Real Estate Rookies Need to Work Smarter, Not Harder!

The housing boom has attracted a flood of newcomers to the real estate profession. Those that have been downsized, retirees and even people who just want a better life style see real estate careers as exciting, less stressful and offering high rewards.

But they soon discover that the real estate profession is saturated and very competitive. It is difficult to break into the market and gain a clientele. Sadly, following the standard real estate formula for new agents usually leads to several years of long hours with low compensation. Most give up and drop out, and their brokers and "established" agents gladly follow up on any leads they may have generated.

According to a recent study by the National Association of REALTORS®, rookie agents are working more but earning less. Agents who have been in real estate for two years or less earned an average of just $12,850 in 2004, and most (54 percent) reported working more than 40 hours weekly. This figure dropped from a median income of $27,973 earned in 2002. Conclusion: there are a lot more people in real estate now all competing for the same business. Trying to gain traction strictly through referrals, sitting in open houses, sending out postcards or handing out flyers is a long haul for novice REALTORS.

In today's residential real estate market, the name of the game is getting listings and buyers from all sources. Just "farming" a territory in the traditional fashion is not a practical strategy for real estate rookies. First, there are no virgin territories. Second, rookies must always overcome entrenched competition. To accelerate their success, new real estate agents need to work smarter than established colleagues by leveraging Internet marketing tactics to promote themselves, tap a broader market and to increase productivity.

Unless a newbie enters the real estate profession with a captive clientele, he or she is better off taking control of their own business strategy. And the one way that a new agent can distinguish themselves today is by coloring outside the lines. Internet marketing is a proven means of helping new agents to stand out from the crowd. Here are some strong recommendations for a new kid on the block:

1. Get you own Website, not a page or subdomain of someone else's site. Build your site to promote yourself, your talents, your listings and your services.

2. Use your Website as the focal point of all your marketing efforts. Everything you do, marketing wise, should be calculated to drive traffic to your Website.

3. Make your Website as enticing as possible. Refresh the content often with community news and relevant RSS feeds to ensure that visitors return often. Try a blog – they are easy to implement and generate interesting content. Offer meaningful articles that appeal to potential buyers and sellers (industry outlook for mortgage rates, major "must do's when selling your home, a summary of local sales, home value trends, etc.).

4. Build visibility among the major search engines, so that your site pops up on the first page when someone performs a search for agents in your locality:

a. Establish a meaningful domain name that reflects your location and market emphasis.
b. Optimize your site for search engines by choosing specific keywords based on your geographical location. Establish proper keyword density in your site content, meta tags, alt tags and internal links.
c. Set up a link-exchange program with complementary sites, such as non-competing REALTORS or real-estate-related services. Building external links adds to your search engine ranking and leads qualified traffic to your site.
d. Be sure to get listed in the major business and real estate directories.
e. Use sponsored search engine listings along with affordable "local search" listings and pay-per-click advertising to boost online visibility and acquire qualified traffic.
f. Get a listing with one or more of the popular online "Yellow Pages," like Verizon Superpages.
g. Tap into local free advertising, like Craig's List.
h. Learn how to use landing pages to capture metrics and tweak your promotional activities for optimal performance.

5. Use viral marketing tactics, such as placing a "forward to a friend" script on your site and in your newsletter, to gain clients with whom you have had no previous contact.

6. Implement marketing tactics to capture sales lead information from Website visitors:

a. Start a free monthly newsletter and offer a meaningful incentive to subscribe. Use this as a mechanism to nurture potential clients through "drip, drip, drip" marketing.
b. Write or acquire a relevant whitepaper or ebook. Use this as a giveaway to entice new newsletter subscriptions.
c. Offer a free "home valuation" service based on local comparables.
d. Place "special offers" in your newsletter that only subscribers can enjoy. This will promote viral marketing among friends and relatives.
e. Hold an online drawing for a desirable prize to acquire email addresses, and then solicit newsletter subscriptions from the entries.
f. If you can afford it, tie into your MLS database so that registered visitors can survey local listings.

