Does integrating video into real estate marketing work?

According to Black Box Social Media, social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision, if you will. Although social networking is possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online. One of the most popular types of social media marketing is using video marketing.  Most of today’s youth prefer to watch a video than read.  Video marketing is a great way to get your message to people online.  What are some simple ways of integrating video into real estate marketing to attract customers?  Rismedia.com had a great article that I’d like to share that details 5 ways of integrating video into real estate marketing:

Integrating Video into Real Estate Marketing |Make a Video Testimonial.

What sells you better than having real clients raving about how invaluable you were in the process of buying or selling a home? At the closing, set your camera up on a tabletop tripod and simply ask the client to talk about their experience working with you. Try to get a variety of testimonials that showcase various clients and types of homes. These testimonials can be posted on your YouTube channel, your Facebook page, LinkedIn and even mentioned on Twitter.

Integrating Video into Real Estate Marketing |Create an Agent Bio.

An agent bio is a “must have” for working both Internet leads and personal referrals. Video offers you a way to create a highly-personalized experience for a potential client and enables you to add a personal touch to your introduction. Keep the introduction simple, focusing on your expertise and why selecting you will benefit the client. Keep it light, short and be sure to let your personality shine through. Make it a part of your signature, and consider hosting it separately on a private video resource like www.easyagentvideo.com where you can market the video directly with no ads.

Integrating Video into Real Estate Marketing |Showcase Your Expertise in the Marketplace.

You can provide information on market trends, short sale and foreclosure tips or interview an expert (i.e. lenders, title professionals, home inspectors). For example, you can interview a home inspector highlighting what things to look for before buying a home. Create an editorial calendar of the content you would like to provide, identify who you will team up with (if necessary) and ask them to participate.

Integrating Video into Real Estate Marketing | Create Neighborhood Tours.

This is a true low-hanging fruit opportunity to become the dominant video source for your area. Create lots (dozens) of area tours showcasing fun and exciting things about your area, such as the local farmers market, the town square, best restaurants and great shopping. Tag these and introduce your real estate business on each one. They don’t have to be real estate ads, just organically and authentically show why you love your area and why it is such a great place to live. As viewers find these videos, they will find you too!

Integrating Video into Real Estate Marketing |Create a Just-Moved Buyer Tour.

Offer to create a short video for your client showing highlights of the buying experience, the excitement of moving in and your client’s top remodeling projects. Your client will send the video to family and friends, which can generate referral business for you.

Comfort and Convenience Design Features for Homes

In today’s competitive real estate market, when trying to sell a house, you want to understand what design features for homes buyers are looking for and effectively market those traits.  I read an informative article from www.blueridgenow.com discussing the most popular design features that most potential buyers are looking for.  So if you are remodeling a home, flipping a house, or building new construction, you may want to keep these popular design features for homes in mind…

Popular Design Features for Homes

• Open floor plan

• Large kitchen with center island, breakfast area, walk-in pantry and ample storage

• Conveniently located half bathroom(s)

• Formal dining room

• Home office

• Family room with built-in cabinets

• Master suite on the main level

• Master bathroom with dual sinks, separate shower enclosure, large bathtub, exhaust fan, linen storage

• Guest suite

• Laundry room with a work sink and storage

• Mud room with storage

• Hardwood floors with an extended life, low-maintenance finish

• High quality, energy efficient doors and windows with screens

• Ergonomic door handles and faucets

• Closet and drawer organizers

• Ceiling fans with remote control

• Double garage with storage

• Patio or deck with motorized, retractable awning

• Built-in outdoor barbeque or fireplace

• Swimming pool or hot tub

Systems and Appliances

• Fully integrated, networked electrical systems with remote operation feature

• State of the art kitchen appliances

• Steam shower, Jacuzzi-type tub

• High speed internet capability

• Security system

• Tankless hot water heater with recirculating pump

• Whole house generator

• Automated irrigation system for the lawn and garden

Materials for an Easy Transition

• Manuals for appliances, systems and components of the house

• Names of tradespeople who have worked on the house, such as the plumber, electrician and lawn service

• Neighbors’ names and contact information

• Paint colors used in each room, and where purchased

• Detailed maps for the area, brochures about local attractions

• List of your favorite local businesses and resources

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20110121/NEWS/110129975&tc=ix?p=all&tc=pgall

When building or flipping a house, understanding the fdesign features for homes that your buyers want and customizing appropriately will go a long ways towards helping you sell the property!

