I joined www.realbird.com this week and I am having a great time uploading, publicizing and tracking my listings.  The interface is easy to use, the site promotes and links to other useful tools and the sellers LOVE the way the exposure is bumped up.  It is super easy to add listings to all my social pages and I can create widgets, track who has visited the page, promote open houses, create flyers and more with ease.

I know there are a lot of companies trying to capture this market, but I am a fan of real bird!

As I embark on re-planning my life, I am thinking that I really need to get my hands on some disability insurance.  I thought to myself, who better to ask than the wonderfully intelligent crowd on AR?

Do any of you carry this and if so…how did you choose your plan?

Like all of you, I don't get paid if I don't work and I want to be sure that I can keep things rolling for my daughters and I if something happens.  I live in Western Massachusetts, so I know a lot of your providers won't work for me, but even the knitty gritty of how much you carry, etc. would be helpful.

 Any and all advice/input would be great!  Thanks!

 

 

The Best of Years, The   Worst of Years

Wow, has it been one heck of a ride since a year ago April.

Last spring I was less than six months back into my real estate career after a 3 year maternity leave. I had been managing a company for over a decade and would now be "back in the trenches" as an agent. Things were going well, business was building and commissions were slated to come in.

Just then, my husband announced he wanted a divorce and left immediately. To make matters worse, when I went to pay mortgages, I discovered that both my primary home and rental property were in pre-foreclosure. Thus began the struggle. All commissions went to saving the properties. All available hours went towards earning commissions. The houses went on the market and I started packing.

 Here I am a year later: both houses SOLD. My best year in real estate was last year (in a down market, too!) and I have been consistently increasing my market share. Just had a one on one meeting with my broker and manager and I shared this years growth plans and prospecting plans and I am feeling poised for a great year.

As I stand at the end of this section of my life, the view looks pretty optimistic and I am excited to spend the balance of the year working hard for my clients and customers with a new appreciation of the hardships that can arise in the course of normal life. Done with the Worst of the Year and on with the BEST!

Any of you with young children (mine are 7 and 3) know that line from the Wonderpets program.  It is a wonderful message for young and old alike and one that I like to bring into my business plan. 

I worked for over a decade as a manager of a family owned real estate company in Westfield, Massachusetts.  As such, I got really good at training and delegating.   Now, working as an agent at Park Square Realty in Westfield, I still find that managerial personality comes to the front.  Because of this penchant, I have found teaming up with other agents on certain projects to be a wonderful way to get things done.

I have a business partner who I started out as a mentor and we segued into partnership.  We paired up with another team of realtors to create a support group.  Together we implement larger mailings and prospecting plans that would be cumbersome (not to mention boring) to do alone.  In this way we are able to cover a larger area of Western Massachusetts and reach out to more potential clients.

This week we will be meeting over pizza and beer to roll out a huge mailing for one of our ideas and we have plans to gather up again every couple of weeks until we have the prospecting done.

We all still do independent sales, as well, but have found strength in this family atmosphere that we have created within Park Square Realty.  It helps us to enjoy work and get more done…we have all moved up the sales ranks since working together.

Now go out there and start singing: "What's Gonna Work?  TEAMWORK!"