|
|
|
Buying A House – Checking Exterior Wood
You need to be very careful before committing to the purchase of a house. If the house has wood and brick on the exterior, you need to consider the following issues.
Wood Issues
Wood is a beautiful material, particularly when it is used on...
Is Housing Market Booming Toward A Bust?
How long can prices rise before no one can afford to buy? In a nutshell, that is the basic question that is niggling at the back of our collective subconscious when we talk about the real estate bubble.
Real estate is appreciating at staggering...
Oklahoma Real Estate – Cowboys And Indians
Oklahoma is a state that conjures up images of cowboys, indians, college football and dirt track racing. If these subjects appeal to you, you’ll be happy to learn Oklahoma real estate prices are very low.
Oklahoma
Once known as the Indian...
Quo Vadis Real Estate Agents' Websites?
From the outset, there is no doubt that there will be a substantial increase in the use of the internet by all participants in the real estate process.
Currently, you can search for properties to buy, sell, permanently rent or holiday rent. You...
The Market Value Of Your Home
Professional appraisers sum it up in three words -- buyers make value. Ultimately, the value of your home is what a reasonable buyer is willing to pay within a reasonable time. Setting an asking price for your home requires that you anticipate what...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Real Estate Websites - Head Librarian Or Realtor?
If your real estate website has an IDX link, do you provide the full property address to Web surfers? If so, you may be acting more like a librarian than a realtor! Do you really believe Web surfers, the potential clients, who have had in many cases no personal, or even email, contact with you, are going to remember where, let alone who, provided them the address when they believe they are standing in front of their ‘dream’ home? What percent of these people are just going to contact the listing agent whose name appears on the yard sign?
As a listing agent myself, I’d love every agent to show all property addresses on their IDX links! To get real though, let's address a problem that has probably cost you a lot of money, time and aggravation over the years.
I'll preface this by saying that many of the Internet prospects you deal with in your career will likely be good, honest people. However, it seems the inquires generated through Realtor web sites cause even the best, most honest, potential clients, to, either intentionally or unintentionally, waste your time.
As a professional in this industry, your time is the one thing you can't afford to waste. If you run out of money, you can always make more. If you run out of time, all the money in the world won't help you.
So there is a good argument to be made for the notion that time is much more valuable than money.
The impersonal nature of the Internet and ‘instant response’ culture promoted by it can be detrimental to efficient agent time management.
If you have a popular web site, you will notice that a large percent of the inquires requesting property availability, neighborhood/school facts and recent sales data, never contact by phone, or reply back to your emails after you have sent them their requested information.
Actually, with popular sites these time wasters can be a very serous problem. You’ll notice I said ‘can be’ in the preceding sentence. If you follow my suggestions below, the occurrence of this happening through your site will be drastically reduced or eliminated entirely.
Naturally, there will be many who will take exception to my ideas but these same agents are the ones that may show a $750,000 home without even asking one pre-qualification question. Averaging over 400 unique visitors per day to my San Diego real estate site, I know my suggestions really can benefit those of you who implement them. These are not theoretical ideas, but, field tested and proven techniques.
#1. Show the current average home prices for San Diego on the entry page of your site. My data looks like:
California Real Estate Prices
San Diego Average Residential Detached sales price thru May 2005 -- $699,882(Source:S.D.A.R.)
Calif. median home price - July 05: $540,900 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by
C.A.R. region July 05: Santa Barbara So. Coast $1,325,000 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region July 05: High Desert $298,950 (Source: C.A.R.)
This one step dramatically reduces the ’dreamer’ type of email.
#2. All inquiry forms on your site should be set up so that if vital information is omitted, the form will remind the visitor when they try to submit it that the fields need to filled in for the form to work.
What information you want is up to you. Many times, personally, I do not require the phone number. This is because I feel that many may fear unwanted ‘sales’ calls. Plus, after all they are contacting me via the Internet vs. my toll-free phone number!
I do require the following basic information:
A. Full name
B. Address
C. Email address
D. Working with an agent? Yes or No!
Depending on the form, other information will be required. Keep in mind, these people know about you and are requesting your time. If they will NOT provide you their basic personal information, how serious can they really be?
Perhaps, key to saving your valuable time is my last suggestion:
Immediately upon receipt of an inquiry from your site, you or your assistant should reply with a request for some small bit of additional information. If you do not receive a timely reply to your inquiry, why invest any more time on this inquiry?
What should you ask for depends on the type of inquire. I ask for such information as:
Their time frame, area of town they my want, will they be available to preview property, would they consider a condominium, etc.
Another approach is to just be right up-front with all unknown inquires. I have been using an automated form memo. If you would like a copy, send me an email (bob@websitetrafficbuilders.com) and I will be happy to share it with you.
Proper time management is crucial to any successful business. Management of your Internet inquires will increase your productivity! "Until you value yourself, you won't value your time.
Until you value your time, you will not do anything with It." -M Scott Peck
About the Author: Bob Schwartz is a Certified Residential Specialist, broker with http://www.Brokerforyou.com in San Diego Ca. & co-owner of http://www.websitetrafficbuilders.com specializing in domain name registration & Internet domain website hosting. Bob's newest real estate site is: http://www.downtown-san-diego-real-estate.com
Source: www.isnare.com
|
|
|
|
|
| Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent ... |
| Comprehensive real estate and property listings. Includes information on buying and selling, tips on building, an auction timetable and other helpful ... |
| www.realestate.com.au |
|
| Real Estate | Homes for Sale | Houses for Sale | MLS Listings ... |
| RealEstate.com provides home listings , homes for sale , REALTORS , house listings , apartment locating services. We have Florida real estate , Texas ... |
| www.realestate.com |
|
| REALTOR.com: Real estate listings & homes for sale |
| Search for a new home or find mortgage rates, real estate agents, and relocation services throughout the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. |
| www.realtor.com |
|
| Real Estate on Yahoo! Real Estate - Homes, Mortgage Rates, School ... |
| Yahoo! Real Estate is the most comprehensive place for real estate, housing market information, school reports, local mortgage rates and more! |
| realestate.yahoo.com |
|
| Find Your Home Value, House Values and Prices on Yahoo! Real Estate |
| Yahoo! Real Estate - Free instant home values and comparable home valuations for millions of houses. Check your home's price or any house value. |
| realestate.yahoo.com |
|
| Real Estate, Houses for Sale, Rentals, Commercial and Businesses ... |
| Real Estate, Houses for Sale, Rentals, Commercial and Businesses for sale at Realestate.co.nz. |
| www.realestate.co.nz |
|
| Real Estate - Buy, Sell or Rent a Home - New York Times |
| Online real estate listings for properties in New York and nationwide. |
| www.nytimes.com |
|
| Century 21 Real Estate Agents and Brokers |
| Agency with franchised offices throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. Find local offices and agents, ... |
| century21.com |
|
| Zillow - Your Edge in Real Estate |
| Zillow provides a free Home Valuation Tool for Real Estate enthusiasts. Whether you're an agent, broker, buyer of investment property or first time ... |
| www.zillow.com |
|
| STLtoday - Homes |
| Real estate agent revels in the boom in downtown St. Louis living ... [more real estate news as seen in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch] ... |
| www.stltoday.com |
|
| Real estate - Boston.com |
| Boston Real Estate - Search the Boston Globe and Boston.com for Massachusetts Real Estate, Boston Condos, Land for sale, Vacation Rentals and more. |
| www.boston.com |
|
| ABCs of Real Estate |
| Real Estate ABCs consumer tips, hints, and resources for home buyers, sellers, and mortgage borrowers. |
| www.realestateabc.com |
|
| washingtonpost.com - Washington DC real estate, Maryland real ... |
| Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland homes, real estate news and headlines. [Registration required] |
| www.washingtonpost.com |
|
| Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation |
| Real Estate from Coldwell Banker ®. Buying a home, selling a home, or finding a real estate agent is easy with Coldwell Banker. Find a home, sales associate ... |
| www.coldwellbanker.com |
|
| Detroit News Online | Real-Estate |
| Sellers around the state have been frustrated with the slow sales patterns of Michigan real estate over the past year or two. But buyers have been enjoying ... |
| www.detnews.com |
|
| Newsday.com - Long Island Real Estate for Nassau County and ... |
| In a real estate market increasingly defined by niches, ... Real Estate Resources. Search by school district for recent home sales in Nassau and Suffolk ... |
| www.newsday.com |
|
| Real Estate for Sale, Rent and Share @ Domain.com.au |
| Real Estate for Sale, Rent and Share @ Domain.com.au. Houses and apartments for sale or rent all over Australia. Thousands of properties in Sydney, ... |
| www.domain.com.au |
|
| Luxury real estate news and features - Forbes.com |
| Luxury real estate news and features at Forbes.com. Core topics include real estate, mansions, condos, co ops, oceanfront realty, second homes, ... |
| www.forbes.com |
|
| Real Estate News - Prices, Mortgages, and Calculators from CNNMoney |
| Latest on mortgages, refinancing, & home tips from CNNMoney.com. Calculators for refinancing, mortgage payments and more. |
| money.cnn.com |
|
| Los Angeles, California, national and world news, jobs, real ... |
| Los Angeles' leading online source for local, state, national, world, entertainment, and sports news. Plus jobs, real estate, cars and shopping information ... |
| www.latimes.com |
|
|