General

Crowdfunding — using an online platform to “pool money from the crowd” to facilitate funding of new investment opportunities — has been a hot idea for years. Thanks to changes in regulation, developments in technology and the internet’s ability to connect people and information quickly and effectively, small businesses have the potential to raise capital like never before.

Likewise, investors can participate in previously inaccessible opportunities from their laptop or tablet, which makes the whole process fast, convenient and ...

The internet has changed the way real estate agents market themselves. Every agent now realizes that he or she needs an online presence in to attract potential clients.

But digital promotion should not replace the more traditional systems of lead generation. The most successful agents combine internet tools with direct mail, phone blitzes and email campaigns — the bread and butter of prospecting — to find and target motivated sellers.

Traditional marketing practices

Traditional marketing involves getting down ...

Power in the real estate industry is not defined by company size, financial assets or a massive advertising budget. Power is a function of getting the marketplace to take a specific buying or selling action. All fruitful actions start and end with the individual real estate agent in the 2016 real estate industry.     Individual agents Only individual agents cause a buy or sell action to occur. All other players in the marketplace are simply intermediaries offering a range ...

There are a few things I have in life that I never asked for. Being white is one of them. I never asked to be white and I didn’t ask for white privilege, but it was bestowed upon me. I never had to earn it and I have benefited from it my entire life — in my education, housing and job opportunities. A week ago, I was ready to unfriend everyone on Facebook who countered and dismissed “Black Lives Matter” ...

Real estate can be a lonely business when we’re not busy with contracts and customers. It’s not uncommon for agents to feel alone in a crowded, buzzing office when their business is a bit flat.

As a real estate agent, your days can be long and filled with lots of trial-and-error, but you have to stay motivated and positive to be successful day-to-day.

Are you feeling down, listless and uninspired? Not for long! Here are five ways to ...

Readers voiced their opinions on a wide range of topics this week. Here are some of the Inman team’s favorite comments that made us think and shed a little light on your world.

Kurt Buehler · Commented on How long can aging agents dance on the bar?

We struggle with this issue consistently in our day to day communication with agents that are either part time or do not stay current with the changes to our industry.

The speed of ...

Ryan Zimmerman plays first baseman for the Washington Nationals, but he wanted something other than baseball to occupy his mind while winding down at home with family — and that includes working on the house. On top of a custom playground and pool in the backyard for the kids, the Zimmermans converted an unfinished storage room into a workout facility and a closet into a wine cellar since buying the home.

As part of its Home Field Advantage series, Coldwell Banker caught up with ...

Fitting all the the moving parts of a fragmented transaction process into a single choo-choo train to closing has long been the aspiration of real estate tech entrepreneurs. RadPad may have just delivered — to renters, at least. Thanks to new integration with DocuSign, consumers can now use the rental site to find and apply for listings, sign leases and make payments throughout their tenancy. The changes The site recently began allowing landlords to upload or create their own leases for renters to sign through RadPad. The feature “close the loop on end-to-end ...

Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology expert? Email Craig Rowe. There is no shortage of mileage trackers and expense apps available for real estate agents. However, there is a shortage of apps in this category that have enticed more than 10,000 agents to sign up in only a few months. In fact, there’s only one: Everlance. This is, without question, the best-looking app I’ve come across in this milieu. It has much ...

Saying “coastal communities will always be a great investment” is a broad generalization that cannot always be quantified. Sure, beachfront property is popular, but MLSListings released a comparative study of Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties that points out some startling figures. Monterey is going all the way up Single-family home sales in Monterey County increased 27 percent in June year-over-year. During the same period, sales grew 23 percent in San Benito County and 4 percent ...