Archive for March, 2010
Connect with Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook
Mar
30
2010
Tuesdays, here at the Glen Oaks Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the REALTOR®, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of real estate.

Are you on Facebook? If not, and you are a sphere of influence (or social) farmer, you probably should be. Facebook is a Web 2.0 site that is one of the greatest ways for Realtors to create a social networking strategy. Facebook currently has over 175 million users and makes it so easy to connect with people you already know from all parts of your life. It is a great way to let those who already know you, what you are currently up to (for example, that you are a Realtor and have a particular expertise in real estate in the Glendale area – think of the potential for referrals!). Find and connect with friends from high school, college, your company, or others in the industry, like Glen Oaks Escrow. Glen Oaks Escrow has a new “fan page” (Facebook terminology). By becoming a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook, you have an easy way to stay connected to all of the training and event opportunities that we offer and support. In addition, by connecting with Glen Oaks Escrow on our fan page, you have a way to subtly remind your other Facebook friends that you are in real estate, as they will see you interacting with other professional organizations in the industry. So become a fan! Here is how:
Step 1:
Login to Facebook. (If you aren’t yet on Facebook, it is easy to create an account. Simply fill in the Sign Up section on the homepage and follow the directions to get started)

Step 2:
Search for “Glen Oaks Escrow” in the Search box in the upper right hand corner of the Facebook screen .
You will get this as your search result:
Step 3:
Click “Become a Fan”
That is it! Once you click “Become a Fan” the wording will change to “You are a Fan” and you will be connected to Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook.
Step 4:
Check out our fan page. You can now click “Glen Oaks Escrow” and see the details of our fan page where we will keep current all of our training opportunities (stay tuned…a training session on Facebook for Realtors is coming soon!) and you can keep up with the latest events and announcements from Glen Oaks Escrow. You can even send us a message on our fan page.
Just another great way to build your social network and establish yourself as a working Realtor who is keeping up with the latest trends and opportunities in the industry. We look forward to seeing you on our fan page!
Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (Glen Oaks Escrow) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.
Become a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Tighter RESPA Rules To Take Effect in 2010
Mar
25
2010

