Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

Raincamp Prescott, Arizona!

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Do you want to grow your Real Estate business?

The Way We Do Business Has Changed

What are you doing on Thursday August 26th 2010? I know what I’m doing. I will be in Prescott, Arizona for RainCamp with 400 of the most forward thinking Real Estate professionals from across the country. Will you be one of them?

You have heard it before, at least you have thought it “why don’t my postcards or calenders get the response they once did?” Well, there are many reasons but one of them is that there has been a shift in the way and where the consumer looks for information. A shift to the Internet. That’s where you need to be.

Almost 2 years ago, myself and Ted Canto called ActiveRain and asked them to come to Arizona to hold a workshop about blogging. To our absolute surprise they agreed. Now, to give you an idea of what them coming to AZ meant, it would be like calling Facebook to learn how to start a PPC campaign or fan page and getting Mark Zuckerberg to demonstrate it for you. I mean this was big. With a member base of over 187,000 real estate professionals, ActiveRain is one of the authorities on blogging in real estate. Other than trade shows, it was the first time ActiveRain had ever done an event like it. Over 500 real estate professionals attended the event at the Double Tree Resort in Scottsdale.

Partly because of this initial event, they went back to Seattle, Washington formed a curriculum, partnered with national sponsors Zillow.com and Marketleader.com and called it RainCamp.

What’s Raincamp?

Real Estate RainCamp™ is a full day Conference/Seminar that is packed with valuable content, presentations, and some of the most useful and applicable ideas and processes that you can implement immediately into your Social Media, Networking, Blogging Strategy, and Business Plan. RainCamp™ was created and developed for anyone in the Real Estate Industry looking for successful methods and tools to maximize and grow their online business in today’s Modern Day Real Estate Market. RainCamp™ is a National Event now touring the Country.

Modern Day Real Estate Marketing

How do you stack up in the modern Real Estate Market

Find out where you rank before we kick off the day. How does your social profile rate against your neighbor? How can you expand that presence and create connections that are meaningful in a professional manner? Understanding where you are is the only way to figure out where you need to go.

Search Engine Marketing

Learn how to target consumers that are MUCH closer to buying than an average Internet lead

Advertising is undergoing a radical transformation. As advertising dollars make an exodus from print to online marketing, do you know how to position your advertising budget to get the most impact out of each dollar? As most of your potential clients go online to make purchase decisions, knowing how to target them in the places they reside will be instrumental in ensuring they do business with you.

Converting Leads Into Closings

“Ten Days of Pain” lead conversion method – allows you to convert Internet leads efficiently

Understand Pay-Per-Click advertising and how you can get leads cheap and effectively. It’s one thing to learn how to drive traffic to your site, it’s entirely different to actually convert that traffic into a commission. Learn the regiment required to get industry leading conversions with the prospects on your website. There is no reason the leads on your site should be treated like the rest of the industry treats theirs. Resolve to do something different.

Social Media Networking and Marketing

Discover what works and what doesn’t work using the New Social Media Movement

Learn how to use Social Media to obtain a competitive edge in your market place. Gain an understanding of sites like FaceBook, Twitter, and others, and how you can incorporate them into your business plan to connect with and earn more clients.

Real World Social Media Success Stories – LOCAL PANEL

Listen to pros that are utilizing what they preach and have outstanding success doing it

Listen to real agents on the street who are using Social media to enhance their business. Let them tell you how they did it. Not every story is the same but the critical component is this: They took the leap and the rewards are well worth the effort.

30 Technologies You Don’t Know About But Should

Discover 30 technology tools that can be seamlessly integrated into your business

Does this really need an explanation? Yes it does, so you’ll need to come and hear it.

Becoming the Online Mayor of Your Community

Understand what it means to be the “Online Mayor of your Community”

The end game of all real estate social media strategies. Learn how to put yourself at the online center of your real community. This is market area “farming” and done by the cutting edge elite. Take full advantage of the resources available and create a plan to put yourself in the middle of the flow of information in your market.

Hyper-local Blogging for Business and SEO

Learn how to use Hyper-Local Blogging to land you on the first page of GOOGLE

What is Hyper-local? Why does it matter? How does focusing on hyper-local content give you more qualified leads that are ready to act quicker? Find out how to target your next client by providing the information they are looking for when they are really getting close to buying. Learn the methodology of a newer agent who has leveraged the Internet to become a Mega Producer.

