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Elite Agent
What’s the Link Between Social Signals & SEO?
Over the past few years there have been a lot of speculation on whether social signals from sites like Facebook and Twitter and even Google Plus factor into Google’s search algorithm. Do things like the number of Facebook “Likes” , Twitter “retweets” and Google +1s have a direct impact on how you are ranked on Google Search? SponsoredLinx SEO guru…
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EPM
A Good Property Management Temp is Hard to Find
Currently, the average life span of a Property Manager is nine months, causing a constant headache for a principal with an average rent roll of approximately 500 properties employing 3 portfolio Property Managers. Three Property Managers, all of whom have four weeks annual leave per year meaning that as the business owner, you need to cover 12 weeks holidays. The solution, “Bring…
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Elite Agent
What does $1m buy around the world?
As the price of property continues to increase in Australia, an increasing number of buyers are looking offshore to invest in real estate, and there are many options to explore. The value of the dollar stretches much further in some regions than others. A small unit in London will run about a $1m where as for the same price you can buy…
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EPM
Understanding Your Trust Account
Lauren Kropp is an experienced property management professional with a deep understanding of people, properties and accounts. As our guest contributor this month, Lauren takes a look at how to protect your trust account and make sure that your reputation stays in tact. Your trust account and the way you operate it is your lifeline. When dealing with thousands of…
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Elite Agent
Rent or buy? It’s a question of affordability
Whether to rent or buy has long been an issue of contention amongst younger generations. Despite recent research underlining that Australians are likely to pay almost the same cost to buy a home compared to renting for the next 30 years, the number of first home buyers is at a historical low in Australia. John Edwards from onthehouse.com.au looks at…
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Elite Agent
5 classic ‘fails’ of many business this year
Ross Elliott has some good advice for all small business owners this year; very relevant to maintenance of CRM systems and marketing for Real Estate Businesses. A new year awaits and prospects for economic improvement look good. Some businesses will grow, others will tread water, and some will fail. But more and more as I am involved with building business prospects…
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Elite Agent
7 steps to a ‘killer’ 3D marketing campaign
Experienced Project Marketer Stan Zaslavsky offers his top seven insights on how to deliver powerful campaigns for marketing off-the-plan development projects. So you are an experienced property developer or architect. You have a great vision of what your project is going to look and feel like and then go on to implement that vision. But be warned! While vision and…
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Elite Agent
New York, New York
Melbourne elite agent Gary Peer shares his observations of his recent visit to the Big Apple, meeting the city’s major real estate brokers and investigating buying and selling, American style. ‘If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,’ wrote Fred Ebb, the lyricist behind the famous song New York, New York, but does this bold challenge apply to…
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Elite Agent
Is there a doctor in the house?
