Among the changes I noticed was the inclusion of clause 30; “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE AS TO ALL THE TERMS OF THIS CONTRACT”.

In my 34 plus years in Real Estate this clause has appeared and disappeared in our contract iterations several times.  Most recently it was not part of the main contract but inserted in the various Jurisdictional addenda’s.  This got me thinking about how sales associates go about explaining this clause if their client asks, or holding to it.

We spend time reviewing and commenting on contracts, with stock words or phrases that should mean a lot to us – but oftentimes little, if anything, to our clients. Some of those words or phrases are absolutely essential; others have lost their impact over time. One of the latter is the phrase: “time is of the essence,” which Black’s Law Dictionary defines as, “performance by one party at [a] time or within [a] period specified in [the] contract is essential to enable him to require performance by [the] other party.”

So can we explain this? What does it mean in plain English? Well, by including this phrase it simply means that one party to a contract is automatically entitled to terminate the contract if the other party fails to perform upon the time and conditions specified in the contract.

And that’s important, right? Ok… let’s explore the possibilities.

Most lawyers I know dislike vagueness in any contract language and “time is of the essence as to all the terms of this contract” certainly qualifies. Inclusion of the phrase provides a judge with evidence of your intentions when you entered into the contract, but in and of itself, and without further specificity, this may not be sufficiently strong enough to support a verdict in your favor, if a contract problem ever gets that far. Given all that, I would encourage you not to rely too heavily on the simple existence of this stock phrase in your contracts. Instead be sure your requirements for performance are accurate, specific and time-constrained.

In practice, since no one ever wants to spend the time, money and emotional angst trying to prove their case in court, here are three recommendations to strengthen intent and give it some enforcement:

1. Clearly state your expectations – both time and quality, for performance or delivery. Do not fall victim to vagueness, either yours or that of your client. This will not serve either party well in the end.
2. Confirm that all dates and deadlines are accurate. Do not allow for assumptions, or performance, to be qualified as “best efforts.” You want the terms plain and clear to both parties.
3. Put on your judge’s hat. If it’s vague, or unclear to you, chances are, it would be to a judge as well. Step back from your contract and try to see it through a third party’s eyes.  Consider how a judge, months or years down the line, might interpret the language which documents this contractual agreement.

Know your contract, be accurate, be precise and be clear.

- Scott Avery, President, Avery-Hess Realtors

Find your home, Plan your life: www.averyhess.com

Much of this activity is generated by first-time buyers –  uncertain, but hopeful.

Rent prices, climbing. Home prices, stable. Interest rates, low.

A perfect mix of market conditions and circumstance. But these buyers are different. Cautiously optimistic, data-driven, and hungry for collaboration.

And these first-timers are OUT IN FORCE. 50% of buyers in 2010 were first-time homebuyers, up from 47% in 2009. An all-time high. And the projections for 2011 are even greater, with upticks between 3% and 5% expected.

On-Line, All the Time

This “new-breed” of first-time buyer is spending time on-line. A lot of time on-line. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2010 study of home buyers and sellers, on-line is definitely where it’s at:

…Buyers use a wide variety of resources in searching for a home: 89 percent surf the Internet, 88 percent use real estate agents… Although buyers also use other resources, they generally start the search process online and then contact an agent…

These buyers are researching homes. They are researching you. They are researching your Company. They are researching the area(s) they want to live in. They are researching market stats, market data and market conditions. And they want an agent who is an expert, not a hobbyist. First impressions mean a lot – and buyers – first-time or repeat – are many times creating their first impression on-line.

That said, it is critically important to remember that engagement does not start and stop with having an effective suite of on-line assets. After making the initial connection, substance is key. In fact, findings from the same 2010 NAR study point out that these same home buyers thought the most important services agents offer are helping find the right house, and negotiating sales terms and price. And this requires a deep knowledge of local market conditions, pricing trends and market health. In other words, a STRONG professional skill set.

So how do I engage this “new-breed” of first-time buyers?

Step one, know your market. Know the trends. Know your local communities – Intimately. Be the EXPERT. The resource the consumer craves.

