Archive for the ‘Realtor Magazine’ Category

Social Media

By Intero Real Estate | August 28th, 2009 0 Comments

Article offers ideas about social media

A Realtor Magazine article about the realities of the use of social media makes a great observation: “Using social media is like riding a bull-getting on is the easy part.”

How true that is. Keeping up with a Facebook or Twitter account takes time and other users will surely know if you aren’t interacting regularly on the site, the article says.

The good news, however, is that you don’t have to be too tech savvy to get involved, the article adds.

People shouldn’t be afraid of the Web, the magazine quotes Peter Kim saying. Kim is part of a team developing Austin-based Dachis Group, a social software startup. It does take time to learn about the technology that is used, he says. 

“But once that’s done, social networking should be no different from the work (real estate professionals) are already doing _ researching, networking with customers and marketing. It’s just using a new technology to get there,” Kim says in the article.

The complete article in the September issue of the magazine offers some wonderful insight, advice and realities about social media outlets. Check it out here. It’s worth it.

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Business Building

By Intero Real Estate | May 31st, 2009 0 Comments

Realtor Emeritus sounds off on making it through tough times

Realtor Magazine has featured another Realtor® Emeritus, L. Harrell Pendleton, who gives his two-cents on surviving the business during tough economic times.

Pendleton, who worked in real estate for five decades, says that when times got tough, his office provided loans to buyers who couldn’t qualify for the mortgages they needed. “This was common in the 1970s,” he told the magazine. “Without us, a lot of people with small-town jobs would not have had the opportunity to own a house.”

For those struggling in the real estate business today, Pendleton said “it’s important to do as many different kinds of things as you can with your business.” Besides selling, Pendleton said he did development and construction, appraisals and helped out with auctions.

He says he often bought homes at low prices and held on to them until he could sell them to the right person.

“People are afraid of their own judgments, and they shouldn’t be,” Pendleton told the magazine. 

Click here to see the full story. 

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Open Houses

By Intero Real Estate | April 10th, 2009 0 Comments

Levin offers ideas to make open houses more effective

Looking for ideas on how to make open houses more effective?

Rich Levin, a national real estate speaker and sales coach, provides some in this month’s issue of REALTOR Magazine.

One tip: Make sure you tell customers everything you need to say during the open house, rather than plan on calling them afterward.

“You’re much more likely to make a stronger impression face-to-face than during a phone call at a later time,” Levin writes. 

Of course, if you don’t have time to talk to everyone who walks through the house, you may want to call those people who may need additional information, Levin says.

Another rule: Lock the doors during an open house. Besides serving as a safety precaution, this ensures that you greet everyone who walks in the door. When you welcome visitors, Levin says, thank them for coming and hand them information about the property you are showing. Get their contact information and explain that more information is available somewhere else in the house, such as the dining room table.

Levin also suggests being selective about your open houses.

“Typically, open houses that garner the most traffic are newer listings, reasonably priced and easy to access from main roads,” he wrote.

For the complete list of Levin’s tips, click here. Levin runs Rich Levin’s Success Corps Inc. 

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Industry Advice

By Intero Real Estate | February 26th, 2009 0 Comments

REALTOR® Emeritus offers advice for making it through a market downturn

Geary Jones, a REALTOR® Emeritus with 50 years of experience in real estate, knows a thing or two about market downturns.

In 1966, the worst year for him, interest rates jumped from 4.75 percent to 7.5 percent within months and he made $3,000 for the whole year.

“It wasn’t easy. People had just stopped buying. I don’t know if that downturn was as severe as things are today, but it was hard for families,” Jones said in a interview with REALTOR® Magazine.

For his part, Jones said just kept working and talking to as many people as he could, and he encouraged his salespeople to be optimistic and prepared.

As for those in the real estate industry who are struggling today, he urges them not to complain or to be discouraged. And, he encourages them to keep searching for clients.

“Peaks and valleys are part of the real estate world. That’s easy to say, I realize,” Jones told the magazine. 

Read the full Q & A from Realtor® Magazine here.  

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Safety Week

By Intero Real Estate | September 10th, 2008 0 Comments

Sept. 14-20 is National Association of Realtors® Safety Week

How safe are you on the job?

The National Association of Realtors has designated Sept. 14-20 as its sixth annual Realtor® Safety Week.

NAR President Dick Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif., says that Realtors® put themselves at risk everyday by welcoming strangers into a home or by getting into a car with someone they just met.

“These everyday occurrences have the potential to turn into a personal nightmare if our members don’t understand and follow the basic tenets of personal, professional and client safety,” Gaylord said.

Realtors® can attend trainings to learn ways to avoid risky situations as part of Safety Week. Plus, the association is offering a 3-D online safety course through Realtor® University and it has safety CDs and DVDs that can be shown during office meetings, safety training seminars and educational programs.

In this month’s issue of REALTOR® Magazine, Christine Vyborny, a broker with Century 21 Country North in Roscoe, Ill., shares some safety tips she learned at a safety course for real estate professionals.

Here are a few:

  • Meet potential clients in the office first, rather than at a property.
  • Always use your own car when showing a property. If your client insists on driving, then have him or her follow behind you.
  • Create a code that you can use to tip off coworkers, family or friends when you feel threatened.

You can find more tips in the full story in the magazine.

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Helping Clients

By Intero Real Estate | August 28th, 2008 0 Comments

Real estate training company founder offers tips to help relocating clients

Kelle Sparta, founder of the real estate training company, Sparta Success Systems, offers tips on how to make life easier for relocating families on REALTOR® magazine’s Web site this week. 

Sparta says the first thing to keep in mind is that relocating clients are under great stress and will be appreciative of the help real estate agents can provide.

She suggests sending a relocation packet to clients before they arrive in town. She says the packet should include information about school systems, crime stats for neighborhoods and a map. She also says agents should compile a list of fun places to visit and send a copy of forms and contracts related to a real estate purchase in the area.

When the clients are house-hunting in the area, Sparta suggests agents should schedule the hotel rooms for their clients’ stay, set up interviews for potential schools and tell them how the closing process works in the area.

After closing, Sparta suggests agents offer to make arrangements for utilities to be turned on for move-in day and have pizza, salad and drinks delivered that day as well.

For the complete article and all of Sparta’s suggestions, click here.

Sparta is also the author of “The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationships that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals, and Increase Your Sales.”

Meanwhile, Primacy Relocation and Worldwide ERC earlier this year put together a few lists of the best cities for relocating families. You can find it here. 

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