Luxury Clues

Is Facebook or Twitter Better for Your Real Estate Business? The Answer

In an earlier post I asked the question, "Which is better for your real estate business--Facebook or Twitter." I posted the question on this blog, in my newsletter, on Facebook, and on Twitter. The overwhelming response was that Facebook (at least at this time) has been a much more productive way to generate leads. 

I received a number of comments from real estate agents who said they had generated client leads from Facebook. Only one person said that he had generated a real estate client lead from Twitter. Part of the difference seems to stem from the fact that it is easier to follow a conversation on Facebook. The comments are aggregated in the same place. On Twitter, individual conversations can be quite difficult to follow. 

Another reason that Facebook may be more effective at generating real estate leads is that people you have known in the past can locate you there. An old high school chum might find you on Facebook, see that you are selling real estate, and then reach out to you for two reasons--the first, because they want to reconnect and the second because they need to sell a house. 

A key point to keep in mind when it comes to the social media is to avoid using marketing messages. "Social" means "not business." If you use the social media to blast people about your listings and your achievements, you are doomed to failure. If you engage in social media in order to connect with those who share your interests outside of real estate, you will find new friends and followers. Give back to them and they will end up giving back to you, both personally and often times in your business.

I recently had a conversation with Julie Escobar and she summed up the social media space in a single sentence: "Make a friend now, make a sale later."

Have fun on social media sites, reach out to help others, and watch your real estate business grow.

Posted by Bernice Ross  If you liked this post, please subscribe to our free real estate newsletter for the latest tips and strategies for building your real estate business. 

How to Expand Your Luxury Real Estate Database Using Social Media

Whether it's Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or any of the other social media platforms, expanding your luxury real estate referral database is now easier than ever before. In the past, we had to spend thousands of dollars on print advertising to generate two or three high quality leads. Or you may have spent hundreds of hours holding open houses, knocking on doors, or cold calling prospects. As often as not, your call, mailer, or door knock was unwelcome.

In contrast, the people who are engaging in social media are eager to have a conversation with you as a person--not as a Realtor (at least not initially.) You will NOT connect with luxury real estate buyers and sellers by telling them how many luxury properties you have sold. Instead, the route to connection is shared interests. For example, are you a "foodie"--someone who loves fine food and wonderful wine? If so, you can use a site www.Monitter.com to see who is on Twitter tweeting about food and wine. You don't need a Twitter account to read what they're saying, but you do need one if you want to join in the conversation. Other topics you could plug in to locate high end clients include golf, travel, antique cars, tennis, sailing, etc. The key is to choose something in which you have an active interest and engage others in the conversation. You can either search these on Twitter or use Monitter.com if you don't have a Twitter account. 

Another way to reach high end clients is to use a site called Twellow.com. This site serves as an index on Twitter of people by profession. For example, if you have an interest in stock market investment, you Twellow to locate others who share that same interest. If you were a nurse before you became a Realtor, reach out to other medical professionals. 

The bottom line about social networking goes back to the principles of attraction--like attracts like. Social media require you to show up as who you are as a person. When others get to know you on a personal basis, they will be much more likely to do business with you. Best of all, it's a lot more fun to meet people doing what you love to do rather than pounding the hot summer pavement knocking on doors and holding open house!

Posted by Bernice Ross--need more help with your real estate business? If so, find out why "Real Estate Dough(TM) Your Recipe for Real Estate Success was the #1 Selling Book at the 2008 National Association of Realtors Convention.

The Seven Secrets for Creating a Winning Real Estate Marketing Campaign

You're probably advertising, but are you really marketing? Many Most real estate agents advertise, but very few have effective marketing campaigns. If you want to increase the profits from your real estate business, focusing on marketing, rather than advertising, is the key. 

1. It's about the customer--not about you! Today’s clients seek relationship and trust. They want to “try before they buy.” Potato chip marketing is about uncovering their needs, building trusting relationships, and providing service before expecting people to do business with you.   

2.  Target market: When you ask most agents who their clients are, their response is, “Anyone who wants to buy or sell a home.” In contrast, effective marketing always targets a specific group. Your message must match the audience. For example, if you were marketing a luxury penthouse, your message would be quite different from the message for first time buyers.

3.  Decide which media your clients prefer. This is age dependent. Older clients like print. Younger clients prefer digital communication. You must also decide the purpose of your piece as well as the message you want to send. Will you offer a special report or a checklist of pitfalls to avoid? To obtain the information, do they leave a message on your 800 number or can they download the item from your website?

4. Research your target market’s wants and needs: To generate leads, you must know what makes your target market tick. Search for commonalities. Make it about them. This means doing your research before you begin your marketing campaign. For example, are members of your target market concerned about schools, down payment, or neighborhood safety? As you go through this process, keep in mind that you’re not in the real estate business; you are in the problem solving business. The better you are at solving problems and at providing value, the better your business will be.

5.  Develop a hook: A “hook” is a headline or hot button. Because we’re constantly bombarded with advertising, it’s important to cut through the clutter. You only have one or two seconds to grab your reader’s attention. The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is the brain’s screening mechanism for what receives attention. While your subconscious can process up to a billion bits of information, you can only consciously pay attention to about 15 bits. A great hook cuts through the clutter and captures their attention. Some examples are, “Save up to $100,000 on Your Next Mortgage!” or “Avoid the Seven Most Expensive Mistakes Sellers Make.”

6. Keep it simple: The best ad copy is written at the 7th or 8th grade level. Use headlines, bullet points, short paragraphs, and speak to your readers as if you were joining them for a cup of coffee. 

7.  Include a call to action: What differentiates advertising from marketing is a call to action. Prospects are begging to be lead! Remember, they want to try before they buy. On the other hand, they don’t want to talk to you. Make it safe for them to contact you by creating a free hotline where they can order a special report or a checklist that will help them with their sale or purchase. You can also make the same offer on-line. 

Ultimately, service is at the heart of attraction. We are paid according to the value we give. Get excited about creating value for your clients and being the resource to solve their problems. When you approach your business with a give-to-get mindset, you’ll never want for business.

Posted by Bernice Ross, author of Real Estate Dough Negotiation--the most exciting real estate game ever--even more fun than Monopoly(R)!

The 2-Second Real Estate Comparable Market Analysis (Another Reason to Own an iPhone)

I just downloaded the new Zillow application for the iPhone. Personally, I have spent thousands of hours downloading listing information, organizing it into a format my sellers could evaluate, and then doing my best to persuade them to be realistic about their list price. Now imagine that you can do all of that in just 2 seconds!

Using the GPS on your iPhone, Zillow's new program (which is free) identifies all the houses that are currently for sale in the immediate area where you are located. You can see the various prices either on a grid or on a "hybrid" map (i.e. a map with the streets imposed on a satellite image of the area.) When you click on a property, it gives you the exact address, the type of property (single family, condo, etc.), the square footage and the lot size. It also provides you with a range of Zestimate (Zillow's estimate of value) for the property. In addition, it shows how much the property has changed value over the last 5 or 10 years. 

More importantly, it gives the most recent sale price, when the property sold, and how much was paid in property tax the last year. Best of all, it gives you 4 comparable sales. If you click on each of these sales, the same detailed type of information appears, plus comparable sales for that new property. 

Talk about a time saver. Better yet, you can get property values without having to sit at your computer for hours trolling through reams of MLS data. Imagine how great it would be when you're with clients and they say, "How much did that house sell for?" and you can answer it just two seconds--point-click-price!

You can also use a scaled down version of this system with Zillow Mobile. To see the iPhone version, check out the YouTube video

Posted by Bernice Ross--Are you looking for more tips on how to do a digital listing presentation. If so, email me directly at Bernice@RealEstateCoach.com about our upcoming webinar series on digital and social media. 

Check Out Zing Ding for Cool Real Estate Virtual Tours

Things are tight right now for a lot of agents. The temptation is to cut back on your marketing and sometimes there simply is no choice. One of the smartest ways to cut your marketing expenses is to cut back on your snail mailings (i.e., anything that requires a stamp.)