Step two, get the on-line you in tip-top shape. On the web and the social sphere:

• Get your website up to snuff (a great example can be seen at www.meehanvirginia.com)
• Update your profile on your company website
• Pay attention to your social assets (Facebook, Twitter etc) – ensure the content is fresh, updated and relevant (www.Facebook.com/AveryHess)
• Refresh your LinkedIn profile. Turn it into your Real Estate resume. Add client testimonials. Tell your prospective clients Why they Should Work with YOU.

The signs of a Real Estate recovery are on the horizon. And first-time buyers are leading the charge. So let’s do our part. Let’s engage. Let’s collaborate. Let’s communicate.

And most of all, let’s help. Here’s to a terrific 2011.

-Amit

Find your home, Plan your life: www.averyhess.com

Are AVMs a good thing for the industry? A bad thing? Are they to be ignored?

If pressed for an answer, I think ultimately, AVMs are a good thing. Any tool designed to assist professionals in making more accurate judgments is never a bad thing in my opinion. This can be a win for consumers and professionals alike. However, I do not believe AVMs are quite the “game changer” that many predict.

The Real Estate Market and How it Relates

Yesterday I sat through a Wells Fargo training session on short sales and their impact on the local Real Estate market (Avery-Hess’ mortgage company is a joint venture with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage). This training session was not only one of the best I have ever attended, but a lot of the topics covered were very relevant to the context of this post.

There were a lot of facts and figures shared by our presenter, a Short Sale Regional Manager at Wells Fargo, but there were a couple statistics shared that were especially germane to the discussion about AVMs:

• About 36% of the market here locally is distressed inventory (short sales, REO etc.). Folks, that is a large number, with over 1/3 of the local inventory classified as “distressed.” But that’s nothing…
• …Because over 75% of the inventory in California is classified as “distressed” – that number is absolutely staggering.

This Real Estate, and subsequent economic downturn, has been deeper and more protracted than anyone could have predicted. Even though many indicators point to a stabilization and strengthening of our local market (this is relevant to the Washington DC Metro/Northern VA/MD region), distressed properties are going to be prevalent in our market for quite some time.

And accurate pricing and valuation are going to be critical for both the homeowners in need and the banks carrying the distressed assets on their balance sheets.

So what does this mean? How does this relate to the discussion about AVMs?

Our Wells Fargo presenter mentioned that AVMs are indeed utilized as part of the short sale remediation process. And he also mentioned that AVMs tend to be fairly useless when used to price these properties.

Interesting.

With all of the hype and hoopla surrounding AVMs, here is a high-level decision maker stating that there is a marginal, if any, benefit to the use of AVMs during the sale of his asset(s).

Why?

What if a neighborhood has an average sale price of $300,000, recent sale comps that support a list price of $290,000 – $310,000, an AVM that suggests a price of $303,000 – but a Real Estate professional, representing a homeowner in need during a short sale, submits a suggested list price of $175,000 in that very neighborhood?

Why? Why the low list price? Why when the AVM and comps generated through the on-line systems being utilized support a $303,000 sale price?

That’s because there is nothing normal or average about distressed properties. Properties and homeowners in need. What if there is structural damage to the home? Cosmetic deficiencies affecting the masonry and facade? Mold issues? The list can go on and on and on and on. And ladies and gentlemen, these are REAL ISSUES in today’s market. And tomorrow’s market. And the market for the next (insert number here) years. AVMs and on-line valuation algorithms alone are not going to cut it when there is nothing standard about this market, this industry.

And with over 1/3 of our LOCAL market comprised of these very properties that cannot be properly benchmarked and valued by an algorithm (I also contend that most properties – distressed or otherwise –  cannot be shoved through a computer model for truly accurate pricing), there needs to be something more. There HAS to be something more.

The Takeaway

These banks, Short Sale Managers, REO Asset Managers – and most importantly – Homeowners, are relying on Real Estate professionals to guide them, advise them. Help them make decisions that are not easy, but necessary. They are relying on the knowledge, expertise, cognitive reasoning, savvy and experience possessed by these professionals that cannot be provided solely by an AVM.

