Are You an Open House Master?

In February 2009, REALTOR® Magazine launched the Masters Series, a video diary of top-producing practitioners, who represent expertise in a certain field within real estate. We traveled all over the country to meet some of the best real estate pros, followed them around for a day, and learned their trade secrets.

We’re planning the 2010 series and we want to hear from you. Have you been in the business for over 10 years? Are you a top producer? For May, we’re looking for the practitioner who’s mastered the open house. Do you throw over-the-top affairs? Attract crowds of lookers? Sell the property on the spot?

If this sounds like you, and you’d like to be considered for a 2010 Masters Series video, please contact senior editor Katherine Tarbox at ktarbox@realtors.org.

RECoach Cites Best Aggregators

Do you find it takes too long to keep track of all the good real estate/technology information that’s passing through the Internet? Save time by setting up a Tweetdeck and following the industry’s power tweeters. Check out RECoach Eric Bryant’s “Top 10 Human Aggregators.”

(Oh, and don’t forget to add @realtormag.)

The most important social network to participate on is your own.

By Todd Carpenter, NAR Social Media Manager

Online community building expert, Chris Brogan wrote an interesting article last week on what he would do if he was a REALTOR®. I disagree with his strategy not to talk about work, but that’s another post for another day. What I really like about his post is its focus on building online communities hosted by a REALTOR®

I’ve often been quoted from a presentation I did at SPARKt a year ago with regard to the rules of participating on social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I compared them to church. Why do you go to church? Is it to play bingo? Do you go for the free crackers? Do you go so you can talk with your friends about football? What about this: Do you go to sell real estate? If you said yes to any of the above, you’re going to hell. You go to church to worship. If all that other stuff happens secondary to worshiping, great! But worshiping is why you’re there.

Online social networks are like any other social network (church, the Rotary or an Elk’s Club…). The key is to identify the rules for that network and work within them.

Consumers don’t turn to Facebook to find a new home. They might use it to find an agent. But if you did your job outside of the sales cycle, that consumer will already be connecting with you on your own social network when they’re ready to buy a home.

The most important social network to participate on is your own. Read more

Two Men I’ll Remember

By Stacey Moncrieff, Editor in Chief, REALTOR® Magazine

Often, we aren’t aware of the people who are positively influencing our life and work. In the past two days, I learned of the death of two such people: Mal Sherman of Baltimore and Thomas J. Graff of Oakland, Calif.

Sherman was a real estate broker, who—in the early 1960s—took the moral high ground and become a vocal supporter of equal housing opportunity. This despite his attorney’s warning that he was committing “business suicide.” The attorney was wrong; Sherman remained a successful broker and was asked to head President John F. Kennedy’s National Committee for Equal Opportunity in Housing. I learned his story thanks to Damian Da Costa, who profiled Sherman for the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ centennial book.

Read more

Praise for HouseLogic

The small but dedicated staff of HouseLogic, and the Web design and development team at Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Huge Inc., scored a compliment from tech consultant Robert Hahn in a piece for InmanNews. Hahn offered encouraging words for my colleagues, who’ve been working overtime–and then some–to build a site that promises to inspire and inform home owners.

At the REALTORS Conference & Expo last weekend, many NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS members got their first look at HouseLogic. Hahn quite rightly said the site’s launch may have been lost in all the talk about the REALTORS Property Resource. But the beautifully designed HouseLogic — which aims to mobilize home owners on issues that matter to both REALTORS and consumers — deserves attention in its own right.

“The heart and soul of HomeLogic.com is political advocacy,” Hahn said. “If NAR is successful here, HouseLogic will permanently change the landscape for Realtors.”

Take the Distress Out of Distressed Properties

By Wendy Cole, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

Foreclosure filings have decreased slightly for the past three  months in a row, according to RealtyTrac. While that’s certainly welcome news from a short-term perspective,  the larger picture concerning distressed properties remains grim. October 2009 marked the 45th straight month of year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity. In the third quarter of this year alone, there were still more foreclosures than in all of 2006.

