by Linda Davis

When I first saw Realty Tool’s, Tool Kit CMA program at the National Association of Realtors Convention over 10 years ago, I remember breathing a sigh of relief that I had finally found the CMA product I was looking for.  Up to that point, I was using a concoction of part MLS program and part Word document.  While my homemade production didn’t seem to keep me from obtaining listings, it was certainly tedious to assemble, and didn’t have the professional appearance I was looking for.  When Tool Kit CMA was first introduced, it was a software program you installed on your computer. Now it is a web based system with automatic upgrades, that interfaces with most MLS platforms.  It delivers pages of professional graphics and a final product to be proud of.  Custom branded for most of the larger franchises and independents, it can also be customized with your own company logo and color schemes.

Took Kit CMA is easy to use. The process from start to finish is quick and painless. You’ll start by uploading your photo for the cover and customizing some of the pages, like your profile, resume and customer references.  Then you just select the pages you want to use in your presentation. (If you find you like to use the same pages for each CMA, you can save them as your default setting.) Next, you will need to download the data and images of the properties you are using from your MLS. Tool Kit CMA comes with specific instructions to work with your specific MLS system.  I’ve used it with 2 different MLS’s and each time the data and images downloaded without a hitch. After the data is imported into your presentation, corrections or changes to the data can be made easily. It also allows for price adjustments. After you’ve completed any additional customized pages including a summary, your CMA is complete and you can email or save as a PDF file.

For more information about Realty Tool’s, Took Kit CMA visit my full review at the Realty Agents Website.

by Linda Davis

I love to read. While I enjoy most any category of books, I’m ravenous when it comes to reading business books.  Unfortunately, one of the down sides of having a busy career, as well as being a social networker, is finding time to actually read them. I’ve also discovered that among the huge selection of business books available, there are only a handful that can be counted among my favorites.  I have reviewed a few of those favorites here and plan to continue but in the meantime my search continues for business books that can make a difference in what I do.

About three months ago, I discovered Soundview Executive Book Summaries.  Executive Book Summaries are just what their name implies, summaries of executive books. (Remember Cliffs Notes?)  I signed on for an annual subscription by mail for $149. This also includes free access to the online versions of my summaries so I can easily access them when I’m traveling. I can read the PDF or HTML version or listen to them in MP3 format. (The online version only is $119 and a CD version is available for $159.)  In addition to monthly summaries, you can also purchase individual selections or collections of a specific category like marketing or the art of selling. 

Here’s why I like them.  I confess that I have more than a few business books sitting around that I’ve never read beyond the first chapter.  Now, after getting a small taste of the book being reviewed, I can tell if I actually want to buy it.  A novel concept?  Soundview Executive Book Summaries have been around for over 30 years.  

 by Linda Davis

The market is slow in most parts of the country and how to cope with current market conditions is a hot topic at office meetings, online forums and water cooler discussions. When I talk to experienced agents and ask them how they are handling the current climate, they usually mention going back to “the basics.” I concur, but it occurs to me that anyone who hasn’t been in the real estate business for more than 5 years doesn’t have a clue of what the rest of us are talking about.

I’ll be the first to admit that for many of us, the past few years were a great ride, but one that didn’t require skills beyond how to deal with multiple contract situations. We worked hard but it was an easy kind of hard, if that makes sense. We didn’t need to worry about “the basics.” We paddled as fast as we could, worked a lot of hours, and for those of us that were able to put good systems in place, we made a lot of money.

I drove past a little house in Groton, CT yesterday. I hadn’t been by that house in years and the memories of my early career brought a smile to my face. That little house was my very first listing in 1977 from a seller who wasn’t a friend or previous acquaintance. I can thank “the basics” for that listing; I was standing in line at the Navy Exchange wearing my name tag. A young lady saw my name tag and mentioned she needed to put her mother’s home on the market. I offered to do a market analysis and a week later I had the listing.

Wearing a name tag, sending short notes, and making phone calls to past customers, all fall into “the basics” category. And what about simply asking for business? When I started in real estate 31 years ago, I didn’t have any family in the area. I was a Navy wife who had only been in Connecticut for 3 years. My friends were pretty much limited to other navy wives. I memorized the words, “Do you or anyone you know want to buy or sell a house?” I made a phone list of everyone I knew. It wasn’t a big list but from that list I found my very first buyer. I asked the quesiton, "Do you or anyone you know want to buy or sell a house?"  and the answer was YES!

I can almost hear the generation Y’ers snickering but wouldn’t that same question work today?  Or am I too distracted with the lates social networking site or newest tech toy to ask the question?  Have I convinced myself that I am working hard when at times I’m really just wasting time?  Don’t get me wrong, I love all the lates technology.  Don’t get me wrong, I love all the latest technology. Heck, I could be the poster child for HomeGain’s BuyerLink which gives me a nice supply of online customers. And even though I refuse to throw sheep, I’ve made some forever friends on ActiveRain and Twitter. There is no question that technology has helped me become more efficient and given me the ability to reach more buyers and sellers through my IDX website, “drip campaigns” and social networking.

I sold a lot of real estate before my first website in 1995. Today I turn on my computer with my morning coffee. I don’t think I could stay off the computer for a whole day at a time but maybe it would be a good idea to pick a specific time each day to turn off the computer and start doing some “basic” prospecting by calling past customers, updating sellers by phone, sending a few notes, or contacting expired listings.  (I know I should have included calling For Sale by Owners but I can’t make myself do it.)

I have a feeling “getting back to basics” might produce some good results just like it did in 1977.

by Linda Davis

After paying mucho dollars for  a community website for a number of years, I recently decided to create a Ning social networking site for the Town of Ledyard where I live and work.   And while I am still playing with the bells and whistles, so far I really like what I see.

For Realtors®, Ning can be used as a community  resource with a social network component; a place to post links, photos and videos but also to engage your local community.  To get started, you need to sign up for a free Ning account. The Ning program will then walk you through the design process.  I found it similar (but easier) than setting up a blog.  Your management dashboard will give you choices of how your main page can look including color schemes and themes, as well as drag and drop modules like forums, chat windows and photos.

You’ll find my new Ning site at Ledyard Online and my Ning Review at the Realty Agents product review site.

by Linda Davis

I know you probably don’t like the sound of that title but there is little debate that the ability to generate and capture leads can be what separates a successful agent from a mediocre one.  Start a discussion about paying for leads and the debate can get downright ugly.  You’re likely to hear the words ripoff and parasite used to describe lead generation companies like HomeGain.  

Home Gain Buyer’s Link is a pay per click system. I pay around seventy-eighty cents everytime someone clicks on my link for the cities I chose.  I  have a cap on the amount I can be charged each month. I can change my budget at any time and there is no long-term commitment.  For the past few years, Home Gain’s Buyer Link has been responsible for an extra 25 sales a year for my team.  

How specifically is it working for me? I’ve done a product review of Home Gain at the RealtyAgents site where I write product reviews, and I’ve also posted my experience at the HomeGain Blog.  Stop by for more details.

by Linda Davis

I’m not sure why I was born organized. I guess it was my “gift”.  While the others kids in the neighborhood were taking piano lessons and attending art school, I was making lists and multi-tasking.  It’s no wonder that I love Paperport; it is a great organizational tool and easy to use whether you were born organized or just want to be. PaperPort turns piles of paper into organized PDF files that you can quickly find and then use right on your desktop.  Although I can’t claim to be totally paperless, I can say that I no longer carry home a “paper box” full of files on the weekend. All my listing and sales files have been turned into neatly organized digital documents.

Below you’ll find what one of my typical listing file looks like.  Since it is all on my laptop, it eliminates the need to bring home a file.  It has also been very useful when I’m out of town and need to followup with a seller.

Paperport has also eliminated my paper CMA Files.  I once had a huge box of CMA’s which I called it my “future listings” box . It was complete with legal descriptions, maps, and hand written notes. That box is history.  Now I have a paperport file for each CMA. Once the home is listed, I simply move the CMA file to the file I create for that particular listing.

By Linda Davis with Bob Carney

Social Networking has been around awhile but it seems in 2007 it all got kind of crazy. Invitations arrived in my inbox at a hectic pass and my Catholic upbringing took over.  I felt guilty if I didn’t accept someone’s invitation; I wasn’t raised to be rude or hurt someone’s feelings.  Then the Facebook crowd started throwing sheep and poking and writing on my fun wall.  I had a fun wall?? 

My friend, Bob Carney from Frederick, MD experienced the same social networking stress and decided to do something about it:

"I have been totally overwhelmed by the amount of the social network invites that I received lately. There is no way you can actively participate on all of these networks, be effective and actually get work outside of the internet done. I have never had the time to really just work one and create an actual plan to make it effective. It seems that I have just been following the flock to the next new network. So, as part of my 2008 New Year’s resolution…manage the social networks, before they get the better part of me."

