Clarifying Homeowners expectations

Excerpt from Steve Harney’s, paper on Broker Agents News
The challenge for realtors is the homeowner's perception of what their home should sell for. As recent as June 2007, a survey by the Boston Consulting Group found that fifty-five percent of American homeowners believe their home is worth more today than it was one year ago. In reality, in virtually all locations, home values have gone down.
Unfortunately, some real estate agents, who see their income decline as the number of home sales go down, are now operating in a state of fear. As a result, when they meet with prospective clients, they may be concerned they won't get the listing (and thus not get a commission), so they tell clients what they want to hear - namely that their home will sell for top dollar in record time. Then when the house doesn't sell and the client agrees to lower the price, the client/professional relationship becomes strained. Clients can't help but feel their agent gave them inaccurate information. 2
To truly shine as a real estate agent today, you simply need to educate yourself on the realities of the market and then tell each client the truth. Help clients understand where the pricing used to be, where it is today, where it will likely be three months from now, and most importantly, why it is that way. Only then will clients be able to make a realistic pricing decision that will enable you to help get their home sold.
1. Increased inventory
As owners se the market declining they started placing their properties to sell. This allows buyers to have a better negotiating opportunity, and tends to lower prices.
2. Increased mortgage rates
In the last months mortgage rates has increased and this disqualifies customers. Also some mortgage companies have closed their doors.
3. Increased mortgage restrictions
Now buyers need not only a down-payment but a very good credit to qualify. This again reduces the number of possible customers that can buy your house.
4 Increased vacancy rates
A lot of people bought homes in the supposition that the increased value of the home will allow them to make an easy profit in very little time with the turn around of the market a lot of this house are being sold at a loss affecting the other properties in the neighborhood.
5 Increased foreclosures
If one house forecloses in a neighborhood process go down 5% if 8 houses foreclose prices go down 20%. We are expecting a big number of houses foreclosing in the following years. If you have any doubts go to Broker Agent Foreclosures and check foreclosures in your area.
The New Era of Real Estate Sales
If someone wants to sell their home for a decent price, they have to list now - not three months from now and certainly not a year from now.
So when you conduct your next listing presentation, be sure to educate yourself on these five factors, and then explain how these factors impact your clients' selling decision. Let clients know the realities of the market and what their home will likely sell for given these five considerations.
1. Harney, Steve, Managing Homeowner's Expectations Broker Agent News E-Letter - Updated for Sept. 30, 2007

Your cheapest and more effective marketing tool

The importance of becoming a good listener
1. Good listeners use their thought speed to advantage. They constantly apply their spare thinking to what is being said:

a. Are the speaker’s facts accurate?
b. Do they come from an unprejudiced source?
c. What are the speaker’s motives?
d. What has the speaker left out?
e. Is the speaker dealing in facts or inferences?
f. Am I getting the full picture or only what will prove the speaker’s point?

2. Good listeners try to find something interesting in what is being said, something that can be used to help create a new idea or solution or be used in some other way.

a. What is the speaker saying that I need to know?
b. Is that really a practical idea?
c. Is the speaker reporting anything I don’t know?

3. Good listeners avoid getting too excited about a speaker’s point until they are certain they have heard it through and understand it.

4. Good listeners concentrate and instinctively fight distraction. They close a door, turn off the radio and interrupt only when it is necessary to clear up one point before proceeding to another.

5. Good listeners focus their attention on a central idea or theme. This helps them to remember the facts cited.

6. Good listeners restate and summarize the speaker’s point of view. They also look into the speaker’s face and maintain eye contact.

7. Good listeners enable the speaker to express what the speaker has in mind and thus make the speaker more able to give listeners the information they need.

Importance of Search Engine Optimization

Post quest technologies recently published this article that I am just making available to you.
So, would you like to know more about search engine optimization (SEO)?

Not sure? Not sure you should even care?

Well, let me ask you this: when someone searches for homes in your area on the Internet, would you like your website to be the first result to show up? In a nutshell, would you like to drive more traffic to your website?

If so, then this post is for you. Furthermore…

In a recent post I wrote an extensive article about creating a real estate marketing plan and…just recently realized that I failed to mention SEO in the web marketing portion.

Here’s why SEO is important to you and your website and SHOULD NOT be a strategy left out of your marketing plan:

In 2005 the NAR reports that nearly eight out of ten home buyers start their home search online. More importantly, as noted in an earlier study, 76% percent of people used the first agent they contacted.

That means if you can be the top agent on Google for home searches in your area, then you’ll hog all the business. Which means a lot in our 2007 belt tightening market.

Before you get started, however, the first thing you need to decide is whether you or somebody else is going to optimize your site.

You might be the type who likes to tinker with your website or you might be someone who doesn’t. If you don’t, then choose a seo company or consultant. (I don’t have any recommendations at the moment, so you’re on your own.)

After that, get to work…and keep some of these the following ideas in mind as you pursue your seo marketing strategy.

Eye tracking studies have shown that searchers scan a search results page from top to bottom and left to right, looking for a relevant result. Placement at or near the top of the rankings therefore increases the number of searchers who will visit a site. Cool, not-to-be-missed heat map stuff.

However, more search engine referrals does not guarantee more sales. SEO is not necessarily an appropriate strategy for every website, and other Internet marketing strategies can be much more effective, depending on the site operator’s goals. You make the decision, but my feeling is that every agent website should be optimized. This article is just to make you aware of those OTHER things, like viral marketing, out there to drive traffic to your site.

A successful Internet marketing campaign may drive organic search results to pages, but it also may involve the use of paid advertising on search engines and other pages, building high quality web pages to engage and persuade, addressing technical issues that may keep search engines from crawling and indexing those sites, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure their successes, and, most importantly, improving a site’s conversion rate.

SEO also should, obviously, generate a return on investment. However, search engines are not paid for organic search traffic, their algorithms change, and there are no guarantees of continued referrals. Due to this lack of guarantees and certainty, a business that relies heavily on search engine traffic can suffer major losses if the search engines stop sending visitors. That’s why SEO should be one strategy among many that drives traffic to your site.

In addition to paid search listings, websites also often receive search traffic from free, so-called organic listings. These visitors are obviously no problem, except that you can’t count on them as a sustainable strategy, since organic listings can change without notice.

According to notable technologist Jakob Nielsen, website operators should liberate themselves from dependence on search engine traffic because of this fact. That is, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

And remember this: three or four months down the road, when you’ve got some mileage on your seo strategy, let me know how you are doing. Okay?

Here’s to your SEO success!

ref: Postquest technologies

How Virtual Tours Can Save You Money?

How much money they are you investing on different forms of advertisement.
Classified ads cost A LOT on a per-day breakdown (like usually $100 for 3 days of local advertising) or $200 for a weekend at the Herald, then break it down to cost per day vs.a virtual tour could cost a maximum of $120 and it will offer you 365 days of Internet exposure so your cost per day is only $0.32 and you addis being showed worldwide. Tours can also work as lead generators for people looking to sell a house.. ‘uh, hun look what this guy does for his seller.. maybe we should use that realtor…” a classified ad CANT do that. No one looks at a classified ad and says, WOW that’s awesome marketing… so make it their choice.. “for the cost of little more than one day classified ad I can market your property on multiple websites including your local MLS, www.realtor.com, www.move.com, www.homeadvisor.com, www.homestore.com, www.AOLanywhere.com, www.digitalcity.com, www.netscape.com, www.monstermoving.com, www.excite.com, www.thehawaiichannel.com, www.theindychannel.com, www.thejacksonchannel.com, www.news4jax.com, www.thekansascitychannel.com, www.nbc4.tv, www.thelouisvillechannel.com, www.themilwaukeechannel.com, www.theksbwchannel.com, www.theneworleanschannel.com, www.newsnet5.com, www.wnbc.com, www.channeloklahoma.com, www.theomahachannel.com, www.wesh.com, www.nbc10.com, www.thepittsburghchannel.com, www.thechamplainchannel.com, www.turnto10.com, www.thekcrachannel.com, www.10news.com, www.moretv32.com, www.wpbfnews.com, www.clickondetroit.com, www.local10.com, www.nbc6.net, www.wsbtv.com, www.wsbtv.com, www.wsoctv.com, www.whiotv.com, www.kfoxtv.com, www.ktvu.com, www.wjactv.com, www.wftv.com, www.foxreno.com, www.wtov9.com.
Think for a while. How much money are you wasting by using real estate books WITHOUT a virtual tour. The RE book can cost $200-$500 or more per page and only have a shelf-life of a month or so depending on publication and area. If they use these really expensive ads as lead generators for a VIRTUAL tour website, then they can keep interested actively shopping buyers involved on their VIRTUAL tour website. You know that the last NAR research showed that buyers shop from 8-12 weeks before they make the decision to buy.. Are you using your marketing dollars effectively?
Isn’t it MORE WISELY to appeal to buyers in all phases of the active ‘shopping process’?

