Where will you be next Wednesday, May 23? Our own Ron McCoy and James Dingman will be attending Agent Reboot Orange County, a one-day, tech-oriented event produced by Inman News, and they would love for you to join them.

“In real estate, survival depends on doing large numbers of transactions with fewer people,” says Dingman, Help-U-Sell Real Estate’s Chief Development Officer. “Smart brokers use technology to become more efficient, freeing up time that used to be spent on marketing and administrative tasks, for more important things like making new contacts and putting more transactions together. I know of no better place to get an understanding of the tech tools available and how they function in a real estate operation than Agent Reboot.”

During the fast-paced day, presentations will last no more than 20 minutes and will cover topics ranging from video marketing to generating business on Facebook to nurturing your clients. Inman News’ Chris Smith and Katie Lance will be among the speakers, along with experts like Zillow’s Industry Outreach Manager Brad Andersohn.

Agent Reboot Orange County will take place at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, and it runs from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If you’re in the area, we encourage you to attend with us. The registration fee is only $49 if you book online. Go to the official site to sign up.

If you’re not based in Southern California, there are other Agent Reboot events scheduled from now through the fall, with stops in Portland, Ore.; Phoenix; Denver; South Florida; and Honolulu, to name a few. You can see the full list of locations on the Agent Reboot site.

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TiffanyJohannes 200x300 Broker Focus: Tiffany Johannes

Tiffany Johannes of Help-U-Sell Buy Today in Charlotte, N.C.

Real estate broker and blogger Tiffany Johannes, broker-in-charge at Help-U-Sell Buy Today in Charlotte, N.C., leaves promoting her listings to her website. On her blog, she establishes her local expertise.

She has been blogging for the past few years on her Charlotte Property Hunters blog, which focuses on area events, neighborhoods and market trends. Her most recent posts covered Mother’s Day ideas in South Charlotte and median single-family home prices in the greater Charlotte area. She writes in a conversational style, and she ends each post with  an invitation for contact her. Her featured listings are displayed in the left column and at the bottom of each page.

Johannes says she tries to post to the blog once or twice a week, but it can be challenging. Her goals are to be more consistent and to have more interaction with her readers. She also aims to continue to provide useful information.

While she hasn’t gotten a client from the blog yet, she does receive positive feedback from people who could become clients in the future. She promotes her blog via online directories and her social media accounts.

For anyone who’s considering starting a blog, Johannes offers the following advice: “Even if you’re not seeing success right away, keep doing it and be consistent. [But] if you’re not consistent, don’t be afraid to get back into it after a while.”

The blog, hosted by WordPress, lists her office’s contact information and advertises a free local market analysis in exchange for the reader’s contact information.

Johannes says the Charlotte market is seeing more buyers and less inventory, down 20 percent from last year. Now in her fourth year in real estate, this is her most successful year yet and she is looking to continue to grow her business.

If you have any questions about blogging or other advice to offer, please leave a comment.

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Spring has sprung strong top-two showings and a five-way tie for third place on our April top producers list.  Way to go, everyone!

1) Last month’s third-place finisher, Help-U-Sell Detwiler Realty moved to the top in April by closing 11 sides (and Karen’s branch office closed another four sides for the month).

2) Help-U-Sell Direct Savings Real Estate, out of Waynesboro, Va., first made the top three back in January and is back this month with eight closed sides.

3) Help-U-Sell Galleria Realty, in Tucson, Ariz., closed five sides to finish in a five-way tie.

3) Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties had another solid month of closings.

3) Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties, located in Chino Hills, Calif., returns to our top three.

3) Alabama’s Help-U-Sell Quad Cities is back on the list for the second time in 2012.

3) Help-U-Sell Santa Maria makes an appearance two months in a row.

[Figures as of May 1, 2012.]

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New Help-U-Sell Real Estate Corporate Site

April 24, 2012

If you have attended the past couple of weeks’ Tech Time Tuesdays, you’ve had a sneak peek at our new corporate website. In case you didn’t get to see it yet, here’s a screenshot of the new homepage. The new site is dynamic and more photo-rich than text-heavy. Images rotate automatically, encouraging site visitors to [...]

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Broker Focus: Matt Kellam

April 17, 2012

Matt Kellam, broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty in Chambersburg, Penn., takes a two-pronged approach to serving his clients and marketing their homes: tried-and-true basics and modern technology. He opened his office in May 2005 and has learned a lot in the years since. “The basic Help-U-Sell system works,” he says. “Don’t try to fix something [...]

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Help-U-Sell Cookbook Update

April 11, 2012

At last year’s Broker Summit, the idea for a Help-U-Sell cookbook germinated. We have since collected recipes from offices throughout the country, from Pennsylvania to California and Minnesota to Texas. Thank you to everyone who submitted a favorite dish! The final cookbook contains almost 50 recipes in four categories: Appetizers and Side Dishes, Soups, Entrees, [...]

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Top Producers for March 2012

April 3, 2012

Our Winter Warm-up Contest really seems to be paying off in the form of closed sides. Our top producing offices for March 2012 closed a combined total of 52 sides. The competition was fierce, too. Quite a few offices just missed the list with eight and seven sides. Great job, everyone! 1) Help-U-Sell Select Services, [...]

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Facebook Timeline Cover Image

March 28, 2012

The new Facebook Timeline for business pages will become mandatory on this Friday, March 30. If you haven’t set up your page for the changeover, we can help. One of the most important and easy ways to prepare your new Timeline is by adding a cover photo. The recommended dimensions are 850 pixels by 315 [...]

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New Seller Savings Comparison Calculator

March 20, 2012

We’re about to unveil a new version of the Seller Savings Comparison chart for the broker websites. The new version will allow you to personalize the chart to show your set fee, and your sellers can enter their home’s value and calculate their potential savings. We have some design work to complete before we recommend [...]

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Broker Focus: Cynthia Stevens

March 13, 2012

Cynthia Stevens has weathered her local market’s ups and downs and secured fourth place in seller-side closings in the Winter Warm-Up Contest. Her office, Help-U-Sell Central Properties in Chandler, Ariz., is growing, partially due to the market for distressed properties. “I was fortunate enough to get hired by Fannie Mae as a listing broker for [...]

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