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How to Take Real Estate Pics Like the Pros
By Jessie Trapp, Marketing Coordinator
Excuse the cliché analogy, but photography really is the jelly to your content’s peanut butter. Without it, your online presence would be dry and subpar at best.
With real estate being as dependent on visuals as it is, you’re practically expected to be a professional photographer (or at least be exceptional at pretending to be one) in order to produce the quality images that clients have come to expect.
These expectations make sense, as you want your clients to know the perfect home when they see it without poor photography getting in the way. Although hiring actual professional photographers is usually the norm when it comes to getting snaps of homes that you’re listing, the quality of your pics should be consistent across all of your channels. Here are a few ways to take real estate pics like the pros!
Lighting
It’s a big deal. Bad lighting can cause graininess and take away the texture that would otherwise tell viewers a lot about the subject. As a general rule – let the light in! Open the shades and curtains in the homes you are listing to capture as much natural light as possible. We aren’t all professional photographers with loads of equipment, but investing in a simple and transportable lighting kit would likely be worth your while in case you find yourself in need of a lighting boost.
Take the time to define your subject
Although it can be tempting to take a quick snap, it’s usually a smart idea to slow things down and take a moment to plan out your image. Using grids can be a great way to make sure your photo is balanced and visually appealing. If you’ve ever taken a photography class, you’ve most definitely heard of the rule of thirds. There’s a feature on most smartphones that will allow you to bring up a grid and make sure you are abiding by the photography law (or at least getting the general idea of it).
Keep negative space in mind
Another element of the rule of thirds is referred to as “negative space”. Incorporating it into your images makes a huge difference when it comes to gravitating people’s eyes towards what you want them to see. Check out some examples for inspiration on how to integrate it into your real estate pics.
Keep symmetry in mind
People love symmetry – it’s why nose jobs are so popular. It’s hard to explain, but there’s this weird sense of accomplishment when you see an image that can be divided into two equal parts. Whether it is a vertical or horizontal line of symmetry, adjusting some of your real estate pics to have it is a great way to further enhance them.
Variety
Make sure that your photography inventory contains a wide variety of shots. We’ve all seen those accounts that seem to post the same image over and over again – we don’t usually follow those for long. Make sure you find ways to mix it up, make your real estate pics interesting and produce content that keeps your audience engaged. Close-ups, portraits, landscapes – you’ll want to have them all!
RE/MAX SELECT Chooses MoxiWorks for Technology Platform Partner
SEATTLE, October 23, 2018 – MoxiWorks, a leading real estate technology company, has recently partnered with RE/MAX SELECT to provide them with a variety of technology solutions for their prominent New Jersey franchise.
RE/MAX SELECT chose MoxiWorks to gain a stronger competitive offering within the marketplace to drive recruiting and retention efforts. RE/MAX SELECT is in the middle of implementing an aggressive growth strategy that has helped them expand to 13 office locations in New Jersey with more than 300 agents. This newfound strategy has also made them the largest RE/MAX franchise in the state. In order to continue progressing, they recently expanded to Parkland, Florida, and will be adding more locations within the coming months.
They have chosen a variety of MoxiWorks tools including MoxiPresent CMA (Comparative Market Analysis), MoxiHub intranet, and of course all of their data will be integrated with the MoxiCloud open platform providing single sign-on (SSO). “It’s nice to see another broker understand making agents good with the people in their spheres is essential, and we know we can help them do just that,” said York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks. The CMA tool they chose, MoxiPresent, allows agents to act as true consultants, guiding their clients through the process with interactive, MLS-connected presentations. Real estate agents that use MoxiPresent complete 40% more transactions on average each year.
Cementing their position as the brokerage of choice within their market, RE/MAX SELECT is dedicated to providing best-in-class tools so their agents can provide the highest level of service to their clients. “We do not claim to be a ‘technology company!’ This is still a concierge-style service business where we need to provide our clients with accurate information and the knowledge to help them make a wise decision on the biggest purchase of their lives. As a team, we provide our agents with the best tools in the market to provide this service to their clients,” explained Brian Spicciatie, Director of Marketing for RE/MAX SELECT.
