An Assistant on Call

Moving on up...to word press!

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:05:00 +0000

I am going to be moving my blog to wordpress. I am a little more familiar with blogging now, and I think I can step it up a little bit. Wordpress is a little more complicated, but I am up for the challenge. I love Wordpresses's organization and layouts. Here is my new address -
dont forget to update your RSS feeds!

http://anassistantoncall.wordpress.com/

Realistic Real Estate Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 18:26:00 +0000

I always love the beginning of another year. It is the perfect time to assess your mistakes from last year, and learn from them, and then most important move on. It is also time for the ever famous - New Years Resolutions! I am not a big fan of Resolutions. Yes, the idea is great, but what happens to me is that I start off with these awesome resolutions - and then by the beginning of February (or more realistically, the beginning of the second week of January) I have already broken my resolutions and feel depressed and like a looser. Some of you that are real estate agents may understand this type of resolution. You start of the year and resolve to sell x number of homes in the first quarter of 2007. But is this realistic? Can you control the market? The economy? You may meet your goal, and good for you! Celebrate! But, you may miss your mark due to reasons completely out of your control. You may bust your tale, and not see what you hoped for. This just leaves you with your spirits dampened, and lacking enthusiasm. That is why I want to encourage you to make Realistic Real Estate Resolutions. Make resolutions that you know are within your reach. Here are a few to help get your creative juices flowing. These are some that I have seen real estate agents put into practice, and yield significant results from!

Resolve to call your sellers once a week. Call them just to touch base and see if they have any questions or concerns. They may have things they want to discuss with you, but they may feel that their needs are petty, and that you are very busy. Make yourself available. If you are a mega-seller with tons of clients, this may seem difficult to do. But please try to do it yourself and not delegate it to an assistant. As a former assistant in a local real estate office, I had the job of reading and coding many of the after sales surveys to determine an agents customer service rating. The most glowing surveys belonged to those agents who made personal and consistent contact with their sellers. Yes, I did get not-so-glowing surveys from those sellers whose agent listed their house and let them drift off to sea. Not good for your customer service rating or your business. Even if you think their house is not that great, and not that much commission. Their husbands, mother's cousin may have a 6000 square foot home on the water and they will be looking for an agent in the future.
Resolve to send everyone in your database an email every two weeks or at the very least once a month. When I say everyone, I mean everyone. Even those who may not be looking at the moment. Don't worry about being an email pest; if they don't want your emails, they can unsubscribe. It doesn't have to be a award winning email, just a newsletter to let them know what is going on in the area, or some tips on getting your home ready for the upcoming season. If this idea leaves you with sweaty palms, hire an assistant, or buy a drip email program. Constant Contact is a good one, but you have to create your own content within the templates provided. Stuck - take a stroll over to Microsoft's templates site and check out the real estate newsletter templates they have for free. No software but Microsoft Word required. If you desire an all-in-one no effort kind of site, I recommend Rainmaker. All you do is enter your email address for your prospect, choose an action plan from their massive library, and set up how often you want them to get an email - and you are done.
Resolve to join an industry related forum and Network, Network, Network. There are plenty of great forums that you can join for free. I list some good ones at the end of this point. You don't have to spend hours at time on these forums, but maybe a couple of days a week, after you finish checking your email, just drop by and see what is going on. You may be able to help someone with advice or answers to their questions. You may be able to ask questions of others. More and more seasoned agents are showing up in the forums and they possess a wealth of knowledge and experience you cant get from any real estate class. Who knows - you may even end up with a referral?

Active Rain
Agents Online
Wanna Network
4. Resolve to pick out one aspect of your industry a month that you want to learn more about and research it. You may want to know more about Virtual Assistants and what they can do for you. What is a virtual assistant? You may want to find out more about a specific designation, and what you need to get it. Whatever you have been thinking about, and wishing to know more, take sometime to Google it on the Internet. In today's Internet age - knowledge is power. Whatever you learn can turn out to be a power weapon to add to your arsenal.
5. Resolve to blog. You can start a blog for free, and believe me, they are the wave of the future. Just "Google" the word blog, and take a look at the results. If you need to learn more about it, do it and get going. You can start a blog for free. Blog about your area - what is going on, activities, high school football, best restaurants etc. Blog about your day. Blog about anything. Blog about nothing, but blog. It give your consumers a personality to put with the face and the words on your web page. Let your prospective customers see "you" in your blog. Reveal yourself through your posts. Encourage feedback and you will learn a lot about who your are marketing to.

