Monday, April 28, 2008

New Virtual Tour Technology Offered in Charlotte

Charlotte's leading RE/MAX Executive Realty (aboutUs) is proud to announce a completely new virtual tour service for Charlotte real estate offerings. We've partnered with a local video services company to bring a new level of realism to your real estate listings online.

We've eliminated still shots that are either stitched or warped (or both) and replaced it with high definition video. The new tour packages still include still shot photography, a script, and a brochure but now also include submission to several open MLS systems like Trulia, Vast, Edgio, Google Base, Oodle, Zillow, and many more.

If you are interested in learning more about the new tours or would like to see samples and a price list, please visit Charlotte Realty Service's website.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Keeping You Informed - 1/9/07

From the Desk of Cindy Sikorski, January 9, 2008

Be Great in 2008!

RE/MAX Executive Realty Sold to RE/MAX International

Got your attention? WELL, IT’S NOT TRUE!

Seems another RE/MAX company has started this rumor. Neither Scott nor I have had any conversations with anyone about selling. It’s amazing what gossip gets started when you dominate the market.

Speaking of dominating the market the company did approximately $1.2 Billion in sales volume in 2007 which is up about $88,000,000 from the year before. The new bar graph many of you use on your listing presentations will be on the Intranet in the next couple of weeks.

Changes in Lake Norman and Midtown Broker in Charge

As many of you are aware, Greg Camp has left RE/MAX Executive Realty for another business opportunity. He will be missed greatly and we wish him the best. I am excited and pleased to inform you that Carol Smith will be moving back to the Lake Norman office as Broker in Charge and Bill Woods, a broker at our Southpark office, has accepted the position as Broker in Charge of our Midtown office. Bill brings to us many years of management experience and has been a Broker for over 15 years, 3 of them with RE/MAX Executive. All changes will be effective Monday, January 14.

Search Engine Optimization


We are now starting to see real results from the www.charlotteproperty.com Search Engine Optimization campaign. Charlotteproperty.com is now on the front page of Google for the number one phrase in our market, “Charlotte real estate”.

Also, we have improved the look, functionality and search rank for our relocation website, www.charlottesights.com. It now ranks in the top 5 in Google for the competitive phrase “Charlotte relocation”. Each area’s description displays featured company listings, and visitors inquiring on that property will be directed to the listing agent. Also, visitors who use the general search will create a random lead for our agents exclusively.

Upcoming Events

  • There is one seat left! Register immediately for the “100 Days to Greatness” training and mentoring program. Classes begin Thursday, January 17th. The charge paid to RE/MAX International is $395. For more details, contact Linda Hargreaves.
  • Your February bill will reflect a $25.00 decrease.
  • RE/MAX Regional Awards Gala – February 23, 2008, Charlotte Convention Ctr.

Sign up immediately as we will be ordering our tables soon!

  • RE/MAX Executive Realty Awards Gala – March 27, 2008, Marriot Executive Park

Monday, December 10, 2007

New Charlotte Relocation Guide Published

RE/MAX Executive just did a complete overhaul of our website on Charlotte relocation. We've added to each of the area's descriptions and photos. We've also updated the tax rates, school information, and much more. The website itself got a design overhaul to make it more modern.

Another big addition is the listing of our properties next to each of the area guides. Inquiries on these properties go directly to the listing agent with no referral fees.

Just one more way RE/MAX Executive is marketing it's agents Charlotte real estate listings.

Stay tuned for more!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

New Recruiting Website Launched

We are launching a new website to help recruit Realtors thinking about joining RE/MAX Executive.

As you know, we've grown to an impressive size here in Charlotte and with that size comes tremendous advantage that we distribute across marketing, technology, and administrative services that allow our Realtors to their job they way they want to.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

New Template Site Introduced

After about 6 months of tinkering, I would like to introduce the new standard agent website (example). The major upgrades include an integrated area guide, school information, and tax/utility guide. The area descriptions list properties from our inventory and update automatically.

You may have noticed another change on your RIMS websites and www.charlotteproperty.com. They are attempting to upgrade the home search in response to criticism...we'll see how well it works out. Contact the RIMS (RIMS@remax.net) team if you want something changed or fixed.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

12000 Leads Served, How Many Were RIMS Leads?

The official number for the New Year will be close to 13,000 leads but a team leader made a poignant observation:

As of December 1, all leads coming through the Tom Baucom sites of Host Harbour are now being fed into the RIMS system. That is, if I went to www.teamheidi.com before December 1st and did a property search, the lead would go through Tom's system (for his existing clients). Now it is counted through RIMS (see my training blog for more current information on the second idx feed option). That is, if I go to Heidi Hine's real estate website (that she is HEAVILY marketing) the lead will go through RIMS and is credited to the overall number I am reporting.

