I received a few emails indicating surprise that I included micro blogging (Twitter) on my Top 10 Events impacting Real Estate in 2008 so I thought I would provide a little more information for those that are not that familiar with the concept of short text-based 140 character posts.
 
Twitter is again one of those social media phenomena’s. Founded in 2006 Twitter moved into the mainstream in this year. According to HubSpot 1 million people joined Twitter since October, pushing the new 2008 Twitter users to 3.5 million and the grand …

My main website is built on a TypePad blog, so I receive their newsletter.  Today they had a great post about how to come up with new blog topics.  I often sit here, staring blankly at my computer screen, willing my fingers to type…I’m sure that lots of you do as well.  If you blog on a regular basis, give yourself a pat on the back…you deserve it!  
If you need some help to replenish your blog topic repitoire, read on…you’re like the rest of us
I have just listed …

“Ask for the business.”
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  It’s a well-known mantra in the real estate business. 
You can deliver a stellar listing presentation or buyer consultation that goes so far as to convince your customer that she/he would do well to sign on as your client.  But, how many times has your broker told you that if you fail to go that one teeny-tiny-last-little-bitty step by asking them to be your client, you sometimes end up losing ‘em after they’ve rationalized some other gap-filler like, “okay, sounds great.  I’ll call …

I addressed this question recently in another forum. Only there, the question was aimed at learning professionals. My considered response on whether or not that group of folks should all be blogging was a considered “no.”

Though my roots and current role firmly plants me as someone in the learning industry, it didn’t pain me at all to voice that opinion about my colleagues. The fact is, not all training professionals and instructional designers are ready for it. The three criteria I used were: ready, willing and able. Sound familiar?

That’s what got me thinking about the same question for real estate professionals.

There are many real estate website solution providers out there today.  And of course there’s also the option of going with a custom website.  This is an expensive options, but if you can afford it, I say do it - right.  Make sure you take the time to check references and google results for this person or company that says they can build you your dream site.  If all the sites in their portfolio are doing not so well on Google, why would you want them involved with your site?  You wouldn’t.  That said, if you cannot afford a custom site, which most agents cannot, I suggest you go with Advanced Access.  I have nothing to gain by recommending them…no affiliate code or anything.  And I know they have had their issues in the past as all growing solut

After finishing my six-part series on the virtual real estate office, I received several letters, one of which I am quoting below:
“Mr. Jones, your information on this topic is phenomenal.  I am in the process of converting to a virtual office brokerage firm.  If possible I would like to gather more information in regards to the virtual office business model.  The system that connects all the technology resources that you mentioned and collectively streamlines the daily operations of the business or if you can point me in the right direction …

In a previous post, I asked how much time is appropriate to be spending on social networking/social media over the course of a week. Based on feedback from other bloggers and my personal objectives for social media, I had concluded about 18-22 hours seemed about right. About 3-4 hours of a waking day. That includes blogging, Twittering, Linking In, Facebooking, group nurturing, all of it. That seemed okay for me. But still… my sample set could probably have been counted on, well, one hand.

Eighteen to twenty-two hours. Is that what everyone else is doing? Is that a lot? What’s “a lot”?

I promised you a “virtual tour” of a “virtual company”, so let me walk you through my office and give you a guided tour. That will help you picture how our model is so different. In the last article I shared how visiting our company for two short days gave one of the top brokers in the world a meltdown, and a wake-up call. Maybe I can get your wheels turning too, and maybe I can help you actually visualize this virtual office model. And don’t hesitate to call or email questions or post comments to this article. I’ll do my best to answer them.

This is a follow up article to my September 3, 2008 article entitled “It’s That Time Again…” We’ve all heard the song, The 12 Days of Christmas, and of course this article is just a useful play on that. Don’t waste one of the biggest marketing opportunities out there, implement as many of my 12 “Ways” as possible to see the maximum outcome and to get 2009 off to a great start! Here we go…

In my last article, I discussed how our industry is changing dramatically. I discussed how over the last few years telework has become mainstream, and is now amounting to nearly a quarter of our work force. I cited how working remotely is increasing in popularity as technology is developed and costs associated with commuting increase. Five years ago nobody would have even considered a virtual office, and yet at the current rate of growth, in a few short years virtual offices will no longer be the exception, but rather, the rule. So what do I mean when I talk about a real estate “virtual office”?