That leads me to my resolution for this year. This year, I just resolve to learn from the mistakes from last year, and then let them go, and focus on the good points of last year - and there were many. But there is one resolution that I am going to share with all of you reading this. I am going to blog more. Yes, I resolve to be a mega-blogger. I resolve to post a least once a week to this blog. If you are reading this, and you see that I have not made a post in a weeks time. Please, feel free to call me on it! Let me know you noticed. I mean, I can post to this blog from my cell phone for goodness sakes so I am really left without an excuse. I have been wanting to jump on the "blog-wagon" for a while, and this is the perfect time to do this.

I do need your help though. Please feel free to respond to my blogs, and offer ideas for me to post on. Ask questions about the virtual assistant industry and I will try my best to answer it. If I cant, I will network with other virtual assistants until I find someone who can. Hey, you can take care of number 4 on my list by asking me questions about virtual assistants!

I would love to hear any ideas that you have for blog post, or any resolutions that you would like to share.

One post that I would like to start is "Links for your Liking." I find all kinds of interesting links related to our industry, and I would like to share them with you. I love finding new tools and tricks to play with. I am like a kid with a new video game. If you would like to share some interesting links you find - please do!!

I will "e"- see you again in 7 days or less. I resolve to do it!!

Some interesting plagarism, spam and more tools!

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:07:00 +0000

Plagiarism is really being cracked down on by many of the search engines. If you are found to be posting content that is on someone else’s web page, both you and the someone else get shut down! Yes, you heard correctly. Even if you are the one being copied, you still have to pay the price. So it is time to get proactive about checking to see if someone has "borrowed" your content, and is posting it on their site. You would really be amazed how often this is done. I had a virtual assistant tell me recently that she found another va copy an entire page from her website and claim it as original. Scary stuff!

I have found a copy of sites to help make sure that you don’t become a victim. Picture this, it is about 3 in the morning and you are making some much needed changes to your website. It is a project that you swore you would finish, and you are going to get it done hell or high water. Suddenly, you become inspired, and spit out brilliant ideas and concepts. The words are flying off of your fingers, and you publish your pages with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment! You finally fall into bed, your head still reeling with the level of genius that you have just discovered. But wait! Where did it come from? Was it all original? Or, are your words a re-manifestation of something that you have read before. Someone else’s ideas? Did your exhaustion cause you to plagiarize? GASP! Here is something you can do to help yourself from getting into these situations. This even helps if you are writing papers or articles.

First, if you would like to “check as you write” to see if your words of wisdom actually came from someone else, you can use an “essay verification engine.” This searches the web for matches the content that you present. The one I use is www.conexus.com/eve For $29.99 you get unlimited use. This was enough for me. Plus there is a 10 day money back guarantee if you find it is not for you. You just need to put your query in document form – either text or word, I am not sure about PDF, I am thinking not. After you upload the document, you are given a percentage of back of how much of the document is estimated to be plagiarized. For example, I saved the following line into a word document, and uploaded into Eve2 – “To be or not to be that is the question.” I submitted it and it returned that about 80% of the document was estimated to be plagiarized. Does this mean I can’t use those words at all with proper notations? Of course not, but you get the idea that I am going for here. It is useful if you are trying to take information for say wickepedia.com and summarize it without plagiarizing.

Next, the most widely known site to check for website plagiarism is www.copyscape.com you can check here to see if your web pages are being copied, or if you have inadvertently copied someone else. The key is to make sure that you enter the extension for your pages. What I mean is this. If you enter www.nancyruben.net you are really just checking for the index page. To check your whole site make sure you enter each page. For example: my pricing page is http://www.nancyruben.net/pricing2.html Just make sure you check everything. It is not worth getting shut down. Copyscape even lets you add a banner to your site to let the unsavory know “Hey, I check my site regularly, don’t even think about it!” (They were even nice enough to have different colors so you can coordinate!) If you want to skip the manual checking – starting at $4.95 you can have them check for copies of your site once a week. Not bad. For the very paranoid (or highly popular sites) you can even get checked everyday!
Finally, there is the nasty topic of spam. If I had a dollar for everyone who wanted to enlarge my penis or help me loose weight, I would not be in the virtual assistant business. I would be sipping margaritas on a tropical island. It seems there is not a spam blocker large enough to catch the clever spammers. There is always a new angle they use. I order stuff online all the time (much to my husbands chagrin – he hates to see an ups truck in our neighborhood, but I digress) so when I get an email marked RE: Your Order, I think oh goodie, a confirmation number. Nope. Spammers at it again. I was introduced to a new spam device today. It is a little scary though. If you are like me, you have your website in a signature on your email. Or, you have mentioned your website, or some other in an email. Well, if someone that got that email was having a bad day, and wanted to be a pain, they can report you for spam to this site. Yikes. You can check you ip address to make sure you are golden at this address http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml Conversely, if you are getting spammed out and you can get the ip address of the naught party, report away www.spamcop.net If you find out who the penis enlargement people are, please let me know. Check here for your websites ip address http://www.selfseo.com/find_ip_address_of_a_website.php

The site referenced above is www.selfseo.com this is a really awesome site that you can spend a lot of time playing on. It has all kind of cool tools like Google page rank check, alexa rank checker, keyword typo generator, keyword generator, domain name typo generator, crawler simulator, html optimizer and much much more. Check it out but make sure you have time to play!

Should a Virtual Assistant Put Pricing on their website?

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 01:36:00 +0000

This is a question that I am eager to get some response to. I am going to post it on the ActiveRain site too, so I apologize if you are seeing this twice!
I don't list my prices for my services on my website. It is not that they are a big secret, it is just that each agent has different needs, and if I put a price on there, it may be higher than what they would actually have to pay. I guess what I am saying is, I don't want to post a price that may "scare" someone away from contacting me because they price quote they get may be lower, based on their needs. I don't put the prices in hopes that they will shoot me an email and let me consider their unique needs.
But, I see that people are visiting my page labeled "pricing" but I am not getting very many emails in coordination with the number of people viewing the page.
I would like to hear from anyone on this issue. Agents, assistants, or anyone who is reading this. I do offer retainer packages. I could put something like "a package of 5 hours a month - prices starting at $60." That would be $12 an hour. For some work, this would be sufficient, but for more intense work, it wouldn't. Also, the greater number of hours in the retainer package, the less the per hour cost is.
This is something that I have been struggling with for a while. I had pricing on there, and then I took it off. I am just not sure what the best way to tackle this is. I would love to hear any and all suggestions that you may have.
So what do you think? Should a virtual real estate assistant publish their prices on their website? Or at least a "prices starting at..." kind of deal? If you visited a website offering assistant services because you were looking to hire one, what impact with the presence or absence of the pricing have on your decision to contact them?

Great Online Real Estate Forums

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 23:02:00 +0000

I have recently become addicted to forums, and because of the business I am in, particularly real estate forums. Some of the real estate forums that you visit online, you think, geez, what does any of this have to do with real estate. But, I wanted to share 2 quality sites that I have found. If you have anything at all to do with the real estate industry, you are going to want to check these out.
Agent Online
Active Rain
These are two sites that you can go to and post questions, and expect to get some good quality answers. I like to try to answer other questions to the best of my ability (if I have knowledge in the area) and give back what I have gained. Good jobs to the moderators, and creators for keeping these sites on target, and making them benefit all those who read them!
There are also two great Virtual Assistant Forums that I know of right off (I am sure that there are more!)
Virtual Assistant Networking Forum
International Real Estate Assistant Association this was formerly CyberStar VA
I am always looking to learn more about great forums. If you know of any, please suggest some!!

Your Handwriting as a Font ?!?!

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 01:33:00 +0000

A poster on Agentonline.net (which by the way is one of the best real estate forums that I have found online) got me interested in the following website www.fontifier.com It is supposed to make your handwriting into a font. Awesome!

I went to the website, and they get you to download a form and print it. On the form, you write your letters (ohh the good old kindergarten days!). You then scan it and send it in. You get to preview your font and then if you like it, you can buy it for $9.95. It is always good to have an eyecatching creative edge.

I am going to scan the form I filled out and send it in. I will report here after get results back!

If you have done this before, let us here from you! Any drawbacks or issues?

