Are You Keeping Home Sold Price Records?
When you want to look up some home sold prices for comps or other purposes, it's fast and easy to go to the MLS and get them. Do you know how long your MLS database keeps home sold prices where you can access them? Many remove them after five years, but check your MLS rules or ask, as it's important information. Whether you've checked or not, virtually everyone at some time or another wants information about home sold prices, and serious buyers and investors want long-term price appreciation information as well. The key here is "long-term." If your MLS is purging sold records after five years, that's all the reliable historical data available. There must be some value in having older sold price information, and you can build your own database easily.

4 Tools for Spot-on Property Pricing
Coupled with strong market knowledge, a keen REALTOR® knows that employing certain tools in the comp analysis process can help land on the right price right out of the gate, especially when it comes to determining value based on improvements made to the property and its condition. Here, RPR shares four tools that will help an agent refine the value of a property, use the platform's flexible comp analysis tool, create a Sales Comparative Analysis and Valuation Workbook for harder-to-price properties, and run a real-time analysis for investment properties.

[Best of 2017] Must-Have Pages for a Winning CMA
We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published in October and is #9 in our countdown. See #10 here. You're probably used to taking a CMA to listing presentations or offering them to seller leads. But did you know that your CMA can be a powerful weapon for combating consumer misconceptions caused by inaccurate Zestimates? That's one secret shared by top-producing Realtor Ray Fernandez of TNG Real Estate Consultants in a recent webinar. Ray's team is on track to close $40 million dollars in production this year, and CMAs are one of the best tools in their arsenal for winning listings and converting seller leads. So what exactly is in Ray's CMA? He offered us a glimpse of the pages he includes in every CMA—including his Zillow-busting secret weapon. Here's the rundown:

Friday Freebie: Try the Cloud Agent Suite at No Cost Until 2018
It's Black Friday, and we've uncovered a killer deal on real estate technology for our readers. Over the past several weeks, we've been talking about how to use landing pages combined with a CMA (for seller leads) and a listing alerts tool (for buyer leads). These three tools—Cloud Attract, Cloud CMA, and Cloud Streams—are part of a collection of real estate tools called the Cloud Agent Suite. Now, thanks to a special promo, you can try all of these apps for free until the New Year. Read on to learn more!

Must-Have Pages for a Winning CMA
You're probably used to taking a CMA to listing presentations or offering them to seller leads. But did you know that your CMA can be a powerful weapon for combating consumer misconceptions caused by inaccurate Zestimates? That's one secret shared by top-producing Realtor Ray Fernandez of TNG Real Estate Consultants in a recent webinar. Ray's team is on track to close $40 million dollars in production this year, and CMAs are one of the best tools in their arsenal for winning listings and converting seller leads. So what exactly is in Ray's CMA? He offered us a glimpse of the pages he includes in every CMA—including his Zillow-busting secret weapon. Here's the rundown:

8 RPR App Tips and Tricks
You know that little thrill you get when you come across a tip or trick to help make your app experience just a tad more efficient? Like pressing the app button for a shortcut to a favorite feature, or swiping to the left to quickly save for later? Every app has tricks of the trade, yet, for some reason, they don't always appear magically on our radar. This post will give you eight tips to make sure your next RPR app experience is a productive one.

How I Talk About Automated CMAs in My Non-disclosure State
by Realtor Tom Riggins I work in Texas, which is a non-disclosure state. Because sellers are protected against having to disclose the final sales price of their home, the automated home valuations in my area can vary. While we've all had days when Zestimates set unrealistic client expectations, agents and brokers in non-disclosure states feel that heat more often than not. SmartZip works to use local mortgage data and transaction prices from sellers who choose to make it public record, and their algorithms "borrow" pricing information from other similar homes nearby. As a result, their estimated home values are much closer than some other big-name companies who offer automated CMAs. But I'm not here to talk about algorithms, I want to talk about how any agent can convert a client who gets a low automated home valuation. Here's a recent email I got from a respondent in my farm:

Sales Are Looking Up!
Every Monday thru Friday at 10:30 AM PST Are you ready to start writing more offers and winning more listings? Then join me, Gary, at one of our free, live, Cloud CMA webinars hosted daily! Come see why over 100,000 real estate agents nationwide are using Cloud CMA to write more offers and win more listings. I'll take you through a complete overview of Cloud CMA and show you just how easy it is to start looking awesome in front of clients and prospects, today! The topics we'll cover include: Cloud CMA setup Overview of the Cloud CMA user interface How to create Cloud CMA reports How to share your Cloud CMA reports Creating and sharing reports from your smartphone (it's a little bit like magic!) And even show you how to do a listing presentation with our Interactive iPad CMA! Register now!