There is so much more to Real Estate than pricing through a valuation model. There’s helping people through difficult and emotional homeownership situations. There’s counseling your clients on the concerns associated with incomplete settlements. The importance of title insurance. The different types of title insurance. The merits of 203K financing and how this product has helped with purchase of many distressed properties. Again, this list could go on and on and on and on…

AVMs can be a good tool for consumers and professionals alike. In fact, they can be a great tool. But again, there is so much more to Real Estate than valuation and pricing; AVMs should not be the only tool used in the pricing an valuation process, rather, AVMs should be utilized as a starting point in the pricing and valuation process.

Ultimately, what really separates the wheat from the chaff in this industry – the professional from the hobbyist – is the application and implementation of the data generated by AVMs into an overall Real Estate experience that is far more complex than simply associating a price with a property.

-Amit

Find your home, Plan your life: www.averyhess.com

Yet, for many folks in our industry, it is still a big mystery on what “On-Line” means, let alone how to facilitate seamless integration of “On-Line” into their personal business model(s). Based on the electronic flotsam that gets delivered to my once sacrosanct inbox, I can see why. These are just three of the “invitations” I received this past week:

• Learn the 3 Most Effective Real Estate Ads to Run on Craigslist
• The Missing Piece of Your Social Media Strategy
• Welcome to the world of YouTube and Video on the Internet.

And this is just a tiny sampling of the dozens upon dozens of solicitations delivered to me every single week. A business could create a full-time position dedicated to just reading the solicitations and watching the webinars, implementation notwithstanding. There is just too much “On-Line” thrown at Real Estate practitioners on a daily basis. Too much from too many vendors selling too many products for any of it to make sense. It’s almost as if we are being force-fed On-Line “stuff” from a never-ending buffet of technological mediocrity. A buffet that satiates our social media appetite while leaving our Real Estate larder empty.

Lessons Learned from another Small Business

When not making me delicious double chocolate chip cookies and homemade minestrone, my mother-in-law Nancy spends her time running a successful small business. Much like many Real Estate agents she is a sole practitioner. Much like many Real Estate agents, she is fully dependent on herself to generate leads, service clients and generate revenue. While her business is one of database creation and administration on the FileMaker platform, she faces many of the same challenges we do in Real Estate; marketing and lead generation being one of them. So how does she do it? How was this woman able to raise 3 children, be a sole-supporter, and maintain a successful business for many, many years? It’s because she doesn’t watch webinars, read e-mail solicitations or depend on questionable third-party vendors to help define her business’ growth strategy. She has a plan and she sticks to it.

The Plan

1. Be the Expert: This is the most critically important part of Nancy’s business plan. Know her business inside out. Be able to talk FileMaker in her sleep. Attend training seminars and conferences dedicated specifically to improving her FileMaker skill set. And let me tell you, this woman IS an expert. I am of the mind if FileMaker did not exist, she would invent it. That’s how good she is.
2. Service Clients IMPECCABLY: Nancy’s clients LOVE her. Absolutely LOVE her. Even the difficult ones. Nancy makes sure that she doesn’t just have satisfied clients, she has clients that rave about her – clients that refer her additional business and new clients.
3. Have a Website: Nancy has a website, and it’s mostly there to deliver information to people who are interested in FileMaker. There isn’t any forced registration or fancy capture form – there is just a site that tells the visitor about the company, what they do, clients they service and how to get in touch with her should they want some more information. It’s not even a particularly good website, but it works. It works because a) Nancy is an expert and b) Nancy’s clients love her.

And this plan is working for her. Last week, over a meal of minestrone, sourdough and double-chocolate chip cookies, I recall Nancy sharing with me how someone contacted her while standing in the Apple store. This gentleman found her website (why it is so important to have a website), scanned her services and client list, and contacted her to discuss whether or not FileMaker would be a good fit for his company before he purchased it. After speaking with Nancy, he purchased it. And hired her. Why? Not because she had a sweet social media campaign, posted videos to YouTube and tweeted uncontrollably (in fact, she does none of that). It’s because she a) is an expert and b) her clients love her.

