Technology and real estate Archives

Discounted real estate licensing courses from Tellus Real Estate

Are you thinking of getting your real estate license? Or, are you already a broker and need some continuing education classes? Or, maybe you just want to learn more about real estate. We have a wide variety of pre-licensing, continuing education, and general interest real estate classes that you can take online.

You can find a description of our classes here: http://tellusre.com/real-estate-licensing-and-continuing-education-classes

If you would like to see what the courses are like, check out a course demo.

Classes are provided through our partnership with the Rockwell Institute.

A geeky moment in real estate – using markdown in our blog

I’m extremely happy that we enabled using Markdown for writing blog posts. I LOVE markdown. It is a simple text-based way to format content for a web page, or blog.

Not sure what markdown is, Check the info on wikipedia

What is the benefit for our customers and clients?

Well, I’m hoping it means more frequent updates to the blog. Of course they say the proof is in the pudding (or tasting of the pudding).

Lets see how it goes.

Oh, and for anyone commenting on posts, we’ve enabled it in comments also.

Its a new year, time to check your credit report

The new year is a great time to check your credit report if you haven’t done so recently. And, there are now more free ways to track your credit than ever.

Government mandated website for requesting your credit report

The first way to check your credit report is one we’ve recommended for a long time. Simply go to AnnualCreditReport.com. This is the website the federal government required the credit reporting agencies set up so you could get a copy of your credit report from each company, once a year, for free. Its still the only way I know to get a copy for free, from all 3 agencies. Simply fill out the request form and get a copy. Since you get reports from all 3, you could choose to spread the requests throughout the year, so that you see how things change over time.

My experience, though, is that one or two agencies will have more complete information on you than others… and this can vary by part of the county you are in. For me, Experian has the most complete info.

What’s the difference between AnnualCreditReport.com and CreditKarma.com?

I learned about CreditKarma.com from TechCrunch. Credit Karma will provide you a copy of your Fair Isaac (FICO) credit score and copies of your credit report from TransUnion and Equifax (but not Experian). Those are the two main differences in information… the Annual Credit Report site does not provide your credit score (though you can order it), and it does provide your Experian Credit report.

Why does Credit Karma provide this information for free? (Or, rather, how does it make money from providing this information?) It uses the information it gathers from the credit reports, which you gave it permission to do, in order to present you offers for financial services you might need, and then gets paid if you buy those services. In theory it doesn’t sell your information to anyone. Most importantly, it doesn’t charge you directly for either the score or credit reports.

Both sites provide information about challenging incorrect information.

No matter where you go, be sure to check your report regularly. This will help prevent identity theft, incorrect information, and also let you know where you are having problems like missed payments. Make a point of doing it today!

Free expense tracking spreadsheet for your rentals – we’ve updated it

Spreadsheet is updated as of 12/18/2016!
Are you done putting together your tax paperwork? I just finished mine and my accountant liked the spreadsheet. In the process of using it I found, and fixed a few bugs, so if you tried it before… try it again. And, if you haven’t started your taxes yet, its a great time to do so.

Here is the original post with some information about the spreadsheet, and links to full instructions.

We’ve created this simple spreadsheet, that we use ourselves, to track our rental income and expenses, and to report information to our accountant. With it, you can create reports, including a Profit and Loss Statement (P&L) for each property or unit. You can also see how much you are spending by category. The spreadsheet is designed to do a lot of the basic work for you, while being customizable. You can add your own properties, expense categories, and income categories for use in tracking and reporting.

Download the spreadsheet here

You can find a full description, and simple instructions here….

License and instructions for Rental property P&L spreadsheet — License and Instructions

Property and unit list for Rental property P&L spreadsheet — Property and Unit List

Expense Categories list for Rental property P&L spreadsheet — Expense Categories

Income Categories list for Rental property P&L spreadsheet — Income Categories

Expense Entry tab for Rental property P&L spreadsheet — Expense Entry

Income entry tab for Rental property P&L spreadsheet — Income entry

Details section of property report for Rental property P&L spreadsheet — Property report – Details

Property report - Income and Expense by Category report for Rental property P&L spreadsheet — Property report – Income and Expense by Category

Property report - summary for P&L spreadsheet — Property report – summary

Portfolio Summary tab of P&L spreadsheet — Portfolio Summary

Category summary tab of P&L spreadsheet — Category summary

We survived our first audit from DOL

I found out Friday that the Washington State Department of Licensing audits all new real estate brokerages their first year. I found out because of a phone call from the auditor who was waiting outside my home/office. (Yes, we run the company out of our home. I meet clients at their office, home, at a property they are buying/selling/leasing, or if all else fails, Starbucks.

Unfortunately for the auditor, I was visiting a client and no one is there to meet him. So, we rescheduled for today.

I’m happy to say things went fine. I was mostly confident it would. But, part of our conversation on Friday had me worried.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs….

The Friday conversation was about office signs. Not the signs our office uses on properties we list… but actually a sign at the office. The city of Duvall says home-based businesses can have no signs. The auditor said the state requires I have a sign. I reviewed the rules and regulations closely when I opend the business and was confident when I responded, “I don’t think so.” (Hey, it would do no good to be too forceful with the auditor… and I am human, I could have missed something.) I asked him to be sure and point out the regulation when we met today.

In the end, it turns out we are both right. (I will continue to play nice wth the DOL.) According to the auditor when he came for the appointment today, the regulation for the sign has been removed, but by accident. He said it will be re-instated by end of year. I’ll be writing the real estate commission to suggest it stay removed. I don’t want to have to choose between following DOL rules, city rules, or having to change my business model to have a ‘real’ office that does my clients no good.

Anyway, on to the rest of the audit…

The rest of the audit went smoothly. The auditor reviewed the paperwork for closed in in-process transactions. The main focus was making sure that earnest money deposits were handled correctly. Our policy is to always have buyers deposit earnest money with 3rd party escrow. So, that makes the audit process much simpler. No ‘trust account’ to review. And, happily all the deposits happened on-time and we had all the receipts.

Other items reviewed were:

My business cards, which passed muster. Check it out for yourself.
Our business and real estate licenses (which you can view from “Client Resources” links on this page). Again, all fine.
Transaction summaries – Our auditor was a bit of a geek, like me, so was interested in our use of Office 365 and sharepoint to track this information.
Issues we would have to deal with if we had other brokers in the office (all good info for the future)

Areas for improvement – written procedures

Of course, we are not perfect. The one area where we had shortcomings is in written procedures. This is something I’ve been working on, but as a sole broker, its been a low priority to write down procedures and policies for me to follow. But, the auditor pointed out that there are regulations that require some policies and procedures to be written, even though I am the sole practitioner. So, its now on the schedule to get these written up. I’ll take that oppotunity to outline the additional procedures needed for when we bring other brokers on board.

All in all, not a terrible experience. No audit is pleasant, but this wasn’t as bad as I feared. Apparently, I get to look forward to repeating the experience about once every 3 years. I plan on the future visits to go at least as smoothly (signs or no signs).

Email marketing for Vacation properties in Cle Elum

Starting to work on more email marketing. The following email went out to 54,000 recipients (not spam… this was an email list of “double opt-in” recipients). The recipients are supposed to be camping/RV enthusiasts. We had around 1300 people actually read the email and 91 people click links. I’m hoping to improve the response next time. How would you change this ad?

