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If you are a real estate agent, you have uttered the less than memorable phrase, “Please tell your friends about me.” But the question that you need to ask is why should they?

Seriously, did you go that extra mile in marketing, consultation, or execution that would make you memorable? For someone to talk about you to their friends you have to be special, and that is either way.

Years ago I was in the restaurant business and we had a golden rule. If someone has a good meal and time, expect them to tell one friend. If someone has a terrible meal or experience, they will tell 10 people. It takes a truly exceptional experience for your clients to evangelize for you.

Seth Godin has a post today talking about word of mouth marketing and why it sometimes does not happen. Give it a read and think about how your level of service can rise above the crowd and compel your clients “tell their friends about you.”

First, understand that people talk about you (or not talk about you) because of how it makes them feel, not how it makes you feel.

Second, if you’re going to build a business around word of mouth, better not have these things working against you.

Third, if you do, it may be to work directly to overcome them. That probably means changing the fundamental DNA of your experience and the story you tell to your users. “If you like us, tell your friends,” might be a fine start, but it’s certainly not going to get you there. via Seth’s Blog

This advertisement from Nike is so dead on. For agents and non agents, to be the best you have to be willing to fail publicly. As Michael Jordon said, “26 times I have been trusted to take the game winning shot and I have missed.”

Are you willing to step up and take the game winning shot even if there is a chance you will fail?

The real estate world has always protected their MLS data like it was gold, and to them it is. Go to almost any real estate office and see the security that is put on the MLS computers. If you think of Fort Knox you are not far off. But the protection of the data that the MLS thinks is what gives the power to the real estate agent is breaking down.

With the advent of online listing services the data is being put out there many different ways. The agents realize that their worth is not being the conduit of the information as it was in the past, but rather the services, support, and institutional knowledge they offer to their clients.

Will this lower commissions, sure, but not that much. I would be worried if I was an agent that thought that putting a sign in a lawn was marketing a home.

Professionalizing the industry and weeding out the dabbling agents is the benefit of breaking the walled garden mentality of data protection. Once the data is available to all then the true worth, knowledge, and skill of an agent will be the defining criteria for paying a commission.

Selling a home is a complicated and difficult process. The buyer and seller can do somethings alone, but there will be a large part of the population that will need the help that a trained and caring real estate professional can offer.

The idea that an agent can hold the 6 percent commission hostage is long gone, but an effective agent will find that being a true professional they will bring enough benefit to the public to have a long and prosperous career.

The triple threat of a weak market, legal pressure and increasing competition has compelled real estate professionals to offer their information more freely online, putting cracks in a walled garden of data that stood strong while the industry enjoyed its breakaway growth. It also presages an end to the days when sellers must list their homes with a broker so buyers can see them.

The trend revolves around the nation’s roughly 900 multiple listing services, or M.L.S.’s, where local brokers post information about homes they are selling. In years past, these services were highly restrictive about where and how that information could be distributed — for instance, frequently not permitting Web sites to display M.L.S. listings alongside for-sale-by-owner homes, bank foreclosures or other properties not represented by real estate agents. via the New York Times

If you have luxury properties that are sitting empty you may look into a breed of professional home sitters, the home manager. Homes tend to maintain so much better when someone is living in it. The homes also show to potential buyers when they are under constant care.

The  home managers job is to maintain the home in pristine condition for showing, making sure that the home is clean and prepped and perfect for prospective homeowners to see.

And the home manager must be prepared to get out quickly in case of a rapid sale sometimes as quickly as 10 days. In return for keeping the home in perfect condition, the home manager pays a much lower rent than the market would demand.

A true win-win.

Fee has used about 30 home managers over the years to help sell properties whose owners have relocated, moved in with relatives or have another home in which to live.

She sees many practical advantages, the most obvious being that a house is not left vacant and uninviting — a place where mail and dust can accumulate and leaks may go unnoticed — or perhaps become a target for vandals.

An empty property, she said, can signal a “sense of desperation” to potential buyers who may reduce an offer accordingly. Just staging a home with nice furniture is expensive and still doesn’t produce that personal, lived-in feel, Fee said.

Home managers can make sure the place is kept heated or cooled, as the case may be, and are on hand to turn on lights and soft music before a showing. In addition, in brand-new homes, managers can help iron out any quirks, such as showers or ovens not working properly. via Los Angeles Times.

I just read a great article over at Copyblogger on Generational Marketing.

Really, go read it now, here is the link; 

Are You Talkin’ to My Generation?

Are you back? Okay, great, lets move forward.

Here is my question for the real estate agents out there.

Who is the customer for the homes you are selling?

Not all of the homes and don’t say everyone is a customer. Each   Individual   House  .

If you believe or have said that everyone is a customer to a seller you have failed the test and turn in your real estate license. Seriously, that way of thinking is dead and buried.

But we have the answer and you have heard it if you read the article above.

EVERY HOME SHOULD BE MARKETED TO A SPECIFIC DEMOGRAPHIC.

Did you hear me? Let me repeat it.

EVERY HOME SHOULD BE MARKETED TO A SPECIFIC DEMOGRAPHIC.

• If your home is in a starter neighborhood, write the copy for a twenty something.
• If your home is in a luxury retirement golf community, write for the Silent Generation or Baby Boomers.
• If your home is in a upscale neighborhood filled with young families odds are you should target Generation X.

You now have the answer that can change your real estate business. The reason you need to market differently to each group is:

• Each one of these groups talks differently.
• Each one of these groups thinks differently.
• Each one of these groups triggers on different keywords.

The key to success is to target a market and develop your marketing around them. What worked 5 years ago does not work well now and will work worse in the future.

Lets look at your marketing material and ask yourself these questions:

• Am I are creating generic marketing material to sell the homes you have listed? Odds are you are failing.
• Am I writing in Real Estate Agent Speak and think that buyers appreciate my superior knowledge? Odds are you are failing.
• Am I always counting on my style and personality being dominant and not the concerns of my potential clients? Odds are you are failing.

But you can be successful. You can. It is not hard.

For the real estate agents out there, look at your listings.

• REALLY LOOK AT THEM (Nice McMansion in great suburb)
• Figure out what demographic would buy them. (Gen X)
• Now figure out what group in what demographic will buy this home. (Professionals with young families looking for good schools.)
• Once you have the target market figured out:

RE-WRITE ALL YOUR MARKETING MATERIAL  FOR THE DEMOGRAPHIC THAT WANTS TO BUY EACH SPECIFIC HOUSE YOU ARE SELLING.

More work, sure. But much more profits are in store for you.

In this day and age, work should not scare you. Paying for and marketing your listings to the average buyer should scare the hell out you.

Because if you target Joe Public in this age of specialization you are most likely to Fail. Failure is marketing dollars down the drain on a listing you will lose.  

And you are better than that.

(Did you read the post on generational marketing? If not, you failed. It is one the of most important things you can do today if you want to be successful as a real estate agent. Here it is again.)

(Of course, if you made it this far you did learn something, but really go read the article, re-read this post, and this turn off all lights, computers, and anything else that will distract you and think about it for 15 minutes.)

(Feel energized and back in control again? Good, I know you would.)

Congratulations, you are now on the road to being very successful marketing homes as an real estate agent. Now go re-write your copy on all of your listings and buyers literature and sell some houses!

PS My target for writing this post was the cutting edge real estate agent who understands the rules are changing quickly. Is that you? I thought so…

The United States real estate market has an inventory problem. When there are over 18 million empty homes across the country we have no reason to continue to build new homes. If this were a logical marketplace we would tell builders to take a 2 year moratorium until absorption met demand.

Instead we have builders building 2.1 million homes last year. Yikes! And of those homes almost half of them are now sitting empty. The speculative years between 2000 and 2005 drove construction of homes not based upon need in the marketplace but demand created by speculators. When that demand dried up many of these homes are sitting empty and forlorn.

Now we see in the first quarter of 2008 construction is down significantly which is a great thing. The key thing is to get rid of this overhang in inventory and fill up some of the homes. Once that occurs the market can regain it’s equilibrium and prices will stabilize.

The homeowner-vacancy rate rose to a record 2.9% in the first quarter from 2.8% in the fourth quarter, about 1 percentage point higher than normal. The vacancy rate has jumped in all four regions of the country, as well as in cities, suburbs and rural areas since the housing bubble exploded.

The total U.S. housing stock increased by 2.1 million to 129.4 million in the past year, with about half of that gain accounted for by the increase in vacancies. Much of the newer stock of housing is vacant, the data show.

Of all housing units built for owner-occupancy since April 2000, 10.2% were vacant, up from 8.8% in the fourth quarter and 4.7% two years ago.

While the vacancy rate for single-family homes has risen to 2.5%, the most dramatic increase in vacancies has been in smaller condominium projects. via Marketwatch

The National Association of Realtors has released a video today showing how the Past President of the NAR Pat Combs uses her technology. She shows how cool the concept of scanning documents makes her state of the art instead of using a fax machine.

While it is not all bad, all I have to say is what a waste. Instead of introducing some of the newer technologies out there that are incredibly beneficial she shows technology that at most is 5 years old and dated and at the worst a newfangled electric typewriter.

And the irony of all this, they have put it out on YouTube. So only those that at least grasp technology and learned how to use the internet will see it and they will see it as humor. Poor Pat, and the lady who is doing the interview should talk to some of the more wired real estate agents. They can show the average Realtor what really can be ground breaking technology to grow their business.

Hat tip to Barry Cunningham posting at Bloodhound Blog for the find.

General Electric (GE) has long been a bellweather for the economic state of the US economy. So when they missed on their earnings it sent a shockwave through the financial markets. But the reason they missed was due to Bear Sterns meltdown in mid March.

GE always keeps some real estate in it’s pocket that has accrued gains to manage their earnings. When they get near the end of the quarter they sell of what needs to be sold off to keep investors happy and calm. This is perfectly legal and has been done for years.

Well, this quarter, just as they were set to sell of some assets for a profit of 100 million dollars to hit their number, Bear Sterns melted down. This crisis in the credit market cost GE the window to sell the property, and thus they reported lower earnings.

Not very complicated but it was far reaching.

In a conference call with analysts, CEO Jeffrey Immelt explained that the real estate business didn’t measure up because GE didn’t close as many deals as expected in the quarter. The reason? “We experienced an extraordinary disruption in our ability to complete asset sales and incurred impairments [on lower loan and asset values] and this was something we clearly didn’t see until the end of the quarter,” Mr. Immelt said.

The “disruption” referred to Bear Stearns’ announcement March 15 that it needed federal help in finding a buyer or else it would fail, which caused the credit markets to freeze and scuttled planned property sales.  via Financial Week.

It is great to read stories that show how real estate agents can improve their exposure in local markets and expand their perceived expertise. We are so caught up in blogging and the internet, but there are many other ways to let the public know how knowledgeable you are.

And if they were real smart they would have these shows up on You Tube and their web sites shortly after broadcast.

Byrnes-Benkart, owner of Realty Executives Tri-County in Bellingham, is one of a handful of area real estate professionals using public-access cable TV to turn a laser focus on the housing market in their communities.

“We hear a lot of talk in the media about the real estate market, but many times it’s painted with a broad brush. It’s often from a national perspective or a state perspective,” said Milford resident Michael Shain, a mortgage consultant with Medway Co-operative Bank. “But I wanted to do something that focused on specific towns because every market is different. What’s happening in Milford may not be the same as what’s happening in Newton, Brookline, Pittsfield, or LA.”

In September, Shain began taping “Real Estate Roundtable” at Access Bellingham-Mendon. The program, which he cohosts with Byrnes-Benkart and two other realtors and is produced monthly, airs on local-access channels in Bellingham, Milford, Medway, Upton, Grafton, and Mendon, and covers market news in those towns as well as in Franklin and Wrentham. via  The Boston Globe.

Dustin over at 4Realz.net has an interesting letter he received about a MLS that is looking into opening up their listings to comments. Go give it a read and then come back.

For those of you not wanting to leave it essentially wonders about the issues that the MLS would face opening up homes to comments that may not be flattering to a home and or homeowners.

Here was my comment, I figured I would share as it talks to the issues that Realtors face when discussing homes:

I think this is the Catch 22 of the real estate world. They created a cartel that keeps real estate agent complaints in house with onerous restrictions in a tough marketplace.

Before the internet it was very difficult for information to be put out without going through the cartel (MLS) or one of it’s members without the cartel rules being invoked.

Add to that the pressure of the government adding another layer of restrictions and compliance factors, almost all homes are forced to be discussed in a very narrow way.

But with the internet and non cartel members there are ways to take this data and avoid the legal and industry barriers to the truth.

It will be tough when I as a non Realtor or agent can say things about a home that you can not when it comes to marketing or getting eye share for the information on real estate in a particular area.

The real estate industry is in a tough place due to the rules they have created for themselves. Savvy entrepreneurs will be able to slide into the marketplace and create a much more accurate representation of towns and cities that the Realtors will not be able to compete with.

While I as an active participant to a transaction would be beholden to the rules of the state and federal government, as a commenter I would be only held to those of the 1^st Amendment. That will be tough for real estate agents to counteract on a property or region.