Real Estate Virtual Assistant Buzz:

Do you remember the brisk Buyers Market of a few years ago? Buyers were beating down your doors. Anyone who could breathe had a real estate license and was selling homes. Then the market went south. Buyers were no where to be found and your pipeline of new business dried up because you hadn’t been doing any marketing. You had neither the time nor the need to keep your name out there. A tougher real estate  market requires getting back to basics and evaluating what works in our new reality and what doesn’t.

Brain Buffini has detailed detours on your road to success:

The Five Detours on the Road to Success

1. Lack of Accountability

Every human being does better with accountability because we truly cannot see our own shortcomings; outside perspective is the best way to gain clarity on our patterns.

2. Loss of Motivation

Motivation, by its very nature, is designed to dissipate so we need to seek it out continually. As my friend and mentor, Zig Ziglar, says: “Motivation is like bathing. You have to do it on a daily basis!”

3. In Need of Direction

Once you get things moving and gain some momentum you actually need more direction than you did when you were just starting out. This is borne out by countless people who work their whole life and have nothing to show for it.

4. Isolation

All you have to do is watch the “Animal Planet” documentary on predators in the wild to know how detrimental isolation can be: Predators never attack the pack; they always look for the isolated, hurt, wounded, and lost, the ones who’ve stopped moving forward. Self-employed people are more predisposed to this isolation than anyone else.

5. Drift

While “isolation” is a predator, “drift” is a killer; it’s the “silent assassin” because we don’t know how far and how fast we’ve drifted until something catastrophic happens.

As you can see, the “Five Detours” are things we all face and it can be easy to get off track in both business and our personal lives. But let’s examine the solution side of things. If there are detours, then rest assured there are also rules of the road to get you and your real estate business back on track.

Stay on Track with These Rules of the Road

1. Stay Accountable

While it may not be natural to seek out accountability, let’s just have a look at what happens in its absence. Tiger Woods – the greatest golfer in the world – recently missed the cut at the British Open. Just so happens it was the first time in five years he didn’t bring his coach to a tournament.

2. Brainstorm and Network with Others

We humans do much better when we mastermind together, which is why we facilitate networking at our events, as well as in our Coaching programs and Small Groups. Surround yourself with positive, resourceful, successful people, because they’ll lift you up rather than drag you down.

3. Plan Daily Doses of Motivation

Just think of your daily motivation like an essential vitamin, with nothing but positive, good-for-you side effects. Plan daily doses by listening to affirming CDs in your car or by reading good books – just a few lines here or there will go a long way.

4. Follow the System

You know you’re in need of direction – everybody is. And we’ve developed a system that works. Now, I know that few people ever follow the system 100%, but what if that means you’re missing out on a 30% jump in your income?

5. Work with a Coach

A Coach has the expertise, tools and strategies to help you get your business cranking. That accountability and direction will help you avoid drift – the deadly killer.

A real estate virtual assistant helps you stay on track on your road to success. We can create and implement the systems needed to accomplish your goals and keep you moving in the right direction. Contact us and together we will make 2010 the best year yet!

As a real estate Virtual Assistant my satisfaction comes from knowing I have helped make my clients not only look good, but exceed expectations and set themselves a part as leaders in their real estate community.

Knowing this, you will understand why I was thrilled when my client, Mike Manosky with RE/MAX Huntsville, shared a compliment he received from a Craigs List user: 

Hi Ruth Ann,

I just wanted to pass along this email I got last night off Craigs List. I really enjoy reading the copy you create as well. Thanks for all the great work!

Mike Manosky……

I am not looking to buy or sell a house, but I am retired and therefore have time to look at homes offered for sale.  I must say that your description of this property was masterfully done and should bring you many inquiries.  

It’s such a pleasure to see well written ad copy at at time when some realtors don’t even know how to spell or care enough to include a picture of the property! Hopefully your thoroughness and ability to paint such a positive picture of this home brings you much gratitude from the home’s owners.  Keep up the great work!   

