Investment Power: How You Can Quickly Show Client Investment Potential

Many, many people who like to buy real estate do so for investment reasons. A home purchase as we all know – I know, I know, you’ve heard it before – is likely the single greatest investment most Canadian families will make in their lifetime. However, for some there is the investment that is our home and then there is investing in secondary real estate or a purchase for the sole purpose of making money.

Regardless of the client you are representing, you will always want to highlight the investment potential in any property, where this potential exists, etc., but how can you identify if a property is or is not a good investment?

·        What is happening in the neighbourhood: who lives there, what is their income scale, types of families, how much has it changed, is it going through changes? All of this can be learned through generating past, current and future demographic reports. A neighbourhood, good or bad, can make or break an investment - not to mention knowing the ratio of homeowners vs renters - this helps too.

·        How well has the home been maintained: your investor is not going to want to have to do things like roof repairs, windows and other improvements unless they get an excellent deal and have the bandwidth to get the work done. Where these upgrades have been made, highlighting them goes a long way and makes a property a better investment.

·        What’s happening with other houses in the area: have the builders moved in? Are people severing lots? Is there new construction? Looking at trends in home sales and what the future of properties in the community will look like can help to spot a good investment.

·        What is near the property in question: does it back onto a ravine, or a manufacturing plant? This matters and can impact an investment property’s potential big time.

·         Transportation and education: a GoTrain station into Toronto or a new university are excellent signs for a community and immediately boost the attractiveness of an area – getting in before they do is a great way to seize the day.

No one knows the future or hey, we would all be at the casino, but as a real estate sales professional you have the intel and the know-how to help your client make informed decisions on the investment potential of their property and realize their dreams.

To learn more about how to get the most information to display potential, call ViMO today at 1 855 999 8466 (VIMO).

Summer 2015 Design Trends

Summer is officially here, and for many of us that means firing up the barbeque, planning a summer getaway, or getting ready for weekends spent by the pool or at the beach. For others, this is a time to inspire your inner designer and use the season as inspiration to make some design changes in your home.

So what are the summer 2015 design trends that have designers hopping rights now? Check out this great slideshow from HDTV. Not only does it give you the latest and greatest trends - some of which are pricey to say the least - it also provides you with do-it-yourself ideas to help get these great designs on a budget: http://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/diy-your-way-to-designer-summer-decor-pictures.

Here are just a few of the things that are showing up on magazine covers and every design show you watch.

Shining it up: metallic pieces are big this season, and accent pieces that are high shine really seem to hit the spot.  Metallic finishes on mirrors, frames and other design pieces, as well as metallic threading through fabrics are popping up everywhere. 

Getting back to nature: animal prints and décor pieces, as well as interesting and inspiring natural pieces are great at adding a bit of the outdoors, indoors.

Big, bold colour: what better time to show off your bright side than summer? Interior (and exterior for that matter) design trends are huge on bursts of bright colour right now.

Feeling nostalgic: vintage has had a long run, and it doesn’t seem to be letting up. Vintage floral prints are especially hot right now, on everything from prints to pillows, plates to pottery.

Going industrial: most of us don’t live in industrial-style lofts with exposed pipes and beams, but a touch of the industrial can go a long way to providing an edgy downtown vibe. 

Getting ready for the summer rush? Use these summer 2015 design trends at your next open house - and when staging in preparation for it! Draw in the eyes and make your client’s home as attractive and updated as possible.

For more tips, or for other tools to get ready for summer selling season, please contact ViMO today at 1 855 999 8466 (VIMO).

Questions About The Market Intelligence Report? Check Out Our FAQs

ViMO’s newest feature, the Market Intelligence Report, is garnering some great reviews - and for good reason! It makes keeping in touch with past clients easy - providing them with up-to-date data and information about market trends and neighbourhood sales.

What is the Market Intelligence Report? It is a report sent out to clients that leverages authoritative land registry data to keep clients informed about recent sales activities and neighbourhood trends!

Have some questions about this new feature? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Check out our FAQs to get the answers to your questions: http://marketing.geowarehouse.ca/acton/attachment/1288/f-0185/1/-/-/-/-/Market%20Intelligence%20FAQs.pdf.

Questions covered include:

-          How can I to set up the Market Intelligence Report for all of my clients at one time?

-          Is it possible to select more than one property address per client?

-          How can I save a custom message?

-          How do I set up links to my social media accounts in the Market Intelligence Report?

-          What is the local neighbourhood used? 

Find out the answers to these questions and more.

ViMO is committed to giving you the best services, all in one place - making you more competitive and effective on-the-go.

For more information please visit www.myvimo.ca today. 

Training Time: ViMO’s Newest Feature - The Market Intelligence Report

ViMO recently released its newest feature - and we could not be more excited. The Market Intelligence Report lets you stay connected with past clients, giving them up to date market information and personalized data on neighbourhood sales and trends in their area.

Better yet, ViMO will send you a notification to let you know when to send out this report.

