An interview with Donna Largen, RE/MAX Properties

One of the agents we shared dinner with last night was Chicago-area agent Donna Largen with RE/MAX Properties.

In this video interview, Donna talks about her advice for other agents interested in building their business with Internet-enabled consumers.

You can view the interview here.

(This interview was shot in the corner of the restaurant in which we met, so please pardon the darkness.)

Incredible passion

A couple of us had the pleasure of sharing drinks and conversation with several Chicago-area subscribers Wednesday night at Lawry's in downtown Chicago. Over the course of about four hours (the time really got away from us), we spent a lot of time talking about the agents' business, their challenges, and also their experiences with HouseValues.

These agents are quietly building their business, and many are doing so to the tune of many hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, most of it built around the HouseValues business system. The level of evangelism was really fantastic.

We came out of that dinner not only jazzed about the impact we've been able to have on their businesses and lives, but also with a long list of customer-generated action items to make them even more successful.

Success in South Bend

John Sherk has been a HouseValues subscriber in South Bend, Indiana for just one month, but is a great example of how our subscribers value the HouseValuessystem beyond the leads they receive.

Read on to see how this agent is already getting listings by using Market Leader to follow up with his leads:

“I signed up with HouseValues soon after the ‘How to Make Six-Figures Every Three Months’ MasterMind Call. I was really frustrated with how many leads I was getting. My pipeline was down to a trickle, so I decided to give HouseValues a try. I was stoked when I started to see results right away. Within 13 days I already had my first listing! I expect this house to sell pretty quickly because of the list price we have on it. The commission on this one deal will fund my HouseValues subscription for the entire year."

"In addition, I recently picked up another listing from a lead I followed up with in Market Leader. I think that’s one of the hidden benefits of using HouseValues: its not just leads—it’s a leads follow up system. I can’t imagine being more satisfied with HouseValues.”

$65,000 in commissions in one year

Eric Human has been a HouseValues subscriber in San Diego since last September. Last December, he landed a $1.23 million-dollar listing from a JustListed lead, and recently had a $800,000 listing as well.

All told, Eric has earned $65,000 in commissions in the past year from his HouseValues subscription.

Way to go Eric!

Happy in Milwaukee

Here’s a great example of how how many of our JustListed subscribers are thinking of both the buyer and seller needs. This is from Nicole Clark, a subscriber in Milwaukee:

“I’ve been an agent for six years and have never been one to cold call. I’m more about the service aspect of doing business. To avoid doing what I didn’t like and build my pipeline, I looked into Internet lead generation companies. I tried a few, but didn’t have much success. I was hesitant to try another online service until I discovered JustListed. Right away, I noticed key differences between JustListed and the other companies I had partnered with in the past. I especially liked the exclusive leads and Market Leader follow up system. I justified the subscription cost as paying a higher price for a better product. You truly do pay for what you get and this system has more than paid for itself. In eighteen months, I’ve closed eight transactions from JustListed and referrals from these leads.

I attribute much of my success to how I work the leads in the beginning. I consider all JustListed leads to be both potential home buyers and sellers. Often, prospects looking to buy a home also are mentally thinking about selling their home. I keep this in mind when doing the initial follow up to gather more information when a lead comes through. It never hurts to send them a CMA along with listings because you never know what can happen.”

Two mortgage professionals, two success stories

A couple quick success stories from our lender customers, who are working prospective home buyers with a network of local real estate agents.

William Morris is with Fairfield Mortgage in Lancaster, Ohio, and joined HouseValues in June of 2005. His network of real estate agents is working a large pipeline of prospects that he said are producing new closings for him every month. He's always hungry for more, but the closings have been consistent all summer.

Charles Masse is with Mortgage Force LLC in Newton, CT, and joined HouseValues almost two years ago. He's currently seeing 4-5 prospects close per month due to a new tactic with calling the prospects. The loan officers are calling as soon as they send the lead over to the agent and being sure NOT to treat it like a mortgage lead. They are saying “I’m representing JustListed and I wanted to follow up with you regarding the online request you made. The JustListed agent will be in touch with you shortly but the best way to get things going with any agent is to get pre-qualified. As a JustListed pre-qual specialist I would like to help you make that start."

Great work William and Charles, it's exciting to see your success!

Appalachian death polka...at HouseValues?

This is the first in a series of ongoing posts highlighting what HouseValues employees are doing outside of the office. We call it our HouseValues “Who’s In Your House” program (stifle the giggles, please).

Many people wish they were in a band. Few people actually pull it off.

We’re lucky to have several employees at HouseValues who not only are in bands, but have actual gigs…and actual fans…and actual albums.

One such band is Wages of Sin, featuring the talents of HouseValues Marketing Manager Mark Robben. Mark’s musical interests started at a young age, when he and his parents pursued his talents for different reasons.

“My parents made me take piano lessons, even though I was adamant it was for girls only,” he said.

In early 2003, Wages of Sin was formed from several Seattle-area musicians just finishing other band gigs. Their eclectic musical interests combined for a sound that Mark describes as “punk rock sea shanties and Appalachian death polka.”

Yeah. Best way to describe that is to listen to a few samples, available here and here.

Mark’s band plays live about twice a month, usually at local venues around the Pacific Northwest.

Their first album, Custom of the Sea, is available at CD Baby, and you can learn more about the band at their Web site or MySpace page.

“We’ve had our album reviewed by various magazines, but our latest claim to fame is that we’ve earned some airplay on a punk show on the BBC,” Mark said. “So we’re pretty much huge in London.”

Rock on, Mark!

Use the entire system, she says...

Kelly Weis has been with HouseValues for two years, and loves the leads she receives. But in this video interview, Kelly talks even more about the broader business support she receives from the system - including prospect management from Market Leader, training, coaching and much more.

See her video interview here.

Congratulations Kelly!

Success from Century 21

Chad and Jen Claybaugh are HouseValues subscribers from Century 21 Harman Realty, and had this to say last night on the HouseValues Mastermind Forum:

"For quite a while we worked the system and actually had a hard time getting our first listing but we kept trying to be optimistic and finally it started to pay off. We just listed a 6th HouseValues/JustListed lead and we'll be listing another two in the next couple of weeks. We have a HouseValues/JustListed lead listed right now and her next home under contract. She was a lead that came in with no phone number but we sent her listings anyway and one day she called and said we had been emailing her properties and she didn't know how we knew she was looking for a home but anyways, we listed her home at full commission and now she's buying a home from us too. Actually every HouseValues/JustListed lead we've listed was a full commission.

It's interesting and mind boggling to me how some people can be in the real estate business for years and never have any real success and others in the business the same amount of time have so much success. I am not sure exactly what all the reasons are for the difference but I know that one thing that has made a HUGE difference for me is having a optimistic attitude and trying to mirror the successful people."