JK 

Marketing of your listings or listing coordination an ideal task to outsource to a real estate virtual assistant, especially if you don’t enjoy writing. You might be wondering how be can write aobut a hoouse we have never been in. What happens with Mike is he provides us with an information sheet he uses when he takes the listing, the MLS sheet and photos. You see the results.

Contact us today. We’d enjoy making YOU look good!

I feel part of my job as a Real Estate Virtual Assistant is to be on top of the latest marketing techniques. I take the time to educate myself in the latest tools needed to build a successful real estate business. I then share what I have learned with my clients to help them grow their businesses. I am currently taking a 4 week course with Social Media Magic learning how to create a strategic and comprehensive social media marketing campaign for real estate. Here is what I have gleaned from the first course… 

I’m sure you have heard the latest catch phrase, social media. Like me, you probably realize that social media has to do with sharing photos with friends, telling about the great party you went to last night and what you are having for dinner tonight. You may not understand what it has to do with your real estate business. Sure all the real estate trainers say you need to be on Facebook and Twitter, but what exactly IS social media and WHY do you and your real estate business need a presence there!! 

What is Social Media? 

Social media is a complex, organic online conversation between multiple people. The keyword here is ‘conversation’. In the old Web 1.0 Internet, you had no interaction or relationship with people. Your website is most likely is very static. The content doesn’t change much and there is no real time interaction. With the new Web 2.0, which social media is a part of, you are involving people in your business and empowering them to have a relationship with you. 

Social media is not just Facebook and Twitter. It does include social media networks, but also includes, blogs, microblogs, video and photo sharing, message boards, wiki, virtual reality, social gaming, podcasts and Real Simple Syndication (RSS). 

Why Do You Want to Participate In Social Media? 

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Are you good at generating Internet leads for your real estate business, but having difficutly converting those leads? It is easy to get yourself into a vicious cycle. Business is slow. You spend money on marketing. You generate leads. You diligently follow-up on those leads. You get busy with new clients. Then don’t have time to follow-up on leads and business is slow again. Don’t fret! There is a way out of this cycle!

A skilled real estate virtual assistant can respond to and nurture your Internet leads until they become ready, willing and able buyers. The leads can be pre-qualified by your lender, sent relocation information, put on drip email campaigns, set up on automated property searches, sent newsletters, called at pre-determined intervals, and made to feel like they are your only client and you haven’t even talked with them yet.

Watch this power point presentation below and see how a real estate virtual assistant helped Leigh Brown with RE/MAX Signature Properties in Charlotte NC take her Internet business for 6% to 24% of her total business in one year.

Have questions about how a real estate virtual assistant can help you convert more leads. Contact us at info@myreassistant.com. We are glad to answer all your questions.

I have to be honest. I hated the Real Pro Systems old blog format. It was embedded so far into the website, I doubt search engines ever found the blog posts and as diligently and regularly as agents would blog, it didn’t seem to get them any results. Well that has changed!! 

Real Pro Gold websites now have snippets of each blog post on the Home page which provides fresh content that search engines just love. Using the correct keywords and meta-tags, you should see remarkable improvement in your search engine placement. Mind you this will not happen overnight or if you only blog once a week. But with effort it will happen! 

Real Pro Gold and Twitter

Another new feature you will be excited about is being able to submit your blog post to Twitter with the click of your mouse. Yes, you do have to have a Twitter account set up, but after that, tweeting is a piece of cake. 

If you have not heard of Twitter and don’t have a clue what I am talking about…you are not alone. Contact me. As your Real Estate Virtual Assistant, I’m glad to help.

Follow me on Twitter!

10 website ‘must-haves’ needed to ensure success a successful and profitable website.

With 78% of home buyers starting their home search on the Internet, real estate professionals have
embraced websites and an Internet presence in a big way. Let’s face it, you need to be where the consumers are and that means the Internet.

But how many of the hundreds of thousands of real estate websites actually bring in business and generate income. I don’t have statistics, but my gut, along with discussions with agents I come into contact with as a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, tells
me not many.

