Washington State Real Estate Agents

<p> Here are some hot marketing ideas that will cost you little or nothing: </p> <p> *<a title="Free Wikki dot websites" href="http://www.wikidot.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#1E77B9">Wikidot.com</font></a>, How about doing a wiki on your region? Wikidot.com is absolutely free and allows you to even capture revenue with affiliate marketing. A wiki site is one where anyone is allowed to contribute to the topic; some are moderated and others are not. You are allowed up to 5 FREE sites so think of those hot real estate website domain names you can grab because no one has the word &quot;wiki&quot; in the most common domain names. </p> <p> *<a title="Point 2 NLS agent site" href="http://agent.point2.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#1E77B9">Point 2 NLS</font></a> and <a title="Ala Mode Agent Website" href="http://www.alamode.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#1E77B9">Alamode</font></a> offer free agent websites and pretty darn good paid for web sites too. Point 2 NLS has to be at the top of my list for it&#39;s syndication and so much more. Here are my sample websites </p> <p> Point 2: <a href="http://www.methowearth.com/"><font color="#1E77B9">www.methowearth.com</font></a> Ala Mode: <a href="http://www.methowonline.com/"><font color="#1E77B9">www.methowonline.com</font></a> </p> <p> *Network with the Business community in your area: For example offer to place business brochures in your office regarding the neighborhood services and in exchange ask to put your business cards in their lobby. Offer to promote the business on your websites and in exchange (I am in second home luxury market) can I offer a discount to my clients at your hotel and restaurant. Can you recommend me to your clients? </p> <p> *Put an FAQ page on your website answering common concerns, misconceptions and timely market information. </p> <p> *Send out a letter to beautiful homes and exquisite land that you would like to list and explain that as a trusted lifetime real estate consultant, there is never a better time to discuss the future for the sale of a home or land. Explain that it is unwise to wait until the last minute when you are ready to sell, the time is now and the cost is absolutely free. Start building the relationships now as that trusted knowledgeable consultant. </p> <p> *Stop competing for listings, &quot;oh I am sorry I did not know you were contacting other agents. I do not compete for listings, I am far too busy helping the clients that have enlisted my help. Here is my card and if you decide these agents are not a fit for you please give me a call. You see my marketing analysis will span the last two years in the Methow Valley, including Winthrop, Mazama, Twisp and Carlton. It is an extensive research document, and I would have to charge you $300 if you did not list with me. I simply do not have the time to compete for your business, nor do I think you wish to incur the expense of the extensive market analysis. My marketing is so unique and unsurpassed by my talented colleagues, but I am unable to share my unique marketing strategies with you unless you are committed to being a client. Further I must committ my focus to the clients that are enlisted with me.&quot; More times than not a Seller will want what they can not have, plus you are going to let the client know that your marketing is unsurpassed, and you have to stay focused on your committed clients (which will be the truth, if you use this business model). </p> <p> *Make sure to build relationships with other agents in your area. After all they too are your customers and your colleagues. NO one else will know how hard you work and some of the unique issues in the real estate industry today except your peers. By gaining a stronger relationship with the agents in your area, they will be happy to network with you and share their best listings. Plus real estate agents are people lovers and generally a blast to be around. </p> <p> *Internet Internet Internet, make sure you are at the cutting edge in technology and marketing on the Internet or you will surely be left behind in the future to come. </p> <p> *Knowledge is power, take as many classes as you can and don&#39;t even worry about clock hours. I will probably have 200 clock hours each 2 year renewal period and only 30 clock hours are required in Washington State. </p> <p> *Get a professional level digital camera with wide angle, mid range and zoom lens. After all it is all about the photos. Ok I know and admit this is not an affordable marketing idea, but you will never regret the investment for your business. </p> <p> *Base your business on <span style="text-decoration: underline">Always</span> putting your clients first, and the rest will naturally fall into place. </p>

