Time in D.C. and Exciting News!

Hello, friends! We hope your week has been great so far. It's busy as usual with The Murphy Team as we are preparing for a closing tomorrow and working on some new listings. For as cold as it's been around the Tri-State the past couple weeks, the market is hot! We certainly hope this is just the start of a great spring and summer season this year.

We can't wait to work with new clients in the coming months and are more prepared than ever to get your home sold or help you find a beautiful new space for your family. Andrea just returned from Washington, D.C. where she attended ERA's annual conference called IBC. Not only did she get to attend some fantastic classes to pick up new skills and ideas to bring back to our clients, but she won a very prestigious award! 

Our very own Andrea Murphy won Rookie of the Year -- NATIONALLY! She was one of 3 agents nominated out of every ERA franchise in the country. The process just to get nominated is competitive; an agent has to have a high level of production, community involvement, activity in the local Realtor association, and some really killer client reviews and letters of recommendation. We know it's an honor just to be nominated for awards like that, but how awesome is it that she won?! We are very proud of her and know that this just fuels her fire for building this business even more and helping more clients realize their dreams of home ownership.

To accomplish these goals however, we know new ideas and practices have to be put in place. Andrea has been raving about how great the classes were at the conference, and here is just a sample of the courses she chose to take.

Ninja Selling: Focused on competition and getting listings sold. This class was all about setting up a business system for each listing and using specific steps to help clients get their homes sold. 

Social Media Idea Sharing: We feel like social media marketing is a very powerful tool and is only growing in popularity and effectiveness. This class focused on getting the most out of social media marketing and using it to influence business practices.

15 "Must Do's" in 2015: This course was taught by an ERA National trainer that we love in our local offices. His class focused on client care and meeting expectations of our clients each day. 

New Negotiating Edge, Getting Past NO!: As a client, don't you want your agent to be a strong negotiator? Of course you do, and that's why this class is important. It focused on honing negotiating skills to get your home sold or bought for market value and working through difficult negotiating situations that may arise. 

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Useful & Useless Technology: We have so many technologies are our disposal these days, and we want to make sure the platforms we use are actually beneficial for our clients and business. This class broke down what technology has the highest value and how to implement it in a specific business plan.

While these courses were the focus of the conference, Andrea did leave a little time to celebrate her award and get out for some good food and sightseeing around D.C.

The highlight was visiting the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, which she says was one of her bucket list items. She got to see some amazing exhibits while walking around, but what was her favorite?

Dorothy's ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz! The are the shoes Judy Garland wore in the movie -- they're so dainty and still shine like they're brand new! 

But before long, it was time for Andrea to click her heels like Dorothy because "there's no place like home". She's back and has hit the ground running, so if you have any questions about buying or selling your home, call anytime!

Have a great week!