7. Enhance your productivity by using an autoresponder for newsletter delivery and automated follow-up to inquiries.

In short, make your Website the destination for all marketing activities. Even off-line advertising should be designed to drive traffic to your Website. Once there, focus on selling yourself and your services to prospective clients. Differentiate yourself from competitors by presenting yourself as more attuned to today's marketing methods, tapping more modern and advanced tactics to find the best home for buyers or achieve the quickest sell at the best price for homeowners.

Compared to the "old school" of real estate marketing, Websites are 24x7 virtual storefronts promoting products, services and talents around the clock to a worldwide audience. Internet marketing makes your promotional dollars go further and helps you to stand out from the crowd. It also dramatically expands your audience, bringing in clients from around the country and even the world.

Rookie agents need to chart their own course to be successful. Don't be afraid to embrace new methods of marketing your services. Above all, don't follow the herd. Be different - take control of your real estate career and leapfrog your competitors through aggressive internet marketing!

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source: ezinearticles.com

Real Estate Website Marketing - 5 Steps to Crushing Your Competition and Doubling Your Business

Getting your real estate website more traffic is easy if you know how Internet marketing works, not to mention search engine optimization. Your goal is to get as much traffic as possible to your website, but not just any traffic, targeted traffic. Targeted traffic is the traffic that might actually have some interest in your product or service, in this case real estate, and be more likely to buy than untargeted traffic you might pick up. Fortunately, there are five easy steps to help you crush the competition and double your business.

Step #1 - Links

Links to your real estate website on the Internet are very important marketing tools because not only do they increase your rankings with the search engines, they also expose you to more potential traffic. Because of this you must do everything you can do get your site linked to from many different complementing websites. The more links you have, the more traffic you'll receive, and the more sales you'll make.

Step #2 - Keywords

Knowing the keywords that apply to your campaign and using them effectively is very important for driving targeted traffic to your realty web pages. When you use keywords efficiently and someone searches for those precise keywords, your page will be displayed as a result. Search engines give preference to keywords so you should know what you are doing when you start putting keywords in your content.

Step #3 - Directories

Find all of the real estate directories that appeal to your services and your market and submit your website to them. People searching real estate directories will come across your site listing and visit you. This is a great way to increase traffic.

Step #4 - Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay per click advertising is an affordable way to market your real estate site based on keywords and paid advertisements. You only pay for the PPC advertisement when someone clicks on it and visits your website. Many search engines offer pay per click advertising and you simply bid on the keywords you want advertising for. If you are the high bidder you get the first slot, and so on and so forth.

Step #5 - Articles

Place articles on your website about specific topics pertaining to the current real estate market in your area, nationwide, or current interest rates. New and informative information will keep visitors coming back.

If you follow these five tips you will see higher traffic on your website not to mention increased interest in your products and services. You will realize that these marketing tips are easy to use and following them will put your real estate website above all the rest. Don’t delay any longer or lose anymore potential clients. Start to work on your Internet marketing campaign immediately and start enjoying the fruits of your labor!

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Michael Turner
http://www.powertraffictactics.com

Your Travel Destination Shall Be Cebu, Philippines

That may be a presumptuous statement to make but after reading this article thoroughly, there’s a good chance that you’d agree to make that statement as well.

But first, let’s get down to the basics.

Cebu, is in the Philippines. Now, when you mention the Philippines, it’s either Manila or Boracay that are the first places to come to your mind. But we assure you that Cebu is as good as both those places. Better yet, there’s no need to pass through other cities in the Philippines just to get to Cebu. As one of the major ports of the country, Cebu is then even directly accessible from other countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong, China.

The Olango Wildlife Sanctuary should always figure prominently in a tourist’s travel plans to Cebu, Philippines. In this sanctuary, tourists would able to catch a glimpse of different species of migrating birds coming from places as far as China and Siberia. Based on studies made of this natural phenomenon, these birds choose Olango as a wintering ground and a way to increase their fat reserves before they resume flight.

Cebu’s Fort San Pedro is the oldest tri bastion fort in the Philippines. Built in 1565, its 8 foot thick walls and 30 foot tall tower bore witness to several wars, not the least would be World War II, in which it served as barracks for American soldiers.

Casa Gorordo Museum is also one of the well-loved destinations of tourists once they arrive in Cebu. Taking a tour of this well-kept museum is like stepping into another time and era, thanks to the lovely antique furniture on display and the conservation of residential features from the old days such as the magnificent courtyard.

And speaking of Gorordo, make sure that you visit 415 Gorordo Avenue in Lahug, Cebu City because that is the address of the Sala Piano Museum. In this museum, you’d be able to a see a collection of about hundreds of pianos of different shapes and sizes.

Lastly, there’s the Kawasan Falls in Matutinao, Badian. The sight of this majestic waterfall would no doubt make you think how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful world.

Source: ezinearticles.com

Park Owned Mobile Homes - Worth It?

First and foremost, there is no collateral value for a mobile home when it's in a park. It is a liability. A mobile home is only considered to be an appreciating asset when it is occupying it's own tax lot, and has been de-titled at the DMV.

Any conventional financing program will not consider any income from park-owned mobiles for debt service, though some higher rate alternative programs are available which consider all park income. The most common problem buyers have with these types of parks is the numbers Realtors throw at them. They will often times consider all income when determining cap rates, value, etc. The income from mobiles will not be used in determining real estate value. Again, this is due to fact that mobiles in parks are not real estate.

This issue often leaves buyers in the middle of a purchase contract with a need for additional cash equal to the value of the mobiles. Real estate loans are not the answer. One of the most common solutions is to have the seller carry a note for the value of all mobiles. If seller financing won’t pan out, there are a number of private investors who are interested in purchasing these types of notes for so many cents to the dollar. The key phrase to remember in securing financing on a property not considered real estate is, “Chattel Mortgage.” This term is typically reserved for a situation where a mobile home is in a park, and not occupying its own tax lot.

There is an occupancy issue to consider. There is usually less incentive keeping a mobile renter in the park. Typically we find mobile renters to stay an average of 8 months before they move on.

There is also an added expense to consider. Any person in a rented mobile is less likely to take care of it. Mobile owners are responsible for the maintenance and repair of the home. For the most part, a mobile owner will have to pay upwards of $5,000 to move their home. This rarely makes economic sense to do so. When a mobile can no longer be rented due to use, the owner must pay to dispose of it.

There are many different benefits and detriments to owning mobiles in a park. Parks can be very profitable when they collect mobile rent on top of pad rent. The determining factor of whether or not to employ this type of rental style park is usually, “How much do you want to put into the project?” If you are looking to get into a property and put the time and work into it, park owned mobiles could be a great way to maximize cash flow. For the passive investor who likes to collect checks every month, a pad rent only park is the route of choice.

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Colby Callahan, Commercial Loan Officer
Business Loan Store
http://Mobile-Home-Park-Loans.com

How To Pick An Investing Strategy That Will Work

I often get email's from investors asking me how they can tell which real estate investing strategy is ideal in their city. From the perspective of a new investor it can often be difficult to decide what particular strategy you should use in a given area.

There are two essential ways to break down a real estate market for residential real estate investing. One is geographically and the other is demographically.

In the case of Geographics let's say we have an investor who lives in Cobb County, GA and he or she only wants to buy and sell properties in Cobb County. Since this investor has chosen to limit themselves to a specific geographic location, they will be limited to the deals (i.e. Strategies) that they find most readily available in Cobb County.

For example, if you are in a suburban area that has lots of new construction, you may find more retailing opportunities to owner occupants. You will also find some rentals and virtually nothing suitable for Wholesaling because everything is too new. And, the majority of properties in new areas have very little equity.

If you are in an older area such as inside the city of Atlanta where there are thousands of older properties and many fixer uppers, you are much more likely to find wholesale and rental property deals but relatively little new construction.

So when it comes to choosing a strategy, your choice will be dictated by the situation. Is there a lot of equity to work with? Perhaps wholesaling is the best choice. Is there very little equity to work with? And it's a pre-foreclosure too? Then a short sale might be the only way to make the deal work.

