Real Estate Virtual Assistant (REVA, VA)

Our Blog Has Moved

2009-02-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

Please visit our new blog at http://www.realestatevablog.com/ for more tips on Marketing in Real Estate!!! Thanks for reading!

The Skinny on Widgets (and some cool real estate ones we found)

2009-01-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

First, some of you are probably wondering what a widget is. In short, widgets are a portable chunk of html code that can be installed on any other web based page. The cool thing about widgets is, someone else does the hard work for you, all you have to do is copy and paste and you have a new feature on your site. They are cost and time effective and a great way to spice up your website, blog, or any web page.

A few examples of widgets:

Oldies but Goodies:

The Mortgage Calculator Widget - We have all seen these, a small calculator you enter a few pieces of info into, that spits out an approx. mortgage payment.

Weather Widget - Another common one, gives temp. and weather of that particular zipcode/city.

A few cool widgets that I found:

Real Estate Wiki Dictionary Widget - We all know that wikipedia is the latest rage, and this incorporates that with real estate terms.

Local Information - This one is awesome. Enter a city, and you are provided with this widget to add to your site of local restaurants, bars, community, etc.

Trulia Widget - This one is fairly new - Trulia now offers a map widget, that you can customize the size, etc on. Your listings are displayed, so it's a good option if you want a map feature on your site, but don't want to pay for an IDX map. The only downfall I see is that if the consumer clicks on one of your listings, they are taken off your site to Trulia.

I know what you're asking yourself, how much do these "widgets" cost and where can I get them?

Well, the good news (maybe even great news) is you can find most widgets for free online. A site I like is www.Widgetbox.com. Also, any widgets for sites like Trulia or Zillow are usually found (free) on those particular sites. P.S. - I have linked each screen shot of the widgets above to where you can download them for free.

Now, you do have to be somewhat familiar with html code to add widgets to your site on your own. Some more good news - anyone who knows html code can help you with this, and because all of the content of the widget is provided, it does not take long to add these to your site, blog, etc.

If you want to know more, or have questions, please feel free to ask!
RealSupport, Inc.
Phone: 847.705.1655
www.RealSupportInc.com
Info@RealSupportInc.com

Creating a Successful Online Presence for Your Business

2009-01-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

In our experience as a Virtual Assistant company, we have numerous clients come to us and indicate they are just plain unhappy and frankly disgusted with their website. Unfortunately, their knee-jerk reaction is to switch to a different website provider because they are disappointed in their results. The reality is that your success with your website has little to do with your website provider and more to do with your approach. If I had to guess, I would say 95% of all agent that create a website through a template provider just upload their photo and logo, add their contact information, and then click the pages they want, leaving all the generic copy in place, maybe tweaking it a little bit here and there. Then, 1 year later and no leads, they think that the provider is not doing their job because there are no leads coming in through their website. Now, I’m not here to judge, believe me, I can not believe all the work that an agent is expected to do. There is no other business in this country that would tell the CEO that they have to be the sales manager, administrative assistant, graphic designer, book keeper, photographer and webmaster for their company. It is for this reason alone that we are in the business of providing support for the progressively thinking real estate agent.

I’m so excited to roll out this new service to our clients. After much research, continuing education and just plain trial and error, we have established what we believe (and many others too) to be the crucial key elements that must be included in a successful online presence. This new consulting service is set-up to present to you the idea behind the documented plans that RealSupport will create for you with regard to your personal online presence. Armed with these plans, you will have the knowledge to implement change to your online presence, with the help of your RealSupport team of course, and get the results you are only hearing about!

The key elements can be broken down into 5 steps:
1. Creating a Strategic Plan
2. Creating a Website Content Redesign Plan
3. Creating a Lead Generation Plan
4. Creating a Marketing Plan
5. Measuring Success

Detailed Project Overview:

Step 1: Creating a Strategic Plan

Establish Goals

During this step, RealSupport will work with you to establish the overall goals for your online presence, which will allow us to measure success in the future and will give us the information needed to determine the effectiveness of the additions and changes that we implement.

Establish Your Target Market

So, now that we understand what your online presence will encompass, we need to figure out the message and content.

To figure out your message and content, you MUST have a target market. With the use of the Internet, buyers can find out pretty much anything that you as an agent can find out for them. They have all the resources you have at their fingertips. For this reason, you must prove to them that you are the expert. You not only can give them better information than they get online themselves, but you are the only person they would trust to purchase or sell their home. In order to gain this trust, you must show them you are the expert. You cannot be an expert at buying and selling real estate. That is way too broad. You MUST specialize, or rather; you must pick a target market. How can you market yourself properly if you first do not establish who you are marketing to?

Create Your Unique Positioning Statement (Tag Line)

Studies show that you have 3-4 seconds to get your visitor’s attention when they come to your site. If you don’t, they move on (this is called bouncing). You must tell your visitor what you will DO FOR THEM or they will move on. Simply stating that you are a Real Estate agent does not cut it in this new ere of Real Estate.

This challenge can be resolved by establishing a unique positioning statement or essentially a tag line. This is a single sentence that when read, will help your target market recognize your value, perceive that you are the best at what you do, and want to take action with you.

This will be crucial to help your target market to quickly identify that you are the expert they are looking for.

Create a Call to Action

The number one reason that website owners are not able to collect leads from their website is because there is no “clear” call to action in the form of an offer. When coming up with an offer, it is important to consider your target market. It cannot be said enough that the offer must be unique to you (only you are offering it), and must use a request form that invites the visitor to share their information. If at all possible, you should have one or more irresistible offer(s) on every major section/page of your site. You should also offer a privacy policy so that consumers feel confident you will not sell or abuse their contact information.

Offers such as “Search All Listings, Receive Automated Email Alerts, etc.,” are good offers, but they are not great offers. If you want this program to be an absolute success, you must offer something better.

RealSuport proposes to create a list of ideas that can be used as your “Call to Action” on your website. These ideas will reflect the solutions to the specific challenges of each segment of your target market. Once implemented, we recommend creating graphical buttons for final call to action choices to be display on the homepage and where appropriate throughout the website. This will grab attention allowing more success for collecting contact information. The idea behind each call to action is to create something of value for your target market, so much so that they will be willing to fill out a form on your website so you can collect their contact information and send them (either by mail or email) the item of interest.

Step 2: Creating a Website Content Re-Design Plan

Restructuring your website around your target market is crucial. During this step RealSupport will create a clear plan to organize your website’s information flow and incorporation new elements that directly relate to your target market. This includes recommending new content and organizing your current navigation. This step also includes providing placement for your call to action. RealSupport will present you with an outline of the new navigation flow and content ideas. (Please note: if additional content is needed, we can discuss the possibility of involving a copy writer.)

Step 3: Creating a Prospecting Plan for Generating Leads

If your offer is a success, you will be receiving high quality leads from your website. Staying in contact with these leads and offering relevant information is critical in capturing the lead for the life of their real estate transaction. RealSupport will work with you to establish an outline for 3 types of lead campaigns along with timelines for each marketing email to be sent. This is a high level plan; it does not include the actual content for each marketing piece.

RealSupport will also take inventory of your current online systems that offer drip campaigns to establish the best online software to control your drip campaigns and to make this system as automated as possible for you. The idea here is to stay in front of your leads by providing RELAVANT and USEFUL information so that when they are ready to make that call, they think of you.

You can expect to walk away with a high-level outline of an entire drip marketing campaign.

Step 4: Creating a Marketing Plan for Your Website

The idea that you can “build it and they will come” is unrealistic. In this step, we will establish a plan to drive traffic to your site. This will be through print and online advertising. Our plans are scalable so that you can stay within your personal budget. Our plan will also be customized to you and specifically to your target market and their needs.

Step 5: Measuring Success

You’ve got it all in place, now how will you measure your success. I’m not talking success as “gee, you have a great looking site”; I’m talking success with real numbers.

