Are Location-Based Services in Real Estate All Hype or The Next Big Thing? (Part 2)

Posted on 02. Sep, 2010 by Josh Ferris.

Last week we posted Part I of our interview with Ryan Neu, Real Estate Executive at SCVNGR and Garrett Nelson, Director of Media at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Executive in Washington. Read the rest of our interview with them below including how they use these services in their businesses and how they expect [...]

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Succession Planning Part 2: Nine Keys Areas of Focus

Posted on 01. Sep, 2010 by Robert Albanese.

1. Include it in your strategic plan. How many years prior to retirement should there be a plan? Right now is as good a time as any! There is no reason you can’t start preparation now with a series of plans at any point in the life of the business or even before the business [...]

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Are Location-Based Services in Real Estate All Hype or The Next Big Thing? (Part 1)

Posted on 23. Aug, 2010 by Josh Ferris.

Location-based services are what’s hot in social networking right now and for good reason. By using a simple app on your smartphone you can share where you are and what you’re up to with others in your network (updates can be automatically sent to your Facebook and Twitter accounts) which fosters more frequent communication and [...]

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How Do You Know What Your Customers Really Think (Part 2)?

Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by Jeff Lefkowitz.

In my last blog I opened a discussion on customer exit surveys.  In this edition, I would like to start discussing how to find out what your clients think about you and your firm. It isn’t as obvious as it may seem.  For example: An agent trying to measure how he can improve referral business [...]

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Ten Considerations in Creating a Succession Plan

Posted on 12. Aug, 2010 by Robert Albanese.

A succession plan is as important as life insurance. Please consider your options as early as possible in your tenure. If Buffet were to retire today, would his company find the talent to lead them? Are you certain that your company would continue on as you had hoped? Thinking ahead is a cardinal rule of [...]

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The REport

Posted on 20. Jul, 2010 by Sherry Chris.

Keep your friends close!  A new survey found that 88 percent of Facebook friends have physically met each other as opposed to only 48.2 percent of people who have met their Twitter followers.  This news is probably not surprising to Twitter Founder Biz Stone who recently said Twitter is a news service not a social network.  [...]

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The Week Before Inman

Posted on 07. Jul, 2010 by Wendy Forsythe.

This is the third ‘week before’ Inman Connect that the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate team has prepared for.The 2008 week before Inman was also the week before the official launch of the brand, and the week before welcoming our first franchisee to the network. That was a week I will never forget. I don’t [...]

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Practice What You Preach

Posted on 30. Jun, 2010 by Paulette Costa.

We tell our agents the number one thing they must do to get more business is prospect, prospect, and then prospect some more.

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Operational and Compensational Implications of Reducing Office Size

Posted on 22. Jun, 2010 by Robert Albanese.

As is true with everything in business, the issue of reducing office size cannot be viewed in a vacuum. If you decide that reducing office size is an important initiative for your company, first consider all operational attributes that are impacted by changes to the physical plant. Keep in mind that both business and culture [...]

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Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 18. Jun, 2010 by Sherry Chris.

The Stanley Cup ended last week, but the industry is talking about a possible hockey stick recovery for housing if builders can’t “meet pent-up demand once excess inventories are depleted.”  The sentiment is joined by analysts who believe that a housing shortage could be on its way as the job market rebounds and people look to buy homes again. In the meantime, however, housing starts sagged 10 percent in May and building [...]

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What’s in Your Toolbox?

Posted on 15. Jun, 2010 by Paulette Costa.

Several years ago I was asked to participate in a Habitat for Humanity project. It was a day when only women were to work on a home that was being built for a single mother in Hartford, CT, and I was proud to participate.

I participated with several agents from my office and upon arrival we were met by the local builder who provided each of us with a carpenter’s apron, a hammer, nails, a tape measure and our assignments. Mine was to hammer floor boards. The builder barked out instructions, demonstrated with a few swings of his hammer and left me to my work which I took on with feverish excitement.

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