eXp Realty Launches AI Support Chatbot
eXp Realty is building on its focus on innovation and technology with the launch of an AI support chatbot called "Luna." Luna is powered by ChatGPT and GPT-4 and is available 24/7 to all eXp Realty agents to interact with the company, get assistance with day-to-day tasks, find answers to questions in real-time and get help on a variety of topics ranging from policies and procedures to tips for setting up listings, appointments and generating reports. "Luna is our first step toward using AI to empower agents," said Glenn Sanford, founder and CEO of eXp Realty. "We created Luna in direct response to our agent NPS feedback. We hear from agents all the time that this business is 24/7, so this is another way to provide support in a way that helps drive our agents' businesses." Using AI to help agents increase their productivity The company is also incorporating AI into its web-based metaverse platform, Frame (framevr.io), which now has a GPT-powered assistant in its text chat and AI-based content generation tools to help users increase productivity and customize their metaverse experience. "We believe that AI can be used in the metaverse to increase productivity and cultivate creativity," said Sanford. "We have AI tools coming out in Frame for meeting summaries, surfacing relevant content during conversations and even improving accessibility for deaf or blind users. Innovation is our theme for 2023 and we will carry that focus into EXPCON later this year, where we will really zone in on AI and its capabilities in this industry. I'm looking forward to even more exciting ways we will continue to look to AI to improve our business, for example using a BOT at SUCCESS to leverage the massive amount of valuable content we have curated."

Broker Tips: Supporting Agents During Seller's Markets
Earlier this year, a mansion in Maryland sold for $1,000,000 over asking, an offer nearly 30% higher than the listing price. Offers like these have become the norm in many places. For a typical house listed at $300,000, that would mean selling for $387,000. Put plainly: we're in an epic seller's market. Seller's markets are affected by many factors, including inventory, interest rates, and consumer behavior. The pandemic created a perfect storm of factors resulting in historically low inventory and interest rates, paired with surging demand, especially among millennials. And these conditions are expected to continue for some time. Brokers are uniquely positioned to support agents during seller's markets. These periods can be particularly stressful due to the intensity of negotiations, the likelihood buyers' offers will be rejected, and less predictable commission income. Brokers can help by offering the best combination of services and support for their agents. Read on for ideas on how to help your agents be successful during these periods. Planning and strategizing Brokers need to be equipped to help agents with seller's market strategies. These include tips and tricks for locating new listings, maximizing buyer offers, negotiating the best terms, and finally choosing the winning offer. Strategic guidance from brokers will reduce agent stress and increase customer satisfaction. Attracting listings Agents need a steady stream of buyer and seller leads, and their overall lead generation strategy should have specific seller lead gen tactics. Just one such tactic is automated home valuations (AVMs), which use real-time data and mathematical modeling to estimate listing prices in a certain area. AVMs can easily be added to your brokerage or agent websites to encourage potential sellers to provide their contact information and list with your team. Setting listing prices Listing prices are really important, even in a seller's market. Aim too high, and you scare away opportunities that could drive the price up or improve terms. The trick to setting the right listing price is staying on top of local market trends. It is easier than ever for brokers to analyze their own MLS data and generate market intelligence for picking the best listing price. Marketing and showing listings Houses might sell themselves during seller's markets, but agents should always aim to maximize buyer offers. The best way to get multiple offers is through high-quality and consistent marketing, both in print, online, and in-person. Good staging High-quality listing photos and videos Virtual tours Virtual or in-person open house Social media campaign Listing site Flyers Lawn signs A tool like a full-service print and digital marketing suite can help simplify and automate many of these marketing tasks, so your agents can offer stellar customer service instead of stressing about social posts. These same tools help take the place of yard signs when there are fewer houses on the market: an active social media presence propels your brand even when listings are limited. Streamlining transactions Real estate transactions are complicated. An end-to-end transaction management system with electronic signatures will make your agents' and admins' lives a whole lot easier and help them focus on serving customers, not searching for files. Ensuring accurate, timely commission payments After working hard to close a deal, agents want to get paid the right commission amount on time. With the number of different commission plans and brokerage fees out there, paying commissions properly can be more complicated than it sounds. Luckily, there are highly customizable, intuitive, and flexible solutions like Constellation1 Commissions to help you make sure your agents get their money quickly and accurately, without worrying whether you did it right. Set your team up for success Home buyers and sellers rely on real estate agents for their professionalism and expertise to help them get the most out of their transaction. Agents rely on their brokers to provide the right tools, support, and fair compensation. When you give your team what it needs to succeed, you will have happier agents and happier clients, helping your brokerage grow into the future, no matter what kind of market you're in. To view the original article, visit the Constellation1 blog.

Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline Go Back on the Road Again!
From San Diego to Ohio and Arkansas to Colorado, Florida Realtors will be back on the road again, showcasing its technology offerings for real estate brokers and agents nationwide. This fall, thousands of real estate professionals who use Form Simplicity transaction management software, as well as Tech Helpline support services, can see and meet the folks behind these scenes face-to-face at local conventions and conferences throughout the country. Form Simplicity by Florida Realtors is a leading transaction management solution that helps agents go digital and paperless. Form Simplicity allows real estate professionals to manage real estate transactions in the cloud, from start to finish, on their mobile phone or computer. The real estate industry's No. 1 ranked tech support service, Tech Helpline, is a member benefit available to more than 667,000 individual real estate professionals across North America. Known for its friendly customer service and expert technical advice, Tech Helpline offers support via phone call, email, and online chat. See for yourself the benefits these products offer on their websites – FormSimplicity.com and TechHelpline.com – and meet with their representatives in person at the trade shows. This year's trade show schedule contains leading real estate conferences that once again are offering in-person meetings. The list includes the following: On August 25 and 26, both Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline will return to our own Florida Realtors Convention & Trade Expo in Orlando, FL. For the upcoming fall, September will be a big month for both Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline, as they will head to five major conventions, and Form Simplicity hosts an online a free training webinar. On September 9, Form Simplicity will host a live training webinar, "Optimizing Your Workflow with Form Simplicity," and you can register for free here. Then reps of both brands will be live and in-person at the Wyoming Realtors Conference and Expo in Sheridan, WY, on September 15-16 with a live Form Simplicity training session. Wyoming provides the Ultimate Edition of Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline to its members as benefits. On September 20-23, CMLS returns to in-person meetings and you can meet representatives from Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline at CMLS2021 in Las Vegas. Tech Helpline will be in two places at one time! Representatives will be at the Ohio REALTORS® Annual Convention & Expo at the Columbus Easton from September 27-29. Form Simplicity will join Tech Helpline for the Arkansas REALTORS® Convention & Trade Expo at the Hilton Branson Convention Center, also from September 27-29, with a live Form Simplicity training session. Arkansas also provides the Ultimate Edition and Tech Helpline to its members as benefits. Near the end of September, folks from Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline will travel to Kansas City, MO for the Missouri REALTORS® Fall Business Conference from September 29 to October 1. On October 6-8, Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline will be in Kansas for the Kansas AOR Annual REALTORS Convention. In-person training will be provided for Form Simplicity. Then Tech Helpline will be at the Colorado Association of REALTORS® Centennial for the CAR's 100 Year Celebration Conference and Expo held in Colorado Springs, CO. Both Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline will be at Idaho REALTORS 2021 Convention in Boise Centre, Boise, ID. In-person training will also be provided for Form Simplicity. Idaho also offers the Ultimate Edition and Tech Helpline to its members as benefits. Finally, Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline's last two conventions in 2021 include this year's NAR Conference & Expo in San Diego (Booth #2113) from November 12 to 15, and finally the Triple Play REALTOR® Convention & Trade Expo for New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Realtors in Atlantic City, NJ, from December 6-9. If you're on the road again for any of these events, meet the friendly folks at Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity who are ready to answer your questions. We are excited to see everyone face-to-face once again! Tricia Stamper is Director of Technology at Florida Realtors®, which owns and operates Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline.

Why Doesn't Every Realtor Have Access to Tech Helpline?
It's a COVID conundrum. The pandemic forced more than a million Realtors nationwide to work remotely and embrace digital technology at a record pace. One leading real estate tech executive told me more progress took place getting agents to adopt technology in the first five months of the outbreak than the last five years. The professional pivot was incredibly stunning. Agents morphed their businesses to meet consumer needs and massive market demands during the most challenging time many generations have ever faced. The 2020 residential real estate marketing went down as an economic wonder, a banner year that set a new record for annual existing home sales. Brokerage leaders have noted that none of this could have been accomplished without technology. Let's face it: technology for Realtors is no longer a tool. Realtors are now fully entrenched in technology, and their tech use and needs will continue to grow exponentially. Then why hasn't the National Association of Realtors made tech support a benefit for all 1,463,806 Realtors in America? It makes no sense to me, especially since most Realtors are still WFM (working from home) and will be in the future at least part-time. You would think that the most impactful way NAR could help its members would be to guarantee that every Realtor in America had access to tech support. According to the US Census, there are 309,393 real estate brokerages (rental and leasing firms) in America. At least 100,000 of these are residential real estate brokerages. Not all agents work for big franchise brands that offer in-house tech support. It's quite the opposite. People forget that the vast majority of licensed brokerages in America are small – with less than a half-dozen agents. But when it comes to offering tech support as a standard member benefit, the NAR has remained AWOL. The craziest thing is that NAR doesn't have to go very far to find the perfect solution. Tech Helpline, created more than a decade ago and still operated by the Florida Realtors, is the No. 1 tech support service for real estate agents and brokers. Having worked with the folks at Tech Helpline for a half-dozen years, I can vouch that they deserve the moniker "Real Estate's Genius Bar" because they only hire smart and friendly people. Tech Helpline's team of tech advisors has over 300+ years of combined IT experience. They are all US-based (Orlando), offer full multilingual tech support in English and Spanish and, most importantly, work with real estate agents every day. They understand the challenges agents have with technology and are eager to help. Through its efforts, Tech Helpline continues to grow its footprint throughout North America. Recently, the Florida Realtors announced that Tech Helpline recently added five Realtor associations, including Missouri Realtors and Iowa Association of Realtors. The continued expansion gives new access to more than 26,000 members located in three Midwestern states and Connecticut. Tech Helpline now is available to nearly 667,000 Realtors. It's a remarkable accomplishment, yet the NAR now has over 1.46 million members. Unfortunately, that means a little more than half of all US agents don't have access to Tech Helpline as a member benefit. Florida Realtors has been doing more than its share to reach more Realtors through its rapid growth. Just as the pandemic started in March 2020, Florida Realtors reported 184,652 members. As of March 2021, the NAR Monthly Membership Report shows 199,239 members. That's 5,000+ more members than the California Association of Realtors at 194,121. The Florida Realtors is now the largest state association in America. That's right, the Florida Realtors has eclipsed the C.A.R. The C.A.R. has been the largest Realtor association after NAR for as long as I can remember. Now that title goes to the Florida Realtors—another unexpected impact clearly accelerated by the pandemic. Realtors and technology are inseparable, as NAR's member research illustrates: 96 percent of Realtors do business with a smartphone. 94 percent prefer to communicate with clients using text messaging. 70 percent have a website for business for an average of five years. 66 percent of REALTORS® use multiple listings software daily. 59 percent use social media apps daily, with 85 percent using social media apps several times a month. Tech Helpline supports all the tools an agent uses and more. Its advisors have answered tens of thousands of questions about their tech challenges, ranging from troubleshooting smart house devices to helping restore lost files after a computer crash. How cool is that? After all, who can an agent call when working from home and they get a computer virus? Or keep getting disconnected from Wi-Fi? Or waste hours trying to connect a new wireless printer? Tech support should be a standard member benefit, and it is time the NAR made it so. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Howard Hanna Income Advantage Stabilizes Earnings for Real Estate Agents
Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, the nation's #1 family-owned and -operated real estate brokerage, announced to its agents last month an extension of the company's signature Income Advantage program in response to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Howard Hanna's Income Advantage program provides a stable monthly paycheck to the company's real estate agents, depending on how much they earned in commission in the previous year. The deadline was extended for more than a month to give agents impacted by COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders the opportunity to enroll.

Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity are on the road again!
Each year, thousands of real estate agents and brokers who use Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity have the opportunity to meet some of the folks who make the magic happen for these two Florida Realtors owned products at local conventions and conferences. This year's schedule includes visits as far north and east as Nova Scotia, Canada, as far south as Hollywood, Florida, and as far west as Los Angeles, California. As real estate's number one tech support firm, Tech Helpline serves more than 600,000 real estate professionals in North America. Available through MLSs or local associations, as well as real estate brokerages, connecting with Tech Helpline is typically accomplished via a phone call, online chat or email inquiry. Our annual direct outreach gives agents and brokers, as well as MLS and association executives and staff members, an additional opportunity with face-to-face communications. Opportunities to connect This year, we kicked off our spring and summer schedule for Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity with an appearance at the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in mid-May. Tech Helpline was just represented at the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) Association Executives Seminar in early June, held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Next up, Form Simplicity will be at "Rock the Market" at the Hard Rock Event Center in Hollywood, FL on June 25. The next two days on June 26 and 27, both Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity will be heading to the Florida Realtors Association Executives Education Workshops in Cocoa Beach, FL. August marks two major conventions for Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity. Association leadership from all business disciplines will convene at the ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo in Columbus, OH on August 10-13, followed by our own Florida Realtors Convention & Trade Expo (August 21 and 22) and Governance Meetings (August 23-25) in Orlando, FL. Tech Helpline will head to another big convention as the Colorado Association of REALTORS® hosts its "REfresh Expo" in Denver, CO on September 5. The summer tour schedule ends with two back-to-back events. The first one is in North Carolina, the NC REALTORS® 2019 Convention & Expo "Xchange'19" at the Pinehurst Resort during the Expo dates of September 14-16. That's followed by the Arkansas REALTOR® Annual Convention & Tradeshow being held in Memphis, TN at the Guesthouse at Graceland, during the Expo dates of September 16 and 17. More to come As the fall begins, Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline will be back at it, with appearances by Tech Helpline at the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Expo "REImagine!" held in Los Angeles on September 24-26, followed by opportunities to ask your questions about Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline at CMLS2019 in Salt Lake City on October 16-18. The last two conventions for Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline currently are scheduled for both the 2019 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in San Francisco this year (booth #1234), November 6-11, and finally December 9-12 at the 2019 Triple Play REALTOR® Convention & Trade Expo in Atlantic City, NJ, which brings together members from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania Realtor associations. If you happen to be attending one of these events, please stop by and bring your questions about Form Simplicity and Tech Helpline. We hope to meet you face-to-face! Tricia Stamper is Director of Technology at Florida Realtors®, which owns and operates Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity.  

