Real Estate Zealot

Sell Your Home Quickly in Northern Colorado

Whether you are a buyer or a seller, learn what options you have from Bev West with MetroBrokers West Realty, an experienced real estate agent. Call Bev at (970) 631-7111 or visit BevWestInGreeley.com.

Interviewer: Welcome to MetroBrokers TV. Today in the studio we have Bev West with MetroBrokers West Realty. Welcome Bev.

Bev: Thank you Kari, it's great to be here today.

Interviewer: It's nice to have you, so what areas do you focus on?

Bev: Kari, we focus along the entire Front Range, but our main area is Northern Colorado and Northeastern Colorado, and we also help our clients and customers when they're relocating out of the State of Colorado to help them find a realtor in another area.

Interviewer: Great. So what value do you give to your buyers and sellers?

Bev: You know, for our sellers, we do a statistical pricing system that includes about four different ways that we come up with a price that we feel that, you know, we'll value their home at the right price to get it sold quickly, and in doing this, we average on about a 98% list to sale price ratio and also, this helps in the negotiating when we do get an offer on their house. The other thing, I am an accredited stager and I help our sellers stage their home and this also helps to get their home sold quickly, and by doing that, we average about a 90 days or less days on the market. For our buyers, we do an initial consultation with them, you know, go through a lot of questions so that we get an in-depth feel for what their expectations are.

We also, for our buyers, we do a listing alert, we set them up on that so that as soon as the home that comes on the market, we can give them an alert via their cell phone or email so that they're aware of what's coming on right away and, you know, for both the buyers and sellers, we are very proactive in our communication and we also explain to them the working relationships that they have available to them in working with their agent. This can be a buyer's agent, a seller's agent, transaction broker, or they can be a customer and we feel that, you know, it's very important that they understand those differences.

Interviewer: So, how long have you been in real estate and are you affiliated with any special groups?

Bev: You know, my husband and I work together as a team and we've both been in the business about 11 years, and we're both members of the National Association of Realtors, the Colorado Association of Realtors, plus the Greeley Board of Realtors, and I am currently the president of the Milliken Housing Authority.

Interviewer: Well, yeah, that's great. How can clients reach you?

Bev: The best way is my cell phone which is (970) 631-7111 and my email address is bev@BevWestInGreeley.com.

Interviewer: Great. Well, Bev, thank you so much for joining us in the studio today.

Bev: Thank you very much Kari, it's been a pleasure to be here.

Interviewer: Thank you for watching MetroBrokersTV.com.

Join Metro Brokers and Earn More Money

Join the professionals at Metro Brokers DTC Marina Square office suites and let them help you start your own small company so that you can earn more this year.

Call them at 303-796-7000 or stop by the office at 8101 East Belleview, right next to the Great Northern Tavern restaurant in the Tech Center and let them give you a tour!

Interviewer: Welcome to Metro Brokers TV, I'm here today with Joe Bingham president of Metro Brokers office suites at DTC Marina Square, welcome Joe.

Joe Bingham: Hi Kari how are you doing?

Interviewer: I'm doing well thank you.

Joe Bingham: Great.

Interviewer: So tell me where are your offices located?

Joe Bingham: We're in the heart of the Denver Tech Center at 8101 East Belleview Avenue about a mile east of I 25. Our offices are located in Class A retail space, so they are really fun, you can pull right up to the front door and also being in the heart of the Denver Tech Center, it allows you to sell real estate anywhere in the metro area and have a Denver Tech Center address.

Interviewer: Wonderful, so what kind of brokers have chosen your office?

Joe Bingham: Our office is made up mostly of successful residential real estate brokers who are entrepreneurial in spirit, some do commercial and a lot own other businesses.

Interviewer: What kind of other businesses?

Joe Bingham: Well since our model allows you to own your own real estate company, it allows you to own affiliated real estate businesses, so our brokers, a lot of them have property management companies, a lot of them have appraisal companies, contracting businesses- the professional fix-and-flippers. All businesses that help your real estate career, but you are not allowed to run out of a lot of the big offices.

