| Weekly Mortgage Interest Rate Report November 25, 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Data and information is provided by Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This is not intended as an advertisement of interest rates as defined by Regulation Z, Section 1026.2. Data is provided for informational purposes only. The financial and other information contained herein speaks only as of the date posted herein. Freddie Mac, and/or the sender of this information, is not responsible for business decisions made based on the reported results of the PMMS. In general, the data presented were calculated from information collected Monday through Wednesday of the same week that the PMMS is released and may not reflect mortgage rates, fees or points currently available. Average fees and points are provided to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining a mortgage. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey. |
Market Update
Friday, November 27, 2015
MARKET SURVEY 11/26/15
SOCIAL SHARE FOR YOUR WEEKEND
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14 cool things to do this weekend around Phoenix
Cirque Dreams Holidaze
Light up the winter season with the holiday stage extravaganza, Cirque Dreams Holidaze. The family-friendly performance combines a cirque show, Broadway musical and family Christmas spectacular, creating a one-of-a-kind holiday spectacle. Audience members can expect to see more than 300 costumes, 20 acts, 30 artists, reindeer, angels, penguins and more during the show.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28. Orpheum Theatre, 203 W. Adams, Phoenix. $30.25-$65.25. 602-262-6225, phoenixconventioncenter.com.
Doggie Street Festival
Tails will be wagging at the adoption-focused festival, which allows you to browse furry future family members, products, services, music and food. The festival includes vet tips, speakers, a children’s art area and vendor booths.
Details: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28. Steele Indian School Park, 300 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. Free. 323-445-5087, doggiestreetfestival.org.
READ MORE HERE
MARKETING CORNER
200 Real Estate Marketing Ideas
By Tyler Zee - Easy Agent Pro
Real Estate Marketing Ideas are so hard to come up with when things aren’t going your way. Maybe you’ve had a bad month. And are looking for ways to shake things up. This list will help get your juices flowing.
Don’t try to do everything on this list. Simply focus on doing what you do very well.
Traditional Real Estate Marketing Ideas
Give Aways:
- Pop-by
- A great pop-by gift is a chocolate bar or a gift card. These types of random gifts gives you the ability to easily stop-by and visit someone without it being awkward. They are a great way to nurture a new relationship.
- Free garage sale signs
- Offer free garage sale signs to neighbors in the spring. You can even collect them back and reuse them year after year. This will help out everyone in your neighborhood and easily get your name seen by many people.
- Volunteer
- This is a great way to meet new people. Be sure to start many conversations and talk about what you do. The best way to utilize this strategy is to attend regularly. Pick 1 or 2 organizations and commit to attending.
- Keychain tags
- This freebie is a fun way to keep your brand in front of many people for a low cost. Pass them out at a event you’re volunteering for or at conferences you attend.
- Hold Contests
- Contests are a great way to get information from a large swath of people. For added exposure, partner with another business in order to gain access to their customers.
- Enter Contests
- Entering contests gives you the chance to meet and talk with other business owners. It will also give you good ideas for how to run and market your own contests.
- Give away freebies at open houses
- Be sure to thank people for visiting your open house by giving them something to remember that property. Most people will visit multiple open houses. So make sure your freebie has your address on it.
- Give free bonuses for an error you’ve made
- Did you miss an appointment? Gift cards are a great way to apologize and show you care.
- Thank you gifts
- Thank you gifts are a good way to follow up unobtrusively with clients. This will out perform a lot of other real estate marketing ideas and help you stand out from the crowd.
- Luxury box at events
- You can invite friends and potential clients. The event provides a long time to bring up various business deals.
- Calendar
- Want to be in front of your clients all year round? Make a calendar that contains your business contact information. It’s a good idea to use pictures from you local community.
- Pens, Pencils, and Writing Give-Aways
- These simple give-aways are a must. They are very versatile and can be used in many situations.
- Home Makeovers Giveaway
- Enter the people that give you referrals into a Room Makeover Lottery Pot. You can set the max budget for the room makeover, and you’ll instantly have a referral program that’s different than your competitions. You can also run a different type of contest where you award the person who has the best home makeover before and after photos with a gift card.
187 more tips HERE
Friday, November 20, 2015
Thankful for YOU!
By this time next week, when our next Market Update comes out, hopefully your tummy and heart will be full from warm and wonderful festivities.
We'd like to take a moment, ahead of time, to thank all of our amazing Realtor Partners as we prepare to celebrate an incredible year at Fairway Independent Mortgage. Without your faith, feedback, guidance and trust in our ability to handle your clients with care, our success is simply not possible.
For that, and for you, we are thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving from Fairway Independent Mortgage
We'd like to take a moment, ahead of time, to thank all of our amazing Realtor Partners as we prepare to celebrate an incredible year at Fairway Independent Mortgage. Without your faith, feedback, guidance and trust in our ability to handle your clients with care, our success is simply not possible.
For that, and for you, we are thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving from Fairway Independent Mortgage
MARKET SURVEY 11/19/15
| Weekly Mortgage Interest Rate Report November 19, 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Data and information is provided by Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This is not intended as an advertisement of interest rates as defined by Regulation Z, Section 1026.2. Data is provided for informational purposes only. The financial and other information contained herein speaks only as of the date posted herein. Freddie Mac, and/or the sender of this information, is not responsible for business decisions made based on the reported results of the PMMS. In general, the data presented were calculated from information collected Monday through Wednesday of the same week that the PMMS is released and may not reflect mortgage rates, fees or points currently available. Average fees and points are provided to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining a mortgage. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey. |
SOCIAL SHARE FOR YOUR WEEKEND
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30-plus restaurants for Thanksgiving dinner in metro Phoenix
Make your Thanksgiving dinner stress-free this year by letting the pros plan, cook and serve your meal, from extravagant smorgasbords to simple holiday-inspired dishes.
Here are 30 Valley restaurants that will be open on Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, Nov. 26, offering something special for all budgets and cravings, from traditional to globally influenced fare.
PHOENIX
Arizona Biltmore
At the Gold Room, the 11 a.m.-5 p.m. buffet includes roast turkey with sage walnut stuffing, prime rib and stations for starters, small plates, carving, candy and kids dishes ($85; $40 for ages 6-12). At Wright’s, a four-course menu is served from 1-9 p.m. Selections range from lobster celeriac bisque to roasted beets and house-cured salmon; from pan-seared diver scallops to filet of beef au poivre; from brandy pumpkin cheesecake to sticky toffee pudding ($95; $45 for ages 12 and younger). At Frank & Albert’s, a feast with all the trimmings is served from 2-10 p.m. It features a wide selection of soup, salad and pasta starters, four carving table choices, a variety of sides and a dessert buffet ($58). Reservations required.
Details: 2400 E. Missouri Ave., Phoenix. 602-381-7632, arizonabiltmore.com.
MARKETING CORNER
FARMING: 5 Ways to Develop Relationships in Your Target Neighborhood
Real Estate Marketing Magazine November 20, 2015
As a REALTOR®, marketing is the lifeblood of your business. Whereas most businesses cultivate a name or a brand, a REALTOR® is both the name and the brand. In essence, promoting your business means promoting yourself and your services in a particular market area.
So how do you promote yourself and make meaningful connections in your target neighborhood? It may sound difficult, but there are several ways you can do it. Here are five methods for cultivating effective relationships in a target neighborhood:
- Put Social Media to Work for You
I’ve talked a lot about how social media can make a difference in your real estate marketing. With one in two American adults on Facebook, social media should be a key component of your marketing efforts.
Some Realtors® are hesitant to engage in social media because they are concerned about appearing too informal, or they simply don’t know what to say. It’s important to remember the “social” side of social media. In other words, you can achieve great success by simply being yourself, as well as providing information that is interesting and valuable to your target audience.