About RE/MAX SELECT
We create and deliver the most satisfying and successful real estate experiences possible to our clients. Knowledge, Experience, Dedication, Brand Awareness, and Customer Satisfaction is our secret sauce. This approach has made us one of the most successful real estate brokerages in New Jersey. Let the agents of RE/MAX SELECT make all of your real estate dreams come true. Contact us if you’d like more information on finding your dream home or on preparing to sell your home. You can view our listings at wesellnewjersey.com.
About MoxiWorks
MoxiWorks is a comprehensive open platform system for large residential real estate brokerages that serves over 110,000 agents and 60 brokerages nationwide. MoxiWorks’ integrated tools are centered on sphere methodology that increases agents’ repeat and referral business by 40%, while lowering overall technology, training, and support costs for the brokerage. Named one of the 10 Best Cloud Solution Providers of 2018 by Industry Era, the open platform known as the MoxiCloud has tools from more than 40 partners that plug and play to create unique brokerage solutions. MoxiWorks also powers the LeadingRE Cloud. Find more information at moxiworks.com.
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For more information on this topic and other press inquiries at MoxiWorks, please contact Tiana Baur at tiana@moxiworks.com.
5 Tips for Clients Who Are Downsizing
By Maddie Jostol, Senior Marketing Manager
The kids are off to college and the big house just doesn’t make sense anymore. The cost, upkeep, and empty space is often what motivates empty nesters to think about downsizing.
As their real estate agent, it’s your job to guide them to the perfect downsized home. Below are a handful of tips for you to pass along to your clients. Take some of these tips and create your own guide to offer to clients. This is a great tactic for getting back in touch with someone you think might be a soon-to-be empty nester. If you’re using MoxiInsights, for example, and see that someone is flagged as ‘likely to list’ because they could have kids approaching an age where they’re likely to move out, it might be the perfect time to offer up your guide and get back in touch.
Here are a few tips to get you started when it comes to clients downsizing:
1. Look for space that truly matters
First and foremost, they need to find the right home. As you know, downsizing can be overwhelming for many homeowners as it’s likely they’ve spent their life growing into larger spaces.
As their agent, remember to help them look for the right space. Every family has different needs. When downsizing, the homeowners should consider what space is non-negotiable to figure out which homes make the most sense. Want to downsize, but you host Thanksgiving every year? Look for a home that still has a formal dining room, even if it means smaller bedrooms. Love to garden? Look for a smaller home that still sits on a decent sized lot where you can grow your veggies.
2. Get the location right
Location, location, location. It’s important with any home purchase, but when it comes time to downsize, this is a particularly important consideration.
Many homeowners will choose to downsize as a part of a move that gets them to their next phase in life. Whether that’s retiring on a farm or moving into the city, it’s important for these homeowners to think about their ideal lifestyle and match their new home’s location to that.
3. Take inventory
We often don’t even know what we have. Stuff accumulates over the years, and before we know it, we have closets and containers full of stuff that just gets shoved away, never to be seen again. Encourage your clients to take inventory of what they have during the home search process, so they have a realistic idea of how much space they need.
Then, once you help them find the perfect home, encourage them to purge. This will make their move easier and living in their new place more comfortable. This includes any storage units, sheds, or storage rooms. Taking inventory of it all to give them a clear picture of what they do and don’t have.
4. Get the right storage systems
Once the move is taking place, consider sending your client a list of your favorite storage systems. This is a small but powerful favor, as they’ll be trying to figure out how to get all of their stuff into their new, smaller home. Offer them suggestions for storage systems that have multiple uses and actually save space. Pinterest is a great resource for nifty storage systems that they likely don’t already have.
5. Out with the old
Garage sales are a lot of work, and we often don’t have enough stuff to warrant spending an entire Saturday hosting one. Here are a few ways your clients can get rid of the stuff they no longer need – whether they want to donate it or make a few bucks.
Clients downsizing is a difficult process, from the moment a family decides to make the move, to finding the perfect home, and all the way through the move. Help ease the pain of the process by offering valuable tips as your guide them through. Be the real estate agent they always think of when they tell their friends about how excited they are for this new phase in their life.
Why Successful Brokerages Must Embrace Change
By Maddie Jostol, Senior Marketing Manager
Don’t get too comfortable. That’s right, if you want to be a winner in today’s real estate game, you have to start embracing change. We hear a lot about change, especially when it comes to technology. The rapid pace at which technology is developing is forcing businesses in all industries to adapt to new competition and changing consumer expectations. Rightfully so, many business leaders in our industry are resistant to change, hesitating to evolve their business into its next phase. However, getting stuck in your ways will only cause your business to be stagnant in a market full of growth.
Change is inevitable. In today’s world, you have to embrace change in order to stay ahead of the game. Competition is only getting hotter, and I think we’ll continue to find that those resistant to any change will fall behind.
Change is hard. Rather than running from it, leverage it and use it to your benefit. Use change as an opportunity for improvement. Gain a competitive advantage, improve efficiency, and expand your business.
A new generation
A generational shift is happening, affecting your brokerage from multiple angles.
First there’s a shift happening in brokerages across the US. For example, in 2015, the average Realtor was 57, now it’s 54 (NAR). Younger professionals are entering the real estate industry, both as agents and in brokerage leadership. Many brokerages are family-owned and are seeing their business passed down through the generations. Across the industry, as many Baby Boomers retire, space and opportunities open for younger leaders to take brokerages into the next phase in their evolution. This generational shift comes with a shift in leadership style and business strategy, causing many brokerages to undergo change in how they operate and how they compete.
Then, there’s a change in homebuyers. Millennials and Gen Yers (37 years and younger) are now the largest generational group of buyers at 36% (NAR). Your target audience is changing, so your brokerage’s marketing and customer service strategy must account for that in order to grow your business amongst this group of homebuyers.
Changing client expectations
Technology has changed the game – it has both heightened client expectations and enabled agents to deliver a better experience. Offering outstanding attention and service is what will set you apart in a sea of agents, and as we all know, properly leveraging technology can help you to achieve this.
Consumers are accustomed to having access to information at their fingertips. This means they want accurate information with the click of a button. Real estate is no exception here. The tools you use should always be fully integrated with your data source (the MLS, for example) so that your clients have access to up-to-date, reliable information at all times.
An evolving industry
The competitive landscape is changing. New players are entering the market, new brokerage models are forming, and the presence of technology is shifting how real estate professionals operate. Like any industry, ours is evolving, and with that comes natural change. Brokerages are challenged to find a balance, where they keep up with the evolution while still staying true to the core of their business and everything it was built on. Successful brokerages will continue to find that balance, adapting as necessary – not for the sake of being trendy, but for the sake of growing their business in an ever-changing market.
Adaptability is key
So, how do you keep up? There seems to be a ‘new hot thing’ hitting the market every day, and the noise can make it difficult to navigate. Some of the tools and technologies being developed are absolutely ground-breaking, but how do you know that there won’t be something better coming down the road shortly?
This is where adaptability is key. The new systems you put in place for your brokerage should have future change in mind. In other words, select tools and services that play well with others, so you can swap things out down the road as needed. You want to change your business purposefully, ensuring that the changes you make truly impact your agents’ lives and your brokerage’s bottom line.
Embracing change is step one, enabling change is step two. Use change to your advantage, taking it on as an opportunity to take your brokerage to the next level. Then, put the right systems in place to remain competitive in today’s market and give your agents an advantage, all while preparing for more inevitable changes to come. Be one of the brokerages that thrives through the ever-changing landscape.
Chicago Real Estate Brokerage Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff Realty Group Introduces MoxiWorks
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE.