At the RISMedia Power Broker Perspective Panel on Distressed Properties, RealtyTrac’s Rick Sharga noted that the year will end with about 3.3 million households having gone into foreclosure. And because of  rising “shadow inventory” another 4 million properties are expected to hit foreclosure status in 2010.

The Obama Administration’s recent push to accelerate the pace of loan modifications to keep struggling borrowers in their homes also has a dark side.  Some 50-60% of those whose loans are modified are expected to redefault eventually nonetheless.

This massive inventory of distressed properties continues to put significant downward pressure on home prices nationally, and makes it tempting for real estate practitioners to slip into a state of powerlessness and discouragement. That’s a huge mistake. Read more

Social Media Best Practices

By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor REALTOR® Magazine

Social media should be used to create communities and not to push listings out. You wouldn’t go to church to hand out your listings, and therefore, you shouldn’t do it through your Facebook page.

That was one of the main arguments presented by Ginger Wilcox, GRI, Kelley Koehler, and Mariana Wagner—all experts with the Social Media Marketing Institute—at the Introduction to Social Media session at the 2009 REALTORS® Convention & Expo this morning.

The panel advised real estate pros to think about using social media to connect with people to build relationships that will eventually lead to communities.  Read more

Things Are Looking Up: 2010 Economic Forecast

A large crowd of REALTORS®, many with coffee cups in hand, snapping photos with iPhones and Blackberries, packed a ball room this morning to hear NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun discuss housing market trends and the economic outlook.

Yun kicked off his presentation by telling the capacity crowd that things are looking up with the recent extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit and home prices beginning to stabilize. While the U.S. economy still faces some significant challenges, including high unemployment, Yun says there are a number of reasons for REALTORS® to feel optimistic about 2010: “The momentum is building. . .”

According to Yun, the tax credit has already delivered a significant boost to the economy, bringing 350,000 to 400,000 buyers to the housing market so far. The extended and expanded home buyer tax credit will help to release pent-up demand, bringing more buyers–including move-up buyers–into the market and increasing market velocity. Yun estimates that in 2010, thanks to the credit and home price stabilization, home sales should increase by 15%–an estimate that he was careful to explain is extremely conservative. Home values, which Yun stressed are key to durable economic recovery, will begin to become positive in 2010.

To check out NAR’s Economic Forecast or the slide show presentation, visit NAR Research’s home page.

Our Challenge to You

So we’re launching a new contest — but we’re calling it a challenge.

A group of us at REALTOR® Magazine have joined with a group from HP for “The Marketing Makeover: Stage Your Business for Success.” The REALTOR® who wins will receive a prize package worth $4,000, including that printer on the left. Even though we all communicate electronically now, we’re far from being able to do without our printers. So we were enthused about the ideas of teaming up with HP to demonstrate what effective print marketing looks like.

For this challenge, we’re looking for five REALTORS® who are committed to improving their print marketing. To be considered for the challenge, fill out an official entry form online by Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009. From the eligible entries received, we’ll choose five challenge participants based on composition of their entry, creativity of the entry, and adherence to the essay topic. All five will receive $1,000 prize packages, including the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One Printer, inkjet cartridges, and a credit toward marketing resources through Marketsplash by HP.

During a six-week challenge period that follows, the five participants will use their new equipment and resources and will post weekly updates at a special contest blog. The grand prize winner will be determined in March by the judges and by public voting at the blog. Are you up for the challenge?

Learn more at REALTOR.org/realtormag/marketingmakeover.

Deliver Happiness

By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

A few months ago, I heard Alfred Lin, COO & CFO of Zappos.com speak at Inman’s Real Estate Connnect San Francisco 2009. The company has won accolades from the business community for taking an innovative approach in terms of their values. “We’re in the customer-service industry and happen to sell shoes,” Lin said.

I’ve found myself thinking about Zappos’s unique business model. Here are some key points from his talk: Read more

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