On Tuesday we launched the premier of the “Ask the Experts” live real estate forum. Thanks to our terrific panel of experts, a great turnout and active participation from the audience, the forum was a success!

Overall, participants rated each of the experts with marks of excellence for presentation and content covered. Due to the positive response, we’ll be continuing the series, so stay tuned for future Ask the Experts!

If you weren’t able attend, here’s your chance to hear the valuable information and advice the experts gave out to real estate professionals.

Listen to the full version:

Or, listen to the individual experts here:

We kicked of the forum with Joseph Ferrara of Sellsius Real Estate Blog who talked about:

• Benefits of blogging
• Do’s and Don’ts of a successful blog
• Importance of keywords
• Importance of marketing your blog
• Be creative, experiment and find your voice

Listen to Joe’s forum:

Brian Brady of World Wide Credit Corporation in San Diego then spoke, giving advice on:

• How to Pre-qualify Buyers When a Loan Officer Isn’t Available
• 3 C’s of Underwriting
• 4 Credit Questions To Ask (without being obtrusive)
• How to Parse the Buyers From the Dreamers with 1 Easy Question
• Calculating Estimated Mortgage Payments in 10 Seconds
• Determining Debt–to–Income Ratios
• When to Green Light the Buyer and Load Them in the Hummer

Listen to Brian’s forum:

Next up was Mitch Ribak of Suntree Realty in Florida who talked about lead capture and conversion topics:

• Capturing Leads – How do you capture leads? Don’t be afraid to ask for consumers to register to look at listings!
• Converting Leads – How do you convert leads to sales? Following a successful system is the key! Phone follow up is essential. Remember that it takes 4-6 months for a lead to buy.
• What To Do After the Sale – Follow up both by email and phone.
• eHomes Realty Network – All my training is part of The eHomes Realty Network.

Listen to Mitch’s forum:

The final expert was Jay Thompson of Thompson’s Realty and The Phoenix Real Estate Guy in Arizona who discussed online presence:

• Blog networks: ActiveRain, HomeGain, Realtor.com, RealTown
• Static website
• Single property sites
• Forums
• Social Networks: LinkedIn, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Meetup, Zolve, Pownce, Plaxo
• More @ wikipedia

Listen to Jay’s forum:

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