Rismedia.com published a great article about the 10 website “must-haves” needed to ensure success a successful and
profitable website. I have included these ‘must-haves’ along with insights of my own:

1. Remember: There Is But One True Goal – Sales

If you have, or are planning to create a website, it is essential that you keep in mind that the only goal of a website, ultimately, is sales. Don’t get caught up in the vanity or technology surrounding websites (which is all too easy to do). Make sure everything on your real estate website is oriented toward your “One True Goal.”

In the early days of the Internet, websites were no more than an on-line business card with attention
focused on the agent. We have learned the consumer doesn’t care about ‘you.’ He cares about ‘what is in it for me.’ Today’s websites need to give the consumer what he wants and what he wants is to look at homes.

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It was brought to my attention by a reader of my Walk Score post, that Drive Score is
also available. Drive Score shows a map of what establishments are in a property’s neighborhood and calculates a Drive Score based on the number of places within a convenient driving distance. With Drive
Score, buyers can see how close establishments are by car. Homes are often located in an area where restaurants, libraries, grocery stores, hospitals and other businesses are easier to get to by car than on foot.

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It has been awhile since I first told you about WalkScore.com. This is a fun website that helps people find walkable places to live. You type in any address and Walk Score shows you a map of what’s nearby – stores, movie theaters, parks, restaurants, schools and more. It then calculates a Walk Score (or ‘walkability’) from 0 to 100.

The reason I bring up WalkScore.com again is because of an article on Inman.com the other day talking about this website. With gas prices surging over $4.00 a gallon, the ‘walkabilty’ of a neighborhood has renewed interest to home buyers.

From Inman: “WalkScore.com was developed up by Seattle-based, environmentally and socially conscious “civic software” developer Front Seat, which hopes people will use the site to find homes and apartments in ‘walkable’ neighborhoods.

Front Seat is making a Walk Score tile available to real estate professionals — or anybody else who wants to embed the tool in their Web sites — that’s been embraced by sites like postlets.com and is now generating 100,000 views a month.

Walk Score looks at the distance to ‘walkable’ locations near an address, calculates a score for each location, and combines all of the scores into a single measurement. Lerner said research shows that the average person is willing to walk less than a quarter mile to destinations they visit frequently, such as a grocery store.

A Walk Score of 25 or less means you’ll probably need to get in the car to take care of the smallest errand, while a Walk Score in the 90 to 100 range indicates a “walker’s paradise” where just about everything is in walking distance and many residents get by without owning a car.

What makes a neighborhood ‘walkable’?

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If you market your real estate listings on Craigs List, you will find the following Inman article interesting. Craigs List is considering limiting the HTML that can be used in post as a way to regulate spammers who embed fake keywords and links into ads:

The online classified service craigslist is contemplating restrictions on HTML formatting to combat cloaked spam links and embedded false keywords in ads — a move that could also make it harder to create slick-looking property listings using third-party applications like vFlyer and postlets.

The proposal to limit the use of HTML to a few basic tags could limit the ability of all craigslist users to create visually sophisticated ads that format information in ways that are easier to grasp, and has sparked a lively debate on the site.

“I love HTML,” says one craigslist user posting on a forum created for discussion of the proposal. “I am a professional and I like to launch one or two postlets a week. They really stand out and help me sell my houses.”

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What are the benefits of working with real estate Virtual Assistant, Ruth Ann Macklin, rather than hiring an in-house employee?

•   You are only billed for the hours worked. As your real estate Virtual Assistant, I am ready to work for you anytime you need me, but only when you need me.

•   You have a permanent staffing solution. Temps are expensive and transient (most are looking for full-time employment). As your real estate Virtual Assistant, I am a team player providing reliable, dependable service.

•   You don’t need to provide workspace and equipment such as computer, fax machine, phone and office supplies. As your real estate Virtual Assistant, I work from a remote location saving you overhead dollars.

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