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It goes without saying that potential home buyers take to the Internet to search for homes, but just to make it official, REALTOR.org reports a staggering 92% of home seekers utilize the Internet in some capacity and 50% use mobile websites or applications in their efforts. You can view the highlights here. 

Real estate agents want to get found online, but many find Real Estate SEO to be esoteric or an exercise in frustration, so I wanted to avail a post that covers the basics, without getting bogged down in technical details (those will come later). 

Let's put aside the arcane speak for a moment, and at the risk of over simplicity, consider the over-arching goal of search engines. It is to provide relevant, targeted search results for users. When someone searches for something, they are seeking information. The search engine attempts to match the searcher with repositories of the information their users seek. Since the search engines want to provide a positive user experience, they will evaluate the credibility of the site that is spewing out information.Is the site credible? If so, it is ranked high. 

There are many metrics they will use to gauge the credibility of a site, and gone are the days from yesteryear where you can simply stuff keywords on a page and guarantee that you appear at the top of search results. The biggest metric is fresh, updated, and unique content, and I know this from experience. 

For the better part of a decade, I sold real estate and other leads and had half a dozen or so websites that showed up on the front page of Google for pre-foreclosure leads, mortgage leads, and other keywords. I rarely had to make cold calls, because people would find me. What is remarkable about that is that I made no attempt to do any SEO. That's right, I did not try to optimize my websites for Google, yet my pages appeared at the forefront of search results. Why? 

There are two audiences to write for. One is a Google robot that crawls the web. The other, human beings to engage, inform, and converse with, and for a long time I ignored the former and wrote for human beings. By writing prolifically and often, Google notices that. 

SEO gurus will tell you that when generating content, you should branch out a little and mention keywords that are related to your main keyword. So, for example, since it's October, maybe you are searching for Halloween costumes. People searching for this very broad, competitive term may also be searching for "scary Halloween costumes", "Halloween costumes for kids", "Ideas for Halloween costumes", "best Halloween costumes", etc etc.

But if you have a passion for Halloween costumes and have a business selling costumes, these related phrases will be mentioned naturally. Naturally is the operative term. You wouldn't necessarily have to forensically analyze content, keyword count, etc, because these terms would appear organically. 

This is a lead in to what your real estate website is about. 

Many real estate professionals have taken the easy route by putting up a generic website, a prefab and uninspiring website furnished by their brokerage firm or some third-party company that makes every site look the same, merely changing a few things. This cookie-cutter sites are nearly impossible to be indexed by the search engines, much less to be viewed as a credible site with all of the duplicate content. Again, Google loves fresh, unique content. If you want to be found, you have to set yourself apart and have more than an expensive business card.

This requires a concerted approach to write about local schools, hang-out places, neighborhoods, attractions, the local yogurt shop. New developments sprouting up, changes in the rental market and so forth. It's been said that all politics are local. To that I would say all search is local. The search engines eat up locally specific information, and this need not be an arduous task, and I want to part with this thought. 

SEO should be fun, to the extent that you are communicating with the visitor and establishing yourself as a local real estate expert. It's the start of a conversation that leads to relationships and profits. If you view SEO as being a technical task to get found online, get some Ibuprofen. If you have a paradigm shift and view content as informing/engaging, you will succeed. I guarantee it. 

In the next posts, I'll try to tackle some of the nitty gritty details, putting a little structure to your real estate content. 

Man vs. Machine – It is the age-old question. Can a machine replace a person? People and computers have worked together to make most tasks simpler and faster. People have invented brilliant machines and programs to boost our productivity, and in return raise our profits. Machines can process information faster. They can solve problems and provide specific and up-to-date solutions. So is it safe to say that machines have replaced the real estate agent? Does it mean that we don't need real live agents anymore being that technology can do a lot of the job?

Absolutely not! These machines still need human input. Any computer savvy real estate agent or his assistant can manage all of his properties online, freeing the agents’ time for meetings with prospective clients, showing properties, etc. It is also  a great way to ‘weed out’ the serious buyers over the ‘browsers’. While the ‘browsers’ are content to stay at home viewing all of the wonderful information you have on the internet, the serious buyer is already hooked on his dream home and is making an appointment.

There are many ways to advertise your property online, detailed descriptions, photos, virtual tours, videos and the like. The serious buyer will still want to see the property in person while the ‘browser’ will be satisfied with the online information and browse to their hearts content. Finding a home has never been as easy as it is today. Everything is right at the tip of our fingers. With just a few clicks, we can browse different price ranges, styles, square footage, room counts, lot sizes, and neighborhoods; we can even narrow our search to minute details in seconds. We can submit pre-approval applications and even estimate what our payments might be.

There are many areas where a realtor humbles technology. One of those areas that a machine cannot compete with is that the realtor knows all of the intricate details of a property. The computer can only pull all related key words that you put into the search. The realtor is physically acquainted with the property. They can also explain all of your possible mortgage options, property taxes, and any repairs that the home may need. These things are usually not disclosed online. A realtor can also orchestrate negotiations for the price which technology, even as advanced as it is cannot do.

Lastly, a realtor is there to help you with the entire home buying process. Testimonials tell us that there are a lot of challenges in home buying. A realtor is there to understand, encourage, and support us with all of the paper work, legal terms, financing, closing, etc. They are essential in making our dream home a reality. In short, with a realtor we can prepare, save, and complete our home purchase.

So even with the rise of technology, a real estate agent is still more effective than a computer. Of course, the use of both is most effective. Realtors should partner with technology to manage their listings and time so that they can serve homebuyers in the most time and cost efficient way. This would definitely boost the agents’ success.

It is vital for realtors in this day and age to be fully armed with the latest in technology. The problem is that most realtors do not have the time to educate themselves in the ever-changing ways of technology. The realtor has to manage his time effectively and be "out there" showing homes, talking to clients, building relationships and selling homes!

This is where a virtual office assistant can be a major help. Virtual assistants have many areas of expertise in the real estate field. They can take the stress out of your time management by taking your calls, managing your online portfolio, social media marketing, preparing BPO reports, managing your bills and reimbursements, home repairs, preparing spreadsheets, presentations, reports and many other tasks that you just do not have time for.

A virtual assistant can do just about any task that you need done, with less overhead cost than an in office assistant. To find out more about what a virtual assistant can do to help you achieve your goals, please feel free to contact us.

When you have a home or a piece of realty and you have plans for resale, it is important to take these critical factors into consideration. Do remember that in real estate, selling a property requires not just efforts but, most importantly, the right knowledge and timing. The perfect convergence of these factors will largely contribute to lucrative sale deals in the market.

Indeed, home staging is of great help in increasing a home’s face value and in quickening its resale. Though preparations are essential, it is important not to invest a lot in the processes involved. By planning carefully the home staging processes, you are guaranteed to get the most bang for your buck.

Last but not least, make necessary updates on your home’s security. Nothing beats a house that is not only well-kept but also fully secured. Homes with foolproof security system, often, acquire great interest.

In the months and years to come, more and more tech-y gadgets and apps will be introduced to the real estate arena. You need to keep your eyes open for these changes and updates. In a highly competitive industry like real estate, your chances can be determined by how well equipped you are.

Amidst the recovering real estate market, it can be observed that the usual word-of-mouth tactics employed by private homeowners is not helping. If it does, this usually leads to a decrease on your price tag. If you want to sell your home in a fast and efficient manner with the price you desire, listing it with a competent realtor will definitely do you good. These people are seasoned professionals when it comes to selling houses. They do more than just show properties or negotiate offers to help close a sale. Below are some things that these realtors do to make your house more sellable.

