Social Media RE Bootcamp I A Success!!

I can admit it now.  I was worried.  I wasn't sure we could pull it off.  Take 10 hours of hands-on workshops covering Active Rain, Twitter, Google, Facebook, and Blogging that we normally cover in 5 separate sessions and do it all in one day.  We called it a bootcamp because it was going to be tough.  The end result?  I'll let you read what the attendees had to say:


Great class.  I'm now very interested in blogging and getting up and running on Facebook.  Thank you for allowing me to participate.  You have a ton of patience.
Eva - United Brokers Group




In one day I learned more about Social Media than I learned in the last year!  The light bulb went off that I can use these tools to do a free drip campaign to replace a mail campaign that used to cost me $4800 a month...
Carlie - Keller Williams




This is an awesome boot camp!  Take all the classes you can with Bill and Paul.  They share so much information you can't go wrong, and all the while you are learning for the future...
Cindy - Century 21




Thank you!  This was overwhelming but you definitely have changed my mind about participating in social media.
Kim - United Brokers Group




We were also lucky enough to have a couple local agents who are active in the local social media real estate scene show up. Nick Bastian of Raillife fame, and Dean Ouellette, Chief Videographer at DeanSellsAz, shared their insights with the campers.  Thank you for your support Nick and Dean...




Paul Guenther, Shane Hollenback and I, want to thank this brave group for taking on the challenge.  We learned a lot in this first go round, and we will be announcing Social Media RE BootCamp II very soon.


Shane Hollenback and The Veracity Team post on the event


In the meantime, we have a couple different workshops series currently underway.  Check out Paul's blog for schedule information. 

Do a Good Deed for Yourself and Check Out DeedStreet.com

If you want to do a good deed for yourself today, check out DeedStreet.com and give your real estate tweets more reach...

If you've been on Twitter for any length of time, you know there are hundreds of API's (application programming interface)  that have been built to help you use Twitter more effectively. There are apps to share photos, find fellow tweeters, manage your network, and more.  In fact, at oneforty.com, they have over 2200 Twitter applications categorized and ready to install.


For Realtors, a local start-up has tackled the issue of aggregating and indexing real-estate specific tweets.  Now, instead of having important, relevant content simply vanish in the twittersphere, savvy agents can tag these tweets and have DeedStreet.com do all the work!  DeedStreet.com founder Doug Lazovick uses the ^ (caret) as a tag, much like the hashtag (#) is used by Twitter to tag groups. Go to DeedStreet.com and sign up (it's free) and simply use the ^ to tag your real estate tweets.  For example, if you are sending a tweet about Gilbert area market data, tag the tweet with ^Gilbert.  If the tweet covers general real estate, use ^^.  That's all you have to do.  In fact, you never have to login to DeedStreet again.


Over time, as you tag your tweets, DeedStreet.com becomes a repository for your real estate tweets.  DeedStreet.com even ranks the individual Tweeters that have provided the most content for a specific term. As the site continues to develop and grow, new features are added.  Users can now build out their profile on the site.  There is also a DeedStreet.com widget for your blog.  With this widget, only the tweets you tag for DeedStreet.com will be displayed.  You can even select certain ^ tagged terms to filter the tweets displayed in the widget.  You can see an example of the DeedStreet.com widget here.


This site is only a few months old and agents and lenders have an opportunity to get in on the ground floor and get those tweets saved, categorized, and indexed. A primary goal for DeedStreet.com is to build a consumer facing portal, allowing buyers and sellers to find targeted tweets and the agents that provided them. How often do you get a chance to be a part of something from the beginning?  Check out DeedStreet.com and start using the ^.

Chicago Title Premier Services - Property Profiles at Your Fingertips

Chicago Title offers customers the most comprehensive and accurate real estate related services in the nation.  You can rely on Chicago Title, with it's rich history of over 160 years, to provide assurance and security for you and your heirs for all your real estate transactions and title insurance needs.


Premier Services gives you online access to products and services from Chicago Title.  As new technologies are deployed, members are notified via e-mail and announcememnts in our site.


Membership gives you access to: 

• Property Profiles
• E-Farms
• Real Estate Calculators
• Blank Legal Documents

With Premier Services, you may also have additional links to order forms and services that vary from one jurisdiction to another.  Log in for a complete list of features available to you.


If you need an account set up, contact Paul Guenther at Paul.Guenther@ctt.com. 


As always, if you are looking for our social media workshops, please check out Paul Guenther's website.

Long Term Benefits of Blog Posts

Are you aware of the long term benefits your blog posts provide? 