Adjustable Rate Mortgages making a comeback?

After being exiled, these Adjustable Rate Mortgages appear to be making a comeback.

A new survey of 112 lenders by mortgage giant Freddie Mac found that Adjustable Rate Mortgages are starting to attract applicants again. Adjustable rate mortgages accounted for just 3% of new home loans in early 2009 but are projected to be picked by nearly 1 out of 10 borrowers in 2011. In the jumbo and super-jumbo segments, the share will be even larger, according to Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft.

The pre-bubble boom adjustable rate mortgages, where you were teased with low rates that needed to be refinanced with heavy fees within 24 months and you needed to fog a spoon to qualify.  This time, adjustable rate mortgages may actually make more sense.

The most popular ARM in the market today, according to the Freddie Mac survey, is the 5-1 hybrid. Its rate is fixed for the first five years of the loan, then adjusts annually for as much as the next 25 years, with rate caps to cushion payment shocks if rates suddenly soar. There are also 7-1 and 3-1 hybrids. The antique one-year ARM still is available but doesn’t get a lot of takers.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage Example:

According to data supplied by Dan Green, a loan officer with Waterstone Mortgage Corp. in Cincinnati and author of TheMortgageReports.com blog, the rate spread between 5-1 hybrid ARMs and 30-year fixed-rate loans has widened to around 1.625 percentage points.

To illustrate, say you’re interested in a $250,000 conventional loan to buy a house. You’ve got a FICO credit score of 740 and want to close in 45 days. You could opt for a 30-year fixed loan at 4.75%, requiring a monthly principal and interest payment of $1,304. Alternatively, you could opt for a 5-1 ARM fixed at 3.125%, costing $1,071 in principal and interest per month — a $233 saving.

These adjustable rate mortgages can be even more attractive on some of the larger sized loans as well.  Unlike the previous over-utilization of the adjustable rate mortgages, these hybrids can work in certain situations.  If you have a higher end loan where you expect to live there for 5-7 years, than an adjustable rate mortgage could make perfect financial sense for you.

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20110130,0,6342118.story

If you liked ‘Adjustable Rate Mortgages Alive and Well’ then you may also enjoy other articles at www.REMillionaireBlueprint.com

Changes to HAFA needed to improve dismal performance

The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives, or HAFA, was launched in April 2010 to provide an incentive to servicers and investors to pursue alternatives to foreclosures in the form of pursuing short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure. The program was designed for homeowners who failed to meet the requirements of the Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP.  Unfortunately, both HAMP and HAFA have failed miserably, prompting changes to HAFA to be made.

To make short sales a success, proactive outreach is critical according to panelists on a short sale and deed in lieu panel at the MBA’s National Servicing Conference & Expo. In the past, loan servicers were more reactive than proactive when it came to short sales, looking at potential short sales that were brought to them, but not pursuing them ahead of time.

Changes to HAFA

The Treasury Department took action in December eliminating some rules it said have held back short sales through the HAFA program. Here are, for example, some of the changes to HAFA:

• HAFA no longer asks for income verification, unless the borrower is less than 60 days overdue on the mortgage. This means that borrowers who previously were deemed ineligible because their income was too high, may now qualify for a HAFA short sale.
• HAFA no longer needs to determine if the borrower’s total monthly mortgage payment exceeds a 31% debt-to-income ratio.

The overall goals for these changes to HAFA are to be more ‘proactive’ with their customers, starting the short sales process earlier, and to quicken the short sales timeline.  The incentive for borrowers to short sell their home can be challenging when it can take up to two years or more to complete a foreclosure. The ability to stay in the home without paying the mortgage may lessen the incentive to participate, panelists said.

Another one of the changes to HAFA is giving more control to the servicers on how to pay out subordinate liens.  Mortgage insurance companies and other 2nd lien holders have been stubborn in discounting their notes and causing short sales to fail.  Before, the second-lien investor had to agree to accept 6% of the unpaid principle balance owed to them, up to $6,000. But the new guidelines eliminate that 6% rule (though the $6,000 cap is still in effect). Now, servicers on behalf of the investors determine the amount or percentage of the unpaid principal balance of the second lien to be paid to each holder.