<p> I just recieved notice that I am now a Green designee and the very first in my region. The Green instruction course from the National Association of Realtors and in my case the Washington Association of Realtors gives agents valuable insights into what I believe is the future of the real estate industry. I went into the class thinking hmmm this is a good fit for me because I have always been active in protecting the environment in my area. So I thought why not learn more about helping clients that are interested in having eco friendly homes. What a surprise to see how big Green really is, and what a win win it is for all of us. </p> <p> One of the concepts I really enjoyed was a new 203k loan that is rolled into the Buyers financing to help them rennovate a home they are buying. The lenders can see that by providing truly energy saving rennovations, the Buyer will actually save money month to month in utility bills in the long run, thus allowing them to qualify for a higher mortgage amount. The earth wins, the client wins and we win too because this will help stimulate our economy. There is a special process the home must go through to evaluate the upgrades and cost effectiveness. What does that mean, new job opportunities for people interested in becoming certified in many of the new evaluation programs evolving around environmentally friendly real estate projects. For me the concern is that no matter what you build new, it will impact our footprint. I think if we focus on what we have and rennovate it, well that puts a check in the plus column for lowering impact. I was delighted to discover that much of the focus in the course is on rennovating and upgrading what we have wisely, and cost effectively. There are a myriad of resources available to help your existing clients and new clients upgrade their home to lower our footprint on the environment, save money and help stimulate the economy. WIN WIN WIN </p> <p> It used to be that building green was kinda ugly but no more! GREEN IS BEAUTIFUL. Our exciting field trip to a completely rennovated commercial building in downtown Spokane demonstrated the wonderful ways form and function can be woven together for an absolutely compelling atmosphere. </p> <p> Our great instructor Grace Chiquette has outstanding credintials in this field and I believe she is offering this course again in Spokane in the fall. I highly recommend it to anyone considering getting this timely information. </p> <p> The website for more information about NAR&#39;s Green is <a href="http://www.greenresourcecouncil.org/" target="_blank">http://www.greenresourcecouncil.org/</a> </p> <p> Grace&#39;s Active Rain Site is <a href="http://activerain.com/gracechiquette" target="_blank">http://activerain.com/gracechiquette</a> </p>

<p> There are two concepts to gaining prospects: 1) Go and Get the Business and 2) Get the Business to come to you. </p> <p> If you like #2 then Internet Marketing is where you will want to focus your business plan. Merely getting a website may not be enough. A website that is invisible will not help you to get noticed and capture leads. </p> <p> A)Included in an effective website is IDX which is data exchange with your local MLS. You will need to find a capable data exchange provider. If you find a good one, they will work with you on how to best capture leads and integrate IDX to your site. You will want to make sure that the IDX Provider has successfully helped other members of your mls and are accurately updating the data to their sites. You will want to make sure that the IDX provider will be able to also lock down information for you so that you are the only agent link available and that all leads come to the email of your choice directly. </p> <p> B)You will need an automated system to help you with leads that you do get. Provide an automatic response. Provide automatic email notification of new listings and offer something useful to the prospect so the genuine Buyer and Seller are motivated to sign up. </p> <p> C)You will need an SEO strategy to help you with your on line presence. SEO stands for search engine optimization. You can hire professionals to handle this or you can do your own SEO. SEO can be a very expensive endeavor, but there are reasonable companies out there with good reputations if you are willing to spend the time on research. When you research Internet Marketing Providers, you will learn a lot of great tips and tricks as they dazzle you with their products and demonstrations too. </p> <p> There are companies that will provide just one facet of the Internet Marketing and others that will design, host and service IDX and SEO for you. There are Internet Marketing Companies that specialize in Real Estate and companies that help businesses from many different industries. The great beauty of the Internet is that if you have lots of time and no money, all this can be learned and put together by you. </p> <p> A, B and C are what used to be the cutting edge in Internet marketing and now there are other very important components arising on an almost daily basis. </p> <p> Blogging is now a very effective way to get noticed on the Internet too. Twitter is also a new shorter type of blog that is taking flight. Social networking with Linkedin, Active Rain, face book etc. is yet another effective way to market yourself and the price is right too. </p> <p> If you think you do not have time to do these things on line, just ask yourself how much time do you spend visiting with friends and clients? If your goal is to be in category 2 then you must find a way to manage and organize your time so that you can meet your goals by spending time each day on your Internet Marketing. If you are completely intimidated by the computer your first goal might be to upgrade your computer skills. There are actually some free classes at Hewlett and Packard Website for beginning computer users. Again the price is right. </p> <p> </p>

<p> If you have not heard about the changes that are coming to Washington State starting July 2010, here are some of the highlights: </p> <ul> <li>The educational rules are changing, we will only be allowed 15 clock hours of on-line credit towards our continuing education. Currently we have no restrictions on how much on-line credits we receive. </li> <li>All sales associates will be called brokers. Associate brokers will be managing brokers. Designated brokers will be the only agents with no name change to them. </li> <li>To become a licensed agent a person would need 90 hours of the appropriate real estate education if not licensed prior to July 2010. </li> <li>After July 2010, a designated broker can be so for more than one company. Thus a designated broker might split out the commercial business under one LLC, residential real estate as perhaps a second company or corporation and their vacant land sales under yet another third company. This would isolate each entity from the other and all the legal benefits that would come with that separation. </li> <li>A managing broker can be granted more authority than the previous associate broker designation such as supervision of teams in a large office. </li> </ul> <p> </p>

<p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">It is always a challenge to look for that special</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">Methow</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">Valley</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">real estate while also wanting to enjoy this recreational paradise we call home. For music lovers who would like to combine their search for</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">Methow</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">Land</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">and homes with some summer vacation activities too, we have not one, but two great events coming in July and August.<o:p></o:p></span> </p> <p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">July 17-19 the Winthrop Music Association presents the 22nd Annual R&amp;B Festival. The line up includes the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Mavis Staples, JJ Grey &amp; Mofro, Magic Slim and the Teardrops, and Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band to name a few. Friday night is absolutely free right downtown</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">Winthrop</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">. For tickets to the entire event go to <a href="http://www.winthroptickets.com/"><font color="#800080">www.winthroptickets.com</font></a>. There will be food booths, arts and crafts, and many vendors with a wide selection of food and merchandise. Bring your sun screen and bathing suit as there is a beautiful beach on the</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">Methow</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">River</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">(at the festival) for swimming in hot temperatures. This is always a really fun rockin (very mellow- low crowds) event and many loyal fans (who know just how special) come back every year.<o:p></o:p></span> </p> <p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">As if all these great R&amp; B bands are not enough in our sleepy little town of</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">Winthrop</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">we have a second festival coming up in August and we are so excited. We can not believe legends like Jefferson Starship, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Country Joe and more will be gracing us with their musical talents in a celebration of Woodstock II on the 40th year anniversary. The prediction is that this festival will be extremely well attended by old and new fans alike. Tickets again are at <a href="http://www.winthroptickets.com/"><font color="#800080">www.winthroptickets.com</font></a> with a date of August 21 and 22. <o:p></o:p></span> </p> <p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">On site camping is available too and since the organizers are very experienced, these festivals are very well run.<o:p></o:p></span> </p> <p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">Hope to see you there.<o:p></o:p></span> </p> <p> </p>

<p> I recently moved to a new state and will be re-starting my career as a Realtor. I was fortunate that when I initially started my career it was in a town that I had lived in for 25+ years...now I have no sphere of influence...no referrals. Help, any advice would be greatly welcomed. </p>

<p> Got a really high cathedral ceiling you need to show case? YOu can now have killer photo galleries with this free tool from Microsoft. Remember stiching images together to create pans, here is a link to a slick free program from Microsoft that will create virtual tours for your digital photos. <a href="http://livelabs.com/photosynth/">http://livelabs.com/photosynth/</a> It will take photos in all directions and stich them together for you. Hmmph just when I was thinking of buying an even wider angled lens for my camera. This will save me money and help display those vast rooms at some of the Mountain lodges here. </p> <p> Here is another free service for Realtor members: You can utilize Mongo Fax. As members we are now allowed to utilize our very own efax. As long as you have an email you can now turn any document into a pdf as long as you have access to 1) Fax machine and 2)email. It is a snap to use, you just need to locate the pdf you will need to fill out and then fax to a 1 800 number so the docs can arrive as attachments in your email. </p> <p> Photosynch </p> <p> </p>

<p> Got the invite fine Mary. </p> <p> Now we just have to get more members! I&#39;ll contact the agent that got me involved with e-pro. He&#39;s not showing up in the Real Town search.Guess I&#39;ll just have to drag him in...or is that drop &amp; drag? </p> <p> </p>