To enable these notifications, all you have to do is adjust your settings. This guide will help you to do that:
http://marketing.geowarehouse.ca/acton/attachment/1288/f-0183/1/-/-/-/-/Market%20Intelligence%20How%20To%20Guide.pdf.

The Market Intelligence Report requires a PIN in the Property Report Address section to save the Client Market Intelligence preferences and enable the event.  To find out more about how to find an address, check out this guide:

http://marketing.geowarehouse.ca/acton/attachment/1288/f-0184/1/-/-/-/-/Market%20Intelligence%20Finding%20Address.pdf.

ViMO is continually working to provide you with even more tools to make you more competitive, and the Market Intelligence Report is just one more example of that commitment!

Keeping in touch has never been easier. Turn clients into customers and stay connected with this great new feature report. Find out more by visiting www.myvimo.ca today.

Help Make Your Client’s Moving Day a Breeze

The house is sold and moving day approaches. Your job is almost finished. It might be easy at this point to just watch the magic happen and let your client tackle moving day all on their own, but in an industry as competitive as real estate, why not take every opportunity available to beef up your reputation and increase your customer satisfaction. Giving that little bit of extra attention on moving day can make a big impression.

Here are some tips to help make your client’s moving day a breeze:

Start at the open house stage (yes, you read that right). When a client is staging their home, they are probably going to be packing away a lot of stuff, so help by getting it done right, the very first time. Give them some tips on how to pack boxes properly, and remind them to clearly label the contents.

Build a moving day checklist, one that you can email to your client to help get them ready for moving day. Start at the one month marker, then 2 weeks, 1 week, day before, morning of. Remind them about the things that they may forget about in this often incredibly hectic process. Include things like calling the utility company, visiting the post office, making childcare arrangements, and unplugging the deepfreeze!

Know a reputable moving company? Help strengthen your connections by suggesting this company to your clients. It has become difficult to differentiate between those companies looking to make a quick buck (or worse, take your clients to the cleaners with one of the many moving day scams) and those that actually take pride in what they do. Help your client out by giving them the number to one you know actually does the job they are hired to do.

Once your client has moved in, and is settled, consider sending a card or small “welcome to your new home” gift. This, along with everything mentioned previously, helps cement you in their mind as a trustworthy and helpful real estate professional, one they know they can count on. And, if they can count on you, they are likely to tell others about the experience!

The entire house buying process can be stressful - as real estate professionals we all know this - so don’t just end the process when the papers have been signed. Give that little bit of extra by helping to make your client’s moving day a breeze and the results will only be positive.

For more tips on making moving day a breeze, or the entire home buying process easier on both parties, call ViMO today. We have the tools that make it simple: 1 855 999 8466 (VIMO).

Adjusting to Change: Is Real Estate Getting Harder or Is It The Technology?

Real estate - an industry that enjoys a vast and varied history - but a history that has always been changing. With the advancement of technology, this change seems to occur very fast, and with every new change, real estate professionals are finding themselves adapting, or, well, you know the old saying…

But is technology making things harder? Or, is the hesitation when it comes to having to adapt more about having to change your own routine? We are creatures of habit, and for some people change is annoying, time consuming, or just downright painful.  In the past, this was often the case, but with the newest advancements, you are actually far better off to make a changes, than falling into the habit of your old ways.

What kind of change are we talking about? Well, firstly, the move towards paperless real estate is a huge one. Not only is this way better for the environment, it also means far more organized files and desks no longer littered with documents. This paperless craze has been most impacted by the ability to sign documents electronically. This has eliminated the need for all of the back and forth and endless meetings just to acquire a signature.

Not only has technology made our paper management easier, it has also made communication far more efficient. These days, the telephone no longer rules the roost, and now instant messaging, texting and video chatting has made meeting and conducting discussions with out of town clients much easier on all parties.

Research has also benefited greatly from the tech advancements impacting the real estate industry. Things like researching properties, generating comparables, obtaining property sales histories, and finding out neighbourhood demographics can now be done from an iPad anywhere that you receive a wireless signal. Generating reports is also quicker.

Increased collaboration is also made easy, thanks to apps that let you connect and network: share referrals, connect with others in the industry, build a strong, respectful relationship with other professionals.

50 years ago, every meet and greet needed to be in person and all documents kept in files. 10 years ago, everything electronic required a big bulky computer - one that didn’t necessarily make working on-the-go easy. Today, in 2015, the tech advances have given real estate professionals the ability to accomplish far more.

Still reluctant to take that big step? Start with baby steps. Get an iPad and start there, using a real estate app like ViMO, your virtual mobile office, and see just how easy it really is.  Master researching properties, and once you feel more comfortable, move on to signing forms electronically.

Sometimes change is overwhelming, but in this case, refusing to change will quickly leave you in the dust.

Competition is strong - take advantage of everything real estate technology has to offer. Call ViMO today for more information: 1 855 999 8466 (VIMO).