Real Estate Virtual Assistant

Branding: What Color is Your Brand?

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:28:29 -0400

Thoughts of the Day... Colors and Branding.

I love color. I'm also in the middle of changing up my branding and stumbled across this great little nugget. Although my colors have been chosen, now I at least know WHY I chose them..for how they made me feel. What do your colors say about you? Is this attracting your target market?

I am the CEO of Creative Agent Solutions.com. My team and I assist real estate professionals in implementing online marketing strategies, Wordpress, social media, and business systems to catapult exposure and dominance in their marketplace, while focusing on productivity and the bottom line.

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

A Wordpress Plugin To Import Your ActiveRain Posts

Thu, 27 May 2010 23:55:14 -0400

Leave it to Jeff Turner and Steve Zehngut of Zeek Interactive to come up with a cool plug-in for Wordpress, the ActiveRain post importer!

Thanks guys!

Via Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows):

A few weeks ago, ActiveRain released a new feature that allowed members to export an archive of their individual blog posts. In the announcement, Brad said, "It's open nature will allow for the development of third-party import tools."

So, I sent the link to my partner, Steve Zehngut, and we put "create a Wordpress Plugin to import ActiveRain posts" on our to do list. Today we tested it and are ready to release it into the wild. You should be aware that the ActiveRain export does not include categories, tags or comments. So, our plugin imports the posts and gives them a category of "Active Rain" in your Wordpress blog. This will make them easy to find. If you're importing your posts into an existing blog, I would import them as draft. The video below will illustrate.

You can download the ActiveRain Importer here.

Let us know if you have any problems with it.

Jeff Turner aka respres

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

Please Join the Fight with Me - Mothers Fighting for Others- Inspire The Child, Change the World

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:18:46 -0400

Monica McNamara is a woman I've gotten the extreme pleasure to know this year. She has generously doubled the fight to help find a new home for 34 Kenyan orphans that Mothers Fighting for Others is tirelessly hoping to build. In a community as close as ours, it's awesome to see othersjoin in. I hope you can too.

Via Monica McNamara (MonicaC@Ocean-CitySales.com Ocean City Maryland):

In August 2008, I attended the Inman Conference in San Franciso. Now how I even happened to end up at the conference is an interesting story unto itself. Earlier that year I had attended an e-Pro presentation given by Frances Flynn Thorsen and Joeann Fossland at our local board office. They inspired me to start blogging. I had been thinking about doing it, but did not know where I was going to find the time. Well, I decided to dive in. I wrote my first post on July 1, 2008 on the RealTown platform. Long story short, there was a blogging contest going on at RealTown to send someone to Inman for the winning blog post. My post won. I was thrilled and enthusiastically jumped on a plane to California with very little notice.

Now I am at best, a very un-techie person, and even though I had a website (static to begin with), since the mid 90’s, I really knew nothing at all. Was I to get an incredible eye opening experience at Inman. I really had no idea what I was going to be exposed to.

The first day I attended the all day blogger’s session, and found myself fascinated listening to a man speak by the name of Jeff Turner. I didn’t know them at the time, but during the session, I was sitting next to Heather Elias and Kim Wood. They were talking about how @respres was such a wonderful guy and a terrific follow. ( I didn’t even know what they meant by “a follow”). I didn’t even know what twitter was. The terms flying around my head were as if everyone was speaking Greek. But I was most definitely engaged and wanted to learn.

So the learning process began. (It’s ongoing!) I figured out how to sign up and use twitter, and I began to follow Jeff. He was extremely informative and was very helpful. Then I began to notice that someone named @headmutha showed up a lot associated with Jeff. Ok, I started to put it all together, it was his wife Rocky. Then I began to read Jeff's tweets about Rocky, and I saw the work she was doing, and I was extremely impressed. Rocky was giving her time doing volunteer work in Africa. Boy was she doing some volunteer work in Africa. Rocky is so wonderful, she started the organization Mother’s Fighting for Others. Their mission is simple. They are dedicated to providing orphaned girls with opportunities their parents would have provided, if they could; a loving and nurturing environment and a quality education, so they can learn, thrive, and achieve their highest potential.

I watched Rocky’s work over the last couple years, and become a true fan, and committed believer in their mission. That is why I am supporting her now and asking that you consider helping. Mothers Fighting for Others is currently raising funds to create a new home for 34 orphaned girls. I have agreed to match funds contributed (via the widget you see here) $ for $ up to $2500 to help them do this. Please step up and help out such a worthy cause.

Thank you for your consideration.

