Real-Deal-New-Agent-Series-Blog

The Real Deal Part 4: Winning More and More Deals

by Ask the ExpertEducationResources

We are excited to introduce our new series for new real estate agents called The Real Deal. You are not going to want to miss this information-packed series. This class will be taught by Janet Allen and Shaun Neidigh and will cover lead generation, winning listing appointments, prospect and client follow-up and more.

The Real Deal New Agent Class Series is a special group of classes specifically designed for agents who have been licensed less than one year, who are just starting out and building their businesses from the ground up. We will dive into five of the most important areas that new agents need to know about to help you establish your business and be a better REALTOR® to your clients.

To register for The Real Deal series visit our website: We are excited to introduce our new series for new real estate agents called The Real Deal. You are not going to want to miss this information-packed series. This class will be taught by Janet Allen and Shaun Neidigh and will cover lead generation, winning listing appointments, prospect and client follow-up and more. The Real Deal New Agent Class Series is a special group of classes specifically designed for agents who have been licensed less than one year, who are just starting out and building their businesses from the ground up. We will dive into five of the most important areas that new agents need to know about to help you establish your business and be a better REALTOR® to your clients.

To register for The Real Deal series visit our website: https://www.republictitle.com/residential-education/

Real-Deal-New-Agent-Series-Blog

The Real Deal Part 2: Making the Deal with Lenders

by Ask the ExpertEducationResources

We are excited to introduce our new series for new real estate agents called The Real Deal. You are not going to want to miss this information-packed series. The second class is all about Making the deal with Lenders. Shaun Neidigh will be teaching you all about Buyers and pre-qualifications, Loan Estimates, The mortgage process, And the Closing Disclosure,

The Real Deal New Agent Class Series is a special group of classes specifically designed for agents who have been licensed less than one year, who are just starting out and building their businesses from the ground up. We will dive into five of the most important areas that new agents need to know about to help you establish your business and be a better REALTOR® to your clients.

To register for The Real Deal series visit our website: https://www.republictitle.com/residential-education/

Real-Deal-New-Agent-Series-Blog

The Real Deal Part 1 – Mastering the Deal with your MLS Subscription

by Ask the ExpertEducationResources

We are excited to introduce our new series for new real estate agents called The Real Deal. You are not going to want to miss this information-packed series. The first class is all about mastering the deal using your MLS subscription. Annette Carvalho-Jordan will be teaching you all the ins and outs of MLS including understanding the dashboard, the vital tools available to grow your business, and tips to better help your clients,

The Real Deal New Agent Class Series is a special group of classes specifically designed for agents who have been licensed less than one year, who are just starting out and building their businesses from the ground up. We will dive into five of the most important areas that new agents need to know about to help you establish your business and be a better REALTOR® to your clients.

To register for The Real Deal series visit our website: https://www.republictitle.com/residential-education/

Fair Housing Awareness

Fair Housing Awareness in a Strong Sellers Market

by Ask the ExpertReal Estate ArticlesResourcesVideo
Next up is the third and final video in our series on navigating a strong seller’s market where we discuss those buyer “love letters” that sometimes accompany contracts in a multiple offer situation.
 
Key takeaways:
– They can bring legal trouble to the seller
– Selling agents should let buying agents know that they will not accept them
– There are similar implications that sellers need to be aware of in regards to home surveillance systems in the home that are recording during showings
 
For the first and second videos in this series and other informative real estate and title videos, visit our YouTube page at youtube.com/republictitle
 
For more information or to get in contact with your Business Development Representative at Republic Title visit: https://www.republictitle.com/residen​​… To download our top resources to boost your business visit: https://www.republictitle.com/residen​​… SUBSCRIBE to the Republic Title YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/republictit​​…
Get-to-know-our-calculators-blog

Get To Know Our Calculators

by ResourcesTechnologyTitle Information

Republic Title is proud to offer a host of new buyer and seller estimate tools on our Republic Title Mobile app and website. Calculators include:

  • Title Quote – calculates title rates and fees
  • Loan Estimate Quote – shows the costs associated with closing on your mortgage as well as over the lifetime of the loan
  • Seller Net Sheet – itemizes the fees and expenses in your transaction, to give you a pretty accurate estimate of what you’ll net in the sale
  • Sell to Net – shows a seller the sales price needed to meet a specific net proceed goal when they sell their house
  • Seller’s Multiple Offers – allows a seller to compare multiple offers from different buyers side by side
  • Buyer Estimate – shows the buyer their all in amount due at closing plus their all in monthly payment
  • Monthly Affordability – shows buyer what their total purchasing power is based on their budget
  • Rent vs Buy – shows buyer the difference in monthly costs when comparing renting vs buying

Our new calculators can be found by downloading our new app, Republic Title Mobile, in the Apple App Store or in the Google Play Store. For a website version of the new calculators, visit republictitle.titlecapture.com  

Contract Forms Update

Notice of Important TREC Contract Updates

by EducationReal Estate ArticlesResourcesVideo

New TREC contract changes become mandatory April 1st.

We sat down with Charles Kramer, Co-Chair of the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) Broker-Lawyer Committee, to discuss the changes and what you need to know for your business.

