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I got a scare this morning. As usual, I logged into my gmail account and up popped a big red notification that my gmail account may have been compromised.

WHAT???

Then up popped another  notice of the IP address, time and a suggestion I change my password should I think my account had been compromised …. uh, yeah. Immediately visions of spies in the further most regions of the earth popped in my head. Hackers with sharp saws wanting to hack into my most personal information – or worst yet, my identity. (I could save them trying to steal that – not that interesting ….) I immediately went and changed my password – which I really thought it was very strong – showed green/strong on the password-o-meter. I never thought I had to really worry about it now – but someone found it and compromised my gmail.

I started changing passwords left and right – I looked over my gmail account looking in my most private of private of areas to see what they would have seen or found. (Again, like my identity, not that interesting).

I searched my Norton to see if they caught it …. nope, nothing. Then I went back at the big red noticed and looked at their IP address ….. hmmmmmm. I right clicked and copied it. With shaking hand on mouse, I was about to see who was my intruder ….. was it my recent visitors from Russia who had visited my website? Was it the little South Korean who read 5 of my website pages the same day North Korea blasted missiles at them? Was it the kid down the street with thick glasses and pocket protector.

I hit enter …….

It was the Democratic Party!!

Ah ……. yup. As my patriotic duty to send on patriotic information, I tried upload some contacts from my gmail account. (didn’t like that none of them were blind-copied so I backed out of the email) … However,  I had given them my sign-on and password and they were able to access my email list. I NEVER DO THAT - and here I did.

So …. do change your passwords ….. and watch who you give your information to online. I’m sure the Democratic Party will not do anything with my information ….. but my password is changed anyway.

I recently moved and didn’t know where my polling place is.

Since you work with relocation, do your clients know where their polling places are? Even if they have been there for years, it’s a great reminder to get out and vote!

Please feel free to download and copy to email out to your clients. All you have to do is right-click, save as and then insert picture into the body of your email.

Contact me if you need help or would like to have your brand inserted.

Then, don’t forget to Vote November 2!!

Here’s the Live Link: http://www.vote411.org/pollfinder.php

By James Kimmons, About.com Guide

There is absolutely no doubt that email is extremely important to our real estate practice from both a customer service approach as well as a marketing tool.

It’s a real shame that most real estate agents and brokers spend marketing money for web sites, only to drive away their future commissions by poor real estate email practices. We actually encourage third party lead aggregators to sell us back our own leads by allowing them to more quickly serve the internet prospect’s inquiries than we do.

Learn what you should NOT be doing as far as email practices and you’ll reap commission rewards down the road.

1. Don’t Use the Generic “I’m Too Busy” Autoresponder

We’ve all gotten them. The email that pops into our inbox right after we’ve sent one. It says something like: “Thanks for your email. It’s very important to me, but I can’t answer right now. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

The person on the other end knows they’re important. They don’t need you to tell them that. They also know that this is a canned email and they just have to delete it. That alone tells them you really don’t consider them that important. Tricky wording like “I was on my way out, but….” only works once. Once they email you again, they know the score.

2. Don’t Write a Book – Email is a Concise Medium

Answer the prospect’s questions, don’t add in a big sales pitch about yourself. If they ask for detailed information, then they expect to get a lot of text or an attachment. If they just asked a question, making them weed through your resume to find the answer isn’t going to make them want to deal with you again.

3. Don’t Delay Checking Your Email and Answering Inquiries

Email and the internet have created an “immediate response” monster. Whether we like it or not, the internet real estate shopper is expecting some kind of meaningful response to an inquiry in a very short time.

They also begin their research by inquiring of a number of agents and web sites. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a client say “You got the business because you were the first and only response to my email.” If you truly are busy and “on the way out”, it’s OK to answer with a quick email that says so and tells them you’ll get back to them with the XYZ property info quickly. Then do it.

4. Don’t Ignore the Prospect Who is Early in the Process

The internet has allowed the real estate shopper to begin their property research much earlier and for a longer period without any sales pressure and anonymously. Many of them start a year or more early. One successful broker with all his business from a web site cites eight months average from first email exchange to a buyer contract.

The good news is that it’s not that difficult to keep them happy during this period. Just answer their emails and send them information.