{"id":12305,"date":"2009-07-06T19:10:26","date_gmt":"2009-07-06T23:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ewm.com\/internalblog\/?p=12305"},"modified":"2009-07-06T19:10:26","modified_gmt":"2009-07-06T23:10:26","slug":"july-12-18-welcome-home-week-making-florida-homes-affordable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/?p=12305","title":{"rendered":"July 12-18 Welcome Home Week-Making Florida Homes Affordable"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that July 12 through July 18 is Welcome Home Week-Making Florida Homes Affordable?\u00a0 What is Welcome Home Week? FAR’s big push to get everyone excited\u00a0about homeownership opportunities offered through the tax credit, and also help educate Florida homeowners about foreclosure prevention resources available to them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In addition to several radio spots that FAR will air throughout the state here are 10 Tips to Create Community Buzz & Free<\/strong> Publicity.<\/p>\n

1. Phone calls \u2013 It never hurts to pick up the phone and call your local newspaper, radio stations and other media outlets. If you already know someone, like the local real estate reporter, great \u2013 give them a ring and say you\u2019ve got some information that local residents (their readers, listeners and advertisers) want to know. If you don\u2019t know who to talk to, just ask. They\u2019ll steer you to the right person covering real estate or government or even community news. You should follow up your call by sending them some of the materials you have on the federal tax credit, foreclosure prevention and Welcome Home Week. Your phone\u2019s voice mail message also offers an opportunity for promotion and publicity. Mention the tax credit (briefly!) and\/or Welcome Home Week, and every time someone leaves you a message, they hear about it.<\/p>\n

2. Email \u2013 Email is a great way to connect with people, even media types. Send a short, to-the-point email to your sphere of influence, letting family, friends, clients and local media know about these programs. Give out the website address to floridarealtors.org, letting them know where they can find out more. You can also provide a link to the radio spots produced by your Florida Association of Realtors\u00ae, encouraging people to listen to them and get excited about these opportunities. Add a line to your email signature to serve as a reminder. It could be as simple as \u201cAsk me about the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit\u201d or \u201cBe a part of Welcome Home Week, July 12-18, 2009.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Social media \u2013 Take advantage of Facebook, MySpace, ActiveRain, Twitter and other social media networking sites. These sites offer a great way to quickly spread the word about events and activities. The tax credit and Welcome Home Week are perfect topics for your real estate blogs; if you don\u2019t have one but know someone who does maintain a blog, enlist them to help you share the information.<\/p>\n

4. Websites \u2013 Add some information about the first-time homebuyer tax credit, Welcome Home Week and\/or foreclosure prevention to your website, and add links to the info on FAR\u2019s floridarealtors.org site (nonpassword-protected areas.) You\u2019ll be offering content of real value to potential clients.<\/p>\n

5. Newsletters, media releases, letters to the editor and radio announcements \u2013 Spread the word through your newsletters. Customize the sample media releases (or write your own) and send them to local media outlets. Make a call and find out who should receive the release, whether it\u2019s a reporter or the news editor. Many reporters may not be fully aware of the temporary tax credit or the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program. Let them know about Welcome Home Week. Write a personal letter to the editor \u2013 your passion about these opportunities and resources will come through, and if they\u2019re published, that\u2019s valuable media coverage in a well-read section of the paper. Send FAR\u2019s radio spots (the audio clips or the scripts) to local radio stations and suggest using them as public service announcements.<\/p>\n

6. Community calendars \u2013 Provide information about Welcome Home Week and\/or your local Homebuyers Expo events to local community organizations (and media) that keep community event calendars, including your cable TV provider\/local community channel\u2019s event calendar and online community event calendars offered by local neighborhood groups.<\/p>\n

7. Put up posters and flyers \u2013 Take Welcome Home Week posters and flyers to prominent locations around your city, such as libraries, college campuses, churches, downtown restaurants or businesses, and ask permission to post them.<\/p>\n

8. Speak at community events \u2013 Ask if you can take a few minutes to mention these programs and resources at the next Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, PTA or any meeting of your professional associations, community groups and activities. Think of it as a public service announcement: Briefly talk about the tax credit, foreclosure prevention resources and\/or Welcome Home Week. Refer to your local board\/association and FAR for more information.<\/p>\n

9. Sponsor a table at community events \u2013 At the next arts festival, health fair or other community event in your area, ask if you can bring some materials to share or sponsor a booth to promote Welcome Home Week, the tax credit and\/or foreclosure prevention resources.<\/p>\n

10. Word of mouth \u2013 Talk about these programs and opportunities. Tell your friend, tell your neighbor, tell the parents around you the next time you\u2019re waiting to pick up your child from band practice. Getting your hair trimmed? Discuss it with your barber or stylist. Word of mouth is the best kind of free and credible advertising. You tell a friend, they tell two friends and pretty soon, you\u2019ve got the whole town talking!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you know that July 12 through July 18 is Welcome Home Week-Making Florida Homes Affordable?\u00a0 What is Welcome Home Week? FAR’s big push to get everyone excited\u00a0about homeownership opportunities offered through the tax credit, and also help educate Florida homeowners about foreclosure prevention resources available to them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In addition to several radio spots that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}