A report released in March of this year opened with … A "Statement of Inevitability" states that "consumer-focused real estate Web sites are gathering more and more information," and "without convenient, immediate access to information to analyze/interpret for their clients and customers, Realtors will no longer be at the center of real estate transactions." 

The report, released by NAR’s Gateway Presidential Advisory Group, states that the project has been renamed to The Real Estate Channel (TREC) and is focused on enabling the real estate community to continually expand the breadth, depth, immediacy and power of trusted real estate information available to
Realtors. 

In this installment, we’ll move on to the third thing you need to become a mega-producer in today’s real estate climate — the tools, strategies, and the discipline to manage all those low-cost leads for the time required to actually complete transactions with a large number of them.

I must confess that it’s very frustrating to see agents possess the very tools they need for their success and yet fail to take that last step — the step to making it all come together. I once was a struggling agent and nearly quit the business until I developed the lead capture gateway that quite literally turned my business around forever, so I’m very passionate about having the ability to generate as much business as you want or need to make your professional dreams come true.

... the "mosquito fish."  (AKA: Gambusia Affinis.)

image courtesy: wikimedia commons

It can apparently eat up to 500 mosquito larvae a day and give birth to up to 60 little gambusians a month while surviving adequately in oxygen-depleted water. That is, environments similar to those stagnant swimming pools and back yard spas on properties left vacant in a foreclosure; great breeding grounds for mosquitos-borne diseases, like West Nile virus. (Source: WSJ.)

I know what you are thinking…how old fashioned is this person?  Well, to tell you the truth, it’s not me, it’s one of my agents Mary Lou Thompson.  Mary Lou believes we do ourselves and our children a disservice by allowing them to override all adult conversation and interaction.  Let me tell you why she believes this….

Today’s successful mega-producers are generating plenty of business, but unlike the customers of yesterday, today’s real estate customer is beginning online. According to the latest figures, in excess of 90% (94%) are beginning their search online. In my last installment, I explained how successful agents today are going way “upstream” to capture their business — before the customer has had the opportunity to be attracted by old-school marketing techniques. If you haven’t read it yet, you owe it to yourself to start there.

It's a beautiful day today in Southern California.  So, this post is a quickie and addresses a couple of questions I got on a previous article I wrote about Google's Street View, and which I've been meaning to post here on a slow, rainy day... (ahem).

I debated whether or not to post this article seeing how it isn't exactly one of those "strategic" or "tactical" articles we're used to seeing on this site.  But I didn't debate too long.  I figured it's important, I can write and I have one of those covetted RealBlogging Contributor's accounts.  ;-)

You've probably seen some of the same sound bites and news stories I have about the other/silent victims in home foreclosures: abandoned pets.  

Daniel Mudd, Fannie Mae President and CEO, said yesterday that he expects no significant recovery for the US housing market before 2010. 

Fannie Mae is the largest US source of mortgage finance and although historically conservative has recently faced multibillion-dollar losses in the recent sub prime and foreclosure collapse.He predicted that the rockiness experienced last year will continue through the balance of 2009, some 18 months away.

What are your thoughts?

We are all under the gun every day in real estate sales.  Most of us get up every morning unemployed.  We need to go out and find a person to buy and sell with everyday.  How do we “pressure proof” our business?  We must put ourselves in the position where we are always winning.  When we are on a listing appointment, and we are struggling with the seller, we must believe they will sign the listing before we leave.  We must know during our prospecting block that we will turn up a new listing or new buyer every day.  Let me share with you a few ideas to make your business “pressure proof” and successful daily. 1.      Trust Your Skills and Abilities We all go through droughts or slumps in our business.  I s

In my last post I discussed the difference between yesterday’s pull marketing and today’s push marketing. I explained how pull marketing is reactive — “If you build it they will come.” Push marketing, on the other hand, is pro-active — “If you build it they won’t come so you have to go get them.” (Click to view previous blog post.) Many agents today have experienced that very phenomenon: doing lots of advertising and getting little if no results.