Industry Perspectives

    Whether you are a new real estate agent or have been in the game for 20 years, setting goals is vital to growing your business and setting you up for success. It’s important to think through every aspect of your business, from what you accomplished in the previous year to where you want to see growth, and devise a strategy to accomplish it. The best way to achieve this is by creating a business plan. What is a business plan? In short, a business plan is a strategic, written plan that outlines your overall goal and the actionable

    What are the most pressing issues on the minds of leading real estate brokers going into 2018? From operational issues to tech adoption, to industry disruptors, to profitability and low-inventory challenges, executives from Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate shared key insights from a recent BHGRE-RISMedia survey of leading U.S. brokers on “What Keeps Brokers Up at Night?” Here are the top three issues that are keeping brokers up at night and the steps to take in order to address them and ensure success for the future. 3. Lack of Inventory 51 percent of respondents who participated in

  While it’s easy to simply re-sign your lease and avoid the hassles that come with moving, there are many benefits to buying a home that should be considered. From ownership pride to tax breaks, owning a home has advantages to renting. 1 – EQUITY Homeownership automatically builds equity and creates a long term investment. Each mortgage payment increases that equity as opposed to rent which only benefits your landlord. Over time, your home is likely to increase in value, giving you a foundation for financial success. When the time to sell your home is right, the increased value can

  By Lauren Walker Using Facebook for real estate is kind of a no-brainer. It’s a social platform that helps you make genuine connections and be present in your local marketplace. But there is some debate over whether you should use your personal page versus a business page. Three Important Reasons to Have a Facebook Business Page for Real Estate: You can run ads. This is the real moneymaker for Mark Zuckerberg and friends, but advertising on Facebook can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Whether for listings or branding, Facebook ads are fantastic tools.

  By: Tori Rosenblum At HomeSmart, when we talk to prospective agents or franchise owners, we’re met with questions like: How is that possible? What’s the catch? We get a lot of resistance because people don’t understand how we can do what we do and provide such great value at such a low cost. So, we want to share some stories from agents who’ve made the smart move and as a result, have taken their saved commissions and reinvested them in order to grow their business and enrich their lives. Cherie Malkoff, a HomeSmart Realty Group agent from Central Phoenix,

  Homeownership is different from renting in that all expenses are the owner’s responsibility. When you rent, the landlord handles repairs and other issues for you. Those that own their own home must realize storing some money away for a rainy day is essential. Savings for the Unexpected Homeowners must be realistic and keep a little savings that is designated for the repairs, maintenance and needs of their home in the form of an emergency fund. Rainy days will come at some point and being prepared will help your stress level, bank account and home. We don’t want to think

  By: Lauren Walker Testimonials are gold for real estate agents. That’s because social proof is the must-have validation you need for referrals — and referrals drive over 80% your real estate business. So, how do you ask your clients for reviews? How do you measure your own performance on a transaction? Often, an agent’s method of asking for referrals is the equivalent of the sticker on commercial trucks that says, How’s my driving? Agents just ask their clients, “How’d I do?” But if you ask a simple and generic question, you will get a simple, generic answer. For example,

  By: Jen Ross   Laura Knowlton loves her community. In fact, the Divide, Colorado volunteer firefighter, Colorado Springs EMT and wilderness medical team member is so fond of her home, that she became a real estate professional to extend her passion for providing service in the community. The Predicament of Connecting To Leads When Laura first began as an agent with HomeSmart, she made it her goal to be the local expert for those moving into the area. Therefore, Laura knew she needed a way to easily and personally convey her local knowledge while reaching as many buyers as

  By: Wendy Forsythe 2017 has been a whirlwind and here we are, staring down the pipe to the end of the year. So, let’s consider the last 40 days of 2017 — a critical time in our businesses. People are thinking about business and strategic planning and what they want to accomplish in 2018. So as we make that shift into the last 40 days, I want to share with you five areas of focus that you’ll find really impactful as you plan for the end of the year and gear up for a successful 2018. Retention The end