I am Jeff

In my original post The Wild West of Real Estate: Snake Oil Vendors Hit Portland Agents I let it be known how disgusted I was about a company that was making the rounds in Portland, selling their snake oil to agents who basically didn’t know any better.

Fast forward almost 2 months. I’m at Inman News’ Agent Reboot up in Seattle for a day of learnin’ when I was told there was a local company sponsoring the event that was selling social media automation services to Seattle area agents.

Enter: Northpoint Social Media – they’ll just “do it all for you!”

At first I was a little shocked that Inman News would let someone like this sponsor an event like the one they were producing. It seems to go against the principles of everything we’ve been told about social media at every previous Inman event I’ve been to (and I’ve been to many, as a former Inman News employee).

So, I decided to visit their booth in the back of the room and see for myself what the deal was. To make a long story short, when the lady I was speaking with found out I wasn’t from the area, she pretty much gave me the cold shoulder. But, I was still able to get a pretty good idea of what it was they were pitching agents and it’s very similar to what I describe in the post I linked to up above, although slightly cheaper. For those that don’t feel like clicking that link I’ll sum it up for you: a fully automated social media package, which includes a WordPress blog that syndicates each post to your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

While this was just one of the “products” they offer, it was the one that definitely struck a nerve with me and obviously I’m letting that be known.

I event thought to myself, “man this would be a great conversation to have up on the stage at a future Inman event”, but apparently Howard Chung – VP of Business Development for Northpoint, isn’t willing to discuss this publicly (see image right). He even went so far as to remove some of their videos from YouTube as the criticism began to spread across Twitter and Facebook. Just proof that social media can be a real bitch sometimes.

So, all this got me thinking…  It’s bad enough that agents are falling for this crap. Paying money that could be better spent somewhere else. Polluting the social media environment. All with a false sense of hope that in the end, they would be…  and I quote “making more money”.  WHAT?  In the video featured on the Northpoint Social Media homepage (which has since been removed) Howard Chung proclaims that that is was social media will do for you.

While I don’t totally disagree, as I know social media has increased my business along with that of several hundred agents I’m connected with across the country. However, we all have one thing in common. We create our own content. It’s unique and reflects our own personal opinions and personalities. A key component to the “success” of using social media.

So, to sell someone on the idea that by letting someone else “just do it all for you” will actually make you more money is the biggest bullshit line of the decade in my opinion. Don’t fall for it.

Speaking of falling.  If a tree falls in the automated forest…

The second major problem I have with the automation of social media campaigns is that of the whole “set it and forget it” mentality.

What I mean by this is that if the main goal of social media is to connect with others, and all you’re doing is letting someone else spew their content into your social media platforms, will you be there to participate: if someone responds to you? Asks you a question? Wants more information? Probably not… But, just to prove my point, I decided to test that theory.

I went on to Northpoint’s website, and found one of their example blogs. The latest post at the time was titled “Save Money, Rent Goats”. So, I went onto Twitter, and did a search for that phrase.  Sure enough, there were a list of about 20 people who all had the exact same tweet. Presumably these are all Northpoint clients since none of them were re-tweets.

So, I sent each one of them an @ reply, letting them know that I had a question for them and wanted to know the best way to contact them.  So far, only 1 has replied.

Northpoint Social Media (assuming you’re monitoring your brand via social media) – You think you’re doing a service to our industry? Think again.

Northpoint clients (based on my results, I highly doubt you guys will ever read this) – If you’re not going to put a little more effort into doing something right, do the rest of us a favor and don’t even bother.

I very rarely participate in the whole “Follow Friday” thing on Twitter. I think it’s kind of pointless really…

So, it’s strictly a coincidence that today is Friday, and I’m telling you to follow these select individuals on Twitter: @DaleChumbley, @DarinPersinger and @1000wattMarc.

The thing is, I’m telling you to do more than just follow these 3 guys. I want you to actually LISTEN to them too.

Here’s why:

Dale Chumbley – Yeah, he’s kinda hot right now. One of the founding figures of the whole “365 Things To Do in…” phenomena that seemed to be sweeping the nation recently. Also one of the few people doing it for the right reasons, and reaping the rewards that come along with that. He’s creative, artistic, and knows how to put it all to good use. Plus he’s seriously one of the nicest guys I think I’ve ever met.

Darin Persinger – There are a million and one Real Estate “coaches” and marketing “experts” out there today. Everyone wants to tell you what you should be doing to get more business. Very few of those people have experience in our industry, and if they do, it’s usually pretty limited. Then there’s this guy. An extensive background in Real Estate sales, coaching, training, speaking. Although he’s not as nice a guy as Dale, he too knows his shit. Just kidding, Darin’s a great guy too! I think it’s the accent that throws me off a little.