Tech Helpline Video Earns National Nomination
Recently, PR Daily announced its 2018 Video and Visual Awards finalists. Among the five finalists in its Animated Video category was "Tech Helpline 2018 Animated Video, Florida Realtors." Other finalists in the category include videos from pharmaceutical giant Merck, agricultural fertilizer behemoth CF Industries and Bell Helicopters. Pretty impressive company! It's always great when an organization's creative efforts earn public recognition. Often, member communications work in the trade association world goes largely unheralded. But that does not mean the amount of effort that goes into many projects Realtor associations undertake each year is any less spectacular than those that grab an occasional accolade. So, when a real estate trade association does get public recognition for its communications efforts, it's kind of a big deal. It's even more impressive when recognition is from an organization that recognizes accomplishments from every business segment – not just real estate. PR Daily is published by Lawrence Ragan Communications, which for more than five decades, has been the leading publisher of corporate communications, public relations, and leadership development newsletters. To make its honor roll by being listed as a finalist for its annual video awards program is a high honor because of the broad range of business entries that this program attracts. About the video The new Tech Helpline animated video debuted in October 2018. It is available on Tech Helpline's YouTube Channel here. In just a little over two-and-a half minutes, all of the key features and benefits of Tech Helpline are presented to our target audience – real estate agents – in a fun, easy-to-view format. The video uses modern animation, music and two narrators – both male and female voice talent – to tell our Tech Helpline story. It explains how easy it is to reach Tech Helpline – call, chat or email – and all the things agents might not realize they can reach out for assistance. With 300 combined years of experience among Tech Helpline analysts, there's a lot of ways they help agents every day. Today, some 600,000 real estate brokers and agents in the U.S. and Canada have access to Tech Helpline as a member benefit from their MLS, association or a service provided by their brokerage. If you don't have Tech Helpline support, then ask your state or local REALTOR® association for it! For more information about Tech Helpline, visit our mobile responsive website at www.techhelpline.com. Tricia Stamper is Director of Technology at Florida Realtors®, which owns and operates Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity.

4 Steps Brokers Can Take to Get Agents to Adopt Technology
One of the greatest struggles that broker-owners have with technology is getting their agents to use the technology tools they provide. On the other hand, many agents are suffering from tech fatigue with simply too many tech tools to learn, sometimes taking too much time to learn, none of them being integrated and often requiring too many different passwords to remember to access everything. While brokers throughout the U.S. over many years have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in technology for their agents, many studies show that fewer than half of all agents are using the tech tools their broker provides. A study by the WAV Group ("Broker Technology Adoption and Satisfaction Study") pointed to some of the reasons: Most brokerages today are managing relationships with five to eleven vendors Many of the tech tools provided have overlapping features and few, if any, ever work together The tech tools are scattered and not located in a single place for agents to access The study points out that "the cumbersome nature of this lack of organization leads to poor product adoption by agents, and low degrees of satisfaction by the broker." 4 Steps to Adoption Unfortunately, most brokerages can't wave a magic wand and fix all of these challenges overnight. So we talked to our Tech Helpline analysts for their advice on how to get agents more comfortable with technology. Tech Helpline is a service owned by the Florida Realtors® and the real estate industry's number one tech support service. Tech analysts work with real estate agents every day and have a combined IT experience of nearly 300 years. What they suggested were four basics steps that every brokerage can take today to help agents adopt their most important technology. Think of these steps as a "workaround" – a way to increase agent adoption despite other considerable challenges that may be inherent in how a brokerage provides technology to agents today.

Chat Bots: Don't Miss Out on the Latest in Real Estate Tech
Struggling to keep up with the seemingly endless issues of clients? Real estate and technology can work in harmony for better control of these queries. What is this miracle cure? It's not an added staff member, but bots – those little help-chat boxes that pop up on every website from your health insurer to your cell phone carrier. Building bots Carey is a DIY bot development product technology that is currently in development. It will allow users to create their own 'automated response technology,' or bots. Created by AgentPair founder Clark Giguiere, it's very close to wrapping up beta testing. One bot, built for industry news-provider Inman, will be ready any day. Another is already in-use by Trulia, helping renters find places in major markets and providing local stats and data. Smart-bot Bots are simple to find and use – even Facebook is using them. Just tap the Messenger's search tool to find a list of your friends and favorites, as well as available bots: Bots for sports teams and scores, news bots, bots for the Presidential race – you name it, there's a bot for it. Though certain key search terms must be used, bots are getting smarter and easier to use every day. As industries struggle to rise to the top in today's digital era, bots are an emerging power. Will you take advantage of the innovative opportunities they have to offer?

Why Customer Service is Key to Selecting the Right Transaction Management Program
When you think of exceptional customer service companies, brands such as Apple, Amazon and Nordstrom immediately come to mind for most people. It's interesting that companies that are the best in their category are often known for having the best customer service. They also typically have the best products, processes or services, but it is the customer service component that resonates with most of their remarkably loyal fans and followers. Their customers often rave about their experiences, becoming unpaid company evangelists. For Form Simplicity, Brenda Ghibaudi is one of its biggest champions. When you ask the Florida 1st Realtor with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, located in South Florida, about the support she receives, she will tell you that Form Simplicity ranks beyond triple-A: "I would rate them, compared to any other customer service or tech support, a quadruple A," she says. It is the little things that add up to big benefits for Brenda, she explains. "They are welcoming when you call -- and they call me by my first name when they answer the phone. And they treat you great, regardless if you are tech savvy or not real techie at all; they are like chameleons in how they adjust to the level of the person who is calling in," she adds. Brenda also loves the fact that she can spend a Sunday at home, and if she's catching up on work and has a problem with a form auto populating, for example, she knows help is only a phone call away. "Being available seven days a week saves me a lot of time," she adds. Doing the right thing Brenda's experiences typifies the customer service approach that Form Simplicity strives to provide: a customer service experience that is unmatched by our competitors. Listening to the comments from both new and existing customers, it's a claim we are confident we can back up. More evidence of the success of our customer service-centric sales culture comes from the fact that our client attrition rate caused by customer dissatisfaction due to customer service is practically non-existent.

What Are the Advantages of Technology Made for Realtors by Realtors?
A little over 10 years ago, in January 2006, we were heading into a tumultuous housing market. But a few years before things got crazy, the Florida Realtors did something brilliant - it launched a new service for its members called Tech Helpline. The concept for Tech Helpline was pretty straightforward. Technology tools for agents were coming to market at a rapid pace and many agents admitted to needing technology assistance. Just a year later, the first iPhone would be announced and that little computer-in-your-pocket ushered in a flurry of both opportunities and challenges for agents as it quickly became the smartphone of choice for most agents in our industry. Florida Realtors saw the need to help provide a tech support service early on because it listened to its members. What was created with Tech Helpline was a kind of virtual "Genius Bar" for real estate agents, who could connect with a trained tech expert by dialing a toll-free number, opening up a chat window online, or simply shooting out an email if they had a less urgent question or need. The cost to the member: It was included as a member benefit, covered by their annual association dues. In other words, it didn't cost them an extra dime. Tech Helpline was originally started as a service solely for Florida Realtors. But we quickly realized there was national need for this service and we had created a system and infrastructure that made Tech Helpline easy to scale. We began offering it as a service to other associations, and today, it is the #1 real estate tech support service in North America, making support from Tech Helpline available to almost half the Realtors in the U.S. and Canada.

Should you Employ a Real Estate Virtual Assistant?
This post comes to us from the Properties Online blog: Chances are your real estate brokerage firm or agency business will grow in the next 12 months. This growth will require you to stretch yourself further than before, or make other arrangements. And even if you don't anticipate much growth in 2013, do you feel your technology skills are strong enough to meet the stringent demands of today's customer? Your business will thrive or flounder depending on how well you make use of your skills, and how well you can identify the skills with which you need assistance. The decision to hire an assistant may be on your horizon. So, should you hire an in-house employee or a virtual assistant? There is no right answer, but there are definitely some points to ponder. A real estate virtual assistant is a cost-effective way to add support to your team wherever and whenever you need it most—marketing, listing coordination, or lead generation and follow-up—giving you the time to focus directly on your clients, where you're needed most. Cost-wise, you'll find that a real estate virtual assistant is significantly more affordable per hour than an employee on an hourly wage. Another bonus is that you can employ a real estate virtual assistant on an as-needed basis, allowing you to better control your overhead.