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How can the Real Estate Newbie beat the "Old Pros"?

By: Volker Weiss

Every time I go on a trip and drive by a house and see one of those signs in the front lawn, advertising the sale of the home, I can't help but smile. These antiquated methods may have been useful once, maybe, but they've become so outdated that at this point they are simply wasting space. To be fair to the old folks that still run real estate companies and their marketing strategies, I stumbled upon the right way to sell real estate by accident.

I became a real estate professional on the island of Maui, Hawaii. I work with high-end, luxurious properties and with clientele that demand the top-notch property stock on the island. It wasn't always this way though. My life in paradise began after being brought up in Germany, and then completing eighteen long and hard years in the hotel and restaurant industry.

I was familiar with the German approach to a career - where the job you had was the job you would die doing! But coming to the States I realized that there was an abundance of new and challenging opportunities if you just decided what you wanted and went after it.

So here I was, on Maui, Hawaii - to me the most beautiful location in the world. I had met my wife, and was also the proud owner of one very sparkly greencard! So whichever way I looked at it, there was no reason to go elsewhere. Maui is in the United States. And that is the country of endless opportunities.

It was my dream to own property on Maui, and I also needed a job to keep me grounded and to satisfy my ambition, so real estate seemed to be the perfect answer for my future. I had experience in negotiation and I was creative in my work. I had the foundation skills needed for this industry, and all I had to do was to beat off the competition to get my first "crack" at success...

The competition seemed like they were worlds apart from where I was. They had twenty or more years experience, all the real estate qualifications that money can buy and extensive knowledge of the micro property market here in Maui. It looked like it was going to be an uphill struggle!

So, I knuckled down and considered my strengths versus theirs. I may have been a rookie in the industry, but I did have expertise in online communication. I became aware of the fact that the internet as a medium was literally revolutionizing business globally. I knew how to use a fast-growing medium that apparently my competitors didn't! Very quickly, my unique selling point was to dominate and control the high end, highly priced properties in the high demand areas of Wailea and Makena on Maui.

So there was my key to a successful future - I had to leverage my ability to understand the social dynamics of the global online community, and then turn this knowledge into a competitive edge for my clients.

Fast forward a few years, and I have certainly proved a few people wrong. "Why are you doing it that way?" they said, "It will never work!" Well, it has worked. I now have a team of remote assistants that collaborate with me online to produce outstanding results. They are experts in their own field in areas such as computer hardware, web-design, graphic and print design and we form a highly effective, strong virtual team.

Working virtually has its own demands. I invest in the latest technology to ensure that I am working as efficiently as possible. The correct combination of software and hardware is extremely important. My equipment is state of the art, and my phones and fax lines offer my clients toll-free numbers from Canada and the mainland where I can be reached at nearly anytime. But the real key to my business is my website.

It is a fact that over 85% of home searches start on the internet. My website is my virtual "aloha" to important clients both old and new.

So you see why I am smiling when driving through the mainland, seeing homes with big wooden signs. These old school methods of marketing homes may have worked back in the day, but today, in this new, technology savvy world, they are not more than an inspiration. If you have the ambition, the drive and the right equipment, you really can beat off the "Old Pros"!

Article Source: http://www.articles4meandu.com

Volker Weiss - Maui Realtor(R/S) specialist focusing on Makena homes. Make your vacation last forever, check out Wailea Real Estate. For immediate help call VW directly at 888.572.6888

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