To help consumers more easily understand settlement costs and prevent big price discrepancies between the preliminary Good Faith Estimate and the HUD-1 settlement statement, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has created stricter Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) regulations are scheduled to take effect by April, 2010. (The regulations originally were to take full effect on January 1, but HUD provided a four month respite for compliance to the industry.)
For a review of what RESPA is, see our prior blog post.
New RESPA Rules
The upcoming Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) Reform requirements aim to provide customers with the essential information and adequate time to understand their home purchase and refinance options. HUD is requiring that loan originators provide borrowers with a standardized Good Faith Estimate (GFE) which clearly discloses key loan terms and closing costs.
The loan industry, in an effort to dissuade consumers from shopping for a loan, created separate Good Faith Estimates for each company, so that consumers could not equally compare costs. With the new standardized GFE, consumers now will have a chance to compare “apples to apples” when looking at competitive loan products.
In a busy year of reforming the mortgage industry, there are new federal governmental regulations called the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act (MDIA) (see below) which went into effect in July of this year. To clarify why RESPA and MDIA are related, if a lender is out of compliance with the MDIA, they are subject to a RESPA violation. The new standardized GFE, the MDIA, and stricter RESPA laws will all assist consumers in understanding the complexities of the mortgage process.
While HUD requires the RESPA Reform regulations to take effect in 2010, many lenders have begun implementing the required changes early. We, at Glen Oaks Escrow, have experienced that interpretations of the RESPA Reform requirements vary from lender to lender and as a result have caused delays in closing. Below is information about the MDIA from an attorney that specializes in RESPA law to help clarify the new requirements which will assist in closing transactions on time.
Compliance with Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act/RESPA Requirements:
1.The 3/7/3 Rule requires a seven business day waiting period once the initial disclosure is provided before closing a home loan (business days are everyday except Sundays and Holidays). This means that before a borrower can close on a transaction the borrower must receive the initial Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and initial Truth in Lending (TIL) statement disclosing the final Annual Percentage Rate (APR) seven days prior to closing.
2. If the final annual percentage rate is off by more than .125% for a fixed rate loan or .25% for an ARM loan, from the initial GFE disclosure, then the lender must re-disclose and wait yet another three business days before closing on the transaction. Note: If the rate fluctuates EITHER WAY, up or down, more than .125% on a fixed or .25% on an ARM, the re-disclosure takes effect.
3. Lenders are forbidden from collecting money for appraisals, loan applications, etc. prior to the delivery of the truth in lending statement. Lenders can only collect the credit report fees from the borrower at the time of prior delivery of the final TIL. No other fees are permitted to be collected at the time of the application. If the TIL is sent by mail, additional charges can occur after the 3rd business day after the borrower receives the TIL in the mail.
4. The following language must be clearly written on the initial and final TIL: “You are not required to complete this agreement merely because you have received these disclosures or signed a loan application.”
5. Any Lender or Settlement Service Provider found in violation of the new RESPA regulations will have 30 days after the close of escrow to correct any errors and compensate the consumer for any overage.
What do these new MDIA/RESPA regulations mean to a Realtor?
Plenty. These rules help the buyer make sure that their lender does not say one thing and then do another. Here is how Realtors can help their clients:
* Make sure to check the initial Good Faith Estimate and Truth In Lending form for a buyer and look for discrepancies in charges. The new rules were put in place to protect consumers from being low balled one figure by a loan officer only to find out at the closing table that the fees charged were much higher. The new MDIA rules will absolutely delay closings if these steps are not followed carefully.
* Buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals should not schedule a closing until the borrower has completed the seven day waiting period as required in the initial Truth In Lending statement.
* Contact your Escrow Officer for an Estimated Settlement Statement as soon as the Good Faith Estimate is available. Many lenders do not contact escrow for fees and/or recurring closing costs.
To learn more, go here for the new RESPA rule FAQ’s and here for the RESPA final rule.
Go here to learn more about the 120-day delay in the RESPA regulation enactment.
Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Escrow Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (Glen Oaks Escrow) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.
Become a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Understanding What "RSS" Means | A Key Concept In REALTOR Social Media Education
Mar
23
2010
Tuesdays, here at the Glen Oaks Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the REALTOR®, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of real estate.

