How to Win Business from Leads You Never Wanted
Before dividing leads into categories like first-time buyer or empty-nest seller, many real estate agents separate their leads into "real" and "fake." How you make the distinction can be the difference between getting by and getting paid. If you're just getting by, it could be because you're writing off too many leads. For many agents, a "real" lead has to have real contact information, meet a certain price point (anything under $100,000 is often considered fake), and not be a renter.

7 Social Marketing Tips to Connect with Millennial Renters
There are 77 million 18-36 year olds that make up the millennial generation, and they are reshaping the way real estate professionals should be marketing their business. The lifestyles of Generation Y'ers are flexible and they aren't settling down as quickly generations before them, which is why rental properties have become a more attractive option than buying a home. In fact, there was an increase of almost 4 million single-family rentals between 2005 and 2012 (Forbes) and the single-family rental market now accounts for fifty-two percent of the entire residential market (CoreLogic). Rentals are on the rise and this group of young adults has been the driving force behind it, so it's important to market your business where it counts. The average millennial is active on 3.5 social media sites, and with 93 percent of them owning smartphones, they are spending a lot of time (3.2 hours a day to be exact) scrolling through their newsfeeds. This offers you the perfect opportunity to get your foot in the door with these soon-to-be buyers, by connecting with them through social media and helping them find a rental. Here are 7 things you need to know if you want to connect with Gen millennials through social media. 1. Stay Active on the Networks that Count Homes.com and ForRent.com conducted a survey to find the most popular social media sites among renters. Facebook was the most popular, with 80 percent of respondents saying it was their favorite. This was followed up by Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram who captured 44 percent, while Google+ was preferred by 31 percent. Keep this in mind when you are creating your social media strategy, as you'll want to focus your attention on the sites they use the most.

House Poor: The Landlord's Prayer
Believe me, the last thing in life I ever wanted to be was a landlord. The thought of it reminds me of the old silent movies tying his poor tenant to a railroad track as she screams, "No, I can't pay the rent!" It started at one of our Friday coffees at the Deli Delight where I get together with my real estate team—Bea Meriwether, real estate agent and Earnest S. Crowe, mortgage guy. Bea was selling a bank-owned bungalow two blocks away from me in my hometown of Mirage Mills, the Chernobyl of American real estate and the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis. Since there were two dozen fire sale-priced properties listed for sale within a mile of hers, she was having a hard time. "It would be a perfect investment property for you and Felicia. You know the neighborhood like the back of your hand. It's close and easy for you to manage. It's in very good shape for the neighborhood and it's priced to move fast," said Bea. Her voice dropped a half-octave and she gently placed her hand on mine. "And I know that the bank is dying on this one. They've taken a beating on it for more than a year and they'll do anything to get it off the books." Nothing she said changed my mind. The bank could go on taking a beating for all I cared. Then Earnest started in on me. "Homer, wise up dude. How much you making on your 401K in this market? I'll bet you're losing money big time." How did he know?

4 Steps to Find the Perfect Tenant
Rental professionals want to fill vacancies quickly – but not at the (significant) cost of choosing the wrong tenant. After all, what's the value of a tenant that does not pay their rent and fails to care for the property? Sometimes, the perfect tenant may seem elusive, but RentJuice is making the process easier with their "lead qualification kit." We'll share a few of the key steps here, but for the full scoop – including sample pre-qualifications questionnaire, rental application, rejection letter, and much more – download the free whitepaper. 1) Phone first. Meeting a prospective tenant in person requires a large time commitment. When you consider the fact that many of the people who contact you about the property will not be qualified, it's easy to see that in-person meetings with each and every one of them can become a major waste of time. This is why RentJuice recommends running through some basic pre-qualification questions over the phone before scheduling a showing. (They've included sample pre-qualification questions in their whitepaper.) If a phone interview reveals that the prospective tenant is qualified for the property in question, invite them to a showing. If they are not a good fit for this particular property, but they have potential for future properties, gather their information into a lead tracking system and tell them you'll keep them at the top of your list for a better fit. 2) Meet in person at a showing. As we mentioned above, if a prospect sounds qualified over the phone, your next step should be to schedule a showing. RentJuice says, "Don't skip this step, no matter how perfect prospective renters sound during pre-qualification." RentJuice offers some other interesting tips for showings: Invite several prospective renters to the same showing. This increases their interest in the property and creates a sense of urgency to move through the application process. Offer applications right at the showing. (You can find a sample application in the RentJuice whitepaper.)