The question is what can you use to replace it that would make great sense for your business? There's a new tool from ZingDing. You simply upload your pictures and ZingDing creates a very cool display that is similar to picking up photos and looking through them. They have animated some of the photos (there are flying birds, snow falling, and a crackling fireplace) and put the display to music. It's a very cool application. Best of all, it's inexpensive ($4.95 per month). It's a simple way to make your listings stand out from the competition. The other cool thing about this is that you can send it to multiple people, much in the same way that you would send an E-card. 

Posted by Bernice Ross, CEO www.RealEstateCoach.com, Need a real estate coach? If so, email me at Bernice@RealEstateCoach.com for a complimentary coaching interview with a member of our coaching team. 

A Simple Strategy to Stop or Delay Foreclosure

 An article recently ran in AP News that described a simple strategy for delaying or possibly even stopping foreclosure. The tip is, "Ask the lender for the original paperwork." A study conducted by the University of Iowa found that lenders are often negligent in maintaining the required paperwork. Approximately 40 percent of the time, the lenders were unable to produce the note. While most lenders have electronic copies of the paperwork, making this single request may stop the sale or at least delay the foreclosure. This gives you and the owner valuable additional time to sell their property, workout a short sale, or persuade the lender to do a workout.

Posted by Bernice Ross, RealEstateCoach.com--the home of the best real estate training and the coolest real estate game in the industry--Real Estate Dough!

Photo by our good friend Jeff Turner, President of Real Estate Shows. Follow Jeff on Twitter or find him on Flickr.com at RESPRES

 

 

Sliver Market Your Way to Luxury Real Estate Sales Success

Is your website generating buyer and sellers leads? If not, there are some specific steps that you can take to make it into a lead generation machine. The approach is to use "sliver marketing." What this means is having a very specific niche where you are the absolute expert. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, the way you succeed in the luxury market is to be the #1 expert in that area. To do that, you will need to do the following:

1. Identify a specific niche and then completely master the inventory. This means you can price a property without looking at a CMA. This is an art form that comes from being active in any market. Top luxury agents always know the inventory cold.

2. Set up a website using the zip code and subdivision name. For example, I used to live at the Summit above Beverly Hills. A good website name would be TheSummit90210.com or 90210LiveAtTheSummit.com. You can have multiple web addresses that point to different pages on your main site.

3. Your website must show what it's like to live in the area--post as much information as possible about the local lifestyle. Take pictures, do a video, and add fresh content. Easy ways to do this include providing links to your Local Chamber of Commerce, GasBuddy.com, Eventful.com, and other high interest sites that track local items of interest. Provide a guided video tour of the most interesting houses in the area as well as the poshest places to shop and hang out.

4. Make sure your site is the one place to go to get information about all real estate matters in your niche. A good example of this is Kevin Tomlinson's site (although he should take his picture off the front of it!)

5. Make sure that your site has numerous "calls to action." Offer an "equity checkup" to see what their present property is worth, a free report on topics such as "Save Thousands on Your Next Luxury Real Estate Purchase" etc.

6.  Get up to date with technology--younger buyers expect you to respond immediately to their inquiries. If you're not using a Blackberry, Palm, or iPhone to text or Jott, don't wait--get started now.

Posted by Bernice Ross, CEO www.RealEstateCoach.com, the home of the best real estate training, real estate coaching, and most innovative real estate marketing strategies in the real estate business. Kick up your luxury business with our www.ListenandLearnRealEstate.com audio podcast program with over 100 audio podcasts now available, all for only $29.97 per month.

Photo by Tim Wilson

Unique Luxury Closing Gifts & a Guide to Gift Giving

With Father's Day, Graduations, and lots of weddings in June, often it's hard to come up with a great gift. Whether you're looking for a unique closing gift for your real estate clients or something special for a special someone, TheBlueTopHat.com has some of the most unusual gift packages I have found. I loved their "Pampering Body & Soul" package that sends out a gift once a month for twelve months.

Their Ten Tips to Gift Giving is an excellent guide to helping you make smart gift decisions. Here's one of the ten tips that they suggest:

5.  There are an unlimited number of ways to present a gift. 

• beautiful wrapping
• treasure hunt with clues
• surprise them with an unexpected gift and then present your main gift
• play a game where you may trade one wrapped gift for another

Whatever you do, make it fun or romantic or memorable!  It will make your gift that much better.

They also have excellent suggestions to help men discover how to come up with the perfect gift for the women in their lives. Here's one of the tips for men:

1.  A gift is a direct reflection of how you feel about her.  What you choose will speak volumes.  For example buying her a vacuum cleaner says, "I think you need to do a better job cleaning the house."  A bouquet of beautiful flowers says, "I can't stop thinking about you!"

Posted by Bernice Ross, www.RealEstateCoach.com

Tired of all the negative news in the media? Check out www.ListenandLearnRealEstate.com for this week's Positive News for Positive Realtors--it's FREE!

Four Luxury Trends for Moderately Priced Homes

If you want to know what's hot and what's not for your clients, a good place to get ideas is to look at what the luxury builders are putting into their most luxurious homes. Currently, there are several trends that are finding their way into some of the less expensively priced luxury properties. Here's a list of some of the features that today's luxury real estate buyers want:

1.  Home theaters. These are becoming quite popular. In smaller homes, some people may take an upstairs playroom or unused bedroom and convert it into a small home theater. When I was working in Beverly Hills, one of the builders at the Summit always included a theater and a ballroom in their properties. This was back in 1986. The theater included theater style seats and was more like a screening room at a studio. While ballrooms haven't caught on as a trend, clearly they were on target with the notion that home theaters would be popular.

2.  Retreat rooms. As we become increasingly stressed by modern life, master bedrooms that are "retreats" provide the escape we seek from our busy lives. In fact, one of the new condo buildings in City Center on the Vegas Strip has an option to have a meditation room. An important point to remember when you staging any of your listings is to make the master as peaceful and restful as possible. Include calm, relaxing colors, plenty of pillows, as well as books and a tea cup next to the bed to suggest relaxation.

3. Library/Study. With more and more of us working from home, affluent clients want more than just a home office. Many are opting to finish their homes in elegant cabinetry, coffered or soffet ceilings, and elegant furniture and imported rugs. Others elect to create more of a library feel to their home office with plenty of book shelves and an inviting place to kick back and read, not just work on a computer.

4. Outside-In. One of the hottest trends currently is to create "rooms" outside. For example, many people are building elaborate outdoor kitchens as part of their pool areas. Others are converting terraces in high rises into enclosed glass rooms that can be used year round. Another approach is to create a glassed in porch that can be open during the warm months and closed during the winter months so that it can still be used.

Posted by Bernice Ross, www.RealEstateCoach.com Get over 70 different real estate training and interview podcasts at our www.ListenandLearnRealEstate.com site for less than a $1.00 a day.

Photos by Chicki poo, Randy OHC, and Yellow Birds

A Simple Way to Market Your Luxury Listings On-line

Many agents make the mistake of using their name to market their listings. The best way to market your listings is to use the property address, and here's the one tip that almost everyone misses--use the zip code! 

For example, if you are marketing 123 Main Street, add the zip code to your web marketing (i.e. your metatags and any SEO that you're doing.) If you are currently using your name to market your business, identify the niches you serve, especially if they are geographical niches, and then set up a new web address (URL) for your new marketing campaign. For example, if you specialize in a given subdivision, you could do it like this:

CircleCHomesAustin78759.com or SummitBeverlyHIlls90210.com

The key is to use both the subdivision and the zip code. Where possible, use street addresses as well. You'll find that your listings will appear much more easily on-line using this very simple approach.

Posted by Bernice Ross, www.RealEstateCoach.com, www.ListenandLearnRealEstate.com, with a library of over 60 audio podcasts--learning how you want it, when you want it, for less than $1.00 per day.

Photo by Roadsidepictures