Northeast Continues with Most Homes Reduced
The Northeast continues to see the highest level of price reductions, with 29% of current listings experiencing at least one price cut – Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire are all seeing over 30% of listings with price reductions. (Regions according to the U.S. Census Bureau)

-Northeast – 29% of listings with price reductions
-Midwest – 28% of listings with price reductions
-West – 25% of listings with price reductions
-South – 24% of listings with price reductions

“With mortgage rates still low and the expansion of the tax credit to trade-up buyers, we could see significant inventory – both new and ’shadow inventory’ – hit the market during the next four-to-six months,” said Pete Flint, Trulia co-founder and CEO. “Inventory levels this quarter are poised to be atypical of a normal real estate market, which could create tremendous pressure on sellers to price their homes competitively and move their property before the tax credit expires on April 30th.”

Cities experiencing significant increases in percentage of listings with price reductions from June 2009 to November 2009 include:

-Kansas City, MO – 59% increase in price reductions
-Colorado Springs, CO – 43% increase in price reductions
-Omaha, NE – 39% increase in price reductions
-Louisville, KY – 37% increase in price reductions
-Milwaukee, WI – 30% increase in price reductions

Cities showing signs of the highest percentage of declines for listings with price reductions from June 2009 to November 2009 include:

-Las Vegas, NV – 34% decrease in price reductions
-San Jose, CA – 25% decrease in price reductions
-San Antonio, TX – 18% decrease in price reductions
-Los Angeles, CA – 16% decrease in price reductions
-Oakland, CA – 16% decrease in price reductions

Luxury Market Still Hardest Hit
Luxury homes (those listed at two million dollars and above) continue to bear the brunt of discounts being offered with an average of 14% being slashed from the original asking price compared to the national average of 10%. Additionally, luxury homes represent less than 2% of all current listings on Trulia, but are responsible for 25% of the $28.1 billion in home price reductions.

For more information, visit www.Trulia.com.

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Brian Buffini
Founder & CEO
Buffini & Company
www.buffiniandcompany.com

Over the past 15 years, I’ve presented to over 1.5 million Realtors at live events and Buffini & Company has coached over 60,000 real estate and lending professionals. I mention all this only to underscore the fact that I have a pretty good feeling for the mindset of the typical agent and our studies have repeatedly demonstrated similar characteristics throughout the industry. One such characteristic we’ve noticed is that those working in the real estate industry tend to get very focused on the problems at hand.

When the market is raging hot, there’s no inventory. When the market gets cold, there’s too much inventory. When the banks are taking too long with our short sales, we can’t get a deal through. When the deal’s closed, the banks aren’t releasing their foreclosures! And today’s major challenge? The appraisal mess.

If I could help agents in any one way it would be this: there will always be problems in this industry—that is why we get paid the big bucks.

Yes, things have been tough; incomes are down and the transactions are taking twice as much work. However, there’s also the other side of the coin. House prices are down…significantly. There are somewhere between 300,000 to 400,000 fewer Realtors to compete with, and housing affordability is the best it’s been in decades.

Now, if you were looking at another industry that had that set of circumstances, I think it’s safe to say the salespeople would be in seventh heaven. If Nordstrom’s reduced its prices by 30%, cut financing by a third and there were half as many stores competing with them, you’d see their salespeople out celebrating in the streets.

But when faced with the same situation, what do we Realtors want to do? Throw in the towel!

No matter what your current circumstances may be, if you’ve survived this economic downturn, you’re already a winner. It’s time to take full advantage of the opportunity this market presents. There will be close to five million transactions in the real estate business next year. Why don’t you go get yourself a bunch?

Opportunity is knocking. Make sure you open the door.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

According to the Move.com survey, one out of eight (12.1%) homebuyers today plan to purchase a home as an investment property, compared to 5.6% seven months ago. Of those interested in buying a home for investment, 15.8% were men and 8.1% were women.

