Shout it from the rooftops...

This post from HouseValues subscriber Robert Dekanski on the HouseValues Mastermind Forum...

Posted: 27 Dec 2005 11:07AM
Post subject: First Listing off of HouseValues!!

The subject says it all. I joined HouseValues about two month ago and took my first listing from it last night for $479,900. They were in my pipeline for about 45 days and when I first got to the house he said he loved my followup and the authenticity of my letters, he thought I really wrote them! Then the holiday card I sent to everyone in my pipeline did him in. He said he wanted to try the FSBO route first but when he got the card he realized how on top of my game I was and didn't even bother trying. Besides this great listing I landed, I also gained a friend as him and his wife are two of the sweetest people I have ever met.

This system is truly wonderful. I have many other hopefuls I am working with and look foward to listing a few more homes from Housevalues in the weeks to come. Their drip campaign really works and I am glad that my first deal came so soon.

In the beginning, he did not believe...

It took a lot of work to get this agent to see how to be successful. Now he’s using every HouseValues product: HouseValues, JustListed, and HomePages.

Here's an email from a HouseValues coach..

From: Kathy Makin
Subject: WOW

I have an agent, Phill Cross, that in the beginning did not believe that the HouseValues/JustListed system worked. We would have coaching calls and go over the paradigms and that the prospects can be long term. Today I called him regarding his HomePages subscription and he said he is loving all the aspects of his subscriptions now! He has already put 5 homes into his HomePages featured homes.

He has had 3 JustListed closings, $11,323 in commissions (2 in December) . He has had 2 HouseValues closinga, $3,840 in commissions. He said the commissions he has received from us so far for the year has paid for his subscriptions and he is looking forward to 2006!

Thanks!

Duct Tape Marketing

Part of being an effective Agent CEO is knowing where to find good ideas. For any business (big OR small), staying scrappy is always very, very important.

So in the spirit of scrappy marketing, I highly recomment Duct Tape Marketing. Give it a read, you'll find several good ideas that can be put to use in your marketing efforts within the first few minutes.

'Tis the season to make money!

Tis the season to review results from the year.

* $108K from HouseValues leads
* Using Market Leader to manage a pipeline almost 5 times that big!

Happy Holidays to Roger….

From: Deborah Domenico, HouseValues Coach

Roger Nakazawa; he's been with us for nearly 2 years now. Just look at Success Stats for 2005! 2005 transaction value: $4,959,375 2005 commissions earned: $108,673 (and this is just from his HouseValues business. His total for the year is over $500,000.) And he says that next year is going to be even better! How does he know? Because he is maintaining a pipeline of long-term success, of course.

Ed & Sherry Daminski, Agent CEO's

Three years ago, Sherry Daminski was a typical real estate agent in the Northern Virginia area. Now she not only has pulled her husband into the business, but has hired a full team of real estate professionals to work for her. Her income has skyrocketed.

Read more about her at StockWatch, including a story about how she generated 114 transactions in 2004. The link also gives access to a recorded call in which she shares more about her business.

Know stories of other Agent CEO's in your area? Want to share your story? Email me at agentceo@hotmail.com!

70% of income from HouseValues

A post from Donna Richey on the HouseValues Mastermind Forum:

Message From: Donna Richey-Harris
From: Dallas, TX
Posted: 14 Dec 2005
Post subject: End of Year ROI stats & success

I'm sure most people have run their numbers though it's not quite the end of the year. I know there are still a lot of doubters, so I'm asking people to post true numbers, or as close to true as possible so others can see the success. My expense numbers are a little skewed because I'm including part of '04 in the stats as I had to pay those HV bills in order to achieve the closings I actually had in 2005 as all these closings were in 2005. Aug '04 - Dec '05 my Rate of Return on my investment with HV/JL was 598%.

I posted over the summer that my ROI at that time was 470% and even though I'm paying those HV bills every month, my ROI still climbed to 598% with each closing. I could easily have taken out the Aug-Dec '04 expenses to make this number show higher, but I wanted to calculate a true number of expenses. HV/JL closings accounted for 58% of my total business. HV/JL income accounted for 70% of my total income.

AWESOME numbers! I just created a spreadsheet that will help me break it down by year for the future, but also a cumulative number as it's always good to know a total that you've spent on a system verse what you're walking away with.

"You really have something here"

All sorts of great stuff in this WOW sent to HouseValues coach Jerome from one of his agents, Dave Lewis.

- $270K dealing closing
- $4 million dollar pipeline built up.
- Rejuvenating past clients with Market Leader drip campaigns
- "I have never been happier with any real estate marketing tool."

-----Original Message-----

From: Dave Lewis
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 8:05 AM
To: Jerome Mitchell
Subject: Great product! Great service!

Jerome, you guys really have something here! I have never been happier with any real estate marketing tool. I joined HouseValues in late October and I am writing my first contract for a HouseValues (JustListed) prospect today on a $270,000 property. We expect to close by the end of January. That's a fast (and lucrative) return on my investment. I'm also in various stages with 25 other active clients totalling over $4 million with more prospects funneling in almost every day and the farthest out closing is about May. It's going to be a great year!

