Archive for Content – Sites/Blogs
The mortgage and finance issues facing your clients are getting more complex all the time. Given the mess so many mortgages are in now, the lenders are naturally changing the rules and tightening requirements.
One way to keep your visitors coming back is to provide them with good information and easy to use tools related to the mortgage industry. You can find several things for your website or blog at MortgageLoan.com.
I’ve used average rate widgets from BankRate, but I wasn’t familiar with MortgageLoan.com until recently. They have quite a few mortgage widgets that might be of interest to your prospects and clients, including:
- A 20 in one calculator that can help answer questions such as, “Should I pay points to lower my interest rate?” and “What if I pay more each month?”
- National rate averages
- State rate averages
- A finance glossary
- News stories
The widgets are easy to use. All you need to do is copy the code from a pop-up box and add it to your real estate web site or blog. The widgets can be customized to blend into your site with the color controls that can be set before the code is generated. You can also utilize an RSS Feed of current stories and articles that is updated regularly.
Overall, I was impressed with the number of tools that are available. And, I like the look of the site. I saw a Google ad on one page, but overall, the site is very clean. When contrasted to the Bankrate site, it’s a nice change.
Quick Content
· CommentsHere’s a tip about a quick way to get additions for your website, blog, or the handouts you leave with prospects or clients.
NAR has provided a set of 62 different handouts on a variety of topics for home buyers and home sellers.
The buyer handsouts cover topics on getting ready for homeownership, home financing, finding the right home and preparing for the close. The seller handouts include handouts on what to do before you sell, getting ready for showings and preparing for closing.
There are even several handouts that are geared toward helping you work with FSBOs to turn them into clients. One of those is titled “Forms You’ll Need to Sell Your Home” and another “17 Service Providers You’ll Need When You Sell”. If that doesn’t scare a FSBO, they’re just not paying attention.
These reports are especially handy because the write ups are downloadable in Word files. You can then easily add your logo and contact information and print them out. Naturally, if you’re going to use them as is on a website, you’d want to put a “no index” on the page they’re on to prevent the search engines from seeing them as duplicate content.
A better way to use them on a website would be to make an offer of buyers’ and sellers’ guides. Your visitors would then sign up to receive the guide as a Word or PDF document.
Help Protect Your Clients from Foreclosure
· Comments
Subprime lending, predatory lenders, foreclosures, short sales – there’s a lot of concern about all of those issues. And, naturally, as much education as you can provide to your prospects and clients, the better off they’ll be.
NAR has a brochure available called Learn How to Avoid Foreclosure and Keep Your Home. The brochure was produced jointly by NAR, the Center for Responsible Lending, and NeighborWorks®, and it covers topics such as the types of loans that tend to get homeowners into trouble, and the steps their lenders may be willing to take to assist them in avoiding foreclosure.
Here’s another opportunity to position yourself as an expert, and to provide a professional handout to get people’s attention. People who may be susceptible to predatory lenders or who want to avoid foreclosure will be likely to keep this type of a handout – and remember the person who gave it to them.
The member cost is $20 for a pack of 50. For 40 cents a person, it might be an excellent investment. The brochure could also be a useful resource to help you quickly write a page on your website, or a post on your blog, to address the same issues.
Are You Proud of the Neighborhood Information on Your Real Estate Website?
Providing useful neighborhood information on your website can be a challenge. You can try to keep updated information on your site yourself, but that requires more time than most agents have to spend.
You can also provide links to other websites, but that sends your visitors away from your site – never the best solution. And, just linking to other sites is not the most professional way to make your site a true hub for real estate information.
Here’s an Answer: Offer Neighborhood Information and Get Leads at the Same Time!
If you’re not familiar with Neighborhood Scout, you need to evaluate this service as a way to provide very unique neighborhood information, and as an irrestible offer that will turn visitors into leads.
Neighborhood Scout is more than just a compilation of neighborhood statistics, it is a neighborhood search engine.
- Your visitors can use that search engine to find neighborhoods that meet their lifestyle, whether they’re looking for a good family neighborhood, a place friendly to young singles, or good places for first-time homebuyers to look, among other things.
- If you work with transferees, they’ll enjoy the search that lets them find a match for their current neighborhood in your geographic area.
Neighborhood Scout Can Be Integrated Into Your Website
The best news is that Neighborhood Scout offers a version just for real estate professionals that you can frame into your web pages to keep your visitors on your website. And, unlike some other services like Onboard, this company’s fees make it reasonable for you to put the search on your individual website.
The search is also set up so that the visitor is offered some useful information just for doing a search. But to get the complete story, registration is required. Anyone who registers on your site is your lead and you can then follow up with them.
If you give Neighborhood Scout a try, let us know what you think!
