Capture Client Reviews Online

03/18/2014 at 3:35 pm  •  Posted in Client Marketing, Dream Blue, How To, Real Estate Agent, Social Media, Technology by Blog Team  •  0 Comments

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By Alicia Eisenbise, Social Media Specialist, Twitter: @aliciaATcb
Your clients loved you! Now capture their reviews online. 
79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.* That’s an impressive number! Are you taking full advantage of sites like Zillow, LinkedIn and Trulia for online reviews? One way you can is to create an email to send to clients immediately after your transaction requesting they review you. Make sure to include links to the online review sites you prefer.
Here are a few:

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great place to put reviews because it is a professional network that is generally thought of as being a very legitimate resource. First, hover your cursor over your profile photo in the top right corner of the page, then select ‘Privacy & Settings.’ Click ‘Manage your Recommendations’ in the middle of the screen, then click ‘Ask for Recommendations’ and fill out the form. Now wait for reviews to roll in! Click here for more detailed instructions.

Zillow

Zillow has a 5-star rating system for each agent along with testimonials. In order to leave a review, a client will need to have or sign-up for a Zillow account. You can request reviews by logging into your Zillow profile and clicking ‘Request a review.’ Zillow will give you three options of how to email your clients. Click here for more detailed instructions.

Trulia

The great thing about Trulia is that you can round up your recommendations and put them ALL on Trulia. This includes everything from handwritten reviews to testimonials on other websites like Zillow, LinkedIn or your own website. Just login, go to ‘Recommendations’ and click on the ‘Add’ tab. Type or copy and paste the recommendation in the field, enter the client’s name and email and click ‘Request verification.’ Click here for more detailed instructions. The client will be sent a short email and they will NOT be asked to sign in or create an account. When they respond, your review will go live!

Click here to download the Social Media Digest PDF.

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Blog Team

Contributions to this blog come from our dedicated Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage real estate professionals and our regional service center staff. We welcome your comments and questions!

Still Cheaper to Buy Than Rent

03/24/2014 at 4:14 pm  •  Posted in Buying a Home, Dream Blue, Real Estate Advice, Real Estate News, Real Estate Trends, Tips by Blog Team  •  0 Comments

By Dick Greenwood, Director, Builder Marketing
Jed Kolko, chief Economist of Trulia released a research study the last week of February, 2014 which showed that in most of America it is cheaper to buy than rent. The study showed that in Chicago, it is 47% cheaper to buy than rent. The St. Louis market is 54% cheaper to buy than rent. And in Milwaukee, it is 51% cheaper to buy. Trulia research compared the costs of owning and renting, assuming buyers got a 4.5% mortgage rate on a 30-year fixed rate loan with 20% down, itemize their federal tax deductions and are in the 25% tax bracket and will stay in their home for seven years.
Under these assumptions, buying is 38% cheaper than renting nationwide, taking into account all the costs and proceeds from buying or renting over an entire seven year period. Buying a home remains cheaper than renting in all of the 100 largest metro areas. One might ask how is this possible with mortgage rates increasing? Two points: the mort-gage rates are still historically low and secondly, rents in most markets have risen sharply.
The rent vs. buy math differs across the United States since local markets have their own normal levels of prices and rent. Two very significant local variables are property taxes and home price appreciation. Considering all the variables, buying ranges from just 5% cheaper than renting in Honolulu to 66% cheaper than renting in Detroit. Buying is a tougher call in the most expensive markets in California and New York. However in most markets, buying beats renting until mortgage rates hit 10.6%, then renting becomes cheaper than buying.
I know some are thinking what if I don’t live in the home for at least seven years and I don’t itemize my tax deductions. In these cases, the gap between buy vs. rent gets small-er and smaller until it starts to tip toward renting. Most experts dismiss this by saying you should never look at the house as a short term investment (less than 5 years), housing is a long term investment.
One thing I like about the Trulia study is that they used a very conservative annual home price assumption that ranges between 1.7% and 3.1% depending on the metro. They did not take the 12% increase we saw in 2013. Jed Kolko said it best when he said “If the last bubble taught us anything, its that excessive optimism about future home prices can lead to foolish decisions and heartbreak.”

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Blog Team

Contributions to this blog come from our dedicated Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage real estate professionals and our regional service center staff. We welcome your comments and questions!

Creative Ways to Get the Winning House Bid

08/05/2014 at 11:05 am  •  Posted in Buying a Home, Dream Blue, How To, Real Estate Advice, Tips by Blog Team  •  0 Comments

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In today’s real estate market, home buyers can expect to face multiple offer situations. Knowing a few tricks of the trade can make the difference between walking away disappointed and purchasing the home of your dreams at a fair price. Consider these tips that will grab a seller’s attention:

Show them the money.

Offer the highest price you can and make a large down payment. Up the amount of earnest money you’re willing to deposit. Better yet, a cash offer will stand out.

Get preapproved, not just prequalified.

Attach a copy of the preapproval letter to your offer. Make as large a down payment as you can and provide documentation showing the source of your down payment.

Be Flexible.

If you are aware of any stipulations that are of significant importance to the seller, try to accommodate them as much as possible, especially the closing date. They may need more time, or want to move quickly.

Write a love letter.

Sellers often like to feel good about the people who will eventually live in their home. Attach a letter along with your offer, and maybe even a photo of your family, explaining why you want to live there.

Cover seller costs.

Sellers often cover transfer taxes associated with the sale. Consider asking the seller to pay only a portion or none of the closing costs.

Make an offer they can’t refuse.

Still do a home inspection, and have a contingency that allows you to walk away.  But, if there are minor repairs needed, the sellers will know they won’t have additional costs to fix up the home before closing.

Be likeable.

Don’t turn off the seller by being demanding or critical of their home. Some sellers may eliminate your offer even if it is for more money. Always be cordial and as agreeable as the situation

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Blog Team

Contributions to this blog come from our dedicated Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage real estate professionals and our regional service center staff. We welcome your comments and questions!

Coldwell Banker 2015 Real Estate Market Updates on YouTube

Check out 2015 current Coldwell Banker Real Estate Market Updates on Various Southeastern Wisconsin and Surrounding Areas by Clicking HERE

ColdwellBankerOnline.com Increases Online Traffic Over a Year

03/30/2012 at 9:20 am  •  Posted in Buying a Home, Dream Blue, Real Estate Advice, Real Estate Agent, Real Estate News, Technology, Tips, Uncategorized by Blog Team  •  0 Comments

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Last year, we made major updates to our local site, ColdwellBankerOnline.com.
We still make changes and upgrades on a regular basis, and the numbers continue to show that. Below are some highlights from February.

• Compared to February of last year, our visitors to ColdwellBankerOnline.com have increased dramatically.
• The driving factor behind this is that our organic (search engine optimized) traffic from Google has grown by over 100% year over year!
• Our mobile traffic continues to show huge growths year over year, and February was our largest month for mobile traffic yet (making up over 19% of our total traffic).

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Blog Team

Contributions to this blog come from our dedicated Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage real estate professionals and our regional service center staff. We welcome your comments and questions!

 

Don't forget to visit my personal Coldwell Banker webpage by visiting www.jenniferhupke.com

Positive Signs in the Houseing Market

05/12/2014 at 11:10 am  •  Posted in Dream Blue, Listing Marketing, Luxury Homes, Real Estate Advice, Real Estate Agent, Real Estate News, Real Estate Trends, Uncategorized by Dick Greenwood  •  0 Comments

A headline saying “Housing Down for the Last 3 Months” conveys a negative thought and does not convey a true picture of the housing market. If the paper printed all the facts, the public would have a totally different perspective on the market. Here are a few facts that should be presented.
First, prices are still increasing, not at the same rate as 2013, but at a rate that almost all economists say is a healthier 4.3%. Volume may be down, but values are up.
Secondly, according to Realtor.com, the number of homes for sale and the amount of time they have typically been on the market have both increased. These are “welcome signs” for the spring buyers. The larger amount of inventory and slower selling times could make homes more affordable in some markets and reduce the frequency of bidding wars.
Third, the spring buying season in the Midwest and Northeast has been pushed back by the weather. Chicago for example had the third snowiest winter in history with many storms coming on the weekends. I know what you are thinking; weather would not deter a home buyer. I can positively say that it does. After 30 years in the new home market where we tracked daily traffic coming into the models, along with the weather, we know that even a little rain keeps people away.
Fourth, we now have job growth and household formations, both of which were on the back burner during the recession. Whenever we have job growth, population growth and growing household formations we have housing demand. Currently, the strongest housing markets are the same ones that have job growth. Chicagoland created 55,000 jobs last year—housing will follow this year.
Fifth, Doug Duncan, SVP and Chief Economist at Fannie Mae reported “compared to last year, consumers are less pessimistic about their personal finances, and more optimistic about the current selling environment and their ability to get a mortgage.” This positive consumer mindset will continue to drive the market.
Sixth, over the last six years, a common thought was that homeownership had lost some of its allure as a financial investment. The Federal Reserve did a study to see if this is true. Here is what they found. A homeowner’s net worth is over thirty times greater than that of a renter. The average homeowner has a net worth of $174,500 while the average net worth of a renter is $5,100.

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Dick Greenwood

Director, Builder Marketing at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage