René Fabre

Igor Stravinsky, one of my all time favorite composers, kind a sort of said once… (and I very loosely paraphrase and expound upon)…

As an artist, we give birth to an idea. We may agonize over it or it may be effortless and spontaneous. Regardless the idea is not the composition, our symphony, our ballet; it’s just the kernel, the spark that sets things in motion. The idea may be a great one or sometimes just so so, but that makes no difference.

The idea is meaningless unless it is framed within a context. The real work begins after the great idea, when we construct the rule book, the box where the idea lives. You can’t explore an idea without rules and the idea cannot reveal its secrets without them. The idea is just the idea, it’s not the music.

Once the box is created the idea is set free, and now (as the composer) we are also free. Why? Because now we just have the work of it to do. Because now we can explore our idea within parameters and follow the guide posts we’ve set forth. In short, we have a plan. We no longer have to compare our idea to all ideas that have ever existed. Now we’re free to see our idea within the context of a small world that we created. It may be intricate, simple, or complex, that’s all up to us. The box is simply form and structure.

Freedom happens when we formulate and understand the rules so they support us.

The idea gave us a vision. But where do we go now? If we stick to the rules we define, we create a space in which we can develop our idea. We now have a vehicle to reveal the vision.

If we think we can defy the rules, we’re kind of doomed to repeat behavior patterns. If we think we can make up the rules as we go, then we tend to wander (depending on our mood of the moment) and can only hope we’re lucky this time and get where we thought we wanted to go.

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
William Shakespeare

Is this sounding like music you may have heard before?

This is just like marketing and lead generation. What’s your idea? What’s your plan (the box it goes in)? What themes will you use and develop? When and how often will you use them? You can’t use every idea that’s out there, you have to choose. You can only implement so many ideas at a time and successfully keep them going.

When, where, and how will you spend your time creating this composition? Select the ideas that make sense to you and develop them. You can tackle those other ideas in another piece, after you finish this one.

René Fabre

© 2009 all rights reserved photo by: René Fabre, BVI May ©2006

New and old are indispensable partners. They may not like each other, but they don’t do well without each other either… Perhaps it’s time for a refresh.

A good way to touch those that are interested in buying a home for the first time is via a well designed postcard. Postcard marketing is not dead, yet its value and significance has changed dramatically. Myself, I think it got a promotion! Now it can be (once again) rather unique and something special. A well crafted mailing can be very effective (although costly, admitted), especially if it's coordinated with a good online marketing strategy.

I love the tactile… I think all of us take and/or bring meaning to something we can touch. If a smart realtor sends me a mail piece and their message is simple, true, and informative, I have a positive emotion.

I’ve chimed in on previous blogs about mailings… please-address-me-mr-or-not-at-all

Keep the message focused, no recipes please… Help this group understand the opportunities for home ownership in your local market. At this point in the current real estate cycle, it doesn’t get any better than right now. Give them some statistics. What is a potential first time homebuyer's most important question? ANSWER: "Can I really afford to buy a home?"

This potential client is around 25 to 35 years old and they’re pretty tech-savvy. You’d better have a web address on that card and create easy access to your information online. You also want your web presence everywhere and looking good. Do you show up online like someone this group would like to do business with? The first thing they’re going to do is Google your name, then your company, the listing, and the neighborhood. Most single family dwelling renters live in the very neighborhood where they'd like to purchase.

Yes we hear how everyone is online and nobody looks at mailings any longer. Well, that’s true to an extent, but don't second guess their point of motivation. We still need to work both ways... from the web to the physical world, from the postcard back to the web, to email, text messaging, Facebook, the phone, to the appointment. Use them all. They'll see you on the card, give them a compelling reason to get online and find you.

Okay… so now what?

Here’s a method to target potential First Time Homebuyers that has consistently worked for me and my clients over the years with great success. Your chances are better now than ever. In our area, nearly 50% of homebuyers are first time.

Know thy neighborhood…

Do some homework.

Have your local title company customer service run a few lists for you…

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"
- Albert Einstein

Go into the neighborhood where the listing is and look for all the non-owner occupied homes.

How do these values correspond with your listing?

Refine the list by selecting a purchase date of 2004 back to 1989. You want the ownership to predate the peak of the market.

Don't go back more than 20 years ownership because these are often homes that have been in the family forever. Grandma still lives there and the taxes are going to one of the kids etc. (This is a different target we’ll talk about at a later date).

REOs and Foreclosures kind of mucked it all up, (get over it) it’s still worth it to understand the neighborhood and prepare for questions to come.

My client’s (entry level) listing at $265,000 is a perfect candidate for a first time homeowner in northeast Renton. It’s a cute 3 bedroom rambler, about 1100 square feet with a smaller lot that’s about 7,000 square feet, built in the early 60’s.

I go to Zilpy.com and input the 98056 zip code. I see that average rent for 3 bedrooms is about $1400 per month. Just for fun I go to Rentometer.com and pretend I’m a renter. I input 98056, 3 bedrooms, and I pay $1400 per month. Rentometer tells me that’s reasonable. I then go to Cyberhomes.com. There’s a ton of great market stats here and I can get a good idea how many foreclosures there are in the neighborhood.

Now for the leads! I like… DataLeader.com to get the renters…

I can search by radius around my listing, by the neighborhood, zip code, and/or city.

Select renter, dwelling type = single family (You can also choose multi-family for apartment dwellers). There are several options to refine the results. I think Age, Estimated Income and Length of Residence are the most important. I choose 25 – 40 years old, $50k to $150k, with length of residence at 1 to 5 years. You want them qualified, but if they’ve been renting for 10+ years there’s probably a good reason for it. You can adjust all of these variables to groom a list and get the numbers you need.

DataLeader is one of the better sources I've used. Reasonably priced at 8 cents per lead (100 leads minimum). The data is based on credit reporting services like Experian. You can purchase the leads online with credit card and immediately download the ASCII file. You’ll get the renters name and address in the file. A little looking around and you will see a lot of potential for other prospecting scenarios.

Sourdough, Klondike Goldrush, Alaska

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend...

Conversations are markets...

Conversations create community.
Communities consist of people participating in conversations.

That's not a new idea or just an internet thing...
It all started awhile back...

200 BC... fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls...

Today, more and more of our conversations take place online and if you ask me (as many a realtor does), "If I do all this internet stuff you're talking about, what's my return on investment?" I don't have an answer to that question. But believe me I do contemplate its possibilities everyday.

My question is more like this... "What are the consequences of not participating online?"

Communities are evolving on the web at a fantastic rate. Literally millions of people are online everyday. A recent study by The New Business Blog from April 30^th shows some very interesting stats about how much time the average consumer spends online. It's a little biased because the survey was done online. They found that 64% of those surveyed said they were online 8 hours a day! Wow...

ReadWriteWeb released a study April 14^th about the internet habits of men and women. Did you know that women spend more time on the net than men? But men spend more time per session on a particular site. Today's consumer, according to ImpactLAB (February 2008), spend twice as much time online than they do watching TV.

At some point in time it would seem obvious... "If you want someone to buy your services, you just might want to have a presence online, participate in community, and have conversation with consumers where they reside."

Where are those consumers?

Internet Usage Statistics just released on March 31, 2009 that in North America, there are 251,290,489 internet users. (Wow!)

Facebook.com has more than 200 million users. More than 100 million log on everyday. Over 2/3rds of them are outside of college and the fastest growing demographic is 35 years old or older.

LinkedIn.com has around 35 million users.

MySpace.com has over 100 million users. I forgot the fact that MySpace users are mostly in the United States, so even though Facebook is now larger, MySpace has more users in the U.S.

Windows Live Spaces has about 120 million users.

This link will take you to a great list of social networking sites with member statistics.

I was reading Mashable The Social Media Guide dated April 28^th that quoted a report by Compete.com. Twitter had over 14 million users in March, 2009.

As we bravely go where no community has gone before, we journey far and discover so much more than ever before without ever leaving our desk. Yet, our online presence should be the gateway for the consumer to enter our world.

When we take our conversation online, participate in online communities and share our story, we create opportunities for relatedness and exchange. If we do it right we attract those that may need our services. Ultimately they will choose (or not) to enter our lives in the physical world. If we serve them well, bring value, and they like what they see... they may just sit down at the table and sign the papers. That's how we get paid. Believe me, I know that.

Once upon a time when the world was flat for different reasons there were people that believed they were the only ‘real' conversation taking place. Guess what, they're still around today. But the fact remains, we're at an amazing conjuncture in our history that only happens once in a millennium.

We're so fortunate. We're free to hold on and ride this era out to its inevitable conclusion. And, we're also free to take all the risk and journey into the unknown beginning of this amazing new age. I don't have all the answers. But I promise, I will share what I find.

Myself, I'm thrilled everyday to be a part of, and at the beginning of, this grand new adventure!

We just don't jingle without each other...

Rene'

A single bracelet does not jingle... African proverb.

I happened on to yelp.com again. This time it showed up different and I started running a few experiments with great results. I thought I’d share them.

If you haven’t used Yelp.com, it’s a mix of social media, the yellow pages, and the local neighborhood review. (For the people, by the people…)

Why is this important to you?

It’s another way to be present online, reinforce your brand, acknowledge and contribute to businesses in your neighborhood. Sign up for a free account, complete your profile and write reviews on restaurants, coffee shops, your dentist, the hardware store, etc. In these times, a good word about a local business you frequent can be of great value to them and to you.

For example: I Googled ‘hardware, Renton WA’…

I got several hits on the first page.

The 4th result was:

Note: This was a Google search, and that's my review coming up. I just posted my review a little over a week ago and again it already showed up at #4…

Building a presence online is a lot of work. Yelp is a great tool for your internet marketing kit. When you review a local business your name is associated. It also reinforces your geographic location to the search engines. As a contributor it helps you develop your authority as someone who shares a point of view. Think of all the people and businesses you work with in real estate, contractors, builders, home stagers, plumbers, sign makers, printers, flower shops, etc. etc.

In Yelp, if you follow the link to the business you’ll find the reviews listed below.

Yours truly came in at #1 on this one…

This is good ROI… It’s a directory that people are continually searching so there’s plenty of activity going on here to keep the search engines busy indexing new input.

Think about traditional marketing for a moment and all the time, effort, and money you spend getting copy into local phonebooks, magazines, and papers to be seen.

Maybe you blog, maybe you don’t… either way, it’s easy to write a short review about something you care about. You get so much in return for so little effort. My take on it is this. I believe in good Karma in begets good Karma back. I don't write 5 star reviews for absolutely every establishment but I don't care to write a review unless it's a business I like and probably frequent. I will be truthful, sincere, and give a thumbs up to those businesses that deserve one. I'm not here to grind an axe or get on my soapbox. (I can do that here!)

Remember, while they're searching for that great Italian restaurant, they may be making a decision over dinner about selling their home. They start with Google or Yelp, find the restaurant, and there you are! If curious, they click and go to your Yelp profile page. Here they’ll find your profile, picture, contact info, and links to your website. You can also friend up with local merchants, friends, and other reviewers.

Enjoy... René