Written by:  Nathan Thomas

Aurora - WinTOTAL version 5.0 - debuts for some 1,100 attendees at our first annual Technology Convention in Orlando this month. This is no mere redecoration of, or even just an "update" to, WinTOTAL. We've completely revamped WinTOTAL to make it even easier to use and more powerful, and to give you the ability to manage your business and produce reports in ways you just can't anywhere else.   Read more...

a la mode had a chance to express the pro-appraiser view in an article in the July 18 National Mortgage News. The piece, "AVMs Said More Immune to Deal Making Pressure Than Paper," was about a new research paper that touts the benefits of Automated Valuation Models.   Read more...

I usually don't write articles for this newsletter because our team does a great job of writing industry news. But when it's something personal, I think you should hear it from me.   Read more...

Scott Kinnaird to lead daily operations as CEO; David Biggers, company founder, to guide strategic initiatives as Chairman   Read more...

In the last edition of the Agent e-Newsletter we described some of the new lead capture tools available on your Agent XSite website. One such tool is the doorway form, which is a form that your visitors see before they can get to their requested page. When a visitor fills out the form, you get detailed contact information on their first visit, which can automatically be added to a particular contact group for follow up. There are two categories of doorway form settings that are available on your XSite:   Read more...

As you know, the single most important thing you can do to increase your XSite's ranking with search engines is to have other relevant websites to link to yours. As long as the websites you swap links with are live and legitimate, search engines will count that link as a "vote" for your site, thereby increasing your site's popularity in the search engines. Plus, if the site that has a link to yours is already indexed, you will also receive a visit from the spiders that visit their site.   Read more...

As you know, to be successful in any business you need to know your customers and anticipate their needs. There are many technology companies out there that sell websites and tools for real estate agents, but really don't know your business. We wanted to raise the bar and truly understand how you work and what technology matters most to you and your clients.   Read more...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)'s new "Disposal Rule" went into effect June 1, and it applies to you as it does to many businesses. Chances are you don't need to do much differently to comply but you do need to be aware of the new rules.   Read more...

For the fourth consecutive year, President Bush has designated June as National Homeownership Month in effort to increase minority homeownership. In 2002, President Bush challenged the Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create 5.5 million new minority homeowners by the end of the decade and the office reported June 18 that it is already halfway to that goal.   Read more...

There's no question that the real estate market is hell-bent on having another stellar year. Fannie Mae's Chief Economist David Berson last week predicted another record year for home sales and mortgage rates continue to be historically low. The pool of potential buyers and sellers will always be much larger during strong market conditions, making now a good time to beef up your prospect base. That way, if the market changes, your business will remain healthy because you already have a solid customer base from which to do business. This week we're introducing new lead capture tools on your XSite that help you prepare your business for market changes by allowing you to obtain detailed information about your XSite visitors so you can convert them into solid leads faster and better serve their needs. How the lead capture forms work Using your XSite wizard, you can create forms that aim to get specific data from your visitors, such as whether they're a first-time buyer, luxury-home buyer, seller, vacation-home buyer, etc. We've given you several default forms such as "Looking to Buy?" "Got a Question?" as well as your own custom forms. Then you can add the forms to content pages that your target visitors are most likely to go on your site. When a visitor completes a form, they can be assigned to a contact group (e.g. "First time buyers") for marketing follow up. If you use XSellerate automated marketing with your XSite lead capture forms, an e-mail drip campaign can be auto-assigned to a contact based on the form they filled out. The new lead capture tools also allow you to track which forms are producing the most leads for you by checking the forms statistics. The statistics will show you how many pages a particular form appears and how many leads it's generated in a specified time - 30 days, 60 days, etc. See an example of the form manager here.   Read more...