RealSupport will provide the following information to you in this step:

Customer Value – We will help you calculate your potential total revenue from leads that come to you through your website.

Conversion Rate – We will help you determine your conversion rate over time, based on your website statistics. This will tell you the quantity of leads you require to hit your revenue goals.

Hit Reports – We will set-up an automated report through Google analytics that will show you your weekly website statistics.

If you are ready to take your business to the next level and create a winning online presence, please call or email us today.

RealSupport Inc.
1232 West Northwest Highway
Palatine, IL 60067
info@realsupportinc.com
(PH) 847-705-1655
(FX) 847-589-8989
www.RealSupportInc.com

Overwhelmed by all of your social networking sites? Help is on the way!

2009-01-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

In today's world of high tech communication, social networking sites have become an important part of how we keep in touch with friends, clients, leads, business partners and more. In an attempt to keep up with the latest and greatest, most of us have found ourselves members of MANY different social networking sites, from LinkedIn, to Facebook, to MySpace, we've joined them all and now have to decide how to maintain them all.

Luckily, there is help! A site called Ping.fm allows you to update your status and write notes, among other things, and applies these updates to each of your networking sites. Long story short, you make the update once, and the system applies it to all of your separate networking sites. With over 30 networking sites, they are sure to offer the ones you use. The best part is, it's FREE!

How it works:

- First, you sign up for a free account.
- Next you indicate which networking sites you belong to, and enter your login information.
- Finally, you start updating your status on Ping.fm, and see it update on each of the sites. That's it!

A few important notes:

- This is a time saver, but it in no way replaces the need to login to each of your sites every now and then, participate in an interesting conversation, add friends, etc. It simply allows you to make a "mass" update without logging into each site.
- This also is in no way reccomending you sign up for each of the 30 networking sites Ping.fm has access to. It is, however, a good place to get ideas for sites to join.

Basically, this is a great time saver for those simple updates you make on your networking sites, but does not eliminate the need to actively participate in your networks to really acheive the best networking results possible.

If you have any questions on how to utilize this site, please don’t hesitate to contact RealSupport.

RealSupport, Inc.
Phone: 847.705.1655
www.RealSupportInc.com
Info@RealSupportInc.com

Videos are the Newest Rage in Real Estate, and Visual Tour is Stepping Up to Meet the Demand for Them!

2008-12-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

VisualTour has recently released an upgrade for their software. They do this periodically to fix glitches, add small upgrades, etc. The newest version, released about two weeks ago, if offering FREE video creation.

This is an awesome upgrade that everyone should take advantage of! It is so simple! There is a new option that you can choose after creating a tour – Create Video. This will then prompt three options:

1. Create a video for the web – This creates the video file of your tour and allows you to post it to youtube, bliptv.com, and zipvo.com automatically.

2. Create a video to burn to CD – You can then share these with your sellers, put them out at open houses, etc.

3. Create a video to save to your computer as a .wmv file.

Option 3 is especially exciting because after saving the video, you can upload it to Realtor.com! This will put your listings on Realtor.com in an elite group of listings that have videos attached to them. This is a great opportunity to set yourself apart from the competition! We highly recommend taking advantage of this if you are a VisualTour and Realtor.com customer.

As you all know, staying ahead of the competition in this market is especially important and this is just one more cost effective way to do this. This upgrade is COMPLETELY FREE!

If you have any questions on how to utilize this new feature to its fullest potential, please don’t hesitate to contact RealSupport.

RealSupport, Inc.
Phone: 847.705.1655
www.RealSupportInc.com
Info@RealSupportInc.com

Realtor.com Makeover

2008-11-19T14:28:00.001-08:00

An oldie, but a goodie, Realtor.com has undergone some pretty extensive updates in the past few weeks. A whole new look is part of the update, but the real question is, how will this update affect you?

So far, we at RealSupport have only run into two major changes in how we enter our clients listings into Realtor.com:

1.) Two Headlines vs. One Headline...
REALTOR.com now allows you to add two headlines to each of your listings. The headlines rotate every 20 seconds or so. Take this as an additional opportunity to boast about you and your property. We suggest using one "tagline" headline about the property and one "contact" headline with your contact information.

For example, the two headlines would read:
a.) "Fabulous Custom Lakefront Home" AND
b.) "Contact Dianne at 888-888-8888 for More Info!"

2.) Scrolling Text is Now a Special Message From You...
REALTOR.com is no longer offering the scrolling text option. This has been replaced with a "Special Message" from you. The "Special Message" displays next to your agent photo and states a Special Message from ____.

We suggest using this as an opportunity to brag about some of your accomplishments, talk about your specialities and again, give out your contact information.

For example - "Contact Us Today, New Bern's Golf & Waterfront Specialists. Tour New Bern and Homes at www.NewBernHomes.com!"

If you have any questions about utilizing your Realtor.com account to the fullest, do not hestitate to contact RealSupport!

RealSupport, Inc.
Phone: 847.705.1655
www.RealSupportInc.com
Info@RealSupportInc.com

RealSupport VA Team Named Preferred VA Vendor for Point2Agent

2008-10-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

We are proud to announce that we have been named THE Preferred Virtual Assistant Vendor for Point2Agent. We are experienced, know the system and many, if not most, of our clients utilize the system to market their listings, some for their main website, and everything in between.

Click here to view our preferred vendor page for more information and feel free to contact us for any of your Point2Agent needs!

Join Zillow's Professional Directory - It's Simple and Free!

2008-10-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

Zillow.com is now offering a FREE addition to their site, a "Professional Directory". Consumers can use this directory to find home-related service professionals such as agents, lenders, inspectors and more. They can search by name, area, specialities, etc. If you already have a Zillow account, it takes less than 5 minutes to add yourself to this directory and it is completely FREE.

To take full advantage of this, be sure to add profile information, your photo, specialties, areas of coverage, etc. To add yourself, just login to your Zillow account, Click "Find a Pro" and click "Join". It's simple.

You can't beat FREE marketing, so everyone with a Zillow account should take advantage of this.

RealSupport, Inc.
Phone: 847.705.1655
www.RealSupportInc.com
Info@RealSupportInc.com

How to Get the Most Out of Your Craigslist Ads

2008-05-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Craigslist allows you to enter HTML code when creating ads. This allows you to create a much cleaner, nicer looking ad and it's easy! This code is provided by many companies that you might already be putting your listings on (Postlets, Point2, the list goes on).

We have been posting HTML code for our clients for the the past year, then recently noticed that when posting HTML, you don't typically manually add photos, as there are photos in the ad itself. This means, when people are searching through the ads, there is no photo icon next to your posting. Most people, including myself, don't even bother looking at ads without photos!

We found an easy solution - We made a blank white image, and upload it with all ads that we use code for. This means we keep our nice ad, and when people are searching the ads, we show up as having pictures.

Homefeedback.com - Now Sync's With Your MLS

2007-12-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

Do you currently use Homefeedback.com?

They've added a new feature called ShowingSync™. This new software will automatically login to your MLS and Lockbox software, copy your listings and showings, and then enter them into your HomeFeedback™ system.

Automatically this will send out feedback requests to your showing agents. The time saved on this process will far exceed the additional $5.00 per month that they are charging.

It doesn't get any easier than that!

If you'd like us to setup ShowingSync™ on your account send us an email or call (847) 705-1655.

Data Source: www.Homefeedback.com

Free Report for Your Clients About Home Owner's Insurance

2007-12-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

I recently came across this report that is in a beautifully organized format. This was created by The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) which is the organization of insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories. This report is all about Home Owner's Insurance.

What a great thing to send to your buyers (especially first time buyers) that go under contract. This guide/report will answer all their questions and more that they probably didn't even know they had.

