Do you lack the big budget to build your business?

Learn how to develop the Midas Touch without having to break the bank.  REBar Camp will focus on  free or low cost technology use to support Realtors and others in the industry. Get organized, reach out and increase your exposure attend this session!

What is REBarCamp?  In short it is Real Estate Bar Camp, where peers gather to share and learn from each other.  Typically we focus  on discussions about technology and its practical use.  Yes, we sell real estate, but we also need to continue to improve our skills in the ever changing world.  Come join the discussion, don’t get left behind.

December 9, 2011(second Friday of the month)
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Denver Unification Board (formally the Board known as Denver)
4300 East Warren Avenue
Denver, CO 80222

We have been doing Mini-REBar Camps on a monthly basis since March 2010.  Each month we tackle a different topic that we find challenging in our real estate business.

Last week we had a great presentation/discussion about Google +.  Adam Hebener of Lime Tree Lending did a wonderful job of leading the discussion.

If you would like to join us, mark your calendar for the second Friday of the month.  Meeting starts at 9 a.m and ends about 10:30-11:00.  We would love to see you there!

Denver Board

4300 East Warren Street

Denver, Colorado 80222-4900

303-756-0553

Finally the photos have been posted!

It’s been a long wait, but what can I say, life got in the way.

Follow this link to the REBarCamp Denver album. Scroll until you find your photo.  Note there are two sizes, if you double click on the small size, the large size will pop up.  Just right click on the photo and choose “save image as” and place it on your hard drive.

Note:  If you don’t care for the cropped style, drop me an email (kristal.kraft@gmail.com) and I can send you the original file and you can crop it yourself at Picnik.com or your own photo editing software.  Be sure to give me 1) your email address 2) the number of the photo to send (see album).

I think for the most part the photos turned out very well.  Hopefully you will use them on your social media profiles right away!

Patty delighted the audience with her attention to the Twitter Wall during her presentation.  She admitted she was accustomed to receiving instantaneous feedback on her talk!  Patty delivered some powerful facts and figures about Denver and the economic climate.  We certainly have some things to think over.

Here’s her slide show:

Compliments to @Respres (best real estate virtual tours/shows on the planet) who created a representation of our Tweets today.

Gretchen Faber is a very active member of the real estate community.  She is a manager at her company, a NAR Director and a member of countless committees.  REBC is very grateful to have a strong supporter like her on board, as this is the second year she has sponsored the event.

I would like to introduce you to the readers of the REBarCamp Blog.  Would you please tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a 40-something workaholic with not enough hobbies.  I just love the real estate business!

How long have you been in the real estate industry?  What did you do before?

I started selling real estate in 1996 after a divorce. I needed to reinvent myself and find a new career.  I had been working with my husband and that obviously wasn’t working out too well.  We owned an advertising agency specializing in print and radio for small financial institutions.

Tell us about your company.  How long have you been working there?  What services does you company offer in the real estate industry?

I work at The Kentwood Company at Cherry Creek.  We’re a locally owned brokerage and I’ve been with the company since 1998.  In 2007 I became the Broker Manager of the office and I still handle my real estate clients as well.  I guess that’s my hobby.

Our company has made a concerted effort in the past 3 years to really leverage our online presence. We’re also blogging and on Facebook, tweeting, etc.  Our industry has changed so much, and more changes are on the way!

Are you involved in social media?

Yes! I’ve been blogging about Denver and real estate at www.LifeStyleDenver.com for three years.  I also use Facebook, and to some extent Twitter to focus interest back to my personal web site.  My blog also links to my web site, www.GretchensDenver.com.  On that site people can search neighborhoods, look for properties, map areas they like and find relocation information.

How do you use social media to leverage your business?

The more circular links you have, profiles on a variety of sites, the more you can drive traffic to your site.  I’ve also had good luck by being very focused.  There are times when I’d love to write a blog post about tips for brokers in the business, or ruminations on something random and then I remind myself that LifeStyleDenver is about real estate and the readership is buyers and sellers.

The best way I’ve leveraged social media is to communicate with good, interesting content that keeps potential clients engaged and gives them a reason to contact me.

How can your product/service benefit those in the real estate industry?

I’m always happy to help with advice, tips or tricks.  Sharing with each other is one of the great aspects of our business.  We’re a cooperative bunch!

Are you coming to REBC Denver and would you like to present a topic? Which topic?

Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow!  I presented last year about writing for blogs. This year, I think I’ll just listen and take it all in.

