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A collection of ideas, useful sites, tools and tips
for my real estate colleagues in Silicon Valley and elsewhere
by
Mary Pope-Handy
Education and Books
No Blogger Left Behind: Classes offered periodically - check the web for scheduling
Epro Certification Training: $25 Discount when signing up through me
(no date – this is a course you do on your computer at your own pace)
Certified Residential Specialist courses - these are offered locally and all over the country, feature great education and an incredibly reasonable price for the content. (The CRS designation is, in my opinion, the most valuable of all available desginations - it represents great classroom work and also a lot of transactions). Each year, CRS members and others meet for a great educational seminar called Sellabration that happens the end of January (usually in Vegas but in 2008 it's in Hawaii). Extremely worthwhile.
Book: The Real Estate Technology Guide (by the guys who created the epro course), $24.95
Book: The Rainmaker Guide to Online Marketing (by the guys who created the epro course), $28.00
Book: The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller (but not just for KW agents) - available everywhere.
Book: Get The Best Deal When Selling Your Home In Silicon Valley (shameless plug for book by Mary Pope-Handy and Ken Deshaies)
Web Tools and Free Stuff
Finding folks (even renters): www.ZabaSearch.com
Free Websites for real estate professionals: www.Point2Agent.com
Free places to blog: www.RealTown.com, www.ActiveRain.com (invitation to join AR link), www.Blogger.com, www.Typepad.com
Free Newsletter to email: The California Association of Realtors has a free newsletter that members can email to their clients, did you know that? Visit www.CAR.org and click on the link on the left side for Client Direct, which is the name of the newsletter.
Virtual Assistants
eRainmaker.com (drip email campaigns)
GooderGroup.com (Resources)
IVAA.org (International Virtual Assistants Association)
IAVOA.com (International Association of Virtual Office Assistants)
REVANetwork.com (Real Estate Virtual Assistant Network)
IREAA.com (formerly CyberStarVA)
Who's Linking to Your Site?
Here's a tip for your website - check the links attached to your site (s). If you go to Google, you can see who's linking to you (and bringing you traffic and moving you up in the search engines) by using the word "link" with a colon, followed by a space and the site you want to check.
Example, on Google, type: Link: yourdomain.com
For instance, if I want to check the number of links to my oldest site, www.PopeHandy.com , I would type in Link: PopeHandy.com and the result is here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Link%3A+PopeHandy.com
and I can see that there are about 75 links coming and going.
Coaching Resources (also books, CDs, articles, newsletters)
www.Joeann.com
www.RealEstateCoach.com
www.RealEstateChampions.com
www.ByReferralOnly.com
www.GoStarPower.com
News Sources
www.RealtyTimes.com
www.InmanNews.com (subscription but free to read that day's news in AM and PM)
http://www.Realtor.org/ (a lot of this info is free, great resource)
www.DeadlineNews.com (stories by Brokerick Perkins, also compiles info from many sources)
http://www.realtor.org/rmodaily.nsf Realtor Magazine Online (news and info - more than what is in the print edition)
Stuff You Should Do
In addition to time blocking, prospecting, following up, and eating 5 servings of fruits and veggies each day, Google yourself and Google your listings. Then Google the areas where you work and sell and Google your competition.
What happens when you search for your own name on the web? Can anyone find you? If a client wants your phone number, will he or she go through the maze at your company's site? Probably not. Most likely, that person will put your name on a search engine and hope to immediately find you and your phone number. Don't be hard to find!! There are two EASY and NO COST places to make sure that you are found. One is to get on Active Rain (invitation link to join Active Rain) and another is to list yourself on Linked In. There's no need to do a pay-per-click, these sites have enough Google Juice for you!
Why Google your listings? First, you want to see what your clients see: is everything where it's supposed to be? Are photos all showing up? Check it out. Secondly, you want to know if your listing is appearing with bad information. I once had a listing that was previously listed by three different agents and some of that "old stuff" was still out there: Google Garbage! Worst of all was a higher price that was not correct!!
Please check back for updates!! I will be adding tips over time...and maybe morph this page into a blog of its own if there's demand.
And if you have a referral for Silicon Valley real estate, especially in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Cambrian Park (area of San Jose), Almaden Valley (also a district of San Jose), Campbell or any of the west valley area of Santa Clara County, please contact me! I'm a Santa Clara Valley native and very experienced - see my profile for more information! Call me toll-free, 877 397-5391.
Mary Pope-Handy, Realtor, CRS, ABR, e-PRO, SRES, ASP, RECS, CNHS, ACRE
Helping Nice Folks to Buy & Sell Homes in Silicon Valley Since 1993
Co-Author: "Get The Best Deal When Selling Your Home In Silicon Valley"
Keller Williams, Cupertino, CA (Silicon Valley Residential Real Estate)
877 397-5391 (Direct/Toll-Free/Fax); 408 204-7673 (Cell)
www.PopeHandy.com www.ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com
emailto: Mary@PopeHandy.com
Blog: www.LiveInLosGatos.com
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