Carpenter Real Estate News

Prudential Leaves Relocation and Real Estate Business

December 14th, 2011

Last week, Brookfield Residential Property Services purchased Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services from its parent, Prudential Financial.  Brookfield is a current player in the relocation industry and will inherit the operations center of Prudential, with its US headquarters in Phoenix, AZ.   You can read the Brookfield press release on the Wall Street Journal’s site here.

On the real estate operations side, Brookfield indicated that the current Prudential franchise members will be able to continue using the Prudential name under the terms of their existing franchise agreements.  Brookfield currently owns a number of real estate franchise brands including Royal LePage in Canada and Real Living here in the US.  It will be interesting to see what strategy they deploy with their newly acquired franchisees.  We saw something similar to this when Carpenter was a long standing member of the Better Homes and Gardens franchise that was purchased by GMAC.  Within a few years, our brand identity had to change – no small undertaking.  Ultimately it worked out, as it was a catalyst to take control of our own local brand image and we became an independent member of the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World.  Change is always interesting…

Posted by:  Ryan Carrell

tagged with brookfield residential property services, carpenter real estate, current housing market, prudential real estate, real estate changes, real estate market, real estate news, real estate trends, ryan carrell | 0 comments »

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callcarpenter.com's real estate web site quality certification

April 27th, 2011

According to the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, it appears that our hard work at making callcarpenter.com the best real estate home for sale search website in Indiana is paying off.  

I’ll quote: “Congratulations! You have successfully completed the requirements to earn the 2010 LeadingRE Website Quality Certification (WQC) designation.”

In order to help its members provide the most complete, efficient and enjoyable web experience, LeadingRE organized a panel of impartial web experts. The panel reviewed members’ web sites and graded the sites in a number of categories. All based on, and from, the consumer’s viewpoint – as in member websites were reviewed thoroughly and looked at through the eyes of a consumer.

The primary categories included:

• Site design Is this real estate website easy-to-use? Is this site focused on its real estate product? Can visitors easily find content?
• Search experience Does the consumer have all the home for sale search criteria they’d want? Are the results easily identified and sorted and displayed well?
• Relevant content Is the site’s content relevant to a home for sale search? Is there a plethora (word of the day!) of information on local communities – with the most detailed statistics? Can the consumer find all the information they need/want in their home search on this site?

After that review, Carpenter was awarded the Quality Certification designation. Judging was based on a scale of 1-10 in 6 categories. Only companies that received a minimum 45 out of 60 points received the WQC. Callcarpenter.com scored 51 out of 60. Next year we're shooting for a perfect 60. Can’t be that tough. We’re almost there already.

Posted by:  Jim Newell

tagged with callcarpenter.com, indiana real estate, leading real estate companies of the world, living in indiana, primary content websites, real estate companies, relevant content, search experience, site design, strong real estate companies, website quality certification | 0 comments »

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18th golf outing benefits GFC Clinic

April 19th, 2011

We’ve gone and done it again. We’ve scheduled our annual GFC/Carpenter Realtors^® golf classic fundraiser.

The 18^th Annual Golf Classic will be held on June 17 at Noblesville’s Pebblebrook Golf Course. Proceeds benefit Indianapolis’ Gennesaret Free Clinic (GFC), which provides free medical and dental care to adults and children in need.

Golfer or possible sponsor? Be there. Everyone is welcome to participate. It’s been described (by impartial participants) as one of the best outings they attend each year. Both lunch and dinner are served and there are fun games and prizes. Plus, you’re never more than a few steps away (literally) from a cold beverage, brat or ice cream. Golfing and gaining weight – an American tradition! It’s a chance for companies, past clients, friends and neighbors to join us and enjoy the day while supporting a very worthy cause.

Carpenter Realtors^® has been involved with Gennesaret Free Clinic for over 20 years, raising over $900,000 to benefit GFC.

GFC provides free medical and dental care to persons in need through the volunteer efforts of doctors, nurses, dentists and clerks. The health care services GFC provides are needed now more than ever and are vital to keeping the homeless and working poor in our community healthy.

