Take Command of Your Short Sale Business – check out Short Sale Commander!

Trying to navigate through the uncharted territory of short selling? Are multiple deals slowing your workflow? We have a great new tool for you to check out – Short Sale Commander.

Short Sale Commander offers the following key features:

• Guest Access for non-users to view pertinent file information
• Centralized data access and a standardized process
• File sharing and document upload capabilities
• Automated document management and central storage
• Flexible reporting tools
• Time-stamped activity logs
• Paperless system

Whether you are a newcomer to the short sale market or an experienced pro tying to manage a short sale portfolio, Short Sale Commander offers an easy to use, easy to implement solution that helps agents, investors and brokers better manage the short sale business from a single, central system.

We also like that you can test drive the product yourself before committing – they are currently offering a 14 day free trial. Priced for all budgets and offices, we see this as a productivity tool that can’t miss for the price. They also offer a free demo video – all you have to do is complete a simple contact form.

Elk Software is a software development company that specializes in Web management platforms for professionals in the real estate and title industries. Their value prop states that Short Sale Commander is the first in the industry to focus on the internal organization and workforce collaboration for managing short sale negotiations.

If you’re ready to look at productivity tools for your distressed property and short sale business, then take command of the situation and visit www.shortsalecommander.com. Also be sure to check out their blog!

Host a Home Buyer Seminar

I have a real estate client in the state of Iowa that is gearing up to hold a Home Buyer Seminar. With today’s economy and the stale real estate market you, the real estate virtual assistant, can offer to put together the details so the seminar goes smoothly and is a huge success. If your a real estate agent looking to conduct your first seminar you need to be organized and ready to answer some tough questions.

So what does it take to put on a successful buyer’s seminar? The steps are easy to do. They include lining up your speakers, selecting their topics, setting a date, selecting a location, arranging prizes for attendees, advertising your seminar, watching your seminar budget and offering a valuable information-filled program to the attendees.

Have Industry Speakers

You invite whom you want to participate, and you decide what they will talk about. You will want to have about four speakers including yourself to complete a two-hour program. Choose your speakers from among a mortgage broker, an attorney, a title company representative, a home inspector, and an appraiser. Draw on your experience and ask your speakers to address the most common questions you face from your prospective clients.

Most popular topics are consistently:

* How a Buyer Agent Can Save You Money
* How A Buyer Agent Find’s The Perfect Home For You
* Home Inspection Horror Stories
* The Reason You Need A Lawyer
* How To Get A Downpayment
* What You Need To Know About Qualifying For A Mortgage

Set a Time and Date

Once you have your speakers, you need to set a date; Hold your seminars every 6 weeks (in a town of 26,000), and promote them for 3 weeks before the date. The best days to hold a seminar are Tuesday & Thursday. Start at 7:30 sharp, and make sure everyone is out by 9:30, although you can be available for one-on-one questions after that time. I’ve found 7:30 to be the best start time as the majority of the population here commutes at least 45 minutes, and they need time to get dinner, etc. before the seminar.

Find a location

As far as location is concerned, I suggest that you use someplace that is:

* Easy to find
* Lots of parking
* Room for your projected attendance
* Decent Acoustics

Some examples of nice, low-cost places to stage a seminar are:

* Library
* Conference Center
* Community Hall
* High School Auditorium
* Restaurant / Hotel Meeting room

Limit attendance

A trick I figured out after helping my real estate client prepare for his first seminar (for which 63 people signed up) is to limit the attendance. I would set a limit to 24 people, and require advance registration. Once the limit is reached, you can either get the people in for a private session, or offer to sign them up for the next seminar. I chose to limit the attendance for 2 reasons

1.It creates a more immediate call-to-action on the part of prospective attendees
2. The question period can get far too long with more attendees

We find that only a few of the people who sign up in the first week of advertising will show up, and nearly everyone who signs up in the week of the seminar will show up.

Gifts & Incentives

All attendees are entered in a drawing for a free appraisal when they buy through you. Also, everyone who attends and buys through you gets a free home inspection and free title insurance. (you pay a discounted fee for the home inspection and the title insurance.) The mortgage broker pays for 30% of the advertising, and I pay all the other expenses. You may not want to charge the lawyer to be a speaker, because you probably get lots of free service from him as it is.

Insuring attendance

Once someone signs up, mail them a coupon for their free gifts (only valid if they buy through you) to be authorized at the seminar, a coupon to enter the draw-prize, a newsletter, and a letter thanking them for attending. We send all this in a 9″ x 12″ white envelope with a color logo on it, promoting the seminar, and listing the same information as the newspaper ads.

You can have your virtual assistant call all registrants the night before the seminar, to remind people. If someone says they can’t make it, you can call one of the people who had to be put off until the following seminar.

Advertising the seminar

Start running a 4.5″ x 6″ ad in the weekly real estate section of your local paper 3 weeks before the seminar. The ad costs us $92 per insertion, and is 3 color. I outline the speakers; topics covered; the gifts to attendees, and the location/date. For my next seminar on May 11th, I am running a 1/2 page ad, in full color, at a cost of $350 per insertion. This ad will contain a testimonial letter from one of the past seminar attendees who I have sold a home to; the other half contains what I’ve previously outlined.

We also distribute 8.5″ x 11″ posters to all the stores and businesses in the area. These are on obnoxious neon paper, and outline the same thing as the newspaper ads.

Other venues for advertising that we use are:

* Web site ( www.desmoineshomesource.com)
* A fax cover sheet that is used exclusively for the week prior to the seminar
* An insert into all the mail my company sends out

Another advertising source I have considered is having mail delivered to all the apartments in town; the postal service offers a discount for this, but it would still cost $470 for 1440 apartments.

Controlling costs

* Hall: $60
* Refreshments: $25
* Newspaper Ads: $276 - $92 paid by mortgage broker = $184
* Posters (incl. delivery) $25
* Binders: $420
* Giveaways: $70
* Total: $768

A couple of notes here: we don’t include the amount we pay for the inspection & title insurance, because it is not an expense until they buy. Also, the binders cost me $30 each because they are custom Better Homes and Gardens binders with lots of color pages in them; again, ask your real estate virtual assistant to put together 30 of them. The she can mail them to me.

You might think that the binders are an excessive cost, but they are well worth it; people are amazed that they get to keep them, and they bring it with them whenever we are looking at houses.

Is putting on a buyer’s seminar worth the planning and expense. I think so.

If you are considering a Home Buyer or Home Seller Seminar, ask your virtual assistant to help you with the planning of what is becoming a popular way to get in front of leads and explain the process.

If you would like more information, please let me know. Email me at Kim@kimHughes.com or leave a comment on this blog.

Your Brand is Your Promise

When people mention the word "brand" they usually mean a well-known, well-defined company. That's why consumers frequently mention names like Target, Rolex, Apple, BMW and others who have done an excellent job in crafting an image and sticking with it. Buyers know what to expect from these companies, and as long as these companies meet that expectation, they will continue to imprint their brand in the minds of their audience. It's pretty simple really; if you just keep in mind these two principals.

Principal One: Know Your Promise

As amazing as this may seem, most companies don't really know what it is they are promising their clients. That's why they have weak brands. They may have mission statements, and can spout off why everyone should use their product or service, but really it's just a rambling list. Out of fear of losing audience, most companies will try to compete on price, quality and service... and that's a recipe for disaster. Who wants to buy a watch from the Discount Overnight Rolex store? If you try to go after all three areas you end up muddied in the mind of the consumer who is trying to put you in a box. And in this case... that's a good thing!

A mental "box" is not that different from a set of mailroom boxes. The customer gets all these incoming "messages" and has to sort them all day. The easier you make it for them to sort your company, and put it in a category, the easier it will be for them to recall it when needed. Try this... think of a fast place to eat. How about the best tasting food? And finally, the place you go if you really want to impress someone? You can probably think of each of these categories rather quickly. And chances are these companies are more than happy to fill that niche without trying to become much more.

Take a moment and write out in two or three sentences (more if you're feeling inspired) exactly what your brand promises. It will usually fall under three main categories... quality, service or price. But there are nuances. Ben ... Jerry's image contains both a quality message and a social message... one of commitment to the community and environment.

Principal Two: Never Violate Principal One

Once you have firmly established your promise in the minds of consumers, make sure every move you make conforms to that promise. Coke was fine to come out with Diet Coke, Cherry Coke and a host of other flavor variations (brand extension) but they completely missed the mark when they introduced NEW Coke. People believed in Coke, identified with Coke and it was a part of their history. New Coke was seen as a betrayal of the brand itself, a vote of no confidence in their core product. "What's wrong with the original Coke?" was the immediate question that popped up in most minds.

That's why it is so important to know what it is, and why it is, that people buy from you and believe in you.

Know your promise and keep your promise. Pretty simple? Yet it will go a long way toward making your company resonate with your customer on a deep and lasting level. And that's a promise.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

As we get to close to the end of the year, it is that time again to get organize so we can start the new year fresh and ready to go.

I suggest you start now getting your tax information in order. The earlier you take care of your taxes the better off you will be.

This past year I have found some great programs to make my life easier and I would like to share them with you. I hope each program benefits you in some way in making you life easier and more organized.

OH! I would like to offer you my new e-book for FREE! Click here to receive my 5 Grat Tips To Become A Successful Virtual Assistant. http://www.kimhughes.com/

Ok, so here are some of my favorite programs! Believe me they are worth looking into.

RoboForms is a great program to keep track of all your passwords. I love it even more to also store my client's passwords to their programs. Easy and trust worthy. I think you will find it a huge timesaver in your everyday business. Check it out!



I LOVE Shutterfly! Why, for several reasons, but one is if I need to store photos for my clients to capture the link for another program I can load the photo here for FREE. Easy!

I love to take photos of my family and post on Shurrterfly and then email to family members and friends.

When I have our family photo taken I go to Shutterfly to order my holiday cards and can create my own right online and then ship to me. This is a great time saver for me.

I order photos from Shutterfly and in multiples. Since I have scrapbooks on all three boy's I find it a time saver and very cost effective.

You must check them out and here is an offer for free shipping!

Anyone that knows me will agree that I love animals! I have 4 dogs and 4 cats and it can get expensive buy all their special items. I can go to Drugstore.com and purchase all my pet products and my families products in one location and most of the time shipping is free. Another great way for me to save time!

Time is money!

Have you ever wanted to have a confirmation that your email was received and read? Did it get forwarded to another person, etc. This is one of my favorite programs. Read Notify is a great program to have to ensure you have a confirmation on those ever so important emails.

If you only purchase one program this year, this is the one!




Now that I have shared some of my favorite programs and websites with you, make sure you check them out. There is more to come so stay tuned.