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Today’s broker/owners are faced with a profit crisis. Agents want to earn the most money and pay the least in costs. Companies are faced with rising costs, challenges of compensation, stripped-down service companies and the ever-present online “do-it-yourself” competitors.

1parkplace CEO, Steve Hundley, will present an educational one-hour webinar workshop on the “5 Crucial Steps Needed to Triple Conversion of Broker and Team-Generated Leads.”

At the height of the real estate boom in the mid-2000s, brokers began realizing that to sustain business for the long-term, they would need to climb aboard the “one-stop shopping” bandwagon. At the center of the full-service real estate model? A mortgage operation. Adding a mortgage component was not only a way to meet consumer demand for a simpler transaction but, more importantly, a vehicle for driving ancillary income and improving profit margins. As this business model met with mounting success, a mortgage operation quickly went from ancillary to core business for many real estate firms. Today, however, as the industry battles back from the housing crisis and the economic recession, and struggles to meet the challenges of a credit-crunched mortgage environment, the question becomes: How can brokers reinvent their mortgage operations and help get buyers into homes?

Real Estate Shrink: You seem to have a lot of big decisions to make. Broker: Yes, I do. It’s overwhelming at times.

Editor’s Note: “Blueprint for 100 Deals or More Than $1 Million Per Year in Income: The exact systems and technology to sell 100+ homes, every year—no matter the market,” is a new book by leading real estate industry executives Alan Shafran and Rick Bengson that outlines how to build your business as well as make more money, please more customers and improve your overall quality of life, whether you are a novice or climbing the ladder in the real estate business. For the next 10 weeks, RISMedia will be running portions of each chapter every Wednesday, highlighting the in-depth information and invaluable resources the authors have compiled in this exciting, new publication.

This week’s headlines from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® include: valuable tools for brokers from Realtors Property Resource™; members enjoy special pricing on HP Slate Tablet; and government plays a role in homeownership. For more information visit www.REALTOR.org.

(eM+C)—Do mobile technologies have different unspoken rules of engagement than traditional print, broadcast or even online media channels? A recent study conducted by Communispace Corporation answers that question with an emphatic yes.

Greg Rand (@gsrand, CEO of OwnAmerica, and host of “Rand on Real Estate” on 770 WABC, discusses with a caller the reality that banks are not tightening their lending standards; they are just following the standard practices that they were using years ago.

Structural engineers get paid big bucks to design buildings strong enough to withstand the damaging impact brought on by Mother Nature's fury. They use computer simulations to help them identify and mitigate stress-fatigue factors, which might contribute to the collapse of the building.

After achieving superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s and winning three, straight College Player of the Year Awards, Bill Walton was destined to become an NBA legend. Known as “The Big Red-Head,” Walton won the NBA Most Valuable Player award while playing for the defending NBA champion Trail Blazers in 1977-78. At the top of his form, Walton scored, passed, intimidated, hustled, and played the role of leader with the best centers of his day.

When times are tough and prospects seem to be holding on to every dollar, your job as a sales manager is more important than ever before. Now is the time to roll out a sales contest to generate additional sales and build morale. Offering a contest to your sales team is a smart business decision on many levels. Contests, by their very nature, infuse a competitive spirit within the sales force and provide an excellent opportunity for management to recognize and reward top achievement. In addition, a contest encourages your sales reps to achieve new levels of personal production, taps into peer pressure and generates a positive synergism within the organization.

More and more people are in over their heads when it comes to their home. In this tough economy, many have fallen behind on their mortgages and don’t know where to begin to rid themselves of the property that they can no longer afford. Real estate agent and short sale trainer Mike Cuevas of Exit Realty and Agent Redefined has five things homeowners need to consider when their home is underwater.

My favorite scene from the original “Wall Street” movie was when Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is in the boiler room, frenzied activity all around him from brokers pitching penny stocks to puny investors, and his phone rings. It’s Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), who says just a few words, and then Bud hangs up

This column describes a personal experience I feel compelled to share, as it relates to working with homeowners in distress and facing foreclosure. A few months ago while on our wedding anniversary vacation trip, my husband Kurt was taken to the hospital. We had just ordered breakfast and were waiting for our drinks when he said, “I am not feeling so good...” After a few moments, we realized that it was serious and we needed to call 911. The ambulance took him to the hospital, where they ran some basic tests—they did not keep him overnight for observation. The doctor came in and shared the test results and sent us on our way and, honestly, we weren’t sure what steps should have been involved at the time to make sure his heart was healthy.

This week’s headlines from the National Association of REALTORS® include: customizable NAR brochures, have your laptop do PR work for you, and flood insurance stopgap extension passes. For more information visit www.REALTOR.org.