Posted by:  Jim Newell

tagged with annual golf classic, attractions and events, carpenter realtors news, community events, gennesaret free clinic, golf opportunity, jim newell, jumne events, pebblebrook golf courses, sponsorship opportunity, summer events | 0 comments »

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Carpenter Realtors Honored by The Leading Real Estate Companies of the World

March 4th, 2011

The Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® will be holding its international conference at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas next week.  I couldn’t be more excited and humbled that Carpenter Realtors^® has been nominated for not one…not two…but six different awards!  Many of these are a direct testament to the ability and professionalism of the agents that work at Carpenter.  Here’s a peak at some of the nominations…

We’ve been nominated among all companies in the network with 500 to 1,000 real estate agents for our Outgoing Referral Production and our Incoming Conversion rate.  Outgoing Referral Production means that Carpenter agents have connected a large number of their friends, families, and clients with our outstanding partner LeadingRE companies for real estate services (Outgoing Referrals).  LeadingRE really is comprised of the best companies in the country.  If you or someone you know needs real estate assistance anywhere in the world, ask a Carpenter agent or call our Client Service Center at 800-630-1727.  Locally, the Incoming Conversion nomination represents the fact when our LeadingRE partners send their clients to Carpenter, our agents are among the most effective and efficient in helping those clients close transactions.

In addition to these awards, our Marketing Contest entry for our QR code initiative, the TAG IT! program, has been nominated in the New Media category. Jeremy Page in our Zionsville office has been nominated as one of the networks top bloggers.  You can follow his blog about the Anson development in Boone County here. The final two awards we are nominated for are directly related to our website, www.callcarpenter.com.  An independent panel of experts analyzed and tested our website over a couple of months.  The results - we have been nominated for the search engine optimization (SEO) strategy employed on the site (making it easier for people to find us), as well as the responsiveness and process we have in place to respond to consumers on the site (our lead management program).

Thank you Carpenter agents!

Posted by:  Ryan Carrell

tagged with boone county real estate, carpenter realtors award, carpenter realtors news, jeremy page, leading real estate companies of the world, real estate awards, real estate company nominations, ryan carrell, tag it! program | 1 comment »

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Understanding the “Lost Equity Syndrome”

February 10th, 2011

This post is my second in a series relating to our white paper, The 6 Reasons Today May Be the Best Time in 40 Years to Buy a Home. I want to focus on Reason Number 6: Avoiding the “Lost Equity Syndrome.”  This is the “Reason” that is often the hardest for buyers to grasp.  It really speaks to why now is a good time to sell a home, and then turn around and buy another one…if you’re buying a more expensive home. Many potential “move up” buyers are paralyzed by the fear of losing some of the equity in their current home when selling now.  We call this fear the “Lost Equity Syndrome.” 

Sellers who want to be buyers are afraid to act now because they don’t want to “take a loss” on the home they have to sell. They don’t want to lose that equity. Here’s what they need to understand about the “Lost Equity Syndrome.”  Let’s assume they have a $150,000 home to sell. And, assume they are ”moving up” to a $250,000 home.  If they take a 10% “loss of equity” on the sale of their existing home…say $15,000…because of current market softness, doesn’t it make sense that the seller of the “move up” home they intend to buy will be taking a 10% haircut too? 10% of $250,000 is $25,000. The “move up” buyer gains the seller’s “lost equity”. A $25,000 gain net a $15,000 loss means the new “move up” buyer actually comes out $10,000 ahead. It’s critical that potential “move up” buyers really understand how the “Lost Equity Syndrome” works in their favor in today’s real estate market.

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.  For a copy of our white paper, The 6 Reasons Today May Be the Best Time in 40 Years to Buy a Home, contact your local Carpenter office or visit our website, www.callcarpenter.com.

