After years of watching how real estate leads are won and lost online, Realty Times founder Jody Lane thought he had it all figured out: Web pages have value, lead generation products such as school reports can work, affiliating with national listings sites can work, but what successful brokers and agents must have is one vital ingredient -- contacts.

"Web sites are passive," says Lane. "To make a real estate business or any other business grow, you have to be active. You have to go for it."

That means that the agent must be proactive by developing and maintaining a strong contact "farm."

"That's why Web sites alone don't work," says Lane. "The agent expects that the Web site will do their farming for them."

What's better?

"Working a farm where you are the expert," says Lane. And the only way to do that is to stay in personal contact with prospects and past clients.

Using consumer stories from Realty Times, Lane created the Real Estate Update, a monthly newsletter for real estate agents that they use to get more business. Agents realized they could use the newsletter as an inexpensive way to stay in touch with past clients, as well as nurture notoriously-shy buyers. After all, these same buyers and sellers used the Internet to do research -- so why not use the Internet to reach them?

Soon, thousands of agents opted for an advertising-free version priced at only $200.00 a year. This publication allowed agents to put their own information, including current market data, articles and listings before consumers in a fast and inexpensive manner. Contacts established and maintained through the newsletter were between the subscriber and consumers -- Realty Times did not come between the realty professional and his or her prospective clients.

Soon, Lane was getting requests from mortgage brokers and other professionals asking Realty Times to design similar newsletters for their industries. A natural evolution was to expand into mortgage banking and financial services, so now Realty Times is launching its newest newsletter, a monthly product for mortgage brokers--The Financial Wire.

This monthly newsletter offers cutting-edge technology including a built-in print version that allows subscribers to print out one-page stories with their picture and contact information in the header for use as handouts and mailouts.

This new contact and lead capture tool features stories by experienced journalists covering market conditions, interest rates, and general home owner interest.

"There's every reason to believe that with The Financial Wire mortgage professionals will have the same success as our Real Estate Update customers have enjoyed," says Lane.

The Financial Wire is available on a subscription basis at $295 per year to mortgage professionals.

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Published: April 17, 2001

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.