January 26, 2015 – 9:31 pm
Real estate agents bring a wealth of knowledge to the table. With a trust agent by your side and a wide variety of helpful and innovative apps, people who are shopping for a new home are a swipe away from getting the information they need to make the entire buying process as stress-free and easy as possible. Here are four handy apps for homebuyers:
Homesnap
The free Homesnap app, which is available for both iOS and Android, lets the camera on your phone provide needed information about homes that are for sale. If you are driving around the neighborhood and you spot a home you like, simply pull over and take a photo of it. Homesnap will provide you with all sorts of property details including how much it last sold for, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, tax info, local school ratings and more. If the home is currently listed for sale, the app might also allow you to see interior photos of the residence. The MLS app can even connect you with a real estate agent who can arrange a showing.
AroundMe
If you are buying a home in an area that you are already familiar, you might have an idea about what sorts of shopping, banks and medical facilities are in the area. But if you have just moved to a new city or state, chances are good you’ll need some help determining what amenities are located close to the neighborhoods you like.The free AroundMe app identifies where you are currently located and then lets you look up nearby businesses like restaurants, hospitals and banks. If being close to a favorite grocery store or other type of businesses is important to you, then this app can pinpoint which homes you might want to bid on.
Zillow Real Estate
When it comes to real estate apps, Zillow Real Estate is the grandfather of them all. The free app lets you look up a whopping 110 million+ homes in the United States that are currently for sale or rent. If you are interested in purchasing a foreclosed home, the app includes listings in your region as well as information on bank-owned properties. When you find homes that you are interested in, the app will let you know if and when their asking prices are reduced, and when open houses have been scheduled.
LifeLock Wallet
Part of the home buying process involves making sure that your credit is in good standing so you can qualify for the best interest rate possible. In order to keep tabs on your finances and make sure that no one is trying to steal your identity — which can lead to all sorts of credit nightmares — consider downloading the LifeLock Wallet app. In addition to including digital copies of your various accounts so you can easily access them from your phone, the LifeLock Wallet app allows you to immediately cancel your credit cards if they are lost or stolen. The app also includes paid access to LifeLock’s identity protection programs, which will monitor your accounts 24/7/365 and make sure there is no fraudulent activity going on.
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What Really Sells a Home, and why choosing your Real Estate Agent is important.
December 10, 2011 – 12:27 am
The real estate market in today’s world is up and down, and the real estate market in Central Oregon is no different so we ask; what makes some realtors continue to be successful? We look at the market in Central Oregon and you can’t help but wonder how brokers such as Deb Tebbs and real estate companies such as; Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty continue to be successful. Cascade Sotheby’s sold over $150,000,000 in property in the last year. And it is said that Bend Area real estate isn’t doing so well.
The truth is that the agents, like Debbie Tebbs, that are making profits in today’s market have a vast knowledge and understanding of how to properly sell homes. They do their research on current trends in marketing and use a strategy in order to get properties in front of potential buyers that fit their specific real estate needs.
A successful agent knows that they need to be out there to sell properties and obtain new listings. They need to be on the phone doing follow ups and making sure the clients they do have are happy and at the end of a transaction are thrilled to give a referral. Today more than anything an agent needs to go above and beyond the expectations of their clients.
Today’s flourishing agents are able to understand the current trends in marketing and how it can benefit their business. For example, Facebook is more popular than ever and being social is now a part of marketing a business. What some people don’t understand is that social networks, websites and blogs require consistency. You cannot start up a page and expect everyone to flock to you with listing requests and purchase offers.
Today a top agent can’t count on one avenue for leads. They must embrace the internet and create a presence that is consistent. An online strategy should be in line with physical marketing as well.
Another thing that successful agents of today are is available. When a client needs to reach you, you need to be available or be quick to respond with the answers they need and listens to what you say. If you have ever spent time with a top selling real estate agent you know they rarely put down their cell phone or get too far away from their lap top.
Being a successful real estate agent in Bend, Oregon or anywhere is tough, no matter how the local market is performing. It is more than a full time job, it is a lifestyle and ask any top agent around and they probably can’t tell you the last time they took a day off. Something to think about when you look at what sells a home; how much of sale is the home and how much is the broker who listed it. This is also why it can’t be emphasized enough that you want your real estate agent to be knowledgeable, available, and smart with perspective clients and have a marketing strategy that sets them apart from others. They should have that understanding is really what sells homes.
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