Come and join us on the Beach at

Ocean City Real Estate Talk

Copyright 2010 |Monica McNamara | McNamara & Associates| Ocean City, Maryland

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

How To Add .PDF Files To Your Blog Post and Website

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:26:08 -0400

Another great tip from Brad Andersohn!

I actually have been using Scribd quite a lot the past week adding PDF files to a clients Wordspress real estate website, as well as a clients Facebook Fan page.

It's great for displaying marketing materials or reports on your website, or blog or Fan Page. And any time its downloadable..its a nice way to give out something of value to help consumers remember you. Check it out!

Via Brad Andersohn ~ Community Manager (ActiveRain):

How To Add a .PDF File To Your Blog Post or Website

Once you've learned to add photos, embed video and audio files, create hyper-links and anchor text etc, inevitably you'll want to know how you can add a .pdf file to your Blog post. An Adobe Acrobat .PDF (Portable Document Format) file is a document that typically cannot be edited and is usually created from an original document using the Adobe Acrobat software or similar application. .PDF files can be viewed by downloading the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Adding a .PDF file to your Blog post can be done one of two ways. You can upload the .PDF file to a host server on the Internet and simply create a link to it using the location URL or web address. IE: http://www.DomainName/DocumentName.pdf The second way is to use a program or tool that creates an HTML embed code which you can add to your Blog post or website.

Scribd.com is a site that offers users a tool that lets you upload your .PDF document onto their server, then use their widget/player to embed the file into your Blog post or site. The site is FREE and once you've signed up and registered, the process is fast and simple. The benefits of embedding the .PDF file vs linking to it are that visitors and readers don't have to leave your post or site to access the shared PDF document.

How To Add a PDF File to Your ActiveRain Blog Post

1. Join Scribd.com and setup a Profile

2. Upload your .PDF file to Scribd.com

3. Click on the .PDF File you want to embed to Blog Post or Website

4. Copy the embed code from the "Share and Embed" Toolbox

*Notice the options to share on Facebook, Twitter, or Google Buzz
(You can also create a hyperlink to Anchor text using the Link/URL)

5. Place/Paste the HTML embed code on the HTML tab of your Blog Post.
The code can also be added to your website using your HTML page editor.

6. Save your post or page and you're done!

Here's a sample of a .PDF file I created a couple years ago here on ActiveRain.
Brad's Top Free Online Website Tools and Picks

As an Absolute Last Resort
One last option would be to take a "screen shot" or capture the PDF file as an image (if it all fits on your computer screen) and save it as a .jpg file, then you can add it as a photo or graphic to your Blog post. Unfortunately, even a single page PDF file is hard to display the entire page on a computer monitor or single screen. To capture any computer screen image, use the "Shift+Print Scr" keys on a PC, or the "Shift+Command+4" on a MAC to capture the image. You can always crop out what you don't want in the image using a photo or image editor like picnik.com or Adobe Photoshop. If you'd like a free photo or image editing software similar to Adobe Photoshop, check out Gimp.org.

Download The ActiveRain "HELP" Toolbar for your Browser

ActiveRain University Calendar Real Estate RainCamp The ActiveRain Manual

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

Turn Your Real Estate Wordpress Website or Blog into a CRM Powerhouse

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 15:01:28 -0400

Have you thought about using Wordpress as your main real estate website or blog? Are you concerned about not having the lead capture forms and automated contact management system built in? Well, I might have a solution for you!

I recently moved my real estate virtual assistant website from a standard site, and jumped in and got my own Wordpress blog/website combo. I don't have the need for as many lead capture points on my site, but I decided that I DID need to do a better job at collecting visitor information, needs, wants, and I wanted a way to streamline the process, build my relationships, as well as build in some email marketing capabilities which I hope to add into my action plans as well. I'm no web designer/guru and I didn't want to spend a ton more money on another CRM solution.

In looking over my options I quickly made the realization that there aren't an outstanding number of real estate CRM systems that are quite equipped to handle many of the things traditional real estate websites do, it takes some extra additions. For example the challenges might be:

Adding lead capture forms to your blog that include What's Your Home's Value, Dream Home Finder, Market Stat Reports, or your Company newsletter/new listing alerts
Converting seller/buyer leads from your website to add to Top Producer or Outlook (requires manual input)
Based on contact type you have to input the contact info to your drip campaign, e-newsletter etc.

Before you know it, you are managing multiple accounts for your website and blog etc. That is not streamlining! So, here is the most affordable solution I have found so far, and will be adding it to my online business management systems. By using the user-friendly system Batchbook I can create a customizable CRM powerhouse for my business.

For $9.95 per month I have the ability to:

Create customizable lead capture forms that AUTOMATICALLY are added to my contact management list for that form. (no need to add it to another system).
Automatically create and send email marketing campaigns through my Mail Chimp account (Mail Chimp is free up to 5000 emails a month, with upgradable accounts).
Track communications of my contacts and create TO DO lists.
Import and Export my Outlook and Gmail contacts.
Enter information such as Twitter usernames, Twitter feeds, blog feeds and LinkedIn profile URLs (plus many others!) on a contact record.
Log emails, phone call notes, or any other communications with your contacts.
Use a list to easily generate mailing labels, export, or back up your data or create customized, printable reports from your contact data. Use these reports to generate call lists, add to presentations or to take notes when you’re traveling, in the field, or working off-line.
Super-Tag your contact types so you can easily sort them by birthday month, anniversary, buyer, seller, past client etc.
Have your emails delivered to your mobile iphone, Blackberry or smartphone with the email forwarding so you never miss an email from a lead.

If you are thinking about your current CRM system, or need something to enhance your Wordpress blog or website, (or another web platform) and need a great way to streamline, I definitely recommend taking a look at Batchbook. (and check out my sleek capture form below as an example..its easier than adding a widget!)

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

In 3 - 5 minutes, you can help make a wish come true today

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:30:50 -0500

Sam, we're going Viral baby!

Folks, please read re-blog of Mary-Pope Handy's blog. We want Sam's Team to be 5000 strong by St. Patrick's Day!

Via Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES, ASP (Sereno Group Real Estate):

Sam Callahan, the son of a Realtor (and my friend & Active Rain member) in Silicon Valley, is 14 years old and has cancer which is not responding to two different types of chemotherapy. His cancer, Ewing's Sarcoma, had metasticized before it was discovered on September 22nd.

Sam writes about his battle with Ewing's Sarcoma on the Sam's Team website: http://www.samsteam.org/About_Sam.html He is an amazing 8th grader with a good attitude who wants to beat this thing. If you read his "about Sam" page, you'll find he's a great writer, too.

Normally, we can feel very helpless to "do anything" besides offer our compassion, thoughts and prayers.

But this time, there IS something you can do, and it only takes a couple of minutes. It may not change how he feels after radiation or chemo, but it will lift his spirits and those of his family and friends to see an outpouring of support. And it will help Sam and his family to make a little goal they've set up for themselves.

In addition to the website, Sam's family & friends have a "fan page" on Facebook. It's called I'm On Sam's Team. Their modest goal is to have 5000 fans by St. Patrick's Day. I'd like to help them get there. As of this moment, they have 2608 fans. They want people to know about Ewing's Sarcoma and they want people to know about Sam and his battle with this cancer.

What To Do: So, my Active Rain friends, I know a lot of you are on Facebook. If not, this might be the right time to join!

Please take a moment and log into Facebook.

Go to the Search bar and key in I'm On Sam's Team

At the very top, in the middle, there's a button which says Become A Fan - click on it

That's it. How easy it is to send some support and encouragement! Of course, read through the website and the FB page too! But it only takes a minute to "fan" a page.

Just to reiterate, Sam is someone I know, it's not one of those fake internet hoaxes and he's part of the real estate family (his dad's a Realtor). Join us on Sam's Team! Please re-blog!

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

Custom Build Your Real Estate Business Model with a Real Estate Virtual Assistant

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:00:50 -0500

2010 is looking to be a fantastic year as a real estate virtual assistant. The beginning of the year is (or just before) is always a busy time to listen and consult with possible new clients and other real estate professionals seeking to make some real changes, try out a VA, or are just desperate for some help.

During that time its typical to hear many of the same questions, and some questions usually leads us down a path of conversation that is unfamiliar to many agents, that comes after “How many clients do I have?” and “What do I do for them?”

Answering that question can be hard because every client has a slightly different business model, market & location, and needs. So the answers vary. That got me to thinking. How do you see a virtual assistant fitting into your business model?

I work with real estate Teams, Brokers, Top Producer’s, New Agents all with varying needs. So let’s break it down just a bit so you can see how a VA can be customized to fit your business model, and what to look for when interviewing VA’s.

Real Estate Teams: Virtual Assistance for real estate Teams is a VERY collaborative effort on everyone’s part. Communication and systems are an absolute must. There usually must always be a team manager that leads in the delegation or it should be broken down into areas of delegation for different members of the team. Calendars, planning, and conference calls are plenty. Your VA should be aware of how your team works together, and is not easily overwhelmed with working with different personalities and work styles. If learning technology is difficult for most everyone on the team, an in-office support team member might be a good first choice.

Broker Level: Communication and goal setting should be clear from Broker to Agents. Virtual Assistance at the Broker Level might mean seeking a VA with a Multi-VA Team, not a sole VA. However, a VA can be the center of your online and offline management, coordinating transactions, achieving your standards for marketing, and offer additional suite of virtual tools to aide in recruiting. A VA can also be available for any joint company branding, marketing and social media efforts. Once again processes & systems must tied and true to be the most cost effective, but a VA can help bring it all together in your office.

Experienced Agents: Experienced agents may not have the need to re-create the wheel with systems, many are in place, but streamlining, and advising on old, tired marketing practices and vendors is key. Keeping on top of technology, implementation and becoming more efficient with online practices is key to partnering with a VA.

New Agents: Starting from scratch and getting off to a great start can be a challenge in the industry of real estate for a new agent. Building a brand that is identifiable, and individual & separate from your franchise is key to building a business that will stand the test of time and carry you through the ups and downs of real estate. A VA can help you decide and expedite a plan for your investments into your marketing, websites, blogs and other necessities. They can help match your work-style to the social media that compliments you, and enhances your relationships online & off, builds your Sphere of Influence, and helps you manage and start your database.

Business Models can be further defined by niche models like Luxury Home Agents, and Foreclosure Agents for example.

As you can see, the needs can be broad for your business model. Knowing where to start adding in leverage, support and productivity does take some time and thought, but you’ll know when you have found the right match when your VA can help you customize and grow your real estate business model.

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

Zillow Announces Rental Listings!

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:17:48 -0500

This is really cool!!! Whether you are a homeowner wanting to rent your home, or an agent who has rental properties, having a comprehensice place to find rentals, compare prices, and see rentals on a mpa is just something that Craigslist doe not offer! Judos to Zillow!!!

Via Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow):

I have an investment property in Florida. In the last three years, twice I’ve listed it for sale. Twice I’ve ended up renting it. Twice I’ve relied on my agentto help me with the decision making that took me down this path to simply get the home occupied. It is a big reality that today’s real estate market is forcing many people, like myself, to wear the landlord hat because of market conditions.

Today I am excited to announce that Zillow is expanding its marketing services to not only include homes FOR SALE, but now also include the ability to market homes as being FOR RENT.

Zillowhas always been a little different than other real estate sites because our foundation is a data base of ALL homes, not just homes that are currently on the market. Today we have about 93M property records on the site, with about 3.6M of them having been flagged as being for sale. Because of this, we get people in all stages of home ownership, from renting to buying to owning.

According to the U.S. Census American Housing Survey 2005, there are 34M rental households in the US, with 53% of rentals being 4 units or less and 30% being single family homes. And when we look at the 8M+ people that visit Zillow each month, nearly 1M of them are exclusively renters with untold others “on the fence” on whether to buy or rent.

So what is Zillow’s new product?

Zillow offers a Featured Rental Listing for just $9.95 for 180 days. Featured Listings are sorted to the top of search resultsand receive six times more views than non-featured listings.

Rich rental listings can be created with unlimited photos and detailed property information, and you only have to post this information once for up to 180 days.

How will people find my Rental Listing on Zillow?

Of course we’ll have the standard search, but we couldn’t just stop there.

Zillow has built the industry’s first search by monthly payment– allowing users to simultaneously search for homes for sale and for rent based on a monthly payment they can afford. (monthly payment on homes for sale will be calculated using that day’s mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage rate, assuming 20% down)

Zillow’s goal is to help people make intelligent and informed choices in all stages of life – whether they are renting, deciding whether to rent or buy, shopping for a home today, refinancing, remodeling or just dreaming. With the addition of rental listings and search, we are giving our users another tool to help them throughout their decision making process.

Click here to experience the For Rent search on Zillow.

Announcement on the Zillow Blog.

Post a home for rent.
Like what you're reading? Then subscribe to my blog and be notified when I post something new.

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Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

If you want to go Virtual then here are some tools I highly recommend.

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:48:23 -0500

Broker Bryant is a Broker that rocks his business by being virtual, and utilizes the tools and technology that streamline his activites for the highest productivity on his part. The man has got it going on! Below are some of his MUST HAVE tools. Check it out!

Via Bryant Tutas-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc:

Hi folks, As most of you know I run a virtual real estate office. What this means is that my associates and I all work from our homes. I do most of my business over the Internet. I rarely talk on the phone. And I rarely show properties.

I list Florida properties for sale without ever meeting the Sellers and I sell Florida properties without ever meeting the Buyers. This is my preferred way of handling business. I mostly communicate via email and text messages.