It's hard to believe I've only been practicing real esatate for a little over a year. You have also rejuvenated some of my past clients through the past client campaign. I received great many responses to "It was a pleasure working with you...", and one past client is just starting to have me look for investment properties. I owe this and much more, present and future to your product.

Thanks for everything. Take care.

Sincerely,
Dave Lewis
RealtySouth - Birmingham, AL

Over $60K from 35 leads

Here’s a HouseValues customer that started with a very low number of leads. His results are great based on getting 35 total leads in his first 10 months.

Joe has 1 listing from HouseValues leads and 5 purchase transactions from 1 lead, and just got a $1.2 million dollar deal from one of his own prospects that he put on the drip campaign (this is why he got the listing).

Joe was not an overnight success with HouseValues. And he still has work to do to continue to be successful. But, he’s a good story of someone using the system, staying consistent, and having it pay off. All in all, good money for him.

From: Joe Bunch
Joined: 3 Feb 2005
From: Inland Empire, Southern Calif
Posted: 12 Dec 2005
Post subject: My almost a year experience with HV

I started with HouseValues in Feb of 2005. Here are statistics: 35 Leads Received 1 Closed HV listing (double ended) 2 Possibles (1 decided to rent out and and the other went with the neighborhood realtor) 5 Purchases @ between $455,000 and $557,500. This is an investor who was impressed with my assertiveness. These 5 purchases will all be listings in 2006 for between $600,000 to $725,000. And the proceeeds from those listings will be used to purchase additional property.

This year I have made in excess of $60,000 from just the leads above. So, you can say that I have been very happy with HV. I have finished putting all my existing clients into Market Leader. One of those clients gave me a listing and a purchase that totaled $1.2 million in production. He did it, so he told me, because of the email campaign from Market Leader.

Joe Bunch
Century 21 King Realtors
"Selling Bunches of Homes in Your Neighborhood!"

Attend a seminar in 2006

A GREAT way to learn how to be a better Agent CEO is to spend a day listening to other Agent CEOs. Several companies offer part-day and full-day seminars that allow you to learn from successful agents, and network with other agents in and around your market area.

Some places to start looking are below:

Real Estate Marketing Expo (successful seminars, presented by the Realtor.com president)

HouseValues (list of free January seminars, plus a phone number for more in your area)

Mike Ferry

No other system provides better service

Great story from HouseValues subscriber Dan Volker, as told to his HouseValues Coach Val Plunkett:

- Lead was archived and had unsubscribed
- Must be a bad lead, right? WRONG
- 1 ½ hours of showing homes and $18K in commission.
- Pretty good for a bad lead… :>)

From: Val Plunkett
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Subject: WOW! Success for Dan Volker

Aloha everybody! I just got off the phone with Dan Volker and he is doing great. He just had a deal worth $18,000 in commissions. It was a lead that had been archived in his Market Leader database and had unsubscribed to everything but the eMLS search. He ended up getting an email from the prospect a few months later requesting to look at some of the listings he had sent out.

Long story short…he only showed two houses and spent 1.5 hours with them before they had a deal. His client works for a local Chicago radio station “The Mix” and he is excited about the referrals that he will receive in the future from this deal. He also has another deal in the pipeline that will be turning later next fall.

Dan has been in the real estate business for 20 yrs, and he feels there is no other system that provides better service than HouseValues. It allows him to treat all leads the same, widen his funnel, and capture business months/years down the road that he would never be able to stay in touch with on his own. Here is an example of how success is long-term and agents should never give up on a lead. The best thing is they can use the automated systems to do a lot of the work for them.

Have a great day,

Valerio Plunkett
HVU Coach
www.housevaluesinc.com

Are you being coached?

If you work in a typical real estate office, you're probably not getting much coaching or advice from your colleagues. Everyone is competing for the same listings, so why share best practices?

That's one reason why it's so important to find a coach or a mentor you can learn from. Find a coach with real estate experience, and also think about finding a mentor or regular lunch-mate from another industry from which you can learn.

There are several good sources of coaching advice for real estate agents within the real estate industry. Many charge a monthly fee, such as Mike Ferry, Star Power Systems and Brian Buffini. Many other marketing services provide coaching as part of a bundled service offering, often times for free.

Find what works for you, and most importantly find someone whose advice delivers results.

"I love HouseValues"

Here's an email from Eric Wachtel, a HouseValues subscriber from Howard Hanna Smythe Cramer:

From: Eric Wachtel
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005
Subject: RE: Greetings from your Coach!

Cheryl, Closed my 2nd HouseValues listing yesterday. $74,000. My first one was $314,000. I have one other listing at $349,900. Listing my next one this weekend - $585,000!!!

I LOVE HOUSEVALUES!

Regards, ERIC Wachtel & associates
real estate consultant
Howard Hanna Smythe Cramer