All posts by Agent Insight Editor

Featured Insights

Small Community, Big Artists

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ou don’t have to live in the big city to find great art. About a 15-minute drive from Lake of The Ozarks is the small farming community of Barnett, where the landscape is scattered with crop fields, hay bales, silos, and traditional red barns. During hay season, you can’t help rolling down your windows to take in the aroma of fresh cut hay as you drive through. While you won’t find any shopping malls or big box stores here, you will find colorful farm markets bursting with the season’s fresh local produce and home-grown plants, community churches, and the volunteer fire department. Your neighbors here provide a myriad of goods and services from their small home-based shops boasting of baked goods, fabrics, quilters, herbal goods, small engine repair, landscaping, and Art. 

Tucked away on the backside of Main Street is one of my favorite places to visit – AJ’s Vintage Arts. AJ Behrens is the creative genius behind all the beautiful and unique items inside and outside her quaint little shop. A master of stained glass, her creations also include iron works, metal works, drawings, paintings, etchings and 3D twisted wire sculptures. She creates something amazing out of everything she finds, no matter how large or small the find. AJ will create a custom masterpiece far beyond what you had imagined with just the slightest idea of what you have in mind. From stained-glass wind spinners fashioned from old bicycle tires, to the wall sized sculpture made from nuts, bolts and mechanical/structural parts and pieces, to the WWII pink parachute that adorns the ceiling in her shop, AJ shares the story behind each piece, and the history of the small railroad community that we call home.

Barnett, MO

Submitted by
Candy Barton
RE/MAX Lake of the Ozarks
Osage Beach, MO

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Helping Clients Visualize the Community

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“There’s a fear factor for clients in learning how to get involved in a new area. They can visualize themselves there with the help of my Agent Insight photos and articles. Zillow and Trulia will never be able to provide that kind of detail about neighborhoods and communities.”

Marty Remo
RE/MAX Benchmart Realty Group
Central Valley, NY

How & Why

Agent Insight is a Fantastic Platform

For over three years, Marty Remo of RE/MAX Benchmark Realty Group in Central Valley, NY has been a regular contributor to Agent Insight, submitting hundreds of photos and written posts.

“Agent Insight is a fantastic platform,” he said. “When I receive a new listing, it allows me to promote the entire surrounding community with unique and consistent posts. They drive on-line searches to those communities and, therefore, to my new listing.”

Marty, leader of the HV Home Team, says his team’s written insights and photos give their potential clients a chance to get to know them.

“Being genuine goes a long way,” Marty said. “People want to work with people, not just with their computers. If a client is interested in a house, that person wants to know what it will be like to live there. They want to know about activities for the kids, how close is the nearest grocery store, or if there’s a park nearby. I can show skiing and snowboarding in the winter and boating in summer.”

“There’s a fear factor for people in learning how to get involved in a new area. They can visualize themselves there with the help of my Agent Insight photos and articles. Zillow and Trulia will never be able to provide that kind of detail about neighborhoods and communities,” he said.

Marty frequently uses first person in his writing, giving his clients a good idea about his experience and history.  Here’s an excerpt of a post he submitted on Village Woods where he grew up in Monroe, NY.

Life on the Beach at Round Lake Park
There were lots of kids in the neighborhood. I recall swimming out to the dock at the beach with friends….We would take out our small row boat and bass fish near the island in the center of the lake. Now there are paddle boats that you can rent. It’s really nice. You feel like you are far away from civilization, but in reality you are only a mile from the center of Monroe.

Marty urges his RE/MAX team and other agents to tap into all the neighborhoods that still need to be covered for Agent Insight. “If you want to grow your business, you have to think smaller,” he says, meaning that emphasis on specific subdivisions is a smart strategy when submitting to Agent Insight. Marty arrives early before every property showing in order to snap a few neighborhood photos and submit them.

“After putting posts on to my Agent Insight pages, I cross share them with other social media accounts like Facebook and LinkedIn,” he said. “I use many ways to redirect people into the community information I want them to see. I frequently include YouTube videos as well. Videos create a powerful connection and provide a ton of good information.”

In addition to strengthening his SEO, Marty’s goal is to find a common bond with potential clients.

“You need a connection to start communication,” he said. “For example, I love dogs and sunsets, so I can include posts about them in Agent Insight. If somebody identifies with those things, that personal touch will help build the business side of a relationship. People can get to know me and my community through Agent Insight. ”

Marty has covered dozens of subjects with his  photos. The selection below includes one of his favorite sunset scenes.

The River Rose paddle wheeler on the Newburgh Waterfront
Enjoying Halloween at Maples Farm, including their giant scarecrow!
This pretty gazebo is on an island in the village of Monroe millponds
Drive home from Central Valley watching a beautiful, changing sky
Featured Insights

Amazing Progress

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was walking down to the boardwalk today and looked up. I couldn’t believe the progress of the new multi-use building! The crane just went up last summer and now I see almost 10 stories and some glass windows being installed. The building will be a combination of hotel, condominiums, retail and restaurants. As a full-time resident of Asbury Park, it’s exciting to see progress all around the city. We have new restaurants popping up, new condo developments being built, older homes being renovated, city bikes located throughout town and more music than ever before. I’ll continue to post updates as the summer approaches!!

Asbury Park, NJ

Submitted by
Kathleen Galano
RE/MAX Gateway
Asbury Park, NJ

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Featured Insights

New Fawns Out and About

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ne of the great things about Dover Pond and Clearbrook is the wildlife. On a daily basis you can always see a deer or several around the neighborhood. But you can also find turkeys, owls, hawks that nest, skunks, of course, but the best thing is when the moms start to lead the baby fawns out and about. Over the past month or so, they have been spotted all around the neighborhood. For the past week, one doe and her two fawns have been by on a regular basis. I am sure she is teaching the little ones all about the great neighbors and wonderful homes that are available around the area! It’s not like any other neighborhood in Owasso. Come and check it — out you won’t be disappointed.

The Dover Pond Development
Owasso, OK

Submitted by
Kelly Hayne
RE/MAX Results
Owasso, OK

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