Real estate agents tap Twitter

In a depressed market, progress happens 140 characters at a time. South Florida brokerages have joined the slew of other businesses that use Twitter, the short instant messaging system, and are learning the benefits and drawbacks.

Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell (EWM) has been on the Twitter bandwagon for about 18 months.

In fact, the company maintains several Twitter accounts — one for media announcements, one to promote its Smart Living division for properties under $300,000, one to showcase special features inside luxury homes and another to post links to its videos. EWM has about 1,200 followers on its accounts.

“Twitter definitely raises our company’s profile among a younger, more technologically proficient demographic,” said Beth Butler, COO of EWM in Coral Gables. “Twitter has also helped us attract experienced agents and we have many success stories from brokers who have sold houses through Twitter leads.”

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Add comment August 15th, 2009

Q & A with Frank Mackle

Venny Torre and Frank Mackle smell opportunity. In fact, they see the proverbial perfect storm in the real estate industry and are betting on a potentially profitable niche: distressed property workouts.

The real estate building veterans last November launched Miami-based Torre Mackle Group, a firm specializing in completing distressed real estate projects and Chinese drywall remediation.

The duo is on to something. South Florida ranks third among U.S. markets for the volume of commercial real estate and condo projects in some level of financial distress. The region has at least 232 known troubled assets, representing more than $6 billion in problematic loans, according to the latest report from Real Capital Analytics.

Click here to read the rest of my story on The Real Deal.

Add comment August 15th, 2009