People like to feel proud of their community. Join Facebook groups focused on specific communities and neighborhoods, and then tap into the sentiment by sharing photos of the neighborhood and relating personal stories of your interactions with community members. You might also consider posting content that is entertaining or useful, such as “10 Tips for Spring Cleaning” or “Where to Find a Pet Sitter.”
- Invest in the Community
This doesn’t mean you need to buy a home in the neighborhood – although if you already live there, it’s a great start! Ultimately, real estate is about people, not property. Consider investing your time in local programs or service organizations. Many communities have civic organizations that need regular volunteers. Show families and individuals in the neighborhood you care about the area and its residents – and gain some great exposure for yourself and your business in the process. Offer to plant flowers around an intersection that could use some beautifying, or donate some items to a bake sale. Even a little effort will pay off down the road.
- Consider Predictive Analytics
According to REALTOR® Magazine, predictive analytics is a powerful new spin on traditional door-to-door marketing. Rather than wasting valuable hours – and the soles of your shoes – knocking on doors at random, you can tap into a stream of data designed to predict which properties are likely to hit the market in upcoming months.
Predictive analytics uses computer algorithms to compile data from numerous sources, track trends, and assess the likelihood of a future sale. There are several companies and apps that have developed algorithms that scour sale records, auditor records, mortgage loan records, delinquencies, and tax records for information – something made possible by the digitization of many county and state public records.
Although it is possible to compile these records yourself and track trends without the help of a third party app, data-crunching demands time – time you need to make personal connections with potential sellers. Armed with this valuable data, you can focus your door-to-door efforts on homeowners likely to enter the market in the near future.
- Stay in Touch with Past Clients
You have made a sale, negotiated the closing, and sent your client a thoughtful housewarming gift. However, your work is not done. As all REALTORS® know, referrals are an important source of future business. In 2014, 40% of all buyerschose to work with an agent that was referred to them by a friend, neighbor, or relative.
Whether you represent a buyer moving into a target neighborhood or a seller moving out, be sure to stay in touch long after the sale is final and the moving trucks have left.
There are several ways to do this. Many agents send holiday or birthday cards, and include past clients on their newsletter mailing lists. Most people put down roots in their community – even if they move away, they maintain connections in their old neighborhood. You never know when a past client will recommend you to a friend, family member, or work colleague looking to buy or sell in the same area.
- Build a Business Referral Network
Local businesses are the backbone of any community’s economy. Residents rely on these businesses to provide services and products. In turn, businesses thrive when people perceive them as trustworthy and reliable. As a REALTOR®, you can become part of this network of providers by building relationships with your fellow local businesses.
Getting started is much easier than you might think. Real estate clients may rely on their agents to recommend everything from landscapers to a good pizza place. If a business serves your target neighborhood, there is a good chance your clients will patronize it. Reach out to these business owners and ask about establishing a referral relationship.
Making It Work
Growing your business can be tough. With persistence and a firm commitment to making personal connections in your target neighborhood, however, your real estate business will benefit both now and down the road. These five tips will help you build the relationships you need to be successful.
BUSINESS TIPS
Taking a great idea and turning it into a real, functioning, successful business requires quite a bit of work, sweat, and coffee.
There are documents to be signed, prospects to be called, emails to be sent, and tweets to be posted. In other words, there's never a shortage of tasks on your plate on any given day.
Sure, you could hire a bunch of extra hands, but if you're not in a financial position to onboard new talent right away, then that wouldn't make good business sense, now would it?
Trouble is, while keeping costs down is a critical piece of the puzzle, it can make finding the right tools to simplify your day-to-day responsibilities a little challenging.
That's why we've come up with a list of must-have tools for anyone running a business ... and they're all free. From heat mapping software to help inform your website design to a project management tool to keep your team on track, you won't know how you did your job without them.
14 Free Tools to Help You Run Your Business
1) Boomerang
Ever want to send an email on a Friday but don't want it to get lost in the recipient's mailbox over the weekend? With Boomerang for Gmail, you can write an email now and schedule it to be sent at a time that's more convenient.
But that's not all. Boomerang boasts a ton of other features designed to make your life easier. For example, if your inbox is feeling a little unruly, you can pick and choose which emails you'd like to temporarily archive until you need them. Simply pick the time and date that you'd like it to reappear, and it'll be there. Magical.
2) Trello
Keeping your team on the same page -- whether you're working remotely or side-by-side -- isn't always easy. With new ideas, changing deadlines, and last-minute adjustments happening through out the course of a day, you need a place to keep everything unified. That's where Trello comes in.
At a glance, Trello makes it easy for users to visualize what tasks are on their plate, what their team members are currently working on, and what's already been completed. Functioning like a virtual bulletin board, the tool offers boards and cards to help you and your team organize a project, or just keep tabs on your day-to-day work.
With cards, users can upload file attachments, add comments, create checklists, assign due dates, and so much more. And whenever a change is made to a card, Trello's notification system can send an update to the members of the board to keep everyone in the know.
3) HelloSign
Ah, paperwork. One of the worst timesucks in your day.
Luckily, there is a tool to help free up some of that time. Rather than spending your day tracking down the right people to sign the right documents, HelloSign makes it easy for users to sign documents and request esignatures from up to 20 different people. And once the document is completed, everyone that signed will get a copy delivered straight to their inbox to keep for their records.
Worried about security? You don't have to be. HelloSign uses SSL encryption during file transfers to keep your documents safe. (Want to learn more about SSL? Check out this article from my colleague, Jeffrey.)
To make your life even easier, HelloSign integrates with many of the apps you're already using -- Gmail, Google Apps, Dropbox, Evernote, etc. This means you can sign legally binding documents in 30 seconds or less, without leaving your Gmail inbox.
4) HubSpot CRM
In sales, speed matters. Think about it: In the time that your salespeople spend digging through their inbox for bit of information about a prospect, they could be losing a sale to competitor.
HubSpot CRM enables sales teams to work more efficiently by providing reps with a detailed history of their interactions with a prospect. Unlike other systems, HubSpot CRM is both intuitive and automatic, making it easy for users to log emails, record calls, and manage their data. This type of easy access to touch points helps to ensure that reps aren't sending repeat emails or mismanaging their time with prospects that aren't interested.
5) Slack
Meetings, emails, and unexpected desk visitors can sometimes make it difficult to actually get work done during the day. Well, with an internal team communication tool like Slack, your team can collaborate, share files, give feedback, and provide quick solutions all using real-time messaging.
According to Slack's website, teams using its software find a 25.1% decrease in meetings and a 48.6% reduction in internal email, resulting in a 32% increase in team productivity.
Slack also offers fully native apps for iOS and Android, making it easy for you to pick up where you left off after you leave your desk.
6) LeadIn
LeadIn is a free WordPress plugin designed by our team here at HubSpot. Built to help you understand your website visitors better, this tool makes it easy to find out not only who is on your website, but also what they're doing.
With LeadIn, users automatically get insights into everyone who fills out a form on their website. From pages they've visited to social networks that they're on, these details can help you make more strategic marketing moves.
LeadIn integrates with email software like MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Campaign Monitor, so you can push the contacts who fill out a form on you site straight into an email list.
7) Dropbox
Dropbox provides businesses with an easy way to share and store photos, videos, documents, spreadsheets, and other files, using both desktop and mobile devices. Eliminating the need for flash drives, Dropbox makes it easy for users to access the information where they need to, when they need to.
In terms of collaboration, the tool aims to simplify the way teams collaborate and share files -- proving to be especially useful for teams in which some members telecommute. Users can even add comments to shared files, which saves time and eliminates the need for another email in your inbox.
Image Credit: PCWorld
8) Google Apps
Google Apps is a package of cloud-based productivity services that make it easy for businesses to collaborate in real time.
With access to apps like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites, you and your team will have the means necessary to innovate, brainstorm, and document all of your great ideas. To give you a better sense of how you can make the most of the suite, check out this post from my colleague Corey on how we use Google Sheets to crowdsource our blog posts.
To get started with the free version of Google Apps, you simply need a Gmail address. But if you want to use Google Apps with a business email address (such as yourname@yourcompany.com), you'll need to pay. Pricing for Google Apps at Work starts at $5 per month.
9) IFTTT
Running a business requires a lot of hands. Trouble is, your new business budget might not stretch enough to cover new talent. In other words, you've got to work with what you've got.
Rather than allowing routine tasks to eat up all your precious time, try IFTTT. Short for "if this, than that," IFTTT is a productivity tool that employs "recipes" to automate your important online processes. (Essentially, it's like autopilot for your day-to-day tasks.)
Recipes link together some of your favorite cloud-based services, and can trigger a specific action based on particular events. To clarify, here are a couple examples:
If an email is starred in Gmail, then save that email (and its first attachment) to Evernote.
If you create a new link post on Facebook, then post a tweet with the same link on Twitter.
10) Hotjar
The health of your business often has a lot to do with how visitors interact and respond to your website. But how can you optimize for the user when you don't know what the user wants?
With Hotjar, you can leverage heat mapping technology to turn up a visual representation of you website visitor's clicks, taps, and scrolling behavior. These behaviors serve as strong indicators of what your visitors are looking for and where they're getting stuck.
By identifying these opportunities for conversion optimization and improvement, you can then make iterations to your website design and copy in an effort to streamline the user experience.
Looking for more ideas on how you can use the insights you gather using Hotjar to strengthen your website? Here are a few suggestions from its website:
- Discover how visitors react to longer or shorter pages.
- Overhaul forms to generate more leads.
- Remove or rethink ignored content.
- Reveal anxieties about trust or confusing policies.
11) Canva
Canva is an easy-to-use tool that allows both designers and non-designers to create designs and documents without a ton of technical knowledge.
Thanks to features like the drag-and-drop functionality, free icons and shapes, collections of fonts, and helpful templates, users are equipped with everything they need to pull off quality designs for presentations, social media, reports, and even business cards.
Canva even offers a Design School, where users can go to learn more about design 101, branding, color theory, design trends, typography, and much more.
12) Evernote
Ever find yourself on the train or at a red light when a great idea strikes? With Evernote, you can catalog your thoughts on any device to ensure that you don't forget to execute on it. And because Evernote syncs across all of your devices, it's easy to jot down an idea when it hits, and then run with it when you get to your desk the next morning.
The free online workspace provides users with a platform for writing, collecting images and snippets from around the web, and communicating, collaborating, and sharing with colleagues.
Thanks to the tool's screen-friendly layout, you can even transform your notes into a quick presentation for an impromptu meeting on your latest project.
13) Manager.io
Want to save time and money? Who doesn't?
Manager.io makes free accounting software for small businesses. Noteworthy features include: General ledgers, cash management, bank reconciliation, expense claims, accounts receivable, accounts payable, estimates and quotes, purchase orders, billing and invoicing, and so much more.
The folks at Manager.io place a heavy emphasis on design, and that's highlighted through the functionality of the tool. Unlike traditional accounting software, Manager.io doesn't require users to enter opening balances or configure tax variables before they can issue an invoice or record a payment. In fact, getting started requires very few configurations, so you get straight to what's important: your accounting needs.
14) Google Analytics
According to its website, "Google Analytics' solutions can help you turn customer insights into action for your business."
For small businesses, Google Analytics' free services aim to simplify the way users view and improve the performance of their websites. Not only does the solution provide you with the means necessary to report on your website's progress each month, but these insights can also help you better understand your visitors so that you can create a marketing experience that keeps bringing them back.
If you're looking to improve your analytical skills, Google offers expert lessons, tests, and community forums, all available in Analytics Academy.
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