Help Improve Your Home’s Stature 

Competent realtors do not just list your house, match it with a potential home buyer and be done with it. Often, these people ensure that your home is ready for that open house event or for buyer viewing by making use of their connections in the field of home improvements. They can assist you in improving the curb appeal of your home by contacting their contacts in plumbing, roofing, fencing, painting, landscaping and so on. Keep in mind that buyers are mostly concerned of a home’s interior and exterior appearance. A fresh coat of paint, a clean roof and exterior walls, updated plumbing system, and so on will help augment the appeal and face value of your home. With their connections, they can help find you general contractors which can perform all the needed improvements at a much affordable rate to suit your budget.

Experts in Pricing Your Home Right

An important aspect in selling a home is in pricing it right. Realtors are experts in estimating the value of a certain property with their experience and skill-set. They are proficient and up-to-date with important considerations like target market, location, demand and supply, and the type of house. They are trained and experienced in property evaluation to demand appropriate pricing to ensure that your home gets every bit that it deserves.
 
They Help Sweeten the Deal

Another way to make home-selling more attractive to buyers is by offering perks. Credible realtors know precisely how to play around the selling price or add-in any other special deals that will help make the buyer realize the added advantage on this particular investment. Some realtors are also connected with service contractors and home insurance agents. They can use those connections to offer an extra mile in their services as leverage in letting the buyer perceive the deal as an “added value” service. Some also offer transferable home warranty (with the consent of the homeowner) for at least a year. This helps cover maintenance and warranty on appliances and other home fixtures—and this helps sweeten the whole deal. 

Help Gain Home Buyers Trust

Do take note that 90% of all real estate transactions occur with the assistance of realtors. This could be due to the reason that these professionals have an ethical obligation to disclose hidden or latent shortcomings or defects in a home. Buyers want an honest-to-goodness deal and you as a seller might be perceived being biased when asked for details on your home.

The Bottom Line

Selling a home can take extra work and knowledge. You may put all your efforts in getting your home in excellent shape but when you have no knowledge on marketing it or knowledge on the present condition of the real estate market, you will most likely find yourself empty-handed. With competent realtors, you can effectively increase the odds of getting your home sold on the market.

I have been scratching my head lately how some name brand agents get their bank owned inventory....does the asset manger really care? or really know?

IN SEARCH  OF ....the listing agent

For starters... listing comes on the market...is listed in the MLS....but has no lockbox until 4 days later because the assistant does not work on Sunday.  I tried to show this property twice ...no offer from me!  This equals lost sales.  Should you not do your own work? I work Sundays.....

In a listing recently: This text in the agent commentary in the listing: "If status shows active it is active...do not call for status, do not ask about offers, do not call, email only ( obviously has too many listings with no customer service.)

Or how abou this..." PLS use lckbx on door. Pls txt for all info. Snd offr w FICO,EMD,POF,RPA.  Sllr mtvd!  ( obviously too busy to slow down and write like a human.

My point is this.  Does a certification really make you a good REO agent?

I would think as long as you do a presentable job on 1 listing or 5 listings and act intelligent, I think that would be good enough. 

Really, can you think of why it would not benefit an asset manger to have their property marketed with the same vigor as a standard owner occupant?

HMMM....

National Association of Women REO Brokerages to launch new website Monday

Be sure to visit National Association of Women REO Brokerages' new website this Monday, January 23, 2012.  NAWRB has a refreshed looked and is fill with lots of information, tools and resources.

Be sure to check it out:

www.nawrb.com

We would like to hear your feedback on your experience.

Normally there are two ways most REO agents handle their utility bills but wait, there is a third:

1. Pay each bill with a check and set the check aside for several weeks until it is due to minimize the leverage of funds

2. Pay by bill-pay through your banking website which only takes daunting hours of your time due to hundreds of accounts that are no longer used or require deletion

3. Use Realty Pilot's Concourse 360 to create the record of the check file and print one check for each utility company at the end of the month

Let's face it banks don't pay a management fee for properties as an REO and the longer the hold time of a property the more free labor the banks are squeezing out of you. One of the most important things to know is where your break even number with days to hold a property is. Is it based on the number of tasks that are involved, is it due to the price of the home or is it the amount of time the home stays in your inventory? All of these are concerns but the one most important is hold time. The longer the hold time the more chance the REO asset will cost you money rather than make you money. So what do you do? First, pin point what costs you money then find a way to minimize those costs. Since this blog is about utilities I am going to let you in on a little secret.

Utilities will cost you money by the amount of time spent paying the bill-pay through your bank and takes money out of your pocket immediately. They will also cost you money printing numerous amounts of checks every month only to release them strategically hoping not to miss one and you still have to scan a copy of that check for the invoice record. Additionally there could be deposits and bonds involved to support the volume of bills under your own name. So what do you do?

Realty Pilot's Concourse 360 has come up with a very unique check writing system that allows you create the check file within their system right from the expense record that looks just like your check without printing and scanning. This check file stays with the expense that is tracked for each property. This allows the agent to pay all bills for a utility company on one check at the end of the month. So now you only have to print one check for each utility company and your money is not immediately dispersed allowing you to reduce the amount of time your funds are leveraged for the bank or asset company.

If you have read my last couple of blog post, you know by now that I am a big fan of this new book I am reading: The Personal MBA: by Josh Kaufman (www.peronalmba.com)

Here is an excerpt from his chapter on Marketing: "Rule #1 of Marketing is that you potential customer's available attention is limited. Keeping up with everything in your world would require way more attention than you actually have to work with. To compensate, you filter: you ration you attention, allocating more to things you care about ans less to things you don't. So does everyone else, including your potential prospects. To get someone's attention, you have to find a way around their filters.

High-quality attention must be earned. When you're seeking someone's attention, it's useful to take a moment to remember that you're competing against everything else in their world. In order to be noticed, you need to find a way to earn that attention by being more interesting or useful than the competing alternatives."

http://book.personalmba.com/attention/

Check out the trailer for Life in Foreclosure.

New Year, New You. www.livefitandhappy.com.

Youtube can be one of the most powerful tools for both showing asset managers your marketing abilities and generating leads for yourself from around the world. With the correct use of Property Addresses through Google Maps your YouTube Channel can be a showplace for both you and your properties. Take a look at this example www.youtube.com/RealtorVincent

Call me if you want to learn more Dominic (EMS) 239-200-8141. 

If you are a RE/MAX Agent your in luck!!! Ask me why. . .

Real Estate Porn
The search bunny keeps on going

Its interesting that online search for real estate is as strong as ever. Sales are miserable, people are afraid to buy. They no longer know what value and they have no job security. So, why is search so strong. Realtor.com President, Errol Samuelson notes that Online search is a critical measure of interest in real estate, especially now that more than 90 percent of buyers search for their homes online. So what can we glean from data mining search. Well, it turns out quite a lot.

Search As An Economic Indicator

Studys that indicate that the answer is yes, search can indicate future interest. The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) recently published a study and concluded that predictive power of search can predict activity several weeks in advance.

Where Are The Top Ten
Sun Belt Still Strong

The top 10 most searched real estate markets in 2010 were established based on the number of visitors that viewed properties in each Metro Service Area (MSA) in the United States from January 2010 to December 2010 on Realtor.com. Despite changing market conditions in 2010, the nation’s top search destinations remained remarkably stable and focused on the sunshine states of California, Nevada, Florida, Texas and Arizona.

Bottom Fishing?
Or Just Entertainment?

Despite changing market conditions in 2010, the nation’s most searched destinations remained remarkably consistent, focusing on the sunshine states of California, Nevada, Florida, Texas and Arizona. Whether the strong interest in Real Estate is just window shopping or whether these states will seriously pop first when the buying public feels this is the bottom remains to be seen. Be interesting to see if the heavy search points to an early opportunity.

