9 Real Estate Business Musts (Part 1) – Drop The “I’m Too Busy” Excuse

“I’m too busy” is the reason we hear most often about why agents aren’t customizing their websites, writing valuable content, generating leads and performing other real estate business musts. If there’s a problem with their businesses, it usually boils down to being too busy.

The obvious solution is to hire help, but agents are, by and large, a thrifty bunch and parting with money isn’t in their natures.

If you find yourself too busy to perform these real estate business musts in your business, however, you need to part with the bucks. It’s just plain stupid to allow any of these real estate business musts (and those in parts II and III, coming soon) to fall through the cracks.

1. I’m too busy to answer my phone

Every year, the California Association of REALTORS surveys homebuyers and one of the questions they ask is “What was the single most important reason for selecting the agent that you used in your recent home purchase?”

Consistently, year after year, the answer is that they chose the agent who was the most “responsive.” And, by “responsive,” most mean they expect either a human being to answer the phone or to be contacted within one hour.

Wait too long to follow up on a phone lead and you may as well kiss it goodbye

Live-answer is the best way to go and one of the real estate business musts we think ALL agents should implement. It’s not only the best way to greet a new lead, but to demonstrate a high level of customer service to current clients.

“But, I couldn’t possibly answer each phone call I get,” you’re thinking.

This is where you need to part with some bucks. Consider hiring help. This can come in the form of a receptionist or assistant. But, you may end up spending less by hiring an answering service or virtual assistant to grab the phone when it rings.

In fact, with the latter, you can hand off many of the tasks on this list, which will make paying his or her salary far less painful.

Even if all your live-answer person does is assure the caller that, although you’re showing property, in a meeting or at a closing and will return the call within a specific time frame, you’re one step ahead of most other agents.

Most towns have a local answering service, or you can find one online, such as callruby.com or  patlive.com (operators are actual agents).

If you prefer that your live-answer person be able to multi-task, you’ll find virtual assistants at upwork.com, myoutdesk.com, myvirtudesk.com (also provides transaction coordination) and Kim Hughes & Company (who has been in the business for years, comes highly recommended by many agents and works only within the real estate industry).

“Agents and teams need to carefully regulate how their virtual assistants engage consumers in order to avoid breaking state laws”

According to Teke Wiggin at inman.com.

Ok, so not only are you busy, but you’re broke (how does that happen?)

If you simply must let your calls go to voicemail, at least find 10 seconds to instantly respond via text. Yes, we get it that some people don’t like texted responses to phone calls, but too bad.

It will be easier for these folks to swallow if you include in your text why you aren’t calling back. “Hi Jack, I’m showing a home right now. I’ll call you as soon as I’m finished,” lets the lead know that you got the call, you’re quite responsive, but he got you at a bad time. It also lets him know that you’ll be in contact shortly.

Time is definitely of the essence when a buyer calls you. Most want to take action immediately, before they lose the home to someone else. Or, they’re finally pulling the trigger on looking at homes and want to get the ball rolling.

Don’t respond quickly enough and they’ll call another agent.

One who answers her phone.

2. I’m too busy to work on getting and publishing testimonials

If you’re too busy to go after what may be the most effective form of advertising for agents, ads that cost nothing, you better rethink that schedule. Gathering testimonials is absolutely one of the real estate business musts.

Testimonials, or “social proof,” as they are also known, are what 70 percent of Americans rely on before using a service or buying a product, according to recent research.

And, no, it’s not enough to have all of your reviews confined at Zillow. You’ll need to show them off where potential clients are looking for them. This includes Yelp, Google and others.

And, since studies show that a photo of the reviewer boost the testimonial’s authenticity, get permission from your clients to use theirs.

“The social proof people receive from reviews and personal referrals acts as a catalyst for increased business and more real estate leads for an agent,” according to Elizabeth Christensen with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

3. I’m too busy to localize my website

“From a local search optimization point of view, it’s essential for local businesses to include local terms (aka “geo-modifiers”) in their site content and link building activities,” according to Myles Anderson, Founder & CEO of BrightLocal.com.

“Google needs to know where you’re located and which areas you serve in order to return your business as a search result for a relevant, local search.”

One of Search Engine Land’s surveys finds that 63 percent of consumers use a local modifier in their searches when trying to find information about local products and services. Realtor.com’s results show that 69 percent of homebuyers did the same.

Few of these modifiers included the name of a neighborhood (only 6 percent), but this number is most likely higher when it comes to real estate searches.

“Google can identify searcher location down to neighborhood level and return hyper-local results to them,” claims Anderson.

Sixty percent of the searchers used the town and city name while 42 percent used a ZIP code.

First step? If you haven’t already done so, replace all template content on your site with your own words, sprinkled with local key words. Make sure that anyone landing on your site immediately knows what areas you serve.

Create or kick down the money for a freelancer to create neighborhood-specific content Then, each time you get an Easy Agent Pro blog post, find places in it to localize it (pretty much all of EAP’s posts can be easily localized).

All of your local content should include quality outbound links.

Get started on these 3 real estate business musts

Of course, these are just the baby steps to get your site to rank for local searches. But you’ll be off to a good start by taking them.

We’ll be back with part II of this series, soon.

If you’re looking for more time for your business, a LeadSite might be the solution. Learn more here.

Get 200 real estate marketing tips to get your business back on track.

Grow your real estate presence with these 3 tips:

 

 

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Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: Ryan Freed from hOM

In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with Ryan Freed, co-founder of hOM. Given their emphasis on building true community via face-to-face interactions (the ONLY way to build real “community” in my mind), it’s no surprise I’m a fan of their approach. I had the chance to meet Ryan for drinks in Seattle a few weeks ago, and glad to have him as a recent addition to the Geek Estate Mastermind.

Without further ado…

What do you do?

I am the co-founder of hOM. We help commercial and residential landlords build communities through technology, fitness, and lifestyle events. I run sales, business development, and market growth for the company.

What problem does your product/service solve?

