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 …

As we plan our 2009 real estate adventure, our company leadership is working with our agents in groups and one-on-ones to build  solid executable business plans with activities that drive business online and create a referral business to sustain their future. We chose to make this a very focused effort with multiple levels of accountability which will span throughout 2009.  I keep repeating this:  “There will be a certain number of properties sold in 2009, the number will be whatever the number is.  Your job is to capture the highest percentage of …

Note: See a free offer in “The Offer” at the bottom of this post.
What if I invited you to a conference where I could guarantee the presence of industry big wigs, market makers and folks who typically keynote large conferences? I mean folks like Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Stefan Swanepoel, or say the Chief Editor of BusinessWeek.com?
Let’s say, too, for argument’s sake that I could guarantee that if you attended this conference, you’d have sufficient status to place you within ear shot of these folks; close enough to …

As part of the annual Swanepoel TRENDS Report that is published every year during the first week of February, the research team wraps their four month study of the real estate industry by announcing the top 10 Newsmakers, Events and Trendsetters for the year.
The first list to be released is the Newsmakers. Newsmakers are defined as those people that during the year made headlines as individuals, as a result of their actions and leadership of the companies or associations they are involved with in the real estate industry.
The Top 10 …

Many of you are a lot like me.  Entrepreneurial.  We’re constantly looking for opportunity, and when we see it, we often just naturally go for it.  Some of us more than others, depending on our place in life, our risk tolerance, financial ability, and the other things on our plate, but all of us, to some degree, learn to spot opportunity and react.  Such is the life of an entrepreneur.
I thought that some of you might find it enjoyable or even possibly instructive, if I were to walk you through …

Tis the season.  How can you tell if a virus alert is real? Can you tell when someone sneezes if they have a tickle or a full blown contagious virus lurking?  The holidays are notorious for the release of viral infections, auto theft, purse snatching, home robberies, identity theft….etc.  This year may be a bit different….it could be worse than ever due to the economic situation.  Stay alert and make sure you and your loved ones are aware of online trends and local issues especially if you are traveling.  Click …

Every year the Swanepoel TRENDS Report identifies, analyzes and then details out the imminent changes that are expected to impact the real estate industry over the coming 12 – 18 months.The 2009 Report is currently in the final 60 days of research and writing and obviously with all the recent financial disasters, the energy crisis, the housing collapse and foreclosure catastrophe this has made 2008 the worst year in real estate and financial history.

Already thousands of hours of researching has been invested in drafting the 2009 Swanepoel TRENDS Report by …

As someone who spends a large part of my life training agents to succeed in this new age of real estate, I’m often amazed at the general lack of understanding on the topic of advertising in our industry.  I’m not talking about understanding the nuances of Madison Avenue or even being a student of David Ogilvy, Al Ries, or Jack Trout (some of the giants in the advertising industry).  I’m simply talking about having a good working understanding of the fundamentals of advertising, since as working agents, advertising is our …

This is one of the most common questions I hear. Some Contact Managers and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solutions have fairly good training materials. Some have great materials. Some have none. But what none of them really excel at, is a tutorial to take you through the basics, in a “Where do I start” format. Maybe I can propose a bit of a solution.

Everywhere you look the news is grim.  Today there are record numbers of foreclosures.  Huge inventories of new and existing homes are being reported by nearly every media outlet.  The mortgage industry is in a state of chaos.  Many real estate agents are experiencing their toughest times ever in the business.  It is a very difficult time, and it is hard not to be discouraged.

I realize that this goes against what everyone is saying, but there IS good news!  Lots of good news!  First let me give you some numbers: