From an MBA to RPR: a REALTOR® Success Story
At RPR, we relish getting feedback from our users. Your comments and success stories fuel our efforts to keep improving the RPR experience. When you reach out and tell us how you’re “wowing” clients and closing more deals, it helps us make adjustments and enhancements to lead to more future success.
So you can imagine how impressed we were when we received this email from Cesar Umanzor, a REALTOR® from Houston, Texas:
Good morning! RPR has been one of the best resources available to my business today. The accessibility to detailed data, analytics, and customized reporting allows me the opportunity to provide high-level value to current or prospective clients. Also, I have been using RPR lately for analyzing residential investment strategies and prospecting new markets. This process is seamless, and I don't have to use any other software to gather detailed information. Thanks!
Nice! And after a well-worded message like that, we knew we had to speak to Cesar to learn more. The following is a Q & A with a real estate industry vet who recently earned his MBA. He’s more focused than ever to succeed in real estate and he’s using RPR to reach those goals.
RPR: the “game-changing” property and market research tool
Q: Hello Cesar and thanks for your note. When you mentioned that using RPR is “seamless”, what did you mean?
Cesar: The latest version of RPR is giving me a great experience. It’s very interactive and I love it the more I get used to it. It really paints a picture for you and the client. By seamless I mean that it’s easy to find the data I want and to let it work for me. When I was working corporately and on my MBA, I used Excel quite a bit, for things such as breaking down an analysis on an income statement sheet, or looking at the return on an investment (ROI). Now, I use Valuate in RPR to take care of it all so easily and automatically. I put in the numbers and the program takes the manual work out. I mean, to use a tool where the system does it automatically for you? I’ve never seen something like that in real estate.
Q: How has RPR been one of the “best resources available to your business today”?
Cesar: Working with existing and new investors is where it comes in handy most. The investor analysis tool, how I can refine the values, the snapshot of local changes in the market, the interactive map, narrowing down the visibility. I could go on and on—so many helpful features! Once you create the analysis, it allows you to evaluate the property with details, home improvement, long and short term holds, etc. Plus, it’s free! I’m not sure how many REALTORS® know about this, but it’s a game-changer for me.
Q: How did you get so knowledgeable about RPR?
Cesar: The Learning Center and the training webinars are key, and they’re available for no cost. My mantra is: “Knowledge is your best asset.” So I take forty-five minutes each day to educate myself and I use RPR’s materials for that all the time. You have to use it to your advantage. It’s empowering and you’ll be ahead of thousands of other REALTORS®.
Q: Which RPR classes have you attended?
Cesar: I recently took the Multi-family webinar. I like taking the commercial classes and then using those tools to present to my residential investors, such as flippers. Presenting fresh data to the customer is crucial in today’s real estate world.”
Q: Any good “Wow Moment” stories to share?
Cesar: I recently held an open house, and a couple walking through asked me a question about the area. On the spot I created a Market Activity Report for the area, a property report and a CMA. I shared it with them in minutes, and they were like “Wow, you did that in 5 mintues?!” I use the RVM all the time.That RVM is critical. I get asked on the spot “What’s the value?” I can give an overview right then and there. That’s huge.
