via activerain.com

Are you available to your clients 24/7/365? Have you tried but burned out? Balance in business and life is a good thing. I run into this in my own business. I’ve had past clients think that because their business is 24/7, mine should be too. No thanks! It really is a good idea to set regular business hours and to set good boundries with your clients.
This is a great post on this from Active Rain. Now go read it!

Posted via email from megbarberva’s posterous

via activerain.com

This post from Active Rain is a fantastic read. Internet leads have a tendency to take a long time to convert. You need to incubate them and create front of mind awareness for a quite awhile before they are ready to make their move. Many agents give up on these “cool” or slightly warm leads and chase after only the “hot” ones. Have patience and be consistent in your marketing efforts. Go read this great post!

Posted via email from megbarberva’s posterous

via michaelhyatt.com

I know in real estate you run into the “high-maintenance” client probably more often than most businesses. Today I stumbled upon this great post via Twitter – Three Reasons You Can’t Afford That High Maintenance Client. It is a fantastic read and something you should really take to heart. As bad as you think you “need” the money and take on any listing that comes your way no matter how hard headed the seller is on that way-too-high price, it ends up costing more of your time, sanity and money in the end. Click on the above link below the photo and check it out.

Posted via web from megbarberva’s posterous

via agentgenius.com

Excellent post coming straight out of Agent Genius that you must check out. Re-evaluate what is going on in your business model, your life, etc, then Fix it or Fire it and move on! AG rocks!

Posted via web from megbarberva’s posterous

Gave me a good laugh for today.

Posted via web from megbarberva’s posterous

Megan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions, LLC,  and runs blogs, The BVAS Connection and The Virtual Perception. Megan has been in a Virtual Assistant for 4+ years and has spent 10+ years doing the “behind-the-scenes” work in the real estate industry assisting agents with their real estate marketing and transaction needs.

I cannot tell you how many times I visit real estate websites and view terribly blurry photos, cluttered or badly staged rooms, and family pets.  I cringe every time I see it and I wonder how on earth a potential buyer must feel when seeing these pictures.  If I am cringing, they must be thinking “NEXT”.

As Athol says, Good Photos Sell Homes.

Awhile back I wrote a post called, Snap Listing Photos Like a Pro. In it I included basic tips you should follow to take great listing photos. Don’t let your photos show up on his blog. Follow the good photo taking guidelines, or if you find it too difficult, hire a professional.

Just say no to bad MLS photos. And get a good laugh out of the blog if you can.

Megan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions, and publisher of The REAL Advantage E-Zine. Megan has spent 9+ years doing the “behind-the-scenes” work in the real estate industry assisting agents with their real estate marketing and transaction needs.

The above scenario is a huge myth and a big mistake in my opinion. Believe it or not, there are agents and whole real estate companies out there that are abandoning their newspaper advertising, direct mail advertising, and farming to sink all of their marketing dollars into the internet and internet leads. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on fancy websites, lead capture software, search engine optimization, pay-per-click ads, and lead generation companies. Real Estate agents and brokers are looking for the next big technology tool that will bring in a boatload of internet leads without them having to do much work to get them.  The problem is that internet leads are likely to cost more time and money in incubating these as leads and abandoning a well rounded marketing plan to solely depend on these internet leads can end up hurting more than helping.

Internet consumers searching for real estate are not necessarily ready RIGHT NOW to buy a home or sell real a home.  For many, the internet is where they go upon first searching homes and feeling out the marketplace. The internet gives them the opportunity to scan ads and do a “drive-by” of available listings without having to leave home. They want to remain anonymous for as long as possible until they are really ready to take the plunge. And even when they do fill out a web form for property information, statistics show that those leads can still take 6-12 months or more before they become active real estate buyers or sellers. I do not believe that the return on investment that many of these internet lead generation companies will convince you of, is as good as they promise.

According to NAR’s 2006 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 80% of buyers used the internet for their home searches. But in stark contrast, only 7% of buyers found the agent they used on an internet site.  40% of buyers used agents that were referred to them by friends, relatives or neighbors and another 13% used an agent they have worked with in the past.

Those statistics affirms my belief that you cannot dismiss the idea of having a well rounded marketing plan that involves not only the internet, but also the traditional farming and marketing methods to your friends, family, past clients and your neighborhoods you serve.  People are more likely to use someone they trust or is trusted by a close friend or relative, not some stranger on the internet that sent them an auto-email. When you continuously market to your past/present clients, friends, family, and neighborhoods through newspaper, direct mail marketing , even email if you can, you will stick out in their minds as the one they trust and the neighborhood expert.

Technology in real estate is ever growing and ever changing and there will always be something “bigger an better” that promises to generate tons of leads without lifting a finger, but they never quite live up to the hype. Don’t fall into that trap. When revisiting your marketing plan think about going back to the basics. Never underestimate the power of basic farming and advertising in your community and service area and watch the leads and referrals roll in.

This is how to NOT Successfully Invest In Real Estate.  And boy he messed up bad. And through it all, he still doesn’t seem to be in touch with reality whatsoever.

An interesting read to say the least.