Real Estate Career

Tools For Real Estate Agents To Work Virtually

By Suzy Lins
March 30, 2020

Most everyone is working from home at this point due to the Coronavirus, but with real estate you still need to talk to and interact with people. How exactly do you do that, especially if you’ve never done it before? Here are specific tools you can use to work virtually and keep your real estate career on track as you work from home.

Meet with clients virtually
Meeting “virtually” with your clients means to interact with them via apps and software that allow you to see each other and have conversations as if you were there in person. Here are a few different ways you can meet with your clients without leaving your house:

Video Conference Apps
These apps are perfect if you want to have a face-to-face conversation with a client or prospect.

FaceTime – This is an Apple app and only available on their devices. It comes pre-installed on your iPhone and iPad so it’s already at your fingertips.
WhatsApp – This is a messaging app that also supports voice and video calls. It’s available for Apple and Android devices in the App Store and Google Play Store.
Skype – This is a video calling platform available for Apple and Android devices. This platform requires the user to log in. This is a great option for computers and tablets.

Find out what kind of phone your client has to determine which app to use. Get familiar with more than one of these video conferencing apps so you’re ready for any scenario.

Video Conferencing Software/Apps
These platforms are an easy way to do a virtual property tour or hold a virtual open house. You log into a website and create a virtual meeting with your client. Once you send them a link, you both appear on the screen and are able to talk as if you were in person. To do this, both users need to have cameras on their computers. Here are some of the most popular:

ZOOM – This is the one that we use and have had great results with our virtual meetings and agent training. There’s a free version that allows up to 40 minutes of video conferencing. Paid versions start at $14.99 per month. For personal meetings the free version should be sufficient. Find it here at Zoom.us.
GoToMeeting – This is another platform for video conferencing. There’s a 14-Day Free Trial and the paid versions start at $12 per month. Check it out at GoToMeeting.com
Google Hangouts – For this option, it’s easiest if everyone has a Google account. If someone doesn’t have an account, then the inviter or another invitee needs to have a G Suite Account in order for everyone to participate.

Show properties virtually
Once you have a chance to talk to your clients or prospects face-to-face you’re going to need some way to show them properties. By using one of the virtual conference software programs I mentioned above, you can share your screen to show them a virtual tour (video) or photos of the listing. They can ask questions and you can interact with them via the camera on your computer.

Virtual Showings
Select a day and time to meet “virtually” with your client and send them a link to the video conference. Have the property photos and virtual tours of the properties ready to go on your desktop. Share your desktop with them and give them a tour of the home with the photos and virtual tour.

Virtual Open Houses
Publicize the day and time you will be holding the virtual Open House and have guests request the video conference link. This gives you some control over who is coming and going at your Open House. If you decide to post the link publicly, take precautions to eliminate Zoom-Bombers coming to your Open House. A Zoom Bomber gets the public link to the meeting and once in the meeting wreaks havoc or displays inappropriate pictures on the screen. Don’t worry, there are several ways to prevents this from happening. Here are some reminders to keep those party crashers out.

During the Open House show the photos and video of the listing and answer any questions visitors may have. Depending on the length of the Open House, you’ll probably have to run the video tour and photo slideshow over and over again depending on how many people attend and when they pop in.

Video Conferencing Tips:

Set up your video conference in a room that has a distraction-free background.
Make sure the room is well-lit and that the lighting is not behind you. Back lighting will make your face difficult for them to see.
You’ll be on camera so make sure you’re dressed properly.
Look into the camera when you are talking to them instead of looking at their face on the screen.

I recommend that you practice using these apps and tools with a family member or friend before you use them with a client. A couple of practice runs and you’ll be open for virtual business.

About the author: Suzy Lins is the Communications Director for CENTURY 21 Discovery. For more information about CENTURY 21 Discovery you may call (714) 626-2000.

5 Things Real Estate Agents Can Do Working From Home

By Joe Lins
March 24, 2020

Are you quarantined due to COVID-19? If so, there’s some things you should be doing for your real estate business to stay on track. First, don’t be watching the news 24/7, it’ll drive you crazy. Here’s 5 things you can do working from home during this period of time that you are quarantined or self-isolating.

