Real Estate News for Realtors and Brokers

Think twice about website names

By Matt Carter, Friday, July 30, 2010.

Agents and brokers using social media to grow their business are taking notice of Facebook's deletion of a real estate broker's referral network after the National Association of Realtors objected that it included the Realtor trademark in its domain name.

Although Facebook has reinstated the page with a new domain name, the incident not only demonstrates the importance of choosing a website address carefully, but of not becoming too dependent on any one social media site, the broker and other social media experts agree.

While NAR's interest in the Facebook site seemed to surprise some, it was just the latest in a history of actions by the trade group spanning several decades to protect its legal rights to the Realtor trademark. more...

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Save your business pitch for later

Re: '8 ways real estate agents can generate referrals for free' (July 6)

Dear Editor:

This was an extremely informative article. When selling a service it is extremely important to understand that the person you are looking to do business with must first have a good relationship with you and have a level of trust that you will take care of the relationship they are passing on to you as the referral. more...

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The Truth About Shadow Inventory

The utterance of the term “shadow inventory” can conjure up fear, uncertainty and mystery about the future of the housing market.

First coined to describe the volume of lender-repossessed properties that haven’t yet reached the market as REOs (bank-owned listings), the term has been expanded by some to include homes in a foreclosure process and even those with delinquent loans that haven’t yet entered the foreclosure process. more...