We are solving a few problems:

• With the rise of WeWork and Co-living communities landlords are looking to stay competitive in a changing environment. We help bring them a completely seamless programming option to build community and convenience for their tenants helping them retain tenants and keep competitive rents and properties.
• For the tenants themselves, our customers, we are saving them time in seeking out a wellness option by bringing boutique fitness classes directly to their home and work. We are also making cities, that can sometimes feel lonely, feel like a much more connected place.
• For our yoga instructors who service out properties we are solving the independent contractor problem. Instructors are used to running all around the city with unpredictable income and no benefits. We employ all of our instructors with full-time salaries, full benefits packages, and provide a job with a mission they are passionate about.

What are you most excited about right now?

Two things:

• We just released, to our knowledge, the first ever maternity/paternity policy for yoga instructors!
• The evolving commercial real estate landscape. Commercial landlords are recognizing amenities, community, and convenience as an integral piece of the work-place. At hOM we are focusing heavily on bringing our product and services to the commercial real estate landscape so we can create positive change in the work-place through wellness and happiness.

What’s next for you?

New markets. We are growing the hOM mission first to Toronto then to Seattle with more markets to follow.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

I am very passionate about mental health and how meditation and wellness can lead to happier and healthier lives for everyone. Particularly the benefits of meditation and alternative health-care for cancer patients as it can not only help prevent and assist in curing disease but also leads to true awareness and love of your self whether you are going through cancer or in your every day life.

Since the above is closely related to my business I’ll highlight one other cause
Animal Welfare. Consumerism has created a broken system when it comes to the food we consume and the material objects we possess. As a result corporations and laws have followed suit to the mass “production” of animals through harmful practices to animals and our environment. I am passionate about improving the system and contributing to causes that do so.

Thanks to Ryan for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).

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Start Working Your Real Estate Sphere of Influence (SOI)

How many times do you have to learn that someone you helped buy a home used another agent to sell it before you decide to start targeting leads in your real estate sphere of influence?

Happens all the time, yet agents are throwing money at purchased leads when those same dollars can get more mileage by either purchasing a killer CRM or amping up the one they have, and throwing brilliant client appreciation events.

Ah, but it’s not necessarily the money for some, right?

It’s the time

Working your real estate sphere of influence takes far more time than money, at least in the beginning. And time is something busy agents are short on.

But, consider this: Agents making more than $100,000 a year told the NAR that they got nearly one-third of their business from referrals from past clients. They got 34 percent from repeat business.

Successful agents get 64% of their annual deals from their real estate sphere of influence

And, as first-time clients, they became official members of your real estate sphere of influence. If you’re like many agents, these folks fell through the cracks like the rest of the members.

Stop it!

A well-stocked CRM is the proverbial barrel full of fish and if you aren’t holding a shotgun over it, you’re working too hard chasing new business.

Fewer than one-fourth of home sellers used the agent that helped them buy their home

According to the NAR. Why? Because they forgot about him or her. That won’t happen to you, though because you’re going to take some time to ensure that you nurture both past and possible clients.

Make it easy on yourself

Make your CRM do all the heavy lifting. First, if you haven’t categorized the folks in your real estate sphere of influence, what are you waiting for? Are they potential buyers or sellers? Former clients?

Categorizing, or “labeling” as it is sometimes known, helps you automate customized content delivery to groups of leads. It’s easy to forget the generic real estate newsletter or other content but send something of value – that they’ll actually read – and the results are far more impressive.

Then, root around in your CRM to come up with past clients who represent your oldest deals; they’re the most likely to be thinking about moving. These should be further categorized as your “hottest” leads.

Once you have your CRM up to speed, you can start planning ways to make contact with the ones who are most likely to transact in the near future. One of the easiest tasks to set for yourself is to find them on Facebook and follow them.

This way you won’t miss a chance to respond to them when they post something interesting

Respond you must, though, or that growing family you helped to buy a home won’t be calling you when they need a larger home.

After all, almost 90 percent of home sellers don’t use the same agent they used previously

Events for your real estate sphere of influence

When it’s time to dive deeper into your real estate sphere of influence — to really jog their memories about you — you have a number of choices:

• Client appreciation events (even if some of the hottest leads in your real estate sphere of influence aren’t former clients, invite them anyway)
• Seasonal activities (Kris Lindahl in Minnesota does an annual pumpkin giveaway, while Billings, Montana’s Amber Uhren held a very successful sock drive this past fall).
• One-on-one meets (for cocktails, coffee, etc.)
• Invite them to help you with your favorite cause. Collecting non-perishable food for your local food bank, cooking or serving food at the homeless shelter are just two ideas we’ve seen agents use.

When it comes to keeping in touch consistently, use a multi-pronged approach with your real estate sphere of influence. Email (newsletters, market updates, etc.), social media, face-to-face meetings, snail mail (just sold/just listed postcards) and whatever other marketing strategy you employ.

The point is to remain connected, consistently. This is how you build loyalty for your brand.

Ready to start growing your online marketing? Learn more about LeadSites.

Drive more leads and listings to your site with these hacks.

Looking for more ways to engage with your leads? Create a market analysis:

 

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Real Estate Blog Under-Performing? Maybe You’re Ticking People Off

How many times has this happened to you? You come across the headline of a real estate blog post that addresses something you’ve been thinking about. The headline offers a promise to answer your questions.

So, you read it, only to find out that the promise was a lie—and the information offers no answers, no solutions.

If that doesn’t tick you off, you’re a much gentler soul than I am. I get really pissed when a blog author rips off my time.

So, today, it’s “Real Estate Blogging 101,” or, how to ensure you don’t tick people off.

Avoid over-hyping and under-delivering

This gets into the meat of the real estate blog post. If you overhype in the headline and use thin, invaluable weak solutions, you’ll tick people off.

It’s easy to do, especially for novice writers. When you get caught up in a thought, or a stream of thoughts, it’s easy to become cat-like, chasing the next shiny idea. Before you know it, you’ve completely veered away from the headline’s promise.

The solution to this is to write the headline last

Sure, it sounds backward, and many writers will disagree with me, but it works, especially if you typically lack focus when writing. “Before you write your headline, you need to know you’ll back up the promise it’s making,” suggests James Chartrand at copyblogger.com.

So, let the stream of conscious flow – get it all out. Then, go back and read and edit. You’ll find your theme as you do this and then you can craft a title that you know will deliver on its promise.

Know your audience

Who will be reading your real estate blog post? For real estate agents, this is a no-brainer: real estate consumers will be your primary audience.

Depending on the topic of the post, the reader can be further defined as a buyer or seller. Niche it down even more to a first-time buyer, move-up or-down buyer, condo buyer, land buyer and, well, you get the picture.

Once you’ve narrowed down your audience for a particular post, determine what you want them to do and how you can get them to do it.

For instance, in a post about the workings of the typical HOA, you may want your condo-buyer reader to derive knowledge from the post, consider it share-worthy and post it on social media. Ultimately, you want your post to convince these readers that you’re an expert on condos and they shouldn’t for one minute consider hiring any other agent.

But do so elegantly.

Unexpected blatant self-promotion ticks readers off

Yes, you want to get across to your readers that you’re the pro they should hire. This doesn’t mean, however, that you should fill your blog posts with blatant self-promotion to prove you’re an expert. That stuff only serves to alienate readers who are weary of being sold to all day, every day.

In fact, as Joseph Conrad, one of my favorite writers, admonished more than 100 years ago, to “show, don’t tell.”

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass,”

suggests Anton Chekhov in a letter to his brother.

Even contemporary writers urge us to be subtle. Ernest Hemmingway claimed that “If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows and the reader . . . will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.” (emphasis is mine).

About a decade ago, Active Rain founder Jonathan Washburn admonished his readers to “not post a bunch of self-serving marketing material on the bottom of your post: If a home buyer or seller finds your information interesting they will figure out how to contact you.”

While most of the real estate industry has caught on that those huge pats on their own backs have no place in social media and their real estate blog post, many haven’t. And, sadly, it ticks people off.

Yes, to remain in business, you need to promote yourself but, as Mama used to say, “There’s a time and place for everything.”

Your real estate blog post is not the place

The solution? When you proof your real estate blog post, keep your audience in mind and cut out anything that doesn’t provide value to this reader. Reminding them throughout that you’re “the bomb” isn’t valuable.

Your blog serves several purposes. First, it offers up valuable information for real estate consumers. Next, it highlights your expertise. Finally, it should help build trust and establish credibility.

The last thing you want when trying to fulfill all of these purposes is to leave your visitors feeling cheated or deceived.

Looking for automatically generated, editable, twice-weekly blog content for your real estate website? Check out LeadSites.

Learn how to appeal to your audience, using these great websites as examples.

Keep growing your social presence with these 3 tips:

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Why Does Horizon Still Exist?

Below is an update we sent this morning to all users of Horizon and our previous product, Oh Hey World (which failed). I know some of you are on that list.

Bottom line: Yes, startups are hard.

Why Does Horizon Still Exist?

Hi again, Drew here, co-founder of Horizon…

Remember when you found Horizon App and discovered a way to connect members of communities around the globe? We, the Horizon team, envisioned a new way to travel—one that would facilitate homestays among friends, friends of friends, and communities, such as the Peace Corps and StartingBloc. We are on a mission to make travel accessible, make it more personal for you, and give you a way to form deeper connections in each destination you visit.

It’s been an incredible, challenging, and humbling journey. And yes, we’re still here. Horizon exists, but it needs you more than ever. Four years ago, we joined Start-up Chile with a private hospitality networks concept and a small team. We overcame many challenges in those early years, and now, many thousands of dollars poorer, I’m still here.

Years later, you might wonder: Why do I even think Horizon is still a good, viable idea? Does Horizon need to exist at all?

I wonder that, too. Every day bringing new hurdles and challenges, setbacks, and requiring more time and money, I ask myself that question.

Even as the challenges stack up, and the money runs dry. The answer is a resounding yes.

Yes, the world needs what Horizon provides. We need travels involving deep conversations, fascinating new friendships, challenging perspectives, and ways to not just see the world, but experience it through our own eyes. We need more community to counter growing divisiness and isolation.

The need for a platform like Horizon facilitating global communities coming together in person comes down to the importance of humans understanding the reality of the vast world in which we live. It comes down to the importance of traveling in a way that contextualizes our place on a wider scale—understanding that “necessities” such as shoes and electricity are extreme luxuries to much of the world’s population.

Chance is the only thing separating you from someone born into extreme poverty.

It’s this very fact of chance that I know we can address through conscious travel—travel that pairs connected, immersive local travels with a powerful mission to funnel tourism dollars into pressing local social issues. Connecting travelers to the realities on the ground opens entirely new avenues to become the type of engaged and informed citizens we need: Citizens committed to spending their tourism dollars in ways that make a real impact on local communities.

The Road Building to Horizon

After graduating college and backpacking Europe in 2005, I haven’t been able to kick my unabiding love for travel. After using all of my vacation days to travel as widely as possible, I left “startup” America in 2010 to travel full time.

As is the case with traveling, I would meet all sorts of amazing people around the globe in those years on the road and I would learn from them all, be they rich or poor, Russian, Alaskan, or Kiwi. When I returned home, friends and relatives asked me how I did it—the implied question being how they might do the same. After hundreds of conversations, I came to realize the reason why more people don’t travel. It wasn’t just time and wasn’t not just about the money. While those were certainly factors, the underlying thread in every conversation was fear.

We fear that which we don’t know, and that seemed to be the key to unlocking a more powerful way for people to travel. We would build a hospitality exchange network based on existing interests—existing connections and passions. But we wouldn’t stop there, we would help travelers truly connect to the social causes impacting the places they travel, and we would do it by baking our social mission into the very core of our platform.

Accomplishments

• Acceptance in Startup Chile, and a demo day pitch (you can view it here).
• We launched publicly in 2015, first on Product Hunt, and then publicly on the app store a couple months later.
• Despite running the business in the red on a monthly basis for more months in a row than I can count, we’ve grown to over 13,000 members—our mission clearly resonates deeply with travelers.
• The native Android app was well-received.
• Our current Stay a Night, Give a Night Campaign launched in Seattle, with two completed stays in our pilot. Our campaign is bringing much-needed money and attention to Seattle’s serious homelessness situation.
• Members of major communities such as Peace Corps, StartingBloc, and Product Hunt have joined Horizon, and several sponsors such as Avail, CityBldr, R6 Ventures, Susi Musi & Co Real Estate, Wikileaf, and WealthSimple have partnered on our latest campaign.

Challenges

• We’ve lost money. A lot of money. I’m personally very far in debt as a result of Horizon.
• We lost core team members who had to move on due to life and financial realities.
• We failed at our fundraising effort in late 2014 and early 2015.
• The need to scrap both our native iOS and Android apps (for the time being) when Facebook changed a few APIs and broke our login system.

Every passing day I increasingly believe Horizon’s platform is needed. I’m not interested in living in the world shaped by screen addiction spreading unopposed. That’s a soulless, lonely world. We needed Horizon back in 2014, but we could have never foreseen what four short years would bring—we need Horizon now more than ever. Screen addiction is at all time high. Empathy is at all time low.

The world needs community more than anything if we are to overcome our challenges. People need to live within other reality bubbles.

The Reality of the Current Home Sharing and Hospitality Exchange Landscape (Hint: It’s Not About Community)

You may point to Couchsurfing and Airbnb as platforms addressing this every issue, but they both fall well short. I’ve said it before, Couchsurfing was one of the coolest social movements created in my lifetime. It enabled millions of budget travelers to take trips they otherwise might have never taken. That said, the world is bigger than one community. We need to build community around shared ideals of not just budget travel, but of travel that changes the way we see the world and how we make an impact.

Airbnb’s early business was “paid couchsurfing,” but these days it’s not really that at all. More than 10 years later, the majority of Airbnb’s business comes from renting entire apartments, homes, yachts, etc., and travelers never even meet their host. With its recent support for boutique hotels and traditional bed and breakfasts, it’s moving farther away from its “community” roots ,  not closer. The Airbnb “business” is monetizing space, not building community. Which is fine, but it’s missing the chance to form real community connections on our travels.

When we remove connection and community from the equation, we lose a very real piece of what has always made travel so transformational. Horizon is the antidote, it’s the platform where community is not an afterthought: it’s the whole damn point.

Where Horizon is Heading

Horizon removes technology challenges from the world’s greatest communities: Harley riders, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, bicyclists, and more. These groups already share a strong sense of belonging, so we asked ourselves: What would it look like to build the world’s best global hospitality exchange platform? How could we facilitate existing communities rather than build a new one? Rather than building an entire technology platform (both extremely expensive and time consuming), what if these communities could simply click a button and pay a small monthly fee? What if creating a hospitality exchange network to connect your community was as easy as starting a Meetup group?

There doesn’t have to be a what-if, because Horizon is how we’re keeping you connected to the communities you care about, connected to the causes and people who have made your life better.

But we need your help. A member-funded route is the only way we can continue to build community in the physical world. That’s why we’re asking for your support on Patreon, a crowdfunding platform that allows you to support the creatives and creators you believe in.

Do you believe the world needs a community-funded (and ad-free) hospitality exchange platform focused on facilitating true community, empathy and not just “transactions”? A platform that believes in creating real change in local communities through socially responsible initiatives? We need your financial help to continue improving Horizon’s product and unlock travel opportunities to grow our community of global citizens.

I believe there are 15,000 people in the world willing to give up the equivalent of one cup of coffee per month to keep a community-funded and community-owned hospitality exchange platform alive. With Patreon, you choose your level of support, whether that is $10 per month or just $60 a year. Horizon is, quite simply, the best community building tool that’s ever been created. It’s a tool empowering distributed communities to come together in person, strengthen relationships through meaningful real-world interactions, to make a real difference in your life, as well as the lives of those in each place you travel.

Our community is already 13,000 strong. Now we need you to join us on the next step as we transform the way travelers experience cities and countries around the globe. Join us as we build empathy.

This is our big ask. Horizon needs its community’s support and no donation is too small. Make a monthly pledge now. And if you really love what we’re working on, but can’t contribute even $5 per month, we gratefully welcome your one-time contribution here.

I have never wavered in my belief that there is a better way for us to understand the world. Understanding comes through real-world experiences, not screens. Horizon will transform how we live and travel, and we need your help to continue making that mission a reality.

Thank you for your generous support,
Drew Meyers

Co-founder, Horizon

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Google Maps and a Coming Crisis for Real Estate Techies

I have a prediction: many developers are going to get caught with their pants down when Google Maps APIs become significantly more expensive come June (see this article and here).

It’s blatantly obvious Google Maps is the best product. However, at some point, price will be prohibitive for tech vendors to continue to support the platform. After all, even if developers prefer to work with Google Maps, clients are the ones who will be forced to foot the bill.

Even if you’re not using the full Maps API, literally every website I use seems to use the Google places auto complete for places. Including the startup I’ve been working on, Horizon.

Luxury real estate sites will likely stay the course, but anything at the middle and lower price points will likely be migrated off Google Maps in short order. I have to imagine Mapbox and OpenStreetMap are salivating at the real estate opportunity Google is presenting them.

If you agree Google Maps will become too cost prohibitive, here are a few options for you to consider:

• Mapbox
• OpenStreetMap
• CityMapper
• Here.com
• Maps.me
• Mapfit
• CartoDB
• TileHosting.com
• Bing Maps

Have you already made a decision? What else are you considering?

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from theokbrowne digest http://geekestateblog.com/google-maps-coming-crisis-real-estate-techies/

.realestate Domains

I saw the news that NAR is launching the .realestate top-level domain later this year, which is a result of winning the rights to do so back in 2014.

Domain names are not valuable by themselves. They aren’t going rank in Google without great content and backlinks, both of which require either considerable time or money. It’s no secret I’m a skeptic of the value of top level domain names, just read the comments on this post about .realtor for my thoughts on the topic from several years ago.

From today’s press release:

“The launch of the .realestate domain with top-level domain industry leader Second Generation, will bring great benefit from day one,” said NAR CEO Bob Goldberg.

I’m genuinely curious, can someone explain to me just what benefit that is?

If you’re convinced of the value and interested in signing up early, you can do so here.

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Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: Jatinder Singh from Botplan

In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with Jatinder Singh, founder of Botplan.

Without further ado…

What do you do?

I am the founder and CEO of Botplan. Botplan is a Real Estate Chatbot company. Our software is a white label chatbot that Real Estate Agents and Brokers can install on their Websites, Facebook, and SMS to engage traffic to these channels and convert more of that traffic into Leads.

What problem does your product/service solve?

There are 2 Million Real Estate agents in US. Combined they spend more than $9 Billion a
year to drive traffic to their sites, listings, and social pages. Less than 1% of the traffic that visits these web pages converts into leads. That is in-spite of the fact that average home buyer is spending 26 hours online searching for their next home? Our solution is focused on solving this problem and converting more of this traffic into leads.

Our unique insight is buried in these fairly common stats: #1: 70% of the new home buyers
sign up with the first agent they meet. #2: Millennials do not like to wait – if an Agent does
not respond to an online inquiry in minutes, the buyers would have already moved on to a
new agent.

How do we solve this problem? Unlike the cold “contact us” forms. Our chatbot starts the
conversation with “How can I help you?”. This allows us to engage the customer in
conversation so that we can truly understand their pain points. Once the customer realizes
that we are interested in their questions, they are open to giving us their contact information so that we can connect the Agent with the customer.

What are you most excited about right now?

We just got approved to roll out our chatbot to 1400 agents across two of the country’s most
successful real estate brokerages. One of the brokerage is a top 20 brokerage in US based
on their annual revenue for 2017. Our teams are super excited at this milestone. Not only
that, we have just rolled out a customer success strategy, where we provide Real Estate Agents tips, tricks, and trainings on how to get more engagements from their chatbots and generate more leads. We are getting very good feedback from our agents, and we are psyched to roll out this program to all of our Real Estate clients.

What’s next for you?

Currently our focus is to bring more agents to our platform. For the remainder of this year
we are going to continue to focus on bringing more brokerages online and get more agents
to use our product. We are also raising our next funding round. So we would welcome any
Real Estate Technology investors that are interested to speak with us. We are also feverishly working to expand our Real Estate Advisory board. Anyone who has had a long career in Real Estate, in Tech or as a Brokerage owner, would be a great individual for us to bring to our board.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

I feel very strongly that childhood is very important phase in everyone’s life. Some of us are fortunate that our parents understood not only how to give us safety and security, but also how to instill values that will guide our path in our life’s journey. But a very large number of children grow up with abuse from their parents – knowingly or unknowingly so. Children who become part of the “system” has an even tougher and troublesome road in front of them. I have been involved in an organization called Preventing Child Abuse Minnesota (PCAMN) as a Board Member and as an Advisor to the CEO. This organization helps the most vulnerable children in our own society by educating parents and communities on not only how to spot child abuse, but also how to stop and prevent it from happening. Organizations like PCAMN are core to making sure that the “opportunities” are equally available to each and every child born in this great country.

Thanks to Jatinder for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).

The post Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: Jatinder Singh from Botplan appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

from theokbrowne digest http://geekestateblog.com/meet-real-estate-tech-founder-jatinder-singh-botplan/

Community Lead Generation – Get Out There And Grow Your Brand

The sad truth about real estate community lead generation is that there is simply no quick way to do it. There’s no magic formula that will help you find clients in the next hour, day or even month.

Whether it’s online lead generation, farming, direct mail or any other form, the very first step involves the creation of a relationship, followed by maintaining the relationship.

Community involvement offers not only an exercise in relationship-building, but it’s a lead-generation technique as well. And, while you may think you don’t have the time for it, you simply can’t afford to ignore the many benefits it offers.

Another tool you can’t afford to ignore is LeadSites – Get one now, and start growing your business.

We’re talking hands-on volunteerism here and, yes, it requires the gift of your time

And, it is time well spent. Not only will you be helping to make your community a better place to live, but you’ll be face-to-face with potential clients who will get to know you on a personal level. Something your newsletter, postcards or cold calls can’t accomplish.

So, where will you find the time in your schedule for community lead generation? You block time to make and return calls, work on your CRM, website and social media, right? So, schedule time to get out into the community by considering it a form of community lead generation.

Yes, it sounds a bit mercenary, but think of volunteering as networking with benefits. You get good business exposure and the community benefits from your time.

Kim Salveson-Pauly, owner of several Windermere offices in Oregon told RealtorMag’s Robert Freedman that volunteerism is especially effective for the new agent who is trying to build her sphere of influence.

Salveson-Pauly’s offices are particularly fond of Helping Hands Against Violence and “70 percent of business for our new associates is through the sphere of influence they’ve developed by working on the auction and other volunteer activities.”

Community Lead Generation – Find your perfect fit in the volunteer world

If you don’t already volunteer, follow your passions when choosing where to spend your time.

I once read a blog post on Active Rain from a Nebraska agent whose passion is soccer, so naturally he decided to coach a youth team. It’s that activity that fueled his real estate business with most of the leads he generated every year.

If sports are your thing, consider doing as he did and find a local youth team that needs a coach.

Non-profits always need help. Check out VolunteerMatch.org where you can search your local area for opportunities that fit your interests.

