REALTOR® WEEKLY UPDATE
Weekly Update on PGPCNPREALTORS.com
September 3rd, 2009
To view this newsletter online, please click HERE.
Breaking News!
Last Call for GOLFERS – Limited Team Slots are still available. September 12th, Kingsway Country Club. The Association of REALTORS® 3rd Annual Golf Tournament to support our High School Scholarship Fund. This is a great opportunity to hit the links for a good cause and enjoy a day on one of Southwest Florida’s most beautiful courses. Just a few slots available for teams to play and Business Partners sponsors, please email David-Logan@comcast.net for more details. Download the flyer to sign up your team HERE or for sponsorship information, click HERE.
Interested in GRI, how does HALF PRICE SOUND? Do not miss out on this LIMITED TIME OFFER, ONLY 1 MORE MONTH! FAR is offering for a SHORT TIME only, the GRI 1 on-line for half price ($150 rather than $300). The Online format means that you have 90 days to complete the course, work at your own pace, attend from home, office, boat, poolside or anywhere you can get an internet connection. Course also counts for 11 Hours of CE Specialty Credit (everything except core law) OR 45 Sales Post-License credit. This is an amazing opportunity that should not be passed up! Also, our Association will be providing the opportunity for all on-line participants to engage in an on-line user group which will meet to discuss questions that you may have and hear from special guest speakers who will help combine the on-line content with real-world experience. Email David-Logan@comcast.net for details.
How to Run a Consumer Friendly Realty Website – There are still a few seats available in this afternoon’s website class with Craig Grant, President of EasyRealtySites.com. This class qualifies for 3 hours of Florida CE Credit. Thursday, Sept 3rd 1-4pm. Free for Passport Members or $15 for Non-Passport. Why is it that over 82% of real estate leads these days come from the Internet and yet, a high percentage of Realtors® still don’t have a website and of the ones who do, very few understand it well enough to generate business and/or success from it? The “Run a Consumer Friendly Realty Website” class is intended to help any Realtor® who already has a website (with any company) and wants it to perform better or agents’ who are interested in getting a website but want to be more educated about it. This course teaches all of the essentials of website ownership in a fast paced, yet fun & easy to follow environment. Click HERE for more course details. Email David-Logan@comcast.net as soon as possible to RSVP. Refreshments provided courtesy of Kevin Graham of Integrity Risk Management.
September General Membership Meeting – Mark your calendars for September 25th 12pm, our next General Membership Meeting here at the Association of REALTORS®. Come enjoy a Free Lunch from Wood Street Grill generously provided by Brian Chapman of State Farm Insurance and drinks by Patriot Self Storage. We will be given a demonstration of the brand new Blue Dasher program which will be an added available feature in the MLS, giving you the opportunity to take a virtual driving tour of our area and see a listing’s neighborhood before you drive out to see it in person. Also there will be some exciting information on new benefits provided by your Association. You do not want to miss this meeting. Due to the catered lunch an RSVP is required, email Linda Pizarro at l.pizarro@comcast.net today to reserve your seat.
FREE BlackBerry/SmartPhone Advanced Class – Our next FREE BlackBerry/SmartPhone course will be offered on September 17th from 1-2:30pm courtesy of our local partners at Verizon Wireless Zone. This course will focus on phone applications and features and will be a great opportunity to learn how to maximize the use of your existing phone. Presenters will also have an assortment of phones on hand to demonstrate various features and will be glad to help you with individual problems and questions. If you are looking to purchase a smart phone in the future, this is a great opportunity to see an assortment of options before you purchase. Also, if you have a BlackBerry, our local Verizon Wireless Zone partners have developed an FREE App which will take you directly to MFR’s MLS site without having to open your web browser and type in the address. To get this FREE App, email Chris Pizzolato at chrispizzolato@yahoo.com
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK!!
Karen Rolland, President
My fellow REALTORS and Members,
What a whirlwind of activity has been taking place in this market and at our Association! Your MLS Board of Directors and the Association Board of Directors met yesterday and we have some exciting announcements coming up in the near future so stay tuned….
