Real Estate Hindsight: Analyzing Your Successes and Failures
A recent NAR report indicates that the hot housing market is starting to cool off. This is triggered by rising interest rates, a weaker economic outlook and an increase in inventory. This means you must use all the tools at your disposal to stay in the game. It's time to take inventory and analyze the real estate mistakes you made over the past year. It is also a time to look at your successes to understand the important role technology has played. Everyone has an opinion about the optimal time to sell a home, but selling a home is more than just timing. Getting a house sold requires a well-thought-out marketing plan, accurate information and capturing the eyes of potential buyers. So how can you focus on increasing your leads to keep your listing inventory and sales up? What went wrong Whether you are new to real estate or are a seasoned agent, you can avoid repeating mistakes by learning from them. Keeping up with the latest TikTok social media trends may have had you spending time and energy on the wrong demographic. Home sellers are not looking for an agent with the most followers in the 16-24 age group. Your seller is concerned with getting the attention of qualified buyers. Real estate strategies that work focus on the buyer's needs, like finding the right floor plan with accurate measurements. 3D virtual tours can make all the difference when the consumer is choosing a property. If you haven't been including these marketing tools, you are missing the mark. How you can improve Education benefits everyone. Understand why it is important to include floor plans and accurate measurements with every listing. The recent implementation of RMS (Residential Measurement Standards) in some jurisdictions focuses on a standard of measurement for all residential properties. Having a standard removes discrepancies in how and what is to be measured. You will note that Fannie Mae has recently mandated that all home appraisals in the United States are required to adhere to their ANSI-Z765 2021 measurement standard when calculating and reporting gross living area. Real estate agent strategies going forward can take advantage of the changing landscape regarding measurement requirements and get a step ahead of their peers. Choose to include floor plans that comply with the new standard to speed up the mortgage approval process for every sale. Time is valuable for the seller, buyer and everyone involved in the transaction. What was a success 3D virtual tours are the biggest success stories of the past two years and continue to be the top technology trend in demand for both home sellers and buyers. Not only does the virtual tour provide benefits to the consumer, it also helps you win listings and sell your listings faster. Statistics from Redfin, Realtor.com and multiple brokerages all report that virtual tours receive up to 87% more views than listings without. From the seller's standpoint, the 3D virtual tour showcases their property in an easy-to-use format, pre-qualifies potential buyers and saves time. Buyers can determine if the property matches their search criteria before in-person viewing. The ability to virtually walk through the property at any time day or night provides flexibility for both sellers and buyers. Sure, you will still make some mistakes, but if you want to stay successful in the years to come, focus on using technology from cutting-edge companies like iGUIDE. Not only can you use analytics to track your listing views, you can also share the data with sellers to highlight your marketing efforts. What can you do differently? Change is good. Without it, you would still be measuring homes with a retractable tape measure and handwriting listing agreements and memorandum. Changes in the real estate industry are happening due to the demands of the consumer and to provide accountability. Your strategies should continue to be adjusted to meet the requirements of your clients and drive engagement with buyers. Using technology keeps you at the forefront of the consumer's mind, offers ease of use and is current. Your brand becomes synonymous with professionalism when you demonstrate value by using virtual tours, floor plans and analytics to share information in every real estate transaction. Hindsight is 20/20 and can give clarity to your mistakes and successes. In the real estate industry, numbers account for every aspect of a property listing. From accurately measured floor plans and square footage to days on the market and 3D virtual tour analytics, iGUIDE can help.

Realtor.com Launches Enhanced Listing Intelligence for Agents
In a cooling housing market, real estate professionals may find they have to work harder to win a listing and make a sale. New enhanced listing intelligence features from Realtor.com put predictive insights from listings at agents' fingertips, making it easier for agents to demonstrate their value and knowledge of local market conditions, amplify their marketing tactics for their clients, and close deals. Millions of homeshoppers visit Realtor.com each month. Understanding how these buyers are searching in a local market can be a valuable resource and powerful selling tool for agents in today's shifting market. With the new suite of features, real estate professionals now have access to valuable listing intelligence, including: Buyer info: See the total number of potential buyers in their local market on Realtor.com and those who've submitted inquiries on the site with a budget range that matches the listing. Buyer demand: View the top three ZIP codes from which a listing's buyer interest is coming on Realtor.com. Moreover, the new features share the percentage of Realtor.com listing traffic coming from within the listing's city, the listing's state, other states, and internationally. Listing completeness: Gain insights about how complete their property listing is and suggestions for improving it with additional photos or listing description information. Performance score: Understand a property listing's performance and how it's attracting and engaging potential buyers compared to similar listings in that price range and ZIP code on Realtor.com. Market trends: See local market trends seen across Realtor.com, including median days on market, median list price, total number of homes with price reductions, and more. According to a recent consumer survey from Realtor.com, nearly 9 out of 10 home sellers worked with an agent to list their home for sale. Agents and brokers can use Realtor.com's advanced listing intelligence features to help convert leads into clients with market intelligence and trends insights, as well as to help inform and manage seller expectations. Agents can also use the intelligence solutions to keep their homeowner clients informed and engaged throughout the selling process with automated, personalized and customizable reports about their home's performance. The report also provides sellers with insights about recent trends in their local market that have been seen across Realtor.com, such as median days on market, median list price of homes, the percentage of homes with price reductions, and more. Real estate professionals can access the new listing intelligence features at no cost from the Listing Manager section of their Realtor.com Pro Dashboard. Learn more here.

