Lockbox Activity – Halfway Through 2009

Lockbox Activity – Halfway Through 2009

by | Jul 7, 2009

As you know, we’ve been tracking the number of times RMLS™ subscribers open Supra lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Here’s how it looks mid-way through 2009.

In Oregon, May was the high point with nearly 109,000 opens. For the year so far, total, there were 520,900 lockbox opens.

The same held true in Southern Washington, as May was tops with over 20,000 opens. The total for the year so far was 97,100 lockbox opens.

These numbers should be interesting to watch as we head into the typically hot summer months of July and August. Follow all the latest lockbox activity on our Flickr page.

Agents: How Upcoming Map Upgrades Can Help You

Agents: How Upcoming Map Upgrades Can Help You

by | Jun 22, 2009

I think one of the coolest things about our upcoming release for mapping on RMLSweb is that you’ll be able to save custom Map Ranges & use them in several different searches (including Advanced Search, Hotsheet Search, Open House Search, Broker/MLS Tour Search, Actual Expired Search and Prospecting).

What does that mean to you, though? I think it will mean different things to different agents, but here’s one scenario:

You have buyers that absolutely want to buy in a particular neighborhood, let’s say St. Johns in Portland. You can set up a Prospecting profile for them and draw the custom map around JUST that area. Now the Prospecting results will only send them listings from the St. Johns neighborhood (as you define it).

Your buyers then find the house of their dreams. They’re ready to put in an offer. Since you’ve saved your Map Range for St. John’s,  you can now use it to find comparables through Advanced Search when you are putting together the offer.

Here’s a quick demonstration from John Ayers, our Help Desk Manager:

To schedule a training session on this new release, call your local RMLS™ office, or e-mail training@rmls.com.

RE-acular Vernacular: adjectives in real estate listings

by | May 29, 2009

REALTORS® have a tough job in trying to accurately & positively portray their listings, while also trying to set them apart from the pack (especially with a high-level of inventory), and I imagine it’s probably hard at times to find the right word (I can sympathize). With that said, I thought it might be interesting to see what adjectives are commonly (and not so commonly) used.

I did a quick survey of  adjectives on active listings in RMLSweb; the survey was of words that appear in the “comments” (private or public) fields in RMLSweb.

The winner was “great” at 34%, followed by “beautiful” at just over 20%. However, I should note that I do have some suspicion that the term “great room” may have affected the outcome. 

Here are the Top 20 results:

Click on the graph for a larger view

Those are the top 20, but I also spent a lot of time in the old Synonym Finder book by J.I. Rodale that we have sitting around the office. I checked out 65 words total in this highly UNscientific study (I had to stop somewhere!) Here’s the full list.

I probably missed some other common ones, but one can only spend so much time… let me know if you noticed any omissions!

Looking for Unique Language for Your Listing?

If you’re looking to be unique in your listing language, here are some words that I didn’t see in any listings:

Bewitching
Prodigious
Winsome
Wondrous
Tip-top
A Number 1 (ala Frank Sinatra)
Bang-up

Also, if you want to reach out to the younger generation, check out the Online Slang Dictionary – some very good stuff there.

This is what it looked like when I tried:

“This crib is totally fresh. It is in a bomb diggity location just outside of Portland. The kitchen is totally bonkers, with choice granite countertops & bumping hardwoods.”

DISCLAIMER: I don’t actually recommend that you use any of the aforementioned adjectives in your listings… However, if you want to, more power to you.