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Meet Today's REALTORÆ |
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Name: Debbie Ferrari
Address:
407 N. El Camino Real San Clemente,
CA
E-Mail:Deb4re@Cox.net
Web Address:
http://www.DebbieFerrari.com
Company Name:
Debbie Ferrari -The Internet REALTORÆ
Promotional Phrase:The
Internet Realtor®Æ
Company Size:
1
Position:
Owner
Years In
Business: 20
Previous work
experience: sales, marketing, and
publishing
What is the biggest mistake you've made and
what did you learn from it?
I failed to create a real
estate related Web site and soon later it became one of my
most visible marketing tools in the business. What I learned
was that it's better to secure a position within a certain
city or to have a homes-search site first, before another
real estate professional freezes you out.
Many people don't know I...have a brown belt in Kung Fu and that I'm a gourmet cook.
Specialty area: Residential
What is your commercial
specialty?
Since I've been an active
property exchanger for many years in addition to my
traditional residential and commercial property work, I know
how to handle very complex transactions that befuddle most
real estate professionals, buyers and
sellers.
Who are your typical
residential buyers?
Out of town visitors find me through
my nine separate Web sites. They E-mail me to help them find
a home before visiting the San Clemente, Dana Point, and San
Juan Capistrano area. Then they house hunt with
me.
What is the most common
legal issue you face? How do you deal with
it?
Making sure that every detail
is thoroughly studied and completed with the paperwork. In
order to force myself to dutifully cover every base, I use a
long checklist and don't consider the entire chore done
until every task is checked off.
What is the buzz in your
office these days? What's everyone talking about?
In South Orange County, Calif.
the buzz is about how great the market has become since
January, 1997. All the "distressed" or "problem" properties
have been sold and now the real market forces are kicking
in. We have not seen such a good real estate market for more
than 10 years.
Within the last 6 months,
what purchases most helped you to enhance your image?
Definitly those home purchasers that I gained from
buyers who found me over the Internet. I've focused upon
becoming the number one Internet real estate professional in
my area and so it's gratifying to see that I've gained more
than a million dollars in additional sales from my Web
visibility, in just six months. I expect that my Web
presence will produce an additional two million dollars in
incremental sales over the next 12 months.
The
Internet is really the future for real estate
professionals.
What piece of advice do you
have for fellow real estate professionals who are trying out
the World Wide Web for the first time?
Never despair. It took me more than a year before I
could navigate the Web and send attachments of all kinds to
E-mail documents. But once you have the basics, not much
changes, and the Web can become your most powerful marketing
tool----IF you ensure that your site gets shown in summaries
by search engines when people enter key words such as "real
estate" and the name of your city. If your site doesn't come
up on the first page of search summary results, you still
have some work to do.
Tell us about a risk
reduction step you've taken recently.
I have attorney friends who look over anything out
of the ordinary. I also check all paperwork with my manager
or I'll call the local or
state
board's legal office if I think I'm heading for shaky
ground.
How involved are you with
your local, state, or national associations?
I participate heavily with our local board's Web
buisness.
What motivational speakers
would you recommend?
Goeff Laynge of San Clemente, Calif.
What is your business
philosophy or favorite motivational quote?
My philosophy is to always
think "outside" of the small comfortable boxes we all put
ourselves in called the, "What I know" boxes. Breakthroughs
are not found in them. They're found outside the boxes and
they're called, "What I DON'T know." It's risky to look for
business success by doing things that others fear, but it's
the only way to stand out from the maddening
crowd.
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