Donna Richey in Realty Times

Congratulations to HouseValues subscriber Donna Richey, who was profiled this morning in Realty Times. Donna details her success in working with online leads, as well as the impact it has had on her business.

Congratulations Donna!

Read more from Realty Times here.

He's back, and already successful...

Nice comments here by Manuel Torres, a subscriber in Miami for the second time. He was with us in 2001-2002, but joined again earlier this year.

“I started with HouseValues in August 2001 and continued my subscription until March 2002. During this time, I did real estate in a very challenging market and the Internet was not being utilized in the industry the way it is today. I enjoyed my experience, but wasn’t taking the leads seriously. I wasn’t as prepared as I would’ve liked to have been when it came to following up with the leads. I wasted a lot of time sitting back and waiting for these leads to react. I expected quick results with little effort."

"When I left HouseValues, I noticed a lot of the leads I had received and kept in my database started responding and eventually transacting. I was even getting referral business from these leads. My decision to come back to HouseValues in March 2006 was made easy. I compared the dollar amount spent on online advertising on my own to the national advertising, exclusive leads, and marketing tools provided through HouseValues and knew I needed to invest in this system again.

"I’ve been back with HouseValues for almost six months and am working the leads seriously. I’ve already taken a listing! I use the contact management system in Market Leader to build relationships with sellers. It allows me to keep in touch with them until they find a buyer and maintain them once they transact. I understand now that it takes time and expect to have great success.”

You want podcasts, you get (more) podcasts!

Interest in our Daily Motivator podcasts has been significant the past few days, so we figured it was only fair to let faithful blog readers know about our other two podcasts:

The Real Estate Masterminds podcast features Q&A interviews with some of the nation's most successful real estate agents. In these interviews, they share the specific strategies and best practices that have helped them become elite agents in their respective markets. Subjects range from Dan Volker's proven FSBO strategy to Sherry Daminski's secrets to maintaining a prospect pipeline of more than 15,000 prospective customers.

The Home Owner Tips podcast features helpful advice for busy home owners, including content found on HomePages.com.

Enjoy!

Sellers are buyers, too - Part II

Here's another story of a HouseValues lead turning into a buyer as well. This from the HouseValues Mastermind Forum:

We had a HouseValues lead that we listed and sold her home and helped her purchase her next home. When I delivered the CMA she felt so comfortable with me that she told me right then that she was going to stick with us and not use another Realtor. She has emailed us a couple times since closing and said thank you and always asks for our business cards so she can refer us to her friends and family.

Her parents were complaining at closing (her parents were at the closing for some reason) about how ridiculous it is that Realtors get paid too much and she argued with her dad and defended us and said well you can go get a cheaper commission but you'll get a Realtor that sits on their butt or you can just hire someone (like me) who works hard and gets the job done.

It was pretty cool. She'll definitely be a client for life.

Claudia's AgentCEO blog heats up

Congratulations to Claudia Wicks, our Director of Real Estate Training & Content, whose Agent CEO blog is recently getting a lot of well-deserved attention.

In addition to being named one of the real estate industry's top 10 women bloggers of 2006 and being featured in a Realty Times story this week on blogging, Claudia is also drawing the attention of other top-tier bloggers.

This morning, she was featured in the popular Duct Tape Marketing blog, which cited her work helping real estate agents grow their business. They featured a recent post by Claudia encouraging agents to give their prospective customers a list of interview questions.

Great work Claudia, keep it up!

Baby Carlson is here!

Congratulations to Customer Care Specialist Brian Carlson on his new baby girl!

Kylee Michelle was born on August 8th at seven pounds exactly.

Congratulations Brian!

Just what she needed

We love these kind of emails from customers, especially to end the week on a high note! These two emails came in this morning to Steve Hammond, the account executive who initially signed Bernie up.


Email #1

Steve -

Just a quick thank you for all your continuous help.

When I first saw HouseValues, I was sure it was like all the other leads companies around and didn't give it much thought. However, then YOU came along and I believed what you told me and took a chance. I only have praises for you and your company - I KNEW I had to do something for business and thanks to you I am!!

As my pastor preached, "the wake doesn't drive the boat, so let go of the past and start the future!"

So here I go - starting over again at 58! YOU are an AWESOME man and I thank God every night that you helped me to start my future!

Thanks Steve,
Bernie


Email #2

Steve -

I did not have enough room on the first email and realized I did not praise HouseValues for the easy to use system.

I just love the way everything is a click of a button -no guessing what's been emailed, if person has read it etc. I am especially grateful for all the prewritten letters and scripts - what a blessing for me!

You guys have given me the ability to run my business the way it should be run without the stress, frustration and aggregation of doing business. Your system "frees" me up to meet new clients and to do my networking.

Your leads are fabulous, great response from these people, as far as emailing back to me and being really surprised for the quick turn around time and emails. Thanks again, you are a life saver!

Bernie

Success in the Southwest

Brenda Stewart has been a HouseValues subscriber since late April in the Albuquerque area. She moved to Albuquerque from Southern California, where she had built a large book of business and was well-established. Brenda was hoping to use HouseValues to get a jump-start in a market where no one yet knew her.

Three months later, she had closed her first deal from HouseValues, with several more in her pipeline. She tells us that she loves how HouseValues gives her exclusive prospects, and how Market Leader helps her build brand and name recognition. She even recently took a vacation, knowing that Market Leader was working behind the scenes to cultivate her entire pipeline.

Brenda has also been sharing the system with friends in Southern California, knowing that the system can help agents at all career stages and in any market.

Great work Brenda!

He's back, and more successful than ever!

Todd Ranney joined HouseValues in March of this year. Well, Todd actually joined HouseValues in 2002, but had been away from HouseValues for three years when he signed up again three months ago.

Since then, he's already paid for his subscription. He's working on his second buyer contract right now.

Todd loves the fact that HouseValues puts him in front of buyers early and keeps him in front of them. He loves the system and is using it for his entire book of business, not just prospects we send to him.

Hats off to Todd!

Sellers are buyers, too...

Here's a nice story posted today on the HouseValues Mastermind Forum, from an agent who has learned that seller are often BUYERS as well:

I received a HouseValues lead in June 2005. The sellers were hoping for a job transfer in another state. I met with them and did a full blown CMA. When the job transfer didn't materialize, they gave me permission to keep in touch, because they knew they wanted a bigger house some time in the future. Whenever I'd call, they'd say they weren't ready yet, but to keep in touch.

This past April, I started showing them houses. I have an accepted offer on their current home, as well as an accepted offer on their next home. We're set to close in September!