Marc Davison – There are only a handful of people in the Real Estate industry that I would say would be a privilege for me to be spend some time with. Marc is one of those people. Lucky for me, I was privileged enough to spend a couple hours with him last week for a lunch while he’s here visiting Portland. Although we said we wouldn’t talk business, we did. When you love the business you’re in, it’s very hard not to talk about it. Especially when you’re around someone with the same thoughts and values on how things should be. Marc’s company, 1000watt Consulting, has helped some of the largest brand names in the business get where they are today. That’s no coincidence.

So, there you have it. The 3 people floating around out there in the world that I suggest you follow, and listen closely to what they have to say. It’s good stuff.

Activity Based Marketing.  What is it?

Activity Based Marketing is a style of marketing, where the activities you’re involved in on a daily basis becomes the content of your actual marketing activities.

How’s that for a confusing definition? Yeah. Let me explain…

Say I’m a Real Estate agent who goes out every single week and previews all the new listings in the neighborhood I’m focusing on. That’s my activity set.

When I’m out previewing homes, I see things that are interesting to me. Things in the neighborhood, things in the homes I’m previewing, etc. I may take a picture of some of these things. That’s my content.

As I’m finding these interesting things, I decide I want to share them with members of my “community”. My “community” could be friends on Facebook, Twitter, or visitors to my blog. Basically your community is your sphere of influence. So, I may use the Facebook app on my iPhone and upload the image to my profile (or fan page) and add a quick little note explaining why it’s interesting to me. That becomes my marketing.

Put those three things together, and you have Activity Based Marketing, where the smallest little activities become a large part of conveying your message (in this case it would be “I’m a Real Estate agent) to a specific group of people. Here’s a great example from @Garrons on the Portland Real Estate site.

For a glimpse of how we’ve been using Activity Based Marketing, check out (Activity Based Marketing at M Realty) on the M Realty site.

So, what activities are you using to market yourself?

There’s been some pretty good discussions popping up lately on the subject of maintenance on homes that are listed for sale. Wether it’s maintaining the stock of flyers in the flyer boxes, putting the price on those flyers, or the actual maintenance on the property for sale, I’m sure there are strong opinions on both sides of the equation and hopefully this post will bring some of those opinions to light.

In this scenario, we’ve got a listing that has been on the market for approximately six months, and in that time, nobody has done any upkeep to the property.  The situation is similar to one that I discuss on my Roseway Neighborhood site in that the lawn has now turned into a field of weeds that is literally 2 feet tall (see the image to the above right).

What makes this scenario a little unique is that it happens to be 2 houses down from my house which we’re in the process of doing a complete remodel on.  So, as I was outside  the other day admiring the new front porch and walkway that the contractor had just finished, one of the neighbors struck up a conversation which eventually led to the discussion of the property for sale on the corner.

During the conversation, the neighbor brought up some good points about the mosquitos that seemed to be breeding in the jungle that was once a front yard, and that it would all be dying soon due to the heat wave that is currently hitting Portland and could be a potential fire hazard.  Both valid points.

After expressing our general thoughts about the property, the neighbor says “I’d mow it myself, but I have a little electric mower that just isn’t powerful enough to tackle something like that”. Then he turns to me with that “I know you have a massive gas powered beast of a mower” look on his face.  At first I thought to myself, “just mow the damn thing and get it over with” but that thought faded away about as quick as it came to me.

You see, I believe that in cases where the property has been vacated prior to taking the listing, that the listing agent needs to be ready to deal with this as it becomes a problem.  So, being the problem solver that I am, I told the neighbor I would get in touch with the listing agent and let her know it was becoming a problem to the surrounding neighbors.

Here’s what I wrote on her “contact us” form (since there was no email address on her website) yesterday:

Good morning!

I know that this listing on NE 74th is probably a short sale/REO or whatever, that you don’t want to put much effort and $ into marketing…  but I’m wondering if it would be helpful to at least spend the $25 or so to have someone mow the field of weeds that used to be the lawn?  In another week or so, they will be taller than the flyer box on your sign post!

Almost daily we (the surrounding neighbors) see people walking or driving by, who stop to look at it. But, judging by the look on their faces, they’re less than impressed with the maintenance of the property and never even take the time to look at it more closely.

I know you may be thinking… “if it bothers you guys so much, you should just mow it yourselves” but after discussing it we decided to contact you, the listing agent, instead because it’s not OUR job.

Thanks in advance for taking care of this in a timely manner.

-Jeff

Here’s the response that I got in my inbox today (minus the agent’s contact info and gargantuan “Oh by the way… ” mumbo jumbo at the bottom:

Hi Jeff – we received your note and appreciate your concern. This home is indeed a short sale and the seller has no funds to maintain it. In all honesty, the inside is worse than the outside! And unfortunately maintaining the property is a seller/owner responsibility. Our role is to keep this home from going on the auction block. We have multiple offers on the home and are working with the seller’s bank to get an approval and we hope to see this close in the next 30 days.

We run roughly 35 short sale listings at all times – these are very time consuming, labor intensive properties and they take anywhere from 3 months to over a year to get an answer from the banks. When that answer comes – with it is always a reduction in what they are willing to pay for commissions to the Realtors. In addition, by the time the answers come – there always seems to be a gap of what they are willing to accept and what the offer will net them…again that generally ends up being deducted from the Realtor’s commission in order to get these to close. By the time these homes sell and we’ve paid everyone on our staff who have worked on these – we’ve made very little, and in some cases – nothing. What that means is that there’s no money in our budget to do any maintenance on these properties and that’s why we’ve not had the lawn mowed ourselves as you asked about.

There are so many homeowners in distress right now and our goal is to help as many as we can get through this and back on their feet again. Having a successful short sale means that this home owner has the potential of getting creditworthy again in 2-3 years, rather than the 7 years a foreclosure will hurt him. It’s kind of our own private mission to help put some balance back in the Portland Real Estate market again.

If you could please be patient for a short while longer, you will hopefully have a new neighbor soon who will get that property cleaned up again. Please feel free to check back in with me with any other concerns or a status if you’d like.

Thanks.

Not a bad response.  A little more detailed than what I was expecting, but then I remember that this agent has no idea who I am, since I had to use the “contact us” form and couldn’t email her directly.

The part that gets me going is when the agent says “unfortunately maintaining the property is a seller/owner responsibility. Our role is to keep this home from going on the auction block.”

Is that really the role of the listing agent?  Kinda weird, because I thought the listing agent’s job was to market and sell the property.  Now I know the agent has a point, since it is a short sale, there will be reduced commissions, blah blah blah…  BUT, if that’s the way you truly run this part of your business, WHAT’S THE POINT?

See, here’s the deal… (this being MY opinion on the subject)  When you take a listing, and stick that sign post in the ground, you’re basically saying “I represent this property” “My company represents this property” and I was raised from a young cub with the notion that if I’m going to put MY name on something, it better be good.  It better look as good as possible. It represents who I am, how I run my business, MY values and those of MY BROKERAGE.

So, I ask my readers this – what are your thoughts on this subject?  Do you spend the $25 every couple months to maintain a property like this?  Or am I completely out of line in my thinking?  I would love to hear your thoughts…

Apparently the “sales team” from a company called Inside Real Estate (normally I’d provide a link here, but it’s against my “no links for sleazy companies” policy) is making the rounds in Portland selling their “blogging services” to agents.

For the low price of $75 a month, plus a small $199 “creation and setup fee”, you get a… Drum roll please… WordPress blog. But wait, wait, wait, there’s more…

For an additional $10 per month they’ll set you up with your very own Twitter account, Facebook account and even an RSS feed!

You thought I was done?  Oh no my friend, oh no.

Don’t have time to write your own content?  No problem, they have a cure for what ails you! For only $27 per month (on top of the $85 you’re already spending), they will provide you with Real Estate related articles for you to publish on your blog.  Presumably the same articles they’re providing every other agent in the Nation who is foolish enough to fall for their sales pitch. Think about that for a second…

So what is it that has me so worked up about this?

Is it a bad product? Nope. WordPress is my platform of choice and what we build for our agents at M Realty (examples). It will do pretty much everything they say it will. No issues there.

Is it the price? Yes. $75 a month for a WordPress blog?  Come on…  The other fees/services are equally ridiculous. Unless you’re getting a top notch IDX home search and contact management system (like HomeQuest) along with that fancy WordPress blog, you should only be paying about $5 a month for hosting. I guess they have to pay their traveling snake oil salesmen somehow, right?

$10 a month for a Twitter/Facebook/RSS feed? Sorry to say, but if you need to pay someone to setup your social media accounts for you, you’re never going to get it. Don’t even try.

$27 for ghost writing? Same deal. This is your blog, you need to create the content that expresses your personality, your attitude, and the way you run your business. Plain and simple.

I think more than anything, I was a little perturbed by the sales tactics these guys were using on the agents. Telling them there are only a limited number of “spaces” available in a market, guaranteeing top placement on Google search results, you know all the usual bullshit sales tactics companies like this would have to use to get people to give up their credit card info and get the sale. When I heard several of the agents in the office fell for it and signed up, all I could do was shake my head.

On behalf of all the honest vendors out there, I apologize that we couldn’t get you more information in time to make a better decision.