Starting from Zero + 5 Lies You've Been Told About Productivity + much more...

885,391 daily readers and growing! January 8, 2016 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: What if you had to start over again from zero? Today's Top Trending Real Estate Stories  Exclusive Webinar for NewsGeni.us Readers Starting from Zero Dear Reader, What if you had to start over again from scratch? Imagine that the entire network of referrals you’d spent years cultivating went away? No help from your hundreds of previous customers, your friends, your church family -- you had to begin again from ground zero. Scary, huh? Or maybe you’re just starting in the business and so you are square one. Or maybe you’ve taken a few years off to care for an aging parent and are having to begin anew. Possibly your spouse had a job transfer across the country and now you’re in a new spot and don’t have a network. Or maybe you’ve just gotten fed up with the way your real estate practice has gone and you think it’s time to start over. Believe it or not, this happens more often than you might think. And it happened recently to a friend and long-time LCM Success user, Sarah Miller. Sarah was a very successful veteran agent in Phoenix, Arizona, who recently relocated to San Diego after being gone for many years. She had to begin again with no network of friends and previous clients to draw from. She recently took a few minutes to call me and we spoke at some length about getting her website up and running and bringing in business. Sarah, because she has used our system for many years is excited about her new challenge instead of worried. Why? Because she knew that all she had to do was begin marketing her Ultimate Website in San Diego, dial in the advertising, and she’d be instantly as busy in her new market as she was in Phoenix. After we finished talking she sent me an email that I wanted to share with you. See if you think she is worried about her ability to produce business in her brand new practice. “Throughout my career as a Realtor, I’ve purchased and used a long list of programs, platforms and coaching in an effort to achieve a high-level of lead generation and improve lead conversion in my business…in fact, I’ve spent so much money on various programs over the years that my husband and I should have a couple of fully paid-off, his-and-hers Lincoln Navigators sitting in our driveway by now!! Then I found your Ultimate Website. It’s by far, the best lead generation, capture and conversion system I have EVER used in my business! It’s cost-effective, it’s easy to master and implement thanks to the superior A-Z topic-specific training that comes with it, has great support and most importantly, it consistently provides me with quick results and ROI! Thank you for all you do to provide this superior product!! Best Regards, Sarah M. Miller” Sarah, I am thankful for agents like you. Thank you not only for using my technology but also for taking a few minutes of your time to share your experience with us and your fellow agents. It means a lot to me. Many agents would never share their secrets with their fellow agents for fear of there not being enough business to go around. Fortunately, you’ve been successfully marketing long enough that you know there are plenty of real estate buyers and sellers when you know how to find them. Thank you, Sarah, and we wish you continued success as you begin to build your new practice in beautiful San Diego. If you haven’t yet tried my Ultimate Website (with LCM technology), I’d encourage you to check it out. Agents who use it are generating an average of 2-3 new inbound leads every day without spending additional money on advertising. It costs less than most websites and there is no long-term commitment or activation fee. Here is a link: http://www.GuerillaRealty.com.   As always, thanks for reading. Matt Jones Broker/President/CEO FavoriteAgent.com Matt Jones is the founder and CEO of FavoriteAgent.com, nationally syndicated columnist, broker, and best selling author. He has been profiled by major media outlets as an innovator and a pioneer in the industry, and CNN's Pulse on America claimed he and his company were "changing the way real estate is done in America."

I did not sign up for this #TRENDING 5 Lies You've Been Told About Productivity » How being overly productive is counterproductive Read more » Four Real Estate Trends for 2016 » Whether you are buying, selling, or renting, there's no escaping Federal Reserve's anticipated Read more » Half of Renters Struggle to Afford Rent » The rental affordability crisis is showing signs of worsening: Nearly half of all renters are Read more » Redin's New Valuation Tool Has Flaws Too » I am a firm believer that someone will create a great AVM that will rapidly replace human input into Read more » Pros and Cons of Selling During the Holidays » When the end of the year rolls around, people's minds tend to shift to gift giving, holiday parties Read more » Best Investment of 2016? Global Real Estate » According to Forbes, 2016 will likely have equities flat to negative. There are many factors Read more » ECONOMY Homeowners Spending Like It's 2006 » U.S. housing is finally lifting itself off the mat. Read more » More Homebuyers Don't Want to Work With Agents » A survey commissioned by online brokerage Redfin of 2,134 Americans finds one in five buyers made an Read more » This Isn't the Next Housing Bubble » Home prices are rising rapidly, but economists are deflating concerns that another "housing bubble" Read more » Consumer Confidence Soars--Homes and Cars Reaping the Benefits » Consumer confidence surprises many and surges in August, according to today's report from the Read more » Cities With the Biggest Rent Increases » Families are facing much bigger rent checks this year -- especially those living in cities in the Read more » 30% of Homes Lost Value Over Last Year » Not all American homes are rising in value. Read more » TECHNOLOGY Big Data is Changing Real Estate » The commercial real estate industry is embracing big data. While the financial and health care industries have already used big data to solve problems and predict consumer behavior, the commercial Read more » Realtor.com Claims They are Fastest Growing in Online Real Estate » Zillow is still the clear leader in the online real estate industry, but Realtor.com released some Read more » Project Upstream to Consolidate MLS Data » Project Upstream, as far as I can tell, is all about consolidating the MLS data. Zillow currently Read more » Technology Disrupting Real Estate Industry on Two Fronts » Tech companies who want to venture into the real estate industry are facing the tough challenge of Read more » Did Your Website Survive Mobilegeddon? » Google changed their algorithm to favor mobile-ready sites Read more » Choosing the Best Anti-virus Software » What to choose when you have too many options? Read more » LAW Agent Attacked By Man in a Dress » In what is all too common an occurrence, a Realtor showing a home was attacked near Atlanta. What makes this one unusual is the attacker was a man in a dress and a wig. Fox News has the story. Read more » Man Arrested for Hate Crime After Threatening Realtor » A man was arrested on suspicion of committing a hate crime for using racial slurs and threatening an Read more »

Son of Murdered Agent Urging Safety for Others » The son of an Arkansas real estate agent who was kidnapped and murdered while showing a home nearly Read more » Agent Attempts to Extort Power Brokers for $800k » A Miami Beach real estate agent — who sported bruises in his mugshot — was arrested over the weekend Read more » NewsCorp Spent $7M Suing Zillow » News Corp (NWSA) Earnings Report: Q4 2015 Conference Call Transcript Read more » New Mexico Real Estate Pros Attempting to Ban Transfer Tax » Anyone who owns real estate in New Mexico could be affected by an effort underway by New Mexico's Read more » MARKETING Become a Better Communicator In Your Writing » There's no denying it. It doesn't matter who you are, the type of customer you're trying to reach out to, or what kind of transaction you represent. We can all improve the way we communicate. Read more » 7 Ways Your Body Language Can Get People to Like You » Let your body do the talking Read more » Four Online Strategies to Sell Your Listing » Don't limit your home selling strategies to eye-catching signs and telling friends and family about Read more » AirBnB, Realtor.com Team Up to Offer Try Before You Buy Housing » Dive Brief: Read more »

Instagram an Important Marketing Tool » Instagram is an important marketing tool Read more » Study Reveals Agents are Missing Opportunities in Commerical and Land » A recent survey of real estate purchases by The Entrust Group's self-directed IRA (SIDRA) clients Read more » INVESTING Turnkey Properties Popular Investments for Millennials » Millennials and younger members of Gen X appear to be delaying the financial responsibility of homeownership. But it's hard to blame a group who watched the housing market skyrocket and plummet just Read more » U.S. Investors Flocking to Farmland » Investors are flocking to farmland again, hoping to capitalize on what they view as a temporary Read more » Dangers of Crowdfunding for Real Estate Investment » Real estate based equity crowdfunding, known more simply as "RECFunds", is rapidly gaining Read more » Was My Home a Good Investment? » Read more » Real Estate Tycoon in the Making » Danielle Moy loved to play Monopoly as a kid. Now, collecting as many properties as possible is more Read more »

