Luxury Clues

The "Cabernet Law" and How to Attract Real Estate Clients Using the Social Media

2012-01-22T20:36:19-08:00

One of the best sessions at Real Estate Connect was one that featured Jeff Jarvis. Jeff is the author of the book, "What Would Google Do?" In it, he asks how Google would go about changing the real estate industry.

While Google has no plans to take over the industry, Jarvis had several great suggestions on how you can use social media platforms to make more money in your real estate business. Here are the key suggestions that Jarvis made during his talk.

1. The Social Media Sites All Rely on Sharing

The key commonality among all social media sites is that they exist to share information. The key point to note here is that the old broadcast approaches of the past fail miserably when you use them on the social media. This is one of the reasons it's not smart to post your listings on your Facebook personal profile or on your Twitter Feed. Instead, engage people in conversations and build a relationship over time. Earn the right to do business with them. As Jarvis describes it, "Sharing yields trust."

In fact, the process is to share first. This "disarms the stigma of being a stranger." In other words, people can engage with you online and feel they have gotten to know you. This in turn leads to trust, which ultimately canlead for business.

2. The Cabernet Law

Never post anything when you have had one too many glasses of Cabernet. The real point here is to never flame another person. The good-old-fashioned Golden Rule has it right--if you can't say something nice, don't say anything.

3. The social media enables collaboration.

One of the major trends that will reshape our future is collaborative design. Right now groups of people are designing cars collaboratively--not the engineers at the car companies, but the consumers.

4. Have a conversation, don't broadcast.

One of the biggest mistakes most people make on the social media is to broadcast their messages using the old 20th Century advertising model. Jarvis, like many other speakers at the conference, argues that your message must be focused on what the consumers want and need as well. It must also be highly focused on hyperlocalism--the things that matter to consumers about the specific area where they live.

The key is to leverage your hyperlocal posts into hyperlocal relationships that will generate business. As Jarvis says, "Content is a tool that lets us hyperlocalize online relationships."

5. Add value

This is the notion of "give to get marketing." In other words, give of yourself, share links, videos, whatever matters to your audience. When you give to others, others will give to you.

Posted by Bernice Ross. Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio.com and hear top technology speaker Amy Chorew on "iPad Apps for Buyers' Agents." Here's what Amy wll be covering on this week's shows: Monday: Working in the Cloud; Tuesday: Buyer Counseling Apps; Wednesday: Digital Signature Software; Thursday: How to Use an iPad on Showings; Friday: Third Party Apps

Generate Real Estate Listings Where None Exist

2012-01-16T20:59:51-08:00

It may be difficult to believe, but there are a number of markets across the country where there is shortage of inventory. On the other hand, you may be having a personal shortage of inventory (i.e. a listing slump). If you want to "dump the slump" and create more listings for your business, here's a great way to do it.

1. Identify two or three steps of your buyers who meet these criteria.

a. They are pre-qualified.

b. They know the specific price range and area in which they would like to live.

c. They have a specific style house in mind including the architectural style and the bedroom-bath count.

d. They have been unable to find a house that is right for their family.

e. They have no issue with you contacting others and describing their wants and needs.

2. Draft a letter that says something like this: "I have a young family that has been looking for a home in your area. The first buyers are a young couple with 2 and 4 year old children who are looking for a traditional style home in your area, two stories, with at least four bedrooms and 3 baths. They have been pre-approved for a loan of $225,000. If you would be interested in showing your home on a one-party listing (i.e. a listing only for this one couple) please contact me at (give your name and contact information.)

3. Send the letter out in a hand addressed envelope to all the homeowners whose properties meet these criteria.

4. Be sure to obtain a one-party listing before showing the property, preferably with a full commission to you.

Agents who have tried this approach often manage to sell 2-4 properties, often getting both sides of the commission. This is a great way to generate sales and best of all, save yourself the hassle of having to market a listing for months at a time.

Posted by Bernice Ross. Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio as Jay Thompson, the Phoenix Real Estate Guy, continues with the second part of his 10 part series on “Ten Habits of Highly Effective Real Estate Agents.” I’ll be wrapping up my ten-part series on taming your email that you won’t want to miss as well.