If you’re 55 years of age or older, and especially if you specialize in the baby boomer niche, navigate to NationalService.gov and learn more about the RSVP program. They’ll hook you up with service opportunities that match the skills you’ve built up over the years or, if you prefer, a chance to learn new skills.

Some of the opportunities you may be interested in as an agent include helping set up a neighborhood watch program, renovating homes, teaching English to immigrants or assisting victims of natural disasters. All of these are great examples of community lead generation.

If you just aren’t sure what you’d like to do in the community, check the list of community service opportunities in your area at AllForGood.org.

More of a joiner?

If you like the camaraderie that being a part of a civic organization brings, consider joining one of the following:

• Lions Club
• Rotary Club
• Kiwanis
• Jaycees

Go super hyper local

Kim Murray, an Arizona agent, relates the story of the annual golf event in her target community. She volunteers to work at it every year and finds that the community lead generation she gets is invaluable.

“In one day’s work, I mixed and mingled with my target community and demographic. This would have been difficult to do if I were going door to door as the Dove Mountain community is segmented between an active adult community and single-family residences,” she explains.

You can get that same kind of exposure volunteering to help at schools, churches and even community theatre groups.

“Once you start getting involved in the community, I mean, your name is everywhere, you know everyone, you know what’s going on, you become the neighborhood expert—everyone gets to know you,” Wisconsin agent Beth Jaworski tells Patrick Lilly at RealEstateSuccess.Rocks.

And, isn’t that the key to success in business?

Ready for a real estate website that will grow your business? Get a LeadSite, and see what a difference it makes.

Generate more leads with these tips!

Need more ways to expand your social presence? Check out this video:

The post Community Lead Generation – Get Out There And Grow Your Brand appeared first on Easy Agent Pro.

from theokbrowne digest https://www.easyagentpro.com/blog/community-lead-generation/

The Most Prosperous Cities in the U.S.

Highlights: Texas cuts into the East Coast – West Coast rivalry, claiming 6 spots of the top 20 California has the highest concentration of highly prosperous large cities Only 11 out of more than 300 cities have registered improvements across all prosperity indicators between 2000 and 2016 So which is the best city in the […]

The post The Most Prosperous Cities in the U.S. appeared first on RENTCafé rental blog.

from theokbrowne digest https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/prosperous-cities-usa/

Geek Estate Founding Member Spotlight: Dan Green from Growella

We’ve now published seven Geek Estate founding member interviews; Jennifer Kjellgren, Sep Niakan, Eileen Romito, Ryan Coon, Caroline Pinal, Joel Leslie, David Marc Harris, and Seth Siegler. The interviews are meant to give you a taste of current business priorities, products and trends to watch in 2018, and what they enjoy about being a Geek Estate mastermind member.

Our ninth interview is with Dan Green at Growella.

Without further ado…

What is Growella?

Growella publishes problem-solving financial content for high-intent consumers. To reach its audience, Growella uses a mix of interactive tools, empathic how-to articles, and high-value human interest stories plus a mortgage- and real estate-themed news show filmed in the company’s dedicated production studio.

How does the company help agents, brokers, and other professionals?

Growella generates high-intent leads for mortgage lenders and real estate brokerages.

What did you learn from building Mortgage Reports that you’re incorporating into this business?

People say you can’t win the SEO game to which I say: the people who say you can’t win at SEO have just never been able to do it. It’s entirely possible and building The Mortgage Reports taught me that. Winning steady, buyer-ready traffic from the search engines is a game that’s won with commitment to readers and the problems they need solved.

Why does Growella focus on organic readers when paid-readers can pay more immediate dividends?

Over time, the cost of acquiring organic readers moves to zero. This is opposite of using paid traffic, which increases in cost and complexity each quarter. Organic keeps it simple. Build incredible tools, tell wonderful stories, and produce relevant shows that connect to readers on an nuanced, emotional level. That kind of content attracts high-intent readers and kicks off high-value leads year after year. Contrast that to paid traffic, which stops when you stop writing checks.

What are two business goals for 2018?

Growella’s two big goals for 2018:

1. Secure sponsorship for our 3x weekly show, The Mortgage Minute-and-a-Half, and our weekly live web show.
2. Debut a new story-telling technique to help first-time home buyers make better choices.

What is one personal goal for the year?

Shave 3 minutes off my marathon time and qualify for the Boston Marathon.

What do you like about being a Geek Estate member?

The breadth of the Geek Estate community excites me. Lots of people with lots of different experiences.

Thank you Dan for being a founding member!

Geek Estate Mastermind Membership

Interested in joining?

Apply for Membership

The post Geek Estate Founding Member Spotlight: Dan Green from Growella appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

from theokbrowne digest http://geekestateblog.com/geek-estate-founding-member-spotlight-dan-green-growella/

Geek Estate Newsletter #29 – Minting Cash Buyers, Luxury Travel, and Smart Homes

The purpose of Geek Estate’s mastermind community is two fold:

1. Curate the most incredible and diverse membership of real estate innovators, creatives, doers, and creators in the world.
2. Make our members wildly successful in their careers building real estate companies.

This week’s member newsletter (#29) touched on several topics. Minting cash buyers (Ribbon launched last week), luxury travel, and smart homes. On the topic of Ribbon, I’ll leave you with this:

The ginormous idea sitting inside Ribbon that I see? Creating a moving experience where you just “select” the house, condo, or coop you want to live in — regardless of whether it’s for sale or for rent. What if every home was simply “available” or not available, and the financing and payments were decided and settled in the background?

If you want to read the entire newsletter, and future newsletters, please apply for membership below.

Geek Estate Membership

Interested in joining?

Apply for Membership

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from theokbrowne digest http://geekestateblog.com/geek-estate-newsletter-29-minting-cash-buyers-luxury-travel-smart-homes/

Uber Elevate, Urban Mobility, and Future of Cities

I’ve honestly never been a big fan of Uber as a company (I’m long Lyft), but the following video about urban mobility got my excited about the future of transportation (and cities):

Slowly, but surely, Uber is changing their public perception and positioning themselves as a thought leader on transportation. Well done (for their sake).

That said — who is thinking about the convergence of the future of cities, and the future of real estate? I’d love to chat with anyone who is, as it’s a topic I’m personally fascinated with.

The post Uber Elevate, Urban Mobility, and Future of Cities appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

from theokbrowne digest http://geekestateblog.com/uber-elevate-urban-mobility-future-cities/

5 Critical Steps to Starting Your Real Estate Business

Starting Your Real Estate Business – You’ve passed the real estate licensing exam! That success not only gives you the opportunity to make scintillating cocktail party small talk, it also acts a bit like rocket fuel. It propels the newbie into an imagined stratosphere of huge commission checks and overnight success.

It also means you’ll need a real estate website that drives your business in the right direction.

Then, the splashdown, which generally occurs the first day you spend in your new broker’s office.

It’s the dirty little secret that real estate school doesn’t share: You have no idea how to begin starting your real estate business

This is why brokers have training programs to help with starting your real estate business. They teach newbies how to go after clients, how to fill out listing and purchase agreements and, hopefully, the rudimentary aspects of what to do during a listing presentation.

The day-to-day aspects of actually running your business, however, aren’t usually taught. This knowledge eventually comes with time and experience. In the mean time, there are steps to take regarding starting your real estate business in the right direction.

Learn from the Best

Most experienced agents agree that the first thing a new agent should do, aside from finding a broker with an amazing training program, is to find a mentor.

Look for “somebody who knows what he or she is doing, is successful and who is willing to teach you,” Dano Sayles with Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers recommends.

Watch the more experienced and successful agents in the office, choose one and ask if you can hang out with him or her during the business day.

Go on listing calls, buyer showings and open houses. Watching a successful agent in action and then modeling the behavior is a sure-fire way to learn the ropes.

First Year Roadmap

The first year in real estate is one typically spent building your business. Think of yourself as a start-up and commit to making a business plan during your first week.

This business plan will be your roadmap through the twists and turns of starting your real estate business.

Determine your destination first – where do you want to be, financially, by the end of the year?

Once you know the destination, you can fill in the rest of the plan with activities that will get you there.

How many closed deals will you need to nail that figure? How many contacts will it take to get those deals? The latter is a difficult question to answer when you’re first starting out so run it by your mentor or broker.

Next, add your marketing plan and budget to the business plan. If, like many agents, you’re starting your business on a shoestring, your budget will determine how and to what extent you market yourself.

Build your Brand

Regardless of your broker’s brand, you’ll need to determine your personal brand. What sets you apart from other agents? It’s a tough question to answer, especially if you’re new to the business, but answer it you must.

Consider your interests, motivations, educational or professional background and your target market – anything that makes you different from most of the other agents in town.

Once you’ve found a brand that feels right, build it into your business cards, marketing materials and website.

Assemble your Tools

Numero uno in your tool kit is a good computer. This is the one tool, aside from your smartphone, that you’ll depend on the most to keep track of prospects, clients, listings and deals so it’s critical to have it from day one.

Next, you’ll need to add some productivity software and at the top of the list should be customer relationship management software (CRM).

Spend the money to get a robust solution, one that not only manages your interactions with leads and clients but allows you to automate marketing campaigns and client retention efforts.

Finally, get your own website. Every marketing piece you produce should drive people to your site where you have, at the very least, a lead capture system, an IDX so that buyers can search for listings, and a blog.

The biggest mistake you can make is to try to save money by opting out of an IDX system on your site.  Real estate consumers shop almost exclusively online when they first decide to buy or sell.

Buyers want to see listings and many sellers do too (to see how their home stacks up, price wise). You can either fulfill these wants or inadvertently send these prospects to someone that will.

Shout it Out

Once you have loaded the contact information of everyone you know (your “sphere of influence”) into your CRM, it’s time to give them a shout out about your new business and publicize your new website. Do this via email, snail mail, phone, text or social media, but do it.

Next, get involved in the community. It’s a great way to meet new people, thus expanding your sphere of influence.

The most important thing to keep top-of-mind when starting out is that real estate isn’t a new job or even a new career – you are starting your own business.

Throw out everything you know about being an employee and start thinking like a business owner. Take the baby steps to give your new startup a strong foundation.

You deserve a real estate website that works as hard as you do. Get a LeadSite, and start growing your business your way.

Ready to start dominating the market with your new business?

Want your business to grow? Use video to connect to your clients in a whole new way:

The post 5 Critical Steps to Starting Your Real Estate Business appeared first on Easy Agent Pro.

from theokbrowne digest https://www.easyagentpro.com/blog/5-critical-steps-to-starting-your-real-estate-business/

How to Get Out of a Commercial Real Estate Lease

The following post is copyrighted by Austin Tenant Advisors - .

When signing a commercial real estate lease (office space, retail space, warehouse space) you are typically committing to either 3 year, 5 year, or sometimes longer lease contract and you are legally obligated to fulfill the entire obligation regardless of whether or not your business succeeds or fails.  You have the best intentions to create a successful business however sometimes things just don’t go your way. For example when searching for warehouse space for rent in Austin Tx expect to sign at least a 3-5 year lease.

If you find yourself in a situation where you need to close your business however still have lease term left on the lease there are some ways you can get out of your commercial real estate lease.  3 of these options will keep your good credit in tact, however one option will not.

Sublease

Most lease contracts have a sublease clause which allows you (the tenant) to find another tenant to sublease from you.  If you don’t have one make sure you get it included.  Essentially you become a sub-landlord and collect rent from the subtenant, however you are still liable to the building owner for rent payments and any damages to the space that may occur.  Subleases require landlord approval which they cannot unreasonably withhold as long as the subtenant is similar to your business and they have financials as good or better than yours.  You can also sublease a portion of your space if needed.