Best of 2016: 4 Lead Generating Scripts for Listing Agents
We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published back in April and is #8 in our countdown. See #9 here. Southern California based Realtor April Kass had to get "comfortable being uncomfortable" when it came to door knocking and asking homeowners certain questions. She pushed through her discomfort, however, and signed 16 listings and closed 9 escrows in her first year in real estate. Part of her secret to winning so many listings is how she approaches those in-person conversations with homeowners. Kass likes to door knock around properties she's just listed or just sold because that gives her a very specific reason to talk to homeowners in an area without coming across as too pushy. During a webinar last week, Kass shared the basic scripts she uses for drumming up seller leads via open houses and door knocking. We were flooded with requests from agents who wanted a text version of her scripts. Well, ladies and gentlemen, ask and ye shall receive. Here are four scripts April uses to generate seller leads in person. Door Knocking Before an Open House This easy script takes only a minute or two. Kass finishes it by offering a CMA to neighbors who may be thinking of selling soon. She also says it's a great tool for trying to break into a new neighborhood. "It just starts putting your face out there so you become that local market expert." Hi, I'm April Kass with the Dave Wright Real Estate Team. You know, we just listed a house down the street at 333 Main St. We're having an open house this weekend, so I'm just knocking the neighbors to invite you to our open house and find out who you know who might want to move in to your neighborhood. Who do you know from work, from school, etc.? [Homeowner answers.] Great! You know, a lot of times in this market we've got multiple buyers coming in, and this isn't going to be the right house for everybody. Who do you know around here that's looking to sell their house? Have you ever thought about selling or have any of your neighbors mentioned it?

Friday Freebie: Try Cloud CMA at No Cost Until 2017
The folks over at Cloud CMA must be in a giving mood this holiday season, because they're offering an extended free trial for their entire suite of agent products through the remainder of the year. If you've ever wanted to give their well-regarded apps a try, now's your chance--all three are free to agents until 2017. Read on to learn how you can claim your trial(s) today. Cloud CMA, Cloud Streams, and Cloud MLX: Free Until New Year's Of the three products offered in the Cloud Agent Suite, Cloud CMA is the one you've probably already heard of. Powered by MLS data, Cloud CMA let agents create beautifully designed CMAs, buyer tours, property reports, and flyers within minutes from any device. The app also offers a "What's My Home Worth?" landing page that helps you find seller leads. This marketing tool invites homeowners to get a quick home valuation in exchange for their contact information, and is free with every Cloud CMA account. To check out all that Cloud CMA offers for yourself, sign-up for their free trial here. Want to give your buyers an edge over the competition? Cloud Streams, the next component in the Cloud Agent Suite, can do just that. Cloud Streams offer hyper-fast listing alerts--faster than any of the big property portals and even your MLS. Any time important listing information changes, like price, your client is alerted instantly via email or text. The alerts come complete with property photos and a description so your client can make better and faster decisions about a home, as well as save properties for future reference. Agents can see all of their clients' activity through a dashboard for insight into their property preferences and engagement levels. And, bonus, agents can add Cloud Streams' free lead generation widget to their website to offer potential clients real-time listing alerts. Interested in trying it out? Sign-up for the Cloud Streams free trial here. If your MLS's interface is about as attractive as the 30-year old wallpaper in your mother-in-law's kitchen, Cloud MLX may be just what you need. The final piece of the Cloud Agent Suite gives you full access to your MLS's core functions, but lets you search the MLS via a beautiful and functional interface. There's even a social feature that lets you follow and interact with other agents. To take your MLS search experience from boring to beautiful, try Cloud MLX free until 2017 today!

How to Build a Winning Brokerage (10/4)
Tuesday, October 4, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT Learn from industry expert Greg Fischer and W+R Studios' own Ricardo Bueno on tools and tactics used by today's leading brokerages. We'll discuss topics like branding, tools for brokers, how to stay ahead of the competition, and how to recruit and retain the best to build your brokerage into a winning team! Register now!

Tools and Tips for a Winning Listing Presentation With RPR® (9/19)
Monday, September 9, 2016 at 12:00 PM PDT Sellers want to know your listing presentation is based on a keen sense of the market, an expertise in determining value, and your ability to bring a deal to closing in the shortest time and at the highest price possible. Learn how to create a winning listing presentation using modern marketing approaches such as RPR's Preparation, Price and Promotion model. This free workshop will highlight the RPR assets found within each of these successful strategies, including: Researching the property, neighborhood and local market Earning seller buy-in from the onset Validating the property's basic facts, selecting comps, and adjusting those comps to create a customized and flexible comp analysis Using the one-and-only Realtor Valuation Model®—an exclusive RPR pricing tool Generating a customized, client-friendly, and definitive Seller's Report Realtors Property Resource® (RPR®), one of the most innovative benefits included in your NAR membership, is offered at no additional cost. Register now!

Sales Are Looking Up! (8/8-12)
Every Monday thru Friday at 10:30 AM PDT Are you ready to start writing more offers and winning more listings? Then join me, Gary, at one of our free, live, Cloud CMA webinars hosted daily! Come see why over 100,000 real estate agents nationwide are using Cloud CMA to write more offers and win more listings. I'll take you through a complete overview of Cloud CMA and show you just how easy it is to start looking awesome in front of clients and prospects, today! The topics we'll cover include: Cloud CMA setup Overview of the Cloud CMA user interface How to create Cloud CMA reports How to share your Cloud CMA reports Creating and sharing reports from your smartphone (it's a little bit like magic!) And even show you how to do a listing presentation with our Interactive iPad CMA! Register now!

Tools and Tips for a Winning Listing Presentation With RPR® (6/16)
Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 12:00 PM PDT Sellers want to know your listing presentation is based on a keen sense of the market, an expertise in determining value, and your ability to bring a deal to closing in the shortest time and at the highest price possible. Learn how to create a winning listing presentation using modern marketing approaches such as RPR's Preparation, Price and Promotion model. This free workshop will highlight the RPR assets found within each of these successful strategies, including: Researching the property, neighborhood and local market Earning seller buy-in from the onset Validating the property's basic facts, selecting comps, and adjusting those comps to create a customized and flexible comp analysis Using the one-and-only Realtor Valuation Model®—an exclusive RPR pricing tool Generating a customized, client-friendly, and definitive Seller's Report Realtors Property Resource® (RPR®), one of the most innovative benefits included in your NAR membership, is offered at no additional cost. Register now!

Seller Servicing and Marketing Your Listings (6/2)
Thursday, June 2, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT Listingbook automates servicing sellers, keeping them happy while educating them about their market. This allows agents to be more efficient and profitable.In this session you'll learn: How to give sellers accounts How to ensure they're logging in How to create and send a CyberCMA How to explain reports (both Basic and Pro) How and when to promote your listings Register now!

Help Your Seller See the Light on a Realistic List Price
But in 2003, we upgraded the bathroom, built a jungle gym and put in a new dishwasher. What REALTOR® hasn't felt challenged during pricing discussions with homeowners in a similar situation? And why wouldn't an average homeowner expect to earn a return on home improvements? Thankfully, there is a common ground when it comes to landing on a solid listing price. Here are five proven tools and techniques for guiding your seller in the right direction. Getting real on the value of home improvements Flushing out what qualifies as an appreciable home improvement can be a sensitive issue. Homeowners who have put a lot of effort into converting the garage to a family room or the third bedroom to a new master closet may not want to hear that their "new addition" actually depreciates the home's value.

10 "Power User" Features of the RPR App
The RPR app and busy REALTORS® have much in common. Mainly, they are each constantly in motion. We know that to keep up with an agent's need for quick access to property and market trend data, the app must continually build in new features and related usefulness. Fast forward, here are the top 10 features of the RPR app power users should know about, including some important new enhancements. 1. Choose your start screen When you first open the RPR app, the default screen shows recent activity around your location. Although if you find yourself searching for properties by address more than your location, change the default home screen. First, swipe left or right to find the screen you want to see first when you open the app: Search, Nearby Properties, Local Market Data. Once you've landed on the screen you want to see first, press the home icon in the top right for two-seconds. It will turn green, and confirm the change.

One Question that Can Generate More Seller Leads
Compared to sellers, finding buyer leads is easy. Buyers are the ones searching online for properties; they're the leads that come in off the portals, and the ones whose behavior on your website signals that they're interested in purchasing a home. But sellers are trickier to identify. Their online behavior doesn't often reveal their intentions, and that makes them harder to target with marketing. To get past this obstacle, put yourself in the shoes of a homeowner who may be considering selling. What's mostly likely to be the biggest question on their mind? That's right--How much is my home worth? One way for agents to generate more seller leads is to target people searching for home values online. To get started, all you need is a simple landing page with a contact form, and a CMA with which to generate reports. Once the landing page is ready, you can share its link in multiple places like: Social media - Feel free to tweet out, I would like to send you a personalized CMA for your home, but don't forget to add local hashtags. If you serve the Sacramento area, for example, you don't want people from Boston asking you for a home valuation. Use a tag like #Sacramento to discourage far-flung prospects. Your email signature - Generate seller leads with every email you send out by adding a call-to-action that's linked to your landing page to your email signature. Your email newsletter - Add a text link or even a graphic banner to your email newsletter that encourages readers to find out what their home is worth.

Sizing up RPR's Property Details Page
RPR's Property Details page assembles a cross section of data unlike any other singular real estate platform. Here you will find hundreds of datasets, including home facts, owner info, photos, taxes, mortgage, historical and distressed data; side-by-side comparisons of MLS vs. public records, sales history, financing, flood zones, and school info. There's a lot to it... and nothing like it. In the next sections, we'll briefly cover the five tabs (or pages) displayed within RPR's Property Details page. They include: Summary Top to bottom, inside and out—the Property Details Summary is your hub for everything there is to know about a property. Look to this tab for datasets ranging from the home's interior and exterior characteristics, to current and historical photos, detailed tax and mortgage history, sales, demographics, school info, maps, owner info, and agent info, among a host of others. One of the most distinctive features of Summary is the Realtors Valuation Model® (RVM®). As the only automated valuation product owned and operated by members of the National Association of REALTORS®, the RVM goes beyond the Automated Valuation Model (AVM) by incorporating listing and sales data from the MLS into the equation. The RVM is accompanied by a Confidence Score—a value between zero and five that indicates the level to which each of the multiple models agrees with other estimated values for a given property.

5 RPR® Report Customizations You May Not Be Using
REALTORS® know that each client has specific needs and interests when it comes to buying or selling a home. Some clients want the complete backstory to a property, while other clients may simply want the basics on a neighborhood. RPR allows REALTORS® to tailor each report according to these client expectations, starting with these five useful report customizations: 1. Report elements Is your client already familiar with the area and not interested in neighborhood demographics? Are school test scores and parent reviews not relevant? One of the most frequently used report customizations is the ability to hide page elements from a report. To do so, visit the report generation page and choose "More Details." Then simply uncheck an item to hide. If you're not sure what a particular item represents, hover your mouse over the blue information icon to the right and you will see a quick preview of the section. 2. Cover page elements You already know that each RPR report includes your complete contact information, photo and logo. But you might not have run across the option to display a particular combination of contact info. Use the cover page elements section found on the right-side of the reports generation page to display only the elements you want.