Have you ever noticed that little orange icon that appears on web pages and blogs everywhere? (If you haven’t, after reading this post, you will – trust me!). Are you curious what it is? That icon is the symbol and the cornerstone technology that has enabled the explosion of blogging and transformed how information is consumed in a web 2.0 world. And, it is called RSS. My personal journey into social media started the day I discovered RSS. Understanding RSS is what allowed all kinds of doors to open for me in social media and the web 2.0 world. My hope is that it will for you, too.
The stage has been set for this post. In previous weeks I have defined “blog”, and discussed in detail the concepts of web 2.0 and social media, and discussed how these pertain to real estate. If these concepts are still new to you, it will be helpful to review my post on blogs as a basis for learning the power of RSS.
So then, what is RSS?
Most literally, RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. But, this is such a bland definition, and one that is generally irrelevant to understanding the true meaning of RSS. Following are 3 different (outstanding) sources who have a slightly different take on how to describe and understand RSS. Go with the one that resonates best for you:
If you are a visual learner, here is the Common Craft video explaining RSS in plain English and points out that RSS is “like Netflix compared to the video store”:
Interested in a straightforward, practical explanation of RSS? A great working explanation of RSS is provided by ProBlogger Darren Rowse who explains RSS as:
RSS is a technology that is being used by millions of web users around the world to keep track of their favorite websites.
In the ‘old days’ of the web to keep track of updates on a website you had to ‘bookmark’ websites in your browser and manually return to them on a regular basis to see what had been added.
The problems with bookmarking
- You as the web surfer had to do all the work
- It can get complicated when you are trying to track many websites at once
- You miss information when you forget to check your bookmarks
- You end up seeing the same information over and over again on sites that don’t update very often
RSS Changes Everything
What if you could tell a website to let you know every time that they update? In a sense, this is what RSS does for you.
RSS flips things around a little and is a technology that provides you with a method of getting relevant and up to date information sent to you for you to read in your own time. It saves you time and helps you to get the information you want quickly after it was published.
I find the ‘subscription’ description helpful. It’s like subscribing to a magazine that is delivered to you periodically but instead of it coming in your physical mail box each month when the magazine is published it is delivered to your ‘RSS Reader’ every time your favorite website updates.
Let me say right up front that I’m not the most technically savvy guy going around – but even I can use RSS. At first I found it a little strange to make the change from bookmarking to RSS but I found that when I started that I just couldn’t stop.
Still a little foggy on RSS? Here is “The Oprah Way” of explaining RSS, courtesy of Stephanie Quilao who explains RSS “The Oprah Way” in her great, non-technical post (read her full article here):
So, to make RSS much easier to understand, in Oprah speak, RSS stands for: I’m “Ready for Some Stories”. It is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place. How cool is that?
Suppose you have 50 sites and blogs that you like to visit regularly. Going to visit each website and blog everyday could take you hours. With RSS, you can “subscribe” to a website or blog, and get “fed” all the new headlines from all of these 50 sites and blogs in one list, and see what’s going on in minutes instead of hours. What a time saver!
So, how does this all relate to real estate?
Are you interested in offering creative ways to gain more exposure for your clients? Or maybe you are you interested in simply expanding your knowledge base of what you can do for your clients. How about syndicating your listings information out to the internet? Maybe you just want to stay on top of what is going on, or learn from others. As Keller Williams Simi Valley, California agent Ted Mackel points out in the following video, these are just some of the benefits that RSS has afforded his real estate business. Ted created this video as part of a 2008 MyTechOpinion.com contest asking for submissions from real estate folks about which technology has impacted your business the most. Take a look:
You too can benefit from the power of RSS. As a first step, I suggest signing up for a Google account (if you don’t already have one) and sign up for their feed reader. Then, every time you see that RSS logo out on the web on a site that interests you, add that site to your reader. It will open all kinds of doors for you in this internet and social media world and help you to better serve your clients as social media becomes an ever increasing part of real estate.
Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (Glen Oaks Escrow) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.
Become a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Escrow Terminology Explained, Part 2
Mar
18
2010

This is the second article (see the first one here) in our series on the specific terms and phrases you can encounter during a real estate transaction. The language of escrow and the real estate transaction doesn’t need to be a stumbling block; once you know the terms, these words become what they are meant to be – valuable tools to help smooth the road to a successful transaction.
Contingency
This is a clause in the sales contract that says something must happen before the sale goes through. The sale is contingent on this event, in other words. Common contingencies are the arrangement of financing, a successful home inspection or wood pest inspection, or a roofing or sewer report. Negotiate contingencies carefully, as they can cause the failure of a deal.
FIRPTA
The Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 is important if you are buying a property from a person or corporation that is not US-resident. It is up to you to find out if the seller is a foreigner. FIRPTA rules state that the buyer must withhold 10% of the realized sale price for tax purposes. A common exception is if you are buying a personal residence for under $300,000. Talk to your broker or escrow officer, who will know all the details.
Cal-FIRPTA
The California version of FIRPTA, this legislation requires the withholding of a percentage of the sales price for most California real estate transactions. Talk to your realtor or escrow officer to get a full explanation of how this law affects your transaction.
Easement
An easement is an allowance, written into the property’s title, for another person or company to have access to a portion of the land for some purpose. Often an easement allows access to power lines or utilities running through the property. A registered easement gives the other party legal access, and restricts what the owner can do on that piece of the property.
Encroachment
An encroachment is any structure or physical thing that intrudes on somebody else’s space. This could be a neighbor’s building or fence encroaching on your land, your building or other structure encroaching on your neighbor, or your structure encroaching on city or state property. Encroachments must be agreed upon before building, resolved if discovered, or removed if objected to.
Watch for more terminology posts in the months ahead.
Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Escrow Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (Glen Oaks Escrow) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.
Become a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Did You Claim Your Facebook Vanity URL?
Mar
16
2010
Tuesdays, here at the Glen Oaks Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the REALTOR®, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of real estate.
Have you claimed your Facebook username yet? If not, you should do so! It makes it easier for friends, family, and clients to find and connect with you on Facebook.
![]()
In June of 2009, Facebook gave users the opportunity to claim a “vanity URL” that represents their profile on Facebook. Over 6 million people registered their username within the first week. This optional process gives Facebook users a distinct web address for their profile and makes it much easier to share and promote your Facebook presense with others. If you haven’t registered your username, the URL for your profile looks like the before picture below. After you register your username, the URL for your profile will look something far more friendly (see the after image below).

