WeChat is China's most popular app, and U.S. agents should check it outLOS ANGELES — The number of international buyers of U.S. properties has grown in recent years — up to a record 284,455 residences sold for $153 billion in total between March 2016 and 2017, according to a recent report from NAR.And the largest chunk of that spending came from Chinese buyers, who paid a whopping $31.7 billion for U.S. residences. Clearly, luxury listing
Fewer new homes are in the works, and economists say recent hurricanes that struck the South brought down the latest numbers.Housing starts dropped 4.7 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.13 million units, the Commerce Department reported this week. Broken out, single-family production fell 4.6 percent month over month to 829,000 units, with the bulk of the decline occurring in the hurricane-ravaged South. The South pos
The ability to network and be a people person may be your biggest ally toward building a strong real estate career. REALTORS® identified strong people skills as the most important trait to being successful in residential sales, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ newly released report, “Choosing a Career in Real Estate: A Perspective on Gender, Race, and Ethnicity.” Self-motivation and negotiation skills also ranked amon
A new study finds that properties that contain certain words in their listing comments tend to sell for higher prices.CoreLogic researchers analyzed more than 1 million single-family transactions that closed in the first half of 2017. Every property analyzed had public remarks and comments from which researchers extracted word pairs. Prices can vary geographically on how much weight certain words may have.But one house feature that stood out was
Don't let your epitaph read 'forgettable' this Allhallow's eveAny holiday is a great excuse to engage with clients. With Halloween right around the corner, here are seven clever real estate agent “tricks” that’ll “treat” your clients to something fun!1. Pumpkin patch map Door-knock or send a Halloween mailer to your farm with a map of local pumpkin patches in the neighborhood.Make sure to put your face and contact information on the m
Smart landing pages, a synchronized database and automation generate resultsSpraying your message high and wide does not breed online marketing success; rather, standout results emerge when you pair smart, strategic decisions with the right tools.An integrated marketing strategy ensures your message reaches the right audience at the right moment—the marketing holy grail. It also multiplies your results.With your systems and tools aligned, your
Listing descriptions are your opportunity to grab potential buyers’ attention, don’t mess it upKey Takeaways Avoid vagueness, writing in caps, misspellings, grammar mistakes and repetitions. Be brief, use lists and bullets and create a compelling call to action.First impressions are critical in real estate. You only get one shot to impress sellers enough to hire you and one chance to put the home on the market.A crucial aspect of marketing a
Don’t just throw spaghetti at the wall -- create value with your messageKey Takeaways Make sure your online marketing plan is in sync with your overall business goals, and be consistent.In today’s ever-changing, digital marketing landscape, you have to have an online presence, or you’ll get passed by.But not knowing where to start and feeling like you have to do it all to be successful leaves many real estate agents frustrated and intimi
Step out of your box, and give it a tryWhen Myrtle Beach-based agent Abe Safe was newly licensed, he started out purely cold calling for a few months. As a new agent, he had little else to do, so he was committed.After he got comfortable making cold calls, he started on expireds and FSBOs. His goal was to make a minimum of 40 contacts per day.By the end of his first year, he closed 40 transactions, and roughly a quarter of those deals came from
Inexpensive fixes tend to offer the highest returnsKey Takeaways Sellers often lose money making high-cost renovations. Inexpensive renovations tend to offer higher ROI and present less risk than costly projects.Can you list the home renovations that get the best returns for sellers? If not, can you honestly claim to get top dollar for sellers’ homes?Tracy McLaughlinOn a podcast with Pat Hiban, Tracy McLaughlin shared her expert advice on home
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