The good news is out:  Nashville home sales in July 2011 was significantly better than July 2010…

GNAR reporting a sales increase of 15.8% compared to last July...

WCAR reporting a sales increase of 26.2%...

ZEITLIN & CO. reporting a sales increase of 70.8% !!!

Congratulations to everyone on a very solid first quarter.  Here are some figures which demonstrate our results for these first three months of 2011 compared to 2010.

·         Our total company volume YTD is UP 9% compared to 2010.

·         Average selling price is UP 21% compared to 2010.  As a company our average selling price is $410,715 YTD (compared to $340,131 average for Q1 2010)

·         Of the top 10 Real Estate Brokerages, Zeitlin & Company enjoyed by far the highest average selling price for the first quarter of this year.  Coming in 2^nd is F&C with an average price of $365k; 3^rd is Village at $245k.  This represents a 12% higher average sales price than our next highest competitor; 67% higher than the one after.  (source: brokermetrics)

·         More than half of the top ten firms have declined in volume compared to Q1 2010.  While we have seen very stable production as a company, many are seeing significant declines: Village -23%, KW -17%, Crye-Leike -15%, RE/MAX Elite -27% (source: brokermetrics).

Congratulations everyone, this is a testament to your hard work and resilience.  The last few years have been challenging but clearly you continue to excel amongst your peers in real estate.

If there is any data or information that would be helpful for you and your clients please let me know.  The sun is shining and spring is here – hope you have a great week!

Sam,CFO

Hi All,

A today’s InTown meeting I gave a presentation on some of the ideas and tidbits gleaned from my trek to the REtechSouth conference in ATL last week. The following are a few notes. Let me know if you have any questions. Without the presentation, some of the notes might seem a little vague.

I highly encourage you all to consider attending this conference next year. Chris Smith (aka TechSavvyAgent) said of #RETSO: “I have been to a conference or 12 this year. I had a chance to attend RE Tech South in the Atlanta suburbs this past week and for lack of a better analogy I am dubbing it the Roy Jones Jr. of real estate conventions. Pound for pound this was the best event of the year.”

SOCIAL NETWORKING

·         Pull posts automatically into LinkedIn (gets clicks with an older demographic)

·         Don’t pull posts automatically to Facebook – you can’t write an intro or choose the thumbnail. Post manually.

·         Facebook and Twitter engagement is best at certain times of the day. Post your articles when they are most likely to be read.

·         To schedule ahead on FB,  the Roost app is great (intros and all).

·         Hootsuite to manage twitter feeds and even Facebook pages.

·         Timely.is for auto posting to Twitter and to learn about WHEN people are engaging most with posts.

·         Repost the same article to Twitter at various times with different intro descriptions for more exposure

OFFLINE MARKETING

·         Make sure all print marketing is cross-branded with the same look.

·         @LoCoHeather posts this ad quarterly to gain readership and grow her brand – NOT to sell listings. It looks exactly like her blog. Her analytics and subscribers always spike afterwards:

BLOGGING

·         @LoCoHeather advocates a HYPERLOCAL strategy – she is in a small rural market. 80% of her content is about local happenings (garage sales, storm damage, little league). 20% of her content is real estate related (market data using Altos charts and graphs)

·         Make your blog the HUB for marketing spokes. Don’t give your link love to other sites (like Tennessean, ShowcaseByAgent, Realtor.com, etc.) Drive ‘em back to YOUR site !

·         Post a welcome video on your “About Me” page to introduce yourself. It doesn’t have to be professional, but it must be authentic. (note: HAR does pro-vid at a great discount for their members quarterly. Recommend to GNAR).

·         Don’t write posts for SEO, write for your audience. Again, authenticity is key to developing a following and becoming trusted. Using the same keywords over and over is spammy to readers and Google doesn’t like it.

·         WordPress offers the best inherent SEO, but Posterous and Tumblr are a good options too. If you can use email, you can blog. Really. Make sure you do it on your own domain. Or at least a sub domain.

OTHER

·         Use Google Notifications to monitor your name, company, and competition. SocialMention.com is also good for this.

·         Spread your reach and brand with tools like Yelp and FourSquare.

·         Turn the social networks off (and the cell phone) when it is time to blog (or whatever it is you do to prospect – cold calling, door knocking…)

·         Not a natural writer? Make a photo blog. Or get others to write occasionally for you – inspectors, vendors, past clients. Or hire  BringTheBlog.com for content.  

·         Create a FREE Google Reader (RSS) account and follow industry leader blogs (Gahlord, Rob  Hahn, Agent Genius, San Diego Castles, Real Estate Tangent, Jeff Turner, TechSavvyAgent, etc.). Put a reminder on your calendar to check out your Reader a few times a week.

·         Amanda McMillan w/ @Properties Chicago did a great presentation on marketing premium services. She gets above average commissions in her market (6% in a market where 5% is the norm). Here are the slides:

·         Don’t be afraid to change your website. Jay Thompson got a 29% increase in click-throughs to home search by changing the description word from “Advanced” search to “Detailed”

·         Use the Google URL Builder to track analytic lead-ins from multiple entry points. (NEW to me)

·         Search “RETSO” at SlideShare to find presentation slides as well as listing presentation ideas.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY

·         Clikbrix.com for QR marketing – very slick

·         Expensify.com – expense reports made easy (email, log-in, app, photo catalog receipts, link a credit card, track mileage,)

·         DotLoop.com $20/mo agent accounts for e-sign and transaction management

·         Namechk.com to check username availability across multiple social networks

INTERESTING IDEAS

PS. Travis Robertson gave the keynote closing address. He isn’t a Realtor, but an expert on how to communicate and transact business with millennials. It was a fantastic and thought provoking.  I understand Zeitlin has retained his services to speak at our upcoming fall retreat. You CAN’T miss his presentation.

Stephanie Crawford

Zeitlin & CO., InTown

ABR, e-PRO, SFR, Realtor

License #288968 since 2003

Direct. 615.554.3745

eFax. 615.224.6162

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Here’s a link to today’s Tennessean article about Jackson Insurance coming to Cool Springs and bringing 750 jobs.  http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100526/BUSINESS01/5260380/Jackson+National+Life+picks+Cool+Springs+for+new+facility++750+jobs+

And in case you missed the print version, you’ll notice that Shirley is pictured talking to the COO after the announcement!  See below.

Zeiltin & CO. will be working with many of the relocating families. If you are in need of RELO services, please give us a call!