Experienced travellers claim that you should travel light on luggage and heavy on knowledge. Genuine globetrotters point out that everywhere you go, the hotels, restaurants, and shops will have everything you need. Moreover, if you keep your suitcase empty on your outbound trip, you have lots of room for all the great one-of-a-kind items you will pick-up on your travels. You cannot and should not, however, keep your mind more than half empty, leaving yourself vulnerable to hijackers, pirates, and international incidents. Reading a good travel tips blog, you can develop an experienced traveler’s wisdom and insight without ever leaving home.Rules, regulations, and requirementsA travel tips blog will detail the rules, regulations, requirements, and laws governing travel to any destination on earth. Learn whether you need special documents or identification; should you carry your passport and birth certificate wherever you go? Learn whether you need proof of vaccination to enter the country; should you protect yourself against malaria, smallpox, and other contagious diseases relatively uncommon in Europe and North America? What will you do if you are injured during your travels abroad; will your insurance protect you, or should you purchase extra “trip insurance”? Can you drive a car through the country; what are the rules of the road? A travel tips blog breaks-down all the information into its main ideas and details, placing emphasis where it belongs and adding information only the locals would know.Currency and exchange ratesAlthough the vendors and merchants will help you with all your transactions, you should know enough about the currency and values that you can tell the difference between a genuine bargain and an over-priced touristy curio. A travel tips blog will advise you to carry a pocket calculator or get an app for that, so that you can go comfortably from dollars to Euros to rupees or pesos. When you have mastered the math, move on to mastering the etiquette of tipping: to whom do you offer a gratuity, and how much is enough? Perhaps most importantly, a travel tips blog will advise you about shopping-what about tariffs, duties, customs fees, and other costs. That little trinket that seemed like the most awesome bargain in the universe may become your most expensive mistake if you do not prepare in advance.Customs and courtesiesLearn a little bit about common courtesies in the countries on your itinerary. A travel tips blog will advise you about the consequences of asking for a fork in Japan or China, the complications of violating a local’s “personal space” in New York, and the ramifications of belching or becoming belligerent in an Australian pub. What about handshakes, bows, and hugs? Who does what, when and why? People in California and Colorado believe in hug-at-first-sight; other places not so much. Women may discreetly inquire about proper headwear: what does one wear as she visits the Vatican, takes tea with the Queen, or travels anywhere in Iran?
5 Tips For A Successful Home Buying Seminar
One of the very best ways to bring in qualified real estate leads – whether you’re a mortgage broker, real estate agent or investor – is a home buying seminar. There is on small challenge with putting on a home buying seminar, however! Most people that are in real estate are not in the business of promoting seminars, home buying seminars in particular.The good news is that with a little planning and marketing, you can hold successful home buying seminars month after month. And the even better news is that most of the country is right in the midst of a “buyer’s” market, so what better time to hold a home buying seminar?There are 5 tips that will help ensure a successful home buying seminar.Tip 1 – Target your market!
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard a thousand times when it comes to real estate. You have to pick your target market! This takes some planning on your part to really decide who you want to attract to your home buying seminar. It’s easy to think to yourself that anyone looking for a home is a likely candidate for a home buying seminar. But… that’s not necessarily true! There are going to be certain “types” of buyers that are most likely to attend your event. A few examples of likely candidates for your home buying seminar are first time home buyers, people in a specific city or zip code, community personnel (doctors, firefighters, nurses, teachers, etc.), etc. You’ll want to make sure that the people you market to can afford the homes you want to sell!Your target audience is not likely going to be second home buyers or vacationers unless you’re in the timeshare business!Tip 2 – Select a location to hold your home buying seminar
Where are you going to hold your home buying seminar? There are many options and it may depend on who you are attracting to your event. For instance, if you are targeting a certain zip code, consider holding your home buying seminar at the local library. If you’re targeting first time homebuyers throughout the county, consider a centrally located hotel or auditorium. Be conscious of the costs and be sure to know the rules of negotiating with hotels BEFORE you get into any contracts.Tip 3 – Select the right day and time for your home buying seminar
Different days will bring different numbers – and types – of attendees! If you can get the facility for several time slots, consider having an afternoon session and early evening session. This will allow people that work day jobs to attend the home buying seminar after work and it will also allow people that have night jobs or evening obligations to attend your seminar. You may even consider having a “lunch and learn” sponsored by vendors like title companies, home inspection companies, insurance companies, etc.Tip 4 – Marketing your home buying seminar
Marketing is key for any seminar, but even more so for a home buying seminar. You may consider buying a list from a list broker, posting “bandit” signs throughout the community, hanging flyers in local stores, sending out a postcard sequence, a classified ad in the homes section of the newspaper, online advertising, press releases to the media, little league fields, etc. This comes back to your target market! Where do they go and what do they do?Tip 5 – Present valuable information and provide follow up support
The hard part’s over! You’ve got your attendees in the door and now it’s time to present the meat and potatoes of your home buying seminar. If you’re not comfortable with the content, consider inviting professionals to teach the content and you simply serve as the emcee and hold the event together. Things that are important to people attending a home buying seminar are: financing programs, tax benefits of home ownership, what to look for in a home inspection, and how to protect themselves at closing. Here’s a sample schedule for a 90 minute home buying seminar:
0:00 – 0:05 Introduction0:05 – 0:20 Financing options presented by mortgage broker0:20 – 0:35 What to look for in a home inspection by an inspector0:35 – 0:50 How to protect yourself at closing by a real estate attorney0:50 – 1:05 Tax benefits of homeownership by a CPA1:05 – 1:15 Wrap up and thank them for attending1:15 – 1:30 Prequalification/property requirementsUse these 5 tips to promote a successful home buying seminar and be sure to team up with other professionals for content. This positions you as the expert because you’ve brought your team together. Plus, you’re able to split costs – and leads – with the each other. It’s a win/win all around.