The Changing Role of the Real Estate Agent

It’s hard to imagine any business sector which has not unalterably been changed by the internet, and which does not continue to change as the internet evolves. Real estate is no such exception. In many western countries, the internet now accounts for the vast majority of inquiries, with print media, ‘For Sale’ boards, and marketing to existing databases of potential customers now representing a comparatively small number of inquiries.

It stands to reason that this shift will, and is, also changing the role which traditional real estate agents (also known as ‘real estate brokers’) play within this sector. Traditionally, the value of real estate agents has been perceived as agents who have expert knowledge in the value of homes, the ability to run effective marketing campaigns, and the ability to negotiate effectively with potential buyers.

With the emergence of a plethora of new ‘For Sale by Owner’ portals, the role of the traditional real estate agent is also changing. Many of these portals now provide as part of their service, detailed statistical reports on comparable sales within a given area, which gives the seller a solid indication of what their own home may be worth. It is however, the marketing side of things in which these portals provide the highest value to the seller. Many ‘For Sale By Owner’ websites do not only publish advertisements to their own website; they often always publish these listings to the same 3rd party websites which the traditional estate agent would do, and at a fraction of the cost. In terms of negotiating, the seller always has the final say in what they are willing to accept as a sale price, and in this respect, the agent’s ability to negotiate on the seller’s behalf is often over-rated.

Real estate agents play an important role in the community, and this role should be acknowledged. They are after all, professionals who are engaged in this sector on a full-time basis, and who are (for the most part) generally up-to-date with what is happening within a given area. Therefore, it is hard to imagine that agent will disappear completely. What is to be expected though, is that the range of services offered will change over time. Sellers now have the same access to statistical research with regards to house prices as the agents themselves, they can often achieve the same number of inquiries by using the services of For Sale by Owner websites, and they are, and always have been, perfectly capable of negotiating with the buyers by themselves. In terms of contractual legalities, it is the case that in most western countries that it is perfectly acceptable for a seller to enter into a contract of sale with the buyer themselves. They do not need to be a licensed real estate agent to do this.

What then remains for the traditional real estate agent? Plenty. Experts who are continually conducting business within the real estate sector and specifically within a certain area, will generally still be able to assist a seller in a meaningful and valuable way. However, for a selection of services (such as the marketing), they no longer provide advantages to the seller which would previously never have been available to the seller.

For Sale by Owner portals will therefore never completely replace real estate agents. What they will most certainly do however, is reduce the cost of selling a home by virtue of the fact that sellers are no longer reliant on the estate agent as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for managing every aspect of the sale, and selecting only those services which they feel they either do not have the time for, or are not willing to spend time on themselves (such as market research to establish the correct selling price). All this means manifests itself in greater choice for sellers, and the potential for sellers to save thousands of dollars in commissions, by taking control and playing a more active role in actual sale of their own real estate.

An Important Fitness Tip For Women

The journey to fitness can be a challenging one for many women. Unfortunately, women often set unrealistic goals and expectations and when we fail to meet those right away we become discouraged and give up – thinking we can never get in shape and lose the needed weight.

This doesn’t have to be the case.

As a women you can get in shape and lose weight, it just takes some discipline and sometimes taking a different approach than what you are used to. Incorporating strength training into your routine may be just the different approach that is needed.

Unfortunately many women feel that if they lift weights they will bulk up and gain too much muscle and weight. This however is not the case incorporating weight training into your routine will help you shed fat and weight faster then just focusing on cardio.

Weight training will help you build muscle and muscle burns more calories at rest than fat. This will allow you to burn more calories everyday in your daily routine.

Weight training for women can also provide additional benefits. These additional benefits include:

  • Women who weight train build and restore bone density which helps prevent osteoporosis
  • Women who weight train often sustain less injuries because of having stronger bones, ligaments and tendons
  • Strength training can reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels
  • Women who weight train typically feel better about themselves since building toned muscles builds confidence

So don’t be afraid to grab a pair of dumb bells and start a weight training program today.

Incorporating weight training into your routine will give you a jump start on your fitness and weight loss program and help you develop a long and lean body with strong muscles that burn calories for you even when you are at rest.

Two Marketing Tips That You Wish You Knew Yesterday

These email marketing tips will guide you to having better results in your email Campaign. By better results I mean you will finally be able to experience open rates of 15% – 20%. But before we start with the tips, it is important that you have a firm understanding of CAN SPAM ACT. Take the time to Google it and understand what is acceptable and what is not. This information is to assist you in being more effective – not annoying with your email marketing efforts.

Email Marketing Tip #1

As you can imagine it all starts with the headline. An email that is not opened is worthless. So what can you do to increase the open rate of your emails? These are some recommended and proven headline formats that will grab your reader’s attention.

  1. Who Else Wants [blank]?
  2. The Secret of [blank]
  3. Here is a Method That is Helping [blank] to [blank]
  4. Little Known Ways to [blank]
  5. Get Rid of [problem] Once and For All
  6. Here’s a Quick Way to [solve a problem]
  7. Now You Can Have [something desirable] [great circumstance]
  8. [Do something] like [world-class example]
  9. Have a [or] Build a [blank] You Can Be Proud Of
  10. What Everybody Ought to Know About [blank]

And if you really are having a brain block this is an incredible brain teaser to assist you in creating your own attention grabbing email headline. This is the “The 100 Greatest Headlines Ever Written”, by Jay Abraham.

Email Marketing Tip #2

We all can agree that communication is the key of effective marketing. And the key to communication is being able to reach the client at an emotional level. I notice many marketers “guess” how people will react to various words and offers, but I am about to show you how you can get an actual rating that you can use to judge how well received your copy will be to others. This totally takes the guess work out of the equation.

This tool will let you know which of the three Emotional Marketing Values (EMV) of the readers emotion you will be impacting; Intellectual, Empathetic or spiritual. The English language contains approximately 20% EMV words.

And for comparison, most professional copywriters’ headlines will have 30%-40% EMV Words in their headlines, while the most gifted copywriters will have 50%-75% EMV words in headlines. Try it for yourself. Just Google, “Headline Analyzer”. Enter the headline of this post. Now press ” Submit for Analysis”. Not bad right. That result wasn’t without a few rewrites however.

Hopefully you are better prepared to write headlines that will get opened. Without an opened email you have absolutely nothing; however, with an engaged reader you have an opportunity to deliver a message and build a relationship.