Tuesday, April 10, 2012 Tech Tuesday April 10, 2012by Cory Raven on Tue, Apr, 10, 2012 03:49 PM
Wow, what a week for Tech! Yesterday it was announced that Facebook bought Instagram for 1 BILLION DOLLARS.
Instagram is less than 2 years old. For those who do not know about or use Instagram, it is an app where you take, edit and share photos.
Contrast that to the New York Times, over 100 years old, hundreds of employees and valued somewhere about $950 Million.
We are living in interesting Times indeed.
What does this purchase tell us.... it says that Facebook thinks we are moving even more in to the social sharing space and that pictures are going to play a larger role than words.
A guess a picture is worth a thousand, er, a billion dollars! Tech bubble or not, things are very interesting in the tech world right now.
 Mark Zuckerberg promises to keep Instagram goingOne billion US dollars is a tidy sum of money.
It would buy you some some 2,100 Rolls Royce Phantoms. Or 200 million mosquito nets to fight malaria. Or the whole of the New York Times company (with $50m change to spare). If you are Microsoft, it buys you some 800 AOL patents to fight the next patent war.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg choose to spend $1bn on Instagram, a small web start-up just under two years old, with 13 full-time staff who work on a single smartphone app.
Yes, Instagram is very popular. The app's fancy "filters" give your photos a lovely vintage feeling, a bit like the faded Polaroids tucked away in the drawers of your parents' living room. They port mediocre photos into an alternate universe where they look kind of good; an online service allows users to share their pictures with friends.
The drawback, of course, is Instagram's business model. The company has no revenue to speak of. Maybe its business model was to be bought by another tech firm with too much money in the bank.
So is this the return of silly money to Silicon Valley? Is it a case of panic buying, with valuations pushed up in a bidding war with Google or another competitor?
Facebook is certainly not spending $1bn on an app.
Rather, it is buying three things: a potential rival with a rapidly growing user base; a weapon to fight other even bigger threats in the social networking space; and most importantly a better hook into the world of mobile computing.
Instagram's growth is impressive indeed. The app has some 30 million iPhone users. A week ago it launched on Google's Android operating system and chalked up five million downloads in just six days.
Still, it suggests that Facebook values an Instagram user at about $28.
Cheap, you might say, given the fact that Facebook has a much-touted valuation of $100bn - or $118 per user (Facebook's listing on the Nasdaq stockmarket is imminent).
Well, at least Facebook has revenue and is making a nice profit.
Facebook's problem, though, is the fact that its days of rapid expansion are over, and that many see Facebook as something that's done on an old-style desktop computer.
This is where Instagram comes in. The app's strength - mobile devices - is Facebook's biggest weakness. The social network simply has not got the same traction on smartphones as it has on desktop computers. This is an Achilles heel. The number of phones with web access is already outnumbering computers, and sales of tablet computers could soon outpace those of traditional PCs.
Don't forget that pictures were at the heart of Facebook's success; the easy sharing of pictures made it stand out against early rivals. Today, the social network is the world's largest photo-sharing website.
Combine Instagram's mobile appeal with some careful Facebook integration (without annoying existing users too much), and Mark Zuckerberg could have made a very nifty move. It could be as clever as Google buying YouTube for $1.65bn in 2006, before it was totally obvious how important web video would become.
Buying Instagram could also help Facebook to fend off new rivals like social photo-sharing website Pinterest, which is arguably the world's fastest growing social network yet (albeit still smaller than Instagram, with currently about 20 million users).
Facebook will have to tread carefully, though. Instagram users are a passionate bunch, and already they worry that their app will go the way of many other clever online services that were swallowed by tech giants like Google and Yahoo: quickly sidelined, forgotten and closed down.
Mark Zuckerberg promises to be different, and says he is "committed to building and growing Instagram independently".
The biggest winners of the Facebook deal are, of course, the people directly involved with Instagram.
Founder and chief executive Kevin Systrom has reportedly netted $400m; his co-founder Mike Krieger is about $100m richer - all for just under two years' worth of work.
Reports suggest that $100m will be shared out among the other 11 members of staff, some of whom joined the company just a few weeks ago.