Foreclosure buyers, accounting for 25.3% of consumers interested in purchasing a home, are a major source of potential investment activity for today’s housing market. Forty-two percent (42%) of potential foreclosure buyers regard their purchases as investments, while 57.6% plan to live in the foreclosed home themselves. Foreclosure investors, according to the Move.com survey, intend to convert their foreclosures into rentals (13.2%), fix them up for re-sale (11.3%), or house a family member until the home can be sold at a profit (17.4%). Of the 42% interested in purchasing a foreclosure as an investment, survey respondents ages 35 to 49 (52.6%) were by far the largest demographic.

Expected Profits Gained From Purchase Discounts and Appreciation
The Move.com survey found foreclosure buyers expect to profit from both deeply discounted purchase prices, as well as healthy appreciation rates over five years. Most foreclosure buyers (58.2%) expect to pay 20% or less than market price for a foreclosure, while 38.5% expect a 25% or greater discount. While, 73% expect their properties to appreciate ten percent or more in five years, 28% expect their purchases to appreciate 20% or more during that same investment horizon.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Administration’s Purchase Index, homes have appreciated an average of 15% nationally since 2004. According to the Move.com survey, the most important reasons motivating prospective home buyers and investors to purchase a house include concerns that prices are as low as they will go (23.6%) and the desire to take advantage of foreclosure bargains (18.7%). The second most important reasons motivating property purchases include taking advantage of the great selection of homes for sale in their community (21.2%) and concern interest rates will rise (14.2%).

“This latest Homeownership Survey validates what many had hoped to see in the housing markets – affordable prices and ample inventories are restoring the appeal of real estate to investors while providing opportunities for first-time home buyers to enter the market,” said Move, Inc., Chief Revenue Officer, Errol Samuelson. “In today’s environment, regardless of whether you’re an investor or interested in purchasing a home to live in yourself, residential real estate is a more attractive investment today for many than it has been in recent years.”

Fear of Foreclosure Fades
While foreclosure filings reached record levels in the third quarter in 2009, with one in every 136 American homes receiving a foreclosure filing, homeowners today are actually less concerned that they or someone they know may be facing foreclosure as compared to seven months ago. In March 2009, 52.5% of all survey respondents said they were concerned that they or someone they know may face foreclosure in the next 6 to 12 months. That number dipped slightly to 45.1% in October 2009. According to the survey, fear of foreclosure today is greater among women (49.3%), with people earning $50,000 or more annually (43.9%), and with people living in the South (42.6%) and West (55%). The six states today with the highest rate of foreclosures are California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois, and Michigan. These six states accounted for 62% of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in the third quarter of this year.

For more information, visit www.move.com.

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Most of these landlords (76%) are doing so in an effort to attract tenants, according to an informal survey recently released by the association. This concept not only applies to new renters but the retention of existing tenants as well.

Indeed, 42% of respondents say they are renovating to keep renters from moving.

“With so many homes and apartments sitting empty, landlords want their properties to stand out from the competition. Even if landlords have no rent coming in, they need to bite the bullet and make improvements to put their properties on renters’ short lists,” said Tracey Benson, president of The National Association of Independent Landlords.

Rather than the pricey new floors and stainless appliances that many landlords envision, relatively low-budget investments like new carpeting, a fresh coat of paint and even new kitchen cabinet knobs can make a difference.

“Just about any improvement will make a property look better than one that hasn’t received much TLC,” Benson said.

The National Association of Independent Landlords polled members from Oct. 7 to Oct. 10, 2009. For this informal online survey, 496 landlords, almost all residential, across the country responded.

For more information, visit www.landlordassociation.com.

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“It’s encouraging to see that more and more Americans are making an effort to recycle at home, but there is still a huge opportunity to educate and motivate the remaining third who don’t,” said Steve Russell, vice president, Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council. “Many plastics can be easily recycled in most communities and given a second life as carpet, clothing, furniture, backyard decks, new bottles and bags, and other products we use every day. By making it a practice to recycle, people can help make a difference on America Recycles Day (November 15) and every day of the year.”

Where do the plastic bottles you throw in the recycling bin and the plastic bags you take back to the grocery store end up? Though recycled plastics might be out-of-mind as soon as they are placed in a recycling bin, they are far from out-of-sight. Most people use “second life” plastics in their homes or cars everyday – and many of us may even be wearing them. According to the survey, 82% of Americans know that recycled plastic water bottles can be used to make a variety of items such as lumber for homes and decks, car bumpers, life jackets, sails for boats, rope and even fashionable t-shirts.

To encourage consumers to recycle more, Plastics Make it Possible(SM) provides the following tips for reusing and recycling everyday plastics.

-Find out which plastics are accepted for recycling in your community and where they can be taken. Though recycling options vary, most community curbside programs collect plastic bottles and many grocery and retail chains now offer bins to collect used plastic bags and wraps for recycling. An increasing number of communities are also collecting rigid containers like yogurt and butter tubs.

-Know what to recycle with your bottles. A “bottle” is any container with a neck or opening that’s smaller than its base and includes milk jugs, beverage containers, bottles from salad dressing, oil and other condiments, food jars for items like peanut butter and mayonnaise, and bottles from shampoo, toiletries, laundry detergent and household cleaners.

-Know what to recycle with your bags at grocery stores. When you recycle your bags, include all plastic bags from grocery, retail and dry cleaning stores, plastic bags that cover newspapers, and product wraps from paper towels, napkins, bathroom tissue and diapers.

-Clean and empty. Before tossing them in the recycle bin, make sure bottles are appropriately rinsed and that caps are removed.

-Bring bottles back to the bin. When bottles are emptied away from home, store them in a backpack or briefcase, or simply leave them in the car until arriving home to place in a recycle bin.

-Store bags in a bag. Storing plastic bags and wraps in a plastic bag offers neat, convenient storage. Simply knot the handles when you’re ready to drop them off at your local grocer or retailer.

-Reuse those bags. From trash can liners to pet pick-up, plastic bags can be used dozens of ways.

-Pitch in beyond the kitchen. While many recyclable bottles and bags come from the kitchen, don’t forget to check the bathrooms and laundry room for shampoo and detergent bottles and reuse your plastic bags as trash can liners throughout the house.

-When in doubt, leave it out. Be careful not to contaminate your recyclables with garbage or items that aren’t recycled in your area.

-Bridge the second generation gap. It’s important to remember that recycled plastics go on to become second generation products like carpet, fleece jackets and new bottles and bags.

For more information, visit www.americanchemistry.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For me, the experience was one of confirmation of what I believe to be the future of the real estate industry—Internet-based real estate. The business model, like ours, is a national Internet-based Real Estate Brokerage, where the Realtors work out of their home offices, and as a result, the broker has no brick and mortar expense. In return, the Realtor keeps 100% of his or her commission and just pays the broker a small association fee each month, thereby creating a profit for the broker, rather than an expense.

Two years ago, when we first rolled out our business model in Washington D.C. at the Midyear NAR Convention, the word “virtual” was absolute poison. Brokers and Realtors would come to our booth and literally run when they heard the word virtual. What a change just two years has made.

This year at the NAR National Convention in San Diego, the word virtual was the most exciting idea being discussed. Brokers wanted to learn how to create a virtual environment for the Realtors and brokers successfully. I suspect in the coming year we will see hundreds of brokerages recreating themselves under a virtual banner.

Even the Realtors this year jumped all over the virtual business model. We encountered thousands of Realtors who realized that they can now command 100% of their commissions, and that is now the accepted standard.

Furthermore, what we heard from every Realtor is the reason they don’t go to an office, and the reason they don’t care about an office environment is boiled down to one word: distraction.

The top producers think that when they go into an office environment, they become distracted from being productive. We heard this comment universally from almost every Realtor. Realtors’ insight into their most fruitful working conditions has been an unanticipated end result of this business model.

So, after this year’s convention, I feel that Internet-based real estate was not only accepted by both the brokers and Realtors, but that brokers, such as myself, were no longer the strange broker that lived out there in some mysterious virtual never-land.

The virtual culture is not only the future of the industry, but a huge favor to all the brokers who are struggling to keep their doors open, now that even brand new Realtors expect to keep 100% of their commissions.

This new business model has legs, and it will continue to expand and grow. It will, in the process, make the brokers of our industry financially healthy once again. It will also allow the Realtors to truly be independent contractors who are allowed to keep all of what they have earned.

