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RISMEDIA, October 6, 2009—We first met Melanie Ross of Coldwell Banker Solano Pacific in 2007 as she struggled to make the shift to selling homes online. At that time, Ross was moderately successful and hoping to move into selling homes online with Benicia, CA Real Estate. She knew even then that she couldn’t do it alone; in fact, she actually compared trying to succeed online alone to trying to ‘FSBO’ a home instead of listing with a Realtor.
“I wanted my website tailored via online marketing to bring those clients who most likely resonate with how I do business and who want to do business with me. Everyone knows that it takes time to build your business. My website is doing that for me. It is my open house 24/7. I can compete with anyone because I am easily found by Internet buyers where 84% of all sales begin. I am as good as anyone, as prominent as firms and teams that spend multiples of what I have to spend, and my online marketing services company has made all that possible. I don’t want to get big. I want to be happy and give the best possible service to my dedicated clients.” Clearly, Ross went into online marketing with her eyes wide open and realistic expectations.
When she started, she didn’t know how to make it work
“I saw an article about selling homes online that resonated with what I had been trying to self-learn. I realized I was trying to ‘be a FSBO’ in the online marketing field. It finally dawned on me that it is better to leave online marketing in the hands of professionals, just as it is better for a home buyer or seller to leave their transaction in the hands of professionals–people like me. I didn’t know how to get my site found, I didn’t know how to get people to register on it, and I didn’t know what to do when they did. My online marketing services company understood all this and because I understood from the beginning that success with online marketing is not an instant kind of thing, I was willing to hang in there, to tweak my site and to follow the rules as they explained them to me. I ignored webmasters and critics and just did as they told me to do. Because of that, I had 40 closings that year—in a year when so many others were starving.”
Now, she is a true Internet Realtor
“We were No. 3 the first quarter of 2009 in Adjusted Gross Commission and we were in the top 10 in listing and selling units for all of Coldwell Banker in California. Last year we reached the coveted Coldwell Banker’s International Presidential Circle Team Award and we are tracking to reach this again in 2009,” she proudly informed us. She has built a small team, now, and it’s working really well. “There was another associate in my office and we just seemed to click. We had the same principles in how we treat our clients, being responsive, putting a client first, always looking to see where the market is going or trying to go, being proactive in our education and desire to serve different clients–short sale, REOs, and of course, conventional. We each bring a different view so we complement each other and we have become more successful as a team than as individuals. Having Jenny as my partner and having someone to help shoulder the good and the bad is tremendous. In May we made a business decision to hire an escrow and marketing manager. She has been a great asset to us by organizing our days, taking care of details, keeping us on track with a smile on her face. I view all these good things as a direct result of my online marketing services subscription. We really feel like we couldn’t live without it.”
How her team handles distressed properties
“We are counseling the buyers, making sure they are ready to take the right steps at the price that will get them in escrow. Not every offer is accepted. In some cases, they may be willing but the market is not responding to some offers no matter what. The VA (Veterans Affairs) is a good example of a non-player in short sales because sellers are not willing to do what it takes to meet the VA loan requirements. With fewer homes on the market the sellers do not consider a VA buyer. It simply would take too long. We tell our short sale sellers, ‘do it now, as the inventory is low, people want to buy and short sales are being approved.’ We have the confidence to get the short sale approved. We also communicate with the buyer’s agent on a continuous basis so they know we are getting the job done. It’s the only way to make it work in short sales. Once you know what to do, things can move very fast; for example, while on vacation the first of August, my partner got a call from an owner who saw my website;Jenny went out to the interview, contracted for the listing, we put it on the market on 8/22 and on 8/26 we presented five offers to our client. We are now in escrow in less than 5 days on a short sale. And our client said she had over 20 people view the home before we got the offers.”
One nine-home buyer
“One of our Internet leads became a multiple unit buyer. He represented an investor group and bought nine homes from us. He, too, found us online and contacted us because we had that strong online presence. It’s this kind of common occurrence that makes me know that without my CompassSearch subscription, we’d be having a completely different selling experience these days. You see, the 10-15 good leads we get each month are what make our business. Without them, we’d be starving. We’ve learned the best ways to help people facing foreclosure and by doing so, we have helped ourselves at the same time. When we get a call, we know what to do and how to convert that call to a real prospect. The training CompassSearch provides is a factor in that, too, and I believe that the methods we were coached in by them made our professionalism stand out even more to prospective buyers and so attracts them to do business with us.”
We still don’t want to be big; we just want to be successful.
“It takes hard work and constant effort to succeed in real estate today,” Ross reflected, “the days of just coming to work and fielding offers seem to be gone for good. That’s why I am so thankful that I decided to move online when I did. The irony of it is that when I signed up a few years ago, I felt like I was taking a risk–$3,400 was a lot of money to me, and I was afraid that I might not succeed online. Now, you will never get me to sign off. We really couldn’t live the way we do without our CompassSearch subscription. It’s the best tool I have ever purchased and has the best ROI of anything we do. But, even more importantly, being an Internet Realtor lets us provide a higher level of service to our clients. We respond immediately and customers love it. That means we keep our customers, and in today’s marketplace that alone is worth the investment. We can handle more business with the staff we have without having to get big because we handle our business better.
“When I started this effort to succeed online, I was simply seeking more sales in the place where sales are made more often than anyplace else: the Internet. I had no idea that using the technology would make me a better Realtor and our customers happy and loyal, but that is the case. It seems that everyone wins, and that’s been my philosophy since I began selling homes: ‘it’s not good unless everyone wins.’ With the power of the Internet, everyone wins.”
Mike Parker has written more than 200 published articles about online marketing services for Realtors. For help in making your site work for you like Ross’ works for her or to request a free review of your website to determine if it can be found by internet buyers and if it is set up to be effective for you, click here and we’ll review it for you at no cost or obligation.
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