Agents - Get Your Clients Into The White House

Now that I have shared this with my valued clients, I thought I'd share something for realty agents to share with some of their buyers and sellers. Especially those with teen children.

The deadline is coming up for applications for interns - at The White House. What does this have to do with Real Estate? Nothing.

What does this have to do with your appropriate buyers, sellers, and clients? It could a lot. In this (or, for that matter, ANY) real estate market, agents need to distinguish themselves. Not just sending out newsletters and reminders which have no bearing to the local market or what he/she is all about.

Suppose you have clients with children in high school. This is a reason to call or e-mail them and suggest that (names) apply for a White House internship. This shows your clients you are thinking of specifically them. They may pursue it, they may not. But chances are they'll tell others about what you did for them.

Once you get their attention, send them this link:


http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships?goback=%2Egde_3571887_member_45547363


Of course, I suggest to my advertising and marketing clients that they follow back in a few weeks to ask if (name of child or children) applied. Maybe they received a response from someone at the White House! Trust me. You'll get a more favorable reaction than if you called them to ask about local home prices.

Listing of the Day - Phoenix AZ

In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.



8318 N. 5th Ave., Phoenix AZ 4 + 2 $300,000


http://www.homefinder.com/AZ/Phoenix/58745409d_8318_N_5th_Avenue

The first thing I saw was the photo and I made a guess that this listing was a 2 bedroom house. Turns out it is a 4-bedroom home. No way anyone could possibly tell from the angle of the photo. It would have shown much better taken from a corner which would have made the home seem large enough to hold 4 bedrooms, and not allowed for so much sky. It's Phoenix and we know it's going to be sunny.

Next, the description copy consists of about 80% of what I call "Realtor fluff". The first sentence and its "just driving up the pristine street you'll feel the appeal" demonstrates this. People are looking online to see whether or not they would be interested in driving by. It goes on as if you are entering the home. While it is not the fault of the agent that only one photo is used in these ads, the copy is written as if the potential buyer can see these things, which they cannot.

We are then told how the "formal living room is currently used as a formal dining room". How does finding out that one of the rooms is currently being used for a different purpose makes us want to check into this home?

Topping it all of are a pair of grammatical errors, which always reflect poorly on the listing agent. The "interior will make you feel like your in the pottery barn" not only should be "you're in....", but provokes the image of a barn instead of a well kept house. After a misspelled word, the end phrase is "just bring your clothers, don't miss out!". What are 'clothers'? And if we "just" need those, does that mean the home comes furnished? The run-on sentences with changing thoughts make it appear that the agent spent about 30 seconds looking up buzz words and even less time actually describing any unique selling points the home might have.

Nothing specific about the neighborhood, schools, or playgrounds anywhere on the page. For a 4 bedroom home??

OK copy for a $19.99 kitchen utensil, but miles off the mark for a $300,000 home when numerous other choices exist.

GRADE - D



Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.

At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.

Your comments are most welcome!

Searching for an answer...........

Realty agents and mortgage lenders with a personal web site will find this seemingly unrelated story worthy of note. Obviously, you hope that one way for potential clients to find you is via your web site.

While the importance of being found via internet search is often debated in the real estate community (compared with someone looking for a "used car in Miami" by a search), a story from Hitwise brings up an interesting point.

Hitwise reported yesterday (Jan. 15) that searches for "credit cards" and "credit card" fell 29% and 14%, respectively, during the four weeks leading up to Jan. 10 when compared with the prior year. The story went into percentages and broke the information out even more, which is beyond our scope here. The gist of the story is that it is possible that consumers are changing the way they search for credit card information, by now including a brand name.

For example, there is a rise in the people entering "Bank of America credit card", rather than just "credit card". My feeling is that it gives consumers more confidence in their search results by going with a known brand, as opposed to looking at a search result list filled with "untrusted" and unknown web sites.

You should keep that in mind when it comes to your own web site. I often help clients with the process of adding one or more domain names which "point" to their web site.

I called one of my long time clients in the Chicago area today about this story. She liked my idea about adding a "comparison" mention on a seldom used page on her web site. (Why she still has a seldom used page is for another day - but now it could actually benefit.) If she compares a mortgage program to one from (for example) Bank of America, and her site is already available for the major search engines, then HER site could come up when a consumer searches "bank of america mortgage", per the point of this blog.

Even though business is rebounding for my current (and potential) clients, you need to keep every marketing edge possible to maintain a positive income for 2009. Oh, and this is a good idea for when we are searching for a product in our real life, too. Check for a known and trusted brand or company, and see what happens.

no kidding with this award.........

Still another idea. A city or community that earns an award or honor can be the start of a marketing campaign for a local lender and real estate agent.

One example is this story from a major suburban Chicago newspaper:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=262275

The story features the suburb of Mt. Prospect and how it earned the honor as the "best place to raise kids". The city has implemented its own marketing campaign to promote living there.

My immediate reaction to the story was to contact a couple of potential clients with their office or a branch in that area to be sure they saw the story. Yet, 24 hours later, neither of them have become my clients - yet.

Whichever one responds the fastest could have the "we help kids move to Mt. Prospect" campaign in either or both of the top newspapers covering that region plus their web sites.

In this marketplace, neither can afford to procrastinate. Somebody is going to move on this campaign strategy.

My point here is not to belittle my potential clients. Rather, it is to show how reading the news of the day can and should lead to an immediate marketing campaign. Too many missed opportunities in a marketplace that needs every angle it can get.

Since this is also for consumers, this is something to keep in mind when doing your homework to look for a home or property where geographic criteria is crucial. For example, if you have elementary school children, you have a solid reason to be in or near this community. Look for awards and recognition in categories of importance to you. You could also check with some Chambers of Commerce. They know all the awards in the area for obvious reasons.

And, it's still important to have a positive slant on the local real estate market instead of the daily dose of gloom and doom from the real estate industry itself...........

a cup of coffee and a new business venture........

Let's start out 2009 on some positive notes, in addition to mortgage rates dropping at least once for the 9th consecutive week.

This article, buried in a community newspaper near Milwaukee, is actually inspiring:

http://www.menomoneefallsnow.com/story/index.aspx?id=827860

After I read this, I got a vision of this group making a go of this coffee shop and how 10 years from now they would own and operate a series of these in the region.

This sort of story is how partnerships often start. And in today's market, I'm disappointed this story, and others like it, are not getting any play. If I were a realty agent or lender in that area, I'd be all over this group offering to help them with planning.

And for those in other areas, I'd be looking for a few people with money toward a common cause.

Even if not enough money to purchase, the recent availability of rehab loans in most states (such as the program linked on the right of this blog page) could be a viable alternative to get a group started. It could make the difference if a small group can't afford to buy the real estate which houses the business.

Such a positive story, yet such little play. This should be on the front page instead of the current week's "the real estate market is tanking...." statistics. Something to think about over your next cup of coffee.........