Use all the great tools Metrolist has to offer to create custom branded reports, informative presentations and interesting blogs with up to date statistics and reports on real estate in Colorado.

Interviewer: Today we are talking with Mike Hixon from Hixon & Associates.  Mike, welcome to the program, good to have you here.

Mike Hixon:  Thank you.

Interviewer:  We are talking about building a personal brand for realtors and the MLS and how that may all tie in and help but let's start with talking about brand and image, why is that important today for realtors?

Mike Hixon: Oh, brand and image is huge as far as establishing your brand, because everything that you send out, you want to have it branded, so down from your email to every bit of marketing literature that you send out, even to colleagues or associates as well, you know everything that's got your name on it leads people to you.

Interviewer:  I tell people it should all look the same: your website, your Facebook, your Twitter, your e-mail it should all provide kind of the same service and lend some type of message and credibility. 

Mike Hixon: Yes, exactly.

Interviewer:  Which I imagine you do with all of your associates?

Mike Hixon:  I do.

Interviewer:  Some easy ways to do that, obviously we just talked about a few but if you are a realtor and you are just starting out and you say, 'What do I do about establishing a brand?", what would be the first thing you would give him?

Mike Hixon:  Well you know it's interesting that you ask that because I just had a conversation with a colleague of mine, who went through a training course with me.  Had I had the benefit of knowing a lot of this information upfront, it would have been huge.

Interviewer:  Yeah.

Mike Hixon:   You know I mean the first thing you've got to do is, you've got to setup an email that tells people every time you send them something what you do, and who you are.

Interviewer:  Yeah.

Mike Hixon:   I mean that's the first thing.  And then of course you know your business relationship, how you are going to setup your office and the name of your office and how you are going to brand everything you send out, from letterhead to email.

Interviewer:  I am an internet marketing guy and people always talk about that because that seems to be the wave of technology today and so forth, and a lot of people get wrapped up in it, but the bottom line is I still tell people, 'as you can do all that, this really still comes down to a relationship business', talk a little bit about that.

Mike Hixon:   Big time relationship business, it is strictly relationship, you know I think I read, heard something the other day that says, "If you think you are a realtor, you are wrong, what you are is a marketer; and it's all about marketing.  I mean people have to know your name, they have to see you, you have to have exposure, they have to see you somewhere and a lot of it is referral business, but you know there are a lot of folks out there that, if they see something on the internet, like YouTube or whatever that's their first point of contact and a lot of it is electronic now.

Interviewer:  I hear a lot about how in the last 10 years, realtors are really breaking off into specialties, distressed property specialist, divorce specialist, whatever it may be, how important is that to incorporate into your brand?

Mike Hixon:   I think it's important, I don't know that you want to just be strictly branded by one specific niche but, if you do a lot in general and your specialty is short-sales or REO, that's important to get it out specifically to your colleagues or you know other realtors in the business because a lot of times that's where I get referrals.

Interviewer:  Lastly Mike, the MLS obviously is very cooperative and user-friendly for agents to help brand the agent and help talk about their personal marketing and so forth, talk about a few ways in which the MLS does that for realtors.

Mike Hixon:   MLS is huge for realtors as far as getting information out to your colleagues in the business.  So how do you use that as far as sorting up your listings is I think pretty important.  I see so many times when you come across information that you are looking for, and it's just been skipped over, it's important information that you need, especially things that you are searching on, you know, but the more information you put in, the better off you are going to be.

Interviewer:  Mike thanks.

Mike Hixon:   You are welcome.

Interviewer:  Appreciate you being here.

Mike Hixon:  You bet.  Thank you.

Learn more about How to Succeed in the Real Estate Market on Broker IPTV.

Posted in MLS, Gen X-Y, Technology And YOU

The Realtors Property Resource is a valuable real estate tool that gives you in-depth property knowledge to enhance your listing presentations. There is even a new mobile app to let you log-in from your smart phone!

Interviewer:  Today we are talking with David Barber from Re/Max Unlimited, and the topic is RPR.  First of all David, welcome to the show. 

David Barber:  Thank you Dan, it's nice to be here.

Interviewer:  Lot of agents don't know what RPR is or what those initials stand for, so let's start there.

David Barber:  Okay RPR is the Realtors Property Resource.  This is an ambitious project started by the National Association of Realtors and their end goal is to catalog 157 million parcels of property in the United States.  It's been in existence for a little over 24 months and is becoming alive in a lot of markets and being a very valuable tool.

Interviewer:  And obviously they are partnering with your local MLS is which is where they are getting a lot of the data I assume.

David Barber:  What they are doing is consolidating data in this area from Metrolist, and also from a lot of public records.  So, in the past, when you used to spend a lot of time going to different public sites to gather information, their goal is to have it all in one location.

Interviewer:  Yeah I think that's what I like best about it, when I've used it, I can see the data that's coming from your local MLS and then it gives me a side by side comparison about the data that's coming from the public records so you can see if it kind of jives.

David Barber:  Exactly, and it is based on what's called the realtor evaluation model, where companies like Zillow and Trulia are using an automated evaluation model that are basically just granting public record data.  This allows us as realtors to personalize the information we know about the market place whether that property backs to a busy street or has an enhancement that makes it a little more valuable. 

Interviewer:  Well as a realtor, if I don't know about it, what can I do on RPR that I can't do on say my local MLS?

David Barber:  Well it's, if you think of it as a CMA on steroids.  You've got a lot more detailed graphing, you have overlays or maps that you can do a lot more in-depth research.  As a realtor, and this is a realtor-only benefit, you do need to have a NRDS number to log in and it gives you tools to enhance your listing presentation that a normal CMA doesn't offer.

Interviewer:  Yeah, one of the cool things I thought was just the amount of data that they have on distressed properties.  Obviously that's very big with consumers today, they want to know about foreclosure, short sales; people that may be in a distress situation and this is pretty well detailed and laid out there.

David Barber:  Exactly, one of the other enhancements is that it gives you some visibility in what's going on in the world outside of our market.  So if you have a relocation client, you can take a look at their property, see what they have and what it's worth in their market to kind of help them understand what it's going to be like in our market.

Interviewer:  That's where, like the California buyer that comes out here, wants to know about the postage size.

David Barber:  Absolutely.

Interviewer:  Wow! It's right.

David Barber:  Exactly. 

Interviewer:  All right, they are adding new tools to RPR all the time.  You mentioned that they added some more two weeks ago, is that right?

David Barber:  Yeah most recently, they've added some new mapping products, you can check flood zones, you can overlay price changes.  They've also put in a mobile application, once you are set up and registered on the main RPR site you can log in from your smart phone.

Interviewer:  I think I'll do that.  David thanks great information.

David Barber:  Thanks Dan.

Posted in Denver Colorado Real Estate, MLS, NAR, Real Estate Industry Trends, National News

In this Broker IPTV video, Rohn Goldstein of the South Metro Denvers Realtors Association, introduces RPR, the Realtors Property Resource, a comprehensive tool to gather information on all properties sold and for sale.

Read more »

Posted in Headlines, MLS, NAR

Knowing the market price for homes in your area is the key to selling your home.

Read more »

Posted in Headlines, Denver Colorado Real Estate, Blogging, MLS, Real Estate Market Conditions, Real Estate Industry Trends

Kevin Best, Account Manager for Metrolist discusses the new functions added to the MLS to identify the status of properties listed.

Read more »

Posted in Internet Marketing, Traditional Marketing, MLS, Real Estate Industry, Real Estate Industry Trends, Technology And YOU