CHICAGO, Oct 15, 2018 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) — Nancy Nagy, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff Realty Group, has announced that the firm has signed an agreement with MoxiWorks, the cutting edge technology platform. Scalable and compatible with existing systems, both locally and nationally, MoxiWorks delivers an interactive and intuitive Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) and offers a robust Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, along with their extensive suite of tools and services.
“We are thrilled to provide our agents with the MoxiWorks tech platform,” said Nagy. “Agents are going to love the single sign-on bridge to a suite of tools. MoxiWorks will enable them to work more efficiently and effectively as it meets consumers on their terms with technology that is cool, easy to use, and effective.”
3 Steps to Organize Your Life as an Agent
By Jessie Trapp, Marketing Coordinator
You are one busy professional. Life as an agent is hectic, to say the least. From hosting open houses, to creating content for your marketing channels and engaging with your sphere (don’t even get me started on keeping up with emails), your to-do list seems to go on and on.
With a career like yours, it’s easy for things to get overwhelming and unorganized. That’s why it’s so important to set yourself up for success and be thoughtful about how you structure your professional life. Doing this will help achieve a greater work life balance.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
Make weekly appointments.
And by that, I mean appointments with yourself. Dedicating specific time every week to complete your tasks will set the tone for a stress-free life. Not only will it increase your amount of distraction-free work time, but it results in higher quality work all around as opposed to what is produced when scrambling to get things done last minute.
These appointments may be along the lines of dedicating the same morning every week to writing blog content or adding content to your monthly newsletter, and another to calling people within your sphere. An additional area to focus your efforts on a weekly basis is paid advertising to ensure you’re always growing your business, but you probably won’t need a full morning for that one – more like 5 minutes.
Turn your notifications on.
The next step to getting organized is holding yourself accountable to the goals and appointments you set for yourself. You are human, which means that you likely forget things from time to time. Although it’s a normal part of life, it can affect your reputation and hinder the high levels of productivity that you strive to reach. This means that keeping yourself on track will require more than a few sticky note reminders.
Turning on your calendar notifications is a great way to never miss an appointment and keep yourself on track. Adjusting your settings so that you get one notification the day before your appointment, and another one an hour or two before will keep you constantly prepared for what is to come and ensure that you never miss a beat.
Focus on efficiency.
Did you know that removing clutter from your home eliminates 40% of housework? The same idea applies to your professional life.
Even if you are being more mindful about when you do what, it doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to further maximize your efficiency. Leveraging the tech tools that you have available to you is a great way to keep your organization up to par. Making sure that your data and contacts are organized will decrease the amount of time you spend doing busy work and increase the amount of energy you can put into areas that will really make a difference. Organizing your database happens to be one of the most essential steps to successfully engaging with your sphere. Refer to our Agent’s Guide for Engagement with Your Sphere for more tips on that! Hopefully all these tips will help organize your professional life and get you to a work life balance that is more sustainable.
MoxiWorks Partners with Boston-Based Leading Edge Real Estate on Cloud Open Technology Platform
BOSTON, October 9, 2018 – MoxiWorks, a premier real estate technology company, has recently partnered with Boston-based Leading Edge Real Estate, adding to their growing list of renowned clients. Leading Edge Real Estate has more than 180 agents in nine locations. Voted one of the Top Places to Work by “The Boston Globe” for seven years straight, they are committed to providing the highest level of service and support to their agents.
The full-service brokerage is adopting a comprehensive and integrated MoxiWorks suite of products including their Moxi Engage CRM, Moxi Present CMA, Moxi Marketing, Moxi Hub (Intranet), Moxi Insights, and of course the Moxi Cloud, allowing all of these tools to work together seamlessly. “We know that having the right technology platform is critical to our agent’s success. MoxiWorks’ platform is truly a one-stop shop experience and is the only platform that is fully integrated with every piece of the transaction process,” said Leading Edge Chairman and Founder Paul Mydelski. “We’re thrilled to launch tools that will greatly improve the lives of our agents and enable them to be more profitable and provide a higher level of service to their clients.”
However, the road to finding the ultimate technology solution for their brokerage was no walk in the park mainly due to an infamous brokerage startup in the industry pulling out of a deal in the last hour. York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks said, “While we wish the amazing people over at Leading Edge didn’t have to jump through hoops to get here, we’re thankful we were able to help them find the perfect technology suite. We’re excited to have them aboard.”
With both parties deeply believing in collaboration, transparency, and integrity, this partnership is the ultimate fit. MoxiWorks is thrilled and honored to welcome another well-loved and like-minded brokerage to their client list.
“Leading Edge Real Estate is not just investing in technology, they’re investing in their agents. They’re providing them with the tools needed to make their day-to-day lives simpler, freeing up time they can spend making their clients’ dreams come true,” added Baur.
About Leading Edge
Founded in 2001, Leading Edge Real Estate is one of Greater Boston’s leading full-service real estate companies offering residential real estate services to buyers and sellers. Our highly trained agents serve all of Eastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and Southern New Hampshire from our strategically located offices in Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Cambridge, Lexington, Melrose, Reading, Wakefield, and Winchester. Our strong leadership, career development, and premier marketing results in our agents outselling the competition nearly 2:1. For more information about Leading Edge Real Estate, visit leadingedgeagents.com.
About MoxiWorks
MoxiWorks is a comprehensive open platform system for large residential real estate brokerages that serves over 110,000 agents and 60 brokerages nationwide. MoxiWorks’ integrated tools are centered on sphere methodology that increases agents’ repeat and referral business by 40%, while lowering overall technology, training, and support costs for the brokerage. Named one of the 10 Best Cloud Solution Providers of 2018 by Industry Era, the open platform known as the Moxi Cloud has tools from more than 40 partners that plug and play to create unique brokerage solutions. MoxiWorks also powers the LeadingRE Cloud. Find more information at moxiworks.com.
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For more information on this topic and other press inquiries at MoxiWorks, please contact Tiana Baur at tiana@moxiworks.com.
Welcome to the cloud, reeazily!
Last month we announced our newest Moxi Cloud partner and the latest tool available to our clients: reeazily! We’re beyond excited to add them to the Moxi Cloud. What do they do? reeazily is a cloud-based solution that makes transaction accounting and agent billing easy. Through its intuitive interface and strategic integrations (more on this later), the technology eliminates duplicate entry and streamlines processing deals. Basically, it’s the ultimate back-office solution for brokerages!
A little bit of background on reaazily: In 2005, reeazily developed a SaaS solution for real estate franchise membership management, billing, and reporting, which serviced a network of 160 offices. In 2016 they launched broker.EZ, a full brokerage back-office solution built on the same platform. The brokerage back office solution, broker.EZ™, integrates with QuickBooks Online for accounting and DocuSign for transaction management, which are already partnered with the Moxi Cloud.
Workflow Made “EaZy”
Large brokerages and organizations can manage membership and transactions through a central portal providing oversight and compliance. Their fully prorated billing system integrates with QuickBooks to provide a complete accounting solution – we’re in love!
Brokerage Back-Office
Keep your office running like never before. This extension of region.ez™ can support affiliated offices or serve as a standalone service for individual brokerages. Their plans allow you to streamline billings and automate commission deductions.
MoxiWorks Integration
Reeazily will integrate and leverage data from the Moxi Cloud, streamlining day-to-day processes. Their brokerage back office solution, broker.ez™.
Why do we love them?
In a world of few and far between options for brokerage back-office tools (not to mention many of the ones out there are outdated) reeazily is a shining beacon of hope and awesomeness. They not only understand the industry extremely well, but they have committed to building a true and viable back-office solution. They have an amazing product with amazing people that stand behind it.
Interested in getting reeazily for your brokerage? Simply contact your dedicated MoxiWorks Account Manager. For more information on this new Moxi Cloud partnership, please go here.
