Lots of talk about email this week.  There’s a good reason:  we got hacked over the weekend.  Someone got into our server and used it to send out a bucket of spam.  Dealing with it meant shutting down the server for awhile.  In discussing this with our Help-U-Sell family it’s become clear that a little education about the basics of email is in order.

Email happens when you send a message from your internet connected computer (or device) up to your mail provider’s server.   The server then sends the message to the server that hosts your recipient’s email.  The recipient will receive the message when he or she accesses their mail from a connected device.  OK: Truth is it’s much more complicated than that, but that’s essentially what happens.

The question of the day is:  how do you access your email?  There are a couple of ways, you know.   You could use a local Email Client like Outlook, an internet based email client like Hotmail, Gmail, or AOL or you could use a more direct method, WebMail.  A quick poll today on our Power Hour call revealed that most of our Brokers use Outlook or Outlook Express.  These are full featured programs that do much more than simply send and receive messages.  But they are BIG programs that live on your computer and sap your computer’s resources.  Outlook, in particular, uses a LOT of memory . . . which is not a problem if you’ve got lots to spare, but make no mistake:  it’s a BIG program.  When a local client like Outlook retrieves your email from the server, it actually downloads a copy of the message and any attachments to your computer.  Even if you never open the message, it’s there, taking up space on your hard drive.  And remember, if it’s on your drive and you don’t have a backup copy, you are at risk of losing it if there is a crash or super virus in your future.  This is why, if you use a local client, you should always check the box when you set up an email account  for ‘leave a copy of the message on the server.’  You’ll have a remote copy if you ever need it.

Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and the like are similar:  they can all be configured to go out and get your mail from various other servers.  But they also provide direct access to their own email accounts.  So if you have jamesdingman@gmail.com, you can configure gmail to not only pick up mail at that address, but also at, say, jamesdingman@helpusell.com.  Unlike the local clients, these services do not live on your computer.  There may be some app like interface that helps you get to them, but generally they are out there in the ‘cloud’ somewhere.  So the strain on your computer’s resources is reduced and you’re not filling up your drive with things unless you choose to download them.

Webmail is something different still, and we are fortunate to have it for your Help-U-Sell email.  Webmail gives you direct access to your Help-U-Sell mail much as, say, www.gmail.com gives you direct access to your gmail messages.  Again, it lives out there on the Help-U-Sell mail server, not on your computer, so it does not strain your computer’s resources.  It is sleek, lightweight and actually gets your Help-U-Sell mail a tiny bit faster than any other client because at least one step is eliminated in the process.  Help-U-Sell folks can check out our Webmail platform by going to:

mail.helpusell.com

and logging in with their OMS password.

I’ve been an Outlook user for decades and I admit:  I am a little spoiled by its depth of features.  I use mail, of course, but I lean heavily on the address book, Calendar and Task functions.  However, I can almost feel the strain on my system as it works away hour after hour.  And, what the heck:  I’m getting mail not just on my computer now, but on my phone and tablet and so on.  I’ve decided to convert to a non-local solution.  I’m using Gmail to retrieve my personal mail and Help-U-Sell Webmail for my business communication.  Since Webmail and Gmail are internet based applications, I can access them from just about any mobile device.  I think it would be a good idea for you to check it out and see if something similar would work for you.

By the way:  one of the things that made our mail server vulnerable to hackers was the simplicity of some of the passwords some of you are using.  Anything that uses your name, initials, birthday, children or pets names you are vulnerable.  The best passwords make no sense to anyone . . . but how do you remember a non-sense password?  Here is some guidance:

Use a Mnemonic.  Choose a phrase you will always remember and select the first letter of each word.  Use numbers when you can and remember ‘the’ can be ’3′, and toss in a symbol or two ($ for s).  Capitalize the first letter and Bam!  you’ve got a great password.  For example (courtesy of Google):  ’To be or not to be that is the question’ becomes 2bon2btitq.  ’This is one very secure password I hope’ becomes Ti1vspih.  ’Sell fast, save thousands, the experts next door’ becomes Sf$t3end.’

Please, Oh Please, examine and edit your passwords,  not just your Help-U-Sell email account, but for all of your accounts.  Reset them to something only you will understand and remember.

