Referral Networks
Posted Aug 21, 2008 @ 3:32 pm, Viewed by 377 Visitors, Read 400 Times.I just gave a referral away that came to my website. Why? It was a couple looking for a rental. There's not much commission money in rentals and I wanted this couple to be taken care of. But they were looking in an area I don't work in, even though it is in the large MLS I am a member of.
Sure, I could use the business but I'm sticking to my guns of how much travel time I'm willing to take, especially wth today's gas prices. And I doubt these renters will find what they want in one trip. In fact, they only gave me one address to view so I think this is just the beginning of their search.
I get a lot of out-of-area leads from my website, both buyers and sellers. I've passed some of them on, mostly for a referral fee, but sometimes I just pass on the lead. A couple agents came from REW and the others come from "The Judy Network."
The Judy Network
A local agent in Northern IL came up with the idea of referring a prospect to another "Judy" for some reason or another. She then took it upon herself to find all real estate agents named Judy (or a version thereof) and invite them to form a nationwide network. She entered our information on an Excel spreadsheet and sent it to each of us. She updates it once in a while.
I have referred out several buyers and sellers although none of them have come to anything yet. Hopefully, this most recent referral will benefit the Judy I gave it to.
In fact, if the referral is not in Ken Smith's (from REW) immediate area I go right to my Judy Network spreadsheet and try to find someone. The referral network even had a write-up in Realtor.org magazine.
Much Better Than the Old Way
With the prior franchise company I used to be with we'd have to go on a referral website for that specific franchise and try to hunt down an agent. It wasn't that user friendly and I always dreaded it. With Internet marketing and networking it is a much easier job.
I can now look up an agent's website and sometimes make my choice that way (I liked today's Judy's site better than another Judy I was contemplating). So that's how I chose the agent.
If I can't find a REW member to refer to or a Judy I will simply type in keywords for the area and review the websites and the agents. I will admit that I also search for a friendly face.
If you have any buyers and sellers looking for Orland Park homes please refer them to this Judy. Call me at 708-536-8200 or contact me. I'll take great care of your referral customers. I work in over 40 towns so check a map if your prospect is interested in the southwest Chicago suburbs.
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Specializing in the Southwest Suburbs including Tinley Park IL real estate. Search for homes for sale in Orland Park Illinois.
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Hi Judy,
I'm in a MLS that covers a huge area in Oregon, so I refer quite a bit. It is a great way to take advantage of the leads we get out of the area. I have built relationships around Oregon so I know who to contact right away. These are sales or listing leads only.
In Oregon we do not have rentals on the MLS, but when I was in Las Vegas we did, and the only time I would mess with them was when they were locals so I didn't have to educate them, I could email them listings so they could drive by and narrow down the search and I usually only showed 1-3 homes that way. Oh yea, they had to be close to my area because as you said, there is not much money in them.
In a large MLS with our sites I think a strong referral network is important.
I was trying to remember how we did it before the Internet and we had a large book that got updated annually. I think it was just other C21 offices and we couldn't find specific agents (unless we knew them already). We just contacted the office and they gave us whoever they wanted.
It's so much better and easier today!
I have found another great resource for referral agents is to call a couple escrow offices, tell them about what you are looking for in an agent and I always get a couple good names. They are more unbiased, know who does what kind of business and they have a good feel of how each agent is looked at by their clients and the kind of business that agent does.
Much better than getting the floor person in an office.
I'm still not sure about the difference of closing in escrow and how we close with title companies and attorneys, but if someone from out of town called our title companies they'd probably get laughed at. We close at so many different title companies and nowadays the title agent doesn't even sit in the same room with us. In 25 years I recognize some faces but have never built a rapport with any one title agent as there's no reason for it here.
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Judy Orr is in her 24th year as a REALTOR® in the southwest & near west Chicago suburbs. Judy mainly works in southwest Chicago, southwest & near west Cook County and northeast Will County. Read More
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I do the same thing Judy!