THE ESCROW ADVISOR - Great Pacific Escrow

1 GGREATREATPPACIFICACIFICEESCROWSCROWCCOM PANYOMPANYMMAINAINBBRANCHRANCH P: F: P: F: P: F: P: F: P: F: P: F: P: F: P: F: 2015 Issue Sixty-SixUSING TIME-TESTED REAL ESTATE MARKETING TOOLS WITH A TWISTHere s what s to love - real estate has roared back witha passion and agents, both new and seasoned areseemingly working smarter rather than harder. That spowerful and a trend most of us that have beenaround the real estate block a while can t wait towatch continue to grow and grow. Seeing agents suc-ceed, work to the top of their game, without breakingthe bank, or burning out will never grow agents have realized that to survive and thrive inthis industry despite the peaks and valleys requiressmart business strategy, planning, tools, and whole chasing the next commission thing? Sofive years ago. When the bottom fell out of the realestate market, agents left the business by the droves some with lifetime careers in the rear view but nothingto show for their efforts.

2 Why? They didn t build thefoundation. They didn t keep a database or book ofbusiness. So instead of having something to sell whenthey were ready to exit (or had to exit) the industry,they just walked away. The other agents that dug incould because they put the work into building thethree things agents really need in any market: a strongsphere of influence, geographic farm area, and times got tough we saw many agents and bro-kers get away from tried and true ideas in marketing,strategy, and mindset. Now that things are hoppingagain, they are back to doing what works but addingnew twists based on technology and social media s what we see trending with today s agents:1. Agents are back to building books of agents we mentioned that left the industry withnothing to show for it did so because they never tookthe time to build a solid sphere of influence or geo-graphic farm database that could be documented andsold. That s not what kept them from the ability tosurvive a market down-turn, and it is what kept theirdatabase keeping counterparts afloat.

3 There was a biglesson there for agents and now we are seeing a resur-gence of agents who are wisely putting all their con-tacts: friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, pastclients, etc. all in a sphere of influence database. Theycreate a separate contact list for prospects (those theyare nurturing to put into their sphere), and anotherfor their geographic farm area. Top agents add afourth list to the database that of a niche marketthat they are passionate about. We had a tremendousresponse to a recent article: The 250 People WhoShould Be in Your Sphere. The problem for mostagents is they think they don t have the time to sitdown and input the data into a manageable truth is they don t have a long-term, sustainablebusiness without making the time or better still, del-egating that duty and hiring someone to input the in-formation while they stay close to their highest andbest use of time which is, of course, prospecting, pre-senting, and closing real estate Agents are using Just Listed/Just Sold marketingconsistently.

4 When agents tightened their belts, manystopped marketing altogether or relied solely on free email marketing to reach out. The Direct MarketingAssociation that tells us that 90% of consumers re-view their mail the day it s delivered, 56% find printmail more trustworthy, and 48% retain their mail forfuture reference. Companies like , a leading provider for direct responseand print marketing for agents for more than 25 years,has seen the trend back to trusted marketing toolssuch as Just Listed and Just Sold postcards grow expo-nentially in the last year. The magic of Just Listedand Just Sold postcards is that they do three things very effectively: they market the property, the agentand their brand, and give consumers basic informa-tion that they want such as home prices in their area, shared company president Jim Morton. That s neverchanged. What has changed is the ability to sourcethe data so that sending these workhorses of a mar-Continued on Page TwoMORTGAGES: KNOWBEFORE YOU OWED etermined to get a greatbuy and save money whenyou purchase a new or resalehome or condominium?

5 Most of your money chal-lenge rests, not with the pur-chase price, but with the costof borrowing money to a few thousand on thepurchase price, but jumpinginto a mortgage without anyresearch may mean that ap-parent purchase savings dis-appear into massive accruedinterest cost of borrowing some-one else s money to buy ahouse or condominium canadd interest and othercharges that result in youpaying two or three times theoriginal purchase price aftera couple of decades of brain time learningabout how to finance thepurchase and you ll get pay-back in how much less youspend on borrowing instance, if you want tobuy real estate, have youtaken time how to presentthe best possible credit ratingto qualify for the best rateand terms?Learn which mortgage terms,including amortization peContinued on Page TwoGREAT PACIFICESCROW2727 CAMINO DEL RIOSOUTH, SUITE 333 SAN DIEGO, CA 92108P: : IVANHOEAVENUELA JOLLA, CA 92037P: : PASEO DELICIAS,SUITE 10, BOX 1889 RANCHO SANTA FE, CA92067P: : LA MESA MESA, CA 91942P: : , prepayment options, frequency of interest compound-ing, and many more, can cost you money and how to pro-tect yourself before you sign on the dotted line?

6 Discover how and why you should repay your mortgageloan as quickly as possible and save on years of interest pay-ments?Once again, talk of rising interest rates has us you are selling to buy, purchasing a new build, orentering the real estate market for the first time, mortgagerates are a topic you ve been following. Unfortunately, track-ing rates alone won t teach you enough about how to saveand how to protect all your interests when buying a borrowing rates are important, they are one of manyfactors to consider when arranging a internet offers many good sources of refinancing infor-mation mixed in with sources of too much bad advice,dated content, and devious promotion. Stick to solid, rep-utable sources, including government agencies and con-sumer associations, and remain skeptical of all you hear andread. Ask a lot of questions and take notes. The exam isyour financial tendency to click around popular sites, which may havesometimes undisclosed agendas, can make learning aboutmortgages harder not easier.

7 Jumping from site to site, blogto blog, author to author can be confusing. Learn the ba-sics, including terminology, before you look for slick the language of mortgages, so you can comfortablydiscuss your options with mortgage and real estate Great educational opportunity is to learn fromthe mistakes and mishaps of ConsumerFinancial Protection Bureau (CFPB), established in2010, describes itself as a 21st century agency thathelps consumer finance markets work by makingrules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforc-ing those rules, and by empowering consumers totake more control over their economic lives. By PJ Wade, ESCROW AdvisorAugust 2015 Issue Sixty-SixUSING TIME-TESTED REAL ESTATE MARKETING TOOLS WITH A TWIST (cont.)keting tool to the nearest 100-500 homes around a new listing is so mucheasier now than it used to be. We use Experian data with more than 128million consumer records and make it as simple for agents as startingwith the listing address or drawing a polygon on a Google map.

8 We evenallow agents to automate the process with our MLSmailings tell us every week about the results they are getting such as this onepulled from our Facebook reviews this month from Darren Brown: ProspectsPLUS! has been a Great resource for my business. The quality oftheir products is exceptional and I have had high client reviews when re-ceiving the marketing materials. It is easy to design with their templatesand have it designed within minutes. Shipping was fast and I am wellpleased with their service. I have already listed and sold one home fromthe direct marketing and have generated numerous leads. I will continueusing them for future marketing. 3. Agents are once again geographic farming. For a long while the ideaof geo-farming and door knocking was almost taboo in the as a waste of time when email became the holy grail of have gone back to being community centric. Making it a point tocome out from behind their computer screens and actually walk theneighborhoods in which they want to be recognized as the specialist toturn to.

9 They are warming their farm areas with postcard marketing,then knocking on doors, leaving door hangers, meeting neighbors, an-swering questions even hosting real estate Q & A events at the local cof-fee shops, libraries, and community centers. That s smart business. Weknow people buy and sell with those folks they know, like, and trust. Savvyagents are making it their business to make solid relationships in theircommunities to earn that trust and that business. I needed more thanjust a phone call. The postcards are a highlight to my business now, saidJeremy Hollingsworth. This has also allowed me to start farming a fewneighborhoods that I drive through with a more personal touch. 4. Agents are marketing smarter. To find hand-raisers in their markets,agents are using old school marketing tools like postcards, newsletters,and flyers but they are getting better at matching their message to theirmarketing segments. Especially when they are working valuable niche mar-kets such as Expireds, or First time home buyers.

10 They are even taking ita step further with the advance of new data technology such as the spe-cialty Prizm Code selects from Nielsen provided by the folks overat Now agents who love to work with buyers andsellers in golf or boating communities for example, can pull specialty listsof consumers who have expressed an interest in those areas and sendthem marketing pieces that speak specifically to those interests. That s apowerful combination and one that is helping agents carve out, and takemarket-share ownership for those s an exciting time in our industry. Agents are out in their communities,staying top of mind with their business base, and once again taking theirincomes to new levels. By wisely adopting smart strategies, easy-to-implement marketing tools, and staying ahead of the trends by partneringwith education-based resources that help them stay competitive on topof their game, the sky s the limit as to what agents can Julie Escobar, : KNOW BEFORE YOU OWE (cont.)