Send Your Child to College By Investing in Rental Property » College fees have gone up to over $65,000 a year says Troy Onink, a contributor for Forbes. When Read more » HOW-TO Avoid These Scams Targetting Real Estate Agents » Cybercrime is far more prevalent these days than its ever been before, and with the vast amounts of money involved in real estate transactions, it means that real estate pros, buyers and sellers could Read more » Fatal Realtor Kidnapping Causes Agent Community to Change Safety Procedure » A year ago next week, the search for Beverly Carter, the Arkansas Realtor who had been missing since Read more » Dos and Don'ts of Appraiser Communication » Real estate professionals and appraisers both play an essential role in the process of buying or Read more » Sell a Home Quickly in Any Market » Once you list a house for sale, the waiting begins. Both realtor and homeowner want to find a buyer Read more » Home Selling Mistakes That Cost Your Seller Money » Real estate is a local experience, so be prepared for varying conditions depending on where you Read more » 5 Biggest Turnoffs for Homebuyers » If you are on the selling end, there is nothing more important than you need to know than what make Read more »

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My Craigslist Secret + Prices and Mortgage Rates to Go Up in 2016 + much more...

885,391 daily readers and growing! January 7, 2016 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: My Secrets to Fully Exploit Craigslist for New Customers Today's Top Trending Real Estate Stories  Exclusive Webinar for NewsGeni.us Readers My Craigslist Secret Dear Reader, Over the past 18 months, I have convinced countless agents to begin to take Craigslist seriously as a source of customers. Some agents have moved their entire focus to Craigslist, while others have simply used it to supplement their other traditional online campaigns. But all of them have produced astonishing results, and they’ve done it without spending any money. Craigslist is and always has been a great place to capture tons of customers, if you know what you’re doing. However, during the past 18 months I’ve discovered that the single greatest hurdle to overcome in convincing an agent to place his first ad on Craigslist is the negative stigma. For whatever reason, Craigslist has gotten a bad name among agents. Maybe it’s the “Craigslist killers” splashed across the headlines. Maybe you talked to a colleague who ran an ad on Craigslist once and didn’t get anything except for emails from spambots. But whatever the case, you need to forget about what you’ve heard and try it yourself. The truth is, it is relatively easy to capture 2-3 inbound buyer or seller leads from Craigslist every day, but again, only if you know what you’re doing. In this article I’m going to share the easy four-step formula I use in my own practice. The beauty is that it’s easy to learn -- by the end of this article, you’ll know it inside and out -- and it’s easy to repeat again and again. Best of all, it doesn’t cost you anything. If you follow these steps, I guarantee that you’ll be working with a new customer by the end of the week, possibly 3-4 new customers. Step One is procuring the perfect listing for your ad. What!? Yes, you heard me right. The first step to fully exploiting Craigslist for lots of buyer leads is to procure a great listing. After all, we are advertising on a real estate classifieds website. You’ll get nowhere without a property to list. But this is the first place that agents go wrong. Most agents I train on this method don’t have any listings, or else have very few. But here’s the secret: you don’t need to go out and take a new listing in order to follow my Craigslist formula. In fact my formula is exactly the same for agents who have lots of listings and agents who have none. You are going to borrow a listing. What do I mean by “borrowing” a listing? The best way to explain this concept is to describe exactly what I do when creating a new Craigslist ad from scratch. Again, all of this can be done for free and in a single afternoon. I recommend that you start today. I start by picking up a recent copy of the local Homes magazine or Real Estate Book. I flip through the pages until I find a listing suitable for my ad. What I’m looking for is always the same: Maximum curb appeal in my market’s average price range. Here’s why. Curb appeal ensures that my listing on Craigslist will generate lots of clicks. Buyers are attracted to beautiful homes far more than ugly ones. Duh. But you can’t simply pick the most beautiful home in the magazine, because chances are, for the majority of buyers, it’s out of their price range. The average home price in my market is $152,000. I usually choose an attractive but modest listing that is approximately $20-30K above average because I’ll attract a higher end customer and earn a higher commission. But this home price is still affordable for a large percentage of home shoppers. I don’t pick the million dollar mansions just because they are nice. Very few people are in the market for such a property, so I would capture few if any customers. Once I’ve chosen my “mark”, I contact the listing agent. I send a quick email just like this one. In fact, you can use this as template: Hey Joe, I was looking through the homes magazine... really like your listing at 123 Elmwood and would love to sell it! I’m putting together my ads for the month and I have an open spot. Would you mind if I included 123 Elmwood? Thanks, let me know. -Matt Just like in fishing, if you want to attract the best customers, you use very specific bait. When I was a kid we would use a piece of stale bread and hang our line over the drain pipe to catch catfish. And it worked every time, but if you wanted to catch something worth eating, then you had to save up and buy a better lure. It’s the same in real estate. If you advertise bottom of the barrel listings, just because you happen to be the listing agent, then you’re going to attract bottom of the barrel customers. For that reason, I recommend my “borrowed listings” strategy even to listing agents. Look, I am the author of The Ultimate Listing Presentation, I’ve taken as many as 114 listings in a single year, I’ve never had a shortage of solid listings to advertise, and I still borrow listings in order to create the “perfect” Craigslist ad. Take your ego out of it for a minute and ask yourself, what is going to generate me the most business? Probably not that $59,000 probate listing you took as a favor to a friend. [Note: Do this now. Use my email as a template, but put your own spin on it. This approach really works and only takes a few minutes to complete. Just think, by the end of the day you could have several beautiful properties in your arsenal.] Wait, what if they say no? When I teach this practice, agents look at me like I’ve asked them to do something sneaky or unethical. But let me ask you this. What if an agent approached you with the same question? Remember your fiduciary obligation to your client. Would withholding that listing from a free source of advertising be upholding that obligation? I can honestly say that in 10 years my request has never been turned down. Most agents are thrilled that I’m helping them move their listings. But of course I’m fully prepared for the possibility that one day the listing agent will decline my request. So what. There’s an entire book full of beautiful listings. Why would one “no” stop you? Step Two is creating the perfect ad. Writing a great ad shouldn’t take a lot of time and doesn’t require years of copywriting experience. In fact, when it comes to real estate listings the best ads say very little. Plus, I’m about to share the exact ad formula that I use to write all of my ads. If you follow this formula, creating a new ad from scratch should only take about ten minutes. Previously I have only shared this ad-writing formula with Ultimate Website users, but I believe this is a skill that any agent can learn very quickly and that all agents need. So here goes. Here is an actual ad that I posted on my local Craigslist: This ad alone brought in over fifteen new customers per month. (And that was just one ad. I typically recommend that you run at least five to ten simultaneously.) Here’s the simple formula I followed to create this ad:   MY CRAIGSLIST AD FORMULA A. Write a short, plain description of the home in the title. In my example, I give the bedrooms and the neighborhood. B. Identify five selling features of the home. Study my example above and use it as a template. Selling features could include a pool or any special amenities, recent additions or upgrades, or the location. Limit yourself to only the top five selling features. The ad shouldn’t outlast your visitor’s attention span. C. DO NOT INCLUDE THE PRICE. This is the most important step of the formula. Many agents see this as heresy, but remember, our goal is to maximize curiosity, not maximize the information. D. In a large font, add a footer that tells your visitor where they can get more information about the property. I recommend that you use my footer exactly. It is professional, no-pressure, highly tested, and it works.   