Beth Raimer hosts Real Talk with RMLS™, a podcast designed for REALTOR® subscribers to get the scoop about all things RMLS™.

Automated lights? A smart thermostat? What does it all mean…and how does it all work? This week, host Beth Raimer chats with Ryan Jacobsen about smart home technologies that are the wave of the future for homebuyers.

Listeners may now subscribe to Real Talk with RMLS™ on iTunes and Google Play!

Music: “Tropical Summer” by ArtIss (via MelodyLoops.com)

Safety should never be relegated to just one month, but September is REALTOR^® Safety Month. This year marks the 10th year of the National Association of REALTORS^® (NAR) dedicating a month to REALTOR^® safety. Every year more and more alarming (and sometimes bizarre!) stories emerge from our subscribers: robberies, creeps, and fools. Every year RMLS™ strives to give subscribers resource material to better educate and protect themselves.

Top Tips from NAR (and Me)

The following are the four most paramount tips NAR would like to pass on:

1. Have office guests sign in. At the office, use a visitor log book where potential clients fill out a customer identification form. Remember to check IDs.
2. Don’t disclose too much personal information online. Consider setting up separate personal and business accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. This will help protect your personal photos, posts, and other information from people you don’t know.
3. Familiarize yourself with the properties you’re showing. If you are showing a vacant house, walk the perimeter of the property before you or your client enter to look for signs that someone has been or is currently inside.
4. Note your escape route. When showing a property, leave the front door unlocked for a quick exit if needed. As you walk through a house, let the client enter rooms ahead of you.

And my personal favorite tips:

1. Tell people where you are going if meeting someone alone or for the first time. You can also go so far as to have a colleague call you at a certain time if you are nervous about the meeting. Mention the name of who you’re meeting and even set an estimated time of return.
2. Reasonable people will answer reasonable questions. For instance, there has been a rash of would-be buyers who are offended when asked to provide proof of funds for an all-cash transaction or who become upset if you can’t meet with them under their conditions. While it’s not always the case, dramatic reactions to seemingly benign questions or comments should raise concern.
3. Advise your sellers of the possibilities. Tell them to lock up all valuables, especially small items such as prescription bottles, checks, and jewelry. Even at a brokers’ tour with the most seasoned agent,  someone who doesn’t look suspicious who says they were in the neighborhood and saw the sign can wreak havoc and you know the rest.

Technology. Whew, What They Can Do These Days!

In our last safety post, we discussed internet resources REALTORS^® could utilize to be notified should their listings be hijacked by scam artists and posted on sites like Craigslist and even Trulia. Now you can empower yourself with applications on your mobile devices. Smartphones have become ubiquitous in the real estate industry. Safety applications go beyond just panic button capabilities these days. Some applications utilize GPS coordinates for emergency response while others offer speed dialing or automated emergency messages that go to designated numbers. As new apps become available every day, check your mobile device’s app store for the latest offers and information.

That said, still protect your personal information in case your phone is stolen or compromised. Consider installing a tracking device on your phone where you can remotely access it from a computer. Device passwords should be unique and free from obvious patterns like 4-3-2-1 or 1-3-7-9 (the four corners of a key pad). Read on at REALTOR.org for a comprehensive list of safety precautions for your valuables and yourself beyond those mentioned here.

Speaking of helpful resources, NAR has an archive of safety webinars for REALTORS^® that include all they released in the last four years. Webinar topics on the archive include open house safety, online safety, office layouts, and removing dangers specific to distressed properties. This kind of information can be great to touch on either briefly at an office meeting, or NAR has a variety of full presentations available for your staff.

Trust your instincts, be aware of your surroundings, and always listen to the little voice, no matter how cliched or cynical, that says if something looks too good to be true…

Happy REALTOR^® Safety Month, and if you would like to report an incident or concern regarding safety or fraud to RMLS™, please contact me at kelly.m@rmls.com.

There are many ways to use video in your business. This article, reprinted with permission from the REALTOR®Mag, has some pointers on getting started with video.

Let’s Get Reel  | By Stefanie Hahn

With millions of people watching online videos every month, it’s time for real estate professionals to consider how they’re adapting this resource in their marketing plans. Here are some tips for getting started.

As a society, we are consuming video like mad. A look at the current YouTube statistics shows that as of September 2012, more than 800 million people come to YouTube each month and watch more than 4 billion hours of video. Last year, traffic from mobile devices tripled. Now wrap your head around this: 500 years worth of YouTube videos are watched on Facebook every day and more than 700 videos are shared on Twitter every minute.

More importantly, people are interacting with video content — YouTube reports that 100 million people take a social action on YouTube (likes, shares, comments, etc.) every week.

Don’t think your clients have caught on to the profound impact of video? In April 2011, Mashable released an infographic by Postling stating that, “73 percent of home owners are more likely to list with a REALTOR® offering to do video.”

Based on these statistics, there’s never been a more compelling time to add video to your marketing plan. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Equipment

You probably have multiple devices that can shoot decent video these days — smartphone, digital camera, and tablets, for example. Try your digital camera with a tripod first, as it helps avoid the “shaking” effect of the picture and give you a smoother plane upon which to move your shots. Tripods are cheap, but they can make a big difference in the quality of your video. Always carry extra batteries and/or a battery charger just in case you run out of juice.

Shooting

Here are a few quick tips for capturing video:

1.      Turn on every available light if you are shooting inside. Also, avoid shooting for a length of time toward a window or anything that will reflect.

2.      Write a script, even if you think you don’t need one. Scripts will keep you on track and give a bit of confidence. For added security, create a full-blown storyboard with each video shot and the words that should be spoken over top.

3.      Speak louder and slower than normal. Don’t emphasize your words to the point of silliness, but enough so you are easily understood.

4.      Keep it short. If you don’t capture the viewer in the first 10 seconds, you will lose them. Limit your video to less than two minutes whenever possible.

5.      Practice. When you make a mistake, laugh at yourself. Then, try it again.

Content

Sure, you could parrot your listing description and film the house room-by-room, but I would encourage you to be bolder than that. Try something different. Instead, ask your sellers two questions:

1. What attracted you to this neighborhood?

2. What will you miss most when you move?

Really, any variations of those two questions will work. If your sellers do not wish to be on video but are willing answer the questions, you might be able to record their answers in a voiceover while filming their favorite part of the house or what they love about the neighborhood. Your goal should always be to make the buyer feel something and (hopefully) get attached to the property.

If you don’t have a listing to shoot video in, don’t use that as an excuse. Start building a video channel with a variety of content that can help you market your services to potential clients.

Here are more content ideas to consider:

1.      Vendor tips: Get your favorite loan officer in front of the camera to explain mortgage terms, the application process, and what’s happening in the market. Do this with your insurance rep, title people, and home warranty reps. Keep the videos consumer-focused, helpful, and short.

2.      Market statistics: Answer that famous question, “How is the market?” Get local and you can attack one area within your market each week with statistics and analysis from your MLS reports.

3.      Community information: Show off the communities where you work (or wish you worked). Ask shop owners to wave hello and maybe even grab a “man on the street” interview with a local.

4.      Testimonials: A video testimonial is a powerful public endorsement of your work — these videos are your best self-marketing pieces.

5.      Profile: If you have somehow managed to keep your face out of all the other videos so far, this is the one to showcase you and how you work. Try to keep your video focused on what you will do for the consumer.

Editing

There are many options when it comes to editing your video. Consider trying the editing tools on YouTube.com if you are planning to upload there already. For beginner video editing, I would go with iMovie (Apple) or Windows Movie Maker (Windows).

SEO

You can use the same search-engine optimization (SEO) principles that you employ on your Web site to your videos. Know your keywords beforehand and use them in your video title, description, and tags.

The title of your video should be descriptive yet short. And don’t jam it up with keywords — use the video description to tell the world what they are about to watch. Each video should be “tagged” with your name, the word “video,” and relevant keywords. Don’t over-tag your videos and always use your name (or team name) as the first tag. This will help with your “related video results” down the line.

Marketing

Once you have a video or two ready, you will need to set up a channel. Think of your video channel as your own little station packed with the content you upload. You can share videos from here and/or get embed code for your Web site or blog. YouTube is the giant in this space, but don’t rule out other viable options like Vimeo or Flickr. Do some research and determine which option is best for you. Here are a few more promotional tips:

1.      Set up your video channel with all of your real estate and contact information. Remember to link the channel back to your Web site and use your keywords wherever they make sense.

2.      Add a title, description, and tags to uploaded videos. If your video is listing-specific, upload it with your listing anywhere you are able to add a video.

3.      Share your video with the listing, use the built-in social shares, and embed the video on your Web site or blog.

Conclusion

Remember: You can do this! Video is easier than ever to record, edit, and upload. The investment on your part is mostly time. Like anything else, you have to be consistent to see real results, but video will give you a marketing piece that lives online and works in your favor long after you’ve uploaded. It’s time to get reel.

Stefanie Hahn is the education director for Coldwell Banker Hearthside, REALTORS® in Collegeville, Pa. Visit her Web site: www.StefanieHahn.com.

Reprinted from REALTOR® Magazine Online (http://realtormag.realtor.org), September 2012, with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

Guest Post by Terry Romel

With the recent release of the IPad and the significant adoption by the general masses I thought it appropriate to make you aware of what to expect when using the IPad with RMLSweb.

As I’m sure many of you already know, RMLSweb works best with Internet Explorer 7 and higher. All of the RMLSweb system functionality is available and fully supported on IE 7 and up.

That being said, with the proliferation of new browsers, we frequently get questions at the Help Desk as to why RMLSweb is not fully bi-browser compatible. That question is a complicated one and the entire answer would be much too long to discuss here. Bottom line is that all new modules written for RMLSweb are compatible in many of the new browsers, but some of the existing core functionality (ex. Listing Load) is still in the queue for re-write. (Here’s a list of what parts of RMLSweb currently work in other browsers.)

So, what about the IPad? The native browser on the IPad is a hybrid version of Safari. I say hybrid because it is neither the “full” version nor the IPhone version. What it does share in common with the IPhone version is it presents itself to websites as a “mobile” version of browser. Because of this reality, the IPad is automatically redirected to the RMLSweb Mobile site.

Now there are browsers out there for the IPad that can “spoof” other browser identification strings and as a result take you to the “full” version login page for RMLSweb. They will allow you to log in, but from that point forward all bets are off. One of the most disconcerting behaviors of non-supported browsers is the lack of integrity while performing searches on RMLSweb. Let’s never forget that one of our core responsibilities as a MLS is to provide accurate data to our subscribers.

As a result of the inconsistency of this core function of the RMLSweb system I suggest you proceed with caution regarding the IPad. While it is a wonderful new tool that fits well in the real estate space and undoubtedly has many other benefits for our Realtor® subscribers, accessing RMLSweb is not currently one of them. We are starting to look at the overall functionality of the IPad Safari browser in relation to RMLSweb, but in keeping our eye on the bigger picture it may be some time before you see it fully supported.

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Terry has returned to RMLS™ as the Help Desk Manager after a few years of working with other real estate related companies in the Portland Metro area. We’re happy to have him back!