Appraiser XSite websites are getting (more) organized when it comes to site Theme selection. Themes are the look and feel of your XSite — the color scheme, layout, graphics, headers, and so on. You probably know you can change yours, throughout your whole site, with just a few clicks. Click to read more
This week we’re releasing a new feature, Listings Publisher, on XSites that will allow your listings to get more exposure than they you ever could using just an MLS. Listings Publisher works much like an RSS feed. You may have heard the phrase "RSS feed" tossed around on blogs and online news sites. RSS is a method of distributing (or feeding) website content to other sites to use. In other words, it's a way to syndicate content so you reach a wider audience. Click to read more
Viral marketing refers to any strategy that encourages people to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for growth in the message's exposure and influence. There are examples of viral marketing all over the web. You don’t have to invest a lot of money into creating your own viral marketing campaigns; you simply need to offer something unique and valuable to your clients that will prompt them to tell their friends and family about it. Here are a few viral marketing ideas you can implement into your business. Click to read more
Tim Vining, the Washington state appraiser who won a $50,000 settlement from a client for copyright infringement, was cheered when introduced as the first appraiser to successfully defend his intellectual property rights at a panel discussion of appraisal advocacy issues at our second annual Winter Convention. His story riveted the hundreds gathered at lunch to hear about issues like copyrighting, false advertising of appraisal alternatives, AVMs and lender pressure. Click to read more
XSite Order Manager/Mercury Desktop users who have installed Aurora have been using the Tracking PowerView to see and update everything about the status of an assignment and a report. In the coming weeks, the Tracking PowerView will be merged into a new Files PowerView. Click to read more
Our second annual Winter Convention in Las Vegas January 16-18 was an incredible success. Click here for a roundup. We want to thank all attendees, all the exhibitors, VIPs like former HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, 2005 National Association of REALTORS® President Al Mansell, "visiting professors" like Henry Harrison, who taught an acclaimed seminar on the new Fannie Mae forms, and Jeff Jones, whose network security classes are favorites, the staff of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, and everyone else who made the event so great. Click to read more
When shopping for a lender, 61 percent of recent borrowers asked their friends family members, their REALTOR® or other personal acquaintances for recommendations on choosing a mortgage company, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Primary Mortgage Origination Study. Additionally, more than 40 percent of borrowers indicate they utilize the Internet as a resource for gathering information during their lender shopping process. Click to read more
The Appraisal Advocacy Coalition (www.appraisaladvocacy.org), a non-profit, Washington, DC-based organization dedicated to protecting real estate appraisers from unfair competition, unjust perceptions and uncompensated misuse of their intellectual property, was formally introduced at a la mode’s Winter Convention here. With 1,700 attendees registered, the Winter Convention is the appraisal industry’s largest. Hundreds of attendees joined a panel of industry experts and participants January 17 to learn about and discuss the new organization. Dave Biggers, founder and Chairman of a la mode, is donating significant money and manpower to jump start the new effort. a la mode and the Appraisal Advocacy Coalition, a non-profit organization, will be entirely separate entities. Click to read more
a la mode, inc., the Oklahoma City-based real estate technology company whose WinTOTAL software is used by more than half the nation’s real estate appraisers, welcomed some 1,700 appraisers to the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas today for the opening sessions of its second annual Winter Convention. Click to read more
Gen-Xers have very different tastes in homes and the home buying than their baby boomer parents. Here are a few ways they differ from previous generations and how your XSite can help generate more business from this growing group of buyers. Click to read more
Contact Kara Calderon for appraisal or real estate industry news and Molly Dowdy for mortgage industry news. Or call 1-800-252-6633.
a la mode and its products are trademarks or registered trademarks of a la mode, inc.
Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Copyright © 2009 a la mode, inc. 1-800-ALAMODE (252-6633)