Another time, I received a HouseValues lead from a prospect that was already listed. I sent the market evaluation and the "your home is already listed" e-mail. After a few months they fired their agent and called me to ask if I'd still consider working with them. I sold their house and referred them to an agent in the area they moved to for a referral fee.

HouseValues featured on PBS, Serious Money

Another video from the HouseValues archives, this from early 2005 when HouseValues CEO Ian Morris was interviewed on the PBS program Serious Money. This was just a month after the IPO.

See the video by clicking here.

Other videos about HouseValues and its customers can be seen here, here and here.

One commission pays for two years of leads

Ken Buchholz has been with HouseValues since February of this year. Since that time, he's been working hard with his pipeline, and it's starting to pay off.

A lead he received in his third month generating buyer leads from JustListed just bought a $308,000 home, with a 5% commission back to Ken. That one commission is enough to continue paying for his JustListed subscription for the next two years.

Ken's excited about the entire HouseValues system, and looks forward to much more success in the months to come. Great work Ken!

Daily Motivator podcasts now available

By popular demand, HouseValues has launched a "Daily Motivator" podcast. Every business day, real estate professionals can pick up a quick audio tip to start their day. Best practices, marketing tips, motivational messages and more. Most Daily Motivators are just 2-3 minutes long, but are a great way to start your day. A couple recent podcasts include:

* Turn $1.50 into $12,000
* Building a Pipeline
* Working with Buyers

Daily Motivators are available for FREE! To get an RSS feed for your Web site, just click on the XML link below. Or, just visit the iTunes Store and search for "Daily Motivator." iTunes allows you to "subscribe" to the feed, so that new Motivators are sent to your iPod automatically.

OR, just click on this link to hear a sample of the Daily Motivator podcasts and subscribe via Pluggd. No iPod necessary!

Two years later, a $1.3M listing and a BIG payday

Congratulations to Doug Heisinger, who not only took a listing for two parcels of land in Auburn, California recently for a $1.3M asking price, but just accepted an offer from a buyer. The consumer who originally owned that land came to Doug as a HouseValues lead in November of 2004, almost two years ago, but the deal is expected to close in October.

Great job Doug! Your long-term lead cultivation strategy is paying off in a BIG way!

Newer generations are buying more homes

According to a new survey by Coldwell Banker, younger generations are buying more houses than their parents.

Sixty-six percent of survey respondents in the Silent Generation (aged 61 and up) have owned between two and five homes, according to the survey. Already, 66 percent of baby boomers (aged 42 to 60), have owned a similar two to five homes.

Younger generations surveyed are mimicking these home-buying habits. About half (48 percent) of generation X'ers (aged 32-41), and more than one third (36 percent) of echo boomers (aged 31 and younger), have owned between two and five homes. Fifty-eight (58) percent of respondents have owned more homes than their parents did when their parents were at a comparable age.

I'm not at all surprised by this. Newer generations are increasingly more mobile, and are more apt to move more often - either to a new home within the same market or to a new market altogether. Job relocations happen with greater frequency, and the percent of singles who own homes has also risen dramatically.

All of these things are clearly leading to the higher home ownership frequency referenced above, and that increased lifetime transaction activity should also be a significant factor in mitigating significant downward fluctuations in the housing market. Sure, we'll still see peaks and valleys over the years, but I don't believe we'll see them to the same degrees that have occurred over the past 30-50 years.

Introducing the HouseValues Company Store

We get requests from employees, customers and even investors for HouseValues-branded merchandise, and now they’re all available directly at www.housevaluescompanystore.com. Polo shirts, dress shirts, visors, windbreakers, golf clothing, etc. – all available branded with the HouseValues or HomePages.com logo.

Check it out at www.housevaluescompanystore.com.

Five days, and three deals already in the works...

Janet Tarity has been a HouseValues subscriber for all of five days.

She got one of her first leads from a lady and did a quick follow-up, just as her coach recommended. Upon calling the consumer, Janet found out that the prospect was going through a divorce, and her husband is going to give her a $100,000 buy out for her half of the house. So she came to HouseValues.com to find out what it was actually worth.

Well, Janet will be stopping by to formally evaluate the market value (which is estimated much higher) and will likely be putting the two of them in contract for a total of 3 deals! If the husband doesn’t decide to sell, the wife will then have a pretty sizable down payment for the home she is going to buy from Janet.

Five days in, and already three pending deals. Not bad. Congratulations Janet!

Two weeks, two buyers

Robert Behrens is a subscriber from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He's only been a HouseValues subscriber for two weeks, but has already taken out two buyers to look for homes. One of those buyers is already under contract, and ready to purchase. Bob's comment to his HouseValues coach:

“I get leads from HomeGain and Realtor.com and your leads are much better leads. I am going to cancel my other lead sources and stick with you. I think your program is the best one out there!”

His average turnaround time on consumer requests is under seven hours, and he's already become a HouseValues Certified Professional.

Great work Robert!

Early success in Detroit

Paul Corona, a new subscriber with RE/MAX in Detroit, signed up in July (just last month) and yesterday had his first JustListed customer sign a buyer’s contract. His great customer service and fast consumer follow-up time have directly led to his fast success with HouseValues.

Great work Paul!

A day with customers in Seattle

We held a subscriber seminar in downtown Seattle today, hosting subscribers from across the area for a day of learning and networking. We love the chance to interact directly with our customers, and especially to see the whites of each others’ eyes. We talk to our customers daily, but mostly via the phone. These seminars are our opportunity to talk in person, one-on-one with hundreds of customers each month.

When the seminars come to Seattle, which they do 3-4 times each year, it’s an opportunity for far more HouseValues employees to attend and interact with customers. Today was no different.

It’s exciting to see new customers at the seminar get even more excited about the system as the day goes on. It’s also exciting to see new HouseValues employees attend the seminars, and get more excited about the impact we’re having on our customers’ lives and businesses. Very few companies have the privilege of working so closely with their customers like we do, and it’s truly a joy to see that impact first-hand.

David Albertson was the guest speaker. David joined HouseValues in December of 2000, so is coming up on six years as a HouseValues subscriber. When he described his strategy for working with Internet leads, you could hear a pin drop in the room.

Happy Birthday Vickers

Happy Birthday to Robert Vickers, site director for our Yakima office. He won't tell anybody how old he is, but his staff at least knew how much he loves hockey, hence the sweet Boston Bruins jersey.

Robert has been instrumental in quickly ramping up our Yakima team to more than 100 employees, and a great group at that.

Happy Birthday Robert!

Taking new markets by storm

Kristine McFadden joined HouseValues in the San Antonio market one month ago. Yesterday, she signed her first listing from a HouseValues lead.

Now, Kristine's only been with us for a month, and has lots of great success ahead of her. But what's most exciting about her story is WHY she signed up, and what that first listing represents.

