The Office on Fire!

Long & Foster has a new video channel, and has produced 72 videos that agents can use and share as part of their marketing efforts. Topics include everything from home decorating, home gyms, and outdoor living, to closings, appraisals, and escaping foreclosure. Links are provided, enabling agents to share these videos on their Facebook, blog or website. These professionally produced videos are provided to Long & Foster agents free of charge to assist them in marketing and lead generation.

Visit the L&F Video Channel here.

CRS 111 “Short Sales & Foreclosures: Protecting Your Clients Interest”
With LeRoy Houser CRS, CRB, GRI

March 22, 8:30AM-4PM
Sponsored by Roanoke Valley Association of REALTORS® 4358 Starkey Road, Roanoke

• The Foreclosure Process & How to Service and Sell REO’s

• Pre-Foreclosure Techniques to Counsel and Assist Homeowners in Avoiding Foreclosure

• How to Effectively List and Sell Short Sale Properties

• To Adapt to and Capitalize on the Changing Real Estate Market

• Management and Information Systems Necessary to Communicate with Financial Institutions Regarding REO’s & Short Sale Properties
• 1 Core Course toward a CRS Designation -8 Hours Elective CE Credit

I have taken this class personally and found it to be one of the most helpful and practical classes I’ve ever taken. You won’t find a more knowledgeable, enthusiastic teacher than Leroy. He teaches with both his head, and his heart. Don’t miss this!

Experienced or new real estate agents: Roanoke North offers advantages that help you thrive in your career. Promote you listings on YouTube, gather buyer leads using our VoicePad system, learn the ins and outs of social media marketing, and much more! Your listings receive free virtual tours, are featured on your free IDX enabled agent website, and are cross-promoted (automatically, and for free) on 20+ real estate websites. Call me and ask about the Roanoke North Agent Technology Package! Dolores Farmer-Manager. (540) 520-5444. I’d be delighted to talk to you…no pressure…let’s chat! (you can also e-mail me, or use the form here)

Agents: did you know that Realtor magazine offers you free handouts to use with buyers and sellers? Buyer handouts include “Tax Benefits of Home Ownership” and “Six Creative Ways to Afford a Home.” For Sellers, there is “What to do if you’re facing a Short Sale” and “What is Appraised Value,” among others.  The handouts can be downloaded as a packet, and are in .doc format, so you can customize them with your name, etc.  To download your packets, go to the Realtor magazine website, located at: http://www.realtor.org/rmosales_and_marketing/handoutsforcustomers/handoutsforcustomershomepage

Those of you running a Facebook “Fan Page” for your real estate businesses may want to take note: as of today, “fan page” status updates will be included in Google search results. To help explain the significance of this, please consider the following example: Annie Agent runs a fan page on Facebook called “Annie’s Awesome Real Estate.”

As of today, if she were to post a status update on the page….let’s say “I  just listed 2 new homes in the Roanoke area” …that will now be indexed by Google, and a person searching for “homes in Roanoke” on Google will get Annie’s Fan Page as a response to their search.

The moral of the story is: make a fan page, and choose the words in your status updates to match a potential buyer’s (or Seller’s) search terms! This is fast, free advertising for you and your listings!

How to create a Fan Page:

Log into Facebook and go here:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Name your page and click the “Create Page” button.

Soon, Roanoke area Long & Foster agents will be able to offer VoicePad on their listings. VoicePad enables potential purchasers to hear descriptive information about a listed property by calling an 800 number listed on the “for sale” sign. Agents can then follow up with any callers on a property, generating leads for the agent and getting more homes sold! VoicePad is offered free of charge as a service from Long & Foster to it’s agents.

Roanoke North agents enjoyed a presentation on personal branding and marketing from Jan Paine of Hobbs-Herder today. Topics included “differentiating oneself from the competition,” and “examples of excellence in branding.” A professional listing presentation was distributed to each agent, and further resources were made available on the web. Jan did an outstanding job with the presentation, and agents thoroughly enjoyed the morning.

The next educational opportunity for Roanoke North agents will be offered on Thursday, Feb 18, which will be a seminar at the office on obtaining leads by personal referral and word-of-mouth.

Download a color flyer detailing home sales price “ups and downs” for a variety of Roanoke area zip codes. The link is here.

The Homebuyer Tax Credit has not only been extended, but it has also been expanded to include current homeowners. As of this writing, it awaits President Obama’s signature. The following are features of the new bill:

· Deadline for current credit is November 30, 2009.

· Deadline for new and improved credit is April 30, 2010, as long as the home is under contract by that date; deal must close within 60 days.

· Eligibility and amount of new credit:
– $8,000 for first-time homebuyers (those who have not owned a home in the last three years).
– Up to $6,500 credit for homeowners who have lived in the home they are selling, or have sold, as a
principal residence for five consecutive years in the past eight.

· Buyers with income exceeding $125,000 for single and $225,000 for married couples are not eligible.

For a career at the #1 real estate company in SW Virginia, call Dolores Farmer, Managing Broker at 540-966-1839. Experienced agents-we have the tools and staff support you need to succeed. New agents-we have thorough training that will give you the confidence to excel in real estate sales.