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Some Thoughts Regarding ActiveRain and Real Estate

By
Real Estate Agent with McGraw Realtors

I used to be a blogger here in the Rain on a pretty active basis.

I would write daily and I loved meeting all kinds of new friends here.

It was new.
It was cool.
It was awesome marketing.
And I thought ActiveRain was probably the future of Real Estate marketing.

But then two things happened:

1)I burned myself out from over blogging (Yep, you can do that)
2)We had this little Real Estate market crash problem across the country

So I kept selling Real Estate, but I couldn't blog.

The words wouldn't come.
They used to come.
But they wouldn't come any longer.

Call it writer's block.  Call it burn out.  Call it whatever you want.  

Whatever it was, it was frustrating.

In the meantime, I did what I could to survive in the weird world of Real Estate and made it through to the other side (you should be hearing The Doors in your head right about now).

Today, I find myself working with my son and leading a team of seven other agents.

That's pretty cool.  And challenging.  And terrifying.  And awesome. 

But I also find that I am reminded that what goes around comes around.

With the return of Real Estate, comes the return of the money grubbing trolls who want to sell you crap leads or a host of other "must have" services.

For example, yesterday I looked into a couple of CRM programs online for my new team.  And wouldn't you know it, to see the demo, you have to put in your contact information.  

I knew what was going to happen.

And it did.

Not an hour later...no wait...not 2 minutes later, my phone started blowing up.

I couldn't talk right then as I had Real Estate business to attend to, so I let the call go to voicemail.

Anybody wanna guess how many times they called yesterday?  Yeah, try 5 times!

And then this morning, I'm sitting in my kitchen, working on the computer, and the phone rings.  It's a local number so I answer it.  Guess who is on the line?  Yep, the troll who must speak to me about my inquiry.

Uh, at 8:25 a.m.?  I don't think so.

Tommy left me a message indicating he needed to talk to me to get a better understanding of my needs, blah, blah, blah - fading off to obscurity here....

The only problem was he called me at 8:15 a.m.  Unprofessional.  I don't care if he's in a different time zone or if he's on a beach drinking a drink with a little umbrella in it.  He'd better know my time zone if he wants my business.  

And he ought to know better than to call that early.  Somebody's momma didn't teach her boy common sense.

And the fact that he used a fake local number on caller ID to hide the identity of the company goes all through me.  I do not work with ANY company that will disguise their out of town number as a local number.  It's dishonest and pretty crappy.  

Tommy just lost a sale due to those two factors.  

Real shame too.  His program looked kind of interesting.

If you're new to Real Estate, listen up.

Be careful what you spend your money on.

Be careful of promised leads and "impressions."  It can be a big ruse to get way down deep in your pocket.

And be remember this.  People who live in and work in the Rain are people you can typically trust and look to for good advice and answers.

Thank goodness Lenn Harley never experienced burnout!

Haywood Home Team

 

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Contact:
Bob Haywood
Bob Haywood
Owasso, Oklahoma REALTOR®

Tulsa, OK REALTOR®/ McGraw REALTORS®
Bhaywood@mcgrawrealtors.com
(918) 272-7272

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Comments (74)

Deb Harshman
Long and Foster - Christie's International Real Estate & Owner of Staged Home Decor - Potomac, MD
REALTOR & ASPMaster Stager, The Selling Advantage

Bob,  I find it so difficult being nice to people that call again and again, after being told I am not interested.  And disguising the number with a local, I didn't even know that was possible until a few weeks  ago. I am a victim of that one too.  I would definitely go into the Rain for advice these days, with all of the vultures out there. Great post!

Jun 14, 2014 09:32 PM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

I understand you 100% & I've had the same problem over the last year. Just nothing much to say ......

Jun 15, 2014 01:10 AM
Nina Hollander, Broker
Coldwell Banker Realty - Charlotte, NC
Your Greater Charlotte Realtor

Yes, yes. yes, yes! And don't I hate those sales pitches on clicks and impressions! What does that really mean in terms of business (not much, I say).

Jun 15, 2014 01:18 AM
Marc McMaster
RE/MAX Centre Realty - State College, PA
Putting my clients before myself

Everybody wants to sell you something in real estate.  I think a lot of that comes from agents that believe in the quick buck and will spend the money on all the empty promises. 

Jun 15, 2014 01:23 AM
Sandy Padula & Norm Padula, JD, GRI
HomeSmart Realty West & Florida Realty Investments - , CA
Presence, Persistence & Perseverance

Bob: I could not agree with you more. These vultures are circling for any carion they can find and for the 'green' agents our there, they will become victims.  Good luck!

Jun 15, 2014 03:14 AM
Rebecca Gaujot, Realtor®
Lewisburg, WV
Lewisburg WV, the go to agent for all real estate

Hi, your statesment is so TRUE: " People who live in and work in the Rain are people you can typically trust and look to for good advice and answers.  Keep blogging, Bob!!!

Jun 15, 2014 04:19 AM
Anna Hatridge
R Gilliam Real Estate LLC - Farmington, MO
Missouri Realtor with R Gilliam Real Estate LLC

Welcome back and congratulations on the feature. I work hard for my money and have learned that it is not in my best interest to buy without a professional reference. If they cannot or will not give me a reference then something is wrong.