Are you considering a vacation property in Eastern Washington? Tellus Real Estate Solutions can help you find the perfect vacation home or recreational property in Cle Elum or surrounding communities in Kittitas County. Cle Elum is just 90 minutes from Seattle and boasts a variety of activities. There is truly something for everyone: golfing at Suncadia, skiing at Snoqualmie Pass, wine tasting at local wineries, or just relaxing by a lake or river. Like the activities, there are properties available for everyone: from rustic cabins to upscale condos, creekside lots to the vacation lodge of your dreams. For example, take a look at the cute cabin or the recreational lot featured below. Sign up today to receive a full list of available and upcoming properties in the area.
Featured Properties
	Cute cabin Great one bedroom cabin with extra sleeping loft. Located in cute and well maintained Elk Meadows Park II community, just over an hour from Seattle. Close to Sun Country, horseback riding, skiing, etc.	Asking Price $120,000 Click for more info…

	Recreational lot Level, large, corner lot in Pine Glen community. Includes community beach rights. Just over an hour to Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, etc. Just minutes to Suncadia. Great property for you to bring your motorhome, trailer, or tent for camping.	Asking Price $160,000 Click for more info…

Jason Hershey, Designated Broker

Tellus Real Estate Solutions

PO Box 1113, Duvall WA 98019

Phone/Text:  (425) 417-5389

Email:
office@TellusRE.com

Web:          http://TellusRE.com

About Tellus Real Estate Solutions
Tellus Real Estate Solutions LLC is a boutique real estate brokerage physically located in Duvall, Washington. By using technology to serve our clients, we are able to do business all over Washington State. Tellus Real Estate Solutions is a member of the Northwest Multiple Listing service (www.nwmls.com) and the Commercial Brokers Association (www.commercialmls.com). We are also members of the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound, Duvall Chamber of Commerce, and the Cle Elum/Roslyn Chamber of Commerce. We can help with any of our real estate needs, so contact us today.

How to view properties from-out-of-state

Shopping for real estate from a distance can be a real challenge, for both the buyer and the agent. Internet listings don’t always provide an accurate picture of the property. Some agents manage to make the property look better than the reality. And, sadly enough, some agents manage to make it look worse.

More importantly, the listing agent doesn’t know what features or aspects are important to the buyer. That is the job of the buyer’s agent.

At Tellus Real Estate we’ve found a few methods to help our out-of-state and international clients get a better feel for a property. One method is straightforward, take our own pictures… focussing on those features that we know are important to our clients.

Another method is to take a video camera and do a video walkthrough. Here is an example of a walkthrough we did recently for an out-of-state client:

When doing this kind of walkthrough, we have some rough guidelines that we follow for posting:

We use YouTube, because most folks are familiar with it.
We don’t include info about the property in the video. This avoids problems with agents and owners.
We don’t ‘list’ the videos in our youtube feed, for same reason as previous.
When we take still photos, we include them in the video also, for convenience.
We try and work with a local contacts (like a family member or business partner) to have them do an in-person viewing to augment the video.
Make it public so client does not have to sign-in to youtube. We go back and forth on this, because it would make it much more private if we did require sign in. But, some clients don’t want to sign in, especially with the Google security concerns as of late.

Day 1 at Tellus Real Estate Solutions – the web site

Hey! Our website is now up and running. With a new website comes a new blog (or at least a new home for the blog). The old blog is still alive at http://activerain.com/blogs/jasonhershey and I will continue to post their for a while, just to provide continuity. But activeRain is aimed at agents more than real people, and so its long past due that I move to my own site.

I have to say thanks to Jaime at http://simplyjaime.com/, who has done a great job with design. She’s also been great at putting up with me during the development process. We started out with a vaguely worded vision and Jaime was able to cope with the vagueness in style. Together we came up with what I think is one of the most unique and most user-focussed web-site in the real estate world.

Things are still a bit under construction as I work on fleshing out the content on the site. But, here is a quick overview of some of our visions in the site design. Let us know how we did in executing on that vision:

1. User centric – We want our clients, the users of the site, to feel like the site is designed for them. With that in mind, we’ve divided up the site in to user centers with content specifically aimed at different types of clients: Investors, Commercial sellers, Commercial buyers, Home buyers, Home sellers, Landlords, and Tenants. Each center has content, tools, links, and news that is focussed on those particular clients.

2. Mobile (table and smart-phone) friendly – We want the site to be easily used by clients on the go. The design is aimed at working well not just on your PC or Mac, but also on your iPad, Win 7 Phone, or Android device.

3. DIY or full-service – This is an ongoing effort and is more about content than design. Still, design has a role in making the site about educating the public, our potential clients, or about it being a pure marketing tool for our services. At Tellus Real Estate Solutions we feel that while the traditional real estate model serves an important role for many clients, it isn’t the only model. We want our clients to understand the value we provide and feel we can be a great resource for people and businesses that choose to take a more hands-on approach to selling their home, leasing their commercial space, or purchasing an investment.

Over the next few days, I’ll use the blog to give you a guided tour around the site and the features.

Cheers!

Jason

Using Windows Live Skydrive and Live Mesh instead of Dropbox for Sharing Files with Clients

Today, I was at a CCIM class, covering CCIMRedex and STDBOnline (good class). In the class, the instructor was covering some side-subjects and mentioned Dropbox, a service that lets you store files online (in the CLOUD is the techy term) and also keep files synced with your computer.

Well, I admit to being a Microsoft “fanboy” (for some very good reasons). So, I mentioned you can do most of this with Microsoft Live tools, including Skydrive and Live Mesh. I told some folks I would do a quick write up and send to the group… so here goes:

First, how can you use these services:

I use Skydrive for sharing files with clients. I can create a Shared folder for each client and keep files posted there for them… copies of contracts, flyers, copies of emails, scanned files, marketing materials…. you name it.

I also use it now to allow me access to files from multipel computers. I’ve simply started working on files from there and stopped using USB drives, etc. It also allows me to open files on my iPad (OK, I’m a traitor!) and open them in the Apps there (unfortunately, Office Web Apps doesn’t work on my iPad. Not sure if its a Safari or iPad issue).

Another way to use SkyDrive is to share files to the public. I teach some classes for new investors and share the PowerPoint files out for students and anyone else who wants to review them. You can even get a link for embedding the slideshow on your page. I’ve also created a Rental Cash Flow analysis spreadsheet that I wrote a blog post about, and its there also.

What is SkyDrive?

Skydrive… here is the link to a description of Skydrive http://explore.live.com/windows-live-skydrive-about-faq

Basically, Skydrive is an online file storage system… a lot like Dropbox. One advantage is that its free version allows you to store up to 25 GB instead of Dropbox’s 2 GB. The disadvantage is that there is no option for larger than 25 GB, even a paid one.

How do you start?

I recommend starting an Office.Live account… that gets you the ability to work on Office documents on the web + storing files on sky drive.

Go to http://office.live.com and either Sign Up or Sign In. (If you have not signed up for Live account before, you can sign up using an existing email… no reason to have a @live.com account.
If you choose Sign up and don’t want a hotmail or live email ID select “Or use your own address” under the Create your Windows Live ID.)
Review and accept the Service agreement (if you don’t agree, you don’t sign up).
Verify your account when the email comes
Sign in

To upload files to Skydrive

Click on the Windows Live logo in the upper left-hand corner, and click on Skydrive
To create a folder you can share with clients, click Add and then new Folder
To share the folder with your client, click on Change next to “Share with” under the folder’s name.
You can select groups of folks to share the folder with, including everyone, or select individuals, or simply type in the client’s email address. And then click Next.

Your client will need to sign up for Live, also, by the way.
At this point, you can add files. So, click on Add files.
At that point, you can drag and drop files into the window. You can also drop pictures. Click “Continue” and you are done.
The last thing you will need to do is email a link to your client. It does not get emailed as soon as you share it. Click on Share and then Get a link to cut and paste the link or Send a link to open an email directly.

Using Live Mesh

So, along with SkyDrive you can use Live Mesh to keep files in sync between multiple computers, using an online folder. It will also let you remotely control your home computer (or another computer).

To use Live Mesh, you must be running Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Install Windows Live Essentials from http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials
From the Program menu, select Windows Live and click on Live Mesh
Follow the instructions.
Install Live Mesh on all the computers you want to sync.
Your Live Mesh sync folder is not the same as your SkyDrive folder, but you can get to it from SkyDrive

For details on syncing between computers and even syncing your Office settings between computers check the Live Mesh website at http://explore.live.com/windows-live-mesh

And here is an article comparing the various services…. http://www.labnol.org/internet/compare-windows-live-sync-mesh-and-skydrive/6166/ (note that Live Sync is no longer available, all the functionality is now in Mesh)

What’s my opinion on Live Mesh vs simply Skydrive?

I see no reason to not just keep a lot of the Office files you work on solely on Skydrive… you can open them and edit them from there from any computer. No need to Sync, since the files live on the web.

Sync’ing is good for files from other programs or that are too large for Skydrive… or for folders iwth files that change often… pictures, music, etc.

I’m still learning and experimenting. I encourage you to do the same.

Taking Landlord 101 (a live class) to the web via video – challenges and next steps

I, another real estate agent, and a mortgage broker friend, teach a series of adult education classes. In the last few sessions, I’ve taken to recording the classes using a digital video camera, in hopes of posting the classes to the internet.

After a couple of recordings, I’ve spotted some challenges that I need to overcome.

The first challenge is technical… sound. I have a decent quality camera, but setting it up in the back of the room means the sound recording isn’t great. I’ll probably need to get a good stationary microphone, or wearable microphone, set up.

Another issue is dealing with the class format. I teach the class using slides, but viewing slides on the video isn’t easy. I really want/need to transition back and forth from the slides to the video. I’ve been using Windows Movie Maker for editing… its free and easy to use. (Note that I like Movie Maker 2.6 much better than Live Movie Maker… it allows more detailed control). For simple editing, the latter is fine, and maybe even better, but I needed to insert the slides and have more control over transitions) But, it doesn’t separate out the sound from the video, so I can’t show the slides while using the videos sound… which means that if I insert the slides into the movie, the sound stops. In the short video below, about 15 minutes of the class, covering marketing of renta properties, I overcome this somewhat by using transitions that overlap the video and the slides.

A better solution is related to the first problem… I probably just need to record the sound separately so I can run the soundtrack on its own, and then show the slides while talking… transitioning to the video just to keep things interesting (viewing slides while someone talks is BORING! I know, I’ve done it a lot while viewing a variety of ‘webinars’.) So, before the next class I’ll be taking a trip to the electronics store to check out the options.

I’ve also learned that my own presentation is a problem. I need to work on my delivery, not just for the video… but in general. So, recording the classes sould make for better classes in the long run, no matter what. The videos also increase my motivation to lose weight… wow I look fat (oh wait, I am fat). I also should wear my jacket, it would look better. Beyond that, the video points out some bad habits I have (typical um, uh, etc. while talking) and the challenge of ‘what do I do with my hands’ is obvious. Some parts of the class could flow better also, and the video has helped me see that. So to summarize: keep in mind the bad habits next time, and don’t do them, and work on my appearance.

Another challenge is video length.. most sites require the video be kept to a short length. My class is over 2 hours long, so I have to break the video down to manageable portions. This is a good requirement, actually, and I think it will force me to be better organized in the class also. In the video below, I managed to keep it at just around 15 minutes while covering 1 complete subject… the marketing of a rental to prospective renters. I’ll have to check the rest of the video and adjust the class to even it out into predictable chunks of time for each section… preferably 15 minute sections.

I’d love feedback from folks with more experience at presenting and recording video. What are some other ways to improve the class to make it more video friendly?

Here are the results of this effort: