Should You Put Your Listing Addresses on Your Advertising?
Here’s a quick question for you—when you post your listings online, do you include the address? In the past, it’s been standard practice for many agents to leave the address off of their listings so that people will contact them to get the information.
Recently Sara Bonert shared some important discoveries from Zillow’s research about what happens when a listing does not have an address when it is posted online in an ad, open house, video, etc. 
- Consumers skip over listings that don’t have the address.
- By leaving off the address, you don’t allow various geo-location mapping programs to help people find their way to your listing.
- This also means your listings do not display properly on many of the mapping-based types of software that consumers constantly use.
So, put your addresses on your listings. Failing to do so can cost you a substantial number of potential client leads.
Feeling Stuck? How to Get Unstuck
Procrastination is a major reason that people get stuck as well as being the greatest enemy of increased production. If you’re stuck, here’s a simple approach to getting unstuck.
To make sure that you always complete the top activities that give you the greatest return in your business, identify the three core activities you must complete to increase your production. Now here’s the secret: do them at the beginning of your day, preferably before noon before the chaos of the day takes over.
If you’re really stuck, choose one simple activity to get yourself in motion. A great choice can be calling your favorite past client to check in and say hello. Sometimes taking one or two baby steps can break the log jam of procrastination, and who knows, that past client may be ready to move or knows someone who does.
The Big August 17, 2024 Changes Are Only Two Weeks Away—Are You Prepared?
Feeling overwhelmed by all the advice about how to handle commissions starting August 17, 2024? Confused about what to say to your buyers and sellers? Adjusting to the coming changes only requires a few simple tweaks in your
language, transferring your listing agreement skills to your buyer agreements, plus moving to what I’m calling a “multiple offer mindset,” an approach every competent agent already understands how to use.
It’s incredibly frustrating to see so-called industry experts giving advice that keeps agents trapped in the old model where buyer’s agents are still thinking about being compensated by the seller. Specific examples include websites that display listing commissions to buyers’ agents through the seller/listing agent, advice focused on “seller offers of compensation,” or use of forms that offer “concessions.”
Tweak your language and reset your mindset
I recently had a conversation with Katherine Lappe, the founder and CEO of Direct Offer as well as the owner of WorldWideInvestments.com, a member-based service that has over 6,000 members and that currently lists about 150,000 properties that range from single family, multi-family, probate, For-Sale-by-Owner, commercial, aimed specifically at the investment market.
Lappe pointed out that buyers’ agents working in the auction, commercial, industrial, and investment markets all manage to get paid without commission sharing through a Multiple Listing Service.
Lappe’s remarks made me entirely rethink how agents need to work with their buyers and sellers going forward. Realtors need to make some simple language changes, such as shifting away from using words like “compensation” and “commission” to using “fee” whenever possible, and we need to adopt a “multiple offer mindset.” This simple approach can help both agents and brokers avoid issues with the DOJ as well as with plaintiffs’ attorneys itching to file even more lawsuits.
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Where to Find Lots of Great Ideas for Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube Posts Ideas at No Charge
Would you like some great topics to post on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or your blog?
If you’re like most agents, you probably haven’t cleaned out the Sent Box of your email for quite some time. Well, that’s great news and here’s why. One of the best sources for posts are the questions that you normally answer for your clients in an email.
Each time a client asks you a question, make a point of emailing the answer to the client and then posting the written information on your blog, your Facebook business page, and/or Instagram.
Next, use that information to make a video you can post on YouTube as well as Facebook, Instagram Reels, or any other social media or video sites you use.
Now go back to your sent box. If you have ever answered questions for your clients via email, you already have a treasure trove of blog posts already written that are just waiting to be posted online or turned into a video. Just cut and paste and you’re ready to go!
How to Get More People to Read Your Social Media Posts
Would you like more people to read your social media or blog posts? Mashable.com has some interesting insights into this challenge. After researching this issue, they outlined the three most popular social media posts that get the most attention from readers.
- “How to” posts
For realtors, this could be “how to” buy your first home or get a good deal on a mortgage. It could also include staging tips, “how to” videos for preparing your home for summer or winter, or “how to” make your favorite summer dessert. - Funny posts
People love to laugh. There’s a reason cat videos and videos of people doing stupid things are so popular. Share something crazy that happened on a showing, funny local signs, of if you have a funny video you made, that works too. - Recommendation lists
For example, “The top ten places to save money in your town,” or “Five things you should know to keep your utility bills low this summer.”
Even if you don’t use social media much, these ideas can work well in a digital newsletter or even a postcard mailing program.