… especially when I see No Blogger Left Behind graphics come to life. The designers at The Lones Group are the BEST in the business!

This is going to be AWESOME! I can hardly wait to share the details.

There is a lot of power here …

Thanks, Colleen!

XOXOXO

Realty Executives’ recent announcement that the company will seek bankruptcy relief gives agents in that network pause for thought. Real estate recruiters are on it like a bear on honey.

Jay Thompson calls this recruiting a “travesty.” Recruiters leave invitations in blog comments. Jay Thompson says this is “reprehensible behavior.”

Really?

Recruiting agents on the heels of public lockouts, lawsuits, and bankruptcy is reprehensible?

Thompson’s bravado  and ‘open letter” theater amuses me greatly.  I used to buy into the Phoenix-Real-Estate-Guy-on-a-white-horse image, but that changed a couple of months ago …  Realtor/blogger took a different view of nobility and published The Lones Group v. Rothamel: A case study in destroying your on-line reputation. (No link love, sorry!)

His target: A highly esteemed real estate broker and educator, a Realtor, an articulate and savvy businesswoman he never met. He never even took a moment to call her before publishing an 1,800+ word article blasting her and her company. That blog post put wheels in motion for an online unprecedented attack in the real estate industry.

Thompson’s single, irresponsible blog post incited an angry mob (as described by Todd Carpenter of the National Assn. of Realtors) and will serve forever as a textbook case of online defamation and Realtor ethics gone awry. Now, that is reprehensible blogging. The fact that those posts are still live and rife with misrepresentation, misstatements, and falsehood is a travesty.

Government Home Sale Professional™ Certification Honors HUD Homes Sales Savvy

San Diego, May 3, 2011 -   Frances Flynn Thorsen, in association with Denise Lones of The Lones Group, has unveiled a new real estate certification for real estate agents and brokers at RealTown.com-- Government Home Sale Professional™ (The GHSP™) Certification. Thorsen and Lones designed this course to help educate real estate agents and brokers wishing to work in the HUD Homes government owned property arena.

The GHSP™ Certification Program is an online course which uses RealTown’s new Learning Management System (LMS). As part of the launch, Thorsen and Lones have opted to offer a shorter, mini-GHSP™ Program, which will give prospective students a sample of the course, and includes important details about HUD’s M&MIII Contractor program, and the agency’s newly redesigned FHA REO disposition plan.  This mini-GHSP™ Program is available to real estate agents without charge.

Approximately $8 billion in inventory exists in the HUD Homes market, which translates to some  $480 million real estate commissions for agents listing and selling HUD Homes.

“October of 2010 saw sweeping changes to the process of working in this segment of the market. The new certification aims to train agents not only in the paperwork side of HUD Homes, but also provides information for agents wishing to increase their share of the local HUD Homes market,” said Lones.

“I am proud and delighted to author the first course on a new world class Learning Management System,” said Thorsen. “The combination of text, graphics, and multi-media gives students a true classroom experience.  The full GHSP™ class takes approximately six hours to complete.”

“Using RealTown’s self-authoring e-learning platform, Frances and Denise have created an outstanding program. More than a course, it is a living resource capable of real-time updates addressing the rapid changes in governmental regulations and practices,” said John Reilly, Director of RealTown^®. “Our hats off to these talented authors for taking control of the entire publishing process from start to finish.”

About Frances Flynn Thorsen. Frances Flynn Thorsen is a former Realtor^® who sold HUD Homes in the Lehigh Valley, PA for many years. She is the author of HUD Homes for Sale – A Complete Buyer’s Guide and HUD Homes for Sale – Sales and Marketing Guide for Real Estate Agents. Thorsen was founding editor of RealTown.com and presently teaches continuing education classes in Arizona for real estate licensees.

