The Residential Specialist, January/February 2011

J a nua r y / Feb r ua r y 2 0 1 1

THE RESIDENTIAL SPECIALIST

Working With Clients Affected by Disaster Managing Relationships With Vendors Small Brokerages Thrive

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j an u ar y / f e b r u ar y 2 0 1 1

Building

CRS2.0 Frank Serio, CRS

New Council president Frank Serio has a vision for the Council’s future

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residential The

S pecia li s t

January/February 2011 VOL. 10, NO. 1

20

24

features

20 Building CRS 2.0

By Michael Fenner New CRS president Frank Serio has a vision for the Council’s future.

24 No Big Deal

By Regina Ludes While many real estate businesses have taken a beating from the economy, some small, independent firms are hanging tough.

28 Dream Team

By Melanie Padgett Powers Cultivating strong relationships with appraisers, lenders and other vendors can lead to more satisfied clients — and smoother transactions.

31 Guiding Light

By Daniel Rome Levine Agents who work in areas affected by natural disasters need a different approach to serving buyers and sellers.

w w w . c r s . c o m Cover photo by Gary Landsman

www.crs.com | 1

residential The

S pecia li s t

18 departments 5 President ’s Message 6 Q uick Takes

By Frank Serio, CRS

Buyers’ housing market outlook; smallbusiness growth; most desirable U.S. cities; and more.

11 12 Technolo gy Great Finds Computer security

By Chris Blose Search engine optimization

14 Trends

By Mary Ellen Collins Targeting expired listings

16 Pi p eline

By Gwen Moran Marketing dos and don’ts

18 Up Close

6 inside CRS FROM 36 NEWS THE COUNCIL NAR 2010 Conference Recap Sell-a-bration® 2011 Chapters With a Heart CRS REALTORS® of the Year Your Home newsletter

l 46 Referra Marketplace 48 Ask a CRS

Advice from the country’s top agents

34 Good Read

2 | January/February 2011

M

Y

Bobbi Howe, CRS Coldwell Banker General Properties St. Joseph, Mo.

Reviewed by Allan Fallow The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing

By Lisa Gansky

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CM

MY

CY

CMY

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residential The

Coming In The Next Issue ... n

Local Market Snapshots

A close-up look at what’s happening in specific markets around the country n

Staying Motivated

The economy is improving, but it’s still challenging. What can agents do to keep themselves motivated to succeed? n

Distressed Properties

Taking the pulse of the short sale and foreclosure market— what skills do agents need to advise potential buyers? n

Selling Your Business

What agents need to know as they develop their exit plans Would you like to be considered as a source for a future story in The ­Residential Specialist? Send an e-mail to mfenner@crs.com to be added to our potential source list. To see a list of the topics we’ll be covering, check out the magazine’s 2011 Editorial Calendar online at www.crs.com/File/ PDF/editorial_cal.pdf.

Specia li s t

EDITOR Michael Fenner E-mail: mfenner@crs.com Tel: 800.462.8841, ext. 4428 Fax: 312.329.8882 ASSOCIATE EDITOR Regina Ludes E-mail: rludes@crs.com Tel: 800.462.8841, ext. 4404 Fax: 312.329.8882 2011 COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY PANEL Moderator: Lois Cox, CRS Co-Moderator: Mark Shepherd, CRS 2011 COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY PANEL MEMBERS Rebecca Boomsma, CRS; Gretchen Conley, CRS; Jeff Dowler, CRS; Daisy Edwards, CRS; Treasure Faircloth, CRS; John Goede, CRS; Sandy Kaplan, CRS; Geri Kenyon, CRS; Daniel Kijner, CRS; Colleen McKean, CRS; Rita McNeil, CRS; Nancy Metcalf, CRS; Landa Pennington, CRS; Rae Roeder, CRS; Cynthia Ulsrud, CRS; Beverlee Vidoli, CRS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mary Ellen Collins, Daniel Rome Levine, Gwen Moran OFFICERS: 2011 President Frank Serio, CRS Chief Executive Officer Nina J. Cottrell

PLUS: Mac vs. PC: the eternal debate

2011 President-Elect Mark Minchew, CRS 2011 First Vice President Mary McCall, CRS 2011 Immediate Past President Gregg Fujita, CRS

PUBLICATION MANAGEMENT

Tel: 202.331.7700 Fax: 202.331.2043 Publishing Manager Andrea Gabrick E-mail: agabrick@tmgcustommedia.com Advertising Manager Kathleen Thomas E-mail: kthomas@tmgcustommedia.com Tel: 202.721.1497 Project Manager Katie Mason Art Director Josh Coleman Production Artist Tommy Dingus The Residential Specialist is published for Certified Residential Specialists, General Members and Subscribers by the Council of Residential Specialists.

The magazine’s mission is: To be a superior educational resource for CRS Designees and Members, providing the information and tools they need to be exceptionally successful in selling residential real estate.

The Residential Specialist is published bimonthly by the Council of Residential Specialists, 430 North Michigan Ave., Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611-4092. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices.

Change of address? E-mail requests to crshelp@crs.com, call Customer Service at 800.462.8841 or mail to CRS at the above address.

The Residential Specialist (USPS-0021-699, ISSN 15397572) is d ­ istributed to members of the Council as part of their membership dues. Non-members may purchase subscriptions for $29.95 per year in the U.S., $44.95 in Canada and $89.95 in other international countries. All articles and paid advertising represent the opinions of the authors and advertisers, not the Council.

POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Residential Specialist, c/o Council of Residential Specialists, 430 North Michigan Ave., Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611-4092.

COPYRIGHT 2011 by the Council of Residential Specialists.

All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

www.crs.com

4 | January/February 2011

President’s Message | News from Frank Serio, CRS

Gary Landsman

Looking Ahead

We need to move the organization forward while meeting the unique needs of our members.

When my wife, Audrey, and I attended our first CRS class in Annapolis, Md., many years ago, it changed my life. The thing that struck me most was the quality of the other students in the class and their level of professionalism. I decided right there that I intended to make real estate my career and to pursue my CRS Designation.

CRS has been considered the leader in real estate training ever since its inception back in the 1970s. That was when a few of the top real estate instructors and practitioners got together to create a curriculum for residential REALTORS® who aspired to a higher level of professionalism in their real estate business and to better serve their clients. I was thrilled when I was asked to join the ranks of these finest instructors in real estate. That opportunity has been incredibly valuable to me, and many of the lessons I have learned will help me as I guide this organization over the next year.

Today CRS is being challenged by numerous competing organizations and a troubled economy. We can no longer be complacent and rest on our laurels. We need to move the organization forward while continuing to meet the unique needs of our members.

We need to innovate rather than imitate what other groups are doing. I firmly believe we must have the vision to see where we need to go if we are to expand and improve the CRS experience. We must develop new courses and update existing ones with a blend of classroom and online offerings.

We need to improve our perceived value in the minds of our members and others to show everyone what most of us already know: that CRS provides the proven path to success!

I have spoken often of the idea of creating “CRS 2.0” (see cover story, page 20) and taking CRS to the next level by reinventing ourselves with social media, a new website and a higher level of product offerings to enhance our members’ business. I am proud to be leading this organization toward that new and improved CRS experience, because I truly believe that CRS is the proven path to success. I look forward to working with all of you to create the new and improved CRS 2.0 experience in the coming year.

www.crs.com | 5

QuickTakes | Industry headlines, statistics and trends

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

Most Affordable College Towns Muncie, Ind., home of Ball State University, is the most affordable college town, according to a recent Coldwell Banker survey. The average home listing price in Muncie in 2010 was $105,115. Other affordable college towns include Buffalo, N.Y., Memphis, Tenn., Columbia, S.C., and Akron, Ohio.

Palo Alto, Calif., home to Stanford University, is the most expensive college town, with an average home listing price of $1,385,652. Other top expensive college towns are Honolulu, Los Angeles, Boulder, Colo., and Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Nearly two-thirds of the REALTORS速 surveyed who work in college towns (64 percent) report that a growing number of parents are opting to purchase a home for their college-bound kids rather than spend money for an apartment or campus housing, the survey finds. College towns also are attracting the interest of investors; 73 percent of real estate professionals surveyed say investors are buying homes near campus and renting them to professors, students and university employees.

Poised for Growth

Juan Silva/Getty Images

Despite concerns about the economy, many small businesses say their hiring plans will remain stable, with one in four planning to hire over the next six months, according to the fall 2010 American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor survey. After streamlining operations and cutting costs over the past 18 months, small-business owners seem poised to jump on growth opportunities as they occur. Fewer businesses report cash-flow problems (53 percent, down from 60 percent in spring 2010), and more business owners believe sales over the next six months will be higher compared with last year (39 percent vs. 34 percent). While hiring plans remain stable overall, the percentage of small-business owners who plan to hire full-time employees in the next six months rose to 10 percent in the fall from 5 percent in the spring survey.

6 | January/February 2011

A Mixed Outlook Americans may have mixed views about the housing market, but 70 percent of them think it is still a good time to buy a home, according to a recent Fannie Mae survey of homeowners and renters. The study finds that 47 percent of homeowners believe home prices will hold steady over the next year, while 31 percent expect prices to increase.

Still, 33 percent of those surveyed say they likely will rent their next home, up from 30 percent who said so in the spring of 2010. Two-thirds (67 percent) of Americans believe housing is still a safe investment, down from 83 percent who said the same in a similar survey in 2003. And more than 70 percent of respondents believe it will be harder for the next generation to purchase a home.

A separate survey by Findlaw.com, a division of Thomson Reuters, finds that 63 percent of Americans say they are less likely to purchase a new home because of concerns about the economy. Despite low interest rates and a large inventory of available homes for sale, only 8 percent of Americans say the current economic climate makes them more likely to buy a home, while 28 percent are neutral.

Economic conditions appear to be particularly tough on lower-income families, the study finds. Those with annual incomes of less than $50,000 say they are less inclined to buy a house than families who earn higher incomes. Stricter lending requirements are making it more difficult for many people to obtain mortgages, the survey suggests, and high unemployment rates are raising concerns about housing appreciation, affordability and foreclosures.

Comstock/Photolibrary

Shrinking Homes

New single-family homes are getting smaller, and the trend is likely to last well beyond the recession, according to research from the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB). The median size of a new single-family home dropped from a peak of 2,268 square feet in 2006 to 2,100 square feet in 2009. Homebuilders attribute the decline to consumers’ desire to keep energy costs down, the lack of equity in existing homes available to roll over into new ones, tighter credit standards, less interest in buying homes as investments, and a growing number of first-time buyers.

Despite the trend toward smaller homes, the average number of bathrooms and bedrooms has showed little change, while three-car garages, fireplaces, patios and decks have declined in popularity.

Recession Reality

Corporate Blogging Catches On U.S. Companies That Use Blogs for Marketing Purposes, 2007–2012 (Percentage of total companies) 43%* 39%* 34% 29% 25%

16%

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

The National Bureau of Economic Research finds that the economic recession technically ended in June 2009, but for 81 percent of Americans it isn’t over yet, according to the American Pulse survey from BIGresearch. Many people are still feeling the pain of the recession; 78.6 percent report they have lost wealth in the past two years, compared with 21.4 percent who say they have not. Reasons for the perceived drop in wealth include a decline in their home’s value, job loss and declining interest rates on savings accounts.

2012

*Projected; Source: eMarketer

www.crs.com | 7

QuickTakes | Industry headlines, statistics and trends

Most Desirable U.S. Cities

Harris Interactive asked the question: “If you could live in or near any city in the country except the one you live in or nearest to now, which city would you choose?”

1. New York City 2. San Diego 3. Las Vegas 4. Seattle 5. San Francisco

6. Los Angeles 7. Nashville, Tenn.

8. Atlanta 9. Denver 10. Boston

Looking at First-Timers

Spurred on by the now-expired homebuyer tax credit, first-time homebuyers accounted for a record 50 percent of all home sales in 2009, up from 47 percent in 2008, according to the 2010 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. The vast majority (93 percent) of first-time buyers took advantage of the tax credit, and 95 percent chose a fixed-rate mortgage.

The median age of first-time buyers was 30, and the median income was $59,000.

The typical entry-level buyer purchased a property with 1,540 square feet that cost $152,000, and most first-timers say they plan to hold the property for 10 years.

Source: Harris Interactive, October 2010

Homebuyer Videos

While 80 percent of Americans still believe buying a home is a good financial decision, concerns about job security remain a barrier to homeownership for many potential buyers, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS’® (NAR) 2010 National Housing Pulse Survey. Seven out of 10 Americans say job layoffs and unemployment are big problems in their local area, and eight out of 10 believe these issues are a barrier to homeownership.

More than two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) believe now is a good time to buy a home, down from 75 percent a year ago, but up from 66 percent in 2008 and 59 percent in 2007. Respondents say the biggest obstacles to homeownership are having enough money for a down payment and closing costs (79 percent) and lack of confidence in getting approved for a mortgage loan (73 percent).

Meanwhile, renters are warming up to the idea of homeownership. More than one-fourth of renters say they are thinking more about buying a home than they did a year ago. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) say homeownership is a priority in the future, and nearly 40 percent say it is one of their highest priorities.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) partnered with NAR to produce a series of videos to educate consumers about the homebuying process. The three videos cover topics including how to find a home you can afford; how to find a mortgage you can sustain; and what to expect when you go to a closing. Look for Shopping for Your Home, Shopping for Your Loan and Closing the Deal at www.youtube.com/ HUDchannel.

