In a previous post, we tackled about how you can post your NAR listings to Facebook. But it's just one of the things that you can do to get your business profile in Facebook up and running!

I found an article that cites 6 Facebook applications that will really  be useful for real estate agents. I got excited to share this to you all! I think this is a great idea to try for all of us!
So here is the list!

March 18, 2010 (MMD Newswire) ASTOR, FL - America's Best Real Estate Center is proud to announce Nancy Brand, as "America's Best Real Estate Agent" for Florida's West Volusia, East Lake and North Seminole Counties, and will have the ability to assist home buyers and sellers with having access to the top real estate properties and specialized online marketing tools through the America's Best Agents website.

"Nancy was chosen to be America's Best Real Estate Agent for Florida's West Volusia, East Lake and North Seminole Counties because of her outstanding achievements and success in the Real Estate industry," said Ginny Lee, CRS and the CEO & Founder of America's Best Agents.

One industry where virtual assistants are currently thriving is in Real Estate.

With the nature of work real estate agents have—always been on the road, meeting clients, showing houses, holding open houses (among others)—these professionals always find that they don’t have enough time for necessary but time-consuming tasks like paper works.

As real estate agents, they usually spend their time: 1. out on the streets selling, 2. making phone calls for follow-ups, and 3. talking to clients. But these three things are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. There are a lot of work that needs to be done to be a successful agent, and this where VAs come in to play.

Display your listings from REALTOR.com® on your Facebook wall!  If you are a real estate agent, your listings are already displayed on REALTOR.com® for FREE.

Now you can add your listings on Facebook with the FREE REALTOR.com® See My Listings application.

How do you do it? It's Easy, Trust me!

1. Go to this website: http://www.realtor.com/seemylistings/


2. Click on "Add my Listings"


3. Click on "Allow" to let realtor.com access needed information.


4. Select your MLS and input you MLS ID


5. Enter the necessary information.

I recently stumbled upon a blog called Mr Internet, Michael Russer - Online Dominance. In it are a lot of tips, techniques, and secrets on how one can fully utilize the internet for business, among others. I will be featuring some of his posts here as I know that it would definitely help Realtors  like us grow and expand our business.

So for a start, let's talking abuot Facebook.  I know everyone has a Facebook account, but do you know that you can use it to help you improve your search rankings, as well as in lead generation?

Do you have a Facebook fan page? If not, then I suggest making one. But how does a profile page differ from a fan page? Mr Internet explains this:

Personal Profile vs. Fan Page

1. Personal Profile – everyone who has a FaceBook account has a profile page.  This is your “home base” for all your friends and family to connect with you in a personal way on personal (i.e. not business) matters.  While how you grow and manage your “friend base” is a topic for another post, suffice it to say it doesn’t even come close to helping your business as the next way.


2. Fan Page – sometimes also referred to as your business page. This is where you try to attract and interact with people who are part of your target market or at least connected to it in some way.  Now this next part is very important:  The more targeted fans you have, the more Google will see you as being relevant and important in your field of real estate expertise.  And this translates to significant gains for your search engine rankings.  For example, Douglas Newby is essentially a one-man shop in Dallas, yet his site consistently out-ranks those of companies in his area with 1,000 or more agents.

In an effort to develop a clear view of the real estate market, Homes & Land, a Tallahassee, Fla.-based provider of real estate media and marketing, recently asked thousands of real estate agents for their opinions about their local real estate market and published the results in its Market Pulse Survey Report.  When asked if the Home Affordable Modification Program "has reduced the rate of foreclosures in your market," only 10 percent of respondents said yes. Of those remaining, 65 percent responded no, and 25 percent were unsure.  Despite the low enthusiasm about HAMP, overall optimism seems to be improving, with most agents reporting an increase in homebuyer interest. Regional responses in states with the highest foreclosure rates showed even higher buyer interest-Arizona, at 71 percent; California, at 64 percent; and Florida, at 67 percent-than the national average of 58 percent.  However, Home & Land said the increase appears to be coming in the form of distressed sales. Only 14 percent of agents reported that the majority of their sales over the last 12 months came from distressed sales, but reports of distressed sales were much higher in Arizona, at 38 percent; California, at 35 percent; and Florida, at 26 percent.  The survey also found that 41 percent of respondents believe real estate prices in their market have bottomed out.

Source: REAL Trends Email update # 1184

Fresh data from Campbell Communications' monthly survey of more than 1,500 real estate agents found that the investor market share of buy-side transactions has jumped nearly six points since November, while first-time buyers have fallen more than seven percentage points since October.

Sales to existing homeowners also have increased from October to January, and last month their market share overtook first-time buyers, 41.2 percent to 39.8 percent.
With increased supply of distressed properties and decreased demand from first-time homebuyers, average prices declined for damaged REO and even for non-distressed properties in January.

Did you ever wonder why some listings sell faster then others? In a tough real estate market you should make sure you follow all these simple rules to help your sellers sell their homes.



1. Price it Right



I am sure you know that the best way to sell property is to price it right. Most of the time Realtors let the seller price the property because seller’s are in love with their homes and often think that their property is worth more then it really is especially in these market conditions where property values have gone down and not up as it use to do.  So you as their Realtor have to show them all the comps and all the gloom and doom reports from the media to convince them to Price it Right! You must let them know that if the market is bad that their property won’t appraise if it is priced to high because appraisers work on the last 6 months of sales in their neighborhood so if sales have been bad appraisals will be bad too. It is like the TV show “The Price Is Right” if the price isn’t right it won’t sell.