Refine the RVM® with These 6 Home Upgrade Tips
You know the importance of comps and market trends in price setting. But in today's market, understanding how property enhancements can change the valuation of a home can lead to a faster sell and greater commission. RPR®'s Realtors Valuation Model® (RVM®) makes it easy for you to give clients the most accurate valuation possible when preparing to list the property. The RVM goes beyond the AVM by adding listing and sales data from the MLS into the equation. Fully-authorized by the MLS, the RVM is able to accurately predict sales prices within a certain margin of error a certain percentage of the time. It is the only AVM product owned and operated by members of the National Association of REALTORS®. It gives you control and access to adjust the listing content to showcase your skills and expertise as the local real estate expert in your market on a fully-authorized basis. Ready to try it out? Here's a few tips to get you up and running with the RVM. TIP #1: 3 Ways to Refine Value with RPR There are three ways to refine the value of a property using the RVM. First, double-check and manually adjust (if necessary) the basic facts about the property, i.e., the public record lists two bathrooms but in reality are there three? Did the homeowner add a deck last season? Has the market or home condition changed? You can make these adjustments and see real-time changes in the home's value as the RVM auto-adjusts to make value changes based on pre-determined calculations for each market.

Best of 2014: Prospecting with a CMA
There's just 10 publishing days left in 2014, and we're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published back in March and is #10 in our countdown: Everyone wants to know what their home is worth, not just those who are thinking of selling in the immediate future. After all, their home is probably their most valuable asset. A report that helps them better understand that value is a very compelling offer, one that will help you secure their contact information and use additional marketing techniques to earn their business. 1) Knock on doors. Let's face it, most of us hate doing this, but it's a great way to build your client base. If you're looking to drum up business in a specific neighborhood, go door-to-door. Have a CMA prepared to hand to them if they are interested. With new clients, especially, it's important to include your branding on the CMA. You want to make it as easy as possible to remember your name. This example is from Cloud CMA. 2) Make a few calls. Don't feel like pounding the pavement? As the saying goes, let your fingers do the walking. Use the phone numbers in your CRM to call homeowners and volunteer to send them a report that explains their home's value.

Competitive Market Analysis 101
Today, we're launching a series of articles that explores the spectrum of technology products available to real estate professionals. Each article will cover what a specific category of tech solutions does, what questions to ask before purchasing, and available. We're kicking things off with a look at CMAs. What is a CMA? CMA stands for Competitive Market Analysis. Traditionally, these reports for seller clients provide recent comparable sales and allow agents to craft their own recommendation for listing price. However, as a product category, it is quickly expanding to include a variety of other reports for both buyers and sellers, often automated to require minimal input from the agent. To help you learn more about CMAs and how to use them, we recommend reading the following articles. They're a good place to get started: Prospecting with a CMA Choosing Comps for Your CMA Choosing a Valuation Tool: CMA vs. AVM Video: iPad Listing Presentations

New CMA Strategies to Get More Listings
Every real estate market in America has seen a shift from a buyer's market to a seller's market. There really has not been any threatening news in the housing market other than the concern of interest rate increases. For most brokers and agents today, demand is stronger than the supply of listings. At the heart of winning a listing is your listing presentation and the CMA. It is your chance to convert your hard work and marketing expenses into success. To put your best foot forward, you need to have an attractive presentation, a clear illustration of market facts and comparables, a great marketing plan, and a confident presentation style. Here are a few tips that may improve your success: Go to a print store and print your presentation in high resolution, full color and have it bound into a book. Save your presentation to your iPad if you have one. It makes an extraordinary presentation tool that allows you to get your customers to "lean in" and pay attention. Pull market reports from Realtors® Property Resource, Terradatum, CoreLogic, or another solution you prefer. Explain their responsibility in making themselves available to review the buyer offers in a timely fashion as they are submitted.

