RealTown's RealTalk

And someone "sells away" from the IC FROM the IC's discussion forum to save $100 or $200 per YEAR? Someone can do that but it irritates me� so I thought I'd "share" my feelings.


When I was reading above comments "And we're not talking a lot of money here either", I was thinking about an article I just finished reading in the news paper. A couple living in a rental apartment and making a yearly income of $160,000 lost both their jobs. They have always saved their money in restaurants, coffee shops, in cars and at car wash places and now moved back in his mother's home. Is that the American dream?
I have the feeling that my lady and I are from another world.

I'd like to jump on the IC bandwagon as well.

I actually first got to know Saul back in the RIN days (it was RIN,wasn'it it - geez I AM getting old!). But I didn't get to know IC until I took e-Pro several years ago. I have used them for domains and emailplus and, like everyone else, have experienced their incredible customer service first hand.

Then came the whole blog thing. Free software so you can increase your website presence - who can beat that?

We recently created another web site where we are using IC for web hosting. The web site designer said, "You know, you can get that a LOT cheaper at …" We said, we know, we don't care.

Then the connection with P2 has also proven to be very beneficial.

All in all, in my 30 or so years of real estate experience (back to that getting old thing), I have never found anything like it.

Thank you, Tres Amigos, for all you have done, all you do, and all you will do in the future!

Mack and Andi Durbin, Brokers
Rooftop Realty
Serving Metro Denver since 1976
303-881-8844
www.rooftoprealty.com
Visit our blog at www.rooftopviews.com
30 years of doing whatever it takes

Jack Harper wrote in part:

The guys and gals at Internet Crusade provide the best service available at the most reasonable price available. To write off the great team at IC by pointing to their price and saying "I can get it for less" is probably true. Loyalty to clients counts for much in my book.

RG objects:

I think IC gives good service, no doubt. But do not tell me the best service available at the most reasonable price available. How do you know that? Can you prove it that their service is better than any other service in the world?

Mark Jay comments:

OK… so Jack engages in a little bit of "sales puffery" and everybody recognizes his statement as that. Or IS Jack's statement "sales puffery"

I believe that it can be said OBJECTIVELY that IC has the best service for REALTORS available for the money-value-- on the grounds that as a "boutique" niche provider there is no other entity with the list of customer services equal to or equivalent to the services offered by IC. There is no other e-mail/Domain host provider that has anything like RealTalk or e-ProTalk or MLSInformation or AssociationExecutiveTalk to name just a few of the IC services, is there? Is there any other entity providing an educational service like the e-Pro certification on-line of the quality of the IC offering?

As I said in an earlier post… the IC offers the best VALUE to REALTORS. The IC is such a terrific value that you aren't even required to PAY for your participation in the various discussion forums.

But then you may be a paying customer of Internet Crusade and forgotten about the customer service relationship you have. I don't know if IC provides e-mail and domain hosting to each and every REALTOR Board in the US and Canada or even to my board but I know they supply those services to a number of REALTOR boards and that even if I didn't have my domains or e-mail with the Internet Crusade I would STILL be their customer by virtue of the fact that my board uses an IC service to conduct our elections.

Instead of my board sending out six THOUSAND or so ballots at a cost of around $1.00 per piece including postage, and then employing staff time to open each return envelope, tally the votes, carry thousands of torn open envelopes and spoiled ballots to the dumpster… later to the recycling center; an e-mail goes out to each of the members, each member that wants to participate in the election goes to a secure web site and votes. The responsible REALTOR officer simply logs on to the website sees who won and e-mails the results to the winner and the membership. I'm not involved in local REALTOR Association management but I imagine that IC charges for this service and that the charge is less than $6,000 for each election… not to mention the stamp required to get each completed ballot BACK to the REALTOR or MLS Service building. I'm sure the IC doesn't charge what it used to cost. And the ballot and voting system seems "just right"… as it should given that Saul was the head of the San Diego Board of REALTORS around 20 years ago and served on any number of positions within his board and I seem to recall in positions at the state level. THAT background would give him the ability to know EXACTLY what a REALTOR Board would want and tailor a precise solution-THAT'S customer service. And to the extent the cost is less than with a paper and snail mail system I benefit by either lower dues or more board services at the same cost.

…Maybe Saul or John will post a note as to approximately how many REALTOR Board elections Internet Crusade conducts so we can get an idea of the extent of IC "Customer Service" to REALTORS.

Going back to the originating post at the top of this thread… a fellow REALTOR asked where to go to find an e-mail solution. OBJECTIVELY the best answer for a REALTOR fully engaged in the REALTOR business plan is the Internet Crusade. Formed BY REALTORS to provide an unequaled menu of service TO REALTORS at market prices.

Thank you Jack and Mark for your kind words and support.

And thanks to all of our many customers and community members who have "played" and worked with us in one way or another over the years. We believe we have created more than customers, we believe we have created communities, and friendships, and helped others to connect. We know many of you, even though we have never met in person. While this may be common today in the age of Web 2.0 and social networking, we have been at this for 14 years.

Hopefully, for those of you who pay us for services, we have provided you customer service and value. Many of you know that when you have an issue, not only do you hear from our staff, but you hear from one of the three of us as well, by e-mail or even by phone.

How have we funded this? We provide a lot of free service, which I will comment on in a few paragraphs. We have funded it out of the businesses we have made first from e-mail, then from e-PRO, and then from some advertising. With a few exceptional years, it has never been enough to fund the entire enterprise. Instead of raising money from venture capitalists, we borrowed from family, and from each other, and worked 18 hour days, seven days a week…we can all identify with "sweat equity."

We believe that we provide the best service at a fair price, with fringe benefits for those inclined to take advantage of them. We charge what we charge for our services to continue with our dream, the Crusade, connecting people to people who share an interest in real estate. We have staff members that have been with us for many years. We do our best to provide fair compensation, a good working environment with benefits, and an "extended family" atmosphere. We go to great length to be responsive and provide the kind of customer service we would want, and we have taught our staff how important this is for REALTORS.

Those of you who have been our customers and have interacted with our staff can attest to this. You all know Rosemary, or Ian, or Tim, or Mike Brown, or Sean, or Robert, or Ashley, or Keith, or Susan, or Janie, or Sydel, or Danica, or Melissa, or Sarah, or Matt, or Rich…you call them when you have issues. And there are others who work behind the scenes. We may be more expensive than others in some areas, but ours is a holistic approach.

We set out to do this in 1995, believing that the Internet allowed for every individual to be "published." We wanted to give people the means, the context, and the motivation, which we believed we could supply and so we were the first "community organizers" in the real estate industry. As we now say, "we were blogging before blogging was a word."  We've published RealTalk on a daily basis for over 4500 consecutive days -- at least that's what our wives keep telling us ;-)

We work on this seven days a week, holidays and weekends. Yes, it is a passion.

And yes, to be sure, we have been criticized sharply over the years for one reason or another…our choice of technology, or our "opinions" (which often were not our opinions at all, but we made them appear such to get people to write and participate). As we look back, we are proud of the fact that we have provided the ability and capabilities for people to learn and grow with this thing we call the Internet. This endeavor has not netted us great wealth. It has taken and consumed every day of our lives in one way or another since we began the journey, but it is our feeling that it has been successful and someday will be recognized.

We have built InternetCrusade, RealTown, and our communities on core principles and philosophies, working to bring the real estate industry into the age of the Internet. Some people refer to this as "Web 2.0" and believe it is a new concept. We read the book NetGain back in 1994 and have worked in a "Web 2.0 way" since then. The web has always been meant to connect people. At least that is what Tim Berners Lee says…and he is the guy who invented the web.

To get the industry "connected" we tried to remove barriers and objections (such as "our association does not have the money " ). We provide over 200 communities just like RealTalk for local and state associations and even one for NAR at no charge, and have done so for 14 years. Groups such as Boards of Directors, Committees, Task Forces, Presidents, etc, use our technology. We have provided free web site hosting to over 300 associations year after year since 1995. These services require resources…personnel, technology, and connectivity. We provide them to the industry for free…or as I learned from my friend and this year's NAR President Charles McMillan, "at no additional cost."

We also provide online voting services for over 100 associations in the US and Canada. We do charge for this service, but it is customized and the personal service is a big part as each association is different, and in many cases, the association staff is learning and we work to take them through the process.

Now, who are we? How do we know about REALTORS and about Associations and MLSs? We are REALTORS. John Reilly had a successful real estate education business and is a noted real estate author. Mike ran a successful real estate business in Arizona. I owned and operated a brokerage and property management business in San Diego for 25 years and I was president of the San Diego Association of REALTORS in 1993 and have served on and chaired countless association committees at the local, state, and national level (http://internetcrusade.com/Saul.asp) . When associations want someone to facilitate their planning and leadership sessions, they often come to me and I have facilitated these types of multi-day sessions over 100 times over the years.

Our pride and joy is RealTown. If you are not a member yet, go sign up (http://RealTown.com). It is a great resource. Get your friends to sign up. Start your own group, join others, complete your profile, create a blog, submit articles…it is all free ( " at no additional cost"). Be published. Be found. This has been our intent from the start…to bring together all of the undiscovered talent in this industry, for the benefit of everyone.

And one last thing, we are not kids anymore. John is 67, Mike is 63, and I am the youngster, I turned 60 last month.

Saul

Saul Klein

RealTown Founding Member