I think any buyer would be impressed to receive this. Keep it book marked and use it often, or better yet, create an email signature or template that you can use to send over and over again as part of your process after your buyer goes under contract. This will take you 20 seconds and you will be providing your client with top notch information! You could also provide a link to it from your website!

http://www.naic.org/documents/consumer_guide_home.pdf

RealSupport, Inc.
501 W Colfax, Suite B
Palatine, IL 60067
Phone: 847.705.1655
Fax: 847.589.8989
Cell: 224-558-8496
www.RealSupportInc.com
Carrie@realsupportinc.com
View Our Blog: http://www.RealEstateVABlog.com

Social Networking Websites - Networking for Success

2007-11-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

Overview:
Social networking sites are the newest way to connect to people with common interests. (For example: careers, schools, hobbies, etc.) In doing so, you’re driving additional traffic to your website, finding leads, and positioning yourself as an expert in your field. Just by adding your profile information to these sites, you are gaining valuable exposure, and even more credibility and exposure can be gained simply by posting a blog, tip, event, etc. monthly. Below you’ll find the benefits of these sites along with a list of the hottest social networking sites out there today.

Benefits:
- Drives additional traffic to your website
- Gives your search ranking a boost
- Helps you establish yourself as an expert in your field by allowing you to give advice, post blogs, etc.
- Gives you the opportunity to find and connect with new leads
- Allows access to other agents and professionals

Hottest Social Networking Websites:

LinkedIn:
Web Address: http://www.linkedin.com/
Summary: LinkedIn is an online network with more than half a million registered users from around the world and focuses on Professional Networking.
Features: An online profile with web address, access to other agents & professionals, search for jobs, post available positions.

Active Rain:
Web Address: http://activerain.com/
Summary: Active rain is a free online community specifically for real estate professionals designed to help them promote and grow their business.
Features: An online profile with web address, a free blog, access to other agents.

Tribe:
Web Address: http://tribe.net/
Summary: Tribe focuses on common interest groups, classified listings and business networking. You also have the ability to join and create tribes (member-created online groups) on any topic.
Features: An online profile, ability to create and join tribes.

MeetUp:
Web Address: http://www.meetup.com/
Summary: MeetUp is an online social network of over 2 million people that focuses on LOCAL groups, people with the same interests in the same area, with the goal of eventually meeting people face to face.
Features: Profile picture, you can organize groups, join groups.

The best thing about all of these sites is that they are FREE! With little maintenance, they can offer added traffic to your site, the opportunity to find new leads, and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

It would be our pleasure to setup your profiles on these websites. Click Here to email us or please feel free to call 847-705-1655.

In order to fully see the benefits of these sites, you will need to login to each of them occasionally and add some personal information (interests, join some groups, etc.).

Some additional reading on the topic:
http://www.inman.com/InmanNews.aspx?ID=41106
http://www.inman.com/inmannews.aspx?ID=41178

Need More Buyer Leads??

2007-11-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple ways that RealSupport can help you effectively get buyers in the door…

- Lead Generation: let us help you find buyers.
- Lead Management: this is where we help you successfully stay in contact with these leads using a drip email campaign.

Need Help? Want to Find Out How it Works? Call us at 847-705-1655 & ask for Erica or Carrie. Or Click Here to Email Us!

Host Your Own FIRST TIME HOME BUYER SEMINAR!

2007-11-12T07:13:00.000-08:00

A few of our clients are starting to host FIRST TIME HOME BUYER SEMINARS.

These seminars are typically hosted by a real estate agent (you) and a mortgage broker. They are meant to inform the first time home buyer of the process and steps involved in buying their first home. Refreshments and snacks are typically offered. Clients are hosting these seminars either in their office, at a restaurant, a library meeting room, etc.

It's a casual NON-THREATENING way to get buyers in the door and make them feel comfortable working with you.

The marketing that we find to be most effective for these seminars is postcards and Craigslist ads. The Craigslist ads are re-posted weekly by us with the upcoming dates and locations. Our clients are also of course listing the seminars on their website as well. Ask me for more details on putting together a plan to get started on this…

Turning Renters INTO Buyers... Here's How!

2007-11-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

Some of our clients are facing a slump in the real estate market in their local area, therefore shifting focus to BUYERS vs. sellers. I wanted to provide you with an INNOVATIVE idea on how to keep business coming in…

RENTERS: RealSupport can design a custom 12 week postcard campaign targeting renters in a specific area. We would send out 1 card a week to the same group of 100 renters for 12 straight weeks. Most renters are sick and tired of making their landlord rich, but don’t think they can afford to buy a home… These cards will hopefully convince them otherwise (in addition to the second idea of this week) and after receiving your cards for a consistent 12 weeks, ideally, the next step would be to contact you for more information.

Contact us for pricing!
_______________________________________________________________________

From Contract to Close - We've Got You Covered!

2007-10-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

RCC stands for RealSupport Closing Coordinator – the newest addition to our extensive roster of services designed to give you the edge in today’s competitive real estate industry. Your RCC handles every step of the closing transaction, relieving you of the endless phone calls, paperwork and details involved, for a price that will make you wonder why you ever bothered to try to juggle everything yourself.

An RCC is the person who’s going to give you more time to work on the profitable part of your practice (like drumming up new clients) and relieve you of the stuff that drains your time (like closing transactions).

It’s so easy. You send us the transaction information, along with all supporting documents. and your assigned RCC takes over the entire closing process. If an issue arises that requires a licensed agent, your RCC will contact you. Otherwise, you can concentrate on doing what you do best, confident that your transaction is being handled professionally and efficiently.

Your RCC will:
- Contact everyone involved in the closing process
- Set up your transaction checklist
- Schedule inspections, oversee financing and order the appraisal
- Ensure that each step is completed on time
- Stay in touch with your seller and/or buyer
- Coordinate the final walk-through
- Keep you informed of the transaction’s progress

All RealSupport Closing Coordinators use Settlement Room web-based software, the gold standard of the real estate industry, to handle your transaction.

To learn more about how an RCC can both save you time and give you time to improve your bottom line, call 847-705-1655 or email Erica@RealSupportinc.com

What is Reverse Prospecting? How Can You Benefit?

2007-10-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Reverse Prospecting - What is it?

Reverse Prospecting is a report in the MLS that a Listing Agent can run to find prospective buyers for a listing in THEIR inventory.

When initiated, this report will return a list of any instances in which an agent's listings were found as a match through the regular prospecting feature. It will show the agent's contact information, who owns the prospect, the prospect's ID number (not their name or contact information), and the date that the email notification of the match was sent to another agent or prospect.

In order for a prospect to show in this report, the agent who input the prospect has to "Enable Reverse Prospecting" for that prospect.

Need someone to manage your reverse prospecting? Click Here

Virtual Assistant Podcast – “Having a Marketing Team at Your Fingertips – Not Your Office!”

2007-10-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

I am excited to present our podcast – “Having a Marketing Team at Your Fingertips – Not Your Office!”

How to utilize a RealEstate Virtual Assistant for your Listing Marketing.

Please call or email for more information!

Carrie Gable, RealSupport Inc.
www.RealSupportInc.com
info@realsupportinc.com
847-705-1655

Tech Review – Top Producer’s Market Snapshot

2007-10-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Overall, the reports look nice, very professional and user friendly. It is great that the consumer does the data entry and that they are automatically emailed the report right away and then periodically. Also, the reports are very interactive, which is also a major plus. It is also very simple to add to a template or custom website.

Here are 2 issues we had with it:

It only pulls data that is 90 days old. If a listing is older than 90 days they WILL NOT show up. That is their criteria. So, the first time someone get’s the report, it will only go back 90 days. With this challenging market, 90 days does not seem to be enough. (This information was as of 5/07 per Top Producer)
Top Producer constantly has issues with AOL emails. Top Producer gets blocked periodically by AOL and emails bounce. They are pretty good about dealing with this issue when it comes up and it does get resolved, but it happens every few months (or so it seems to me). If this issue does come up, it is my experience to talk to a manager right away, the other technical support people I have dealt with do not seem to grasp this issue and it becomes frustrating. I’ve called them 3 separate times about this issue in 2007 alone (as of 10/07).