Why One Top-rated Real Estate Valuation Model Is Better Than the Rest
Some may be surprised to learn that one of the nation's most accurate and highly-rated real estate valuation models is behind closed doors. And for good reason. Tested by leading independent companies for accuracy and hit rate, the Realtor Valuation Model (RVM) has shown consistent high performance. Those "accuracy and hit-rate" indicators—primary measures of automated valuation model (AVM) quality—are regularly analyzed across multiple markets and a wide variety of market conditions. Difference in the data The one-of-a-kind RVM, offered by Realtors Property Resource® (RPR®), continually outperforms other models thanks to its unique algorithm. Unlike traditional AVMs, the RVM's proprietary formula applies on-market and off-market MLS listing data plus publicly recorded sold data to form its estimation. In contrast, AVM estimated values draw solely from publicly recorded sold data. Those unique attributes are foundational to the RVM, yet the tool and its capabilities extend far beyond simply displaying an estimation. The RVM's powerful customization features are such that only a licensed REALTOR® is considered qualified to interpret, refine, and deliver accurate estimations, in addition to dozens of other data, analytics and reporting functions found within RPR. "Any automated valuation model is only as good as the underlying data and the algorithm used in the calculation," says RPR COO and general manager Jeff Young. "It takes a REALTOR®'s experience and local market knowledge to provide consumers with true market values. This is even more important in the rapidly changing market we see in 2022." RVM® Cornerstones of Credibility On- and off-market MLS listing data + public record sold data = estimation Only REALTOR®-owned automated valuation product. Incorporates REALTOR® market expertise and customization. Confidence score describes expected accuracy of estimated value RVM as a starting point As the only REALTOR®-owned automated valuation product, the RVM turns a traditional AVM on its heels by offering users customizable refinement tools. Attributes not found on consumer-facing real estate sites. This distinct advantage allows users to refine the RVM by home improvements made and/or needed, property facts, and market conditions—typically based on knowledge of the property or an on-site visit. AVMs do not factor in a property's condition; instead relying on "average condition" scenarios when determining value. In defense of the AVM, accurate estimations of comparable on-market properties can be obtained using a prior physical inspection. Yet, according to Karen France, RPR senior vice president of market engagement, those values can fail to live up to true market realities. "Many things can distort the estimated value of a property. A home might be unusual compared to its neighborhood counterparts or access to off-market data is limited," says France. "If an MLS shares only on-market listings with an AVM provider, rather than both the on- and off-market information that they share with RPR, the valuations tend to fall short of an accurate estimation." Plus, adds France, AVMs draw from public records sources, which can be inaccurate, incomplete, and slow to record transactions. The 5-star confidence score Lastly, the RVM offers a one-to-five star confidence score that describes the expected accuracy of a property's estimated value. Based on the outcomes of multiple automated valuation models, higher scores are defined by narrower valuation ranges. The opposite is true for lower scores. The ranges are beneficial guideposts that help REALTORS® navigate list-price discussions with potential sellers. RVM Margin of error for confidence scores To date, RPR's Realtor Valuation Model® is in a class by itself among automated real estate valuation models. Learn more about this valuable tool. Editor's Note: RPR encourages REALTORS® to educate consumers on the important difference between AVMs, RVMs and appraisals. RVMs and AVMs are not meant to serve as appraisals. REALTORS® determine market value that must be validated by an appraiser. Lenders rely only on an appraisal. To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.

Google for Real Estate: Leveraging Google Analytics
You can't know what works and what doesn't on your website if you don't have a way to track your results. Google Analytics is a fairly comprehensive tool you can connect to your website to monitor traffic and other important metrics.