5 Reasons to Implement Online Rental Applications
We've been covering a series of RentJuice whitepapers focused on the changing needs of rental professionals. The series continues today with a paper that spotlights a very important issue: digitizing the leasing process with online rental applications. We're going to concentrate on several key reasons that rental professionals should implement online applications here, but we recommend you download the whitepaper for free from RentJuice.com for the full scoop. Important note: While this article will talk specifically about rental applications, many of the concepts discussed also apply to documents related to real estate sales. Going "paperless" for real estate is an important trend, one that is supported with a variety of solutions (such as electronic signatures, document management, and transaction management). Before we go into the benefits of online rental applications, let's talk about the alternative: traditional "paper" rental applications. While paper applications are more common than their online counterparts, there's a growing trend to digitize the application and leasing process. Moving this process online has benefits for both renters and for rental professionals. 1) Online applications save you money. Paper is expensive. RentJuice cites the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which finds that the average U.S. office worker uses more than 10,000 sheets of paper per year – that's more than 20 boxes and represents about $800 per worker. But paper isn't the only expense associated with traditional applications. There's also the cost of storage (cabinets, file folders, etc.), ink, and the time spent organizing the documents – time that could be better spent growing your business.

4 Tips for Managing Your Online Reputation
Gone are the days of high school when your “reputation” was built with whispers and torn slips of binder paper. These days, you’re a professional adult, with a very different set of rules to follow for reputation management. True, word-of-mouth is still important in real estate, but you simply cannot ignore the Internet, where more and more people are looking for an agent/broker. Today, we bring you some highlights from another great whitepaper by RentJuice. The full whitepaper, “How to Manage Your Online Rental Real Estate Reputation,” is also available to download for free. Although RentJuice is a rental expert, their tips are certainly helpful for those of us selling properties as well. Here are 4 of their tips for managing your reputation online: 1) Begin by giving your reputation a boost.Don’t have anyone talking about you online yet? Start a conversation yourself! How do you do this? RentJuice suggests: Launching a blog. This will help establish you as an experienced professional. Frequent posts can help develop a “personality” and move your blog up in search engine rankings. Creating a LinkedIn profile. There are benefits to each of the social media sites out there. But the folks at RentJuice point out: “If you’re going to start any social media presence online, it better be a professional one if you want to generate business.” This excellent point leads you directly to LinkedIn. Starting a Yelp business account. First, start or claim your business. Then, direct your customers to this page and encourage them to leave a review. The truth is that consumers trust other consumers and will give greater credence to consumer-generated reviews.

5 Tips for Better Real Estate Photography
Want to move more listings – rentals or properties for sale? Consider improving the quality of the photographs you post online. The folks at RentJuice have made a science of effective online rental marketing – and they’ve created a whitepaper that shares secrets for better photography. You can download the full whitepaper at RentJuice.com, but we’ll share a few of the top tips here.   1) Invest in a quality camera. Grainy, poor-quality photos do not make a good impression. If you want your photos to put a listing’s best face forward, it’s probably a good idea to invest in a quality camera that takes higher resolution photos.   RentJuice recommends avoiding “point-and-shoot” cameras. These are compact digital cameras that use automatic settings for quick pics. Instead, aim for a mid-level camera or higher; you can expect to spend between $200 and $400.   A few other tips: Buy a tripod. Use a wide-angle lens. Purchase an on-camera flash (don't use the flash that comes with the camera).   2) Refine your shots with photo editing software.Buying a quality camera will help you begin with a decent image. However, RentJuice recommends taking this a step further and getting familiar with photo editing software. Watch out, though, you don’t want to “manipulate the property.” The photo editing software is intended to refine the quality of the image – not fix problems with the property itself (i.e. a hole in the wall or some other blemish).  When you’re finished editing your photos, they should still accurately depict what potential renters or buyers will see in person.  

The Recipe for Repeat Rental Business
If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere – New York City! RentJuice followed Frank Sinatra’s wisdom as they gathered data from renters in NYC. The whitepaper generated by this data is rich in helpful insights and recommendations –for rental professionals nationwide, not just New York. The nice folks at RentJuice have allowed us to offer a few highlights here, but we recommend that you check out the full whitepaper for more – it’s free from this page on RentJuice.com. Renters Want to Use the Same BrokerWe had to include this image – it’s just so clear and unambiguous. Better yet, it’s good news for rental professionals. Renters want to give you their repeat business; you just need to earn it. That’s where the next findings come in. What matters most when renters are choosing a rental professional?