TONY WILLIAMSON B.Comm GAICD owns RE/MAX Real Estate Services in Cairns. The business, which he opened in October 2009 enjoys the largest market share in Cairns. His team includes a sales division of 18 agents and a property management division of 200 properties. I am often asked what makes a good sales agent and am happy to share my view…
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Elite Agent
2 Things You Should Never Do if You Want to Attract More Listings
Rhondalynn Kolorak, best selling author, wants to share with you 2 things that you should never do/include in your sales or marketing message, if you are serious about attracting more listings and getting more buyers to sign on the dotted line. To prove my point, I’m going to share with you two examples of what NOT to do. I saw…
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Elite Agent
How to ensure your 3D renders look awesome
Do you find that your 3D images come up to the level of your expectations or do they come out looking flat and lifeless? Do your 3D suppliers create WOW or just ok visuals? Stan Zaslavsky from Eagle Vision Property gives us his top 10 tips. In our world of creating high end 3D imagery, we often come across renders which…
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Elite Agent
How to Optimise Space in a Studio
Home Stager Naomi Findlay offers her five top tips for buyers and sellers. The demand for studios continues to skyrocket and when you consider the increasing cost of property and the impressive rental yields studios are fetching, it’s no wonder they are popular with investors and buyers alike. So what’s the trick to making a small space seem bigger? Well,…
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Elite Agent
Regaining The Trust
Reputation and trust are everything in real estate and lets be honest a good reputation is very hard to create and very easy to ruin. It doesn’t get much worse than losing someone’s trust and it can take a lifetime to regain it and even then it is still never forgotten. Nick Ploubidis discusses the topic of ethics from a…
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EPM
The 5 Habits of Successful BDM’s
Tara Milzewski is a highly motivated property management professional with a strong passion for business development. In 2012 Tara won an all-expenses paid trip to Hamilton, New Zealand and spoke on a BDM panel at the REINZ National Conference. Here she shares with us her top 5 habits of successful Business Development Managers. 1. Create an Ideal Day Have you…
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Elite Agent
Under the Hammer
There has been a lot of talk lately about the tendency for many agents to offer their clients a briefcase full of ‘no price’ marketing options. But an ‘easy fit’ is not always an easy sale. Haesley Cush gives his opinion. There has been a lot of talk about the recent focus of many Australian agents to offer their clients…
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EPM
How do deal with a natural disaster (in real estate)
Natural Disasters such as floods, earthquakes, bushfires, tsunamis, and storms can have a devastating effect on a community; we have all seen this recently with the flooding in Queensland and throughout Australia. But how do property managers cope with the fall-out from these disasters? Michael Hughes of LJ Hooker Hamilton, was generous enough to give us a first-hand account of…
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EPM
Property Management New Year’s Resolutions
Property managers across Australia are returning from their Christmas holidays and getting back to their desks for another challenging year ahead. Award winning property management professional Sarah Latham suggests some new years resolutions for an organised and successful year. What’s your New Year’s resolution? “This year will be different,’’ I can hear everyone murmur, “I’m going to be more organised,…
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Elite Agent
The Big Deal About Big Data
According to IBM, every day we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — and 90 per cent of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. Ian Campbell takes a look at how this will impact the Real Estate Industry. Big Data. It’s the new buzz term coming out of every business magazine…
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CASE STUDIES
Young Talent Time
Stacey Sheehan, Principal of Collins Real Estate in Tasmania, has set up strategic partnerships to provide a mentoring program for young agents. The goal: to provide them with similar opportunities working for a small agency, as they would have working for a large corporate. In my previous life working in property for Lend Lease and AMP, the main attraction for…
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BEST PRACTICE
Six Degrees of Success
If you think that the only relationships that really matter are the ones that you have with your clients, you may need to re-consider. According to Troy Hazard, if you truly want to show your clients the love, then mastering the ‘Six Degrees of Unity’ is your key to building and keeping successful relationships with your clients. LAST MONTH I…
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Elite Agent
Are Leaders Born or Made?
Bradley Brown, CEO of Fletchers, tells his story about how he became a management leader. I am using the term management leader to refer to the path I’ve chosen, which is to be a leader in the business environment. We continually read theories from a range of writers on what makes a good leader, what leaders do, or how you…
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Elite Agent
Plan for Success!
Christine Norris, of ‘smart girl solutions’ talks about some of the things you need to think about while planning your career in real estate. Write Down Your Goals Women today are more focused than ever on achieving recognition, managing their own affairs and those of their family, and becoming wealthy in their own right. Significant changes need to take place…
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Elite Agent
Why VPA is A Positive Point of Difference
Tristan Rowland of Place Estate Agents explains why effective marketing will not only help you sell your current listings, but attract new ones. In recent times, Vendor Paid Advertising (VPA) has gone from being a tool that helps both an owner and an agent achieve a superior result, to what now seems for many weaker agents a point of difference…
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Elite Agent
The Blame Game: Daniel Hayes
Daniel Hayes from Hayeswinckle Agent takes a lighter look at what happens to agents when they take their eye off what is really important to success. You wake up each morning, stand in front of the mirror in your Anthony Robbins ‘motivator’ boxer shorts, look yourself in the eye and scream at the top of your lungs, ‘I am a…
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BEST PRACTICE
Achieving Cut Through in A New Area
Opening an office in a new suburb can be challenging, especially in the current market. hockingstuart Director Julian Conte shares his experiences in making his office stand out. Having recently opened my second office in Melton, I’ve been reminded of the hard yards that have to be put in by agents new to an area. As agents, we’re trained to…
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EPM
30 Minutes… Sometimes Less
That’s often all the time property managers have when it comes to closing the deal and securing a new rental listing, says Josh Phegan. You know the scenario: you accidentally hit ‘answer’ on your mobile phone and the booming voice on the other end of the phone says urgently, “I need a property manager. I’m considering you – what do…
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Elite Agent
Cold Calling for Success
Try these simple principles to help build relationships and be more successful in cold calling your prospects. As real estate salespeople, statistics show we work in one of the least trusted professions. In fact, I have actually heard that statistically we rank below sex workers. That to me is a kick in the guts – I know agents who work…
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Elite Agent
Marketing to Chinese Buyers
In certain parts of Australia, home-grown buyers have become fewer and more reluctant. Chinese buyers by contrast are sometimes wealthier and their numbers are growing rapidly. Andrew Taylor, CEO – Sales & Marketing of Juwai.com, explains how to profit from the changing marketplace. Being entrepreneurial, real estate agents and principals are some of the best at learning from other parts…
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Elite Agent
The Future of The Shopfront
In what appears to be an era where agents are reconsidering the traditional shopfront, Stacey Sheehan discusses why it remains of utmost importance. In 2002 a new CEO was appointed to AMP, Australia’s largest superannuation fund manager, to navigate it through a corporate crisis that some viewed as terminal. He was noted to say at the time of embarking on…
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Elite Agent
The Butterfly Effect
For every action, there is a reaction. Douglas Driscoll, CEO of Starr Partners asks the question, “As real estate agents, do our actions lead to the desired reactions from our customers?” It is said that it can take a lifetime to create a great reputation, whereas it can take just a second to shatter it. One small misdemeanor is often…
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BEST PRACTICE
Time to Step up to The Plate
Demand perfection from yourself, constantly evolve and display the passion and desire to compete with the absolute best in the industry, or start thinking about a new career. It is time for agents to “step up to the plate”, says award winning director Matthew Hayson. Like any industry, we as real estate agents need to ask ourselves if we are…
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Elite Agent
Focus on Growth
“Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.” Anton Kardash, the newly appointed CEO of the REIQ, says that this aptly describes the thinking of the REIQ board in moving the Institute forward in what have been difficult times. This REIQ’s commitment to improvement has led to my appointment here, and while I am new to Real…
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Elite Agent
10 Steps to Make Your Website Profitable
John Hellaby, creator of new website checkmyhouseprice.com.au shares his top 10 tips for making your website profitable in 2012. New web based technologies and our use of the Internet, are the driving forces behind a change of thinking in how company websites are designed and it’s proving to be massively profitable for early adapters. This new approach encourages looking at…
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Elite Agent
The Next Generation
Phil Harris tackles the challenges of a diminishing workforce and how to get the best out of younger practitioners. We all know the Australian housing sector is still recovering from the effects of the global financial crisis and while there has been much talk around affordability, interest rates and building issues there hasn’t been enough emphasis placed on the massive…
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Elite Agent
Is anyone listening on Linkedin: Jeff Turner
To get the most out of your LinkedIn profile, you need to make sure that you are having the right conversations, instead of simply duplicating status updates from other social networks, according to Jeff Turner. Is anyone listening on Linkedin? One of my readers posed a question to me in my Tech Support Group for Real Estate Agents: “I heard…
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