RealtyTechBytes.com

IDX…worth it…or not?

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:00:35 +0000

In my “day job” as a trainer and consultant to real estate agents and brokerages, I have been researching vendors that provide IDX search tools. IDX is Internet Data Exchange and it is a set of rules that allows brokerages to display listings from other brokers on their web sites. IDX provides the ability for a consumer to search for active listings on a broker’s web site.

There are a number of ways that a website can display a search function ranging from free methods provided by a brokerage’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to paid solutions offered by third party vendors who take a “feed” from the MLS and package it for resale to brokers.

I have been curious for some time about the effectiveness of these search tools on an individual agent’s website. The recent “2009 Survey of Home Buyers and Sellers” from the National Association of REALTORS® has renewed my curiosity.

Here is what they had to say (in part) that sparked my renewed interest:

“First-time and repeat buyers largely agreed on the websites that provided them with the greatest value in their home search. Sixty percent of home buyers used multiple listing services (MLSs) websites, the most frequently used online resource. Different age groups use MLS websites with varying frequencies ranging from 64 percent of buyers 25 to 44 years old to 50 percent of buyers 65 or older. Buyers also frequently use real estate company websites. First-time buyers are however somewhat less likely to use REALTOR.com® than repeat buyers. Other websites with property listings were visited by almost one-third of buyers, although first-time buyers frequented these sites notably more than repeat buyers.”

This got me to wondering if IDX sites on agent websites were worth the money that agents have been pouring into them as it seems to imply that consumers are looking elsewhere for their property search. So, I decided to do my own survey and I hope that you will help in the research by taking the survey I created at SurveyMonkey. In order to take the survey you need to be an agent who has a an IDX search facility on your own blog or website. Or, if you are a consumer who has bought or sold a home in the past 12 months or who is presently in the process of doing so, I’d like your input as well.

If you wish to receive a copy of the survey results when I am finished gathering results, please leave your first name and email address when you complete the survey, otherwise you can remain anonymous.

I am not sure what results I will get, but I am sure that they will be interesting to any agent who is spending money on IDX or who is contemplating doing so!

Please go here to take the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RBT67CK If you are having trouble taking the survey, please email me by using the contact form at http://realtytechbytes.com/contact-me/ and let me know.

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

IDX…worth it…or not?

It’s (not) the most wonderful time of the year!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:00:21 +0000

With apologies to Andy Williams and the song “It’s a most wonderful time of the year”, because this surely is not the most wonderful time of the year! Here in the US, it’s tax season, with the April 15th deadline for filing income taxes looming large on the horizon, many of us are going through our annual stress test. Normally I just waltz over to computer, click a few buttons and produce a printout that I give to my accountant and I am done.

All of that changed this year because I changed status from being an employee to starting my own business. This occurred at the beginning of November and with all I have had on my plate, I just overlooked keeping the entries up in my accounting program. Up until today, the last time I made an entry was in the beginning of October. When I logged in today to have it download all my transactions from my checking account, all of the transactions from October and November were no longer available from my bank! That meant that I had to hand enter 60 days of wild spending!

Part of my problem was that making the switch from employee to business owner means that I now get to file a Schedule C in addition to my normal Schedule A. What expenses go where? Can I deduct this? What about that? Does it go on C or A? Yikes! I think I need to see an accountant!

So, in order to mend my evil ways I have been on the hunt for something that is aimed at small businesses like mine. Something that will automatically help me with my Schedule C reporting, my Profit and Loss, and oh yeah, something that will calculate my Estimated Tax payments and remind me to send them in!

Lucky for me, I found Outright.com! It’s designed especially for the small business owner.

From their website, the following paragraphs really caught my eye:

“Automated bookkeeping software for entrepreneurs & bookkeepers. Track income and expenses from credit cards, invoices, receipts, or even merchant accounts.”

And then this one: “Know right now what you can deduct come tax time. Stay on top of tax deadlines, manage W-9s, file 1099s, and automate your Schedule C; avoid costly fines and late fees from the IRS.”

