Realestock Blog

Any Realtor will tell you that Real Estate is a competitive industry – between competition from other agents, demands from clients, and the breakneck pace of technological updates to keep up on, it’s not surprising that some agents might be wistful for the simpler days when adding their listings to MLS, printing out some direct mail pamphlets and taking out a few advertisements in the local paper were their real estate sales tools. 
So how are successful agents marketing property now? How do you sell real estate today? It’s as simple as BYOB. No, not Bring Your Own… Beverage…
The new sales tools are all about setting up a Brand, using Yourself as a tool, getting your listings Online and setting up a Blog.

Brand
Chances are when you are thinking about a major purchase, you’ll gravitate to a brand that fits your needs. How do you know that a Honda is a better fit for you than a Hummer? Simple – if you’re looking for a car that’s reliable and fuel efficient, you know that Honda is a brand you associate with those qualities. If you already associate a brand with the things you’re looking for, you’ll turn to that brand when you want to buy.
Real estate is no different. A potential client is looking for an expert in the type of home they want to buy or sell. If someone is looking for to sell their high end downtown condo, they’re not going to start with a real estate agent that is primarily in the business of selling family bungalows.  Take what you know, and make it your brand. If you have a lot of interest in local history and architecture, brand yourself as a Historical Homes Expert, and use your knowledge to connect to people who want a heritage home. Drive sales using a unique brand as a real estate tool.

Yourself
If you feel that Twitter and Facebook are replacing ‘real’ interactions with people, you’re about half right. Yes, people are increasingly socializing online, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to actually socialize – quite the opposite. In the age when anyone can connect to anyone else, the best real estate sales tool you can have is… yourself! Engage your twitter followers, follow your local hashtag, attend things like ‘tweetups’ and actually become friends with the people you talk to online.  Put yourself out there as not only a real estate agent, but a friendly, local expert.

Online
Putting a listing onto MLS is now just one sales tool. Creating a website to showcase your listings, putting videos of house tours up on YouTube (way better than just a few photos), using location based listing services and specialty real estate websites can greatly increase the chances that a listing will be seen. There are numerous online real estate tools that can be used to market and sell real estate and not just to locals – buyers from other areas, and people looking for investment properties in other markets are likely to use online services to find properties. Getting online and getting exposed is the way to sell real estate.

Blog
When you want information on something, you probably hop online and Google it. Looking for a Realtor is no different. So how do you make sure your name, and your website comes up first? Blog, blog, blog! 

A blog demonstrates that you know about the local market, have good insights and are at the top of your game.  It also gives a search engine something to find you with. If you want to position yourself as the top seller of high end condos in Vancouver, start a blog – they’re one of the most powerful real estate sales tools.  If your blog has lots of posts about condos, apartments and downtown Vancouver living, it’s more likely to be picked up by search engines; therefore, when someone searches for “downtown Vancouver Condos Real Estate Agent” your blog will be one of the first to show up.

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On April 28^th and 29^th, 2010 in New York City, CMAEON’s CEO and Founder, Tim Vasko will be speaking at the REMarTech (Real Estate Marketing & Technology Academy) event on online marketing, named ‘Is Social Media a Fad?’

The ReMarTech is a two-day conference with eighteen workshops, focusing on online listings and “virtual office websites”, lead generation, email and mobile marketing, online video and viral marketing, publicity and PR, the Facebook Marketplace and much more!

Tim will be leading two innovative workshops on Website Design-Web Portal Magic and Social Conversation Lead Generation. His workshop on website design focuses on how to create buyer relationships through web content tools, understanding connected media and how to drive buyers to your website and how to create a successful web presence strategy.

Tim’s workshop on lead generation will take participants on a journey to discover new ways to practice online lead generation. Topics that will be covered include: how to find, qualify and convert leads, how to become part of the natural social conversation and how to inspire word of mouth online.

Speaking from his experiences running CMAEON® and Realestock, Tim will address key issues in lead generation and website design facing today’s marketplace to help participants discover how to rank higher on Google and create updated content to engage and attract buyers.

Other speakers at the event include Ross Anderson, President/Owner of nylmedia and NewYorkLuxury.com, Sarah Bonert, Director of Broker Services, Zillow and Kelly Roark, VP of Interactive Sales and Development from HGTV/Scripps Network.