Contract changes include:

  • Residential Lease and Addendum
  • Fixture Leases and Addendum
  • New Option Fee Procedures
  • New Smart Home Provisions
  • HOA Addendum Changes

Key changes to the new option fee procedures include:

  • Buyer can now write one combined earnest money and option feed check or two separate checks.
  • Checks must be made payable to the title company.
  • There is a 3 day deadline for option fee and earnest fee.
  • The option fee will be automatically credited at closing. If the seller would like the option fee right away, they must let the title company know.

To learn more about the changes and see the updated forms, visit the TREC website.

For the redlined version of the contract changes, where you can see what has been changed, click here.

What You Should Know About Earnest Money

by Ask the ExpertResourcesVideo

Hello, Sheri Groom with Republic Title and I’m here with Wade Bogdan, Residential Counsel and we wanted to visit a little bit today about earnest money and the purpose of that with a contract.  So can you help talk a little bit about that?

Yes.  Traditionally earnest money was put in place so that people knew that you were going to try to purchase a property in earnest so basically you’re showing someone that you are serious about purchasing their property.

I like that so earnest and then earnest money. That’s great.  So if there’s no earnest money given does that mean there’s not a valid contract?

So actually that’s a common misnomer. So currently now in common day, you do not need earnest money to have a proper contract.  However, the contract does have a section for earnest money and actually most importantly now the contract was just changed to add a three day time limit for getting your earnest money in after execution of the contract which is pretty much the most important thing that’s going on with earnest money currently.

That’s good information because we would get asked that a lot.  Like do we have to have it? Is it still a valid contract?

So if you have any additional questions, please go to our website and look for our complete list of attorneys or reach out to your favorite business development rep  or your favorite closer.

 

6 Ways To Grow Your Real Estate Business By Using LinkedIn

by EducationReal Estate ArticlesResourcesSocial Media

LinkedIn is one of the most under-rated but highly valued networking sites you can be using in 2020!  The most important thing to remember about LinkedIn, at its core, it is an online resume.  It’s also likely to be among the first handful of results to come up on a Google search, and might be the first place a potential client looks to review your credentials.  Most clients won’t choose a real estate agent who appears to lack knowledge, education and expertise.  So it’s wise to set yourself up for success and utilize this powerful tool.

So, YES, LinkedIn is extremely important and a must-have in today’s digital world.  It’s also the perfect place to promote yourself, your real estate listing, and boast about the skills you bring to the table.

Here are the top 6 things you should focus on with LinkedIn:

  • Your Profile:

Fill out each section to include all levels of education, all accreditations and current and past positions.  Include a high quality professional photo of yourself.  Be sure to include a LinkedIn Banner image that includes a call-to-action (your phone number, your email, etc).  Your headline should be catchy and stand out.  Be sure to fill in your summary section to include real estate listings and other statistics that will jump out to potential clients.  Be sure to use keywords or phrases (real estate, real estate agent) throughout your headline and your summary to increase search engine optimization.  Also encourage previous clients to give you a recommendation so your LinkedIn profile is a non-stop shop for anyone who comes across it.  Upload videos and links to enhance your profile.  Customize your URL and use it everywhere (advertising, business cards, posts, etc).

  • Connections:

61% of real estate agents on social media view it as a way to connect to the community.  LinkedIn revolves around businesses, employees and their connections, so it’s the perfect network for real estate agents who work in an industry predicated on connections, referrals and being involved in the community.  Reach out to everyone in your sphere, alums, etc.  Remember LinkedIn is the best social media platform for professional networking, which means connect with everyone.  Take advantage of the biggest networking platform ever!

  • Content:

This is where many real estate professionals go wrong.  What doesn’t work is just content about listings (remember the 80/20 rule) in hopes of generating sales leads.  What does work is highlighting your professional experience, education and network strength.

Try these 6 content ideas to maximize your effectiveness on LinkedIn:
    1. Share real estate news, industry updates or trends.  Don’t forget to include a caption with your thoughts and opinions as well as a call to action soliciting others opinions and thoughts.  Remember, it’s about engagement so ask questions.
    2. Share information or updates about your local city.  Remember people are very patriotic when it comes to the city they live in, so find local information to share.  Also, now that LinkedIn allows the use of hashtags, include local hashtags in all your posts so anyone searching for that hashtag might come across you, and in turn check out your profile.
    3. Thoughtful and conversational posts.  Try something that will resonate with others such as your struggles, wins, inspiration, or something you overcame.  These are going to be the best conversation starters you can share on LinkedIn.  As real estate agents, you go through a lot, so sharing that will resonate with your audience.
    4. Networking events you’ve attended.  Include connections you made and give them an @mention, photos, food, the service, highlight the event, the vibe and your takeaways.  It shows your connecting with people in your local city.  Often times you’ll hear people say, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.  That’s why this works.
    5. Native video uploads.  Every platform, whether it’s Facebook or Instagram, wants you to use the video feature that is native inside the program.  This doesn’t mean go to YouTube and share it to LinkedIn.  It means, open up a post on LinkedIn and use their Video icon and shoot native video within LinkedIn.  This will keep connections engaged longer in the LinkedIn program and hopefully on your profile.  Our best recommendation for video ideas would be “value added” for the consumer (i.e., Buyer/Seller Tips, Market Updates, community highlights, business you’ve interviewed, etc.).
    6. Write LinkedIn Articles.  When you write an article on LinkedIn, everyone in your connection list receives a notification.  You couldn’t ask for better advertising than that.  If you are a blogger, this is a perfect place to use the content you’ve already created and post it within LinkedIn as an article.

