Scott Rogers, with Coldwell Banker Funkhouser in Harrisonburg, VA, I mean.

Amid all the hyperbole and sweeping generalization in the media about the state of real estate markets nationwide, Rogers had added a dose of reality to that most-essential of REALTOR® marketing branding tools: He’s added his market’s monthly home sales data to the back of his business card. Clever, huh? Good conversation starter, certainly. Business tool? Absolutely. And remarkably low-tech (though of course he does direct folks to his blog for “more analysis”).

And yes, he prints new cards every month.

Google Maps recently rolled out its new Street Level View service in Richmond, the first city in the Commonwealth to get it. Believe it or not, a Volkswagen Beetle outfitted with a 11-camera apparatus covered hundreds of miles in the Richmond area last fall to capture street-level photos of a large portion of the metropolitan area, literally snapping hundreds of thousands of pictures of entire neighborhoods.

Here’s how it works. Go to Google.com/maps and enter a street address in the Richmond area. Here’s a search for 10231 Telegraph Road, home of the VAR offices. A dialog box pops up and you can actually see a small thumbnail of the street level view on the search results page. As in the picture below:

Then, if you click that thumbnail, you’ll open up a larger window that you can use to navigate around the area. For a sample of the level of detail you can get, here’s a zoomed in shot of the VAR sign in front of our offices:

As long as you are in street view mode in Google Maps, anywhere you see a blue outline on the street, a street level view is available. Now your clients can show themselves around the neighborhood before deciding whether or not to look at a house. That could be one fewer showing to enter into VAR’s ideal route mapping tool!

Lem Marshall, Special Counsel for the Virginia Association of Realtors gave a presentation this morning called “Advanced Short-Sales”. It proved to be an excellent presentation that probably should have been called “What Realtors REALLY need to know about short-sales to successfully deal with one”.

Some of the things in the presentation that Lem covered were:

• The history of economics and lending in America, how credit markets work and why we’re in this mess.
• Prices may not be at the bottom yet. It may take another 12 to 18 months to get there.
• Knowledge is the key. Make sure you get everything out on the table regarding the seller’s financial and personal situation. You can not properly help them without knowing all the facts and their overall situation - past, current and future.
• Make sure you get the borrower’s permission, in writing, in order to publicize the fact that it’s a short-sale. You must have the seller’s permission to disclose personal and financial information about them, which is what you’re doing by publishing that it’s a “short-sale” or stating “subject to third party/lender approval”.
• Make sure that you correctly word the “subject to third party approval”/bank contingency. How you word this will directly affect whether you face potential issues in the future or not.
• If the bank says that they want the commission lowered from what you’ve agreed upon with your client, don’t give in so easily. Many Realtors in attendance said that they said “no” to the bank’s request and that the bank was okay with it.
• If the bank insists on lowering your commission, try asking them to counter at a higher price that covers both your and the Selling Broker’s commission.
• Remind the Selling Agent (Buyer’s Agent) that the process of approval by the bank can take 60 to 90 days, if not longer. This will help alleviate an upset agent and buyer down the line.
• Short-sales can be messy. Be prepared to do much more work than a traditional resale or even a foreclosure.

There were many other great points that Lem made that Realtors can use on a daily basis when dealing with short-sales. I recommend watching the video of Lem’s presentation once it’s up on the Dulles Area Association of Realtors’ web site sometime next week. I’ll publish a quick post when it’s up to alert everyone so you can go check it out.

When I started blogging five months ago, I did so in hopes of:

1. creating an opportunity to more fully engage with my current and past clients,
2. creating an open platform for commentary and discussion of our local real estate market, and
3. becoming a trusted adviser on all things real estate in the Central Shenandoah Valley.

As a result of pursing the goals above, I hoped that in the long-term (perhaps after a year or so) I would see:

1. an increase in traffic to my web site
2. an increased sphere of influence
3. an increase in sales

Focusing, for a moment, solely on the web site traffic — here’s what I’m finding after just five months . . .

You’ll see that I had experienced relatively unchanged levels of traffic to my web site for seven straight months — until I began blogging. Furthermore, the increased traffic since I started blogging has been astonishing — certainly beyond my expectations.

A few disclaimers, explanations and miscellaneous thoughts:

• I have a combined web site and blog — and the traffic trend line above is for the traffic to that combined site. Interestingly, the traffic increases have existed not solely in the blog section of my web site, but in the searching section (and others) as well.
• When I began last November, there weren’t any other Realtors in my marketplace blogging. There are several more now, but I imagine being the first one out the gate may have contributed to my growth.
• I have learn a lot from fellow Realtor bloggers around Virginia and beyond about how to promote my blog — commenting on other local blogs, highlighting it in offline printed marketing materials, etc.
• In addition to increased traffic, I have certainly seen an increase in my sphere of influence — I have established many new relationships with people in my local market area.
• I have not yet seen an increase in sales as a result of my blogging activity — but given all the increases in traffic and the increase in my sphere of influence, I imagine that will happen in the coming months or year.

Are you thinking about starting a blog? While I’m certainly not yet an expert on blogging, you are welcome to contact me — I’d be happy to share some of what has worked well and not worked so well for me over the past five months.

We are a mobile industry. Finding new tricks to hook us up to information while on the road is pretty important.

Looking for a new trick to save some change? How about spending nothing (if you have an unlimited cell phone text messaging plan) as opposed to $1 or more for calling 411 and having to write down a phone number. Have I got your attention?

A few years ago, Amy Chorew – national technology instructor taught this trick at a VAR Convention. This is why I go to all the classes I can get, but if you ever get the chance to attend a Chorew class… GO!

Ok, here’s the trick….

First, go to your txt message / SMS message software on your phone. I use the Treo 650 and will use screen shots from my phone (which is pretty cool in and of itself) to illustrate.

Open the new message screen and enter Google in numbers, which is 466453. Then go to the message area and type in a clients name or business name and the zip code. Then hit “send”.

Once you hit send, it will take a few seconds and you’ll get your response.

Notice that your message comes back with a hyper-linked telephone number and the address. If there are more than one in the area, it will list all the people or business in order of those nearest the center of the zip code and out. You can click on the telephone number if you have an iPhone, BlackBerry or other type phone. Otherwise select it on your cell phone and hit “send” on your phone (usually the green button on most phones, with the telephone symbol on it.

From there it will not only dial the number, without having to write it and re-dial the number. It also allows you to save the number in your sms messages so that you can add it to your contacts later.

One last hint: I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember 466453, so I saved it as a new contact under Goggle in my phone book for future reference. It’s really a cheap and cool trick – ENJOY!!!!

As I change from my role as a REALTOR to an Education Director, I find that many agents struggle to understand the sometimes confusing requirements of renewing one’s license. For that reason, I am going to try and lay out how one might renew their license. The classes are available most everywhere, but knowing which ones will actually help you might be more of a challenge. I strongly recommend that REALTORS keep track of their own attendance and what CE/PL/Broker hours were applied.

As a reminder, licensees must renew their licensees at specific intervals. Renewals are every two years, on the last day of the month in the anniversary month of licensing. After July 1, 2008 all agents receiving their licenses after that date must obtain their 30 hours in the first 12 months.

In addition to the hours below, everyone must take 2 hours of Limited Services before their next renewal.

For Post Licensing Agents (everyone in the first renewal cycle)

Required Hours (30 hours)

3 Hours of Agency

3 Hours of Fair Housing

3 Hours Real Estate Law

3 Hours of Offer to Purchase

3 Hours of Ethics and Standards of Practice

15 Hours of Electives

For Continuing Education (everyone who has renewed at least once before)

Required Hours (16 Hours)

2 Hours of Fair Housing

3 Hours of Ethics

1 Hour Legal Update

1 Hour Agency

1 Hour Contracts

8 Additional Hours of Real Estate Related Topics

Broker Management Hours (8 Additional after initial 16 CE hours)

Must be 8 hours approved for Broker Management topics. All licensed Brokers, to include Associate Brokers must take these hours, if they are to renew their license in July 2008 or thereafter.

Ok, so now that you are reminded of the mandatory hours, how do you track it? Start at http://www.dpor.virginia.gov/regulantlookup.

When you open this web page, you’ll see:

Enter your name (or license number) and click on “Real Estate Individuals”. Choose “Search Licenses”.

Once the window opens, click on the “View Continuing Education Hours” link.

On the left you’ll see a breakdown of the required training hours. On the right you’ll see the summary of continuing education hours only if you’re a CE renewal. Post Licensing Agents will see the following blue space on the left:

Post Licensing agents need to click the “To review the specific Post License Education courses that you have completed, please click on the link”. Note that you need to ignore the hours on the right they do not apply, except for the Limited Services hours that will be shown here.

On this screen PL agents will see the school who granted the hours, the class title, the mandatory or elective category of the credits and the summary of hours. Note: I have been told that CE screen will one day be this useful.

This web page is very useful for keeping you on track, but it’s not easy to navigate. I hope this has made it a bit clearer for you.

If you have any problems finding certain hours, call VAR or the Education Director at your local association and they’ll be happy to help you develop a plan to get your required hours.

In the January/February edition of Commonwealth magazine, we attempted to explain the micro blogging, text messaging, high-latency instant messaging web service, Twitter. Our attempt to explain it was a good one, but this In Plain English video from Lee LeFever at the Commoncraft Show should demonstrate Twitter’s utility.

If you’re struggling to see how REALTORS might use Twitter to interact with clients, check out Dayton, Ohio REALTOR Terri Lussier’s The Brick Ranch Twitter page. She uses Twitter to push out news and information about Dayton to create a conversation with her farm. Fluvanna County REALTOR Daniel Rothamel covered how he uses Twitter in a post to Agent Genius last year.

Virginia REALTORS are notorious for having a lot of Twitter users. Sign up for Twitter today and help perpetuate our reputation. Here’s another set of three posts from Agent Genius with step-by-step instructions on how to get started.

Congratulations to Alexandria REALTOR Brian Block, one of the newest real estate brokers in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Fortunately for us, Brian wrote a blog post about his experience preparing for the exam and about the process of actually taking the exam. For anyone considering taking the plunge and taking the broker’s exam, this is a must read post.

I know what you’re thinking…. What do I need a Podcast for or more likely, what is a Podcast?

Well, let me answer both. First a Podcast is a system that allows audio files (video too, but we’re sticking to audio for now) to be down loaded by a listener from a webpage. Typically these files are played in software called iTunes and on iPODs. It’s free (my favorite price) and very easy to get. It can be downloaded from www.iTunes.com. And no… you do not need an iPOD to listen to the broadcasts.

Once it’s installed it’ll open up to a very simple application interface.

There are a number of sites that have podcasts for real estate agents. A link can be added to the iTunes library that will search for any new posts. So if you like a particular broadcast, you can add that link to your iTunes software and anytime something new comes up, it’ll be updated on your computer.

There are many, many more aspects to this software, but I want to get to the good stuff…

So, why would a REALTOR or Brokerage Firm care about podcasts? Well, education and information for both consumers and REALTORS is a very important marketing venue. With the ubiquitous amount of information on the internet REALTORS need to be the source to bring order to chaos. You can do that by reaching out to consumers in a venue that they know and use. For Brokers, why not record your staff meetings or special training and put it on your webpage? This will allow agents who missed it, or wish to hear the information again, the ability to do so. Better yet, it might show how progressive you are as a company and help you with your recruitment efforts.

The era of static webpages is coming to an end. Today’s practitioner needs to ensure that there is an interactive resource for your web presence. The consumer needs a reason to come back and by giving them something new, it will help to encourage those returns and set you apart as the “expert”.

Now that you know it has value, your next question maybe ‘how hard is it’? It really isn’t hard at all and it’s practically free. You’ll need internet access and a microphone. A typical microphone for your computer (many are built in now) is as inexpensive as $10. For a nice headset with a mic, it could be more expensive, but the quality will be better.

Where to start? Visit http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ and download the free recording software Audacity. This is very easy to use and it can be setup in minutes… You’ll be able to create an .mp3 file (which many, many devices can play) and save it.

Once you have the software and have recorded your first mini-seminar, you’ll need to put it somewhere to “host” it. This means that you’ll need to put it on-line, so that you can tell the consumer where to find your gold mine of information.

A good place for beginners to start is http://www.PodBean.com . Again, it’s free, it’s easy to use and has lots of help in case you get stuck.

Now, this is the very basic information; so of course there is much to learn from here, if you want to go further. This is quick and simply guide to getting started. Give it a try and see how you like it!

Have fun!!!

This, from Seth Godin’s blog:

The posture of a communicator

If you buy my product but don’t read the instructions, that’s not your fault, it’s mine.
If you read a blog post and misinterpret what I said, that’s my choice, not your error.
If you attend my presentation and you’re bored, that’s my failure.
If you are a student in my class and you don’t learn what I’m teaching, I’ve let you down.

It’s really easy to insist that people read the friggin manual. It’s really easy to blame the user/student/prospect/customer for not trying hard, for being too stupid to get it or for not caring enough to pay attention. Sometimes (often) that might even be a valid complaint. But it’s not helpful.

What’s helpful is to realize that you have a choice when you communicate. You can design your products to be easy to use. You can write so your audience hears you. You can present in a place and in a way that guarantees that the people you want to listen will hear you. Most of all, you get to choose who will understand (and who won’t).

It’s an important point: miscommunication or failure to engage is pretty much ALWAYS the fault of the communicator, not the recipient/listener. As we association leaders strategize about how we can better communicate with and engage our members, it’s something we must keep in mind. If REALTORS aren’t reading / buying / wanting / benefitting from it – presuming what we have to offer is truly valuable – it’s likely because we’re not packaging / positioning / communicating it correctly.

– Scott Brunner, CAE