ADVANCED ACCESS November 2005 Newsletter

November 2005 Newsletter

“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and new.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Thanksgiving Message from ADVANCED ACCESS

This Thanksgiving, the management and staff at ADVANCED ACCESS would like to convey our most sincere best wishes for a happy and healthy Thanksgiving to you and your families. Thanksgiving Day in America is a time to reflect and offer thanks, a time for family gatherings and holiday meals. As our online ADVANCED ACCESS family continues to grow, so does our commitment to provide the finest products and service to all of our valued customers. All of us at ADVANCED ACCESS are thankful for the trust and confidence you have shown in us through our years of service to the Real Estate industry. Without your business, loyalty and support, our progress would never have been possible.

It is in this spirit that we offer our sincere thanks for your business and wish you and your loved ones a warm, meaningful and very HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

ADVANCED ACCESS Presents
NEW Virtual Office Hands-On Workshop (VO-HOW)

The newly initiated ADVANCED ACCESS Virtual Office Hands-On Workshop (VO-HOW) provides a wonderful experience for ADVANCED ACCESS clients to work on their Website while they are learning about the many features the comprehensive Internet Website system has to offer.

The instructor provides each client with a complete tutorial on the specifics of various Internet topics, such as link popularity, page development, template management, and navigational linking – and allows the client to engage in actually working to improve their own link popularity by linking to other REALTORS® within the link-exchange program. The participants or “virtual students,” gain needed knowledge while working on their own Website during the session. This unique scenario captures the participant’s interest and willingness to maintain a higher level of commitment as he or she continues to work on their own Website respectively to improve its overall effectiveness on the Internet.

The classes are currently being held at the ADVANCED ACCESS Training Facility, which is located in Anaheim Hills, California, at 8101 E. Kaiser Boulevard, Suite 300.

The class is a 7-hour workshop that is conducted by ADVANCED ACCESS Director of Service and Product Training, Marion Dale, Jr. A major focus of the popular seminar is that attendees gain valuable knowledge in actual page-building to improve overall content and add needed value to their existing pages and Website. This in turn will improve overall appearance and search availability of each client’s Website that will eventually aid in increasing the recognition and value of their site and its performance on the Internet.

“…The early success of this introductory seminar has been so overwhelmingly positive that we have actually filled our initial offerings of this class,” stated Marion. He continued, “…in light of this early unanticipated success, we have added more dates to accommodate those additional ADVANCED ACCESS clients who have shown an enthusiastic interest to attend and learn more about how they can improve the performance of their ADVANCED ACCESS Website.”

The history of this new offering dates back to March of 2004, when initial clients who were attending the introductory classes for the newly unveiled Classic Package 3.0™ were intrigued enough to request additional training on a more detailed use of their new Website tools. The result of this initial interest was the development and beginning of this new program, and resulted in a “launched training” of the new VO-HOW. ADVANCED ACCESS clients are required to first attend the Classic Package 3.0™ Virtual Office training prior to attending the recently introduced additional course offering.

Marion continued, “…not only did the trainees gain valuable knowledge, training, and skills about their Website in the basic Classic Package 3.0™ seminar, but they also interacted with each other to gain still more insight with those participants that may have had a bit more experience in designing and improving their ADVANCED ACCESS Website. What resulted was a wonderful dialogue between older, more experienced REALTORS®, with those new and reasonably inexperienced agents, who were more than glad to receive the valuable advice and consul of their more experienced colleagues. That, more than anything was the most unexpected and surprising aspect of this new program – the fact that our clients could engage in this exchange and discussion of needed knowledge and information involving the real estate industry.” concluded Marion.

The ADVANCED ACCESS Premium Marketing Service was instrumental in the preliminary stages when Marion was developing the new VO-HOW curriculum. He met with them, and based on their recommendations and critiques of other ADVANCED ACCESS Websites, was able to develop a self-evaluating Website “audit,” that can be used to determine those deficiencies and areas of improvement that are needed for the improved development of each Website.

This tool allowed Marion and fellow ADANCED ACCESS staff the ability to critique and ultimately improve their overall Internet presence, and in a sense, is the entire focus of this new, innovative and exciting class offering from ADVANCED ACCESS.

Marion adds that the next step is an integrated “on-line version” of the VO-HOW so that clients anywhere in the country can take full advantage of this wonderful new innovation from ADVANCED ACCESS by simply logging-on to follow along with the new curriculum and valuable instruction. The program will certainly aid in the overall performance of your Internet presence and performance, and will continue to set ADVANCED ACCESS apart from the competition with our stellar Customer Support philosophy.

REALTORS® Raise Alarms Over Real Estate Tax Proposal

As President Bush’s advisory Tax Reform Panel completes its work, the board of directors of the National Association of Realtors® formally voted to oppose proposals under consideration by the panel that NAR believes would drive down real estate values, have a devastating effect on the nation’s housing economy and negatively impact the nation’s economy.

The value of the nation’s residential property could decline 15 percent or more if President Bush’s tax reform panel’s expected recommendation to convert the mortgage interest deduction (MID) to a tax credit takes effect, according to preliminary projections by NAR’s Economic Research Division. The housing sector accounts for about 15 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

Eliminating the tax deduction for second homes, another proposal under consideration, would impact at least 5 percent of the GDP. Second homes accounted for 36 percent of all home sales last year.

The panel, which is expected to make its final report to the president tomorrow, is considering recommending that Congress convert the MID from a deduction to a tax credit; is also considering reducing the $1 million cap on mortgages to the local FHA loan limit (which can be as little as $170,000 and no more than $312,000 in high cost areas such as Alaska, Hawaii, Guam or the Virgin Islands); repealing the deduction for property taxes, as well as other state and local taxes; and raising the amount of gain to be excluded on sale of a principal residence but reducing the frequency in which the exclusion can be taken.

“Before these ill-considered proposals become official, we are raising the loudest possible alarms over their prospective economic impact. Housing, which has sustained the economy for the past five years, represents 15 percent of GDP,” said NAR President Tom Stevens of Vienna, Va., who took office today.

“We are concerned not just for the housing economy but for the nation’s economy as a whole. Not only do the recommendations being considered by the panel have the potential to impact the value of every home, whether it has a mortgage or not, but also they will drive down real estate values. Consumers’ nest eggs will be jeopardized because much of investment for retirement is tied to the equity consumers have in their home,” he said.

Stevens said the Tax Reform Act of 1986 demonstrated that when the tax benefits associated with real estate ownership are curtailed, the value of real estate declines. The resulting loss of value in the commercial real estate sector was 30 percent following passage of that legislation.

‘We urge the president not to accept these proposals. They are bad for homeownership, bad for real estate and bad for the American economy. NAR will vehemently oppose them should they be considered by Congress,” Stevens said.

NAR’s board today funded new research to determine the economic effect of the panel’s recommendations, especially their impact on the value of residential and commercial real estate, and assess their impact on homeownership.

The NAR urges that real estate be recognized as a long-term investment, so the tax system should reflect the stream of income and expenses associated with long-term investments. Deductions for the amount of the purchase price and the loss of interest deductions are ill-advised for real estate investments. NAR also urges that the president and Congress preserve the deduction for state and local taxes, including property taxes.

A workable tax system should treat home ownership as investment not consumption; encourage savings a and tax-based incentives for home purchases; eliminate penalties for using savings for home purchases; and treat services associated with the purchase of real estate as part of the investment cost of the transaction, and not tax those services.

In other action, the board recommended that the federal government not establish criteria for the use of eminent domain by state and local governments. Each state should establish its own rules and laws governing eminent domain without interference from the federal government.

The board met on the final day of the 2005 REALTORS® Conference & Expo, Oct. 28-31 that drew more than 26,000 Realtors and guests.

ADVANCED ACCESS’ Outside Sales Team Completes Busy Season

ADVANCED ACCESS’ Outside Sales Team
At NAR in San Francisco

Some of us dream of a nice, spacious office, complete with a great view, comfortable chair, and plenty of wall space to display our favorite art, family portraits, or even our certificates or awards that we’ve been fortunate enough to earn. But imagine working in an airport or train station. Your office is your carry-on or briefcase, and your laptop and cell phone is your receptionist, scheduling tool, and secretary all built into one! Meals are eaten in the air, or between appearances, and if you’re fortunate enough, you get to take a few minutes to call home and talk to your significant other, inquire about the kids, how the new wallpaper or landscape looks, and perhaps how the old dog is getting along without you.

Sound far-fetched? Not if you are a member of the ADVANCED ACCESS Outside Sales Team. Under the direction of Senior

Vice-President Jane Purcell, the Outside Sales Team is largely responsible for sales and education-related activities to the vast number of REALTORS® across the country, as well as to the 30,000 clients that ADVANCED ACCESS currently provides with its products, programs and services.

The Outside Sales Team has participated in over 50 conventions and trade shows, conducting educational and demonstrative discussions with members of local, state, and national Real Estate organizations. They have worked-in and flown-into areas with either hurricanes approaching or leaving the areas. With Jane and her assistant, Maria Valderrama scheduling the flights and hotel and lodging accommodations, members of the Outside Sales Team have traveled over 500,000 air miles and visited with over 500,000 agents and REALTORS® nationwide.

Staff members who have represented ADVANCED ACCESS at a number of these events across the country include Darren Kipfer; David Saitta; John Vinsick; Larry Lokker; Matt Weiss; Paul Cox; Pete Peterson, Roger Livingston, and Evie Williams, who together as a group comprise the Outside Sales Team. Their travel schedules usually start soon after January 1st of each year, and run continuously through each month ending around the end of October, with a few year-ending events in the early portion of November.

With ADVANCED ACCESS expanding its nationally-known Affinity Agreement Program to seven of the leading State Associations across the county, their schedule has increased and public appearances have been added to make their season even longer.

Their hard work and dedication is a significant reason for the success of ADVANCED ACCESS and our growing list of clients nationwide, and the Senior Management Team would like to officially extend a well deserved “thanks for a job well done” for their hard work and dedication during the 2005 year!

Featured Client of the Month: Gene Carey

Gene Carey, (www.View-MLS-Homes.com) was born in Detroit, Michigan, the youngest of two children. His father worked at an auto assembly plant, but with the shift in raw material towards the war effort, he soon relocated the family back to Iowa where they settled in the community of New Hampton to be near his parents. While living there, his father tired of operating several grain mills and earned his real estate license by traveling sixty miles several nights a week to Waterloo. After vacationing with the family in Rockaway Beach, Arkansas, and appreciating the warmer weather, he again relocated the family to Springfield, Missouri, where he eventually operated a very successful real estate office and developed several new subdivisions until he retired in his sixties.

Gene graduated from Lane Technical High School in Chicago, Illinois, and then the Illinois Institute of Engineering and Technology. He later served as the Production Manger for a leading ball-bearing company, Aetna Bearing Company. Eventually he moved out of the city with his wife, Gloria, and three children, David, Daniel, and Susan, all now married with their own families.

Carey became tired of working outside in the elements, and had already taken some real estate classes, but had, up until this time, never taken the State test. He took and passed the test in 1987, and decided to give the real estate industry a serious try at Baird & Warner where he received top "citywide" honors for most transactions in 1989. He eventually moved his license to RE/MAX in 1997 and managed the office from 2001 to 2005. Currently, he serves as the Managing Broker for Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate in Gurnee.

He is a graduate of Real Estate Institute, GRI, and a member of NAR, IAR, and a Lifetime Member of the Executive Sales Counselor’s Club for RANWC. He also serves as a member of the RANWC Professional Standards Committee, and holds the honor of membership in the IAR President’s Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Clubs.

GENE CAREY TELLS WHY ADVANCED ACCESS?

“I was in a forum group called REALTALK, and at the time it had about 10,000 participants. The website provider I was using unbundled their services and started to charge separately for each service so I started looking at the various sites that folks were using. I started with another company, but the site that I had was never really found by the search engines. The overall appearance of the ADVANCED ACCESS sites really, really impressed me, along with the content, and the total organization. Everything looked professional and compact and that’s what impressed me the most right from the start. My site was just not being found, and to be perfectly honest about it, that’s what made me start looking for another site.”

THE FORUMS ARE THE KEY TO MY SUCCESS

“What impressed me the most, and you really don’t even know that you’re getting them, are the FORUMS.You can learn so much from them. The support staff and customer service are all part of the support package, but the forums are like an EXTRA bonus that helps you get site evaluations, share knowledge, learn how to improve your website's ranking, plus network with agents from across the country, and it's all FREE! It’s like buying a new car, and finding out later that they included a lifetime of free car washes to keep it looking great! You really don’t know that you’re getting it when you purchase a site, but the added value of the forum is priceless and the knowledge gained is going to help you, your business, and most importantly, your site. It's AA's best kept secret”

ADVANCED ACCESS ALLOWS ME FLEXIBILITY

“I remain very enthusiastic about ADVANCED ACCESS, about the Web, and what my business personally means to me and the customers and clients I serve. My ADVANCED ACCESS site has given me the flexibility to provide a wide range of marketing services that attract customers and clients to my site.”

In the past 18-years, I witnessed first hand, just how much technology has affected our industry. More recently it has affected the real estate industry to such an extent, that text messaging, computers, wireless services, and real-time MLS listings have all evolved the industry to what it is today. Obviously my site is my business, and in this era, a strong Internet presence is crucial. Statistics have indicated that over 70% of searches begin on the Internet. I record approximately 35,000 hits a month, and fifteen-thousand or more are sessions where they spend some significant time on my site. We often hand those leads to agents, and this makes for a more efficient business.”

“…My criteria page is a crucial link on my site, and really helps me to capture those leads in a way that helps ME help MY clients. They wake up the next morning, and have a nice, smooth, personalized greeting with interesting information that they can use. I have screen shots of the animated listings that they get, and this really seems to give them even more personal service. By starting a dialogue with these leads, in a short time, I am able to start helping my clients help themselves…and they feel that they are being treated to the best customer service available anywhere in the real estate market today!”

THE FINAL WORD

Gene Carey concluded, “…The method in which they (ADVANCED ACCESS) have been able to help me more than anyone else, is the forums. The knowledge, the gained knowledge of what makes a good site, how to clean it up, key words with fresh, innovative copy, and of course, the camaraderie. Along with all the changing algorithms that the search engines use these days, my site has remained competitive and is being seen by my clients all across the country, but in particular in the Illinois area. The forums have done an outstanding job of providing me with this knowledge, and again, this is FREE and I don’t have to pay any additional fees for this in-depth education that I can then use to help develop my presence on the Internet even more efficiently.”

Send Animated Holiday Messages with IntellicardsTM

This year, why not wish your clients and prospects a Happy Holiday season with festively adorned, animated Intellicards™ greetings? We offer Intellicards™ for every occasion throughout the year, but the holidays are an especially good time to show your clients that they are in your thoughts.

One of the best ways to stay in touch with your clients and prospects is to provide regular and consistent communication through email messages that are both colorful and appealing with Intellicards™.

Intellicards™ transforms plain text emails into GRAPHIC announcements with AUTOMATIC, pre-designed marketing campaigns. Send your Intellicards™ out INSTANTLY to hundreds or thousands of clients or prospects with our EASY and AUTOMATIC program.

A few examples of our Holiday Intellicards™ are illustrated above. Click on each icon to activate IntelliC@rd’s™ animated features.

For additional information about the many features available in our Intellicards™ email marketing program, please don’t hesitate to contact our sales department TOLL FREE at 866-518-1571, or send us an email - info@advancedaccess.com.

Featured Employee of the Month - Scott Buskirk

This month we are featuring Scott Buskirk from our Customer Support Department. Scott has been on board with ADVANCED ACCESS since February of this year. Working as a New Account Specialist, Scott guides our clients through the beginning stages of creating their websites and placing them online.

Scott was born in Redlands, California, and was raised in the Beaumont area. “Dino Martini,” as he is known by his friends, has four brothers and two sisters. A graduate of Beaumont High School, Scott has been working in the Sales/Customer Service industry for approximately ten years. Prior to joining ADVANCED ACCESS, Scott worked for Comcast Cable, and learned a great deal from their intense customer service training.

Scott enjoys his work at ADVANCED ACCESS, and in his spare time he enjoys shooting pool, throwing darts, skydiving, and rollerblading. He can also be found in small Southern California venues singing the songs of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Scott’s favorite CD is “The Very Best of Frank Sinatra,” and his favorite movie of all time is “Oceans 11” (The Original.) He enjoys food from around the world, including German, Italian and Mediterranean cuisine. Scott also enjoys traveling in and out of the United States. Aside from being raised in Southern California, Scott has lived in Michigan, Indiana, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and has spent a lot of time in Germany, Austria, and The Netherlands.

Scott also enjoys spending time with his girlfriend, Kellee. The couple met through an online journal where they both wrote about the loss of their family members. They read each other’s journals, and Scott decided to email Kellee. The two became “online friends” until they decided to meet face to face to hang out and talk. Scott recalls the day he met Kellee, saying “From the moment our eyes gazed into the other’s we knew we were destined to be together. It was simply ‘in the cards.’ From that point on they have strengthened their relationship and more importantly, their friendship. Scott feels Kellee helps keep him grounded and focused on his daily work and is very much a driving force in the person he is today.

Scott sums up his accomplishments in life by saying, “The success I have had in life both business and personal is entirely to the credit of my mentor, hero, and best friend... My Mother Sharon.”

Here’s what our clients have to say about Scott:

“Scott is great, he explains all the details and takes the time answer all my questions. I have had experience with online tech support in many areas of my business and Scott is right at the top. He took the time to understand what my needs were and converted that into my web site. Thanks again Scott for all your help.” – Peter Young

“Scott was excellent in helping me with setting up my website! I have ‘general’ knowledge on using PC's but never had a website before. Scott made everything easy to understand and even helped me with some extra animated graphics for my site as well. I will try to send as many referrals as possible, because I know that ADVANCED ACCESS has top quality employees, high quality product, and the ability to give me the knowledge on how to run MY website. Thank you so much!” – Grant Benton

“It was a real pleasure working with Scott, I found him very prompt, always calls back timely, and extremely knowledgeable.... I will recommend you highly, especially Scott!” – Ken Quick

Scott Buskirk is a shining example of a Customer Support professional’s dedication to our valued clients, and we are honored to work with him here at ADVANCED ACCESS.

ADVANCED ACCESS Thanksgiving Holiday Office Hours

ADVANCED ACCESS will close its offices on Thursday, November 24th and Friday, November 25th, in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Our Customer Support Department will be closed Thursday and Friday, but will be available over the weekend from 7:00 am – 4:00 pm Pacific Time.

The entire ADVANCED ACCESS Management Team and staff wish to take this opportunity to extend to our loyal customers, friends and families best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving! Normal office hours will resume on Monday, November 28, 2005.

Twas the Night of Thanksgiving

'Twas the night of Thanksgiving,
but I just couldn't sleep...
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.
The leftovers beckoned...the dark meat and white,
but I fought the temptation with all of my might.
Tossing and turning with anticipation,
the thought of a snack became infatuation.
So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door
and gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.
I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
stuffing with gravy, green beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.
I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky
with a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie
But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees...

“Happy eating to all -- pass the cranberries, please.”

October 2005 | Back to Main Page | December 2005