To claim your username, go to http://www.facebook.com/username and follow the simple process that Facebook has set up. You can select a username that Facebook suggests or create your own. Select “Check availability” to check for available usernames. If the desired username is available, click “Set Username” in order to confirm your choice.

A few notes:
- Facebook usernames are permanent. In other words, they cannot be changed or transferred! This is an important consideration. How are you branding yourself? Are you using facebook for business or personal use, or maybe for both? Should your username be your full name or something more tailored to business (staceyharmon vs. RealtorStacey). Only you can make that decision. But, keep in mind that it cannot be changed. So choose wisely and make sure it is a username that will represent you over time.
- Your username must be at least five characters in length and only include alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), or a period or full stop (“.”)
- Once you have your new friendly “vanity URL”, consider adding it to your email signature to encourage those you deal with to interact with you on Facebook.
- It is possible to also have a vanity URL for a fanpage, but you must have over 1,000 fans and have registered your page before May 31, 2009 in order to qualify. More details can be found here.
Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (Glen Oaks Escrow) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.
Become a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
What is RESPA And What Affect Does It Have On The Real Estate Transaction?
Mar
11
2010

How would you react if you had a limited amount of funds in the bank to pay for closing costs and then were hit with hundreds of dollars in extra “unexpected” closing costs? This is a problem that the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) was enacted to eliminate. The goal of RESPA is stop hidden fees and charges by settlement service providers and to stop kickbacks to ensure the integrity of the real estate transaction for the consumer.
In 1974, RESPA was enacted by Congress. Its intent was consumer protection by regulating the disclosure of all costs and business arrangements in a real estate transaction settlement process.
Enforced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), RESPA requires that consumers receive disclosures at various times in the transaction and outlaws “kickbacks” that increase the cost of settlement services.
Specifically, Section 8 of RESPA prohibits a person from giving or accepting a referral fee, kickback, or anything of value in exchange for the referral of settlement-service business.
An example of an illegal “kickback” was when title companies would pay for rounds of golf, provide free administrative services, or sponsor educational classes for Realtors and lenders to encourage referral business.
A common RESPA violation, with direct impediment to consumers, occurred with lenders during the housing boom. Consumers would apply for a loan, receive a Good Faith Estimate providing the cost to obtain that loan, and then, they would go search for a new home. After making an offer on the home, they would get the final loan documents to sign at close of escrow. When they sat down to sign the final loan documents (HUD 1 settlement statement), they were oftentimes surprised to find extra and ambiguous closing costs and fees that had come up during the escrow process, sometimes along with higher interest rates. These fees were added by lenders who lured consumers with promises of low cost loans.
RESPA has done away with many of these types of unsavory business practices, as well as leveled the playing field between lenders and others in the real estate industry.
To help consumers more easily understand settlement costs and prevent big price discrepancies between the preliminary Good Faith Estimate and the HUD-1 settlement statement, HUD has created stricter RESPA laws, which take effect in January 2010. HUD has published a Frequently Asked Questions about RESPA which is a good resource for further information.
Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Escrow Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (Glen Oaks Escrow) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.
Become a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
REALTORS: Learn How To Change Your Internet Browser Home Page to Something Useful
Mar
9
2010
Tuesdays, here at the Glen Oaks Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the REALTOR®, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of real estate.

