Realtor Coaching & Training: Realtor
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Facebook For Realtors
How-To Use Facebook For Realtors….what NOT to do!
Facebook has become a crucial aspect of any agents online marketing plan. Facebook is proving to be a powerful, effective (and mostly FREE) way to get the word out about your real estate business.
Its important that you know the public (and secret) rules for using Facebook.
Its crucial that you understand that you DON’T own your content that you post to FB. They do. You could spend hours and hours posting, updating content to your FB account just to have your account ’suspended’ for breaking one of these ‘rules’.
1) Don’t add too many friends. FB will send you a warning if you are seen as adding too many friends…but, once you get that warning it may be too late. There is no published ‘official’ info on how many friends you can add per day…so, be careful. You can have only 5000 friends max.
2) Not completing your profile. You wont have your account shut down for an incomplete profile but, if will make you look unprofessional. Remember, your real estate clients ARE searching for you on Facebook. Make it so when they land on your FB page your presentation is professional.
3) Spamming your friends. This includes: posting to too many groups, posting to too many users walls. YES, FB is a social network and yes your goal is to engage with others. But, if you do this too much…kiss your FB account bye-bye. By the way, no warning is granted for this one…your account will simply go ‘poof’.
4) Joining too many groups. Sort of like the prior point.
5) Not using your real name. Facebook wants you to use your real name…for example: http://www.Facebook.com/TimandJulieHarris
6) Tell the truth. This one should be of no surprise..Don’t lie in your profile. For example, don’t lie about your education level, schools attended etc. FB may find out and you can say bye-bye to your account.
7) Don’t poke too many people. Once you are on FB you will know what that means. (I know for the unititiated this point may sound a tad obscene)
8)4:1. Remember that ratio. You will be given the opportunity to ‘update your status’ on FB as often as you would like. The ‘golden ratio for updates’ is 4:1. 4 personal-ish updates for every 1 commercial-ish update. In other words, DO update your profile with personal stuff. You can decide how personal you want to be. Warning: BE PROFESSIONAL. Every 4th post you can talk about a listing etc.
9) NEVER bash anyone online. Aside from the recently passed NAR guidelines for social networking, which should be enough of a reason not to snipe others…its just rude and will make you look bad. Remember, despite what you may believe you are NOT anonymous on line. You can be sued for libel.
10) Don’t log-in to FB too often or over stay your welcome. Facebook has been known to shut accounts down if the user is spending too much time on their site. The average FB user spends 20 minutes per day on FB. So, if you are spending significantly more time on their site…they may give you the virtual boot. Why? Because you are using their bandwidth, their servers..and costing them money.
11) ENGAGE. A great idea (I just learned this one) is to post questions for your status updates. Ask questions that will lead to potential clients engaging with you….for example: ” Need to buy my daughter a 16th B-Day gift…any ideas?”, or “Looking for a new book to read…any suggestions…open to any topics?”. You can also ask more ‘commercial’ type questions…”just listed an amazing 4 family with cash flow postitive #s…less than $200k!…interested?”
12) Placing ads in Marketplace vs the paid Social Ads. Hey, guess what…FB wants to make money…big surprise, right?! Facebook will go after Realtors who place property listing ads in their MarketingPlace section (free) vs their new Social Ads (paid). We have been experimenting with Social Ads with good results.
13) The Golden Social Networking Rule. You know the Golden Rule…’Treat others like you would like to be treated”. Well the ‘Golden Facebook Rule’ is to engage (speak with) your FB friends the way they want to be communicated with. In other words, if someone posts a comment on your FB Wall…comment back. If someone invites you to join their Fan/ Business Page…JOIN!.
14) Start a Fan/ Business FB page. This is IN ADDITION to your primary Friends Page. Consider taking FB up on their offer to start your own Fan/ Business Page. The benefits of doing this are many…unlimited ‘Friends’, you are given way more levity for commercial marketing etc. Oh, and its FREE.
15) What Starts On-line must be taken off line. Last one…you must take your online connecting…offline. So, you have 300 FB friends. You have been following these rules and have earned their trust due to your diligent and thoughtful contributions, status updates etc. You then read how one of your FB Friends is talking about real estate. Maybe their status update is?: ” Neighbor just listed their home…wonder how much they are asking“…you need to engage with that person. Its not enough to just comment on their status update…you need to…..pick up the phone and call them. You might say something like this…” Hi, this is Tim Harris….I am one of your firends on FB (if they dont already know)….I noticed that you were asking about the list price of your neighbors home…I can look that up for you right now….while I do that….would you like for me to do a free CMA on your home….(Yes)…Ok, great…by the way…how soon would you like to put your home on the market?” The point is….call them…..and engage!
Listen, I know that for many of you all of this social networking stuff sounds as appealing as fingernails on a chalk board. Please don’t be intimidated by what you don’t yet understand. I promised you this stuff is WAAAAY easier…and in many cases actually a lot of fun to use. Here is a great FREE video on how you can get started using social networks. Go here now to watch the Free Agent Tech Secrets video.
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When do I need to purchase to qualify?
If you buy a home between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2009, and close escrow during these dates, you will qualify for an $8,000 tax credit - as long as it is your primary residence and you meet requirements listed below.
How does the law define “first-time homebuyer”?
The law defines “first-time homebuyer” as a buyer who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase. This does not necessarily mean they have NEVER owned a home, just not in the 3 year period prior to this purchase.
What are other requirements to qualify?
All U.S. citizens who file taxes are eligible to participate. An income limit of $75,000 per year for individuals and $150,000 a year for joint filers also applies.
How do I apply for the credit?
Taxpayers should use IRS Tax Form 5450 to claim the first-time homebuyer tax credit. Tax forms are available online.
Does the credit have to be repaid?
No. Unlike a similar tax credit passed in 2008, this $8,000 tax credit does not have to be repaid to the IRS.
Can the tax credit be used toward a down payment or other closing costs?
Yes. An announcement made May 29 allows the tax credit to be used toward purchase costs of a home, including down payment in some cases. This can be done one of two ways. First, buyers using an FHA-approved lender can sell their anticipated tax credit to the lender and use the proceeds to immediately apply the tax credit to any down payment above the minimum down payment of 3.5 percent required with FHA-insured mortgages. Second, buyers who receive financing through state housing finance agencies and certain non-profits will be able to use the tax credit for their down payments via a tax credit advance loan that does not result in any cash back to the buyer. FHA-approved lenders should have these guidelines.
Everyday I read all of the predictions about the markets bottoming. For the most part these ‘prediction articles’ are looking at the past…past home sales, past market data etc. Of course, sold information is important.
The unique advantage that we have is that HREU has literally thousands of Students who are telling us what is really going on on their markets. Not what was but, what they will be.
For example:
We are hearing from many of our top REO Realtor Coaching Students that the REO companies are flooded with new REOs. So many in fact that they are actually having problems assigning the listings. Real story…had a student tell me the other day that his C21 Broker was told by FHA to ‘Gear Up’ for a massive number of REO assignments.
Additionally, we all know that sellers are still reluctant to drop prices. All the while the market continues to make their homes worth less. If a seller absolutely doesn’t have to sell in this market…they are nuts to have their homes for sale. Talk about swimming against the tide!
Looking back….prices of U.S. single-family homes plunged a record 15.4 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, surpassing the steep drop in the first quarter, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller national home price index reported on Tuesday…
COMMENTS: GARY SHILLING… “It’s more of the same. We are looking for the Case-Shiller measure to eventually show a 40 percent total decline, peak to trough. The key point is we are a long way from bottoming out.
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The basic problem is excess inventories of new unsold homes. They are the mortal enemy of prices. We estimate that 2 million houses were built during the boom, and we’ve only worked that excess down to 1.8 million as of the beginning of 2008. We think we will see prices falling until the fourth quarter of 2010.
There will be a lot more write-downs at financial institutions and a lot more problems for consumers. They have run out of borrowing power, principally because they can no longer rely on home equity.”
Some info from Reuters
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