Posted by:  David Caveness

tagged with david caveness, equity, lost equity, lost equity syndrome, move up buyers, real estate market | 1 comment »

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Great Tools for your next open house

January 25th, 2011

At a Sales Meeting last week I was talking about our new GPS HomeSearch™ program and an Associate mentioned it would make a great conversation starter with visitors to an Open House.  What a great idea!  We built on that idea and suggested an agent might want to get a plexi-glass “take-one” stand at Office Mart to put copies of our new GPS HomeSearch flyer out on the kitchen counter as a reminder to the agent to talk about it…demonstrate it…and have the visitor leave with a copy of the personalized flyer to remind them how to access the GPS HomeSearch tool.  We all agreed today’s Open House visitors would love to learn about a high-tech tool like that.

If you’re not familiar with our GPS HomeSearch program, simply go to Carpenter’s website at callcarpenter.com using your smartphone and click on the “Find Nearby Properties” button at the top of the page.  By magic, your smartphone will show you all the homes for sale sorted by the nearest homes to you within a one mile radius.  Carpenter is the only local real estate firm to offer this tool.

In addition, another great idea is to have personalized copies of our “6 Reasons Today May Be the Best Time in 40 Years to Buy a Home” report on display in your next Open House.  This report outlines the 6 reasons your Open House visitor needs to become a homeowner TODAY!  The report is available to Carpenter agents through our Intranet and contact management system, i-Contact, and can be fully customized to the agent’s identity.  And like the GPS HomeSearch flyers, it can be displayed in one of those clear plexi-glass holders on the kitchen counter.  Another great “value-added” conversation starter.

Posted by:  David Caveness

tagged with david caveness, gps home search, i-contact, open house, technology, value add | 0 comments »

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Location, location, location…

January 25th, 2011

Carpenter Realtors is the first to bring location-aware home searches to smartphones.  It’s pretty slick – If you’re standing in front of a house for sale and, for example, you want to see what else is for sale in the area, Carpenter Realtor’s callcarpenter.com mobile-aware website will allow you to see other homes for sale starting with the closest on down in a one mile radius.  Nice.

The search depends on the GPS chip sitting in your smartphone – your iPhone, Android device, Blackberry, Windows phone, etc.  The only caveat is that you have to have your GPS turned on and you have to allow our app to access your location.

If you’re like me, running a high-powered, large-screened, battery sucking hog of a smartphone, you leave non-essential services turned off to conserve battery.  When I’m not at the office or at home I leave my wifi off for example and almost all of the time I leave my GPS off.  So before performing a location-based search such as ours you must turn your GPS back on.  OK, that’s pretty obvious.  The next step isn’t so obvious and it does trip some folks up.

As a security measure you have to give applications permission to access your location.  The reasons for this may or may not be obvious to you but think of an app that can follow you wherever you go and know exactly where you are at any given time without you knowing it is doing that.  Not cool.  So as a security measure, you have to give those apps requesting to know your location permission to do so.  So if Google Maps or Foursquare want to access your GPS coordinates, you know they need those to work and probably aren’t doing so for any insidious purposes.

There are so many variations of smartphones these days and variations within them that I would have to write a Tolstoy-esque novel to cover them all.  (Here is what Apple has to say about location services for the iPhone.)  Basically you will either get a prompt telling you the app wants access to your location – tell it yes.  On some phones, however, you may have to go into the phone’s settings and tell it to allow applications to access your location first.  And, of course, have the GPS turned on when you do the search.  I don’t mean to make this all sound complicated.  Most people, including myself, haven’t had trouble and the search just worked.  If you’re one of the unfortunate few, however, I didn’t want you left out of this cool and very useful new feature.

And then use the new search function at callcarpenter.com.  It will tell where all the homes for sale are in the area you’re looking.  No map drawing, no townships to look up, no coordinates to enter.  Just, “Hey, what’s for sale around here?”.  Slick.

Posted by:  George Christodoulou

tagged with george christodoulou, gps, location based search, real estate app, search app, smartphones | 0 comments »

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Embracing the new (and free) real estate technologies in 2011

December 30th, 2010

Looking forward to the new year, are you? Sure, everyone’s looking forward to 2011. No matter if it’s jobs, politics, the economy or the real estate business, we all have our own reasons to look forward to the new year.

Professionally for me, I’m looking forward to the year of adoption. Or rather – the implementation and embracing of the tech opportunities Carpenter Realtors® offers its agents.

In 2010, we introduced a completely new custom-designed website with more bells and whistles than anyone else can offer. With that website came customizable agent web sites at no charge. Not just a web page that they can change some wording on, but a custom site to which they can add as much individual and local content they want. Plus, we offer a very robust Client Relationship (CRM) program that rivals the offerings from SharperAgent, Top Producer and others. Again - $0.

No matter who you are, or how tech-savvy you are, this is a lot to learn and absorb in nine months. That’s why 2011 is the year of adoption/implementation/embracement (real word!).

My goal: To make all our agents (and the public for that matter) more aware that callcarpenter.com now has more tools and more detailed statistics on homes for sale, neighborhoods, cities, schools, local economies and more. The site can even automatically recognize a smartphone to display the mobile site and now has a GPS location search to ID properties near your current location! I’ve always said that home buyers are information junkies. This new site gives them more tools and more stats – a better, quicker “fix,” you could say.

My goal: To continue to show our agents how their individual websites can be customized to create more value to them and their careers. While technically these are Carpenter sites, they can be customized to have a totally personal look that matches the agent’s personal “brand.” An agent can also create custom content that better serves the neighborhoods and groups they’re targeting. (here’s an example) See what I mean that it doesn’t “look” like a Carpenter web page? This is a huge, valuable tool. Not only do other brokers not offer this option, but the agents who want this are paying hundreds of dollars a month out-of-pocket for the same product we’re offering our agents for free.

My goal: To show our agents how easy and valuable the Carpenter CRM program is. We call it iContact and it can be used as a one-stop location for list management, scheduling and emails. Even more valuable are the many action plans available. From automated emails (monthly, quarterly, etc.) to action reminders to direct links to any resource, iContact is the Swiss army knife of CRM programs. And yes – we have agents cancelling their subscriptions to other CRM programs, again saving hundreds of dollars. And again – our iContact is a no-charge to Carpenter agents. It’s like a MasterCard commercial. No cost, but it’s priceless.

Add to these the Microsoft Tag, mobile tagging program we adopted and our PinPoint Perks affiliation and you have a lot to absorb, implement, embrace.

My goal: To make this happen early in 2011, and painlessly, so our agents see the results a quickly as possible.

Don’t look for me in the office over the next few months. I’ll be out working to build careers. Sure hope gas doesn’t get too expensive.

Posted by:  Jim Newell

tagged with carpenter, crm, icontact, jim newell, microsoft tag, technology, website | 0 comments »

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Indy Star Home of the Day ad: Value + Value

December 10th, 2010

Got home last night and did my usual perusal of the Indy Star, checking to see what headlines catch my eye, worthy of a read. Not long after starting, right above a half-page Roberts Camera ad on main news, page A12, I see Kevin Smoot’s smiling face. Kevin’s an agent in Carpenter’s Avon West office and no – the smiling face isn’t part of a Star investigative report. It’s Kevin’s Home of the Day ad for an Avon home for sale he’s listed.

Whaaaaa? A realtor running a home-for-sale display ad in the main news of the full-circulation Indianapolis Star? Who can afford that? Nothing personal, Kevin, but I know you can’t. But with Carpenter’s help, you can.

Our agreement with the Indianapolis Star gives us an exclusive Home of the Day feature display ad in one of the main sections of the daily paper. This is no classified or hidden ad. It’s in the main news, sports, business, etc. And we “sublet” that space to any interested Carpenter agent for only $50. Don’t get me wrong, we pay a lot for each ad. If you know the newspaper business, you know that a display ad in a major daily paper can cost hundreds (and hundreds) of dollars. But we’ve found a value in co-oping the cost of each day’s ad to enable our agents to get a real competitive advantage over other brokers’ agents.

Good luck to all you non-Carpenter agents out there. You ain’t getting this ad for $50 no-where, no-how. I’m sure some of you are saying “Who cares? I don’t want the ad anyway.” HA! Tell that to our agents who run the ads and make the phone ring.

Bill Foxworthy – can I use your example? Here’s what Bill said when one of his recent listings ran as a Home of the Day: ”After the Home of the Day ad I got at least 12 phone calls about the home on my cell number. The showings increased. The virtual tours increased. The timing for the sellers was great because the activity had slowed down. The ad was beautifully done (and) the sellers ok’d a price reduction because of the increased activity. (This) Home of the Day had a tremendous impact.”

Indy Star display ad (Wow!)
Exclusive to Carpenter agents (nyaa nyaa nyaa)
$50 (Holy Cow!)

Beat that, Mr. Rent-a-Desk.

Posted by:  Jim Newell

tagged with home marketing, indianapolis star, jim newell, newspaper advertisements | 0 comments »

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In Indiana, Small Towns = Safe Towns

November 9th, 2010

Do you ever wake up in the morning and cringe when the local TV news team reports another shooting, break-in or crazy robbery? Almost every day, right? But if you look deeper into it, central Indiana is actually a very safe place to live, with crime rates well below the national average.

The fact that these stories are considered news is proof that they’re uncommon, right? Well, that‘s what we call a theory.

Looking to prove the theory as true, we go to neighborhoodscout.com. They call themselves a “web-based patented neighborhood search engine that uses neighborhood statistics to build neighborhood profiles.” Those numbers are used to create an index that outlines, among other stats, the safest cities and towns in Indiana and America.

Where do we Hoosiers stand? Pretty well, as a matter of fact (not theory). Typically, suburbs and small towns have the lowest crime rates – one case where your stereotype meets the truth. And we have plenty of those small towns. While heavily-urban downtown Indianapolis gets a fairly low score, Fishers is one of the safest towns in Indiana. Look at this list of towns near Carpenter offices that score at, or well above the national average for safety (in truly random order):

Pittsboro, Danville, Clayton, Coatesville, Greenfield, Fairland, New Palestine, Carmel, Zionsville, Clermont, Brownsburg, Avon, Whiteland, Southport, Bargersville, Trafalgar, Sheridan, Atlanta, Cicero, Nineveh, Springville, Roachdale, Reelsville, Pendleton, Cumberland, Frankton, Wilkinson, Morristown.

It’s like a small-town Who’s Who, isn’t it? Needless, to say, when Carpenter has a home for sale in any of our central Indiana towns, we have great stories to tell. Reasonable prices, low crime, family-friendly, etc.  For more information detailing crime rates by city, take a look at this chart. 

Posted by:  Jim Newell

tagged with crime rates, crime statistics, homes for sale, jim newell, safest towns in indiana | 0 comments »

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We were lucky

November 4th, 2010

At 2:18AM last Wednesday morning (October 27^th) I received a phone call, actually my wife Anne answered the call.  It was Vicki Kenworthy, managing broker of our West Suburban Office.  She was calling to tell me our West Office was on fire.  Anne felt lucky it wasn’t one of our daughters.  You know what I mean, if you have kids or grandkids living somewhere other than down the hall.  I got dressed and was on the scene by 3:15AM.  In route I called Tom Prall our Company President.  When I arrived, Vicki was already there.  MaDonna Meadows had already met and decided the best place to temporarily relocate the office would be to our Avon-East Office.  Dave Danz, our Avon East Manager was called at 3:30AM.  He got on it immediately.  He arrived on the scene by 4:15am to see what he could do to help.  George Christodoulou, our IT Manager was called by 4:00AM.  He had the West Office phones rerouted to Avon East by 8:30AM. By mid-morning, the West Office agents were notified about the fire and that that we were relocating to Avon-East.  By days-end, agents had been assigned a place to land at Avon-East.  As soon as the ashes had cooled and the fire investigators would allow, the Carpenter team was in the burnt-out building salvaging all of the currently active and pending files and hard-drives from the computers that survived. Within 48 hours files, computers, phones, desks, chairs, etc were in place for the West Office team at Avon. Luckily, we were back in business.

