Real estate agents looking to showcase home listings can sign up for HomeGain-branded single property websites, powered by AgencyLogic

Today we announced the launch of HomeGain Single Property Websites in partnership with AgencyLogic. Read full press release.

The HomeGain Single Property Websites enable real estate agents and brokers to showcase a single home listing to potential buyers and sellers.

Free to use in a listing presentation, each single property website includes:

• A custom domain name
• Ability to add videos and unlimited photos
• Syndication to the major search engines
• Sharing on social sites like Facebook and Twitter
• And more

“These single property websites are an excellent marketing tool for Realtors® to help sell their clients’ homes,” commented Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain.

“Single property websites are a perfect addition to the existing HomeGain product line and compliment the many other ways the company helps Realtors,” said Stephen Fells, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of AgencyLogic.

Get pricing and learn more about HomeGain Single Property Websites or call (866) 512-7913.

Join us welcoming our next Guest Blogger, Anna Platz, to the HomeGain Blog.

Anna is a real estate and home finance marketing expert who has years of experience in mortgage and in helping real estate professionals promote themselves and their services through online marketing.

She is a regular blogger on real estate and mortgage industry blog WannaNetwork.com along with fellow HomeGain guest bloggers Tony Sena, Alex Cortez, Wayne Long and Marc Rasmussen.

We look forward to Anna’s future posts about home finance and tips for Realtors for marketing themselves to their clients!

In a relatively uncertain real estate market with lenders exercising strict lending practices, finding qualified home buyers can be daunting. However, there is a pool of qualified buyers who are otherwise neglected: International Buyers.

With a continually expanding global economy, local real estate has the potential of reaching home buyers anywhere in the world. The U.S. real estate market has always been an attractive investment vehicle for foreign buyers, who place emphasis on America’s strong private property rights and historically, long-term market stability.

According to a report by the National Association of Realtors®, for the time period ending 1Q2010, purchases by foreign buyers (those whose main residence is outside of the United States) accounted for $907B, a 4.45% share of the residential market. And although purchases by foreign buyers were reported in 39 states, there was a heavy concentration in California, Florida, Arizona, and Texas.

Furthermore, 55% of foreign buyers are cash buyers, due in large part to difficulties in financing real estate purchases in the U.S. Compare that to 92% of Americans who finance their home via a mortgage.

So how can real estate professionals market to international buyers? Continue reading this post

Part 1: Starting Over

The decision was made to move my business from Wisconsin to Florida.  I’ll leave all the reasons behind this decision in this post, however it’s my goal for you to take a new look at your business from another angle.

So often we’ve heard the 3 L’s (Location, Location, Location), yet I should point out that as Realtors® we don’t choose our own location.  Instead we sell where we live — after all it’s where we live right?  I must say that the most valuable lesson I learned in business so far is that “you have to give, in order to get.” (That’s another post.)

My family and I chose to give up our Real Estate business and lives as we knew it, and move to Florida.  Currently I am negotiating a deal at liquidation value with another firm to take over for Worthington Realty.  (Worthington Realty has been in business since 1954 in Manitowoc in case you’re wondering how hard this decision was.)

We said goodbye to our family and friends and days later were gone.  Hello, Florida!  Hello great weather, palm trees and expensive homes.  My wife and I have been craving year round nice weather for so many years.  Finally we did something about it. Continue reading this post

Yesterday we held a live 30-minute call and webinar to discuss the results of the HomeGain 3rd Quarter 2010 Home Prices Survey. The call was attended by a few HomeGain folks, including myself, Ken Yee and General Manager Louis Cammarosano; real estate agents who completed the survey; and real estate reporters and bloggers.

Survey results have been referenced in multiple news sites including Reuters, Boston Globe, CNBC, Fox Business, AOL Real Estate, UPI, Baltimore Sun, Inman News, RIS Media, and more.

Highlights of the call:

The survey opens up by showing the disconnect between buyers and sellers (question 1). With homeowners continuing to think that their homes are worth more than their agents’ are recommending (more so than last quarter), it also reflects an unchanged disconnect between Realtors and sellers over the last year (question 2 and 3).

The results show that even though agents may be more realistic in current and future home prices (question 6), sellers are still reluctant to list their home according to the agent’s recommendation (question 4).

However, the end result of what the home sells for shows that sellers are having  to bend to a lower selling price in the end in order to get their homes  sold. (question 5) Real estate agent Concetta Pepenella commented:  “Sellers are in all types of situations that are affecting their  decisions. It depends on their motivation and time frame if they are willing to accept an offer for less than they had hoped for. Some sellers are getting out of a difficult mortgage payment because the household income has change due to job loss. Everyone has a different story. In the end they will be selling lower and buying lower.”

Continue reading this post

When you are representing a buyer or seller, it is important to remember that the other side will develop an opinion of your client based upon your communications. Carefully chosen words will help to maintain a realistic and positive impression. When negotiations get hairy, you want the other side to feel positively about your client. Nobody wants to help the bad guy, and we all root for the underdog. By carefully choosing what you share and how you say it, it will preserve the reputation of everyone on your side of the transaction.

With this in mind, here are a few ways that I design my communications:

• If you have to say something negative, (let’s face it, sometimes it is necessary), be objective and offer an explanation that focuses on contract terms and legal rights.
• Refrain from giving your opinion or added color to the statements; stick to facts.
• Be considerate and respectful of everyone’s feelings and rights.
• Be fair and honest.
• Disclose anything that is necessary and required; know what that is and give nothing more.
• Take concerns and issues raised seriously; put out all fires early.
• If you can’t say something nice, you probably don’t need to say it.

Continue reading this post