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By Sam DeBord There has been a lot of discussion lately about the propriety of pre-marketing listings. Promoting a “coming soon” listing on Zillow has been widely debated. I’ll attempt to make the discussion for a REALTOR® as simple as possible. Ask yourself one single question, and you’ll know how to deal with this issue. If you attempt to sell …
By Melissa Krchnak I’ve recently starting doing planks – a balance and core-building technique – along with my regular exercise routine. This plank business isn’t a joke though. They started off pretty brutal. I set my goal to add just one second to my time a day. I’m overly optimistic so that goal is a far cry from where I …
By Sam DeBord The U.S. tax code includes multiple incentives for buying and owning real estate. The mortgage interest deduction and property tax deduction are just a couple of the incentives that have come under fire in new “tax reform” plans for their purported special treatment of the real estate industry and home owners. Do we really need tax deductions …
By Melissa Krchnak For years I’ve been harping about highly suggesting agents give consumers “what they can’t Google.” That is, after all, where our value lies. Once upon a time, consumers needed a REALTOR® to tell them everything about a home. Now, they have it all at their fingertips…literally. Their cell phone’s in their hands right now. So much of what used to be private, …
By Dave Robison Lately, I have heard numerous agents at many different brokerages talk about their experiences trying to get listings. These stories are from top performing agents, not rookies. One of the agents expressed how frustrated they are because, for the first time, the referrals they are getting are interviewing other agents too. We know that many home buyers …
By Charlie Allred Last month, I wrote “How to Capitalize on Pinterest,” where I said the main benefit of Pinterest for agents and brokers is driving visitors to your real estate website. Well, last week I read a statistic that stated 70 percent of home sellers and 74 percent of buyers found their real estate agent online. These numbers prove …
By Rob Reuter, YPN Manager YPN members from across the country converged on the nation’s capital May 12-17 to attend the 2014 REALTOR® Party Convention & Trade Expo (#RPCTE) where thousands of REALTORS® annually meet to address the most recent issues facing the real estate industry. Over the last five years, the number of YPN attendees has increased as the …
By Brandon Doyle Many books and seasoned real estate experts will tell you to go after the expired listings. Your competition knows this – they may be going after your listing that just expired right now! While there is nothing we can do to stop them, what we can do is make sure to provide enough value and stand out …
By Sam DeBord This week I’m in Washington, D.C., for the REALTOR® Party Conference & Expo, and it got me thinking: Some of the most interesting committees I’ve worked with lately have focused on a range of issues surrounding the value proposition for the REALTOR® brand. From a communications audit at our local board to a state/NAR combined idea building …
By Sam DeBord If “a stitch in time saves nine,” does a market that corrects itself frequently save itself from over-correcting? We’ve been told that slow and steady growth is the safest path for an investment. Real estate markets that follow a moderately increasing appreciation path are the rock-solid investments that provide safe harbor from volatile equity swings. And yet, …