Interviewer: Alright so why would a broker leave the comfort of a big company to have their own small business?

Joe Bingham: Well the big companies are great for what they do. The main three things they do are they teach you how to sell real estate and do a deal. They also hold your hand if you are struggling in the deal and they also occasionally give you a lead every couple of years. Well, once you get to the point in your career where you know how to do a transaction and you don't need your hand held during the transaction, and you are generating your own business, it's time to look at having your own company.

Interviewer: Great so tell us why a broker should choose your office?

Joe Bingham: Well our office is unique; we have close to a 100 brokers, 25 private office suites, and 2 conference rooms. We're in the heart of the Denver Tech Center so we have a lot of wonderful experiences for a broker in our office. However, the three main things that we offer is a tremendous value for the cost of our office; we offer tremendous amount of fun and energy and third, we have the best people in the business. Our brokers are very experienced; they are leaders in the industry. They are the brokers you want to work around.

Interviewer: Now if someone's interested what would you say is the next step?

Joe Bingham: Just give us a call at 303-796-7000 or stop by our office at 8101 East Belleview, right next to the Great Northern Tavern restaurant in the Tech Center and we will give you a tour. Our staff is set up to not only answer all your questions, but to show you all the cost savings that you can have over another company and all the paperwork savings. But we can also set up your small company in a relatively short period of time and make it easy for you.

Interviewer: Thanks Joe for joining me today, it was great learning more about your office.

Joe Bingham: Thank you Kari for having me.

Interviewer: For more real estate related videos please join us at MetroBrokersTV.com.

Metro Brokers offers Great Benefits to Independent Brokers

Whether you are a consumer looking to buy or sell a home, or you are a real estate professional looking to expand your business, Metro Brokers is the way to go.

Interviewer: Welcome to Metro Brokers TV. I am here with Joe Bingham from Metro Brokers Bingham & Company. Joe, thanks for joining us.

Joe Bingham: Thank you Kari.

Interviewer: So you are the president of Metro Brokers DTC Marina Square office, made up of over 95 of Colorado's top independent real estate brokers.

Joe Bingham: Yes, in addition to being a Metro Broker and having my own real estate firm, Bingham & Company, I also happen to be the President of one of the largest offices where we service 95 independent brokers and provide their office needs.

Interviewer: Metro Brokers is on the cutting edge of the real estate industry isn't it?

Joe Bingham: Absolutely. The industry has been trending more and more towards the independent brokerage over the last 30 years. As more and more tools become available, the internet, multi lists and all those different things that we didn't have 30 years ago, and as it becomes more innovative the small independent brokerages are the way to go.

Interviewer: So you have experience working for both a large brokerage firm and now as an independent broker?

Joe Bingham: Absolutely, I spent a number of years with Coldwell Banker and RE/MAX, both good companies, but really after a lot of success in the business I decided that my customers and I would be better served as an independent broker. The one big catch was being a totally independent broker, you don't have any recognition of a brand or camaraderie of thousand other brokers, so Metro Brokers offered a fantastic option where you could be part of an organization of over a thousand top brokers, recognized brand in Colorado but yet be an independent brokerage able to serve your customers even better.

Interviewer: And Metro Brokers is a recognized name in real estate.

Joe Bingham: Absolutely. Because of our model we actually do probably about, in the top two or three of all the production sales of homes in Colorado but yet with 600 independent small companies it is hard for the multi list and the different organizations to measure us, so it is easy that they leave us off some of their charts, if you see some of the charts from our competitors they don't put us where we belong and either first, second or third in production in the state because we are a little harder to track, but we are doing a ton of business out there.

Interviewer: So tell us how the consumer benefits from working with a Metro Brokers agent?

Joe Bingham: Well the consumer gets best of both worlds, you get a large brand that's recognized, which is Metro Brokers, but yet you get to work one on one with a broker who either owns their company or they are a direct associate and mentee of a broker who owns their own company. So we tend to give more personalized, more experienced and better service because of that one on one relationship, versus when you work with a salesman from a large company you are one salesman out of 500, you are so distant from really the owner of the company and the managing broker that the service is not always what it is cracked up to be.

Interviewer: Do you have any advice for other real estate professionals out there?

Joe Bingham: Absolutely. Once you find yourself in some success in this business and have some experience you owe it to yourself to look into the concept of having your own brokerage and being part of the Metro Brokers brand. You will make more money, you will give better service to your customers and you will just have an overall better experience by doing half the paperwork because you are the broker and you are the owner or you are a close associate of that broker-owner.

Interviewer: Wonderful. Well Joe thank you so much for joining us today.

Joe Bingham: Thank you Kari, I enjoyed it.

Interviewer: So did I. For more real estate related videos, please join us online at Metro Brokers TV.

Metro Brokers has a Model Business Plan

Become an independent broker with Metro Brokers, offering Colorado agents and consumers big-brand Service with a personal touch. Find out more online at Join Metro Brokers or call (303) 843-0100.

Interviewer: Welcome to Metro Brokers TV. I am here today with Joe Bingham from Metro Brokers Bingham & Company. Joe thanks for being here.

Joe Bingham: Hi Kari, how are you doing?

Interviewer: I am good thanks, how are you?

Joe Bingham: Great.

Interviewer: Good. Now you are a top producer in the real estate industry so tell me how did you become a Metro Broker?

Joe Bingham: Well I've been in the business 32 years. The first nine years I was with major brands, Coldwell Banker and RE/MAX which are good companies, but after about nine years my production level was such and my customer service was such that I felt I could do a better job as an independent broker and so in 1989 I became Bingham & Company, Metro Brokers.

Interviewer: Great. So how do you run your own office, you have the power and resources of a big brand...

Joe Bingham: Absolutely. In the old days, in the old model of real estate you really were dependent on a big-big company to do the advertising and that type of thing. In the last 20 or 30 years with the internet and multi-list and all the innovations in our industry, the small independent broker can do everything and some more than the big brokerages can. So in our model where you are a small independent broker but yet you are part of a big brand of Metro Brokers, you get the best of both worlds- both for you and your customer.

Interviewer: Okay, now is everyone a broker or do you have associates as well?

Joe Bingham: Well we actually, most of us are brokers and independent owners of their own brokerage, but we do have associates, but the difference between our associates and let's say at a big company. At a big company you'd be one of 500 salespeople with really no direct link to the owner and the managing brokers. At Metro Brokers, as individual brokers, we average one to three associates, so they have a direct connection to the owner, so the customer generally gets better service.

Interviewer: Okay. Metro Brokers sounds like it offers great advantages to its members.

Joe Bingham: Absolutely. When I go to the National Convention of REALTORS®, the other brokers in the country are amazed at our concept. They understand that the trend is towards independent brokerages but they are all kind of left hanging in that they don't really have a brand and any type of central identity. When I tell them that Metro Brokers is the best of both worlds; you can be an independent broker and give better service to your customers but yet have the brand that's recognized throughout the whole state- the brokers across the country are always amazed and they are excited for us and they wish they had it in their state.

Interviewer: Where can agents more information?

Joe Bingham: You go to Metro Brokers Online or call (303) 843-0100 and also online at Join Metro Brokers. We are all over the web, we are everywhere, we are easy to find, or you can go to anyone of our 60+ offices in the state and talk to the owner of that office, and they are more than happy to tell you all the advantages of Metro Brokers.

Interviewer: Wonderful. Well Joe, thank you so much for joining us today.

Joe Bingham: Thank you.

Interviewer: For more real estate related videos, please join us online at Metro Brokers TV.