It is my experience that a lot of the Multiple Listing Services can also provide this type of information automatically. However, I have not come across any that look this pretty and are as interactive. As with all new “tools”, it really comes down to your budget, if you don’t have the budget and your MLS offers a similar service, I would take advantage of that rather than not doing the auto reports at all. In April 2007, Top Producer was giving a 30-day trial to test it out, so hopefully that is still the case.

The Buyers are on Zillow...You Should be Too!

2007-09-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

I am writing today to let you know that Zillow is now selling advertising space on their website. Zillow.com is one of the most-visited real estate sites on the Web, used by millions of prospective home buyers, sellers, and owners every month!

This is where the buyers are looking…get noticed!

Here is the link to a page with more information and pricing: http://www.zillow.com/ezads/GetStarted.htm?s_cid=emm-2007018agentoutreachPostEZ-getstartedez

Let me know if you’d like us to coordinate this for you. Click Here to email me!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Vista Operating System vs. Microsoft 2007 Suite

2007-08-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

I recently had a client send me the following issue and since most of my clients will be updating their computers over the next few years, I thought this might be a valuable post to help explain a few things.

Question about Vista was the subject of this clients email.

"When I send a Word doc attachment to anyone it says name.docx and no one can open it. Do you have any ideas about how to fix this or is this a MS plot to convert everyone more quickly?"

My Answer:

This actually is not a VISTA issue, it is a Microsoft Word 2007 Issue.

It is important for you to know that you have Vista for your Operating System and you are using 2007 for your Microsoft Suite (which includes word, excel, PowerPoint, etc).
SO, when you save ANY of these files, you will need to SAVE DOWN.

To do this, when you are ready to SAVE your document, you must do “File”, “Save AS” (rather than just SAVE). You cannot use the save icon (the one that looks like a floppy disk), because you must “SAVE AS”.

When the save as box pops up, right below where you would type in the name, you will see a drop down box. You must select the option that says Word 97-2003 Document. (See below)

You need to follow these procedures every time you save a new document in any of the Microsoft Suite documents.

While there was some chatter before 2007 came out that you would not be able to "save down a version", it has proved to be inaccurate, or maybe Microsoft just got the hint and added this feature at the last minute. Regardless, it is sometimes a pain to remember to save down, at least we have this option.

More Zillow Zestimates Advice

2007-08-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

As you know Zillow bases their “Zestimates” on public records. With that said, I’m sure you are also aware that not all “Zestimates” are correct. While adding your listings “For Sale” on the Zillow site helps to move the published Zestimate to a less prominent spot on the page, it does not eliminate the Zestimate all together. With that said, you or your seller are able to create a new Zestimate based on additional facts such as updates that may not be in public records, you can also associate different comps that directly relate to the home’s value. Since this is very specific it needs to be done by either you or the seller, we are listing out the instructions below on how to create your own Zestimate that the Zillow Public will also be able to see in addition the Zestimate that Zillow publishes. Please note, you can choose to do nothing, this is just our way of staying on top of issues that may arise from this system. Many people do realize that Zillow is not completely accurate, but unfortunately there are a lot of buyers that may rely on this tool.

Creating an new Zestimate

In order to create an estimate for a home using My Estimator, you must be on a home details page. To find a home details page:

Enter your address in the search field, which is located on the home page or at the top of any page and click "Go."
Click on the address in the bubble on the map.
Once you are on the home details page, you can create an estimate by clicking the "Owner Tools" button in the upper right-hand corner and then "Create an estimate."
Note: It is important to continue through all steps of My Estimator, even if you do not update information for each step. However, the best experience is to provide as much information as possible to get an accurate estimate.

Step 1 of 5: Edit Home Facts
If you already edited your home facts on your home details page, that information will be pre-filled here. If you did not do that yet, use this step to update facts about a home, but only if you think they are incorrect. (We get this information from public records and it could be outdated.) All done or no changes? Move on to Step 2.

Example: You just added a second bathroom, but only one is listed. Change the number of bathrooms from 1 to 2 and adjust the square footage (if necessary), then click "Update Value." If there are no other changes, click "Next."

Note: If you add rooms and floors, but do not adjust the square footage, you might not see your value increase; in fact, it could decrease because it means you have very small rooms. Also, if your changes are notable, make sure that in Step 4 you select comps consistent with these changes in order to get an accurate estimate.

Step 2 of 5: Add Home Improvements

Use this step to add information on remodeling/renovation projects to the home. If you did the home improvement yourself, be sure to enter the value of what it would cost if a professional did it, since that is what the calculations are based on. (For example, it cost you $1,500 to add a deck where a professional would have charged $6,000. Enter $6,000 in the cost box.) If you haven't made any improvements, click "Next" and go to Step 3.

Example: You just remodeled your kitchen. This should nicely boost the value of your home. Use the drop-down window under "Improvement Type," enter the date it was completed, and the total cost. When you click "Update Value," you will see the Improvement Value to your house and "My Estimate" will be updated.

Note: We licensed Remodeling Magazine's annual "Cost vs. Value Report" that breaks down resale value by geographic area and used that to calculate the net value of these improvements in a particular city. Also, we included industry-accepted depreciation costs. Therefore, the "Improvement Value" field will not return an exact dollar-per-dollar figure for your improvement value. However, you can edit the field if you disagree.

See home improvements with highest return value.

Step 3 of 5: Add Other Features

We call these the ooh-and-aah features. Here, you can list more subjective features, such as lush gardens, a workshop, built-in bookshelves, and other unique characteristics that add to a home's value, but are difficult to quantify. Conversely, if certain areas of the house are in need of repair, you can capture it here by entering a negative value (e.g., an old, leaky roof; exterior needs to be painted). Choose "subtract" in the dropdown, and then enter a value of what you feel it would cost to repair these items. Click "Update Value," to see the update to "My Estimate."

Example: You just had your home professionally landscaped, installed accent lighting, and added a pond in the back. Enter text in the description field (e.g. "professional landscaping, outdoor lighting, pond"), enter the total cost and click "Update Value." Or, if a new roof is needed, enter a negative value for how much you think it will cost to repair. (This is getting fun, eh?).

Step 4 of 5: Choose Comps

Comparables, or comps, are recently sold, similar homes located near the address you're researching. Comps are generally considered the key to getting the fair market value of a home. As a matter of fact, comps are a big part of what makes up the Zestimate™ home valuation. Real estate agents dazzle clients by pulling comps for their homes. Well, guess what? Now you can, too!

In this step, we have already selected and stack-ranked the best comps based on what we know about the home and those around it. However, using your first-hand knowledge of the home and neighborhood, you can further refine the value by selecting up to 10 homes from the list below the map and adding them to "My Comps," a section located to the right of the map. Remember: If you made significant changes in Step 1, try to select your own list of comps that most closely matches up with the changes you made.

Example: You have a 1920s Craftsman. Oh, and look: There are several other Craftsman homes similar to yours in the neighborhood that recently sold. These homes would be ideal for your hand-picked list of comps since they are most like yours. Add any comp by clicking the "add to my comps" link from a home on the map or from the list below the map. You can add up to 10 comps. Once you are satisfied with your selections, click the "Update Value" button to get a new valuation.

Read more about what goes into selecting a good comp.

Step 5 of 5: Save Estimate

You probably have a different valuation than when you started. Take some time to review, or click the "Previous" or "Return to Step 1" button to go back and adjust any information you entered, if needed.

If you're all done, click Save My Estimate.