If you want more information please do not hesitate to call us at (305) 331 8960 or visit our web page at http://virtualfloridaraltours.com

What is better than a yard Sign

Recently a friend gave me this article that I will like to share with you.
What's better than a Yard Sign? A Virtual Tour!
by Anne Sperling
Broker Agent News E-Letter - Updated for March 11, 2006
It used to be that a yard sign was a Realtor's surest way to attract attention to a listed home. Things have changed!
Today, one of the best tools in a Realtor's toolbox is a Virtual Tour on the Internet. Since 1995, the use of yard signs and newspaper ads per listing have decreased, whereas the use of Virtual Tours by real estate agents have increased from .001% per listing in 1995 to 15% of all listings in 2004. And the numbers in 2005 will follow the same rate of growth. (see below for NAR statistical data).
Contrary to old thinking, the use of Virtual Tours on the internet does not take business from Realtors. Virtual Tours are simply a formidable tool available to savvy Realtors who know that offering a listing prospect a Virtual Tour option not only helps to market any property, it also enhances the image of the Realtor at the listing presentation.
Sellers' suspect that a good Virtual Tour is today's way to catch the attention of house-hunters, and they are right. NAR statistics confirm that 74% of buyers begin their search for homes on the Internet two weeks before they make contact with a Realtor.
If this doesn't sell you on Virtual Tours, note this statistic: Most of these online buyers hire the Realtor they notice first while searching online Virtual Tours. This means that the Realtors who have listings or ads on Virtual Tours are much more likely to attract clients-these numbers make you want to put Virtual Tours online of your doghouse!
Based upon this information, it is not surprising to see that the first Realtor's who gambled and invested in Virtual Tour marketing hit the jackpot. More listings, higher profits, and the highest rate of business growth in our industry correlates to the use of Virtual Tours, whether the market is cold or hot, large or small.
Real Trends, a magazine which keeps statistics in this area, found that the average agent for 2003 produced 11.2 sides. However, according to our latest information, (counting only the listing side) the agent using Virtual Tours to market themselves and their properties had 15.3 listing sides in 2003, and four extra sides alone means thousands of dollars to these Realtors.
Everyday, we in the Virtual Tour industry hear success stories from excited Realtors who tell us of a "big boost" their Virtual Tours gave their business. Sometimes agents report their customers were overjoyed because a Virtual Tour facilitated a quick sale to an online buyer. Often an agent calls us to tell of new clients generated by our attractive, well-placed Virtual Tour.
In an industry where clients are careful about their decisions, at a time when some sellers think Realtors make "too much" money, it is refreshing and exciting to see real emotion and complete satisfaction in clients whose agents delivered the goods. How do you elicit this emotion? By delivering what the client wants, and these days, clients want Virtual Tour marketing.
There is no better way to build your business than a long-list of happy customers who can't wait to tell their friends about the great job you did, and about how beautiful their home looks online.
Business today is created mostly by BUZZ, and if you want the BUZZ to be about you, hang-out a Virtual Tour "online yard sign" on the internet every time you setup a yard sign. It's the best marketing tool money can buy.
A sure bet for increasing profits in 2006 is to add a virtual tour for all your properties.