The Real Estate Takeaway

Instead of focusing on becoming Social Media “experts” (What does that mean anyway? Are we also experts at breathing and walking?), or Craigslist junkies, we as Real Estate practitioners should focus our energies and efforts on improving our core skill sets. Contracts. Negotiations. Valuations. Then we can can use messaging platforms such as a website, a blog, or Social Media to share our expertise with our clients and consumers as a whole.

Don’t get me wrong, I think on-line is important in Real Estate. Very important. Social Media can be VERY effective and great for your business growth. But losing sight of what it is that we truly deliver to our clients and consumers can be disastrous.

Remember, all the “On-Line” in the world won’t matter if a) you are not an expert and b) your clients do not love you.

-Amit

Find Your Home. Plan Your Life: www.averyhess.com

Yahoo for YAHOO!

Yahoo’s Real Estate Portal edged ahead of Realtor.com last month, ending a 3-year reign atop the list for Move Inc’s NAR backed juggernaut. According to HitWise, Yahoo garnered 5.9% of Real Estate traffic while Realtor.com saw its traffic drop to 5.74% of overall visits. Yahoo’s Real Estate platform seems poised for even more success as they push forward with a partnership with HitWise’s #3 Real Estate site Zillow.com (4.26% market share in August). The Yahoo!/Zillow partnership calls for Zillow.com to provide the listings feed for both on-line portals, and combined, the two will command over 10% of on-line eyeballs for the Real Estate category. But while Move, Yahoo! and Zillow jockey for supremacy in National Real Estate search, there is a tremendous amount of opportunity here locally, on two fronts. On-line and Off-line.

This is where it starts to get interesting.

The Local Opportunity: On-Line

5.9%. That’s a number to keep in mind. That’s the percentage of traffic sent to the #1 Real Estate site in the month of August. That’s a large number of eyeballs. But 94.1% of the rest of us used some other site to search for Real Estate. And in most cases, more than one other site to search for Real Estate. The truth of the matter is that on-line Real Estate search is very fragmented; Real Estate consumers utilize anywhere between 5-7 websites during their home search. Unfortunately, a lot of that fragmented traffic goes to myriad of large national sites replete with data latency issues and inaccurate information. Therein lies our local opportunity.

Many of the national sites experience data latency issues due to the lack of direct feeds from local MLS’ into their sites, which gives an inherent advantage to local brokerage sites because of what we have – accurate and up to date listing information. But here’s the problem. Most local Brokerage sites are terrible. Most also fail to provide a rich, deep consumer experience.

That’s where the national sites make their mark. They deliver deep, rich user experiences that have the consumer coming back for more.

But that’s changing.

Smart brokerages are creating sites that deliver accurate, up-to-date data along with rich user experiences (AveryHess.com is one of these sites, more to come as the year progresses). As Real Estate Brokerages get their on-line act together, local eyeballs will follow.  (Read a comprehensive analysis of the “Property Search Delta” by the Wav Group here).

To the Heart of the Matter: Off-Line

Here’s another number. 80%. That’s the percentage of business Realtors® acquired from their personal Spheres of Influence (SOI) in 2009. That percentage has remained relatively unchanged over the course of two decades. The Internet boom of the 2000′s and the ensuing emergence of on-line sites, on-line lead capture programs and third-party aggregators have had little to no impact on this number.

Consumers whet their appetite online; they still satiate their hunger through the 5 course Real Estate meal offered by local Real Estate professionals. And therein lies the off-line opportunity. Connect with consumers at a hyper-local level, and you offer something far more valuable than a fluffy user experience from an on-line aggregator or valuation model.

The jostling at the national level between Move, Yahoo! and Zillow will be interesting to watch, but for us here locally, it really shouldn’t have any bearing on how we conduct our business. Understanding each market at a hyper-local level, from pricing and market conditions to neighborhoods and local lifestyle is what the consumer craves, what the consumer expects from the professional they choose.

Couple that expertise with a local Real Estate broker who understands the importance of initial on-line engagement with the consumer, and WHAM! You have a recipe for not just local opportunity, but long-term local success.

