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Forget everything you may have heard about real estate marketing, pull up a chair and hear me out.

If you are a real estate professional, marketing yourself can also feel like a pretty thankless job. You know what I mean, don’t you?

You entered real estate possessing the sincere desire to assist the public. But it didn’t take long to discover if no one knew who you were or how to contact you, your career was not going far. Because without a continuous flow of new business, real estate agents will shrivel up and die.

Time flies so I am not surprised that two years have passed since I sold my house. I was on the other side of the table though. I needed a real estate agent. I was about to become a seller.

Due to personal circumstances, my move was a necessity. That’s why even though the real estate market had taken a turn for the worst, I proceeded with listing our home.

I mention this because the rest of what you are going to read here is not based on theory. It is from my personal experience which I hope can be of assistance to readers.

Like I already mentioned, I needed a Realtor to list our home. I had a jump on this decision because I knew who to pick being the owner of a mortgage company. I appreciated the willingness of the agent I chose because I knew it made her nervous to list our home. Talk about feeling scrutinized.

Marketing practices had changed since the last time I sold a house. After all, thirteen years had passed. Real estate marketing had moved to the web using virtual tours. To update myself, I requested a market analysis and marketing plan from my Realtor.

Well, I was right! Things had changed. Throughout the process of marketing our home, I certainly discovered a thing or two. And I dare say our real estate agent did too. As we finished up with our listing agreement, I mentioned to my agent my one pet peeve regarding real estate marketing.

I continued to explain how my husband and I were checking out neighborhoods admiring properties for sale lately. In order to keep from confusing the homes when we talked them over later in the day, I was collecting flyers. But here is what I was noticing.

We had a little system. My husband would pull over to the curb while I jumped out of the car to grab a flyer from the box in the yard. But I can’t tell you how many times I was frustrated by an empty flyer box. Sellers had to be discouraged too.

But most of all, I thought about the lost opportunity for the real estate agent who had been hired to market and sell the property.

Now I knew everyone in real estate was focusing on internet marketing to generate real estate leads. Flyers has been around since the dinosaurs. Paperless was the way to go! But hold that thought until you hear what happened. Then you can be the judge.

So getting back to my pet peeve. We were still meeting with the listing agent and I told her as a seller, I was only going to request one thing. Give me a full flyer box, please. I did not expect her to fill it. I suggested we make it my job to replenish the flyer box.

Although my agent seemed a but skeptical, she agreed to comply with my request. Reflecting on the transaction while signing the final documents, I am not sure which of us was most surprised.

Going back again, do you remember the real estate market was in the dumps? The four months it took to sell our home was longer than I’d hoped for. But neighboring properties seemed impervious to receiving offers.

Now while our home was up for sale, a strange thing was happening. We felt a little discouraged because no one were coming by. Or were they? I began to count how many flyers were going into the box and how many were left over every couple of days. We counted at least one hundred gone every week.

The virtual tour stats, overwhelmingly positive, confirmed the story. It turned out even though our house wasn’t getting visited physically, home buyers and real estate agents were touring it digitally. Our Realtor had made sure every flyer had a web address leading to a descriptive page and a link to the tour. Potential buyers might have not been knocking on our door but they sure were using the flyers to locate our home online.

Now think back to what I mentioned earlier about real estate agents missing marketing opportunities because of empty flyer boxes. Not our Realtor! In spite of a depressed market, she attributed selling at least three other houses to prospective home buyers who made contact via her flyers. She also listed a property for a homeowner due to the flyer.

And don’t forget my house. It sold faster than others in our neighborhood.

My Realtor and I both came away with a valuable lesson. By mixing traditional real estate marketing methods with new, we got a superior result than either by itself.

This article is part of the Real Estate Investment Success Series and continues from http://www.realestateinvestment101.info/realestatebargain.html

Real estate brokers are the greatest asset of small investors since brokers deal with more properties than the individual real estate investor could ever deal with. That said, however real estate agents usually act for the seller so tend to act directly opposite to that of the buyer. In addition, their commission depends on the price that they can sell the property, so the higher the price they sell the more they can earn.

This article acknowledges this and lists four things you can do to get the most out of the real estate agents that you meet when you are shopping for your next real estate investment deal.

Tip #1- Use their knowledge

Most people know that some places have higher rental yields than other similar properties in the same class of real estate. If you are new to an area, you would want to tap on the vast knowledge of the real estate agent’s local knowledge. Ask him what areas command a better rental and why. Then ask him to show you those properties. In this way you would get a better return on investment as opposed to him showing you the properties he wants you to see.

Choosing a property in a good area good as it allows you have a maximum upside when the economy turns around. Let the real estate agent know that you are a committed real estate investor and when he knows that you might be a potential return purchaser, he will let you know of any new real estate deals that come his way that might interest you.

Tip #2- Go early to scout out the area

This is a simple tip that most people seem to miss out when looking for a real estate property. If you are the potential buyer, spend some time going to the property in question earlier then the said time and check it out. You want to spend some time observing the neighbourhood and talking to the neighbours so that you can find out all you can about the neighbourhood before you talk to the real estate agent who would try to paint a glowing picture of the area. Look out for things like crime problem, bad neighbours and other things that can turn away potential tenants.

For commercial property real estate investments, you might want to go there a day before so as to scout the area for the purpose of ascertaining walkthrough traffic. The greater the walkthrough traffic the higher your potential rental returns. Its no good purchasing a commercial property in an area that has no visitors since your rental returns would be very low.

Tip #3- Compare stories with other agents

Once you have figured out what type of real estate investment property you are interested in and what area you want, you would want to make appointments with several real estate agents so as to learn more about the potential area that you are acquiring property in. Since real estate agents are competing with each another so you can find out the downside of another agent’s proposed property at no charge at all.

In addition to learning the downside of your possible real estate investment, some of these real estate agents can give you valuable information that you can use tell your prospective tenants to rent out your property like for instance proximity to bus stations, the proximity to the subway, low crime rate and secured vehicle parking.

Tip #4- Get an agent that is qualified and in a medium to large agency

In general novice investors should contact a long-established real estate agent that is very familiar with the area that you intend to invest in. The reason is that you want an agent that knows that area very well and knows what properties are on sale and a bargain. The agent will also be able to tell you which areas are good for rental purposes and these areas should be the areas that you should spend your energy on.

Another thing to take note is that your agent should be a medium to large agency so as to gain access to a large database of properties for sale and rental. This would facilitate your search for high rental yielding properties through the agent. A medium to large real estate company would also not fold so easily and leaving you in the lurch while in the midst of a real estate transaction.

In conclusion, real estate agents are a useful part of the real estate investment process but if you mentally know what you want, you can benefit greatly from their years of industry knowledge. Effective real estate investment requires education and massive action on your part.

The Phoenix residential real estate market represents a great opportunity to individuals, families, and investors who are weary about the stock market and are realizing that their investment portfolios are too exposed to fluctuations in Wall Street.

By now, the reality has sunk in with most people – the stock market’s decline has hit 401K and other retirement investments hard. As a result, this is a critical time to for individuals, families, and investors to rethink diversification of their portfolios again. Portfolios need to be more highly diversified than ever before.

And it’s time to rethink real estate as one component of your diversification in the future in addition to stocks, bonds, commodities, international investment, and low-risk savings instruments, to name a few.

Wall Street, Main Street, and My Street, and Real Estate

There is no doubt that the goings-on in the real estate industry are intermingled with the market challenges that Wall Street is facing, which in turn impacts Main Street and “My Street.” But the issues with real estate largely emanated from the many corporations that make up Wall Street combined with lack of government oversight and inaction. Lack of personal discretion also contributed to the problem.

Having said that, here is why real estate should be a component in your investment portfolio once again, and why the Phoenix real estate market is an excellent choice for investment to help you diversify that portfolio.

First, due to the wave of foreclosure-related properties, prices have declined to 2004 and even 2003 pricing levels. This is pricing that is pre-run up. Though there is a risk that prices may drop further, the extent of a further decline may be limited in the short term while the long term outlook gradually gets stronger.

Second, real estate can prove to be a more reliable investment in a normal market environment. Prior to the run-up in home valuations in the second half of 2004 through 2005, annual home appreciation in the Phoenix residential real estate market averaged 5%-6% . Playing the long game as investors should, holding a property for 5-20 years could yield a solid return.

Long term is key here. The investor has to be committed to a lower but steady return on their investment when it comes to real estate. The Phoenix housing market will not likely experience a meteoric rise in valuations like it did again. That’s not to say that there won’t be some opportunities to turn properties fast (whether through acquisition at a foreclosure auction or wholesale, or a flip), but this model will have the high risk that most investors will and should shy away from.

One note here. At least in the Phoenix area, investors have to weigh the merits of investments in homes and real estate by several components to get a true picture of the return on a property. These factors are growth in appreciation, rental income and offsets, tax benefits, and equity paydown and buildup.