So, I signed up. The first thing I had it do was to import my business checking account info from Wells Fargo. It was smart enough to only import the 2010 transactions (Obviously, I have turned over a new leaf and will be on top of things for this year!). Next I had it import my PayPal account. And finally, my business credit card. Once I had all of the expenses in the program, I went through each item and made edits to show the purpose of the expense, and also what line item on a Schedule C it belongs in. I can also add my income items to see an instant P&L graph.

There is more to it, but this is all that I have worked with so far, so I’ll close. But, not before telling you that it is absolutely free! Again from their website “Outright is free, simple bookkeeping and will remain so. We do plan to charge a nominal fee for innovative services yet to come.”

Drop everything and go check it out! And, if you know of some other free software or websites that are designed for the sole proprietor or small business person, please do leave a comment and share the love with us all!

Copyright, Creative Commons and you

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:00:44 +0000

One of the questions that comes up a lot in the hands on classes that I teach has to do with Copyright. People either want to know how to protect their work, or they want to know how they can use work done by others. So, I thought that I’d share some of the resources that I use to answer those questions.

Bur first, a disclaimer. I am not an attorney. And, if I was, which I am not, I am not your attorney. This is not legal advice. You use this information at your own risk and after having thoroughly investigated every link I present here. To be on the REALLY safe side, consult an attorney. Preferably one who is conversant with Copyright Law.

Now that I have that little bit of nastiness is out of the way, let me tell you how I deal with these questions.

To start with, it would be a very good idea if you took a few minutes to check out all of the free information there is on the web. Instead of ending up a some random web site that offers questionable advice, why not go straight to the source? If you are in the US, the US Copyright Office is conveniently located at http://www.copyright.gov/. If you are a fan of multimedia learning, go straight to Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright located at http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/ which is a animation designed for teachers and students. I found it to be a good resource for a quick understanding. You can also get a plain text version of the animation at http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/text/. Another good page to check out is the FAQ page at http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

There is much more to read on the site, but as a minimum, reading the suggested pages will get you off to a good understanding.

While Copyright law covers much of what you want to do on line, there is yet another type of non-governmental protection available through something called Creative Commons. You can learn about that at http://creativecommons.org/.

Essentially, Creative Commons has created standardized licensing procedures that allow you to modify your Copyright rights. Here is the link to a page on that site which explains what it is, why it came into being and how you might benefit from Creative Commons licensing: http://creativecommons.org/about/what-is-cc. Be sure to take the time to watch the videos there and you will not only get informed, but you’ll be entertained along the way.

Finally, you could always just ask someone for permission to use their material. Novel concept, but it works. I often will purchase photos from www.istockphoto.com to use on this blog, but occasionally I have found the perfect photo on www.flickr.com. In order to use the flickr photos, I just emailed the photographer and asked for permission. When I got the ok back, I just went ahead and used the picture.

If you are publishing a blog, or laying music down with a home tour that you built (I am not talking about the third party tours that come with music), you’ll definitely want to check out the US Copyright Office and the Creative Commons websites and save yourself a load of trouble.

3 Topics to Boost Your Success in 2010!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:55:48 +0000

A live course brought to you by Jerry Kidd

Wednesday, 02/24/2010. 08:30 am-12:30 pm

In the CCAR Conference Room [Map]

Time Management
Learn why time management is essential to a real estate agent and different techniques for effectively managing your time. When you leave you will have a blueprint for a one-year time management calendar.

Business Development
Learn traditional business development techniques as well as how new media marketing techniques (email,e-newsletters, blogging, websites and social media) can help you build your business.

Agent Jump Start
Learn five simple things that you can do to get your business rolling again, right away!

Registration Instructions
Online registration is open until Wednesday, 02/24/2010 07:30 am for CCAR Members, after which please contact the association during normal business hours to register.

For additional course registration information, or to register for this course as a non-member, please contact CCAR at 925-295-9231 or by email at courses@ccartoday.com.

The class is limited to the FIRST 20 who enroll.

Investment:

$25 for Education Rewards Members
$35 for CCAR Members
$60 for Non-CCAR members

Let Google help you grow your business

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:00:15 +0000

Lest you think that I am Google’s payroll (I am not, but that’s not a bad idea!) I want to tell you about a page that Google has just for you, the Real Estate Professional.

You NEED to click on this link: Google Tools for Real Estate Professionals now and read every word and follow the instructions that it contains.

Here is what Google has to say:

Here’s why it pays to use Google to connect to home buyers and sellers:

Google can help generate real estate referrals and leads.

Google has more real estate searches than other search engines combined, and more unique visitors than all real estate specific web sites.

Google is the most-used search engine for researching and purchasing real estate information and services.

The Google Network reaches over 80% of U.S. Internet users.

Because I think that it is so important that you do so, I am going to keep this very short. Take the time that you normally spend reading RealtyTechBytes and go read Google Tools for Real Estate Professionals instead. You can thank me later!

About the Author: Jerry is a 23 year veteran of the real estate industry and has done it all from listing and selling, to managing single and multiple offices. He has been the IT Director for a major SF Bay Area company, and has also been the Training Director for another major SF Bay Area company. In addition to writing this blog, Jerry is the Principal of Jerry Kidd Training and Consulting, specializing in showing real estate professionals how to utilize today’s exciting social tools to create and nurture relationships with home buyers and sellers. Visit http://www.JerryKidd.com to learn more about the training and consulting services offered.

Free Google service puts you on the map!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:00:51 +0000

I’ll bet that you know that 90% of home buyers use the Internet at some point during their home buying process. (Source: NAR’s 2009 Survey of Home Buyers and Sellers).

But, did you know that Google can put your business on the “map” for free?

Here’s how to take advantage of this Free service from Google:

Open your browser and navigate to http://budurl.com/LocalBizCtr
Create a Google Account if you don’t already have one
If you have an account, Log In
You will be taken to a page where you can fill in the necessary information about your business (Hint: As a real estate agent you ARE a business)
You can upload pictures and videos. (The videos have to be on YouTube first).

When you are finished, Google will want to verify that you are the owner of the business by calling you and giving you a PIN number (Or Snail mailing the PIN number). Once you enter the pin, you are good to go!

Watch this short video for a quick overview.

The video uses a restaurant as the example, but think about the ways that a real estate agent could use this. Why not put your vitual tours on YouTube and then bring them back into your Local Business Center listing?

My impression of MacWorld 2010 (and a deal for you!)

Jerry Kidd — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:47:53 +0000

I went to MacWorld 2010 in San Francisco on Thursday. This being the first year that Apple wasn’t going to be present, I wanted to see if the show would be better or worse that what I saw last year.

Being a relatively new convert to Macs (and an iPhone user since July 2008) I don’t have a lot of experience with the show. I did attend last year and was planning on attending in 2006 until a health issue derailed those plans. So, I really only have the one year to compare with this year’s show.

As my friend and uber Mac geek Ira Serkes puts it: “It was iPhoneWorld, not MacWorld”.

And I would have to agree.

There were tons of displays on iPhone apps and accessories. And tons of booths selling massage, chairs, luggage, clothing, bling and a myriad of things that made me go “hmmm”.

But, precious little software or hardware that was specific to either my iMac or my MacBook Pro.

There was one ray of sunshine, however. VMWare had a booth there and I stopped in to see them. I was having an issue with the VMWare upgrade that I did on my MacBook Pro and was hoping that they could shed some light on the issue. While I was waiting to speak with Amitabh Chakrabarty (The guy who knew the answer for me) I was asked about my usage of VMWare Fusion and was subsequently videotaped giving my answer (Maybe I will finally get discovered by Hollywood!).

