Is there any way out?

Do we really not need home inspectors any more? This question came to me after reading ‘Home Inspector vs Engineer for Home Inspections’, published at emediawire.com

The article points out that the scope of home inspectors is very limited as they can only give the overview of the home’s condition but can’t inspect what is hidden from the view. An engineering expert can also detect apparently invisible problems as he has the benefit of having the finishes removed in order to perform a more detailed evaluation. Engineering experts have been given credit over home inspectors in minimizing buyers’ purchasing risk.

This declaration, that the diagnostic ability of inspectors is obsolete, could be threatening for home inspectors as customers may start losing their trust on the expertise of inspectors. Therefore, inspectors should promote awareness about their work, in a way that can shed new light on their talents and benefits in home buying.

Loan Officers Can Make a Difference

Managing mortgages can get difficult at times, especially for the first time-home buyers. Most people lack knowledge about mortgages and home buying, and overlook the financial benefits of holding a mortgage. So, what can be done in order to facilitate first time-home buyers?

‘First Step in Home Buying Process: Pay a Visit to a Qualified Loan Officer’, by Henry Savage, discusses the role and importance of qualified loan officers in facilitating buyers to select a practical and flexible mortgage deal.

A qualified and trained loan officer can only assist buyers by recommending an appropriate purchase price range and mortgage program. Therefore, accredited mortgage broker training also plays an important role. If buyers don’t find a competent loan officer, they could end up facing foreclosure, or short sale, as their mortgage plan will not be consistent with their purchase objectives and financial situation. Real estate agents are responsible for guiding their clients to find a proficient loan officer.

Qualifying for a proper loan payment is a crucial step in the buying process because this builds ground for a rational purchase decision.

Time to release the burden from Homeowners

Property and mortgage are two faces of coin, and it’s likely that we find the former more exciting. The latter though is a necessary evil. Almost everyone relies on loan payments when it comes to buying houses, and I guess this is the most feasible payment plan, but then why do some of us end up facing foreclosure?

Foreclosure is a process that allows a lender to recover the amount owed on a defaulted loan by selling or taking ownership (repossession) of the property securing the loan. The foreclosure process begins when a borrower/owner defaults on loan payments (usually mortgage payments) and the lender files a public default notice. The lender then forecloses the property and sells it to the public at a foreclosure auction.

Unanticipated situations like loss of a job, medical expenses and other life-altering occurrences can happen to anyone, causing us to fall behind in our loan payments. If we neglect paying our credit cards, it hurts our credit rating, but if we stop paying our home loan, the situation is even worse; the loss of a home. There is nothing to be embarrassed about when facing foreclosure. There are many ways to overcome it like reinstatement, forbearance, mortgage modification, repairing credit, and repayment plan, or selling the house can work too.

With reference to an article, ‘Realtors team up to save homeowners from foreclosure’, published at txcn.com, it seems as the real estate agents are also willing to facilitate homeowners. The realtors’ team, including couple Stacey and Michael Spickes, is helping homeowners to avoid foreclosure.

The team is not only educating people over this issue, giving guidelines, sharing its professional and personal experiences but also generating opportunities and opening new learning ventures for agents to enter into this business. I believe that this effort can bring a sense of security to homeowners by putting them in a better position to deal with foreclosures.

Welcoming New Investment Resources

The real estate industry is ever-changing and I enjoy learning about new programs to help real estate professionals, investors and clients. One that I came across the other day is an online resource to those looking to invest in real estate in Mexico.

Uncovered: A New Resource for Real Estate Investment Opportunities in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico describes how the real estate investment boom in Mexico has been capitalized by FundVallarta.

FundVallarta announced a full online resource for discovering real estate investment opportunities in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, along with a comprehensive knowledge-based resource center providing applicable articles.

This can surely facilitate the process of discovering possible investment opportunities. Such resources not only encourage the prospective agents to get their real estate license and to start this promising career, but also encourages practicing agents to pursue continuing education or post-license education to ensure their existence in the market.

I am hoping to see other such programs develop in other US markets to drive more business and interest in real estate. The more education we are exposed to, the better real estate professionals and neighbors we become.

Real Estate Apprentice Programs in spotlight

I used to think that Real Estate was only about property, agents, brokers, selling and buying, and of course marketing gimmicks. Then I realized that I was underestimating the growth potential and wide concentration of this industry. It has gone through drastic changes over the past few years, and now stands prominent in terms of growth, professionalism, investments and opportunities.

Few days back, I read about Real Estate Career Grants and Apprentice Programs. I was totally surprised because such programs could be great credible ventures for all prospective agents. They are designed to spotlight the importance of real estate apprenticeships for the public good, the enhancement and betterment of the U.S. residential real estate brokerage industry and to raise the standards and levels of professionalism for real estate agents in general.

The other aspect of the programs that captivated me was the eligibility criteria for the grants. Participation is opened for only legal US/Canadian residents or citizens, who have recently taken a real estate pre-licensing course, for the first time, from an accredited, state-approved school. This not only shows the transparency of the selection process but also promotes the ethical practices in Real Estate Industry as only qualified agents will be entering the business.