Email Basics is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

That was Tears for Fears, wasn’t it?  Everybody wants to rule the world . . .  So, the real estate world is waking up right now.  We’re having a bit of a spring thaw and the buyer-bears are stretching and yawning from five years of hibernation.  It’s the kind of climate where you really can rule the real estate world.  That’s why I went back a couple of years and decided to resurrect some thoughts that found the page back then.  If you are into gearing up to be much bigger than you already are, read all 10 pieces, and then do them, one at a time . . . your business will thank you the best way a business can:  with profits.  Enjoy!

START HERE.

Get Ready to Rule the World! is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

There is a free app in the Android Marketplace called ‘Wheres My Droid’ that you really need to get.

Once you install, configure and enable the app, it lets you find your phone when it’s lost!  Even when it’s stolen!

Can’t find your phone?  go to www.wheresmydroid.com and you’ll be able to start it ringing even if you have the volume off.

Then, from the same website, you can do a GPS search for your phone that will return longitude and latitude and show your phone’s exact location on a Google Map.

And, if your phone is unrecoverable for some reason (maybe you just don’t want to go into that Crack House to confront the bad guys), there is an option to ‘Wipe’ your phone so that your personal data is vaporized!

Now THIS is cool!

An Android Phone MUST! is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Marketing has undergone a huge change over the last decade.  Unfortunately, your clients’ ideas about marketing haven’t.  Most still believe that an ad in the newspaper or in a Homes magazine will sell their house . . . so your challenge in the Listing Consultation is to do a credible job educating the Seller about how marketing really works in your office.  Failure to do this will result in countless ‘what are you doing?’ calls . . . and will likely lead you to do what ordinary REALTORS do . . . which is to put an ad in the newspaper to pacify the seller, knowing full well it probably will accomplish nothing.

Start by painting a different picture of your Help-U-Sell office and what you do to get property sold.  You have a marketing system that includes lots of internet marketing, some direct mail, a little print media (and more), all designed to generate buyer inquiries into your office.  When the inquiry comes in, your staff expertly handles it, captures contact information and earns the right to help the caller find their dream home.  Sometimes it is the property that motivated the inquiry in the first place but usually it’s not; it’s another home in inventory.  The office acts as a kind of clearinghouse – or matchmaker – connecting buyers and their specific housing needs to inventory.  All of the marketing you do (even pieces that don’t feature your Sellers’ listing) is working to produce the one thing needed to get the Seller’s listing sold:  Potential Buyers.

Listen:  there are a finite number of people interested in buying real estate in your market place at any given time.  Maybe it’s 50 people today or 200 people tomorrow.  The best thing you can do for your Seller is to cause as many of those people to contact your office as possible, and you do that with Marketing – not advertising, Marketing.  But how do you communicate this to a seller who expects to see his or her home in the newspaper or in the homes magazine at the grocery store?  Try this:

You know, Sue and Al, marketing is very different today than it was just a few years ago.  The National Association of REALTORS reports that nearly 90% of home buyers start their search online.  That’s why Internet Marketing is the real heart of my Marketing System.  I put your home on dozens of property websites – everything from Trulia and Zillow to REALTOR.com and the local MLS.  I also get you up on my own websites that have all been optimized to be attractive to search engines so that homebuyers can find you.

In addition, I use a lot of direct mail – things like these just listed cards and this big marketing piece that get delivered to thousands of households in the area, signage and even some print advertising in local newspapers and homes magazines.

All of my marketing is designed to do one thing – and I know you think I’m about to say ‘sell your house,’ but I’m not:  it’s designed to generate inquiries from potential buyers into my office.  You see, the best thing I can do to find the very best buyer for your home – the one who is not just qualified but also willing to pay the most for it – is to be in touch with as many buyers interested in the area as possible.  And I use my Marketing System to find them.  It’s funny though:  most times, the caller quickly eliminates the property that motivated their call; they find it’s too small or in the wrong location or doesn’t have the amenities they want.  But my staff is expert at quickly building rapport and credibility with those buyers and then matching them to houses we have in inventory that DO meet their needs.

So we use the houses we have in inventory to fuel our Marketing program . . . which produces dozens of homebuyer inquiries into the office (last month we had more than 200 inquiries).  We then match those buyers to houses we have in inventory that meet their needs.  The office, my staff and I, act as a kind of clearinghouse or an old fashioned match-maker, putting buyers together with houses that meet their needs.