Yes, that’s my entire formula. Go ahead and write your ad now. You might still be waiting to receive permission from the listing agent, but I can almost guarantee that you’ll get it. And on the off chance that he says no, you’ve only wasted about 10 minutes and it’s good practice. Don’t put it off. Do it now, and you’ll see how incredibly easy writing a great ad should be. But wait, I don’t have a website or a property hotline or a text messaging service, so how can I write an ad? Don’t worry, this problem is completely normal and I address it in step three. Step Three is lead capture. You’ve written the perfect ad. You are now holding the attention of an interested buyer who, statistically speaking, will be making a purchase within the next 90 days. How are you going to turn him into a client? The answer is you need some form of effective lead capture. Obviously I use my Ultimate Website, and you can get your own (it’s relatively inexpensive). My Ultimate Website includes three separate forms of lead capture, and I believe that they are each essential to your advertising. Customers have widely disparate preferences when it comes to searching for homes online. A few will prefer to make a quick phone call (these will result in the warmest leads). Some will be mobile and prefer to send a text for more information. The majority will prefer to continue their search on your website, so it’s necessary to have lead capture technology there as well. I strongly recommend all three. And you can get all of these technologies separately for a few hundred dollars a month. It’s more important to me that you have these technologies than whether you get them from me. However, I recommend that you at least take a look at my Ultimate Website because it’s available at a fraction of what it would cost you to buy them separately from other companies. Anyway, that brings us to step four. Step 4 is the easiest. Sit back and wait for the customers to come to you. I expect to capture about one customer per ad that I place, so I recommend placing more than one at a time. Craigslist will allow you to renew the ad to the top of the listings every 48 hours. So if you post five ads and renew them each fifteen times per month, that’s approximately 75 customers every month -- without spending a dime in advertising and very little time maintaining your ads. Not bad. That’s my entire approach. If you complete these four steps you can be guaranteed that you are exploiting your local Craigslist for all its worth. The best part is, because very few agents know what they are doing on Craigslist, there are lots of customers and very little competition among agents. Today because I believe that many of my readers will finally understand and identify with my philosophy, I’m offering you a unique promotion. Not only am I going to extend my already low price of 58% off, but I am going to sweeten the deal even more! Buy my Ultimate Website system today and you’ll get a fantastic looking, state-of-the-art website complete with an integrated WordPress auto-blog and our unrivaled LCM lead capture technology along with all the free training you need to help you get up and running. Awesome! Not familiar with my Ultimate Website? Check it out here: http://guerillarealty.com Get My Ultimate Website Now » As always, thanks for reading. Matt Jones Broker/President/CEO FavoriteAgent.com Matt Jones is the founder and CEO of FavoriteAgent.com, nationally syndicated columnist, broker, and best selling author. He has been profiled by major media outlets as an innovator and a pioneer in the industry, and CNN's Pulse on America claimed he and his company were "changing the way real estate is done in America."

I did not sign up for this #TRENDING Prices and Mortgage Rates to Go Up in 2016 » The monthly mortgage payment on a home is determined by two elements: the price of the house and the interest rate you pay on your mortgage. Recently released reports are revealing that the experts Read more » Four Real Estate Trends for 2016 » Whether you are buying, selling, or renting, there's no escaping Federal Reserve's anticipated Read more » Are Baby Boomers the Reason for Low Inventory? » Economists now argue that baby boomers - the people who rocked at Woodstock and were active in Read more » Half of Renters Struggle to Afford Rent » The rental affordability crisis is showing signs of worsening: Nearly half of all renters are Read more » Redin's New Valuation Tool Has Flaws Too » I am a firm believer that someone will create a great AVM that will rapidly replace human input into Read more » Choosing the Best Anti-virus Software » What to choose when you have too many options? Read more » ECONOMY Homeowners Spending Like It's 2006 » U.S. housing is finally lifting itself off the mat. Read more » More Homebuyers Don't Want to Work With Agents » A survey commissioned by online brokerage Redfin of 2,134 Americans finds one in five buyers made an Read more » This Isn't the Next Housing Bubble » Home prices are rising rapidly, but economists are deflating concerns that another "housing bubble" Read more » Consumer Confidence Soars--Homes and Cars Reaping the Benefits » Consumer confidence surprises many and surges in August, according to today's report from the Read more » Cities With the Biggest Rent Increases » Families are facing much bigger rent checks this year -- especially those living in cities in the Read more » 30% of Homes Lost Value Over Last Year » Not all American homes are rising in value. Read more » TECHNOLOGY Big Data is Changing Real Estate » The commercial real estate industry is embracing big data. While the financial and health care industries have already used big data to solve problems and predict consumer behavior, the commercial Read more » Realtor.com Claims They are Fastest Growing in Online Real Estate » Zillow is still the clear leader in the online real estate industry, but Realtor.com released some Read more » Project Upstream to Consolidate MLS Data » Project Upstream, as far as I can tell, is all about consolidating the MLS data. Zillow currently Read more » Technology Disrupting Real Estate Industry on Two Fronts » Tech companies who want to venture into the real estate industry are facing the tough challenge of Read more » Did Your Website Survive Mobilegeddon? » Google changed their algorithm to favor mobile-ready sites Read more » Choosing the Best Anti-virus Software » What to choose when you have too many options? Read more » LAW Son of Murdered Agent Urging Safety for Others » The son of an Arkansas real estate agent who was kidnapped and murdered while showing a home nearly a year ago is urging the real estate community to take greater safety precautions to ensure other Read more » Man Arrested for Hate Crime After Threatening Realtor » A man was arrested on suspicion of committing a hate crime for using racial slurs and threatening an Read more » Agent Attacked By Man in a Dress » In what is all too common an occurrence, a Realtor showing a home was attacked near Atlanta. What Read more » Agent Attempts to Extort Power Brokers for $800k » A Miami Beach real estate agent — who sported bruises in his mugshot — was arrested over the weekend Read more » NewsCorp Spent $7M Suing Zillow » News Corp (NWSA) Earnings Report: Q4 2015 Conference Call Transcript Read more » New Mexico Real Estate Pros Attempting to Ban Transfer Tax » Anyone who owns real estate in New Mexico could be affected by an effort underway by New Mexico's Read more » MARKETING Instagram an Important Marketing Tool » Instagram is an important marketing tool Read more » 7 Ways Your Body Language Can Get People to Like You » Let your body do the talking Read more » Four Online Strategies to Sell Your Listing » Don't limit your home selling strategies to eye-catching signs and telling friends and family about Read more » AirBnB, Realtor.com Team Up to Offer Try Before You Buy Housing » Dive Brief: Read more » Become a Better Communicator In Your Writing » There's no denying it. It doesn't matter who you are, the type of customer you're trying to reach Read more » Study Reveals Agents are Missing Opportunities in Commerical and Land » A recent survey of real estate purchases by The Entrust Group's self-directed IRA (SIDRA) clients Read more » INVESTING U.S. Investors Flocking to Farmland » Investors are flocking to farmland again, hoping to capitalize on what they view as a temporary slump in the agriculture industry that has pushed down land prices in some areas of the country, The Read more » Dangers of Crowdfunding for Real Estate Investment » Real estate based equity crowdfunding, known more simply as "RECFunds", is rapidly gaining Read more » Turnkey Properties Popular Investments for Millennials » Millennials and younger members of Gen X appear to be delaying the financial responsibility of Read more » Was My Home a Good Investment? » Read more » Real Estate Tycoon in the Making » Danielle Moy loved to play Monopoly as a kid. Now, collecting as many properties as possible is more Read more » Send Your Child to College By Investing in Rental Property » College fees have gone up to over $65,000 a year says Troy Onink, a contributor for Forbes. When Read more » HOW-TO Avoid These Scams Targetting Real Estate Agents » Cybercrime is far more prevalent these days than its ever been before, and with the vast amounts of money involved in real estate transactions, it means that real estate pros, buyers and sellers could Read more » Fatal Realtor Kidnapping Causes Agent Community to Change Safety Procedure » A year ago next week, the search for Beverly Carter, the Arkansas Realtor who had been missing since Read more » Dos and Don'ts of Appraiser Communication » Real estate professionals and appraisers both play an essential role in the process of buying or Read more »

Sell a Home Quickly in Any Market » Once you list a house for sale, the waiting begins. Both realtor and homeowner want to find a buyer Read more » Home Selling Mistakes That Cost Your Seller Money » Real estate is a local experience, so be prepared for varying conditions depending on where you Read more »

5 Biggest Turnoffs for Homebuyers » If you are on the selling end, there is nothing more important than you need to know than what make Read more »

This is the NewsGeni.us e-Brief, a collection of the best real estate news and advice in one place. To cancel your subscription, follow this link http://www.newsgeni.us/unsub.php?email=dsoldit.blogpost@blogger.com&s=2031.

©2016 NewsGeni.us, 212 Northstone Pl, Fayetteville, NC 28314. All rights reserved.