Monitor Market Movement for Your Clients and Prospects
When you want to update your geographic farm area on all the latest real estate market trends and movement, reach for the RPR's Market Activity Report. This handy deliverable is a snapshot of all the changes in a local real estate market. And it's the perfect way to keep clients up to speed, and a surefire way to impress prospects. The Market Activity Report includes a list of active, pending, sold, expired and distressed properties, including recent price changes. You can choose to go back a few days or weeks, and even up to six months. Perhaps best of all, the Market Activity Report can be run on your custom map areas. Meaning they can be run for your geographic farm area. Check out this video on RPR Maps to take a guided walk through on how to define and save custom areas on the map. How to Run an RPR Market Activity Search To run your Market Activity search, select Research from the upper right area of the navigation bar on the home page. Then select Residential Market Activity Search. You'll be directed to the Market Activity Search page. Next, enter in the location you want to search. On the right, you can add additional search filters, including For Sale and/or For Lease. Then select which statuses you want included and whether properties show changes in the last three days to the last six months. Choose which property types appear and a price range. To refine your search further, select the Filters icon for advanced search options. Keep this in mind when you select the advanced search filters: you can view the amount of properties your search results will include. This is a smart way to narrow down your results before you run your search. Select the orange magnifying glass or the Update and Search button to run your search. From this list view, see how many properties show recent changes in the last three months, last week or last three days. This gives a good overview of the local real estate market in your particular area. Change your view to a photo grid or map view on the top right of your list results. Click to Create and Customize Now the fun part! Click Create Report to run your report. Verify that Market Activity is selected, and then click the plus "+" icon to omit or include specific sections of the report. Make sure to check your cover page elements as well (you'll see them to the right). Personalize your report if you are emailing to a client, choose your delivery method, and click Run Report. Another good way to leverage the Market Activity Report is to share it out to your social media circles, such as Facebook. This is a highly visible way to send out monthly or even quarterly updates for those homeowners who aren't ready to sell, but would like to stay up to speed on how the market is doing near their home. Market Activity Reports are a keen deliverable—create one today and share it with clients and hopefully, soon-to-be-clients. To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.

3 Key Stats that Show Just How Busy 'Busy Season' Was
There's no doubt this has been the busiest busy season in some time. Spring shutdowns delayed the peak home-buying period by two months, and a pandemic-induced exodus from cities has resulted in a record-setting number of transactions in the suburbs. But just how busy is busy? Our data scientists crunched the numbers, and the results are even more mind-blowing than you might have thought.

5 RPR Report Customizations You May Not Be Using
Reports are one of RPR's most popular features. From the Market Activity Report that gives your sellers a snapshot of recent market trends and activity, to helping your buyers hone-in by using RPR Mobile to create a Buyer Tour Report. Sending reports such as these to your clients via email or text are only gaining in popularity due the current virtual presentation demands. However, you might not be taking advantage or even aware of all the report customizations you can apply to strengthen your communications. RPR allows REALTORS® to tailor each report according to client needs and expectations, starting with these five useful report customizations:

Are Buyers Readying to Re-enter the Market En Masse?
To get a picture of buyer behavior, Homesnap's data scientists analyzed trends in three key metrics: properties shared by agents, properties searched by agents, and properties favorited by agents. These metrics offer a clear view of buyer intent and sentiment, as agents who are actively sharing, favoriting, and viewing properties are doing so with their buyers. This is what our data scientists found: In a normal year, real estate buyer activity follows a predictable hill-shaped pattern. After a winter lull, home search actions ramp up in the early spring and maintain consistency throughout the summer before tapering off in the latter half of the fall. It looks a lot like this:

Find Seller Leads with Homesnap Pro's Likelihood to List Scores
Ninety percent of sellers hire the first agent they talk to. Think about that: If you can be the first agent that 10 prospects speak with, you could turn those conversations into nine new clients. The All-New Homesnap Pro gives you an advanced set of new tools so you can find seller leads quickly using expanded data and predictive analytics--all completely free to you as an MLS benefit. Then, you can more narrowly target the homeowners who are qualified seller leads before your competition.

Don't Make These Mistakes with Your Market Reports
Even folks who aren't thinking of buying or selling a home in the near future enjoy reading well-written real estate market reports. If you aren't using market reports in your marketing efforts, you're missing out on a prime opportunity to show your area expertise. However, it's not enough to slap up an MLS graph and call it a market report.

Maybe It's Time to Add New Homes to Your Showing Schedule
The National Association of REALTORS released its June 2019 Housing Snapshot for Existing-Home Sales. Here is what they shared on the NAR Instagram account: Living outside Orlando, I know the new home market is very strong. Checking locally, I see 397 new home communities with 3,502 new homes and 1,008 quick move-in. After reading the NAR announcement, I wanted to see what June looked like for new home sales nationwide. Here is what I found:

3 RPR Report Customizations You Should Be Doing Now
Ready to get more out of the reports you create? Follow these three report customizations to make the reports you create in RPR showcase the exact information your clients require.

