This is an updated version of a post that I sent out earlier in the year:

I have gotten the impression from many real estate agents that they are unaware of the effect of a Short Sale on their clients' credit report. The common belief is that a Short Sale isn't as bad as Foreclosure or Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure.

True Internet Success requires mastery of 4 areas…

I’ve spent over a decade in the Industry as a Realtor®, Broker and Builder.  I have since spent another decade developing unique internet technology tools for the industry and consulting for some of the largest brokers in the country.  I’ve had the chance to study and perfect the processes involved with generating actual dollars from websites.  Those systems helped me take one company from 20 leads/month to almost 1000 leads/month in one year. I have concluded that there are 4 key areas that need to be addressed to succeed.  I call them the 4 C’s.  You need to Call Out to prospects (Market), Capture them, Communicate with them and then Close them. 

You’ve got listings, yes you do…you’ve got listings, good for you!!!

Ummm…the market is overflowing with listings right now, and no matter how superior your listings are over anyone else’s listings, they don’t do you any good unless you get them out there! You have to get them out to the people that are buying in your area; you also want to get them out to potential sellers so that they can see how you would handle their listing if they were to sign with you.  You have a sphere of influence, you have a database…why aren’t you using it? 

 It's been fascinating to witness developments in the home staging industry over the past few years.  For my first few years as a staging instructor I had to define and explain staging.  Nowadays it is a phenomenon that has changed the way real estate is sold.  In 2004, I ‘Googled’ home staging, there were 16,768 entries.

GMAC Financial Services has sold GMAC Real Estate to Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., the owners of Royal LePage, the largest Canadian residential real estate brokerage company. The transaction is expected to close before year end. The transaction includes all three of GMAC's home services divisions including: GMAC Global Relocation Services, GMAC Real Estate and GMAC Home Services Mortgage.

Many Agents today are working longer hours to keep on the treadmill of life.  They are delaying, or scrapping, long-range focus in the marketing and prospecting business system arenas.  They often are neglecting their time investments for their health, families, and self-development areas of their life.  They are spending a tremendous amount of time working on their business.  They are truly an employee of their real estate business, rather than the owner, CEO, and visionary of their multi-mil

With 3,460 respondents casting 6,099 votes, the real estate professional community has decided who the Top 25 Most Influential Women are. And what an incredible list of powerful women this list represents. 

So said John McCain during his acceptance speech and the RNC convention. 

And I think he’s right! 

Bringing a person from being a lead to generating a transaction is becoming increasingly more complicated…or is it?  I am looking at this situation from the brokerage point of view and how company generated leads are being handled and what we can do to help generate solid business for our agents from these inquiring consumers. 

I promised you a “virtual tour” of a “virtual company”, so let me walk you through my office and give you a guided tour.  That will help you picture how our model is so different.  In the last article I shared how visiting our company for two short days gave one of the top brokers in the world a meltdown, and a wake-up call.  Maybe I can get your wheels turning too, and maybe I can help you actually visualize this virtual office model.  And don’t hesitate to call or email questions or post comments to this article.  I’ll do my best to answer them.