Realty World Northern California & Nevada

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I’m new at this real estate thing. I have lived my life in technology, an industry that has a community that knows many of its influential members and keeps an eye on them. The real estate community is large as well and made up of lots of people who know about specific areas, which means it can be daunting to try to track and talk to key players.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try though. I suggest getting to know and getting active in local committees, groups and associations. Forget about the politics of the organization, as that often distracts members or perspective members, and focus on the larger mission. Why wouldn’t you want to get to know the people that are making decisions that affect your job, stay on top of the latest and greatest, and voice your opinion when you don’t like something?

There are a lot of changes happening, getting involved is good for you, good for business and good for the entire industry. Looking for a list of places to get started – try checking with your broker or franchise – if they don’t know, start asking why not.

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I always get a little frustrated at the end of the year because it seems like resolutions are all about reminding you what you’ve done wrong the last 365 days. “I ate too much so I need to lose weight.” “I spent too much so I need to save.” And on and on it goes… reminding us of what we’ve done wrong and how we could, no, SHOULD, be doing better.

Well I’m sick of it. I’d like to celebrate some of the stuff people have done right and I’d love an agent or broker that did it too. Here are some ways you can help home buyers and sellers feel good about starting the year.

• Congratulate all the people that bought a home on achieving their piece of the American Dream. Remind them that they have already accomplished a huge milestone!
• Give a hi-five to those that managed to sell their homes with you this year – letting them know that selling a home in this market was no small feat!
• Reach out to those that have contacted you this year and congratulate them on taking the first step toward one of the biggest purchases of their life and give them kudos for making home ownership a priority.
• Send thank you’s and a pat on the back to your family and friends for sticking with you through a rough economy and for being a big part of your life.

Give these reaffirmations a try when you’re pondering those resolutions. You’ll start the year off with a smile.

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I’m sitting in Raleigh-Durham Airport after my first Christmas at home in three years. Having my first few moments of peace and quiet in over a week I can reflect on the time I got to spend with my wacky yet normal family. It occurs to me that there are a lot of practices we use in our personal life that translate well to the business world, and certainly to social media. Here are a couple things I took note of:

• Greet everyone with a hearty handshake, a smile and ask them how they’re doing – and care about the answer. Nothing warms people up like some sincerity, a little laughter and a personal anecdote or two.
• Be yourself, your regular wacky self. People like people that are genuine – even if they don’t agree with you. It makes you more trustworthy (because you never know if you can believe someone that seems to be trying to please everyone) and gives you a unique personality.
• Offer people refreshments. Too often when I get to a business engagement I’m hustled into a room where I’m immediately inundated with questions, put on a podium or asked to start a PowerPoint. I typically am much more at ease with my surroundings when I get the chance to have a glass of water and a short chat with the person I’m doing business with first.
• Write “thank you” notes – on paper. Then mail them – in the actual mail with a stamp. It shows people you appreciate their time, gift, donation, whatever. I write thank you notes for job interviews, donations to charities, dinner parties, etc. and they have done more for my relationships with people than a million emails ever could.
• Remember names. I know, I know – this is a tough one. That’s what your phone is for though – in the contact section that you save the business contacts, right after you have left someone’s office, home or wherever you were meeting – put their spouse, children, dog, etc. names in there under the notes area. People are really happy when you ask how little Sarah is doing with gymnastics or if Fido is doing well, plus it’s a great conversation starter when you need more to talk about than the weather.

I hope you enjoyed your holidays and learned a few things from your families as well – feel free to share them here!

Video is the fastest growing segment online, yet the real estate industry continues to be the slowest to adopt these changes. The question every Realtor should be asking now is why? Our verdict: cost and real estate companies not providing Realtors the resources to do it! Its a fact that consumers have moved to the internet for pretty much everything, with 87% of homebuyers using the Internet for information when purchasing a home. Its also a fact that video is the fastest growing segment on the internet right now with 77% of U.S. Internet users viewing online videos. These are staggering numbers. So where is the real estate industry in all of this?

