March 20th, 2009

It looks just like any other date. But today marked an important day in my journey to better use and understand the technology that is available to me. Today is the day I stopped using MS Outlook and started using Gmail exclusively.

The fact that I've made the change to Gmail is even hard for me to believe because if you would have asked me 6 months ago if I could do without Outlook I would have said "absolutely not". And I would probably still be using it had I not read an article from another real estate broker touting Gmail's many uses. I read the article back in December of last year and it has taken me this long to realize Gmail is, at least for me, better. Not to mention that when I signed up for a Gmail account I also got a lot of other neat things like, Googledocs, Calendar, Blogger, Reader and a few other things I'm yet to fully explore. But if they are as user friendly as Gmail I suspect I will like them just as much.

I know not all of the readers of this blog are involved in real estate but if you are interested in using Gmail just follow this link: Or just do a Google search for "uses of Gmail". I'm sure there will be plenty of articles that will be beneficial to read.

May all your journeys be as rewarding as this one has been for me.

Monday Morning Meeting

Today was the first time I’ve been to one of our Crestview Office’s Monday morning meetings. I wish I hadn’t waited so long. I enjoyed seeing everyone there and really learned a lot. It was my favorite kind of meeting too; it was short and to the point.


We started out by hearing from two representatives, Sue and Lorena, from one of our Preferred Lender companies, Wells Fargo Mortgage. They brought us all up to date on many of the happenings in the market. Particularly they provided an FHA overview which included the 2009 max loan amounts, maximum loan to value limits, down payment requirements and loan information for single and double mobile homes (they can do them with land).


They also reminded us all of the benefits of an USDA Rural Development loan, there are many. It is the only 100% loan program that I know of that is available within the lending market. It does have income and geographic limitations but if one qualifies and the home they want to buy is in a qualified area it is one sweet deal. They also did similar updates on VA and Conventional lending and there was plenty of information to absorb. Fortunately they provided great hand-outs. If you’d like to get in touch with either of them let me know and I’ll pass on their contact information.


Now enough with the serious business stuff. If you’ve been reading my blog for any time you know what’s coming next; social media. Thought you were going to get away without hearing about it again right? Well you should have known better. I can’t help talking about it. I continue to find new and better ways to use social media for all types of things. Whether I’m accepting invitations to “Scotch and Cigar Night, Bring Your Own” or using the group functions within Facebook to collaborate on single and multi-part projects, this medium appears to be a highly efficient tool. And in this quickly and ever changing industry at least for me efficiency has become more valuable than ever.

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Before I go I’d like to share a few links with you. I recently found that several of my co-workers have blogs as well. If you get a chance check them out at http://michellehass.blogspot.com http://jenniferneris.blogspot.com and http://era-mike.blogspot.com. We are all really just stepping into the blogosphere and at least for me I can say it has been a fun and enjoyable learning experience.


I’m off to IBC in San Antonia from Wednesday of this week and will be back on Monday. I’m looking forward to a great convention and will hopefully have some good stories to share here once I return. Not the real, real good ones though.

Hunting

As some of you may know my time as a real estate agent and broker I spend a lot of my time "hunting". I hunt new ways to do business, new ways to create relationships, new ways to use technology, new ways to communicate and the list goes on. But this weekend I went on a different kind of hunt. A hunt for something to feed my soul; a hunt for quality time.

Some friends and I took our kids to a hunting camp in S. Alabama where we had four wheelers, motorcycles and golf carts made for trails. We built campfires, hiked in the woods, explored streams and showed the kids some interesting things they can find in the woods. One of my friends even showed them how deer will scratch the soil underneath low lying limbs and leave their scents "so the girlfriends know how to find them". I'm not a hunter so that was news to me as well. There's a toilet seat joke here but I'm not going there.

The most memorable moment for me came when it was just Donovan and I in the golf cart riding a trail. The smile on his face told me he was really enjoying what we were doing but what he said struck me even more. He said "Wow, what an experience". And I knew he really meant it. I knew that this day would be a day that he and all the other kids along for the weekend would remember for a long time to come. I won't forget it either.

At the end of our time at the camp I knew I had found what I was looking for. For today my soul is full. I'm already looking forward to doing this same kind of hunting again. And if my two sons have their way about it we will be back there next weekend. And as Donovan just told me this morning "it would be a great time to go again because it's President's Day weekend". I couldn't agree more.

