Six Ways REALTORS® Can Observe Earth Day

Six Ways REALTORS® Can Observe Earth Day

by | Apr 18, 2013

Citizens of the Pacific Northwest are renowned for a commitment to living green, whether we’re walking our kids to school or composting our kitchen scraps.

How can REALTORS® do their part in maintaining the clean, natural beauty that makes our region such a joy to inhabit? In observance of Earth Day (April 22), we’ve compiled six ideas for real estate professionals who may be looking for ways to be a little more Earth-friendly.

1. Educate yourself!
In the RMLS™ region, educating yourself about sustainability can easily translate into more business. Consider earning a Green Designation from the National Association of REALTORS®—to celebrate Earth Day, in April they’re offering 25% off the course bundle. Or consider taking a course from Earth Advantage Institute, who trains real estate professionals to market and sell green homes.

2.  Encourage clients to make energy efficiency upgrades in their homes.
Energy-efficient homes can mean lower utility bills, rebates, tax credits, and more! Energy-efficient homes are also much less likely to go into default, and are highly desirable to home buyers.

3. Consider everyday business practices.
Real estate can generate a lot of paper, other waste, and require a lot of travel. Could you send a PDF rather than printing out a client report? Print marketing materials on recycled paper with soy-based (rather than petroleum-based) inks? Reducing or batching car trips is another tactic that’s good for both the planet and your business—less money spent on gas means more money in your pocket! And if you’re one of the northwest’s many coffee fiends, bringing a reusable mug to your morning java joint is one of the easiest ways to reduce landfill waste.

4. Attend sustainability-minded conferences.
The Better Living Show in Portland is a great place to learn about sustainable products for the home and garden. Likewise, GoGreen is a meeting of sustainability oriented businesspersons, with yearly events in both Portland and Seattle. These events also offer a great opportunity to hear about like-minded vendors and network with potential clients!

5. Take care of green infrastructure in your community.
RMLS™ is contacted regularly by government staff members hoping to reach out to REALTORS® about community facilities. You may not be familiar with green street facilities, multi-use paths/bikeways, and other green infrastructure, but they’re important to the health of the community! They provide community benefits such as reducing traffic congestion, absorbing on-street floods, and providing a more livable community. When you encounter these facilities, avoid disrupting them by placing for sale signs in the public way, as we advised in this recent article about buying and selling a house with green street facilities.

6. Be a recycling resource.
People who are moving from one house to another will have stuff they need to get rid of. Brokers can help clients by providing resources for recycling or reusing goods. Thrift stores, Freecycle, or non-profits such as Dress for Success can utilize clothes and other household goods. Many (but not all) charities accept car donations. Local governments can put people in touch with companies that recycle nearly anything (Clark County and Metro, for example).

There are plenty of ways you can help keep our region’s environment healthy—all it takes is the choice to do so. If you’re interested in cultivating environmentalism in real estate and you’re a member of the Portland Metro Association of REALTORS®, consider getting involved with their sustainability committee—or start one at your REALTOR® association!

Do you have any Earth-friendly tips for fellow REALTORS®?

A Twitter Guide for REALTORS®

A Twitter Guide for REALTORS®

by | Apr 3, 2013

Chances are, by now you’ve heard of Twitter, even if you haven’t the faintest idea of what it actually does. If you’re not familiar with Twitter, you may find that it benefits you—and your real estate business—to take the time to get to know the service.

Basic Tips to Get Started:

1. Choose a name with relevance to real estate.
This way you may gain followers you don’t even know, simply from people who are searching for new people in the industry to connect with. You might want to think about making a second account with your name or something similar, if you want to be on Twitter for personal use. (Although, knowing REALTORS®, you probably won’t be able to keep your real estate updates separate from your personal account!)
2. Make sure you upload a personal photo. Much like when listing a home, uploading a photo of yourself or an image of your company’s logo to your Twitter account makes your page more appealing.
3. Add location information and a bio. Write a short bio of yourself and make sure you fill out the “location” field, to let people know what you do and where you are.
3. Change your notification settings. To ensure you don’t go crazy from non-stop emails, make sure you go into the “Email notifications” tab of the settings page and modify your settings. If you’re active on Twitter, you should start receiving lots of new followers, and getting an email every time a new person decides to follow you will simply overflow your inbox. You may want to leave the “Direct Text Email” box checked, to ensure that when someone sends you a direct message, you’re made aware of it.
4. Follow people! Start following people! Find other REALTORS® or people in the industry, and begin to connect with them. They may follow you back as a courtesy, which will enable you to better converse with them.

RMLSonTwitterFullWhat Should You Tweet About?

1. Open houses. This both serves to advertise your open houses to potential buyers who are following you, but also just lets people know that you’re active in the market, so they know they can come to you in the future if they need help.
2. Don’t be afraid to brag. Celebrate your sales! If people see you having success, they’ll feel more comfortable coming to you if they need someone to get things done for them in the future. Just don’t brag too much, of course.
3. Market updates. Link to interesting news reports and stories about what’s happening in the national and local markets! People love using Twitter as a news source, and posting information like this is a great way to gain followers. It also boosts your image as a trusted source who keeps up with current trends. (An important tool is Bit.ly, which is a free service that allows you to shorten links to fit into Twitter’s 140-character limit, as well as allowing you to track how many people are clicking on your links.) If you see someone you follow posting something interesting, don’t be afraid to retweet them – they may even return the favor in the future!
4. Converse! Ask people questions, answer questions asked of you, and interact with your virtual neighbors. Twitter is great for conversations, so don’t be afraid to get more personable with your tweets.
5. Local events. As a REALTOR®, you’ll probably have a majority of local followers. You don’t have to make everything about real estate: You can update them on fun events happening in the area, such as concerts, festivals, or farmers’ markets.
6. Use Foursquare. Foursquare is a service where people “check in” to different locations. The person with the most check-ins at a given location is the “mayor” of that location. Sometimes businesses offer bonuses to the mayor (example: discounted coffee to the mayor of a coffee shop), but even if there are no real-world perks, it’s a great tool for meeting people in the real world. It also has interesting real estate opportunities. One example: If you become the mayor of a location, visitors who check in will see your information listed as the mayor, as well as a tip from you. As a tip, you could provide links to some of your listings in the area, to possibly attract people in the area who are looking for homes and like the neighborhood!

As you’re hopefully beginning to see, Twitter offers a lot of exciting possibilities for REALTORS® to get more active in the social media community, and is a vital resource for connecting with other people in the industry, as well as potential clients. Twitter is easy to use, and as long as you schedule out a few set times a day to catch up on your tweets so it doesn’t distract you from all your work (the same way you may do with emails), it’s a very non-intrusive way to boost your personal brand and hopefully bring in some new business!

And don’t forget to follow us @RMLSweb!