We are pleased to announce the HomeGain AgentEvaluator Top Performers™ of 2008.

Many HomeGain real estate agents and brokers had successful years, despite the downturned in home prices market nationwide. We are proud to recognize these agents for their high level of accomplishment in association with HomeGain’s AgentEvaluator marketing program.

In addition to highlighting the 2008 Top Performers by Region, 2008 Top Performers by State, and Rookie Agent of the Year, HomeGain recognizes agents in each region of the country that had impressive sales and are deserving of honorable mention.

HomeGain is proud that we can quantify the many successes of our AgentEvaluator agents in 2008.

Congratulations to all of our 2008 top performers! We look forward to continued success for all of our member agents during 2009.

Before announcing the Top AgentEvaluator Performers below, here are some 2008 AgentEvaluator and market highlights:

2008 AgentEvaluator Highlights:

• HomeGain recognizes 51 of its member real estate agents who have received Top Performer awards based on nationwide, regional and state achievements,
• Overall, in 2008 HomeGain’s top five Realtors earned an average of $236,918 in gross closed commissions from their HomeGain AgentEvaluator business and an average of 20 closed transactions.
• We now have a  total of 846 member agents in the AgentEvaluator Silver, Gold and Platinum Clubs based on the following criteria:
  - 229 agents are Silver Club honorees with an excess of $50,000 in gross commissions earned from their HomeGain leads.
  - 271 agents are Gold Club honorees with an excess of $75,000 in gross commissions.
  - 346 agents are Platinum Club honorees with an excess of $125,000 in gross commissions.
• The average AgentEvaluator Platinum, Gold or Silver agent earned over $31,348 in gross closed commissions in 2008 and closed an average of 5.5 transactions.
• HomeGain’s average home sale price nationwide was $236,602 in 2008.
• HomeGain’s average home price nationwide fell only 3% in 2008 over 2007. ($236,602 in 2008 vs. $244,006 in 2007)

And the 2008 Top AgentEvaluator Performers are…

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Jacqueline Cavada-Lindsay, Realtor at Orlando Area Real Estate Services, LTD in Florida met with me this month to talk about her profitable 2008 for business, and how she is geared up to take on the challenges this year and grow her revenue even further.

Jackie is a HomeGain AgentEvaluator member, finding most of her new clients online through Internet marketing efforts. 

Listen in on our brief phone call to hear what Jackie recommends to agents for succeeding in the 2009 market.

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Although, in Shakespeare’s words, “All the world’s a stage,” in the world of theater, a play is rather hard to enact without a stage. It’s been tried over the years, but traditional theatergoers prefer a conventional stage.

And so do homebuyers.

GREAT. Yet another blog on staging, you say. One more appeal to get sellers to pay money they don’t have to sell their home in a market that’s upside down like the Poseidon. Why bother? Haven’t we heard it all?

In the immortal words of Bullwinkle the Moose, “BUT WAIT! There’s more!”

The three pillars of a successful sale are: Preparation, Promotion and Price. Of the three legs, price is without question the most important of the three. Using the Pareto Principle, price actually accounts for 80% of a successful sale. Currently, discount pricing reigns supreme as REOs are flooding into the market like water through the cracked levees of New Orleans. How can a normal seller HOPE to float a normal sale against the incoming surge of lower priced homes?

Believe it or not, there are buyers out there who don’t want an REO.

They aren’t “handi” types. They don’t have the will or desire to “make the house their own.” They can’t “see the potential” and quite frankly, aren’t interested. And not everyone has the Martha Stewart gene for using a twisted fork as a curtain tieback. Many of these buyers are actually willing to pay more to buy a nice house that’s ready to move into.

Scratch most REOs off your list.

This is where an understanding of buyer psychology is critical. Sellers need to realize that

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As 2009 begins, I am cautiously optimistic that it is going to be a good year for real estate sales.  I am encountering a great deal of buyer activity in El Paso, Texas and I get the sense that most people think that it is a good time to buy, with interest rates and home prices at attractive levels.  I am not finding people scared to buy — on the contrary, they seem anxious to buy in this market thinking that they can get a good deal.

Another good thing is that the declining real estate market does not seem to be the main news story every day.  We are now on to new problems — bank and automaker bailouts.  At least it isn’t real estate!

So, what should you do to take advantage of these conditions?

1. Let everyone know how low interest rates are and that they won’t stay this low for long.  Send out email blast to your mailing list — call your top buyer prospects.
2. Send out a list of best buys to your buyer prospects. Again by email and also call your top prospects.
3. Follow up, follow up, and follow up.  This is what really makes the difference between the top Realtors and the rest.  You don’t have to be good at what you do — but you have to be there — when they are ready to buy or sell.  Continually check back with your prospects by both email and phone.  Don’t fall in love with email — a lot of people only follow up by email.  You still need to make a good old fashioned phone call once in a while.
4. Stay upbeat about the opportunities in this market.  I find that when I have a good positive attitude, it is infectious and good things happen.
5. Do more with less.  Reevaluate all of your expenses.  If you can do without the item, cut it.  I’m also making more of an effort to reach people by phone.  I would generally try to reach a prospect one time, and if I couldn’t get them, I’d move on to the next — because

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10 Ways to Use Links to Convert Your Blog Readers to Clients:

1. Link to your website at the end of your post. Even though your contact information is at the top of your blog posts, when a reader gets to the end of your post (a good sign), it helps to have a link to your website there because readers may not scroll back to the top of the post.
2. Link to your Bio or About page whenever you talk about yourself or your company.
3. Link to your property search page when you write a buyer post.
4. Include keywords in the link. For example, instead of hyperlinking the words ‘Click here’ to see all the homes for sale in Greenwich Village, hyperlink the entire phrase ‘Click here to see all the homes for sale in Greenwich Village’.
5. Link to related blog posts. Don’t rely on readers clicking to look in the archives.
6. Link to a registration page whenever you make a free offer.
7. Offer property alerts. Offer readers “Sign up for New Property/Price Reduction Alerts Now” and link to a registration page. Serious buyers will register for property alerts.
8. Use call to action trigger words & phrases to encourage clicking.
9. Make sure your link takes the reader to the specific place you say the link is going—DO NOT take them to a general page where they can get lost or confused—they will click away
10. Use links that will motivate buyers and sellers to click to get more information they want. If you do a seller tip post, link to “ read more seller tips here” on your website.

Blogging Tip courtesy of the HomeGain Blogging School Professor, Joseph Ferrara. To receive the weekly real estate blogging newsletters, sign up for AgentView and the HomeGain Blogging School.