If you missed the Early Bird News announcements from FAR or haven’t visited www.floridarealtors.org lately, I am pleased to announce that the Florida Association of REALTORS® has adopted a new name for marketing purposes. The new name is FLORIDA REALTORS®. Florida Association of REALTORS® will continue to be the legal name but the DBA (doing business as) has been adopted for use in all marketing materials to the public. The reasoning is that it really says who we are and brings home the point that we are REALTORS® located in Florida. For the first time, we (as a state) will have a logo and you will begin to see the new presence in advertising, on the products, and on the website. Your Board of Directors has decided to follow suit and will be using the DBA of Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte-North Port REALTORS®. As far as we know, we are the first Association to take that posture. Another change made by FAR was to change the titles of some of the administration staff to better reflect their positions in the organization. We, as your Association leadership, have also decided to make some changes to better reflect the position and authority of Linda Pizarro. Her new title is CEO, Chief Executive Officer, of our Association. For the inquiring minds, no, this is not a salary increase, just a title change.
I am also pleased to report that our numbers for the past month were once again positive and all indications are that we are finally in a firm recovery mode from the market we have had for the past few years. I hope that you are all benefiting from the increase in activity and are ready for the season. As this happens, I would like to see everyone keep in mind that your listings need to be ACCURATE and COMPLETE. Just because a field is not “required”, you should still provide as much accurate information as you can. You are doing a disservice to your customer and your fellow agents by not providing accurate or complete information. Eventually, you earn a reputation and it may not be a good one. The same goes for the good ole common courtesy of making appointments (even though the property may be listed as VACANT) or by not providing feedback. We are all in this together folks, so please exercise some common courtesy. If you don’t provide feedback to others, eventually they won’t provide it to you, so who did you hurt? Yourself and your customer and what goes around, comes around.
Our next General Membership meeting is scheduled for September 25th and so far we have a great program shaping up. Jennifer will be with us from My Florida Regional to introduce the new BLUE DASHER service and we have a couple of surprises lined up for you. So mark your calendars now for noon and please plan to attend.
On that note, have a great week and happy selling!
Education Corner
All courses below are FREE to Education Passport members! Non- Passport Members – see details for cost.
Red Flags on the Waterfront: Due Diligence for Coastal & Waterfront Property 9am-11am September 17th - w/Attorney & Waterfront Expert David Levin-FREE. Click HERE for details.
Shift Tactics: Are you learning to deal with a changing Real Estate Market? Would you like to learn how to shift gears by “bulletproofing the transaction” and “pricing ahead of the market”? DO NOT MISS Top Rated speaker Nikki Ubaldini who will present “Tactics to Success in a Shifting Market” based on the best-selling book “Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times”. Nikki is a highly rated speaker on the state and national level and has been recommended by many of our local members, so you do not want to miss this opportunity to hear from her. September 16th from 10am – 2:30pm including a Free Lunch compliments of Jim & Jean Green of Bank of America. Class is FREE to education passport members and $15.00 for non-passport members. RSVP to david-logan@comcast.net to register.
Market to the World on a Shoestring Budget: Come experience how you can reach out to the world on a shoestring budget with technology expert Barry Grooms. Topics include Web 2.0, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogging, Postlets, Listing Syndication, and Google for Grownups. October 22nd 9am – 12pm. Class is FREE to education passport members and $15.00 for non-passport members. RSVP to david-logan@comcast.net to register.
FREE Hands-On MLS Training! Courses include “Design Web Page & Capture Leads”, “iMapp: interactive tax and mailing labels”, “Tools: MongoFax, RatePlug, ShowingTime and MLX Wireless”, “Creating a Professional CMA”, and “MLXChange Advanced” and more. Classes are HANDS ON with laptops provided. Click HERE for class schedule, additional details and to reserve a seat, space is limited!
Looking to Improve your Public Speaking or Leadership Skills? - Come join us for our next meeting of Toastmasters International on Wednesday from 7:30am – 8:45am, there is no cost to attend the meeting and you are not obligated to join, come see what this is all about. The club is open to REALTORS® and Non-REALTORS®, so invite your friends, neighbors, or co-workers. You will have the opportunity to see what a meeting is like and discover how Toastmasters can help improve your communication and leadership skills and network with other professionals. Remember, good communication skills are the keys to success in business and real estate! For more details or to RSVP for the meeting, please email David-Logan@comcast.net you can read more about Toastmasters on the web at www.toastmasters.org
Where in the World Is…..
The following agents can now be found at…
Brad Bishop – Jill Brouwer Realty
Clive Hollin – A Team Realty
Kevin Weise – Realty Executives Mainstreem
Welcome new business partners
Ted Morgan – Professional Home Inspection Services
Market Watch
Decoding REALTOR® Designations – If you're new to real estate, you may not realize that a REALTOR® with a CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist) designation is trained to help foreign buyers, or that a CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) focuses on commercial and investment real estate. In order to serve your clients and advance your own career, it's important to know the meaning of these professional designations and to earn the ones you'll need. For a list of REALTOR® Designations, click HERE.
Buy vs. Rent? - To determine whether it makes more sense to rent or buy in the current economic climate, experts encourage people to examine the price-to-rent ratio, or the average cost of purchasing a house divided by a year’s worth of rent payments. The ratio reached 24.7 in 2005, according to Economy.com, meaning that individuals could spend 24.7 years in a rental for what it would cost to buy a house. The ratio has fallen to 17.4, and Economy.com notes that the historical average since 1986 is 16.5. For the full story, click HERE.
2009 Florida International Homebuyers - International home buyers make up a significant part of the Florida real estate market, and are an important part of many Florida Realtors®’ businesses. According to a study conducted for the Florida Association of REALTORS® (FAR) by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), a majority (54 percent) of Florida REALTORS® worked with an international client within the past 12 months. The typical Florida REALTOR® participating in the survey worked with three international clients; 10 percent of respondents worked with 11 or more international clients in the past year. Read the full story and find more information by clicking HERE.
REALTOR BENEFITS® Partner with HP - The National Association of REALTORS® is pleased to announce that Hewlett-Packard Company is now a partner in the REALTOR Benefits® Program, providing REALTORS® with special savings on HP’s business product line. Through this program, members will receive free US ground shipping and save up to 16% everyday off the internet list price. Additionally, HP will make available special, limited time offers that will provide significant savings to REALTORS®. NAR members must purchase HP products through the NAR purchase website or via the NAR 1-800 phone number in order to take full advantage of the featured offers. To Learn More: Call 1-800-888-8177 and mention NAR1 or visit www.hp.com/go/nar1
MLS TIP OF THE WEEK
For Two More Weeks Only - RealBiz360™ is waiving the one-time $25 upgrade fee for the VuVista™ Suite of services. This includes unlimited high resolution virtual tours, slide shows, YouTube iVuVideos, Email Prospect Management, AnnounceMyListing, Express Copy, Full Customer Support, and much more, all for only $5.00 per month. For more details on these services, please click HERE for detailed information and take advantage of this $25 savings before September 16th. This is just another of the member benefits provided through MFR, “The Tools you need…The Tools You’re Looking For”.
Real Estate Trivia
This Week’s Question
Question: What is the most unique home that you have ever seen; a house shaped like a plane, or one looking like a shoe? How about homes shaped like toilets, domes, cubes, and other odd shapes?
Answer: click HERE to check out some of the most unusual homes from around the world.
Last Week’s Question
Question: Understanding the role that gut instincts play in buyers’ and sellers’ behavior can help you build trust and win their business, says communications expert Kare Anderson, who writes and speaks on the topic. Do you have the keen eye and ear needed to know what your clients are feeling?
Answer: click HERE to take a quiz, developed by Anderson, to find out.