When Kristine came to us last month, she was interested in moving her business into the New Braunfels area. She didn't feel like she could do it, as she hadn't established herself as an agent there.

Once she understood how HouseValues could introduce her to prospective customers in any new market, she decided to give it a shot. With this first listing, she's already establishing relationships and now paying customers that will make Kristine a new Market Leader in the New Braunfels area.

Great job Kristine!

Good report card from Money Magazine

Nice piece in the September 2006 issue of Money Magazine, putting four online home valuation services to the test on an Atlanta-area home. Put to the test were HouseValues.com, as well as Zillow, RealEstateABC.com and Domania. The reporter also hired a professional appraiser (at a cost of $495) to visit the house and apply a specific appraiser.

The results from HouseValues, which provided an estimated selling price range that included the appraiser's specific estimate, also included extra features described by the reporter as "a price range of previous home sales in the area, and the agent's offer to do an in-person evaluation."

Not every service fared as well. One estimate was off from the professional appraiser's estimate by $166,000.

Of course, this is an endorsement not of our Web site, but the skills of our professional real estate agent subscribers, who personally put a value on every home coming through HouseValues.com. We believe strongly that real estate professionals, experts in real-time local market conditions, are uniquely positioned to help consumers truly understand the current market value of their home. Great work guys!

Ian in LORE

This article was featured in LORE Magazine a few months ago, but we wanted to 1) give it a little more exposure, 2) promote what we think is a very well-done magazine, and 3) share a cool picture of Ian against an ivy wall at the very beginning of fall.

LORE is published by the fine folks at REAL Trends, and is already a multi-award-winning magazine. The articles are very well-written, and both the design and photography are absolutely first-class.

Read more about Ian in LORE Magazine here.

Picking from The Money Tree

For the past two weeks, our sales team in Kirkland has engaged in a very fun and well-executed promotion focused on this Money Tree. Each day, several account executives (who becomes eligible based on the previous day's activity) are chosen via a random drawing to pick a "dollar" off of the tree. Each dollar has a number printed on it, and the numbers are matched to prizes on a list.

Some prizes are $10 Starbuck's gift cards and DVDs, but also on the tree was a weekend trip to Vegas.

Notice I said "was", as in past tense. Earlier today, after nine days of "leaves" coming off that tree, one particular rep's name was chosen. Her excitement at merely getting a chance to pick from the tree was priceless - screaming, jumping up and down, the like.

Once she heard that her random number corresponded to the trip to Vegas, we all thought she was going to explode. Members of the technology team came up from downstairs to see what was going on. Even account executives who clearly also wanted that trip were enjoying the expression of pure joy.

She's been on a high all day.

A week full of successful seminars

A quick update on several successful HouseValues seminars this week before we head out for a beautiful Seattle summertime weekend. Most weeks we hold seminars in 2-3 markets, but this week we had five scheduled. All were excellent.

Costa Mesa
Staci Dancey was the featured speaker in Costa Mesa. She told the group that after 6 years she continues to experience even more success with the leads we send her. She stated that over the course of the last six years she has earned over $5 million dollars directly from the leads we sent her. She also mentioned that every single time she has attended a seminar, she always walks away with several ideas which she can incorporate in her business.

Sacramento
Margie Brockman told the group that she was about to quit the service after almost one year. At the beginning of the 12th month she received a call from a prospect who stated; “I’ve done everything you told me to do over the last 10 months and I am now ready to have you come and list my home.” Margie had never spoken to the prospect! This demonstrates the power of the campaigns.

Reno
Karen Packman has been with us for 3 years and has earned over $225,000 from our leads.

Calgary
This was our very first seminar in Calgary and had 30 people in the room who had never attended a HouseValues seminar. A few of them drove 3 hours (from Edmonton) to attend. Our speaker, Trevor Howard, has been with us for one year and told how he closed six on the leads. The Walpers, a family of three, have closed three transactions in six months and have two in the closing process. Stuart Neal has been with us since April and has earned $40,000 in commissions from our leads.

Vancouver, B.C.
The majority of the class was brand new to the system. There were several agents who I recognized from previous seminars. They are experiencing good success with the system. The guest speaker Leslie Wagstaff has been with JustListed since January, closed over 6 transactions and has several more in the showing process.

A growing business in Prescott, AZ

Rosi and Allen Whited are Agent CEOs and HouseValues subscribers from Prescott Valley, Arizona. They joined HouseValues this past April, diving in with a full set of buyer & seller leads as well as an advertising package for themselves and their listings on HomePages.

They had almost immediate success, with their first transaction happening in their 1st month. They've since added additional leads to their subscription in some outlying areas as they've added agents in their office.

Rosi says she just loves the program, and is extremely busy working with the leads and getting her agents on board. She says that their HouseValues coach Shannon is simply “wonderful." Together, Rosi and Allen used to average $500K in commission each year. Now, with HouseValues and JustListed they anticipate they'll be in the $1.5M commission range by the end of this year.

And what happened today makes it even better. Awhile back, Rosi got 2 JustListed leads that had the same email address. She resisted the urge to discount the leads, and instead she followed up. It turned out that both the father and the daughter had signed on and submitted leads. The father was an investor and looking to find his daughter a home. They looking for either a $300-$400K home or buying land. And their mother, who will be coming with them, is an investor and will be purchasing perhaps 3-4 properties as well.

Congratulations Rosi and Allen on your success!

A $2.1M listing? Take your time...

Vijay Singh (no relation to the professional golfer) signed up with HouseValues in April of this year in Surrey, BC. He came to our most recent seminar in Vancouver on Wednesday of this week. When he arrived late, his Account Executive Aubree Hazel asked what took him so long to get there. He told her that he was late because he was working on a $2.1 million listing that resulted from one of his HouseValues leads!

Vijay had gotten the lead, sent the CMA and follow-ups but had not called the homeowner. Out of the blue, the seller called him and told him that they really appreciated the good information and the fact that Vijay had provided it without pressure. They liked his style and wanted to list their farm with him!

This reinforced our message at the seminar that you can’t tell by looking at the lead who the customer really is or whether or not they will do business…you just never know.

Congratulations to Vijay for treating all of his leads equally and letting the system do it’s work!

Happy MLS in SoCal

More endorsements from major multiple listing services, this from Russ Bergeron, CEO of the Southern California MLS.

"At SoCalMLS we are always looking for companies who can provide products and services that can increase and enhance the professionalism of our customers," he said. "For years we have entrusted SOAR with our MLS content, expecting them to provide valuable products while protecting our most important resource. We have never been disappointed. Under the HouseValues banner we have lost none of the value that we have come to expect."

First four months better than all of last year

Here's one "from the archive", which in this case means it was originally posted on the HouseValues Mastermind Forum in April of this year. Keep that in mind when you read what Renee wrote about her listing performance last year vs. just the first four months of this year!

I started with HouseValues in mid-January of 2005. Last year I only took four listings but listened to all the advise that things might be slow getting started.

Well - that's absolutely true for me. So far this year I have taken 7 HouseValues listings and two of them are high-end for our marketplace. In most instances I didn't even have any competition. I didn't start using a coach until about July of last year - and didn't do any drop offs or much follow up until then. I'm still a bit slow on phone follow-up and I'm sure that will increase my success rate if I can force myself to do it.

I can't stress the coaching and the Mastermind Forum enough. They have both been fabulous for me. Coaches hold you accountable and give you advice - the Mastermind Forum is great for suggestions, someone to bounce problems and ideas off, etc.

If you work the system, it will work for you. Keep reading the helpful hints and applying what you learn.

My most recent listing (yesterday), wanted to know if I had started HouseValues. Don't I just wish!! Thanks HouseValues, you've been a great help to my business.

Renee Good
Associate Broker
Re/Max orillia realty
Ontario, Canada

Inspirational words

Here are a few more stories from agents whose persistence and patience with a new, Internet-based marketing strategy has paid off. They didn't start out as believers, but their results now speak volumes.

These are comments made on the HouseValues Mastermind Forum in response to other agents who were early in their experimentation with Internet leads.

Rose Costas - Vidal Ultima Real Estate Services, Austin, TX
“I know there are a lot of you out there who like me might be really close to giving up. I joined JustListed in mid-January of 2005 and started getting 3 leads per month as promised. I followed the system- sent info or delivered if local, called if there was a number and kept sending e-mails. I had a few leads that seemed interested but always changed their mind about buying or moving here. I almost cancelled when I had made no sales the first year but then last month I got a local lead that immediately responded to me and told me they needed help leasing their warehouse before they could buy. I had never done a commercial property before but I decided to give it a try. I just leased their warehouse last week and last night helped them put a contract on a new home. They want me to help them sell their duplex next so I"ll be busy with that. If I had cancelled the JustListed leads I would have given up over $10,000 in total commissions.”


Cher Dyle - RE/MAX Properties NW Park Ridge, IL
“Just a note to let you know about our latest listing which is a 16 month old HouseValues lead. When the lead came in, the "requestor" asked that no contact be made with her mother who stilled lived in the house. Looked like mom would be moving to a care facility and the family would be selling her home. Well, we did as she asked and actually was able to establish a nice rapport with this daughter but when it came to list, another daughter chose "a friend" to list them. We were disappointed but "on to the next one" was our thought...we kept the daughter on a drip campaign and even sent a blast e-mail to our data base about her listing hoping we might have a buyer for it. Well, 90 days passed, the house had been significantly overpriced and didn't sell. The "requestor" e-mailed us again for an updated CMA and we were delighted--it was like hearing from an old friend!"

"2 weeks later, she has power of attorney and we listed the home at our price--70K under their initial list price. So, what do we know...1. people/clients/customers/consumers are often just beginning to think about the process when they come into the system and need info 2. a quick response to them is critical and if you can reach them by phone--you're ahead of the game. 3. being consistant and persistant pays off--even if we hadn't listed her home, we're sure we would have received referrals from her just from the service we provide thru HouseValues and JustListed which is your service to subscribers! We look at our data base and with having many, many leads that are that old or more, we look forward with great anticipation to a windfall of business this year! Thanks for all of your support and advice. We really appreciate being in touch with you for sharing ideas/coaching and all of the information we gleam from the Mastermind calls. Two new mantras for the new year: Abundance Abounds! and Keep Moving Forward!”

Trisha Quigley - Executive Real Estate, Inc. Seattle, WA
“Don't give up. It takes a while to work them but all of a sudden it will pay off. I have closed over 20 JustListed and HouseValues people in my first year. This year I have already closed two listings from HouseValues, (one I sold last year from JustListed) and 3 JustListed people.”

Two happy agents, two great stories

Congratulations to Lillian Jacobs, a HouseValues subscriber since November of last year in the Los Angeles area. She started in real estate as a full-time teacher, and now thanks to HouseValues she's achieved enough success in real estate to make buying and selling homes her new full-time job. Here's more in her own words:

“In my first year as an agent, I wasn’t able to dedicate 100% of my time to my real estate career. My schedule was very hectic working as a full time teacher during the day and caring for my family outside of work. I didn’t have the time to prospect and do my own marketing. I needed a convenient way to follow up with seller and buyer leads. For these reasons, I subscribed to HouseValues and JustListed. I continued to teach full time and work these leads part time for nine months. I closed two buyer transactions, earning $6,000 in commissions and was able to spend more time with my family. I’m now ready to take my business to the next level and commit myself full time. With this system in place, I expect great success!”


More great news from Tom Millar, a subscriber for just the past three months in Washington DC:

“For over two years, I’ve been a real estate agent and have never been big on traditional marketing practices. I joined JustListed to reach online home buyers and to use the marketing tools provided. I use Market Leader to manage my contacts and set them up on email campaigns to increase visibility and send listings along with other information. In this business it’s a numbers game. I’m currently working with a handful of buyers that have come through my JustListed pipeline. The way I look at it is if I get one closing out of 30 leads, it will more than pay for my initial investment. I’ve learned to treat all leads the same. It takes patience and hard work. The MasterMind Calls and seminars are great places to learn best practices on how to work the leads and be successful with the system.”

Top Phoenix subscriber featured in Broker Agent Magazine

Congratulations to Jesse Connor, a young Agent CEO out of the Phoenix area who was recently featured in Broker Agent Magazine.

After moving to Phoenix from St. Louis, Jesse quickly joined HouseValues as a part of his Internet-heavy marketing campaign. Six weeks later, he had already earned $180,000 in commissions from his HouseValues leads.

Today, Jesse subscribers to both buyer and seller leads from HouseValues, and focused his entire advertising budget on generating & cultivating his HouseValues leads. He's now looking to expand his team with several buyer's agents to help him handle the increased business.

Check out the great profile of Jesse in this month's magazine. Congratulations Jesse on a great piece, and a job well done!

Working the system

When I walk through our coaching department, I frequently hear our coaches mentoring agents with consistent matras, one of which is "you get out of it what you put into it." Put another way, the agents who proactively cultivate and manage their prospective customers through Market Leader typically see the best results.

Below are a few best practices from one such active agent, including a sample of the results she's achieved using this strategy. Way to go!