I attended the ActiveRain presentation with Bob Stewart and Brad Andersohn in Phoenix in September.  I took away many ideas to work on, but one stood head and shoulders above the rest for me. The idea was courtesy of Brad Andersohn (Sorry Bob, you had great content as well, but Brad's idea was stellar). When trying to show doubters that they do have time to blog, Brad created that "Eureka!" moment for me.

One effective way to use a blog is as a database for answers to many of the commonly asked questions we face every day in our work. And to grow that database, why not begin with those very same questions? It

has immediately paid dividends for me. When I was asked for an easy way to edit HTML for blog posts on AR, I wrote a post on Kompozer.net. I've already e-mailed the link to that post to 6 agents looking for help.

I've also done the same recently for Google Docs. This application makes document sharing a snap for team members, and I wrote a post about Google Docs, which has already been shared via a link twice! Now I've got a notepad filled with post ideas to stock my Q&A directory!

I try to develop relationships with agents and lenders by being a resource. If I can answer a question, or solve a problem, then the relationship only becomes stronger. Answering questions and solving problems using my blog? That's a homerun!


Can you think of a couple questions you answer all the time? Why not post the answer in your blog, and drive traffic there while helping a client or prospect?  Why not let our blog posts work for us long after they are published?

Google Wave Enclave

OK, the title Google Wave Enclave is a bit pretentious, but I hope it caught your attention.

I'm putting a call out to anyone lucky enough to have received an invite to Google Wave. Nick Bastian (@raillife) and Paul Guenther (@mytitleguypaul) and myself are getting together next Monday, Nov 2nd at 10am in Tempe to experiment, play, and hopefully learn some of the finer points of the Wave.

Nick was lucky enough to receive an invite, and he's agreed to let us use his account for our workshop. If you have a Wave account, and would like to join us, simply leave a comment or contact me at billrisser@gmail.com. The more Wave accounts the better. This will enable us to see just how real time some of the Wave features really are and develop some user strategies.


Click here to see the video of the Google Wave Developers Conference. It's at the bottom of the linked post.

Where Were All The Title Companies At REBlogWorld 2009? Part 1

No, really. Where were all the title companies at REBlogWorld 2009? As an industry, we are woefully behind the times when it comes to social media strategies. What better place to ask and learn what we can do to help the agents already deeply involved and closing transactions through their efforts in this arena.? Here are some of the highlights for me...


It was a whirlwind 24 hours, but well worth it. I left my office for the REBlogWorld 2009 track of the BlogWorld & New Media Expo at noon on Wednesday the 14th, arrived in Las Vegas at 5:30, attended my first Tweetup at 6:15 in the Tempo Lounge at the Las Vegas Hilton, and at 7:30 was at the Better Homes and Garden Real Estate party at the Blue Martini Lounge (by the way, I highly recommend the White Chocolate Martini if you like chocolate). At 9:15 pm I was in my seat at the MGM Grand for the Cirque du Soleil show KA. Wow!

Thursday morning arrived quickly, and so did the fantastic information I would be privy to for the next 8 hours. Laura Fitton, better know as @pistachio on Twitter, was the morning Keynote Speaker. She is amazing and convinced me to strive to be awesome! Laura's awesome Social Media Cheat Sheet is simple... Listen, Learn, Care, Service. I highly recommend following her on Twitter today!

The first panel discussion I attended (picture above shows Brad Inman, Rhonda Porter, and Jay Thompson. Also on panel were Derek Overbey and Jeff Turner) was How to use Social Media in Real Estate. Great speakers and each approached the topic from a different angle. Rhonda (@mortgageporter) mentioned replying to e-mails with blog posts for a great source of content. Jay (@phxreguy) promoted LinkedIn's groups and discussion questions as a new way to make connections. Derek (@doverbey) said to develop friendships first, then build business relationships. Jeff told us to listen with intent and find patterns in the conversations happening online. Then we can create "packets of people" we trust and that trust us. A powerhouse panel with great insights for newbies and veterans of the social media scene...

A special thanks to Nick and Lori Bastian (@raillife and @mrsraillife) for showing me around and introducing me to the VIP's at my first social media conference.  You two are the best!!


Three more panels to discuss, so stay tuned for Part 2 soon...

My Worst Nightmare - Calling the Buyer for Additional Closing Funds (After Signing)

There is nothing worse for escrow than calling a buyer and asking them to bring in additional funds in order to close.  Here's a quick success story we had last month that prevented this from happening...