Read more about Bob’s idea to tame the social networking beast in his blog post Social Network Tips and Networking Plan.   

Bob Carney is a very smart real estate agent in Frederick, MD. You can find more of him at Focus on Frederick and at Bob’s Brain Dump.  I’ve asked Bob to stop by and dump on us periodically. 

by Linda Davis

The books I love are pretty worn; I’m hard on them.  I even turn down the corners of the pages that speak to me.  I have plenty of corners turned down in Susan Friedmann’s Riches in Niches, How to Make it BIG in a Small Market.  SEO experts lecture about using "the long tail" in your internet strategy. Susan explains how to use "the long tail" in your everyday business and for me, it relates perfectly to real estate.  It’s the "sell more of less" theory, the same theory that Seth Godin talks about in Small is the New Big.

Most real estate agents try to serve too many masters. They will work with investors and builders and single family homebuyers.  In between, they might show a rental or two or throw on some boots to walk a piece of farm land. Just for good measure, they’ll try to dabble in commercial real estate.  At the end of the year, a typical real estate agent will have put a gazillion miles on their car. 

Many years ago, there was an agent in my office who’s niche was mobile homes.  Diane was the expert. She could drive by a mobile home and tell you what model it was and what year it was built.  If you have ever seen the movie, My Cousin Vinnie, Diane was like the character portrayed by Marisa Tomei who knew everything there was to know about cars. Most agents hated the idea of listing or selling a mobile home because they were cheap which meant the commissions weren’t much. As a result, when a call came into almost any office in Eastern CT for a mobile home, they’d suggest the customer call Diane.  Diane made well over $100,000 back in the 90’s selling almost exclusively mobile homes.  Since she was the expert, she was also able to raise her commission which helped when selling cheap mobile homes.  Later in her career,  Diane become an expert in selling HUD foreclosures, another area that most agents avoided.  She learned everything she could about the process and became the HUD Foreclosure expert in the area.  I’m sure she never thought about "the long tail" or Seth Godin but it sure put a lot of money in her pocket.

In the book, Riches in Niches, Susan coins becoming an expert in a niche as a "nichepreneur". She goes on to talk about ways to enhance and capitalize on your expert status.  I’ve always subscribed to the "Do one thing really well theory".  What I do really well is list property in my small town of Ledyard, CT.  90% of my commissions are earned from listing property in one small town.  I realize that a new agent might not be able to narrowly focus on one small niche but it is something to strive for.  By becoming an expert at just one thing, you become a "nichepreneur".  That is a very good thing.

If you get a chance, be sure to watch My Cousin Vinnie. I promise it will make you laugh and you’ll see an expert in action.

By Linda Davis

I’ve been a member of the Cyberprofessionals since 1995.  The group originally met chatting on the old RE/MAX Compuserve forum and had an idea; meet in person and share tools, systems, marketing ideas and technology.  Only 9 agents attended that first meeting in Stamford, CT and we arrived by car, plane and train.  Each of the attendess presented a topic they felt would benefit other members of the group.  I remember being wowed by a presentation on Microsoft Publisher; another member spoke on representating buyers, long before buyer agency was commonly practiced. I talked about farming, a topic I am still passionate about.

By Linda Davis

My laptop arrived with me this week at Inman Real Estate Connect in New York City. I had planned to do some blogging from NYC.  Unfortunately, despite internet access throughout the hotel including free wireless in the lobby, I was unable to connect.  I’m usually not very far from my laptop.  I have this routine of reading the news and checking my overnight email with breakfast.  I check the news again during my lunch break. Except when I’m on appointments, most of my real estate day consists of online activities like email, lead generation, feedback from showings, MLS updates, statistical reports, and lots of other things technical.  Evenings are my time to be creative; that’s when I work on my websites and blog.  In between, I visit with my network of friends on social networks like flickr and twitter. 

When I arrived home, I was still unable to connect and it turns out that Comcast was the culprit all along. For those in Gales Ferry, you’ll know what I’m talking about.  Comcast has been having intermittent outages since the end of December.  One of those outages did something bad to my computer and as a result, I was unable to connect in NYC.  It’s all fixed now but the Comcast connection is still iffy. 

Being without internet access for almost 4 days was challenging. The whole situation made me realize how dependent I am on technology and being online.  I was able to keep up with email for the most part with my Blackberry but still had 521 emails to review once I got home.  If you are waiting for an email from me, I expect to catch up real soon.