HomeGain looks forward to visiting with its customers and meeting new Realtors from around the world each year at the National Association of Realtors® Conference & Expo. In 2008, the NAR trade show was held in Orlando, Florida. Many real estate agents were delighted to win the featured prize, Max, the HomeGain gorilla, and speak to our cameras.

Thank you to all of our video participants! We look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

Bethanne Baer
Coldwell Banker
Orlando, FL
AgentEvaluator Platinum Club

Bob Kimball
Keller Williams Excellence
Timonium, MD
AgentEvaluator Platinum Club

Continue reading this post

Just wanted to drop in to share my thoughts on HomeGain’s AgentView product, a tool I’ve been testing for the past several months.  No better place to share my two cents than with the HomeGain community…

Why I use AgentView for my real estate business:

1. Making Sure My Team Can “Talk The Talk”. My team’s newer agents get fast and furious experience with Denver real estate home valuations.
2. Metrics/Statistics Win Business: Sooner or Later! Even if we are not able to provide a value the home owner(s)’ can “stomach”, AgentView statistics have helped us justify our valuations and “value-add” as a group, often leading to the listing later on.
3. “Personalized” Email Campaigns. Many times we offer to keep a prospective seller updated with the market activity in their neighborhood by setting up email listing alerts.  Incorporation of AgentView in these campaigns help keeps the prospective seller apprised (and hopefully realistic!).
4. Drip Mail. We’re fine-tuning an offline drip marketing campaign with AgentView integration.  What better than to add another robust tool to keep in front of the potential home sellers.  The key to any successful system in my opinion is consistent follow up.
5. Progression & Innovation. HomeGain continues to enhance the AgentView package.  While I admittedly need to invest more time keying in listings and posting to my AgentView blog, I believe investing my time into an ever-evolving AgentView suite of tools helps enhance our team’s branding and credibility. 

So that’s the scoop from my point of view.  And before I forget I must complement HomeGain’s Blogging School and the efforts of instructor Joseph Ferrara.  I use this invaluable tutorial as one of my key real estate blogging reference guides.

Thoughts???  For those of you who haven’t had enough much experience AgentView and would like to pick my brain, feel free to contact me.  For those of you who are more acquainted with the product, I’d love to know how/if you’ve integrated it in your own marketing campaign…

Check out Brian’s AgentView Blog.

Read Briank Kinkade’s Blog

To learn more about AgentView click here.

One way to stay ahead of the competition is to be the first one out with the news. Yes, you can read the local newspaper or watch television to get the latest news in your market… but there is another way— let the news come to you by using email ALERTS.

Set up Google Alerts

Sample Alerts

Here are alerts you may find helpful. The idea is to catch the latest news ahead of the pack. And be informed for your clients.

• Neighborhoods
• New developments and buildings
• Builders
• Property types (include your market keywords to narrow results): “St. Paul Victorian” “Brooklyn historic homes” “ Miami Beach condos”
• Real estate issues: “short sales”
• Your niche or specialty: “green housing”

HomeGain emailed out this month’s Agent Success Newsletter today to its real estate agents and brokers.

The Feature Story was dedicated to agents who visited the HomeGain booth at NAR last month in Orlando. See featured videos.

The Question of the Month came from Kathy Hayes in Hermosa Beach, CA, who asked, “I just signed up on AgentView and want to start using the blog but am not sure where to begin. What do you suggest?” Thanks for your question, Kathy! Read the Blog Professor’s response. If you have your own question for the Blog Professor, Joseph Ferrara, please send an email to blogprofessor@homegain.com. 

Under the News section, the newsletter summed up the success of the December 4 Ask the Experts event, offered FREE HomeGain license plate frames and announced that the 2008 Top Performers will be determined next month in January. (See last year’s Top Performers)

Under the Awards section, we congratulated the newest AgentEvaluator^® Platinum Club, Gold Club and Silver Club members. These real estate agents represent our top performing real estate professionals nationwide and receive a reduced referral fee rate.

The newsletter concluded with a quote from Sara Calo of Howard Hanna Real Estate in Ohio who commended Samantha Apsey here at HomeGain for her excellent customer service, and by announcing this month’s Customer Advocate of the Month, Ken Yee.

Interested in receiving HomeGain’s complimentary Agent Success Newsletter once a month? Sign up here. 

Read past newsletters

HomeGain is pleased to announce that it is running a sweepstakes this month to all AgentView customers. With each home listing that is uploaded between December 1 and December 31, 2008, one entry will be submitted into the sweepstakes to be a winner of a $100 credit towards the agent’s AgentView subscription.

With 84% of all home buyers starting their search online, loading your listings into your AgentView account increases their exposure to online buyers, and enables interested buyers to print flyers of the homes or forward them to family and friends.

Are you an AgentView customer who is interested in partaking in the sweepstakes and haven’t uploaded listings yet? Watch this 5 minute video on how to load your home listings in 3 quick steps.

On January 5, 2009, five winners will be selected by random drawing from all eligible entries received.

Good luck to all participating AgentView customers!

Read Official Rules

About AgentView

SO… it’s official. We’re finally in a depression. You think? And it took our government telling us to know it? Truth is, most Realtors I know have already been in a depression for a LONG time. At least now the government agrees with them. It’s a small consolation to some, I’m sure.

So now what? You could:

• Go out and run up a credit card debt SO large the government will have to bail you out to keep VISA from going out of business.
• Go and buy a larger tub -– you’re already taking a bath, why not invite some friends to join you?
• Go and sell your house on the San Francisco Peninsula and with the proceeds, buy an entire Midwestern state and set yourself up as a ruling monarch.

On a serious note, times like this define a Realtor, and can help break them out of mediocrity. There ARE Realtors out there (other than REO listing agents) who are actually doing well in the current market. They’ve taken the time to build systems into their business which continue to bring a steady flow of prospects.

As any successful Realtor knows, you cannot depend upon one stream of business –- like a stool, you need at least three legs to properly support your business strategy.

Here are 5 things you can do right now to ensure that your business has the foundation it needs to succeed: Continue reading this post