It was amazing.  Nobody had to tell anybody what needed to be done or how to get it done.  They just did what needed to get done and did it now!  Somebody’s son had a trailer.  Another manager had extra desks and chairs in their office.  Agents and managers had strong backs to load and unload stuff.  Another manager had extra telephones.  Somebody else had a computer they could spare.  Somebody thought to order yard-signs.

Everyone realized we were all very lucky.  We were lucky no one was in the building when the fire started.  We were lucky no one was injured.  We were lucky the alarm system worked on the building and luckily the IMPD Officer responded to the alarm run in 180 seconds!  We were lucky the Indianapolis Fire Department responded in less than 7 minutes.  We were lucky the fire took place at 2:00AM rather than 2:00PM.  It gave us a 6 hour head start on what ended up being a very long day.  You know, you can get a lot done from 2:00AM ‘til 8:00AM.  We were lucky Vicki and MaDonna took charge at 2:18AM.  We were lucky Dave Danz and his team at Avon-East were/are so welcoming and supportive.  We were lucky George got the phone company to respond so quickly in the middle of the night.  We were lucky everyone wanted to help any way they could…and did.  One week later, we are still getting lucky.  The West Office turned a new listing and a sale in on today’s Daily Activity Summary report.

How lucky can you be.

Posted by:  David Caveness

tagged with avon-east, daily activity summary, david caveness, impd officer, office fire, teamwork | 2 comments »

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Leading Real Estate Companies of the World™ Fall Workshops

September 29th, 2010

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World™ Fall Workshops in Chicago.  The Leading Real Estate Companies of the World™ is the international network of real estate companies that Carpenter belongs to.  LeadingRE, as many of us call it, is made of up of the best of the best with 600 real estate companies across the U.S. and in 30 countries.   Only companies with strong leadership, exceptional marketing, and significant market share are approved for membership.  The Fall Workshops, held in four locations throughout the country, provided a number of educational breakout sessions on relocation, real estate, and marketing.  In addition, it was a great opportunity to meet others within the network and reconnect with colleagues.  Great companies from Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and Arizona were all represented in Chicago.  I had the honor of speaking on a panel with Debbie Horton from McColly Real Estate in Northwest Indiana and Catharine Pappas of Dickens-Mitchner in Charlotte NC.  Our topic was about time management, organization (don’t look at the pile on the corner of my desk!), and productivity.  The presentation and discussions were great – Catharine is not only a consummate professional, but also a super mom with 3 children and a gourmet cake business to boot!

The network also announced the introduction of some great new products and platforms that will rollout through the end of the year.  From what I have seen thus far, these are going to position us at the forefront of technology and education.  I am personally excited about the possibilities these new initiatives are going to offer and I can’t wait to implement many within Carpenter.  I’ll be writing about and covering these in more detail on our blog as we move forward.

Posted by:  Ryan Carrell

tagged with fall workshops, leading re, real estate and marketing, real estate network, ryan carrell | 0 comments »

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The "New Reality" of Indianapolis Home Sales

September 20th, 2010

I saw an interesting presentation on the state of the Indianapolis real estate market the other day. Leaving there, I’m reminded of a Chrysler exec who, talking about U.S. carmakers, stated, “This is the new reality” (since used in dozens of other situations). In this case, he meant that you can’t compare last year, two years ago or ten years ago to today. Today is today. And our work today can only affect what happens to us today and tomorrow.

Very simply, the presentation showed that the local market of home sales is actually rebounding pretty nicely from “the bottom” in June and July. Of course, the news reports will probably highlight a comparison to 2009 - the fact that 25%-30% fewer homes were sold than last year. But the new reality tells us that home sales are actually up 18%-20% from June’s low.

What about home prices? Haven’t home prices been falling for several years? Not lately. In metro Indianapolis, the average selling price did decrease for 22 consecutive months. Our new reality is that prices on Indianapolis homes for sale have now increased for 11 straight months. Carpenter Realtors’ agents are actually seeing sales and average sale price increases that are better than the market’s.

