Web Wise
Consumer Resources: Not just for
Consumers
While the WRA Web site is primarily comprised of member tools and issues, it also includes a wealth of information geared toward the consumer. It may surprise you to know that the WRA has significant consumer traffic on our site. In fact, our site statistics show consumer resource pages typically ranking two or three times in the top 20 most visited pages of our Web site. A great deal of valuable information is dedicated to the consumer section of wra.org, however this information is also very worthwhile for our members. We frequently get calls from members asking if they can use the information from Consumer Resources in their client presentations or newsletters.* We even have an eight-page "First Time Homebuyers Guide" formatted and ready to reproduce.
The Consumer Resources section covers what consumers want to know about buying or selling property in language they can understand. All the steps of the transaction, important real estate terminology, and issues they need to know are presented in a straight-forward format. Weaved into all the information is a recurring theme: Use a
REALTORŪ. We take the opportunity to market our members and the value they bring to this important transaction.
Here's a breakdown of the information available in the Consumer Resources. We hope you'll find something useful.
Wisconsin Property Web sites
This is a geographic search that identifies WRA members who have a Web site. If your company doesn't show up in the list, it's either because you don't have a Web site or you haven't given us your Web site address for displaying.
About Wisconsin
Wisconsin Housing
Statistics. Quarterly stats provide the number of homes sold and the median price by county.
Wisconsin
Resources. Wisconsin Demographics, Drivers and Vehicle registration info, Employment opportunities, land use, Taxes and other resources.
Home Buyers Guide
- Printable PDF file of "First-Time Homebuyers Guide"-Print this formatted brochure and hand out to your customers. Why reinvent the wheel? And it's free!
- Homeownership Benefits
- Glossary of Terms
- Buyer Agency
- Shopping for a Home
- Financing
- Offer, Negotiation and contract writing
- Closing
- Homebuyer's Tools
Home Sellers Guide
- Tax Benefits for Home Sellers
- Buyer Agency
- Marketing Your Home
- Pricing Your Home
- Financing
- Negotiating & Closing
*Information from Consumer Resources may be reproduced by our members. To reproduce information from the Legal Services area of our site, please email
spenner@wra.org for permission.
Back to Inside This
Edition
Return to On-Line
Publications
Be
Smart About Auto-Reply
Going on vacation? Do you use an "Out-of-Office" auto message in your email? If so, you may want to consider being somewhat vague in your message. Putting too much information in your Out-of-Office auto message may set you up to be the victim of one of the newest forms of high tech crime. 
By purchasing and mailing to huge email lists, thieves may determine from auto-reply messages the best candidates for their next job. If your auto-reply gives the impression you might be away from home, it may invite unsavory characters to look a bit further for telephone numbers and address information from public resources.
How can you safeguard yourself from a crime such as this?
- Do not give specific information in "Out-of-Office" message (such as "I will be in the Caribbean until next Tuesday.")
- Have an e-mail address that isn't associated with your name.
- You can set up a spam filter so that your out-of-office replies go only to designated people.
- Redirect questions to another person within your office
- Refrain from giving out details like personal contact information in such replies
Back to Inside This
Edition
Return to On-Line
Publications
Back to Top
|