Your Boulder County Expert

Metro Broker, Kirsty Daviau of Thompson Daviau Realty works hard to find the right home for you! Let her help you buy or sell in Boulder County.

Call Kirsty at 303-564-8746 or visit her website at ThompsonDaviauRealty.com.

Hello, my name is Kirsty Daviau, and I'm the managing broker of Thompson Daviau Realty. I have been working in real estate and licensed for almost six years, and before that, I worked with my partner as her assistant while I was in graduate school.

My partner is actually my mother, Janet Thompson and we work together in our office in Boulder, with another realtor named Barclay Logan, and our assistant Karen.

I am a CRS, which is a Certified Residential Specialist, which means I've sold a certain amount of property and taken a lot of classes, we believe very strongly in designations, because we think you can never stop learning.

I work all over Boulder County, Broomfield, parts of Weld and Jefferson Counties. Our listings are pretty widely spread and we certainly travel based on the miles on my car, and I work with buyers and sellers, of all kinds, often times our sellers become buyers, and buyers become sellers, we have quite a few repeat clients.

They can all reach us, as can you! My cell phone number is 303-564-8746, and you can see more about the company at ThompsonDaviauRealty.com.

Experience you can Trust

Metro Broker Pam Adams has over 20 years of Real Estate experience in Colorado and can help any buyer or seller find just the right home. Call Pam at Adams Company - 303-898-3598 or visit PamAdamsHomes.com.

Kathy Soltero: Hi, I'm Kathy Soltero with metrobrokerstv.com, and today we are in the studio with Pam Adams, with Adams Company, Pam thank you so much for joining us today.

Pam Adams: Thank you for having me.

Kathy Soltero: You joined Metro Brokers back in 1989, after working for two large brokerage firms, why did you make the switch?

Pam Adams: Well I gained years of experience and had excellent training in those brokerage firms, but as an independent broker, I can, I make my own decisions, and that means I'm committed to my clients, in terms of offering them a specific marketing approach, and also a specific structure for the commissions that meet their needs.

Kathy Soltero: So as an independent brokerage firm, what would you say are the advantages for a realtor?

Pam Adams: Well I make my own decisions, and I'm not just a, I'm known as Pam Adams, Adams Company, not just a generic broker in a company.

Kathy Soltero: Right, do you think that made that big of a difference when you had the structure of a larger company versus being independent as yourself?

Pam Adams: Being independent makes a big difference, because being an independent, my name and my reputation is everything, and I'm committed to my clients, and to giving them the best customer service I possibly can, and making your own decisions, making your own business plan makes a big difference in that respect.

Kathy Soltero: How do you think that change has affected your clients?

Pam Adams: They know that I am the one that makes the decisions with them, I don't have to go back and ask a broker or you know ask for permission to do unique things in our marketing, or in the commission structure I offer them. So it makes a big difference because they know they are dealing directly with me, when I give them an answer, that's the answer to their situation, and our solution to selling or buying their home.

Kathy Soltero: Now you worked out of a very large Metro Brokers office...

Pam Adams: I did.

Kathy Soltero: Tell me about that.

Pam Adams: It's great, we have at least 110 brokers that work in that office.

Kathy Soltero: All independent?

Pam Adams: All independent Metro Brokers, it's a Metro Brokers Marina Square, we are all independent, we offer live telephone answering, seven days a week, 9 AM to 5 PM, so we don't have any answering services, and it's a good source of feedback for us as brokers, to be able to communicate with each other, and new ideas, new training, and be up on the latest in terms of our industry.

Kathy Soltero: How long have you been selling real estate?

Pam Adams: A long time.

Kathy Soltero: Seen a lot, right.

Pam Adams: I moved to Colorado about 25 years ago, we moved here with my father-in-law, our dog, and came to Colorado just because we wanted to, we had vacationed here like so many people do, and so I've been here 25-26 years, I've developed an awful lot of resources for my business and for my customers, so they get that advantage, if they experience.

Kathy Soltero: That's awesome. Tell us how a customer, somebody who wants to buy or sell a home can contact you?

Pam Adams: The best number really is my cell, I have it with me all the time directly, 303-898-3598, or they can reach me through my web site, at pamadamshomes.com.

Kathy Soltero: Pam, thank you so much for coming in and sharing that information with us today.

Pam Adams: Thank you for asking me Kathy, it was great.

Kathy Soltero: And for more real estate related videos like this one, be sure to tune in to metrobrokerstv.com.

The Old Fashioned Style of Doing Business

Metro Broker James Frazee believes customer service is job number one, and the old fashion style of doing business can help buyers and sellers. Call James at Real Tech Enterprises, Inc. - 303-548-9157 or visit DenverShortSaleLogic.com.

Kathy Soltero: Hi, I'm Kathy Soltero with metrobrokerstv.com, and today we have in the studio with us James Frazee, and he is with Real Tech Enterprises. James thanks so much for coming in today.

James Frazee: Thank you for having me.

Kathy Soltero: Absolutely, tell me a little bit about your background in real estate, how you got started?

James Frazee: You bet. Well my background in real estate started 22 years ago, January 2^nd 1990, I jumped in to it, and then doing residential real estate ever since. I've been focusing mostly on short sales in the last two to three years, because there's so much of them, and just serving buyers and sellers needs.

Kathy Soltero: What is your feeling about customer service, I mean you really focus on that, don't you?

James Frazee: I sure try, I was brought up to do so, and at the same time, I always have really made that a very big part of my business, I believe in the old fashion style of doing business, and I try to give people that, and I hope that carries across with all the referrals I receive from all my past clients, I think that works. I've been really blessed, I even had one where, I worked with him for a good long time, and even asked me to be his best man at the closing you know, and so, and we are very close friends today.

Kathy Soltero: Oh, that's awesome, that is a very close relationship with your customers.

James Frazee: Yeah, I've been very lucky.

Kathy Soltero: Tell us about the areas of town that you actually focus on.

James Frazee: All over, in today's market, you can't focus just on one, but pretty much a front range, Denver Metro Area, like when we have transactions from Castle Rock, all the way up to Longmont, so kind of everywhere, I've put a lot of miles on.

Kathy Soltero: It's kind of really a crazy market out there now, where are you seeing things headed, what are your feelings about what's going on?

James Frazee: Wow, great question. These are turbulent waters right now, I don't know where it's going, all I can do is stay on top of where we are today, and try to stay involved in all the new policies, procedures, anything that has to do with what's going to affect a buyer and seller through Congress, or whatever. There is a lot of great programs for buyers and sellers that congress has put in forth, but at the same time a lot of them are kind of falling through the cracks too, so yes just staying on top of it.

Kathy Soltero: Absolutely. You say you focus a lot on short sales, in the last few years, because I think we all have had to kind of change gears and directions a little bit, how have you seen short sales change because they have evolved immensely in the last few years?

James Frazee: Well there's good and bad with everything. The good is compared to when I started doing it, it took a lot longer to do it, sometimes transactions would sit out there for a year, and that's very frustrating for a seller that wants to have closure, and the buyer too, it matters who you represent, but that's changed quite a bit, which has been good for both parties, buyers and sellers. Some other things that's still kind of changing is what the banks are willing to do, there is around 500 different lenders around the nation that creates a lot of individuality on their policies, and with the policies, you think you know it all, and then some might throw us your curve ball, so I'm always learning.

Kathy Soltero: Well how can customers get a hold of you?

James Frazee: Best way of course is what I carry on my, in my pocket, which is always my cell phone, that's 303-548-9157, a great way to get a hold of me, of course is my e-mail, my staff is always monitoring that, that's info@denvershortsalelogic.com, and of course check out my web address, which is, denvershortsalelogic.com.

Kathy Soltero: Very good, James thank you so much for coming in and talking with us today.