Servicers on the panel said they expect the changes in HAFA to encourage more participation in the program.  Changes to HAFA are welcomed as to this point, although any government interference in the real estate market has been a disaster.  The panel estimates that we should know by the end of the first quarter of 2011 if these changes to HAFA made any difference.

Image: Maggie Smith / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you liked ‘Will Changes to HAFA Short Sale Program Work?’, then you may also enjoy other articles available at www.REMillionaireBlueprint.com

 

Expect stricter mortgage requirements to shrink the buyer’s pool.

When the government backs loans, there is less risk in loans, and the banks can have looser lending requirements and lower interest rates. When you remove the tax payers backing the loans, the loans become riskier, and as such, mortgage requirements will become stricter. As such, you can expect fewer loans to be written, meaning that fewer homes will be bought and sold. Here’s a list of some changes you can expect from banks on their mortgage requirements.

Higher interest rates

Mortgage interest rates are at an all-time low because the government is backing loans. But with Freddie and Fannies’ pending demise and less government involvement, the banks will assume more risk, and as stated above, with more risk comes higher interest rates. How much will rates rise? It depends on which of the three Fannie & Freddie reform scenarios Congress chooses. US New & World Report is brave enough to speculate on the future of Fannie & Freddie:

A more likely outcome is a hybrid system in which private lenders bear more of the risk, while the government insures them against catastrophic losses and charges a fee to cover the cost–similar to the way the FDIC insures banks. A recent study by Moody’s Analytics calculates that such a system would raise mortgage rates by about 30 basis points, or 0.3 percentage points. If the whole system were privatized, Moody’s estimates that could push rates up by about 120 basis points, or 1.2 percentage points, compared with a government-run system.http://finance.yahoo.com/news/How-Buying-a-Home-Is-Likely-usnews-1709879395.html?x=0

According to their example, a $200,000 home loan, this could impact monthly payments anywhere from $40-$160.

Higher down payments

Lenders will want a partnership with the homeowner. Since the housing bubble burst, banks found that giving loans to home owners without requiring a down payment backfired, and when the homeowners became distressed, it was easy for them to default on the mortgages. Banks don’t want to repeat this mistake, and will require homeowners to put some ‘skin in the game’. It seems probably that the required down payment on the most mortgages will be between 20-30 percent.

Fewer fixed-rate mortgages

Many industry experts believe that without government backing, banks will kill the 30 year fixed rate mortgage. From their perspective, banks don’t like such mortgages because they assume all the risks. For example, if they lend out at 6% and interest rates decrease, then homeowners can refinance to a lower rate. But if the interest rates rise, banks cannot ‘refinance’ with the homeowner to the new market rate. Therefore, it is likely the industry will go the direction that many European and Canadian banks went, which is to have variable 30 year interest rates. This type of loan would have banks revisit the market interest rates every couple of years to make sure that the interest rates are fair. In my opinion, this is a sure sign that interest rates will be rising in the future, and banks don’t want to be stuck with 4% interest rates.

Conclusion

In summary, I believe that conventional financing will be slowed. The buyer’s pool will dwindle significantly, and real estate professionals looking to profit in this economy will have to look towards buying and selling with owner financing in place.

For example, the market that will be hurt the most, in my opinion, is the younger first time homeowners. These guys don’t have a strong credit history, have school loan debt, haven’t been employed very long, and haven’t acquired enough income for the down payments won’t be able to qualify for these types of mortgages. Their standards will be good enough for many homeowners to sell to, but not to the banks. Another group who will be affected, or I should say will continue to be affected by these stringent lending policies are entrepreneurs, business owners, and independent contractors are eliminated from the pool of potential buyers as well. The only way real estate professionals will thrive in this market is by understanding how to buy and sell homes with creative acquisition strategies, such as subject-to or owner financing.

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Real Estate Investing Tips That Work!

Having success in Real Estate is not based on luck, a powerful family name, or a unique set of super skills. There is no special inherited gene that one must possess for success in this industry. One learns and profits in this business the same way that one would have success in any other industry.

