Friday, March 20, 2009

AGENT BRANDING FOR REALTOR.COM; renewals due for 2009

VERY IMPORTANT: you have until April 1 to signup for Realtor.com at the $99 price. After that it will increase significantly. If you have listings, you really need to do this

Office Info from Linda!

Hurray!!!! We have a Coldwell Banker Mortgage Advisor – Chris Stevens. Chris will start with us at the end of this month.

We have a contest beginning March 30th – see back wall for information. Yeah!!!!! It’s Time to Play Ball!!
Are you a player? Are you on deck? Are you in the hole? Are you on the Bench?

A 6 week class will begin Monday evening 3.23.09. Begins at 6:00 – will end around 7:00 pm.
All those that are unable to attend sessions during regular business hours are expected to attend. This is for you!

Tuesday 3.24 – no meeting – Company Awards – our office spirit theme is “Celebrate America.” Please wear red, white, and blue to show your Proud American spirit.

Tuesday, 3.31 – make sure you attend the sales meeting. We will discuss new contest and we will be discussing LoopNet (for commercial properties). Techno Wizard Mike Kieffer will demonstrate how to effectively use Cinti MLS portals for prospecting – this is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. Only presented at this time so make sure you attend.

Have a wonderful weekend. I sincerely appreciate everything each of you contribute to our office and company.

Linda Wilson

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Office hours will change in April

Our office hours will change in April. We will be open until 7pm M-Thurs -- rest stays the same.

Realtor Open house

We will be participating in this Realtor Open House Sunday on April 26. Last year’s events were hugely successful with all of us working together. This year the Northern KY MLS will work together with Cinti MLS to make it even bigger and better.

Frog Work Shop - schedule change

The Frog workshop will be tomorrow at 2:00 because I will be at the Roberts Centre in the morning. The rest of the sessions will begin at 1:00 thereafter.

This will be fun and exciting – see you then!

Great article about Facebook's growth spurt with 35 to 49 year olds

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Middle-aged people flocking to Facebook
Business First of Columbus
Propelled by the growth of Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp., social networks are now more popular than e-mailing on the Internet, according to a Nielsen Co. study.
Nielsen said social networking “member communities” are attracting 67 percent of Internet users while e-mail is at 65 percent.
The study found that of Internet users throughout the world, two-thirds visited a social networking site last year. Of those, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook is the leader, with visits every month by three of every 10 Internet users, the Nielsen study reported.
In fact, Facebook had a 168 percent increase in users, the study said, while Mountain View-based LinkedIn had a 137 percent increase. The biggest growth spurt for Facebook has been in the category of users from 35 to 49 years old.
More information on the report can be found here .
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Office meeting notes 3/17/09

Linda passed around a white & yellow pages book that HomePages prints for the West Chester area. Linda purchased the inside front cover page of the new Wyoming version. We will be the only real estate company in the book that will be passed out to all the Wyoming residences. We will also get a supply to pass out to our customers.
The Fairfield & West Chester offices are now merged into a new office at Union Center and the Crestview & Florence offices are also now merged into the Crestview Office.
Where are they today? Our office had 112 expired listings last year. Of the 112 expired listings 61 of them never relisted again. Were they ever motivated? 1 relisted with another CBWS Office, 16 relisted with us again – what does this indicate? 2 relisted with us and expired again, 13 relisted with us again and sold, 11 relisted with a coop at a lower price, 2 relisted with coop at a lower price & expired again, 6 relisted with coop & sold.
If you had 2 of these listings and they expired. If they were listed for $100,000 for example that meant you lost $3000. in commissions plus the cost of color flyers, open houses, the drive to & from the home, phone time with owner and coops, etc.
Fannie Mae can not negotiate fee for selling one of their properties now.
Don’t forget the CBWS Awards Breakfast on March 24 at 8:30am at the Hall of Mirrors at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, 35 W. Fifth St. downtown.
Mark your calendar for April 1 for the “Explore College Hill” at 10AM. Meet at College Hill Coffee Company at 6128 Hamilton Ave. Cost $15. which includes lunch and a tour of Laurel Court mansion.
Also mark your calendar for Thurs. March 26th from 9:30-11:30AM or 1:00-3:00PM at the Indiana Wesleyan University at 9286 Schulze Dr., West Chester for “Lending Lessons & Appraising Grace” with Sean Carpenter. It’s about understanding the financial side of today’s real estate transactions. Increased qualification requirements, stricter underwriting rules and more emphasis on appraisals have another layer of questions & far into today’s home buying process. Sessions are free however seating is limited. Call Susan Trefilek at 677-9777 for your reservation.
Now is the time to be holding open houses. The buyers are out there. We have been having great attendance the past few weeks.
Mike will be doing a class on setting up a client portal in MLS at the next sales meeting on March 31. This is another excellent way to keep and hold on to your clients.
Who wants to host a Home Buyer Seminar? Linda has a friend with another company that put hers on Facebook and got 15 people to attend.
Jim Conway was here to remind everyone that there is an open enrollment for our group insurance plan until March 31. If you have insurance now somewhere else and think you might be going to loose it in the coming year (like another job loss or divorce) you should sign a waiver right now so you will be able to get in the group plan before the next enrollment. Jim also has another new plan with Prudential called “Highest Daily L7 plus”. It guarantees a 7% return. If you want more information please give Jim a call.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

