More than 500 career-driven real estate professionals from around the country came out to network, exchange business ideas, and party at the Young Professionals Network’s exclusive Fire & Ice NARdiGras Reception on Friday, Nov. 5 at The Foundry in the city’s colorful Warehouse District. The 2010 REALTORS® Conference & Expo event was sponsored by HouseLogic’s REALTOR® Content Resource, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Kodak, and DocuSign.
One of the evening’s highlights was the announcement of YPN’s Chapter of the Year Award. The 2010 honor went to the Houston Association of REALTORS®’ NextGen group, recognized for it’s well-organized membership process and its success in getting young REALTORS® involved in leadership. The other bright spot of the night: The Center for REALTOR® Technology’s annual Spotlight Awards, which brings attention to four leaders in real estate technology. Those winners were: Brian Copeland of Village Real Estate Services Inc. in Nashville, Tenn.; Ben Martin of the Virginia Association of REALTORS® in Glen Allen, Va.; Mark Flavin of the Bay East Association of REALTORS® in Pleasanton, Calif.; and Brad Nix of MaxSell Real Estate in Woodstock, Ga. –Kelly Quigley, REALTOR® Magazine
Photos by Kevin Berne
By Allison Fitch-Markham, Marketing Director, NAR Conventions Division
10. Face it, you’re just not going to be able to sample fried catfish, shrimp po’boys and sautéed alligator at home.
9. Your childhood dream was to meet Mary Lou Retton and you took out your mum’s favorite vase when you tried to vault the coffee table.
8. If you win, you’ll be famous. Certainly not as famous as Regis Philbin but maybe more famous than Rogers Healy.
7. You can brag about your trip after you learn how to create your own blog at WordPress Camp.
6. You’ll be one step closer to attending the YPN Networking Reception (special note: winning the contest does not guarantee entry to the YPN Networking Reception – you’ll still have to bribe Rob Reuter for that).
5. You know the words to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” – and can prove it. Continue reading »
Dawn Miller
By Dawn Miller
I didn’t think I would be that excited to get “rid of the old and in with the new!” It’s a new year with a renewal of focus. How was your first month of 2010?
I am fortunate to be a REALTOR® in a real estate company that is consistently on the NAR’s top private brokerage firms, as seen in REALTOR® Magazine annual issue. The company is committed to its agents and to top-notch training.
Mike Staver visited our company at the beginning of the January and his seminar stuck with me!
I want to share some of my notes from the seminar. I have embraced this philosophy. I am more openly accepting new challenges and creating new opportunities for myself.
Let’s ATTACK this new year with the following focus:
A
Accept circumstances
Accept circumstances as they actually are. Don’t make things better than they are. In real estate business, this means generating more leads, making more appointments until I meet a seller or a buyer that has the right criteria in place to sell or buy successfully. Most importantly–have courage to face reality. Continue reading »
Brooke Wolford
By Brooke Wolford
It’s a new year, a new decade. As I look back at the past year, I reflect on all of the hard times. As REALTORS®, we faced some of the most difficult challenges in 2009. The bad media coverage, constantly having to defend ourselves, and insults on TV shows like “Cougar Town” and “Modern Family.” (These shows both feature characters who are real estate practitioners… and honestly, these shows are hilarious.) But nonetheless, its been a tough year.
I have chosen to look back at 2009 and learn from the rough times and the mistakes I have made. All you can really do is try to learn from them. Also, try to consider the flawless transactions you had. In those cases, ask yourself, “What did you do right?”
The market is beginning to turn around, so now it’s our time to shine. It’s time to improve ourselves and make 2010 our best year ever! On days when things get me down, I always think, “Real estate makes the world go round.” I can say that I am so proud to be part of it!
Brooke Wolford is a REALTOR® with Edina Realty, Hastings, Minn. Follow her blog at strugglingrookierealtor.blogspot.com.
Brian Copeland
By Brian Copeland
Since 99 percent of you will click on the following websites anyway, I’m not going to flatter myself with long narratives on these seven start-ups to watch for real estate applications in 2010. The following list was created from an Inman Connect NYC panel:
Pegshot.com: Allows you to share your location plus video and photos of exactly what’s going on. From the mind of the brilliant WellcomeMat guys.
Ipromote.com: For $5 a day, you can create a ton of classified online ads to promote everywhere.
Nabewise.com: Connects people with neighborhoods via attributes.
CloudCMA.com: Mixes glorious cloud computing with the CMA process, obviously by the name.