Using Your iPad with Buyers
Today about half of the real estate professionals in real estate have iPads. As business professionals, having information and resources at your fingertips can be a significant way to improve your business. This has always been the promise of mobile computing, but laptops are too clunky to carry around, and for most of us, the size of the keypad and mobile screen on a mobile phone are too small for any significant jobs. The iPad turns out to be just the right size. Up until recently, MLS systems were off the mobile grid for most real estate agents. Today, things are much better. The leading MLS solutions are either adopting responsive designs that allow you to access the MLS thorough the Safari browser on the iPad, or offer apps that allow MLS search. These advances are terrific time savers for agents who need access to the MLS to research buyer needs anywhere, anytime on the iPad. A new trend emerging with the iPad is the buyer CMA. There are a number of companies now offering CMA solutions that work great on the iPad and help agents deliver outstanding presentations that can be created in minutes. If you have not looked into CMA solutions for the iPad, check out these mobile-friendly products: Cloud CMA ToolKitCMA TouchCMA Realtors Property Resource®

Choosing Comps for Your CMA
A CMA is one of the primary reports you'll be creating for your seller clients. In many ways, it will be the foundation for the rest of your work together. And comps are the foundation of your CMA. Needless to say, choosing the right comps is an essential skill to master. If you have been selling real estate for years, you have the CMA perfected. But if you are new, this article may provide you some quick suggestions to increase your acumen. CMA Some people choose to create CMAs using their MLS system. However accurate, this solution isn't the most aesthetically appealing. Moreover, the worst possible listing presentation would have you showing up with the exact same MLS CMA report presentation as another agent. Therefore, many agents are choosing to use premium CMA tools that also offer more attractive and customized visuals. Most of these CMA tools give you the option to choose your own comps or will automatically select comps for you. Let's walk through an example. I'm going to use Cloud CMA because they're quite popular and I'm most familiar with their solution. The image below demonstrates the two options for choosing comps:

Best of 2013: How to Lose a Listing
We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down the most popular articles of the year. This article was posted back in November and is #3 in our countdown. See #4 here. When we took our daughter trick-or-treating at our neighbors' house on Halloween, they dropped a bomb on us. They're moving! (Cue Mozart's "Requiem in D Minor") As we drowned our sorrows with the baby's stash of candy, they told us about their decision. Besides my sadness at losing them and my trepidation about who will move in next, the most powerful thing I took away from our conversation was the interesting way a local agent lost their business. Defend Your Listing Price Recommendation Like most homeowners, my neighbors had a very definite and, in my opinion, slightly inflated idea about the value of their home. They figured it at about $600,000. When they started thinking about selling, they chose three agents to meet with. The first agent they spoke to was the person who had helped them buy the house (we'll call her "Agent One"). She told them that she'd list the house at $425,000. When I asked how Agent One had explained her recommendation, my neighbors responded that she hadn't offered any substantive explanation at all. Even after she learned how dramatically her recommendation differed from the number they had in mind, she didn't take the initiative to defend or justify her price. Surprised and upset, the homeowners then spoke to two other agents (we'll call them "Agent Two" and "Agent Three"). The new agents each came in with a listing price at around $550,000. Now, my neighbors really like their original real estate agent, Agent One. They wanted to work with her again. But they tell me that they probably won't choose her to list their home. This is pretty catastrophic for her, whether she knows it or not, because repeat and referral business is a real estate agent's bread and butter.

How to Lose a Listing
When we took our daughter trick-or-treating at our neighbors' house on Halloween, they dropped a bomb on us. They're moving! (Cue Mozart's "Requiem in D Minor") As we drowned our sorrows with the baby's stash of candy, they told us about their decision. Besides my sadness at losing them and my trepidation about who will move in next, the most powerful thing I took away from our conversation was the interesting way a local agent lost their business. Defend Your Listing Price Recommendation Like most homeowners, my neighbors had a very definite and, in my opinion, slightly inflated idea about the value of their home. They figured it at about $600,000. When they started thinking about selling, they chose three agents to meet with. The first agent they spoke to was the person who had helped them buy the house (we'll call her "Agent One"). She told them that she'd list the house at $425,000. When I asked how Agent One had explained her recommendation, my neighbors responded that she hadn't offered any substantive explanation at all. Even after she learned how dramatically her recommendation differed from the number they had in mind, she didn't take the initiative to defend or justify her price. Surprised and upset, the homeowners then spoke to two other agents (we'll call them "Agent Two" and "Agent Three"). The new agents each came in with a listing price at around $550,000. Now, my neighbors really like their original real estate agent, Agent One. They wanted to work with her again. But they tell me that they probably won't choose her to list their home. This is pretty catastrophic for her, whether she knows it or not, because repeat and referral business is a real estate agent's bread and butter.

6 Tips for Streamlining Your Workflow
As a real estate professional, do you ever feel overwhelmed? From time to time, everyone does! We've all experienced the consequences of being overwhelmed. It could be that you have too many projects going on at once and suddenly you're paralyzed with too many choices to make. It's a known fact that when faced with too many choices, people often make no choice at all. Knowing this, it's to your advantage to leverage this concept and learn how to streamline your workflow. 1. "Pick one and done." Working in the digital space can be challenging in that there are so many applications and tools that all promise to help you get something done. Either it's cheaper, faster, more efficient, or better than the other apps on the market that do the same thing. For example, if you use a note-taking app, don't switch back and forth between the standard Notes app on your desktop and Evernote. Commit to using one program – exclusively for notes. While it may not sound like a big deal going back and forth between note apps, when the time comes to recall a specific piece of information and you have to think, "Which app did I save that in?" – you'll thank yourself if everything is in one place. 2. Commit to cloud-based storage. In the spirit of keeping everything in one place, make the commitment to storing documents and files in the cloud. This could be as simple as moving your files into Dropbox or Google Drive. The benefit of doing this is that everything then becomes accessible from everywhere and from any device. Choosing cloud-based, real estate applications like Cloud CMA (for your client reports) helps with this by storing all your information in the cloud. This way, you utilize the full functionality of the application from wherever you are and on whichever device you may be using at the time.

RPR Success Stories. Are you next?
By now you've heard of RPR® (Realtors Property Resource®). We figured that while you've been hearing from us, you should also hear about RPR directly from your fellow REALTORS®. Each of these REALTORS® are successfully using RPR all over the country. While all different, each of these REALTORS® has found their own way to incorporate RPR into their business. Sit back, relax and prepare to be inspired. Have you ever gotten a listing appointment call at the worst moment possible? That happened to Gordon Corsie from California. Gordon was preparing to leave on vacation when he got a call for a new listing. Completely out of paper in his printer, Gordon decided to create an RPR Report and show it to his client on an iPad. Once he handed the potential client his iPad with a Property Report displayed, Gordon had a good feeling. And he was right...he secured the listing! See Gordon's RPR All Star video and learn more here. Looking for an impressive way to quickly respond to leads? Joanne Taranto from Massachusetts can help you with that. Joanne uses RPR to help her respond to cold leads she receives from her website, or other real estate portals. Providing a comprehensive report from RPR, Joanne turns these cold leads into face-to-face meetings and even clients. Check out Joanne's story here.

Friday Freebie: Cloud CMA Power Pack
Have you ever felt your CMA reports were a bit dry or dull? Sure, they may be full of useful information, but they lack that certain je ne sais quoi that really engages clients. Cloud CMA to the rescue! The company, already known for its beautiful and customizable reports, is now offering even more visual enhancements with its new 2013 Cloud CMA Power Pack. Read on to see how you can add a bit of pizzazz to your Cloud CMA reports. (Not a Cloud CMA user? See our previous Friday Freebie to learn about their 30-day trial offer.) Free 14-Day Trial of 2013 Cloud CMA Power Pack Ready to give your reports a facelift? Cloud CMA is offering a free two-week trial of their 2013 Power Pack. This optional upgrade gives agents more choices when creating and presenting Cloud CMA reports for their clients. These enhancements include: Covers - 25 new magazine-style report covers with thoughtful photographs, composition, and layouts that are designed to make a great impression. Illustrations - Custom illustrations to enhance your report content. New Content - 25 new articles from an award winning real estate writer. These can be added to reports depending on the type of sale and client. One-Click Reports - Cloud CMA has identi?ed many common types of buyer and seller situations, curated the right content, page order, MLS data and gave them unique names for easy "one click" access. Users can also create their own one-click reports. Click here to start your free trial.

Secure a New Listing in 4 Simple Ways
Inventory is tight today. There are tons more interested buyers than there are homes for sale right now. When you are lucky enough to get in the game to list a property, you want to sure you win the deal. Top producers that are securing new listings these days have shared a few of their tips with us. First, they say that your listing presentation has to be packed with local insights. Using a product like Cloud CMA or RPR, agents can prepare highly attractive and comprehensive comparative market analysis to demonstrate their knowledge of the industry. Since there are so few homes for sale these days, it's critical to prepare a professional Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) as quickly as possible. Tools like Toolkit CMA now allow you to build your CMA right from your smartphone or iPad and allow your potential clients to view it from those devices, as well.

A ‘CMA’ for Buyers
While a CMA is traditionally a tool used for seller clients, it has potential for buyers as well. After all, one of the most valuable things a CMA provides is context, a clearer perspective on a single property based on the overall local housing market. Isn’t context just as valuable for buyers as it is for sellers? CMA BasicsBasically, a CMA (competitive market analysis) is prepared by a real estate agent and provides recent comparable sales and a recommendation for listing price. For a more thorough education on CMAs 101, we recommend you read the following: Choosing a Valuation Tool: CMA vs. AVM 2 Ways a CMA Can Generate Leads Buyer CMANow, the concept of leveraging a CMA for buyer clients removes one important component of a traditional CMA – the listing price recommendation (obviously, as the property has already been listed at a given price by the seller). However, just because you aren’t recommending a listing price, doesn’t mean you can’t give your two cents in terms of valuation. Calling upon your ample experience and leveraging your CMA tool, you can instead provide a recommendation on the price you would offer to the seller in order to buy the property. A buyer CMA could also retain the other key component: comparable recent sales. It’s incredibly helpful for buyers to understand other recent activity in the market. This can provide insight on: Pricing (“Is the property listed too high?”) Availability (“Are there going to be many more properties similar to this cropping up soon?”) Demand (“Is this property going to sell quickly? Should we put in an offer right away?”)

3 Tips for Practicing Effective Communication
Guest contributor Cloud CMA says: Communication is the foundation for client interactions and crucial to the success of your real estate business. Your clients are bombarded daily with messages and media, so how can you stand out? Learn to communicate effectively. Here are three tips for practicing effective communication: 1. Think before you "speak" This may seem obvious, but too many of us lose our "filter" when we're busy, overwhelmed, or stressed. Effective communicators pause, breathe, and focus the intention of their message before proceeding. Communications should be purposeful, to the point, and leave the recipient with an understanding of what's next.

Friday Freebie: Cloud CMA
Gearing up for our product review of Cloud CMA, we noticed that they offered an excellent 30-day trial of their solution. Who better to feature as this week's Friday Freebie? Stay tuned next week for our product review! 30-Day Free Trial of Cloud CMA With your 30-day free trial of Cloud CMA, you can create unlimited CMA, Buyer Tour, and Property reports. You'll enjoy all the benefits of a yearly or monthly subscription to Cloud CMA, including: Dozens of report themes, fonts, and styles to personalize your reports Works with your MLS 100% Web-based No interruption in service To register for the free trial, visit CloudCMA.com.

RPR Agent Case Study
WAV Group provides consulting services to MLSs and Associations to develop strategies and plans for business success. In working with MLSs and Associations, we have learned how difficult it is to help agents and brokers understand the value of new technologies in their daily business. Today, WAV Group is introducing the second in a series of Case Studies developed for NAR's REALTOR® Property Resource or RPR®. These Case Studies are designed to help REALTORS® understand the unique benefits of using RPR in their daily business to help position them as THE local expert. WAV Group developed these best practices by evaluating RPR "power users" and "power promoters" of the software. Download the Agent Case Study here. WAV Group has followed the introduction and rollout of REALTOR® Property Resource (RPR) closely since it was officially introduced and then launched in September 2010. In previous papers, WAV Group outlined the factors needed to make an informed decision about whether RPR and other data-related products were appropriate for individual MLSs and Associations. These case studies are NOT intended to help an organization make a decision about participation in RPR. Those decisions are best left to individual MLSs, Associations and Brokerages. The purpose of this case study is to help agents who are have access to RPR understand how they can the tool effectively in their daily business for reviewing COMPS, building CMA's and providing invaluable market level data and information to their clients and potential new clients. The case study also clearly articulates how RPR is incremental to the tools available in MLS systems.