Assignment

In some cases the landlord may allow you to assign your lease to another company, thus removing you from any liability or obligations.  Commercial lease assignments can occur in many situations such as:  1.  you sell your company, 2. landlord realizes they can get higher rents if you move out so they release you of obligation, 3. tenant next door buys you out of your lease, etc.  Again assignments can release you of all obligations, however in most cases the landlord will want the new entity to have as good or better financials than you.

Lease Buyout

Lease buyouts are possible as long as you can come up with terms and conditions that entice the landlord.  The landlord does not have to agree to a buyout however depending on the market, terms, and conditions you may be able to get them to agree to one.  In a lease buyout you would typically offer to pay a lump sum (% of remaining costs) equal to one or more of the following:  1. certain number of months of rent and expenses, 2. unamortized cost of tenant improvements, 3. unamortized cost of commissions, 4. additional months of rent to give landlord time to lease out the space again, etc.

Move Out in the Middle of the Night

This is the last thing you want to do however I have seen tenants do it.  They simply file or bankruptcy and move out in the middle of the night.  If the stakes are high landlords will do everything in their power to sue you for one or more of the following: 1. rent that has not been paid, 2. legal expenses, 3. cost to prepare space for re-letting 4. commissions, 5. rent not received while marketing space for new tenant, 6. advertising, etc.  If you signed a personal guarantee then the landlord can go after you personally for damages.  This is not how you want to get out of a commercial real estate lease!

Conclusion

Overall you need to communicate with your landlord.  If you realize things are not going great then try to work out something with the landlord or property manager.  No communication is the first sign of trouble!  You will be surprised to find that some landlords will help you out anyway they can.  Others may not be so flexible.  Try to avoid tarnishing your name and company name do things the responsible way.

The post How to Get Out of a Commercial Real Estate Lease appeared first on Austin Tenant Advisors.

How to Get Out of a Personal Guarantee on a Commercial Lease

The following post is copyrighted by Austin Tenant Advisors - .

So you are a new business or startup and ready to lease your first commercial real estate space, however with little track record and little to no revenue how will you be able to get the landlord comfortable with having you as a tenant?

Most landlords are hesitant to lease commercial space to startups as they have a high probability of going out of business and if they do will leave the landlord with an empty space and lost income. To ensure they get their rent in the event your business does not work out they may ask you to sign a personal guarantee.

For example when searching for retail space for rent in Austin Tx most landlords will require that you personally guarantee the lease for the entire term. 

What is a Personal Guarantee?

A personal guarantee is a written promise from a guarantor (business owner or other person) guaranteeing commercial lease payments in the event the business does not pay. In the event of non-payment the landlord can go after the guarantor personally for payment. This is a very common request when the business is a startup with weak financials.

Do You Have to Sign a Personal Guarantee to Lease Commercial Space?

Well if you really want a space bad enough and the landlord won’t let you have it without one then you have no choice. If you are able to show a track record of paying rent elsewhere have have steady, strong company profit / loss statements and balance sheets then you might be able to get away with not having one. If you don’t have the financial track record and sign the personal guarantee then try asking for the guarantee to expire after a certain amount of time has passed (e.g. 12-24 months) as long as you pay rent payments on time.

How to Get Out of a Personal Guarantee Early

Your options for getting out of a commercial lease personal guarantee early are pretty limited, however if it’s important then try one of the following:

• Consult with an attorney on what your options are
• Show proof of consistent revenues and profits (P&L statements, balance sheets, etc)
• Ask for an amendment to the lease after 12-24 months
• Ask for the guarantee to expire after 12-24 months as long as you have paid rent payments on time
• Try to renegotiate the guarantee terms
• Offer to pay a large security deposit. The norm is typically equal to one months rent. If you can offer to give a security deposit of 4-12 months
• Offer to prepay the first 6-12 months of rent payments
• Offer to set up a letter of credit (LOC) with your bank. If you don’t pay rent then the landlord can take rent payments from there.

 

The post How to Get Out of a Personal Guarantee on a Commercial Lease appeared first on Austin Tenant Advisors.

Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: Amit Haller from Reali

In our latest real estate tech founder interview, we’re speaking with Amit Haller, co-founder of Reali.

Without further ado…

What do you do?

As CEO of Reali, I’m the number one salesman of the company. I sell all day long. I sell our product and value to our customers, ideas to my team, our vision to our investors, and opportunities to our partners. Our business is growing exponentially. As we expand, it’s my responsibility to make sure that we choose markets that are the best fit for our business while maximizing efficiencies. All while empowering my team to offer the best experience possible to our customers and embracing new technologies.

What problem does your product/service solve?

Reali makes it easy for customers to buy and sell a home using our app technology. With fully licensed Reali Experts working behind the scenes, we guide home buyers and sellers through the entire real estate process, and we do it for a flat fee. Leveraging technology, we have put thousands of dollars back into the hands of buyers and sellers. Reali’s flat fee model for both buyers and sellers replaces the costly and inefficient commission model used in real estate transactions today.

What are you most excited about right now?

What I’m most excited about is seeing our customers fully-aligned with our vision and willing to be part of a changing real estate industry. We’re working on a new product offering that will use AI to provide our customers with pricing insights in ways that haven’t been seen in the real estate industry.

What’s next for you?

Reali is focused on helping home buyers and sellers keep more money in their pocket and reducing anxiety when it comes to real estate transactions. We currently serve the Bay Area and Sacramento and we are expanding our footprint. It’s my job to help us get there. In the second half of 2018, I’ll be laser-focused on company growth and working with our team of engineers and Reali Experts to keep innovating the real estate space. I can’t think of a better job than that!

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

I really care about animals and causes related to animal welfare. My dog Lulu is a rescue, and I hope to adopt another pet this year. I also enjoy traveling and recently returned from Tanzania, Africa where I spent time learning about animal wildlife and protection.

Thanks to Amit for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).

The post Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: Amit Haller from Reali appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

from theokbrowne digest http://geekestateblog.com/meet-real-estate-tech-founder-amit-haller-reali/