Real estate website giants Trulia and Zillow continue to dominate online real estate as they tap consumers desire for information online. Will video be the next move for them? Most likely, as Realtors who are adopting this new medium are already seeing the results:

“I recently sold a listing and believe the video walkthrough was instrumental in it selling so quickly – it was on the market only 6 days! People at my open house commented on seeing the video online and said it made it stand out from other listings. The sellers showed it to neighbors and friends who were all impressed! Thank you for making this service available to Realty World agents. It gives us an edge in this competitive market by providing an additional marketing channel that delivers more potential buyers and differentiates us from competing agents. The buyers liked it so much they asked for a copy of the video on DVD!”

– Michael Valentine, Broker/Owner, Realty World Acclaim

Realtors must accept that static websites and virtual tours are no longer enough. Consumers expect online interaction with real estate agents, images and videos available on their website – or they’ll go where they can get it. Our video initiative shows that agents advertising with videos win listings, sell homes faster, and take business from those who don’t.

Facebook is a great place to maintain existing relationships and make connections. Facebook will alert you to when your sphere of influence experiences major life changes such as engagement, marriage, birth of a child, etc. Facebook also provides a forum to join groups or fan pages based upon your personal and professional interests and also increase your presence in the community.

Who Shouldn’t Use Facebook

• People who are easily annoyed/offended by the opinions of others. Facebook is a “friendly” forum, which means people will share personal information about their lives, religion, political persuasion, etc. This can be helpful to you – so don’t be too quick to run from it. However, if will be unable to have productive relationships with people whose opinion is different than your own, this may not be the forum for you.
• People who are unwilling to share personal information about themselves. Friends will wonder why you visit their page to learn more about them but are not providing information about yourself. This is your place to put your personality out there!
• People who are only going to post about real estate or post all of their listings – this will have a negative impact on your relationships with others and perception in the marketplace. Facebook is not your own personal MLS page.

Who Should Use Facebook

• People who enjoy interacting with family, friends and others in a community setting.
• People who enjoy sharing pictures, videos and interesting news with friends.
• People who will log in at least once per day and update their status as well as check up on how their friends are doing.
• People looking to build lasting relationships.

Getting Started

If you are a Realty World NCA member, you can log on to the Realty World website and click on the Training tab at the top. From there, click the Online Training tab and then click Social Media/Blog. Here you will find a series of videos that will walk you through:

• Account Creation
• Account Security
• Finding Additional Friends
• Homepage Overview
• Uploading Photos
• Applications
• Events
• Group and Fan Pages
• Adding Outside Content

If you are not a Realty World NCA member, the login steps on the Facebook home page will instruct you with account and profile setup as well as some basics. You may also call the Realty World NCA office to learn more about access to our training tools.

Facebook Dos

• Use a recent picture of your face as your profile picture. Save the pictures of kids and kittens for elsewhere on the site – we want to make sure people recognize you when they search
• Put your real information out there. You don’t have to give your home address but there is no harm in adding your phone number, email and real interests to the profile information section. People can find the same contact info on your business cards, bus benches and Google!
• Make sure you know people before accepting them as friends. This will ensure your page is not inundated with miscellaneous stuff and will give you peace of mind about who can see your profile.
• Be courteous and only friend people that you know. Inviting all of your friend’s friends will only turn people off if you try to pitch them real estate as soon as they accept.

Facebook Don’ts

• Post all of your listings to Facebook – that’s what your website is for! Just like you wouldn’t go to a dinner party with friends and hand them a stack of listings flyers, you shouldn’t send them all via Facebook either.
• Only talk about real estate. – People want to get to know you. It is how you build trust and rapport. You’d be surprised what you can bond with people over (running, knitting, sports, etc.) if you talk about it!
• Make a fan page for yourself your first week on Facebook. – People will be turned off at the presumption that they want to be a fan of you when you haven’t been contributing to the community or their pages/lives regularly.
• Make your first comment to people, “Hey, I saw you’re getting divorced, can I help you find a condo?” Treat people like friends first. Enough said.

Facebook Extras

• Get a Username – A username (also known as “vanity URL”) will be your own URL on Facebook that is “branded” with your name. (ex. www.facebook.com/erinnrobbins) This will help when you include your Facebook page on business cards (which I recommend!) in your email signature and when people search for you. You can get your own Facebook username here.
• Share links, photos, events and videos – Be sure to use the icons below the “What’s on your mind” box to ensure these items are uploaded in an appealing way that draws friends to them.
• Lists – Whenever adding a new friend be sure to add them to an appropriate list. This helps you sort contacts, send material to relevant people and organize your online life.
• Neighborhoods – This Facebook application has thousands of neighborhoods and lots of members in specific geographic locations. This will give you access to people that live down the street interested in what’s happening in their community. The newly released Real Estate Listings function will put your listings in front of the right people. Check out Neighborhoods here. You will be prompted to “Allow” the application. (This application is safe.)

Sustainable Blogging – I believe blogging is a fantastic form of self-expression, a way to showcase your skills, and a medium to dive deeper into subjects than email or other social media typically allow. Below are some thoughts on who should blog, who shouldn’t, how to blog faster and what to do when you want to give up.

Who Shouldn’t Blog

• People with little or no regard for proper grammar or the desire to learn it. (You don’t have to be an English major, but you should know how to correctly spell the words associated with your industry.)
• People who will blog about religion, politics or other controversial or unrelated topics on their professional blog. (You can create a blog for personal interests too – just don’t put it under the one titled real estate please!)
• People who will push their own agenda (trying to make a sale) in every post.

Who Should Blog

• Realtors that know their city/town/community. *Hint – this should be ALL of you.
• Realtors that want to educate home buyers and sellers on the process, market, local industry and issues affecting homeowners.
• Realtors looking to showcase a specialization such as short sales, first time home buyers, second homes, etc.

Blog Topics

• The questions you get via email and in-person all the time! Copy and paste from the email response – remembering to remove people’s personal information first.
• Local events – Talk about all of the events that are happening in your community. Free events will be appreciated by those trying to save and charities, local schools and others will appreciate you mentioning their happenings as well. The holidays are a great time to get started with this!
• Review local businesses. *Hint – Stick to businesses you like and use frequently in the beginning. (Use Yelp for negative reviews.) Let the business know you wrote a blog post about them so they know who you are and what you do.
• Tell people why you became a Realtor. Everyone’s story is different – from 3^rd generation real estate families to people with different first careers, there’s a great bit of human interest into why you want to help people with their homes.
• Seasonal changes and how they affect your home and community. Write about winterizing homes now, spring-cleaning in March, etc. Tourist seasons and road conditions are also big topics.
• Do a monthly market update as it pertains to the national economy and your housing market locally. Send these out around the same time each month so people come to expect this information from you.

Time Saving Tips

• Zemanta – Download this handy tool to have pictures, links and tags automatically downloaded/imported for you based upon what you’re writing about – it’s like magic!
• Use the scheduler in the blog. Found in the right-hand side while you’re writing a new post is the option to “Publish now” – by clicking on “now” you can schedule posts to go live at other times. This will allow you to write two or three posts at one time and then schedule them throughout the week so you won’t have to think about it daily!
• Repost interesting articles and blog items from other blogs/news sources. Only show the first paragraph or a short synopsis, you will then credit your source and link back to their post.

Blog Platforms

If you are a Realty World NCA member, you have a free blog website that is branded with your franchise and ready for you to use. Contact Ron Dillon to get set up or retrieve your password.

Other Recommendations:

• WordPress – Slick and simple designs will grow with you as you bloom into a boss blogger. Get your WordPress now and you’ll be happy you did later.
• Posterous – Good for people posting pictures and those blogging direct from email. It integrates easily with other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. This simple tool won’t allow a lot of customization or advanced options.
• TypePad and Blogger – Basic blogging platforms similar to WordPress. Blogger is a Google product and TypePad is run by SixApart. Both are simple, reliable tools that integrate with services, phones, Facebook, etc.

General Blogging Tips

• Frequency – It is optimal to blog 3-4 times per week, especially at the start.
• Topics – Keep your topics relevant to real estate or your local community. Posting a personal post as the exception, rather than the rule, will make readers more interested.
• Accessibility – Make sure to include your blog in your email signature, on business cards, on your Facebook page, etc.
• Pictures – Try to include a picture with each post. Using a tool like Zemanta will be helpful. If you pull a picture off of the Internet be sure to credit your source.
• Links – Include links to relevant sites and sources in your post to help readers and to increase traffic to other areas of your site. For example, if you mention foreclosures in a blog post, link the word “foreclosure” to a page on your site where they can see foreclosure listings.
• Tags – Tag each post with relevant terms. Even if you have tagged previous posts with a term, it is important to tag each post with the terms. This will help your tag cloud sort so readers will know what topics you talk about often. See this article for more.

I’m the rookie at all the real estate events this year and I can assure you I’ve caused my fair share of waves. I’m a technology and social media industry veteran and often times those in tech ignore a lot of the polite beating around the bush that real estate agents have adapted (because you guys work with the public and we work with machines) so I have developed a certain ‘matter-of-factness’. (I’m also Texan, so I just can’t help myself.) When I’m at events, I ask tough questions and I call “bullshit” when I think it’s needed.

I’ve recently made some comments that some might read as me not liking barcamps. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I have been attending barcamps in the tech sector, where they originated, for years. I have learned amazing stuff and met some of my closest friends and colleagues there. My real take on barcamps is that the real estate industry, with its outgoing and personable ways, has grown them to be too big to be what they were originally intended. Here are some things I would do to build better barcamps*:

1. Narrow the focus. Original barcamps didn’t cover “technology” as a whole – the spectrum of topics is too broad and EVERYONE has something to say about it. If you pick a focus like Facebook, Hot New Startups, Blogging, etc. and allowed the entire session to be focused on that topic, the true knowledge leaders would emerge and people would get a deep dive with greater understanding of the topic.
2. More barcamps, fewer attendees. Original barcamps weren’t 500+ people at a venue all day, they were a few hours long with a small group of people who could really discuss things. By increasing the frequency of barcamps but limiting their size (through venue restrictions, locations, etc. ) you’ll get back to more discussion oriented events.
3. Shorten the lead time. This will help with the fewer attendee issue as well. Months of planning isn’t needed for an event of only 25-50 people, simply an office or coffee shop that will hold them. 72 hours notice posted on a barcamp wiki, Facebook pages and Twitter will work.
4. Sponsorship, schmonsership. If you’re only there for a couple of hours people won’t wander off as much as they keep doing at full day events. They will also be inclined to pay for their own cup of coffee or just wait til afterward to have a drink. When the event is short, what inevitably happens is people have gotten into lively debates and the barcamp actually moves to a bar where some attendees gather after to continue talks.

In true barcamp and blogging style, I welcome and encourage discussion on what we can do to make the camps as effective and engaging as possible for the audience that’s intended.

*** Please note, again, I like barcamps. I appreciate all of the effort that has gone into all of the barcamps I have attended. The volunteers and speakers have the courage to get up in front of people and put themselves out there and deserve kudos. Attendees have made the first step in attending such an event and being part of a new industry – something many haven’t done yet. All deserve kudos.

That is the statement put forth in the latest Levitt and Dubner (authors of Freakanomics) book, Super Freakanomics. Claiming, “Just as you can sell your body with or without the aid of a pimp, you can sell your house with or without a Realtor,” they say. “While Realtors charge a much lower commission than the pimps — about 5 percent versus 25 percent — the Realtor’s cut is usually in the tens of thousands of dollars for a single sale.” OUCH.