After the taping and after the Q&A with Amitabh, I was offered a mystery coupon good for 5%, 10%, 50% or 100% off the purchase of VMWare Fusion 3. You simply go to their online store, place an order and then put the code in at checkout to see what discount you will get. Or, you can opt for a guaranteed 15% discount.

Since I already have a license for all three of my Macs, the coupon wasn’t worth anything to me. But, then I thought of you! I asked him for some coupons to give away on my blog and he gave me three.

So, here is the offer, On Monday (2-15-10) I’ll pick three people who leave a comment on this post and tell me why I should give them the coupon to receive one of the coupons. I’ll base my decision on the quality of your comment. In other words, a one line “I want one” comment is simply not going to cut it!

Since the coupons expire on February 19th, you’ll have to get on this right away! The retail price of VMWare Fusion is $79.99, so depending on the level of discount you end up with, this could be worth $3.99, $7.99, $39.99 or $79.99. Or you could take the guaranteed 15% discount, in which case the coupon is worth $11.99.

Not a bad deal for a few minutes of typing is it?

If I were just starting out today, I would…

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:00:02 +0000

I was asked to complete that sentence the other day by a woman who had just received her real estate license and hadn’t yet made the choice of what brokerage to join.

She wanted my take on what I would do to be successful in today’s real estate market. That’s a really good question, but at the time she asked it, I wasn’t able to give her the proper answer due to a time restriction, so I told her that I’d post the answer here today.

To answer this, I have to go back and review the mistakes that I made in my early career and also look at my successes. I made plenty of mistakes, but had relatively few great successes in terms of the impact that they had on my career. Let me explain that further. Some of my mistakes were potential game ending ones. Like not really prospecting for business. Like flitting from one business generating scheme to another without giving anything an honest try. Like deciding that I knew better than those who were trying to guide me. And, as I said, there were plenty of others.

Some of the successes were as follows: I was incredibly fortunate to start with a Manager and a brokerage that gave me the opportunity, gave me the training, gave me the space to screw up and then gave me the chance to learn and grow. Thank you Michael Fassio and Merrill Lynch Realty (Merrill Lynch sold their real estate brokerage to Prudential Real Estate Affiliates in the fall of 1989).

Another success I had was when I received my first commission check nearly 6 months after beginning my career, I spent the entire check on a PC, monitor, printer and some database software. I then spent the next 30 days learning how to use it. This was no small event. In January of 1987 when I bought that computer, there was only one other computer (to my knowledge) being used by a real estate agent in all of Sonoma County, California. None of the real estate offices had one for that matter. So, what I did flew against the conventional wisdom of the time and all of my friends thought that I was off my rocker.

As I said, I spent all of January 1987 learning how to use the computer in my business. The time spent nearly put me out of business in the short haul, but that computer knowledge turned out to be the best investment in myself that I could have made. In short order I was able to set up a prospecting database and client tracking system. That spring I was able to connect my computer to the MLS. We take that for granted now, but at the time, you had to go to the office and wait your turn at a terminal for MLS access. Being able to access the MLS from home at 6 AM in my robe was a huge competitive advantage.

I was set up at home to prospect and track expired listings and to prospect and track FSBO leads. Seemingly overnight my career was off and running and I have never looked back.

So to my original point, what would I do now if I was starting over? My first step would be to find a broker that I felt could give me the training and support that I would need. Michael and I knew each other before I got my license, and we also had the bond shared by Viet Nam veterans. We had an easy way of talking with each other. So, find the broker that you can connect with as your very first step.

Next I would determine just what my goals are in terms of income and then determine how many sales I needed to make to get that income. First, you have to determine how many prospects you would need to get 1 sale. The numbers of prospects are different for each of us. Over the years I have heard 100 prospects will equal 1 sale. Lately I have heard people saying it’s 200.

So, let’s just do worst case scenario. Say it takes you 300 prospects to make 1 sale. And lets say 1 sale equals $5,000.00 to you after your split. And let’s say that you wanted to make $100,000 in your first year. So, 300 prospects times 20 sales gives you a whopping 6,000 prospects that you need to contact in that first year.

If you divide 6,000 by 50 weeks, you come up with 120 prospects a week, which looks like 20 a day, 6 days a week. That’s a tall order in any one’s book! Every day, you have to contact 20 new people and add them to your database. Then follow up with them. Then create a transaction. Then close an escrow (Oversimplification I know, but I am trying to make a point)

So, once you know your numbers, you can get started. Buy a computer. Something that can send and receive email, surf the MLS and run some sort of contact manager software. Mac or PC, your choice (Our antiquated MLS systems require PCs to access their databases. I have been assured that this year that will change. We’ll see)

Get a Smart Phone. I don’t care which one. Get one on the network that works best in your area of operation. Pay no attention to hype or ads. Ask your friends what they use and if they like it. Make sure that it will sync with your computer so that you always have your calendar and contacts with you.

Now, here is the biggie...learn how to use both of those tools. Most of us can’t use more than 25% of the capabilities of our technology tools. You are starting out…take the time to get it right, learn how to use the tools.

Next, I would join Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and have complete profiles on each of these networks. This is how you are going to meet the 20 new people every day. Learn how to search for and connect with people that want to do real estate transactions. Use your computer database to keep track of the vital info on each of your new prospects. Listen to what they say and when appropriate, jump into the conversation with useful advice, fun things and educational information. Keep the self promotion to no more than 10% of what you do or say on these networks.

Hold open houses whenever possible. Even though you will meet more prospects in a shorter period of time by using social networks, there is nothing better than meeting people face to face. Especially people who are out shopping for houses!

Follow up with hand written notes, emails, pokes, tweets, phone calls (be sure to observe Do Not Call and do not mail laws).

There’s much more to this, but I am very confident that the steps that I have outlined above would give that new agent a great start. If she’ll stay focused and do this, and not give up, she’ll be rookie of the year!

What do you think?

Three things you must do starting right now!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:00:22 +0000

I was reading Chris Brogan’s post on “Slicing Your Social Media Pie” over at American Express’s Open Small Business Forum on Saturday, and it got me to thinking about our business.

Chris asserts that “There are three basic components to social media: listening, creating, and communicating. That’s it. Listening is how you find out what people are saying about you, your competitors, your community, and whatever else matters. Creating is where you make blog posts or shoot video, or build upon ideas that show you’re a thought leader in the space. Communicating is a mix of commenting, responding, reaching out, and taking part in community.”

He goes on to share that he slices his “pie” as 20% Listening. 40% Creating and 40% Communicating. In other words, if you spend 2 hours a day on your social media tasks, 24 minutes should be on listening, 48 minutes on Creating and 48 minutes on Communicating.

I think that is excellent advice and here is how I would advise Realtors® to go about accomplishing it.

Google Alerts – for Listening

One of the best FREE ways for you to hear what others are saying about you, your competitors, the market, a neighborhood or anything else that you can think of is to create a Google Alert. Head on over to http://www.google.com/alerts/ and fill in the simple form. You don’t need a Google account, but you do need to find the confirming email that Google sends and click on the link it contains before Google will start sending you alerts.

So what is a Goggle Alert? Here is what Google has to say: “Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to you when there are new Google results for your search terms. You can also choose to have your alerts delivered via feed to the feedreader of your choice (e.g., Google Reader or add the feed to your iGoogle page). We currently offer alerts with results from News, Web, Blogs, Video and Groups.” You can have up to 1,000 alerts. Each alert has a link to the content that Google found so you simply click on the link to read what it found. In other words, you have set Google up to automatically search Google for you.

This gives you the opportunity to keep your finger on the pulse of what people are saying, both good and bad. Once you know what is being said, you can respond accordingly.

Blogs – for Creating

One of the all time BEST tools available to a Realtor® today has got to be a blog. A blog allows you to create your own customizable “home base” on the Internet. You can store and display all of your past sales, your current listings, any documentation, forms and check lists that you’d like current, past and future clients to have, and it can all be done by anyone with only a basic knowledge of computers. You can link your blog to your current static website, but you could also get rid of that website (and the monthly bill it generates) and put the content that it contains that is yours on your blog. And there are many free choices for you: Blogger, RealTown Blogs, Realtor.com Blogs and my personal favorite and the one I heartily recommend, Wordpress.com.

I know that writing content can be difficult for some, but if you are listening you will be presented with many ideas for content. Even so, some people would rather have others write the content for them, so here are a couple of services that will do that for you. (Note: I am an affiliate for both of them. This means that should you buy their services I will earn a commission. It won’t be enough for me to make a living on, but it will help to defray the costs of running this blog).

The first can be found here: http://budurl.com/LeadBC. For v$29.95 a month (at the time of this writing) they will produce 20 articles that you can insert into you blog after you do some minor changes like adding your name and location. These are real estate specific and will give quite a bit of content for about a dollar a day.

The second source is here: http://budurl.com/brtb. For $57.00 per month they will create a daily blog post for you and actually place it on your Wordpress or Blogger blog. Again, this is real estate specific content.

facebook and Twitter – for Communicating

The final piece of Brogan’s pie is communicating back. A large part of what makes social media marketing work is the act of engaging with people. One of the finest tools available today is facebook. With over 350 Million users worldwide, it would be the third largest country in the world, behind China and India, if it were a country.

Join facebook and fill in your profile completely so that you are able to be found by people that you went to school with, that you worked with, that you served with and by people who live near you. Search facebook for the same groups of people and connect with them. Then engage in the conversation. Don’t talk about yourself from a self centered approach, instead talk with them about their lives and then some about yours. Be interesting, fun and educational. Provide value in your commentary so that people look forward to what you have to say.

Do the same with Twitter. Here you are limited to communicating in short burst of no more than 140 characters, so this will force you to get good at saying a lot in a little space…it can be done!

Once you are engaged with people on facebook and Twitter, it’s an easy and believable step for them to visit your blog when you invite them to do so and you may find that because they feel that they know you well from your facebook and Twitter interactions, that your referrals from them will increase.

And that my friends, is the Holy Grail.

backupify your social content

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:00:37 +0000

I had a minor disaster at my casa last week in which I lost all access to a VMWare Fusion Windows XP machine. Fortunately it was quickly resolved by using a backup. That started me thinking about what I have that is NOT backed up.

All of my computers use backup drives that are physically connected to my computer. They run continuous backups and are available to move my data to another machine if I need to do so. Or, they can be used to restore missing or corrupt data.

I also use MozyHome as another way to back up data. So in theory I am covered, right?

Not so quick. What about my social sites like Twitter and Facebook? It turns out that I have not been backing those up. What if my account at either site got trashed or even worse, cancelled? How could I recover my friends lists or pictures or the content that I have posted?

To put that in perspective, at Twitter I am following over 4500 people and over 4300 are following me. Trying to restore those lists without having a back up file would be impossible. The same holds true for my Facebook account where I have over 600 friends, many Notes, a few pictures and so on.

In my research to solve this problem I ran across a service that I am using and thought that you might like to know about it too.

This is a cloud based backup service that will use your login information to go to your Twitter, Google Docs, Wordpress, GMail, Facebook, Zoho, Delicious, Flickr, Basecamp or Photobucket accounts and perform daily or weekly backups of your data.

The service acts as backup program and does not actually store your data on their servers. Instead, the data is stored on the Amazon S3 Web Services Cloud, which in my opinion was a really smart move on their part. To understand why I say this, click here to read more about Amazon S3 web services.

You can also download your data to your local computer once it has been backed up. This now gives you 3 copies of your data. The original is on Twitter, Facebook, etc. But, you also have a copy on the S3 cloud and the one on your hard drive. The chance of all three failing at once are very, very small.

Finally, until January 31st, you can get an account for free. Hmmm, sounds like a good deal to me. Better click on the backupify logo in this post or just click http://www.backupify.com and sign up.