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Stop and think before you post a listing to your facebook personal page!
Photo courtesy of marriedtothesea.com
So I know there are some of you out there that will read this and then keep posting your listings to facebook and that’s just too bad but hey, how does the saying go? “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him think!” or something like that.
I recently read an article from www.mytechopinioin.com called “the art of social listing exposure.” Great article and I highly recommned you read it. Especially the part about terms of agreement with FB.
So when your in the home buying mode how many of you wake up and say to yourself, “I’m going to log into facebook today and look for a home to buy!” My guess is that just doesn’t happen.
Here is my analogy on this topic. What if my neighbor was a geologist and about 3 times a week he would drop off new dirt samples on my doorstep. That would get annoying real quick and I’m sure I would politely ask him to stop. The polite way on facebook to ask someone to stop something is to un-friend them.
Let me share with you my 3 strikes and your out policy. I happen to really get annoyed when i have someone post listings that appear on my wall. If all I ever see from you is listing posts without any other good quality posts that provide value then after the 3rd listing post I’m clicking the un-friend button.
What if that same geologist neighbor did something a bit different. Instead of dropping off dirt samples they instead took time once a week to educate my kids about how cool volcanoes are or talk about how mountains are formed. There is value in that, and far more interest.
When you post your listing’s you assume that all your friends are looking or know someone that is looking to buy a home. That happens to be a very small percentage of people.
A better way to look at this would be to find something of common interests that may be connected to this new listing of yours that appeals to a much larger audience.
What is so great about the neighborhood this home is in?
What are some of the great amenities that are in walking distance to this home?
If you owned this home how would it stack up as a great investment in say 9 years?
Take a look at the article I mentioned above, they give you some great examples of good and bad ways of posting data.
Remember that Social Media is about being
Real, Relevant, and engaging. If all you ever talk about is your new listings that gets old real quick and adds little to know value.
If after reading this you still want to post your listings to facebook then do it on a Fan page not a personal page. That way I can still interact with you on your personal page but it doesn’t clutter up my wall with your listing posts. Also take the advice from the MTO team and get creative so that you aren’t so boring and you generate greater BUZZ!
Keeping up with Mobile computing in Real Estate.
I sat through a great presentation by Matt Dollinger. His presentation was all about “The Future of Computing in Real Estate?” He gives you some great ideas as it pertains to mobile computing and connecting PC and Macs to mobile devices such as I pads and smart phones. If you have some time I strongly recommend you watch it. Here are two links for you. One is the actually power point on Slide Share.
How much water do you use a year?
so I just moved into a new home and I’m wondering what the monthly utilities will be for this larger home. I found this article to be very interesting as it pertains to water consumption.
Click on the image to read the full article.
Making your home shine.
So I’m going to be a seller in about a week. Prior to getting my house listed my Listing agent and I talked about what we should do so that my home looks it’s best when it goes on the market.
1. Pricing it correctly. This is always a tough one. As the seller we always think that our home is worth more. This is the most important aspect of selling your home. You can have the home look amazing but if it is over priced it will just sit.
2. Staging the home. I know when I was a buyer going through homes I found it easier for me to see the home when it was staged instead of packed with the current owner’s stuff. The key word here is to (Minimize stuff) It needs to be neat and clean and open. Staging can really do wonders to the way a home is perceived by a potential buyer.
3. Outside upkeep. Getting the yard groomed and looking good. Again Minimizing is good here as well.
4. Small repairs, and touching up the paint if there are holes or nics in the wall. Making sure if there were any significant upgrades to the home that your agent is fully aware of the list.
5. After the home is staged and shined then have a professional photographer come out and take pictures.
Bottom line: walk through your home and view it as a buyer. If there is something that would draw your attention in a negative way then fix it.
I’ll keep you posted as we move forward in this process.
Why is Windermere investing in technology?
A recent article form Geek Wire talked about Windermere and Brett Eddy the new CTO for the new company Windermere Solutions. After reading the article I began to read the comments. It was amusing to me to see the wide gap between the individuals that want to change the way we do real estate and the existing companies who have been successful in real estate for some time now. I’m included in the latter.
For everyone else who read this article I just wanted to make sure that the direction of Windermere was understood. There were claims that we are behind the times, that we only want to hide information from the customer so we can continue to run our old school ways of doing business.
I want to step back in time to 1997 when real estate wasn’t on the Internet and the Internet was in it’s infancy. Windermere was the reason for (IDX) Internet data exchange.
The NWMLS was the first multiple listing services in the US to get the brokers together and share listing data and display the address. At that time this was (Crazy talk). With the help of John L. Scott and CB we all agreed and became the first region in the US to share listing data on the Internet. From there it opened the flood gates and frankly IDX was the catalyst to the new breed of companies like Trulia, and Zillow, and many others.
Windermere is of the mind set that the more information for the customer the better. However lets be smart how we deliver that information and make sure it provides value. We are and always will be a company that keeps the customer in the front of our minds as we push forward to be creative and ever changing. I remember how exciting it was back then, and how driven we were to do something different. Well that time is here again and with new technology and our amazing ability to create strong everlasting relationships with the communities we serve will prove to be a successful combination.