Important note: You must be registered with the Zillow™ service in order to save the estimate. If you don't have an account, you will be taken through the registration process. Once you're done, you will be taken back to the "Save My Estimate" page.

On the "Save My Estimate" page, you have the option to:

Enter comments (recommended) - Additional comments can help you justify your changes and help visitors to your home details page see information that may not have been covered elsewhere (e.g. "Our home is located across from a park and is four blocks to James Madison Elementary")

Keep it private - Your estimate will only be visible to you
Make it public - Great exposure for people selling a home (and nice for buyers to see!) or just to "set the record straight."
Share it with family and friends - If you just want the information for your circle of friends, you can e-mail it, but just be aware it could be forwarded without your knowledge.

That's it.

3 AWESOME Time Saving Features for RE/MAX Agents

2007-08-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

1.) Accept your RE/MAX leads by text message: Rather than accepting your leads by email, which means you’d have to be sitting at your computer to respond right away, you now have the option of accepting them via. text message! This means you can accept your leads anytime, anywhere.

2.) New RealPING System: RealPING empowers real-time assistance for you website visitor. When questions arise and prospects need help NOW, the customers are connected to you. On every page of the website (YOUR REMAX SITE), a RealPING "Talk with me NOW" button will display. The RealPING button will be on you website header, plus in the right column of the Listing Detail page. NOTE: To change your available hours and your primary and secondary RealPING phone numbers, go to the RealPING Control Panel after your account is active.

3.) Fishing for Buyers? The database that you have is very useful. If buyers are your focus, and you want to go after them, you can actually see all the detail about certain users including when they logged on last, what listings they looked at, what their search criteria is, if they have set up an automatic search, etc. VERY neat if you are fishing for buyers. You could cherry pick them and email them w/ a personal note, “I saw you were looking at condos in the $500K range, can I set up any appointments for you”

If you’re interested in having RealSupport help you utilize any of the aforementioned new tools, and/or if you have questions, let me know. We’re happy to help!

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Your RealSupport Virtual Marketing Team

Virtual Assistant Services - Hourly Rates Vs. Package Pricing

2007-06-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

Be careful when comparing hourly pricing... for example, we have been doing this for 7 years now and what may take RealSupport 1 hour at $55 per hour could take someone else 3 hours at $25. You do the math. You can't compare hourly rates, you have to look at the quality and experience of the VA service you choose.

Here is an article posted by another one of RealSupport's clients that articulates how this client increased her business by 50% which paid our bills and left even more in her pocket. http://www.epowernews.com/articles/art0309/01suc_0309.htm

Your best bet is to get package pricing from your VA service to start. For example, we offer Listing Marketing packages so that the agent knows exactly what tasks will be done every time he/she takes a listing as well as exactly how much it will cost. With this information, you can compare pricing, but remember to compare experience, service and quality as well.

Joan Prout of RE/MAX New Jersey's Take on RingCentral

2007-06-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

I think at the service level I have, extra minutes are billed at about $.05. They send an email notification if you've gone over your prepaid allotment, and they automatically bill you, I believe in 10-minute blocks. I've upgraded my service plan twice to the point where I don't exceed my "free"minutes. When the market heats up again, I fully expect to do so again. It gets expensive in a hurry when you run up the extra minutes.

There are numerous levels at which you can subscribe, and, of course, the bigger the chunk you buy, the less you pay for extra minutes if you need them.

Still, I try to economize where I can. I have one extension where I don't take messages; I just record an availability list of properties (seeing my V.A.s aren't licensed in NJ and aren't allowed to give out that info.) Rather than record that announcement every week or so using the phone (and minutes), I record it to the computer and upload the file. When someone calls in on the 800# and I anticipate a long chat, I often ask if I can call them right back. Then I dial them right back from a land line w/unlimited long distance calling. My #1 attorney and lender both know the system well enough that they first dial my home number, but, if I don't pick up or the line is busy, they'll then call the 800# to have it hunt me down or they leave their message using RingCentral (that's the most sophisticated voicemail system I use.) I gave up "calling in for messages" years ago.

When we go out of town, I unplug the home answering machine, so no one is tempted to leave a message. I don't give out my home number or cell number to clients. Our V.A.s monitor our extensions when we're away. They always have our itinerary and emergency reach numbers. Rather than have them answer our extensions, the messages are emailed to both us and them. There is a protocol in place depending on the type of call. Many times agents dial my extension rather that one of the V.A.s for scheduling. Those are easy to handle. If it's a current client, the V.A.s can also usually handle the request. New leads and referrals get a call back right away.

"Joan is out of town...she's traveling and won't be reachable until the plane lands...she'll be back in the office Monday, will that be soon enough, or if it's urgent, I can have her call you back tonight..." I always have an agent(or 2 or 3) lined up to cover for me. They don't mind because they are spared all the nuisance calls. They get a referral fee from me for handling offers and negotiations (license required) and they take the business that"can't wait." Having the initial messages come in as .wav attachments allows me to track them. Before we got RingCentral, the V.A.s would call my office voicemail periodically -- at one point I'd set up pager notification, but that didn't work consistently and was very costly. I'd estimate now, during business hours, calls are returned in a matter of minutes. That's similar to when I'm in town, but unavailable to answer the call when it rings. Before RingCentral, the V.A.s logged call info to a spreadsheet for me. This is far more accurate, and the original message is easy to forward by email to an agent who will handle it, and I can review it later myself. There are call logs noting the time, duration, and disposition of each call that came in (hung up, answered, voice mail etc.) This is great ammunition when an agent (or client or attorney) says he left a message that wasn't returned.

It's hard to believe that when I started selling real estate around 1990, company policy was to print home phone numbers on our business cards. Within 6 months, I had disabled the ringer on the phone in our bedroom (because I'd gotten a call after 10:00 PM to discuss a home inspection report.) There was an "up-time" schedule for after business hours, where calls to the office were call-forwarded to an agent's home when the receptionist left for the night. That agent was expected to answer the phone as "Thank you for calling ABC Real Estate, this is Sally Agent, how can I help you?" and have the greeting on Sally's answering machine say one had reached the ABC Real Estate Co. As you can imagine, it didn't take me long to opt off of that rotation. A couple of years later, I remember carrying a pager and driving around looking for a pay phone. Between sessions at a real estate convention, there was always a line at the pay phones outside the meeting rooms. Ah, progress.

There's a free trial you can sign up for with RingCentral. Just go to their website. You'll be hooked. I sent an email suggesting Bubba contact them to see if they'd be interested in being a Summit Sponsor.

Joan Prout, MBA, CRS, ABR, e-PRO, SRES an Allen F. Hainge CyberStar R
Broker Associate, RE/MAX Villa REALTORS, Jersey City, NJ
Across the riverfrom Lower Manhattan

Call or fax the team direct at 800-671-0596

Sluggish Sales and Anxious Sellers? How an Absorption Rate Analysis in Your Back Pocket Could Help.

2007-06-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

One of the many services we provide for our Client Dianne Dunn (Keller Williams - New Bern, NC) is creating a monthly Absorption Rate Analysis for her. Armed with this spreadsheet, she has the tools to show her sellers they are not alone.

Dianne says, “The absorption rate chart helps me to show sellers a "visual" of the activity in a specific neighborhood, as compared to other subdivisions, and our entire marketplace. In a market such as this, where homes are taking much longer to sell, these are great statistics to show the sellers so that they are not getting too anxious when their house does not sell in 30-60 days. When they see an average of "10 months" supply of homes on the market for sale, then it means that in order to sell "before 10 months", they need to be very competitive with price and condition.”

Want this Service? What Can You Expect to Pay?

Here is an estimate of costs. Please note, this is just an estimate, your costs will be billed at our hourly rate and you will be billed actual time. This is just to give you an idea of what you could expect, this would include about 3 or 4 neighborhoods/towns.

