Last night (this morning) at 1:44am I got an e-mail from the fine folks at Twitter, telling me that they had manually reset my password and I could now log back into my account. My last previous tweet was July 24th, just over one full week ago.

On July 24th my account was mysteriously deleted with no warning or advance notice. Just completely gone. After a few strategically directed tweets from fellow twitterers on my behalf the account was restored within a couple of days. All my followers were there, all my tweets were there, all my followings were there, just one small problem....

I could not login to my account. I forgot what e-mail I registered with (further evidence that I have too many e-mail addresses). Entered my user name (RealtorLefebvre) and Twitter told me it didn't recognize me. Ouch!

While I tried to get online help from Get Satisfaction, I continued to enter any and all e-mail addresses I might have registered with. Finally I got a message saying that instructions to reset my password had been sent to the e-mail address I entered! Ureka! I was in luck....

Unfortunately, during my Twitter outage I had also switched brokerages and the e-mail address I registered with was from my OLD brokerage, an e-mail account I no longer had access to!

Back to Get Satisfaction with details of my new dilema. That was yesterday afternoon. This morning I was back in Twitter business!

This issue probably could have been solved in less than a week if I had been more adamant about my pursuit for a solution. The truth of the matter is after the initial shock wore off that my account was deleted, and I saw it had been restored, I didn't worry too much about it. Occasionally I would see what some of my favorite followers were saying, but it honestly didn't matter much to me. I was too busy with other important things.

And that's the point. After a full week of no Twitter I looked back to try and gague what I had missed and the answer for me was not much! Nothing actually. For me, Twitter is a fun social networking tool and part of the overall reason I was recruited to my new brokerage, but speaking after a full Twitter-less week, I can honestly say that I don't feel I missed a beat.

A big "thank you" has to go out to @gregoryng, @paulocepek and @ericawallace who all tweeted on my behalf to try and help get a remedy to my situation. Hard to say what kind of direct effect they had (@ev <twitter founder> actually responded early to @gregoryng which was cool), but it's the thought that counts. Thanks! All good people. Quality tweets. Well worthy of a follow.

So today I am back on the wagon. I now know where my friends are grabbing coffee, I've been tipped off to a few great posts online and I've been ridiculed for the Sox trading Manny Ramirez (which was a GREAT trade, BTW!). But I also have specific confirmation of a fact that I've always held true. There is most certainly life without Twitter.

And truth be told, it's a pretty damn productive life without Twitter as well!

I was involved in an intereting thread over on Trulia Voices last week concerning FSBOs. I was the first to respond (at the bottom), but the discussion got very lively soon there after.

The basis of the thread turned out to be, "Do agents avoid showing their buyer clients FSBOs?"

Two very different opinions came out. One, from a colleague of mine Marla Mullen, co-founder of Territory Real Estate, an exclusive buyers agency offering rebates to their clients here in Boston. And the other from a couple of local agents who admitted they are less likely to show FSBOs offering a "low" commission.

My approach is show my buyers any home that matches the criteria they are looking for, regardless of the amount of money I will potentially make on the deal. Obviously, not everyone agrees with me on this one.

I also believe as technology pushes us forward. we'll see more home sellers trying to FSBO. It's not for everyone, but before I was in real estate sales (back when I was just an appraiser), my wife and I sold our West Roxbury home ourselves to a buyer with no agent. Couldn't have gone smoother and the $22,000 savings was HUGE to say the least.

This anti-FSBO sentiment that seems to run rampant through the RE industry is based purely on fear. As the industry becomes more transparent (with the help of companies like TerritoryRE) opportunities for web-savvy sellers up for the task to successfully FSBO will only increase.

So my approach has always been to be a resource for FSBOs rather than try and belittle, berate and scare them into listing with me.

Well, in this case it seems the scare tactics of a couple of commission-chasers did the trick. I was connecting with the sellers outside of Trulia and learned that they have decided to lower their price and list with a local agent next week. Keep in mind they had been getting lots of activity, just no offers.

In my opinion, based on looking at their listing on MLS and looking at the property with my appraiser hat on, the price reduction alone might have been enough to get the house sold. Going FSBO is definitely not for all home sellers. There is a lot of work involved. I know. I did it.

But I hate to think that based on some borderline unethical tactics and opinions of a couple greedy agents, that homeowners think that ALL agents avoid showing their clients FSBO properties.

I am most definitely in business to make money and take care of my family, but my first priority is to best serve my clients.

In this case we were talking about a difference in commission of about $1,800 (2.0% vs. 2.5%). Personally, I am not nearly willing to sacrifice my reputation and ethics over a couple thousand dollars.

