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Ben Martin

Ben Martin

Writer for national real estate opinion column AgentGenius.com, focusing on the improvement of the real estate industry by educating peers about technology, real estate legislation, ethics, practices and brokerage with the end result being that consumers have a better experience.

Nationally, 8% of REALTORS Write Blogs. So What?!?

By Ben Martin on June 30, 2008 | 43 Responses

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NAR released its 2008 member profile recently. One of the most significant findings, for this crowd anyway, will be the number of agents who are blogging. At 8 percent of 1.2 million REALTORS, we now have 96,000 REALTOR-bloggers pecking away on a…

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Got a Lead? How Long is it?

By Ben Martin on June 18, 2008 | 4 Responses

I just love the retro AgentGenius logo: That orange guy running out in front of all those gray guys. Go orange guy, go! It’s a apt metaphor for any business, really — staying at least a few steps ahead of your competition. That’s the…

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What do You Wish Your REALTOR® Association Staff Knew?

What do You Wish Your REALTOR® Association Staff Knew?

By Ben Martin on June 1, 2008 | 60 Responses

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Why Wont They Hear Me?
Isn’t this how life works? You suggest, recommend, implore that someone do something a certain way. They resist, never doing it like you think they ought. Then, someone form another place in their life, maybe an outsider…

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REALTORS® Worth 300 chickens & Then Some

REALTORS® Worth 300 chickens & Then Some

By Ben Martin on May 22, 2008 | 13 Responses

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Phraseology
VAR’s sometimes-wacky special counsel (you know, the one who utters the words Kama Sutra in a webcast about the ethics of short sales) is fond of talking about agent commissions and offers of compensation in terms of chickens. 200 chickens to…

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Agent’s remarks: Be aware there are dead animals and sex toys in the home

By Ben Martin on March 31, 2008 | 19 Responses

Came across these two funny blog posts recently about weird stuff found in sellers’ homes. Playboy Bunnies on the light switch face plates, handcuffs on the bedposts and (with apologies to hunters) Bambi’s dad’s head affixed to the wall.
What’s the weirdest stuff you’ve seen…

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Measuring Return on Investment in Social Media Marketing is Fuzzy Math

Measuring Return on Investment in Social Media Marketing is Fuzzy Math

By Ben Martin on March 25, 2008 | 18 Responses

Try Return on Engagement instead
Dustin and Rob have an interesting conversation going on about measuring ROI in Social Media. I’m increasingly perplexed by this concept.
How do you measure “investment” in social media? A wordpress.com, blogger.com or ActiveRain blog costs exactly $0. Let’s…

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The Water’s Fine in This Pool…

The Water’s Fine in This Pool…

By Ben Martin on February 12, 2008 | 3 Responses

…Why the REALTOR association trifecta is the best in the land

All throughout high school and quite a bit of college, I was a lifeguard. I started out guarding the lives the neighborhood kids at my community pool. My community pool was not connected to…

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NAR should defend Lechuga

NAR should defend Lechuga

By Ben Martin on January 29, 2008 | 24 Responses

Use of NAR funds for blogger’s legal defense could turn the RE.net into NAR advocates

photo credit: Lechuga’s blog
If NAR ever had a chance to turn the legions of REALTOR bloggers who loathe its existence into raving NAR fans in one fell swoop, this…

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Where are they now?

By Ben Martin on January 26, 2008 | Comment

Loudoun County foreclosure expert wins round one
against assessor Todd Kaufman
I recently caught up with Danilo Bogdanovic, the heroic Loudoun County foreclosure expert who stared down the county assessor, winning the first round in a battle that has died down, for the moment anyway.…

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REALTORS and their associations share a common problem.

By Ben Martin on January 22, 2008 | 13 Responses

What we have here is failure to communicate.
For the most part, I have come to enjoy reading real estate blogs since coming to work for the Virginia Association of REALTORS. However, it’s a de-motivating pain in the arse reading the RE.net sometimes. Every few…

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