Related Articles
Apartment Sector: First One Out 

Real Estate Markets: Whats The Catalyst 

Multifamily Apartments: Get Higher Rents and Lower Your Vacancy

You should market your REO team that you work with. This would include your vendors. Such as:

1. Maintenance and Repair and/or

2. Property Preservationist

3. Accountants

4. Assistants

5. Listing Coordinators

6. Transaction Coordinators

7. BPO/MMR Coordinators

Sometimes asset management companies would like to know if you work with a team and what are themilestones you have reached. So if you do work with an REO team, you shouldtake the time to create a marketing package that includes a brief descriptionof each team members unique qualifications that contribute to the success ofyour REO team.

This also allows the asset company to see that you are equipped to take on a good amount of REO work and completeit successfully.

There are several ways to market yourself as an REO Agent to obtain more business. I am going to
focus on a few. Listed below are two marketing techniques that you can utilize
for free!

1. Social Media

a.
Blogging – as we know this is can be a very
powerful marketing tool. And really there is no shortage of subjects to blog
about. Three quick tips to successful blogging.

i. Relevant and interesting material that will
solicit comments from your readers

ii. You need to do it on a constant basis to
continually build your reading audience

iii. Address a need that maybe your readers are
struggling with. Such as key tips on how to communicate successfully with Asset
Managers.

b.
Networking – Online or through conventions

i. You can join online groups that are relevant to
your industry

1. Once you join – don’t forget to participate by
answering and asking questions!

2. Creating Groups – if you are a blogger, this is
a terrific way to network online. You can produce your own content and invite
others to join. As your readership increases, you can offer free seminars to
the group. You can also invite others to produce relevant blogs/content to help
the group.

c.
Signing up with Asset Management companies

i. If you have the time, sign up with as many as
you can. And check back every month or so, to see what your status is or if you
have to submit up to date records.

ii. Signing up as an appraiser or recommending one –
sometimes the asset management companies are looking for other vendors other
than REO agents. If you can refer another type of vendor to them, that is a
good way to network. They will remember that you took the time to help their
business.

iii. Signing up to do their short sales – the asset
companies are also looking for short sale agents. So this may be a way for you
to obtain some short sale work – that is if you are willing. But this is just
another avenue to look at.

So these are just a few marketing tips. Feel free to add any additional helpful tips that you would like to share!

In the era of the internet marketing and search engine marketing it has become really important that we adopt good strategies to promote our products, services or other offerings. Web has become a great medium to popularize whatever we want to reach the mindset of masses or selected target audiences. However, people pay more attention to visuals than the written text and hence video marketing has become more popular than the articles.

In the era of web2.0 it is more important to use the resources in a correct manner. Nobody would sit and watch your videos if they are plainly filled with the pushy statements and connotations that "You should buy my product, it's the best". You need to create videos that educate the audience, tell them what's great about your product in a convincing manner and if you manage to do that then certainly people would be awed by your creation and promote it further.

You can create videos in variety of ways and they can be simple video landing pages, webpage with streaming videos, downloadable files or customer reviews etc.

Visual communication is always more impacting and influential than the written. It is rightly said that a picture is worth a hundred words because it helps to communicate an idea in a more precise and correct way without need of excessive explanation or detail. On the other hand if the picture or visual is not intelligently crafted than it may fail to give the real explanation and thus the thoughts and ideas may be mis-communicated. So there is need to create videos for video marketing in a clear and correct manner.

The creativity and ability to innovate is the key in this field. You may go in for animated videos or real life videos. It can certainly be used as a powerful medium to attract interested buyers into your market base. As per the statistics more than 9 out of 10 people would want to watch videos rather than reading articles. And another survey reveals that video marketing has more than 60% of the customers than the other channels of communication in the internet marketing.

It is important that the videos which you create are made in good quality and correct format. There are a lot of social video sharing sites like Yahoo video and YouTube by Google group which can create a lot of hype about your videos. You just need to share and upload your videos on these sites, If your videos have good content and are affirmatively educative and interesting, people would be more than glad to share them with others. In this way there would be immense popularity of your video. The more number of people watch your video greater would be the sales of your product.

Viral video marketing is indeed a great way to proliferate the sensitivity and idea behind your product to larger to a wider audience.