The real key, though, is Marketing to Generate Buyer Leads.  We don’t just advertise your property – though you’ll see your property in our advertising – we are a marketing company and we market your home by producing leads from potential buyers.  You list with us – of course because you want to save money – but also because we have an ongoing flow of buyers coming through our office, any one of whom might be perfect for you home.   Make sense?

It’s important to have examples of your marketing with you when you meet the sellers for a listing consultation.  It is important to put your brag cards and ETMs out on the table, to show your Internet syndication diagram, and your Homes Magazine ad.  But don’t fall into the trap of describing every individual piece of advertising you do!  That only reinforces the sellers’ misconception that advertising their house will get it sold.  If that’s all it took, they could do it themselves!  Instead, simply put them out, let the seller pick them up and look them over as you continue to talk about how your office acts as a property clearinghouse.

Old style Listing Presentations would spend a lot of time doing ‘show-and-tell’ about advertising.  The idea was to overwhelm the seller with all of the different places the agent was going to advertise their home.  And by the way – that’s pretty much what your competitors are going to attempt today. Taking this tack sets up at least two false expectations for your seller:  first, that advertising is what will sell their home and,  that they should find their home in every bit of real estate advertising they see!

Be different! You should be able to convincingly present your marketing system in 5 – 10 minutes at the most if you focus on concepts – not on the individual marketing pieces you do.  You’ll find that the seller will be much more understanding and supportive of your efforts if you do.

How Do You Talk About Marketing? is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Egypt was a trip, wasn’t it?  An Internet enabled populous came together to topple a repressive regime.  Who knows where that one will go, but it started a ripple that became a wave that is becoming a tsunami!

This week, in Iran, big protests are planned around the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that brought down the Shah.  The government, doing pre-emptive damage control, has shut down access to Internet based email services like gmail and social networking sites like Facebook.  That’s exactly what Mubarak tried to do in Egypt, but he was too late to stop the brewing storm.

Meanwhile, back here, we have had a boisterous debate about SOPA and PIPA, two bills aimed at controlling what we can and cannot access on the web.  A group of popular websites went dark a couple of weeks ago to protest the looming vote and users were urged to write their legislators (I did).  Seems both pieces of legislation are now stalled.  Thank goodness.

One of the hallmarks of a free society is open access to information.  As soon as someone or some group starts deciding what we can and cannot see . . . well, take a look at Iran, at Cuba, at North Korea.

Heck:  I was half joking when I said we should pull all troups out of Afghanistan and simply air-drop smart phones on major population centers . . . but, seriously, I think we might accomplish more for less if we did!

Here’s the good news about the situation in Iran:  There is a US based initiative called Project TOR that screws up an entity’s ability to spot the kind of Internet traffic the Iranian government is trying to shut down.  They – the government – can spot ‘dangerous’ traffic by the kind of encryption that is used.  TOR gives people the ability to surf anonymously and disguises the encryption so that it looks innocuous.  It’s like a new Millennium version of Radio Free Europe!

Dang! I love the Internet Age, don’t you?

Social Media and the Art of Revolution is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Good Morning!  The 2011 National Association of REALTORS Annual Convention and Expo kicked off yesterday afternoon and I am happy to report that the first day was a success for Help-U-Sell.  Our booth is HUGE and, thanks to Ron McCoy, very well located.  We have a big corner, just one set of exhibitors back from the main entrance, right next to the Wells Fargo booth (which always draws a big crowd with games and give-aways).

It was a success for several reasons:

• First and foremost – the quantity and quality of people who stopped by to chat.  Really, we’ve done this show before and others, and this time people were bright, energized, and sincerely interested in who we are and what we’re doing.  It was a fairly constant stream of significant conversations.
• We looked GOOOOOD!  Mary, Robbie, Kendra, Ron and I were joined in the booth by Dan Desmond, Kim Zelena, Leigh Ann Losh and Elias Klaeb, so we didn’t look lonely and forelorn! (nothing worse than a great big booth with one or two people in it).  Plus, Ron had gotten each of us a high quality white button down collar shirt with big embroidered logo over the pocket.  We looked sharp and cohesive.
• A couple of former franchisees, people who dropped by the wayside in the turmoil of 2006, stopped by and were more than a little interested in . . . well, in doing what Help-U-Sell people who leave often do:  coming back.  One said something I’ve heard many times before: ‘The happiest days of my real estate career were the ones I spent as a Help-U-Sell Broker.’
• We had conversations with people from Canada, the Philippines, and India (yes, India) about the possibility of our brand making it into their parts of the world.  That’s probably down the road a month or two (or ten), but it’s great to know there is interest and anticipation there.

