Saturday, January 5, 2008
EUGENE, ORE. - Eugene based IDX, Inc. today announced the addition of Century 21 Yorba Station’s Judi Thomas to its suite of real estate clients. Thomas now uses IDX, Inc.’s primary application, IDX Broker, to display and completely integrate Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listings on her personal website. This allows her to retain leads generated from direct traffic, rather than losing out to the listing broker through the use of traditional framed MLS search tools.
The IDX Broker application provides agents, brokers and other real estate professionals with the tools needed to create a competitive advantage in a growing real estate market.
The objective in developing a website with an integrated IDX/MLS data feed is to generate new leads quickly at a low cost to the client. With automatic email announcements, custom client home views and advanced admin and integration controls, Thomas’ clients now have access to the entire MLS database on her website. This gives her website an advantage over those that don’t integrate the MLS listings with the IDX search tools and gives her listings free advertising on other real estate websites that also display the MLS data.
Additional benefits of using IDX Broker include the ability to automatically create featured listing pages, check the status of new MLS listings and generate automatic emails 24/7. And as a member of California’s SoCal MLS, Thomas’ clients can search that MLS quickly and easily using IDX search tools.
About Judi Thomas
With over 20 years of real estate experience, Judi Thomas joined the Century 21 team as an investor as well as a Realtor. Judi provides her clients with superior service, expertise and customer support and puts a personal touch on every real estate transaction to keep her clients coming back. Through commitment, experience and expertise, Judi is committed to helping all her clients successfully achieve all their real estate goals.
About IDX, Inc.
Headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, IDX, Inc. is a leading provider of web-based applications for real estate professionals throughout the U.S. IDX, Inc. offers two primary applications: IDX Broker and SLM Pro. IDX Broker allows individual real estate agents and brokers to integrate listings from their Multiple Listing Service (MLS) seamlessly into their own real estate website. This integrated IDX data feed allows agents and brokers to generate and manage leads online from all listings in their respective area of specialty. SLM Pro is a Sponsored Listings Management marketing program that assists businesses with the complex task of creating and managing a dynamic online marketing plan. SLM Pro uses a unique approach to online ad placement that maximizes the overall reach of a user’s website, while delivering relevant and targeted traffic efficiently. For more information about IDX, Inc. services and products, please visit http://www.idxbroker.com or call (800)421-9668.
Open Houses Will Not Get You Homes, but a Real Estate Team Will!
A Real Estate Team is a strong believer in making a property to the fullest extent of a capabilities. There has always been discussion on the merits of Open Houses. While some real estate professionals believe that Open Houses are a necessity, they are not always quick to point out the many drawbacks with hosting an Open House.
The first and most important thing you need to know is: Open Houses DO NOT SELL Homes, Realtors® Do!
Nearly all of the homes that are sold in the real estate market are sold because a realtor had a meeting with the client who came to see the home. Most of the real estate agents have two main reasons for hosting the Open Houses. The first reason being because they will usually meet promising clients who will usually come back and buy a house after the Open House. This will provide great business for the real estate team, because all the buyers have seen is a classified ad. The classified ad usually will not have the details for the home posted, therefore the buyers are not getting all the facts that they should. When the buyers are not getting all the facts, it is nearly impossible that the home can be described as “perfect” for the buyer. A professional real estate team will give you a lot more than an ad. They will sit down and give you all the details for the home, and then research a home just for you based on ya preferences. Doing this process is more likely to find the buyer a “perfect” match. Open Houses will just lure buyers that want to see which homes are attainable. An unprofessional realtor will just see it as an opportunity to meet a confused buyer, and is hoping to get a new client for the Realtor®.
The second reason is quite straightforward. Open Houses are hosted because some sellers will fall in love with the home at first sight. The Realtor wants to keep the slim chance that a buyer will walk in and immediately make an offer for the home. What really happens is the buyer is not ready yet, and soon they will have a home that they are not satisfied with. That is why real estate teams take the time to give the buyer all the details that are needed, and then let them purchase their homes.
A Real Estate Team will provide you with the quality customer service you deserve. A real estate team will host Open Houses as the client wishes, but they would much rather have the buyer to be in a office so that they can give them all the details that will make them ready to buy the home. While they are having an Open House for you, they will not be in a office trying to follow leads and come up with marketing ideas to find unqualified buyers. A recent statistic shows that less than 1% of all the homes sold come from open houses. They have also learned this from a own personal experience.