I have found that conducting business like this is very efficient. I am able to spend more time communicating with my customers because I am not wasting time driving around looking at properties and talking on the phone for an hour when an email would deliver the same information.

The other advantage of handling communications via email and text messaging is that there is far less confusion. I rarely have to deal with “he said she said”. All I have to do is pull up the conversation thread and everything we “said” is right there in writing. No confusion. No mistakes.

Here are a few tools I couldn’t live without.

Gmail. The labeling feature in Gmail is my filing cabinet.

GoogleDocs. Everything I need online and there when I need it. I can also invite others to edit the same document. And don’t get me started on Google forms. The best thing since sliced bread.

Picasa and web albums. How would you like it if you asked the listing agent for additional photos and they could connect you with an album online that had dozens of them?

Scribd.com. What if your Seller can’t receive a 100 page attachment? Just upload the document to Scribd and send the seller a link.

Skype. Do a lot of International business? $12.95 (or so) a month and I can call anywhere in the world. I can even talk via webcam.

PDFill.com. Can’t afford Adobe Professional? Try this one for a one time fee of $12.95 (or so). Never use your printer again.

Google Groups. Need a FREE meeting place for your team? Go check it out

Veoh.com or YouTube for sharing videos of properties.

OK. That’s it for now. I have many more tools that I use everyday to make my life easier and less time consuming. My goal for next year is to be able run my entire Florida Real Estate business from my iPhone. How cool would that be?

***If you are an experienced agent and want to work for a virtual real estate company then check out my company site at www.TTRealtyNet.com.

Copyright © 2009 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

Brian Gardner Designs a NEW Wordpress Theme Just for Real Estate Agents & Brokers

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:03:19 -0400

Brian Gardner with Studiopress.com has been one of the masters of WordPress Theme designs for quite a while now. His designs are know for having "clean code" which in itself creates the optimum environment for having great search engine "readability". He has once again created a new theme, only this time its specifically with the Agent or Broker in mind!

AgentPress.com just launched today, and even more exciting is that he has teamed up with the MyTechOpinion Team to help develop theme content.

Check Out the Demo to see for yourself! If you've been considering using Wordpress for your outside blog and need a clean, elegant design the AgentPress theme has amazing built-in features, is SEO optimized and allows you to combine a compelling platform to market your listings, your blog content all is one stunning package!

For more on the advantages of using Wordpress for real estate websites..this is good reading!

Thanks Brian for designing another awesome theme!

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

FREE SEO Tool for ActiveRain Bloggers and Outside Bloggers!

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:53:28 -0400

As a blogger here on Active Rain it's obvious that we get excited over SEO, or free search engine optimization tips and tools that will make our lives easier. We put a lot of thought of thought into drafting and organizing posts that will help make our blogs easy to find by consumers using our keywords to search what interests them.

What if you could have a handy keyword tracking tool, right next to you, guiding you as you write a blog post? Well, now you can!

If you are a Firefox browser user, there is a new add-on called SEO Blogger that sits in your sidebar as you write, and optimizes your post by allowing you to pick your optimized keywords, and it will keep track of how many times you insert the words or phrases for you! (as you can see I've selected some keywords to use in this post, and it is keeping track of them for me;) You can use this search engine optimization software for your ActiveRain blogs and for your outside blogs and others like Wordpress. It's a great way to save time while blogging!!

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

Time To Dump The Desk??

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:36:35 -0400

LOVE this blog from Clint on going mobile...and all the tools you need to get started. No need to be tied to your desk..and when you need to leverage some assistance..a real estate virtual assistant is ready to go!

Via Clint Miller (Real Estate Client Referrals, LLC (RECR)):

With the real estate industry evolving at the rate that it is, many agents have adapted to include the ability to be as mobile as possible. Gone are the days of meeting at the office or heading back to the office in order to get anything done. In fact, a good number of agents don’t even have an office. Their office has 4 doors, not just one…and it sports 4 wheels and bucket seats.

There is a mindset that needs to be adapted in order to effectively go mobile. You have to be really self-motivated. And, you have to realize that when you leave your house, you are working. You must also be able to be in contact at all times. And, you must be able to access anything you need at any given point in time. With that in mind, there are several things that one must possess in order to master the art of mobility:

1.    A good smart-phone – Don’t be cheap! Get a good smart phone…an Iphone or a Blackberry. And make sure you have a good data plan (I prefer the unlimited versions). More important than that, make sure you take the time to learn how to use it and put the tools available to you to your best advantage! There is no point in having it if you aren’t going to take the time to learn to use it.

2.    A good laptop – This pretty much goes without saying, but…when you get a computer, get something that seems to be WAY more than what you will actually need. That way, you won’t have to get a new one in a year because the cheap P.O.S. you bought isn’t big or fast enough. Get the super-gigantic hard drive. Spend the extra money for a hefty RAM upgrade. Also, invest in an external hard drive for back-up. Laptops are not that rugged…and are prone to injury. They are also prone to be lifted by unscrupulous individuals, if given the chance. Losing all your data will suck far more than losing the laptop.

3.    A flip camera (or digital video camera) – These will automatically make themselves a useful tool the first time you have to preview a home or make an online tour of a new listing. I would recommend you get both a video camera…and a still frame digital camera. Both have distinct advantages depending on the need.

4.    Docusign – Or, some form of reliable electronic document signing and processing software. (If you don’t know what Docusign is, hit up @Docusign on twitter. Tell her @TheRealClint sent you.) This is an absolute requirement. This way, you can sign offers, amendments, contracts, etc, right on the computer and then email them wherever needed. This way, you don’t have to worry about printing documents, having to get the required signatures, making copies, etc. From a time management standpoint, this ability to eliminate these types of useless delays is a major advantage.

5.    GPS – Clients can tend to be a bit uppity when you miss appointments because you got lost on the way there. And, nothing is more embarrassing then having them sitting in your car and not knowing how to get to the next home they want to view. Besides, you’re not a taxi. This isn’t a pleasure cruise. Get them where they want to be and do so in the quickest, safest way possible. Again, avoiding useless delays will be rewarded.

6.    MiFi or USB mobile broadband card – Again, don’t be a cheapskate here…get the mifi if it is available in your area. You will not be sad that you did. If not, make sure you have some form of broadband air card. You will need access to the internet on a screen larger than 2in X 3in at some point in your mobile career…and having one of these will make it much easier than trying to pirate wifi signals in hotel parking lots or having to find a Starbuck’s.

7.    A portable printer – Yes, a printer. That way, you can immediately print copies of documents and provide them to all parties in an extremely timely and efficient manner. Your clients will appreciate the added touch.

Remember, this isn’t just about mobility. This is about professionalism as well. Your reputation is on the line here. And, since you aren’t in an office, you had better be as good as possible because there isn’t any coffee pot to direct them to or free cookies to have them munch on while you get your proverbial "poop in a group". Don’t attempt to go totally mobile unless you plan on NOT falling victim to inadequate equipment and preventable delays. Both of which will cost you in the long run. If you are going to be mobile, you have to be able to handle any situation at that moment (as much as possible, anyway). And, these little technological marvels will make your life MUCH easier along the way.

If you would like more information on Real Estate Client Referrals and how we can help you get more clients, please contact Clint at 800-977-7058. Or, hit our fanpage on Facebook!

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

8 Ways To Use Photos To Promote Your Business Online

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:38:58 -0400

When potential clients are getting ready to relocate they start a search usually well in advance, and decide on a community before a home. Kevin and Monica have a brilliant way to create a community that comes alive online. They would be my first choice when it comes choosing an agent or referring one!

Via Kevin & Monica Ray Missoula Real Estate Specialists (Access Realty www.YourMT.com):

8 Ways To Use Photos To Promote Your Business - and best of all, most of them are FREE or LOW COST!

I didn't start out as a photographer, and I still wouldn't consider my photos "professional quality" although I see marked improvement each day. Since I've been in real estate, and especially since I started blogging, I have found that I really enjoy taking pictures of my community, events, and of course, of our listings. And, over the past two years, I have accumulated quite a collection of local photos on my computer which have been extremely useful for our marketing.

I take my camera everywhere I go and even have a small digital camera that I carry in my purse so I'm always ready when the "right shot" presents itself. Our whole family enjoys photography so it's become a great family activity.

Here's some of the ways we use photos in promoting our business:

1.) Help Sell Your Listings - The most obvious of course, is to help sell our listings. Most buyers are starting their search on the Internet and they want to see photos and virtual tours of your listings - the more the better. They say a good photo is worth a thousand words, and that is definitely the case in real estate. One thing that made a big difference for us was investing in a wide-angle lens which helps photograph small spaces.

2.) Improve Your Blog Posts - Blog posts are more interesting to readers when they have appropriate photos. Developing your own collection of photos will help improve your blog and can save you money if you don't have to buy stock photos or clip art.

I subscribe to Gerry Khatchikian from Red Lodge, MT on ActiveRain, he is able to use his photography skills to create a lot of interest in his area and his blog! He even has some photo quizzes that are fun. Check out Gerry's blog for some great examples of using photos for blogging.

3.) Get Into Video - You can create a local video with your digital still photos in a matter of minutes. We like Real Estate Shows but there are other great sites out there that will help turn your photos into a short video. We also use a Flip video camera for some videos but still like to use digital stills. Once you create a local video, Real Estate Shows will upload it directly to your You Tube account, or you can save the video to your computer and create CD's or upload to other websites or blog posts.

4.) Create a Photo Blog of your local area and post a new photo on a regular interval. We started the photo blog I Love Missoula a few months ago and have seen a huge increase in traffic to the site, which also links to our real estate site. If you tag your photos and use key-word rich titles, it will help optimize your search engine results.

We allow people in the community to submit their photos to us by email for possible use on the website. We are starting to get community photos and always give the sender credit, thanking them on the site.

5.) Post to Facebook - it's easy to create a photo album on your Facebook profile, so how about creating one of your local area? We have a photo album on Missoula, Missoula Nightlife, and Montana Living.

Another creative way to use your photos on Facebook is to create a Fan Page for your local area. You can post local photos and videos to your Fan Page OR submit a link to a great photo on your photo blog or regular blog. Fan Pages are easy to set up, and the best part - they're FREE!

Here's one of our Facebook Fan Pages - we have over 4500 fans in a short amount of time:

Missoula on Facebook

6.) Set up a Flickr Account - Flickr does an amazing job with search engines, and is a great way to showcase your photos. One important note however is to make sure you understand Flickr's Terms of Service - before you create an account - or you may end up disappointed. Flickr does not like the use of its site for commercial purposes. Make sure to read Matt's post, and understand what is and is not allowed on Flickr:

A Stern Warning (or lack thereof) Flickr is Watching You by Matt Stigliano

On Flickr, you are able to Geo Tag your photos so they will be even more likely to show up on Google when someone searches for that area or location. Groups are also helpful to join for networking and to gain exposure for your photos.

We have contacted local photographers on Flickr and asked for their permission to include one of their photos on our Photo Blog with a link back to them and have had success. Many times, people are flatttered by the request and it also helps to build community for your photo blog.

Flickering Local Photos - You Engaging Others (YEO) by Jeff Turner

7.) Upload Photos of Local Businesses & Food to rating sites such as Yelp.com. We use this as an opportunity to try new restaurants and just take a few quick snapshots on our visit. You can rate your experience at the restaurant or business and upload your photos to help people in the community get a feel for the location.

The photos can also make a great blog post down the road - I love photos that I can multi-purpose! We've turned this into a bit of a game and use it as an excuse to order a great dessert occasionally or a special drink.

Here's Our Review for Our Lunch at The Superior Soda Fountain

AND a Blog Post

Stop For Lunch at the Superior Soda Fountain

8.) Twitpic your photos or post them to Posterous - People love to look at photos and I'm still amazed at how many people click on photos when I send them across Twitter. Kevin uses Twitpic but I use a Posterous site that I set up - Missoula Real Estate.

Posterous tracks how many people view your photos and allows you to set it up so you can email a photo from your phone or computer to the site. Posterous can then automatically post your photo to your Posterous Blog, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr accounts - I told you, I LOVE TO MULTI-PURPOSE MY PICTURES! :) Posterous is a great way to automate posting to some of your sites.

It's fun to be creative in your marketing with the use of photos, and there are so many possibilities!

How do you use photos to promote your business? I'd love to hear what others are doing as well!

****************

Kevin and Monica Ray are Missoula Real Estate sales and marketing professionals for Access Realty in beautiful Western Montana. We provide services in, but not limited to: Missoula, Superior, Alberton, Saint Regis, Lolo, Clinton, Turah, Potomac, Florence, Corvallis, and Hamilton.

For more information on Missoula Real Estate or surrounding areas, they can be reached at 406-207-1185 or online at www.AccessRealty.net.

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Considering a Real Estate Virtual Assistant? Know What You Are Paying For? Read & Learn

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:24:37 -0400

So you've heard about using a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, you've heard how its a great way to amp up your productivity and allow you to do more business.

You've heard that you can use a VA only when you need one..sort of pay-as-you-go and that sounds like it actually might suit your budget. All you need now are some hot prospects and to shop some pricing and rates..easy enough. You are are sure you can find your VA for $10-$12 an hour real quick.

But...you get a rude awakening. Your ideal VA is going to cost you between $30-$55 an hour, depending on the service.

Why? I bring this up only because of a common MISCONCEPTION. The word "assistant" is giving you the wrong impression.

Running a real estate business takes business savvy. Tech savvy, Marketing savvy, Financial savvy, Internet savvy, Social savvy and think outside the box savvy. It takes alot of talent to keep the momentum going..contacting leads, managing your database well, planning and EXECUTING marketing campaigns, learning all the new technology and staying on top of your online precense. All of this is an investment in your time..time that could be overwhelming you, to the point that you are having a hard time keeping up the momentum. I won't even mention balancing your people skills, phone skills, sales skills..that is your department.

So in the corporate world, busy executives like you know that having team members that can handle some of the time consuming tasks is what it takes to be the best CEO of their companies. They don't do it all. They have people. Talented and effecient people. Let's take a look at some of the salaries of these talented individuals who keep the CEO on top of his or her game.

From PayScale.com

Executive Assistant: Salary: $40,000-$60,000 annually plus benefits

Internet Marketing Specialist: $50,000-$70,000 annually plus benefits

Social Media Marketing Manager: $60,000-$120,000 annually plus benefits

Transaction Coordinator: $30,000 annually

Webmaster: $45,000-$55,000 annually

Photoshop Professional: $40,000-$55,000 annually

Website copywriter: $50,000-$60,000 annually

Add in for free: real estate knowledge, training and experience

The above positions are the basic specialties that you will find in my particular business and many VA's like me. We are trained, we are experienced and we run our own companies as our own CEO's. We pay our own taxes, our own insurance etc. just like you. We pay for our office equipment and supplies. We pay for our training. All of it..just like you! We are worth our pay-scale just like you!

40 hours per month with a VA is an average of $1400. $1400 equals $16,800 a year. No employee taxes, no office equipment, no benefits. So when and if you start looking for your "assistant" ....get that word out of your head, and look at what you are really getting. You are getting a full fledged professional who takes their business very seriously..as much as you do.

Get to know your partner, they will get to know you, and after a while you will be amazed at the fabulous and effecient business you are running. Partnering with a real estate virtual assistant is an investment, an investment in you!

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

Selling Real Estate Virtually.............

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:08:09 -0400

I think Broker Bryant and I were on the same "Virtual" kick today. I couldn't let this one get by..because he get's it!! The Virtual Real Estate Office business model is here, andf those that embrace it will continue to evolve with the technology!

Enjoy!

Via Bryant Tutas-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc:

Hi folks. Earlier this week Fernando Herboso wrote a post titled “The Future of Real Estate….I experienced yesterday”. If you haven’t already please take a few minutes to read his post. I’ll wait…………. OK....are you done?

Fernando's post is talking about having a real estate closing where the only time he met the Seller was at closing. The transaction was done mostly via email.

I was surprised in the comments of Fernando’s post how many agents thought this was risky or that it wouldn’t work. This has had me thinking for days now.

It’s made me realize how cutting edge my business model really is. My company Tutas Towne Realty is a virtual real estate business. What this means is I do not have an “office” and about 90% of my business is handled over the Internet. Selling and buying real estate with folks we have never met or spoken to.

In the last 30 days we had 10 closings. 9 Buyer sides and 1 listing side. Of the 9 Buyer sides we had actual "face to face" contact with ONE Buyer. I did meet the Seller although I hadn’t seen him in several months.

Out of the 8 Buyers, we didn’t meet face to face, we only spoke to ONE of them. All other communications were done by email only. Including the closings.

We showed ZERO properties before the offers were accepted. All offers were presented on properties we had not seen. They were foreclosures, short sales and some were regular listings.

The customers ALL got the properties they wanted and are extremely happy. We didn’t waste their time and they didn’t waste ours.

So you’re probably wondering how we do this. It’s simple. We market for experienced and qualified Buyers that are mostly out of the country. They are familiar with the area and they trust us to guide them in their purchase. We are brutally honest with them and we have systems in place to protect them.

We do “see” all properties before contracts are finalized. It could be me. It could be one of my agents. It could be one of our inspectors. But whoever it is we make sure to do a complete photo and video shoot that we then send to the Buyer.

We utilize Scribd.com to “send out” Short Sale Listing Packages.

We utilize Google Docs to get leads for Short Sales, for Buyers, to get offers and to pre-qualify and arrange showings.

I have numerous web sites set up to capture business. All potential customer/clients know how we work and have the option of not working with us.

So quit fighting the future and embrace it. If you think all Buyers and Sellers must see you “face to face” to do business then get over yourself. They really just want to buy and sell real estate. AND….they want it to be easy.

Want to learn more? We also use Google Docs for recruiting……

Bryant Tutas
Broker/Owner
Tutas Towne Realty, Inc
Licensed Florida Real Estate Broker
http://CentralFloridaShortSales.com

http://ShortSaleSuperStars.com

***The content of this blog is solely my opinion***

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Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823