office meeting notes 3-10-09

Steven Rish will be setting up an on line NAR seminar on “Short Sales” in the big conference room on Thurs. (March 12) at 3PM. Everyone is welcome to join Steven.
We want to congratulate Evelyn on her excellent “Service Satisfaction Survey”.
There are some excellent C-Bolt classes coming up which will be set up in the lge. conference room. They are on Wed. 3/11 “Attracting Clients using the Lowe’s Coupon”, On Wed. 3/18 “Phone duty as speed dating” and on Wed. 3/25 - Blogging Basics.
CRS says that 92% of consumers who have a positive experience with a company will recommend that company to someone they know. Spread the word-clients who become advocates for your business can help generate leads and referrals. According to CRS there are 6 principles. #1. Get plenty of feedback. Responses can help agents determine what is working and what needs to change. #2. Share knowledge freely. Realtors who write blogs, contribute to online communities or conduct free workshops tend to become trusted advisers in their community. The more knowledge you share with others, the more people will learn about it and pass it on to others. #3 Build the buzz. To get people talking about your business produce a video testimonial featuring clients who have just closed on a home. # 4. Create community. Agents need to study their customer base to determine which clients are the true evangelists. Are there any clients that keep referring new clients? For those clients who have produced the most referrals, do something special for them. Get them together and reward them for what they are doing for you. #5. Offer bite-size chunks. If clients can depend on the information from their agents to keep them up to date on what’s happening, agents become a trusted source that clients can turn to. Even if clients decide not to use an agent, they may still find the information valuable and pass it along to someone else. 6. Create a cause. Agents need to think about why they are in the real estate business. Do you just want the sale or do you want to help clients improve their lives? Find the purpose behind your business.
Linda faxed you yesterday the latest MLS area sales statistics. This is an excellent tool to use in your listing presentations, share with your bull’s-eye list of clients and anyone that may be in the market to buy a home. This is an excellent time to buy.

Webinar for short sales: 3/12 in our office

Webinar about short sales from NAR. We will be holding it in our upstairs confrence room 3/12/09 at 3pm EST.

Steven Rish will be setting it up.

Commecial Realtor - CE classes

April 16th & 17th CI Intro – Introduction to Commercial Investment Real Estate Analysis – The CI Intro is designed for both residential agents seeking more commercial property knowledge as well as newer commercial agents considering earning the CCIM. CCIMs are recognized experts in commercial real estate brokerage, leasing, valuation and investment analysis. The CCIM business network includes more than 7,500 designees and an equal number of candidates principally in North America, but also in Asia and Europe. CCIMs are backed by a respected education program, as well as superior technology products and business resources. Click here to learn more or to register.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

A few thoughs from our leader, Linda:

I want to sincerely thank each of you for being an important part of our amazing office. Every single person here is what makes our office so very special. I have been in several offices as an agent and as a manager and believe me -- when I tell you -- there is not a better company or office in the entire Cincinnati area. We have the bonds with each other than you will not find in other offices.

The economic environment that we are currently in certainly puts our loyalty and inner strength to test. I know each of you are trying your very best and working harder than ever. I appreciate your trust and continued loyalty. We appreciate everything you do.

Linda Wilsons schedule 3/6/09

I will be in the office only in the morning tomorrow.

Office meeting notes 3/3/09

A leader’s job is to look into the future and see organization not as it is, but as it should be.
Business is picking up. Many of the agents were talking about getting calls now from clients ready to sell and or buy. Perfect time to be calling the people in your bulls eye. Karan Heuer just got 2 listings. One of those listings was vacant so she got her lister to agree to stage the house by saying that the cost of staging is better than the first price reduction. According to magazines today the first floor laundry room seems to be one of the most important rooms to stage. Karan said staging made a big difference in her listing.
Happy birthday to John Ludwig on March 16th and Patrick Retzer on March 22nd.
Reminder that bills for MLS dues are now out and are due on April 1. This time there will be NO post cards mailed out to you but you should have received an e-mail from MLS.
There will be a CE class here on Thurs. from 1-4. Principles of Personal Business Management by Bob Hellebush. This will be the last CE class held here at our office since we will be giving up the lower level by the end of March.
Don’t forget to sign up for the Awards Breakfast on March 24 at the Hall of Mirrors at 8:30AM. Sign up sheet is on side of the mailboxes.
According to MLS in 2008 listings were off 19.3%, sold units were off 33.1%, volume was off 45% and total units were off 13.1%.