I believe that such career grants programs have potential to provide the industry with trained, dedicated agents, and also to assist new licensed agents to overcome fears and obstacles. These programs can also bring employment and investment opportunities, benefiting the entire economy.

Battle for Keywords, Building the Ultimate Lead Machine

Excerpts provided herein from AgentCampus Search Marketing Tipwire Volume 1. To subscribe to this free newsletter and get how-to information on marketing your real estate business as well as valuable free discounts for real estate license and continuing education courses, visit www.agentcampus.com and sign up from the home page.

The Battle for the Keywords...

The online advertising industry is predominately controlled by Google and Yahoo. Up-and-coming players like MSN and Ask have also joined the battle for your advertising dollars. We'll explain over the coming months how to optimize your online paid advertising program at low costs for big results.

According to a 2006 survey by media research firm Borrell Associates Inc., the real estate industry was expected to spend about $11.6 billion on advertising in 2006 -- that amount has grown less than 4 percent in the past four years -- and the online share was expected to reach $2 billion in 2006, and to eclipse newspapers' advertising share and top $3 billion by year by 2010, Borrell reported. The online share of real estate advertising, which was 3.5 percent in 2001, is expected to reach 32.1 percent in 2010 (Source: Inman News).

Kate's Top 10 Considerations for Search Marketing

By Kate Morris - Web Marketing Manager, 360training

1. Identify your most important pages (index, products pages, etc.) and the keywords associated with them. Use those keywords in ppc campaigns, alt tags, and meta tags (see below).

2. Add an alt tag to every image. Make sure the keyword matches one of your keywords for the page.

3. Assign specific keyword and description Meta tags to each important page of your website. Making the keywords and descriptions match the page and it's content, and not just the site.
4. Start a Google PPC campaign. I don't work for them, but trust me, at this point, Google is just a good place to start in PPC.

5. Have specific landing pages in your PPC Campaign. If your ad says "Widgets for $25", the page they land on should be about that widget for $25, not your index page.

6. Make a custom 404 error page. This makes it so that when a visitor stumbles on a missing page, they see a site map, whatever you like, instead of a blank error page.

7. Have a sitemap that is accessible from every page.

8. Have your webmaster sign your site up for Google Webmaster Tools, and create a Google Sitemap. It's written in XML and read by all major engines.

9. In the words of Google, Don't be evil. Don't listen to "webmasters" who want to hide keywords or links. Deception is never a good idea.

10. Make your site interesting to the READER, not the search engine. You can rank on the top of search engines but if people don't like the site because it's optimized to computers, you've missed the point. Get to the point, keep things simple. Use images to bring color and focus to specific areas.

Building the Ultimate Lead Machine
By Albert Lilly - Chief Marketing Officer, 360training

You've seen them in your inbox, your mailbox and likely at ever conference you've attended recently. Offers to boost your online lead prospecting and services to increase your website's online position in search engines.

One of biggest factors to a successful online marketing program is Search Engine Marketing (SEM), what I define as a combination of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). When executed properly, SEM can yield big results at the lowest cost-per-lead and net you the most coveted customer sought after today: the online consumer who comes highly qualified and ready to buy.

Whether you're just getting started or a seasoned veteran in the dynamically changing real estate market, one thing is for sure, SEM is here to stay. Regardless of your experience with SEM, there is always more to learn. This article will cover some core issues you need to consider when approaching search marketing yourself or if you're outsourcing it to a 3rd party.

First thing first - IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR KEYWORDS! The keywords you use on your website and in your online advertising are the 'DNA' of your search marketing program. There are tools we use that give us the search demand of any given keyword. One such free tool is http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/. For example there are over 8000 searches every day for 'austin real estate' and its various iterations such as 'austin estate real texas'.
Holy smokes, 8000 searches a day, what does this mean for you? Just imagine if you practiced in Austin, Texas and can capture .5% of these possible leads, that's 40 new prospective Austin home seekers on your site a day! Position your website properly and you can get the traffic on your site. Getting the traffic to your website is half the battle. Getting your site visitors to register or give you their personal information is an entirely different ball of wax that we'll cover in future versions of the AgentCampus Search Marketing Tipwire.

Now for the clincher, of those 8000 queries of possible customers hungry to get their new home, there are even hungrier agents and brokers competing with YOU to get this traffic. Hence, it all comes down to the battle for the keywords both in your paid search efforts and your organic search engine optimization. If you've gotten to this point you may be thinking: "so what! what do I do?", "I don't know much about website programming", "this doesn't make sense to me" or "someone else handles my website for me".

See our earlier post by Kate Morris (Web Marketing Manager for 360training) for her top 10 considerations for search engine marketing. Discuss this with a techie buddy or your webmaster. We'll also cover each of these considerations in further layman term details in future versions of the tipwire, so stay tuned!