RE/MAX Select Realty : Latest Blog Posts

Tech Tuesday Jan 17th 2012 - twitter

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:46:00 GMT

I get a lot of questions from agents about Twitter. A couple things I have noticed... I don't know of any REALTORS(R) who are getting much business using twitter, but its overall popularity has exploded. Even as recently as 3 months ago I would have said twitter is good for building business to business relationships (IE connecting with other real estate pros and building referral networks) but likely not terribly effective in your client communication. Studies are showing that more and more people are joining twitter, even those who aren't using it for their own profession. I still think facebook is a far better client communication tool (for reasons I'll get in to another day) but I've been proven wrong before. One thing is certain in tech as far as where it is going... nothing is certain

So given that I am not what I would call a heavy twitter user, I asked around and was shown the following article. Great insights, have a read. If you have questions on twitter, feel free to ask myself or our very own Rob Sutherland @Remax_Rob - he has a great network going on twitter and I don't think it is an overstatement to say he is a "power user"

________________________________________________________________________________________

Angie Perez is a Weichert Realtors Sales Associate. You can follow her here: @NJRealtor1

By Audeliz Angie Perez of ForSalebyAngiePerez.com

In September of 2008, I got an email from a local marketing guru about Twitter and how the guru refused to use Twitter as a marketing tool. I had never heard of Twitter at that point. I was not even using social media or social networking sites to build up my Internet presence let alone my real estate credibility. I had a LinkedIn account and Facebook profile, but I was relatively a “no show” on the latter sites until that email.

From that unsuspecting email, I created my Twitter handle: NJrealtor1. I had absolutely no idea what would come from my use of Twitter, but I figured that one message with 140 characters, 3 times a day about things that I was doing in my business was an easy task to handle. Micro blogging seemed simple enough to do from the web or from my cell phone; it is not time consuming and it costs nothing except your desire to answer: What are you doing right now in 140 characters or less.

So, here I am, almost 696 tweets later, I find myself with over 400 followers, which in the Twitterverse, is a relatively low number, yet find that I am absolutely satisfied with my tweet leads. Yes, I have leads from Twitter and that’s the beauty of Twitter. People who follow you are generally interested in what you do, what you tweet about and as you reply (@username) or Direct Message (DM) each other, you can start to build a relationship with your followers or even the people you choose to follow. (Yes, it is true that people who follow you may also want to sell you something and fortunately, you have the option to block people who are only interested in pitching you, but more about that later).

The following are my Top 10 Tips for Practical Uses of Twitter for Real Estate Agents. These Twitter Tips have earned me clients and I have had some success worth blogging about, but please note that what works for me, may not work for you. It works for me because I am committed to tweeting. I also like sharing.

Without further ado, here are your top ten Twitter tips.

Create an account with a Twitter username that has something to do with real estate. I created two Twitter accounts under different names: One was under my full name: Angie_Perez and another NJrealtor1. I find that since I have the word realtor in my twitter name, I get more followers related to my industry based on my NJrealtor1name despite the fact that I tweet about real estate topics from both accounts. With a handle like NJrealtor1, you automatically know what to expect from my tweets without having to read my bio. I believe this is the reason people choose to follow me under this username more so than under my full name.
Once you have your Twitter account, set up favorable settings. From the web, click on settings in the upper right hand corner after you create your account.

Add a Photo. Realtors like you and I are notorious for being a little vain in that we brand ourselves with our face, our name and our company logo. On Twitterverse, your photo or icon is important for quick recognition from your eventual followers. Keep your image consistent and do not change or update it.
Notices. You have three options to choose from. Do you want to receive notifications from Twitter that you have a new follower, a new DM or an email newsletter that you receive with the inside scoop. I find that an email that I have a new follower can be an interruption to my day. I would rather know when someone sends me a direct message only. (You can only receive DMs from people you follow back). As a result, I have my settings to send DMs, in one email as I receive them.
Set Your Location To Your Market Area. You have 30 characters for your location.
Do not select protect my tweets. You want people to follow you and sometimes when your tweets are made public on the Twitter public timeline, you might pick up a new follower or two.
Your Bio is 160 characters: I have “Saving the Economy One House Sale at a Time.” This is a good place to display your elevator pitch or to highlight your interests along with how you want people to relate to you.
Add your homepage or blog url so that you can redirect people to your website.
You can add a Twitter Widget to your blog or website for additional exposure.
Find people in your sphere of influence that are tweeting. You can look for people on your AOL, Yahoo or Gmail network. Once you search for them, click on follow and as a courtesy, you can expect for them to follow you back.
Background Use freetwitterdesigner.com to customize a background for easy recognition. If I were you, I would start tweeting first and when you are comfortable with Twitter, use freetwitterdesigner.com to differentiate yourself. Or try twitbacks.com, which will allow you to display links to your website and web addy to your other business networking or social networking profiles.

3. Start Tweeting About:

Open house dates, times and location. Include Broker’s Open, then provide updates about what’s happening at the open house or Broker’s Open.
Success stories of what is sold in your area by you, for how much and how long did it take.
Provide market updates or news, including a link to where you found information that could be helpful to your followers.
Add your blog titles and web address or urls for people to read and comment on.
Ask questions and answer questions.
Tell about your new listings or the type of house your new buyers are looking for.
Tweet about the places you like in the neighborhood or upcoming events.People looking to move want to know what is there to do in town.
Retweet content or other people’s useful information to show you are reading and truly following other people.
Talk to your followers. Use @yourfriends name and DMs when appropriate. @yourfriendsname is visible to everyone, especially if your tweets are public. DMs are visible only to the person you are directing your message to.
Share your experiences about your products or services that you have used or intend to you.
Ask for and give referrals.