Think about something that you have been good at or had success with in the past, be it a sport or hobby. What separated you from the others? Chances are, you understood the ins and outs of what you were good at, you were focused, had a good plan and executed it, surrounded yourself with others who shared a similar passion, and was coached by a successful, experienced person. Having a thriving career in Real Estate is no different.

Wealthy Realtors and Investors are such because they took the time to educate themselves on different options and opportunities, have laser sharp focus, execute a well thought out marketing plan, surround themselves with a strong, experienced team, and have a coach or mentor.

Real Estate Investing Tip| Know Your Options

What is going on with the market now? What will happen with the market a year from now? In order to have a long, profitable career, you will need to be familiar with multiple ways to purchase properties and multiple ways to sell. The strategy you utilize in a sellers’ market, such was the case 2+ years ago, will most likely be different than the strategy you utilize in this current buyer’ market. If you are not flexible and able to adapt with the changing markets, then you will be left behind. When the market changed from boom to bust, many Realtors stubbornly kept the same marketing plan. After all, it had worked well in the past, so why change? Now, many of those folks are no longer Realtors. Fix and Flippers from years past who failed to adapt to the new market have since lost their business. Understanding when to focus on short sales, subject to, selling with owner financing, or buy and hold strategies and understanding the different strategies required to adapt to a changing market will allow to maximize your profits

Real Estate Investing Tip| Laser Sharp Focus

When are you at your professional best? It’s when you know exactly what you want and exactly what you are required to do in order to achieve your goal. When do most mistakes occur? When ambiguity exists. Ambiguity is the arch enemy to focus. When you are focused, you accomplish tasks. When you are not focused, you procrastinate and / or make mistakes. Knowledge, or lack thereof, plays a key role in focus, as does having a detailed plan.

Real Estate Investing Tip| Marketing Plan

You can have all the knowledge necessary to close any real estate transaction, but if you’re not connecting with people, you will not have any opportunities for transactions. So how do you attract motivate sellers? A good marketing plan will have 5-7 different strategies. And when planning out the strategies you wish to implement, also remember to budget both finances and time. It does you no good to have a goal of putting out 1000 door hangers a week if you don’t budget time for this activity as well. So what works best for attracting motivated sellers? When done properly, Direct Mail is the most successful form of advertising. When done incorrectly, it is a gigantic waste of funds. It is important that you work with an experienced company that has a solid track record of providing a double digit response rate on their letters. That’s correct! Direct mail campaigns in Real Estate should yield at a minimum a 10% response rate. If you are not receiving a double digit response rate, then you are required to rethink your direct mail campaign.

Real Estate Investing Tip| Build Your Mastermind Team

You cannot do this alone! Even if you are tremendous handy person that doesn’t require assistance from anyone else on a home flip, you will still require the services of another contractor. Why? What happens if you’re working on a home and another opportunity comes up? Leveraging others will allow you build your wealth quicker. The following are just some of the team members necessary for a successful career: Attorney, Realtor, Mortgage Broker, Title Agent, Contractor, Credit Repair Service, and Lenders. The assistance of others will lead to more profitable transactions. Where do you find team members? At networking events, such as Real Estate Investing Clubs and luncheons.

Real Estate Investing Tip| Coach or Mentor

Name one well known person at the top of their craft. Regardless of if they are an athlete, actor, or famous personality, they have one thing in common: a coach. Coaches have experience in areas that you do not, can guide you, prevent catastrophes, and push you to do more than you ever thought possible. It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve reads, cds you’ve listened to, or stories you’ve heard; your first couple of deals will throw something at you that you’ve not seen before. And when this unique and frightening situation occurs, it’s good to have someone who’s been through these situations before guiding you through the transaction.

In summary, while anyone can have success in the Real Estate Industry, not everyone will have success. If you wish to be wealthy, than do what other wealthy Real Estate professionals do. They never stop learning or challenging themselves, they are extremely focused, they execute a well thought out plan, they surround themselves with other successful professionals, and are still coached and forever teachable.

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you like ‘Real Estate Investing Tips’, then you may also like other articles posted by Tom Bukacek at www.REMillionaireBlueprint.com