4 Ways to Use Market Stats to Win More Business
If there's one thing you should know about the psychology of your prospects and clients, it's this: they're nosy. And the sooner you let that fact sink in, the sooner you can use it to your advantage. It's simple human nature--we want to know what's going on around us. And for homeowners, that means knowing which homes are for sale in their neighborhood, what their asking price is, the value of their own home, and so much more. So how can agents and brokers use this to their advantage? Lean on your market analytics tool to create insight-driven reports that you can share with leads and clients. (Don't have an analytics tool? Check out our Success Guide to Market Analytics for a few great recommendations.) While there are myriad ways you can use a market analytics platform to connect with your sphere, today we'll highlight four easy metrics you can leverage to connect with prospects and win more business. 1. Days on Market Trends One of the most important things that market statistics can do is help educate your clients and set proper expectations from the beginning. To help sellers grasp how long their home may be on the market, use your analytics tool to compare how long local homes are staying on the market versus last year. 2. Median Home Price Changes Trying to get a potential seller off the fence and into the market? Use market metrics to demonstrate how now is a good time to sell. What do prices in your area look like compared to last year? If they're rising, now is a good time for sellers to cash in on ongoing price appreciation. If your analytics show local prices are slowing, becoming stagnant, or even dropping, that's good news for buyers and may be what you need to bring hesitant first-timers into the fold. 3. Inventory Changes How many months of inventory does your local market have? Most of the U.S. is experiencing on ongoing inventory shortage that's driving a seller's market. Use your market analytics platform to find out how true this is for your area. Generate a report that you can email to clients, share on social media, in your newsletter, or on your blog. Explain how things have changed year-over-year and what that means for sellers, for buyers—or even for affordability in your area. 4. Support for Pricing a Home We know that you know how to price a home correctly, and you know that—but do your clients know? Agents can rely on market statistics to demonstrate your knowledge on pricing a home correctly. And you can swim right through the emotional undertow that sellers often experience during pricing conversations. For example, you can can analyze home price versus days on market to show how homes you've listed have sold more quickly thanks to the thorough pricing analysis you offer to clients. If your seller wants to price their home at $500,000 and needs to sell within 60 days, this comparison can tell them how fast other homes in this range have sold. If the DOM is too high, then the price likely is, too. Offering this kind of numbers-driven information positions you as the local market expert, and helps you steer sellers to a better price from the get-go, avoiding price reductions in the future. Want to learn more about leveraging market analytics? Check out our Success Guide to learn more about analytics trends and how to select a market analytics tool.  

Why the Top Agents Leverage Success Metrics in a Shifting Market
3 key metrics you should be tracking There's been a lot of buzz lately about the shifting market, and you've likely been hearing steps and strategies to help you be prepared for what may come in your local market. Whether it just shifts slightly to a more balanced, normalized market, or there's a noticeable lull in home sales, the name of the game is being fully prepared at any time with a solid business model, that's evergreen and "shockproof," so that your profitability doesn't suffer. One tactic that will help solidify your profitability (no matter the market), is clearly tracking and measuring success metrics.

Keys to Buying Market Analytics Products
Before you purchase any software for your business, always check for resources available from your local, state, and NAR. Realtors Property Resource is a great example of a member benefit that offers a strong array of market analytics reports that can be beautifully branded to the agent and broker. The best part is that NAR offers this tool as a member benefit. The MLS is the second place to look before purchasing market analytics products. In our Success Guide to Marketing Analytics, we highlight CRS Data, a service that is licensed by MLSs and delivered as an MLS subscriber benefit at no extra cost. Franchises or networks like Leading Real Estate Companies of the World also offer market analytics tools either for free or through a partnership program with technology companies that typically offer some customization benefits and/or cost benefits to franchisees. Check out these services before you buy. On RE Technology, we filter products by their suitability to MLSs, brokers, or agents. When you log in, the default should align with who you are, but there is the option to change your status (see the image below). For example, a broker may want to research market analytics tools for an agent. Likewise, an agent who is part of a selling group or a team may want to look at market analytics tools that suit multiple users as a brokerage would. Ask lots of questions about data refresh rates when you are considering market analytics tools. Some update in real time with the MLS using data synchronization methods like Application Programming Interfaces. Others will commonly update every 15 minutes. Some update daily and others may only update once a month. Speed matters, especially when you can have 10 percent swings in property values from month to month. Also, look at your overall technology budget. Sometimes you can sacrifice some redundant tools to invest in some great market analytics tools that really improve your business performance. Want to learn more about how to make market analytics work for your business? Download our FREE Success Guide to Marketing Analytics today!    

How Many Houses Should Buyers 'Date' Before They Settle Down?
The 37 Percent Rule How many people should you date before you commit to one? What about candidates to interview before making a decision? Parking spots to pass by before choosing? How many homes should buyers look at before submitting an offer? How many offers should they review before accepting? As with any decisions where comparisons are being made, committing is scary. If you commit too soon, you risk out on a better option down the road. Too late, and you may have passed up the optimal choice. Thankfully, there is a simple mathematical rule that may help home buyers consider how long to search and when it's time to decide.

Offer an Absorption Rate Report for Leads and Expert Status
How do you generate leads on your real estate website? Offering premium information and real estate reports is how many successful sites get that important contact information from site visitors. The fact that this strategy works is why you see so many of these calls-to-action on real estate websites. The diminishing returns from the strategy are due to the same stuff on every site: sold property reports days on market reports new listings reports You do want these offerings on your website, but if you want to differentiate yourself and your website, think about offering an Absorption Rate report with an explanation of how to interpret it.

Tinder for Real Estate? How digital matchmaking could change the game for agents
We get it. You've heard a lot about predictive analytics, but every time you try to learn more about it, you're hit with even more terms you'll have to google: Back-testing, machine learning, algorithmic modeling. The truth is, you already know about all of these terms and how they work. You just don't know how they work for real estate agents like you. To better understand predictive analytics for real estate, let's dive into another massive modern trend that once seemed impossible: the rise of long-term partnerships as a result of online dating. Here are three ways predictive analytics for real estate overlaps with today's dating apps — from the data matching to the natural chemistry needed to build a professional or personal relationship.

Analytics: Why They Matter and How to Use Them
Analytics are one of those things that can easily feel intimidating and so we avoid dealing with them. When we avoid them, we miss out on so much important information that could improve our business and make our efforts more efficient. That's why we are breaking analytics down into three easy-to-digest categories that will take fear out of the equation and set you up to be more successful.

How Real Estate Agents Can Capitalize on Big Data for Big Results
Simple ways predictive analytics can boost your bottom line Big data powers predictive analytics. As the field grows, these massive data sets propel some of the biggest companies in new, unexpected ways. Netflix reports it saves $1 billion each year by optimizing the predictive engine that recommends content and programming to its customers. Google Translate's reputation is nearly bulletproof now that its predictive algorithm has been retrained to translate in contextual sentences. Airbnb hosts see a fourfold increase in occupancy rates when they set a rental price within 5 percent of the company's recommended rate. In short, big companies use big data to make big waves. But what does that have to do with your relatively small real estate business?

The Ultimate Compilation of Ways Agents Can Leverage Market Data
There's no underestimating the value of hyperlocal market data. Sharing it with your potential and current clients can not only make you look like the neighborhood expert you are, but it can also allow you to start conversations, keep prospects informed, and get both buyers and sellers off the fence. Where do you get it? What are the best ways to share it? Who should you share it with? In our recent Market Data blog series, we explored all of this and more! Here's a quick synopsis:

Predictive Analytics: How Real Estate's Magic 8-Ball Foretells Future Listings
August is Analytics Month at RE Technology—predictive analytics, that is. Together, we'll learn more about predictive analytics and explore platforms built for every level of the industry: for agents, for brokerages, and for MLSs. Today, we're kicking things off with a solution for real estate agents that can predict which homeowners are most likely to list their home for sale. SmartZip, an app highlighted in our 2017-18 Technology Guide, not only helps agents identify likely seller leads, but also provides agents the tools needed to market directly to those leads. But First: What Is Predictive Analytics?

See SmartTargeting in Action
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 10:00 AM PDT Join our top Sales Manager Adam Long for a tour of SmartTargeting, the platform agents across the country use to increase their listings business. See first-hand how predictive analytics identify top seller prospects, and how targeted marketing campaigns help you engage and convert these homeowners when they are ready to sell. Register now!

3 Ideas for Curating a Real Estate Market Update
A great real-life example of how to best curate content can be shown by looking at a local real estate market update. If your local board releases housing trend information each month, they likely want you to share this information far and wide. These updates are a great way for you to add your insights and experience into the conversation. Here are three ways you can curate market update content. 1. Share the original market update on Facebook, with a one-sentence caption: Shoreview Association of REALTORS is showing a 6% increase in home sale prices this year! My personal seller stats show an increase of 8%, meaning that my 2016 sellers have sold for $20,000 more than those who listed in 2015. What a year! 2. Write a quick email sharing the market update, linking to the association's original market update post: Hi Sara, I know you are on the fence about selling this year and I'm not sure if you've made any new decisions yet. I did want to share this local market update with you. My sources show that Shorewood homes are selling for 6% more this year than they did in 2015, and I've actually seen an increase of 8% for my seller clients. Those percentages might not seem like much, but for my sellers it has meant an increase of $20,000 at closing on average. I'd love to talk to you more about it or discuss your hopeful selling price so I can continue to assess the market and help you find the right time to sell. Here's the market update I was telling you about. Warmly, Shelby Realtor

See SmartTargeting in Action (9/7)
Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT Join our top Sales Manager Adam Long for a tour of SmartTargeting, the platform agents across the country use to increase their listings business. See first-hand how predictive analytics identify top seller prospects, and how targeted marketing campaigns help you engage and convert these homeowners when they are ready to sell. Register now!

See SmartTargeting in Action (7/13)
Wednesday, June 13, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT Join our top Sales Manager Adam Long for a tour of SmartTargeting, the platform agents across the country use to increase their listings business. See first-hand how predictive analytics identify top seller prospects, and how targeted marketing campaigns help you engage and convert these homeowners when they are ready to sell. Register now!

Tap Into Market Data to Create Clients for Life
According to the National Association of Realtors, 73 percent of buyers say that they would use their agent agan, but less than 25 percent actually do. What can agents do to stay in front of past clients in the months and years after a sale? Many agents lean on tactics like sending out newsletters, holiday cards and refrigerator magnets. While these may have their place, a hundred other agents in your area are likely doing the same thing, and you risk blending into the competition. To stay top of mind, agents need to stand out. One way to do this is by tapping into the psychology of homeowners. By nature, humans are naturally curious about how they compare to their peers and what's happening in the lives of those around them. For homeowners, this translates into an interest about which homes have been listed in their area, which have been sold, and for how much. Keep in mind that buying a home represents one of the most significant financial and emotional investments that people make in their lifetimes. As with any investment, people want to know that their home's value is growing and that it compares favorably to others. One simple way to do this is to identify your client's home in your IDX website and set up automatic email alerts for new listings and price changes in their immediate neighborhood. If you have access to Virtual Office Website (VOW) data, that's even better, as you can send your clients more complete listing data like solds, expireds, etc.