On the other hand many investors choose a strategy and then try to find a house that fits that strategy. For example if you want to be a Cobb County Real Estate wholesaler, you have to go where the wholesale deals are.

This is what most professional wholesalers will do. They don't limit themselves to a small geographic area. They travel all over the metro area in order to find all the potential wholesale deals that they reasonably can. They may limit their territory somewhat, but generally they will cover a wide geographic area to find only the wholesale deals.

Their focus will be on contacting owners of older properties that are abandoned, or need lots of repairs. This is because these properties generally represent the best opportunity for lots of equity and a flexible seller.

If you are a wholesaler you don't want to waste your time contacting owners of 2 year-old houses with no equity.

Wholesalers who do this are using the demographic method. They are not looking in a particular location, they are looking for a particular type of seller.

Demographic prospecting means using more of a mass marketing technique, and targeting pre-foreclosures, health issues, job transfers, probate, divorce, and the whole range of life related events that can lead a person to become a motivated seller.

It is more common among professional investors to search for deals demographically rather than limit themselves to specific geographic locations. However this means you must have a willingness to drive sufficient distances to check leads. I personally have driven more than 200 miles in a single day, while viewing as many as 12 properties. At that point I was specifically looking for wholesale opportunities so I had to go where those opportunities were.

Had I wanted to stay close to home, which is located about 45 miles from downtown Atlanta, I would only pursue strategies that work with pretty houses, such as lease options, subject-to or buy and hold, because my geographic area is newer and therefore it contains very few wholesaling opportunities.

It can take you some time to get a feel for the types of deals that are most likely to be found in your area. If you are in an older area mostly built prior to 1970, then chances are very good that you would find more wholesaling opportunities.

If you live in a new area where most of the construction is less than 10 years old you would find more opportunities with less equity.

Retailing to owner occupants on a Lease with Option to Buy, is my personal favorite strategy in suburban neighborhoods that are predominately owner occupied. You can make that deal work at 80% LTV, instead of the 65% LTV you need for wholesaling.

So, one key to determining what strategy to use in what area is to look at the age and condition of the properties in that area and make offers that work for those properties.

In Atlanta, the outlying suburban areas are much more likely to be ideal for retailing, or buy and hold strategies. The in-town neighborhoods in the older parts of the city are better suited to strategies like wholesaling, because older houses tend to have more equity and need repairs.

Newer houses usually have less equity and therefore are better candidates for creative cash flow strategies, like "lease with option to buy", or "subject-to the existing mortgage".

Creative cash flow strategies may require less equity where Wholesaling strategies will require more equity in order for the numbers to work.

Any strategy only makes sense if the numbers work. Regardless of where you are located, and whether your market is "hot" or "cold", the bottom line is -- what will cost you? and, Can you sell it or rent it for more than it will cost?

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Donna Robinson
http://www.RealEstateInvestorHelp.com

Using Internet Classifieds To Sell Your Used Car

Take advantage of the hundreds of free on-line classifieds to sell your used car. Many of these sites will allow you to place an ad for free for up-to 30 days. Some sites will even let you upload a picture as well.

Look for classified sites that will provide an “advance” search capability to ensure that the potential customer can search on location as well as other details. It is not very effective if someone in Canada wants to buy a car that you are selling in Texas, unless you have a hard to find classic.

There are several things your add must contain to help target a potential buyer. Make sure that you are honest about the condition of the car and that the mileage from the odometer is correct. Pricing is important as well; you can go to Kelly Blue Book http://www.kbb.com/ to get a good estimate of how much your car is worth.

Place in your ad as much detail about the car, by doing this you will not waste your or a potential buyer’s time.

A final technique to using classifieds is to link your ads together by using a site that offers photo ads as a base and use the URL option on all other sites to link back.

Zeoh.com - http://www.zeoh.com/ is a free classifieds website that offers 30 day ads, unlimited renewals, photo uploads, URL links and advance searching.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dennis_Watson