I strongly recommend using surveys and questionnaires whenever possible.

Asking for feedback from consumers who can critique your provided services, even asking agents in your own real estate office, can prove very valuable to improving the way you do business.

I use the feedback from clients for reviews on my website, in my listing presentation and in my AgentEvaluator® proposals.

It also gives me an idea of what areas I can improve on for future business, as well as track where the leads are coming from.

Of course, I personally call my customers whenever possible. Although email is effective and efficient, I feel a phone call is so much more personal and direct.

In fact, my Broker, RE/MAX Advantage, does a home tour once a week. There are 5 or 6 homes in the same area that we caravan to and critique the home. We fill out a questionnaire Continue reading this post

This is a stagflation fear we’re seeing:

The central bank can’t be “complacent about inflation,” Janet Yellen, President of the Fed Bank of San Francisco, said in a speech yesterday. Recent measures of consumers’ outlook for prices “highlight the risk that our attempts to deal with problems in the real economy could lead to higher inflation expectations and an erosion of our credibility,” she said.

Yellen also said she anticipates inflation will slow as the labor market weakens and “commodity prices level off,” echoing comments by other policy makers.
Investors project the Fed will keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at its next meeting on June 25. That would be the first pause since the central bank started cutting rates in September.

Rising prices from overseas, reflecting the drop in the dollar, are another source of Continue reading this post

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Working with buyers is difficult. It’s no wonder most real estate agents would rather list homes and avoid spending a lot of time dealing with buyers. Home buyers are demanding, fickle, sometimes emotional, sometimes unrealistic, but always there waiting for an agent to help them.

Even though many home buyers think they want to do it alone, I’ve found most eventually ask a Realtor for help. They may not want a contractual relationship with a buyer agent, but they want assistance.

Many have gone from listing agent to listing agent and they are tired of looking for homes that way, so the buyer is in between, they don’t want to sign a buyer agent agreement but they want guidance.

If you decide to work with home buyers you will have to capture them soon and you will have to impress them with service. Most buyers don’t know what they can get from a real estate agent until they get it—then they like it.

Buyers now are going online and making a request to an agent with a website, or going through a company like HomeGain that offers help—they want listings or information about a listing or area—they are sticking their toes in the water, to see what the response will be.

If the response is immediate and it offers help, then the buyer will likely go further.

Upon the first significant contact is the time to impress the buyer with service. Continue reading this post

There has been a lot of discussion regarding the place of the “vendor” in Realtors’ marketing plans.

Eric Blackwell, a regular contributor on the Bloodhound Blog and who owns and operates the Southern Indiana Search Engine Optimization and Marketing Blog asked the question:

“To what extent is the third party site actually promoting themselves or are they honestly trying to facilitate the connection between client and REALTOR in the most expeditious way possible?…. It is possible IMO for a third party company to create advertising solutions that help REALTORS market homes in a way that spends less time marketing them and more time promoting the REALTOR. When you factor this criteria in, HomeGain quickly moves into spot Number 2 in terms of being a REALTOR friendly enterprise.“ Continue reading this post

Mitch Ribak of Tropical Realty (a HomeGain Advisor and a contributor on this blog) is the special guest on HomeGain Radio.

Mitch gives advice to real estate agents and brokers for how to get leads, especially via the Internet, and how to convert a higher volume of leads into clients.

Listen to Mitch’s advice for real estate agents:

During the call, Mitch mentions how HomeGain’s marketing program, BuyerLink has helped deliver more consumer traffic to his website and boost his business.

To hear more HomeGain Radio interviews, plus find real estate articles, survey results and more, visit our Media Center!

Mitch Ribak is the Broker/Owner of The Mitch Ribak Real Estate Team, Tropical Realty of Suntree.

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