Sheri Moritz

Many of us were pleasantly surprised with the announcement of the merger of Real Living and GMAC so I thought I would put together some good information that I have found that helps explain.

Excerpts from the announcement sent to franchise owners and managers:

"GMAC Real Estate is one of America's leading residential real estate franchises, and combined with the Real Living Network, we will have over 600 office locations, 10,000 plus agents and more than $20 billion in annual home sales. Together we will become a bigger, bolder company, offering a strong appealing, consumer-focused brand, with a suite of industry leading tools and technology that will power us forward in the years ahead.

The new organization was created after Brookfield Residential Property Services, the owner of GMAC Real Estate, acquired Real Living Network Services, and merged the two companies under the Real Living brand name. As we move forward, the Real Living agent-centric and consumer focused philosophy will continue to drive our decision-making and investment strategies.

As we make the transition, Real Living will focus on excellence in five key areas: technology, sales, marketing, training and business planning. These are areas that we will invest in to make our combined organization into one of the most sought after brands in the business. Our primary goal will continue to be to help our agents, offices and franchisees grow their business."

Here is the official Press Release... http://franchise.realliving.com/images/stories/Real-Living-News-Release.pdf

Here is the official information from Real Living... http://franchise.realliving.com/ There is a great video on here that you can use.

Here is the official information from GMAC... http://www.gmacrealestate.com/about/press/2009/1111.cfm

Official Announcement from Realtor Magazine with links to other sources... http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009111101?OpenDocument&WT.cg_n=RMO&WT.cg_s=RSSDaily

Inman News (A leading real estate new publication)... http://www.inman.com/news/2009/11/11/gmac-real-estate-unites-with-real-living

Here is a link to the story in Business Wire: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091111005279&newsLang=en

If you are new to the Real Living Network or interested in being a part of the Real Living Network feel free to contact me via ActiveRain or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SheriMoritz or on Twitter @RealLifeSheri

This video is so friggin funny.  We have a lot of short sales in our office and we work with a large number of investors.  As sarcastic as this video appears there is so much truth in it.  The banks wonder why they have so many of their properties sitting on the market.  It may be because this is how they treat prospective buyers.  I have submitted numerous offers on bank owned property and unless we have all cash willing to jump through every hoop.

If you need an agent with experience in handling bank-owned properties and foreclosures contact Real Living Realty Experts.  We have over 50 year combined experience. 919-387-4100

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As funny as this video is it is also sad to see watch. I am relatively active in most of the major social media sites and often find agents pushing their services and houses on people in their social network. As you watch this video think about how important it is to listen and what we could learn if we practiced being Wordless more than just on Wednesday.

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I have to admit that this week Twitter Tuesday had me feeling like Toast.  Not like eating it this week but feeling like it.  So I apologize that as much as I wanted to get the Twitter Tuesday Tip out yesterday I just couldn't get the energy together to do it.  The good thing about being under the weather is that I have had a chance to spend time playing around learning a few more Twitter tools.  As many of you know I wrote ablog a few weeks ago on Tweetdeck.  Hopefully you have had an opportunity to check it out and learn your way around.

Today's Twitter Tip is Hoot Suite which is very similar to Tweetdeck with a few KEY advantages. Don't we all send out Tweets wondering "am I wasting my time" or "is anyone even reading my Tweets"?  With Hoot Suite you can track how many people have clicked on a link in different Tweets.  Just think, you could tell your sellers that you listed their house via Tweetlisteronn Hoot Suite and 10+ people linked today via Twitter and 140 total for the week.  Not only does this show your seller that you are marketing their home; it shows them that you are tracking the results and ahead of the curve on technology.  Try different wordingto generate traffic to your website with different key words and see what generates more traffic.  In addition tracking HootSuite has the ability to schedule Tweets to happen later.  Now you don't have to constantly be retyping posts or trying to remember to Tweet about your listings and business it will happen automatically for you when you scheduled it.  You can also promote your business at different times of the day to get more exposure to people in other areas that may be on Twitter at different times of the day.  Maybe you are having an open house from 1-3 on Sunday and know you wont have Internet connection at the house...just schedule a Tweet in advance reminding possible buyers to stop by.

**Caveat**  Please do not use this as an opportunity to put Twitter on autopilot to spam out your listings and beg people for business.  It is important to understand that Twitter is a conversational tool and the fastest way to lose followers is to only talk about your business or constantly throw ads at them.  Try to have a good balance of conversation and auto Tweets for business purposes.  If you build relationships with people on Twitter they will help Re-Tweet your business information if they find that information valuable to their followers. 

Check out this video to learn more about Hoot Suite.  Check back and let me know what you think after you track your first Tweet.  I would love to hear some feedback.

Want to receive Twitter and Social Media tips on your Facebook wall?  Then do me a favor and head on over to Facebook and join our Facebook fan page for Real Estate Professionals using Twitter and well as my Boot Camp 4 Social Media Facebook fan page. 

To get your Twitter Tuesday (Wednesday this week) updates jut hit the subscribe button!

I am totally speechless this week that I posted a simple Tweet to Twitter... "Hey anyone in graphic design want to play around with a logo creation?" Not only did I get a response I got several all submitted for FREE! And the winner is....

These were submitted by a local graphic designer in Raleigh NC. via a Twitter request

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