Third, real estate is real. You can see it. You can touch it. You can check up on it (if you buy locally). And it will always hold some intrinsic value no matter what happens. If you have a home in Chandler, it is easy to get across the Phoenix area, to check up on an investment property in Glendale. Or, perhaps the investment property you choose is right next door to your home in Tempe.

Fourth, under certain circumstances, real estate taxation on capital gains growth can be minimal. The same cannot be said of many other investment vehicles.

Fifth, an investor has much more control in determining the value of the property. Smart improvements and renovations combined with effective property management can increase the value of the property substantially.

Sixth, the Phoenix area continues to grow. The Valley saw a 2.8% increase in the number of residents here last year. This trend will continue as Phoenix and surrounding areas are perceived as a stable, optimum climate to live and to work. With the decline in real estate prices, this perception will also be reinforced by a sense that Phoenix and surrounding areas are once again affordable.

Finally, real estate can serve a dual investment/personal objective. For instance, an investment in real estate can serve as a later gift for children. Or, it can be utilized as a sort of savings plan for children’s college tuition as a complement to 529s and Coverdell plans. The investment could be a retirement property for later in life. Real estate investments can also be used to create income streams to live off of (when rents and equity buildup eventually turn the property cash-flow positive).

There are numerous reasons to invest in real estate even beyond this list.

Real Estate Has A Role to Play in Your Investment Portfolio

The difficult truth about the stock market is that over the past eight years, the U.S. economy has seen two major disruptions or recessions that were severe enough to have rippling effects for all Americans as seen by the decline in 401K and other retirement savings values. As a result, further diversification of investment portfolios is needed across many different asset classes with a regional focus as well.

Real estate should be one of those classes. Given real estate has seen real substantial pricing declines over the last three years to levels seen before the run-up period, one has to consider that there are real deals in the marketplace for real estate. Coupled with the right long-term outlook and commitment to investment fundamentals, real estate can have a more effectual, countervailing purpose in investment portfolios that can help Americans better weather substantial market disruptions in the future. For investors looking for specific markets that may be worthwhile to investigate, real estate in the Phoenix area is a compelling choice.

At first i was thinking of becoming a residential real estate agent but then, someone told me about commercial real estate and i was wondering would that be a better career choice and does it work the same as residential. If so, that would be major commision on a $40 million building and that would be a better route i would love to take.

Green Happiness

?He who plants a garden, plants happiness? is an old saying. However, things have changed a lot nowadays. Today, the proverb could be thought of as ?He who plants a garden, plants money!? When it comes to selling a house, landscaping is an important factor that determines the value of the property. Real estate gurus believe that gardens around a house can contribute more than 10% to the total value of the property. Moreover, the houses with attractive gardens, particularly mature trees, are easily saleable when compared to the other houses with limited or underdeveloped landscaping. Investing a little time in tending your garden can really pay dividends when it comes to selling your home.

Enjoying Green

Houses with gardens around them are excellent choices for those who wish to enjoy time outside, while not travelling far to do so. It is always refreshing to open the door and go out into the garden and smell the flowers, plants, and trees. Most of us spend less time enjoying the greenery in public parks and sanctuaries since they are becoming more scarce and because of urban sprawl are often far away. Since most of us will never have a chance to visit the tropical rain forests of Central America why not invest a few dollars and house and have your own piece of nature right outside your door?

Green can be healthy

Plants not only contribute value to the property, but gardens also have great health benefits. The health benefits of gardening are impressive. According to medical experts, gardening is a great exercise for legs, shoulders, arms and neck. Gardening also helps to strengthen the joints in our body. Recent researches indicate that gardening lowers blood pressure, reduces cholesterol levels and also prevents diabetes and heart diseases. Gardening is also an ideal physical exercise for people who want to reduce their weight. Gardening helps to burn fat and as an added bonus, creates some healthy, organic fruits and vegetables for your entire family to eat.

Green in real estate

Based on a recent survey or property owners, it was noted that 95% of residential homeowners and 86% of commercial property owners believe that good landscaping adds more value to their properties. Also real estate brokers around Austin think that merely having a garden is enough to attract the buyers. Moreover, gardening has lots of benefits like offering a healthy body, fresh air, a fresh mind, fresh food, bringing birds, attracting butterflies, sustaining beneficial insects and added value to your property. Finally, gardening and makes your property look its best. So plant gardens around your home and grab the sure ticket to quick and valuable resale!