I understand the proof is in the pudding but make no mistake we do not see technology as the silver bullet, there are many components to being successful in the business today and technology is just one of the corner stones to a strong and successful real estate company.
Are you being realistic as a Seller in todays market?
Photo by Paul G.
So I just finished being a buyer in this market place and now I’m stepping into being a Seller. I want to be clear, I do work for Windermere but not as a Realtor. My opinion’s are my own on this particular topic.
As I was a buyer I want to make sure I don’t make the same mistakes that I experienced from other sellers as I went through the process.
1. Do you really want to sell your home? If you do, then hire an experienced real estate agent. It’s very important that they are able to have an intelligent discussion with you about what the price of your home should be, if you are telling them what the price is and they are just agreeing with you then you need to find a different Realtor. As a seller you are always going to think your home is worth more than where the market truly is. Be realistic about your home’s value, if you aren’t then the Realtor is suppose to bring you back to reality.
2. Your Realtor should suggest that you either move out and let them stage your home or they help you to minimize what you have in the home so that it can be shown at its best. Please don’t be at the home when it is being shown. This is just awkward and from a buyers perspective it is strange.
3. When you have put your heart and soul into the upgrades on the home don’t be offended when the buyer doesn’t see it that way. Remember it was your heart and soul not the buyer’s heart and soul.
4. Instead of trying to negotiate the listing commissions talk to your Realtor about maybe helping out with getting the home cleaned, and the yard groomed and other little things that don’t cost much but will put your home in the best light.
5. Have your home professional photographed. Most professional Realtors will do this anyway. If they aren’t doing this then I would ask why. You have a very small window to capture the buyer’s eye and using a professional photographer is the best way to do that.
6. When you are 40 days into this listing and you have done everything above, and no offers are coming in don’t blame the Realtor. Look in the mirror and tell yourself to reduce the price. So many times I hear sellers say “well buyers just aren’t buying.” NO…. they just aren’t buying your house and there is a reason for that. It’s OVER PRICED!
Now I hope I don’t have to eat crow here but I’m going to be a seller in about two weeks. I’m going to take my own advice for sure and I’ll let you know how it goes.
if you recently Sold your home and found something that worked well please share.
Foursquare may already have a place in Real Estate
So you may have heard of this new Social Media phenomenon using geo-tagging called Foursquare. It is the newest fastest growing game in the smartphone social media arena today.
If you want to get a great idea on how it works here is a great article from Realtor Magazine‘s blog that gives you a better understating about the application.
I have only been using foursquare for a few days now but as I use it I find myself seeing ways that it would benefit the Real Estate Agent.
Think about this scenario.
You now have four square on your phone and you holding a Open House this Saturday. Foursquare is syndicated to your facebook account as well as your twitter account. When you arrive at your open house you now check in and mention that two blocks away is a great coffee shop so if your in the area you might want to grab a coffee and stop by this great home that you are holding open. If fact you may have checked into the coffee shop your self prior to arriving at your open house because you are the Mayor of that particular coffee shop! For the people in your network via twitter, or facebook, you have just pinged them with that info and who knows they may just stop by, if they are out and about. It is just another way to have a touch point with these individuals who use these applications daily.
Quote for the Realtor Magazine artilce that we should all think about
“Are you ready for this?
It’s coming. Apps like foursquare are the future of social media. The lines between online and face-to-face are blurred. Information is immediate, and can be pushed to a client, simply based on their location. It’s a huge opportunity and a scary risk, all at the same time. If you’re evaluating foursquare based on ROI, I think you’re missing the point. REALTORS® will need to be proficient on networks like these in the future. Might as well start figuring them out by playing this silly game. Now, who wants to go out and earn a “Don’t Stop Believing” badge with me tonight?”
So I want to know where will your next check in be?
What I learned at RE Bar Camp in Seattle last Friday!
It is always interesting what you are going to learn when you attend a BARcamp. Social Media was a very hot topic this year. I attended A few facebook classes and I also attended a few video blogging classes.
In the facebook class it was very obvious that agents are still a bit unsure of how to interact in this world. We are so ingrained to want to sell that we forget that Social Media doesn’t have the word sell in it. It was very clear that tools like Postlet’s auto facebook program is very frowned upon by facebook users. Just really posting listings in general is not something that anyone felt was a good idea. They went as far to even say that on Business pages it wasn’t a good idea.
If your going to use social media then here are some good things to think about.
- Be relevant: Reading that you just had breakfast, or your tired, doesn’t really count
- Add value in your post. If you do post a listing on the rare occasion then tell us what is great about that home or why do you find it so unique.
- Be a facilitator: People everyday on face book have questions and needs. Identify them then facilitate answers or resources for those individuals.
- Engage: A single sided relationship is just that. It will never be successful.
- Listen to what people are saying: My dad told me we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.
- Use Lists to sort your friends: Facebook has a great sorting tool with creating lists. This way you can better focus your attention on the people you want to interact with daily.
- Be a real Person: Remember these are your friends you are interacting with and they want the real you, not the stuffy sales person always talking business.
