Is Real Estate Still in a Slump?

After the crash in the housing market, real estate was hit by the worst recession in our nation’s history. Frankly, brokers took a beating and operated at a loss for a number of years. Since the low point, things have been steadily been improving. There was a lot of speculation that the foreclosure volume in the hardest hit markets were clogging up the supply side. As we turned the corner, these distressed properties were slowly released into the marketplace and they are mostly absorbed. There was a two to three year heyday for brokers and agents who specialized in REO [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:20-07:00March 28th, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Is Real Estate Still in a Slump?

Northwood Realty Launches Training Website for Their Agents

About Northwood Northwood Realty is among the largest independent real estate companies in America. They cover multiple states and their 38 offices are focused mainly on the densely populated areas of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. They are a full service firm with 974 agents, offering residential, finance, relocation, and insurance. Northwood is pioneering a program for agent training that introduces an effective model for other brokers to consider. It’s called Northwood Tech Trainers. About Northwood Trainers Northwood deploys five field trainers to support just under 1000 agents.  The ratio is effectively one trainer to every 200 agents. The field [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:20-07:00March 24th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on Northwood Realty Launches Training Website for Their Agents

LeadingRE, Miami Beach and Marketing Automation

The Fontainebleau in Miami Beach recently hosted LeadingRE. It’s always happens during what I like to think of as the real estate brokerage convention season. Keller Williams, with its Family Reunion, preceded it in New Orleans and RE/MAX R4 followed it in Las Vegas. If you really want to get a feel for the real estate market in America, these conferences are a great place to gauge what is really happening on the ground because the preponderance of attendees are broker-owners. Conferences that target industry leaders or tech companies or the intelligentsia of real estate are great for forward thinking, [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:21-07:00March 16th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on LeadingRE, Miami Beach and Marketing Automation

Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Turns Buyers Into An Asset

About the Firm When outlining broker excellence, it is always helpful to begin by painting a picture of the company that is executing an effective strategy. There are many dimensions to operating a successful brokerage. Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International real estate finds its success by serving consumers along the North Shore of Long Island from Manhasset to the North Fork where they operate 25 offices to support about 850 agents. Real Trends ranks the firm 59th in the Nation across all brokerage for volume, and fourth in America among Sotheby’s franchises. They are among the first brokerage firms in the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:21-07:00March 16th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Press Releases|Comments Off on Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Turns Buyers Into An Asset

Reducing Agent Attrition – Marketing to your Agents

Brokers across America do a great job of promoting their listings to potential home buyers and sellers with attractive flyers, online promotions, open houses, and effective website promotion, not to mention MLS promotion. Most brokers have a well-oiled system for building attractive marketing materials to sell their listings quickly. In my view, there’s a hole in the focus of marketing departments. Very few of the brokerages that we work focus on promoting their OWN brand and service offerings to their OWN agents. Brokers like to complain about the lack of adoption of tools and technologies. They wistfully talk about the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:21-07:00March 16th, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Marketing|Comments Off on Reducing Agent Attrition – Marketing to your Agents

I Didn’t Hire FOUR Listing Agents!

There’s nothing like becoming an ACTUAL customer of a product to give you a different perspective. I have looked at Zillow and other third party sites a gazillion times in my career as a consultant, but it took actually selling a home to really open my eyes. We held onto our home in Buffalo, New York for a long time after moving to California. This year we finally decided to sell it. Once the home was live on third party sites, I became very interested in the agents who were featured on the property. I called each one to experience [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:21-07:00March 16th, 2016|Broker-Agent Information|Comments Off on I Didn’t Hire FOUR Listing Agents!

Florida Realtors® Tech Helpline Records 20% Growth in 50 Days

It's one thing for a new tech Startup to grow rapidly, and quite another for a tech service that has been around for 15 years to grow 20 percent in just 50 days. But that's exactly the incredible accomplishment that Florida Realtors® has registered: 9 new state and local associations and nearly 90,000 new members in 50 days. Tricia Stamper, who manages Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline, and her team at Florida Realtors have done just that. They're also growing Form Simplicity, their transaction management software firm by targeting Real Estate Brokerages with a highly affordable "white label" service so brokers can [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:22-07:00March 2nd, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Press Releases|Comments Off on Florida Realtors® Tech Helpline Records 20% Growth in 50 Days

HomeSpotter Revolutionizes MLS Mobile Access

If you have a newer iPhone, you have embraced fingerprint access. You put your finger on the home button which reads your print and opens your phone—or your bank account, or any other app that leverages fingerprint access versus password access. Depending on your MLS, typing in your username and password multiple times a day can be painful, especially on a mobile device. With HomeSpotter, it is just a touch away. HomeSpotter is a mobile MLS application. It provides the benefits of accessing the MLS through a mobile app rather than mobile web. An app provides formatting benefits that mobile [...]

Three Drivers of Economic Growth

Sometimes, business owners fail to understand or focus on the basic elements of growing a business. As a consulting firm, we have a distance from the business that allows us to see things that business operators often miss. The funny thing is that we miss them in our own business. I remember talking to my Uncle Albert about this as a kid. He owned a house painting business that was very successful. It afforded him the opportunity to live on Plain Street in Historic Lewiston, NY. It is a charming street of grand, three-story homes with pillared center entrances. Because [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:22-07:00February 22nd, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Marketing, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Three Drivers of Economic Growth

Why Agents Should Never Use Personal eMail

I saw a news article recently about why real estate agents should use their personal email addresses. The article talked about the 10,000 selfish reasons why it benefits the Realtor®. It was a grand display of the underbelly of self-centered real estate professionals. I am here to tell you that using a personal email for real estate business is STUPID and perhaps illegal. The communications between a real estate agent and a consumer are subject to the real estate laws in your state. They are communications that happen under the supervision of the agent’s real estate broker. They are covered [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 19th, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|1 Comment

Be a Part of the Change!

WAV Group is a part of strategic plans very often for some of the largest MLSs and Associations in our industry. When conducting strategic plans we hear from brokers and board members that their organization is out of touch with today’s reality. So how do you get your board in touch? You can pay thousands of dollars for several of your board members to attend industry events. Many of these events can be very valuable for the content that is presented, the networking, and peer-to-peer learning. The CMLS conference and the AEI conference are two great opportunities for MLSs and Associations to get in [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 18th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights, Our Services, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Be a Part of the Change!

Brokers Talk Marketing Webinar Invitation

  WAV Group supports brokerage companies in selecting and implementing marketing automation software. Firms of all sizes need and easy to use, a one stop shop for agents to access all of the marketing tools that power their success.  Last year we worked with Hunt Real Estate and others as they integrated their chosen solution into their broker back office solution.  Dan Mirsky of Hunt Real Estate will be joined by marketing executives from Berkshire Hathaway, Coldwell Banker, and RE/MAX to share their perspectives on the experiences they have had with marketing automation. Joining the call with be automated marketing [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:25-07:00January 15th, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off on Brokers Talk Marketing Webinar Invitation