Awesome iPad Apps for Agents. Hey, that may be a tongue twister. Are you using your iPad in real estate? If so, then perhaps you have already explored the amazing apps available for agents. Here are five apps that you definitely want to have on your iPad: Dropbox Simply put, Dropbox is like a file cabinet in the cloud. Install Dropbox on your phone, your tablet, and your computer. Then, all you need to do ... Continue Reading
I’ve been checking out Craigslist and getting a lot of sales-type emails lately. The common theme in both is “leads.” Everyone seems to be hot for leads—as if leads will solve the world’s problems. More leads = more closings, right? Maybe yes, but possibly not. You have to know how to convert a lead—what you need to do to get someone to the closing table. That is, you have to be able to create a successful ... Continue Reading
Just last week, San Diego County was plagued by wildfires. It’s a tough time to sell real estate. After all, who would want to go shopping for a new home when it’s raining ashes? While I’ve never sold real estate in other parts of the United States, I would imagine that the situation is pretty similar in areas plagued by snowstorms, tornadoes, and other weather-related disasters. Of course, your first thought is ... Continue Reading
Everytime that I make a little switch to what I am doing, I have to go back in and change my bio a bit. I need to make some edits this week because now I’ve started writing a column for Trulia, and I wanted to add that to the bio. As far as writing agent profiles and biographies, there is no one who knows better than Marte Cliff. Formerly a real estate professional, Marte has been doing copywriting for real estate ... Continue Reading
I couldn’t even begin to count the number of articles or blog posts online that talk about how awful Zillow and Trulia are. Some agents complain about the inaccurate data, and other agents don’t like the fact that those sites are capitalizing by using your listings in order to make money for themselves. Here’s the thing: At the time of this writing, Zillow has an Alexa U.S. rank of 41 and Trulia has a rank of 98. ... Continue Reading
In speaking with my friend Bill Archambault several weeks ago, he pointed out to me his simple yet effective rules of real estate. I just love this guy. He has sage wisdom that comes from significant life experience. Here are Bill’s Rules of Real Estate: I. Thou shall protect thy license above all. II. Thou shall protect thy client above all, but thy license. III. Thou shall protect thy referral source above ... Continue Reading
I was at The Riviera in Vegas last Thursday for the Real Tech 2014 technology conference, and it occurred to me as I was looking at an autographed wall poster of Elvis and Engelbert Humperdinck that social proof has been around for as long as I can remember. As a child in the Los Angeles area, I remember going to restaurants and other local establishments where the walls were filled with autographed photos of ... Continue Reading
Have you ever been talking with someone and you knew—you just knew—that they were not actually listening? Maybe the other individual wasn’t looking at you or maybe that person was checking text messages while you were telling a story or sharing some information. It's a little bit frustrating when this happens. If you’re like me, you continue talking in hopes that the other person is really paying attention to you. ... Continue Reading
One of my great friends, who was an incredibly busy short sale listing agent at the height of the economic downturn, was irritated because his short sale taking what seemed like forever. He has closed tons of short sales, and his theory was that this specific deal shouldn’t take too long because there are fewer short sales than there were back in 2010. With fewer short sales, things should be moving more ... Continue Reading
I was recently involved in a very unpleasant situation. I hired a carpet and tile cleaning service to go into my home and clean things up a bit. Even though we had never used this particular company before, they came recommended. They come in. They quote cost. They begin. The project takes longer than they expect, and they will need to finish up the next day. However, since the company began applying their ... Continue Reading