8 | January/February 2011

Yasuhide Fumoto/Getty Images

Homeownership Concerns

Social Media Grows Up

Older Internet users are flocking to social media networks. Usage among those 50 and older nearly doubled during the past year from 22 percent to 42 percent, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Nearly half (47 percent) of the 50-to-64 age group and 26 percent of those older than 65 indicate they now use social networking sites, with Facebook and LinkedIn attracting the most traffic.

Just Walk Away?

Pew Research asked the question: “Is it acceptable to ‘walk away’ from a mortgage?”

Don’t Know/Refused to Answer

5% Depends on Circumstances

17% Acceptable

19%

Source: Pew Research Survey, May 2010

Unacceptable

59%

Community Associations Hit Hard More than half of the nation’s estimated 310,000 homeowner and condominium community associations are struggling financially as a result of the foreclosure crisis and economic downturn, according to a recent survey by the Community Associations Institute. Roughly 45 percent of community managers say their associations face “serious” financial issues, while 9 percent say their situation is “severe.”

More than half of community managers say that at least 3 percent of the homes in their communities are vacant, with 25 percent reporting vacancy rates above 5 percent. A growing number of homeowners are delinquent on their assessments. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of community managers report delinquency rates of more than 5 percent, and 30 percent say they have delinquency rates of more than 10 percent.

Associations also report that they do not receive timely assessment payments on 70 percent of bankowned properties in their communities.

Without these funds, many community associations are often unable to provide services to homeowners, such as trash pickup, building maintenance and landscaping. Associations are responding to the crisis by borrowing money, reducing the money set aside for repairs, postponing capital improvements and levying special assessments.

www.crs.com | 9

tools for success Q U A L I T Y

Take your business to the next level with the most powerful tools in the real estate business. Visit www.crsstore.com to access leading-edge software, books, DVDs and marketing tools developed with your business goals in mind.

Whether you want to close a transaction, build your referral business, learn more about the needs of buyers and sellers, hire an assistant, protect

your commission or master listing presentations, the CRS Store can provide the tools you need for success.

You can be confident in our products’ effectiveness because they have passed a rigorous review conducted by the Council’s Product Review Panel, which consists of a group of seasoned Certified Residential Specialists.

T E S T E D

P R O D U C T S

Once the Panel determines that the product and vendor meet our strict criteria for: • relevance to REALTORS®; • user-friendliness; • use of the most current technology; and • exemplary customer service, the product is then awarded the ­Council’s Quality Tested Seal.

All merchandise has been developed with your business goals in mind, has been market-tested and received the CRS Quality Tested Seal.

Wise Agent

Xpert CMA Full Suite

Wise Agent Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system was designed specifically for REALTORS®. Wise Agent is loaded with easy-to-use contact-management, time-management, transaction-management and marketing tools, in addition to document storage features.

Reduce guesswork, days on the market and expired listings by pricing real estate competitively. This easy-to-learn system features a method to evaluate and adjust for property location, condition and quality; automatic comp sorting and analysis; color-coding; a choice of logos and colors; and a custom MLS file import system.

Client reports and pricing presentation can supplement your current listing presentation.

Member Price: $19.95 per month (use Promo Code: CRS) Nonmember Price: $24.95 per month

Item #1698 Special Price (Jan. 1 – Feb. 28 only): $149 (Original Price: $199)

Re/Ad Software

GreenWaveTXT Lead System

Re/Ad writes compelling ad sales copy automatically in both English and Spanish. It can write ads that match your required character count. Never again stress over an ad deadline, and spend more time selling! It is available anytime, anywhere, from any Web browser and makes it easy to create PDF files for on-demand fliers and handle photo management in one central location.

This text-message marketing system allows you to capture buyers just as they drive by your property listings. When they text an inquiry via mobile phone, you receive a text message and e-mail supplying you with the buyer’s phone number instantly.

It costs less than 35 cents per day, per property. Add new income without paying referral fees!

Item #1623

CRS Members receive a $10 per-month discount.

Special Price (Jan. 1 – Feb. 28 only): $99 (Original Price: $165)

The Champion Real Estate Agent

Painting Tips

Renowned sales trainer Dirk Zeller shows you how to boost sales dramatically and achieve all your professional goals. Zeller’s proven program not only turns you into a top sales performer, but also gives you all the tools to build your real estate business and create a secure and prosperous future for yourself.

This online service delivers all the basic painting information you need. From indoor jobs to outdoor jobs, from rollers to brushes — everything is covered here. Did you know that a few drops of vanilla extract in your paint will eliminate the smell?

Learn this tip and many more!

Special Price (Jan. 1 – Feb. 28 only): $9.99 (Original Price: $25)

Item #1808 Member Price:

$39

Visit www.crsstore.com or call 800.462.8841 to place your order 10 | January/February 2011

Nonmember Price:

$49

Great Finds | Tools of the trade

lock up Trust is an essential component of every successful REALTOR®-client relationship.

But if personal client information stored on an agent’s computer system gets hacked or compromised, it will leave your client — and your business — at risk. To ensure ultimate security for your laptop and the valuable data it stores, consider these tools.

steel trap www.targus.com If you find yourself constantly leaving your computer sitting in the coffee shop when you step outside to take phone calls, be sure your laptop is secure. The cable in the Targus DEFCON 1 Ultra Laptop Security System is reinforced with Kevlar — the same material embedded into military armor — and is equipped with an electronic alarm that can detect motion to determine if the lock is being tampered with. A reprogrammable four-digit combination unlocks the device when not in use.

54.99

safety first www.kaspersky.com Make sure all your e-mails and client transactions are protected with Kaspersky Internet Security 2011. The two-way firewall in this software keeps hackers away, and the program scans every website you visit for potential threats. An easy-to-read color display warns users if their computer is at risk — green for safe, red for unsafe. You can even test-drive suspicious programs with a Safe Desktop mode, which mimics your actual desktop but is walled off from your programs.

under cover www.3m.com Keep prying eyes away from client contracts and agreements with a laptop privacy filter, available in a variety of sizes from manufacturer 3M. The filter darkens your screen from the perspective of those sitting next to you, making it visible only from your direct vantage point. Plastic holding tabs hold the screen easily and provide maximum staying power.

Prices vary with size

open sesame www.dataviz.com Are you constantly forgetting lockbox codes or all those ever-changing passwords?

Consider Passwords Plus, software that stores all your business or personal passwords in one location and features an auto-lock function that will turn off the program after a period of inactivity. Tired of coming up with secure passwords? The program offers an optional password generator guaranteed to add extra security. It also can sync with your smartphone and can link to multiple smartphones from one host computer, so sharing client information with the rest of your team is equally easy and safe.

29.99

the fast track us.norton.com/antivirus Busy REALTORS® need an antivirus protection plan that won’t interfere with their long list of daily tasks. Norton AntiVirus 2011 has time in mind with features such as Norton Insight, a smart scheduler that quickly identifies and scans only the files that are at risk.

The program’s e-mail and Internet monitoring service alerts you to suspicious links or attachments from everyday Web activity.

39.99

79.95 www.crs.com | 1 1

Technology | Streamlining your business

search party

By Chris Blose

Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the process of improving traffic to a given website by increasing its visibility in search engine results.

Source: Businessdictionary.com

12 | January/February 2011

I

n January 2009, Jeffrey Austin, CRS, with Real Estate Homes in Gilbert, Ariz., launched two companies in the greater Phoenix area, one exclusively for agents representing buyers, and the other for sellers. A few months later he began an effort to optimize his website (www.newresalehomes.com) for search engines — a campaign that pitted him

against national powerhouses such as Trulia and Yahoo Real Estate.

Less than a year later, Austin’s site had climbed to page one of Google’s search results for the highly competitive search term “Phoenix Real Estate.” Using an aggressive approach to search engine optimization (SEO), Austin put himself in a position to capture a huge share of search

Jeffrey Coolidge/Getty Images

Do-it-yourself search engine optimization might be easier than you think.

traffic. “It does take a lot of sweat and a lot of time,” Austin says of his efforts, “but the rewards are unlimited.”

Mining those rewards requires not only a modicum of technical know-how, but also an ability to deliver specific content that draws the attention of potential clients and search engines alike. REALTORS® who are up to the challenge will set themselves up for success.

Foundation and Fundamentals The basic idea behind SEO is simple: Make a given website more visible to search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Sites that boast good SEO are more likely to be found by potential customers.

Adam Helweh of Secret Sushi Creative (www.secretsushi.com), a website design, development and social media marketing firm, says proper SEO amounts to much more than smoke and mirrors. “A lot of folks think there are some magic tricks that are unrelated to content generation, content sharing, content distribution through social media, and even the structure of your site,” Helweh says. “But those fundamentals are the foundation of good SEO.” Much of that foundation, Helweh says, is based on giving Web pages proper titles.

Think of these as headlines that tell readers and search engines what to expect on a Web page. Each title should be unique and descriptive. For example, Austin’s home page title is specific — “Phoenix Real Estate, Tucson Real Estate, Arizona Homes for Sale,” rather than something generic, such as “Welcome.”

Each page of a website can be marked with “meta tags,” which contain descriptions and keywords that indicate to a search engine what type of content that page contains. Many blog platforms, such as WordPress, and content management systems (Drupal, for example) make such tagging simple. Designers can tag content simply by typing into text fields — think of filling out a form — rather than authoring more complicated Web code.

Keywords also play a key role in generating valuable Web traffic. For example, Austin’s ambitious campaign included

nearly 200 keywords. He made a list of the search terms he wanted to be known for, and he now includes those terms in his titles, meta tags, content and domain name. “You really have to do your research on keyword phrases,” Austin says. “The Google keyword tool (bit.ly/9FqW8F) is one of my favorites. It will tell you how many times a consumer searches for a certain phrase each month, and how many websites use that term.”

Fundamentals such as these are designed to garner organic search traffic, as opposed to traffic generated by sponsored links on Google and other search engines. Sponsored links — essentially paid ads — can be valuable, but research has shown that a much higher percentage of Web searchers click on organic links, Helweh says.

Crowning the King Once a site is structured properly, the best way to gain search engine visibility is to fill it with useful, relevant information.

“Content is king,” says Stephanie Schwab, a social media and digital marketing consultant. “Just write good content. Write about your houses and your neighborhoods. Write about local issues. Creating good content may be more valuable than anything else you can do, especially if you don’t have a lot of time.”

SEO S.O.S. Planning to do SEO yourself? Here are some resources to get you started.

• Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide: This downloadable PDF (bit.ly/d29DIc) comes straight from the source.

• Seomoz.org offers a free guide, blogs, and other free and paid resources.

• Seobook.com offers a mix of free and paid resources, forums and training materials.

• Websitegrader.com delivers quick and easy feedback and an overall website score.

That approach has worked for Michael Seward, CRS, with Prudential Sawicki in Amherst, Mass. Seward says he updates his blog (michaelsewardrealtor.blogspot. com) at least weekly because Google puts a premium on fresh content. He also has learned the value of varying his topics.

“You shouldn’t just talk about home sales,” Seward says. “You can talk about regional issues. For example, I’ve written about a local controversy over whether or not to tear down a dam, and I’ve written about home loans.” Timely topics can boost traffic, which tends to give a site additional credibility to search engines.

Relevant content also is more likely to be shared by other bloggers, REALTORS® and news sources, which boosts a site’s “offpage SEO” via inbound links from other sites. Agents can aid that process by guestposting on other blogs or writing columns for local news sites. REALTORS® also should push the content they post on their own sites through social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, where Seward regularly posts video tours of his properties.

“I think people would be surprised at how much video is looked at by search engines,” Schwab says. “It’s counterintuitive because the search engines can’t crawl the video itself, but they can crawl the data in the channel, the account, the title, the description and the keywords.” If agents include a transcript when posting a video, they give search engines even more good content to find.

Agents should also think carefully about the titles of their videos; for example, calling a clip “1234 Elm Lane” is likely to be less successful generating traffic than a title that features a specific city and neighborhood name.

And most of all, no matter what type of content you provide, keep it fresh, and keep it coming. “If you write an article a week for a year,” Helweh says, “that’s 52 new doorways for people to find you through a search engine.”

Chris Blose is a writer and editor based in Washington, D.C.

www.crs.com | 1 3

Trends | Today and tomorrow

time’s up The growing number of expired listings presents an important opportunity for CRSs.

Approximately 64 percent of homeowners with expired listings end up listing with another brokerage within 30 days.

Source: Hofstra University, 2008

14 | January/February 2011

S

eller-agent relationships can last far beyond the length of a contract — if the home sells. But when a listing expires, many stressed-out sellers become frustrated and often start looking for a new agent. And they generally need some serious convincing before trusting and signing on with a new REALTOR®.

In many areas of the country, CRSs are reporting an increase in expired listings, due in part to sellers’ lingering reluctance to price their homes correctly for the current market. As a result, many agents are now including expired listings in their marketing plans. Those who have successfully targeted expired listings say that patience, persistence and proving their worth are the keys to moving from “Is

your house still for sale?” to “Thank you for choosing me.”

You’ve Got Mail “I’ve targeted expired listings since my start in the business because I didn’t know how else to differentiate myself,” says Bill Ahls, CRS, with the NHB Group, Inc., in North Carolina’s Lake Norman area. He relies on an intensive mail campaign, and, unlike many agents who send one letter and perhaps a follow-up, he persists up to 10 times.

“In the first year, I probably had 10 calls from people telling me to stop sending them letters, so I apologized and took their names off the list. You have to have a thick skin.” But his approach didn’t alienate most people, some of whom said they

PhotoAlto/Ale Ventura/Getty Images

By Mary Ellen Collins

called him because of his persistence. The four-year real estate veteran closed 20 transactions in his first year, 17 of which were expired listings. The resulting sales of $4.2 million earned him his company’s Rookie of the Year award.

