiliation as I am.
I have made some very good friends here personally in the “Rain” as we like to say, some that I have met in person, and some that I have met only online through Active Rain, and then some that I have also spoken with on the phone.
The True meaning behind the community really rang home to me over the past month or so on ActiveRain, I will briefly explain, after recently acquiring my Texas Real estate Broker License at the beginning of August, I had taken and passed the Texas Real Estate Broker Exam towards the end of July. What should have been a week or so of my wife and myself celebrating my passing was quickly extinguished when just a few days after passing my broker exam, I had to make the hard decision to put our Dear Black Lab “Moose” down on 31 July 2011.
I didn’t feel like doing much for a couple of weeks and even stopped blogging at the time. I wanted to pay tribute to our “Moosy Moo”, but couldn’t bring myself to put together a photo tribute to our lost doggie. That is when a dear friend of mine on ActiveRain, Kristine Ginsberg, a professional home stager out of Morris Town, New Jersey, whom is a master at photo collages, etc…using Picnik photo program offered to create a photo tribute for me and I will let her work speak for itself. What she did for me allowed me to mourn in my own way and kind of heal over the couple of weeks, because I was also out interviewing different brokerages and had a lot on my mine at the time. I will be forever grateful to Kristine.
Then there is Ms. (East Side) Barbara Hensely, a RE/MAX Broker/Owner @ RE/MAX Hometown located in Rockwall, TX. After recently reading my Cat Conundrum series of post recently, while out shopping with a friend about a week ago, she saw the kitchen “Tea Towel” as she put it and knew she had to buy it for me and did and mail it to me.
The Friendships I have developed here in the Rain are ones that I feel will last a lifetime and go far beyond Real Estate if and when I were to ever hang it up, which ain’t going to happen.
For my blog readers that are not familiar with Active Rain: ActiveRain is a Seattle, WA technology + media company that operates the largest and most active social network in the real estate space. Over the years, ActiveRain has worked closely with agents and companies both large and small, providing the technology to support their core business: selling homes.
Active Rain’s primary goal is to empower the real estate professional, and as an extension, educate and empower the consumer.
In June 2006, the ActiveRain Real Estate Network was launched, it is a social network and marketing platform for real estate professionals. This network helps agents to create business relationships both within the industry and with consumers.
John Hrisco & Associates is a proud member of the ActiveRain Community. And we have been since 2007, however back in 2007, we didn’t realize just what we had our hands on. Fast forward to 2011, we have re-engaged with the ActiveRain Community and feel strongly that it has and will be one of the best decisions one could have made in their real estate career. (Now you competitors out there, disregard and move on to the next post, there is nothing here for you to read) :0), LOL!
What does that mean to you the consumer who is using the services of a real estate professional like myself? And yes, I said real estate professional, I am not some hobby lobby lad practicing real estate for the fun of it.
John Hrisco of John Hrisco & Associates is a Licensed Texas Real Estate Broker; License #480703. What does this mean to my clients and customers? It means that I am more committed than ever to serve your best interest and look out for all your real estate needs.
It means that on a daily basis I am out there in the trenches, engaged with over 200,000 members of ActiveRain, seeing what the market is doing in different parts of the country as well as here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, Northeast Tarrant County Real Estate and the State of Texas.
What else does that mean to you as a consumer, it means that when you engage with John Hrisco & Associates, that we are networking with our vast conglomerate of agents both in and outside of ActiveRain in order to bring the most exposure possible to your real estate listing. It also means that as a potential homebuyer that we are aware of what the real estate market is doing around the country and locally and can guide you in the right direction when purchasing your new home.
So you see, ActiveRain, is much more than just a social network for Real Estate professionals, it is a home, a family, a place you can say that we are proud to be a part of. Thank you for taking the time to read this rather lengthy post, I hope it was worth your time.
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