August 2010
20 posts
1 tag
“Credit to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and...”
– Teddy Rosevelt
1 tag
For Your Clients: Goby.com
One way to build rapport with new prospects in your community is to help them learn about events and activities in the area. A great way to learn about events yourself (or help clients find events) is a relatively new website, “Goby.com.” From the Goby.com site: “Goby helps you find fun things to do. Whether you’re traveling across the country...
1 tag
New Google Maps "Labs" Tools Handy for Real Estate
Did you know that Google Maps has a number of experimental new features you can elect to “turn on”? Almost every Google product has a little section called “Labs” where they test new (and most requested) features to improve their already fantastic free services. Recently, Google Maps added a few super handy features. One in particular caught...
1 tag
Interviewing Clients: 10 Great Questions
“Remember you have two ears and one mouth,” is a good rule of thumb when meeting with potential clients. While you may feel anxious to explain why you’re the best agent to represent them and list their home, you’ll have a better chance of success if you use your mouth to ask questions and both ears to listen carefully to the answers. ...
Clean URLs for Good SEO
I need not delve into the technical details of percent-encoding to make my point regarding keeping your URLs clean as part of your on-site search optimization, but some basic coaching is in order. I see a couple repeat offenses that bother me and I would like to discuss them here briefly in hopes of raising some awareness of the situation. First major offense is the use of an...
Closing costs approach 2%
Closing costs approach 2%
RESPA changes improve survey accuracy, says Bankrate.com
By Inman News, Wednesday, August 18, 2010.
Inman News
Closing costs on a home transaction are approaching 2 percent of the mortgage amount, averaging $3,741 on a $200,000 purchase loan, according to an annual survey by Bankrate.com.
That’s a 37 percent increase from a year ago, as lender fees and charges...
Best fix for tree roots in sewer line | Inman News
Best fix for tree roots in sewer line
Experts assess 4 options
By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Wednesday, August 18, 2010.
Inman News
Q: My 30-foot ornamental plum tree has sent its roots into the 1890s clay tile sewer line. It needs to be snaked about twice a year. The tree is at the front of the house, about 15 feet back from the sewer opening in the sidewalk.
Would you please give me your...
1 tag
The Pros and Cons of Specialization
Sometimes when you say “I do it all,” people hear, “I do none of it well.” You might be a real Renaissance woman (or man) when it comes to real estate, but often creating and maintaining an edge in your market depends upon some degree of specialization. How often have you seen the following attached to other agents’ signatures? Distressed...
10 Risky Home Improvements
An improvement is always an improvement, right? Not so. Check out this article by Jeanine Skowronski outlining ten home “improvements” that might actually hurt the sale or value of home. Here’s the short list… but don’t miss the reasoning behind each one! - Pool/Hot Tub - Home Office or Monster Garage - Over-Decorated Interior -...
1 tag
Preparing Yourself for Client Interviews
By now, you should know that a majority of real estate property searches begin online. But have you ever stopped to consider that it’s also where people are researching questions to ask potential listing agents? If you want to be well-armed for your next listing presentation or meeting with the information that prospective clients already have, be sure to...
The Best Salesman
A young farm boy from Saskatchewan moved to Vancouver Island and went to a huge ‘everything under one roof department store’ looking for a job.
The Manager says, “Do you have any sales experience? “The kid says, “Yeah, I was a salesman back in Saskatchewan. “Well, the boss liked the kid and gave him the job. “You start tomorrow …. I’ll come...
Build Your Own "Real Price Report"
At open houses, you’ll often find that people are wary of providing you with their contact information for fear you’ll begin sending them overwhelming, self-promotional “market trend” reports. While the data in the report might be useful, most prospects will view this as one more form of noise or information overload. The problem with these...
7 Simple Ways to Say No
Real estate can often be a game of “yessing” yourself to death. In the pursuit of building relationships and keeping the door open to all who may need your professional services, it’s easy to bury yourself with a thousand little commitments. Celestine Chua of the Personal Excellence Blog shares this useful article on the psychology behind our...
It All Makes Sense Now
Posted via email from Random Musings by Jeremiah Wean | Comment »
Getting More Than a Good Reference
Thursday Bram (what an unforgettable name!) recently published a valuable refresher on the value of maintaining references and testimonials. While half of the article discusses your need to have good references (especially when maintaining good business and credit terms with vendors), the real gem in the article is the section on testimonials and making use of online...
Manage Your Rep with MyReviewsPage.com
As Seth Godin wrote last week in his short blog post, “I thought you’d be taller”: “The chances that you and your brand will first be encountered digitally grow every day.” This truth of this statement puts a premium on monitoring how your own business as a real estate professional is represented online. Odds are, your home page...
The Psychology of Real Estate
Results from studies on the psychology of real estate buyers and sellers. David Rout of SmartMoney.com brings us this fascinating article on scientific studies concerning the psychology of buyers and sellers in real estate. Some of the results may surprise you. For example, in one study of 60,000 real estate transactions, listings that mentioned new paint, new carpet...