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Lifehacker today has a great story for Realtors although it is really pointed towards home buyers and sellers.

The article describes 10 tools, including Zillow of course, that help people get through the buying and selling of reale estate.

Here in Canada we have been looking forward to a big change in the way that the Canadian MLS site was going to be presenting listings. The changes are now live.

So what kinds of changes would be ground breaking to you? Here in Canada the MLS is now mapped with Microsoft Virtual Earth and you can now very quickly see listings on a map with a pop up pic with basic info on the property. For those that just want to see a list of properties available on the map will see a sidebar on the right with all of the listing in the window.

I am sure that we will see changes soon at the realtor.com site but at this point the Canada site is so much better than anything else that I have seen that it is hard to compare.

What do you guys think? Have you checked out the Canadian MLS site? How do you like it?

I just ran across an article on social marketing (you know the non web 2.0 buzzword

Influential Interactive Marketing: 5 Rules of Social Media Optimization (SMO)

There are a lot of tips on this page on how to get your site recognized  and none of them are the good content variety tip.  Most of the tips revolve around making things easy for your visitors to remember your site and let others know about it too. This is a great read and even if your already know how to make the new interactive web work for you these tips should really get you thinking about all of those little things that you have forgot. I know it did for me.

I am starting a Realtor Newsletter, on the internet these are known as Ezines. The reason that I thought that it would be a good idea to start this is that there are a lot of subjects in internet marketing for Realtors but there is no real start or end. The idea of this newsletter is that I can have starting tips and more advanced tips for each of a few subjects so that not only do you have news like in this weblog but you also have a bi-weekly chance to make sure that you are doing each of the things that you need to do to make your internet marketing complete without any holes that may be allowing some of your prospects to fall through the cracks.

I will be covering the following topics:

weblogs
autoresponders
email
websites
social networking

I hope that you find great value in this newsletter. I will be pouring everything I can into it while still trying to keep it short enough to not steal away much of your valuable time.

To sign up for the newsletter you can go to the top left hand corner of any page on the weblog and simply put in your email address.

Please be aware that I will protect your email address as carefully as I guard my own. Also if you find that at some point the newsletter is not what you really need at that point in your career you can simply click an unsubscribe link in the bottom of any of the emails and you will be off the list immediately, no questions asked.

I hope that you find this a great new resource as I am very excited to be starting this new venture and will be focusing as well on any questions that people email me looking for more information.

Realtor Newsletters offered to your opt-in list subscribers provides many benefits in terms of driving traffic into your site as well as boosting the potential for buyers and listings. This is a marketing ploy that will not hugely dent your marketing budget and will not also require many man-hours in developing this project.

With a Realtor newsletter, you can inform the public about your company and products as well as services. You can keep them posted and updated about what’s going-on with your company as well as many of your promotions and offerings. With these, you keep on reminding your subscribers that you are still here and is willing to offer them good deals and services.

Realtor Newsletters also allow you to impress your subscribers. It can show your expertise and knowledge about the topic at hand and the many benefits you can offer them. When you impress people, they will become potential customers and another great thing is that they can recommend you to their friends, colleagues and family. All of them could very well be customers in the future.

If you do not have a Realtor newsletter or publishing one for your site, then you may have to consider about researching and be well informed on how to publish one. It is not as easy as it seems but if and when you get the right idea and process, it will be smooth sailing from there on. Try to take the time to learn what you need to learn and get that newsletter ready and good to attract subscribers to your newsletter as well as traffic to your site.

In the next few paragraphs, I will provide you with some things to reflect on when you decide to start your own newsletter for your site. Here are five things to consider when publishing a newsletter.

1. Make sure that the content of your newsletter is clearly interesting to home buyers and sellers. Do not dwell too far on what could be regarded as your field of expertise. You have started a site and your theme for your site will always be something you are knowledgeable about. For example; if you have a site that sells auto car parts, your newsletter must contain articles or content like photos that pertain to cars, auto parts and such. You may also include content about your company and your staff.

Remember that visitors of a certain site are there because they are interested in what the site has to offer. If they sign up for an opt-in list or for a newsletter this means that they want to be updated for that certain theme or subject. Be sure that when you publish your newsletter you are providing for the need of the subscriber as well as their interests.

2. Ensure that you have well written, information riddled and content rich articles.
You articles will be the body of your newsletter and that they should be able to excite your readers as well as provide information. Articles should be well written and checked for errors such as spelling and grammatical errors for it to look professional and believable. The trust of your client to you and newsletter is at stake here.

3. Fact-check your articles.
Make sure that you provide true facts and figures so that your reputation as an expert and knowledgeable in that field is not questioned. If you lose the trust of your subscribers these may persuade them to unsubscribe to your newsletter. You will lose many potential sales this way.

4. Provide fresh and new articles that can provide new information to your subscribers.
If you publish stale and old news in your newsletter, there is a tendency that people or your subscribers already have read and known about them. This will lose their interest in your newsletter and they wont get to read what is most important, your ads. They may not open or read any of your succeeding newsletters losing your intention in writing and publishing newsletters, to get them to visit your site and make a purchase.

5. Never use copyrighted materials such as photos and articles.
This is outright plagiarism, you may get into a lot of trouble for this. You can lose your business and get sued over copyright infringement. If you do not have the time to write your own articles, there are many willing and able professional article writers that can do it for you for a reasonable fee. All your investment in writing and publishing articles will be well worth it when you see your list build up and your traffic increasing.

When it comes to investing, everybody has certain goals and aspirations. However, we have found that there are certain guidelines every aspiring real estate investor needs to know:

1. Compare Property Values and Rents
Financial statistics only go so far; the best measure of a property’s market value is often the sale prices of nearby properties. The same holds true for area rents. A low price can often be justified by a reasonable rent; renters who can afford a high rent can afford to buy instead, so reasonably priced rent is a need.

2. Be careful - Tax laws may change
Don’t base your tax investment on current tax laws. The tax code is constantly changing, and a good investment is a good investment regardless of the tax code. The right property with the right financing is what you should look for as an investor.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a list of different things that you can get deal on just for being a member of the National Association of Realtors;

The Pacific Institute
The Pacific Institute, an international corporation specializing in personal and organizational performance improvement and professional growth, offers REALTORS® a solution to improve both their business and personal lives.
Read more

Entertainment® Book
NAR members and association staff may now purchase Entertainment® books at a savings of more than 50% off the retail price.
Read more

Lowe’s
Lowe’s will send valuable coupons and rebate offers to your customers and clients, on your behalf, via highly customized direct mail featuring your photo and company logo. Best of all, it’s absolutely FREE to REALTORS®.
Read more

REALTOR.com®REALTOR.com empowers REALTORS® by helping them secure more listings, sell homes for more and promote themselves to the largest online audience of homebuyers and sellers, including those on AOL and MSN.
Read more

REALTOR® Team Store
REALTOR® Team Store™ is NAR’s official supplier of REALTOR® premium incentive products, offering a wide array of promotional items, including lapel pins, bags, hats, shirts, decals, folders, jackets and more.
Read more

Talking House® Listings & Leads Program
The Talking House program combines an AM radio transmitter that broadcasts promotional messages to the car radios of target customers in front of any location, with expertly scripted messages and unlimited, one-on-one marketing consultation.
Read more

I have just run across an article about a strange new website called hungryagents.com. The idea behind hungry agents is that if your are looking to sell you list your home on this site and Realtors are supposed to bid on your listing. With the number of Realtors in most markets I am not sure why this service would be necessary but anyway here is an article that talks about the service.

Home sellers caught in the current ebb in real estate sales can’t help getting a bit discouraged after putting up a “for sale” sign, only to see few prospects look at their property. It’s a trend that has vexed Realtors who’ve been fighting a vicious circle that has seen interest rates go up while home sales go down. About the only way to sweeten a deal without chopping the purchase price would be to negotiate the 6 percent to 7 percent commission paid to real estate agents.

An online service, HungryAgents.com, offers home sellers the option of doing just that, often netting home sellers a commission rate as low as 3 or 4 percent.

In Elgin alone, about 80 Realtors currently are bidding on 38 properties registered at the site.

Tony Wiszowaty, a veteran of 21 years in real estate sales and a long-time agent for RE/MAX Suburban, has used HungryAgents for more than a year. He enthusiastically endorses the service, which he said generated four Elgin-area home sales in only his first month as a participant.

“It’s been good for my business,” Wiszowaty said. “I think it’s been great for homeowners, because they can find some competitive rates with good companies that are out there,” he said.

He suggested HungryAgents has been a godsend for a lot of homeowners who are desperate to sell their home but are either unwilling or unable to pay prevailing commission rates. He scoffs at suggestions that a participating agent may unwittingly label his realty a discount broker.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a great idea for Realtors just to set yourself apart a little. Maybe seeing lighted for sale signs will really stick out for a little while until this idea catches on and every for sale sign lights up the streets at night. I have yet to be able to find any info on how your can get a hold of one of these signs but as soon as I do I will post that info as well.

Tom Henkels hopes real-estate agents will take a shine to his nifty new marketing tool: illuminated “for sale” signs.
Henkels, who worked in the real-estate business in Illinois, retired and moved to Tucson about five years ago. He’s just started marketing the signs, produced in Florida by a company called Ad Light International. Its slogan: “When others quit, we stay lit.”

He said he wishes the signs had been available when he was selling homes and commercial real estate.
“It works for you 24 hours a day. Especially in the winter — it gets dark early and stays dark longer,” Henkels said. “Say you’re up against a company for a listing. You’ve got the edge over them.”

Henkels said he thinks real-estate agents will take to the signs “if it helps them get even one listing, or one sale.”
Recently, Henkels took one of the signs into the offices of Realty Executives of Southern Arizona. While making his pitch, he caught the attention of Elaine Matthias, an agent. She’d heard of the signs and liked Henkels’ design.
“A lot of them have solar lights that flash down on the sign. As far as I know, I’m the first one that’s gotten a solar-powered light in Tucson,” Matthias said. “I didn’t really think about buying one. When I saw Tom’s sign I thought it made a lot more sense. I thought I’d give it a try and see what kind of response I get.”

While the metal placards that normally hang from the T-shaped signposts cost about $20, she paid about $270.
“They’re not cheap, so you’re not going to see a lot of Realtors do them. It’s an expensive venture,” Matthias said.
Henkels said he’s trying to lower the price.

There may be more to worry about than just pricing, said Dan Santa Maria, a Realtor and chairman of the city’s sign code committee. “I don’t believe illuminated signs on private property are legal. Illuminated signs must be fixed to the property,” he said.

Although he has not seen the lighted signs, Santa Maria said he believes using them would be unprofessional.
“As a Realtor, I cannot see these signs being a benefit to any Realtor,” he said. “I have a bad feeling about it. I certainly would not use the signs. I don’t think they’re acceptable, as aesthetically pleasing as they might be.”
Santa Maria said for-sale signs should advertise the property for sale, while lighted signs “enhance the marketing of the real-estate agent, not the property.”

He said the signs might be “a great tool, but I doubt it’s going to be accepted by homeowners associations.”

Henkels said although some neighborhoods may have restrictions, he doesn’t think the signs violate any ordinances. “It’s the same size. Everything’s the same. It’s hanging on the same poles. It’s identical to what we have now. “I’m sure you may run into a subdivision or housing association that will frown on it, maybe,” Henkels said. “If we had a big sign, that would be something different. This isn’t that bright, because it’s solar.”

For many people and businesses using the internet for management of contacts and time is critical to the way that they do business. Here is a great way that you can book showings online and kiss phone tag, pagers and waiting for showing confirmations behind. I am not sure how quickly this concept will catch on but we have seen “disruptive” technologies catch and take hold incredibly quickly in the past and maybe bookashowing.com will be one of them.

So you’re an agent working with a prospective home buyer, and your client wants to see a particular home. You call the listing agent; the listing agent calls the seller. The listing agent calls back the buyer’s agent, and that agent gets in touch with the buyer. Maybe there is a bit of phone tag in the process. And if all goes well, the agent and buyer will show up at the scheduled time to see the home. That’s the way that showings have historically been arranged — but it’s not the most efficient way, said Jason Moser, creator and president of Bookashowing.com.

Moser built an automated system, now in use by two Realtor association-operated multiple listing services in Wisconsin, that allow listing agents, showing agents, buyers and sellers to communicate through the Internet and to schedule and view appointments.

Showing agents can also offer feedback to sellers and listing agents about buyers’ interest and comments for visited properties. Moser has made his mom, Val Moser, proud — she is a longtime real estate agent in Eau Claire, Wis., where Bookashowing.com is based.

“She thinks its fantastic,” he said. “There are so many people who don’t keep track of appointments that well.” Moser demonstrated the system Friday at a trade expo held during a National Association of Realtors annual legislative conference.

Agents who want to show a property to their clients can enter an MLS number for the property, and request a day and time for the showing. The system notifies the listing agent by e-mail about the request. If there is already an appointment booked at that time, the system automatically notifies the buyer’s agent that the requested time is not available. Agents can view a complete list of scheduled and requested showings. The requests are color-coded to denote whether they are approved, pending or denied.

Agents’ buyer clients can view all of their scheduled showing appointments, and sellers and listing agents can view a list of the scheduled showing times and review property comments and ratings entered by buyers’ agents. The site can display individual feedback received, as well as average ratings of the property, and a comparison of this average for other area properties in a similar price range. System users can click on individual appointment listings to view property photos and maps.

Moser conceptualized the Web tool and wrote the software. The system launched in August 2005, and Moser said he hopes to expand the service into other areas.