For more information on Tim’s workshops or to register for the event, please check out Real Estate Marketing and Technology Academy at http://greenpearlevents.com/remartech/.

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A few weeks ago, we posted an entry with 10 tips on what to include-and how you should take a great set of photos to showcase your property for sale.

While I was writing that particular blog post, I stumbled upon a website known as Lovely Listing.com. Their tagline is ‘Odd Finds in Real Estate’.

After taking a look at the website, I would say that it’s definitely ‘odd finds’ in real estate.There are features, items and issues that should never be showcased in photos to sell a home and yet, are taken by actual real estate agents and homeowners wanting to sell their properties.

As a tribute to Lovely Listing.com, here’s a list of the top 10 features you should never include in photos of your property.

1. Bathrooms with uncovered windows. Now, there may be prospective home buyers who desire to have natural light and air circulating through their bathrooms. That being said, I don’t think they would appreciate having an open window in their bathroom that faces the neighbors and allows them to share the intimacy.
2. Kitchens under renovation. Understandably, many homeowners want to renovate before putting their homes on the market to boost its value. But is it necessary to include a photo time line of every step of the renovation? Buyers want to see the finished product, not the process.
3. Bedrooms with lava-colored carpeting. Now, we understand that that particular carpet color was all the rage back in the 80s. Nowadays though, buyers are interested in modern and contemporary features and lava-colored carpeting just doesn’t cut it.
4. Guns hanging next to the kitchen window. Everyone has their own interests and we’re not discriminating against anyone. But, really, guns? What if the potential homebuyer has children? Not the safe haven we all imagined our dream home would be….
5. A family barbeque on the back patio. Homeowners have lives and the right to enjoy their homes with anyone they wish. But, personal photos of your family memories really have no business being in the real estate listing to sell your home. After all, people want to imagine their family having a meal in the backyard, not yours.
6. Mold in the basement. Common sense tells us to remove all harmful substances or debris from our homes for our family’s safety. Why would you want a picture of the evidence to end up in your listing?
7. House in a bubble. I understand the desire to be creative with your photos. Really I do, but how is putting your house in an actual bubble adding to the appeal? If anything, it does lend itself quite well to jokes about the current housing market.
8. Dark photos of people. I mentioned in the previous post about being careful in including people in your photos. It doesn’t help for a prospective buyer to imagine what their new home may look like with people breaking in.
9. Outhouses in the backyard. See my above comment about the lava carpet, it still stands for this.
10. Living rooms with couches on the ceiling. Remember what I wrote in the previous post about taking a lot of photos so you can fix what’s wrong in the room? This is exactly why you should do that.

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You might remember a blog post where we talked about the Top 10 Tips on Property Photos. We gave the best tips that we could find on how to take-and what to include-great property photos to help sell your listings.

After thinking about it, we realized that photos are not the only element that drives a buyer to a property. So why not expand on that list? Here are the top 10 tips on how to make your listings stand out from the competition (including the photos!)

1. Photos, photos and more photos. We won’t go into detail here, only to say that the higher quality of the photos, the more appealing it is. Refer to our post about property photos for more details.
2. Include special extras. As we said before, photos aren’t the only thing potential buyers are interested in. Think about including a floor plan, maps or photos of the neighborhood to show them where they’d be living.
3. Virtual tour or not? What about a virtual tour? They show more than what photos do and allow house hunters to ‘walk’ through the property and see it for themselves. Think about whether or not there are unique features in the home that you especially want to call attention to.
4. Sales pitch. The language you use in the listing helps as well. Use compelling sales language and make your description as in-depth as possible. Highlight the features, the area and lay it out logically. It has to be accurate right down the spelling and grammar. Consider writing an intro to the listing before getting down the sales pitch.
5. Add more information. Prospective buyers are hungry for as much information as you can give them. Describe the neighborhood, talk about how the home is animal-friendly, or list the price guide.
6. Aim for the top. Look for the premium option in advertising packages. It will help position your listings higher up on the totem pole and catch the eye of more buyers.
7. Take advantage of features. Grab everything you can on paid for positioning, audio, mapping, info sheets and neighborhood data. It’ll put you ahead of the pack in terms of a complete package for buyers.
8. Dare to be different. Does your listing merit a special open house or something else?
9. Stay ahead of the game. Do your research on competition and your market. Could you utilize more features on the portal?
10. Flaunt it. Tell everyone you know about the property. Email it, blog it, tweet it, facebook it, talk about it, make phone calls about it, link to it, whatever it takes.