The virtual culture is a win-win-win for the broker, the Realtor and the consumer.

James A. Crumbaugh III is CEO of Allison James Estates and Homes and may be reached at jcrumbaugh@allisonjames.net.

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Save $25 PLUS get 2-month Extension on e-PRO® Course during November

Take advantage of special savings on the e-PRO® course during NAR’s Designation Awareness Month. Enroll by November 30 and receive a special $25 discount plus take up to 8 months to complete the course – that’s an additional two months, FREE! Discover why 58,000 real estate professionals have already chosen the e-PRO® certification as the best way to assist their clients in the purchase or sale of real estate using technology and the Internet. Register now at http://DesignationAwareness.eProNAR.com for the discounted rate of $334.

Get Exclusive member pricing on a Dell Mini 10 laptop starting at $399, that’s 24% off!

For a limited time only, Dell is offering REALTORS®, through their partnership in NAR’s REALTOR Benefits® Program exclusive pricing for the Dell Mini 10. Stay connected with advanced wireless options and a built-in 1.3MP Webcam. Get yours today starting at $399! Offer ends December 20th.

NAR Installs 2010 Officers

Vicki Cox Golder, a REALTOR® from Tucson, Ariz., was installed on Monday November, 16 as 2010 president of The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® at the association’s Board of Directors meeting during the REALTORS® Conference & Expo here. Approximately 20,000 REALTORS® and guests from the U.S. and abroad attended the annual meeting this year.

For more information, visit www.Realtor.org.

To see last week’s NAR Pulse, click here.

“As of October, the deadline for starting a home that could be completed in time for purchasers to take advantage of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit had come and gone, and builders had no clear sign of whether Congress would extend the credit beyond the end of November,” explained Joe Robson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “However, now that Congress has wisely moved to extend the tax credit into next year and expand its eligibility to more buyers, we hope and expect that this will have a substantial stimulative effect on home sales and help keep the housing market solidly on the road to recovery.”

“Builders were clearly in a holding pattern in October as the future of the home buyer tax credit hung in the balance,” agreed NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “This is not surprising, given the fact that the tax credit had been the primary driver of construction and sales in the summer and early fall. However, the fact that permits for single-family construction remained roughly unchanged in the month is an indication that builders are preparing for the possibility of more favorable housing market conditions in the future. That said, significant challenges continue to confront builders with regard to obtaining financing for viable projects and appropriate appraisal values on newly built homes.”

Single-family housing starts declined 6.8% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 476,000 units, the slowest pace since May of this year. Meanwhile, multifamily housing starts fell by a dramatic 34.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of just 53,000 units – the slowest pace on record.

Combined starts activity fell across the board in October, with the Northeast posting an 18.8% decline, the Midwest a 10.6% decline, the South a 9.6% decline and the West an 8.5% decline, respectively.

Permit issuance, which can be an indicator of future building activity, fell 4% overall in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 552,000 units, due primarily to a double-digit drop-off on the multifamily side. While single-family permits held virtually flat at 451,000 units, multifamily permits were down nearly 18% to 101,000 units.

Regionally, permit activity was mixed, with the Northeast posting no change for the month, the Midwest registering a 2% gain, the South posting a 5.8% decline and the West posting a 6.7% decline, respectively.

For more information, visit www.nahb.org.

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Truitt, a Realtor with Century 21 Elite in Tampa, discovered Showhomes, a home staging company, with what it calls a unique spin on traditional home staging: the nationally franchised company finds people to live in and help stage vacant homes so that they show better and sell faster. Given the declining real estate market, mansions and just about every other type of home are difficult to sell, the company reports.

Showhomes says it staged Truitt’s home and it sold in eight days. “I had an almost full price offer within a week of Showhomes’ staging, and a 25% higher offer than the two offers that had come in previously to the home being staged,” Truitt says.

Showhomes Tampa owner Linda Saavedra says Truitt’s experience isn’t a fluke.

