After obtaining his MBA in 1978, Raphael Barta began his career developing high-end ski resort, hotel and mixed-use retail/residential projects. Given an assignment to survey a project on Schweitzer Mountain in Sandpoint, Idaho, Barta figured his time there would be short. “What began as, ‘I’ll give it a couple of months,’ turned into 14 years,” says Barta. “This is just such a wonderful place to live that it became too hard to leave.”
Today, instead of developing properties, Barta is highly engaged in filling them with folks similar to himself who fall in love with the pristine Idaho community and everything it has to offer.
As the associate broker at CENTURY 21 RiverStone and president of the Selkirk Association of REALTORS®, Barta likes to think of himself as the area’s “go-to” guy. When it comes to connecting buyers and sellers through the relationships he develops, it’s because he’s in the know about virtually anything a prospect might ask, thanks to Realtors Property Resource® (RPR®).
“You can’t do better establishing a trusted relationship than by being a go-to guy,” says Barta. “That means if somebody has a question late at night or when they get up, no matter what time zone, I invite them to call. My way of helping them is by providing peace of mind, which means being available and answering all their questions.”
Since 80 percent of Barta’s clients are from out of state, many don’t know a lot about Sandpoint, its 20 resort communities, neighborhoods and estates.
“They come here wanting to know about this great place, so I add to the details they may have already found on the Web,” he says. And that’s where RPR comes into play.
“An MLS is a beautiful thing, but it has narrow parameters,” says Barta, who goes on to say that RPR is instrumental when it comes to filling in the rest of the information.
While his clients are investing in more than just real estate—they’re buying an Idaho lifestyle—Barta enjoys being a high profile resource on behalf of his community, developing branded property reports and presentations using the RPR network that are presented in the most desirable and consumable way. “There’s data everywhere and it’s got my name and photo all over it in an organized, detailed format,” he says.
In addition to building relationships and educating prospects about what their dollar gets in the local market, Barta takes the time to get to know a prospect’s lifestyle and hobbies so that he can showcase properties that truly meet their needs.
“Once I know what they’re looking for, I start sending them RPR property reports, which go right into their resource folder,” says Barta.
“Whether it’s the frequency of contact or the quality of content, if clients call me and I have a good answer for them every time, they’ll call me first,” concludes Barta. “And I have those answers because of RPR. It’s good information, it’s packaged in a very presentable way, and it’s more comprehensive than anything else out there.”
For more information, please visit www.narrpr.com.