About The Speakers:

Ben Kinney, Mega Producer, Keller Williams

Featured: 2008 Realtor Magazines annual “30 under 30″, RIS Media “Power Team” report, WCAR Realtor of the Year and Quarter

Bob Stewart, Director of Social Media Strategy, ActiveRain

Bob is responsible for growing and maintaining ActiveRain’s vibrant community of real estate professionals. He has been actively involved as a member of ActiveRain from inception. Prior to ActiveRain, Bob was COO of Brio Realty and during his tenure he increased sales volume from zero to over $100 million a year.

Brad Andersohn, Community Manager, ActiveRain

Brad is the all around tech and member support services guru. His focus and goal is to make sure members are getting the most out of the network and community. He spends a great deal of time introducing new products, tools, and services with explanations and tutorials on how to best apply them to your business plans and growth strategies.

To register for Raincamp Prescott please click HERE

RainCamp™ – “Because the way we do Business has changed!”

Tags: RainCamp Arizona
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Arizona REO Homes For Your Buyers with NO Investor Competition and FHA Approved

Friday, July 9th, 2010

Remove The Competition Of REO Properties By Coming To The Realtor Rally and Home Buyer Auction

Arizona REALTORS, are you sick and tired of driving your buyers from city to city, house to house, writing multiple offers (on the hood of your hot car of course) only to be outbid by a cash investor? There has to be an easier way!

Yes, There Is.

Come to the Realtor Rally on Tuesday 7/13/2010 to learn the process of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program or NSP. These homes will be move in ready and meet all the inspection guidelines for FHA.

Realtor Rally 7-13-2010

For All Your Arizona Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Wage Garnishment-up 121% in Arizona-Is Money Missing From Your Account

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

With all the attention the housing market is receiving, its easy to overlook other challenges occurring in Arizona. Wage Garnishments-and Arizona leads the nation in them. Money missing from your paycheck or commission? Your paycheck may have been garnished and worse-you most likely have no clue that it has even occurred. As reported by “The Today Show”, this woman in Chandler, Arizona was behind a few hundred dollars in credit card debt,-because of her job loss, the amount owed ballooned to almost $2500 with penalties and late fees- when she noticed money missing from her bank account. She came to discover that debt collectors had won a judgment against her, without her knowledge and her bank account was garnished-again, without her knowledge-or permission. Scary. Yes garnishments are up across the country but Arizona leads the nation with a 121% increase. As you can see below, there are steps that you can take to protect yourself in the event your wages are garnished.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

Tags: Wage Garnsishment
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Short Sales Exposed-Insiders Tell All-Neil Thomson

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

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

Tags: Short Sale Education, Short Sales Exposed-Insiders Tell All
Posted in Education | 1 Comment »

Phoenix area home rentals in high demand

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Looking for a home to rent in the Phoenix Metro Area? Well, it looks like you better move fast. You would think that all the short sale and foreclosure activity would have put a damper on our housing market and you would be right-kind of.

The rental market is booming. And it makes perfect sense. There are thousands of people that are losing their homes to foreclosure and short sale, all these people need a place to call home. Add to that the thousands (and growing) of others that are choosing to walk away from their homes, AKA-Strategic Default, and you can see why rental homes would be in high demand.

Less supply, more demand=high rents and often longer leases required. 2+ years

Got bad credit? Don’t let that get you down. I own 5 homes, before the boom, I would have required good credit, good job history and good references, that has now changed. Its hard to find someone that has no been negatively effected by this recession. Many landlords (myself included) will work with you.

Looking for a REALTOR to help you find the perfect rental house? Call or email me to be referred to a REALTOR that can help you.

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

Tags: Rental Merket heats up
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Short Sales Exposed-Insiders Tell All

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

What if?

What if a forward thinking company sponsored a short sale event. A short sale event that featured industry professionals legends like Steve Chader of Keller Williams Integrity First, John Foltz, Designated Broker of Realty Executives, Jim Sexton of John Hall & Associates, Duane Fouts of Homesmart, Michelle Lind-General Council for AAR, and capped it off with one of the valley premier law firms-Thomson Conant.

What if 800 Phoenix area REALTOR’s came together at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts-Virginia G. Piper Theater to discuss {to name a few} Deficiency statutes, 1099 filings and statistics-what they reveal about the short sale market. Would you be one the 800? We are betting you will-because this is the short sale seminar you have been waiting for. Join Old Republic Title Agency as we present” Short Sales Exposed-Insiders Tell All”. This event is limited to 800, first come first served. Register HERE for this FREE event.

