Hello all- I am a new member and fairly new to real estate. Just wondering if anyone has held Home Buyer Seminars, what has your luck been with them, and any general tips on hosting a successful one, and any tips on content?
My other question is how do you feel about the use of the material? My broker wants the agents in our office to create a seminar that any agent can use anytime they decide to hold a seminar. My issue with it is that if I am creating the seminar- I feel that the material is my intellectual property and unique to my selling strategies. What I have been told is that other Real Estate office will end up getting their hands on the info and rewriting it- thus nullifying it as my intellectual property. I feel like most of the agents in my office are just looking for an easy way to get leads- and don't want to have to create anything on their own. Am I being too selfish?

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Antia Todd-Hatfield

Not at all! - unless you are being paid for a work and signing off on that work, then it is your intellectual property and noone has the right to duplicate it. That is just total BS! Besides, your material will not be anywhere near as effective for someone else as it is for you, each realtor has their own style and personality, and the materials used for promotion should reflect that.

Tell your broker to take his head out of his arse - if he / she wants to take advantage of your hard work and creativity, then he / she should compensate you for that effort.

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If you're being asked for your input that's one thing. If you're being asked to develop a program for everyone else that's another.

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Mobile Homes For Sale in Arizona ~ Sales Training ~ Mobile Homes For Sale

I had two home buyer seminars a very long time ago. It was a lot of work & effort and didn't create a lot of business but I did get something out of each one. Never held one again, though as I'd rather get prospects differently.

I did partner with another agent or two when putting it together so we all did our share. However, any agent not involved did not have any rights to what we were doing. To force you to share what you're creating is ridiculous!

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S. Next door you can find Tinley Park homes for sale and get Orland Park amenities at a more affordable price.

Thanks for everyones response. It is nice to hear that I am not being selfish or "high and mighty" about what I believed was right.
So far only one other realtor has actually participated in this... to try to help. So my thought is that we are the only ones who have access to this. And I will stick by my conviction on this.
I can see where other realtor would try to attend or pick up the information- just to see what other agents are doing- but I really can't imagine anyone wanting to use something that someone else created.
Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it.
Anita

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Antia Todd-Hatfield

So, in the sciences, techniques or strategies are openly published with the expectation that the work is referenced properly. At seminars, scientists properly mention the work during the presentation and put the reference at the bottom of the slide - its great in the sense it promotes the individuals doing great work.

I don't think this system exists in real estate. To protect your work, you might consider publishing it in some format, this will provide some kind of copyright protection/authorship and use the copyright symbol on your distributed work to instill a sense of ownership. If anyone borrows from your work without properly referencing you then you got plagarism and that is shameful!

So, perhaps you can allow people to use your work with the explicit statement that they have to properly reference your name.

However, you are in the business of making money, protecting your strategies/techniques might be better than publishing. Hedge funds utilize proprietary techniques and they will never publish the special mathematical algorithms they use because they will loose their competitive advantage. Its kept a secret.

Best,
Robert

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Robert Rambo, Ph.D.
Yale New Haven Condo