Chris Linsell

Top Producer CRM Review + Video Walk-through

Chris Linsell | November 22, 2021

Top Producer is a real estate customer relationship management (CRM) tool designed to help agents, teams, and brokers take their business to the next level. Their oft-repeated promise? “You get to decide how to use your CRM.” While viewing hours of video in their learning library to research this review, I heard this motto a lot.

Does Top Producer offer the options and power-ups to make this true? In this review, we’ll take you on an all-access video walk-through of the platform and Top Producer experience. We’ll examine each of the Top Producer packages, their major components, and package costs to help you decide if Top Producer is the right real estate CRM for your business. [Read more…] about Top Producer CRM Review + Video Walk-through

6 Things Realtors Can Learn From Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees

Chris Linsell | November 19, 2021

All photos courtesy of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR)

Real estate professionals from across the country and around the world came together in sunny San Diego, California, last week for NAR’s 2021 REALTORS^®Annual Conference & Expo. More than 10,000 people took part in the festivities, though attendance was (as expected) a bit lower than in years past.

While there were many highlights from the long weekend, Drew Brees’ keynote discussion with NAR President Charlie Oppler topped our list. The interview was rich with takeaways all real estate professionals will be keen to hear. Here are six of our favorites.

10 Unexpected Takeaways From Inman Connect Las Vegas 2021

Chris Linsell | November 5, 2021

Photo courtesy of AJ Canaria, MoxiWorks, and Inman Connect

Las Vegas, the city of neon lights and late nights, was temporarily transformed into the center of the real estate universe with the return of Inman Connect 2021, the first major in-person conference event of the year.

Our team at The Close has attended many Inman events over the years, and this one definitely didn’t disappoint. I donned a mask, mixed it up on the expo floor, and sat through hours of presentations. These are my top 10 takeaways from our week in Sin City.
[Read more…] about 10 Unexpected Takeaways From Inman Connect Las Vegas 2021

Destined to Fail: 5 Reasons Why Zillow Offers Didn’t Succeed

Chris Linsell | November 4, 2021

Zillow shuttered its iBuying program Zillow Offers this week—citing market volatility, a lack of necessary human resources, and a $420 million Q3 loss among the reasons for its decision. Zillow Offers represents an uncharacteristic failure for this industry giant known for free and easy access to nearly every real estate listing in the country, its ubiquitous Zestimate, and its love-it-or-hate-it Zillow Premier Agent program.

For many inside the real estate industry, however, the sudden dissolution of Zillow Offers was an abrupt surprise but not a shock. The writing has been on the wall for a long time that the iBuying model, specifically the one Zillow was using, was destined to fail. Why did this particular house of cards finally come crashing down? Here are five reasons.

5 Free Open House Sign-in Sheets to Try This Weekend (+ PDF Template)

Chris Linsell | October 29, 2021

Open houses are critical to most real estate agents’ lead generation strategy. They create the ideal opportunity to meet active buyers; people who are potentially selling their current homes while shopping for a new one. A win-win! There’s no better feeling than seeing your open house sign-in sheet chock-full of names, phone numbers, and email addresses at the end of a weekend afternoon.

If you want to walk away from your next open house with more leads than you can handle, you’re going to need the right open house sign-in sheet. We’ve got five free PDF templates that you can download, print, and use right away, as well as the option to customize each Close-exclusive template on Canva. [Read more…] about 5 Free Open House Sign-in Sheets to Try This Weekend (+ PDF Template)

The 5 Best Real Estate Continuing Education Providers for 2022

Chris Linsell | October 27, 2021

best real estate continuing education featured image

Being a realtor means regularly completing your continuing education (CE) requirements. Real estate continuing education requirements vary state by state. Luckily, you’ll find online providers that can help just about every realtor complete their required hours (and get some valuable knowledge out of it in the process).

We’ve pulled together a list of the five best online real estate continuing education providers, our favorite features of each one, the states in which they offer CE courses, and their pricing.

Predictive Analytics: How to Get More Listings With Less Marketing

Chris Linsell | October 15, 2021

Predictive analytics is the use of data, smart algorithms, and machine learning to identify and predict future events based on historical and transactional data. When it comes to real estate, it’s all about using what we know about buyers, sellers, and inventory to predict consumer behavior—to determine who is likely to buy, sell, in which neighborhoods, and when.

Why, as a real estate professional, should you care? Simply put, with reliable predictive analytics, you can better target the most likely buyers and sellers in your market and have better insight into which homes and neighborhoods are likely to produce transactions. In other words, you can spend less time marketing, have better conversations as a result of the marketing you do, and explode your overall conversion rates. [Read more…] about Predictive Analytics: How to Get More Listings With Less Marketing

How to Get a Massachusetts Real Estate License in 4 Easy Steps

Chris Linsell | October 11, 2021

Sailboats on the Charles River with Boston's Downtown skyline in the background.

Getting a Massachusetts real estate license requires 40 hours of approved prelicensing classes before you’ll be eligible to take the state’s real estate exam. If you’re ready for a career change and wondering how to become a real estate agent in Massachusetts, we’ll take you through this relatively easy, four-step process.

Let’s get started with the steps you’ll need to take to earn your Massachusetts real estate license. We’ll also review the costs involved and answer some frequently asked questions. In no time at all, you could be selling homes from Boston to Bridgewater, and from Brookline to Braintree. [Read more…] about How to Get a Massachusetts Real Estate License in 4 Easy Steps

How to Get a Utah Real Estate License in 7 Easy Steps

Chris Linsell | October 7, 2021

Salt Lake City, Utah - skyline with mountains as a backdrop

Wondering how to get a Utah real estate license? Let us help you launch an exciting new career with flexible hours and unlimited earning potential. There are five easy steps to obtaining your Utah real estate license. These include the completion of 120 hours of prelicensing classes.

We’ll walk you through the process and answer some frequently asked questions about the time commitment and costs involved, the Utah real estate exam, and the average income of a real estate agent in Utah. [Read more…] about How to Get a Utah Real Estate License in 7 Easy Steps

Menu