Category Real Estate Agents
Spring Fever: Tips to Get Organized For a Busy Real Estate Season
April is just around the corner and that means real estate's busy season of spring through early summer is about to begin. What can over worked Bay Area real estate agents do to get ready for this hectic time of year?
Have you been inspired to get organized this spring? Let your BizPals know how you survive during this busy season: share your progress in a BizPals status update!
Spring Clean the Office Clutter
One of the most common pieces of advice that real estate agents give to clients who are selling their house is to get rid of the clutter to enhance the home's appeal. But your advice may have a hollow ring to it if you're sitting at a desk piled high with files, mail, magazines and forms. According to a 2011 survey, 77% of Americans felt that disorganization negatively affected their productivity. Your time will be precious this spring, and you don't want to spend hours hunting for that one important document that’s hidden in the pile of papers. De-cluttering will increase your productivity and your mood will improve when you look at your tidy desk. You're probably going to be too busy this season to put a lot of effort into going paperless, but you can start by going through your office and boxing up the files and documents you don't need right now. Put the boxes out of the way until you can start scanning files into your computer, perhaps in the slower season around the holidays.Organize Your Car
If you're like many Bay Area real estate agents, you spend days in the field and your car becomes your office on wheels. But don't treat the car as another place where clutter is allowed to accumulate. It's quite likely you'll be driving clients around soon, and your transportation should make a positive impression, just like your newly organized office. Before the spring rush starts, set aside a day to organize your car. Remove any trash and papers that aren't supposed to be there, clean the interior, and put all items into the glove compartment, the trunk or in behind-the-seat organizers. To make sure you're prepared for all contingencies, add a first-aid kit and a roadside emergency kit, including a flashlight, fire extinguisher, jumper cables, battery-powered warning light, water and power bars.Clutter-Busting Technology
So far no one has developed an app that will shred your old bank statements for you! But there are ways that technology can help you cut down on the paper that sometimes seems to be an overwhelming force. During your office de-cluttering, if you spent time boxing up or recycling magazines, consider canceling some of your subscriptions and reading magazines and newspapers on your iPad or Kindle. Another way you can start to reduce the amount of paper that you generate is to use a tool like Evernote for taking notes and keeping to-do lists, client records, checklists and document templates conveniently at hand. And get organized by keeping all your contact information in one place. Contact Capture for the iPhone is a useful app that captures contact information from email signatures, web pages, spreadsheets and text messages. Contacts+ is a popular contact manager app for Android that allows you to integrate Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Facebook into your contacts.Sharpen Your Facebook Focus
And speaking of Facebook, spring is the season when you need to step back and ask yourself: Is social media taking up more time than I have to spare right now? Start the spring selling season with a strategy in place and you can get more out of Facebook while spending less time logged in. Facebook is a powerful marketing tool for real estate agents, but posting too often can actually decrease the effectiveness of your posts. Be smart about your content: at the beginning of each week plan out the number of updates per day you plan on doing and what you will post. A good daily mix could consist of a great photograph that you share, an interesting story about home sales in your area, and a post about an open house you're hosting this weekend. You can save time by keeping your updates brief: according to Facebook, 100-250 character posts are the best length. Condense your posts with this rule in mind: short posts get 60% more likes, comments and shares on Facebook. If you have a Twitter account, be sure you link it to your Facebook page so your posts will automatically get tweeted. And you can also make sure you spend less time on Facebook by setting up push notifications to your mobile device, so you won't have to keep checking your page for messages from potential clients.Bank Some Blog Posts
So your office and car have been de-cluttered, you've downloaded some useful apps to get organized and you have a social media strategy in place. What else can you do in the last quiet week before the rush starts? Why not sit down and write some blog posts that you'll have ready to go when it gets really busy? Think ahead and include some seasonally appropriate posts for April and May, on topics such as spring cleaning, tax deductions for homeowners, Mother's Day activities in your area, summer gardening, and so on. If possible, set up your blog so that your posts automatically link to your Facebook page. Blogging in advance may seem like a chore now but by putting some blog posts in the bank, you won't have to spend Monday nights writing when you're tired out from a busy day working with clients.Have you been inspired to get organized this spring? Let your BizPals know how you survive during this busy season: share your progress in a BizPals status update!
Manjit Singh- Alain Pinel Realtors 
Marcie Soderquist Coldwell Banker 
Aileen La Bouff - Coldwell Banker 
Victor Olabintan - California Property Brokers 
Ron Delan Coldwell Banker 
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