Property ManagementE-mail Notification of New Listings Is In the Agents" Hands
When big guns such as Coldwell
Banker and Realtor.com rolled out
e-mail notification of new listings to consumers, the service was considered
cutting edge and a clever means of maintaining customer loyalty. Agents can
obtain the same advantage on a personal level.
Allen Hainge, principal of Allen F.
Hainge Seminars put out the alert on his newsletter asking for readers to
forward the names of e-mail notification programs. His readers came through
with the names and practical applications of several.
The program that received the most overwhelming response was Soar MLS by Soar Automation.
Soar MLS is designed to automate MLS activities with the goal of making MLS
information preparation easier.
The site offers a typical example of a search in which the agent:
1. Sits at the MLS computer
2. Enters search criteria (again)
3. Finds comparables
4. Manipulates data
5. Prints the information
6. Writes a cover letter in another program
7. Puts the right comps with the right cover letter
Each of these steps is done one agonizing prospect at a time.
Soar Automation president, David Huey, estimates that it would require "
30-40 hours a week at the MLS computer to send information to 100 prospects."
SOAR MLS eliminates wasted time by allowing a one-time search criteria. Each
search criteria whether you are preparing buyer information or seller CMA"s is
entered one time, your prospect"s results are stored in the Soar MLS database.
Soar MLS automatically dials up the agent"s MLS, performs the search for compar
ables, merges the data and prints, faxes or e-mails it automatically. The agent
doesn"t have to do a thing.
Another benefit is that an infinite number of prospects can be notified
simultaneously.
According to Soar MLS, you can:
Send buyers a new list of properties every week until they are ready to buy.
Send seller prospects an updated CMA every month until they are ready to
list.
Send current listings an updated CMA every two weeks making them aware of
all the competition in the market. This makes them more flexible about price
issues.
You can even automatically fax or e-mail the presentations directly to your
prospects and clients.
You can customize your reports with SOAR MLS’s built-in word processor.
You can import graphs for a more elaborate presentation. You can reduce the
output to two, or more, listings per page to conserve on paper and postage. The
things you can do with SOAR MLS are virtually limitless.
"The applications for SOAR MLS have far reaching implications. When you send
a prospect new MLS information each week, you will bond them to you," writes
Huey. "With a service like this, you are doing something most agents won’t!
You’re preparing MLS information every week!"
One of Hainge"s readers, Tom
Morrissette, RE/MAX Teamwork Realty, East Longmeadow, MA wrote, "I have
only had the program for a short time and I have not used it yet for e-mailing.
It does a great job alerting me to new listings that meet the specific
requirements of my buyers. It does have a learning curve, but the more I use it
the more I find that it can do."
Many of these benefits are also available for agents through home search
systems such as HomeSeekers and Realtor.com.
Hainge protûgû Wynne Achatz, CRS, of
Marine City, MI, touts HomeSeekers" CityNet feature which includes e-mail
notification of new listings for agents" clients.
She says, "HomeSeekers sells Web sites and provides MLS data through its
CityNet. HomeSeekers has a feature that lets you save your search criteria and
provides you with e-mail notification whenever a property meeting your criteria
becomes available. The message will provide you with embedded links back to
HomeSeekers, providing you with all the
specifics and available photographs as they become available.
Achatz goes a step further by offering readers a means to compare. "So that
your readers can see the difference between the HomeSeekers Web page and
CityNet, here are my HomeSeekers page, http://www.wynnesmichigan.com/, and
CityNet page, http://www.citynet.homeseekers.com/.
I"ve set up a sample featuring the results of the search on the CityNet page.
The codes you"ll need are location code, mmls, and the agent code - achatz,"
she suggests.
Les Sulgrove, ABR, of RE/MAX Realty
Group in Des Moines likes the new feature, Personal Planner, on Realtor.com.
"If your MLS is using Realtor.com, this is a new feature that they are working
on as we speak. You can set up individual profiles of your search requirements
called "Personal Planner," and then set up a schedule that you would like to be
updated, i.e: daily, weekly, etc."
"I"ve played with the feature a bit and it seems to work pretty well. There
are lots of other features that Realtor.com is working on. Take some time and
check it out at Realtor.com go to "Find Homes." This page will give you the
opportunity to create a "Personal Planner."
Whether you load your own software program such as SOAR MLS, or give your
listings to home search sites such as HomeSeekers or Realtor.com, you and your
customers will benefit from e-mail notification of new listings - another great
example of technology working for you to save time and effort.
See More: Technology Advice