So how about it fellow agents? Does a FSBO situation or a "slightly lower than typical" commission (in these parts a 2.5% co-broke is the norm) influence your decision on whether to show a buyer a property or not?

I'd love to know if I'm the "kooky" one, as one of the Trulia respondents on this thread so eloquently put it.

 

Mike's interview on Real Estate Radio USA (7/24/08)

Hallmark Sotheby's International Realty website

Today marked the end of my first week at Hallmark Sotheby's International Realty in Hopkinton, MA. It's been a fantastic experience being part of an already well-establish brand in the area and watching the exciting transformation and re-launching as a Sotheby's franchise.

Stay tuned for future developments as the company grows and continues to gain market share in the high-end segment of the Metrowest, MA market.

I feel extremely lucky to be part of this evolution of a brand. If it sounds like I'm simply being a "company man", my apologies because I am truly pumped-up to show up to work everyday and very optimistic about what the future holds!

I recently got a promotion that started on Twitter.

Most of you who know me, know I am still fairly new on the sales side of the business (my background is in real estate appraisal). In fact, on June 4th, 2008 I wasn't even one full year into the business when an anonymous tweet came through.

I didn't follow this person, didn't even recognize her. Loved your video on ActiveRain! Opening a new office nearby. Want to chat? was her tweet...

She is a big ActiveRain fan. She found my winning video there. She hit up my profile and thankfully disregarded my absolutely pathetic excuse for "points".

My ActiveRain profile links to my LinkedIn profile, my AIM account and practically every single way humanly possible to reach me online! She read my blogs.

We communicated on and off for 12 days with out speaking a word "live" to each other. We were obviously both very comfortable and adept at these social media methods so through IM, twitter, text, etc...we learned a lot about each other. I Googled her and her broker/owner. She did the same to me (and STILL wanted me to come in to interview! Imagine that?) Her office had a "secret announcement" coming up that she was extremely excited about but couldn't tell me just yet.

Nearly two weeks later I was sitting with the owner/broker of the office discussing an opportunity that was being presented to me based on my pioneering, progressive, Web 2.0 ways. Keep in mind, as a rookie REALTOR struggling to survive his first year in the biz, I had no "Top Producer" status, no big book of business and no money coming in the door with me on Day 1.

My resume was online. It was my social media presence. My "impressive" connections to industry "heavy weights". It was the creativity shown in the property videos and websites I had created. It was a digital map of my past, present and in her mind, my future.

My local twitter pal Aaron Strout wrote an awesome post about a similar non-real estate experience he had recently in the hiring process.

If I was a broker, hiring a staff of agents, I would:

• Google their name, alone, in quotes, with "real estate" on the end...try a bunch of combination.
• Read their blog. Don't have one? Next! (that's just me...but if less than 5% of agents are actually blogging, there are certainly some success stories in the other 95%)
• Check their LinkedIn page. Any recommendation on there?
• Follow them on Twitter.
• Set up a google alert for them and see how often they are showing up online.
• Send them an e-mail that needs a response "ASAP"..see you quickly they respond. If not quickly, why?
• Send them a text message seeking a passive reply. How quickly do they text back?

I'm not saying that social media is changing the way all HR departments operate and hiring processes run, but for certain types of industries, there is definitely a new twist in the recruiting game.

So if you are in one of those industries that might be effected by the evolution of social media (um...in case you were wondering, YES, real estate is one of them), get yourself out there. I was pretty impressed on a recent Google search I did for Mike Lefebvre Real Estate.


Just by getting my name out there, making some connections within my industry, engaging in the conversations going on and adding a healthy dose of shameless self-promotion, I was in a position someone with my limited production should not have been in.

I got the job. Started officially today. And I'm very optimistic about where this turn will take me.

At the end of the day, real estate is still going to be about the time you are spending face-to-face with qualified buyers and sellers. But if a little social networking/blogging ultimately gives me the opportunity for a promotion that will get me more face-to-face time with these qualified buyers and sellers, I'd be crazy not to, right?

Oh, I'm also meeting with a local couple I connected with on Trulia Voices later this week to discuss helping them buy their first home. Haven't spoken "live" yet, but we sure know a whole lot about each other.

If this is what Web 2.0 is delivering for REALTORS willing to put in the time, sign me up! PS- Connect with me here!

 

News sweeping through Amsterdam, and all of the Netherlands for that matter, is that the famous American Realtor, Mike Lefebvre aka The "Uncommon Agent" is kicking butt and taking names! (not literal translation, but I like it).

Ran this post through the translator on my mac's dashboard and it only made mildly more sense. Any Dutch-speaking ActiveRain members please tell me if this is favorable or less-than-favorable?

Dutch Coverage of The Uncommon Agent