Real Estate Biz Tips
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Friday, September 21st, 2007Have you ever stumbled upon an online resource that suddenly seemed to make your life ten times easier? Well, over the years we’ve found quite a few.
Here are 10 of The Agent Guide’s favorite links - some real estate related, some not. Use them yourself, and share them with your clients!
1. www.SeatGuru.com
Never recoil in horror [...]
Sometimes, Call When You Have Nothing to Say
Friday, August 17th, 2007So… On Sunday, the other agent said you could expect the inspection response from his clients to arrive on Monday or Tuesday.
Now it’s Tuesday 3 pm, and so far nothing.
Technically, they’re still within the time frame they mentioned (and their legal deadline doesn’t run out until Wednesday).
On the other end, your own clients know that [...]
Basecamp is the Ultimate Online Project Management Tool
Monday, July 16th, 2007Every now and then we come across a business tool that’s so incredibly helpful and beautifully easy to use that after about 30 minutes we start to wonder how we ever managed without it. Basecamp, the online project collaboration tool by 37Signals, is one of those things we wish we had found out about [...]
Never Get Too Good To Be Interviewed
Monday, July 16th, 2007I was shocked last year to lose some buyers that I’d been working with in the 700K to 1 million price range. I referred them to a well-known agent who worked with many high end clients, and who was a “neighborhood expert” in their area of preference. I assumed it would be a perfect match.
Wrong. [...]
How To Get Better Testimonials
(And actually get them in your hands!)
Thursday, June 21st, 2007
Did you know that testimonials are one of most under-used sales tools in real estate? The power of your current customers to sell your value to others is far greater than your own power to sell yourself. And unlike most forms of real estate advertising, testimonials are free!
Unfortunately, most agents spend years generating happy clients [...]
Passing Along Some Good Advice to New Agents
Saturday, June 9th, 2007A few days ago I heard that an old friend of mine, Rick Bakke, had just passed away.
I hadn’t talked to Rick in a couple of years, but back when I was a struggling new agent 7+ years ago, Rick was kind of the maverick warhorse in the office - a high-volume agent [...]
Flood Plain “Gotcha”
(Would you have known this one?)
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
Here’s a reminder of how easy it can be to overlook important information when representing clients in a transaction. We’re sharing it in the hopes it will help someone avoid making the same mistake in the future:
Home buyers Bob and Ellen (not their real names) weren’t looking for a property in a flood-prone area. They [...]
The Value of a Good Buyer’s Agent - Part 2
Thursday, May 24th, 2007 A couple of points from my recent comment on Redfin’s blog:
(Actually, my comment that was submitted to but never made it onto Redfin’s blog…)
The concept of not having a buyer’s agent present at a home inspection (especially since it typically means having the listing agent there with the buyers instead) makes no sense. There [...]
The Value of a Good Buyer’s Agent
Thursday, May 24th, 2007I’ve been amazed recently at the some of the discussions regarding discount real estate agent services, especially some of the back and forths in the comments section of the Redfin corporate blog. For some reason I rarely see anyone make the point about what I believe makes up at least 50 percent of a buyer [...]
When Assessing Home Value, Think Functionality
Sunday, April 29th, 2007As real estate agents, we spend a lot of time helping home buyer and seller clients get an accurate idea of the market value of their home, or of the home they’re considering purchasing.
Here’s a quick note about something that came up when I was talking (OK, nearly arguing) with a mortgage agent from the national [...]