James Frazee: Thank you.

Kathy Soltero: You bet, and for more real estate related videos like this one, be sure to tune in to metrobrokerstv.com.

A Developers Point of View

Metro Broker David Ness has a little different take on Real Estate because he started as a Developer. Learn the finer points of the process and the product, Call David at Thrive Real Estate Group - 303-946-1840 or visit FindMyDenverHomes.com.

Kathy Soltero: Hi, I'm Kathy Soltero with Metro Brokers TV. Today in the studio we have with us Dave Ness with Thrive Real Estate, Dave thanks so much for coming in today.

Dave Ness: Thank you for having me.

Kathy Soltero: You bet, now tell me about how you guys started in your real estate career?

Dave Ness: I got started back in 2004, and I actually got started as a developer, working on our site, I never actually intended to be a realtor, which is kind of the funny thing, but my partners and I were developers from 2004 to about 2008.

Kathy Soltero: What are some of the developments that you worked on?

Dave Ness: Yeah we did 136 units I believe it is, throughout the Converse Park, Cap Hill, Cheesman Park, Five Points Area, little bit in Baker as well.

Kathy Soltero: Wow so you have some different perspective on real estate I think, than lot of other realtors.

Dave Ness: Very different, yeah, extremely different.

Kathy Soltero: So how are you and your group different that those realtors?

Dave Ness: Yeah I'd say because of that background, we approach real estate a little bit differently, and probably one of the main things as we actually understand the product as well as the process, so a lot of realtors just understand how to walk a client through buying or selling, and we actually bring a little bit of knowledge about the actual house or condo as well.

Kathy Soltero: Oh, that's awesome, so did you specifically kind of hone in on condos and or versus homes or...

Dave Ness: No not necessarily, all the developments we did were condos, but since 2008 we have started more of a brokerage relationship with our clients and so now it's just all homes, condos, townhomes, lofts, whatever the case maybe.

Kathy Soltero: I've been in the real estate business for 12 years, and I know technology has just evolved so much, even from the time that I started in it, and so tell me the kind of technology that you actually bring to your customers?

Dave Ness: Oh yeah, for buyers we've actually set up a direct pipeline to the MLS, and so findmydenverhome.com is basically the tools that we give to our buyers to be able to search for property and it's updated every single night, it becomes the backbone of communication between us and our clients. They are able to make notes on properties, mark them as favorites, and then send us information that they like us for research from.

Kathy Soltero: That's awesome, what about sellers, what sort of things do you offer for your sellers, exposure especially?

Dave Ness: Yeah, for sellers we definitely got a pretty rigorous marketing campaign that we are able to employ for them. It's basically the same marketing that we use to sell 136 units back in our development days, but now it's all focused just on one single family home, or just one condo, and so the exposure is pretty awesome, it's 60 different websites that we syndicate with, and as well as QR codes, and text messages and it's all managed by a system called Top Producer as well.

Kathy Soltero: And you really feel it's helping move these properties a lot faster you think.

Dave Ness: Very much so yeah, our average days on market actually decreased dramatically when we put this in place, and then the pricing is pretty phenomenal too, because of the analytics that we used to run on our own developments, we use the same analytics to figure out what things should be sold for, and our margin of error on that I think is 2.2 percent, so it's pretty tight.

Kathy Soltero: Wow, it's kind of tough right now to I think really trying to figure out what things are priced at.

Dave Ness: It is definitely.

Kathy Soltero: What would you say is the most accomplished, biggest accomplishment that you have probably made in your career in real estate?

Dave Ness: The thing that I'm probably most proud of is our testimonials, yeah and it's the reflective of our relationships with our clients, we've right now we've got the most testimonials of anybody on Zillow, and so that's something that we are pretty proud of, and as I read back through I'm both humbled and invigorated by that.

Kathy Soltero: That's awesome, well congratulations, now how does anybody get a hold of you, if they want to sell or buy a home?

