Home Sales Results by MSA For AgentEvaluator® Subscribers

Earlier this week, MDA Dataquick reported that in HomeGain’s backyard, the San Francisco Bay area, home sales in June had jumped by 20% YOY. Solano County, a long term poster child and whipping boy for the foreclosure crisis, saw a whopping 67% increase in sales during the same time and reached sales levels not seen since August 2006.

The million dollar question is, have things bottomed out?

It’s sure starting to seem that way. Prices have started to stabilize, or in some markets actually beginning to go up as foreclosures are accounting for a less percentage of the total properties sold.

In the recent HomeGain home prices survey, Gillian Goldrich of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Woodbridge, CT noted “Markets are definitely picking up…buyers  are getting off the fence and taking advantage of tremendous buys.” Many of our agents expressed similar opinions as they are seeing declining inventory levels , raising prices and multiple offers.

Looking Back

The first half of 2009 was a memorable one for HomeGain agents as several achievements were reached. We  inducted our second agent (Alan Shafran) into the HomeGain Million Dollar Club for generating over 1 million dollars in gross closed commissions. Seventeen agents were inducted into the HomeGain Diamond Club for generating a half-million dollars in gross closed commissions.

Combined with the dozens of agents inducted into each of our Silver, Gold and Platinum Clubs, HomeGain AgentEvaluator agents used the turbulent conditions to further grow and expand their market opportunities.

Top MSA’s for First Half of 2009:                    Continue reading this post

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On Monday, in anticipation of the HomeGain Live Nation Real Estate Forum on August 3rd in San Francisco, HomeGain will recognize several agent and broker members in a press release for their success with the HomeGain’s BuyerLink™ per-per-visit marketing program.

The press release will recognize Mitch Ribak of The eHomes Realty Network and Tropical Realty of Suntree in Florida, Debra Gravelle with RE/MAX Home Team Realty in Washington, Rosemary Mancuso of Keller Williams in Massachusetts, and Ron Petzel of Realty Executives in Florida.

Mr. Ribak is on track to sell 350 homes in 2009 with the help of the BuyerLink marketing program. “BuyerLink has helped me increase my business revenues year after year – it brings in over $110,000 per month,” said Mitch Ribak. “We get double the click-to-lead conversion rate using HomeGain versus Yahoo! and Google. We expect to earn over one million dollars in commissions coming from BuyerLink this year.”

Debra Gravelle stated, “I just calculated that I am now over $50,000 in commission from BuyerLink! That’s amazing considering a $600 a month budget.”

“Since September of 2008 I have spent $5,400 and have made back $72,355 in income just from BuyerLink,” said Rosemary Mancuso. Plus, I have 24 home sales pending. HomeGain’s leads are very high quality and I rely on the traffic they send me.” Continue reading this post

The Brooklyn New York real estate market has been really picking up over the past two months.

As an example, I want to tell you about a listing appointment I went on several weeks ago. The owner of the house passed away and left the home to her son who lives in Texas. The son called me and invited me over to give them an estimate as to how much the home is worth and to consider hiring me to represent him with the sale of the same.

Upon viewing the house I expressed to them that in my opinion the home was worth between $500,000 to $525,000. When I told him this his jaw dropped and I asked them “why do you have that look on your face?” To which he explained to me the following…

“I had a neighbor approach me as I was cleaning out the house inquiring if I was going to be selling it. I told him I was to which he responded that he would like to buy it. I asked him how much he would pay me and he states $350,000. I thought that was a great offer because in San Antonio Texas those kind of numbers buy you a mansion and my Mom’s house as you can see is small, fully attached and in dire need of major repair work. So I accepted the offer and my lawyer sent contracts to that buyer. Instead of signing the contracts, the buyer started to play games and wanted changes to the contract that my lawyer would not accept. Continue reading this post

The wait is over — “Mini Max” has finally arrived here at the Emeryville headquarters!

A few months ago, Max, the HomeGain gorilla, found inspiration from the movie Austin Powers and decided to create a ‘Mini-me Max’ so he could attempt to conquer the real estate world.

Now that he has arrived, HomeGain is using its annual Office Olympics to welcome him to California.

Can you guess how many Mini Maxes are in the bowl?

To kick the event off, we want to ask for your help …

Can you guess how many Mini Maxes are in the bowl?

The winner gets a Mini Max!

(Hint: Mini Max measures approximately 5 inches tall. The bowl measures 17.5 inches in diameter and 12 inches high.)

Contest ends this Friday, July 17th.

Also, as promised, Mini Max will be mailed to the 1,150 real estate agents who completed our home prices survey in May.

Mini Maxes as well as the new Max Bobbleheads will be available at HomeGain Live Nation.

Take a look at the Mini Maxes before they head out the door! Continue reading this post

We have polled home buyers and sellers once again and we’re sharing the results in order to help our AgentEvaluator® agent members better meet the needs of prospects.

We sent our survey to more than 14,000 home buyers and sellers who came through AgentEvaluator in the last year -– some who closed with a HomeGain agent and some who did not choose a HomeGain agent.

5 Useful takeaways from the survey that all AgentEvaluator members should read:

1. Consumer Feedback on agents is one of the top things homebuyers and sellers are looking for when they use AgentEvaluator.

• Takeaway: If you don’t have consumer feedback (reviews to say what a great job you’ve done as a Realtor) entered in your profile, get some entered today. To upload reviews, go to the Consumer Feedback section of your Proposal Templates page.

2. Most of the consumers who worked with a HomeGain agent chose that agent because of their personal response.

• Takeaway: As shown in both this year’s and last year’s survey, personalization has consistently been the most important reason consumers select HomeGain agents. If you ARE NOT personalizing EACH proposal to address the specific situation of the prospect you’re responding to, you should start today.

3. Most consumers expect to receive their proposals within 1 to 3 days. Continue reading this post