Set-up: 3 hours (depending on how many areas)
Monthly: 1 - 1.5 hours

Sample of a Report:

Click here to see Dianne’s report

Other Reading and a Good Example of How It Works:

RealtyTimes: Absorption Rate Analysis for Resale Agents, by Jerry Rossi

In Closing:

If you are interested in this service, please send me an email or put a task in the task system!

I hope this eTip was useful for you, please let me know if you prefer not to receive these email updates!

Thanks,
Carrie Gable
President

"Do what you do best, hire out the rest!"

RealSupport, Inc.
501 W Colfax, Suite B
Palatine, IL 60067
Phone: 847.705.1655
Fax: 847.589.8989
Cell: 224-558-8496
www.RealSupportInc.com
Carrie@realsupportinc.com

CUSTOMIZED Summer Event Calendars!

2007-06-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

Summer Event Calendar: RealSupport would research your local (or target) area to find out the upcoming summer events. We would then create a custom calendar for the summer months listing out these events. If there are corresponding pictures and/or logos we would add these as well. This is a fun way to keep your name in front of these contacts, stay fresh in their mind so they think of you for that next real estate transaction!

Click Here to email us for more information and/or pricing. Feel free to call us at 847-705-1655.

Letter to Your Contacts - Getting Their Home Ready for Summer...

2007-06-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Getting Your Home Ready For Summer:
A few of our clients are having RealSupport put together, print, and send out letters (snail mail) to their contacts with a list of reminders of things to do in preparation for the summer.

Pricing:
$55/Hour
$0.03 each black and white printed page
$0.48 per envelope including postage

Click Here to email us for more information or call us 847-705-1655.

www.SurveyMonkey.com

2007-06-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

www.SurveyMonkey.com: Survey Monkey is a unique online web tool that RealSupport pays a monthly fee to use. It allows us to create CUSTOMIZED surveys for our clients. Our clients are finding the survey useful to send out to clients after their home has sold (or after they've purchased a home with you) to find out their opinions on how the transaction went. Here are a few sample questions to think about:
a) Were they satisfied with the overall transaction?
b) Would they recommend you to friends and family?
c) Can you use them as a reference?
d) Do they have a testimonial they'd like to share? (RealSupport can add the testimonials to your website)

Pricing:
$60/Year Per Survey (Unlimited usage of the survey)
$55/Hour to setup your survey(s) - Approx. 1 to 2 hours per survey.

Click Here to email us for more information, or call 847-705-1655.

Add your listings to Zillow and Update Zestimates

2007-04-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

We've all heard the buzz about Zillow.com - the online estimation tool that has gathered tax information to create "Zestimates" of what a home is worth in just about every part of the US.

The real estate agent community was upset with this new website, with good reason. The "Zestimates" were not always accurate and if you put this powerful tool in a buyer's hands, it could hurt your chances of selling a property if the facts on Zillow were just not right.

So, what's new? You can now not only post your listing for sale (for FREE) on Zillow, but you can also update the "Zestimate" by adding facts and improvements as well as comps on why they should update the "Zestimate". Just by putting it on this site "for sale" will get ride of the glaring and most likely "underZestmate", and replaces it with the for sale price. Whew, that is an improvement and a relief.

You can also customize your account so that your agent information is displayed on all your listings... maybe you'll find your own buyer!

Another cool feature is that they give you a hit report to see how many people viewed the home. Nice to add to the seller reports you must be doing (If you're not currently sending weekly or monthly reports to your seller, enlist the help of RealSupport! We are sending out weekly and monthly reporting for several of our clients. We find that sellers LOVE to see the marketing results first hand).

Adding your listing to Zillow and updating the "Zestimate" could be a huge benefit to you and your sellers.

We would love to help you get started!!! We can:

1) Set-up your account information in Zillow, add your contact info, etc.
2) We can post your current active listings with photos and update any bad information (beds/bath/sq.ft/)
3) After we have it all set-up, you can go in and justify the increase or communicate the information to us and we'll do it!
4) Don't even know what the "Zestimate" is for your listing? We can look them all up and create a spreadsheet for you so that you can figure out which ones need to be updates.

We can help! Send me an email or give me a call!

Make it a great day,
Carrie Gable and Your RealSupport Team
Ask, Believe, Receive

Outlook Tip

2007-04-24T15:10:00.001-07:00

Outlook Tip:If you haven't done it yet, you must download the Google desktop search. This will change your life! Search your email messages in seconds!! Ask us for the link to download this program, it is FREE!

Ann Lebiecki, Shorewest Realtors

2007-04-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Ann Lebiecki
Shorewest REALTORS
West Bend, Wisconsin
www.AnnLebiecki.com

Ann is one of RealSupport's first clients. We have been working with Ann for 4 great years! Ann's team has grown since working with us to include a licensed assistant (Jennifer).

What is your business philosophy?
My philosophy is simple really (not easy, just simple) and is coined by Floyd Wickman. It's:
"To Always... live by the get by giving philosophy". "To always... make my clients #1 goal, my #1 goal""To always... live up to my standards, despite temptations to lower them" "To always... be willing to work toward a common good" “To always... do what I say I will do, sometimes more, just never less"

My business caters to my past clients and referral network. I am constantly in touch with them either by mail or phone, monthly. I want customers to know I am in high touch with them. I want to be at the top of their mind before, during and after a transaction. I also want to be high tech, which is what clients today want and deserve. In order to be all of these things to clients I employ the help of Real Support, my offsite support team and 1 licensed assistant.

How has RealSupport supported you in this philosophy?
Real Support has given me the high tech branch of my business plan by maintaining my website, search engine placement and listing activity tasks regularly. The listing tasks involve creating a visually appealing e-mail blast to send out to my database and the top agents in the area when I want to promote a new listing, creating and mailing Just Listed and Just Sold cards, updating the website with New listing, New price, and Sold info are just a few of the listing tasks I delegate. I also depend on them for their creativity in helping me develop my Quarterly Newsletter to my geographic farm of 500 homes as well as other marketing promotions and invites to customer appreciation parties. Their creativity, flexibility and professionalism has allowed me to be with my clients and in homes which is my forté.

What about the RealSupport team, and/or the services they provide for you, do you find most beneficial, and why?
When my onsite assistant, Jennifer and I are brainstorming about how to improve something or create a new marketing piece, we can just share the ideas with Real Support and all of the sudden there is a quality marketing piece that we can now proof, edit, finalize and implement in much less time (also known as money in this business) than it would've taken us. They have also given me their professional opinion or experience on an item I need help with. They are truly a great reference to have partnered with. I learned early on in this business, from Michael Russer, that you can't be a specialist in every facet of your business. Instead you need to recognize this and hire out/delegate tasks to the specialists in your field. This has saved me time, money and has increased my business!

What is your referral policy (for our clients that may have southern Wisconsin referrals)?
As mentioned above, my business is mostly made up of repeat and referral so any referral sent my way I take care of personally and professionally. In fact this year 75% of my business falls in this category. My usual referral fee paid out is 25% of sale. I would be happy to help anyone's clients in the Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington County areas of Wisconsin!

Thanks Ann for all your comments!

It's a Numbers Game but Worth the Wait

2007-04-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

It's a Numbers Game but Worth the Wait.

Last year, a friend of mine sold her house. This was the first home she owned and unfortunately she was going through a divorce, so they were selling. She had no idea about how Real Estate works, all she knew was that she had to sell. I asked her how she choose her Real Estate Agent.
She told me, “Well, I’ve been living her for 5 years, and about once a month for the past 5 years, I’ve gotten a postcard from this agent, so I called her.” I laughed… it really was that simple.

Many agents start postcard campaigns and give up after about 4-5 months. As indicated in the scenario above, you may not get a payoff for many years, but guess what, the $9,000 commission the agent made on my friends home paid off big time.

We do just listed and just sold postcard campaigns for our client Ann Liebecki, of Shorewest Realtors Wisconsin. She has figured out of 26 listing appointments she landed 2 of them due to the just listed/just sold postcards she does. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but if she gets those 2 listings, they will pay for the postcard campaign for the year and probably the next.

Here is a REALLY detailed summary of the success we have had doing a campaign for Ryan Gable, StartingPoint Realty (also Carrie’s husband) over the last 5 months.

ABSTRACT:This campaign was designed for StartingPoint Realty, Inc. located outside of Chicago, Illinois. This company specializes in first time home buyers so targeting high end renters was the focus. This campaign is a monthly campaign and this case study covers the first 5 months (will be updated in the coming months).

THE CAMPAIGN:The target audience is renters that are paying $1,000 per month (or more) in a specific area that this agent does business in. The campaign is a monthly 4 x 6–full color postcard. The postcard is mailed to the SAME list each and every month. We made the assumption that most of these renters would be within the age range of 20-30’s. With this in mind, we developed each postcard with a hip/young feel. (Looking more like Gap ads than your average Real Estate postcard.) It was ESSENTIAL that these postcards were custom and not the cookie cutter postcards that most Real Estate agents use. It was also ESSENTIAL to provide a call to action which is explained below.

THE CALL TO ACTION:There are three.
1) Direct the renters that are potential buyers to sign-up on the Agent’s website to receive auto emails for properties that are for sale (IDX).
2) Direct renters that are potential buyers to sign-up for the monthly “First Time Home Buyer” seminar that this agent gives.
3) Direct renters that are potential buyers to call this agent for general information.
EXECUTION:With our call to action clearly understood, RealSupport Inc. designed the postcards and implemented the monthly mailing. At this point, the only time spent on this project by the agent is approving proofs. The postcards go out the first week of each month.

PROJECT COSTS:Based on 2,500 piece mailing
RealSupport: $150 per postcard
Printing & Mailing: $00.39 per card = $975.00 per month
Total Monthly Cost: $1,125.00
Total Project Cost (5 months): $5,625

RESULTS:Each postcard (5) was sent to 2500 renters over 5 months
Total Leads: 21
Definition: Leads in this case are considered:
Renters that signed up on the IDX on the agent’s website and agent was able to contact directly.
Renters that signed up and attended the monthly Home Buyer Seminar.
Renters that called or emailed the agent directly for more information.

Of the 21 Leads received over 5 months:
Agent has closed/pending 3 leads- Total commissions $11,360.00
Agent is currently showing property to 1 lead
Agent showed property to 1 lead but this lead seemed to get cold feet and has stopped looking
Agent had 4 leads that are solid and will be looking the first quarter of 2006

Current Profit (minus $5,625 in costs) in 5 months: $8,735
Potential Future Profit (projected commission based on $200,000 home) $25,000

Now, tell me that isn't worth the wait!!

Real Estate Ad Word Effectiveness

2007-04-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

Joan Prout, Broker Associate, RE/MAX Villa, Jersey City, NJ came across this article about ad copy and the effectiveness of some words vs. others. Some interesting findings.

http://www.realsupportinc.com/clients/adwordeffectiveness.pdf

Putting Rising Interest Rates into Perspective

2007-04-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

Dianne Dunn, Broker/Owner of Keller Williams in New Bern, NC sent me an interest rate chart that she came across that puts the “rising” interest rates into perspective. I thought this would make a great flyer or postcard for anyone trying to drum up business from buyers. Here is the link, it isn’t pretty, (it is a fax made into a PDF) but you get the concept. If you need help creating a flyer or postcard, let me know.

http://www.realsupportinc.com/clients/interestratechart.pdf

RealSupport's Team Approach

2007-04-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

RealSupport is very unique. We are a 5 person team located in Palatine, Illinois (right outside of Chicago). So to answer your question, we are a team, but very different that what you have probably come to know as a VA Team. We have an office location so we are not a virtual team. I like to refer to RealSupport as a Real Estate Marketing Firm rather than VAs. (although I embrace the word "VA" since that is how most know us). There are several "teams" out there which is great, the only downfall is that no one is really accountable because they are all independent contractors working together. This could easily backfire and things can fall through the cracks. With RealSupport, you'll have a dedicated Account Executive (or Executive Level VA as they are referred to in the VA industry). In short, there is always someone looking out for your best interested, making sure deadlines are met and work is done properly. Also, our clients don't have to worry about coverage when one of use goes on vacation, or is sick. Since we are a team of 5 (all cross trained) you will always be covered and everyone is held accountable to me, the President and "Team Leader" of RealSupport.

Outlook Tip

2007-04-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

The Issue: One of our agents has a buyer's form on her website. When filled out, the form will email the information to the agent. This form allowed people to schedule an appointment to see one of the agents' listings. It didn't really allow them to pick a date/time, but show interest in the property. Our agent was finding that the people submitting the form were not filling in all the information which led her to believe they were not really serious. They were also rarely pre-approved, and most of them hadn't even spoken with a mortgage broker. She was starting to feel like responding to these leads was a chore and really wasn't worth her time since they really only turned a small amount of actual solid leads.

The RealSupport Solution: We devised an email script that indicated they needed to provide all their contact information, they would be required to be pre-approved and if they didn't have a mortgage broker, the agent would get them in touch with one. In addition there was one important attachment: the dual agency agreement. The next step was to create a rule on the agents Outlook so that any lead coming in from that particular form was automatically emailed the response AND attachments. The agent no longer has to lift a finger to qualify these leads!

Sellers Demand Virtual Tour

2007-04-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

By now you have probably settled with a particular Virtual Tour company. If you are not doing virtual tours, you probably should be. Sellers take notice and if you don't offer them it could very well cost you the listing. Most of our clients have just gotten comfortable with the tour company they use and the option of shopping around isn't something they have time to even think about. RealSupport has used several different tour software services and while we do have our favorites, there are pros and cons to all of them. Recently in REALTOR® magazine, there was a summary of all the tour services and pricing. This is a great little "buyer's guide" so we've captured it and put it on our Realtor's Resource section. If and when you feel like you want to see what else is out there, or if you are ready to start offering tours for your listings, take a look!

We often hear our clients say they do not have enough listings to warrant the monthly fees that the tour services charge… well, here is a thought, use the tour service for neighborhood tours, school tours and even buyer tours for people wanting to relocate to your area! Your options are endless!

Where is Your Public Relations Campaign?

2007-04-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

Carrie Gable remembers a long time ago being told the best exposure is free. This rings true in our business and from what we’ve seen, yours too! Joan Prout of RE/MAX Villa REALTORS® in New Jersey has had numerous articles written about her and her partnership with RealSupport. Everywhere we turn, everyone has heard of Joan Prout because of one article or another. This exposure has proven extremely beneficial to Joan.

How to Gain a Virtual Marketing Edge
Turn Listing Drudgery Into An Unbeatable Competitive Weapon
50% Increase This Year & Loving the Business!

She didn’t stop there. RealSupport is sending out monthly Press Releases to two of Joan’s local newspapers to hopefully earn her some more free press. Sounds expensive doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. Joan had us scour the different affiliations and designation websites that she belongs to and dig up their Press Release templates. We simply customize, print and mail out on her behalf. Simple as that and Joan didn’t even have to lift a finger.

Well, all this got us thinking… RealSupport is also a valuable service that our clients pay for and should be bragging about. So, we have developed our very own Press Release that can be customized for you and released in any way you deem beneficial. A simple link on your website may get your seller’s attention…

Here is a link to the release, please let us know if you are interested in this type of service and feel free to use the RealSupport’s release in any form you wish!

Agent Profile - Joan Prout of Jersey City, New Jersey

2007-04-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

Joan is a 15 year veteran. She holds a Master’s degree and more real estate designation than I can ever remember. She is an active CyberStar member and a firm believer in using a Virtual Marketing Service like RealSupport. In my observation of Joan over the last 4 years, I believe she is so successful because (among many other reasons) she has determined who her target market is and she doesn’t try to be all things to all people. Her target is simple. Internet savvy, urban sellers. Joan is a listing agent you see and focuses her attention on not only this group, but even digs deeper down and targets the internet savvy ones! There have been several instances where Joan has never met her seller face to face and that is just fine by her. We communicate to Joan’s seller’s via email, rarely needing to call or schedule a meeting for Joan to meet them at the property. She really takes full advantage of the internet, fax and overnight delivery to work so efficiently with her clients. This is not to say she won’t take a listing from someone that isn’t internet savvy, but the internet savvy clients are the people she focuses on. I think this is great for two reasons. The obvious reason is that Joan saves a lot of time utilizing technology. The second is that Joan has identified WHO she wants as a client and focuses her money and attention on THIS group. She doesn’t waste her budget or time trying to be all things to everyone.

Let’s hear from Joan:

What is your business philosophy?
[Joan Prout] My team is in business to help nice people buy and sell real estate with the fewest hassles in the shortest amount of time, and to charge fairly for providing cutting-edge service. We strive to attract enough business that we can be selective about who we work with. We don't work on business that won't be profitable to us. This means that, while we work on a percentage commission, we have set a minimum dollar fee for servicing lower priced properties. We consider our clients to be a part of our team, too. If they aren't happy with us, it's usually mutual. We won't hold our clients hostage. We will release them to go work with someone else if they want to. Life is too short to work for people who aren't happy to work with us. (We've even fired a couple of them when they don't live up to their side of the bargain.)

How has RealSupport supported you in this philosophy?
[Joan Prout] Four years ago, I realized that I needed to free myself from the administrative requirements of the job. The first questions I ask myself about any task are 1. does it require a NJ Real Estate License and 2. does it require a physical presence in NJ. RealSupport personnel cannot give out price and availability information about listings, so I record that information as a greeting on a separate extension of my team's 800#. Also, if the property needs a sign or lockbox installed, they can't help me. ( It's amazing how well we've made this work, and I hope RealSupport gets as much of a kick out of it as I do.)

What about the RealSupport team, and/or the services they provide for you, do you find most beneficial, and why?
[Joan Prout] RealSupport is a team within my team. It is my administrative, client service, and sometimes technical support staff. The expertise is there to handle website development and the coordination of post-contract details, as well as monthly letter campaigns and showing appointments. When I'm away, whether it is for a long lunch, a 2-day seminar, or a 2-week vacation, the ship stays afloat. I still have to have licensee-backup for those services that require them, but it is much easier to arrange for when that agent doesn't have to deal with administrative chores as well. In four years, I've traveled, attended conferences, and been able to turn off my cell phone for numerous business and personal reasons and not lose business. Real people are there to back me up, whether the contact comes in by phone or email.

I always feel that it is as important to RealSupport that my business succeed as it is to me. When they are working for me, that's where their focus is. On those rare occasions when I visit my broker's bricks-and-mortar real estate office, I'm acutely aware of the fact that I'm paying for down time as well as up time.

I know that my competition isn't going to woo them away. We have a non-compete clause in our contract. Also, it is to our mutual benefit to take advantage of advances in technology and its growing acceptance. Our systems are much more efficient today than 4 years ago, and, while the division of time spent on different tasks has changed, the amount of time RealSupport works for me each week has stayed remarkably constant. There are always new projects to implement.

What is your referral policy (for our clients that may have Jersey City and Central New Jersey referrals)?
[Joan Prout] I love referrals. I offer a referral of the equivalent of 25% of a 3% listing fee for seller referrals. For buyer referrals, I offer 25% of a 2.5% buyer side commission. At the moment, I don't have a buyer's agent on the team, so I'm taking on very few buyer referrals, but please, contact me and ask. If I can't personally take the referral, I'll happily steer you in the right direction (for free, or maybe lunch if I'm in your city.) I'm an avid networker and pride myself in knowing great agents all over the country.

Any additional comments?
[Joan Prout] Technology provides wonderful new opportunities every day in our business. It's an exciting time to be a REALTOR. Years ago, I heard about the acronym: C.A.N.I. Constant and Never-ending Improvement. It's fun to partner with a company like RealSupport that operates the same way.

Real Estate Listing Coordination Podcast

2007-04-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a podcast of a phone presentation I gave on Real Estate Listing Coordination.

Download listing_coordination_podcast.mp3

FAQs abour Real Estate Virtual Assistants

2007-04-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

Recently a prospect sent me an email with many great questions he had about this whole "Virtual" Real Estate Marketing Virtual Assistant industry. He had great questions, so I wanted to share them as well as the answers.

Q: The most important thing I can ever think of is the highest level of trust in this virtual relationship which by the way is clearly professional.
A: I absolutely agree and I think you can see by our testimonials that our clients not only trust us but rely on our team on a daily basis. View some of our client's testimonials here: http://www.realsupportinc.com/buzz/testimonials.cfm

Q: It will include independent work for hire with "results that are measurable."
A: Yes, I agree. Measurable in the sense of time savings, quality of marketing materials, and turn-around time.

Q: Can I let go of things easily without having to worry if they are getting done.
A: Absolutely! RealSupport is one of the leading VA Services, but with a twist. We have an ON-SITE, dedicated staff of four. We are not a "home based" service, but a true corporation. We have developed our own proprietary software that allows our clients to enter new projects/tasks/listings/etc into our online Task Management System. This system allows RealSupport the ability to effectively manage our tasks and hit deadlines. It also allows you the flexibility to delegate work 24-hours per day as well as gives you the ability to see who is working on what task and the status of open tasks at any given time.

Q: What assurances can you give me that any tasks I hire you to perform will continue without interruption or degradation of quality if you go on vacation or suddenly become incapacitated?
A: As mentioned in the above answer, we are a staff of 5. Our office hours are Monday - Friday 8:30am-5:30pm. We can be available during the weekend at a higher rate if there are urgent tasks that need our attention. Please see our team profiles: http://www.realsupportinc.com/about/employee.cfm

Q: What assurances can you give me that you will not take on more business than you can reasonably handle?
A: One of our many core values is to provide fast turn-around times. We guarantee 24-48 hour turn-around unless otherwise specified, for most new listing marketing activities. We are always growing and bringing on new staff as needed.

Q: Are you willing and able to create for me a comprehensive written process of the tasks I hire you to do?
A: Yes, creating a checklist and documenting processes is the first thing we do for our new clients. This is part of our initial set-up.

Q: May I ask why do you feel you are qualified to perform these services?
A: Our experience, results, and testimonials speak for themselves. We are one of the leading VA Services in the industry and highly recommended by Michael Russer, aka "Mr. Internet".

Q: Are you willing and able to provide me the names and contact information of clients you are currently providing this same kind of work to?
A: Please see our testimonials on http://www.realsupportinc.com/buzz/testimonials.cfm

Q: What file formats are you comfortable using i.e. Microsoft PowerPoint, WordPerfect, Adobe, Top Producer.
A: All of the above and many more. Please see our software and hardware specs at: http://www.realsupportinc.com/about/equipment.cfm

An Introduction

2007-04-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

My company, RealSupport Inc., has been providing blogging services to our real estate clients for some time now and I'm finally practicing what I preach.

My goals for this blog are:

1) To supply content to our current clients and potential clients about real estate marketing related trends so that they can be the leading real estate agents in their area.

2) To establish RealSupport as a leader in the real estate marketing field.

3) To write about all the ideas I have as they relate to real estate marketing.

4) To get the word out about RealSupport's services and how we currently help several successful real estate agents all over the United States.

5) To educate the real estate agents and brokers on the use of virtual assistants.

So, welcome to my blog! Please feel free to post comments or send me an email direct.