Most real estate agents today are inundated with emails from other agents advertising their new listings. Some days I’ll get 20-30 of these emails and another 10 or so directly to my spam folder. I wish they would all go to my spam folder because that is exactly what they are – spam.

Just for reference, let’s take a look and remember what the definition of spam is when referring to email solicitations. I’m sure they believe these to be a great use of the “new technology” known as email, but, really it’s nothing more than spam.

As agents, we already have all of these listings available for home buyers in the MLS and that does nothing to mention that buyers can find these great new listings and reduced properties simply by searching through the MLS on agent websites, broker websites, realtor.com, and all of the other 3rd party aggregator websites where buyers are searching for homes.

If I receive them, I immediately unsubscribe myself from this innovative use of spam, er, technology. The biggest reason for this is the fact that they are non-targeted to me and my market and the sheer volume makes it impractical for me to try to keep them in my mind.

Since I’m receiving so many of these emails on a daily basis, how can any agent possibly believe that I am interested in looking at this unsolicited regurgitated information from the MLS listings posted in these emails?

On listing appointments, I specifically tell my potential clients that we do not communicate with agents via spam, er, new listing emails because they are ineffective and a tool only used by agents who don’t actually understand how to effectively utilize technology to market listings to agents and directly to buyers.

Let me offer some solutions to effectively utilize some of the real new technologies to help market homes for sale rather than sending bulk messages to people who don’t need the information. Continue reading this post

As most of you know, I have been offering my help to HomeGain members and others to help them accomplish their Real Estate goals by maximizing the Internet. It’s been very rewarding to me knowing that I have helped many of you who now are earning a nice income by using the Internet. This actually isn’t for those people.

About half the Agents and Brokers that have contacted me for help have actually done nothing to further their Internet programs. I can’t keep track of everyone, but I do keep track of many by going back to their websites to see if they have made the recommended changes. At least 50% haven’t made any changes and are continuing to follow the “Old School” Real Estate model.

You know the one; you hope that someone recommends someone to use you. Or maybe someone will call on one of the magazine ads you spend $500-$1000 per month to receive 5 – 10 calls. ($1,000 on the Internet is 150-200 leads or 3-4 or more sales) Those are some expensive calls…especially when they just wanted to know the price and hung up on you!

Yup, I know you know what I’m talking about!

Ok, so what is Paradigm Paralysis? Let’s tell you a little story so you understand. Continue reading this post

When showing a home, it’s often easiest to run through the particular set of features within the home, but, you may be missing the best opportunity to show off differences that can help a home sell.

Benefit marketing plays a fundamental role in separating the good from the great in sales and real estate is no different. Just about everyone can walk into a home and see the features, but, buyers are often trying to take everything in quickly when visiting a home so running down a list of features that they can already see does not help them discern why a particular feature may be important. This is where benefit marketing comes in to play.

As you walk through a home with a client, explaining the benefit of a feature can greatly improve the desirability of the home.

For example: a home has a tankless hot water heater. Many buyers today know that this is a new technology, but, not necessarily what it means to them. Taking a moment when highlighting the feature by explaining how that feature benefits the home buyer gives a meaning to that feature. In this case, it means lower monthly utility bills and endless hot water for a shower. For a family of 5, this would be a significant benefit and could be the difference maker between two similar homes.

Another example of benefit marketing might be explaining why new windows in an older home are important rather than simply stating that there are new windows. “Green” building is one area where benefit marketing is important, but, it encompasses just about all features within a home. Continue reading this post

Just about any writer writing about the future of the internet and vertical search, and companies like HomeGain providing online services to consumers, emphasizes the problem of personalization and context.

The recent HomeGain survey seems to confirm that consumers will demand personalization and context more and more.

Until the semantic web can create the ability to understand personal intent much better, it’ll be up to humans to provide these missing links.

Home buyers and sellers want a personalized response that provides context to their search for homes and service.

They want to know what the area is like, is it urban-flavored or rural-flavored, friendly to kids, friendly to singles, near hospitals, near good restaurants, a walking community, is golf nearby, is it appreciating or depreciating, are the school systems rated high, is water nearby with boat access—a hundred different questions that can help narrow the process and save time and frustration. Continue reading this post

Blogging for Business in a Nut Shell

There are over 100 million blogs with a new one being created every 1.4 seconds. You may think that the last thing you have time for at the end of the day is to blog. But I’m sure it wasn’t that long ago when you may have thought the same about email.

If you have a Web site for your real estate business already, is it an efficient marketer? Blogs are becoming far more popular because they can help you and your business be found on the Internet.

Google and search engines alike, love blogs for the dynamic and regularly updated content and reward them with higher page rankings. This means that your prospective clients will have a better chance of finding you.

Give a blog the proper attention it deserves and soon you’ll have all the online exposure you desire. And, Internet buyers and sellers will identify you as the market expert for your area. That being said, creating and maintaining a blog can entail quite a bit of work.

Are you in? Continue reading this post

I don’t feel like an old-timer, but I’m absolutely ancient in the real estate field.

At the beginning of my 23 year career, we did not have cell phones, fax machines, or personal computers. Remember the MLS books – and the rush to the pay phones to check on your messages when you were out of town?

Well, a lot has changed since then, and luckily, I have adapted with the changes – while many other Realtors® have not.

Realtors who used to sell more houses than me are still doing things the way they used to do them and their business has dropped way off.

What’s the biggest change? Obviously, the Web.

Nowadays that’s where most buyers start their home search – so that’s where you need to spend your time and money.

My sales derived from my website have increased by 50% each of the last 3 years. Last years, I had 47 sales that I can attribute to my website. Continue reading this post