Staying on Top

“I have been here since June 2006 and haven't had a HouseValues or JustListed sale yet; however, I've put all my clients information in the market leader system and it keeps me on top of email campaigns and follow-ups as well. But not only that, I've built a nice pipeline with over 20 buyers and several have already contacted me. If nothing else, this market leader system keeps me organized and in front of my people. They all tell me that I respond quickly to them. I've even put renters in it and send them buying info as well, because one day, they too will purchase. It is well worth its weight in gold and I love it, even if I didn't get leads as well! There is nothing like organization because I don't always have the time to remember what 5 people need, let alone 20! This system is powerful and I haven't even used everything it has to offer.”

- Michelle Hudson

All in the Numbers

We want to congratulate Sue Breckinridge out of Lakewood, CO for getting her first listing with HouseValues. She received the seller lead in October, followed up with a CMA, and soon after won the listing!

Sue understands it’s a numbers game and the more she builds her pipeline, the more leads she will see transact. As leads come in, she puts them into Market Leader to manage them along the way. She anticipates more listings to come and for those prospects that are not ready to sell right away -- well the referral business she is getting from them in the meantime is well worth the wait.

1 Lead Turns Into 3 Transactions, 4th Deal in the Works

Anne Lackey out of Norcross, GA wrote in the other day to let us know about her success. Here’s what she had to say about her experience with HouseValues:

“I have a contract for one of the HouseValues leads. No closing yet – It will be in January. This would be our 4th deal.

I have closed three transactions from one HouseValues lead -- a buyer who was getting divorced and then we ended up finding his ex-wife a home and picked up the listing of their current resident. It was with another broker who apparently didn’t let them know that he/she could find them a house. We sold the listing very quickly and found the two places to live resulting in three closings.”

Thanks for sharing Anne!

Paving the Road to Success

Amy Rogers out of Coon Rapids, MN started her career as a real estate agent in February 2006 and started working with Internet buyer leads right away. She closed on a home in November and is also working with a JustListed prospect who has selected Amy to list her home and help her purchase another.

She puts all of her buyer leads in Market Leader to keep in touch with them and send listing emails on a regular basis. Her contacts comment on how professional her emails look and how they appreciate all of her hard work. The beauty of it is that the emails are automatically sent for her once she enters the name in the system. She is confident she has a few more sales in the works, due to consistent communication back and forth.

Amy is definitely an agent to watch in 2007! Congratulations on an outstanding first year!

Happy Buyer, Happy Agent

Catherine Miller out of Bloomington, IL signed up with JustListed to receive Internet buyer leads 2.5 months ago and is already having success. Last week she closed her first JustListed deal for $176,500, earning $5,200 in commissions.

In addition to this closing, she is actively working with two additional JustListed buyers in which she is optimistic will transact in the near future.

Now that's the spirit!

"Feeding Your Funnel"

Orlando, FL HouseValues subscriber Jim Tomlinson shares his success story and advice to other members of the HouseValues MasterMind forum:

“I'm not talking about the Wrigley's DoubleMint Gum Twins. I'm talking about maximizing your time making the Mini CMA deliveries.

This just happened today.

As I was out dropping off my mini CMA packets, I passed a day care center very close to one of my HouseValues prospects. So, I circled the block so I could drop by and ask about the neighborhood. I met the actual owner of the day care center who was locking up the place.
Here is what she said: "Wow, you won't believe this. I am so glad you dropped by. My husband and I were just pre-qualified for a home up to $500K and we wanted an agent that wasn't a friend or family member. We couldn't think of any...then you showed up."

I told her what I was doing in the neighborhood, and how I offer personal service. She couldn't grab pen and paper fast enough to give me ALL of her information.

She is now on an email drip campaign and listings search.

Lesson: FEED YOUR FUNNEL!”

2 Transactions, $13,947 in Commissions in 6 Months

As we always say, the success of our customers is #1. And hearing about it? Well, that’s even better! Just the other day, HouseValues subscriber Jim Roehrenbeck out of Columbus, OH wrote in to let us know about the success he is having with the Internet seller leads he has been working with for the last six months.

Hear his success story in his words:

“I have been blessed. I've closed two HouseValues leads for a total commission of $13,947. I have another lead that I anticipate closing on in 2007. The Internet works.

THANKS.”

Jim Roehrenbeck
THE ROEHRENBECK GROUP

HouseValues Agent By Day - Artist By Night

HouseValues subscriber John MacArthur a successful real estate agent out of Silver Spring, MD has found the time in his busy life as a Realtor to nurture his artistic vision and talent. Click here to see his amazing work!

6 Transactions 1 Year

Colorado Springs, CO agent Deanne Grienier shares the fantastic success she has had with her JustListed systems on the HouseValues MasterMind forum:

“Hi Dean, I was a worried too when I first signed on last Feb and I've closed 6 transactions using the JustListed system. My first closing with JustListed was in May. I worked the system daily.”

Persistence Pays Off

HouseValues subscriber Dean Lawthers from Kelseyville, CA celebrates his first transaction to the rest of the HosueValues MasterMind fourm community:

"I have been waiting for this day so that I could register a post and let everyone know that this program does work. This is my first post to this forum. I read a lot of the posts and follow a lot of your successes and frustrations but if I don't have anything different to say than what you are posting. As many of you have mentioned you have to slog throught the muck and mire of bad phone numbers, incorrect Email addresses, and people who just really aren't interested in working with you to get to the point where you actually get a good lead that results in a sale.