I have used HouseValues for just over 300 days. When I do floor, if someone calls and wants to know more about a listing I ask for a phone number to call them back if we get disconnected. I also ask for an email address to send the listing directly to their email. I also ask if they are looking for homes and if so I ask if they would like to receive listings directly to their email for free. Most say yes if they are looking. Also if a person does not have an email address but is looking I use the HouseValues system to keep track of them and events in our relationship, just listed a place last week working like this and I am also trying to find this person a new place.

This year so far I have closed about 6+ using the HouseValues system and three were all over $400,000 with commissions on my side of over 4%.

Helping rookies, too

Luiz Porto has been with HouseValues for two years, and is a happy camper. So far this year he has six listings from his HouseValues subscription, and four have already sold (transaction = commissions!).

The program has worked so well for him, that he now actively tells the "rookie" agents in his offer that they should try us out as well.

Thanks Luiz, and congratulations on your success!

One plus one...

From the HouseValues Mastermind Forum today:

Hello,

I joined JustListed in June 2006 and I just closed my first transaction from a lead that I received from JustListed. Not only do I have a client for life, but they gave me a referral!

Now on to number 2!

Cathy

Congratulations Leila!

Leila Hegle, our mortgage team's administrative assistant and an all-around fantastic HouseValues employee, just returned from maternity leave with pictures of her very cute baby. Here's one of our favorite pictures of Maya Isabella Hegle.

Congratulations Leila, it's great to have you back!

Her new personal assistant

Even though they don't start happy, these are some of my favorite stories from our customers. It starts with someone who's struggling with a new way of doing business, and ends with someone who's accelerating their earning potential and moving ahead of their competition. It's very exciting for us to see.

Sheila Green joined HouseValues in February of this year, and was initially not a believer. She told her coach she was unhappy with the leads, but decided to stick with the service. Six months later, she's glad she had patience. She has four active buyer prospects, and also has several listing prospects - all from her HouseValues leads. She loves the Market Leader system and e-mail templates, and told us she thinks of Market Leader as her personal assistant.

Great work, Sheila! We look forward to hearing about your success for months to come!

Happy MLS customers

Nice note sent below from one of our MLS partners. We work with dozens of the nation's largest Multiple Listing Services across the country, to help their members become more successful with integrated tools focused on building relationships for member real estate agents.

Critical to those relationships is a high level of trust, as well as a commitment to the security and privacy of customer and listing information. That's why it's so nice to get comments like this from our MLS partners.

“We are pleased to have HouseValues as one of our trusted business and technology partners. HouseValues is one of the real estate industry's leading providers of Internet Marketing tools and they have demonstrated the same level of commitment as Regional MLS in helping real estate brokers and agents be successful. Working with Third Party vendors requires business relationships built on trust, and HouseValues has consistently demonstrated their reliability and consistency in making sure the listing data we have entrusted them with is used properly.”

Kristen Carr
Director of Product Management
Regional MLS
Palm Beach, Florida

Congratulations Donna Harris!

Congratulations to Donna Harris, an Agent CEO from Richardson, Texas, who was named the July HouseValues Agent of the Month on today's Mastermind Call.

Donna has been with HouseValues for many years. In that time, she has become an asset to HouseValues and countless subscribers. She is very active on the MasterMind Forum offering her marketing strategies and success tips to other agents along with being a regular speaker at local seminars. In addition, Donna works her Market Leader system to the fullest by treating all leads equally and continually adding prospects of her own.

Said the "very surprised" Donna this morning when she heard the good news:

"Thank you so much, HouseValues!! I'm honored to receive this for the second time, and HouseValues has been a major asset to my business the past couple of years. I love HouseValues!"

Thank you Donna for all your valuable contributions to helping other agents have greater success in their own businesses.

Dan Volker's secret FSBO strategy

Exclusive for HouseValues Subscribers!

This morning's HouseValues Mastermind Call featured Dan Volker, a true Agent CEO and one of our most successful subscribers in the Chicago area. On the call today, Dan talked about his secrets to converting FSBO buyers into his own customers, including several documents he uses along the way.

Attached below are copies of the documents he uses. Thanks so much Dan for being willing to share these!

HouseValues subscribers - Feel free to download and emulate these tools in your own business. And good luck!

To find the FSBO package that Dan uses to successfully convert FSBO’s into transactions, follow the below link. Once you log in with below info, look for the File Sharing link and then the folder titled “Dan Volker’s Packet”

Click here to check out the site.

You will need to use one of the following generic logins:

Housevalues1@housevalues.com
Housevalues2@housevalues.com
Housevalues3@housevalues.com
Housevalues4@housevalues.com
Housevalues5@housevalues.com

All have the same password: housevalues

There is one hitch- only one person can be on the site at one time using the same log in. If person “A” chooses the housevalues1@housevalues.com login and another person tries to log in with same ID while “A” is still on the site, “A” will get bumped off. I’m told if “A” is in the middle of a download it will continue without a problem. Only when you try to go to another part of the site do you realize you’ve been bumped.

That’s why there’s 5 login ID’s.

Take a few minutes and play around with the site- it is pretty cool. Better yet, upload something for the rest of us to see.

Enjoy!!!

An inspiring story of recovery and success

An amazing story from an amazing agent on the HouseValues Mastermind Forum today:

I have just recently had a very serious motorcycle accident and was off work for the past 5 months, and to put some icing on the cake my business partner of 2 years downloads all of our database and up and quits our partnership and our Remax office.

Well here it is three weeks later and I have $1.4M on the books all closing by the end of September. All of these are from our HouseValues family. And I will tell you the HouseValues staff has been so kind to me through all of this mess. I am busier than ever.

Judy Dassinger
RE/MAX Absolute

Relationship-building pays off

Another success story send from a subscriber to her HouseValues coach:

To my wonderful coach-A Success Story!!!

A HouseValues lead came into my system in 2004. The questionaire said selling ASAP. I spoke to the owner and she decided it was not time to sell. On the email campaign she went. During one of our coaching sesions, you suggested I put some of my Prospects on a separate EMail Farm campaign.

The Prospect has now called me 2 years later and said I am ready to SELL. When I arrived to the appt. she said "Thank You for sending me all those e-mails. I'm not calling my Realtor, you sent me all the emails all this time".

No other Realtors were called in. They gave me the Survey, Floor Plan, and House Photo. The rapport was terrific. I walked out without the listing, but left the listing paperwork behind. I followed up two days later and We lsited the Property - $849,900!

Thank You HouseValues for all your training & the best propecting system out there!!!

Listings while on vacation

Great message received this morning from a customer leaving for vacation, and looking forward to making money while on his trip!

Here I am madly trying to get everything organized so that I can leave for a week’s Alaska cruise on Thursday, and lo and behold—yesterday a.m. I received a call on my cell phone from a HouseValues seller that entered our system January ’06. I had never spoken with them, but had left a complete hard copy package at their door. They had thanked me via email. They’ve been on my HouseValues newsletter and drip campaign.

