How can my attending BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Orlando help you buy or sell Florida real estate?

This past Friday I attended the BloodhoundBlog Unchained real estate training, real estate marketing and real estate technology event held in Orlando. The event was organized by Greg Swan of Bloodhoundblog and Brian Brady, America's #1 Mortgage Broker. I had a choice of attending the National Association of Realtor convention being held in Orlando at the same time or this event and I believe I made the right choice. Anytime you can come away from a workshop or training that you pay to attend and not only feel like you got your money's worth but would have gladly paid more, that has to be a good thing, right?

So can my attending this event help with your needs of buying or selling a home? Absolutely! There was so much great information that when implemented or altered to fit the Central Florida market, my buyers and sellers will benefit as well. I'll explain as I recap the highlights.

1. Greg Swann opened the session talking about Greeks and philosophy. I will not profess to following every point Greg made; I did take from this portion of the event that success and successful people do not follow the masses. Greg pointed out that 2.0 really means that the Internet is participatory. Buyers and sellers are online and as professionals we need to participate in their discussions.
2. Brian Brady followed up with great information about social media marketing. He offered tips about using Facebook, Linked In and other social media outlets that, when used properly, we can provide valuable information to the buying/selling user.
3. Sherry Chris, CEO of Better Homes and Gardens provided an interesting look at a large real estate firm's efforts to launch the rebirth of their brand online. Sherry acknowledge the importance of the online community as it relates to the new buyer and selling consumer.
4. Teri Lussier helped clarify, for me, the social part of social media. Se explained in great detail how we should be involved in area online communities, including blogging and community forums. Taking the time to build social media relationships will provide opportunities to answer and provide information to buyers and sellers about the buying/selling process and the area and community we live. She also provided a couple of sites that she strongly encouraged that we join and become an active part of.
5. Kelley Koehler talked about adwords. I will admit prior to this session I was pretty much clueless to how adwords work. Kelley's presentation was easy to follow and informative. Along with adword information, she also provided great tips for our websites and blogs which I am eager start.
6. Mitch Ribak Wow, my fellow Floridian Broker was full of great information. His company is flourishing in our current market based in part by his following the practices that he discussed with us. A strong Internet presence, a consistent follow up program, a great attitude, lead converting, lead generation and making sure your marketing efforts are targeting the right people.
7. John Rowles introduced his IDX solution. It appears to be a very comprehensive system and I am sure it will generate leads for those who take advantage of it.
8. Sean Purcell discussed the Bloodhound Way and it was apparent the Bloodhound Way involves thinking about your marketing instead of just doing whatever the next guy before you has or is doing. I enjoyed his thought provoking question about why do we plaster the front view of our listing on our marketing pieces when most likely the person reading the piece is right in front of the house and can see the front. Wouldn't it be better to have a thumbnail picture of the front and larger pictures of the other rooms in the house?
9. Eric Blackwell was the last presenter but certainly not the least in information. Eric provided hands-on useful information about SEO and the real estate website. Eric was kind enough to spend the better part of his lunch break discussing SEO and what matters not only in the eyes of Google but also the customer.

So much useful information. I met several great people from around the country and hopefully will have the opportunity to talk and meet with these folks again in the near future. Re-reading my notes I see terms like "win the niches", "send marketing prospecting to area that are moving to your area", "make sure landing pages allows visitors an ability to search for homes", "timely, on subject and written by an authority" and "Forced registration works".

Of course what I posted here is just an overview of the session, the good stuff I am keeping to myself and will use for the benefit of my customers and agents. : )

I would encourage every real estate professional who has an opportunity to attend a Bloodhound Unchained event to do so. Your career and customers will thank you.

Related Florida real estate views:

Our market plan includes advertising your home to international real estate buyers

Open houses don't work.

I am not going to give my home away!

- Greg Staker 407-304-0255

Direct mail campaign for first time home buyers

We will be starting a direct mail campaign in hopes of reaching first time home buyers who may be thinking of buying a home now. The campaign will be highlighting the $7500 tax credit available for a limited time. The postcards will contain the following information.

1. Attention Potential 1st time home buyers! Take advantage of the government limited $7500 tax credit incentive! FHA, VA, and CONVENTIONAL Home Loans are STILL AVAILABLE for a limited time to first time home buyers under the Federal Government's new Tax Credit Incentive! Plus, minimum down loan programs available to qualified buyers!
2. Time is running out... Limited $7500 tax credit still available to 1st time home buyers! Why rent when you can own your own home? It's true. The Federal Government’s limited Tax Credit Incentive to 1st Time Home buyers will not last forever and most likely will never be repeated. Don't miss out on this chance of a lifetime to experience the American Dream of Home ownership! Why rent when you can purchase a home of your own?
3. Don't let this opportunity slip through your fingers... The limited $7500 tax credit for 1st time home buyers won't last forever! This special Government Incentive for 1st Time Home buyers will be over before you know it and this very well could be your last chance to purchase a home of your own through a government-sponsored program that enables you to take advantage of low prices and low interest rates. The American Dream of home ownership is more than just a dream… it's here for you today!

This special promotion will surely attract those home buyers that are on the fence deciding if they should buy. Our current and future sellers will benefit as well as we attract these new buyers into the market place.

This is just one more reason to choose Watson Realty Corp.

Related Florida real estate views:

Does your agent have enough money to advertise your home?

Free report on why your home did not sell.

Buying a home subject to financing


- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Does your agent have enough money to advertise your home?

The lack of sales is taking its toll on real estate agents. With fewer closings, agents are finding it hard to pay their personal bills, much less advertise and market a customer's home.

Agents who are having a hard time financially may not be willing to order a virtual tour for homes they have listed. While listing inventory explodes to record numbers, print advertisement becomes non-existent. Agents have abandon their websites in order to eliminate the monthly hosting fees.

Even direct mail has diminished, with the cost to create and mail a postcard that announces a new listing or new sale is no longer financially possible to many.

All of this may save an agent an extra dollar but does nothing to help sell a home owners property. Sellers need to be concerned when interviewing agents prior to listing their home and ask them if their marketing budget has decreased and to what extent during these challenging times.

Watson Realty continues to maintain a marketing plan to sell homes that has been successful for over 40 years. Agents with Watson Realty can take advantage of several marketing tools provided as a benefit to the agent and geared towards providing our sellers an advantage in the marketplace.


Related Florida real estate view:

Free report on why your home did not sell.

Advertise your home where it will do the most good

Real estate agent costs rise as income dwindles



- Greg Staker, Watson Realty Corp. 407-304-0255

This home “won’t last” is now at 612 days and counting

This Orlando home has been on the market for over 600 days according to the MLS. Maybe the agent means it won’t last 2 years? There is still time.

I would say if the listing lasts past the average days on market for the area, it should be mandatory that the listing agent clean up the marketing comments. In this case the agent pulled out all the stops, using the marketing phrases, dare to compare, make offer and ideal for first time homebuyer.

They did leave out “priced to sell”.

There’s the problem.

Related Florida real estate views:

I am not going to give my home away!

Why would anyone offer to buy a home at list price or above in this market?

Real estate agents would be wise to pick short sales over long sales.


- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Watson Realty has the lion's share of the market.

Here is a new marketing card released by Watson Realty which uniquely shows that Watson Realty continues to have the largest share in the market areas we service.

Sellers, buyers and agents understand that to be successful in this market, you have to be the best.

Related Florida real estate views:

5 things Sellers wish their Realtor® would have told them

Watson Realty, Maitland Florida

No Fear - How top producing Realtors succeed

- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Advertise your home where it will do the most good

I have heard real estate agents described as having herd mentality. Following the crowd, doing what the next guy or girl does and rarely breaking from the pack.

This is can be a positive feature to have when viewed from an ethical, professional and legal prospective. However it may be a bad thing to a homeowner trying to sell their home.

The facts are that print ads are an ineffective way to advertise a home or property for sale when compared to other sources and yet you will see classified black and white ads, full page color ads and publications centered on homes for sale with agent after agent advertisement.

If few people are looking at these sources for information about homes for sale in any given area, why are real estate agents still spending so much of their time and money to be in these newspapers and publications?

It is simple, because the competition is there. As a matter of fact agents will say just that. We need to be in that publication because XYZ Realty is there and we would look bad if we were not.

Forgetting or not caring that little to no calls are ever generated from that advertisement method, agents would rather follow the pack out of some made up fear that not doing so will make them look bad in the eyes of the consumer.

Here is the big tip of the day. The consumer, especially the consumer asking you to sell their home cares about one thing and one thing only, getting their home sold. If you tell them you are wasting money and time advertising their home in a venue simply because the competition is there, at the very least, you might get a confused look from them.

A wise agent does not base their advertisement dollar on where the competition is but instead, does the research to find out where the consumer is. As a consumer you should ask any agent you are interviewing if they know how the majority of the buyer calls they and their office receives are generated. The agent who knows the answer and has a marketing plan centered around those areas may be your best choice.


Related Florida real estate views:

Does your agent have enough money to advertise your home?

Real estate agent costs rise as income dwindles

Are auctions selling homes?


- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Real estate agent costs rise as income dwindles

Individual real estate agents and real estate companies are finding themselves caught between a rock and a hard place as they attempt to do their jobs in the current market.

With the average days a home is on the market increasing, agents are finding themselves spending more and more of their own money promoting and marketing these homes with no sale date in site. This problem is compounded by the rising foreclosure and short sales or when a home is incorrectly priced and the seller refuses to adjust or the agent fails to regularly update the seller of the changes in the market as it relates to the seller’s home.

The cost of materials and time to prepare multi-colored flyers and promotional pieces, the cost to send out marketing pieces through bulk and first class mail, the cost to maintain a staff of assistants and receptionists to handle incoming sales calls and inquiries, the cost of gas prices to drive potential customers to the property, the cost to maintain equipment to keep up with the increase of activity, the cost of for sale signs and sign riders, the cost of print advertisement to promote the agent or office listings and the cost of maintaining an internet presence to promote the listings continues on regardless of the dwindling sales.

These ongoing costs coupled with very little profit will continue to force agents and real estate companies out of business as time goes on. Those agents and companies that survive will do so by making the adjustments needed now and refining their business model to adapt to the current conditions.

Reducing business overhead that does not directly affect the customer, reducing or eliminating ineffective marketing and striving to continually educate the seller on proper pricing and price enhancements are the steps being taken now by those agents and companies who will remain strong regardless of the market.


Related Florida real estate views:

Does your agent have enough money to advertise your home?

Homebuyers and sellers in Florida may have fewer Realtors to choose from

Free report on why your home did not sell.


- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

No photo - no listing - MLS rules and regulations

The MLXchange Board of Directors passed a new policy that will not allow a listing to go “live” in the system unless there is a picture of the front of the home entered at the same time as the listing data is entered into the system.

Additionally, in the past the MLS contracted a photographer to take a drive by picture of new listings if the agent did not opt out of the option. This is no more.

Agents will now be responsible for taking at least 1 picture of the front of the home and having it ready when the listing is entered.

Why do agents have trouble with the concept that pictures are worth a thousand words? Why must they be threatened with fines or delays with uploading data for failure to enter pictures? Are the sellers aware that they are receiving less than extraordinary service by the failure of their agent to understand the marketing importance of photographs?

Come on agents, take the picture, no check that, take the 10 pictures of your listing that the MLS allows you to upload. Your seller, potential buyers and your fellow agents will appreciate it.


Related Florida real estate views:

Does your agent have enough money to advertise your home?

You don't know what you don't know about selling real estate!

Free report on why your home did not sell.


- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

The future of real estate advertisement

Is the value of the newspaper and print media decreasing?

If you are a real estate agent or a home owner thinking of selling your home, you have a real interest in where you should be advertising the real estate you are trying to sell.

If the figures are accurate and more than 80% of consumers begin their home search online, then it would stand to reason that many of those consumers we real estate agents and sellers would like to attract are not picking up the local paper to find a home for sale. Print media, especially the newspaper industry, by it's own admission, is losing a considerable amount of revenue as they watch an ever increasing amount of their advertisement business move to online sources.

Jeff Jarvis wrote an essay on his blog, BuzzMachine, for the World Association of Newspapers. The title of this particular blog is "Newspapers in 2020" This quote from his blog article caught my attention:

So with all respect, I’d say the World Association of Newspapers is asking the wrong question here (and, by the way, may want to consider a new name): What will newspapers look like in 2020? Well, what’s a newspaper?
That’s what young people may well ask by then. Jeffrey Cole of the USC Annenberg School’s Center for the Digital Future concludes from his latest survey of internet use that people 12-to-25 years old today – who’ll be in the golden 25-to-38 demographic in 2020 – will “never read a newspaper.” Never is a strong word. Phil Meyer famously predicted in his book “The Vanishing Newspaper” that if current trend lines continue, the last American paper will be published in 2040. Let that word, too, sink in: Last. (italics and bold added)

Never read a newspaper? Unless they have just stopped reading or do not care about what is going on around them, it is a safe bet that those 25-38 year old are/will be reading something. Which takes us back to where is real estate advertisement heading?

If you are reading this blog, you already know the answer. Informed sellers, skillful agents and forward thinking real estate companies are taking advantage of the far reaching scope of the internet. Even the Newspaper industry understands and many are taking the steps to provide an online product that offers the same reliable news source and information that a newspaper has always provided in print.

The decision to advertise our homes and real estate online should continue and grow in the days, months and years ahead if we have any plans of being in the real estate business in the future.

Related Florida real estate views:

Does your agent have enough money to advertise your home?

MFRMLS vs Realtor.com?

Advertise your home where it will do the most good


- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Will you be able to sell your home in 2008?

Many home owners who decided to sell their Florida home in 2007 were met with frustration, uncertainty and in the majority of cases, no success. Even those who are persistent and have kept their home on the market through the year are finding the For Sale sign is gathering cob webs faster than they are collecting potential buyers.

Can a home owner expect more of the same in the first part of 2008? It will depend on their personal situation.

An amazing fact overlooked when considering the Seminole and Orange County real estate market in 2007 is that 20% of the homes (2923 out of 14,294) that sold in 2007 received an offer within *30 days of being placed on the market.

So what gives? What secrets do these agents and home owners know that a home owner in 2008 should know?

The fact of the matter is, there are no secrets to be revealed. In order to have an opportunity to sell your home in 2008 as quickly as those sellers did in 2007 requires a personal decision on the part of the home owner, and real estate agent, to present the very best home available. How can you make sure your home is the very best home available in your area in 2008?

Correct pricing – Make sure your home is listed at a price that makes it impossible for a buyer to find a home similar to yours for less money. Monitor your price weekly, keep an eye on the latest sales in your area; the latest homes put up for sale; and those homes that failed to sell.

Staging and enhancement – Clean it, move it, get rid of it, fix it or replace it. Whatever “it” is, if it can keep your home from showing its very best, do something about it.

Hire a top marketing real estate professional - Follow their expert guidance. This is not your grandmother’s real estate business anymore. Today we also have the Internet as a marketing tool. Make sure the real estate professional you hire is equally comfortable with how to market your home to online buyers as well as marketing your home to those buyers who may be looking in the Sunday morning paper.

That pretty well sums it up. These have proven to be the core 3 decisions a seller makes that will determine if their home sells or not. Those sellers who make sure they have the very best marketing coupled with their home being priced according to condition, location and improvement should be able to confidently expect it to sell in 2008.



* As reported in the Mid Florida MLS ADOM statistics

Have you received a post card or mailing from a Realtor?

If it is a Watson Realty Maitland/Orlando agent who sent the card, chances are good it's journey started here.

Direct mail is an important feature of an agents marketing plan. A professionally created card that announces a new listing, or a new sale or provides information about the neighborhood or market conditions is often times the tool that connects our agents to consumers who are thinking of buying or selling their home.

We believe in the benefits of a direct mail campaign and strive to provide our agents with the tools that they need to accomplish their marketing goals. From our office alone, we average over 14,000 pieces of bulk mail monthly. Our agents love this free business tool we provide them and our sellers love the exposure.

Related Florida real estate views:

Does your agent have enough money to advertise your home?

Free report on why your home did not sell.

Positioning ourselves for real estate success in the years ahead

- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Holding an open house to sell your home.

This weekend like many weekends in the past will find Realtors in the Central Florida real estate market holding open their listings in hopes of finding a buyer.

Is this an effective way to market a home?

Here is an informative article on how to make sure your open house is a success.

Related Florida real estate views:

Real estate agent costs rise as income dwindles

Will you be able to sell your home in 2008?

Orlando real estate market report

- Greg Staker Watson Realty Corp. 407-304-0255