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Profile: Bobby R. Keen
Bobby's Approach to Servicing His Market
Since Bobby's role in real estate involves both the purchasing of timeshare
resales and
the listing and selling of them, his market strategies break down into methods
specific to the job.
When working with the buying of timeshare resales, Bobby researches exhaustively by
viewing as many resorts as possible. He has an extensive knowledge of the
inventory currently on the market, but far more important than this, he also has
a wide range of knowledge regarding timeshare resales not yet listed on the market, what are
called "pocket listings"--properties which only a few agents know
about which are not yet officially for sale. This is important because of the
quickly growing market in the Timeshare Resales Industry. Villas do not stay on the market
long, and in order to find the property a client wants, it may be necessary to dig a
little deeper than the official listings. "It used to be common for us to
have properties sitting for months and months," says Bobby, "but now
they don't sit at all. Things are moving at a remarkably rapid rate."
When working on selling a timeshare resales property, Bobby takes pride in knowing that he is
technologically up to par, with an extensive marketing strategy in place on the
Internet. Bobby specializes in marketing to potential buyers in what he calls
"The real place to save, The "HOT DEALS" section",
One of the most important parts of Bobby's marketing schematic is
networking. He networks not only between himself and other real estate agents,
but also between himself and people in his industry. Since he has been involved
in so many different aspects of the Timeshare Resales economic structure, he has many
ties to many people in the business. Also, on a National basis, he is a member of
The Board of Realtors, which helps him to network
nationwide to find buyers planning on purchasing a timeshare resale, and how he can
best serve them. On a local level, "I attend quarterly networking meetings
between agents in the Central Florida area while promoting each others'
properties. This is a group formed several years ago in order to
facilitate the buying and selling of properties in a more cooperative way."
Bobby sees networking as one of the key elements to being successful in
timeshare resales. "If you are an expert at networking between agents
and people in the industry, you are going to find a great property for your buyer
before it even gets on the market. When you expose Timeshare Resales to as many people as I
do, it is even quite common to receive multiple offers."
Philosophically, Bobby realizes that buying a timeshare resale can be an inordinately
stressful affair. "I work with both
buyers and sellers regarding all of the stresses related to handling a real
estate transaction. Right now the situation is excellent, a win-win scenario for
both buyers and sellers."
One of the most important characteristics of a good real estate agent, says
Bobby, is that of being a good listener. Bobby prides himself on having an
open ear to the ideas and desires of his clients. "I listen to the needs of
what my buyers and sellers want and expect, and I work with them accordingly.
Many agents get criticized because they have their own agenda, and suddenly
they'll show clients a property, and the clients' reaction will be 'you didn't
hear me-- I don't want this.' In real estate an agent doesn't have the
opportunity to make many mistakes, because there are a lot of other good agents
out there. I try to listen well so I have a good idea of what my clients are
really looking for."
Using Technology to Enable Communication
One unique aspect of Bobby's marketing approach is his use of technology.
"In many ways, real estate is 20 years behind everyone else. I want to keep
up with what technology has to offer." Bobby has done this by using
pagers, lap-top computers, cellular phones, fax machines, and the internet to achieve
what he calls "instantaneous communication of timeshare resales." Bobby sees these technologies as valuable tools with which one
can simplify and expedite the process of buying the timeshare resale."
More and more people are telling me about timeshare resales they've seen listed on the
internet. With many clients, I receive three or four e-mails from them before I
ever get to talk to them. We have definitely moved beyond just relying on index
cards here."
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