-Amit

Find Your Home, Plan Your Life: www.averyhess.com

Applications that allow a user to check into a location, blaring their whereabouts to anyone who cares. The fact that there are huge personal security issues involved notwithstanding, the nagging question I can’t seem to shake is: As a Real Estate consumer, do I care?

Do I care if my agent checked into Chipotle? Or the car wash? Movie Theater? Starbucks? Anywhere?

I know my answer, and it’s a resounding NO.

It seems to me that every time something new is unleashed in the Social Media space, a wave of hype and sensationalism hits the Real Estate industry. A tidal wave. Of epic proportions. And Real Estate dives in headfirst, without understanding the practical uses, if any, of the application(s) whose virtues they espouse. It’s almost as if the introduction of a shiny new widget heralds the start of an unofficial Real Estate social media joust. “Facebook! Foursquare! Twitter! I am the best!” “No, I am the best!” the refrain is heard over, and over, and over, and over…

The reality is that most of this stuff has marginal (if any) value to helping Real Estate Professionals do their jobs better or more efficiently.

This post is a bit of a rant, I know.

But let’s not forget, that at its core, Real Estate is not a whimsical game tailor made for social media. Or an outlet for geo-tagging, commenting or expanding one’s reach into the social universe. At its core, Real Estate, and more specifically, an individual purchase or sale is at many times, a seismic, life-changing event involving hundreds of thousands of dollars for the parties involved.

Because of this, I am of the opinion that it is far more important for a Real Estate professional to have a deep well of local real estate knowledge. Down to the neighborhood and street level of markets serviced.

That it is critical for a Real Estate professional to know how to accurately price a property in order to get it sold, something that is far more complicated than the +/- 20%-25% accuracy provided to consumers by on-line valuation models (and as an aside, +/- 25% is not very accurate; one of the most popular on-line valuation models utilized by consumers has my home valued at more than $100,000 over what it could actually sell for).

That it is imperative for a Real Estate professional to have a thorough understanding of contracts, laws and procedures so that they can help navigate the often time complicated journey from contract to settlement.

I think these things are far more important than knowing if my agent is at Dunkin’ Donuts grabbing a cup of coffee, or if they have finally achieved the rank of fictitious mayor of a chain restaurant or retail shop.

You can have all of that nonsense. I will take a solid Real Estate professional and leave the four-squaring to children on the playground with a red bouncy ball and a bit of chalk on the pavement.

-Amit

Find your Home. Plan Your Life: www.averyhess.com

How is this different from existing geo-tagging sites?
Facebook Places not only allows users to check-in to places but also allows them to check-in friends that are with them and see other users that have checked-in to the same location.  Think of it like a Facebook photo tag, but of where you’re at right now.

How Do I “Check-In” to Places?
In order to use this new feature, you or someone who you’re with will need a smartphone.  Currently, the iPhone is the only smartphone with an “app” for Places.  With the others you’ll need to log in to the Facebook touch mobile site with a web browser that has geolocation and supports HTML 5.

What’s to Like About Places:
Attending a networking event? Want to see who’s already at a conference? This is a great way to find people that you might have missed connecting with if you didn’t know they were at the same location  Think of all the concerts, sporting events, and outings you’ve attended where after the fact someone goes “I was there too, would have loved to see you!”  This tool can help to make sure you don’t miss out on reconnecting or networking with friends and coworkers.

What You Might DISlike:
Many people like to stay connected for work but don’t want social media’s “big brother” like technology carrying over into their personal life.   With products like Foursquare you can control which places and who see you check-ins; but with Places, if you don’t set your privacy settings your location can be made public by others.  Eeek!  The feature does give you the option to “de-tag” yourself, the same way as you can with a picture tag, but this would mean you’d have to be paying attention to your Facebook account to know you’ve been tagged.

How can I Manage/Disable Places? Below you’ll find three easy ways to help you keep your “Places” private!

1) Setting Who Can See Your Check-ins:

• Click on the Account Tab located at the top right of your homepage, then click on “Privacy Settings”.
• Next, locate the blue text towards the bottom that reads “Customize settings.”  Click that.
  



