Hi all,

I am in the process of getting my real estate license, and I am interested in developing my website before I choose a brokerage. The services seems good (www.incomrealestate.com), but I am not that computer savy.

They charge a startup fee of 150 dollars and 39.95 a month with no contracts. I decided on this approach because of two people on this website, jennifer allan, and pesky realtor.

After reading, I liked there approach on building relationships and website prescence. Don't get me wrong I would like to cold call and do mailouts but I don't want to feel desperate. I believe people can smell the stench of desperation, so I would like to "Sell with soul."

Is it a good idea to start creating a web prescence and be familiar with the tools before getting a license or put my efforts in a different area.

Your expertise would be greatly appreciated.

Hi AAP,

Great question, but let me help you with one thing. That's Perky REALTOR! (LOL)

OK, now on to the rest of your question.

1. A website is a form of advertising and usually should be approved by your broker.

2. You'll be hit up frequently from every joe blow and their brother/sister wanting you to spend money to buy their solution to a problem that you may not have. Please start right away managing your P&L by going for the free stuff first until you're generating revenue. You might even consider a blog instead of a full blown site as most of them are FREE, easily set up and highly customizable.

3. I think you should get a handle on your ideal target market and begin putting some thoughts together about how to reach them, but in the meantime, you could offer to work some open houses or do other work for top producers until you're licensed.

Hope that helps.

A spell check would be a good investment. It certainly can help improve a 1st impression.

Even on this Forum, you can utilize "iespell" or something similar to double check your spelling . . . . just a thought.

Of course, it can't help you much with the correctly spelled, yet grammarically incorrect, words like their, there, and they're.

But I digress.

So I shouldn't be setting the website first?

Where would I need to go to start a blog, they are all very confusing to me.

Could I transfer my blog to my website when it gets developed.

As you can see computers aren't my thing, but I know I must pick up and learn if I want to attract my client demographic.

I live in Toronto and want to target downtown condos, it is a passion of mine. So my thinking is this market, say avg. age 32 which is my age, will be using a lot of online tools to do a condo search.

I am strategizing in other areas, the focus I need help in is technology, which honestly frightens me. I always say you can reason with people but never technolgy.

Have you passed your Real Estate Exam yet ?

I'd make sure you've got that behind you first, because without it, the rest of this is all moot . . . . first things first, even in Canada.

AAP, 32 year old condo buyers may not be who is driving your market. Of course, 80+ percent of US home buyers conduct some level of search online and I would imagine that it would be the same there. But you need to know


1. What, when and how they are buying properties.
2. What obstacles are they facing (mortgage approval, choices, etc.)
3. How can you provide a solution to their problems

These are some blogging ideas.

I would first try to conduct a thorough fact-based assessment of your market to determine where it is now and try to determine where it seems to be headed.

Blogger.com and Wordpress.com are some examples of free blog sites. Why not read up on what's there?

The nice thing about a Wordpress site is that a theme can be added to it at a later point to essentially turn it into a website. That way you could at least get a domain name registered and indexed now, as it takes a long time to start showing up in search.

Or, there are cookie cutter sites that offer the first 3 months for free, like Point2.

I use a mix of hitting the pavement, and working on Internet presense. My site is still relatively new, so only just starting to rank decently for a few key words, (so that I show up near the top of search).

It will take eons to rank for major key words in Toronto, so you might do well to be really specific with your niche. Downtown Toronto condos is on the right track. Search it to see the competition.

Hey, thanks for the mention! And yeah, that Pesky Realtor - had to laugh at that one - very cute!

I agree with the others - don't worry about a website right now. There are plenty of places to spend your money and time prior to licensure and in the month or two following, so mark this one off your list for now. You'll know so much more about what you'll want to say once you're in an office and have learned more about your new career.

What you might think about, however, are domain names... and reserve some that you might use in the future. Otherwise... focus on reconnecting with the people you know and learning your market and paying attention to the contracts classes in real estate school... prospecting can wait.

The more you have done ahead of time, the easier it will be for you to hit the ground running when you start. However, until your are licensed you will not be able to make your website live. So make sure you get your timing right.

Well some people think I'm pesky. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In PA you can not have a website without having your brokerage info on it - so you should hold off on the site till you ahve that squared away. Make sure the broker you choose will allow you to have your own website which you maintain and control; not some "company gift" that will go away if you decide to leave the company or something.

Thx all,

Okay I will wait, but I am so impatient. I want to get out there and make things happen. I have too many ideas I need to see to fruition.

So let me ask the the experts, how do I appeal to condo buyers. Is it a good idea to start with condos?

I was thinking about going to universities and advertising in the school paper. I am sure there are a lot of potential employable people, who did all this education to get a nice job and nice home. (possible lifetime referrals)

On a side note, why is it pictures of the property on mls never have pictures of restaurants, parks, heritage buildings,on there listings. If its about location, location, location shouldn't there be some emphasis on that?

What do my other brains think?

sorry perky for the pesky.

You mentioned ads in university newspapers. I am a student at my local university and very few people read the school newspaper. I only skim through it for articles about me or my organizations. Your area students might read their school newspaper more than mine but I would not expect a large response. Also, most student are nowhere near ready to purchase real estate. You might want to try the alumni association to market to graduates.

I think you should get your site going as soon as possible. for many, their website is their main source of leads.

Before you get your license, you cannot advertise or give advice, but you can make it an information site.

Here is your game plan.
1. Get a great design made
2. Start adding content
3. Put your url in the signature of all of your posts
4. start commenting on blogs and forums to get backlinks

There is much more to getting leads, but this will get you started while you get licensed.

This was going to be my suggestion as well. At this stage in your career, there are much better areas for you to spend your time and resources on. Hardly anyone on this forum is going to tell you that having a website is a bad idea; however, (in my opinion) your time (which is always limited) would be better spent networking and learning the business.

It does seem to be a waste of time. What are you hoping to accomplish? Creating a list of prospects for when you have your license and are ready to practice? Personally, I don't think a lot of people would give their personal info to someone who says they are going to be a real estate agent. There will be plenty of time for that once you're official if you ask me.

I'd say focus on your online presence in other ways than a full-blown website until you are with your broker. You could waste a lot of money, time and energy. Right now, it's a matter of personal, self-promotion. Participation in this kind of site (and there are others) helps. Take advantage of other social networking sites and make your profession a central theme. Publish in blogs using your real name. The key is to have real estate related things come up in the results of running your name through Google. Good Luck!

Yes do start a blog but do NOT under ANY circumstances imply you are an agent at all until you are licensed and legal and w/ a broker!

Start with the website as spartacus suggested, and just provide information. By the time you're ready to go, you will have a presence online. Google keeps new domains in a stage they call the sandbox, meaning you're site won't show in the search results after 90 days or so.

I had an interview yesterday and everything else went perfect except when I inquired about having my own website. My broker of record said that she didn't have a problem with me starting my own website, but said that it was only legal and possible if it was linked through the brokerage website. She said it was definitely something I could do, but they provide each salesperson with their own webpage on the brokerage site, and are pretty flexible as to allowing you to put anything (within ethical boundaries) on the site. She said a lot of people violate this rule...and I was just curious on the AO members take on this.

Sorry guys quick edit. She said the personal website HAS to be accessed through the brokerages site. She does have a law degree and 20 years of experience so I didn't want to continue pushing on the matter till I had some substantial knowledge or insight from the AO experts.

That sounds more to me like an internal policy than a REBBA policy. So long as you follow all REBBA advertising rules then I do not see why your website would need to be accessed through the brokerage site (again, unless it is simply their brokerage policy).

Here is a link to the RECO site with information regarding advertising via website....nowhere in there (or anywhere else that I can find) is there any mention to a requirement of having to be accessed through your brokerage site.

http://www.reco.on.ca/IndustryInfo.aspx?section=IndAdvChecklistWeb

Mike I don't understand. Does she mean you have to have a link to the brokerage site on your site? Or is she saying that you can only operate as a sub domain under their site?

If it is the latter then I would run, far. Unless you plan on being there the rest of your career. Agents that comply with such a request find themselves having to start out from scratch when they switch brokerages.

But it's better than my first broker - I wasn't allowed any kind of website at all! Not even contact info on the brokerage site - only your picture and your name. I didn't last. LOL

I think that she didn't exactly understand what I was saying but I will clarify with her once I get to the stage where I want to get my own site going. Still in phase one, and she has taken me on and is allowing me to shadow her and any of the other agents that are willing to work with me. She also has me working with the administration girls to understand the paper work a little better. She has given me a list of open houses and is allowing me to attend as a fly on the wall for any I can make. Plus the atmosphere and high traffic area of the brokerage were a heavy influence in my decision. Also at the other brokerages I interviewed at, I didn't even get to meet the broker of record and they don't even work in the same city! Hopefully this website situation won't be a big problem, and I'm sure it won't as you guys have provided me with great links! Much appreciated.

It was better to have a site first before joining to the Brokerage. This site serve as your client getter.

Downelle22, I guess your grasp of real estate law is a little slim. You can not have a "client getter" until you have a broker.

Client getter. I like that.

Rather than starting a new post, I decided to post this topic under here because it falls in the same category.

I am in the process of obtaining my license, but I am looking at domain names. I would like to create a website niche for short sales, but I do not want it to be a waste of time and money if I create it and there are not too many short sales in my area.

Is there any resource where I could see how many short sales have been listed in my area in the past?

The information in this place is mind boggling!!

uptuyou - in more ways than one, i'm sure. lol

I would think short sales are a safe niche anywhere. But short sales are not for newbies. Before you decide you want to niche in them you should take the NAR class on them after you get your license.

Thanks, Perky. I did plan on it.

I have also been reading some books on the side regarding short sales.

Any niches that you would recommend to beginners?

I'm glad you asked this. I am also thinking about how I want to utilize my website in my business and all these suggestions have been really helpful. Thanks!