Real Estate Virtual Assistant

10 Days of Outsourcing to Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant- Day 1

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:25:03 -0500

Welcome to Day One of the 10 Days of Outsourcing to Your Virtual Assistant!

I'm going to coach you through the process of working with a VA by showing you a sample task you could send to your VA today to make your life easier and free up your time to work on the true business building tasks.

So, join me for this blog series - for only a few moments - to read through the things you could unload onto a VA quite easily. The first step to working with a VA is understanding what it is that they can do for you and just how EASY it is to get there.

The format will always be the same (without this intro text) and it will be quick, painless and easy to read in a matter of minutes. I want to illustrate just how easy it really is!

Let's begin! If you have any questions along the way, please feel free to e-mail me:)

Delegation Day One

Problem: You're spending too much time on the computer adding your listings, listing photos, videos, and virtual tours to your various websites, Craigslist, syndication sites, and keeping up with updates, price changes, as well as migrating the information to your Active Rain blog, your hosted blog, and Social Media sites.

Solution: Delegating these tasks to a real estate virtual assistant can eliminate those hours from your week or month and allows you TIME to spend on your "income-producing hours" like power calling your leads, touching your contacts with the letters and emails you never seem to get around to. Your VA will systemize, and automate your task list to ensure a successful listing launch every time!

There's one good reason to delegate something to a VA!

A real estate virtual assistant is like the missing piece of your business' puzzle. Having someone available to you to help you with the the 'small stuff' while you focus on the big picture - the things that will earn you the most income is key. Once you get that into place, you'll be growing your business faster than ever before.

(P.S. If you don't want to wait for the rest of the series and are needing more info..check out Real Estate Virtual Assistants: The ULTIMATE GUIDE)

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

10 Tips for Choosing the RIGHT Wordpress Theme for Real Estate

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:38:59 -0400

Whether you are new to blogging, are ready to upgrade from Wordpress.com, to .org, or are moving an old website to the Wordpress platform, it can be intimidating and overwhelming to find and choose a theme, even for the best "do-it-your-selfers!"With so many choices and considerations, a little preparation can mean the difference between a successful launch of your online hub, or a conundrum of issues and problems that take time to manage.

As a real estate virtual assistant, I've learned a lot by trial and error on my own site, before I started delving into supporting agents with their transition to Wordpress. I thought it might be helpful to put together my Beginner's Wordpress for Real Estate Preparation List, specifically for real estate in mind, that can serve to help you in your quest for being a Wordpress pro. By organizing a simple list to consider you can weed out the NO's and be on your way to having a killer real estate Wordpress website/blog! So here goes:

#1 Will your Wordpress theme serve as your website, your blog or both? Choose a theme that has the main structure in place of what you need. Look at the menu navigation options..Home Page, About, Services, as well as a Blog page. Will they be integrated? If so, choose a theme that already has a blog, and website already built-in.

#2 Is this site for your personal business, or for your team or multiple authors? If you plan on using your site as a business site consider the look and feel that would best represent a structure that suits your branding, or your need for multi-users. Perhaps you'd like a theme that offers a specific design structure to highlight multiple authors and their own about pages? If that is the plan stay away from themes that are too limited in what they provide.

#3 What is the budget for your site? Will you need a designer to customize it? Let's face it. Your site will need some level of customization. Your theme should reflect your branding, your colors, have a style that represents you. How much will it take to turn your theme into the site it needs to be? Will you need special designer graphics, buttons, call to action items? Headers and images? What is already built-in, and what isn't? This can help you decide what theme to choose. If the features of the theme allows you many options and "skins" you may only be a few steps away from having everything packaged just right, at little or no outside cost. (P.S. for choosing a website color palette, I love using www.colourlovers.com )

#4 Pick a theme based on your structure of content, and one that showcases your best attributes. Do you use Video, Photos, as well as content? Do you want to showcase your listings? Blog Posts? When thinking about how you are going to add content on your pages and in your posts, its helpful to use a theme that has easy ways to highlight those things. For example: the AgentPress Theme showcases listings beautifully, while this theme highlights your blog content mainly. Just know that are are some themes that may have more than what you need..and less. Finding a theme that has that balance is good.

#5 Is your theme widget ready? How much can you fit on the theme before it gets too cluttered? Create your widget Wish-list. Create your wish list of widgets & Plug-ins. Check to see how many widgets the theme can support comfortably. Some themes already have built-in sidebar placement for email subscriptions, RSS sign-up, and Google Analytics. But if you are adding in IDX searches, Market Stats, Mortgage Calculators, Testimonials, Trulia and Zillow Widgets, over-crowding can become a problem!Choosing a theme with 3 columns or 2 columns can easily be overlooked if you don't know what to look for.

#6 How social is your theme? Is there a place for all your social networking icons? This MAY sound like a sidebar, widget issue, BUT now there are some really nice themes with Social Networking icons already built in, saving you the design trouble of adding them in yourself. Consider your Wordpress savvy-ness, and you may opt for a theme that has your Social Sites and Twitter stream built right in.

#7 Is the Theme search engine friendly? Unless you are familiar with with HTML and CSS it may be difficult for you to evaluate the SEO capabilities of a theme. Typically, FREE themes come in such a variety, that its best to choose a premium themes that offers built-in search engine optimization, clean coding, and fields in your posting area that allow for optimizing of titles, tags and descriptions. Having these in your theme helps your site organically and allows for easier time management when posting those hyper-local, keyword-rich posts.

#8 Your theme should help you stay organized and user-friendly! Consider your Categories and Sub-Categories of content. Should this be built-in to your Menu Navigation or just in the sidebar? If you are a heavy blogger with lots of subjects, community info etc., think about how this is to be organized in your theme. I am partial to themes that have drop down menus in the navigation so that I can categorize pages and posts in a way that are user-friendly to site visitors. Nothing can steer away a site visitor more quickly that be overwhelmed at information that is not organized in a way that is easy to find and browse through.

#8 Does your IDX provider have Wordpress friendly integration and/or Plug-ins? When you are choosing a theme, consider items that might need to be integrated in a way that takes some technical expertise. Assuming you will be adding IDX feeds to your website/blog its important to know if your IDX provider allows integration to Wordpress in a way that you can understand, or if you are going to have to hire a web designer to do it. IDX providers like IDX Broker and Diverse Solutions offer plug-ins that make this integration easier.

#9 Is Technical Support available? Be careful when choosing themes. There are many designers and developers that have themes that are advertised, but have since gone out of business, or do not have technical support available for help. When working on your site yourself, it only takes the smallest character of wrong code, and a whole site can be out of whack or unable to view in all browsers, or any number of things. Having technical support, allows you to have a professional to walk you through it, and keep your site in tip top shape should anything go wrong. (no guarantees of course) Developers like Brian Gardner with Studiopress actually has a forum of tutorials, and a place to ask questions and get help with Studiopress theme related issues. He and his developers and designers are quick to help out and answer questions.

#10 Will you manage your website/blog, or will someone else be doing that? If you are comfortable with the back-end of website platforms and blog formatting, then you are a do-it-your-selfer! If you are a blogger/writer etc, you could still be overwhelmed with managing your content. Before choosing a difficult theme, that needs a lot of customizing, specially formatted posts, etc. consider your theme for its user-friendliness to YOU. Can you manage it, or will this be a site that only someone else can manage for you? Consider what, when, & how you will continue building your work in progress.

Pick a theme that can grow with you, not weigh you down. Adopting Wordpress as your main content management system is a fun and exciting venture! Being prepared with your wants and needs is a little like house-hunting. Having the information to make your search easier can save you frustration and bring you all the excitement, bells and whistles to make your blog or website the best on the block!

(originally posted at Creative Agent Solutions.com)

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

The Hiring Path of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent...and the Real Estate Virtual Assistant

Thu, 17 May 2007 22:13:13 -0400

I LOVE reading the posts on Active Rain regarding building teams, hiring that first assistant, and exploring the options that will build your business. Those are agents on on the cusp of huge success and are looking for ways to make the jump from going it all alone to using leverage to increase your potential.

As a Keller Williams assistant, I have written about the Three L's (Leads, Listings and Leverage) in a previous post, but because there are many new members seeking out options to grow, ...well...I just can't help myself. I'm blogging about something that I believe in. I've witnessed first hand here on Active Rain the success stories of using a real estate virtual assistant. (For those who still haven't heard of the concept of using a real estate "VA", and what type of services we offer, you may read more here)

In the book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, Gary Keller recommends utilizing Administrative/Marketing support before hiring other licensed agents for your team. Why? The foundation of your business model needs to be firm and strong, your systems for lead generation, database management and marketing need to be implemented and working consistently.

So, Lets' face it. At some point you will witness the first catch 22 of real estate: "I really need to grow my business, but can't really afford an assistant right now, but if I don't hire an assistant I will be stuck BEHIND THIS COMPUTER my whole life!"

It is a dilemma to be sure. Especially now. 4 years ago, not many of you were spending time blogging, managing 2-10 websites, learning SEO...I know why...you were too busy! Real estate was rocking, listings were turning fast, and there was no end in sight. But now, things are a bit different. The market has changed. You may be busier than ever, but in another way. There are new technologies to learn, sellers are antsy to get their homes sold, they want to know how that will happen. What are YOU doing to make it happen..? Prioritizing your time management on administrative tasks is essential. The hours spent on those tasks are "non income-producing" hours. Hiring administrative and marketing support to handle those many hours is the first step in the path to growing your business. Cost effectiveness is second.

In choosing to hire an assistant you are also taking on the challenge of hiring, training and delegating. If you have reached the point that it is now time to consider an assistant, you should know the advantages an virtual assistant may offer over an in-office employee. Many advantages are common knowledge, but many dynamics of a real estate VA are still largely unknown.

#1~ Real Estate Virtual Assistants are independent contractors who are only paid for time spent on tasks. VAs do not charge you for idle time, bathrooms breaks, lunch hours, sick days or personal time off. A 40 hour work week for a traditional employee can turn into a 15-20 hour a week with a VA. If your time is worth $100 an hour, you lose $400 each week doing administrative tasks.

#2~ REVAs are already trained in most of the most up to date software, technology and real estate marketing. We know what a blog is, we know about listing coordination, real estate marketing, branding, Internet marketing, online transaction management, CMA's,...in a word, we know about real estate. Not only that, but our continued training is on our dime...not yours.

#3~ A REVA is not in the business to become your competition. We will not take your database and run off with it. We will not share your wonderful new marketing secret. In short...we are business owners, who know about running a business, and want to see you succeed. Why?...it's in my business model.

#4~ Want to add 3 hours to your day? Hire a VA in another time zone. We can still be working, while your gearing up for tomorrow...or writing that Gold Star blog for Active Rain;)

#5~ A REVA can weather market shifts. Since we are not dependant on you and you alone, if your business needs change or slow down, we are OK with that.

#6~ Need to start slow? Not sure where to begin or how much to delegate right now? A VA can be your best partner in deciding what to delegate and when, to keep you on track with your goals.

#7~ REVAs are in business to support clients that are interested in a collaborative relationship, a partner.

#8~ Virtual Assistance is a supportive industry. We share resources, knowledge, experience and are a "Real Estate Geek Squad". If we don't know an answer to something, we know where to go to find it.

Once that support system is in place you are ready to move onto the next level, whatever that may be. But finding that special assistant is one task a real estate virtual assistant is up for. Active Rain now has 255 virtual assistants members listed. We have 100 members in our group Real Estate Virtual Assistants. If you want to learn more, have more questions...throw it out there...we will answer your questions.

And remember what Gary Keller said in his book..."If you don't have an assistant, you ARE one! (ok, I just had to throw that in...;)

Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823

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?

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

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.

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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