Max, the HomeGain Gorilla is doing some advance rest and relaxation in preparation for his second appearance at the National Association of Realtors Convention in Orlando. 

Last year at the NAR Convention & Expo in Las Vegas, Max, a virtual unknown, made his stunning debut, turning him into an overnight sensation.

Over 2000 Realtors lined up at the HomeGain booth to meet Max and to take their turn at trying win a Max.

If you missed Max at the  recent Texas or California  Association of Realtors Conventions, you will have a chance to meet him in Orlando from November 7-10 at the HomeGain booth 3231.

Here is Max kicking back in Miami and the Florida Keys: Continue reading this post

HomeGain folks Matt Malmgren, Salvatore Giammarresi and Kevin Malmgren are off to Long Beach, California today to meet up with Realtors at the California REALTORS^® Expo this week.

Real estate agents and brokers who visit the HomeGain booth #820 will have an opportunity to:

• Win giveaways, including Max, the HomeGain gorilla, and a Flip Ultra™ camcorder
• Hear about the latest marketing products and strategies to help their business grow, including AgentView
• Get a discount on new memberships
• See demonstrations and takeaway free tools like the Home Sale Maximizer™ guide

We look forward to seeing all you California Realtors there!

A certain “not so unknown” orange gorilla!

Max Wearable Button

Max was in high demand as he appeared at this year’s Texas REALTORS® Convention and Trade Expo. At the top of each hour Realtors® had a chance to take the loveable primate home!

That’s not the only reason it was such a big day for Max; HomeGain was selected to be the TAR Expo’s “Mystery Booth,” in which one lucky real estate agent won a cool $500 gift card courtesy of TAR® just for dropping her business card in Max’s bowl.

Plus, a Flip Ultra camcorder was up for grabs. Drum roll, please! The winner was Erica Sanchez of American Dream Realty in Texas.

We would like to thank everybody who stopped by our booth, including those sporting their chic HomeGain button (shown here). Request your free Max button.

A special thanks to Jennifer Perez and Kevin Malmgren for a terrific job at the booth. Next stop: California REALTORS® Convention and Trade Expo October 14th-16th. Hope to see all you CA agents there!

The 2008 Texas REALTORS® Convention and Trade Expo starts tomorrow in San Antonio, TX. HomeGain will be present for the kick off of the convention, exhibiting at booth #224 all day.

Stopping by our booth gives you a chance to win a free Max—every hour! As well as a Flip Ultra camcorder to help you showcase your business online.

We are featuring our new product, AgentView, and giving free demonstrations to show all the ways that it can showcase your business as a real estate professional.

Don’t by shy and come on by! The next shows we’ll be visiting are C.A.R. in Long Beach, CA, next month, followed by NAR Expo in Orlando, FL in November. Hope to see you at one of them!

What are your thoughts on your state Realtor association’s annual expos? Are you going to yours? Continue reading this post

Here are my impressions of three different “Real Estate 2.0” conferences I attended this year (also see my chart below):

Content

Inman Real Estate Connect, July 2008 – Traditional industry leaders meet Real Estate 2.0 with Brad Inman. Well positioned in both worlds to balance the twain.

REBarCamp, July 2008 – “Wisdom of Crowds” perspective. Topics tend to diverge suddenly when others take the floor.

RETechSouth, March 2008 – Exclusively Real Estate 2.0, a blogger meet and greet. Best idea generating discussions went over newbie heads.

Moderation

Inman Real Estate Connect – Well versed in Web 2.0 and can understand where the conversations need to be headed. I generally don’t like moderators who ask too specific questions, panelists want to discuss issues they understand without waiting for the question.

REBarCamp – Although I only participated in two discussions, the “one (amateur) moderator” format makes it hard to control the convo. The standard “Talking Heads” panel method does insure consistent focus on the topic at hand.

RETechSouth – Due to smaller size of conference (120 or so) the dialogue between the audience and Talking Heads provided its own form of moderation. Vibrant discussions as audience members stood in on panel. Continue reading this post

This month two HomeGainers, Matt and Tim, traveled across the country from the San Francisco Bay Area to Atlantic City, New Jersey for NYSAR’s Triple Play Convention & Trade Expo.

Between the two of them over three days, they met almost 1,000 Real Estate agents from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania! Wow!

Congratulations to the drawing winner, Maryanne Cifaretto of Diane Turton Realtors, who has won a $200 American Express® gift card!

Thank you to all the Realtors® who stopped by our booth and made our trip a success.

We’ll see you there again next year! Continue reading this post