#1 – Get on your phone and call your clients.
Call your sphere of influence (SOI), call your past clients, call your prospects. Check in with them and see how they’re doing. Everybody likes that kind of a phone call: “Hey, how’s it going….”

#2 – Update your Client Relationship Management (CRM) tool.
Whatever CRM that happens to be, you need to be updating it on a regular basis. Our agents have access to a great one on 21Online called Business Builder. Everyone asks, “What’s a good CRM?” Well, it’s the one you actually use. Find one and use it.

#3 Update your Listing Presentation.
How does your current listing presentation look? Make sure it’s ready to go when you get a call to go on a listing appointment. Update it and make it unique to you and the value you provide your sellers.

#4 Set up an email campaign.
A wonderful tool for email campaigns that our CENTURY 21 Discovery agents have access to is also in Business Builder. Set it up, get a campaign going where you don’t have to do anything and every couple of weeks something is going out. This will help you stay top of mind with your clients who are also quarantined or self-isolating. Tip: Copy yourself on the campaign so you can see what it looks like when it goes out.

#5 Clean up your emails.
Go through your emails and unsubscribe from all the bright shiny objects someone is trying to sell you. Unsubscribe and clean it up so you’re not getting 250 emails a day.

There’s a lot of things you can be doing when you are forced to work from home due to the COVID-19 situation. Stay focused on your business during this time so you can come out on the other side of this stronger and ready to go.

For now, wash your hands, stay healthy and Charge On!

About the author: Joe Lins is President, CEO and Co-owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services or training we provide contact Joe at 714.626.2069.

Why We Love Real Estate

By Joe Lins and Stephanie Goedl
February 12, 2020

In honor of Valentine’s Day and the month of Love, we talk about why we LOVE real estate in our latest podcast episode. We share the day to day things that make us love this business as well as the special things like handing a first-time home buyer keys to their new home.

We encourage you to figure out what you love about what you’re doing, real estate related or not. If you’re looking to fall more in love with real estate, give us a call and we’d be more than happy to help you find your passion.

Listen to the full podcast here:

About the authors: Joe Lins is President, CEO and Co-owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. Stephanie Goedl is Broker, Chief Operating Officer and Co-owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services or training we provide contact Joe at 714.626.2069.

Why CENTURY 21 Discovery?

By Joe Lins
January 20, 2020

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Century 21® President and CEO Mike Miedler to talk about the benefits of joining CENTURY 21 Discovery. We talked about the tools and systems that are available to our real estate agents. He mentioned our office culture and the family-like atmosphere. We also talked about quality customer service and how that affects the referrals going back to the agents. The one big take away from our conversation was why successful real estate agents align their personal brand with CENTURY 21 Discovery and then build that brand on top of the most recognized brand in the industry.

Listen to the full podcast here. It’s only six minutes and will really give you an idea of what we’re all about.

How To Find Sellers

By Joe Lins
September 26, 2019

Today we are talking about how to find sellers. There’s a ton of opportunity to be had in regard to sellers. But where do you find them?

If you’re paying attention, there are many signals that can indicate a home is getting ready to be sold. This information is available as a public record or you can use services to help you mine the data for the information you need.

It requires awareness of the neighborhood and the desire to assist the seller achieve their desired outcome.

This latest episode of our podcast covers what you should be paying attention to in order to get listings.

Listen to the full podcast here:

About the author: Joe Lins is President, CEO and Co-owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services or training we provide contact Joe at 714.626.2069.

Are You Coachable?

By Joe Lins
July 25, 2019

In this episode of our podcast, I talk with our Communications Director, Suzy Lins, about why an agent should be “Coachable”. Full disclosure, she is also my wife.

Suzy explained how we have a marquee outside our building that we use for marketing our listings and promoting our agents or community events. We also utilize it for recruiting purposes and put up recruiting posts a few times a month. One of my favorites is “Looking for sports minded people – We are hiring!” I like this post because it generates a ton of activity and phone calls. Most people think we want sports minded people because they tend to be competitive. That’s partially true. We definitely need agents like that in this competitive industry of ours. There’s also another reason. We want people who are coachable.

My favorite recruiting post on our marquee.

What does it mean to be coachable?

I use a lot of sports metaphors in my business because you can learn a lot from team play. Sports-minded people are typically coachable and agents, especially newer agents, must be able to follow instructions from their “coach”. Coachable means you are able to listen to what your coach, manager or broker has to say and then do it unconditionally to achieve success as a result. Are you the type that goes out and asks five or ten more people their opinion and get totally confused and sidetracked? That’s not coachable.

Who should be your coach?

The first person you should got to is the broker or manager of the office. If they are not the type of leader who can coach you, they may have somebody they can refer you to. It may be a professional coach, like Brian Buffini or Mike or Tom Ferry or others like that. It could even be one of your peers in the office if they have a mentor system set up for agents.

Let’s talk about competition

Your number one competitor is you, the man in the mirror. You have to establish your goals and hold yourself accountable. You’re also competing with different agents out there from other firms that have different ways of doing business. You have to pick your way of doing business and compete on that level. You need to strive to be the very best in what you do. If you want to be part of the top 10% you have to do what the other 90% aren’t willing to do. It’s not that difficult.

What makes an agent coachable?

Don’t second guess your coach
Do exactly what your told to do – Don’t resist
Implement what they advise you to do
Trust your coach
Be open and honest with your coach

Listen to the full podcast here:

About the author: Joe Lins is President and Co-owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services or training we provide contact Joe at 714.626.2069.

Stay out of the Realtor Doghouse

By Stephanie Goedl
June 5, 2019

One of my goals as a Broker/Owner of a real estate company is to have our agents be the most professional and ethical Realtors in the business. I serve on the Board of Directors for the Pacific West Association of Realtors and there are some issues and common themes that are coming across our violations desk. Some of these issues include “Coming Soon” signs without the proper exclusionary forms filed with the MLS and another is improper outdoor signage. It drives me crazy because these violations are completely avoidable if you know the rules. In this episode of our podcast I discuss how to avoid these and other violations to stay out of the “Realtor Doghouse”.

Listen to the podcast here:

Watch the video of the podcast here:

About the author: Stephanie Goedl is Chief Operating Officer and Broker/Owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services or training we provide contact us at 714.626.2069 or Careers@C21Discovery.com.

Day In The Life Of A Successful Realtor

By Stephanie Goedl
April 25, 2019

I recently had the opportunity to interview one of our top agents about what a day in her life looks like. This was a great conversation with Shonnie Jones of Jones Team Real Estate and she gave some valuable insight into what it takes to be a successful Realtor.

Listen to our podcast to learn how a successful agent spends their day.

Listen to the podcast here:

Watch the video of the podcast here:

The Buyer Interview

By Joe Lins & Stephanie Goedl
January 29, 2019

The Buyer Interview is the initial meeting with your buyer to find out what their real estate goals and aspirations are. This is important because once you figure out what your client wants you can do a better job of finding that property for them. Our value as a Realtor is finding the house that is good for them. The only way you can do that is by asking questions and building buyer loyalty.

Listen to our podcast to learn what questions to ask when interviewing buyers.

Listen to the podcast here:

Watch the video of the podcast here:

If you would like a copy of our Buyer Interview Questionnaire we would be happy to share it with you! Just email us at Careers@C21Discovery.com. To get the latest podcast episodes subscribe on iTunes, Google Play or Podbean.

About the authors: Joe Lins is President, CEO and Owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. Stephanie Goedl is Chief Operating Officer and Broker/Owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services or training we provide contact us at 714.626.2069 or Careers@C21Discovery.com.

Are You Trained & In Shape For 2019?

By Stephanie Goedl and Joe Lins
January 15, 2019

To succeed in real estate you need to continually work on your presentation skills, negotiating skills and be up to date on the current industry forms. In this episode of our podcast, Stephanie Goedl and Joe Lins discuss the importance of training in your real estate career.

Listen to the podcast here:

Watch the video of the podcast here:

About the authors: Joe Lins is President, CEO and Owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. Stephanie Goedl is Chief Operating Officer of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services or training we provide contact us at 714.626.2069 or Careers@C21Discovery.com.

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