There are currently 1.3 million Realtors and approximately another 1.3 million people who aren’t Realtors but hold real estate licenses. Competition, especially in a declining market, is tough. What can you do to stand out from the crowd and have a great year in 2008?

At its annual conference in November, NAR released its “Member Profile” for 2007 as well as its “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.” These two documents reveal what’s working in the real estate industry today, as well as potential opportunities for savvy real estate professionals to capture more market share.

1. Get rich in a niche.

The NAR study showed that 88 percent of all Realtors earn more than 50 percent of their real estate income for their primary real estate specialty.

2. Don’t rely exclusively on referral strategies.

For individual agents, only 25 percent of their business is based upon referrals compared with 29 percent for residential brokers. These numbers increase with the agent’s longevity. For those with 16 or more years in the business, 41 percent report that more than 50 percent of their business comes from referrals.

3. Respond immediately to consumer inquiries.

Consumers today expect immediate response to their inquiries. The younger they are, the greater this expectation is. Given that the median age for agents is 51 versus 32 for the median age of first-time buyers, there is a considerable gap between how each group communicates. Only 23 percent of the brokers surveyed reported having wireless e-mail.

4. Customize your personal Web site; don’t rely on your broker’s site.

Surprisingly, only 35 percent of all Realtors have a Web site that they developed and maintain. Thirty-nine percent lack a Web site, and 27 percent rely exclusively on their broker’s site. Furthermore, the more money agents spend to maintain their Web site, the more money they earn from it.

5. Earn a NAR designation.

For the most part, the public doesn’t understand the alphabet soup of Realtor designations. Nevertheless, additional training increases your professionalism and differentiates your services from those provided by competitors.

6. Blogging.

Of all the opportunities to distinguish your services from those provided by other brokers in 2008, blogging is probably the best with the least amount of competition at this time. Only 2 percent of the agents “frequently use blogs” compared with 88 percent who “rarely or never use blogs.” Four percent of the survey respondents had blogs. The younger the agents, the more likely they are to have a blog.

7. Podcasting.

This is one of the hottest trends among Gen X and Gen Y, yet very few agents have recognized the potential that podcasting (computer audio broadcasting) has for growing their business. Only 1 percent of the agents report that they regularly use podcasts compared with 94 percent who rarely or never use them.

The breakthrough came with the idea to freeze ARM rates so that borrowers will not be subjected to the terms of the agreements that they voluntarily signed. Combine that innovative thinking with the ongoing efforts to save Wall Street from its own irresponsible actions. It seems that the U.S. government and the federal reserve will finally succeed in realizing a foundational tenet of liberal politics – change the laws and the way financial markets work so that we can eliminate personal responsibility and individual accountability once and for all.

Only one thing can solve the present financial crisis we find ourselves in, and that is to let the chips fall where they may. Let the free markets do their thing, let the accountability fall where it lies…at the feet of those who have made irresponsible financial decisions that they must be held accountable for. Let all involved learn their lessons, and learn that decisions have consequences, and that risk and reward go hand in hand.

We will never solve problems by ignoring them, failing to account for them or by trying to avoid the consequences of our actions. Borrowers who borrowed more than they could afford should learn that there is a price to be paid for such irresponsibility. Lenders who make loans to people who can’t afford those loans need to understand that there are consequences for such irresponsible business practices. Investors seeking high returns need to understand that high risk follows high reward. All investments look good on paper, but reality can be a very different thing.

NRI Real Estate Investment has been on a sharp rise in the recent few years. This can duly be accredited to the tremendous growth in the Indian realty sector with an average of 30% last year. India being the fifth largest economy in the world and the second largest among emerging nations, has shown a potential growth in investments destination for the NRI population.

Special NRI quota is also provided for various land sales by Government. Special Grants and services are also provided to the NRI population to lure more and more foreign investment. All the leading banks and financial institutions have separate NRI dealing services that cover NRE, NRO bank accounts, housing loans and other home loan related products. You can also refer to the various bank websites to find out further details about the NRI investment procedures and the help available.

The actual outlook of the Indian real estate industry. India real estate market 2007 saw a boom that created ripples in the Indian real estate sector. Huge increase in numbers was seen in India real estate classifieds offering Indian real estate property for sale, India real estate agents and brokers, real estate companies in India, real estate jobs, and also new Indian real estate laws by the government for regulation of Indian real estate developers.Various websites host that provide a discussion platform about the boom in the India real estate prices, the ongoing market trend, the best Indian real estate investment opportunity, tips about the Indian real estate business if planning to join the Indian real estate sector as.
India real estates show names of many big players. Most Indian real estate companies have flourished into international players owing to the high yields and returns from the Indian realty market.

The first rule to investing is ‘Don’t lose money’. The second rule to investing is ‘Don’t forget rule no. 1’! It is essential to stick to these rules when it comes to investing, in order to avoid the possibility of capital erosion.
To apply these rules successfully and to create wealth through equity investing, Raamdeo Agrawal, Director & Co-founder, Motilal Oswal Financial Services identifies five parameters that you must evaluate. They are:

1. Assess the entry barriers created by a company.
The entry barrier should be more ‘intellectual’ in character rather than ‘physical’. This is because while it is next to impossible to compete with a strong brand (an intellectual barrier), competitive advantage associated with a piece of land (a physical barrier) disappears when a competitor acquires one as well.

2. Management should be competent and passionate.
Competence or passion alone will not work. An individual with a local degree combined with passion would have greater growth prospects than one who has a Harvard degree but no passion.

3. Management should have integrity.

Such companies not only run their businesses in an honest manner, but, are honest to all their stakeholders, whether they are employees, the government or the shareholders. var RN = new String (Math.random()); var RNS = RN.substring (2,11); b2 = ‘ ‘; if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = b2;