Podcasts | Technology Strategies for Real Estate

Jan 2

Windermere - Technology & Today’s Real Estate Transactions

Save the Date! Special Education Event Coming to MOHAI in Seattle on January 24th!

On Thursday, January 24th, Windermere Education is presenting two very special training events at the Museum of History & Industry in Seattle.

The classes are being offered at a special reduced rate of $39 each!

Event 1:
Technology & Today’s Real Estate Transactions
Presented by National Speaker and 2006 Symposium Instructor Amy Chorew and Windermere’s own Michael Fanning
Time: 9am-12pm
Cost: $39
Clock Hours: 3

Class Topics Include:
Active Communication - Only 28% of realtors have email-enabled phones. Stop talking, start communicating. Learn how to take advantage of one minute opportunities to check email that will save hours a day. Find out the ROI on these tools. Explore Instant Messaging - it is not just for kids. Experience how to communicate with the largest group of buyers since the Baby Boomers.

Active Prospecting - Don’t wait for leads to come to you - syndicate your listings on real estate listing portals. Find out which ones work effectively. Keep in touch with clients, prospects and suspects with online newsletters. Buyers are taking longer to purchase, so keep in touch with turnkey products or do it yourself solutions.

Active Selling - Our selling is done online. Give the consumers what they want: photos, creative ad copy that sells the house, and most importantly, VIDEO. Consumers go online before they EVER contact a REALTOR, and 24% of homes sold last year were a direct result of finding them on the internet. Using two free tools, we will create a tour with voice and video - to show prospects the benefits of the home to get them emotionally involved. Learn where to post these videos for maximum exposure for your clients and yourself!

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Oct 19

Writing Effective Ad Copy for Today’s Buyer

According to NAR’s 2006 profile of home buyers and sellers, 81% of consumers go online before ever contacting a REALTOR. Your first showing is online. It is time to renew the online showing of your listing. This is what the consumers sees first.

What we have been seeing is not only do your photos need to be spruced up, but your ad copy needs to be rethought out. Effective ad copy can help the consumer envision themselves in that home. Always remember to ask your sellers for their stories – the events that made that house a home. Try to incorporate those into the ad copy.

Try using WORD to write your ads – it has a great thesaurus to look up other words to describe your property.

Not all of us are writers though. Some of us even type with 2 fingers. Take heart – today’s guest is the CEO of a wonderful ad writing software that is totally online. It is called Writemyads.com. Join me know as we learn some very useful tips on writing effective ads.

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Feb 26

Staging your Home for Success

Staging a home to make it appeal to more buyers has always been necessary now it is mandatory. As we turn from homes selling in days to 75 days on the market we turn from transaction management skills back to the basics of business development and sales. Staging hits the core of our business . . . THE LISTING. Many of us believe without the listing we would have no business. But the listing needs to sell. Leaving the role of order taker to consultant all of us need to brush up on what gets a home sold.

Staging can be that key. Staging is position properties to compete the in the market. Learn the skills to integrate pricing and staging to position properties that sell faster and using at the top of the pricing point. Today joining me is Martha Webb, author of Stage your Home for Success and the CHMS Staging course and certification available nationally. Martha has some simple tips you can put immediately into practice. I hope you enjoy this interview.

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Feb 26

Enhancing your Digital Presence

Amy Chorew The NAR 2006 survey of homebuyers and home sellers once again stresses the importance of certain features that need to be on your website and listings. Your digital presence starts with your photos.Â 83% of consumers found photos very useful, and listen to this, 80% would not click on a listing without photos. So, consider this, NO PHOTO equals NO SALE. It does not take me long to search the internet and find, frankly put horrible photos. I would never look at a home with those photos. So what are some easy tips to improve photo quality?

First of all, take lots of them. You have a memory card in your camera, shoot until it is full. You are bound to get a few good ones. Go check all of your listings online from the eyes of a potential buyer. WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN THE HOME? If not go and take new photos. Change the photos on different sites as well. Donâ€™t use the same one over and over. Have a different one on your website, on Realtor.com and another one on your company website.

Choose a time to photograph when there is even light and the fewest possible shadows on the house. Early morning and late afternoon are often called â€œGolden Timeâ€ because of the warm, horizontal light.

Invest in a tripod. Many of us have a shaky hand or just canâ€™t get the right angle. There is a great one available right now called the goriillapod. It is totally flexible and reminds me of Gumby. It is bendable, wrappable and is small and compact.

Use the horizontal light that is available. Donâ€™t turn on over head lights. Use table lamps the light feels warmer. If there are blinds on the windows, make sure they are all at the same level..

If you must turn on room lights, adjust the white balance setting to match the dominant source of light. Proper white balance helps prevent photos from having a color cast.

If the sun is shining in through the windows, you will have back lighting issues, which fools a digital camera’s built-in light meter. Back-lighting causes the contents of the room to appear dark while the scene outside the window is better exposed. A solution is to use fill-flash.

Click here to listen to a recent Podcast on the same title: Enhancing your Digital Presence

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