Gabriel Duque's Blog

The effect of the Internet is modeling the structure of the real estate industry according to different sources most of the future buyers are starting their search for homes in the Internet.

Some sellers are reluctant to pay the fee that companies like REMAX, Century 21, and Coldwell Banker are asking on the other hand these titans of real estate tend to be slow into changes.

The FSBO solution also has difficulties despite the flourishing of web pages that allow them to expose their homes in a similar way that the MLS does for realtors. Since they need advice on the price and some regulations could tie their house in a bad contract for months.

In the opinion of some authors the solution will be an intermediate solution, since it will be necessary to address the requirement of the internet that implies the need to offer the customer the possibility of "visit" the house remotely using his/her own computer from the convenience of their house. The importance of virtual tours is growing on the tools needed by today's real estate providers. Not only allows customers to visit the house from the convenience of their own computer, but it helps sellers to think that the realtor that is providing this service is the one that could provide him the service he expects.

On the other hand having a virtual tour does not mean that the real estate work is done, since the Internet customer is expecting a very fast response to their quest, and not all the customers that come to your webpage are ready to buy. Around 95 % are just looking for the correct price and will not be buying in the next 3 to 12 months.

Therefore the realtor has to be prepared to give this prospects drip information to transform them into customers.

If you have any need in your marketing in the areas of Miami Beach, Miami Dade and Broward Counties please contact Virtual Florida Tours at (305) 331 8960 or through the Internet at http://www.virtualfloridarealtours.com

Sometimes you feel that you have reached a plateau and could not achieve better results? You're not alone, many people sabotage their own success, many people question themselves: "Why can't I be more successful? Why do I stop myself?"

Success and stress is not the same thing. Even though in order to be successful you need to work hard that does not mean you have to burn yourself out. In reality you need to reprogram yur own belief and learn to worker smarter.

In our life training we are trained to fit and not bring too much attention to ourselves instead of being trained to be successful. Frequently when you were feeling really great about yourself you heard someone tell you: "Who do you think you are? This repeated pattern of verbal punishment made many of us assumed that thinking too great about ourselves will bring someone to bring us down.

To be successful you need a certain level of self-confidence. To be happy you need to feel good about yourself. So if you feel unworthy, you should start using the following list of beliefs recommended by Dr. Maya Bailey¹:

• I am more than worthy of prosperity
• I am highly deserving of an abundance of all good
• It is now okay for me to feel good about myself
• I give myself permission to feel pride in the work that I do
• As I share my expertise I am worthy of being amply rewarded

She recommends practicing these Empowered Beliefs frequently to raise your level of self esteem.

Of course you will need to leave the comfort zone if you ever want to become successful. Life requires for you to get risks. You can stay put and you will never be able to fulfill your potential, and you will stay at a low financial level, and never reaching a dream.

You are struggling between your desire to achieve more or just settle down for what you have. You need to break through and go for the best of yourself fight to obtain some time for self care, and self maintenance. You need to realize that by continuing doing what you have done until now "your comfort zone" is only keeping you from achieving your full potential

You need to rethink your strategies and create a plan that will allow you to differentiate yourself from the competition. This will require a higher presence in the Internet since right now 87% of the future buyers start their search on the Internet. Create a good follow up system that will allow you to respond as soon as possible to any request. Maintain drip information, since most of the possible prospects that contact you through the Internet are just seeking information and will not take an action until 3 to 12 months.

What about enticing sellers and customer by using virtual tours as part of the package you normally offer to your customers. Remember the realtor that has the greatest chance to sell is the one that has the listing.

Start thinking why it is unsafe to grow or expand? You need to balance your life.

Or simply relax, be healthy, and positive while creating the highest financial outcome possible with the least amount of stress.

 If you decide to use virtual tours in Miami Dade, or Broward Counties or in the Miami beach area remember that Virtual Florida Tours is your local provider of Real Tour Vision and you can contact us at (305) 331 8960 or through the Internet at http://www.virtualfloridarealtours.com

As a professional you do not have any tool more powerful that your mind. You need to think with clarity before acting, by doing this you will move upward and onward more rapidly in your career.

The best way is to think in your benefits as well as the benefits of the company of which you are part. To achieve this in a personal term is to increase your earning ability. In other words you need to apply the needed mental, emotional and physical energies toward getting the needed results for yourself and your company.

You should try to increase your overall effectiveness and contribution in all the areas of your life, especially and most important in your work.

Increase everything that you are doing that yield the maximum financial return. Also think in those activities that give you the greatest value and achieve the most satisfaction and increase them as much as possible.

As a realtor what are you doing to differentiate yourself from other professionals and make yourself more marketable. Are you using the Intenet in a valuable way? Are  you giving the seller/buyer a service that other professionals in your area are not providing?

Have your company stablished a plan of action that separates your's from other companies offering similar services? Do you offfer virtual tours that will allow possible buyers from other states or countries to "visit " your listing without the need of personally coming to see it? Do you have a stablished folow up plan that will allow you to give drip information to possible clients?

Rememeber you can always count on your virtual tour provider for advice in how to make your listings more effectively presented to your prospects. If you have any virtual tour need in Miami Beac, Miami Dade or Broward Counties? Please call Virtual Florida Tours at (305) 331 8960 or contact us through the Internet at http:www.virtualfloridarealtours.com and remember that we strive for excellence.

Reference: Tracy, Brian; "Strategic Thinking", Broker Agent News E-Letter     - Updated for Sept. 19, 2007

The first thing that a realtor needs to address is what will his niche will be, beachfront homes, condominiums or any other market in which to become the ultimate specialist.

After that you should set your goals: implement individual strategies and programs support the plan and by reaching its marketing objectives achieve her/his goals.

Then you need to address the organization of your work, you need to know what the market wants, what is needed, and how what you are providing will affect the outcome. What do you have that makes people buy from you instead of your competitors? What do you do better than others? What do you fall down at doing?

A question that comes to mind is how the advertisement return on investment is. Are you getting back what you expect from it? Is there a way to measure what is coming from this advertisement?

In today's market buyers are reportedly starting their searches in the Internet so what are you doing to capture this market? What are you doing to convince these sellers that if they do business with you they have better possibilities of selling their homes at the highest price? Are you going to settle for local buyers or would you like to increase your possibilities? If you want to address the International or out of the State market do you think they could come to visit houses as your local clients might do?

The only way to address the needs of the new expanding market is through a well ranked web page and intensive use of virtual tours that will allow your client to select their house with the least amount of inconvenience. On the other hand you will be saving money if you compare your costs of placing advertisements in news papers or magazines that could reach the same number of clients during a whole year?

Constantly hammer your future clients with adds that emphasize how you are special...you are the (what?) realtor

You need to device good tactics, by discovering those things that you can do that your competitor can't.  That will be your guerrilla tactic. Once you spot your potential guerrilla marketing tactics you will be able to corner your share of the market.

Evaluation of the outcome generally involves three parts...Definition of  the Standards - Measurement of the Performance against the standards, and Correcting any Deviations. In other words Return On Investments (ROI).

Once you do this come the feedback If the ROI is what you expected continue the good work, if it is less What has to be done in order to achieve the Goals.

Remember  whenever you need a virtual tour in Miami Beach, Miami Dade or Broward Counties Virtual Florida Tours is your local provider of Real Tour Vision, you can contact us at (305) 331 8960 or through the Internet at http:www.virtualfloridarealtours.com

Reference: Koelzer, Bill; "Ten Steps to a Solid Realtor®, Team, or Office Marketing Plan"Broker Agent News E-Letter - Updated for August 1, 2007

I was just reading an article by Hanley Wood and I felt a little exerpt of it was more than enough to grasp an idea of what we are facing in these times.

Remember that virtual tours can save you money in marketing and gas since you will show the house from the convinience of your office and  also will show home that your client already liked.

In March the housing permits decline and the NAHB Housing Market Index (HMI) tied its lowest reading ever recorded in the index's 22-year history. 

As you all know the DOW is plummeting, but Leading economic indicators posted slight gains suggesting that the worst of the economic downturn may be behind us.

Price data in May also showed slight signs of rising inflationary pressure with increases in both consumer and producer prices. 

