Shirley Richards, broker associate at Coldwell Banker, has returned from attending the annual international CRS conference in San Francisco. Richards regularly attends CRS conferences to learn unique services to use with her Conejo Valley clients. This year's sessions concentrated on enhancing Internet marketing and providing new services to buyers and sellers challenged by the current residential real estate market.

Agents achieving the CRS designation have sales records and educational requirements beyond those required of broker and salesperson licensees. Other advanced designations for Richards include the CRB and ePRO. The latter specializes in Internet expertise. Fewer than 1 percent of all Realtors nationwide have obtained these three designations.

Richards believes the knowledge she has gained with the CRB,CRS, and ePRO has helped her be successful in closing escrows for hundreds of local buyers and sellers.

Richards holds a master's degree and an undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Midwestern universities. She, her husband, and two sons moved to the Conejo Valley in 1976. She has been a local full-time realtor since 1979.

Shirley Richards can be reached at (805) 3702851. Her website is www.ShirleyRichards.com.