Luxury Insights

The Corcoran Group's internet marketing guru to speak at Leaders in Luxury 2010

Matthew Shadbolt
Director of Internet Marketing,
The Corcoran Group

Topic:
How luxury pros can use video and new media
for profitable results

Widely quoted in both real estate and business media, he is a noted expert in internet marketing and understands what works online and how luxury agents like you can use the internet for effective branding, prospecting, and property promotion. 

As Director of Internet Marketing for one of Manhattan's leading real estate brokerage firms, Matthew Shadbolt is responsible for all of Corcoran's interactive output and advertising.  Under his guidance, Corcoran's online audience has quadrupled in fewer than five years. 

Prior to joining Corcoran, Matthew spent five years at Home Shopping Network QVC in both the U.S. and in London (where he developed the world's first real-time interactive television purchasing application).  A native of the United Kingdom, Matthew graduated from the Jan van Eyck Akademie in The Netherlands.

If you are a successful luxury agent, please join us at Leaders in Luxury 2010.  From the networking cocktails to the killer keynotes, it will be two business-building days of fantastic networking, idea sharing, and fun. 

If you haven't already signed-up, registration for the two-day Leaders in Luxury event this year
is only $895.  There are limited seats remaining, so act now.

More information and registration

See you in Austin!

MORE free property listings on the Wall Street Journal website

Back in 2008 we inked a deal with The Wall Street Journal that gave all of our Members free advertising on WSJ.com.  Since then, Members have placed thousands of free ads and saved more than $2.2 MILLION!  

We've just renegotiated our deal with The Wall Street Journal and it is now even better.  We've tripled the benefits for Members. 

Members now receive 18 free 60-day property listings ( worth $6,300) plus a free agent profile in the WSJ online directory of luxury agents (worth $800).  That's a savings of $7,100!  And our Featured Experts get even more...

Here are the details (for Members only). 

Not a Member?  Find out how you can join us.

RE/MAX University launches new CLHMS training course

The CLHMS designation is the official designation of The RE/MAX Collection, and for years now, our popular CLHMS training has be available to RE/MAX agents through various channels.

A RE/MAX study earlier this year found that among their agents, those with the Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist^® (CLHMS) designation were the highest earners in RE/MAX and earned more than those with every other designation (an average income of $177,800 in 2009).

The CLHMS training course is now available to RE/MAX agents through RE/MAX University.  This video-based course features the same content as our two-day live classes, and our popular online training. 

The CLHMS course for RE/MAX University features special pricing and a choice of bonus modules:

• Working the International Market
• Luxury Home Short Sales

RE/MAX agents can find more information and register on Mainstreet.

Forbes: Where Americans are Moving

Forbes has an interesting, interactive "data graphic" that shows where Americans moved in 2008.  Click on a county and you'll see lines indicating where folks moving to the county came from, and where folks leaving went. 

Here's the mass exodus from Detroit:

And a mass influx to Austin:

The pattern for Palm Beach County is what you might expect:

Hover over a county and you can see the net inbound and outbound migration between those two locations:

 

It is an interesting way to look at market dynamics that could inform your marketing.  Plus, it's a lot more fun than plowing through raw IRS data!

Think you’re one of the best in the business?

Here’s your chance to shine.

The search is on for the real estate professionals in the luxury home niche who do the best job of marketing themselves and their properties.

Our  Leaders in Luxury National Marketing Competition is challenging real estate professionals across the U.S. and Canada who think they are among the best in the luxury marketing arena to “Prove it!” by submitting samples of their marketing for review by a panel of professional ad agency and marketing executives. 

The competition, which is in its sixth year, allows luxury Realtors® to highlight the outstanding work they’ve done in successfully marketing luxury homes and estates and to demonstrate best practices associated with building their own real estate brands.  Winners will be announced at our annual Leaders in Luxury symposium and networking event to be held October 20-22, in Austin (TX).  

Entries are being solicited in the following categories:

• Best Marketing Campaign for a Luxury Property (domestic or international)
• Overall Excellence in Personal Marketing with Emphasis on Agent Branding
• Best Online Marketing
• Best Market Data Report
• Outstanding Personal Achievement (during the last three years)

The contest is open to Institute members and non-members who are registered for The Leaders in Luxury event. 

Information and the competition entry form is available at www.LeadersInLuxury.com.  Deadline for receipt of entries is September 24th. 

We know you’re good, this is your chance to prove it!

Most expensive homes for sale in America

Every year in their Ultimate Homes issue our friends at Unique Homes Magazine compile a list of the most-expensive homes for sale in America. 

The Ultimate issue will be hitting the newsstands and our mailboxes soon, and it looks like the editors at Unique Homes have some interesting observations about the market, gleaned from their work on this year's edition...

Bitterroot, sweet auction

Congratulations to member Cindi Hayne of Montana, who's beautiful Spring Creek Ranch listing was the Wall Street Journal's house of the day on Tuesday. 

The 181 acre property in the Bitterroot Valley was originally listed at $13 Million, but is going to auction with a reserve of $4.5 Million.  It is expected to be the most expensive Montana home sold at auction. 

Think you might have a buyer?  Registrations are due July 5th.  Commission 2.5% of high bid amount, plus $20K bonus for registering the high bidder by June 20th.

How's the market?

As usual, the folks at Altos Research are busy finding new ways to help you answer this important question with good market data.  This time they have help from Robert Schiller, of Case-Shiller fame and the firm he founded, MacroMarkets.  MacroMarkets has just rolled out the Gap Gauge, a free online tool that crunches the numbers and helps to answer the questions:

• Where would we be if there had been no bubble?
• How far are we from a "normal" level
• Is now a good time to buy (or sell)?

You can find more details in this Altos blog post, and of course on the Gap Gauge page of the MacroMarkets website.

Here is a quick comparison of the charts for Miami and Dallas:

YPN webinar with Tom Ferry

Last week we hosted a great webinar featuring real estate coach Tom Ferry for NAR's Young Professional Network (YPN).  The webinar was full of great tips and ideas.  It was recorded and is available through YPN. 

Members of The Institute can also view the recording on the Webinars page of our website.  While you're there, check out the recording of our April webinar on websites for luxury agents, and sign up for our May webinar on Important financing options for affluent buyers (and why currency exchange services matter).

New tools from Proxio to help build your network and promote your listings

ProxioPro, the International MLS and Global Referral Network, has added 5 more languages.  You can now easily connect with thousands of agents in almost any corner of the world, build your referral network, and share listing with the click of a button in these 16 languages :

• English
• French
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• Italian
• German
• Russian
• Chinese traditional
• Chinese simplified
• Japanese
• Korean
• Dutch
• Turkish
• Hindi
• Hebrew
• Vietnamese 

They've also added the ability to publish  your listings to Facebook and Google Base.  Nice!

Of course Institute Members get a free standard account on ProxioPro.  Just one of the many benefits of membership.