In recent months Ahls has tweaked his approach because he “found that farming expired listings is less productive in a down market. In the previous market, if a home didn’t sell in the first six months, sellers thought the agent was doing something wrong. Now the first listing agent is ‘safer’ because sellers have lower expectations and more patience.”

He also relocated his home and his business to a more affluent area, where he’s focusing on expired listings of $500,000 and up. He sends a letter with a full-color trifold brochure printed on quality paper and follows up with a postcard and a monthly newsletter. He explains that the brochure is designed to provide a snapshot of his business model and services for all his clients, not just those who have expired listings.

“Many people want to take time off the market for one reason or another. If all you’re going to do is mail one thing, you’re not going to get in the door. You have to give it at least six months. Being persistent will differentiate you and get you business down the road,” he says.

Once the market turns around, Ahls plans to return to his original intensive mail strategy.

Cover All Bases Judy Armstrong, CRS, CRB, with RE/MAX Advantage in Staunton, Va., prefers a more personal, two-pronged approach. “I go by the house whenever possible — I might do it in the evening, or Saturdays are often a good time to reach people. Real estate is a people business, and I usually try to meet face to face. I think we need to get back to that.”

REALTORS® who plan to target expired listings still must comply with Do-NotCall laws, which are enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. Find complete information about how the rules affect REALTORS® at www.realtor.org/ library/library/fg707.

William Frohriep, CRS, with Century 21 Town & Country in Clinton Township, Mich., a northern suburb of Detroit, combines several strategies to elicit contact with a seller. He begins by going to the house; if the owner isn’t there, he leaves a handwritten “Sorry I missed you” note and a packet with a cover letter, list of services and résumé. He then checks the Do Not Call list and if the person isn’t listed, he follows up with a phone call, adds the person to a list for mailings every three months and maintains a list of the properties so he can revisit them whenever he has the opportunity.

“The only way you know what’s going on is to drive to the house. I might see a For Sale by Owner sign or a new sign from another REALTOR®. Or I see that the house is vacant, so I put a ‘Please forward’ on the seller’s mailings. I always gain some knowledge.”

Win Them Over When sellers do respond to a new agent’s letter, call or personal visit, many of them quickly note their top complaint about their previous agents: lack of communication. CRSs agree that once they get in the door, listening takes precedence.

“If the person is disparaging the other broker, they’re giving me clues about what they need from me,” Frohriep says. “All I have to do is ask questions, hear what the seller wants, and give them what they want.

I do the little things that demonstrate my willingness to communicate and to become their REALTOR®.” Those reassuring little things include providing all of his contact information and giving them the ability to edit and approve their listing before it goes to MLS. Expired listings make up 25 percent of his business, and about one of 20 sellers he meets as a result of an expired listing becomes a client.

Armstrong says that once the seller has vented, she explains how her team and her technology have proven successful in getting properties sold. “I have the world’s greatest assistant who is the most wonderful communicator. She provides the seller with feedback on the comments that were made every time someone sees the house, and each month she’ll send an update with current market information. And I buy the top line in Google every month with tags that lead to my website, so I have more

Once you’re in the door ...

Ask the seller about the previous attempt(s) to sell the house.

Listen carefully to discover their concerns and disappointments.

Avoid disparaging any other agent or strategy.

Share market information and discuss pricing or showing condition issues.

Explain how you will work and communicate with the seller.

Review your complete marketing strategy.

Assume there is competition for the listing, so remember to ask for their business!

exposure for their house than anyone else can offer.”

Ahls takes a low-key approach in telling the seller why he thinks the home didn’t sell. “More times than not, it’s pricing or issues like curb appeal or showing conditions, and I say, ‘It might be a good idea to go back to your agent and talk about doing these things like replacing the carpet or painting.’ That soft approach steers them toward me. I’ve had it hammered into me by mentors that you don’t want to foster the transaction at hand, you want to foster the relationship.”

Although disillusioned sellers frequently take several months to respond to an overture from a new agent, expired listings can be a great source of leads for agents who invest the time and effort. “Most agents don’t do this because they assume the sellers are on the Do Not Call list, or the houses are overpriced, or the sellers are unreasonable or every other agent is already calling them. And those things aren’t true,” Frohriep says. “You can’t have predetermined reasons and ideas why you won’t go somewhere. I will talk to anybody once.

I think most agents expect an immediate return, but I look at this as building your business.”

Mary Ellen Collins is a writer based in St. Petersburg, Fla., and is a frequent contributor to The Residential Specialist.

www.crs.com | 1 5

Pipeline | Strategies to grow your business

right side

By Gwen Moran

The CAN-SPAM Act covers “any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service.”

Source: FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection

16 | January/February 2011

M

arketing aggressively is one thing. But using certain tactics can land even the bestintentioned REALTOR® in hot water.

“There are very specific laws and regulations that govern unsolicited marketing and communication, whether by e-mail, phone calls or other methods,” says Cincinnati, Ohio, attorney Jennifer Wolfe, co-author of Brand Rewired: Connecting Branding, Creativity and Intellectual Property Strategy. “You need

to understand how those laws and regulations apply to you.”

Although real estate and marketing laws may vary from state to state, there are a number of important dos and don’ts that every REALTOR® should take to heart. Agents who fail to learn and follow the rules risk violating the law and alienating past and potential clients.

The Don’ts

Don’t send e-mail or texts without permission. This is one of the basics of the

Adie Bush/Getty Images

Avoid trouble and expensive mistakes by becoming familiar with direct-marketing regulations.

CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, under which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can levy fines of up to $16,000 per e-mail violation (bit.ly/cQJx5k).

In addition to violating the law, sending unwanted e-mails can be annoying — and possibly alienating — to customers and prospects. To ensure compliance with CAN-SPAM, agents should make sure any online forms where visitors supply their e-mail addresses include a choice to opt in or out of receiving further information. If agents have an existing relationship with a customer, they generally have permission, but it’s still a good idea to make sure the customer is willing to receive promotional e-mails. Agents also ought to state in the e-mail the basis of their relationship with the recipient, says attorney Dale Carlton, CRS, a CRS certified instructor who is also principal broker at Carlton Realty in Fayetteville, Ark. Once agents have customers’ permission, it’s essential to maintain it. “The key to keeping their permission is sending valuable information, like tax updates or dangers in foreclosure regulations or things that are important and changing constantly,” Carlton says. “If they sign up to receive updates on real estate issues as they occur, that doesn’t give you permission now to send them a historic property with a swimming pool.”

Don’t ignore proper e-mail components. According to the CAN-SPAM Act, e-mail messages must include a few key elements. Each e-mail must have accurate information in the “To,” “Reply to,” “From” and “Subject” areas, informing the recipient of the sender and the content. In addition, each e-mail must include a physical address of the person/ company sending it. If it is an advertisement, this must be disclosed at or near the top of the e-mail.

Don’t contact people on the Do Not Call list. The Federal Trade Commission regulates how businesses can market themselves by phone. The national Do Not Call list, which went into effect in 2003, states that businesses that have an established relationship with clients may call them for up to 18 months after their

Once agents have customers’ permission, it’s essential to maintain it. last purchase, delivery or payment unless the customer asks to stop receiving calls (bit.ly/c6eINU). In addition, businesses may not call prospects who have added themselves to the Do Not Call list. Violating the law could result in a fine of up to $16,000 per instance.

Don’t send unsolicited faxes. The Federal Communications Commission oversees the Telephone Consumer Protection and Junk Fax Prevention Acts, which generally prohibit unsolicited fax advertising (bit.ly/jPHU2). Like the FTC laws governing e-mail and telephone solicitation, businesses may be exempt from compliance if they have an existing business relationship, but each fax needs to have contact information that allows the recipient to opt out of any future faxes.

The Dos

Do give recipients a way to unsubscribe.

Every e-mail agents send must include a way for the recipient to opt out of future

Say What?

While most CRSs can make a good argument that they’re better than the next agent, those who aren’t careful how they do it could end up with a problem.

“If they’re going to be talking about any competitors, be careful about how accurate [the claims are]. A disparaging remark about any competitors could get you into trouble in terms of defamation or libel,” says attorney Jennifer Wolfe.

Claims such as being the numberone REALTOR® in sales volume or other statements that can be backed up with facts from reputable sources should be fine, she says. But assertions such as “I’m more honest than my competitors” aren’t a good idea.

e-mail messages from them. Be sure to honor these requests promptly, or you may be violating the law, Carlton says.

Do get permission before you use famous faces. Carlton says that sometimes taking creative license by using the images of famous people can be a problem for agents who don’t get permission to do so.

“I’ve seen a rash of real estate agents who send marketing e-mails that may contain images of famous people … with some catchy phrase underneath — maybe something that says, ‘I would love to buy that house.’ Or maybe it’s a comical comment with some funny image they’ve pulled off the Internet,” he says. Many don’t realize that using a person’s image in a commercial solicitation without permission can be a violation of trademark, copyright or other laws. And with increasingly sophisticated technology, the chances of getting caught skyrocket, Carlton says, since images can be encrypted with data that enables content owners to trace any unauthorized use.

Do learn about state and local laws.

Each state has its own laws regarding the sale of real estate, Wolfe says. For example, some communities have “Do Not Knock” ordinances, which prohibit door-to-door solicitation or require businesses that practice it to register with the town first. So, be sure to inquire about such limitations before undertaking a new marketing effort.

Do seek out assistance from an attorney if anything is unclear. Carlton suggests that agents should consult an attorney who can advise them properly if any of the laws or regulations are unclear.

Compliance can be tricky. It’s better to spend a relatively small amount of time and money on professional advice than to risk penalties and fines, which can easily run into tens of thousands of dollars or more, he says.

Gwen Moran is a writer based in Wall Township, N.J., and is a frequent contributor to The Residential Specialist.

www.crs.com | 1 7

Up Close | Profiles of people to watch

bobbi howe,

CRS

Coldwell Banker General Properties, St. Joseph, Mo.

Designee since: 2010 Contact: 816.383.8661 or bobbi.howe@ gmail.com

Despite your initial reluctance, you’re really involved in the industry now. How do you stay connected?

We call people like me association junkies. I believe it’s important to be involved in our associations to help protect our industry, so I quickly became involved at the local, state and national levels. I’ll be the 2011 president-elect for my local association, and in 2012 I’ll be the youngest president of our association. At the state level I will be a committee chair next year; I co-founded the Missouri Young Professionals Network (YPN) chapter, and I’m a graduate of the Missouri Leadership Academy. I am still on the Missouri YPN advisory board and NAR’s YPN subcommittee.

The new generation of REALTORS® getting in the business doesn’t realize that there’s an association out there, serving them, and that they can become a part of it. It’s another way to get involved and to learn and grow while giving back.

At age 32, you belong to a generation that’s a little more comfortable with technology. What have you noticed about REALTORS’® ability to adapt to new technologies?

I think it’s human nature to resist change. REALTORS® hear about Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and this and that, and they think that they have to learn all of it overnight. One thing I keep telling people at the real estate camps I go to is to pick one or two things they’ve learned today and go out and use them. Become proficient

18 | January/February 2011

in those, because just learning one thing is going to make you a better agent. Then learn the next thing. Once you become proficient at each thing, pick up something else.

But don’t try to do 10 things at once because you’ll become mediocre at all of them.

So what are you focusing on right now?

I really concentrate on Twitter, but a year ago, I wouldn’t have been able to say that. I was one of those people who said, “Twitter’s dumb; I don’t get it.” And it’s because I didn’t understand how to use it. Once I started following the right people, and I saw the conversations happening on Twitter and became engaged in the conversations myself, it made sense. I use Twitter to connect with REALTORS® all over the country about what’s working in their markets.

And I’m learning from them so I can bring those ideas back here. We’re having conversations and sharing with one another. It’s going back to the days when the good old boys would sit in the coffee shops and talk about the articles they’re reading, just taking it to an online venue.

The new thing I’m learning right now is WordPress.

I’m introducing a blog and adding content on a regular basis. I plan on throwing myself into that for the next year or so and becoming an expert.

What do you see for the future of real estate?

I see us moving forward. We’ve always come out of bad times in the past, and I think that we’ll come out of this better and stronger than we have before. I think the slowdown in the market has caused people to focus back on the basics. For instance, I like to take old-school techniques and mix them with newer technology. So even though I’m on Facebook and Twitter, one of my favorite things to do is send handwritten notes. I call it a “smile in your mailbox,” because when I go home and I open a handwritten piece of mail, it puts a smile on my face. I’ll do it to say congratulations after a closing, or I’ll just do it randomly, or send birthday cards. You have to stay in front of your clients, and if you find new ways to do that, you’re at the forefront of their mind whenever they’re ready to buy or sell.

We are in a sales business, but ultimately, we are in a people business. People want to work with people they like and that they know are looking out for their best interests.

Once you build those personal relationships with people, they want to keep working with you.

Dan Videtich

REALTOR® since: 1997

You grew up in real estate. How did you decide to become an agent?

My mother [Nancy Reinert, CRS] became a REALTOR® when I was 8. I went along with her to every listing, every sale. I wrote my first contract at age 10, and I earned my allowance by folding up her communications, making brochures and other administrative stuff. At 18, I got my real estate license and helped my mom while I was in college. By the time I was 20, I was completely burned out and swore I’d never do real estate ever again.

But I didn’t stray too far. I’d been working for three years at a title company in the closing department when my mom called and said her three assistants were soon leaving, and pleaded for me to come back. It was a tough decision, but I’ve been back for five years now, and I absolutely love it. My mother has decided to begin working from home, so I’ve just taken over the business.

“We’ve always come out of bad times in the past, and I think that we’ll come out of this better and stronger than we have before.”