She says the company’s staged homes are selling in a fraction of the time most homes are taking to sell. So are homes all over the country staged with Showhomes’ system, she adds. According to the company, a typical $850,000 home in Florida is taking well over a year to sell in today’s market and the average time it has taken Showhomes to sell these homes is 132 days.

“Recently we’ve had six major success stories with homes that have lingered on the market for over a year,” she says. “Three homes sold within 35 days and two others were contracted within seven days of staging. The home that sold in 8 days has been on the market for over two years and the sale price was 20% more than the offers they received when the home was vacant.”

“Our approach is working,” says Thomas Scott, VP of operations at the Nashville-based corporate headquarters of Showhomes. “We are experiencing similar home sales results in southern California, the Midwest and Northeast. Despite the glut of inventory, there are buyers in the market and they are choosing to purchase homes we have staged.”

For more information, visit www.showhomes.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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The exterior of the Tuscan-inspired home features imported French limestone and Baja Redlands terra cotta tiles that, sited at the top of a lush hillside and surrounded by terraced vineyards and fruit orchards, truly transport visitors to Italy. Approaching via a long, gated driveway and large motor court provides a sense of calm and privacy.

Inside, the opulent great room—with an astonishing 32-foot high ceiling and an open connection to the airy gourmet kitchen—is an ideal setting for intimate get-togethers or lavish bashes. Arched windows wholly capture the light and sights of the surrounding valleys and ocean. Five fireplaces, tongue and groove and exposed beam ceilings, and custom features in marble, granite, walnut, copper, and Venetian plaster provide both architectural interest and touches of extravagance.

Out on the 5,000-square-foot Egyptian limestone deck—which surrounds an exquisite infinity pool, spa and loggia—the refined indoor setting is brought into the open air.

Expected to be completed in April 2010, the five-bedroom, five-bath house will include luxuries throughout, including a high-tech media room, observation deck to best capture the panorama, wine tasting room and barrel storage, and elevator to move easily between both levels. The property also includes additional pads for a guest house, a guard house and a possible helipad.

The estate was designed by respected Montecito-based architect Bob Easton, whose grand Mediterranean and Spanish-style homes can be found in the most desirable areas of California.

For more information, visit www.rockyoaksestate.com.

To submit your Featured Listing, send 300-500 words on the property, surrounding area, and how you’re marketing it to Paige@RISMedia.com. Don’t forget to submit photos and an accompanying URL!

To see last week’s Featured Listing, click here.

-Prepare you vehicle for long distance travel: Check your wipers and fluids. Have your radiator and cooling system serviced. Simple maintenance before you leave your home can prevent many of the problems that strand motorists on the side of the road.

-Plan ahead: Before you get on a highway, know your exit by name and number, and watch the signs as you near the off-ramp. Drivers making unexpected lane changes to exit often cause accidents.

-Do not cut in front of large trucks: Remember that trucks are heavier and take longer to make a complete stop, so avoid cutting quickly in front of them.

-Check your emergency kit: Contents should include: battery powered radio, flashlight, blanket, jumper cables, fire extinguisher, first aid kit, bottled water, non-perishable foods, maps, tire repair kit and flares.

-Be aware of changes in weather: Weather conditions across the U.S. will be changing – especially during early mornings and evenings with the cold. Watch for ice, snow and other weather-related obstacles.

-Keep your eyes on the road: Distracted driving is a major cause of traffic accidents. Even just two seconds of distraction time doubles the chances of an accident. Use your cell phone when stopped and never text while driving.

-Leave early and avoid risks: Leave early so you won’t be anxious about arriving late and to accommodate for any delays. Road conditions may change due to inclement weather or traffic congestion.

-Be aware of truck blindspots: When sharing the road with large trucks, be aware of their blind spots. If you can’t see the truck driver in his or her mirrors, then the truck driver can’t see you.

-Slow Down: With the extra highway congestion due to holiday travel, speeding becomes even more dangerous. Allow plenty of space between you and the cars around you and reduce your speed.

-Buckle up: Safety belts reduce the risk of fatal injury by 45% and are a simple way to increase your safety on the road.

“Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year,” said America’s Road Team Captain Kurt Pedersen. “With so many motorists on the road, it’s important to use caution and patience while driving. Following these rules for the road will ensure that we all arrive safely to our loved ones.”

For more information, visit www.truckline.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

According to the company, with Smartphone applications and websites on the rise, Onboard’s new platform brings the trusted neighborhood content and property listings that it currently provides to leading national real estate websites, to the wireless market. The flexible delivery of both neighborhood content and listings is designed for mobile application and website developers to design custom apps to reach the growing mobile audience through a unique search experience.

Key features of Onboard Mobile include property listings, real-time photo Web service, community demographics, school information, home values, home sales trending, home sales transactions and local establishments. The platform is compliant with the most innovative GPS capabilities, such as the ability to show users the proximity to schools and nearby businesses while they are out touring homes.

According to the company, the Onboard Mobile Platform enables potential homebuyers to do their own research at their own pace. It is designed to give users quick and easy access to virtually any town’s profile – from population, income, housing trends and education to crime statistics, weather, churches, recreational amenities, recent home sales, local restaurants, and more.

“The use of mobile websites and applications is growing in leaps and bounds, especially in the real estate industry,” said Marc Siden, CEO of Onboard Informatics. “It has become increasingly evident to us as we hear from major clients who are focusing their marketing and lead generation strategies on building a mobile presence. Our success with mobile so far leads us to believe that the companies who integrate our content will differentiate themselves from the dozens of competitors entering this space.”

For more information, visit www.onboardinformatics.com.

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According to the company, the new interface and functionality of the real estate MultiChannel Campaign system was designed to combine the ease of automation with maximum control and flexibility over a marketing plan for busy professionals who are trying to connect effectively with today’s consumer. In addition to the two ways to deliver marketing collateral, the MultiChannel Campaign system takes the integration of online and offline marketing even further by allowing agents to set calendar reminders if they’d like to include a personal phone call or visit in their campaign.

Brian Wildermuth, SharperAgent’s president and co-founder believes that this unique capability will change the way Realtors and Brokerages look at their marketing plans. “Multichannel campaigns are standard marketing practice in most industries because it’s the most effective way to touch consumers and generate interest. Before now, putting a sophisticated marketing plan like this into action took a lot of time and even more money. Our MultiChannel campaign system has now put marketing’s best tools within reach of agents at any level.”

The new functionality comes paired with SharperAgent’s extensive real estate marketing library and pre-built real estate campaign templates. With over 50 professionally designed series and more than 2,500 additional marketing communication pieces available, users can find a targeted message for their contacts and use the suggested delivery methods or completely customize the campaign to fit their needs. MultiChannel campaign users will also be able to monitor their campaigns with automatically generated reports on email deliverability and open rates.

For more information, visit www.sharperagent.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Worse, some of the old ways don’t seem to work anymore. Advertising in glossy magazines, yellow pages ads, mailing out calendars and pens or notepads, working desk duty at the office—all just don’t seem to cut it like they used to. You know your own difficulty finding new clients; imagine that you are transported to a place like Wolf Creek, Colorado—a place so remote most people couldn’t find it on a map. Visitors must drive 6-12 hours to get there, so walk-ins are not a reliable way to find new clients.

It was this fear of not having enough real prospects that Poppy Borland faced when she decided to go it alone and moved into her own one-person office In May of 2008. She knew that in order to prosper, she had to be capable of prospecting most of her business because there was not enough foot traffic to her market to assure that she would always have customers.

Where Is Poppy Borland?
Borland owns Two Rivers Realty in South Fork, Colorado; a small mountain town in Southern Colorado of about 1,000 year-round residents. (The town of South Fork has been known as being in the Wolf Creek area literally forever, and people will call this area either name). The town grows to 6,000 to 7,000 in summer and 2-3,000 at Christmas or Spring Break. The 300+ sunny days per year and the sunny and cool summer weather make outdoor activities just wonderful: golfing, river activities, hunting, and riding ATVs in the summer are very popular just as snowmobiling and skiing in the winter keep the visitors coming.

“This is a mostly unknown paradise because it is far off the beaten path,” Borland told me recently. “Our visitors come from Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona in the main and almost all of them drive to get here. That averages a 6-12 hour drive, so we don’t think of South Fork as a weekend kind of destination.” Combine that with the fact that the area is surrounded on three sides by the Rio Grande National Forest and you’ll begin to get the picture that Poppy Borland operates her business in a wild and remote location. This may be remote, but its remoteness makes its properties very valuable, and homes and land sell from under $100,000 to just under $2 million.

A Strategy Born of Common Sense
“I had read many articles about how the majority of home sales began online,” Borland continued, “and I wondered if that would hold true in a remote area like ours. I realized I would never know unless I got a website and tried to make it work. I figured I could get a lot more people to visit this wonderful place online than would ever drive here, and I hoped a few might be so overwhelmed by our beauty and peacefulness that they might consider buying land or a home here.”

Lacking a big advertising budget and having very little technical expertise, Borland started researching how she could supplement traffic to her site in order to always have buyers working. She decided that the Internet would be her main producer of prospects.

Then, reality set in; how could she make that happen? “I didn’t even have a website. I didn’t know anything about how to make one effective or how to make it so that buyers could find it (and me). The more I read about it, the more I became concerned that succeeding online was beyond my knowledge level and budget. I read about another agent in a town slightly larger than mine who had succeeded with the strategy I was trying to employ in an online newsletter. It turned out that she had the very same worries I had and she had decided to hire professionals to help her achieve her goals.

“It’s just too complicated for me to do it on my own,” she said in the article I read. “I’m a real estate agent, not a technical person and for me to try to achieve Internet success is just like a FSBO trying to sell a prime property: it might work, but it probably won’t.” That resonated with me and I decided to follow her lead.

I contacted the company that had made it work for her. They connected me with a really great Web designer who did fine work at a reasonable price so I could personalize my site to be what I wanted. When my site went live, I was really excited (www.wolfcreekareaproperties.com). The company that I contacted initially, CompassSearch, made that site be found by people looking at South Fork and Wolf Creek, CO real estate. Believe it or not, I sold my first Internet buyer in only two months and my commissions paid for my site, my subscription and I had plenty left over. So far in 2009 (September) I have had nine closings—six from my website. I get 700-800 unique visitors monthly, exactly double what it was even one year ago—and I am usually working with six solid buyers all the time. Five of those six buyers come from the website on average. My idea of selling this area online worked and without it, I don’t think I would have most of the clients I have today.

“Not all people who contact me close quickly,” Borland continued. “I closed on a $1 million+ property this week where the buyer contacted me on my website on August 8, 2008, a little more than two months after I contracted with my online marketing services company. It took a year, but he got a tremendous piece of property. Although that contact was made over a year ago, my online presence gets stronger and better all the time and keeps me busy with Internet buyers.”

One Benefit She Didn’t Anticipate: Her Internet Strength Gets Her More Listings, Too
One thing many agents don’t anticipate when making an Internet marketing plan is the huge benefit it brings to a listing presentation and the physical confirmation that presence gives that seller that you are the right party to list with. Here’s how Borland uses her strength online to list more: “It’s really great that Internet buyers from anywhere can find me online, and that reality has enabled me to list far more properties, as well. When doing a listing presentation, I will act like a prospective buyer and search for real estate in the area. Maybe I’ll enter “Wolf Creek CO Real Estate” or one of the hundreds of other phrases I have been found on. When my website appears at the top of the page—number one on Google [from the aforementioned search phrase]—the sellers are impressed. I then go into the back end of my website and show the sellers my website statistics, which convince them that I can bring buyers here from anywhere. Then, when they see how my website is simple and easy to use, they usually list with me.”

It Seems So Simple
Borland is so modest and unassuming that we had to convince her to share her story here: “I wonder if my experience will really be interesting to anyone,” she told me when I contacted her. “This is just a story from ‘County Life.’

Borland might not be so self-effacing about her success if she knew that 95% of all agents fail at online marketing, according to NAR. There are so many good agents out there who just can’t seem to crack the code of how to sell homes online that many have just flat given up at online marketing. “I just can’t catch any luck with that Internet thing,” so many say.

It doesn’t take luck; it takes a good plan, well executed. Make it happen for yourself and never worry about where your income is coming from again.

About the author
Mike Parker advises thousands of agents and brokers on the subject of online marketing services for Realtors. If you want to plan to succeed like Poppy Borland did or if you’d like to request a free review of your website to determine if it can be found by Internet buyers and if it is set up to be effective for you, click here and we’ll review it for you at no cost or obligation.

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“The tax credit has already proven to be an effective means of boosting economic activity,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “We hope that the government’s action to enhance it will have the intended additional stimulative effect that will help get housing and the economy back on solid ground.”

The new law extends the $8,000 first-time home buyer credit through April 30, 2010, giving buyers who have signed a sales contract by that deadline until June 30 to close their deal. A new credit of up to $6,500 was created for repeat home buyers who buy a principal residence if they have been residing in the home they currently own (or previously owned) for five consecutive years out of the eight years preceding the purchase of the new home.

“It’s not just a first-time buyer tax credit anymore,” Robson said. “Move-up buyers, move-down buyers, and others who have previously owned a home can now qualify as well. In fact, close to 70 percent of all potential home buyers should now qualify for some form of the credit.”

Income limits for eligible buyers have also been increased to allow more consumers to qualify, particularly those in markets with a higher cost of living. Now single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples earning up to $225,000 may be eligible. Partial credits are available to home buyers who earn up to $20,000 more than the limits.

A leading source of consumer information on the tax credit is NAHB’s website at www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com, which saw a huge increase in visits in the days after the new law was signed. It provides basic information about the first-time and repeat buyer credits, detailed question and answer sections, and links to additional home-buying resources for consumers.

“The federalhousingtaxcredit.com website had more than 70,000 visits on the Monday after the President enacted the law,” said Robson. “Since the site was established in mid-2008, there have been more than 6 million visits by people seeking information about the home buyer tax credits. That tells you how hungry consumers are for easy-to-understand information on this great opportunity that has been opened to them.”

NAHB estimates that the home buyer tax credit will create 211,000 jobs and generate 180,000 additional home sales in the coming year. It is also expected to generate $9.6 billion in wage income and $6.9 billion in federal, state and local taxes.

For more information, visit www.nahb.org or www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com.

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No!

I’m sure others may disagree with my answer, and that’s to be expected. I never worked for a large real estate company and seemed to do just fine. The key to your success isn’t the size of the real estate company you work for, it’s the effectiveness of your marketing.

If you can generate and convert leads, you can be successful in any size company. In fact, I’d argue that you should start your own company and build some equity in the process of building your business. Why not get paid twice from the same work?

Now when an agent asks me about where they should work, I ask them the following question: Are you a good marketer?

If they hem and haw with their answer, I usually tell them to work for the largest company and try and secure as many deals from the marketing of the company or other agents in the firm. However, it’s important to remember what business this large company is in. They’re in the “agent” business. Their goal is to recruit and retain agents. This goal is significantly different than your goal to sell homes.

I know they run image advertisements on TV. I know they provide great training programs. The purpose of these advertisements is to make the company look attractive to new agents. Buyers and sellers don’t care very much about your company name. They care about what you’re able to do for them specifically.

If the agent responds to my marketing question indicating that he or she is a good marketer, I usually tell them to look for the company with the most favorable commission splits. Use the additional commission income to invest back into your marketing to buy more clients. The company name doesn’t matter; the amount of commission you receive does.

The one thing you should definitely avoid at all costs is thinking that your real estate company is going to provide you with sales. More than likely, they won’t. It’s best for you to learn how to generate and convert leads on your own. This eliminates your dependency and makes you a better overall business person.

Becoming a good marketer is how you eliminate dependency in your business. Once you’ve obtained the skills, they cannot be taken away from you. You can use your skills in any market, any company or in any business. These skills can provide income to you for the rest of your life.

Rob Minton, who reinvented his real estate sales business to sell 269 homes to a limited number of clients in one year, has written a very practical book on how real estate agents can sell more homes. For a limited time, you can download this book for free by visiting http://www.FreeRenegadeBook.com.

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