When you open your internet browser window, wouldn’t it be nice to see something useful? Is there a site you visit every time you browse the web? If so, wouldn’t it be helpful to have that set as your home page on your browser? It’s very simple to change and this week’s tech tip is designed to show you how to do that.
Some suggestions of sites that might be relevant to a REALTOR to set as your default home page:
- Your MLS login screen (are you at the computer mostly to check the MLS?)
- Glen Oaks Escrow (new tech tips and escrow posts will automatically appear on your homepage!)
- AgentGenius.com (real estate magazine)
- MyTechOpinion.com (tech magazine for the real estate industry)
- Google.com (the search engine – good one to choose because it loads quickly)
- WSJ.com (leading business and financial news)
- InmanNews.com (real estate news)
- Realtor.org (NAR’s REALTOR site)
First step is to pick a default home page. Select one from the list above or select your own (ANY website will work).
Once you decide what site you want, follow these step by step directions on how to change your default home page to something useful.
Most of our readers are on PC’s and using Internet Explorer, so these directions are geared towards them. If you are on a Mac and in Safari, directions can be found here and if you are using Firefox, you can find directions here.
Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (Glen Oaks Escrow) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.
Become a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Escrow Terminology Explained, Part 1
Mar
4
2010

Real estate transactions, and the escrow processes that make them happen, sometimes have a level of industry jargon that can be confusing or intimidating to buyers and sellers who aren’t familiar with the meaning behind the words.
This is a definitional post designed to better inform buyers and sellers about the escrow process and the terminology used during the course of a transaction.
Escrow
The escrow procedure, at its core, is where a neutral, trusted third party holds onto an item for sale until something happens, usually until the buyer pays the seller. As real estate transactions have grown in complexity, so has the business of escrow. Now an escrow agent watches over all the details of the sales agreement, facilitates the transaction paperwork, and coordinates the interests of many different parties with an interest in the sale. They also make sure that the seller gets their proceeds, and the buyer gets their title, when all is said and done. For a detailed explanation of escrow, see this earlier post.
Deed of Trust
In many states, including California, this document takes the place of a mortgage. The Deed of Trust places a property’s title in the hands of a Trustee, usually a title company, along with the specifics of the buyer’s loan and repayment provisions. If the owner defaults on the loan, the Trustee has the legal right to foreclose, and give the lender the proceeds. When the loan is paid off, the Trustee reconveys the title to the owner.
Lien
This is a legal claim on a property by someone the owner owes money to. In real estate transactions, the lender will attach a lien to the property title, saying any money from sale of the property will first be used to pay off the loan.
Prorations
In a real estate deal, the escrow agent will need to figure out the buyer’s and seller’s portions of expenses that get paid according to a certain date – eg taxes, interest or utility bills. The agent will pro-rate the expense, doing the arithmetic based on the transaction’s closing date.
Grant Deed
This is the actual document of the real estate sale. It states that the seller, or Grantor, is selling the property to the buyer, or Grantee. It states the specifics of the property, and that the seller has revealed any liens or encumbrances. The Grant Deed is usually notarized and recorded.
HUD-1 Statement
This is the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s official settlement form, used in most real estate transactions to detail exactly what settlement costs occur in the sale, and whether the buyer or the seller is paying them. You get this form at or shortly before the closing. It represents a complete accounting of every cost of the transaction.
Title Insurance
This is an insurance policy for buyers that protects them against unanticipated defects in the property title. These could be anything from hidden liens, ex-spouses, unrevealed heirs, or recording errors, to forgery. Title insurance policies carry different specifics and exceptions, so examine yours carefully.
Additional terminology will be defined in future posts. If you have a term you would like clarified or defined, leave us a note in the comments section of this post.
Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Escrow Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (Glen Oaks Escrow) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.
Become a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
The Easiest Way for ANY Realtor to get started with Blogging | Posterous.com
Mar
2
2010
Tuesdays, here at the Glen Oaks Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the REALTOR®, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of real estate.

I love Posterous. It’s my new favorite must-have application for the modern Realtor. If you are a Realtor, and you want to have a personalized, real time web presence for your real estate business, but don’t know how to get started, Posterous is your solution. Before I get into why, let me introduce what Posterous is.
Posterous describes itself as “The dead simple place to post anything.” By creating a Posterous account, you instantly create a web presence for yourself that lets you post anything to it – photos, articles, videos, MP3′s, files (such as word documents, pdf’s, etc). There is no easier way to create a blog for yourself and your real estate business (if you’d like some background as to why this might be valuable for your real estate business, check out my earlier posts on social media, web 2.o, and social networking for real estate). And posting is EASY, making Posterous the most attractive blogging option to the novice user, while still being an outstanding and powerful resource for the techiest of agents.
Why do I love Posterous so?
First: It’s easy. It’s simple. (You can do this. Really. You Can.)

