One of the most popular methods of getting some literal foot traffic into a home is by offering a open house. It gives people an open invitation to browse the property. It gives them a chance to try things out before they decide to make a commitment, but do open houses really work, or do they just create more work for the real estate agent and the homeowner?

What would be considered a good conversion rate for an open house? An excellent conversion rate would be upwards of 50%, but open house conversions don’t quite stand up to those numbers. If you are planning an open house, then this article is not meant to burst your bubble, but less than two percent of all open houses convert into a sale that was a direct result of the open house. That is not a very good conversion.

What is the problem?
A lot of people that come to open houses never have any intentions of buying the property. An open house can be a great way to socialize and take advantage of free food and drinks. You may not think that people do this, but they do.

There are plenty of other reasons that open houses never convert. There could be poor communication between the real estate agent and the interested home buyers. People don’t always buy something the very first time that they see it. It may take weeks or months of follow ups to convince them that a purchase is the right choice. Is the real estate agent following up with all of the prospects? It can be difficult to follow up with everyone that attended the open house, but if the real estate agent knows what they are doing, then they should not have any problems following up.

Following up is also much more than a simple phone call, email or thank you. Over 40% of all real estate agents never follow up at all. That is why open houses are not converting as well as they should be. The other 60% will follow up with a simple thank you phone call or email. That is great, and the prospective home buyers will appreciate that, but it is not enough to convert them into a sale. This is where almost 100% of all real estate agents stop, but they need to continue with those follow ups in order to convert a curious home buyer into a sign on the dotted line home buyer.

The whole concept of buying and selling a home is exactly like match making. It takes a perfect match of buyer and seller to complete the deal. Making this perfect match is the key, and that is where the similarities of match making and real estate are exactly the same. You have to find two like minded people who are interested in the same things. The buyer should have something that the seller wants, and the seller should have something that the buyer wants. When the two meet, there is a match, and there is a successful transaction. This is how real estate transactions should work, but just like dating, it can be very difficult to have a successful match.

In the real estate market, who is the match maker? It can be anyone. It could be the person that is selling the house. It could be the person that is buying the house. It could even be the home inspector. Most of the times the real estate match maker is the real estate agent. That is their job. It is what they do for a living.

If you are buying a home, then you need the best match maker on your side. You need a real estate agent that has been established for quite some time. A seasoned real estate agent should have a huge mailing list of prospective clients. This list is where the match making begins. The real estate agent will know exactly what customers are looking for and they will be able to pair your home with a home buyer. That is how real estate match making should work.

People that are selling their homes are not the only ones that can benefit from a little bit of real estate match making either. If you are selling your home then having a real estate agent on your side can be a huge advantage. The real estate agent will have connections, and it could be as quick as just a few days before your house sells with the help of a real estate agent. Again, this is how real estate match making should work.

With today’s technology real estate match making happens even faster. Web sites are helping people make the match that they deserve. There has never been a better way to pair up a home buyer with someone that is selling a piece of property.

Being successful in the real estate market is all about being able to communicate with your clients as fast as possible. Having information delivered to you is crucial. More and more real estate agents are depending on their mobile devices for all of their communication needs, and they are using apps to get and organize all of their data. Here is a small list of the current most popular real estate apps available for mobile devices.

Google Calendar – Where would a real estate agent be without a quick and easy to use calendar that can be synced to just about any type of device no matter where you go. That is just one of the many things that the Google calendar app can do, and that is just one of the reasons that it is so popular. For many real estate professionals, this app has been a life saver, and it is free.

Evernote – Evernote is like sticky notes on steroids for your mobile device, but it does so much more. It also allows you quick access to these notes across a variety of different platforms. Share files, keep tabs on deadlines, and have all of your contact information synced right at your fingertips. This powerful app is quickly becoming a must have for real estate professionals.

Path – Path is another smart phone app that is quickly becoming more than a social network. Path is also becoming a great way for real estate agents to share information about properties across a wide variety of social networks with just the touch of a screen. Real estate professionals are keeping in touch with Path.

Google Currents – Yet another very popular app from the search engine giant Google. This app allows real estate professionals to keep in touch with content that they read on a daily basis. Instead of having to go to multiple sources for your content, Google Currents brings it all right to your Android powered devices, and your iPad and iPhone. Google Currents allows people in the real estate profession to stay current with information that is important to them.

The mobile app market is changing the way that people in the real estate world do business, and it is changing the way they send and receive information too. Making the most of these apps can help your real estate business no matter how big it is.

You may be thinking to yourself, “What does Google have to do with real estate web sites?” Google has everything to do with every type of website. They are the number one source of natural traffic for a lot of webmasters. When they decide to make a change in the way they bring people relevant search results every single website that is listed in Google’s search engine is affected by the change, even sites that are solely based on real estate.

Google is trying to make their search results better. They are constantly refining and tweaking the way web sites appear in their search results on a daily basis. These changes can be minor, and they can also be quite significant.

Google is at a constant battle with people that try to manipulate their website in the search engine results. Recently Google made some very significant changes in the way some websites appear in the search engine results, and this huge change has had a huge affect on many web sites that fuel the real estate industry.

If your real estate web site has seemed to slow down a bit, you may need to focus on a few things to help it out.

Creating content is one of the best ways for Realtors to help showcase their properties and the areas that they currently service. The key here is to create high quality content that actually provides a benefit to the buyer. In most cases Realtors should be doing this anyways. It is content like this that will help a real estate web site rise to the top of the search results naturally. Being at the top will help fuel the real estate agent’s sales, which in turn will help fuel the entire real estate market.

Google is not your only source for great traffic. If you are in the real estate profession, and you are not using social networking as part of your marketing plans, then you are missing out on a golden opportunity.

People like to communicate, that much we all know, but people like to communicate good and bad news on an equal level, and most people like to spread the word via various social networking platforms. A well written piece of content that gives the viewer what they want can quickly spread through an entire social network like a wild fire. The end result is a ton of targeted traffic delivered to your website.

Social media is here to stay. It was only a matter of time before it became one of the greatest networking and marketing tools on the planet, and at the rate things are changing today, social media will be here for a long time to come.

Social media has its place in regular marketing, but it also has its place in real estate marketing. Social media works in everyone’s favor.

Home Buyers – If you are shopping for a home, then social media can help you jump start the shopping process. By tuning in to various social media outlets, you can quickly see what is available on the market, and one of the greatest things about using social media for home shopping is the sense of instant gratification that it provides.

Social media is always on, all day, all night. Home buyers that have a smart phone are constantly connected, and they can be notified of a house for sale within seconds. If the listing is something of interest, then the home buyer can quickly contact the person that is selling the home.

Real Estate Professionals – There are many people that are involved in the purchase or sale of a home. Real estate agents are not the only ones that are using social media to their advantage. Real estate websites that offers homes for sale and homes for rent are also taking advantage of social media, and these types of websites are delivering more information right into a home buyer’s hands. Convenience can easily make or break a sale, and social media makes buying a home very convenient.

In an age where people expect information almost instantly, social media has helped to fill that void. More and more homes are being sold using social media each and every day. If you are not currently using social media, you may be missing out.

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In the real estate market a picture is worth a lot more than a thousand words. It can be worth thousands of dollars if it helps sell a home. Technology is rapidly changing all of this. Great pictures can still help sell houses, but videos are becoming even more popular and even more powerful selling tools. Real estate professionals are taking advantage of video, and homeowners are too. Here are some tips to create that perfect home selling video.

Don’t go crazy with it.
Having too many cooks in the kitchen can really slow down the video creation process. It will work best if there are just one or two people that are in control of the video shooting and editing process. Yes, you will be required to do some editing if you want your video to look more professional and convert more lookers into buyers.

Stick to the K.I.S.S. Theory.
Keep it simple stupid! If you try to overproduce your video with all kinds of flashy video effects, then you will be taking away from the whole point, which is to show a home buyer what the house looks like in motion. Keep the production values nice and clean, and your house tour video will convert into more sales.

You don’t need a high tech video camera!
You can make a great video using nothing but some really nice still images of the house. You can just loop them all together to showcase and highlight the best areas of the house. There are quite a few free video creation tools online, and you most likely have one already on your computer, but you just don’t know about it.

Lights, Camera, Action!
Now it is time to shoot your award winning home video, and you don’t need some crazy high tech video camera to do it. In fact, you might have the perfect video camera right in your pocket. Almost every single cell phone has a high quality video camera built right into the phone. You can just point and shoot some excellent video. A tripod will really make your video look much more professional, but if you have a steady hand, you can get by without one.

You can always hire someone!
If you don’t have the skills or the time to shoot a good video of your house, then you can hire a professional to get the job done. You will have to spend a little bit of money to get a professional to do the job, but the cost might be well worth the amount of time that you save.

Everyone loves a sale. Low prices can be great news. There have been massive price cuts in the real estate market all over the country. Homeowners are slashing prices like a store that is going out of business, and Realtors are cutting prices too. It is currently a buyer’s market, and these lower prices are the perfect way to get a lot of house for a whole lot less. Here are the top ten cities in no particular order where prices are being cut lower than low. If you are thinking about investing in some real estate, then add these cities to your radar.

Gainesville, Georgia – The average home value in Gainesville was $124,500.

Detroit, Michigan

Flint, Michigan

Bakersfield, California The average home value in Bakersfield was $130,300.

Lakeland, Florida – The average home value in Lakeland was $94,900.

Madera, California – The average home value in Madera was $108,500.

Ocala, Florida – The average home value in Ocala was $77,300.

Macon, Georgia – The average home value in Macon was $57,000.

Atlanta, Georgia – The average home value in Atlanta was $114,400.

Lansing, Michigan – The average home value in Lansing was $56,000

It looks like two states are currently tied for having falling prices in real estate. Let’s head down south.

In Georgia you can buy lots of peaches, but it appears that there are three cities in the southern state of Georgia where real estate prices have seen some drastic price cuts. This is the type of thing that real estate investors like to look for. Buying real estate in these homes is a great way to invest some money. Determining the best time to buy is the hard part. These prices could continue to fall, or they could see a massive rise in as little as one day.

In Michigan it appears that there are also three cities within the top ten that have seen more than their share of recent falling real estate prices. Detroit is one of those cities. This city has been the topic of the news lately. In a dramatic effort from the citizens, the motor city has been resurrected from near death, but real estate prices are still at an all time low.

Florida comes in second with two cities having falling real estate prices. It may be a good time for property investors to grab up some valuable Florida real estate before the prices start to rise again.

The future is right around the corner. In fact the future is tomorrow and it is changing the way people are doing business in the real estate market. It used to be that every single Realtor had to have a computer, and every single real estate listing had to be put into a common database so that everyone would have access to the information. A lot of that has changed. Real estate listings are still being put into databases, but how real estate professionals and consumers interact and retrieve that data is changing dramatically.

Ten years ago no one would have thought that a person would be able to interact with data simply by touching a screen or waving their hand in the air. It has been the topic of many Science Fiction shows and movies, but those were just movies. All of those crazy futuristic ideas have started to come to fruition, and the real estate market is one area where this technology is really starting to shine.

Smart phones and tablet computers are leading the pack with these technological wonders. With the right app or software, a person can simply point their mobile device or tablet computer down the street. What happens next is nothing short of amazing.

The software will use the devices built in camera to analyze all of the properties on the street in real time. That does not seem all that fantastic, and that part of the application is not all that fantastic, but then the data is displayed.

As a consumer or a real estate agent looks at the screen of their device. They can see all of the properties on the screen, and any information related to each property. It is like looking through a real estate camera. If a property is listed for sale, it will show that the property is for sale on the screen of the device. It will also show everything else about the property. This type of technology is called augmented reality because it is displaying items that exist in reality, but it is also displaying data that exists on a computer at the very same time.

Try to think of all of the advantages that this type of technology would have for people that are shopping for homes, and for real estate professionals that are trying to sell homes too. There would be no need for any type of paperwork, or a traditional computer. Just point your smart phone or tablet down the street and you can get all of the information that you need.

Technology is growing by leaps and bounds, and it will only get better.

Can Facebook and other social media help or hinder real estate agents? This is a question that has recently been a huge topic for debate. It seems that more real estate professionals are in favor of using popular social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to connect to current and future customers. Real estate professionals that are not socially connected are fighting a losing battle.

It is part of a real estate agents job to network. Without the proper networking skills, a real estate agent will not succeed. Using social media is taking networking to the next level, but many real estate professionals don’t know how to make the most of social media. Here are some tips that everyone can benefit from.

Start a Facebook page for your real estate business.
If you have not already started a Facebook page, then this is your first step towards dominating social media. Once you have created your company Facebook page, you can quickly invite all of your friends to “like” the page. Once they click the like button, they will be notified every single time you post something new on your page.

Add photos of your listings.
People love to look at photos even if they are not currently looking for a home to buy or rent. As a real estate professional, you should be taking pictures of all of your properties, and posting them to your Facebook page. People always remember beautiful pictures of beautiful houses, and they will also remember that you were the one that was showing the property.

Marketing your real estate business through social media is really no different than marketing through traditional methods. You just need to keep your name and face out there in front of people. They may not be clients now, but when it comes time to purchase or rent a house, then they will remember you and your business.

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More and more people are connecting via mobile devices. Computers are no longer these giant behemoths that require monster power supplies. Today, they will fit right into the palm of your hand, and tomorrow they will most likely become even smaller. This is one case where size does not matter.

Real estate professionals that are embracing this mobile revolution are also reeling in the big fish. What have these real estate professionals learned about mobile connections? There is one shiny piece of data that has been putting a smile on real estate professionals that have adopted the use of mobile media and connections. Their conversion ratios are through the roof. There is a much higher chance that a person that is interested in a specific piece of property will call a real estate agent. What are the odds?

Recent studies have projected that mobile users are 300% more likely to call an agent about a listing that they have recently viewed from their mobile device. Mobile devices are not just smart phones. Customers are also using popular tablet computers like the iPad, and a range of Android powered devices to find their dream piece of property.

The mobile connection gives the customer the ability to look at all of the details pertaining to the property in question, and with just a touch of the finger, they can call an agent. Mobile is doing what basic marketing should be teaching you. Provide the customer with what they want, and they will be beating down your doors.

Real estate professionals that have not fully embraced the mobile revolution have been left sitting at their desks wondering why their phone is not ringing. If they could just become a fly on the wall of their competition, then the truth would quickly reveal itself to them.

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