Ready?

Go!

Short Sales Exposed May 19th 2010 9-12

Did I mention it’s FREE?

So……Are You Coming? Register HERE

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

Tags: short sale arizona, Short Sale Education
Posted in Education | 1 Comment »

5 Things REALTOR’s Do That Annoy Evo-And Many Others Most Likely

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Annoyed.

We all get annoyed by different things. For some its traffic, others its screaming kids or the significant other. Normally the things that we do don’t affect our business. But, what if you are involuntarily doing something that annoys your potential clients? Do you think they would be more or less likely to work with you for their real estate needs.

Yep.

At RE Bar Camp Phoenix in Scottsdale, Evo Terra, a professional public speaker, author and digital business strategist held a class for REALTOR’s called “5 things you (REALTOR’s) do that annoy me“. I think its safe to assume that if something annoys him, that it may annoy many others as well, so there is a learning experience here. Evo is not a REALTOR, in addition to being an online citizen he is a consumer like you and I, a consumer that buys and sells real estate and has his own likes and dislikes.

These are his dislikes.

Video Email. He Likes Video, He Likes Email But He Obviously Doesn’t Like Video Email.

The Email Signature Line. Why is yours so Fat? Your Designations Mean Nothing To Me

Lead with a business card. A No-No.

Annoy me on Facebook. How Can You Expect Someone To Be A Fan, If They Have Never Bought Or Sold A Home With You?
Lead with your brokerage. People Work With You, Not Your Brokerage

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

Tags: 5 Things Realtors Do That Annoy Evo Terra
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Real Estate Bar Camp Phoenix 2010-Updated

Friday, April 9th, 2010

It was a beautiful Friday in Scottsdale, Arizona to attend the 2nd annual Real Estate Bar Camp Phoenix 2010. I was there with with 800+ of my closest friends to learn the latest and greatest about leveraging technology in real estate.

First of all. What’s Bar Camp?

“It’s an “un-conference”. There is no pre-printed agenda. The agenda is built that day and often morphs through the camp as people gather, talk and share. Anyone can come and write on a board-what they want to discuss.” Then a weird thing happens. Other Realtors, Lenders, Title Reps, Appraisers, etc.. that want to discuss/learn the same thing just show up. Its not uncommon to see organized conversations pop-up everywhere.

Simply write on the board what you want to discuss and others with the same interests and needs show up!

The Board Of Wisdom

Who was there?

A literal who’s -who of the social media and technology world.

JayThompson, Jack Smith, Mike Mueller, Steve Groves , Justin McHood, Evo Terra and industry professionals from Realtors, lenders, title, escrow, appraisers, inspectors, virtual assistants, home stagers and anyone else in the real estate world (or any other world — PR, Marketing, etc) who want to improve their social media game.

It was exciting to be around so many people that wanted to learn. Still think social media is a fad?

I can show you over 800 people who certainly don’t.

Some of the classes held included
* Search Engine Optimization
* Blogging Basics (how to build a blog, how to market your blog, etc.)
* Strategies of Blogging for Business in Real Estate
* Best Blogging Platforms
* Free Online Tools to Tweak Your Biz
* Twitter Tips for Real Estate
* FaceBook Marketing
* LinkedIn Business & Referral Strategies
* YouTube as a Business Builder
* Leveraging the Power of Social Networks like Active Rain, Flickr, Twitter and more
* Using Trulia to grow your business
* Tricks of Marketing on Zillow
* What makes up a good Website
* Driving traffic to your website
* Lead Generation
* Click to Closing the Lead
* Building an online Community
* Marketing Your Inventory the Web 2.0 way
* Video Like a Pro
* Podcasting For Dummies (Not!) and more from the guy that literally wrote the book Podcasting for Dummies
* How Do I Work This @$%@#$ Smart Phone?
* Developing a Data Base on a Dime
* Short Sales Only Suck If You Let Them!

#REBCPHX

@MyTitleGuy

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

Tags: Blogging, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Social Media training
Posted in Education | 1 Comment »

Evo Terra to teach Facebook 101 class at Arizona School of Real Estate

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

If you have been wondering how to integrate Facebook into your business, this is the class for you. This class will be taught by one of Arizona’s finest Social Media Experts. Evo Terra has been hired by NAR for national speaking engagements to discuss some of his accomplishments and expertise in the new world of Social Media marketing. If you do not use, do not want to use, do not understand what is, or want to use Social Media, you do not want to miss this class. This is a Smurcle.com/ MyTitleGuy Exclusive! Read on for class registration.