• Here you’ll see a list of your privacy options for your Facebook page.
• Under the “Things I share” header, click the drop down menu next to “Places I check in to.”   Facebook has set the default to “Friends Only” but just like the other privacy features you can select “Custom” and chose exactly who does or does not see your check-ins.
  

2) Disabling Friends from Checking You in to Places:

• Under the “Things Others Share” category and click on the drop down menu next to “Friends can check me in to Places” and choose “Disabled.” With this setting in place, you are the only one that has the ability to share your location.
  

3) Disabling “People Here Now”:

• This feature allows ANY Facebook user that has checked in to a location to see all the other people that are checked-in there.  This list will include everyone, even if you are NOT friends.
• This feature should, by default, NOT be enabled by Facebook, but double check to make sure the box next to “Include me in ‘People Here Now’ after I check in” is not checked.
  

Still have questions?  Watch this video Facebook created to help explain Places and how to set your privacy settings.

-Kristin

But last week, I sat up and took notice. I learned about a piece of technology that has tremendous viability in the Real Estate space. Vyoo. Joel Burslem of 1000 Watt wrote a short post about this company on Thursday, and wow, did it impress.

An offshoot of recent Real Estate mainstay Postlets, Vyoo offers Real Estate professionals a way to quickly create property specific web pages tailored for mobile devices. And to up the technological ante even further, Vyoo delivers that property specific page directly to mobile devices via traditional URL or QR code. In fact, every property specific page created has a unique QR code generated that you can attach scads of pertinent data and information to on the mobile site.

And it’s EASY.

In fact, as a brand new user of Vyoo, my first time out, it took me less than two minutes to set up a listing page from scratch (I do not actively list and sell, so I utilized a property listed by one of our Avery-Hess agents to test the system).  Other than a couple of issues I had with having the Vyoo template grab photos, it worked beautifully. But the part that impressed me the most was the implementation of the QR code.

By simply scanning the barcode with your QR code scanning app (available on most smartphones – I used Blackberry Messenger v 5.0.1.38 to scan the QR code) it opens up the mobile site chock full of information, immediately (seriously, try it with your mobile device on this QR code, you’ll see).

The potential here is immense. Tremendous. As Joel stated in his post, it could kill the traditional listing flyer. I’ll take it one step further. I think it’s like a listing flyer on steroids. And HGH.

There is so much more that these QR codes can deliver content-wise than a listing flyer could ever hope to. Walkscores. Local school information. Recent sales. Market conditions. Percent of list price to sale price in a neighborhood and how it correlates to that specific property.

REAL TIME.

This is important. With almost 50 million users (and growing) of smartphone devices in the United States, QR codes may be here to stay. In fact, google’s Android phones, which did not exist a year ago, now command over 17% of the US smartphone market – a staggering rate of growth in a year’s time. And there’s Real Estate precedent for the usage of QR codes. QR codes are used heavily in Japan and the Japanese Real Estate market. And they can be used for so much more than marketing a listing. Business cards, websites, anything you can dream up online can be attached to a QR code. In my opinion, Vyoo’s Real Estate offering of mobile ready sites, QR codes and ease of use is just the beginning – a great beginning.

-Amit

To learn more about Vyoo, visit them at http://Vyoo.it

Find your home. Plan your life. www.averyhess.com

In response, Facebook has launched new privacy settings that give users significantly more control over their personal information.  Not only do users have more control, but these controls are also a lot simpler. The changes focus around three things: a single control for user’s content, more control for user’s basic information and easy ways to control and turn off applications.

In Real Estate, these security settings are important for us, and for our business. These settings will allow us to better control our brand messaging, and to separate our personal information and posts from our business/professional content and posts.

Facebook is introducing these changes in phases to the 400 million plus users.  When the changes are activated on your account a message will appear on your home screen alerting you of the new settings.  Click the link to find out more and view your settings. If you’ve already seen this note and “X’d” it, you can access the new settings by clicking on “My Account” and then choosing “Privacy Settings”

You’ll notice right away the settings page has been redesigned and is much simpler to navigate.  With one click you can set up a broad based privacy setting just by deciding if you want to share all your content with “Everyone”  “Friends of Friends” or just “Friends.”

Already have privacy settings in place and want to review or update them or have total control over your content? Just click on “Custom” (then click on “Customize Settings”) and you can decide on each piece of content individually.  This choice is the most complex of choices, but gives you the most options.

Want to pick and choose who can see what but don’t know where to start.  Click on “Recommended” (which personally Idon’t recommend) and Facebook will give you their suggested settings to use.  I’d only suggest using this setting if you are comfortable sharing a large amount of profile information with “Everyone.”

The BEST part about the new settings– once you set up these controls they will apply to all new products launched by Facebook, keeping YOU in control of your information and what is being shared.  Hooray!

The new settings page also provides you with easy to find links where you can edit what basic directory information you share, block people or block applications.  You can turn off the “instant personalization” application (allows Facebook to share your information with their third party partners) under the “Applications & Website” section.

Still need a little more guidance?  Click on “Learn More” under the “Controlling How You Share” icon and Facebook will break down the options even further.  Facebook also created a Fan Page for “Facebook & Privacy.”  You can “like” this page and have updates they post included in your news feed.  Avery-Hess Agents also remember that I’m just a call or quick visit away to help you out if you ever have questions or need assistance.  Happy & Safe Facebooking!

- Kristin

A storm approaches.

It makes landfall just before dawn. Cold, bitter winds drive the storm inland. Real Estate birds are driven from their perches, jarred by the approaching tempest. Taking flight, they twitter vociferously about anything, everything. Wave upon wave of fan pages crash upon the shore, unleashing their fury upon the berms of relevancy. The blogosphere is buffeted unrelentingly; unfiltered messaging rains down from the heavens, over-saturating the once fertile soils of digital possibility. Night turns to day. Day turns to night. The storm rages on, fury unchecked.

All hope seems to be lost.

Just as despair sets in, something twinkles in the distance. Upon the far horizon, a glint appears. The winds calm, the torrent slows. A shaft of light penetrates the gloom. The skies clear, casting illumination upon the landscape.

The view isn’t pretty.

What started out as an idyllic, focused outreach has been blasted into a mish-mash of abbreviated thoughts and useless information; unintelligible shards jettisoned carelessly into the social space.

The Reconstruction

Last week, I met with a couple agents to discuss their marketing strategy. I sat with them independently, and listened to their outreach efforts, communication vehicles and implementation plan. Their strategy, and uncertainty on implementing that strategy, were eerily similar. Both agents were thrust directly into the Social Media maelstrom armed only with the questionable rhetoric espoused by vendors and various Social Media Marketing “classes.”

In the case of both agents, there seemed to be a lack of a clear understanding on what exactly they wanted to accomplish, and how to accomplish this as of yet undefined objective.

The focus for both of these agents, and for many others in Real Estate, was to Twitter, Facebook, E-Mail and Blog unrelentingly, without any consideration towards messaging or intent. To create their own unfiltered Real Estate messaging tempest, close their eyes, and hope for the best.

We took a step away from the precipice, paused, and took a deep breath.

And then we crafted a strategy, a strategy based on content. Good content. Great content. Relevant content. Content that meant something to the recipient. Timely content. Content delivered appropriately on the correct messaging vehicle. We talked at length about balancing messaging in the social space with personal outreach and traditional marketing. We talked about the seamless integration of on-line and off-line messaging. We revisited the importance of personal outreach in Real Estate. We discussed how it is far more important to have a consistent, clear, relevant message with focused delivery as opposed to an inconsistent message delivered across numerous channels to people who don’t care.

Together, we were able to create a clearly defined, and focused, content strategy. A strategy that gathered up and coalesced the disjointed shards of information in the social space to create consistency. A strategy built to withstand even the most furious assault from the unrelenting Real Estate social media tempest.

-Amit

We’ve got a content strategy, and we can help you get one too:

Web: www.averyhess.com
Blog: www.averyhessblog.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AveryHess
Twitter: @Avery_Hess