National average mortgage rates increased. This is the fourth straight week that rates have increased and the highest rates have been since September 2007. 

New homes sales has increased but the market at this pace will require several months to catch up with the availability of new homes, also the amount of homes in the market has increased requiring almost a year of sales at the current pace to level the market.

So resuming the market continues tough, but sales are coming back a little. Not as bad as  last report specially for those that are working in Miami since it was even better in Miami last month.

If you want more detailed information on this topic please read Housing Market Key Indicator Alert 6/29/08,By: Hanley Wood at: http://brokeragentpro.com/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=1404In

You should always respond the possible client using the same method used by them, only call the prospect if they explicitly ask you to call or they offered their phone voluntarily (not a required field of information) and it comes from your website.

 One easy way to attract buyers and sellers to your Web Page is the insertion of virtual tours.

Respond to online leads as soon as possible, Internet prospects expect immediate answers from their providers.

You need to stay in touch since 19 out of 20 Internet leads are in the information gathering stage and will only take action after 3 to 18 months, so be prepared to use drip marketing with them.

Never forget that behind the Internet is a human being so work on your best practices and get the business.

If you want more information on this topic you might read "Online Communications - Best Practices" By: Michael Russer at : http://brokeragentpro.com/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=1407

If you have any virtual tour need in Miami Dade or Southern Broward Counties, please do not forget to contact Virtual Florida Tours at http://www.virtualfloridarealtours.com, or call us at 305 331 8960

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Some realtors keep telling their clients that allowing everyone to be romping through their daily lives is definitely inconvenient, but it is unfortunately part of selling a home. 

This is not exactly real since this can be reduced to the minimum necessary by using a Virtual Tour and a Web Page attached to your home address. Then future buyers can see the home from their cell phones or their homes after just using the address of your home to see the listing, and only those buyers really in love with the house will come by to see your home. 

On the other hand by doing this the realtor will not only be giving the customer the service they deserve, but it will be showing future customers that he/she is willing to go the extra mile to get their homes sold. 

There is an important recommendation whenever a possible client comes to see your home he needs to dream about making it his home so it is important that you reduce the amount of family photos to a minimum, never be present and if possible put your pets on the backyard or carry them with you. 

In our days there is not always the need for the buyer to visit the house until he already decides that is the house he wants, therefore the use of virtual tours becomes a very important tool in helping all the parts involved to have a more pleasant transaction.

In summary, you want as many people looking at your listing as possible and the showing experience to be as comfortable for the Buyers as possible. So, using virtual tours makes the showing access as easy as possible and keep distractions (like animals, messiness, & even the Sellers presence) to a minimum.

If you have any needs of marketing a property using virtual tours or need a web page for your listing to show of do not hesitate to contact Virtual Florida Tours at www.virtualfloridaraltours.com or call us on the phone at 305 331 8960.

Reference: Kimbrough, Gray; "Making your Listing More Accessible and Creating a Pleasant Showing Experience" Retrieved from Broker Agent News E-Letter - Updated for August 26, 2007

For a real estate professional lead generation is imperative. Lead generation happens as a result of two primary activities -- marketing and prospecting.

This summer we have a tough market and our kids vacationing. This situation requires a better planning of our calendar. As independent contractors you can decide when you are going to invest more time on your business and by using the Internet we can obtain some time for our family.

If we order virtual tours of our listings we can save time and gas since that way we can show the buyers the listings without investing the time required to show all the properties physically. We can also set a Web page with the address of the house and that will allow the persons that pass by and have Internet capabilities in their phones can see the home immediately without the need of asking for a visit.

You need to prioritize the activities that need to be accomplished on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to keep your business running. Ask around with your coworkers to try to program activities in which all the group can participate with the youngsters and create group activities in which all the parents not need to be present.

Remember all the members of the family can share household responsibilities. This is an excellent way to keep kids occupied.

Try to put your business to run before the sleepy heads wake up. Remember that your cell phone, computer and office manager can help you be in the office without being there.

Reference: Julia Escobar, Managing Your Time & Making a Difference, Broker Agent Pro retrieved from the Internet at http://brokeragentpro.com/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=1385