If you want more information about virtual tours please contact us at 305 331 8960 or at our web page www.virtualfloridarealtours.com

6 Costly Misconceptions about Virtual Tours

1. All virtual tours are the same.

Wrong. Virtual tours that use panoramic photos that just rotate are not true virtual tours. Most agents would refer to these type of tours as 'spinners'. Spinners lack a professional presentation and can at times do more to make the viewer nauseous than actually get them interested in the property being viewed. While spinners qualify as a virtual presentation in nature, they simply do not qualify as being a tour of any kind.


2. Virtual tours will not help with market exposure

Untrue. At any time you can take the number of listings that are currently on the market and compare that number to the number of listings with a virtual tour. This number almost never exceeds 10% of total properties on the market at any given time. But take into account that the National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers shows that use of the Internet to search for a home has risen from just 2% of buyers in 1995 to 77% in just 10 years time. Technology is clearly changing the way that consumers search for a home. The 2006 Realtor® technology survey shows that the Internet is the third most important source for new leads surpassed ONLY by referrals and repeat business.


3. Having a virtual tour professional produced costs too much money.

False. When searching for a virtual tour solution, keep in mind that you can either save more money or more time. There is an inherent downside to opting to save more money. You have to spend time. When you take into account all of the time that you would have to spend taking pictures, stitching the panoramas, ordering the pictures within the tour, adding text and graphics, not to mention uploading the tour, converting it to disc, and distributing the tour on the internet you have to consider what you COULD have done with that time. You could have been farming your area, keeping in contact with sellers, calling prospective buyers & sellers, following up on buyer leads, arranging showings and scheduling open houses. Instead you could have spent YOUR TIME listing and selling more homes. As a real estate agent you can always make more money, but you can never make more time. A small investment in a professionally produced virtual tour gives you a competitive edge over other agents that opt to waste time sitting on their computer while you go after that next listing.


4. Putting a virtual tour on realtor.corn and my website is good enough as far as virtual tours go.

False. This is essentially the same as saying that placing a sign and a classified ad is good enough. While it can work, it does not give you optimum exposure for your property listing. But the question here again is time. Do you have the time it will take to post your virtual tour to major Internet portals all over the internet.

When you opt to same money you are making a decision to spend time and reduce your return on investment. The 2006 Realtor technology survey show that 42% of realtors receive more than 10% of their leads from the internet, so doesn't it make sense that if you are going to place your virtual tour on the Internet that you should expose the virtual tour as widely as possible? A professional developed virtual tour can be produced and submitted to major portals without any additional expenditure of time, freeing you up to list and sell more homes while simultaneously bringing in new business.

5. Sellers don't care what kind of virtual tour is used

False. With ever increasing technology, home buyers and sellers are becoming more internet savvy than ever. The 2006 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers shows that over three quarters of buyers viewed the internet as a useful tool in their search for a home and that a majority of buyers drive by a home that they have seen online. A high-quality interactive virtual tour cannot only take these buyers on a full tour and get them to come by the property but can also turn motivated buyers into motivated sellers of their own home. Now that the motivated buyer is a motivated seller, with whom are they going to list their property? With an agent that uses classified ads or the agent that found them, their new home without leaving the couch.

6. Virtual Tours sell homes.

False again. Realtors sell homes. Realtors that use all available media to showcase and market their listings are those that sell homes. Virtual tours offer incredible marketing opportunities that simply were not available to the realtor or the consumer just 10 years ago. The use of a virtual tour simply increases your market penetration to bring you more leads for the property and for yourself. Your presentation on the internet is very important to both buyers and sellers and can mean the difference between a new lead and missed opportunity. Everyone knows what social networking can do for a real estate agent and this is evidenced by the high percentage of new business that comes from referrals. The question is, would you send a new referral a handwritten and crumpled business card or would you send them a presentation that speaks volumes of you and demonstrates your command of marketing tools that are significantly different from what other agents are offering. Spinners, dark pictures, unprofessional virtual tours and ineffective marketing can leave a lasting impression on your referral business.

Properly-distributed profession a I ly-prod uced virtual tours bring you more leads from a world-wide network of resources and free you up to follow-up on those leads. This gives you a major advantage over the competition that has yet to comprehend the difference between saving time and saving money.
If you want information on what to ask a virtual tour provider please send a comment containing your name, company, phone, e-mail address and the best way and times to contact you. or contact our company directly at 305 331 8960