Last week, Theresa and I had an interesting situation pop up on one of our relocation account transactions.  As you may know, when the seller is a relocation company (we'll call them relo for short), there are a few extra hoops to jump through.  Relo insists on seeing the back-up for every single seller charge on the HUD-1.  Home Warranty, HOA fees, county taxes, and fees paid by listing agent.  Most of the time, this involves tracking down any invoices the listing agent may have paid during the listing period.  These are things like gas and electric, water, landscaping, etc.  This is all pretty standard, and Theresa has been working with some of the same managers at the relo companies for years now, so she knows the drill.

The escrow in question, invoved a problem with county taxes.  In Maricopa County, property taxes are paid in arrears, twice a year.  First half late Nov 1, Second half late May 1.  This is usually confusing to most buyers and sellers, and I've developed a quick little calendar I use at the closing that makes it very clear how tax proprations and payments are handled (but that's another post)  


So on our problem child, an escrow closing in September, Theresa had shown as paid the 1st 1/2 2009 taxes in escrow, and prorated the 2nd 1/2 taxes between the seller (relo) and the buyer.    Relo approved the audit we sent them, and we signed the buyer and collected their closing funds.  One day later, relo called to say our HUD-1 was incorrect, and that they had paid the entire 2009 tax bill 3 days ago.  To avoid getting too technical or teach a math class, the net effect of relo making that payment meant the buyer would have to come in with an additional $1700, and they would not get any of that back until one year later when their lender did an escrow analysis of their tax and insurance impound account, dicovered the overage, and refunded it to buyer. Not good!

I personally know some escrow officers that would simply say it is not their problem, call the buyer and tell them to bring in the additional $1700.00.  I don't know about you, but to me, that just ain't right!


Theresa and I kicked around a couple ideas and then remembered we have a friend of a friend at the assessor's office.  We contacted her, explained our problem, and she was able to flag the tax parcel so the 2009 tax payment from relo would not be processed.  We then called relo and asked them to stop payment on the tax check.  Bottom line was we DID NOT call the buyer with the request for the $1700.  In fact, the buyer didn't even know that any of this occurred.

Isn't that what an agent is looking for in a title company and escrow officer?  We can't avoid every nightmare, but Theresa and I do promise to look for any and every possible solution before making that dreaded call...


Do you have any questions on Title or Escrow for us?  You can e-mail us at risserb@ctt.com, or simply leave a comment below....

Chicago Title - Gilbert

October Social Media Workshop Schedule - Chicago Title Gilbert

Here is our very busy October workshop lineup...  If you've missed a workshop in our series, check out the following list and set your schedule. Please contact Paul Guenther at 480 389-4290 to RSVP


Oct– 7th TWITTER (NO CREDIT)- Workshop-Bring Laptop
10am-Noon VIA HOMES
6903 East Parkway Norte Mesa, AZ 85212


Oct-9th ACTIVE RAIN (NO CREDIT)- Workshop-Bring Laptop
10am-Noon Chicago Title Gilbert Branch
1959 South Val Vista Drive 85204


Oct-14th Facebook (NO CREDIT)- Workshop Bring Laptop
10am-Noon VIA HOMES
6903 East Parkway Norte Mesa, AZ 85212


Oct-20th ACTIVE RAIN (NO CREDIT)- Workshop-Bring Laptop
10am-Noon Keller Williams Sonoran Living
4621 E. Chandler Blvd #160 Phoenix, AZ 85048


Oct-21st LinkedIn (NO CREDIT)- Workshop Bring Laptop
10am-Noon VIA HOMES
6903 East Parkway Norte Mesa, AZ 85212


Oct-23rd TWITTER (NO CREDIT)- Workshop-Bring Laptop
10am-Noon Chicago Title Gilbert Branch
1959 South Val Vista Drive 85204


Oct-28th Build Your Blog (NO CREDIT)- Workshop Bring Laptop
10am-Noon VIA HOMES
6903 East Parkway Norte Mesa, AZ 85212

Chicago Title Gilbert Boldly Begins Blogging!

As New Media becomes more and more pervasive in our industry, Chicago Title Gilbert wants to remain a leader in new technologies.  Bill Risser, Theresa Alberico, and Paul Guenther are committed to bringing the very best information to our clients.  We believe this blog, along with our Facebook Fan Page and our Twitter account, allows us to bring the most current, relevant information to our clients. 

We hope you subscribe to our feed, or visit frequently as we will post new information regularly.  We also welcome your questions and comments.  Simply use the comments link at the end of any post to submit your title/escrow questions.  We will answer questions directly via e-mail, and in a future post.

We also value your input.  If you're taking the time to read our blog, we'd love to hear what you think, and we always welcome your suggestions.