And then there are the investors, a roll call of Silicon Valley greats (including Facebook's first chief technical officer).
Kudos, by the way, to the three venture capital firms that reportedly invested $50m in Instagram, valuing the company at just $500m. In less than a week they've doubled their money.
Did I hear anybody say "technology bubble"?
_______________________________ Cory Raven, RI
Managing Broker, RE/MAX Select Realty
Vice President, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver's Van East Division
Member, Real Estate Institute of BC
4806 Main Street Vancouver, BC V5V 3R8 604.678.3333 (office) 604.678.3355 (direct) cory@coryraven.comwww.selectonmain.com
Sunday, April 1, 2012 Picking the right agentby RE/MAX on Sun, Apr, 1, 2012 06:59 PM Sunday, April 1, 2012 50 ways to green your home and save $$$by RE/MAX on Sun, Apr, 1, 2012 06:55 PM Tuesday, March 27, 2012 Tech Tuesday March 27thby Cory Raven on Tue, Mar, 27, 2012 03:24 PM I spoke with one of our group's agents after his return from the Las Vegas convention. While he loved the convention, he admitted feeling overwhelmed by the technology aspect. He commented that by day two he felt "stupid" and confused; it was as though he'd missed out on all this tech and it was too late to catch up. It was Brian Buffini's session that helped our agent get back on track. You don't win sales awards by having the coolest tech, the top producers in our group of offices aren't those with the most followers on Twitter. Sales is about generating leads and then getting belly to belly with those leads to do transactions and build relationships.
I'll be the first to admit, I'm a bit of a geek in that I find tech tools interesting. However, I still feel that some agents are using tech as something to hide behind. A shield between them and their clients. Something to do so they can say they "worked" today.
There are some amazing tech tools out there, but let's remember that technology doesn't do our job, it can simply help make some aspects of our job easier or more cost effective. The agent need to be more focused on appointments than of apps.
Having said all of that, I still do find these apps, tips and tricks to be neat and handy... feel free to use one, some or all, after you've set your appointment today.
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Boomerang for Gmail - Webmail still hasn't caught up to Outlook when it comes to being a full featured mail program. One of the shortcomings is you can't "send later" with gmail. I often find myself with an email that has to go out, but not until later. Well, you no longer have to put those emails off. Boomerang allows you to tell gmail when to send a message (full disclosure, I've been working on this email a bit here and there for the past week and am Boomerang'ing it because "Tech Sunday" just doesn't sound as catching as "Tech Tuesday"
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Evernote - I've already mentioned this app a few times, but the more I use it the more impressed I am with it.
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Box - A competitor to Dropbox, they'll give 50gigs (50 GIGS!) of free space to iOS5 users (iphone and ipad)
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Two of our agents were discussing Android vs. Apple in the tablet world here last week. You can see they are both happy with their tabelts.... All I know is I am glad that there is competition making these tablets better, faster and cheaper every day. Also, BlackBerry's Playbook can now use Android apps, so it is now a much more relevant machine.
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WifiPhoto - sometimes it can be a pain to get photos and videos from your phone or tablet on to your computer. WIFIphoto makes this easy
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YOUTUBE - we've all heard of youtube already, but did you know you can upload movies from your phone to youtube, for free, right from your phone? A free youtube (google) account is required.
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5 Tips for Moving Social Media Leads Into the Sales Funnel
By Nichole Kelly
Published March 26, 2012
 Have you been able to turn your fans and followers into active prospects?
Are you interested in monetizing the social media channel?
Keep reading for five tips to turn fans and followers into a revenue channel.
But first…
Do Fans Mean Business?
Marketers have made tremendous strides in growing their audiences on social media channels. There have been concerns over whether social media could only be successful in business-to-consumer (B2C) companies, but we’re starting to see great case studies in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) brands.
In looking at the B2B software space, we can see tremendous success from companies like HubSpot, InfusionSoft and HootSuite that have grown large numbers of followers by providing valuable content to their target audiences.
In the B2C space, our passion for brands like Old Spice, Coca-Cola and Ford have been reignited by creative social media campaigns. But what now?
Have these large followings contributed to revenue for these brands? The next natural question for C-level executives and marketers is, “Can we monetize our social media following?”
As pressures have risen for solid measurements and a demonstration of social mediaROI, more companies are recognizing that revenue generation has to be a top priority of social media strategies.
This doesn’t give license for tacky sales pitches on Twitter. Rather, it opens the door for a more strategic approach to social media content, content distribution and measurement.
To get started, there are a few things you’ll need to prepare for.
Tip #1: Understand Your Sales Funnel
It’s pretty difficult to place leads into the sales funnel if you don’t have a clear understanding of the sales process that supports it.
The first step in monetizing the social media channel is to have a clear understanding of which marketing channels are currently contributing leads to the funnel, what the sales follow-up process is and how long it takes to close the sale.
You’ll need to figure out where social media fits into the equation.
- Will social media leads respond to existing sales processes?
- Where are social media leads in the buying process?
- Will they convert at the same rates?
To truly understand how social media leads behave, you’ll need to do some testing. It is unlikely that social media leads will perform the same way that other types of marketing leads do.
This is because with social media, more commonly you are reaching potential buyers earlier in the sales process, before your competition. Getting potential buyers’ attention early has tremendous value that can be overlooked if expectations haven’t been set for how the social media lead will perform.
If you compare social media with traditional sales, in essence social media adds three levels that extend your sales funnel to provide more opportunities for conversion.
Social media adds three levels of brand awareness to the sales funnel, providing more opportunities to convert prospects.
Tip #2: Optimize Your Path to Conversion
It’s important to make sure it is super-easy for potential buyers to buy. We tend to be fairly lazy consumers and if we have to search out how to buy from you, we are less likely to convert.
Therefore, take a look at your Facebook page. Does a potential buyer have to click on the Info tab to find your website, then go to your website and figure out how to buy your products or services? If so, you are likely missing out on the opportunity toconvert Facebook fans into purchasers.
Create a tab that allows fans to convert within Facebook and you’ll likely see a spike in new revenue.
Success in social media relies on having strong content to share on social networks, which many times resides on the corporate blog.
Look at your blog and make sure there are conversion points that will in essence turn every post into a landing page. Make sure you test multiple calls to action tofigure out what works best at converting social media traffic.
Understand the path to conversion from social media so you can optimize each step.
Tip #3: Provide Opportunities for Soft Conversion
The social media lead likely enters the sales funnel earlier in the buying process. He or she may not be ready to make a purchase; however, you have an opportunity toconvert interested social media fans and followers into email subscribers.
Soft leads are people willing to provide their email address in exchange for highly valuable and relevant content. These are valuable leads who have said they are interested in your content; but they haven’t necessarily said they are interested in your product yet.
If you combine email marketing campaigns that provide a mix of content that helps to push them through the sales funnel while providing valuable information, you will have a better opportunity to convert social media’s soft leads into potential buyers.
Tip #4: Nurture the Social Media Lead Differently
It’s important to understand the difference between the social media lead and the traditional lead because traditional sales-related email campaigns will kill the sale with the social media buyer.
Because social media leads may enter the sales funnel at an earlier stage in the buying process, you will need to adjust your email campaigns to provide value and content that will help drive the decision-making process.
This will require a strategy that includes decision-making content. Decision-making content is designed to answer questions that commonly arise when purchasing your product, overcome objections that are frequently heard in the sales process andprovide opportunities to convert into a hard lead.
A hard lead is someone who has taken an action that directly indicates he or she is now interested in your product. This means the lead is now in the research and consideration phase of the buying cycle and you have an opportunity to convert the lead into a buyer.
Through your other social media efforts, you have been able to develop trust with prospects; therefore, if you continue to show thought leadership in helping themto make a decision, they will be more likely to purchase from you rather than the competitor they don’t have a relationship with.
Having a combination of decision-making and topically relevant content that is sent to soft leads will help you identify when the lead makes the jump to product interest.
At that point, you can follow up with traditional product-based information andput the lead in the traditional sales process. Many times you can recognize this transition if you identify pages and calls to action that indicate product interest, such as signing up for a product demonstration, attending a product-based webinar or downloading decision-making content.
Tip #5: Measure Your Results
Finally, the only way to identify where leads are in the sales process is to measure your efforts.
The quickest and most cost-effective way to monitor social media conversions is toapply Google analytics campaign tracking to the links you shorten and post on social networks.
The combination of Google Analytics and HootSuite Pro makes this easy. Once you have the data, it is important to put it into a format that tells the management team what they want to know.
Use these metrics to demonstrate success through the sales funnel:
- Cost per impression
- Cost per engagement
- Cost per soft lead
- Cost per hard lead
- Cost per sale
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 Tech Tuesday March 12 2012 - Evernote for Real Estateby RE/MAX on Tue, Mar, 13, 2012 11:04 PM
Evernote can become one of your most valuable business tools if you develop habits and set up automation to save information, locate it when you need it, and share it selectively with clients or other business contacts. Because Evernote can search within PDF files, and uses OCR to search
text in images, just about anything you can get into Evernote from your computer, cell phone as text, or camera is searchable later. It's a really efficient way to store information, but even more so, to locate it later. Here are 50 ways in which Evernote can be used in the real estate business.
 Communication
1. Email notes right out of Evernote to anyone.
2. Take photos of plats, courthouse documents, etc. and send to Evernote from the field.
3. Take photos & text notes to pic message to Evernote to remember caravan/tour property features.
4. Document new home construction progress with pic/text messages to special Evernote address.
5. Again in new home deals, take photos/text notes to document change order completion.
6. As you move around the Web, clip images, pieces of text, or entire pages to a note.
7. For Google Reader users, the "Send To" link can be set up to send the feed item to a note.
8. If you are using a GPS enabled phone, text in coordinates to a note.
9. Instead of email drafts, unclutter email by working on developing items in a note, then email the note.
Office, Time Management & Accounting
10. Using both the onboard software and the Web version, everything stays synced between them.
11. Using a Jott.com link, send transcribed notes with link to audio on to Evernote.
12. Share notes with others by sharing entire notebooks securely.
13. Use an Assistant Notebook to selectively share instructions and notes with an assistant.
14. For brokers, use Agent Notebooks for the same purpose.
15. Add task completion check boxes to notes to know when agents/assistant complete a task.
16. Text notes to assistants and agents from the field, saving for documentation in Evernote.
17. Take cell photo of receipts, text in for a record, and text is searchable.
18. Use email rules/filters to auto-send invoices from email to Evernote.
19. Take cell photo of checks before deposit, and deposit receipt after, text in to a note.
20. Evernote can be set up to monitor and auto-sync with folders on your computer to copy documents to notes without hassle.
Transaction Management
21. Using filters/rules, have all emails mentioning buyer or seller names go to notes.
22. Services like Google Voice, Callwave, Jott, or other voicemails with transcribed text can be forwarded to transaction notebook, and link to audio goes with it.
23. If accompanying inspectors, use pic/text messages to document inspection issues.
24. Use "before and after" cell camera images to document repairs completion to a note.
25. Use a shared transaction notebook to share images and notes with remote buyers.
26. Deliver documents via attaching them to notes in a shared notebook.
27. Before they disappear, document survey corner stakes with pic/text message.
28. Bring all emails, documents, notes, text messages and voicemails into one transaction folder.
29. Take cell picture of electric and gas meters for numbers and readings for utility swaps.
30. When transaction closes, save all notes in folder to html to print to one document in date order.
31. Save closed transaction folder notes in Evernote format to hard drive and CD for recall later, deleting the notebook.
Listings Management
32. Create an image and info notebook to share with prospective buyers via email.
33. Keep up with all notes, tasks, seller comments, seller emails, etc. in one listing notebook.
34. Document property check visits for remote sellers with pic/text messages, copy to Evernote.
35. Call in notes with Jott.com from cell phone with lockbox codes, other property issues.
36. Impress seller on first visit by taking cell images with text to save and remember features you'll want to market about the property.
37. Clip property listings from sites like Realtor.com, Trulia, etc. to send the full page to the seller.
38. When other Realtors comment or give feedback via email or voicemail, send to listing notebook to share with seller.
39. Send immediate voice-to-Jott feedback to seller and Evernote when you're showing your listed property.
40. Save time & trips by taking cell images of utility bills to file for verification of account numbers and utility costs...text searchable in the images.
Marketing
41. Clip marketing ideas from websites, or send links from feed readers to Evernote for use later.
42. Share a notebook with your newspaper ad rep to share ideas and make ad changes.
43. Do the same sharing thing with your website or blog person(s) to clip ideas from around the Web, like "Can we do this?"
44. Work directly in notes, rather than other software, to make sharing or sending via email later easy and fast. Add to the note as ideas develop.
45. Use Evernote's great search capability to pull together everything you've saved in the past related to keywords or people.
46. Take photos of business cards before you lose them. Don't scan, as Evernote will search in the text of the card.
47. Send Tweets to Evernote with special command right in the tweet. Keep important consumer Twitter interactions where you can find them.
General
48. Evernote pulls together all types of information from various sources in a way that allows good organization and easy location of information later.
49. Using online faxing, you can have faxed PDF documents automatically forwarded into Evernote for storage and retrieval.
50. Using both the software and online versions, you have complete control of your synced notes, and redundant protection.
Many of the above uses can also be used in other document and task heavy businesses. Evernote can then be Tuesday, January 17, 2012 Tech Tuesday Jan 17th 2012 - twitterby Cory Raven on Tue, Jan, 17, 2012 09:46 PM 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. Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Tech Tuesday January 10, 2012by Cory on Wed, Jan, 11, 2012 12:24 AM 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 Tuesday, January 3, 2012 Tech Tuesdayby Cory on Tue, Jan, 3, 2012 09:01 PM No content currently posted. Thursday, December 29, 2011 Are you ready? 2012 is here (well, almost)by Cory Raven on Thu, Dec, 29, 2011 11:17 AM 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 Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Tech Tuesday December 20th, 2011by RE/MAX on Tue, Dec, 20, 2011 06:14 PM
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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 |
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Tech Tuesday December 13th 2011by Cory Raven on Tue, Dec, 13, 2011 11:51 AM 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?
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 ?
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®.
CORY RAVEN
MANAGING BROKER
RE/MAX Select Realty
604-678-3333 Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Tech Tuesdayby Cory Raven on Tue, Dec, 6, 2011 10:27 PM 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!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011 For Sale by Owner? Think again!by RE/MAX on Wed, Aug, 3, 2011 03:45 PM
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!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 5 reasons not to overprice your homeby RE/MAX on Tue, Aug, 2, 2011 05:43 PM 5 Reasons to not Overprice Your Home
by Kory Prince, RE/MAX Select REALTOR(R)
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 Tuesday, July 26, 2011 Tech Tuesdayby Cory Raven on Tue, Jul, 26, 2011 07:04 PM 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?
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? Monday, March 21, 2011 RE/MAX is wack - viral videoby RE/MAX on Mon, Mar, 21, 2011 12:32 PM <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Cdi2ZipvLvY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Monday, March 21, 2011 Welcome to Jadan Claireby RE/MAX on Mon, Mar, 21, 2011 12:26 PM RE/MAX Select Realty Welcomes Jadan Claire to our team of Select Realtors. Monday, March 7, 2011 Richmond Market outpaces Vancouverby RE/MAX on Mon, Mar, 7, 2011 03:41 PM
Richmond home prices skyrocket
Median price for a detached home climbs above $1 million
Posted: Mar 6, 2011 6:57 PM PT
Last Updated: Mar 6, 2011 8:19 PM PT Read90comments
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. Thursday, February 24, 2011 RE/MAX Award Levelsby RE/MAX on Thu, Feb, 24, 2011 01:45 PM 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.
Monday, February 21, 2011 Don't expect price drop any time soon, say expertsby RE/MAX on Mon, Feb, 21, 2011 11:17 AM
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. |
Euro shares slide on growth fears
