Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant

How are you finding the sweet spot to become a real estate baller?

Grant me two guesses....

By pulling consumers to blogs through the use of carefully choreographed keyword verified prose that stands on point like perfectly trained prima ballerinas poised and positioned on the first and second pages of Google.

By keeping consumers on blogs and enlightening them with the tales of REO, Short Sales, and Housing Bills, peppered with memorable memes and client recantations. Content is King and you are looking to score some base hits.

How do you hit a home run? Where's the sweet spot that grows online readership and Word of Mouth Marketing? How can a real estate blogger get loyal fans outside of the professional real estate community?

You can syndicate blog posts, create groups, and answer questions on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Yahoo Answers, Trulia and Zillow and you should because these are all tools in your sales kit.

So focused is this path of routine workaday action of SEO and Tech Tool Mastering before many real estate bloggers that the "old school" lessons of meet and greet start to get buried under home plate.

It's ironic that the overshadowed old school method of meet and greet when employed online will lead you to the sweet spot,

• It will require your time.
• It will require you to engage in reciprocation.
• It will require you to get involved with your local community on a more "hyper-local level".

How do you find the sweet spot and become a real estate baller?

The Sweet Spot is to engage in online community building at the "hyper-local level" and you can do it in communities online that already exist full of dedicated bloggers who aren't real estate professionals but local citizens. Get ready to do some door knocking by reading, writing and commenting on some citizen journalist and local blogger websites.

I have begun to do this myself and it's a slow but rewarding process. In my initial stages one thing is clear to me...local bloggers much like bloggers who write for their profession are loyal and they've got each other's backs. Their blog rolls are populated with other local bloggers and their posts selflessly promote their fellow writing friends.

Check out their readership numbers and their Page Rank.

They have got the game right. They have community and they have fans. Are you ready to get started? Have no fear, I have done some of the searching for you,

A Good Stepping Stone this list from SourceWatch has 103 Local and National Citizen Journalist Sites.

To satisfy your visual search craving check out this Citizen Journalism Google Map with a drop down and push pin feature to get to find your local citizen journalists.

You can do a search for local bloggers on Google and compile an initial list. In my Google Blog search for Wisconsin Bloggers there were 116,599 results,

You can tweet on Twitter to find local bloggers,

And get results,

The key is consistency and I'll be the first to admit, since I launched my community endeavor almost one month ago I've been remiss in this. My marketing blog has been my first and primary focus and goal but my back to basics business plan reminds me that building my business through my local community is important as well.

A Real estate professional can build a solid community both online and offline.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

-Margaret Mead, American Cultural Anthropologist, Margaret Mead books

"Community. A friend started a real estate brokerage a few years ago. By the time she'd added her second employee, she was a pillar of her 35,000-person community. No rule says that only the local banker or car dealer can organize the program to raise supplemental funds for the public library or send the high school band on a well-earned special trip. Participating in community affairs, with time more than dollars, is good business from day one. It gets your name around, adds to your distinctiveness, and, best of all, makes you an attractive employer (which is the key to sustained success)."

- Thomas J. "Tom" Peters : US author, lecturer, mgmt consultant; coauthored best-seller, In Search of Excellence Tom Peters (1942 - ) Source: The Pursuit of Wow!, Page: 117

"When I was trying to popularize the concept of the Internet -- ten or 15 years ago -- I came up with this concept of "the 5 Cs." Services needed to have content, context, community, commerce, and connectivity. After that, when I was trying to think of what the key management principles were to build into the culture, I started talking about the Ps. The P's were things like passion, perseverance, perspective and people. I think the people aspect is really the most important one."

-Steve Case : Gaia Child Steve Case

How do you find the sweet spot and become a real estate baller? Be a real estate blogger who faces, interacts, and builds relationships with consumers. Become a real estate blogger who builds a community.

Citizen Journalism, just like social networking, has always been around. Now instead of relying solely on Word of Mouth storytelling we are able to record ideas, thoughts, research and sometimes unfortunately speculation, through a photo lens, a microphone, a blog publishing platform, or an Internet radio show.

It's the increasing use of Citizen Journalism while traditional media is losing ground that has caused the rumbles to ROAR. What does citizen journalism have to do with real estate? If you fancy yourself a blogger and you are writing about past/current client transactions, real estate ordinances or bills passed that effect real estate, educational pieces, or community breaking news, than you are a citizen journalist.

Citizen Journalism "is the act of non-professionals "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis- Source: Wikipedia.org.

Citizen Journalists-Bloggers, Podcasters, and Vloggers- have an impact on their audience. They can effect a person's purchasing decisions or actions with the news they report. As I learned from BlogWorld's Citizen Journalism Workshop last September, Citizen Journalism isn't going away. The key is to apply the pillars of Accuracy, Thoroughness, Fairness, Transparency, and Independence. The same pillars that real estate professionals wish were used when traditional journalists report on the Real Estate Market they must learn to employ themselves.

To help real estate professionals in that effort I have compiled,

NewsU.org

A free and simple registration form allows you to sign up for online classes like,

• The Be A Reporter Game Practice the basics of newsgathering -- asking questions, verifying information -- while racing against a deadline.
• Journalism and Trauma Learn how to compassionately interview victims and how covering traumatic events affects you. A fitting training module for the real estate industry in light of the number of foreclosures and short sale properties.
• Local Readers and the Newsroom: The Online Credibility Gap: A Webinar Replay Hear where readers and journalists agree -- and disagree -- about news site credibility and join the discussion about key findings in this landmark study.

Can you fit this research and education into your daily and weekly routine?

If you're going to inform and educate the public you need to make sure you inform and educate yourself.

• Put aside a slotted chunk of time to give yourself some homework each night.

If you have an assistant, have your assistant pull the pertinent reading for you to do every day.

• Cut your t.v. time, outsource time wasting activities, put a time limit on playing with new tech tools.

Dedicate yourself to learning.

Become a valuable citizen journalist covering the real estate beat and become a community builder in the process. Strive to be a sought after leader and expert in your field.

Remember that means you will need to get off your computer and out in your community on a regular basis, talk to people, answer questions, ask questions, learn about the needs of your community.

Some days you might be smelling the roses of a sweet story, other days you might be trying to scrape the stench of a sad situation off the bottom of your shoes.

At the end of the day remember the words you choose can be a lesson, a help, or a comfort to your readers old and new.


Don't hold your breath waiting for the entire media industry to change when you have your feet to the street everyday and you are the real estate industry expert.

Consumers Come First.  The Real Estate Mashup of Misinformation Needs to End

I am getting ready to start the process of helping my sister find a qualified real estate agent to help her navigate the waters of the real estate industry.  She has looked at some listings through a real estate agent's website and had started to fall for a 3 flat in an up and coming neighborhood in Chicago.  My sister has been diligent in getting her credit to a good standard, saving a 15%, and being realistic about what she can realistically afford for a housing budget.

The first thing I did was to tell my sisterto get a pre-approval.  I told her in reading many blogs from real estate professionals it appears that the criteria has really tightened up and things have changed.  I told her I would have told her to get a pre-approval (the one where they actually run your credit) 15 years ago, but it is important now more than ever.  So my sister went to her credit union and she got a pre-approval.

BUT BEFORE my sister walked out the door, she told her credit union loan representative that she was looking at a foreclosure and he told her that the credit union couldn't give her a loan on a foreclosed property because they wouldn't be able to do an appraisal.  He recommended that my sister look at some condos in the same price range, though she really wants a single family home.

Huh?  I'm confused.

My sister emailed the real estate agent who was listing the property and told her what the loan officer said.  The listing agent emailed my sister back,

"Your conventional loan will mostly likely work fine since this property is a short sale, or pre-foreclosure...I could provide your with representation in the purchase of your home, whether it be this or another. I have helped many first-time home buyers find the right thing for them whether it'd be a fixer-upper or a new construction condo."

I am still confused.

The email goes on to further state,

"...but you should see houses only with your Realtor (whether that ends up being me or someone else) because that Realtor would look out for your best interest, not the seller's."

I will always agree that working with a real estate agent is your best bet.  HOWEVER, this REALTOR is trying to sell my sister a house in which one floor is habitable out of three and in which she is the listing agent. 

I should also share that my sister is buying her first house with her boyfriend.  My sister is thirty years old with no children.  She has saved diligently on a teacher's salary and if she bought the house from this real estate agent, wouldn't my sister be buying the house from a real estate agent who only had the seller in mind.  I might add that she never directly ASKED my sister if she was working with an agent.

Back to my story.  I will be contacting three real estateagents to work with my sister.  I want an agent who doesn't mind showing my sister short sale or foreclosure single family homes because she is not going to buy a house for more than $100,000.  She knows it will be far from the Taj Mahal and she is fine with a fixer upper, though I am trying to steer her away from a money pit. 

I want my sister to get the right house because of her real estate agent, not in spite of the agent.

If you feel like you fit the bill please email me- rebecca@realestateskillz.com.

If you have any ideas on how I should advise my sister to handle the situation with her lender, please weigh in.  My sister is getting a conventional loan but even if she wasn't, why wouldn't they be able to get an appraisal done on the property.

I am also a little sad today because my sister has an advocate, me, who will research the heck out of this and who has a strong community or two to help her out with the process.  If she didn't I can tell you she would take the word of the Credit Union and she would remain impressed with the REALTOR she spoke with about the dilapidated house. 

How many consumers out there know better and how many are in the process or will be in the process of getting screwed?  I guess at least I should be thankful that my sister didn't try to get a value online.

Consumers Come First.  The Real Estate Mashup of Misinformation Needs to End

If you enjoyed this post about consumers, then you'll enjoy reading:

• Consumer Manifesto
• Life of A Consumer
• A Real Estate Buyer Who Knows What He Wants

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Real Estate Brokers: 5 Keys to Real Estate Agent Success

This list has been building in my mind since I first got started in the real estate industry 17 years ago when blogging wasn't even a conceptual thought on Jorn Barger's mind. I have compiled this list from on the job experience, reading, listening and helping close thousands of real estate sales and purchases by partnering with local real estate agents.

I have much more to share, but thought I would kick this off with the five basics relevant to the real estate industry today.

1. Provide Real Estate Training

Develop an in house mentoring program. There are some professionals who I am sure know HTML and PHP but I am unsure if they know what houses are on the market, what has expired, what has sold, what has been listed in the past 30-60-90 days. I see this as a huge oversight by the real estate industry. It's important to be a great marketer, but buyers and sellers of ALL GENERATIONS hire real estate professionals because they are supposed to know the market not because they are self proclaimed Internet marketing gurus.

If a real estate agent advertises as a first time home buyer specialist but cannot answer questions like: 1. What first time home buyer programs exist? 2. Can you recommend any mortgage professionals? 3. What is available in my price range and will it have to be a fixer-upper? 4. Can you tell me about the school districts in this area? Then that IS a problem. If a real estate agent advertises themselves as any specialty but cannot provide a service that differentiates themselves from their competitors THAT is a problem.

My sister and her boyfriend are going to be new first time home buyers in Chicago and by next week I will be interviewing at least three real estate agents before referring one to them. I will be looking for a first time home buyer specialist in particular neighborhoods. I will not be looking for an expert in PHP development. Let that be your minor. Real estate should always be your major.

The agent I am looking for will be a blogger and I will be reading their content solely to assess the agent's expertise on first time home buyers and Chicago Real Estate Markets. I will also be trying to get a sense of their character. I don't want to refer my sister and her boyfriend to someone with a snotty attitude.

Back to basics. Education and knowledge of the real estate industry is FIRST.

2. Emphasize the Importance of having a Website

86% of consumers come onto the Internet to look at properties, but there are still real estate agents who don't own any internet property. Why? It is guaranteed that if you don't provide a marketing hub you are losing more opportunities than you should. I would NEVER refer a consumer to a real estate agent who didn't own a website, especially a seller. A page on a real estate broker's website IS NOT a sufficient website. A website off a real estate broker's website IS NOT a sufficient website. All real estate professionals need their own domain with their own website.

IT IS that simple.

3. Encourage (strongly encourage) your real estate agents to write a business plan that includes a marketing plan.

This is a topic that is discussed ad nauseum each November/December headed toward the new calendar year. If you don't decide what you want from your business and how you are going to get what you want, HOW CAN YOU expect your business to deliver for you?

The concepts of defining a niche, giving yourself real estate homework daily and weekly, advertising and marketing, and good ole fashioned selling should be part and parcel of a good business plan. Defined quarterly goals and objectives is another essential part of business plan.

A good business plan doesn't need to be a novel, it just needs to have meat and potatoes that real estate professionals can sink their teeth into. The business plan should have actionable items and a checks and balance system to measure the results.

I would recommend dedicating the last eight Fridays or Thursdays of the year to helping real estate professionals with their new year business plan. There are also resources available FOR FREE to help real estate brokers and agents with putting together business plans.

It's really simple. If you do not plan you are planning to fail.

4. Pick your training partners carefully

I love this one. Many real estate professionals get so caught up in needing to know the latest and greatest tools and SEO techniques that their content just falls by the wayside. If you hire an "SEO Expert, Social Media Expert, or Blogging Expert" to train your real estate professionals on the tools of the profession, then do yourself a favor and make sure they have adequate knowledge on the subject AND that what they are teaching pertains to the real estate industry.

Everyday there is a new Social Media Evangelist, Social Media Expert, or Blogging Expert. It has become an "in demand" skill and so the market has flooded quickly with experts. It's very similar to the amount of technology vendors who entered the industry in 2004 when they saw they could just sell any old website/lead generation product to the industry and r.e professionals were buying.

It didn't matter that they had no knowledge of the industry or any experience with real estate consumers. They were using the spaghetti theory, throwing noodles up against the wall to see if they would stick. Last week I personally referred 3 prospects to a business associate who could serve their needs better than I could.

I know what I know and am not afraid to refer what I do not know or care to know.

You can provide training for real estate professionals on tools and tech toys and networks all day long, but if they really don't understand why and the reason is not part of the training, you might as well just flush your money down the toilet.

5. Be aware of your office culture and hire like minded people

Be picky, nit picky, when you are recruiting and hiring real estate professionals for your company. Realize that you have a corporate culture, goals, a mission, a repoire, a sort of spirit about your office and you should be seeking agents who would be a good fit for your real estate environment.

A company I worked with had a sales professional on their team that used to be absolutely negative about absolutely everything that had to do with selling the product. That professional was described by the Director of the Sales Department as a cancer on the sales staff but still no one could pull the trigger and let the salesperson go.

This salesperson continued to disturb the other members on the sales staff and after many years of employment was finally let go. If the company had a better screening and assessment system in place I am confident that this particular error in judgment could have been avoided.

If regular reviews and consequences were a part of this company's operations this problem would have been nipped in the bud a lot sooner.

The people you staff your company with, from the receptionist to the individual real estate professional, are an obvious reflection on the quality of your services. Do you want to be the market leader or the market bench warmer? I could have made this list longer, but I figured I'd start with just one shy of 1/2 a dozen.

For a fun bonus here are a few recent polls I have conducted. Back to Basics:

Are you inviting your SOI, farm Area, and website prospects to read your blog?

Why do you blog?

How many hours a day do you spend prospecting for new business?

Brokers: Do you actively mentor or have a mentor program in place for your real estate agents?

Will you be attending a marketing seminar that includes blogging and social media marketing in 2009?

I don't mind digging in the dirt. If you want your garden to flourish you gotta keep up with the weeds.

Real Estate Brokers: 5 Keys to Real Estate Agent Success.

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*** REAL ESTATE BROKERS HELP YOUR AGENTS COMPETE AND STEP AHEAD OF THEIR COMPETITION- BRANDING SANITY WEBINAR**

Successful Businesses Have A Brand. Learn how to Create, Develop and Manage your brand in a 5 week webinar series, Branding Sanity,brought to you from a partnership between Malfi Marketing Solutions and Real Skillz.

Branding Sanity is an interactive webinar with a classroom casual style where you will build a personal action plan that will leave your customers and competitors breathless. Visit Branding Sanity for details and easy registration.

**These webinars are only offered to real estate agents through their brokerage. If you are an individual real estate agent and you are interested in this program have your broker sign up for more information or call #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestaetskillz.com**