If you can email, you can use Posterous. In its simplest form, all you have to do is email whatever you want to post to post@posterous.com, and it is done. Doesn’t get much easier than that.
Simply tell Posterous what your email account is, and it will know that when you send an email to them, the content is to appear on your Posterous blog. And, if you have multiple email accounts (for example, a brokerage account, a personal account, a gmail account, etc.) you can tell Posterous all your email addresses and it will post to your site no matter which email account you send from.
In addition, there are multiple ways to update your Posterous site from both your PDA cell phone and from your computer. This makes Posterous easy to use whether you are in the office checking out the MLS, or out in the field working an open house or showing property. Here are the options for how to update your Posterous Page:
1. From your PDA cell phone:
- Email whatever you want to post to Posterous and it will automatically post to your site.
- Text in your post via SMS (maximum post size is 110 characters…even a busy Realtor can manage that!)
- PicPosterous: If you have an iPhone, you can download the free PicPosterous application which further simplifies the process of posting photos to your site, and organizes the pictures on the site into photo-galleries allowing the user to preview multiple thumbnail images and select the one they want to view larger (see an example on my site here).
2. From your computer:
- At your Posterous.com website: Simply create a new post and type in what you want to say.
- From your email: Email whatever you want (including file attachments) to Posterous and it will post to your site.
- Use the Posterous Bookmarklet: This is a Posterous application that will let you grab photos, video, audio and text right out of the web pages you’re looking at, comment, and post it to your posterous blog.
Second: Posterous looks good.
Social media is really a brand building opportunity for Realtors. And, part of that opportunity is the visual design of how you are represented online. Posterous has a simple, elegant, and clean design that is professional and will display you and your content in an attractive manner that is good for your business image.
Third: It’s Free.
There is no charge to use Posterous. By creating a Posterous account, you create a free website for yourself. And everyone like free, right?! Over time, Posterous will be adding premium features, but they state in their FAQ “…there will always be a useful free version you can use.”
Fourth: It’s branded to you.
When you sign up for a Posterous account, you will select a vanity URL that can be branded to you. So, for example, my Posterous URL is: staceyharmon.posterous.com. Assuming it’s available, you can have YourName.posterous.com or PalmDesertProperties.posterous.com or WhateverYouCallYourBusiness.posterous.com.
Fifth: Posterous integrates with other social media sites.
One of the most powerful features of Posterous is the ability to auto-post to ALL of the social media sites that are most relevant to Realtors, all at the same time. This includes:
- Flickr
- WordPress
- Blogger
So, for example, if I take a photo of a listing that I am holding open and want to send that to Posterous with a note that says “I’m holding open 123 Main Street from 12-4 today…come on by and say hello!”, I can choose to have that photo and message sent (with one email) to Posterous, and concurrently to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and my WordPress blog. This is powerful and efficient stuff!
How to Use Posterous For Your Real Estate Business:
Posterous is the best way for Realtors to get started in social media and in blogging. The possibilities for using Posterous for your business are only limited by your creativity. The goal is to give people a glimpse inside your life as a working Realtor, in real-time. Here are a few ideas to get you started. At the minimum, your Posterous site is an outstanding place to post photos…of your neighborhood, of your listings, of your life as you experience it (why not post photos of your office, or of your team as they are out showing listings?). Position yourself as a trusted real estate advisor by sharing with people relevant information related to real estate in your market. Post market reports for your farm (simply scan what you get a hard copy of at your sales meeting and email it to Posterous, or post a PDF of one that is emailed to you).
Check out my Posterous account here (which I use primarily as a photo blog site) and then sign up for your own. Give it a try. And let me know what creative ways you come up with to build your real estate business with Posterous. I want to hear your great ideas!
Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (Glen Oaks Escrow) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.
Become a fan of Glen Oaks Escrow on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.





When property owners file their tax returns with the Franchise Tax Board in April 2013, they're in for a rude...
Most would consider the winter months the slowest time in real estate. It's true that the time around the holidays...