Top 10 Articles from July

July may be the glorious middle of summer vacation, but the educational content never stops at RE Technology. In addition to articles on taking mobile photos and generating leads, we launched a new article series.

In the "Tech 101" series, we explore the spectrum of technology products available to real estate professionals. Each post covers what a specific type of technology does, how to evaluate solutions in that category, and available options. You can read our latest here.

Then check out our list of the 10 most read articles from July to catch up on more educational posts. Consider it real estate summer school!

1. Tips for Taking Better iPhone® Photos
Nearly 90% of prospective home buyers surveyed said that photos were more important than any other feature. How can you take advantage of the technology at your fingertips to take better photos? We polled our tech-savvy team to find out which apps are worth the money and which free products can brighten up even the darkest photo.

2. 6 Ways For Realtors to Sell More Homes
In real estate, 20 percent do 80 percent of the business. Whether you're new to the game, looking to join the 20 percent or resistant to slipping into the bottom 80 percent, here are some ways to increase your home sales.

3. Become a Stronger Listing Agent in 4 Steps
A healthy real estate strategy includes cultivating both buyers and sellers. After all, the two groups have a symbiotic relationship with each other. A robust pool of buyers to market to enables you to sell listings faster, while a set of solid listings helps you attract higher quality buyers. Here are four strategic steps to attract listing leads, convert them into clients, and sell their homes.

4. Don't Be Average: Unique Real Estate Marketing Tactics
It can sometimes feel like everyone is doing the same thing in the real estate industry, or at least like it's impossible to stand out. From "Now is the Time to Buy" to "Price Just Reduced!", the same messages get pushed out into the internet space from agents across the country. So how do you, as a real estate agent, get local or even national attention?

5. 8 Strategies for Keeping Past Real Estate Clients Coming Back
The typical real estate sales funnel begins with leads that filter down into appointments, appointments filter into signed business, which ultimately become closed deals. But what happens to those clients once their transaction closes? Here are some ways the you can keep in touch with past clients and stay "top of mind."

6. Where to Find 70% More Seller Leads This Summer
According to a new report, homeowners plan to undertake 70 percent more outdoor home renovation projects than last year. Agents looking for potential listing leads can use this as an opportunity to connect. Here are a few ideas that come to mind.

7. Canada's Top Agent Website Hitting America
Ontario, Canada has been home to one of the best real estate agent website companies in the world, Moneymaker™. It was purchased by brokerage enterprise solutions powerhouse Lone Wolf, giving agents across the U.S. access to this extensive platform. It is more than just a real estate website – it is a full spectrum business suite for real estate agents.

8. 3 Ways to Prospect With RPR
With the arrival of summer, we often see an increase in activity in the real estate market. Traditionally, spring and summer are the 'busy' times for real estate. RPR can help you take advantage of the market upswing by increasing your business.

9. How to Ask a Happy Client for a Referral
The best source of referrals is your current clients – the people you are doing business with right now, today. Start asking for referrals when you are working with a customer who likes what you do and is obviously happy with your service. I'm talking about situations like buyers you are showing property to or sellers whose home you have just sold.

10. Easy Way to Add a Photo to Your Gmail signature
Gmail has a rather complicated way of inserting a photo into email signatures. They request that users store photos on a photo hosting website (which uses a different server). However, we have found a work-around to host your image on a server without the hassle of actually finding a host server. Simply put: make Google host it for you by following a few steps.