But the “reality” is that few real estate agents are going to sell as many homes as they did in 2000, 2003 or 2006. The ones who will succeed understand the new reality. They’re working harder for their sellers and using the marketing tools their broker provides them to expose their homes for sale to as many potential buyers as possible.

Posted by:  Jim Newell

tagged with home prices, home sales, indianapolis, jim newell, real estate market | 0 comments »

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Carpenter Realtors' homes for sale on YouTube

August 30th, 2010

Carpenter Realtors recently began submitting homes for sale videos to a thing called YouTube. Interestingly, we simply started because we’d heard about that new internet thingie that everyone’s talking about and we wanted to get in on the ground floor!

At first I was thinking, “Why bother”? No other real estate company in Indianapolis is doing this for their agents at no cost. In fact, no one else is even doing it for their agents at any cost. But then I reconsidered, so … in addition to our most-comprehensive website at callcarpenter.com, our easiest-to-use mobile website, our Facebook presence and this blog, I figured the YouTube thing might just be worth checking out.

So just in the past few months, we’ve loaded well over 400 videos of homes for sale and real estate, from Carmel to Indianapolis, from Greenwood to Camby and from Greenfield to Greencastle. The videos are all homes that have been featured on Carpenter Realtors’ weekly TV Showcase of Homes, which airs Saturday mornings at 10:00 a.m. on WNDY, Channel 23. Those 60 homes are loaded to a YouTube channel we call mycallcarpenter, giving buyers yet another way to not only find a home for sale, but to find it in a way that fits their lifestyle.

So far, I gotta say I’m a bit surprised at the word of mouth that’s being generated. We’ve had thousands of views of our real estate videos, the interest in having homes showcased on our TV Showcase of Homes has more than doubled, and best of all – our real estate agents and their clients (the ones with the homes for sale, remember?) are talking. They’re talking about it and sharing those videos with other friends. And it’s not costing Carpenter agents anything to give their home sellers a nice little pick-me-up. A nice little extra effort at a time when the market is, well, soft. Isn’t that what we all should be doing for our sellers?

So maybe this YouTube thing isn’t just for Star Wars geeks and teenage girls talking about their recent shopping trips, eh?

Posted by:  Jim Newell

tagged with carpenter news, carpenter realtors, homes for sale in indianapolis, jim newell, youtube homes for sale | 0 comments »

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Carpenter Realtors Night at Victory Field a Success!

August 10th, 2010

Over 500 Carpenter Realtors^® agents, managers, and friends gathered Monday night at Victory Field in Indianapolis to cheer-on the Indianapolis Indians baseball team.  The event culminated a month-long Open House challenge held by Carpenter to reward the company’s agents for their July Open House activity.  For each Open House held, the agents received a reserved box seat ticket to Monday’s game.  In addition, the Indianapolis Star newspaper handed out $2 bills to each attendee to treat them to refreshments. Monday night was “dollar night” at Victory Field so the $2 bills went for hundreds of hotdogs, popcorn and crackerjacks.

Carpenter agents and staff from as far away as Bedford, Bloomington, Crawfordsville, and Anderson joined agents from throughout Indianapolis and surrounding communities at Victory Field. Carpenter’s #1 agent, Jamie Hall, threw the ceremonial “first pitch” from the mound.  The catcher was caught a little off-guard as Jamie fired a fastball straight across home plate!  Clearly, it wasn’t the first time Jamie had tossed a baseball. Way to go Jamie!

 In addition to Jamie Hall, four members of Carpenter’s management team took the field after the second inning to participate in the “dizzy bat” contest.  Tom Myers, Regional Manager, Ted Bitting, Brownsburg Manager, Jennifer Blandford, Zionsville Manager, and Chris Dykes, North College Manager, all participated in the competition.  Ted Bitting won the challenge while Tom Myers took a dramatic head-dive into the manicured grass of left field.  The crowd had a good laugh and fun was had by all with no-one seriously injured!

Posted by:  David Caveness

tagged with baseball, dizzy bat contest, indianapolis indians, open house challenge, realtors night, victory field | 2 comments »

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