Jun 15, 2014 09:13 AM
Marge Draper
Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto - Menlo Park, CA
REALTOR, Keller Williams Realty, Menlo Park CA

Really good advice, Bob!  Looks to me you've got your groove back.

Jun 15, 2014 11:17 AM
Sharon Parisi
United Real Estate Dallas - Dallas, TX
Dallas Homes

Welcome back, Bob!  I have remarked more than once about those "money grubbing trolls."  The calls come seven days a week at all hours of the day !

Jun 15, 2014 03:51 PM
Keith Whited
RE/MAX Gateway - Alexandria, VA

Know what you mean. I used to just ignore '800', '866' numbers but you cna't do that anymore with the fake numbers b/c you just might be missing a legitimate call. I have started adding those'local' numbers that I get calls from the address book of my phone so it announces 'Marketing 1', 'Marketing 2', etc. so they only catch me off guard one time. Fool me once, shame on you - Fool me twice, shame on me.

Jun 15, 2014 11:57 PM
Ron Aguilar
Gateway Mortgage Group - Saint George, UT
Mortgage & Real Estate Advisor since 1995

Bob, good story. My side hobby is to sort out the crap for my agents. I take the time to open myselft up to these marketers and check out the goods, so to speak. Once I realize they are not worth pursuing I tell them that I am not a Realtor, end of story...

Jun 16, 2014 12:08 AM
Graziella Bruner
NCS Premier Real Estate - Detroit, MI
Associate Broker - Serving Wayne & Oakland County

I don't care too much for the sales call either - they do find ways to keep calling and calling - there should be a line item when you're filling out forms for info that states if you want to be called or not.  Don't just make me fill out my information and I still can't view the product on line - those are the ones I stay away from. 

Jun 16, 2014 12:47 AM
Carolyn Shipp
Source 1 Real Estate - Mineral Wells, TX
Mineral Wells Texas Real Estate

For the most part, I don't mind early morning calls.  When school is in session, I have my daughter there by 7:30 a.m., so I'm already on the go.  Not really fond of the sales calls though as they really aren't relative to the area I live in.  It would be different if my real estate area was in a large metro area, but we are a small rural community and don't really need the services they want to provide.

Jun 16, 2014 02:11 AM
Jan Green - Scottsdale, AZ
Value Added Service, 602-620-2699 - Scottsdale, AZ
HomeSmart Elite Group, REALTOR®, EcoBroker, GREEN

I hear you!  I'm frustrated with a program I'm using that is not supplying leads as promised and it isn't cheap!

Jun 16, 2014 04:25 AM
Jeff Dowler, CRS
eXp Realty of California, Inc. - Carlsbad, CA
The Southern California Relocation Dude

Glad to see you back, Bob. Yep, those calls can drive you nuts. Can't tell you how many broadcast voice mails I get on my cell, too. I can always tell so I never answer and, no surprise, there is never a message. As the market has improved there are many more out there trying to separate us from our earnings. The techniques have gotten sneakier, and more annoying

Best of luck to you

Jeff

Jun 16, 2014 05:37 AM
Charles Stallions
Charles Stallions Real Estate Services - Pensacola, FL
850-476-4494 - Pensacola, Pace or Gulf Breeze, Fl.

Did you enter your info and then got mad cause they followed up on a lead for their business.

I had a seller fill out a form online and then got pissed cause I called her back in minutes to see if I could get her home listed I finally ask her what the heck was she thinking when she filled it out. Gotta love em don't you

Jun 16, 2014 03:16 PM
Doug Fisher
Hutchinson, KS

Bob,

I am new to blogging, so I can't really comment on the 'burn out' because I have yet to write my first one!  However, I found your first line intriguing...so I read on.  And I just wanted to commend you as a writer...and hope that you will be encouraged to start up again...as you have a great way with words.  And by the way, I think that this has happened to just about every real estate agent...at least once!  

Incidently, I have a niece and nephew who live in Tulsa, and just to put in a plug for him, he owns Black Optical located at 3524 S Peoria.  If you ever stop by, tell him Uncle Doug sent you!  :-)   (www.blackoptical.com)

Thanks again for sharing your comments!!

 

Jun 19, 2014 03:05 AM
MaryBeth Mills Muldowney
TradeWinds Realty Group LLC - Braintree, MA
Massachusetts Broker Owner

How true, with so  many people selling us our leads over and over again maybe it is time for us to go back to the drawing board and hard work and mine for our own leads again.

Jul 15, 2014 09:30 PM
Lottie Kendall
Compass - San Francisco, CA
Helping make your real estate dreams a reality

Hi Bob,

Welcome back! I remember reading and liking your posts before; I'm sure I will again. Following!

Aug 17, 2015 10:52 AM
Bob Haywood
McGraw Realtors - Owasso, OK
BobHaywood.com

Hi Lotie.  Thank you for stopping by my blog and commenting.  It's good to be back.

Aug 17, 2015 10:58 AM