4. Add yourself to Wefollow.com, which is the official twitter directory for people.

5. Bookmark the following site associated with Twitter:

http://www.Bit.ly.com -If you are going to update your twitter page with multiple urls, you should use http://www.Bit.ly, which is a service that keeps track of how many people clicked on your URL. It’s free and easy to use. This is an easy way for you to see who is interested in what you have to say, especially
http://www.Twellow.com –allows you to search for people to follow based on keywords or location.
http://search.twitter.com this is the best way to find what people are saying about a keyword or topic in real time. Popular keywords on twitter for real estate agents: Foreclosures, short sales, $8000 tax credit, New Listings, Just Sold, and Just Reduced.
http://www.twitpic.com Allows you to upload photos from your cell phone, a twiiter app like tweetdeck or from the web. This is a good place to showcase your inventory.
http://www.twitterforbusypeople.com If you follow multiple people, you can get on overview of all of the people you follow to see what was their latest tweet.
http://www.dynamictweets.com Allows you to schedule tweets. It’s an easy way for you to set it and forget it. I use it to set tweet my open house tweets to post to my twitter page at 8:00 a.m. on the Sunday of the OH.
Http://www.tweetlater.com more feature than dynamictweets and free, but could be overwhelming for a TNG (Twitter New Guy). Recommended for Tweeple who have been tweeting for 6 months or more.
http://www.tweetlister.com This is the first twitter listing service for real estate agents and FSBOs. It combines the functions of bit.ly, tweetlater, lead capture, twitpic and an searchable listing service all in one. This is by far the best tool specific to our (remember I am a Realtor) industry. But tweetlister has some limitations and drawbacks. Read the full review on Tweetlister within the NJRETODAY blog for a complete list of pros and cons of using tweetlister.

6. Be Personalable. Even though your Twitter account is business oriented, remember that people buy people before they buy products and services. You are human and you should share your success as much as your mishaps i.e. mix and match your tweets with things that you are doing with business updates.

7. It is ok to use shorthand. Twitter is about being short and sweet. Full sentences are not necessary and if needs B, Try 2 shorten ur tweets w/symbols & #s when U can. Click here for a list of common short hand or shortcuts on Twitter.

8. Ask for other contact information when you cannot communicate in 140 characters.When someone wants to know about a rental or what he or she should do to prepare oneself before they buy, ask for their email address so that you can respond or follow-up periodically.

9. If you are blogging and sharing specific, value added information, redirect people to a landing page that will collect contact information before you provide the information. We have all been on the receiving end of landing pages where you have to give your email and sometimes your phone number before you get access to information, but if you are going to share a foreclosure list and you paid for it, I would advise people that you ask for contact information at least so that you can follow-up with inquires. Click here for a video explaination of landing pages.

10. Tweet often and don’t spam. Unsolicited messages are frowned upon and you could get blocked from users who see you as a spammer. Your goal is to get direct messages from people who are interested in your inventory or services. It’s up to you to follow-up after contact has been made. Remember, be genuine and share.

Tech Tuesday January 10, 2012

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:24:00 GMT

I was reminded today of a great service I had heard of (but then it got lost in the mix as tech tools can). I am very glad it came back up as I am going to start using it and suggest you look at it too.

Posterous.com offers a service that syndicates your social world. Syndication is not new, many companies, including Canadian great Hootsuite will link twitter and facebook. Posterous, however, takes this to the next level. It syncs facebook, twitter, youtube, flikr, linkedin, reddit,digg, your blog and a bunch of other social spots. Apparently you can even have your posterous page "skinned" to look just like your website to keep your bran consistent. Please give me feedback on how this is working.

Facebook - Another reminder (both this and posterous were via RE/MAX University) today about a cool trick in facebook. If you search for something in facebook like "moving to vancouver" "mortgage rates" "need a realtor" and you'll get a results page that is mostly people who have made fan pages about that topic. However, if you look along the left side of the results page, you see a button that says "public posts" - That will give you the posts of anyone on facebook (yes anyone of its 750 million users) who used that word or term recently in a status update. I'll shut up a second while you think about how great a tool this is.

fillanypdf.com - We are a little spoiled with webforms in that we are used to being able to open up a contract and fill in data before printing and having clients sign. The fact of the matter is that we sometimes deal with PDFs that are not from webforms and they can be a pain. FillanyPDF allows you to make any PDF work and feel like a contract with editable fields. Very handy.

Iphone and Ipad print screen. This is not an app but a handy little feature. looking to share something on your phone with someone? If you press the top and front button at the same time, your ipad or iphone will snap a picture of what is on your screen and save it in your camera roll. It is a handy way to share text conversations, maps, contacts, etc.

Walkscore - Walkscore is a website (there is also an app) that rates an address based on its walkability to amenities. It is a very cool tool. When you have clients who are concerned about such things, enter the address in and have a look at the "walk score" for the house or building.

Holidays 2012-2014 - This app has a list of Holidays and what day they are on. Is this something you could use when writing contracts?

iLiving This $3 app isn't as good as it could be and will be followed by others I am sure. However, if you want to be cutting edge it is worth a download. With iLiving, you snap and picture of a room and then digitally furnish it to see what it would look like with the bed over there or TV on that wall. RE/MAX has a much more full featured "designer" that is done on a floorplan, but it is only available on a PC (not a mobile device ... yet_

Remember to send your ideas to me for future tech tuesday emails.

Cory Raven

Managing Broker

RE/MAX Select Realty

Tech Tuesday

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:01:00 GMT

Visit the original posting...

Are you ready? 2012 is here (well, almost)

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:17:00 GMT

They say that time flies. Well, they actually say a bunch of things. None of it changes the facts. 2012 is just a few days away. I've never been a big fan of New Year's resolutions myself; it seems an arbitrary time to try to complete change who you are.

I am, however, a huge fan of planning and written goals. I fully believe (heck, I'd say I even KNOW) that having clear and compact written goals helps you achieve more. It is simply a fact of life in how busy everyone is these days. If you don't write something down and consistently revisited it, time can get away from you. Do you have anything that you wish you would have done by now? Anything that you look back and think "I wanted to get in the habit of doing that 5 years ago?" I know I do.

Written goals can change that. One habit I picked up (and admittedly fell away from a few times) last year was to tape those written goals to my bathroom mirror (thanks Brian Buffini) For whatever reason, having to stare down those goals every time you shave, every time you wash your hands or face, having my goals front and centre helps me achieve them.

The question I have as a Manager is the same that a REALTOR(R) has as a salesperson and business operator... how can I get through all the mental clutter and remember to focus on what is important?

The question in that case is, how bad do you want it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X38PCf7kao&fb_source=message

Tech Tuesday December 20th, 2011

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:14:00 GMT

Hey team,

For today's tech Tuesday email I am reminding you about a few of the more popular items I have mentioned in the past few months. Have a quick read and expect even more tech tuesday info coming your way in 2012!

Have an app, website or tech tool you want to share? Let me know at cory@coryraven.com

My updates are quite apple-centric. Have great Android or Blackberry apps you enjoy? Send them my way cory@coryraven.com

Have a friend in the business that could benefit from receiving tech tuesday emails? Have them fire me off an email cory@coryraven.com and I'll be sure to add them

Here are a few new tips and tricks in the tech world.

You have all heard of dropbox. There is a competitor called box.net that is making a run. They are offering 50 GIGS of free cloud storage to IOS5 users (newest ipad, iphone, ipod software) download the box.net app to activate.

facebook - you've heard of this one I would guess? Facebook has recently revamped its privacy settings to allow for some pretty cool stuff. I always get agents asking me if they should have a business page, a separate personal account and/or a business page. While that is still a decision you can make (remembering that facebook's TOS does not allow for multiple accounts so having a work and personal account could get one or both deleted) - however, there is really no need to separate. You can now put your facebook friends in to groups (clients/buddies/hockey fans) and choose who sees what on your profile. Which photos can be viewed by which group can be filtered, right down to who sees which status updates. Don't want to bore your fellow REALTORS with updates meant for your clients (or tip them off on a new great marketing idea you've come up with)? Write the status update and choose to have it only show to clients. Your REALTOR friends won't see the status update on their feed (or on your page if they come directly to it) Play around with it and see what you think.

gotomeeting use this from your ipad. There are now a bunch of applications and websites similar to gotomeeting, a lot are free to use. Start using one and use it. Imagine being able to take over your client's mouse and see what is on their screen and point out certain things on a contract, even when they are in another City or Country? The technology exists, get in front of it.

ewallet not real estate specific, but a great little app none the less. Do you have 100 different websites that you are registered for? Most of us use the same username and password on all of them, which is not good for security. ewallet provides a password protected place on your phone or tablet where you can keep a list of your different passwords. Over and above that, you can also keep other secure info like passport numbers, frequent flyer numbers, etc.

Skype - not a new service, but it is now being used in new ways with most new tablets and cameras now having front facing cameras. Cameron Herold, former CEO of 1800 GOT JUNK, says that 50% of his phone calls are skype video calls. 50%! Sure, a video call isn't as good as meeting in person, but it is a heck of a little more warm and personal than a phone call and lightyears ahead of email, in terms of connecting with our clients

free time - Free time is a neat little app. It goes in to your calendar and shows you how much free time you have (and when) in a given day. Great for planning meetings, scheduling tasks, etc.

vlingo - Vlingo is voice recognition that has vastly improved with the new apple software. You can now open up the app and say things like "text message Cory Raven You're a great guy" and it will not only translate to text, it will open up your text message application, find Cory Raven in your phone book and draft a text message to him. Very cool. It does the same for email (keep them short) - for longer voice to text, try dragon dictation

Tech Tuesday December 13th 2011

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:51:00 GMT

To anyone with kids, grandkids or anyone with special young ones in their lives.... you MUST check out www.magicsanta.ca - Plug in the name and some info about the child and it'll create a video where santa talks to the child and congratulates them on being good this year. Check it out! Have clients with kids? Why not be the one to tell them about this cool website?

Last week I mentioned a GPS app and incorrectly called it MAZE, the correct name is WAZE - It is a free app in the apple app store. http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/waze-gps-traffic-social-fun!/id323229106?mt=8

Another app an agent just told me about is PayByPhone - this is a handy little app for parking at City parking meters. I haven't yet used it and would appreciate feedback. http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/paybyphone/id448474183?mt=8

Need to print from your iPad or iPhone? Look in to PrinterShare. Doesn't work with all printers, but it worthwhile to look in to before purchasing your next printer. http://realestate.about.com/od/technologyhardware/qt/ipad_pshare.htm

The new Cards app (by apple) is not receiving great reviews but is a great peak in to what phones and tablets will offer in the near future. Cards lets you send greeting cards - real paper greeting cards - from your phone or tablet. When you are on vacation, use a picture you just took, create a postcard and send a "wish you were here" postcard to a client. All from your phone. It will then get printed and shipped by Apple. I think this, at the right price, could open up a new world of virtual assistant duties.

Speaking of virtual assistants, has everyone heard of Steve Jagger's OutSourcingThings ?

In the following link, a Calgary REALTOR® talks about his use of the service http://www.outsourcingthingsdone.com/RealEstateAgentVirtualAssistant.ubr

There is a real trend as of late towards crowdsourcing. This is where you need something done and put the task out there to hundreds of people that could potentially do it for you. They give quotes, you check ratings from past tasks they have done and pick a "winner" I've heard of real estate agents savings a lot of money on branding and ad design with services like this. Check out 99designs for more info http://99designs.com/

Blogs - a buzz word that bugs some REALTORS®. Well, the time to worry about what bugs you is over and the time to worry about what your potential clients want it now. Blogs are the easiest (and with templated sites sometimes the only) way to add content to your website. And for those that don't know (and a reminder to those that do) content is king when it comes to google search rankings. What does that mean to you? The more up to date relevant information you have on your website, the more traffic google will send to you. Google (while not ever releasing exactly how they rank websites) has also made it clear that video is much more desirable than text. In fact 94% of consumers said they want video in regards to looking for information on a property, a neighbourhood or a REALTOR®.

So what kind of stuff (besides "I am hosting an open house on...") could you add to your website to have it be more content rich? Here are some great ideas http://www.mytechopinion.com/2011/03/how-to-write-hyperlocal-post.html

Still on the fence about getting an iPad for your business? Here is a great little article (18 months old so it is just the tip of the iceberg) on how an iPad can help a real estate professional. http://www.mytechopinion.com/2010/04/ithink-ineed-ipad-for-real-estate.html

CORY RAVEN

MANAGING BROKER

RE/MAX Select Realty

604-678-3333

Tech Tuesday

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:27:00 GMT

Are you receiving this email as a forward or viewing it on the web? If you would prefer to receive it directly from Cory Raven on Tuesdays, send me an email to cory@coryraven.com and ask to be added to the tech tuesday email list.

This week, RE/MAX Select and RE/MAX Westcoast held their yearly business planning session. It was attended by over 100 keen and eager REALTOR(S) from newbies to seasoned pros. It was refreshing to spend some time talking about building one's business and listening to agents in our group of companies. Tech actually played very little role in anyone's contribution, but I bring it up for two reasons.

1. As a reminder that tech will not replace business building and SALES skills. Those REALTOR(S) who you see with all the for sale and sold signs in the area did not get there using facebook.

2. One agent at our workshop did, however, bring up managed hosting email. The concept of having one's blackberry be the same as one's desktop and as their iPad as far as inbox and other folders go (IE you send an email from your blackberry and it shows in the sent folder of your iPad) I wanted to quickly point out that one way or another, if you don't currently have this, you NEED to get there ASAP. The days of having to re-read your emails when back at your computer are over. I have been using gmail's IMAP service (free) for years but remember the old days of looking at your email on another platform. Get past this. Talk to me if you need help.

What else is going on in tech?

-CALENGOO - I've mentioned this before, but I LOVE this service. It is a game changer. Just as I type this email, my iPhone battery died (surprise surprise) but my calendar is online, including items I just added minutes ago from my (now dead) phone.

-Tomorrow - Docusign is doing a webinar that is sold out. We are playing the webinar in our Boardroom (@ 4806 Main Street) at noon tomorrow (Wednesday D|ec 7th) Call our front desk at 604-678-3333 to reserve a spot)

- facebook - I am loving the new "groups" on facebook. I have a group called "family" so I don't have to bore all my friends with pictures of my kids (okay, I still do, but I don't have to) I have a group called "real estate pros" so I don't have to bore my non real estate friends with stuff for the benefit of real estate agents. We will be doing a Social Media 202 seminar in the new year to go over the changes to facebook and more.

-Google+ - I haven't been using this much. How are you liking it?

-Maze - (thanks to Adam Chahl of RE/MAX Select Realty) this iPhone,Ipad and Android app is great. It is a map/gps app but it uses social aspects to improve itself. You can see real time speeds that people are travelling on routes, where speed traps are, construction to avoid etc, all updated in real time.

-ewallet - Let me guess... you have a million different user names and passwords for a million different websites, right? Plus credit cards, reward cards, passports, other IDs? Hard to keep track of, right? Enter the encrypted ewallet app. It is password protected (yes, one more to remember) but behind that password can be everything you need to know. With it all tracked, you'll now be able to use a password that isn't "password". Neat, eh?

-find my iphone - Surprising I am meeting people with ipads and iphones that don't know about this service. When activated, you can log in, find your lost phone on a map, make it play a loud sound, and even wipe all the info off of it (if stolen)

-big calc free - amazingly the iPad doesn't come with a calculator. Download one.

- mortgage calculator - download one that is Canadian

-PDF expert - I've actually replaced my NOTERIZE app with PDF expert for digital signing and dealing with PDFs on my iPad.

**Don't forget that the RE/MAX Design Centre now has iPad listing presentation templates. Check them out.

PS- when planning your 2012, watch Tom Ferry's "Lead Generation the New Fashioned Way" on RE/MAX University. It is about 80 minutes long but it is amazing.

Until next week, that's tech tuesday!

For Sale by Owner? Think again!

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:45:00 GMT

BY HAMILTON NOLAN AUG 3, 2011 10:50 AM

REAL ESTATE

‘For Sale By Owner’ Founder Needs Broker to Sell His Apartment

Colby Sambrotto is a founder of the website ForSaleByOwner.com, which, you know, lets people sell their own apartments. Colby Sambrotto had an apartment of his own—a two bedroom in Chelsea—to sell. Can you guess what happened next?

A founder of a website dedicated to direct sales of homes by their owners has sold his two-bedroom apartment in Chelsea for $2.15 million-with the help of a real-estate broker and paid full commission.

"At first he wouldn't let me increase the price," [the broker] said. "I told him I know what I am doing-the market is picking up."

Not only could For Sale By Owner guy not sell his own apartment, but a broker was able to sell it for more money. That site once again, homeowners: ForSaleByOwner.com. Bookmark it!

5 reasons not to overprice your home

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:43:00 GMT

5 Reasons to not Overprice Your Home

by Kory Prince, RE/MAX Select REALTOR(R)

www.koryprince.ca

When it's time to sell your home, it's very easy to be snared in the overpricing trap. After all, you want top price for your home, don't you? We all know that prices have risen dramatically in recent years. Given that, it's logical that the asking price you set could be higher than "fair market value." Unfortunately, you probably won't realize it's too high until much later. Here are just a few of the disappointments you'll be facing with an overpriced home:

Responses will likely be slow and measured, since the public recognizes overpricing. Remember, people buy by comparison.
Some prospects who are attracted may be the wrong ones. They will be attracted because they're looking for a home priced the same as yours – but with MORE features.
Very few buyers will even make an offer on an overpriced home. The reason? Even if you accept their lower offer, they aren't getting a bargain since the final price is probably no less than "fair market value."
Your home will help buyers make a favorable decision on other homes that are priced fairly. Do you really want to help your competition achieve their goals?
If you do find a buyer at your price, their mortgage application could be rejected because of a low appraisal; the house simply doesn't meet the standards that the price indicates.

This all sounds rather bleak, so what can you do to solve the pricing issue? Work with an experienced professional who knows the market in your neighbourhood. Take advantage of the research and advice your Realtor can offer, and you'll be on your way to setting the right price for your home and in doing so get top dollar.

As always thanks for reading and if you would like to speak further on pricing strategies and how they can benefit you, drop me a line, I love to hear from my readers.

Have an absolutely incredible day!

Kory Prince

Tech Tuesday

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:04:00 GMT

More and more of the questions I get or conversations I have are surrounding tech tools. Agents often bring to my attention great websites, apps and other tech tools that help them save time and money in running their business. As you know we talk about many of these in our meetings; however, I find a reminder is always good. So, starting today, I'm going to start sending out an email on Tuesdays with a few new tech tools or tips. I'll also include previous tech emails below as a reminder of what had been mentioned in past emails.

If you have any suggestions or feedback on items you'd like to have included (or on items that we've already included) let me know. So... let's go

www.facebook.com --> Ok, we are starting with one you may have already heard of. Faceboook is fast approaching 600 million users. There are 2 conventional ways to use facebook for business.

1. Personal Page - set up your page and go! Once you add a few "friends" facebook will start to suggest more people to you and it is pretty easy to get hundreds of "friends" in a short period of time. So what do you do once you are there? Get involved in conversations! The same rules that apply to a social function also apply to facebook. If you spend most of your time talking about you ("I Just did an open house") , you'll likely not have much success in building and nurturing relationships. However, if you show interest in what others are doing and talking about ("Hey Mrs. Client, congrats on becoming a grandma! Little Emma is precious") you will soon be the life of the "party" My suggestion is to spend your first (or next) 2 weeks not posting a single thing about yourself on your facebook wall but rather commenting on and liking things that your friends are talking about

2. Business Page - If you go to any business page on facebook (heck, www.facebook.com/selectonmain is a great place to start) you will see a "create page" link on the left hand side. Click this and you are about 5 minutes away from having a business page (John Smith - RE/MAX Select Realty) Those in the know on faceboook seem to think (and it makes sense) that people are more accepting of business talk and bragging on a business page than they are on a personal page. This is where you'd talk more about new listings etc.... but keep in mind you still must be thinking about "what are my friends looking at/for when they log on to facebook?" and try to provide that. Look at other business pages and borrow ideas that you like.

Verl Workman, author of how to be a freakin sales animal, claims to do 20+ deals a year as a direct result from facebook... yet he preaches that if you are spending more than 15 minutes a day on it, you are wasting your time.

Dropbox - I would call dropbox a "must have" application for real estate (there are other services that do what dropbox does, and they are fine as well) - With dropbox, you get a online folder for storing files, and it is free! The catch? Your files cannot exceed 2 gigs in size (total) unless you pay for a storage space upgrade. As a bonus, we keep our shared files on dropbox, so you'll have access to common documents and forms through the website and application. So how do you sign up?

1. sign up for an account http://db.tt/UYWpBCH

2. Email cory and tell him the email address you used to sign up

3. Cory will send an invite to that address to connect to the Shared Files Folder

4. You are in.

ZAPD App for Iphone and Ipad - This is an amazing new app; In about 5 minutes, from your phone, you can make a basic website. Snap a couple pics, write some text and you've got a website. If a REALTOR(R) was so inclined, they could even spend the 10 bucks before a listing presentation, get a domain name specific to that house (123mainstreet.com ) and show the owners a basic version of their website as part of the presentation (along with a look at a current listing so they can see what the full featured website wil look like.

GENIUS SCAN for Iphone and Ipad. This app takes pictures of your contracts and saves them as a PDF you can email. The quality is not yet where you'd use it if there is a scanner right beside you, but in a jam when kinkos is closed? GENIUS SCAN will do the trick

LOGMEIN - This app allows you to use your Ipad to remotely connect to your laptop or desktop (and connect to MLXchange!)

Plaintext -A simple note taking app that syncs to your dropbox account for instant backups.

Dragon Dictation - Speech to text

Talkatone Free Calling to anywhere in North America (you need a google account to use)

REMEMBER also RE/MAX Western Canada's Webinar Wednesdays - where the tech guys from Region walk you through how to better use the tools offered by RE/MAX. They do webinars on leadstreet, design centre, RE/MAX University and more!

Until next week, remember that all this technology is there to make your life easier and/or more profitable, but NO technology can replace good old fashioned sales tactics. Your phone calls and in person touches with clients and prospects are more important than ever. And with some agents being guilty of "hiding behind" technology, you can stand out even more than ever by getting in front of people. I spoke with an agent a few months ago that calls all his clients on their birthdays (we knew those FINTRAC forms were good for something!) and hears from every other person that the only other person who had picked up the phone to call was the client's own mother. Do you think that stays with the client longer than a posting on a social media website with 300 other people?

RE/MAX is wack - viral video

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:32:00 GMT

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Cdi2ZipvLvY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Welcome to Jadan Claire

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:26:14 GMT

RE/MAX Select Realty Welcomes Jadan Claire to our team of Select Realtors.

Richmond Market outpaces Vancouver

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:41:49 GMT

Richmond home prices skyrocket

Median price for a detached home climbs above $1 million

CBC News

Posted: Mar 6, 2011 6:57 PM PT

Last Updated: Mar 6, 2011 8:19 PM PT

Read90comments

Hot Richmond homes2:50

Home prices in Richmond have reached a new high, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reports.

Over the past year, the price for detached homes in the Vancouver suburb has climbed 20 per cent, or about $215,000, the board said.

The median price for a detached home in the Garden City is now hovering just above the $1-million mark, up from $885,000 just six months ago and $879,000 one year ago.

Patsy Hui, a Richmond real estate agent, said although it is "such a lovely place," it's not the inherent beauty of Richmond that's driving prices: It's the investors.

"All kinds of people, but mostly people originated from mainland China," Hui said. The prices may seem high to us, she added, but present a "real deal from a world point of view."

One home that sold last year for $1.2 million brought $1.73 million this year, Hui said.

Ivan Krpin, who makes custom-built homes in Richmond, says more than 80 per cent of his clients are from mainland China and that most buy older houses and knock them down.

"On the old house there's no HST [harmonized sales tax], so all they would have to pay for is the actual construction of the home," he said

Krpin said the surge in demand is pushing people who have lived in Richmond for years into neighbouring communities.

"It became very attractive for them to make some extra money on the properties, on the values and move to the Valley, to White Rock and south Surrey," he said.

On the flipside, very few former Richmond residents are getting back into the local market.

"It has become too expensive for ordinary people that live and work in this community," Krpin said.

RE/MAX Award Levels

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:45:42 GMT

It is almost that time. Next week we give out our 2010 Awards to our Associates.

The RE/MAX® Awards & Recognition Program

Career Awards

One of the three different types of awards within RE/MAX's extensive awards program.

Career Awards are given to individual Associates to acknowledge outstanding professional achievements. There are three different career awards: The Hall of Fame, Lifetime Achievement and Circle of Legends Awards. These are awarded by RE/MAX International and it is the responsibility of the Associate to complete and submit applications for these awards.

Circle of Legends: First awarded in 1987 with current requirements of achieving $10 million in gross commission after being with RE/MAX at least 10 years. Associates must also have already received the Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement awards.
Lifetime Achievement: Introduced in 1992 with requirements of 7 years of service and $7 million gross commission. Associates must have previously achieved the Hall of Fame award.
Hall of Fame: Established to recognize and salute the exclusive group of top producers who have achieved more than $1 million in gross commission earnings during their career with RE/MAX. There is no years of service requirement.

All Career Award recipients are recognized on stage on awards night of the annual RE/MAX International Convention. Name-badge ribbons are also provided to award winners.

Special Awards

One of the three different types of awards within RE/MAX's extensive awards program.

Medallions are presented to the recipients of Special Awards at the RE/MAX International Convention.

There are many distinguished Special Awards:

Region of the Year: Regions throughout the United States and Canada are considered.
International Region of the Year: All International Offices and Associates are reviewed.
Broker/Owner of the Year: Separate awards are given for Broker/Owner of the Year for Single Offices and Multiple Offices. All offices throughout the United States and Canada are considered.
International Broker/Owner of the Year: Separate awards are given for Broker/Owner of the Year for Single Offices and Multiple Offices throughout the world.
Broker Manager of the Year: One award is presented to the Broker Manager of the Year for the United States. A second award is presented to the Broker Manager of the Year in Canada and a third award is presented to the International Broker Manager of the Year.
Largest Single Office: Single offices all over the world are taken into account when determining the winner this award. The largest single office is determined by counting the number of paid Associates within that office.
Largest Multi-Office Network: Multiple offices all over the world are taken into account when distributing this award. The official number for the largest single office is determined by counting the number of paid Associates.
Highest Total Sales Volume: Awarded to both the single office and the multiple office with the highest total sales volume worldwide.
Individual Commissions: Given to the top ten individual Associates with the highest amounts paid in Residential and Commercial sales. This count is taken worldwide.
Team Commissions: Given to the top ten, worldwide teams with the highest amounts paid in Residential and Commercial sales.

Distinguished Service

Specific Special Awards are presented to winners during the "Night of Stars" evening award celebration. This reception is by invitation only and bestows distinctive awards on hardworking Sale Associates and brokerages:

Largest Single Office: The largest single offices in the United States, Canada, and International are each recognized. The official number for the largest single office in each of the three regions is determined by counting the number of paid Associates.
Largest Multi-Office Network: The largest multiple offices in the United States, Canada, and International are recognized. The official number for the largest multi-office in each of the three regions is determined by counting the number of paid Associates.
Largest Net Associate Gain: Small market offices with one, single location are reviewed. This award is given to the four winning offices within the United States, Canada, International, and Worldwide.
Largest Net Associate Gain: Awarded to the largest metro market office with one, single location. This award is given to the four winning offices within the United States, Canada, International, and Worldwide.
Largest Net Associate Gain: The United States, Canada, International, and Worldwide will each have a winner for the Multi Office Network with the largest net Associate gain.
Highest Total Sales Volume: Awarded to the Single Office with the highest total of sales volume within each of the United States, Canada, and International.
Highest Total Sales Volume: Awarded to the Multi-Office Networks with the highest total sales within the United States, Canada, and International.
Top Office: The top office in number of closed transactions within the small market receives this award. There is a winning office in the United States, Canada, International, and Worldwide.
Top Office: The top office in number of closed transactions within the metro market receives this award. There is a winning office in the United States, Canada, International, and Worldwide.
Transactions: Individuals and teams are both recognized within the United States, Canada, International, and Worldwide.
Commissions Paid in Commercial Sales: The top five individuals and top five teams are recognized for the amount of commissions paid within the United States, Canada, and International.
Commissions Paid in Residential Sales: The top ten individuals and top ten teams are recognized for the amount of commissions paid within the United States, Canada, and International.

The much deserving winners receive a "loving cup" trophy as well as the medallion.

For the above RE/MAX awards, the International awards do not include the United States or Canada. The Worldwide awards look at the overall winner out of the United States winner, the winner of Canada, and the winner of International.

The Recognition Manual. March 26, 2008. Accessed May 1, 2008.

Club Awards

One of the three different types of awards within RE/MAX's extensive awards program.

Club Awards are individual awards that are based on levels of annual commission. Both residential and commercial commissions are taken into account for the entire year from January 1 to December 31. Club Awards are presented in February of the following year. Associates need not apply for this award as it is distribution is based on the end of the year commission reports.

The year end gross commission report determines which level of Club Award the Licensed Associate is eligible for:

Diamond Award Club: Awarded to those whose gross commission was $1,000,000+.
Chairman's Club: Created in 2003 to recognize Associates with increasing levels of commission within the range of $500,000 - $999,999.
Platinum Club: Introduced in 1994, it recognizes Associates who rank among the very highest of producers with gross commission amounts of $250,000 - $499,999.
100% Club: In 2005, RE/MAX Associates achieved levels of productivity that were more than double the industry average with commission levels of $100,000 - $249,999.
Executive Club: Awarded to those whose gross commission was between $50,000 - $99,999.

Don't expect price drop any time soon, say experts

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:17:07 GMT

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - With interest rates at historical lows, a top real estate expert has a bullish outlook for our country's housing market.

Vancouver may be one of the most expensive cities to live in, but President of Coldwell Banker Canada John Geha says there are still some affordable homes out there if you do your research.

"It is a healthy market for the first-time buyer. I think with Finance Minister [Jim] Flaherty's decision to tighten credit, you just have to be prepared. You have to have the right council with your lawyer, your bank and your real estate professional and make some decisions. Are you going to save money? And what price range are you going to be buying in?"

In its latest report the CMHC says Canadian housing prices will move in line with inflation for the next two years.

Strong Demand For Olympic Village condos stuns even Bob Rennie

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:26:26 GMT

More Images »

Bob Rennie spoke about Vancouver's Olympic Village on Wednesday with The Vancouver Sun.

Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG

Some Olympic Village units are already being placed on the market by owners who have bought at the controversial project. Take a look at how much they are asking for.

See how much you are impacted by the HST, listed by marriage and income status, according to the StatCan report.

VANCOUVER - Condos in the Olympic village officially go on sale to the public Friday. But a test of the market this week stunned condo marketer Bob Rennie, who says he’s seeing strong demand for units in the troubled Southeast False Creek development.

In the past week, Rennie’s office gave a small number of people the chance to put offers on units in the Kayak and Bridge complexes as a way of testing whether the new prices to be unveiled today are right for the market.

The results surprised even the veteran condo salesman.

Of 31 offers, 12 were for units costing more than $900,000 and another 11 were for units priced between $600,000 and $900,000. The remaining eight were for units less than $600,000.

Rennie said the fact that more than a third of the people were willing to spend upwards of $1 million bodes well for city taxpayers, who are owed more than $700 million on the project.

“For the first time in the last two years, I can really breathe a sigh of relief,” he said.

Rennie is under a lot of pressure to get the pricing right. The village is in voluntary receivership, and Vancouver taxpayers are owed more than $740 million.

This is the third time units have gone on sale; the last was in May, months before the city pressured the developer, Millennium Developments, to assign the project into receivership last fall.

The new sale involves offering 230 of the remaining 474 units at deep discounts from their original prices.

The Bridge and Kayak complexes at opposite ends of the village represent about $200 million in market value, according to the court-appointed receiver, Ernst & Young.

Rennie, who is in charge of marketing the project, said the remaining 244 units, including the 60 units in the two iconic Arthur Eriksen-designed Canada House towers on the waterfront, could go on sale next year if sales for the Bridge and Kayak go well.

For the past week, Rennie and his sales associates have been trying to create a buzz around the release of the units. Between Saturday and Wednesday, more than 400 people toured display suites, a number Rennie says is encouraging.

Two hours after Rennie unveils the new pricing structure at a news conference, he’s hosting a briefing for more than 1,000 real estate agents, who will be told they can start writing contracts as of Friday.

Rennie said Wednesday that, although prices have come down on average about 30 per cent, he’s not conducting a fire sale.

“If we can garner consumer confidence that there is value, that’s what’s going to stabilize the village; that’s what’s going to protect the lender, which will subsequently protect the taxpayer, which will also protect the current buyer,” he said.

Although prices won’t be officially announced until today, in a report filed with B.C. Supreme Court earlier this month, Ernst & Young broke down pricing on the 230 units in the Bridge and Kayak buildings this way: 59 will be less than $500,000; 61 will be between $500,000 and $750,000; 51 will be between $751,000 and $1 million; and 59 will be more than $1 million.

Ernst & Young said, of the remaining 244 units to be sold, 127 along the back row of the complex will be rented out temporarily to help fill out the village population. The rest, including those priced at more than $1 million — again mostly in the vacant Canada House towers — are neither for sale nor for rent at present.

Ernst & Young says a total of 263 of 737 condos in the village have been sold.

jefflee@vancouversun.com

Blog: vancouversun.com/jefflee

twitter.com/sunciviclee

Celebrating RE/MAX surpassing $100 Million in donations to the Childrens Miracle Network.

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:59:36 GMT

Celebrating RE/MAX surpassing $100 Million in donations to the Children's Miracle Network.

Housing market factors indicate stability in recent months

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:43:46 GMT

September home sales in Greater Vancouver were consistent with activity experienced in the preceding two months across most categories.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that the number of residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 2,220 in September 2010. This represents a 0.8 per cent increase compared to August 2010 and 37.6 per cent decline from the 3,559 sales in September 2009.

In comparison, last month’s residential sales represent a 40.1 per cent increase over the 1,585 residential sales in September 2008, a 20 per cent decline compared to September 2007’s 2,776 sales, and an 11.9 per cent decline compared to September 2006’s 2,519 sales.

“We’ve seen fewer properties coming on to the market over the last three months. This trend, combined with the continued attraction of low interest rates, is likely having the effect of less downward pressure on home prices,” Jake Moldowan, REBGV president said.

Since spring, housing prices in the region have trended slightly downward, with a decrease of 2.7 per cent compared to the all-time high reached in April when the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) residential benchmark price was $593,419. The overall benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver over the last 12 months has increased 5.5 per cent to $577,174 in September 2010 from $547,092 in September 2009. The current price remains consistent with last month, rising just 0.1 per cent between August and September 2010.

Total active property listings posted on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Greater Vancouver currently sit at 15,401, basically unchanged compared to last month and a 22 per cent increase from September 2009. Over the last three months, active listings in the region have declined12.3 per cent.

New residential property listings posted in September declined 17.6 per cent to 4,731 compared to September 2009 when 5,746 new units were listed.

“We saw signs of more stability in our marketplace last month than we have seen since spring based on a variety of indicators that we look at each month,” Moldowan said. “At 56 days, it took, on average, three days less to sell a home in our region compared to August. This is the first month-over-month decline we’ve seen in this category since April.”

Sales of detached properties in September 2010 reached 866, a decrease of 39.1 per cent from the 1,423 detached sales recorded in September 2009, and a 58.6 per cent increase from the 546 units sold in September 2008. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 6.7 per cent from September 2009 to $790,992.

Sales of apartment properties reached 971 in September 2010, a decline of 34.7 per cent compared to the 1,489 sales in September 2009, and an increase of 27.1 per cent compared to the 764 sales in September 2008.The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 3.7 per cent from September 2009 to $388,373.

Attached property sales in September 2010 totalled 383, a decline of 40.1 per cent compared to the 647 sales in September 2009, and a 39.3 per cent increase from the 275 attached properties sold in September 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 5.2 per cent between September 2009 and 2010 to $490,385.

Sales Stats by Brokerage

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:04:00 GMT

Once again, RE/MAX is proving to be Above The Crowd in Greater Vancouver.

Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver

January 1st to to July 31st, 2010 (Cumulative)

Company	Reported Sales Volume	Market Share	No. of Sales	Volume per Associate	Sales per Associate	No. of Associates

RE/MAX	$3,088,454,176	25.3%	9819	$2,441,466	7.8	1265
SUTTON GROUP	$2,547,672,550	20.9%	7766	$1,412,235	4.3	1804
MacDONALD REALTORS	$1,095,621,824	9.0%	2864	$1,835,212	4.8	597
ROYAL PACIFIC REALTY	$1,081,121,018	8.8%	2460	$1,447,284	3.3	747
ROYAL LePAGE REAL ESTATE	$624,551,379	5.1%	2415	$1,251,606	4.8	499
PRUDENTIAL GROUP	$471,540,398	3.9%	2377	$972,248	4.9	485
AMEX	$273,439,827	2.2%	809	$606,297	1.8	451
DEXTER ASSOCIATES REALTY	$238,705,777	2.0%	619	$1,864,889	4.8	128
POLYGON REALTY	$226,845,020	1.9%	101	$13,343,825	5.9	17
MULTIPLE GROUP	$222,543,839	1.8%	659	$812,204	2.4	274
All Others ( 143 Offices )	$2,346,348,471	19.2%	6871	$898,984	2.6	2610

Total	$12,216,844,279	100%	36,760			8,877

RE/MAX accounts for 25.3% of the business with 14.3% of the Sales Associates.

Welcome to RE/MAX Select Realty

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:14:42 GMT

Hello, welcome to RE/MAX Select Realty. Mind the mess as we prepare our website. We have some of Vancouver's top producing Realtors doing business out of our new office at 4806 Main Street

Our group of companies also includes RE/MAX Select Properties on Arbutus Street and RE/MAX Westcoast in Richmond.

Come back often as there will be lots of changes coming in the very near future.

Thanks for visiting!