So, take the time, get your profile set up for success, start connecting with former and current clients, friends, colleagues, etc. and work on creating great content.

Instagram Tips for Your Real Estate Business

by Social Media

One of Republic Title’s most popular CE classes is consistently our “Instagram: I Have An Account, Now What?” class. We all know how important it is to have a presence on social media for your real estate business, but how do you create content, know which hashtags to use and most importantly, connect with buyers and sellers? Our technology trainer Annette Carvalho is here to help! Read on for Annette’s top takeaways from our popular class and visit us at www.republictitle.com/residential-education for a full list of upcoming CE classes.

Use Hashtags and Link to your Website

  • Using the “Stair Step” approach, users can spread out hashtags using the Stair step approach (hashtags with lower #’s mean you might be seen more.  So if you did 27 hashtags (which we don’t necessarily recommend) use nine that have 0-50K followers, nine with 50K-100K followers, and nine with 100-250K followers, etc.
  • Make sure to include contact information – including your website – in your Instagram bio.

Use Instagram Stories

  • Instagram Stories are temporary and only hang around for 24 hours. This allows you to post lots of content without bombarding your followers. And your followers are watching! According to embedsocial.com, Instagram stories are used by 500 million users every day.

Connect with your sphere by turning on “Post Notifications”

  • Because Instagram is always changing their algorithmic feed, you may not see everyone that you follow consistently. Make sure to turn on Post Notifications for the accounts that you want to make sure and see. This allows you to respond to their posts in a timely manner.

Use Direct Messages

  • Did you know that you can direct message up to 50 people at a time?

GeoTag your Posts

  • Searching by “Places” is an entire search category on Instagram. Make sure you are using this feature!

Use Instagram Live

  • This is a powerful tool that Instagram is promoting – you will reach more of your audience using Live since Instagram features those videos in a different way.
  • A best practice in using Instagram Live is to promote your live video in advance with email or Facebook. For example: “Catch me LIVE on Instagram Friday at 10am where I will share my 10 biggest tips for getting your home ready for the market.”

For MUCH more on Instagram, social media and other technology trends, sign up for one of our CE classes at www.republictitle.com/residential-education

Using Links in Instagram

by EducationReal Estate ArticlesResourcesTechnology

Since launching in 2010, Instagram has become one of the leading social media platforms and has transformed the way people do business. It’s no secret why businesses have spent hours developing and creating a strategy to grow and promote their business on Instagram. But as a real estate agent, do you know how to get the most out of the popular platform to help generate leads, market yourself, and engage with your sphere?  Whether you are new to Instagram or a seasoned pro, we want to help!

Why You Should Use Links on Instagram

Instagram has seen an impressive rise since it first launched in 2010. This has naturally made it a desirable outlet for marketers, and anyone else who wants to spread the word about their brand or website.

The problem is that, up until recently, Instagram has been extremely hesitant when it comes to enabling links. Even now, it’s not possible to add links directly to your posts through comments or post descriptions, even though this is something that has been possible on other social networks for a long time (Note: Stories can have links, however, you must have 10,000 followers to incorporate them).

However, there are still ways to incorporate links into your Instagram profile, and they’re well worth looking into. The key is knowing how to encourage those users to check out your key marketing links.

How to Use Links Effectively on Instagram

  1. Add a Link to Your User Profile

The simplest way to get a link on Instagram is to simply add it to your profile. The link will then appear right underneath your user bio, enabling visitors to click through. This is a perfect way to send people to your website’s home page, or to a special landing page.

However, you can also use this feature to get around the fact that you can’t add links to your post descriptions. All you need to do is include a link in your profile that is relevant to your most recent post. Then, add a message to the post itself, along the lines of: “Link in bio!” This is a common tactic, and it offers the added benefit of driving users to your profile.

Since you only get 1 link with Instagram (in your bio), we suggest that you check out one of these services.  They each have free services, as well as pro services.  The nice thing about them is that you can track each link to see how well they are performing in terms of engagement, page views & click through percentage rates.  Even better news – You can send followers to all your favorite sites including your real estate lead generation sites (see our example below using Linktr.ee):

  1. https://Linkin.bio
  2. https://linktr.ee

  1. Use a URL shortening service

The second method we recommend that you use are shortened and trackable links in your posts. You can easily create these using a URL shortening service and a link management platform (Bitly). That way, you’ll be able to track your links and see how well they perform on Instagram, which can help you optimize your efforts even further.

At first glance, it might seem it’s impossible to use links on Instagram.  However, while the platform is unusually restrictive with linking, it does offer numerous creative ways to implement links into your posts and profile.