RISMedia: Technology Simplified
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE. Having been in real estate for more than 35 years, Bill Gamelli, executive vice president, Customer Acquisition & Product Innovation for William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance in Middletown, Conn.—No. 8 in sales volume in RISMedia’s 2018 Power Broker Report—is no stranger to the wants and needs of his clients. And he’s found great value for both the brokerage and its clients by utilizing MoxiWorks.
“It’s been an integral part of the foundation of the new technology platform we’re establishing,” says Gamelli, “and we’re working hard to embed the Moxi products into the culture of our company.”
In Case You Missed It: September 2018
By Jessie Trapp, Marketing Coordinator & Tiana Baur, Content Marketing Manager
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s finally Fall. That means we can spend more time focusing on hitting our Q4 goals and less time sitting in our own sweat – hooray! September was chalk-full of events and news stories that impacted the real estate industry, so without further ado, here are the top five stories to know:
1. RISMedia’s 2018 Real Estate CEO Exchange
RISMedia held their 2018 Real Estate CEO Exchange. Our CEO had some takeaways. Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® CEO/President, Paul Boomsma, totally rocked the keynote – to say the least.
A couple key quotes from Boomsma via RISMedia:
“There are 350 languages spoken in the U.S., and 22 percent of the country now speaks something other than English at home,” added Boomsma. “We need to be thinking about inclusivity, and be inclusive of all groups,” citing the growing influence of the Asian American, Hispanic and LGBTQ segments.
“The world, in my opinion, is so filled with noise,” said Boomsma. “I think part of our job is to provide a certain amount of peace. Being gracious is something that’s been overlooked, and I think it’s something we have an opportunity as leaders to instill in our organizations. Gracious people are kind and their behavior is characterized by tact. Graciousness may be superficial, but sometimes what’s on the surface is good enough.”
Paul – thank you.
2. “Hurricane Florence: 42 Deaths, Housing Shortages and Increasing Flooding Dangers”
As we all know, Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas and wreaked havoc on the entire region. Over 42 people lost their lives to the hurricane. There has been over $22 billion in damage done. RISMedia said that, “According to realtor.com, the hurricane could create a months-long stall in home sales and construction.” If you would like to donate to The South Carolina REALTORS® Foundation for disaster relief efforts, please do so here.
3. “Zillow breaks into lead referral business”
Inman News says that Zillow is “testing a new referral service in Florida that could shake up how it does business, and for the first time in the company’s history, earn a piece of the real estate commission pie.” No word on how big that piece will be, but the program will fall under their Premier Broker lead-gen umbrella.
4. “Compass rolls out ‘Coming Soon’ pre-marketing blitz nationwide”
“Compass Coming Soon” allows agents to market their properties before they are listed on the MLS. Some are saying this is shady, others are saying that this is by no means in the same category as whisper listings, especially since they don’t appear to anyone and everyone on the brokerage’s site. Makes sense to us.
According to Inman News, “Indeed, early or exclusive listings are extremely common, particularly among high-end clients who expect to know about a property before it hits the market. Some of the properties currently listed in Compass’ off-market category include a $3.95 million mountain villa in Aspen and a $5.3 million home in the Hamptons.” We’ll let you be the judge.
5. “Hamptons agent serenades buyers with original country song about $2M property”
Capping off this month’s #ICYMI is a story that should give you a bit of laugh. Apparently when life gives you lemons – and a great voice – you write a country song about your listing. Why not, right? After watching that video it’s clear this Douglas Elliman agent, Telly Karoussos, is definitely not afraid to break out the guitar and do something quirky to sell a home. While the Hamptons home has gotten its moment in the spotlight, the listing is still on the market with plenty (too many) photos of said guitar with it.
What do you think October has in store for us? I have a feeling some people out there will make headlines for questionable Halloween costume choices. Which reminds me, take a moment to think before you decide to wear costumes to work! If even a teeny tiny part of you is thinking, “hmm don’t know if this is appropriate,” then it’s not appropriate. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t give us more to write about!
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for another #ICYMI!