A Secret Way to Profit from Another Real Estate Agent's Luxury Sale

2012-01-01T15:40:46-08:00

Happy 2012! I have a really interesting case study for you today. Suppose that you just listed or sold the most expensive condominium in Miami ever at 21.5 million in one of the most prestigious condo projects in the world. Furthermore, this story is going to be picked up nationally including being highlighted on the Drudge Report.

Unfortunately for the agents who actually listed and sold this property, they both missed a tremendous opportunity because they didn't (1) know what is needed to leverage this story into more business for them online or (2) they didn't care.

The person who landed all the PR from this story was Kevin Tomlinson. You know how he did it?

First, Kevin specializes in Miami condos and has a blog dedicated specifically to that topic. Kevin blogged about the sale in detail. You can see his post here.

Here are some key points to note. First, notice that he had 139 comments and 114 reactions. That's a tremendous response.

Second, notice how he has watermarked the photo of the project in two different places with his name as well as his tagline.

Third, he reported plenty of the details about the sale as well as a comparison to New York City prices, the closest competition on the East Coast for this type of sale.

Finally, he invites his blog visitors to see more photos of the property.

The result was Kevin's blog post was the one that appeared on The Drudge Report (note the link the lower right hand corner that goes directly to Kevin's blog.)

Kevin followed this up with another marketing piece. This is a brilliant illustration of how to use luxury blogging in your luxury real estate business.

Consequently, if you have a blog, there's nothing wrong about blogging about a property that sold, especially if it's a historical property or major sale. Just make sure that any pictures you post are yours or approved by the owners. In most cases, the listing and the buying agents do not have a blog, so chances are you will be the only one who is posting about the sale.

Posted by Bernice Ross, Please join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio.com to hear Stacey Harmon, the author of Strategies for Real Estate Facebook pages, 125 content Strategies that Work. Here's what she will be covering: Monday: Name Your Facebook Business Page Correctly; Tuesday: Choose the Right Type of Business Page; Wednesday: How to Attract Likes and Fans for Your Facebook Business Page; Thursday: Top Producer Secrets for Facebook Lead Generation; Friday: How to Market Your Listings on Facebook without Aggravating Your Friends

Photo credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How Much Will that New Cool Tool or Purchase Actually Cost Your Luxury Real Estate Business?

2011-12-11T20:23:46-08:00

2012 is just around the corner and many agents are looking at what investments they want to make in their business for the upcoming year. While many of us suffer from "shiny app syndrome" (we want the latest tech toys and tools) have you ever considered what the cost of that might be to your business? Before you decide to buy any new tool,a car, or any other expensive toy,here are four questions to ask yourself.

1. Do I really need this product or technology upgrade?

Impulse purchases are emotional in nature and often cost far more than the price tag. Stop for a moment and write out the pros and cons of buying the product. Do you really need it or can you live without it? For example, replacing a three year old computer will save you considerable amounts of time in terms of downloading pictures, videos, and documents. On the other hand, investing in a fancy video editing program is a poor choice unless you plan to learn how to use it. In most cases, it's a better use of your time to farm this out to someone else.

2. Am I willing to spend the time, money, and other resources to take care of it properly?

If you really need it, how much are you willing to spend to take care of it properly. For example, if you're buying a new car, most experts agree that it's best to drive the car for a number of years. Many of the luxury cars have 100,000 mile warranties that are well worth the price. For example, our extended warranty on our BMW just paid for a new set of brakes that normally wouldn't have been covered.

3. How can I get the benefit of this product without owning it?

Recently, we were looking for a second car. After evaluating the cost and how much I was driving (less than 2,500 miles per year because I travel so much), it made sense for us to just keep one car and to rent an extra car on an as needed basis. This has saved us thousands of dollars in expenses. Look at your expenses. Is there anything that you might be better off leasing for brief periods of time or borrowing rather than owning?

4. How can I reduce the overall costs of ownership

People normally don't consider how much it costs to keep a product up after they purchase it. In many cases, you may pay more for the top-of-the-line product, but it's cheaper in the long run. For example, I bought the top HP laser printer back in 1998. I print tens of thousands of pages each year and only have to replace the cartridge about once every 18 months. The same is true if you’re looking at a new ca. Determine which car has the best warranty. A car with a two year warranty may cost less initially, but the car with a five year warranty may be much cheaper in the long run.

This also holds true for real estate. When your clients are purchasing, consider the condition of the property. How soon will they need to replace the roof or the plumbing? While an older property may be charming, are they prepared for the maintenance costs? Would something newer be a better choice in the long run.

To keep your costs down, you must consider both the acquisition costs as well as the costs of maintaining the product over time.

Happy Holidays from all of us at RealEstateCoach.com

Posted by Bernice Ross. Join us this week as we welcome Shane Bowlin who will be discussing how to hire and work with a virtual assistant. Here's what she'll cover each day this week: Monday: How Does Virtual Assistance Differ from an In-House Assistant? Tuesday: The Virtual Assistant Job Description for Real Estate. Wednesday: Where You Can Find a VA. Thursday: Hire the Right VA for You. Friday: Tips for Working with Your VA.

2011-12-09T23:12:10-08:00

This post for Mashable with the accompanying video is important. You may be missing valid messages sent through Facebook. This tells you how to find your "other" inbox as well as how to retrieve these missing messages. http://mashable.com/2011/12/09/hidden-facebook-message-inbox/?mid=54

Timeless Real Estate Tips (Part 3 of 5)

2011-11-15T14:46:08-08:00

(This is part 3 of a five part series reviewing the hot topics in my columns for the last ten years),

Technology has produced changes in the real estate industry that no one could envision a decade ago. Who would have thought that an iPhone would have computing power than your laptop from 2001, plus the ability to shoot videos and pictures as well?

Web Marketing

In early 2003, search engines were just becoming popular in the real estate industry as a way to market your listings. In a December 2003 column, “The ABC’s of Web Marketing,” these were the terms that you needed to know:

A is for Alexa and autoresponder, B is for bidding and branding, and C is for Clicks. D is for domain, E is for E-coupon and Email newsletter, F is for friendly, G is for Google, H is for hosting, and I is for Inktomi, IDX, and index. K is for keyword phrases, L is for Looksmart, links, and link popularity, M is for Metatag and MSN. N is for Navigate and O is for Overture, opt-in, and optimize. P is for placement and permission marketing, Q is for quality, R is for ranking, and S is for site map. T is for traffic, V is for VOW, U is for URL, W is for Web Ring, and Y is for Yahoo.

Automating Your Lead Follow Up

In January of 2003, it seemed as if technology was on the verge of solving the lead follow up and lead conversion issues for the real estate industry. As Alan Dalton once put it, “The real estate industry is great at generating leads—we’re just not very good at converting them.”

The cool tools in 2003 were email newsletters as well as autoresponders. An early entry into this field was a company called Databack. Their tool allowed you to mass email all of your clients or to set up a customized program for each individual. This worked well because if you met a lead at a Sunday open house, you could send them the first item in your marketing program campaign while the people you met three weeks ago would automatically be receiving item number three in the queue. Systems like Databack were the predecessor to today’s programs such as Constant Contact and Mail Chimp.

As web marketers caught on, spam proliferated. That unfortunate trend is still with us in 2011. Exacerbating the issue, spammers are now using text messaging to spam our cell phones as well.

The Paperless Transaction

The idea of having a paperless transaction seems relatively new, yet my first column on this topic, “Paper Mess or Paperless?” dates back to 2003. http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20031117.html. Back then, if you went paperless, you had to back up your files on to a hard drive. Cloud computing wasn’t really available. Nevertheless, the early adopters were reporting amazing benefits from using a paperless system:

“The biggest benefit of going paperless is the time savings. One broker reports that his company requires 93 different steps to close a transaction. Almost every step begins with someone writing the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the principals. Eliminating 92 of those steps represents a huge savings of time and money. Second, the on-line system is available 24/7. Parties check in at their convenience rather than playing telephone tag. Third, tracking 93 different transaction steps using paper is a nightmare. In contrast, when each step is logged on the computer, tracking becomes simple. Fourth, in terms of risk management, there is a clear record of who completed what tasks and when the tasks were completed. Fifth, no paper means no lost documents, virtually no storage costs, and a clear digital trail showing all required steps in the transaction were completed prior to closing.”

January, 2005 saw the launch of the first real estate specific tablet software with VREO’s Real Estate Dashboard loaded on a Motion Tablet PC. VREO’s innovative approach made the paperless transaction a reality. Although the industry didn’t start to make the shift until 2010 with the release of the iPad, VREO’s work laid the groundwork for the paperless transaction that will become the norm in the very near future.

Mobile Devices

In 2001, people were already becoming addicted to having their cell phones with them everywhere. “Taming Your Beeper and Your Cell Phone”

http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20010910.html addressed the issues about letting your mobile devices control your life. Today, this is an even bigger issue than it was ten years ago.

With the holidays coming in 2004, “Nifty Gifts to Give Your Real Estate Business,” http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20041213.html outlined a Realtor wish list of new technology. Here is what was at the top of that list:

“A PDA combined with a telephone"

If you're still carrying a separate telephone and PDA, now may be an excellent time to upgrade to a combination. The challenge with past versions of PDA-telephones has been the small keyboard and display. For many adults, these are hard to read and hard to use. New versions sport larger screens. In fact, Nokia and Motorola are bringing out a new version where the keyboard and the screen will be horizontal rather than vertical. This will provide both a larger keyboard and screen for easier use. Software solutions to use with your combination phone/PDA include Palm, Blackberry, Sony TRIO, and Microsoft's Smart Phone.”

Another amazing innovation was an “air card” that would let you surf online through your telephone’s wireless connection.

As we head into the 2011 holiday season, I can’t help wondering what amazing new technology we’ll be wishing for in 2021.

Would you like more timeless tips? If so, see Part 4

Posted by Bernice Ross, Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio with Denise Lones of TheLonesGroup.com. Denise is a speaker, trainer, and marketing consultant. Her team designed our new website which will launch in early 2012 and they rock. Denise did an awesome series on “Lead Generation that Really Works.” Here’s what she covered: Monday: One Size Lead Generation Does Not Fit All; Tuesday: Consistent Lead Generation = Consistent Income; Wednesday: Systems, Systems, Systems; Thursday: Feedback Is the Breakfast of Champions; Friday: Weaving It All Together.

A Decade of Timeless Tips to Grow Your Luxury Real Estate Business

2011-11-07T21:31:56-08:00

I just marked my tenth anniversary as an Inman columnist and thought it would be fun to take a look back at the hot topics, how the industry as changed, as well as the themes that are as relevant today as they were yesterday.

A Decade of Change and More of the Same

In many respects, the issues we faced a decade ago are still with us today. Key examples include how to utilize new marketing technologies, how to stay profitable during a shifting market, as well as how to cope with economic and natural disasters over which we have no control.

FSBOs

In 2003, an interesting trend was emerging. Web marketers were convinced that they would soon disintermediate (eliminate) agents from the purchasing process. In a column called, Why FSBOs Need a Web Savvy Real Estate Agent More than Ever,

I outlined the reasons that FSBOs would have a much tougher time marketing their properties online, even though FSBO companies were springing up everywhere. The quote below references research that was an early harbinger of a startling trend:

Despite the lowest interest rates in 30 years and one of the hottest sellers' markets in history, the number of FSBOs who ultimately list their house with an agent has increased from 76% to 80% (CAR study January, 2001). Inman News reports that ForSalebyOwner.com experienced a 7 percent decline in traffic during the month of June (2003) alone. When the real estate market shifts from a sellers' market to a buyers' market, these numbers will probably be even higher.

In other words, 24 percent of the sellers were able to sell their properties by owner in 2002 vs. 20 percent in 2003. According to the latest NAR Profile of Buyers and Sellers, that number is down to about 12 percent, half of which are intra-family transfers generated by marriage, death, or divorce. Sellers do indeed need a web savvy agent more than ever.

Defending Your Commission

My first column on how to defend your commission ran in 2002. As the market became superheated in 2004 and 2005, I wrote another 13 articles on this topic.