I've included some pictures here.

Hunting Camp Trip February 2009

Guess What?

Yep! More social media and real estate stuff.

I'm not going to be as long winded with this post though. I only wanted to send out a quick invite. A quick invite to anyone who reads this blog but isn't a member of my "Sell This House, Facebook Style" group on Facebook. I'm really enjoying keeping the group updated on the progress of everything as I prepare a home for the sales market which my wife and I own. Some of those in the group may only be watching to see what happens in this tough market. I can't blame them. It excites me too. I've done this type thing a number of times in all kinds of markets and I get the same excited feeling each and every time I do it. It's a challenge I enjoy.

So if you are reading this but not in the group and would like to be drop me an email. I'll get you in.

Social Media (2)

In a very short period of time we, as a company, have learned an awful lot about social media. And it appears that the speed of which and the quality in which we use it is increasing. Not a day goes by that I'm not even more impressed with its possibilities and opportunities.

Using Facebook we have arranged meetings, parties, gatherings, learning sessions and other such things that I doubt would have been nearly as fun or informative had we used the, dare I say, old fashion email. We recently had our first "Facebook Party" where we gathered together to learn how we are each using and interacting within this new medium. At the party I was absolutely amazed to see and hear the number of ways the attendees had found to use it. I don't know what it is about Facebook but from what I've seen already it appears is a very powerful and effective communication tool.

Using Facebook we have been better able to share information with our co-workers, and that improves all of our environments. It has allowed us to be more aware of what others in the company are doing to create quality business practices using social media. It has increased our focus on consumers and our database interaction. We continue to learn improved ways to interact with our "cyber friends". And It has allowed us to share "digital bouquets" (kudos or thanks) for all coworkers and friends to see. We are business professionals and we enjoy having our friends and associates know when we've done something good or gone above and beyond for a client or for a fellow agent (many do it every day). And Facebook has made it easier than ever to see those events or occasions unfold. As a manager of a office full of agents I can't tell you how beneficial that fact alone has been for me.

So if you are already using Facebook and want connect just send me an invite. If your not on Facebook yet but would like to, drop me an email and I'll send you the invite.

Social Media and Real Estate

Until a few months ago I had no idea there was a connection between social media and real estate. Now I can't go through a day without seeing or hearing about a connection.

My intrigue with social media began in November last year. I was attending a managers meeting and reviewing reports when something from one of the reports jumped out at me. In these meetings we review web presence statistics which includes a review of "top referring sites" to the company site. What jumped out at me was the fact that my own website was in the top five of referring sites among all of our agents. Actually I was number 4 out of approximately 80 agents. I wasn't sure how that could be because since becoming a sales manager for our Navarre office I haven't concentrated on my "agent" website. Why would it be ranked #4 in the company?

After the meeting I ran the same report but went back a month. In October I was ranked #5. I went back another month and I was #8 in September. In August I was ranked #36. So in less than three months my agent website had gone from 36th place to 4th place without me doing anything. I was intrigued. What was going on?

After a ton of reading and speaking with our marketing department and others I was able to determine my sudden rank advancement was due to the fact that I had signed up for an account on Facebook. Back in August a past client from California had sent me an "invite" to join. At the time I wasn't sure what the invite was to but since she was a past client I figured I should at least follow the link. I knew I could always back out if it was something kooky or crazy or required money.

I followed the link and created an account. And I've been learning every since. I can tell you my early involvement with Facebook was slow; like most other new members. I spent most of my time just observing what others were doing or how things were being done. I was afraid to write anything anywhere out of fear for doing something wrong. I've learned a lot since then. And in about mid December I became a very vocal advocate of social media within our offices. We had our first "Facebook Party" for the offices in January and it was a big success. We had lots of fun and learned so much.

We now have 40 plus members on Facebook at ERA American and we are interacting with each other, our friends and our clients like never before. I won't take up any space here to explain how we are using the social media platform but I can tell you we are all excited and having fun along the way.

If you are already a member of Facebook and would like to connect please send the invite. If you aren't a member and would like to become one let me know and I can email you the invite. (when I finish this post I'm going to see if I can create a link to join and post it in this blog) (I can't believe I just wrote that, and you wouldn't either if you knew me a year ago)