Facebook 101

Tags: Facebook 101
Posted in Education, Inbound Marketing, Marketing | 1 Comment »

BS Show Episode 3-Short Sale and the Security Nightmare.

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

REALTOR’s all over Arizona have changed their business models to pursue short sale. It makes sense as up to 65% of all the sales that take place in Maricopa County are distressed sales (short sale or foreclosure).

As a Realtor you are most likely concerned with identifying short sale candidates, marketing and contacting them, finding a buyer and ultimately negotiating a successful short sale. In order to approach the bank with a short sale there are certain things that most agents will collect : pay stubs, tax returns, social security numbers just to name a few.

According to Don Doerr and Doug Farnham of Thomson Conant’s Mortgage Mediation Group, there are compliance regulations that now apply to you and your business as a result of collecting financial information to short sell a property. I was not aware of this either, which is why we chose to make episode 3 of the “BS” Show: “Short Sale and The Security Nightmare” .

Most loan originators are aware of the rules associated with accepting sensitive client information. They do it on a daily basis. Most real estate professionals, however, have not had to deal with compliance regulation and processes such as DSS (Data Security Standard), DLP (Data Loss Prevention) and ILM (Information Lifecycle Management). These are more than just fancy terms. These processes apply to anyone that has access to client information, for how long, how data is stored and disposed of, and requires you to show logs and security measures to establish compliance.

Arizona is in the top 5 states for identity theft. According to Don and Doug, If ID theft is linked back to a leak at your company, you will be required to demonstrate how you have followed all required regulations. You will also need to produce policies and procedures, document and logs to show that regulations were followed. Before you tell yourself this could never happen at your business, think about this; cyber crime is growing at record pace and becoming more sophisticated each day. Even the largest companies with the biggest security budgets have been infiltrated. Although the economic return from hacking your computer may be small by comparison, your computer is an easy target. A hacker will always go after the low-hanging fruit first.

There is no way to guarantee your computer or office has not, or will not be compromised. Compliance is about minimizing that risk and being able to show that you did your due diligence to secure the data in the event of a breach.

Some things to consider even if you don’t store client information on your computer:

Email is not secure.
Do not accept information by email.
Additionally, if your email syncs to your phone you have just extended the endpoints of your data network as these devices should be encrypted.
It is possible to have data stolen from your phone through a blue tooth connection without your knowledge and of course there is always the possibility of losing your phone.

Chat (messaging) programs are also not secure, they store a chat log on your computer, and are a common method hackers use to gain access to, or upload malware to your computer that will monitor your activity.

Many lenders require information be entered into an online system (i.e. Equator). If your computer is compromised this data could be captured by hackers and sold to the highest bidder.

Required Regulations:
Don and Doug remind us “there are many regulations that apply when you start accepting sensitive client data. Most of these contain overlapping requirements. For many companies, following the PCI (Payment Card Industry) requirements covers the minimum requirements for many other regulations. Even if you do not accept or process credit cards, PCI is a well accepted standard and is very clear in its definitions. It is also well supported by numerous software programs for testing and report generation. As an alternative to PCI, ISO27001 is becoming an accepted standard. Because the data collected by a client relate to mortgage origination there are parts of SOX (Sarbanes Oxley) and GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) that could apply. But these last two are not as well defined as PCI or ISO27001 and are somewhat vague as to DSS requirements. FISMA is a government standard released by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) that seems to have some teeth as far as enforcement and penalties.”

You are responsible for the security of the data you receive from a client, even if you have a third party handle the negotiations and processing. It is imperative that you confirm that any software you use to process or any third party used to process this data meet these requirements.

For more information about Data collection and how you can protect your clients and yourself, please contact

Don Doerr
Director, Mortgage Mediation Group
602.774.3757
ddoerr@tcmmg.com

www.MortgageMediationGroup.com

Doug Farnham
Thomson Conant
602.326.6552
dfarnham@tcmmg.com

Here are some links to help you with tracking and compliance:
PCI (Payment Card Industry) Compliance
Policies and Procedures Template for PCI
GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act)
FISMA
ISO27001
MA201
MediationNet (Short sale software for attorneys and processors.)