KWKLY.com: Text messaging for real estate…simplified.
Deedstreet.com: Twitteresque for real estate…pretty much.
Klout.com: Measures your social media influence. Amazing application: They are working with a Las Vegas hotel group. When you check-in, they get your Twitter name. Then, the hotel group checks your “klout” and treats your influence accordingly with things like free Cirque tickets.
Replace audience response hardware with Poll Everywhere
For more from Inman, follow Brian on Twitter: @NashvilleBrian
Brian Copeland is a REALTOR® in Nashville, Tenn. You can check out his websites at nashvilleandbeyond.com and brian-copeland.com.
By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
In 1999, former REALTOR® Magazine Senior Editor Robert Sharoff gave birth to the idea of showcasing talented real estate pros under the age of 30. Thousands of applications and hundreds of profiles later, the 30 Under 30 program is thriving.
The 2010 edition will mark the 10th anniversary for this feature. REALTOR® Magazine has been accepting applications for this program, and will until Jan. 31. Don’t miss your chance!
For the big anniversary, we’ve created a new application with more questions (though each answer needs to be under 750 characters). In the meantime, if you have any questions about the process, please feel free to write me at ktarbox@realtors.org.
Every year, the editors pore over hundreds of applications to select 30 people who showcase something extraordinary in real estate. That’s the secret to being named a 30 Under 30. Over the course of the year, I field several calls in which I explain this is not strictly a numbers game. While closing $10 million in sales is a remarkable professional achievement, it doesn’t guarantee a slot in the feature.
In fact, last year the editors were greatly impressed by NP Dodge’s operations director Robert Wiebusch, who produced just under $1 million. However, he also cut more than $500,000 in annual spending for his brokerage and increased Internet traffic to 1.5 million views each month.
Past honorees have included Kendra Todd, who went on to win season three of Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” and now hosts “My House is Worth What?” on HGTV. She recently joined the Keller Williams Realty Greater Seattle market center and heads up their luxury-home division. Shannon Williams King, ABR®, GRI, founder/broker of TriBella Realty in Austin, now serves on the NAR’s Strategic Planning Committee and is advisory board chair of REALTOR® Magazine’s Young Professionals Network. Active Rain founder Jonathan Washburn established a virtual network of almost 160,000 real estate professionals.
Readers should take a look at last year’s profiles to understand what the 30 Under 30 program is about: talented young professionals who bring passion, dedication, innovation, and hard work to the field of real estate.
Over the years, several people have asked why we only bring attention to practitioners under 30 years of age in this feature. The answer is that this specific program is designed to recognize the future faces of NAR and initiate a dialogue with our younger members. We also ask our applicants to talk about mentors who’ve guided them in their careers.
Even if you don’t want to apply this year, you also should consider joining our Young Professionals Network (YPN), which grew out of the 30 Under 30 program. The group is quickly growing and membership is free!
Nobu Hata
By Nobu Hata
I was just getting used to the concept of sharing my Facebook status with folks other than my family and friends when Twitter came along a couple years back.
Then came 2009; the year of the citizen journalist; the year near-instantaneous sharing of events, pictures, and Web-links with your friends/family/clients/anyone in general became the new norm. It was the year Twitter went from being a “thing” to a verb, akin to Facebooking and Googling. It was the year Twitter broke into mainstream use, and it’s not looking back.
On deck for 2010? With the recent proclamation of Foursquare.com as the “Next Big Thing,” the broadening use of social media outlets as an initial consumer search tool, the recent additions of Twitter “tweets” and Facebook “status updates” in Google/Bing search returns and the expectation of the new-consumers’ need for immediate communiques, it’s clear: the time is now for the use of real-time, hyper-localized use of social media as a business tool.
Essentially, what you did/saw/read today isn’t as relevant anymore as what you ARE and WILL BE doing/seeing/perusing right now, and it’s that concept that will rule in 2010. Foursquare (for example) linked to Twitter and Facebook helps you share just that. So, how else will we need to address this new mind-set shift?
Empower yourself. Get to know how the newbies Foursquare and Gowalla – upstarts that are driving this new real-time/hyper localized mentality — work. Learn how they integrate with your Twitter and Facebook profiles on both your laptop and mobile phone, it’s literally as simple as starting an account. It’s the power of these updates that will rule this new social media landscape.
Real-time relevant content. Content is still king, and relevancy of that content goes hand in hand with it. Become the “Mayor,” a la Foursquare, of your open house and link it to Facebook status updates. Rave about a new listing you previewed on Twitter and Gowalla and link it to your Facebook Fan Page. Become a neighborhood specialist by touting the newest restaurant or shop by “checking in” and giving a shoutout while there — better yet, partner with that business and raise the presence of both yours and theirs online. Add a Twitter feed (perhaps one comprised strictly of new listings once active, complete with hashtags?) to your website and link it all together for SEO happiness. The development of these tools opens a world of opportunity to reach our to friends, fans, and peers in real-time.
Don’t panic. Many of the SM rules still apply: know your audience/demographic, determine the all-important type of message and frequency of broadcasting that will apply to them, then follow through. Treat it like an old-fashioned marketing campaign — seriously! — and don’t over-complicate it.
Be mindful of the noise you’re making. Unless your friends, fans, clients, and prospects like hearing about your real estate biz 24/7, (chances are, they won’t) don’t over-do it. While, there’s no better CRM tool than social-media, listening, interacting, and watching for behavior change is going to be the best way to use these tools. If not, we better start watching for the “Death Knell of SM as a Business Tool” as the next big thing in 2011.
Nobu Hata is a sales associate for Edina Realty in Minneapolis, and a founding member of the Minneapolis YPN group, the YoPros. Visit his Web site at www.nobuhata.com.
Stefanie Hahn
By Stefanie Hahn
What was hot online in 2009?
1. Google LOVES Facebook Fan Pages. Have you set one up for your real estate business? You should – trust me on this… no one wants to see your business on your personal Facebook page. Setting up a Fan Page is a fast and fun way to share your business information, listings, real estate news, blog posts, photos and more with people who want to see what you’re up to in the real estate world. Set up your page, start posting and begin gathering fans. You should post your listings, real estate news and information from reputable sources, interesting and informative blog posts – yours or someone else’s – local blogs would be best, and post photos and videos of your listings and the areas you work in everyday. Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages and click on +Create Page to get started. You can build your page out before activating it for the Facebook universe. And this is so great – Facebook gives you some basic stats on your “fans” – click on the “Ads & Pages” icon on the lower left (next to Facebook Applications) when you are logged in to see your fan page statistics.
2. Are you taking video? Why not?!! YouTube was the second largest search engine this year. The second!!! You NEED to be shooting video right now. Good thing for you it’s so easy to do these days! Hopefully you put a Flip Video camera on your holiday wish list… the Flip cams are super easy to use and come with software that makes editing and posting online easy peasy. Also important… invest in a tripod. Please don’t make us queasy as we try to watch your listing video. In this case, practice really does make perfect. You can even practice at you own house. Play around until you feel comfortable, turn all of the lights on, speak loudly and clearly and move slower than you think you should. Shooting your video in segments is always a good idea – you can stitch the segments together while editing. Once you feel good about it, sign up for a free YouTube account and create your own channel!
3. Twitter exploded in 2009. Are you tweeting your listings and more? Twitter is a necessary evil. You should be on Twitter and tweeting three to four times a day about your business. Tweet your listings, links to all things real estate, what you are up too… Follow local people – many of the people you follow will follow you back if you seem interesting enough. Twitter can grow your online network insanely fast. Begin networking with locals that follow you on Twitter, consider attending local Tweetups in your area and take the online conversation offline at an alarming pace. Continue reading »
Michelle Flaherty
By Michelle Flaherty
Does anyone else miss working with people who want to buy AND sell?
In a market marked by bank sales, short sales, and first-time home buyers, it’s easy to lose sight of what lies beyond this year’s surplus of single-sided clients.
The year 2009 was without a doubt the year of the first-time home buyer. Already, an estimated 400,000 fence-sitters have been drawn into the market by low rates, the $8,000 tax credit, and lots of affordable options. We’re still in the throes of this massive movement; but I’ve been wondering lately: When the able first-timers of 2009 have settled into their nests, what will be the next big thing?
My prediction is that 2010 will be the year of the move-up seller. I truly think that those first-time home buyers of 2005-2007, who may not have any market-based home equity, will still make moves in 2010. Why? Two and a half big reasons: Continue reading »
By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
In 1999, former REALTOR® magazine Senior Editor Robert Sharoff gave birth to the idea of showcasing talented real estate pros under the age of 30. Thousands of applications and hundreds of profiles later, the 30 Under 30 program is thriving. The 2010 edition will mark the 10th anniversary for this feature. REALTOR® Magazine is now accepting applications for this program.
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