And finally, make sure your listing is kept 100% up-to-date, and this includes saying when it’s been sold.

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As house hunters scour the listings for the property of their dreams, the next best thing to viewing the property themselves is a fantastic set of photos. Photos give potential buyers visuals on what features a property has and the layout. It is the very first impression that house hunters receive of a home and it can intrigue them as easily as it can turn them away from purchasing the property. After all, pictures are worth a thousand words and a beautiful set of photos go a long way to turning a house hunter into a buyer.

There are a few things to keep in mind in order to take great photos. Here’s a list of 10 tips on how to take amazing property photos.

1. Cover all of the essential features.  Make sure you give prospective buyers every angle and shot on the essential rooms and features inside the home. Rooms that are absolutely crucial to a property and shouldn’t be left out include the bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living areas and the backyard if the property has one. Also, include special features such as fireplace or pool as these could be selling points for buyers.
2. More is best. Don’t be afraid to include as many photos as possible. A floor plan is also a great inclusion if it’s possible.
3. Watch for intruders. Is there something in the photos that shouldn’t be there? Take more than one shot of an area so you can see whether furniture is misplaced or items are in a room they shouldn’t be and fix it for the next photo.
4. Watch the weather. While it’s not something you can control, photos showing an overcast sky or dreary afternoon light should be avoided. You can work around this with different camera setting or Photoshop, of course, but it is best not to overdo it.
5. Don’t leave buyers hanging. Taking a picture of only one side of the room, even if it’s to focus on the best attributes can make potential buyers wary of what’s lying outside of the frame.
6. Work different angles. Taking different angles of the same area gives prospective buyers the sense of perspective. Avoid the temptation to take crooked angle shots or use the wide angle lens, however.
7. Be careful with the flash and mirrors. Remember to turn the flash off in rooms that have lights on or if you’re taking a photo that includes windows. Also avoid taking pictures of yourself in front of a mirror.
8. Give a sense of life in the home. De-cluttering is a great idea to allow house hunters the space to imagine living in the home, but don’t go too far. Bare rooms signify a lack of care in the home, but going out of your way to include obviously constructed scenes will only give buyers a sense of falseness.
9. Know your camera settings and your tripod. If you’re taking the photos yourself, you have to understand the aperture, shutter speed and ISO to make your photos work harder for you. Shooting interiors at a slower speed for instance, makes them look better. A garden can look better in shade, and in harsh sunlight you might want to use a flash. There are courses you can take to learn more about how to make your camera work for you.
10. If in doubt, see the pros. While it is more expensive to hire a professional photographer, it could be well worth the cost.

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Yesterday, I spoke about the first mistake any developer can make in project marketing and sales. As I said, I've seen a lot of developments stall or self-destruct at the hands of a developer who felt like he or she "knew it all." I told you about my friend the hotelier, who became a developer, then a travel "guru," then a marketing and sales "expert" capping off this illustrious and varied career with a stint as a financial products broker. His development is still just a patch of dirt.

Continuing in the same vein of "knowing it all," today I'll tell you what I've seen happen to developers who entrust their marketing efforts to brokers and sales people. Until recently, I've seen a lot of luxury brokerages trick developers into thinking that they were the total solution - a sales and marketing firm. I'll show you why sales and marketing under one roof make ineffective and wasteful bedfellows.

Mistake #2 - Hiring a Sales Agency and Branded Real Estate Broker to do a Marketers Job. In recent years, marketing real estate projects was more than just a lucrative enterprise for those who were doing the marketing - it was pure profit, plain and simple. There is a good reason for that - the best marketers got the job done.

When a luxury brokerage brand steps in and decides to become a marketing company they begin to over-leverage. Sure, they can leverage off their brand name for what seems like a quick win and surefire success, but this also means that they are leveraging off their core business. When brands experiment and begin to "know it all" (not unlike the hotelier I described yesterday), the Developer takes the hit. With a big name and a willingness to take an even bigger budget, I've watched developers dump literally millions of dollars of untraceable fancy print ads and ineffective web sites - all the while the brokers and agents who should have been motivated by selling the project, were lining their pockets with marketing dollars.

Marketing is a science - and a bit of an art. Marketing drives sales, sure, but as with any science or art (or both), this is something that is best left to experts, not amateurs (think about giving a High School Physics student the keys to the Hadron collider!). In my many years of working with the real estate industry, I've never once seen a brokerage bring in a graphic designer or copywriter to close the deal on a multimillion-dollar home; so why should the opposite make any more sense? The reason commissions exist is to get the sales team to work hard to close the sales, this is what they know and this is what they (should) do. The marketing team brings in the leads and brands the project; this is what they are paid to do. When both teams are working in their core capacity, the result is success. When the incentive model and expertise gets muddled - the result is millions spent, and a project bankrupt due to a wasted budget. I've seen this happen on a number of occasions.

Do yourself a favor. The next time a real estate brokerage says they can market your project, thank them for their enthusiasm, and offer them 2% more on the back end - so long as they carry the marketing load on the front end. Or spend your money wisely and get a marketing group and resources that brings in Quality, Quantity, and Qualified leads. Send the sales guys these leads so they can actually close the sale and earn their commission - the way they were supposed to get paid.

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This morning on Forbes.com, I read an article about the cities in America that are most likely to weather this real estate market, and be a great long term investment. Forbes listed the top ten as:

10. Atlanta, Georgia

9. Portland Oregon

8: Cincinnati, Ohio

7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

6. St. Louis, Missouri

5. New York, New York

4. Minneapolis, Minnesota

3. San Antonio, Texas

2. Washington, D.C.

1. Seattle, Washington

Living in the Pacific Northwest (Well, south west to those of us in Victoria, BC, Canada), Seattle was not a surprise at number one. However, I found some of the cities on the list to be quite surprising, such as New York, where housing has been so horrifically over priced for some time – Or a Midwest city like Minneapolis, where one would assume businesses are feeling the crunch, which would be reflected in the property prices.

However, looking at this list in detail, it is possible to see that these cities all share things in common that make them more likely to ride the current crisis, and therefore great places to buy real estate. I am not suggesting that you pack up your belongings and hot-foot it to Cincinnati. However, what we should be doing is looking at where we want to buy, and seeing if the area has similar characteristics which may make it a good deal. Smart buying is the new way to buy in this market.

Everyone loves….

Do you live somewhere where everyone wants to live? I live in Victoria, British Columbia, and while it was one of the most expensive places to live in Canada at the height of the boom, I am not quite throwing myself off my third floor condo just yet. Why? Because Victoria is well known for being the place where people want to retire to in Canada. The city is beautiful, the weather is usually excellent, (note: we are currently having freak winter temperatures of -4°c. This is not normal….bbrrrr…) and it’s an all round great place to live. Whatever happens, these things will not change, and people will still want to move here. So if you live in an area that is growing in terms of incoming population, you might just make it through the next few years.

Taking care of Business?

Minneapolis may be in the Midwest, but unlike other failing Midwestern cities, Minneapolis has less of a manufacturing base, and has diversified in the way that has kept it going through current hard times. A number of corporations are based in and around Minneapolis, such as Target, General Mills and PepsiAmericas inc.

Look at the companies in your town. While nowadays it’s very hard to guess which companies are going to survive, and which won’t, if there are a number of stable corporations, you should be safe. Also, if like Minneapolis, your town has diversified, and doesn’t depend on just one industry (such as forestry or automobiles); this is also a good indication of a ‘safe’ place to buy.

Low unemployment is also an important factor. If the number of ‘positions vacant’ signs are larger than the amount of ‘for sale’ signs, you’re on to a winner.

No.place else to go!

Sprawling cities such as Sacramento allowed developers to build build build. However, New York and San Francisco are both places where there isn’t really any space to build extensively - which means that property still sells because people have to live somewhere, and less housing = more people who want to buy your condo.

Conservative building practices

While everyone may have been frustrated about strict building codes and practices in the past…you should now be running over to those city officials and kissing them all over. Why? Because cities with strict building codes will be more likely to recover from this recession. For the same reason as the space point above, people have to live somewhere, and if there are less places to buy, those that are for sale, sell.

A little note about foreclosures…

While foreclosures are more of a symptom, rather than a cause, the disease metaphor works because if your city is riddled with unemployment, a bad economy, and a lack of people moving to the area, you’ll see more foreclosures. So, unless you are looking to buy a foreclosed property (and there are plenty of good reasons for that), you might want to avoid areas with a high level of foreclosures.

In the end, we’re all trying to look for hope in this market. However, buying in areas where these things occur is always going to be a safer and more sensible way to buy real estate in the current market. Most of these points are common sense – but that may be the way in which we come out of this market – slow and steady wins the race. So buy smartly – which will help you to sell smartly in the future.

The views expressed on the blog portion of this site represent only the opinions of the author and may not necessarily be the opinions of Realestock.com

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We are pleased to announced a new and beneficial partnership between Realestock.com and Microsoft® Financing!

Tim Vasko, the CEO of Realestock has reported that: “Realestock.com is experiencing 30% higher search and request volume than it was this time last year” Which verifies the fact that buyers are turning to online searching to find their new home, and so if you don’t have an online presence, then you don’t exist.

However, the cost of starting up online can be too much for many developers to afford. This is where our financing options come in.

Realestock has recently teamed up with Microsoft® Financing to offer clients an easier way of paying for our services, such as allowing you to spread payments over a designated time period, rather than paying for all of your software and service needs up front.

Instead of paying us directly, you are approved quickly and efficiently* by Microsoft®, further streamlining the purchasing process.

Because of this partnership, we are now able to offer a limited time deal (until the 31^st December), which allows you to pay nothing for any advertising or marketing until June 2008. We do this because we know that you’ll enjoy the benefits that Realestock has to offer you.

To find out more, please contact us, and one of our business development experts will contact you. Remember, this offer ends on the 31^st of December, so click NOW to start getting the ultimate return on investment!

* Available OAC , offer ends 2008. Offer valid with one year contract purchase of 1to1Real ™ and iQ3 Guaranteed Leads™ Program

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I’m in a cab at 58th & 7th in NYC - broke my bluetooth Jawbone headset. No worries - it’s hanging by wires, still working - sort of, if I hold it just right. Anyway, I bought the extra protection plan from the retailer who sold it to me - Sharper Image.

“Drop me off on 51st…” - I figure I’ll stop in at the Rockafeller Center Sharper Image and get a replacement. I walk to the Bank of America Building - I find the Shaper Image sign - and the image in the blacked out windows tells the story - the one time leader, high end brand, is closed for good. What happened?

About two years ago, before we narrowed our focus on the Connected Market Space technologies to the Realestock.com for the Luxury Real Estate Sector. we were approached to use our platform by the Sharper Image. The entire CMAEON Team and I were excited. We were one of the “lucky” recipients of the final RFP process. We presented our 1to1Connect - MRM3 Product (the predecessor to our newly released 1to1REAL) to the internet marketing Team at the Sharper Image. When we discussed how to make connections, drive these through to the entire organization and “start the conversation marketing online…” we were surprised to see blank stares. “all we want to do is sent out big e mail blasts…” was the response. Our advice that “spamming your customers with generic information is a bad idea …” fell on deaf ears. We were practically begging the people charged with bringing the brand to customers on the web to listen to what they were saying themselves. “you’re the Sharper Image. You have the edge, you need the edge, you need to be a leader, not a follower using old generic distribution of information - you need to have conversations with your customers on the web” Nothing.

For the retailer, who was once viewed as the innovator of gadgets for “…the people who have everything - but this … Crowd”, we were stunned that they could have so much foresight in the past and fail to see the future. This was all happening while the Facebook Kid was still in his dorm room conjuring up social networking - before Rupert Murdoch had myspace. Granted it was early advice - or was it an early warning. I should have shorted the stock then and there!

“Hey pull over ….” I said to the cabbie - I was rushing to JFK to catch my flight, but we passed another Sharper Image with the lights still on. “Final Close Out Sale - only 12 days left “, written in big yellow letters in the window. “Hey Buddy, I can’t stop here - what ya wan me ta do ??##**” HONK! Yep, I’m in NY - “Just go to JFK”

I looked at my dangling wires and snapped the Jawbone back together once again to make a call. Hey there’s Brookstone - they seem fine, I thought.

I wondered how many more of these big brands we will see falter - I’ll focus on Realestock.com - our Connected Market Space for the high end global real estate market - where we can make sure our clients and the customers are connecting on fronts “wires in tact” in the Connected Market Space.

So much for my extended warranty - I think I’ll buy my replacement bluetooth Jawbone on line - I hear they have a newer model that’s smaller and less ugly anyway. Any suggestions of where to shop?

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