When they called me yesterday, they said they were ready to list “now”, and when I entered their home, they welcomed me as their long time real estate advisor. It was amazing!! Further evidence of how effective the HouseValues system can be. These folks never spoke of interviewing others, trusted me completely for advise, and really gave me validation for my professionalism. The house will most likely sell before I return from my vacation!

Keep those leads coming!!!~

Dispatch from East Coast seminars last week

Quick break for me between seminars, and it's been awhile since I've given an update here. I'll try to be better about that moving forward.

Last week we were on the East Coast for three seminars.

In Stamford, Connecticut, we had five investors join us for the day. One mentioned to me that it was reassuring to realize how the market worked- agents continue to list and sell, especially after all the negative news about the housing market.

Also in Stamford, subscriber Mary Stetson was an outstanding speaker. She spoke about how she built her entire brokerage business around our system and the leads. It is a competitive edge in recruiting. Mark Norman told the audience that he was impressed with the traffic to HomePages.com so far, as well as the response from consumers. He also mentioned that the consumers who go to HomePages tend to be ready to act more quickly than consumers on other Web sites he has worked with. He has HouseValues, JustListed and now HomePages and he loves the entire program.

In New Brunswick, Frank Glaush was our guest speaker. He is a part time agent who started with HouseValues a couple years ago, then added JustListed buyer leads about a year and a half ago. He said he wanted to get started in real estate while he was in the process of selling his restaurant. He didn’t want to be without income for 6 months. He sold his restaurant, it closes end of Sept at which time he will go full time in real estate. He mentioned that he could never have done that without HouseValues. He just wouldn’t have had time to prospect for leads and follow-up while running the restaurant at the same time.

In Morristown, New Jersey, Sheldon Neal spoke about all of the showing he has had thanks to his JustListed leads, with another offer being written up this. He credits his success to the fact that he has a "0: response time. He gets a "money call" from a customer, and stops at home, his office, or a library to respond immediately to each request.

More dispatches from the road soon. In the meantime, you can check out my other musings at AgentCEO.com.


Categories: Customer_Success_Stories, Real_Estate_Trends

Good start to the week

Here a transcript from a voicemail received earlier today from a new subscriber:

"Hello, Timothy. I just have signed up with HouseValues.com, and I just wanted to let you know, I think my official start date was July 31st--something like that. Today is the 12th of August and I have my first listing that I just signed today that was a lead directly from HouseValues.com. I'm expecting this house to sell pretty quickly because of the list price we've got on it and this one commission will fund the contract I had with you guys for the whole year. So I'm pretty stoked about it and I just wanted to call and let somebody know."


Categories: Customer Success Stories

80 transactions in the pipeline this year

Brandon Taylor with Elite Capital Group has been a mortgage customer with HouseValues for just over a year. With just three years under his belt as a mortgage professional, he's already closed an impressive ten loans from the mortgage leads he receives through HouseValues.

Even more impressive, he expects to close 80 TOTAL leads from HouseValues in 2006, based on his current pipeline.

“The quality of the leads and how the leads fit our Business Model is helping us succeed," he told us. "We have unique selling skills here; therefore it was hard to find a lead provider that could serve us as well as HouseValues does. There isn’t anything that makes us happier than almost closing 40% of the leads we receive from HouseValues…You can’t do any better than that!”


Categories: Customer Success Stories, Mortgage Trends

Sellers love listings, too!

Gary Phieler joined HouseValues from RE/MAX Select Realtors in Indianapolis last October, and has focused on working prospective home seller leads. Just recently, he worked with his HouseValues coach to add home listing emails to his follow-up strategy with those sellers. The HouseValues-provided tool he's using is called eMLS. Here's what Gary told his coach recently about the results:

"The eMLS strategy has produced two listing appointments. I'm excited! One is a HouseValues lead I didn't even have the phone number on, and the other is one of my old clients.

Hope you had a great weekend, soon we'll be reaching for the stars and grabbing hold."

Great job Gary, using the power and allure of home listings to engage your prospects and earn more business!

When 10 transactions isn't good enough

Paulette Blackwood-Tate joined HouseValues from RE/MAX Northwest in Cypress, Texas last November, and since that time has closed an impressive 10 transactions from her leads.

But despite her success, she seens the opportunity to grow her business even more.

"I get impatient," she told us. "I have had 10 closings so far but absolutely want more. I am in Houston and there are so many agents and so many properties. I am making a goal to work the leads harder and follow up consistently."

Paulette recently added more local leads to her transaction to help with her growing income goals. Great work Paulette!

A thank you worth sharing

Darlene Mayernik is a new subscriber from Hamilton Square, New Jersey. Here's a note she sent in late last week to the account executive who signed her up:

I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for getting me started with HouseValues. This system has proven to be one of the best things that I have done for my business. I have only been a subscriber for a couple of months now and have already listed a home. I’m about to list another at the end of the month and have a few others that are getting ready to list their home. I just can't say thank you enough. Keep up the great work!!!

Darlene Mayernik

Seven closings already this month

Congratulations are in order for Ron Nelson and John Tenold from Quick Mortgage Services in Spokane, Washington.

They've closed seven loans from HouseValues mortgage leads already this month, and there's plenty of month left to go! HouseValues provides 63% of the mortgage leads John and Ron receive in their office, and they're thrilled with the ROI!

Congratulations guys!

Twice the income of other area agents

Greg Nino joined HouseValues in January of this year in the Houston market. After just seven months, he's already on pace to exceed $100,000 in income this year, twice that of the average agent in Houston.

Here's more in Greg's own words:


“I’ve been a real estate agent for two years and have tried other lead generation companies before joining HouseValues. I was skeptical about subscribing to HouseValues at first because I hadn’t had much success with other companies. It took about a month to see results because I was stuck in my traditional ways of marketing my business and in the beginning did not take advantage of the Market Leader system provided.

When I started to see the value of Market Leader, I put all my contacts into the database. I’ve closed a number of transactions from prospects imported into Market Leader. From my HouseValues pipeline, I average four transactions and $14,000 in commissions each month. I expect to do $100,000 in business this year, while the average agent in my market is doing $40,000-$50,000.

Next year, I expect to increase my business by 50% with the help of HouseValues. I went into this with the understanding that I’ll get out of it what I put into it – money and time wise. When I’m not showing homes I’m working my leads through Market Leader. My original thought was if I can make $6,000 from HouseValues within the first year everything else will be gravy. I’m happy to say I’ve far exceeded my expectations. Thank you, HouseValues!”

Congratulations Greg!

Two months, five listings...

Here's a Friday afternoon toast to Steven Johnston, a HouseValues subscriber for just the past two months out of Ogden, Utah. By working closely with his leads and providing outstanding customer service, Steven has earned four listings in the past two months.

His fifth? Listed today.

Congratulations Steven!

Treat every prospective customer equally

Why is it important to treat every Internet lead equally? Because you really have no idea where thse leads could go, and what kind of business they could become.

Case in point: The below story from a customer today:


I have a buyer who came in to me with just a first initial and a last name. Wouldn't answer any initial follow ups via email, gave no phone number, nada...

On Monday, I got an email from a very nice lady telling me what she expects in a Realtor and if I would help her and her husband. Voila, 4 months later and I finally have a first name!!

So, I'm trying to get information out of her and she's being very vague. I told her it's OK to not talk in specifics right now, but bottom line is we need to get pre-approved for a loan. Turns out her father is a mortgage guy and her husband is a Seattle Seahawks player and they don't want Dad to know his income!!

Anyway, I thought it was funny! I've said it many times before, you just never know what type of leads you're going to get! They'll respond to you when they're ready and it'll be on their terms, not yours!

Pictures are worth a thousand...

It's one thing to read what someone has written, but it's another thing to see them say it.

You know what I mean. When you watch someone say something, you can tell whether or not they mean it. You can tell how passionate they are about it. You can tell how much it means to them.

Below are links to five video interviews with HouseValues subscribers recorded last summer. It's exciting to be able to share these to a broader audience, as we think the "fire" in their eyes says a lot about how passionate they are about what they're doing, and what they're saying.

Enjoy!

• Jennifer Seidelman
• Tami Boni
• Joel Persinger (pictured here)
• Staci Dancey
• David Albertson

Two listings a week!

Don Love, a long-time successful Agent CEO from Portland, Oregon, has been with HouseValues since Jaunary of 2000. For those keeping score at home, that's more than six years as a subscriber. He was truly one of the very first subscribers in the Portland area, and has been an inspiration, counselor, guide and mentor to literally thousands of HouseValues subscribers since.

Don's one of those guys we don't hear from as much anymore, mainly because he's so busy running his business. Portland isn't unlike a lot of markets these days, slowing down from the frenetic pace of the past couple years.

But we got a call from Don today, who was catching his breath between client meetings. He's managing a database of nearly 3,000 prospective home buyers and sellers now.

And despite a slower market, he's averaging two home listings a week. Now THAT is a successful real estate business.

And everything else is gravy...

Vanessa Crelia, an Agent CEO and HouseValues subscriber in Yuma, Arizona, was a quick HouseValues system convert. Here's what she recently wrote to us:

“I’ve been in business for seven years as the owner of a relocation company. I got my real estate license to provide an additional service to my clients. I signed up with JustListed a month later and started receiving buyer leads. I expect to close my first JustListed deal within 45 days of becoming a subscriber! The purchase price on this home is $182,000 and the commission amount of $4,550 more than pays for my first year’s subscription! I’m also currently working with six short-term JustListed buyers and of these, one deal will be in contract next week. This system has been phenomenal! Thank you, JustListed! ”

Spreading the word about HomePages

Check out the great new video being featured at HouseValues seminars this summer, promoting in greater detail how real estate agents nationwide are winning more business and earning more money with a subscription to HomePages.

It's a fun video to watch, with a suprise cameo appearance at the end. Loyal readers of this blog will already know what we're talking about!

Check it out!

Customers helping customers

I love our customers, and I LOVE watching them work to make each other successful. If one agent is having a bad day, others work to pick him or her up. If one is facing a challenge in her business, others jump in to offer advice and encouragement.

Case in point yesterday on our Mastermind Forum. A relatively new customer expressed some confusion with how to work with some of his newer prospects, and several "veteran" subscribers jumped in to help.

The below post from Lisa Creed (posted here with her permission) is an example of the responses this new customer received. It's not unusual to see this kind of exchange on the Forum on a regular basis.


Ian:

I want to encourage you to work the system. Keep in mind that it's a numbers game. Don't get caught up in the "won'ts" or "don'ts" people. I challenge you to really commit to working the system hard. You stand a much better chance at whatever you are doing with a "CAN DO" attitude. When the bashers ask "hows that workin for ya?" you say..."It's great, I'm adding people left and right to my database"

You soon realize that HouseValues is more than a lead generator...it can be a great tool in your business. Search the posts and ask as many questions as possible. Lots of people here are willing to share and encourage you!!

I have been with HouseValues since Feb. ( however I didn't really work the system until a few months ago) Now I have two HouseValues listings and have scheduled my first buyer transaction to close the end of this month. Those 3 leads alone will more than cover my subscription! We have lots of what I would consider warmed up leads that are simmering in Market Leader. :)

I now have regular coaching appointments I am committed to. I try and get on as many Mastermind Calls as possible I have found for me the things I am really committed to doing -- I write down, (in my daytimer, in my phone/palm, online calendar etc.) That's just what works for me. I write my time spent on HouseValues and JustListed in my daytimer along with all the other appointments or reminders.

YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

" It's A TEAM Thing "
Lisa Creed
Arlington, Tx

Great work in Yakima

Our team in Yakima, now more than 100 strong, is doing great work for our customers.

Yesterday, three of our Yakima sales reps were promoted to Senior Account Executive status, a designation that recognizes extraordinary achievement in helping new real estate professionals grow their businesses with HouseValues.

Pictured here (from left to right) are new Yakima Senior Account Executives Heather Henretig, Liberty Andis, and Justin Huston.

Congratulations, guys, and thanks for working to hard to make our customers successful!

A video blast from the past

In May of 2003, HouseValues held its second-annual Success Summit in Seattle, hosting several hundred customers for a three-day conference focused on helping make them better, more successful real estate professionals.

Over the course of the three days, we invited several subscribers to sit in front of a camera and talk about their experiences with HouseValues. This video was the result. It's been in the HouseValues Vault for awhile, but thanks to the magic of YouTube it's back!

Four days in, and already impressed!

When real estate agents join HouseValues, they aren’t just buying leads. They’re getting a comprehensive, proven marketing system, and joining an exclusive network of top-producing real estate professionals.

Steve Neuenschwander has been with us for just four days, and is already impressed by what he sees. His post below, from the Mastermind Forum yesterday, touches on many aspects of the service he already appreciates, including the people behind the scenes that make it so powerful.

“This is my first time on the forum. I am so new to this, that my coach just said hi!. 4 days and counting. Already, I am impressed with the system, the people who built it. The reps behind the scenes and those that are on the phones. I have been approached before by others, but either they wanted my wallet or send leads that resemble junk bonds. I find this forum very educational. This is refreshing to find so many positive pros in one spot. Thanks, and looking forward to meeting you all.”