The new ACAR Young Professionals Group is holding it's first meeting Wednesday, Feb. 25th

Are you an ACAR member under the age of 40? Are you interested in networking with people, learning how your peers are finding success and brainstorming great ideas? If so, we have a fantastic new group that will launch it's first get together on Wednesday, February 25th.

We're hoping that this group will help bring together members with similar interests, goals, and experiences while developing our future leaders in the industry. We'd love for you to join us on the 25th to help set our goals and objectives for the organization so that we can ensure it's success!

Details:

Date: February 25th
Time: 11:30-1:00
Place: Burger and Brew on State St.
What: Quick meeting (lunch if you'd like - Burger and Brew is willing to handle individual checks)

Please let your colleagues know, and be sure to R.S.V.P. to shansen@adacounty-realtors.com to let us know if you're coming!

Kit Fitzgerald, Membership Committee Chair
Red Barn Real Estate
kitf@redbarnrealestate.com

Making Your Marketing Money Go Further

In this ever changing economy, agents are scrambling to find the most effective way to stretch their marketing dollar.

The Real Estate Book, a leading publisher online and in print of real estate information in North America recently conducted a survey of top real estate agents nationwide to find out how they are marketing themselves and their listings in the current economy. It is no surprise to find out that the Internet has played an integral part of new marketing plans, but what is clear is that a shift has occurred in the type of advertising.

Top agents are no longer using mass media and have shifted to targeted real estate media. 75% of their marketing spending is dedicated to specialty print, personal websites, and Internet advertising. Newspapers ads and radio spots are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

A few quick stats:

* 57% of the survey respondents spend over $500 per month on advertising, marketing, branding, and promotion. The median monthly amount was $620.

* The median amount spent on Internet marketing is $196 each month. 38% spend more than $250 per month on all forms of Internet marketing.

* 86% of the respondents had a personal web site in addition to their broker web site. 61% spent money on search engine marketing to promote themselves. 25% used blogs or social media as a promotional tool.

* Only 5% of those agents surveyed expect to spend more on newspaper ads.

In a time where consumers can access so much information, agents have to be creative to stand out from the pack. Ultimately, a consumer is looking for an agent they can trust, who is knowledgeable about the market, and who is experienced.

To read the full published article, follow the link.

What have you found to be effective?

ACAR Going Green

I was thrilled to be asked by President Russ Dane to lead ACAR’s new Green Taskforce, which met for the first time on Wednesday January 28th. The Green Taskforce produced a fantastic and strong group of agents with a variety of green or sustainable backgrounds.

We have three specific goals to work on right away, which include: an energy audit, setting up a green web page link from the ACAR web site and evaluating how the agents and the membership can get more involved in the community.

The ACAR Green Taskforce is currently in the process of obtaining proposals from the best companies in the green industry in Ada County for an energy audit on ACAR’s building on Bethel Court. The taskforce group will then evaluate the proposals, and make a final recommendation to the Board of Directors in the March meeting. The basic objectives of an energy audit will be a site assessment, audits to include water & energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, resource conservation & waste reduction, as well as explore the possibilities of incentives & resources that are available for a long term benefit. Benefits to the energy audit are numerous! We can create a more energy efficient, healthier and environmentally responsible work place and lead by example to the community, our membership and our industry.

Long term goals for this taskforce are currently in discussion, focusing on green real estate and how ACAR can help the membership make a difference for their customers and clients, both Buyers and Sellers alike. We’ll keep you posted!

Laurie Barrera, Vice President

ACAR Committee Updates

As 2009 gets under way, our committees are hard at work. Did you know that we have 19 committees?! Each has set projects and goals for the year--ways to improve your membership benefits! If you want to know what we've been up to, we post all of our minutes on our website. Click the link to find out more!