Bobbi Howe, CRS

www.crs.com | 1 9

Building

By Michael Fenner

CRS2.0 New CRS president Frank Serio has a vision for the Council’s future.

Frank Serio, CRS, knows a thing or two about creating a buzz. With a background in the management and promotional side of the music business, he is keenly aware that to get people to act, you’ve got to get them excited.

With that in mind, Serio, who took over as the 2011 CRS president in November, began his year in office with an ambitious idea to create what he calls “CRS 2.0.” Just as social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have transformed the landscape of communication and collaboration, CRS members need to think about their relationship to the Council in a new way, Serio says.

20 | January/February 2011

“We need to reposition and reinvent ourselves to bring out the best of what we have to offer. We need to employ the best education delivery systems to distribute the best new content,” he says. And it’s not all one-way, instructor-to-student learning anymore. “We want the best people — our members — to share their content with one another, rate others’ content, contribute blog items and other information.” Serio says this collaborative approach will bring new energy and purpose to CRS, which has always stood as the gold standard among real estate groups.

As a resident of scenic Fenwick Island, Del., which is part of Delaware’s popular

www.crs.com | 2 1

“We need to reposition and reinvent beach resort area, Serio knows firsthand ourselves to bring out the best the impact that the real estate downturn has had on the vacation- and secondof what we have to offer.” home market. And his experiences as a longtime CRS certified instructor give him unique insight into the challenges that will face CRSs across the country in the coming year.

The Residential Specialist caught up with Serio shortly after he was installed as CRS president to discuss his background, his commitment to REALTOR® education, and his vision of what lies ahead for the Council.

What was your background before you got into the real estate business?

Many people might not realize it, but very few real estate agents actually started out in the real estate business. Most come from other industries and come into real estate later. I am no different. I went to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where I studied pre-med, and I graduated with a B.A. in biological sciences. While my friends were preparing for medical and dental schools, I was focusing on a career in the music business. I had worked with many of the local bands throughout high school and college, so I had made valuable connections with some of the big national promoters. One of those promoters asked me to help him promote concerts regionally, which turned out to be a job I worked through college.

As my connections in the music business began to grow, bands began coming to me to help them get recording contracts.

Soon other recording artists were asking me to set up their concert tours and even manage their careers. Through the years I worked with many of the largest names in the business. Many of the skills I learned in the music business — marketing, staging and promotion, for example — are key skills for any successful REALTOR®.

What attracted you to real estate as a profession?

After leaving the music business in 1982, 22 | January/February 2011

I opened a nightclub and package store with some friends in Ocean City, Md. One day in the fall of 1984, a good friend who owned a large real estate company came to me and suggested I should get a real estate license and go to work for him on a new townhome project he was starting. At first I told him that I didn’t want to be a real estate agent, but he worked hard to convince me that I would be good at it and could make a nice living in the resort market. The next day I called him back and said, “What do I need to do?” He directed me to a crash real estate course, and I was officially in business three weeks later. I ended up being one of the top agents there and I was making a very nice living. I believed then, as now, that the real estate business is wide open, and an individual’s only limitation is himor herself. I also gained a lot of personal satisfaction from helping clients find their dream vacation home to share with their family and friends.

What kind of difference did your training as a CRS make in your career?

After a few years in the business, my wife, Audrey, suggested that we should take a CRS class in Annapolis, Md. I had no idea what she was talking about, but she said she had heard CRS offered good classes — and besides, it was a good excuse to go to Annapolis.

About 80 students from all over the area were in that class, and they represented the true professionals in real estate.

These people approached real estate as a profession. Prior to attending that class, I thought I would only stay in the business a few years before finding a new career.

CRS certified instructors Del Bain, CRS, and Mike Brodie, CRS, were my first instructors, and the level of education they

delivered was far superior to anything I had seen before. Audrey and I decided to take advantage of all the training we could in an effort to further our real estate careers and to stay in the business for the long haul. During one of those classes, Audrey said to me, “You know, you could do this,” referring to being a CRS instructor. Many years later, I followed her advice and became a CRS certified instructor in 1998.

Get to Know…

Frank Serio, CRS, ABR, CRB, SFR Broker-owner at RE/MAX By the Sea, Bethany Beach, Del. REALTOR® Since: 1984 CRS Since: 1992 CRS Certified Instructor Since: 1998 Coastal Association of Realtors® REALTOR® of the Year: 1994 Sussex County Association President’s Award Winner: 2004, 2010

When did you start getting involved as a volunteer leader for the Council? Why? Having gone through the process of becoming an instructor and serving on many CRS national committees, I felt the need to give back to the organization that had given me so much. Early on in the process, [fellow instructors] Walt Frey, CRS, and Del Bain, CRS, encouraged me to pursue leadership roles in the organization.

I chaired a few committees and served on both the Nominating Committee and the Board of Directors. These valuable positions gave me the background to continue on in leadership. Based on the invaluable guidance of several of my CRS mentors, I put my name in for consideration for leadership and was selected in the first interview process.

What have your years in leadership taught you?

Leaders lead people, and managers manage things. To be a good leader, you need to listen to those members you serve and then lead them forward. Decisions will be made that not everyone agrees with, but we have to look at what is good for the whole organization, not just the few.

You are a CRS certified instructor and an active REALTOR®. What kind of insight does that give you into what CRS members are going through?

It’s funny, because sometimes it seems like we instructors learn more from our classes than the attendees do. Traveling to different markets and hearing about the

distinctive challenges agents face gives us some insight that not many REALTORS® have. This knowledge helps me to formulate solutions to problems facing real estate agents today and into the future.

Where do you see the real estate industry heading in the coming year and beyond?

What are the big issues and challenges REALTORS® must face?

The real estate industry will still be challenged by the tough economic times through the coming year. Some markets will begin to pick up, but others will remain soft for some time to come. When just over 2 million homes are in foreclosure and another 5 million are currently 60 to 90 days in arrears, it affects us all. However, the top agents are still the top agents in good times and in bad. Agents need to adapt to the changes and face the challenges with good business practices. Those who do will succeed and lead their markets out of these tough times.

What kind of legacy would you like to leave with the Council?

I would like to lead this organization into the future of real estate education. I am a firm believer that we need to innovate and not imitate other organizations. We need to create a new version of ourselves, a “CRS 2.0,” if you will — a sort of renaissance. We have the best minds in real estate among our membership. By tapping these “best of the best,” we can develop new exciting programs, delivery systems and products to raise the bar in real estate education. We are positioning ourselves to do just that, and I will work to champion this movement throughout this year and the years to come.

“To be a good leader, you need to listento those members you serve and then lead them forward.” www.crs.com | 2 3

no big

Size deal 24 | January/February 2011

By Regina Ludes

While many real estate businesses have taken a beating from the economy, some small, independent firms are hanging tough.

Influx Productions/Getty Images

R

etta Treanor, CRS, started her business, Big Valley Properties, in 2004 with one employee, a handful of listings and $5,000 in her checking account. “All I kept thinking was, ‘I hope this works out,’ ” Treanor says.

Six years later, Big Valley Properties has five agents, including Treanor, working out of two offices in Trinity County in northern California. Her business boasts a 39 percent market share, she says, even though it competes with 12 other real estate offices, the largest of which employs 200 agents.

At press time, Treanor expected 2010 to be her company’s best year, surpassing the

$13.8 million in revenue it earned in 2009.

More important, her business has survived the worst housing crisis in America’s history, putting to rest any notion that small brokerages can’t compete — let alone thrive — in a tough economy.

Real estate firms of all sizes have struggled during the housing downturn, but some small-business owners like Treanor have managed to produce strong sales and better-than-average profits. But the biggest battle for small shops may be the public perception that only large firms possess the resources to promote listings, recruit and train top agents, and get properties sold. To www.crs.com | 2 5

overcome that perception, small brokerages are focusing on their strengths: personalized customer service, market knowledge, flexibility and determination. The experience of these savvy entrepreneurs proves that quality service, not a company’s size or brand, wins customers.

Creating Visibility According to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) 2010 Member Profile, 26 percent of all REALTORS® work at a firm with five or fewer agents, while 49 percent work at a firm with 25 or fewer agents. Treanor, who has always worked for small firms, believes the small shops often lack visibility in the marketplace, which can make it difficult to attract new buyers. “Larger firms may have TV commercials and name recognition. But someone in Virginia won’t know anything about Big Valley Properties,” she says.

To make her own mark, Treanor set out to create a customer service-centered business to counter what she saw from other agencies in her area. For example,

Size of Firm, by number of brokers and agents (Percentage Distribution) All Realtors® 2010 Survey One

2009 Survey

6%

5%

2 to 5

20

20

6 to 25

23

24

26 to 50

11

10

51 to 100

9

9

101 to 250

8

8

251 to 500

4

4

501 to 999

4

4

1,000 or more

9

8

None/ Not applicable

7

7

29

23

Median

Source: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® 2010 Member Profile

26 | January/February 2011

Small shops often lack visibility in the marketplace, which can make it difficult to attract new buyers. a few local firms had part-time hours for staff, and agents weren’t always accessible.

To compete, Treanor established regular business hours and made sure clients could reach her after hours. She also trained newly licensed agents to give clients a high level of service, and she reviews every client’s file for accuracy.

Treanor also devotes a lot of money toward marketing her listings. In 2009, she budgeted $50,000 for advertising, which resulted in 166 transaction sides. Most of that budget was allocated for online marketing, including custom Web pages for individual properties and virtual tours that are posted to her website, www.bvptrinity. com. She also posts listings on Realtor.com and advertises her business in a printed real estate guide that is distributed around the county. “Advertising is part of customer service. If you tell clients that you are going to advertise their listings, you’d better make sure you do that,” Treanor says. “As long as I can continue to sell real estate, I can offset the ad costs.”

Battling Perceptions Although conventional wisdom suggests that a slow economy is a bad time to start a business, that didn’t deter Mike Kelly Jr., CRS, who launched Hickory Real Estate Group in Hickory, N.C., in February 2010 with his wife and a buyer’s agent. “I didn’t have to pay a broker fee, so even if my

business dipped a little, I would still make the same amount of money as I did a year ago. Also, because business was slower, it was easier to make the transition,” Kelly says. Having his own business allows him to provide individualized service to clients and gives him more control over his own destiny.

So far, business is doing well. Kelly says he had as many transactions by midOctober 2010 as he had in all of 2009 when he was with a large national company, and he expects to surpass his revenue goal of $4 million. He attributes that success to picking up more foreclosure listings and working with more investors. It also helped that he carried over 32 listings from his previous employer.

The biggest challenge, he says, is fighting the perception that large companies can give clients more marketing exposure for their listings. To counter that perception, Kelly focuses on maintaining a strong Web presence and networking in the local business community. His website, www.mikekellyjr.com, often appears on Google searches before the local large brokerage’s website and captures strong leads for his business. He also posts listings, shares community information and engages in conversation with fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter. He says these efforts won him three new clients in 2010.

Kelly, who regularly attends local chamber of commerce meetings and serves on the education committee of the local homebuilders association, believes his involvement in the business community gives him an edge. “Surprisingly, many other agents are not as consistent with their involvement in the community, or [they] only show up at meetings occasionally,” Kelly says.

The Personal Touch After working for large brokers for 20 years, Sharon Simms, CRS, moved her entire four-person team, including her son, daughter and another agent, from a franchise of a large national brokerage to launch her own firm, ALVA International, in 2008. Because business-lease prices had fallen, she managed to find a storefront location on a busy street in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., at a lower rent than the market demanded just a few years earlier.

Simms didn’t mind that five competing real estate brokerages had offices within several blocks. “Each of us has something different to offer buyers. We let clients decide what works for them,” says Simms, who caters to the luxury and international markets.

Simms says small firms can be more flexible and respond more quickly to clients’ needs than larger brokerages because they don’t have to follow corporate protocol. For example, Simms recently had a client whose listing was about to expire.

The client wanted to continue to do business with the Simms team, but didn’t like the design of the sign posted in front of their house. Simms’ daughter, who has a graphic design background, created several new designs and sent them to the client the next day, and the client later renewed the contract.

Simms believes her team’s commitment to continuing their education and earning professional designations, especially CRS and CIPS, enhances their ability to serve their clients. Even in a tough economy, team members continue to attend conferences and classes, both in the United States and abroad, and they pass along what they learn to their clients. Team members also travel overseas to interview

international agents they want to work with, visit properties and developments, and attend education events to learn about different locations and customs, which they share with their clients. “We have each developed a different circle of international connections so we can expose our listings to a wider group of buyers,” Simms says.

Learning Curve When Sharon Yeary, CRS, started Sharcom Realty in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in October 2005, she thought she would be the only agent. But after several agentfriends joined her business, Yeary decided to expand her service area to include the entire state of Texas. Yeary now has 17 agents, and she is actively recruiting more.

But she finds it difficult to persuade experienced agents to join her firm. “The agents at the larger firms have become deeply rooted in the company brand and often don’t see the benefits of working for a small independent agency,” Yeary says. But with the help of a coach, Yeary implemented a recruiting marketing plan in early 2010 in an effort to earn her company more exposure and win new recruits. “It’s hard

The biggest challenge is fighting the perception that large companies can give clients more marketing exposure for their listings.

to convince these agents that the person, not the company, makes the difference,” Yeary says.

Without the support and resources that large companies can provide, Yeary offers one-on-one training for newer agents, showing them everything from how to post listings, photos and videos to the website (www.SharcomRealty.com) to how to show a home and do a final walk-through. She also is available to agents at any time if they have questions or need advice. For more specialized training, she brings in industry experts, such as attorneys, lenders or appraisers.

Small firms often don’t have the same resources to support agents’ continuing education, Yeary says. For example, after Yeary learned that education providers frequently offer a discount to large brokerages for their agents, she requested a similar discount but was turned down. Instead, Yeary offers a $100 bonus to any of her agents who successfully complete a designation program course, even though they must pay for the course upfront.

Despite the challenges, Yeary says business is doing well because she keeps an eye on expenses. Since most of their agents work from home, she rents space in an executive suite for client meetings when needed. “We haven’t experienced the hardships that larger firms have because our overhead is much lower,” Yeary says.

Real estate brokerages of all sizes have been hit hard by the recent housing downturn. But no matter how large or small, firms that provide quality customer service, have a strong market presence and continue to enhance their market knowledge can position themselves to survive the hard times.

Regina Ludes is associate editor of The Residential Specialist.

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Dream

By Melanie Padgett Powers

Team 28 | January/February 2011

Laurie Sheinkopf, CRS, ABR, believes her little black book of contacts in Nashville, Tenn., is priceless. After 10 years as a REALTOR®, she has zeroed in on the best of the best for her clients — the top inspectors, attorneys and lenders that provide the same high-quality customer service that Sheinkopf prides herself on. “I really honed it down to people who I would say are like CRS-quality agents in their industry,” says Sheinkopf, an agent with Realty Trust Residential in Brentwood, Tenn.

But her all-star team of related professionals didn’t magically appear at her first listing. Finding the right people and building those relationships took a couple of years. “I know that the real estate transaction is not just about me and finding somebody a house,” she says. “It’s about getting it closed; it’s about finding a home inspector that people can relate to. It’s about having a handyman to handle problems. It’s about a painter so people can repaint a purple room.

It’s a whole system of people.”

Creating and maintaining sound relationships with inspectors, escrow officers, attorneys, appraisers and lenders hinges on the way REALTORS® view these professionals. “I think you get a mental picture when you start out in real estate that certain people are not your advocates because they can kill a deal more than enhance it,” says Marco LaPadura, CRS, a licensed associate broker with Charles Rutenberg Realty who works in Queens and Nassau counties in New York. But agents should nix any negative connotations, he says. Instead, recognize vendors as assets, not liabilities. This thinking could lead to smoother transactions, more satisfied clients, an increase in referrals and, ultimately, a more successful business.

“It’s more important than ever to have these strong relationships, says Paul Balzotti, CRS, associate broker with John L. Scott Real Estate in Bellingham, Wash. “With bank financing getting tighter, buyers being more cautious and sellers being squeezed, www.crs.com | 2 9

Fancy/Photolibrary

Cultivating strong relationships with appraisers, lenders and other vendors can lead to more satisfied clients — and smoother transactions.

selling well below what they want to be selling for, there are a lot more opportunities for things to go wrong or for people to want to back out.” In these cases, the deal may depend on a loan officer who is knowledgeable about a wide range of financing programs or an attorney willing to close on a Saturday.

Find the Right People As agents work with different vendors in the industry, they tend to gravitate toward those who are the hardest-working, the most responsive and the most professional.

But each agent has his or her own criteria for what makes someone the best.

Sheinkopf won’t work with attorneys who won’t work after 5 p.m. “That’s not the way the world works anymore,” she says. “It’s 24/7.” Jacque Neef, CRS, an agent with Homeland Realty in Boise, Idaho, relies on escrow officers who remain calm when problems arise. “The closer that I use is amazing,” she says. “I’ve worked with a lot of closers, and sometimes when things get tense, they panic and flip out.”

Cultivating Your Network Ditch the negativity. Eliminate any preconceived notions you have about appraisers, lenders or other vendors being “deal-killers.”

Be selective. Your list of preferred professionals should contain only those you have worked with before and who you trust.

Match a vendor’s strengths to your client’s needs. If you serve a lot of Generation Y clients, for example, be sure the vendors you recommend know how to communicate with and serve younger, less-experienced clients.

Keep in touch. Frequent visits, lunches or even quick phone calls can help cement long-term vendor relationships.

Help out. Offer to supply appraisers or lenders with any of the documentation they might need. They’ll appreciate the assistance — and they’ll remember you for your level of service and professionalism.

30 | January/February 2011

Agents can foster strong relationships by referring people to vendors, sharing business contacts and simply keeping in touch. Sheinkopf goes out to lunch with one attorney at least once a month. She calls a mortgage broker a couple of times a week just to chat about what’s new in the business. She stops in at the carpet store to see new products in stock. “I talk to these people all the time, and I’ve referred the same people for six years,” she says. “That way, in this economy, when I have a loan that’s having an issue, I don’t wait. I have a direct line to the processor.”

Sheinkopf also shares her extensive contact list with both clients and vendors, even going so far as to recommend they use her name for supreme service at her favorite restaurant. “I don’t say, ‘Oh yeah, I met this person one time; he might be a good handyman.’ I’ve tried the guy on my house.

I’ve tried the painter, the carpet cleaner, the cleaning women, the people hanging my drapes.” She advertises these contacts on her website, and they, in turn, include a link to her website on their own sites.

To Neef, vendor relationships include more than conversations about mortgage rates and the lifespan of a roof. She invites vendors out for coffee or cocktails, even to barbecues at her house. “[I want to] get to know them as people, to get to know their families. It’s more than just business.” Neef enjoys asking after an attorney’s kids or about an inspector’s wife’s pregnancy — small talk that is reassuring to her clients. “[The clients] recognize that I’ve had a relationship with them for quite a while and that I know them more intimately than just as my inspector,” she says.

Agents should try to cultivate new relationships every opportunity they get, Balzotti says. “You want to treat everybody all the time as though they’re someone you want to build a relationship with,” he says. “It does nothing but benefit you and your client — and make your business that much more fun and enjoyable — when you build positive relationships with as many people as possible across the industry.”

Assist and Respond Whether a vendor is part of your core team or a new contact, the more assistance REALTORS® can offer, the greater the chances of a smoother transaction.

LaPadura makes sure he is on site for the appraisal, bringing a list of comparables and a copy of the listing. He always offers to help appraisers, for example, by getting them a copy of the HUD-1 Settlement Statement. “You don’t want to interfere too much because you don’t want to make it seem like you’re trying to do the appraiser’s job,” LaPadura says. “You just want to give them a little something that will assist them.” Appraisers are typically paid per job, he says, so they usually appreciate any help that makes the appraisal go faster.

For a recent listing in a neighborhood mixed with renovated and nonrenovated homes, Sheinkopf presented the appraiser with comparables and a list of the top 25 things that separated her listing from the rest. She even provided receipts detailing all the upgrades. Such efforts not only help keep the transaction moving along, but also show an agent’s skills and work ethic.

LaPadura has worked with appraisers who were impressed enough to call him when they wanted to sell their own home. “I’ve worked with engineers or home inspectors who are doing seminars and want to have a broker come in and speak, and they asked me because they like the way I do business,” he says. “You do get a residual effect from it.”

To strengthen his relationships with vendors, Balzotti believes in the power of referrals and responsiveness. “Not only do I send them as much business as I can, but I try to be super-responsive and professional and always be really positive and just good to be around.” Balzotti says agents can’t simply refer people to vendors and then expect an immediate benefit in return.

“You have to make it so it’s a really good experience for them working with you, too, so that they want your business,” he says.

Developing strong relationships with vendors nets untold benefits, and the shared professionalism lends itself to more satisfied clients and a healthier business — all of which make the job of a REALTOR® more enjoyable. “At the end of the day, it’s just more fun to be working with people you know and you enjoy being around,” Balzotti says. “When you’re having more fun, you’re going to have more success and you’re going to put out a better energy.”

Melanie Padgett Powers is a writer and editor in Washington, D.C.

Guiding

By Daniel Rome Levine

Light

When Hurricane Ivan slammed into Pensacola, Fla., in September 2004 with 125-mile-per-hour winds, the city and surrounding area didn’t stand a chance. The devastation was complete. More than 7,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and 136,000 people in the Panhandle region were directly impacted by the storm. Total damage cost close to $4 billion. “It looked like a war zone,” says Jennifer Kirby, CRS, who at the time worked for Exit Realty N.F.I. in Pensacola, and today is with Exit Realty Ventures in Minneapolis.

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Radius Images/Getty Images

Agents who work in areas affected by natural disasters need a different approach to serving buyers and sellers.

In the weeks and months following the storm, Kirby did all she could to help her clients and the community. Her first priority immediately after the storm was to check up on the well-being of her clients. She tried to reach all of them to make sure they were OK and see what kind of help they needed. She invited clients who didn’t have power to come to her office and use the computer or phone or just sit and relax in the air conditioning. In many cases, all they wanted was a good listener. “I became a counselor and psychologist overnight,” she says.

The Pensacola real estate business ground to a halt for months following the storm. Many closings in the area were put on hold until insurance companies could assess damaged homes. To help speed the process, Kirby helped clients find

reputable local contractors to provide insurance estimates and do emergency repairs. She also warned clients about scam artists who were charging exorbitant rates for shoddy repair work.

Kirby’s bottom-line advice for handling clients during natural disasters: “Agents need to be extremely patient and sympathetic. Everyone is hurting, and you have to keep a cool head,” she says.

When catastrophe strikes, REALTORS® cannot afford to lose their cool.

Distraught clients need a strong, steady hand to help them through the ordeal, and agents’ responses during this critical time can have an enormous influence in how they are perceived. Whether expediting repairs and insurance claims in the midst of the mayhem or helping people find temporary shelter, providing

reliable service and counsel during such tumultuous times will ensure grateful clients and seal an agent’s reputation in the community for years to come.

Above and Beyond Pam Keen, CRS, who works in Pensacola for Realty Masters of Florida, a company she founded in 1998, says she will never forget Hurricane Ivan. Following the storm, she helped her clients deal with insurance adjusters and line up repairmen, but she soon realized she could make a much bigger difference.

Not long after the storm swept out of town, Keen, a retired Navy captain, returned to her office and was stunned by what she saw: People who had lost homes were lining up outside. She didn’t know most of them, but they were desperate

Paul Taylor/Getty Images

“Agents need to be extremely patient and sympathetic. Everyone is hurting, and you have to keep a cool head.”

32 | January/February 2011

for a place to live and were hoping Keen could help them. Fortunately for them, Keen has one of the biggest property management businesses in the area and was able to fit some 30 families into vacant homes that had not been damaged. “It was very gratifying to be able to help these people who were homeless,” she says. It wasn’t bad for business, either.

Six of them hired her later to help them buy new homes.

Diane Conaway, CRS, of RE/MAX United in Escondido, Calif., just north of San Diego, has lived through two natural disasters in her area. In 2003 and again in 2007, wildfires fanned by strong, dry winds devastated her community. In the fall of 2003, three separate wildfires destroyed nearly 2,700 homes and killed 17 people. The 2007 wildfires torched nearly 1,800 homes and resulted in 10 deaths. Total damage in 2007 was estimated at $1.5 billion.

Conaway says the lessons she learned living through the fires have made her a more effective and empathetic REALTOR®. “I look at houses now in a completely different way,” she says. For instance, she now pays special attention to a home’s roof when helping buyers. Roofs made of wooden shingles, or shakes, are especially susceptible to igniting if a spark lands on them. She also advises clients to beware of trees and dry brush that are close to a home and overgrown or weedy fields that are nearby. “Around here we all get nervous in late fall, because the Santa Ana winds can cause the least little spark to take off into a full-blown wildfire in the blink of an eye,” she says.

The fires also knocked out electricity in outlying areas for up to two weeks, which meant conveniences that people take for granted, such as cash machines, were not available. Conaway now advises her buyer clients to get backup generators and keep at least $500 cash on hand in a home safe at all times.

Because of her experience during the fires, Conaway now jokingly refers to herself as “the queen of flashlights”

Worldwide economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters were an estimated $222 billion in 2010, more than triple the 2009 figure of $63 billion. Approximately 260,000 people died in these events, the highest number since 1976.

Source: Swiss Reinsurance Co.

and preaches to clients the need to keep them in their cars and in every bedroom.

“When the power goes off at 4 in the morning and you’re desperately trying to load the car to evacuate, what are you going to do if you can’t see what you’re doing?” she asks.

Conaway also offers to do a video tour of all her clients’ homes. This video of the home’s contents, including small items such as glasses and plates, serves as a vital record, she says, in case the home is destroyed by fire and everything is lost, and can also help expedite the insurance claims process. “It’s very difficult to think afterward about all the things you had,” she says. “People tend to think only about the big items.”

Conaway’s role in helping people impacted by the fires extended far beyond her own clients. Following the 2003 fires, she created an e-mail notification system for local REALTORS® so they’d be able to communicate faster and easier the next time disaster struck. During the 2007 fires, the system allowed local agents to communicate more efficiently and mobilize faster to help people whose homes burned.

After the 2003 fires, she also sent an online appeal to those on the e-mail list and other REALTORS® to help raise money for those who had lost homes.

The e-mail was forwarded around the country, and Conaway was overwhelmed by the response. Donations from agents and others totaled almost $300,000.

“The outpouring of support from REALTORS® was amazing,” she says.

United Success GiGi Gaubert Burk, CRS, of Burk Brokerage Real Estate in New Orleans, knows just how big an impact REALTORS® can have on their communities when they join forces after a disaster.

In 2005, in the months following Hurricane Katrina, Burk and several other top agents in New Orleans’ Lakefront area joined forces to help clients and others who had lost their homes rebuild their lives.

They organized twice-monthly meetings and invited federal and state officials to come and address the concerns of displaced residents, most of which centered on the federal grant program for those who had lost their homes. Because Burk’s group, Lake Area REALTORS® United, was made up of all the biggest real estate companies in the area and had some 70 heavy-hitting agents as members, government officials attended the meetings and addressed residents’ concerns and answered their questions. “If it was just me, these officials would not have returned my calls,” she says. “Numbers mean results.”

Burk says helping clients get their questions answered and get on the road to recovery was incredibly gratifying.

“It was really uplifting to know we were not only helping our clients, but our entire community,” she says. “We weren’t making any money with what we were doing, but that didn’t matter. We were helping New Orleans get back on its feet, and in the long run everyone benefits from that.”

Daniel Rome Levine is a writer based in Wilmette, Ill., and is a frequent contributor to The Residential Specialist.

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Good Read | Resources in print

a fine mesh we’re in A pioneer of online transactions explains why “share platforms” — where access trumps ownership — can help launch a successful new business.

Reviewed by Allan Fallow

The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing

by Lisa Gansky Portfolio/Penguin 242 pages, $25.95

34 | January/February 2011

When you write a book stating that you have foreseen the business future, it’s a good idea to establish your oracular bona fides early on. Thus do we learn on page 6 of The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing that author Lisa Gansky’s “life’s work” has consisted of discovering “how to get more real value for people by leveraging the Web as a sharing platform.”

In 1993, Gansky asserts, she cocreated the first commercial website, working with Dale Dougherty and Tim O’Reilly (who obligingly contributed a cover blurb) to design the first online transaction system and run the first ads to appear on the Web. Now Gansky has devoted considerable thought to how the recession, the Internet and the environment are converging to forge new and better business models.

Gansky says she got the idea for the “sharing-based businesses” that make up the Mesh from an article about a Los Angeles landscaper named Scott Martin. Irked at all the dead Christmas trees he saw littering curbs (and heading for landfills) after the holidays, Martin launched a Web business that rents out living Christmas trees. “Instead of buying, owning and then tossing a tree,” Gansky notes, “his customers got access to their trees precisely when they wanted them.” And Martin’s business not only delivered the trees to homes, but also picked them up for replanting afterward.

That sort of convenience and just-intime inventory are hallmarks of today’s “Meshy” businesses. Apply them to

the video-rental business and you get a category-killer like Netflix. Adapt them to the car-rental racket and you get the hipster success story that is Zipcar. Modify them for real estate and you get, among many other iterations, Roomarama.com — “a stress-free peer-to-peer platform for making your home (or second home) a short-stay time-share.”

It’s not that Gansky is philosophically opposed to possession. “There is much to be said for owning things,” she makes clear in her introduction to The Mesh. It’s just that “the dominant ownership mindset has often blinkered our business brains.”

What if a newer mindset (and network) could give us such effortless access to shared goods that the need to own them began to fade away? Or, as Gansky sensibly puts it, “Why buy, maintain and store a table saw or a lawn mower or a car when they are easily and less expensively available to use when we want them?” This even extends to home repair: In North Portland, Ore., four visionary residents founded a “tool library” that “lends tools [500 and counting] to community members and gives them the advice they need to complete home improvement projects.”

Enmeshment Trends Three large social trends under way give the Meshed (that is, shared) business model its competitive edge, Gansky believes. The first is the explosive recent growth of mobile computing — think Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS — which

is expected to surpass desktop computing within the next couple of years.

The second is the concomitant mushrooming of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. (Facebook surpassed 500 million users worldwide in July 2010; Twitter reached 90 million tweets per day as of September 2010.)

Meanwhile, Cisco estimates that Internet traffic will quintuple from 2009 to 2013, by which time 1 trillion devices will be connected to the Web. As these first two trends have reinforced each other, Gansky observes, “Within a historical eye-blink, we have constructed a whole new language of sharing.”

The third trend fostering enmeshment is the recession — Gansky calls it “the credit and spending binge that has crashed the economy” — which is forcing us to re-examine what we truly care about in this life. She quotes fellow author Po Bronson, who writes: “A crisis can actually take people from thinking about what’s next to thinking about what is first.”

Anticipating, perhaps, that her definition of the Mesh will sound fuzzy, Gansky cites four traits that she says typify a Mesh business: 1. Its core offering is something that can be shared — a physical good or a service — within a community or a market.

2. Sophisticated data networks (either Web-based or mobile) track goods and keep tabs on how customers are using them.

3. A concern for the materials used in shared goods encourages them to be delivered — and recovered — locally.

4. Product offers and recommendations are passed along largely via word of mouth — or word of mouse, given that such news travels primarily over social-networking services.

Material Culture Armed with these criteria for what constitutes a Mesh business, Gansky recounts,

In less than a decade, the Mesh model has infiltrated dozens of categories, including fashion, real estate, energy, travel, entertainment, transportation, food and finance. she went looking for qualifying companies. She quickly identified more than 1,500 co-ops, nonprofits and commercial outfits that had embraced Web-enabled sharing as their business model, forcing her to concede that “[t]he Mesh was further along than I had originally imagined. In less than a decade, the Mesh model has infiltrated dozens of categories, including fashion, real estate, energy, travel, entertainment, transportation, food and finance.” The transition to the Mesh, she concludes, is “quietly changing the way business is done, and it’s picking up speed.”

REALTORS® may wonder how real estate could ever accommodate a business model where the very culture and psychology of ownership are in flux. Gansky catalogues the blows that the ownership model has suffered in the trauma of the recession: Many of us grew up with the aspiration to own our homes. We hoped that when

we retired we would have a place to live without having to pay housing costs.

In recent years, home equity was also a lucrative place to invest. As home prices increased, so too did the equity. But the continued recession … has forced us to revisit childhood assumptions.

Gansky cites a Kelton Research finding that 56 percent of Americans view the economy’s collapse as an opportunity for them to live less materialistic lives.

She also cites studies purporting to have determined that “eight out of ten Americans are ‘inclined to buy less stuff,’ and nine out of ten are considering ‘opting for a simpler life.’ ” Whether all these trends will have an impact on the residential real-estate market is impossible to predict, but Gansky’s money seems to be on smaller, greener, denser: “[H]uge cars and homes are again falling out of fashion,” she opines. “Cars that guzzle gas and 5,000-square-foot homes that suck energy are losing resale value. In five years, the big house won’t be competitive against a green home half its size, with solar and geothermal energy, and built of materials that increase heating and cooling efficiency.”

Despite her belief that sharing and short-term use will ultimately bypass our outdated models of individual ownership, she concludes The Mesh on an optimistic note for entrepreneurs in general — and REALTORS® in particular. After citing a Kauffman Foundation study that revealed nearly half the entries on Inc. magazine’s 2008 list of fastest-growing firms had started up during a recession or bear market, Gansky exhorts her readers that “It’s a brilliant time to launch a company, begin courting a consumer base and propel a new brand. … Real estate, in fact, is one of the very fertile arenas for Mesh models to go to work.”

Allan Fallow is a magazine writer and book editor in Alexandria, Va.

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Sell-a-bration® 2011

Chapters With a Heart

Course Listings

p. 38

p. 39

p. 43

inside CRS N E W S

F R O M

T H E

C O U N C I L

2010 NAR Conference Recap

T

he NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) Conference & Expo returned to New Orleans in November, where many attendees were looking toward a brighter future. That sense of optimism also was evident at the annual CRS meetings that took place Nov. 3 – 6 during the NAR event. A sold-out crowd of more than 300 welcomed 2011 president Frank Serio, CRS, president-elect Mark Minchew, CRS, and first vice president Mary McCall, CRS, as they were sworn in during the Council’s inaugural dinner and awards ceremony Nov. 6.

New CRS president Frank Serio began his real estate career in 1984 in Ocean City, Md. He was president of the Coastal Association of REALTORS® and is a previous REALTOR® of the Year as well as a Sussex County Association President’s Award recipient. Serio has served on numerous committees on the local, state and national levels for NAR and the Council. He is a senior instructor for the Council.

Serio lives in Fenwick Island, Del., and he and his wife, Audrey, are the brokers-owners of RE/MAX By the Sea in Bethany Beach, Del., where he actively sells real estate.

President-elect Mark Minchew was the first president of the Lone Star CRS Chapter and was one of the founders and the first president

36 | January/February 2011

of the Austin CRS Sub-Chapter.

He has served the Council on multiple committees, on the board of directors and as a regional vice president. He is the broker-owner of two RE/MAX franchises, has received the CRS President’s Award and Medallion Award, and was inducted into NAR’s Omega Tau Rho fraternity for outstanding

contributions to the education of REALTORS®. Minchew holds a master’s degree in education from Baylor University and has served as NAR Director.

First vice president Mary McCall became a REALTOR® in 1988 and received her CRS Designation in 1993. She was president of the Greater Tampa Association of

New Council president Frank Serio, CRS, presents the President's Gift to outgoing president Gregg Fujita, CRS.

Banker Residential in Plano, Texas; and Darlene Stouder, CRS, of RE/MAX Equity Group in Vancouver, Wash.

Chapter Winners

Frank Serio, CRS, is sworn in by his wife, Audrey Serio, CRS.

REALTORS® (GTAR) in 2001, and she was the 2003 president of the Florida CRS Chapter. She has been named REALTOR® of the Year by the Greater Tampa Association of REALTORS®, the Tampa Chapter of the Women’s Council of REALTORS® and the Florida CRS Chapter. In 2005, she was selected as Florida Associate REALTOR® of the Year. She’s a CRS Medallion Award recipient and has served on numerous committees and the Board of Directors for CRS. She was also a CRS regional vice president for two terms. McCall is a broker associate with RE/MAX ACR Elite Group.

The Winners Are …

During the ceremony, the Council’s 2010 president, Gregg Fujita, CRS, presented the President’s Award to Wendell Wong, CRS, Lois Cox, CRS, and Keith Tristano, the Council’s director of information technology.

The President’s Award recognizes individuals who have provided exceptional support to the Council and its members; consistently demonstrated a high level of service; gone beyond what was expected; always shown respect for others; and fostered trust by always acting with integrity.

Fujita thanked Wong for his tireless promotion of the Council and called him a “trusted adviser” who had helped him throughout his career. Cox, Fujita said, taught him the value of the CRS referral network and she “goes the extra mile to enhance our referral reputation in the industry.” Fujita said Tristano has “an undeniable passion for taking the Council to new levels of excellence.”

Fujita also presented the Medallion Award, which recognizes Designees who have excelled throughout their real estate careers and who have served the Council at the local and national levels for many years, to Faye Brock, CRS, of Century 21 Brock & Associates in Wilmington, N.C.; Bonnie Dailey, CRS, of Dickson Realty in Reno, Nev.; Pat Hackley, CRS, of RE/MAX Suburban Atlanta in Norcross, Ga.; Hap Hilbish, CRS, of Century 21 Beutler & Associates in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Bob Imperato, CRS, of Boston Realty Associates in Boston; Tom Patterson, CRS, of North Loop Inc. REALTORS® in San Antonio, Texas; Claire Jean Prager, CRS, of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Tucson, Ariz.; Janis Smith, CRS, of Coldwell

Fujita also announced the Chapter of the Year award winners. This honor is given annually to CRS chapters in three categories — small, medium and large — in recognition of their outstanding efforts to advance the Council’s mission and further the organization’s goals and objectives at the chapter level.

The small-chapter CRS Chapter of the Year award went to North Alabama CRS, which exceeded its membership goal with a 22 percent increase in membership in 2010. It also doubled its charitable contribution over previous years, and it was the recipient of a CRS Diversity Grant. North Alabama went to great lengths to promote not only its own events, but also National Council events and other Chapters’ events.

Wisconsin took the mediumsized Chapter of the Year award.

It offered a generous scholarship program in 2010 as part of its successful education efforts, and it participated in the CRS reinstatement program, managing to reinstate 21 members, an increase over last year. The Wisconsin Chapters also received one of three Diversity Grants available through the Council.

The large Chapter of the Year award went to the Florida CRS Chapter, which sponsored nearly 20 educational events in 2010 and focused many of its efforts on promoting the CRS Designation and Council-related events. Many of the Chapter’s members also play an active leadership role in the nation’s second-largest state REALTOR® association in Florida, and they bring that expertise back to the CRS chapter and its members.

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inside CRS

Sell-a-bration® Swings Into Orlando

G

ive your career a fresh start by attending Sell-a-bration® 2011 at the Peabody Orlando Hotel in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 18 – 20, 2011. The annual education event draws hundreds of top real estate professionals from across the country and around the world who gather to learn strategies and techniques from industry leaders and each other.

The skills they discover and the relationships they build will help attendees improve their productivity,

38 | January/February 2011

grow their referral business and increase their chances for success. And agents can earn one unit of elective credit toward the CRS Designation by attending Sell-a-bration® 2011.

The Council worked with the CRS Trends Advisory Team, led by Brian Copeland, CRS, to develop the program. Copeland, who will also emcee the event, says this year’s Sella-bration® will focus on delivering a diverse set of topics. “The advisory panel had so many amazing topics to choose from. That, matched with our knowledge of trends to watch, has created a Sell-a-bration® like agents have never seen. Agents can expect to learn everything from generational marketing to economic trending to location-based marketing,” Copeland says.

Sell-a-bration® kicks off Friday, Feb. 18 with CRS Connect Workshops, a series of interactive sessions covering some of today’s hottest topics, including How Video Will Earn You More with Less Effort; Technology Tools That Make Money; Succeeding in Rapidly Changing Markets; Customers for Life; Leveraging Location-Based Technology To Grow Local Influence; The Lunch of a Lifetime; Online Reputation Management; Cloud Computing; Old School vs. Nu Skool; and What You Need to Know about Older Homes.

Check www.sellabration.com for the most up-to-date information.

Keynote sessions will be presented by renowned experts in technology, finance and marketing. Jeff Turner, president of Web development and consulting company Zeek Interactive, leads the keynote session Listening as Strategy, and tax guru Chris Bird will give an update on the latest tax laws in his session, How Do We Win in the Increasing Tax Environment?

Other general sessions will feature fast-paced panel discussions on technology in real estate and the best scripts and dialogues agents can use in specific situations.

Breakout panel sessions this year cover a range of topics sure to motivate and inspire agents. Confirmed sessions include Successful Real Estate Teams Using Technology Tools; Work with the Fastest Growing Pool of Buyers; Foreclosure Panel; Listing Power Panel; Negotiating Panel; Buyer Power Panel: Only You Can Make My Dreams Come True; 50 Websites in 50 Minutes; Bridging the Gap: Opportunities and Challenges in the Next Generation of Real Estate Panel; Listing Power Scripts; and Best REALTOR® Websites Panel.

Visit www.sellabration.com for speaker and panelist information about these and other breakout sessions.

The Council is also offering a pre-conference course, Positioning Properties to Compete in the Market, with Martha Webb, author and producer of Dress Your House for Success. The one-day course will be held Feb. 17 and is open to both attendees and nonattendees of Sella-bration®. Those who complete the course will earn one unit of elective credit toward the CRS Designation.

Of course, agents who attend Sell-a-bration® will have plenty of opportunities to network with their peers at the welcome reception Feb. 18 and the luncheon Feb. 19. Both events are included in the conference registration fee. A networking lunch planned for Feb. 20 will require a separate ticket.

Copeland calls Sell-a-bration® a solid investment, especially in these difficult economic times. “Of all the budget cuts an agent may have in 2011, Sell-a-bration® shouldn’t even be on the list. I recently heard a CRS from my home chapter in Tennessee say, ‘I love that our CRSs understand that in slower times, it’s time to build the knowledge arsenal.’ I’m confident this year’s program will return four-fold for those who apply what they learn,” Copeland says.

For details about Sell-a-bration® 2011 and to register, please visit www. sellabration.com or call 800-462-8841.

CRS Chapters Have a Heart

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RS chapters not only offer educational and networking opportunities for members, but also work hard to play a positive role in their communities. The Council’s annual Chapter With a Heart program recognizes these chapters for their charitable and humanitarian endeavors.

To qualify, CRS chapters must have donated at least $100 in cash or goods to a local charity between Sept. 1, 2009, and Aug. 31, 2010. This year, 46 CRS chapters and their members collectively donated more than $152,950, along with food and supplies. They also have devoted extensive time and energy to help others in their respective communities. Congratulations to the following Chapter With a Heart award winners: ALABAMA Offered time and expertise to ZeroMeth and Alabama Association of District Attorneys to pass new laws and educate the public about meth homes ALASKA $2,000 in cash, books and gifts to Kids’ Kitchen ARIZONA $3,465.55 to The Hearth Foundation ARKANSAS $1,234.27 to Arkansas Children’s Hospital CENTRAL VIRGINIA $2,149 to St. Joseph’s Villa and Central Virginia Food Bank COLORADO $1,736 for Home of Their Own project for Mesa Developmental Services DAKOTAS $192 to Women’s Resource Center and Watertown Humane Society FLORIDA $3,000 to R.O.C.K. Cancer kids program GEORGIA $750 to The Fisher House, GAR Scholarship Fund and Ronald McDonald House HAWAII ALOHA $20,231.08 to the Shriners Hospital for Children — Honolulu

IDAHO $600 to Habitat for Humanity ILLINOIS $2,179 to Habitat for Humanity INDIANA $2,822 to Riley’s Children Hospital and Damar Services IOWA $6,076 to Leukemia/Lymphoma Team in Training KENTUCKY $1,000 to Kids Against Hunger, Murray, Ky. LOUISIANA $129 plus school supplies and housing materials to Food Bank of Louisiana, Wellspring and Healing Hearts MAINE $195 plus four large bags of food to Preble Street Resource Center MARYLAND/DC $832 plus field trip for 25 children from J.O. Wilson Elementary School MASSACHUSETTS $838 to Angel Flight N.E. MICHIGAN Collected 59 pounds of pull tabs for Ronald McDonald House of Mid Michigan MID SOUTH $250 to Youth Villages MINNESOTA $9,600 to Ascension Place, Children’s Hospital & Clinics, and Hunger Solutions Minnesota MISSOURI $400 to Jackson P.D. and Cape Girardeau F.D. NEBRASKA $1,087 to Food Bank for the Heartland, Cooperative Ministries Council NEW JERSEY $1,325 to NJAR Education Foundation NEW MEXICO $53,722 worth of toys and other items to Barrett House, El Refugio Mission NORTH ALABAMA $2,325 to Be a Santa to a Senior NORTH CAROLINA $7,060 to National Alliance on Mental Illness NORTH FLORIDA $3,772 to Imagination Library Early Learning Center NORTHERN CALIFORNIA $2,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network OHIO $1,000 to Operation Buckeye OKLAHOMA $1,000 to Armed Services YMCA OREGON $1,495 to Oregon Food Bank, OAR Home Foundation

PENNSYLVANIA $1,346 to Multiple Sclerosis Society of Central Pennsylvania SIERRA NEVADA $3,000 to For Kids Foundation SOUTH CAROLINA $160 in cash and canned goods to Shepherd’s Gate (Greenville Women’s Shelter) SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA $6,422 to Habitat for Humanity SOUTHERN NEVADA $3,000 in scholarships to GLVAR, Clark County School District TENNESSEE $4,767 to Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Awareness TEXAS $22,090 to Warrior and Family Support Center at Fort Sam Houston TEXAS LONE STAR $8,407 to Any Baby Can, Salvation Army Texas, Presbyterian Night Shelter, Habitat for Humanity UTAH $2,764.81 to Camp Kostopulos VIRGINIA $679 in cash and $125 in kids’ winter accessories to Graham Road Elementary School WASHINGTON STATE $1,928 to Habitat for Humanity WISCONSIN $2,000 to Camp Hozhoni, Road Home Shelter WYOMING $180 to Rural Ambulance GPS Project

www.crs.com | 3 9

inside CRS

CRSs Nab Good Neighbor Awards

T 2010 REALTORS of the Year

®

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ongratulations to the 21 CRS Designees who were named the 2010 REALTORS® of the Year by their respective state REALTOR® associations.

ALASKA A. Janelle Pfleiger, CRS ARIZONA Holly H. Eslinger, CRS CALIFORNIA Stephen L. Goddard, CRS COLORADO Bob L. Brown, CRS CONNECTICUT Cheryl L. ScottDaniels, CRS GUAM Anthony Ray Godwin, CRS IDAHO Carrie A. Hasselbring, CRS LOUISIANA Lynda Nugent Smith, CRS MONTANA Donna Kostelecky, CRS NEBRASKA Jerry W. Ahlvers, CRS NEVADA Linda A. Rheinberger, CRS NEW MEXICO Sharon B. Hicks, CRS NORTH CAROLINA Margaret “Micki” Fisher, CRS OKLAHOMA Dennis Nevius, CRS OREGON Deborah Weaver, CRS PENNSYLVANIA Gregory S. Herb, CRS SOUTH CAROLINA David A. Burnett, CRS TENNESSEE Margaret Ann Dixon, CRS TEXAS Jane C. Caskey, CRS WASHINGTON Teresa Reynolds, CRS WISCONSIN John R. Flor, CRS

40 | January/February 2011

wo CRSs were named REALTOR® Magazine’s 2010 Good Neighbor Award winners.

The award is given to REALTORS® who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment of time and resources to help those in need and to strengthen their community.

Dave Philp, CRS, of Coldwell Banker Burnet Realty in Chaska, Minn., has supported Ridgeview Medical Center, a not-forprofit regional health care network, for more than 25 years. He has raised more than $3 million through annual golf tournaments and other events. The money raised has helped build a state-of-the-art birthing center, a neonatal care unit, a hospice home, a heart center and a scholarship fund to address the shortage of health care workers. “I knew that if we could build support for and awareness of the need for a center, the money would come,” Philp says.

Wendy Rocca, CRS, and her husband, John, who are with Century 21 Commonwealth in Watertown, Mass., founded Operation American Soldier in 2003 while their daughter was deployed in Iraq. After hearing from their daughter that some American soldiers were not receiving any mail from home, the Roccas started sending “cheer” packages and letters to soldiers serving in the Middle East and other foreign countries who otherwise would receive nothing at mail call. “Keeping the spotlight on our troops that serve our nation is our ultimate goal. The Good Neighbor Award will enable us to ship more ‘cheer boxes’ to our dedicated military men and women,” the Roccas say.

Personalize, Reproduce and Mail This Newsletter to Your Clients

Edit

Leave YOUR HOME as is, or personalize the newsletter by adding your photo, logo, address and phone number to the mailing panel.* You can also substitute any article in the newsletter with one of your own. Edit the newsletter ­electronically by downloading it at www.crs.com/magazine/your_home_ newsletter.shtml.

Reproduce

Do it yourself with your office copier, or take the newsletter or electronic file (in addition to your photograph and any information you want inserted) to a printer who can prepare and reproduce the newsletter for you.

Distribute

Mail. If you photocopy YOUR HOME or use it largely “as is,” please note that it is designed to be folded in a Z fold with the words YOUR HOME facing out on one side and the mailing panel facing out on the other side. Postal regulations require that Z folds have three closures (tabs or tape) — one on top in the center and two on the bottom. For your convenience, we have placed asterisks (*) where the closures should be. Be sure to check with your local mailer or post office to make sure you have prepared your mailings properly.

Electronic File. Attach the customized newsletter file to an e-mail to your clients or create a Web link to the file on your website. Consult your webmaster or technician to make sure the file is prepared correctly for these purposes, since these basic instructions will vary by person and system. * This newsletter is for the exclusive use of CRS members.

For a complete step-by-step guide to personalizing and ­reproducing the YOUR HOME newsletter, visit www.crs.com/ magazine/your_home_newsletter.shtml.

HOME *

YOUR T i p s

T r e n d s

t o

h e l p

m a x i m i z e

h o m e

b u y i n g

a n d

2011 s e l l i n g

Holiday Tidy-ings

Nursery School

he holidays are filled with traditions, but there’s one you’d probably rather skip: the holiday cleanup. Consider these tips to make the daunting holiday purge seem as fleeting as the season.

Wondering what to do with all those leftover holiday catalogs? Rip ’em up and use the shredded pages to pack away delicate ornaments and other holiday decorations safely and securely. If the tissue paper from all those gifts is too wrinkled to reuse, line boxes with it to keep your most precious items intact until next year. Use clear plastic cases to store decorations, while the backsides of old greeting cards make good labels to identify what’s in each box.

And what about storing all those extension cords and strings of lights? Wrap them around a gift wrap or paper towel roll to prevent tangling; bag and label with their corresponding extension cords so you know exactly what light goes where. Do the same for garlands. Consider boxing electronics by room or by type to help you avoid stuffing boxes with unrelated holiday knickknacks.

And last, invest in a tree bag to keep pine needles from spilling onto your living room rug or foyer floor. Before taking the tree out of its stand, remove excess water with a turkey baster to ensure that the floor stays dry.

ou want your nursery to be as special as the little one that’s on the way, but choosing décor for the baby’s room can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips to streamline the process.

First, choose your color palette. Experts recommend painting the room in a calming, cool color, such as deep blue, green or purple. And keep in mind that it’s cost-effective to choose a color that older kids would like as well, which will cut down on future repainting costs.

Overall, experts suggest matching the décor of the nursery to the rest of your home. If you have a living room and kitchen that feature lots of vibrant greens and blues, consider softer tones in the same color family for the nursery. Try to avoid reds; this is the first color (aside from black and white) that babies can discern and might be too harsh on an infant’s eyes.

Consider neutral walls — beige, white or taupe — accented with colorful furniture treatments that lend a youthful vibe without being too bold. Think painted doorknobs, dresser legs or even tabletops in primary colors.

Be sure to build in plenty of storage for extra diapers, toys and clothes. Experts recommend reserving open floor space to give your baby plenty of room to roam.

To add a personal touch, get creative and paint a scene from a favorite nursery rhyme on a blank wall — anything from Jack and Jill to Alice in Wonderland or Cinderella. Not so artistic?

Simply frame some illustrations, or the pages of the books themselves, and hang them in groupings on the wall.

Another idea is to consider adding monograms to the room.

By looking through design books, you might find a monogram that fits the mood of the nursery (contemporary rather than Victorian, for example) and paint it on the headboard of the crib, a tabletop or the wall to create an overarching motif for the room.

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Image Source/Photolibrary

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fast fact »

»»»»»»»

One home structure fire was reported every 87 seconds in 2009. Cooking is the most common cause of home fires and injuries.

B R O U G H T T O Y O U B Y Y O U R A G E N T, A M E M B E R O F T H E C O U N C I L O F R E S I D E N T I A L S P E C I A L I S T S

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hinking about remodeling, but don’t know which projects will give you the most bang for your buck? Check out the results of the latest “Cost vs. Value” report by Remodeling magazine.

One surprising — but fairly easy — change is to replace the garage door, which on average costs $1,291. According to the report, more than 80 percent of the cost is recouped during a resale.

Other renovations and remodels worth their price tag include a steel entry door replacement (102.1 percent cost recouped), a minor kitchen remodel (72.8 percent cost recouped) and replacing wooden windows (72.4 percent cost recouped).

For upscale projects, replacing fibercement siding reaps 80 percent of the initial cost, while replacing vinyl windows recoups just more than 70 percent of the initial cost. Big renovations you might think are worth it, but aren’t: master suite additions (52.7 percent of cost recouped), an additional bathroom (53 percent cost recouped) and a home office remodel (45.8 percent cost recouped).

The data from the past seven years show a downward trend in the overall cost-to-value ratio, which began with eroding home prices and a rise in construction costs, but is now largely due to a drop in resale values.

So what’s the bottom line? The report suggests that in terms of remodeling, it’s most profitable to concentrate on the exterior of the home than the interior.

Say Yes to CRS

referr ve

s! al

I Lo

Buying or selling a home can seem like an overwhelming task. But the right REALTOR® can make the process easier — and more profitable.

A Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), with years of experience and success, will help you make smart decisions in a fast-paced, complex and competitive market.

To receive the CRS Designation, REALTORS® must demonstrate outstanding professional achievements — including high-volume sales — and pursue advanced training in areas such as finance, marketing and technology. They must also maintain membership in the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and abide by its Code of Ethics.

Work with a REALTOR® who belongs among the top 4 percent in the nation. Contact a CRS today.

*

Do you know someone who is thinking about buying or selling a home?

DID YOU KNOW?

About 3 percent of pet owners give Valentine’s Day gifts to their fourlegged pals.

Please mention my name.

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be substituted for legal or financial advice.

If you are currently working with another real estate agent or broker, it is not a solicitation for business.

*

Todd Pearson/Getty Images

The Final Tally

inside CRS » » » » » » »

S E A R C H C O U R S E O F F E R I N G S B Y C I T Y A N D S TAT E AT W W W. C R S . C O M

CRS Classroom Courses CRS classroom courses earn either eight credits (for 100-level, one-day courses) or 16 credits (for 200-level, two-day courses) toward the CRS Designation. CRS courses listed below are from Jan. 15, 2011, to April 15, 2011. For more up-to-date listings, please visit www.crs.com/education/173.

APRIL 7 SAN JOSE, CALIF.

MARCH 14 – 15 TINTON FALLS, N.J.

Santa Clara County Association of REALTORS® 408.445.5085 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS, CRB

Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® 732.918.1340 Instructor: Gee Dunsten, CRS

CRS 200 — Business Planning and Marketing

CRS 201 — Listing Course

JAN. 19 – 20 LUTHERVILLE, MD.

Southern California CRS Chapter 949.766.2901 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS

CRS 111 — Short Sales and Foreclosures: Protecting Your Clients’ Interests

Maryland/DC CRS Chapter 410.575.5053 Instructor: Gee Dunsten, CRS

JAN. 27 BELLEVILLE, ILL.

FEB. 1 – 2 OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA.

JAN. 31 – FEB. 1 COSTA MESA, CALIF.

FEB. 3 – 4 PALM DESERT, CALIF.

Illinois CRS Chapter 309.579.2947 Instructor: Robert Morris, CRS, CRB

Oklahoma CRS Chapter 405.688.5555 Instructor: Robert Morris, CRS, CRB

California Desert Association of REALTORS® and the Southern California CRS Chapter 760.346.5637 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS

FEB. 9 WISCONSIN DELLS, WIS.

FEB. 8 – 9 ARLINGTON, TEXAS

FEB. 3 – 4 ST. PAUL, MINN.

Arlington Board of REALTORS® 817.701.2490 Instructor: Pat Zaby, CRS, CCIM

St. Paul Area Association of REALTORS® 651.287.3921 Instructor: Jackie Leavenworth, CRS

Wisconsin REALTORS® Association 800.279.1972 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS, CRB

www.crs.com | 4 3

inside CRS FEB. 8 – 9 WISCONSIN DELLS, WIS.

FEB. 3 EDINA, MINN.

Wisconsin REALTORS® Association 608.241.2047 Instructor: Jackie Leavenworth, CRS

Edina Realty 952.928.5778 Instructor: Pat Zaby, CRS, CCIM

FEB. 22 – 23 ATLANTA

FEB. 16 EDINA, MINN.

Georgia Institute of Real Estate 404.252.6768 Instructor: Jackie Leavenworth, CRS

Edina Realty 952.928.5778 Instructor: Pat Zaby, CRS, CCIM

APRIL 6 – 7 LUTHERVILLE, MD.

FEB. 17 EDINA, MINN.

Maryland/DC CRS Chapter 410.575.5053 Instructor: Gee Dunsten, CRS

Edina Realty 952.928.5778 Instructor: Pat Zaby, CRS, CCIM

CRS 202 — Sales Course

Outlook E-marketing Strategies

JAN. 19 – 20 HONOLULU Hawaii Aloha Chapter of CRS 808.733.7060, ext. 103 Instructor: Jackie Leavenworth, CRS

FEB. 10 – 11 WISCONSIN DELLS, WIS. Wisconsin REALTORS® Association 608.241.2047 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS, CRB

FEB. 28 – MARCH 1 CLIVE, IOWA Iowa Association of REALTORS® 800.532.1515 Instructor: Jackie Leavenworth, CRS

MARCH 15 – 16 BEL AIR, MD. Maryland/DC CRS Chapter 410.575.5053 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS, CRB

MARCH 30 – 31 RENO, NEV. Sierra Nevada CRS Chapter 775.817.7627 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS

APRIL 5 – 6 MEMPHIS, TENN. Memphis Area Association of REALTORS® 901.685.2100 Instructor: Jackie Leavenworth, CRS

APRIL 11 – 12 COSTA MESA, CALIF. Southern California CRS Chapter 949.766.2901 Instructor: Mike Selvaggio, CRS

CRS 204 — Wealth Building MARCH 29 – 30 PLEASANTON, CALIF. Northern California CRS Chapter 800.277.6003 Instructor: Chris Bird

Elective Classroom Courses Each elective classroom course is one day and earns eight credits toward the CRS Designation.

Discovering the Finance Difference

FEB. 2 EDINA, MINN. Edina Realty 952.928.5778 Instructor: Pat Zaby, CRS, CCIM

44 | January/February 2011

The New Negotiating Edge … A 5-Step Behavioral Strategy

FEB. 7 MALVERN, PA. Suburban West REALTORS® 610.560.4800 Instructor: Ed Hatch, CRS, CRB NOTE: Instructors listed on all courses are subject to change.

FEB. 10 WISCONSIN DELLS, WIS.

January/February 2011 Guide to Advertisers

Wisconsin REALTORS® Association 608.241.2047 Instructor: Mark Porter, CRS

Best Image www.number1expert.com/crs

Positioning Properties to Compete in the Market

Pillar to Post cover 2 www.pillartopost.com

FEB. 17 ORLANDO, FLA. Sell-a-bration 2011 800.462.8841 Instructor: Martha Webb ®

43

Terroir 44 www.terroir.com

RESOURCES • January/February 2011

residential The

Specia li s t

No Big Deal

Dream Team

Guiding Light

Mike Kelly Jr., CRS, Hickory Real Estate Group, mkellyjr72@gmail.com

Paul Balzotti, CRS, John L. Scott Real Estate, paulbalzotti@johnlscott.com

Diane Conaway, CRS, RE/MAX United, DianeConaway@remax.net

Sharon Simms, CRS, ALVA International, stpetefl@gmail.com

Marco LaPadura, CRS, Charles Rutenberg Realty, marcoanddavid@teammd.net

Retta Treanor, CRS, Big Valley Properties, retta@bvptrinity.com Sharon Yeary, CRS, Sharcom Realty, Sharon@SharonYeary.com

Jacque Neef, CRS, Homeland Realty, info@propertyinboise.com Laurie Sheinkopf, CRS, Realty Trust Residential, laurie21@earthlink.net

GiGi Gaubert Burk, CRS, Burk Brokerage Real Estate, gigi@burkbrokerage.com Pam Keen, CRS, Realty Masters of Florida, pam@pensacolarealtymasters.com Jennifer Kirby, CRS, Exit Realty Ventures, Jkirby@theluxuryagent.com

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CRS REFERRAL MARKETPLACE

C East Coast

Claire Bisignano Chesnoff

N.Y.S. Licensed Real Estate Broker, ABR, AHWD, ASP, BCREP, CHLMS, CRS, GREEN, GRI, SRES

Board Certified Real Estate Professional DIRECT: 917-974-2239 OFFICE: 718-524-4424 FAX: 718-524-8538

EMAIL: clairechesnoff@gmail.com

Serving the Real Estate needs of Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York www.claireproperties.com

Your referral source for the greater

Pittsburgh

ABR, CRS, SRES, GRI, CDPE

area

Serving Northern Virginia and the Dulles Tech corridor

Offices in Ashburn, Leesburg and Sterling Re/Max Select Properties, Inc.

703-999-6535 lisacromwell@remax.net www.LisaCromwell.com

I help clients make the Wright move Nancy Wright, ABR, CRS, GRI

RE/MAX Realty Brokers 5608 Wilkins Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 OFS: 412-521-1000 x170 CELL: 412-508-0040 nancywright@remax.net

SO U T H





    

    



 





SOUTH FLORIDA Greater Ft Lauderdale & the Palm Beaches

Ray Singhal

2010 CRS Agent of the Year

(954) 770-8083 SinghalFlorida.com Ray@SinghalFlorida.com Wieder Realty, Inc. Pompano Beach, FL

CRS, GRI, CDPE, ABR, SRES, SFR, CSSP, E-Pro, PhD

SO U T H W E ST

Plano, TX

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Mike Brodie, Keller Williams

Your dedicated and professional Realtor serving all of South Florida.

Realty-Broker/Owner; ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI, e-PRO, CLHMS

3600 Preston Rd., Ste. 100 Plano, TX 75093 Office: 972-599-7000 Cell: 214-808-4900 Email: Mike@mikebrodie.com Web: www.mikebrodie.com Fax: 972-599-1163

Gary Lanham

Serving: Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Plano, Dallas, Richardson Counties: Collin, Dallas, Denton Transnational Referral Certification Specializing in: Buyer Brokerage, Luxury Homes Sales, Residential Sales/Brokerage, Golf Course Communities Realtor since 1973

Broker Associate, CRS, CIPS

954.695.6518

www.GaryLanham.com

AUSTIN, TEXAS Kent Redding BROKER, GRI, CRS, ABR

The Kent Redding Group Prudential Texas Realty 512.306.1001 800.647.4711 kent@callkent.com www.CallKent.com “Unmatched REPRESENTATION and NEGOTIATION”

DALLAS

to your region from more than

Specializing in Dallas areas’ finest neighborhoods since 1992

Maribel Hill Realty

Highland Park • Frisco • Plano Richardson • Downtown • Southlake

Maribel Hill c: 214.727.5754 800.358.9093 mh@maribelhill.com www.maribelhill.com

Visit website for testimonials!

46 | Januar y / Febr uar y 2 0 1 1

BUILD REFERRALS

N A T I V E

CRS, GRI, e-PRO

36,000 CRS Designees and members with an ad in the Referral Marketplace.

Limited Space Available First Come, First Served Ask us about multi-issue discounts

Just call Kathleen Thomas at 202.721.1497

we s t c o a s t Seattle & the 'Burb's

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TEMECULA – MURRIETA RIVERSIDE & ORANGE COUNTIES

Serving Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell, Woodinville and their neighborhoods since 1983.

Voted Best in Client Satisfaction for several years by Seattle Magazine. I create a community for your clients.

“Everyone Likes Sara Lee!” SARA LEE PAULL CRS, SRES,e-PRO

Broker Associate (#00547900) Cell: 951-970-5211 Direct: 951-461-4611 saralee@saraleepaull.com saraleepaull@verizon.net www.saraleepaull.com

Barb Avery Broker, CRS, GRI, E-Pro, WCR, SRES Cell: 1-888-255-2272 Web: SeattleSuburbs.com Email: SeattleSuburbs@yahoo.com RE/MAX Eastside Brokers

Real Estate

H AWA I I

Canada

HAWAII Duke Kimhan

Principle Broker (R), CRS, ABR

c: 808.277.4677 w: 808.487.0777 www.dukekimhan.com dukekimhan@yahoo.com

REACH

more than 36,000 CRS DESIGNEES Build referrals to your region from more than 36,000 CRS Designees and members with an ad in the

Call Kathleen Thomas at 202.721.1497 to advertise

Referral Marketplace.

Limited Space Available • First Come, First Served • Ask us about multi-issue discounts

just call Kathleen Thomas at 202.721.1497 www.crs.com | 4 7

Ask a CRS | Advice from the country’s top Certified Residential Specialists

sell mate Q U ESTIO N : How has Sell-a-bration® helped you as a residential real estate agent?

IN OUR EXPERIEN C E . . .

“It has opened my business to new technologies and offers the best networking opportunities in the business. As I once overheard, ‘I come to Sella-bration® for the content; I go to other conferences to see friends.’ The knowledge and willingness of industry superstars to share their expertise validates my business model. This is a must for anyone who wants their business to grow.”

“Sell-abration® gives me great ideas to run my business and my marketing, and it enables me to network with other agents from around the country.”

Scott Colemere, CRS Colemere Realty Associates

“CRS continues to have highcaliber agents who are willing to share their best practices [at Sell-a-bration®], which cannot be beat anywhere. I always pick up three new ideas that I commit to my business. I am successful, and CRS is the stairway up.”

Salt Lake City, Utah

scott@colemererealty.com

Eva Sanders, CRS Meadows Group, Inc. REALTORS® Portland, Ore.

eva@sanderspresley.com

Richard Waystack, CRS Team Waystack Realty Harwich Port, Mass.

rwaystack@waystack.com

Sell-a-bration® 2011 will take place Feb. 18–20 in Orlando, Fla. Visit www.sellabration.com for details and registration information.

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Please submit real estate questions for “Ask a CRS” to Mike Fenner at mfenner@crs.com.

48 | January/February 2011