Dave Ness: Oh absolutely, probably the phone number is the easiest, it's 303-946-1840, and then if you are shopping for a home, and you just want to kick the tires before actually reaching out to us, that's fine too, and the web site is, www.findmydenverhome.com.,

Kathy Soltero: Perfect, Dave thank you so much for coming in and talking with us today.

Dave Ness: Thank you.

Kathy Soltero: You bet, and for more real estate related videos like this one, be sure to tune in to metrobrokerstv.com.

Greg Howard uses The Latest Technology in Real Estate

Metro Broker, Greg Howard of Metro Real Estate Group uses the latest technology to sell real estate across the Denver and Colorado Springs metro areas and the entire front range.

Interviewer: Hi I'm Kathy Soltero with MetrobrokersTV.com, and today in the studio we have with us Greg Howard. He is with the Metro Real Estate Group. Greg, thank you so much for coming in and talking with us.

Greg: Thanks for having me.

Interviewer: Tell me first of all about where you're actually located?

Greg: Our main office is in downtown Colorado Springs at 612 North Tejon. We used to be at 625 and we just recently moved down the street, three blocks.

Interviewer: And you said you are doing a lot more of business here in the Denver Metro area.

Greg: I have, I have spent a long time living here in the South Denver area and I find that I have got more of a client base here currently than I do in the Colorado Springs market. So, even though I'm marketing to the Colorado Springs, I just have a lot going on here.

Interviewer: You drive up and down the I-25 corridor.

Greg: I do, I do. It's not so bad; I am on the North side of the Springs.

Interviewer: You use a lot of technology in your business; tell me a little bit about that.

Greg: I do, it starts off with my website. My website, through my website you can find property searches on anything from way north of Denver all the way to the south side of Colorado Springs, a little bit into the foothills. You can find information about HUD properties. There is a lot of informational videos on there as well. So if you want to know what it takes to buy a HUD property, you can click on that and watch it as well. Other things I do with my website, all my listings get their own private websites, so that I can actually market them and people can find all the information on the house without having to look in at a piece of paper in the yard.

Interviewer: So, automatically when you take a listing and you put it into the MLS or whatever, your website just picks it up right away, and you can create a website for it or.

Greg: I create a website, but it's fairly automated. I have things that I have to enter, and then when I do all my marketing, I market that website and that website takes them directly to the information of the house, pictures, and virtual tours.

Interviewer: What kind of new technology have you really embraced with your real estate?

Greg: Getting away from flyers, that's probably the best thing that's going on right now, you've seen lots of gimmicks that agents have used, I say gimmicks, lots of tools that agents have used to capture leads or capture buyers for their listings. I use what's called the QR code or Microsoft tag on all my listings and on my flyers. If you take a smartphone you can click on that, and I can give you any information I so choose, it can take you to my website or the website of the home or to the virtual tour or can be all the disclosures for the property. So somebody can actually pull up in front of the house and take a picture with their smartphone and they can get all the information they want on the house.

Interviewer: So that works like they just take a picture of it, is that...

Greg: Well, there is actually a...

Interviewer: Is there a scan or...

Greg: Well you basically scan it; there is an app that you have to download in your phone. But it's very easy, you can even go to my website, and get that app, and you just click on it and it automatically directs you to either information or a website.

Interviewer: It sounds to me like, through your website to that, buyers or sellers could look all over the metro area.

Greg: They can, they can, there's really no place from, let's say, Boulder, all the way to the south end of Colorado Springs that they can't view homes.

Interviewer: Tell me what's your website is, so they can go, check it out.

Greg: It's really easy, it's greghowardrealtor.com.

Interviewer: That is pretty easy.

Greg: Yeah.

Interviewer: Greg any other information you want to pass onto customers, as far as how they can get a hold of you.

Greg: My cell phone is a great way to do it, it's area code 719-445-9515 and the other thing is, I am doing a lot of work in the South Denver metro area now so, I'm actually trying to focus on that, so that's just Colorado Springs.

Interviewer: Okay, very good. Greg, thank you so much for joining us again today.

Greg: Very good, it's a pleasure, thank you.

Interviewer: And for more real estate related videos like this one, be sure to tune your web browser to MetrobrokersTV.com.

Marketing and the MLS

Use all the great tools Metrolist has to offer to create custom branded reports, informative presentations and interesting blogs with up to date statistics and reports on real estate in Colorado.

Interviewer: Today we are talking with Mike Hixon from Hixon & Associates. Mike, welcome to the program, good to have you here.

Mike Hixon: Thank you.

Interviewer: We are talking about building a personal brand for realtors and the MLS and how that may all tie in and help but let's start with talking about brand and image, why is that important today for realtors?

Mike Hixon: Oh, brand and image is huge as far as establishing your brand, because everything that you send out, you want to have it branded, so down from your email to every bit of marketing literature that you send out, even to colleagues or associates as well, you know everything that's got your name on it leads people to you.

Interviewer: I tell people it should all look the same: your website, your Facebook, your Twitter, your e-mail it should all provide kind of the same service and lend some type of message and credibility.

Mike Hixon: Yes, exactly.

Interviewer: Which I imagine you do with all of your associates?

Mike Hixon: I do.

Interviewer: Some easy ways to do that, obviously we just talked about a few but if you are a realtor and you are just starting out and you say, 'What do I do about establishing a brand?", what would be the first thing you would give him?

Mike Hixon: Well you know it's interesting that you ask that because I just had a conversation with a colleague of mine, who went through a training course with me. Had I had the benefit of knowing a lot of this information upfront, it would have been huge.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Mike Hixon: You know I mean the first thing you've got to do is, you've got to setup an email that tells people every time you send them something what you do, and who you are.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Mike Hixon: I mean that's the first thing. And then of course you know your business relationship, how you are going to setup your office and the name of your office and how you are going to brand everything you send out, from letterhead to email.

Interviewer: I am an internet marketing guy and people always talk about that because that seems to be the wave of technology today and so forth, and a lot of people get wrapped up in it, but the bottom line is I still tell people, 'as you can do all that, this really still comes down to a relationship business', talk a little bit about that.

Mike Hixon: Big time relationship business, it is strictly relationship, you know I think I read, heard something the other day that says, "If you think you are a realtor, you are wrong, what you are is a marketer; and it's all about marketing. I mean people have to know your name, they have to see you, you have to have exposure, they have to see you somewhere and a lot of it is referral business, but you know there are a lot of folks out there that, if they see something on the internet, like YouTube or whatever that's their first point of contact and a lot of it is electronic now.

Interviewer: I hear a lot about how in the last 10 years, realtors are really breaking off into specialties, distressed property specialist, divorce specialist, whatever it may be, how important is that to incorporate into your brand?

Mike Hixon: I think it's important, I don't know that you want to just be strictly branded by one specific niche but, if you do a lot in general and your specialty is short-sales or REO, that's important to get it out specifically to your colleagues or you know other realtors in the business because a lot of times that's where I get referrals.

Interviewer: Lastly Mike, the MLS obviously is very cooperative and user-friendly for agents to help brand the agent and help talk about their personal marketing and so forth, talk about a few ways in which the MLS does that for realtors.

Mike Hixon: MLS is huge for realtors as far as getting information out to your colleagues in the business. So how do you use that as far as sorting up your listings is I think pretty important. I see so many times when you come across information that you are looking for, and it's just been skipped over, it's important information that you need, especially things that you are searching on, you know, but the more information you put in, the better off you are going to be.

Interviewer: Mike thanks.

Mike Hixon: You are welcome.

Interviewer: Appreciate you being here.

Mike Hixon: You bet. Thank you.

Learn more about How to Succeed in the Real Estate Market on Broker IPTV.