Unfortunately, the abuse doesn’t stop there. They continue with, “the Internet is proving to be a pretty powerful substitute for the Realtor.”

While I think the pimp comment is just ridiculous and doesn’t need to be addressed, I do see quite a bit of tension about using the Internet as a real estate agent replacement. While I’ve met a small segment of people in real estate that are working with the Internet to increase their brand awareness and build relationships, the majority of real estate agents I come across aren’t doing this. I hear a myriad of excuses or rationalizations (I just finished a three week tour teaching real estate agents technology and social media – I’ve heard it all now!) for why they don’t need the Internet:

• What I’m doing works just fine.
• It doesn’t work, I know someone that tried it and they didn’t get any business.
• My customers aren’t on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or places like that.

Feeling like the Internet is your opponent and working against it, instead of working with it, can lead to feeling defeated or resentful of the power the Internet has. Here are my responses to each of the reasons given above:

• What I’m doing works just fine. — What you are doing may be working “fine” but what if you could be doing something that works great? Just getting by now may not be the case in a few more years – just look at how much things have changed in the past five years alone. Learning how to make technology work for you, as a part of your business (it doesn’t have to be the whole thing) will pay off in big ways. Don’t stop doing what makes you successful, instead, look for ways to integrate some ways to use online tools to ensure you stay successful and to engage new audiences.
• It doesn’t work, I know someone that tried it and they didn’t get any business. — I hear this a lot, that the agent or someone they know has tried technology and social media and it didn’t work. I equate this to the same things I hear when people try to lose weight and say that it doesn’t work. It is important to not take shortcuts, try to buy expensive ‘quick fixes’ or listen to infomercial sales people who promise overnight results or try to scare you into a decision. With social media and technology, you will need to be yourself, pick the medium that works best for you and your customers, and stick with it for at least 90-120 days before expecting results. Just like building relationships face-to-face in your community, time and consistency is the only way to create sustainable presence online.
• My customers aren’t on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or places like that. — Consumers are everywhere. If these people aren’t “your” customers then they are working with someone else and you could be missing out. Social media and technology use ages are averaging in the late 20’s and early 30’s for most popular sites like blogs, Facebook and LinkedIn. Each year, these numbers grow exponentially, and expand to include more industries and markets. The growth also means that the Internet, like everything else, is maturing and sorting out what works. Much of the noise and frustration is being sorted out or people are at least being given options about exposure to ads, outside requests, etc.

If you are feeling like the Internet is being substituted for you, or overwhelmed – please don’t give up. Forge a powerful alliance with the Internet and harness it’s power to work with your current efforts. There are a lot of great places to get answers – but remember, these answers should be free and not scare you!

We all need to work together to dispel the notions that cause Realtors to be likened to pimps or that they are easily replaced by Internet sources. As always, I welcome your comments, feedback and questions.

I’ve been making my way around Northern California and Nevada (with a brief stop in New York for a marathon) for the past few weeks. I have met amazing people, been inspired by their desire to learn, learned some new things myself and had a few laughs.

From problems with wireless Internet (sorry Angels Camp and Fresno!) to traffic, hard to find meeting rooms and tough questions we’ve rolled with the punches to keep the Social Media REvolution Tour on the road. I have been so fortunate to participate in this tour because I have seen parts of this amazing region that I might not have otherwise, met people that have enriched my life and forced me to think critically about the place of social media in the real estate world, and hopefully imparted some knowledge along the way.

Going on tour talking to Realtors about social media has helped increase my awareness of why people in real estate are wary of this new technology. Facebook, Twitter, blogging, Yelp, YouTube, LinkedIn – lots to take in! Talking to agents and brokers about their experiences with people, technology and views of the online world bring perspective that helps me discuss the finer points of tech. One of the things I’ve been talking about is sustainable social media – a way to incorporate technology into your daily life without letting it take over your day. I’m always saddened to hear that people have been told that they MUST be doing all the social media items on the list at once and that they must start them all immediately. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s presentation in Reno/Sparks, Nevada – always a new surprise!

If you’re not coming to the tour – I still hope that you’ll give social media a chance… like anything else, there’s good and bad out there, stuff that works for one person won’t work for another – but we don’t know until we try!

If you want to join in, there’s still another week that includes San Jose, San Mateo and Salinas next week. I’ll also be at the NAR Conference and ReBarCamp in San Diego November 12-15.

I just finished my very first marathon yesterday. I figured I’d do it big, so I joined in the 40th New York Marathon. Through this physically painful and, much to my surprise, mentally challenging task, I realized running marathons and getting realtors started with social media have a lot in common.

While you may be thinking I’m just suffering post-race delusions, I can assure you I had a number of hours to think about it in the long hours after as I iced my aching legs.

When I first signed on to do the marathon I felt invigorated and prematurely triumphant. I was doing something that not everyone can or would do and I was going to train really hard and impress my family and friends.

In the months leading up to the marathon I started to read more about it – the physical demands, the hours of training needed, the “wall” I would hit toward the end, how many just don’t make it and the soreness I’d feel afterward. I began to psych myself out. I was nervous. I wanted to quit before I’d really began.

The day of the race I was full of adrenaline. The first few miles were difficult as I fought crowds and found my bearings. By mile eight I was surprised to find I was moving at a pace faster than I’d trained at and felt like I’d conquer this thing feeling amazing. That lasted until mile 18.

There was that wall… My body began to rebel against me for asking it to do so much. I hadn’t trained as hard as I should have and I wasn’t a seasoned runner. The last eight miles took as long as the first 18. I thought I should quit. Luckily I had support – Steve came to the sidelines walking each painful step, encouraging me to finish.

When I crossed the finish line I cried. I cried because I was in pain and because it was finally over and I wouldn’t have to run for a week. I woke up this morning, 12 hours after crossing the finish line and I was in pain. But I was also proud. I accomplished something that many are afraid to try. I came out on the other side saying I’d do it again but that I’d be more prepared next time. I came out a marathoner.

This is what I see from many Realtors that come to my social media class, conferences and other places they experience social media as a business tool. They hear about social media, take the steps to enroll and get excited. They read more about it, talk with friends and get nervous or discouraged. The get to class or conference and have adrenaline that propels them into social media like a runners high – they want to do it all and will conquer the world! Somewhere around having Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, a blog and website for a few weeks or a month – they hit the “wall.” This is not what they were promised and it’s not as fun as it once was. For those willing to push on and get trained for the task at hand (it’s never too late!) – rewards await.

The right training is imperative to conquering marathons and social media. If you train once or twice a week, you’ll hit the wall hard. The same is true of social media. Participating frequently is important. It’s also important to have the right people in your corner. Working with those that have successfully conquered social media and genuinely want to help you will get you through times you want to give up – they’ll be on the sidelines walking with you to keep you going.

If you’re not sure if you’re “training” correctly for social media, I offer these few guidelines:

• Your “coaching” from others should be free. Learn from those who have been there and want to help you for the greater good of social media. Most social media is free and learning to use it should be too.
• If social media begins to take over your life and requires the large portion of your workday, reassess what you’re trying to get out of it and find a social media/technology person that can help you refocus.
• Remember that in the beginning that preliminary “adrenaline rush” may push you to do more than you’re ready for. Don’t sign up for every social media site at once and try to keep them all up for months. Sign up and learn about them. Then pick one, maybe two that work for you and stick with those for a while. Moving at a sustainable pace will prevent you from hitting that wall as hard.

If you’re looking for some social media training, please feel free to contact me. I’m speaking for free around Northern California for the next few weeks and I’m happy to help even if you’re located beyond that area.

If you’re already hitting that wall – please don’t give up, look for someone on the sidelines that can help encourage you to get on course and keep moving – it may be painful at times – but it’s worth it. I promise.

Erin Robbins
@realtyworlderin or @texasgirlerin
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