About The Lones Group. The Lones Group is a nationally recognized resource for real estate agents and brokers.  Company founder Denise Lones is a broker and Realtor® with more than 20 years experience in the real estate industry, and a passion for helping agents transform their businesses.  Although she no longer actively sells real estate, Lones remains closely connected to agents and brokers, and willingly shares her expertise as an analyst, coach, trainer, speaker, and marketing authority. The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones brings over two decades of experience in the real estate industry.  With expertise in strategic marketing, business analysis, branding, new home project planning, product development, and agent/broker coaching and training, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things “real estate”.  Denise can be reached by phone at 369.527.8904 or online at www.thelonesgroup.com.

About RealTown.  RealTown.com is an online resource and community for Real Estate Professionals.  Started back in 1995 with the introduction of RealTalk, the first online community for the Real Estate Industry.

Government Home Sale Professional™ Certification Honors HUD Homes Sales Savvy

San Diego, May 3, 2011 -   Frances Flynn Thorsen, in association with Denise Lones of The Lones Group, has unveiled a new real estate certification for real estate agents and brokers at RealTown.com-- Government Home Sale Professional™ (The GHSP™) Certification. Thorsen and Lones designed this course to help educate real estate agents and brokers wishing to work in the HUD Homes government owned property arena.

The GHSP™ Certification Program is an online course which uses RealTown’s new Learning Management System (LMS). As part of the launch, Thorsen and Lones have opted to offer a shorter, mini-GHSP™ Program, which will give prospective students a sample of the course, and includes important details about HUD’s M&MIII Contractor program, and the agency’s newly redesigned FHA REO disposition plan.  This mini-GHSP™ Program is available to real estate agents without charge.

Approximately $8 billion in inventory exists in the HUD Homes market, which translates to some  $480 million real estate commissions for agents listing and selling HUD Homes.

“October of 2010 saw sweeping changes to the process of working in this segment of the market. The new certification aims to train agents not only in the paperwork side of HUD Homes, but also provides information for agents wishing to increase their share of the local HUD Homes market,” said Lones.

“I am proud and delighted to author the first course on a new world class Learning Management System,” said Thorsen. “The combination of text, graphics, and multi-media gives students a true classroom experience.  The full GHSP™ class takes approximately six hours to complete.”

“Using RealTown’s self-authoring e-learning platform, Frances and Denise have created an outstanding program. More than a course, it is a living resource capable of real-time updates addressing the rapid changes in governmental regulations and practices,” said John Reilly, Director of RealTown^®. “Our hats off to these talented authors for taking control of the entire publishing process from start to finish.”

About Frances Flynn Thorsen. Frances Flynn Thorsen is a former Realtor^® who sold HUD Homes in the Lehigh Valley, PA for many years. She is the author of HUD Homes for Sale – A Complete Buyer’s Guide and HUD Homes for Sale – Sales and Marketing Guide for Real Estate Agents. Thorsen was founding editor of RealTown.com and presently teaches continuing education classes in Arizona for real estate licensees.

About The Lones Group. The Lones Group is a nationally recognized resource for real estate agents and brokers.  Company founder Denise Lones is a broker and Realtor® with more than 20 years experience in the real estate industry, and a passion for helping agents transform their businesses.  Although she no longer actively sells real estate, Lones remains closely connected to agents and brokers, and willingly shares her expertise as an analyst, coach, trainer, speaker, and marketing authority. The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones brings over two decades of experience in the real estate industry.  With expertise in strategic marketing, business analysis, branding, new home project planning, product development, and agent/broker coaching and training, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things “real estate”.  Denise can be reached by phone at 369.527.8904 or online at www.thelonesgroup.com.

About RealTown.  RealTown.com is an online resource and community for Real Estate Professionals.  Started back in 1995 with the introduction of RealTalk, the first online community for the Real Estate Industry.

Government Home Sale Professional™ Certification Honors HUD Homes Sales Savvy

San Diego, May 3, 2011 -   Frances Flynn Thorsen, in association with Denise Lones of The Lones Group, has unveiled a new real estate certification for real estate agents and brokers at RealTown.com-- Government Home Sale Professional™ (The GHSP™) Certification. Thorsen and Lones designed this course to help educate real estate agents and brokers wishing to work in the HUD Homes government owned property arena.

The GHSP™ Certification Program is an online course which uses RealTown’s new Learning Management System (LMS). As part of the launch, Thorsen and Lones have opted to offer a shorter, mini-GHSP™ Program, which will give prospective students a sample of the course, and includes important details about HUD’s M&MIII Contractor program, and the agency’s newly redesigned FHA REO disposition plan.  This mini-GHSP™ Program is available to real estate agents without charge.

Approximately $8 billion in inventory exists in the HUD Homes market, which translates to some  $480 million real estate commissions for agents listing and selling HUD Homes.

“October of 2010 saw sweeping changes to the process of working in this segment of the market. The new certification aims to train agents not only in the paperwork side of HUD Homes, but also provides information for agents wishing to increase their share of the local HUD Homes market,” said Lones.

“I am proud and delighted to author the first course on a new world class Learning Management System,” said Thorsen. “The combination of text, graphics, and multi-media gives students a true classroom experience.  The full GHSP™ class takes approximately six hours to complete.”

“Using RealTown’s self-authoring e-learning platform, Frances and Denise have created an outstanding program. More than a course, it is a living resource capable of real-time updates addressing the rapid changes in governmental regulations and practices,” said John Reilly, Director of RealTown^®. “Our hats off to these talented authors for taking control of the entire publishing process from start to finish.”

About Frances Flynn Thorsen. Frances Flynn Thorsen is a former Realtor^® who sold HUD Homes in the Lehigh Valley, PA for many years. She is the author of HUD Homes for Sale – A Complete Buyer’s Guide and HUD Homes for Sale – Sales and Marketing Guide for Real Estate Agents. Thorsen was founding editor of RealTown.com and presently teaches continuing education classes in Arizona for real estate licensees.

About The Lones Group. The Lones Group is a nationally recognized resource for real estate agents and brokers.  Company founder Denise Lones is a broker and Realtor® with more than 20 years experience in the real estate industry, and a passion for helping agents transform their businesses.  Although she no longer actively sells real estate, Lones remains closely connected to agents and brokers, and willingly shares her expertise as an analyst, coach, trainer, speaker, and marketing authority. The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones brings over two decades of experience in the real estate industry.  With expertise in strategic marketing, business analysis, branding, new home project planning, product development, and agent/broker coaching and training, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things “real estate”.  Denise can be reached by phone at 369.527.8904 or online at www.thelonesgroup.com.

About RealTown.  RealTown.com is an online resource and community for Real Estate Professionals.  Started back in 1995 with the introduction of RealTalk, the first online community for the Real Estate Industry.

I love the new logos for my new online HUD Homes class.

The logo was designed by The Lones Group, an outstanding real estate marketing and branding company in Bellingham, WA. Denise Lones is joining me in a HUD Homes training /Club HUD partnership. I am thrilled about this collaboration … Press release coming soon!

I inserted the transparent TIF on a PowerPoint presentation Denise and I are using in  a CLUB HUD Webinar today. We’re doing members-only Webinars EVERY day this week, recording them, and placing them on a new membership site that will launch shortly at http://www.GovernmentHomeSaleProfessional.com.

WEBINAR SCHEDULE

April 22 Pitch the Asset Manager (recorded)

April 25  Compiling Market Stats (recorded)

April 26  Know Your Asset Manager (recorded)

April 27 Assessing Your HUD Home Market

April 28 Advertising Rules, MLS, IDX - Let's Clear the Confusion

April 29 5 Ways to Amp Your Web Traffic with New Buyers

(TBD in May - OPEN to Public) - Logos and Branding and Websites, Oh My! [Fran and Denise talk about branding ... ]

May 6   Sharing Your HUD Message on Facebook (followed by 1 hour Q&A)

May 13 Put Your Microblogging on Steroids with Hootsuite (followed by 1 hour Q&A)

May 20 Club HUD Blog Tips and Tricks (followed by 1 hour Q&A)

May 27 Online and Offline HUD Seminar Event Planning (followed by 1 hour Q&A)