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You have been told time and time again that you should have a facebook fanpage, you should already know the benefits, you know the improved SEO, brand building etc…. Now is the time to just do it!
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Join us!
Please join us for a YouTube Class on June 9th 2010 from 10-11 am at Academy Mortgage in Mesa, AZ. This class will be a hands on class covering
So, how did this video phenomenon get started? In February 2005 when the founders registered a domain name called YouTube.com. The very first 19 second video was uploaded on April 23, 2005 while the site was still in beta. Then in December – just 10 months since inception – the official site-YouTube.com was launched and 8 million videos were watched a day!
Then the big acquisition came – Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion dollars. By this time over 100 million video views were being seen every day, and over 65,000 videos a day are being uploaded to YouTube. By end of 2008 – 15 hours of videos are uploaded every minute! In 2009 YouTube explodes in popularity when the US Congress, the U.S. President, the Vatican, as well as TV Shows & movies all start their own channels and uploading videos. By May of that year 20 hours of videos are uploaded every minute… and by October YouTube hit 1 billion views per day. So here we are in May 2010 and YouTube has officially exceeded 2 billion views per day… And they’re up to 24 hours of videos being uploaded every minute… Does this get this your attention yet about the importance of videos? It sure does mine. Just thought you might like to know…
Hope to see you at the YouTube Class.
To RSVP please email me at MyTitleGuy@Me.com OR RSVP on my Facebook Fanpage, www.Facebook.com/MyTitleguyStephen
This class is limited to 30. This is a hands on class, WIFI will be available. Please bring your laptops and flip mino camera’s (or equivalent) If you have one.
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Alejandro is back and he is funnier than ever! Alejandro Hondro calls a few Arizona title companies and asks one simple “pointed” question. As a Realtor, “How Can You Help Me Grow My Business?“ Can you guess the answer?
What is your opinion about marketing services offered by title companies in Arizona?, Good, Bad, Indifferent?
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I’m joined by 600 of my closest friends in Scottsdale, Arizona at the Scottsdale Center For The Performing Arts for Old Republic Title Agencies “Short Sales Exposed, Insiders Tell All. Old Republic Title Agency has assembled a who’s who panel of industry experts/insiders for a discussion about short sales. The panelists include Jim Sexton of John Hall and Associates, Neil Thomson of Thomson Conant Law Firm, Steve Chader of Keller Williams Integrity First, Duane Foutz of Homesmart and Michelle Lind, General Council for the Arizona Association of Realtors or AAR. John Foltz of Realty Executives is our moderator.
Neil Thomson is a well known attorney here in Phoenix, his firm Thomson Conant was one of the early firms involved in short sales. Neil said:
“Get Educated, become knowledgeable to protect yourself and your client. Some factors that will help you increase your level of success in closing short sales: Deficiency Liability.
Neil polled the audience: “Who Thinks Arizona Is A Non-Recourse State?” {50 hands go up} Neil continues: “When it comes to residential loans in Arizona, ALL loans are full recourse to the borrower, which means there will be legal liability to the lender, so the issue is not whether a loan is recourse or non recourse, it’s about eligibility for anti deficiency protection. Neil continues…..So, if you are going to take a short sale, you should do your due diligence to ascertain if any of the loans your client may have, expose them to deficiency liability. You should form strategic alliances not only with Old Republic Title Agency, but also qualified legal council. Do the hard work upfront and ascertain the points of exposure to better assist your client in the short sale transaction.
The short sale opportunities are going to be with us for sometime. Possibly another 4 years. You [Realtor] should embrace short sales and become more familiar with them to increase your closing ratio
Is your client(s) eligible for anti deficiency protection? You need to assess if the loans your client has expose them to any deficiency. You should employ competent legal council. The Last thing your client wants is a surprise at closing, it usually shows up in the form of a cash contribution at closing. Inform and educate your clients of the likelihood of a cash contribution. It makes for a more pleasant relationship between you and your client.
Deficiency liability vs tax liability
There will be a tax consequence! There is no way, to avoid this unless the mortgage is paid in full. Eliminate the surprise, don’t allow your client to experience that shock and awe because of a short sale. Empower your client, get them to the appropriate professional.
#1 problem Neil See’s is the 2nd lien holder. The 2nd now says in addition to the money the 1st is going to give us, we want a cash contribution of $5000 to $50,000 to close this short sale. 2nd feels they are absorbing a higher percent of the loss. The transaction can’t close without the 2nd moving out of the way. Neil calls it “Green Mail”-2nd holds out their hands and require payment to allow the closing. Your client should be prepared to make a cash contribution. That is the highest probability.
There will be a webinar in June with Mike Orr of the Cromford Report specifically for clients of Old Republic Title Agency. Stay Tuned for more information.
For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs
Real Estate is a contact sport, which means the more people you contact the more people you will likely do business with. It’s a game of numbers. Social media has become a logical and effective way to reach large numbers of people.
Social Media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, etc… are a fantastic resource for any business and especially beneficial to Realtors. Some of the benefits for your real estate business include
Like many REALTORS, you may be feeling the pressure to “keep up” with social media trends, techniques and products. Seems like every time I turn around, Facebook has made a change here or a change there. Just in recent weeks, Facebook has added instant personalization (Yelp, NY Times, Pandora) to name a few- and of course changed fan pages or business pages to [for lack of a better term}-"like pages". With all the demand and pressure that Realtors no doubt feel to always be relevant, and stay ahead of their competition, it's not surprising that companies have sprung up, literally over night to "guide" you or train you or in some cases even manage your social media efforts. Many of them will call themselves "social media experts".
It's the "expert" part that scares me. How can you be an expert on a subject that is relatively new and is constantly evolving? These "experts" offer to provide set-up, training or manage your social media efforts for a fee. I was curious what goes into being a social media expert, I was disappointed to discover that it is exactly what I thought it was. No training, certification, course completion, you name it, there is none of it. It's because of this that I always suggest you be careful who you are hiring to build or manage your online presence through social media. I have discovered some companies charging ridiculous fees for custom facebook fan pages, blogs and management. Facebook Fan Pages that traditionally cost under $500 are being offered to Realtors for $1500-$3000.
I have learned over the years that to be an expert in anything, you really only need to know a little more than the person you are talking to. If you don't know how to assign a username to your personal facebook profile, change your privacy settings to turn off personalized search or drive people to your website/blog and I do, I can easily appear to be an expert-I will be the 1st one to tell you-I'm not. Why-Because I continue to learn from what others are doing and most importantly-their mistakes. Same thing with some of the companies that are marketing to you or being called "social media experts". I had one company referred to me. I was told they were "social media experts", so I called them. I played dumb about social media, and asked some pointed questions about facebook, facebook fan pages and training they are providing to Realtors. It was after I corrected a few things they told me over the phone that the person I talked to backed off the "expert" throne and suggested that they were better suited for social media beginners. {But they charge like they are for professionals}
Before you hire anyone to kick off your social media campaign do your due diligence or call me. Many of the services they offer, I or those in my network can offer for free. Well, it will cost you your escrows......but you will want to give them to me......:-)
Social media is more than just the vehicle ( fb, twitter, youtube) you choose. It requires a well thought out plan. What do you want to convey to your audience/fans? What do you want them to do?
If you are a Realtor/Lender in the Phoenix Metro area that would like help with your marketing efforts, lets talk.
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Are you on Linkedin? With all the talk about Facebook and Twitter its really easy to miss the value of other social networks. Each network has a separate and distinct value in reaching different demographics. In a general statement I say
MySpace is the Bar
Facebook is for Family and Friends (not including Fanpages/Business Pages)
Twitter is for Traffic
LinkedIn is the Office.
Why Linkedin?
Linkedin is designed for Business
Easy way to find qualified employees, jobs, prospects and Leads
Great place to establish your expertise, build your personal brand and gain trust.
over 39Million users can access your info. Growing 1 million per month
Search is the #1 reason why you should be on Linkedin. Your profile will usually come up in the top 5 on Google. No matter how great your website is, it’s usually not optimized for your name. Linkedin is. Its usually one if the 1st search results.
Unlike other networks, I prefer to look at LinkedIn as a Rolodex. Its an online network of people that have worked with you at present or the past. Linkedin is an excellent resource to identify others in the same field. Setting up a dynamic profile, resume, and credentials with keywords will make it easy for other professionals to find and connect with you. Because LinkedIn is a business tool, many professional buyers and sellers will look for a Realtor in their network on LinkedIn. Of course, first they need to find you. Watch the video below for great info.
MyTitleGuy's LinkedIn Profile
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mytitleguy
You will notice that I added my email address in the middle of my 1st and last name, this is so that anyone whether a member of Linkedin or not can contact me.
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Strategic Default
What would you do?
Strategic Default is essentially walking away from your mortgage “letting your home go” back to the bank, not because you can’t afford the payments but because you don’t want to. In Arizona it is estimated that 50% of the homes are “under water”-they are worth less than the amount owed on them., substantially less, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars less. I am a title rep, so I work with lots of industry professionals that have told me stories and I have heard some first hand about the dilemma that goes into the decision to leave or stay. Arizona is one of a handful of states across the U.S. that don’t allow the lender to pursue the homeowners after a foreclosure action, for a deficiency- a fact that may make walking away a clearer decision.
An example of a deficiency would be after a strategic default the lender Forecloses on the mortgage. The unpaid balance of the loan is $300,000. The property is sold at public Auction and brings $200,000. The lender then seeks a deficiency judgment against the mortgagor to recover the $100,000 shortage, plus any foreclosure expenses. This is generally not possible here in Arizona. ***
The decision-On one hand there is the obligation that was made. “Dear Mr. Banker, Yes…I promise to repay this loan” On the other there is the business decision. “Do I really want to keep making a payment on a home that is worth less that half of what I paid?
And that brings up an interesting point-I have heard of a “shadow inventory” for well over 2 years, this mass amount of foreclosures that will be hitting the market any day now. If its true, -and I like many others have no clue if it is-, I want it to hit so we can begin the road to recovery! We know exactly how many trustee sales there are taking place so we can estimate how many will turn into REO’s or Real Estate Owned-The inventory of REO’s in Phoenix has been declining sharply I might add. The one thing that no one can possibly forsee or prepare for is the number of strategic defaults and how that will effect our housing market. Across the United States there are approximately 11 Million homeowners that are “under water”, according to the report below from 60 Minutes, that number could double in the next year.
Walking away essentially perpetuates the decline of value in a neighborhood as it brings down the value of the rest of the homes in the subdivision, therefor everyone is effected.
I learned some interesting facts from watching 60 Minutes tonight about Strategic Default and the numbers are bigger than I could have imagined.
So what would you do?
*** Be sure to consult with a real estate attorney and/or CPA to see how a foreclosure will effect you.
For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs
Great you have a facebook account-so do 400 million other people. Do you know how to use it for your real estate business? We talked earlier about how to lose friends and NOT influence people on Facebook, now lets talk about what to do or rather HOW to use a Facebook Fan Page to Build Your Real Estate Business.
As a REALTOR, you will be tempted to post your listings on your personal page. DON’T DO IT-too much! I Repeat….Don’t Do IT-all the time. That is what a business or FAN Page is better suited for. So, how do you use a fan page to grow your real estate business? Great question! I can almost guarantee that your page wont grow if you do nothing more than post listings. This might be hard for you to believe but most people don’t think of real estate 99.9% of the time. I know I don’t-and I’m in the business. So to start a great fan page you first need to identify who its for. Think about this:
Who are you trying to attract to your page? It doesn’t really benefit you or your business to have 200 fans of your page from Minnesota if you sell real estate in Arizona. Who are you trying to attract-1st time home buyers, investors, homeowners in a subdivision, a city? Name your page according to its topic and include a geographic location. First Time Home Buyer, Chandler, Arizona. Unlike your personal page, your fan page is public and thus indexed in search engines. Keywords like the name of your page and location will help your page get found.
What’s the benefit of joining your page? Sure, it looks great but what is the value of being a fan of your page? Think about giving away coupons or insider tips. How to’s. Do Realtors have knowledge that those outside of the business don’t? Sure. Use it to your advantage. One of my favorite coupons is from Einsteins Bagels…I stop there every Friday. They are currently running a “Shmear Campaign” Where you can give a friend a FREE Bagel. Realtors and Lenders that are fans of MyTitleGuy get marketing ideas, support, classes, interesting perspectives on social media and AMAZING Escrow and Title service of course 
. Whats the value of your page? The more value, the more people will want to be fans of your page.
Use your Fanpage to strengthen your relationships and brand. Who do you invite to be a fan of your page? Everyone? I hope not. As a REALTOR, the perfect fans for your personal fan page-Rita REALTOR, Chander Arizona (if you have one) are those that have worked with you in the past AND Potential clients. Why? 3rd party appreciation. You can say how wonderful you are all day but so does every Realtor. Having potential clients interact with past clients that were happy with their experience with you will show your prospects what a rock star you are. Your fan page is a great place to recognize birthdays, anniversaries, children’s birthdays and home sale anniversaries. Use the @ symbol so your message is posted on your wall and the person you are talking to, it will help your message travel farther than you could ever imagine.
Middle school. Speak on a level that your entire audience will understand. It doesn’t benefit you to speak about Lessee vs lessor, amortization schedules, or easements. That’s just not something that your average fan understands- or would even want to. Tips to improve your property value, how to conserve energy, Going GREEN…that’s another story. Remember, the best REALTORS will not use their fan pages as bill boards to market their listings. Ask questions…..even ones you know the answers to. Think Tennis. Serve up a great question or statement and let your fans hit it back.
Marketing Collateral: Your fan page URL like mine, Facebook.com/MyTitleGuyStephen should be on all of your market collateral related to your page. Business cards, letter head, email signatures, for sale signs (if applicable), websites and blogs. Because you can have multiple fan pages, you can have numerous subjects. I would keep them separate. One might be Germann Country Estates, Chandler Arizona while another might be Las Sendas, Mesa Arizona or Condo Life, Arizona. Keep your marketing separate to avoid confusion.
Create an add. In my opinion, Facebook is a better option that Google for a PPC (Pay Per Click) campaign. To use me and my business as an example, I can easily identify REALTOR’s in Arizona, specifically the Southeast Valley, with a college education, that are from back east, between the ages of 30-45 and only display an add to them. You can do the same. You can target age ranges of 1st time home buyers or those age groups just coming out of college. When it comes to a PPC marketing campaign on FB, the only thing that limits you is your imagination. TIP: Make your add UGLY-with a phone number or web address. If someone can get the information to contact you without clicking on the add, then it won’t cost any money for that lead. Better hurry though, I hear FB is wise to our little secret and that it will be changing soon. Once again, If I was a REALTOR the ultimate goal would be to get people on my blog searching for property so If you do choose to run an add on FB, the web address should be for your website/blog not your Fan Page. You can always engage them on your blog/website through a widget and get them to become a fan.
Leverage Real Time Search-Back in December 2009, Google started indexing updates from Fan pages, Twitter, Myspace. These updates are called “Real Time Search”. Unlike your personal facebook page, your fan page updates are indexable in real time search. Using keywords like “short sale Chandler ,Arizona” or “Short Sale, Val Vista Lakes” in your updates will help your updates be seen in the scrolling window pane inside Google.
Send “updates to fans”. One of the best features of a fan page is that you can send “updates” to fans whenever you want. It’s a nice way of keeping your fans engaged and informed about changes related to your page. Send messages about new products or services, updated website, etc.
Monitor. Facebook recently started sending weekly page updates that provide information like # of fans +/- for the week, number of visits, comments. Monitor the activity, if you start losing fans, you may be doing something that your fans don’t find value in or worse-annoying.
Here is this week’s summary for the Facebook Page: MyTitleGuyStephen
+5 Fans this week (247 total Fans)
53 Wall Posts, Comments, and Likes this week (77 last week)
601 visits to your page this week(529 visits last week)
Insights. Insights measure activity on your page. There is a wealth of information from comments, to demographic info like sex, age group and physical location. Know your numbers-monitor your page and make changes accordingly to keep your fans engaged.
MyTitleGuyStephen Page Insights
What is your ultimate goal? Is it to have a specific number of fans? Having a fan page is great, its also fun. But the goal of a fan page, atleast one that I own is to increase my business. To do that you will need to get your fans on your website or blog. I heard someone say “The key with Facebook Marketing is getting your friends to come to your house, which is your website. Your website must be ready for your guests.” and I absolutely agree. Regardless of what vehicle you use, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc…. the goal should be to get your fans on your website/blog-searching for property.
Custom Fan pages: If you take Facebook as serious as I do, you may want to upgrade to a custom fan page. Custom pages don’t have the same limitations that traditional fan pages have. You can change the color, style, add links, Logos, pictures even videos. There are more and more vendors popping up that do custom fan pages. Mike Mueller did mine, and it was the best $400 I ever spent. You can see some of the pages Mike has designed HERE Tell him you work with me, maybe you will get a discount? Of course-if you don’t work with me, the cost is $5000. Joke.
My Model. You need a plan. As we discussed, you can have 200 fans, even 10,000. Without a way to get them to do something, its all for not. Fan pages are awesome but there is only so much you can do on them. Besides, a fan page is not something you own, remember that. If you violate the terms of service for Facebook you run the risk of having your page shut down. Yes, there is a way to allow your fans to search for property on your fan page but you need them to search for property on your website/blog. Below is my model. There is no right or wrong, just what works or doesn’t. This one works for me. Now, I don’t market to the general public although most of the traffic I get is from the general public. I get my business from Realtors and Loan Officers like you, so that is who I write for. I pull REALTORS and Loan Officers that follow me from Linkedin, Facebook, ActiveRain, YouTube, Twitter and Yelp through my WordPress Blog-MyTitleGuy.net. I learned early on from Brian Buffini that if I “Give it away in slices, it will come back in loaves”. I hope that after seeing what I am doing in comparison to other title reps that it will lead to a face to face meeting. It usually does.
MyTitleGuy Model
Let it go. Your page, once its up and going will take on a life of its own. Especially if its a community page like for a subdivision or city. This is a good thing. Once that happens, its natural to try and bring the page’s focus back to you-the page administrator-Don’t. Resist the urge to insert yourself into conversations that don’t effect you. Example: Some of your fans talking about a great restaurant or show, don’t try and direct the focus back to the page topic or you. If you wouldn’t cut into a conversation in real life, then don’t do it on facebook.
Having a fan page isn’t like “field of dreams”, just because you build it doesn’t mean-they will come. Be consistent and add value.
If you are a Realtor or Loan Officer in Arizona looking for someone to help you build your business-lets talk.
For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs
The B.S. Show is B-Blair Ballin, A REALTOR with The Williams Real Estate Company in Scottsdale, Arizona and S-Stephen Garner, A title rep for a national title insurance company in Mesa, Arizona. We are taking the “BS” out of Short Sales.
We are back for episode 6-Should I short sale? In previous episodes we have discussed Deficiency, Short Sale Information Security, and the short sale process to name a few. Today we took a road trip to Phoenix. By now you have heard the term “short sale” hundreds if not thousands of times, today we show you what it looks like when someone can’t catch up on payments, and can’t modify the loan, its called Foreclosure.
I have personally heard from numerous REO (Real Estate Owned) REALTORS that their supply of foreclosures is dwindling. They point to the fact that banks are aggressively pushing short sales over foreclosure. Short sales have never been as easy to close as they are today.
If you are an ARIZONA homeowner that would like to discuss whether or not a short sale is right for you, please contact us.
Stephen “MyTitleGuy” Garner
For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs
If you are a REALTOR in Arizona and you are not getting the benefit of a marketing representative then you are MISSING! out on a great service. Marketing rep’s for title companies in Arizona have 2 main purposes, promote the company they work for and help you grow your business.. Most of them are very good at one, and the other-”Not So Much”.
Why?
Well, if you sit down with a marketing rep, they are most likely going to spend most of the time telling you how amazing the company they work for is, how amazing the escrow officers are, how amazing the service is……but how does any of that grow your business? Sure great service is important but call me crazy- I actually think that fantastic service should be a bare essential to be in business. Who gets into business to provide OK service?
Marketing-Marketing provided by title companies usually consists of template websites, postcards, flyers, call capture-things along those lines. The problem-90% of buyers are going to the internet first when looking for property, 70% of those buyers will work with the first agent they come across. So….if you want to grow your business, you need to be one of the first agents a potential buyer/seller comes across. That means Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short. SEO is what gets you and your business found in search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. You are wasting time and energy if your marketing rep cant help you get found where over 90% of your future clients congregate-the internet.
How am I different? I am a marketing rep that gets it. I understand how to get you and your business found in the search engines and I can show you how to do it. I also have a network of trusted professionals that can handle all your technology needs, from custom WordPress and fan pages to Search Engine Optimization. Want proof? You found my website didn’t you?
For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs
Stephen Garner
Phone: 480-223-8113
Fax: 480-892-2680