State of the Market: A Real Estate Market Report to Send to Clients
This report is another market snapshot from a quarter-to-quarter comparison perspective. The recently ended quarter is compared to the one before it. This gives the report viewer a view of how the market is moving, which is why we call it 'The State of The Market.' Of course, seasonal fluctuations must be considered as well. Comparing a busy summer quarter with a slower fall quarter requires consideration of the season as a slowing factor. However, it is good information. Much like our Part 2 report, this one has a graphic overview of consolidated data for the price ranges. We're also doing this for single family, though you could decide to do another one for condominiums. So, What Data Are We Showing to Compare Quarterly Market Performance? Let's use one line to talk about the columns, the one in the orange box. Price Range - You decide on how you want to break your report out. Your market may be better displayed with smaller increments of $50,000, rather than the $100,000 shown here. Set them the way you want and pull your data from the MLS by price range.

Real Estate Market Report to Send to Leads: The Heavy Hitter
We already know from multiple surveys that people who visit real estate websites want to search listings, at least 90% or more say this. So, they are seeking information about the market. Now a question. What appeals to EVERY type of visitor who is on your site seeking information? It is, without a doubt, market statistics: Potential sellers want to see how the market is doing, if homes are selling well, and what kind of discounts-to-list the market is experiencing. Buyers are on the other side, checking out what homes are selling for and trying to situate their needs in the marketplace and check affordability. Investors just want to know everything about market movement. Other professionals, such as appraisers and title company employees, love a good market report. These are the general reasons why all of your visitors will have an interest in market statistics. The importance of offering reports as a lead generation tool can't be overstated. Also, with the time between starting online research and either listing or buying stretching into months on average, you must keep your identified prospects and not lose them to the competition before they act. What's In This Report and Why is it of Value? Let's analyze this particular report and the valuable information it provides. We call it 'The Heavy Hitter' because it's a comprehensive report that jam-packs a lot of useful real estate market data into a report that is valuable to anyone who is in the market to buy or sell property.

What They Don’t Tell You – Real Estate Market Trends
Everyone has an opinion about residential real estate market trends. Most predictions have merit, while some of them are just a shot in the dark. The focus tends to be on the volatility of housing prices, predictions on how long the mortgage lending rates will remain at record lows, and the influx of Millennial home buyers. All the while you are bombarded with across the board forecasts by economists and analysts predicting how the market will be affected in the coming years. Many real estate forecasts don't always reflect both short term and long term market conditions. The focus is often current trends of whether the real estate market is up or down, the difficulty of home owners trying to sell, and home buyers trying to qualify for and afford loans. Through it all, you will always have families that are struggling "to make ends meet", investors who are eating up supply, and real estate agents who are trying to cater to everyone's needs. Those buyers who were suckered into those misleading mortgages thought they would be okay making minimum payments since that worked before, but weren't actually told that they weren't paying off the interest. Unfortunately this happened to a lot of people, causing them to go into extreme debt. Those low mortgage rates that the banks rolled out had people buying all over the place. When many home owners weren't able to make their monthly mortgage payments, bankruptcy and the housing crisis happened. Of course there were a lot of other factors contributing to the housing crash, but one thing we need to be careful of is not making the same mistakes again.

7 Signs of a Soon-to-Be Super Hot Market (and Why You Can’t Ignore Them)
Real estate is an industry that's all about hyper-local expertise. As an agent, you specialize in specific zip codes, home types, client types—you name it. This industry is as much about niche specialties as it gets. That said, if you want to be the agent who blows away the competition and makes your business go gangbusters this year, you need to know how and when to expand your expertise into new areas of interest. And that means that you need to anticipate what neighborhoods are going to be super hot in the near future. If you establish yourself as the go-to agent in those markets now, there will be no stopping you in the future. Here are the top telltale signs of a soon-to-be hot market. Play your cards right, and your business (and clients!) will thank you for it! 1. Trend-Following Businesses Are Moving In In my neck of the woods, when a co-working space, a Whole Foods or a Blue Bottle coffee moves into the neighborhood, it's a sign that the nature of the neighborhood might be changing. This is just as true for small, local businesses that attract people with disposable income as it is for businesses that sell the basics with flair. In fact, larger businesses tend to do a fair amount of economic research and projections on the neighborhood before moving in. Watching big industry and business moves can be a great way to spot emerging areas with strong fundamentals way before other agents might otherwise be able to see them.

Neighborhood Experts Set Strategic Prices
We've had a lot to say about the marketing benefits of being a neighborhood expert. It's a well-established technique for appealing to prospective buyers or sellers. However, a recent discussion with an industry thought leader turned up another unexpected benefit: using neighborhood expertise as the basis for price recommendations and resolving price conflicts with clients. You've all been there: a seller believes their home is worth significantly more than you know they'll be able to get for it. There are many techniques for resolving this conflict. (Why not share a few of your favorites in the comments section below?) But have you tried helping them see the light with neighborhood information in a consumer-friendly format? I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Let's back up. What are the factors that influence listing price? Things like: Condition of the home Size of the lot Square footage of the home Aesthetic appeal Number of bedrooms Age of the home Quality of materials used in construction/remodels Views But this list is missing what can often be the most important factor in pricing: LOCATION! How desirable is the neighborhood? What are other homes in the neighborhood selling for? What is the overall price trend in the neighborhood?

Product Review: Market Videos
Last year, we took our first look at Terradatum and VScreen’s collaboration: MarketVideos.com. This month, we had the opportunity to revisit this exciting product, as well as their Market Videos for brokers, and take a look at real estate professionals that have been successful using the service. To refresh your memory, the basic concept behind MarketVideos.com is to offer market data for a specific region in an appealing video format. The data shared in the videos includes median listing price in the region, days on market, and other key metrics. Data comes directly from the local MLS; Terradatum has agreements with many MLSs and will work with you if your MLS does not yet have an agreement in place. The videos are aesthetically appealing, include a pleasant voiceover as well as music, and fit a great deal of useful information into a short format. They are updated automatically every month (on the 6th of the month). This means that you won’t need to remove an embedded video on your website and embed a new video each month. Rather, you can set it and forget it.

3 Reasons to Incorporate RPR’s Market Activity Report into Your Business
RPR Reports. They're the only part of RPR that non-REALTORS® will ever see. Of course, they have to be created by a REALTOR®, since REALTORS® are the only ones who have access to RPR. All RPR Reports can be branded with REALTOR® photo and information. They show clients just how knowledgeable you are. You can create them whenever you'd like. And with over 160 million parcels to choose from, REALTORS® the number of reports available is limitless. Do you see where we're going with this? No? Okay, let me put it this way. You're a REALTOR®. You pride yourself on providing the best information possible to your clients. You work hard during the transaction. Negotiations. Appointments. Assuring clients that it's all going to work out. It's all part of the job. And when the transaction closes, you proudly hand buyers the keys to their new house. You say "Congratulations!" and wish them well. You hope they refer you to all their family and friends, because we all know this business is about referrals. And if you're anything like the REALTORS® in my family, you'll remember your clients and the look on their faces for a long time. But will they remember you? I mean really remember you? Not just in seven years when they want to move to a larger house, but when they have questions on the marketplace, or wonder what the house across the street sold for. RPR's Market Activity Report can help you stay in front of your clients for weeks, months, and even years to come. Visit the next page are three reasons why you should incorporate RPR's Market Activity Report into your business.

Choosing a Market Analytics Tool
This is the latest in a series of 'Buyer's Guides' that feature questions to ask and options to consider before making a new purchase. See our previous guides to purchasing a CMA, CRM, Document and Transaction Management, Electronic Signature, iPad App, Lead Generation, Lockbox, and Listing Syndication solution. What are Market Analytics? A real estate professional can look at the market much as a doctor approaches a patient. Your doctor will assess your health on a variety of different levels and use a battery of tests to determine how well each of these levels is functioning. So, too, do real estate professionals assess the "health" of their local market – but instead of an MRI or blood test, you use market analytics tools. Instead of cells, organs, and bones, you are examining specific properties as well as neighborhoods, regions, counties, and the nationwide market. And, of course, your insights are possible thanks to data collected about taxes, sales histories, demographics, schools, zoning, and more. Just as a doctor needs accurate information to cure a patient, a REALTOR® needs complete and accurate information to serve their clients. This is where market analytics tools can help – but it's imperative to find the right solution for you. So, let's make sure you're armed with the questions you need to ask and take a look at a few of your options. Questions to Ask There are some important questions to ask when buying any real estate technology product and some that are unique to choosing a mapping or lifestyle search product. First, let's look at general questions you'll want to ask. What are my objectives for this piece of technology and will this product help me achieve those objectives? What is my budget? Does my MLS or Association have any agreements with any vendors that might help me obtain this product at a discount or for free? What kind of customer service and training programs are available? Are there webinars and, if so, are they recorded so you can view them at any time? Is the vendor's online help sufficient?

Friday Freebie: MarketVideos.com
Summer is a busy time for real estate. Between all the showings and transactions, it can be easy to let other efforts, like staying in touch with prospects, slide. But what happens in the fall when business slows down? If you don't stay in touch with prospects who aren't ready to buy yet, you may miss the opportunity to work with them when they are. Fortunately, there are solutions out there that make keeping in touch easy while also saving you time. This week, we're highlighting a new video marketing solution from VScreen that does just that. Try MarketVideos.com Free Until August 4 MarketVideos.com delivers localized market videos to agents every month that educate viewers on local market conditions, including popular statistics like active inventory and median listing price. Agents can share the videos with their database via a branded email newsletter or by linking to their video profile page. Videos can also be embedded onto websites and blogs, or uploaded to YouTube. Intrigued? Here's a quick glimpse at more features: Available in two formats - Videos can be viewed, shared and embedded in MarketVideos.com's native video player. Users also have the option of downloading the video file for upload to YouTube, Vimeo, or other video service. Lead capture - MarketVideos.com's native player lets you capture viewer information for easy follow-up. All-device compatibility - Agent video channels are created with HTML5, ensuring that they're compatible with all smartphones, tablets, and computers. Get as local as you want - The platform lets agents get as precise as they want when selecting an area to generate videos for. Get content localized by city, zip code, county, MLS area, and beyond. Powerful metrics - Market Videos are produced in conjunction with metrics from Terradatum, for qualified agents. Bonus marketing videos - The email newsletter that MarketVideos.com provides subscribers also includes consumer-focused videos with tips on gardening, home design, mortgages, selecting an agent, and more. RE Technology has teamed up with VScreen to let our readers try MarketVideos.com free now through August 4. Use promo code FRIDAYFREEBIE during sign-up to activate your free trial. Click here to get started!

Product Tour: Turnkey Video Content from MarketVideos.com
Referrals and repeat business are the lifeblood of any healthy real estate practice. So it's disheartening to hear that nearly 70% of consumers forget the name of their real estate agent within a year of purchasing their home. It's a statistic that underscores how vital it is to keep in touch with former clients. By staying in regular contact, you help ensure that your customers not only remember your name, but that you're the first agent they call when it's time to sell their home. Sending an annual holiday card or fridge calendar won't cut it these days, though. Social media and drip marketing solutions are far more dynamic options, but their success depends on the quality of the content that you're sharing. Constant emails about your latest listings, for example, bores everyone except those actively looking for homes. Instead, provide content that's useful to as much of your sphere as possible. Keep people engaged and you're well on the road to developing long-term relationships. VScreen, Century 21's official video marketing agency, aims to help real estate pros do just that. Their new video content solution, MarketVideos.com, delivers localized market videos to agents every month. These videos educate viewers on local market conditions, including popular statistics like active inventory and median listing price. Agents can share the videos with their database via a branded email newsletter or by linking to their video profile page. Videos can also be embedded onto websites and blogs, or uploaded to YouTube.

Product Review: RBIntel
RBIntel is a very special data analytics program that is used by agents and brokers to educate consumers on what is happening in the local real estate market. The product is designed to allow MLS member agents and brokers to create almost any kind of market report they need, any time, on any device. It is amazing on the iPad or a smartphone, putting MLS market stats in your hands wherever you are meeting with customers. Today's real estate agent is bombarded by consumers who believe everything they read on the Internet. Unfortunately, even popular television news sites give consumers incorrect information about the real estate market. Consumers often encounter sources like Zillow, Trulia, and Case-Shiller that use outdated and incomplete data to talk about the market. RBIntel is different because it is built on MLS data and published every month to give you the advantage you need to help today's homebuyer or seller. RBIntel was developed by an MLS (MRIS). They fundamentally understand how agents and brokers use real estate market data today. The program supports the ability for reports, or any part of a report, to be communicated between real estate professionals and their customer, including print, website, newsletter, blog, social media, and email. It even allows you to export the raw data into a spreadsheet. Moreover, the market reports can be published as static reports or interactive reports. Think of a static report as a snapshot or photo. You might use this to tell your clients something specific, like today's list-to-sell ratio in their area. An interactive report has two features. First, it allows the customer to make changes to the report criteria. Secondly, the report will update automatically each month.   Update: Showingtime Acquires Real Estate Business Intelligence

How to Use the RVM in a Pricing Discussion
You’ve always known the importance of comps and market trends to setting pricing.  But in today’s market, having an understanding of the lender’s requirements has become just as critical to a successful closing. Watch this short video to learn more about the RVM in pricing.

Market Leader Unveils Market Insider
In a crowded restaurant in San Francisco, I sat down with Alex Lange, CTO of Market Leader. The din of restaurant patrons and staff would have been distracting – if the subject matter of our discussion hadn't been so compelling. Was I mistaken, or had Lange just said that Market Leader was aggressively investing and would be making a series of announcements to showcase its comprehensive lead-to-close solution? "I think it's time we shook things up a little," said Alex. "So we've developed a variety of new products, services, and initiatives. The current launch is called 'Market Insider.' It's a market data tool – and we think it's going to be the industry's best product, allowing agents and brokers to provide all the rich local information that consumer demands. It has two other important characteristics: it is fully integrated into the agent's website and our CRM, and its an amazing value with an introductory free promotion." Like Top Producer's Market Snapshot, Market Leader's Market Insider offers detailed, local market insights that Web-browsing home buyers find attractive: price trends, community info (crime, weather etc.), local schools, and more. However, Market Insider has several distinct benefits:

How Branding Builds Trust and Familiarity for REALTORS®
Every type of business needs to pay close attention to branding, real estate included. Most potential clients don’t know anything about your business until you establish and build relationships with them. Their first impressions and perspectives of the company will come straight from whatever branding they’re exposed to. Even after clients know you, branding continues to affect how they view the company. It serves as a reminder that the company is successful and always ready to help them connect with the property of their dreams.