We are building momentum to carry us into a growth phase.  Growing is not something we’ve put much energy into over the past few years.  Instead, our laser-focus has been on helping our people survive and thrive in the most difficult market any of us has ever seen.  So we’re starting from a full stop.  But the momentum is building.  Our Informational Webinars are pulling in a steady stream of interested attendees, our presence here and at the recent CAR Expo and upcoming Tripple-Play meeting are putting us on the mental map of REALTORS everywhere, and our full-page ad in the latest REALTOR Magazine is propelling us forward.  I expect 2012 to be a year a significant growth for Help-U-Sell.

We expect many more Help-U-Sell family members to be in attendance over the weekend, all wearing those cool white shirts and helping us spread the word about our excellent industry and consumer offerings.  If you are in Anaheim, please stop by and say ‘Hello.’

Kendra in the booth

2011 NAR Expo: Day 1 is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

I got an interesting email today.  It was very official looking and it was from ‘The Electronic Payments Association’, NACHA.org.  The subject was ‘ACH Electronic Payment Cancelled’ and the message indicated that a payment I had authorized from my bank account had been cancelled.  There were few details, but there was a link to a full report.  I noticed that the link was the title of the report (a long number) followed by .PDF.EXE.

This is pure Phishing.  Here’s how I knew:

• It was addressed to my business email, jamesdingman@helpusell.com, an address my bank doesn’t have and that I don’t use for any online commerce.
• I’ve never heard of NACHA.org or the Electronic Payment Association
• If there was a problem with any online banking transaction, I’d expect my bank to contact me
• Finally:  and this is the biggie – the link ended in .EXE.  That means it was an ‘executable,’ a program.  Had I clicked it, it would have installed something on my computer.  It might have been a little program that transmits information on all of my contacts to a spammer or it might have been a keylogger that would record my keystrokes in hopes of uncovering my passwords and other sensitive information.

We have all gotten pretty good at ignoring the messages from the doctor or lawyer in some far off land who has several million dollars and needs to temporarily put it in your bank account (and therefore needs your information).

We have gotten pretty good at deleting the message from your bank asking that you reconfirm your login information (your bank would never ask for that online).

We have learned to laugh at the message from the lawyer in the Far East who tells a tale of a distant and previously unknown relative whose entire family was wiped out in a horrible car crash, leaving YOU as the only beneficiary of their multi-million dollar estate.  Yeah, right.

But not all phishing messages are that stupid.

I’ll bet for every 100 copies of the message I got today, 10 people actually click the link.

Here’s another that’s not so stupid:  it’s the message from the doctor whose name you don’t recognize regarding a payment that you made.  Again, there’s a request for information and/or a suspicious link to click.

Or how about this one:  the message from a good friend who’s stranded in London or some other vacation Mecca, with no money and no passport, (the victim of theft) asking for cash.

Please be careful with your email.  If you don’t recognize the sender, don’t respond or click any links until you at least Google the sender and the subject to see if it’s legit.  And be especially careful with links that end in .EXE!

Don’t Get Phished! is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Evernote is a great tool for real estate people.  It’s a cloud-based storage platform with great organizing and collaborating capabilities.  Let me see if I can be more descriptive about that:

• You create ‘Notes’ in Evernote for anything you want to hang on to.  It might be a line of text, a web page, an email, a video, an audio note, a PDF, a contract, a photo . . . really:  any content viewable on your computer can be stored in a Note.
• Your Notes are actually housed in the ‘Cloud.’  So they are viewable on any internet connected device and your content is always synced and up-t0-date.
• There are also Evernote apps for Androids, Blackberries and Iphones which make it easier to use on a mobile device.
• You can share specific Notes with other people you designate – so it’s a great way for you to keep on the same page with, say, a client.

