March 2012 – Help-U-Sell® Connect

New Seller Savings Comparison Calculator

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 adding the page to your site, but here is a preview of the basic structure. In the example, the seller has entered $200,000 as his home’s value, and the broker has a set fee of $3,690 and a showing fee of $2,000.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate Seller Savings Comparison Chart — The new Seller Savings Comparison chart will allow you to enter your office's set fee and your seller to calculate his potential savings.

You can populate the chart with your set fee and showing fee by logging into your OMS, clicking on “Setup” in the drop-down menu and selecting “website” from the submenu. You will add in your set fee and showing fee as shown in the example below.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate set fee and showing fee data fields — This is where you enter your set fee and showing fee in the OMS.

If you have any questions about how to use the chart or how to fill it in with your set fee and showing fee, please contact us. The chart will be ready for you to publish soon. We will keep you updated.

Broker Focus: Cynthia Stevens

Cynthia Stevens of Help-U-Sell Central Properties in Chandler, Ariz.

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 their REO properties,” says Stevens. “Overall, we are seeing fewer REOs but more short sales and also more new home sales. I think this year will be very interesting!”

Stevens says she enjoys helping people with their real estate transactions. In fact, the largest factor in her decision to purchase a Help-U-Sell office was the concept of consumer choice. “By allowing consumers to have a say in how they sell their home, they are more connected to the process,” she says.

Central Properties’ goals for 2012 are to continue to work with Fannie Mae and also to try to obtain more short sale listings. Stevens would like to increase the office’s sales by 25 percent over 2011, when the office closed 42 sides.

She advises new brokers to connect with other brokers, agents, loan officers and any other people who can provide insight into the local market. A broker should also really know his product and be able to discuss it with anyone he meets. Lastly, she advocates consistent marketing: “Let everyone know you are here!”

Winter Warm-Up Results Are In!

The results are in for our Winter Warm-Up Contest! During the contest, which started Nov. 1 and ended Feb. 29, Help-U-Sell offices earned points for each new listing, each closed buyer side and each closed seller side.

The top three offices in total points have earned admin fees and Help-U-Sell shirts. The top point-getter in each of the three categories (new listings, closed buyer sides and closed seller sides) also have won prizes. Note: Offices that won in the total-points category were not eligible to win in the individual categories, and no one could win in more than one category. For more information about the points and the prizes, read the initial Connect post about the contest.

Without further ado, here are your winners!

Total Points

1) Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties 392 points

2) Help-U-Sell Detwiler Realty 234 points

3) Help-U-Sell Heritage Real Estate 206 points

New Listing Points

Winner: Help-U-Sell Quad Cities Realty 160 points

Buyer Side Points

Winner (tie): Help-U-Sell Galleria Realty 45 points

Winner (tie): Help-U-Sell Real Estate Specialists 45 points

Seller Side Points

Winner: Help-U-Sell Select Services 64 points

We are proud of all of our participants. You all really stepped up your efforts, and in a year-over-year comparison, Help-U-Sell offices produced 15% more listings and closings in the November 2011-February 2012 period than in the November 2010-February 2011 period.

Top Producers for February 2012

We’re excited to announce the top producing Help-U-Sell offices for February! They are literally all over the map, which is great to see.

1) Posting a lucky 13 closed sides, Tucson’s Help-U-Sell Galleria Realty takes first place.
2) Help-U-Sell Ditto & Associates, out of Oklahoma City, finished in second with an impressive 11 closed sides.
3) Last but not least, Help-U-Sell Quad Cities Realty in Florence, Ala., wrapped up February with 9 closed sides.

Congratulations to all!

[Figures as of March 1, 2012.]