Even though someone living close by is having an Open House, ya property will receive just as much attention. A Real Estate Team works diligently to provide good marketing in large amounts through the internet, personal contact with other clients, and in print. A Real Estate Team is among the few Realtors that will find a property that is right just for you. Even if the buyer is not a client of as, they will still show all the properties that they have to offer. The great customer service that they offer has been a big factor in a success!
If you would like more information about Open Houses or anything else they offer, do not hesitate to contact them. They would be glad you provide you with more information.
Real Estate Investor Websites - Why?
Do I need a Website as a Real Estate Investor?
I know you may be thinking that your business is small and your products or services can not be sold online, so you don’t need a website for your business. Infact, there was a time not long ago when this was true and one could do without a website not only in real estate but in almost all other industries, but times have changed and without an iota of doubt I can assure you that a website for your business is an absolute must.
With more than 20 million shoppers online buying and selling books, cars, real estate, airplanes, toys, clothes, natural gas to name a few products the sky is the limit. All you have to do is visualize a product or service in your mind and someone somewhere will figure out how to sell it online.
It is not as if all life begins and end on the Internet, but if your product can be easily sold over the Internet you should do so. Besides, this enables prospective customers, employees, partners, and investors to with the click of a mouse find out about you and what you can offer them. Further, Internet marketing research firms predict that the number of online consumers will grow at a rate of 30% to 50% over the next few years. Other fringe benefits you could get from your website include selling advertising space, personalized emailing, starting an affiliate program or a web blog, creating a joint venture.
You must now be thinking about the kind of a website you want. It is the first impression people will get about you and so it must be a professional looking site and make a striking impression. Your site represents your business and should amply reflect that. You don’t want something your friends high school going son designed, you want a site that leaves a lasting impression on the viewers mind.
Why Real Estate Investor Site?
Have you ever imagined owning your own virtual office twenty four hours a day seven days a week. Well, with a website you will have all of that while promoting your real estate business. You can also get quality leads and market your properties, manage your contacts. Infact, the marketing tools that are a part of a professionally designed Real Estate website will enable you to stand head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. Just adding a website address to your ads can make a difference to how prospective clients view your business.
Who should design you site?
Today there are a plethora of web design companies out there and it is important to pick the right one. You need a balance between the how much you should pay and the kind of features your website has. Before picking a company you should find out is they have any experience in the real estate investing world. Do they have any references or sample working sites that you can view? Can they design dynamic or database driven websites so that you can easily make changes to the website yourself without paying the designer an arm and a leg to make small updates.
What to look for in an Investor site?
So, while designing your website obviously you need to keep a couple of things in mind. First let me tell you about all the free stuff you should look for, a free auto responder where you can create unlimited auto responses. Your prospects and clients will receive personalized follow-up messages. Free submission to search engines is crucial to get your word out and is an essential part of being successful. At RI Tracker we use in house search engine optimization professionals to stay on the cutting edge of search engine technology with the most important goal being to drive motivated sellers and interested customers to your site.
Your website should also include an online form for people to voice their opinion, ask questions and give their feedback. Since you want to attract investment partners you need to have a special page just for investors besides having a high quality. These features will add tons of credibility to your site and also attract money partners.
In addition to these above mentioned features, basically you need a professionally designed and maintained web site. You need a personalized email address and all the features that come with an email account. It would also be a good idea to think about creating pages for mortgage brokers, bankers, Realtors, landscapers, handymen etc. If you haven’t thought of it earlier, now is the time to setup a process for obtaining referral fees commissions, or even charge an advertising fee and you could end up totally eliminating the cost of your new site.
Owning your own domain so that all inquiries go directly to you and you are free to advertise your domain anytime anywhere also helps. When building your site ask your design company to include geographical key words to help your site rank even higher on localized searches.
How to get a professional investor web site using your own domain, and not spend thousands to get it done?
Using established services like RITRACKER.COM which is managed by a Real Estate Investor himself, your new web site can be live in 48 hours or less without costing you and arm and a leg(Starting at $499). Using them, not only is it easy to get your web site set up and personalized, but your site will be fully loaded with online marketing and lead generation tools built right in. The customer care is there to help answering all your questions and providing expertise in Internet marketing
To keep your cost low we have set up templates that we can easily modify to fit your needs. These templates are VERY customizable. Not only can you change the obvious (company name, location etc.), but we can add pages, remove pages, add or remove text and pictures, change text colors, add downloadable forms and a lot more. Some templates can be changed to the color of your choice at no additional cost. The bottom line is that your site will be customized to fit the needs of your business.
You will also get a web based admin interface allowing you to to add, delete or modify properties or make any changes at you own convenience using an extremely user friendly user interface.
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