Citrus Valley Association of REALTORS®

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Tech Update: Are You Proud of Your Photos?

Photos have played a significant role in our lives, but they are more essential now than ever before. We typically gravitate towards the visual sensation of an amazing moment captured with our cameras, and usually those moments are shot from a smart phone. The interesting part, are the many available mobile apps or camera features that help enhance the photo for our viewing pleasure. Although many can't quite comprehend the impact of what appealing photos mean to us, statistics would argue that the more professional your photo, the more attention you draw to you and your brand. Of course this has a real estate twist to it, because as young home buyers search the net for listings, the major driving factor for keeping them on any given listing site would be - photos. If you have sub-par photos, consumers will move right along to the next candidate that actually gave two clicks to upload photos that will literally grab a users attention.

Tech Update: Is Your Signature a Novel?

In this day and age, if you click on an enlarged "E" to log on to the internet, you may want to remind yourself that we are in the 21st Century. As Chris Smith with Inman would say, "Internet Explorer does two things very well. It will download Google Chrome and Firefox." I couldn't agree more, but some of you may not understand the advantages by doing this. Number one, you will be welcomed with open arms by yours truly. Two, people will most likely stop marking you as spam, and three, you will be more up to date than most of your competitors. Along with the latest search browsers, come advanced features that will connect you with many more people in a clean and simplistic format. The way in which I am referring to in this post, is through your NOVEL. Although I would love to explain to you my reference, I believe that this picture is worth a thousand words...many of which I will keep to myself.

Ok, now brace yourself, because if the photo below resembles your email signature in any way, shape or form, then we need to bring you up to speed.

Although many of us may have thought that Google+ disappeared in Facebook's massive shadow, we should think again. Google's social network answer to what Facebook has built actually grew to 61 million total visits in March, which is up about 27% from the month prior, according to Experian Hitwise.

Amazingly, the chart below shows rapid and steady growth in total visits each month since the site went live in June of last year -

Where at one point in time Real Estate Professionals were mainly required to respond via their phone or email, today's methods to communicate have drastically changed. With the young home buyers (better known as the "entitled" generation) sending texts, emails, tweets, Facebook messages, and much more, you truly have to be well versed with the technology available in order to earn additional business. But, how do you manage all of these platforms? Well, Nimble seems to think they have figured it out, and I would have to say they are on the right track.

CRMLS MATRIX Listing Status: Did You Know?
CRMLS MATRIX Listing Status is used to define the current state of the listing. It is important to remember that you must update your listing status within 48hours of the change. For your convenience below are the CARETS Standardized Rules and Regulations of the definition of listing statuses. Read More...

Are You Impressed with the New iPad?

If you happened to follow the play by play today on Cnet.com around 1 p.m. ET, then there is a very big chance you finally heard that the new iPad has officially landed. After weeks of speculation on features, additions, and much more, the biggest surprise to me was the name. Many were predicting the words spoken of iPad 3 or iPad HD once unveiled, but it was nothing more than - iPad. Now don't get me wrong, there were a ton of other exciting upgrades to the next generation that met expectations, but the name most definitely did not. When in doubt, I guess Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). Read More...

CAR Board of Directors Summary of Action Items

January 20-21, 2012

Each year, the Association President selects approximately 10-15 CVAR REALTOR® members to serve on the California Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors. The role of the C.A.R. Director is to represent the CVAR membership by attending and participating in the three C.A.R. Business Meetings that are held in the Winter, Spring and Fall each year. Directors often serve on C.A.R. Committees, and are expected to keep abreast of the issues of importance to the industry, as well as provide an ongoing flow of communication between the CVAR membership and the State Association. The following is a summary of the significant action items approved by the California Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors at its Winter 2012 meeting:

YELP About It - Reviews Are Hot!

Yelp.com's purpose is to connect people with great local businesses and also allows businesses to share information with the Yelp Community. Have you ever thought about those that we look to for recommendations or reviews on decisions we must make when it comes down to what movie to see, places to eat, technology purchases, and everything else that we can't make up our minds about? Really stop and think who these people are - Facebook friends? Twitter buddies? Google? In the end, we are asking for the opinions of those whom we truly do not know, and then we make a purchase based on reviews or recommendations of those same people that we really do not know.