All I can say is that the system worked for me. I told myself that I would give it one year to see if the money I spent for the year was worth it. I can now say without hesitation that it does!! I just had a closing on Thursday 12-14-06 on a home that I had the buyers on. They came to me through my HouseValues subscription and it took 12 months but my patience paid off.

I have been a subscriber since January 2006 and this is my first sale but the over $6000 dollars that I made from the commission pays me almost double what I paid for my fee for this past year. Consequently I will continue to work the system by sending emails to phony addresses and trying to call incorrect numbers and waiting for responses that will most likely never come. That is the way the system works and if you work the system, the system will work for you."

Debbie Hart, Centoni Real Estate Professionals

Debbie Hart with Centoni Real Estate Professionals out of Walnut Creek, CA has been a full-time real estate agent for over 30 years.

In this short video interview, she shares how the HouseValues system is helping her maintain a successful business in the East San Francisco Bay area.

Agent Offers Instant Service to Internet Buyers Leads

Lamar Pittman out of Valdosta, GA has been in real estate for three years. He signed up to receive JustListed buyer leads in June 2006 and has already closed two transactions. In addition to his recent deals, he is actively showing homes to four prospective home buyers.

The secret to his success is responding to all leads immediately. Lamar believes that instant service is what the buyer wants. He maintains his short turnaround time by responding to all leads immediately. He puts all of his leads into his Market Leader contact management system to automatically follow up with them and set them up on email campaigns to receive listings and other home buyer information on a regular basis. This allows him to keep his name in front of his clients and stand apart from the competition.

Cultivating Internet Buyer Leads Takes Time

Brian Burkart out of Prior Lake, MN has been a real estate agent for 13 years and joined HouseValues in June 2005. He was uncertain about seeing a return on his investment when he first signed up to receive JustListed buyer leads, but decided he would have to commit himself to working the sytem to see any type of results.

Within time he learned that cultivating Internet buyer leads takes time and after a year he started seeing results. He has closed four transactions with JustListed, earning $20,000 in commissions. He has two more deals pending that came to him through his JustListed pipeline.

System Builds Intimate Relationships with Little Effort

Tim Rogers shares on the MasterMind forum how his HouseValues system incubates his prospects for him so he can move in and close the deal when they are ready:

“So I'm sitting in my office this morning minding my own business when the phone rings and it is a HouseValues lead from Virginia that I completed a CMA for about two months ago. I put her on the short term seller email campaign and -Splash- today she calls and wants me to list her home in State College, PA.

The most interesting part of the conversation was her comment that we had been talking for two months about selling her home. I can assure you I never talked with her once. The drip campaign emails did all of the talking but in her mind we had been talking the entire two months. Her tone on the phone was that of someone that she was familiar with and had talked with many times.

How great is this! Now the work begins but it wouldn't have happened without HouseValues.”

Scared of Santa

Nothing says Happy Holidays like a photo of sweet little toddlers screaming at Santa. Just a little bit of Friday Funny Business before we go into the weekend!

"It Is Funny How Things Turn Out"

The HouseValues MasterMind fourm is a hot spot for subscribers to give their success tips to other agents. JustListed subscriber David Weiner gives useful tips on how to work the system and leads:

"In response to Yolanda about phony emails, let me point out a coincidence that happen to me just yesterday. I received a JustListed request and MarketLeader let the email is a duplicate. After checking my Listbuilder, I found out the email address was different by one numeral!! Turns out I could never originally send out information from way back in April, so automatically I had just archived it and moved on. Now I get this new request with the similar email and I called the number to find out was an agent trying to locate properties in a certain price range!! As polite as I could be, I did point out this really good program is for homeowners/buyers. If she would like to participate with HouseValues or JustListed I would recommend her. So now I have $50 credit coming on a new referral, plus I have someone who is working with me on co-brokering properties.... all I can say.....funny how things happen. While it may seem like a phony email, you can check the phone number of the person, or by the address given. If all else fails simply Archive it but do not delete it....it may come back in the future as something you can write here in the MasterMind forum!!"

HouseValues Customer Care Free Falling

Ryan Shipley a HouseValues customer care team lead literally will jump out of the sky for our customers. Above is a recent picture of Ryan from 13500 feet:

$840,000 in Sales Volume

Real estate agent David A. Burgan out of Rotonda West, FL is having great success with Internet buyer leads. To reach online prospective home buyers, he signed up with JustListed last spring.

Within nine months, his sales volume has reached $840,000, earning $18,000 in commissions. His secret to success: Follow up with each lead as quick as possible.

The Pay Off

Marvin “Butch” Henderson out of Madeira Beach, FL wasn’t entirely sure he made the right decision when he signed up to receive Internet seller leads. After attending a HouseValues seminar he realized the importance of increasing his pipeline and connecting with prospective home sellers online was just the solution for growing his business.

It’s been a year now since he joined HouseValues and his decision to continue working the leads is paying off. Marvin recently secured a $2.6 million dollar listing that will go on the market next spring.

Working the Leads, Writing Up Offers in Wenatchee

Last month, we highlighted the success Erin and Blaine Davidson out of Wenatchee, WA were having in their first few weeks as real estate agents and with JustListed.

It’s been a little over a month since this dynamic-duo started their new careers and in a note sent in by Erin, it sounds like things are going very well.

In her own words, Erin explains the success she is having with JustListed so far:

“I just wanted to let you know that I am now working on writing up an offer from my SECOND JUSTLISTED LEAD!!!

The first one is a condo for about $150,000 looking to close on the 15th of December.

The second is a beautiful new construction for $410,000 looking to close in January!!!”

For Erin, it’s all about following-up and being consistent with all leads.