Something New I learned today about Feeds!

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:01:00 +0000

Okay, I am trying to get into this blogging thing. It seems that it has just jumped up on me and I am completely behind on what is going on. I wanted to add a site feed to my website and I had no idea how to do that. After trying with some unfortunate stupid looking additions to my website, I found this site. www.feedburner.com It will let you set up a free account and show you what the the link needs to look like.

You can then send this link to your friends and family, and they can add it to whatever site that they use to access feeds (yahoo, rss, etc.)

If you would like to add my blog site to your site feed area, please do so, here it is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AnAssistantOnCall

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 23:40:00 +0000

Free Home Tour Site!!

I have found a site to do free virtual tours. The website is www.firsthometour.com. They are currently in a testing phase, and they don't plan on being completely up until 2007.

If your MLS allows you to post virtual tours, this site is compatible with MLS. It is also compatible with the realtor.com system, but at this point, since they are free, it is only allowed with a showcase event. In three steps you can upload unlimited pictures.

Go ahead and check it out when you get a chance. I haven't played around with it much yet, but if I get one done I will post it here! If you get to it before I do, let me know how it works for you. Since its free, what have you got to loose?

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 15:25:00 +0000

New Help for VA's

Corel has introduced a new office ready template pack for VA's. Whether you are just starting out or if you are a seasoned VA, these templates are sure to be a help. Check them out!
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?c=Product_C1&cid=1152796546494&lc=en&pagename=CorelCom%2FLayout

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 01:01:00 +0000

Why use a Real Estate Virtual Assistant?

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy) — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 01:00:00 +0000

The "Paper-less" Transaction!?!

I love paper! I have it everywhere. I have tons of cutesy little notebooks, adorable stationary, and dont even get me started on post-it notes. At times, I have lost my computer to the massive post-it note insurgence. Printing - I print everything. I have massive manilla folders, 3 ring notebooks, drawers and cabinets full of paper. Oh the trees that have suffered a terrible fate at my hands. However, I considered myself up to date with the technology of the times. I mean c'mon, for somethings, you still need paper. Gotta have something to feel or touch - make it real. But then, I realized what a contradiction I am.

I am a virtual assistant. Clients all over trust us to deal with their day to day business, and they may never lay eyes on us! Imagine my amazement when I learned that you could have a complete closing with NO PAPER.

Previously, I worked in a real estate office for about 4 years as a marketing coordinator. Only then did I see my love of paper made to look miniscule in comparison. A whole room full of file cabinets. Storage attics that held up to 7 years of files. When I think about it, the whole office revolved around papers. How many calls have I made to agents for missing addendums or ammendments? A closing could be stalled, or at worst fall through because of the lack of one sheet of paper. You call the agent, they call the other agent, everyone is questioned as to who last saw the paper. The real estate office then turns into an episode of CSI with no one trusting anyone else. I swear, I have seen the broker to the point of breaking out the fingerprint kit. Our pending files were kept under lock that only the administrative personnel had access to. At night the key was relocated to a secret location. That is when I discovered, the DANGER of paper.

Okay, that was a really dramatic and comedic approach to the subject. But it is true. Real Estate revolves around paper. Imagine my surprise when I was introduced to the paperless transaction! The entire process from listing to closing can be processed online. No more lost paper drama! Lost the original - pull it up online. An assistant in California can effectively manage transactions for an agent in Georgia, and never loose a moment of time. Then after closing, a disk with all the important documents can be burned to a cd, with a cute little picture of the house on the label and presented to the buyer. A cd! No huge file of papers that you drop halfway out of the lawyers office, or hits the floor of the car when you slam on the breaks.

Transaction management programs such as Relay and Settlement Room provide the platform for buyers, sellers and their agents to seamlessly manage every single aspect of a real estate transaction. If a buyer wants to know what is going on, all they have to do is log in, and take a look. If an agent wants to see what is left to be done - all they have to do is check the action plan in their transaction management program. It is truly amazing, and it makes the life of everyone so much easier. I can think of so many times that I have had to pour through files the size of War and Peace to find a one page addendum. This elimantes that problem. I am still amazed!

Technology is truly awesome. There is just no telling where we will be in 10 years. I am all for this new wave in real estate management. But - I am sorry- I am going to have to keep my post-it notes.