Jessica Sweesey, the Inman editor at that time, decided to change the title for my series from “Defending Your Commission” to “Waging War on Real Estate’s Discounters.”

The title alone set off a firestorm of debate that led to my first book. The discounters trumpeted how they were going to put the full service folks out of business while the full service companies desperately searched for ways to compete on value rather than price.

My position was that most discount brokerages fail in a market downturn and that history would probably repeat itself. With the collapse of most discount brokerage models in today’s market, history did do exactly that. Chances are that in the next upswing, however, discount models will gain momentum once again.

The strategy for defending a full service commission really hasn’t changed much. The research from a decade ago is still true today: up to 85 percent of all sellers will pay for Premium service provided the agent can demonstrate how their approach helps the seller achieve the highest possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Furthermore, commission objections are still best addressed by asking questions rather than trying to hard close the seller on your value. For example, instead of telling the sellers they should list at a full commission because buyers’ agents will show the listings with the highest commissions first (which probably violates the law), a better approach is to ask the following question,

To obtain the highest price possible for your property, you need someone who is a powerful negotiator—isn't that correct? (The obvious answer is "Yes.") So if you hire an agent who can't even negotiate a full commission on their own behalf, how effective do you think they will be in negotiating the maximum price for your property?

The shift from telling to questioning is still one of the most important fundamentals in all types of negotiation.

How to Win More Listings

In 2001, what would the tech savvy agent offer a seller to make their services standout from the competition? This list from “Do You Have a 2001 Listing Presentation?” would benefit many agents today that have yet to adopt these proven tools. When agents describe how their Premium Marketing Plan is unique, here’s what they could use back in 2001.

1. Your listing will be posted on my personal web site, my company web site, Realtor.com, and will include a "360" tour.

2. Your listing will be advertised in my email newsletter that reaches my past clients and my sphere of influence.

3. Your yard sign with have an 800-phone number that allows me to obtain valid phone numbers of people who call for information on my listings.

4. You will also have access to our on-line tracking system that allows you to check the status of your transaction 24 hours per day.”

The last point is important. Transaction tracking systems have been around for a decade and yet they’re just now starting to become commonplace as more agents move to doing paperless transactions.

Need more timeless tips? If so, don’t miss art 2 of this Part Series.

Posted by Bernice Ross, Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio.com as Coach Patti Kouri shares her Insider Coaching Secrets to Make Your Business Soar. Here's what Patti will be covering: Monday: How to sell anything from pencils to penthouses, Tuesday: Seven Ways to Stay Connected with Your Sphere, Wednesday: Are You Battling Time and Losing? Thursday: Secrets to Creating a Winning Attitude, Friday: Get Rid of Worry Lines without Plastic Surgery.

Two Great Apps to Use on Your Luxury Listing and Buyer Appointments

2011-10-31T08:40:46-07:00

One place where Realtors can definitely be sued is when they don't accurately measure the room sizes in their listings. If you have are marketing a large property, obtaining room measurements can be a daunting task. Also, if you get the room measurements wrong, you can end up being sued. Now there's a great solution to this issue called "Magic Plan."

Magic plan is an iPhone4 and iPad 2 application that measures, draws, and publishes an interactive floor plan on the web, just by taking pictures. Rather than having to pay $100 or more to have a house professionally measured, Magic Plan allows you to do this in minutes simply by shootoing pictures. No moving the furniture required.The app is available in five languages and allows you to export the floor plan as a PDF, JPG, or in XML without moving furniture.

The fee for commercial use is $5.00 per listing, however, Magic Plan has a subscription program for agents who have a large listing inventory. The overall rating on the iTunes site was 4.0 (out of 5.0).

2. Houzz

The Washington Post described Houzz as the “Flickr of design idea sites” while WPMT-TV called it “the ultimate home decorating resource.” Houzz is an iPad and iPhone app that allows users to make an online scrapbook of their favorite decorating ideas. This is especially important for buyers who are considering redecorating a property once they close or for those who will be hiring an architect to build their dream home. In either event, Houzz can help them sort through what works for them and to show contractors and decorators exactly what it is they hope to achieve.

You can use Houzz and Magic Plan together to help your clients visualize a house they may be considering building or to determine how their furniture will fit once the property is decorate.

Posted by Bernice Ross, Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio.com to hear Brian Wildermuth, Co-founder of SharperAgent.com. (Sharper Agent is now part of Market Leader). If anyone gets marketing, it’s Brian. His products and strategies are used by tens of thousands of agents. In these five great sessions, Brian reveals the importance of segmenting your lead sources and concentrating your focus to achieve the maximum return on your time and money.

Funny Pumpkin Ideas for Halloween

2011-10-24T16:11:14-07:00

If you're up for some holiday fun, there's nothing quite like Halloween. If you're staying at home sharing candy with the kids, here are some great ways to enhance your front door step with some unique pumpkins.

Also, you might want to search your local dentists to see if any of them are giving cash who turn in their candy. It's an option to post on your blog that a lot of your clients may appreciate.

Pumpkins that need no carving and never go out of style.

The balance of the photos below are from ExtremePumpkins.com. This site has more weird pumpkins than anywhere else on the web. If you need creative ideas, ExtremePumpkins.com is the place to go.

Garlic forms the teeth--legs are composed of carrots and potatoes or peppers

A different scream
Fire breathing dragon?

Apparently soaking a roll of toilet paper over night in kerosene and then lighting it gives off a 3-foot flame that burns for 30-45 minutes. (This can be dangerous--keep your fire extinguisher nearby and don't leave the flame unattended. If it's windy or very dry, don't even think about doing this.)

Happy Halloween!

Posted by Bernice Ross. Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio.com to learn how to use video in your business.

Two Simple Ways to Stage Your Luxury Real Estate Listings Online

2011-10-16T14:08:27-07:00

Properly staging a property for sale and taking plenty of pictures of the interior, is one of the most powerful ways to generate web leads as well as to ultimately get the property sold. When it comes to staging, there are essentially three primary levels: decluttering and working with existing items, making simple improvements and repairs, and full out remodeling.

The issue becomes what to do when they owners either don't want to stage the property or simply don't want any photos taken of the interior.

When you represent luxury properties, getting a major estate can be both difficult and often quite pricey. To illustrate this point, can you imagine telling the owner of a $5 million home that the decorating that they paid big bucks for is actually going to make their home difficult to sell?

Another time that staging can become an issue is when your sellers may have beautiful art work or other fine objects in their home and they simply don't want pictures of their property online. In other cases, especially if they are extremely wealthy, your sellers and other family members may be concerned about kidnapping.

The question becomes what can you do to market their property online when you may be unable to take interior photos of the property. You can now virtually stage your properties using one of these two virtual staging tools.

1. 3-D Open House

The product from United Lane allows you to take a 2-D floor plan and completely stage the house without ever stepping inside. In fact, when I first saw the demo of the product, they actually took a picture of me and posted it on the living room of the house we were staging. This powerful tool is a great listing as well as a great lead converter. The great news is that once you do on the online staging, the system produces a 3-D photo realistic picture of the rooms you have staged. The picture at the top of this post shows you how effective this actually is. Keep in mind, all of this was generated from a floor plan--no photos.

2. Obeo's V-Stager

If you can get the sellers to move their furniture around where it's out of the shot (or if the property is vacant),Obeo's V-stager provides an amazingly realistic staging of your listing. If your buyers are having trouble imagining what a property would be look like in their colors and with the furniture they select, this tool also provides a terrific way to stage online without ever having to go through the process prior to the sale. The two photos below illustrate how this works:

Each of these tools can help you convert listing appointments into signed listings and even better, get that not so attractive property sold because both you and your potential buyers can decorate it online.

Posted by Bernice Ross, Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio.com with New York Times Best-Selling author Don Hutson, the author of the One-Minute Negotiator. If you want to negotiate more effectively, you can’t afford to miss this incredible two weeks of shows with Don. Last week Don did five great shows on the topic of: The Selling Style that Works. This week Don does five more shows that include the following topics: Monday, Your Database Is the Currency of Your Future. Tuesday: The Seven “P’s” of Entrepreneurial Success. Wednesday: Four Negotiation Styles You Need to Know. Thursday: How to Overcome Negotiaphobia. Friday: The “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of Compromising.