For many people, the idea of actually owning their own home is not only a dream, but these days, a distinct possibility. Gone are the days when the majority of the country would have to rely on rented properties and in came the idea of buying and selling homes to move up the property ladder. These days though, it is made that much easier by Maine real estate and Massachusetts real estate agents who do more than just advertise houses for sale.

Of course, with the blossoming of the internet, this job of advertising properties became so much easier. No longer would we have to scour the local media or visit the property shops that every town seems to have. Now we can simply log onto a website and peruse what properties are on offer practically anywhere in the world.

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Many real estate agents are attracted to “magic formulas” for generating leads because they promise quick, almost magically easy results. The writers of these systems promise: “Use our system and you’ll be awash in leads.” In many cases, they’re actually right. They’ve packaged proven lead-generation methods, making it easy for you to learn and implement them, and if you work the system, you’ll get great results. “Magic” prospecting systems can indeed work like magic.

Two Parts to the Magic

However, a good prospecting system actually consists of two parts: 1) the lead-generation part, and 2) a client conversion part. Many of these prospecting systems are great on part one, but thin on part two. So we get agents who are excellent at generating leads, but who consistently fumble the conversion. Their files are loaded with “hot” prospects that they’ve never done anything with, other than to call and check in or send things to. (more…)

Real Estate Investors need real buyers to succeed. No one needs to waste time taking part in a daisy chain. Daisy Chains in usually refer to a group of “want to be ” investors who actually don’t have any relationship with a seller at all. They usually have heard of someone who knows someone with a bulk reo tape. These people will usually say they are “one away” from the buyers representative.

In fact, they are now just part of a daisy chain themselves. They are hoping to get part of the action. They then in turn offer anyone who knows anyone with money a part of the fee if they bring them a buyer.

The also tend to inflate the prices as they try to secure themselves profit. People who are new to the business often fall victim to a daisy chain. Investors who do not do their homework getting their own list of assets from banks and instead try to broker other investors deals are going to fail. It will payoff greatly to those real estate investors who are interested in earning the huge profits to do their “homework” and make the calls to banks themselves to find their own tape of distressed assets.

In order to avoid Daisy Chains and get caught in something less than legitimate, stay away from anything that sounds too good to be true.

For example internet advertisements found on Craigslist which claim to have a bulk REO package of 5 Trillion Dollars. This is just plain false. Package prices which are readily posted online are usually bogus.

Also be aware that real estate agents who say that they have bulk REO product available for so-and-so price are usually not legitimate either. The broker himself probably is part of a daisy chain. Most real estate agents would not have knowledge of banks distressed assets being packaged in bulk.

The thing is, there is a protocol that needs to be followed in the Bulk REO business. This needs to be adhered to at all costs. If you have no idea what the rules are regarding investing in REO, you will just be wasting your time. As much as possible, it is recommended that you find your own source of distress assets. This is easy if you know how. It literally pays you to get to know the correct people in the banks yourself before you begin..

Bulk REO assets are mainly handled by someone called the asset manager or someone who deals with “loan sales”. These people in the bank will usually deliver between one to one hundred million of property at fifty to eight percent lower than the real value in an asset pool.

Bulk REO pools are pretty elusive because they are usually bought by investors before anyone outside the network is able to see the list. Investors need to be able to buy property very quickly. This is due to the fierce competition involved in transactions like this.

If you don’t know how the process works, you will probably not be able to get your foot in the door. The first step is for the investor to become identified as soon as possible through an LOI which is another name for Letter of Intent. The seller needs to know exactly who is interested and who they are going to be dealing with. In addition, there is a new internal bank rule where a certain protocol needs to be undergone in order to get a look at the REO property list. I highly recommend that you get some basic education before diving into bulk reo investing unknowingly.

Duncan Wierman is a founding member of Bank REO Property Deals. He has written a complete guide to the BULK REO industry to assist investors to be more proficient and to produce quality product. You can find out more about this concise guide at http://www.BulkREOPropertyInvesting.com.

Many real estate agents are turning to technology to enhance their business. They use it to help them stay organized, mobile and efficient as well as generate leads. One such technology is real estate call capture. While many people have heard of it, fewer of them can say what it really is.

Similar to an advanced “Caller ID,” basic call capture technology incorporates the same principles, registering name and phone number, and recording personal information about individuals who call toll free phone numbers. Call capture is a simple name for a hardware/software telephone interface. Higher levels or grades of capture technology operate with the same underlying core technology like 911 emergency services. This higher grade of technology operates with the same basic principles as any residential Caller ID, while being impervious to calls blocked by using the *67 prefix. While different technology drives these capture systems, automatic number identification (ANI) is one form of predominate technology, which permits the caller’s telephone number, name and address to be captured. The technology is sanctioned by the Federal Communication Commission, which allows the party paying for the phone call to know who is calling them. (more…)

Ezines have already moved from the hot new marketing trend, to a staple that practically everyone is using, but few people actually get new clients or more sales from their Ezines. If Ezines are so great, why don’t they work, and what are the Ezine killer tactics you must avoid?

11 Ezine Killer Tactics That Will Send Your Realtors Running for the Door

DO NOT:

1. Use your Ezine to inundate your clients and prospects with tons of daily offers and last minute specials, which quickly trains the “readers” to ignore the messages.

2. Load your Ezine messages with tons of images. When you open the Ezine message all you see is a few words, a bunch of boxes and a button that says “to download images click here” even if it’s loaded with valuable information the mess screams, “junk mail” and will likely get deleted.

3. Sign people up to your Ezine who didn’t ask to receive it, just because you have their e-mail address.

4. Sell, trade or rent your Ezine members addresses to other organizations.

5. Send your Ezine members offers from affiliates that are totally irrelevant to your business and their interests. (more…)

Top achievers like to share ideas with other top achievers. If you are building a high end Realtor mentor coaching program and want to work with the very top sellers in the industry, then you need to provide an environment for them to collaborate with each other.

People can be fearful of mastermind groups. I worked with a marketing organization once that was afraid to let their top agents have regular mastermind meetings together because they thought that they might bond with each other too much and then leave the program all together. I certainly hope that you can see how counter productive this philosophy is.

1. If they are receiving massive value from the program then they won’t leave.
2. If you block people from interaction and growth eventually they will find it elsewhere.

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