Now Heidi wasn't the agent who pointed it out but her predicament makes an excellent example of how difficult it is to separate what leads are generated by RIMS , www.charlotteproperty.com, and individual agent sites like www.benlambert.com. Based on my observations, here is what the average agent should have received per month from the overall system:

Per Month:
6 original leads
8-10 reoffered leads
1-2 real phone numbers
5-10 real email addresses
3-4 people who regularly come back and use the site
1 transaction 3-9 months in the pipe

If you aren't getting this you aren't promoting your site, using Instant Acceptance, or trying to contact your leads individually. If you are doing all three and STILL not seeing results, change your zipcodes based on the reports and hit the less populated zip codes. If you STILL have no luck, come see me.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

RE/MAX Executive Realty has acquired RE/MAX Lake and Land

Effective October 1, 2006.

RE/MAX Lake and Land, a strong company of nearly 40 sales associates, has commanded a great deal of respect and recognition in the Lake Norman, Cornelius and Huntersville market. Over time, we will be merging the sales associates from our temporary space in Huntersville to the building now occupied by RE/MAX Lake and Land. This will, without a doubt, provide premier market presence in the area.

Greg Camp will remain Broker in Charge of the Huntersville office and take a leadership role in merging the two offices together. In the meantime, it is our hope that Carol Smith, who is an excellent Broker in Charge, will remain in that position in the Cornelius office and continue in a leadership role with RE/MAX Executive Realty.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Gotta Get Google Apps For Your Domain

In a nutshell: google mimics outlook but for groups and not on your server for free (with minimal advertising).

In a mere three days I have setup three corporate intranets all for the cost of a registering the domain. You can see my main demo at intranet.cltproperty.com. IF you had a login, you could access your own 2gb gMail & calendar & chat. No password protected web pages beyond email and calendar but I can do that part myself.

I also like google's sign-up link for AFYD: www.google.com/a.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Keeping Up the Real Estate MoJo

Hello readership (all two of you). Things have been so fantastically busy that I haven't even had time to count how many leads have come through to our agents since we switched www.charlotteproperty.com over to RIMS.

Oh wait, that number is.......

5609 LEADS!

RE/MAX Executive is dsitributing free leads to our agents at the rate over 125 a day and we are already seing increased transactions from them.

We are fast becoming the amongst the best sources for information on Charlotte North Carolina real estate.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

This is NOT a Charlotte Real Estate Splog

Oh man, another new word to learn. Some of my Realtors were just getting used to the whole blogging concept and it blew their mind when I demonstrated on how blog headlines can be pulled via rss and planted anywhwere on another page. You can see an example at www.cltproperty.com (the headlines are pulled from my training blog at www.cltproperty.com/blog).

"Why would I want to do that?" was the universal question.

1.) Writing a blog helps establish you as an expert in your area.
2.) Blogs link back to your main pages and thus help your search engine ranking.
3.) Using my rss method, you can use blog headlines to dynamically update your website content (think of thi ues as a poor man's content management system).
4.) Provide useful information to potential customers.

Now they've gone haywire! More & more real estate agents are blogging for only one of the above reaons (give you 1 guess).

What's come out of this? CRAP sites with crap information that clutters the blog searches and keeps people from being able to find what they really, really want to read. Realtors are logging in, creating one page blogs (like this one), and then never doing a thing.

Am I completely innocent...definitely not. Hell, I once changed this blog into a poker blog for a few weeks so I could get an entry to pokerstars world blogger championships (lost in the first 5 minutes). In the end, I am not a spam blogger, here's why:

1.) I don't run ads on any of my blogs.

Maybe one day, when my little girl's college education looms closer.

2.) I don't make money in any way of any of my blogs.

I am a salaried employee of RE/MAX Executive in Charlotte, NC. It isn't even in my job desciption. I do this to promote our Charlotte, NC real estate website and to illustrate to our agents how you can effectively use new technologies to increase your reach.

3.) I didn't start blogging just to do this one page.

I have other blogs I write (mainly for training.

PLEASE STOP SPLOGGERS

Charlotte Real Estate blogs won't stop. The Charlotte market is rife with SEO hacks and blogs are the hot topic of the day. What needs to stop are the crap articles that aren't written for anyone but google's search spiders.

Monday, July 31, 2006

2000 Leads

We've hit 2000 leads since we started the project on July 7th. Our real estate property search is allowing buyers interested in Charlotte real estate to view, save, and share home information easier than ever.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Top RE/MAX Agency in Charlotte, NC Announces New Website

RE/MAX Executive Real Estate in Charlotte, NC would like to announce a completely new property search that spans almost the entire NC/SC Region.

We have over 200 highly experienced Realtors that have pulled their resources to form a network of services, technology, information and relationships that allow them apply the clout of over $1,000,000,000/yr (billion) in marketing to their local areas.

Our agents live in the neighborhoods they sell.

You can view our RE/MAX Charlotte website by going to www.charlotteproperty.com.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

RIMS Training Blog Created

I am dedicating more and more of my time to training our Realtors on RE/MAX's new Regional Internet Marketing Strategy. Instead of trying to update this blog and implement the new system with 200 agents in four offices, I am mothballing this for a bit and focusing on my RIMS Training Blog.

Corporate Communications Made Easy

We are experimenting with a new corporate communication website at www.cltproperty.com.

Welcome


This blog is the first of many experiments designed to improve out corporate communications. The goal is to keep RE/MAX Executive Realtors better informed of the many exciting changes taking place. Remember, we want our website to become the premier place to go for Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate.