MRED Blog
REinventing MLS
Category Archives: Agent “Doing Business” Discussions
You Don’t Have to Spend, Spend, Spend Anymore
The days of real estate agents spending big bucks on marketing or customer management tools have come to an end. Not only is money tighter today, but you simply do not have to make those expenditures anymore, not if you are a customer of MRED.
You have access to an incredible array of products and services that, when effectively utilized, are what you need to be successful. CAVEAT – none of this works without your effort. Hard work and willingness to devote oneself to real estate is what distinguishes the most accomplished agents from those who aren’t successful.
If we all accept the notion that effort/hard work is necessary, stop spending whatever hard earned money you have on the next product that is going to “do it for you”. Take a look at what you already have available. For example, start with what is the best MLS system in the country, connectMLSTM. It has a Prospecting module you can use to stay in contact with your clients, including providing each of your buyers with their own web site to peruse listings that meet criteria you and they have agreed upon. You can also email listings directly to your buyers right out of the MLS.
I’ve described just a couple of the most basic functions that connectMLSTM provides. Your habitual use of this and other functionality that keeps you in regular, constant touch with current and prospective clients is a very effective way to nuture current business and create future opportunities. And you’re already paying for it in your MLS access fees. Why not take advantage of it?
And doesn’t it make sense that if you are going to spend money you invest it to enhance the functionality of a product or service that you already are using? This is your choice – if you effectively are taking advantage of something and can enhance what it is already accomplishing for you, that’s an investment worth making.
Watch this space for more information about how you can take full advantage of what you are already paying for. Let’s build a toolkit together of MRED products and services that will help you create the success you are capable of and responsible for. And I’m not selling you a bill of goods, here, or anything else for that matter . . .
When Do You Start Your Work Week?
We’re trying to get a handle on when our customers (brokers, agents, appraisers) get their work weeks going. I have a feeling it’s different for each of those groups, but that there is some consistency within each group.
In the “old days” (sorry), agents typically took off Mondays unless they had to turn something like a signed contract into the office. Even then, they would show up in shorts and a t-shirt (even in winter) to turn it or them (more than one!) in and hightail it out of there. The official work week would not start for them until Tuesday or maybe even Wednesday.
Brokers always opened up on Mondays to process the business their agents did over the weekend. They seemed to do a Monday through Friday kind of business existence, but had to be available on the weekends if problems arose. Of course, if the broker or manager lists and sells, seven days would be the norm (never could figure out how to do more than seven days in a week).
Appraisers seem to have a more normal business existence as they also do a Monday through Friday work week, and their dealings seem to be with entities that share that work week (like banks.). Please let me know if I’m way off on this.
I wonder if things have changed as the real estate business has changed. Do you work different days of the week than in the “old days”?
At MRED we are trying to communicate on those dates and times that seem to work best for you. Since the vast majority of our customers are agents, we send out the eTip on Wednesdays, as that is when most of you are back to work. We send out a short reminder about a product or service we are focusing on every Friday, to give you some extra tool or ammunition you need before the weekend hits. On Sundays we send out the Training Monitor, as we’re thinking you will take a good look at it on that Sunday or Monday and figure out the training opportunities that are good for you that week.
Any monthly or other types of communications seem to work best going out Monday or Tuesday, so all of our real estate professionals can get to it by the middle of the week.
What do you think? Any suggestions regarding a better plan on when to send these out? Your feedback, as always, is welcome.
Realtors Close Over $19 Billion in Transactions with Midwest Real Estate Data in 2010
Not Even a Blizzard Stops Real Estate Professionals from Doing Business
You’ve heard the expression: “real estate agents NEVER sleep.” For customers of Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), sleep was the least of their concerns when the Great Blizzard of 2011 hit the Chicagoland area.
“I had been working with a buyer since June,” said Maree Guttosch of Charles Rutenberg Realty in Naperville. “Several short sale catastrophes and disappointments later, we received a fully executed contract much to the delight of my very patient and tenacious buyer. Attorney, Lender, Buyer, Listing Agent and I were all working feverously to make it all come together during the blizzard! Of course, there was some snow shoveling accomplished during the process.”
Tuesday, February 1, was actually an unremarkable day weather-wise before the storm hit. However, once it started snowing, it kept going and didn’t stop until over 20 inches of snow fell. The Blizzard of 2011 has been recognized by the National Weather Service as the third largest ever in Chicago. That didn’t stop some agents from carrying on with business as usual.
Roz Byrne of Re/Max in the Village said, “I had a first-time buyer couple who wanted to keep our initial consultation appointment on the Tuesday night when the blizzard struck. By our appointment at 7:00 p.m., the blizzard was in full force. My husband drove me to the office in our four-wheel drive and my clients trudged the two blocks from their apartment through the storm. The front door to my office looked sand-blasted by the whipping snow and wind and there was a drift in front of the door. We met for an hour and they signed my Buyer Agency Agreement. Our MLS was unaffected by the blizzard and we were able to start reviewing properties. You gotta love their motivation!”
“The blizzard didn’t disrupt my work at all,” said Amy Duong of AAA Realty Group in Chicago. “I had a closing scheduled, and as the blizzard warnings kept mounting, the buyers and sellers were worried about their closing running late and everyone being stuck in traffic. The buyers and sellers ended up doing powers of attorney and the attorneys took care of the closing themselves Tuesday afternoon. I received a final HUD statement by email and received my commission check in the mail by Thursday morning without leaving my home! Working from home was a snap as well since I went paperless awhile back. Everything that the office had, I also had from home. With email and a paperless system, I can virtually work anywhere, even in a blizzard. The MLS was not affected by the storm and I was able to do my normal research and other MLS system work. I did start showing again Thursday afternoon and had a full Saturday following the blizzard!”
Vehicles definitely made a difference for many. “I tried to plow my big Toyota Sequoia 4WD SUV truck through a giant snow drift at a vacant listing, “said Jack Sanderson of Coldwell Banker Residential in Barrington. “As I went back for the second ‘ram’ the truck got held up and was floating on the frame! I had to squiggle it back and forth several times and freed it. I called a pal from my office who has a snow plow truck for servicing his commercial holdings, and luckily enough he was in Barrington and I had the drive cleared out within 20 minutes! Even the neighbor across the street called to congratulate me on having the drive cleared so well and quickly! I had to shovel the four foot drifts myself to the front door but the time outside afforded me an excuse to light a nice cigar and ‘enjoy’ nature!”
The problems didn’t only arise during the blizzard – there was the aftermath. Diana Eckstrom of Hunter’s Fairway Sotheby’s in Barrington said, “I had a showing at one of my listings the day after the blizzard. My lockbox was frozen and the buyers’ agent could not open it. She called to see if I could get a key and meet her there for the showing. I drove to the listing, played with the lockbox for a few minutes, and finally got it open. To my surprise, the keys were frozen together in a chunk of ice! I tried chiseling the ice off but it was too hard. I was on my way home when I saw some children playing outside and I asked if I could have a cup of hot water. I poured it in the box, and the ice defrosted. I was able to get the lockbox off and I replaced it with a new box I brought with me. I called the buyer’s agent; she showed the property and brought me an offer!”
About MRED
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is a real estate data aggregator and distributor that provides the largest multiple listing service (by listing volume) to over 40,000 customers, with property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.
Midwest Real Estate Data Survey Response by Local Agent Results in a new iPad
When the phone rang in her office and Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) was on the other end of the line, Katie Schmitt, Assistant Manager for Apartment Guys Gold Coast, had a moment of panic. Fearing the worst, Katie thought “Are we getting fined for something or had we forgotten to do something in the MLS system?”
Apartment Guys Gold Coast focuses on apartment leasing in the downtown and north side Chicago marketplace. Katie had recently filled out a survey MRED had distributed to its customers in preparation for its recent Business Planning meetings. An incentive for Katie to complete the survey was to have an entry in a drawing by MRED to win a new iPad. However, her reason for taking time to complete the survey was to make sure MRED knew of the interest her office has in leasing-focused training classes and other services dedicated to leasing agents.
Katie’s comments have not fallen on deaf ears. MRED has been having internal discussions regarding what it can do to better serve the rental market and the offices and agents that work in that arena. MRED recognizes that while the home sales market will eventually rebound and business will improve for sales agents, there is and will continue to be a substantial rental market that needs to be serviced.
What Katie heard was not that Apartment Guys had done anything wrong, but that she was, in fact, the winner of MRED’s drawing. Her prize was a brand new 64gig iPad!
“While I didn’t fill out the survey thinking I had any chance to win, I’ll gladly take a new iPad any day,” said Katie. “We would gladly give out an iPad in exchange for the great information Katie and the other 7,000 survey respondents provided,” said MRED CEO Russ Bergeron, adding “We are always interested in hearing what our customers have to say. After all, we exist to support all of them in the business of real estate.”
About MRED:
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is a real estate data aggregator and distributor that provides the largest multiple listing service (by listing volume) to over 40,000 customers, with property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.
Are You Doing Business or Just Staying Busy?
Real estate professionals – we are in a world where everyone is busy, busy, busy . . .
Talking on the phone is the least of it. Texting, social network posting, blogging – we’re all just communicating like it’s going out of style. If we’re not communicating, we’re surfing the Internet, looking at websites, and being cutting edge, i.e. staying on top of as much information as we can possibly absorb. When we’re not communicating or surfing, we’re attending – conferences, meetings, conventions, etc.
I have some questions about this – what are you doing to get a listing? What are you doing to sell the listings you have? What are you doing to find a buyer, or find a home for buyers you are already working with?
What are you doing to make money?
Don’t get me wrong. I understand that a big part of building your business is creating relationships, staying on top of what’s happening in your community, training and education, and other things mentioned above. This is not a post about avoiding any of those things. It is a reminder that all of those things are supposed to ultimately lead you to acquire buyers and sellers and do real estate deals. And, while you get satisfaction from all sorts of things in real estate transactions, you also get something else – paid.
Don’t be too busy to get yourself paid.
But how do you keep up with all the ways information is made available to us today? We’re on overload! Simple answer – you can’t. So you do the best you can, and make sure you fit in those activities which keep you as the expert in your neck of the woods and keep you trained up on everything you need to know. You may have to drop some other stuff which feels important and is a part of your real estate business, but really doesn’t make you any money or improve your ability to make money in the future.
OK – got to go. Busy, busy, busy helping to REinvent MLS . . .
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