We’ve always been keen to use a fishing analogy when the chance presents itself, and here we have one of those instances. You may be a real estate agent who prefers to stay on land but when it comes to real estate lead generation you need to have as many lines in the water as possible. You’re free to spin cast from shore but you’ll have a whole lot more luck if you’re long-lining and trolling out on the open ocean. One thing that some agents overlook is the possibilities that exist within business-to-business communications, and how they are able…

There are some moments in a person’s life that are more pivotal and influential than others, and buying a home is one of them. Selling a home with the prospect of moving to a new one can also be an example, and in either instance there is usually a sense of ‘envisioning’ that goes one with people as they start to imagine what their new home will be in their lives. Any time a person goes through this envisioning process there’s a natural lending of it to the telling of a story. In this case a story that has yet…

Many people are visually oriented, and what they see with their eyes will have a large say in how they perceive whatever it is they’re looking at. So what about when that happens within the context of a potential purchase - and that purchase is one that will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. If that’s the case with a home then as the seller  had best be sure that potential buyer likes what they’re seeing from the very first moment they see it. The way a realtor markets a home for clients is always important,…

There are plenty of influencers out there who’ve had the flu, but influence and influenza are not the same thing. The worst influenza outbreak of all time was the Spanish Flu. Even though it was hundreds of years before any of us were born it killed a lot of people. But there are influencers who have killed people too. Some influencers may have done so well with monetizing themselves on social media that they were considering buying a home before they committed the crime. They may have already spoken with an agent. With this blog entry we’re going to look…

There’s so much to be gained if you’re knowledgeable with what you’re talking about, you have the ability to say it well, and you can communicate it in a pleasant and welcoming manner and make it relatable for people. That right there is pretty much the standard recipe for success with any podcast, and realtors these days are increasingly using a podcast as part of their marketing efforts. It is a very strong and effective way to increase your visibility with potential clientele and further establish you as a local real estate expert. It certainly helps if you’re naturally well-spoken…

Most people who are under retirement age these days have grown up being exposed to a lot of visual stimuli, and in particular with the types of product advertising that’s been put in front of their eyes over the decades. This has led to a trend where people are increasingly naturally inclined to ‘envision’ themselves using whatever it is their considering spending their money on. When someone is buying a home they’re going to be spending a lot of money on it. So they will be envisioning themselves living in any home their considering in a very emphatic way, and…

Anyone looking to become well established in any type of business these days will have greater success with that if they are able to build a brand for themselves. In real estate it is  increasingly something that’s directly conducive to whether or not agents have the career success they envision for themselves. For previous generations of agents it was not as important. The way digital media and marketing approaches are so prominent  today and the way people are predisposed to make choices about where they’ll take their business has changed all that, It’s also changed the way agents move forward…

The movements of the sun and moon have a celestial permanence to them and they will rise and set every day. But it’s only the movement of the moon that determines the movement of ocean tides. The tide will either be flooding or ebbing, and people use that same analogy to describe economic market trends. When a market is growing and strengthening then you’re in a flood, and when it’s declining and weakening then the tide is starting to ebb. The fact that economic trends affect the real estate market needs no explanation, and we’ll talk about that here. Along…

Typically there’s a lot to be said for expanding your horizons if the expression is being used in the figurative sense of there term. We can also look it at from the perspective of Canada being an extremely vast nation, and so a real estate agent expanding their horizons may mean that they’re starting to help clients with the purchase and sale of real estate elsewhere in the country. If that’s the case for you or it’s that you are relocating to another city in Canada and will be continuing your real estate career there then it may make sense…

There’s no stipulation that you need to be an outgoing, gregarious, ‘people’ person in order to be a successful realtor, but it certainly does help if these attributes are a part of your character when you choose to go into this profession. The benefits will be obvious considering this is very much a service-oriented livelihood, and people are going to be more inclined to work with you if they see you as being friendly, approachable, and genuinely caring. Let’s take a closer look at the last of the 3 characteristics listed there; being genuinely caring. When you can come across…

Seeing a service provider as knowledgable takes on even greater importance any time there’s much more of a financial interest in agreeing to work with them. There’s no real risk if you’re paying the neighbour’s kid to shovel snow from your driveway, but you’re going to want to know a painter has real expertise with painting if they’re going to be redoing the exterior of your home. Buying and selling homes are some of the most important decisions people make, so they’re going to want to see a realtor as being supremely knowledgable. These days agents can reflect this for…

Recently in the news near here on the west coast of Canada there was a story about a real estate agent who received a fine of more than $60,000. The reason being she didn’t disclose to buyers that a property listed through her was subject to current development constraints and limitations because of it being an archaeological site. The buyer who bought the property had to figure this out on their own, and needless to say they were quite dismayed and upset as they weren’t able to build the home they wanted there. Not without considerable additional expense. So how…

There are rewards to be had when you’ve provided great service and clients are thrilled with the results of the sale of their home. Or similarly thrilled with the way you have helped them become the owners of an ideal new home. That’s as it should be, and this applies to any type of service business. But in real estate referrals are perhaps even more valuable than any other type of profession, and simply because real estate is an entirely a commissions-based income career. You need former clients to be recommending you to others who are also ready to buy…

It really does seem as if technology of all sorts is advancing at warp speed these days, but it’s the type that’s made accessible through our smartphones and other smart devices that grabs our attention most emphatically. Go back a generation and it would be seen as silly to suggest that one day you’d be able to lock or unlock your front door while hundreds of kms away, or change the thermostat setting so that you arrive home to a warm home. But that is what is now possible with smart home technology, and smart home tech for real estate…

It’s always been a situation where real estate agents need to be taking advantage of everything that’s at their disposal when trying to drum up new business for themselves and having home buyer or home sellers agree to work with them. Up until the turn of the century there really wasn’t much of a digital component to real estate lead generation, but since the World Wide Web became an integral and entrenched part of pretty much everything it’s been a very different ball game when it comes to all aspects of real estate marketing. The fact that every real estate…