How can we contact you?

grf@gretchensdenver.com

The national recession that started in December 2007 was the worst that has happened in the U.S. since the Great Depression. How might the country and Colorado pick up the pieces left from the collapsed financial markets, employment declines, and eroded consumer confidence and rebuild an economic system that has growth potential throughout this decade?

This presentation includes current and projected growth trends at the national, state, and local level. It focuses on the industry developments that are impacting the seven-county metro Denver economy, including employment and unemployment trends, population growth, construction activity, and the real estate markets. While the Metro Denver economy remains challenged by cautious consumers and businesses and governments working through a damaging combination of lower sales, property, and income taxes, improvements in the Metro Denver economy will become more apparent by the middle of 2010.

Don’t miss this opportunity to get a preview into Denver’s economy and market throughout 2010.  There will be time allowed at the end of this presentation for Q&A.

Today’s media landscape is vastly different from just a few years ago.  Speed of information into various news channels happens almost instantaneously with varying points-of-view from numerous sources.  So, how do real estate professionals cut through the clutter and get noticed by reporters?

A panel of local reporters will share their insights about the best ways to communicate with the press, how to get relevant information in front of the media and the impact of social media during REBAR Camp Denver from 3 to 4 pm.

Moderated by Melissa Olson, Metrolist Senior Manager, this media panel will include reporters from various news outlets – broadcast, print and online Panelists are Ana Cabrera, Channel 7 News; Paula Moore, Denver Business Journal; and Andrea Altieria, Examiner.com.

Ana Cabrera grew up in Denver and Littleton and joined the 7News team in July 2009 as weekend morning anchor and reporter.

Prior to coming to Denver, Ana was an anchor and reporter at KHQ-TV in Spokane, WA.  In Spokane, Ana’s work was recognized with awards from Community Oriented Policing Services and Veterans of Foreign Wars organizations.

Ana earned her B.A. in communications from Washington State University and the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. She also has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish.  She is an ambassador for the Special Olympics and has served on the board of American Cancer Society.

Paula Moore is a reporter with Denver Business Journal and covers residential and commercial real estate news.

Andrea is the Managing Broker of the Walters Team @ Candlewood Realty, where she employs all of her prior business knowledge to help her clients find the best possible property for them. She is able to build solid, sustainable relationships with broad range of customers, including individuals, federal government and private industry organizations.

She’s been a resident of the Denver Metro area since 2004, after escaping from a 17-year term in Washington, DC where she spent most of her career writing and directing government proposals.  Andrea has a MA in Journalism from the American University in Washington DC and is currently the Denver Real Estate Examiner at Examiner.com

Most people realize the best way to learn is to align yourself with those who know what you don’t and are willing to share their knowledge.  Rich Morrow is a professional developer with a marketing background.  He brings not just experience but his time-tested talent to Real Estate Bar Camp Denver.

It’s with great pleasure I welcome Rich a real Geek to #REBCDen…

Tell  us a little bit about yourself, are you a Colorado native or what brought  you to Colorado?

I’m a CO native who’s moved around quite a bit (Bay Area, Tokyo) & come back home 4 years ago. I’m a Web Developer by trade & have nearly 2 decades experience building top-shelf product for Fortune 500 companies like Amazon.com, FedEx, Nike, and Goldman Sachs.

Who do you work for and why do you enjoy your job?

Self-employed as an independent Web Developer & Business owner. My boss is a slavedriver.

What is your favorite tech tool for business?  Why is it your favorite?

For small & medium businesses, I have two favorite tools — Drupal and Rackspace Cloud. Drupal because it lets me get sites up in days instead of weeks and it’s incredibly secure & well designed. Rackspace Cloud because it lets me host extremely scalable sites for ridiculous cheap (as little as $11/month).

What would you like to learn more about at REBC-Denver?

Pain points that Agents + other RE pros have when it comes to leveraging technology for their business, and how to better remove their roadblocks.

Title: Engaging, Sales-Driven Website Development + SEO

Synopsis: Building an extremely professional, results-driven site no longer requires a Developer, Designer and thousands of dollars. I’ll share 20-30 different design and functionality principles that anyone can easily integrate into their sites with CMS’s like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. I’ll share 5-10 different online tools & services you can use to get valuable free advertising and exposure for your site. Users who implement these principles soon find their sites on Google 1st page for some extremely competitive terms like “[STATE NAME] mortage” or “[CITY NAME] mortgage”. We’ll take one extremely successful Agent’s website & dissect it to show you exactly how they achieve success.

Title: Securing WordPress & it’s underlying LAMP stack.

Synopsis: A brief intro to some simple but effective things that individual WordPress site owners (and you don’t have to be a programmer) can do to keep hackers out of their site(s).