Here’s a video showcasing how one Realtor uses Evernote.  Unfortunately, there is a minute or two of dead space where he demos how he uses Evernote with a mobile phone, but I think you’ll get it from what’s here:

Everthing you put into Evernote on your computer can be viewed on your phone or tablet. You can also use your phone to add to Notes – by say, taking a photo or making a voice note.

By the way, Matt Rathbun, who made the video, has pretty good information on how to use some of the best technology available to Realtors on his website: theagenttrainer.com. Check it out.

And to learn more about Evernote, go to www.evernote.com and to the blog: blog.evernote.com.

Evernote 4 U is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

That last post has me pre-occupied.  I think the two graphs and the statement by Yun are dramatic.  I keep asking, ‘How can this be?  How is it in a time when most Americans have taken a 50% or more hit on their home equity (which is, for most, the biggest nest egg they have), that the Financial Industry is doing so well?’  I mean:  aren’t these the guys who got saddled with all of these upside down loans who now have to cash them out for far less than they have in them?  How is it they can be so profitable at a time like this?

I don’t claim to be an expert.  I certainly am not.  I tend to see complicated things simply, often missing the many nuances.  And I don’t know the big answer to the question, HOW.  But I know one of the ways.  When Banks were failing right and left, the FDIC stepped in seized the assets and guaranteed the deposits (thank goodness!).  Because the FDIC is not in the banking business, they then turned around and sold those assets to other banks.  Among the assets were usually a big stack of bad loans, mortgages where the property was worth far less than the amount of the mortgage.  Wow!  How do you get somebody to buy something that’s worth-less?  How about incentives and discounts.

So let’s assume that Bank A fails.  The FDIC steps in and seizes the assets, including one $300,000 mortgage on a property currently worth $250,000.  They then sell that mortgage to Bank B for $235,000 – which is the discount part (since the property is worth $250,000, they transfer the asset at a discounted value that makes sense to Bank B).  Here’s where the incentive part comes in.  Because we are in a declining market, the FDIC goes on to guarantee Bank B’s losses on the mortgage.  They say, if you take a loss on this loan, we’ll cover you up to 80% of your losses.  Hey, now this is sounding a little safer, a little better.

So Bank B goes on and forecloses on the mortgage (let’s not even consider the impact on the foreclosed family, their neighbors, area values and the economic climate).  They ultimately sell the property for $220,000 to an investor.  So you think:  they paid $235,000 and got $220,000.  That’s $15,000 in loss and the government is going to cover 80% of that, which is $12,000, so Bank B’s net loss on the deal is $3,000.  That’s ok, we all have to do our part, and they probably made a little on servicing or something.

But that’s not the way it works.  The ‘loss’ is calculated NOT from what Bank B paid for the asset but from the face value of the asset:  $300,000.  The ‘loss’ is the difference between $300,000 and $235,000, $65,000.  And 80% of that is $52,000.  Bank B gets $220,000 when they  dispose of the asset plus $52,000 from the government (which is, by the way, you and me), so their take is $272,000 on a thing they paid $235,000 for:  a net of $37,000.

I don’t know about you, but I’d take that deal all day long.

The infuriating thing is that We The People can’t afford this.  We’re borrowing from the Chinese to pay for the stupid deals we made.

Here’s a little PR Fluff from the FDIC about this:

How’s It Happen? is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Profitability of the Financial Industry, 2,000 to present:

Monthly US Home Price Indes, 1991 to present (red line inserted by me at approximately the point at which Financial Industry profits turned around):

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for NAR, a couple of weeks ago:

The aggregate homeowners’ real estate equity stood at $6.1 trillion today versus $13 trillion in 2006 according to Flow of Funds data from the Federal Reserve. According to Census, there are 74 million homeowners. So on average, the average equity per homeowner in 2011 is $82,000, which is down from $170,000 in 2006.

So, who’s paying for the bad behavior of the Financial Industry that led up to the collapse of our economy?  Well, I guess there’s no real surprise there.

And, by the way, when we talk about ‘redistribution of wealth,’ let’s be very clear about the direction in which the redistribution is going.

Disconcerting is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog