Residential Real Estate
Gasoline is putting the brakes on the choices you thought you had about where to live.
As much of the country ushers in sweltering temperatures, thoughts turn to
Advancements in technology have forever changed many aspects of our lives, especially in our homes. While smart home devices have been around for as long as 30 years now in small numbers, a new breed of computerized products from a new diverse group of suppliers is ready to enter the marketplace. This is good news developers who, if they add smart home automation systems as a value added service, can expect long-term revenue streams.
If you"ve been itching to spend some of that equity your home has earned in recent years, consider using it to shore up your home against the seismic forces of an earthquake.
Evidence consumer ignorance is also contributing to the growing number of foreclosures, more than one in three home owners couldn"t tell you what type of loan they have if their home ownership counted on it.
Federal banking and tax officials are warning consumers and lenders about a multi-state gang of slick identity thieves out to steal personal financial information to gain access to large chunks of your cash.
Warmer weather makes chilling appliances work harder to keep you and your food cool, but you can give them a hand with a few preventative maintenance tips performed now.
Q: On inspection of a small apartment house property prior to signing a sales contract, I found a crack in one of the rooms. The seller agreed to reimburse me for repairing this crack, and in reliance on this promise, I signed a contract to purchase the property. The work was done, and I paid the contractor over $5000 for the job. However, my lender has been dragging its feet, and now the seller is threatening to cancel the contract because I should have gone to closing several months ago.
Despite all the recent tax cuts, most homeowners are continually looking for another way to reduce their tax bills. If you operate a home-based business, you may be able to do that through deductions for a home office.
For the first time, home owners are now able to access information regarding complaints against insurance carriers in their respective states.
As the events of Sept. 11 still linger in our minds, most of us seek comfort in our homes. We"re also paying more attention to our home"s security.
Given a choice, most people prefer to "age in place" in their homes, but the healthcare system is now largely organized to provide services at clinics and hospitals, a system which is likely to evolve as the population gets older.
A battle over title insurance in California has entered the courts in what promises to expose the American Land Title Association (ALTA) as either an heroic protector of consumers" interests or a dastardly, anti-innovation protector of its own market share.
On my recent trip to Colorado, I was surprised to find windmill farms. I knew that they existed in California and in Texas; I did not know that they existed in Colorado.
As the real estate market continues shaking out nationally, investors thinking out of the box are looking to gain from the turnaround by joining with like-minded buyers on luxury condos.
Electricity costs are up, but not as high as they likely will go and satisfaction with electric utility providers is down, but probably not as low as it will go.
The blackouts and brown-outs in California during the last year appear to have been a wake-up call for the nation.
It might be easy to overlook something you can look right through, but don"t do it. Windows are a key element in a home and they deserve a second look.
More home buyers have a better chance now than at any other time in nearly a half decade to negotiate a home-buying deal that costs less and comes with some concessions thrown in.
Question: I am the president of a large (more than 150 units) condominium complex. There are many investor owners in our complex who rent their units, and the percentage of these investors is approaching 50 percent. We have been told that there are potential financial complications when the owner-investor ratio gets too high, so our board is considering a rule which would limit leasing in our building. Is this a good idea? Our bylaws allow owners to rent their units for periods of not less than 6 months.
Your insurance broker has undoubtedly advised you to create a thorough inventory of your household possessions. You can certainly keep written records and save those records in a safety deposit box, but it"s best to back-up documents with a photographic inventory.
U.S. consumers and businesses are expected to save $19 billion during the next 30 years as a result of new efficiency standards for household appliances.
Imagine you have invited a small group of your best friends, Realtors® all, for dinner and a rousing game of "The Ethical Way." After the meal, you all sit on the back deck; one person reads the description of a situation in which a real estate professional might find himself or herself; and the rest respond to the situation with their own thoughts about what would and what would not be the right thing to do in this situation. After sometimes heated discussions, the analysis of the author is read, throwing another log into the intellectual/emotional fire.
At this time of year more than any other, families are buying up candles
Every kid"s dream is to live in a neighborhood occupied by other children
Vacation home security: the mere term may make you snicker, because let"s
Your roof is considerably damaged following a sudden hailstorm. You"ve called your homeowner"s insurance company and arranged for an adjuster to survey the damage to your roof. Now it"s time to call a roof-repair company. Because you"re new to the area and this is the first time your roof has been damaged by hail, you have no idea whom to call. Opening the Yellow Pages, you see dozens of listings. How do tell who"s reputable and who"s merely blowing their own horn? You could ask your fellow neighbors for recommendations, of course. But if your neighbors are also facing this catastrophe for the first time, then what?
One of the best aspects of being a single-family homeowner is that you
You"re traveling out of state when your next-door neighbor, in the middle of walking his dog, spots something peculiar trailing out from under your front door. Walking up the steps for a closer look, he realizes it"s a trickle of water slowly creeping its way down the front step. Retrieving the house key you leave at his home at all times, your neighbor enters your home and sets foot on a soggy carpet. Your house has flooded, the result of a frozen pipe that burst underneath your wet bar.
The prospect of a newly remodeled home, while certainly tempting, often
Batten the hatches.
In life, three things are certain: Death, taxes, and stress from remodeling projects.
Home owners are leaving themselves open to financial risk when they don"t obtain adequate insurance coverage during and after home improvement work.
As Fort Worth, Texas, so dramatically illustrated last week, "tis the season for unpredictable and often ferocious storms that leave homes battered. Water damage is often the result of these springtime storms. Homeowners are left to cope with a tremendous mess. Not only are
As spring starts to raise her cheery head, a seller"s fancy turns to fix up and ..."ick"... painting! But if you"re like most of us, you don"t take a lot of time to do it correctly. After all, you may rationalize, it"s not rocket science---it"s just slopping some paint on a surface.
Spring Break has descended upon households throughout the country. As a
If you"ve successfully begun, or better yet, completed your spring cleaning, congratulations. You"re in the minority. If can see the floor, if you"ve actually thrown items away and/or given them to your local charity, and you have indeed achieved "the illusion of clean," you"ve accomplished quite a feat. Most of us dream of spring cleaning but never do it. Why upset the "order" of things? After all, that might look messy to everyone else, but there"s a method to your madness. If you were to rearrange your possessions, you"d never find anything again. Think of the time you"d waste just trying to find things afterward.
Can"t we all just get along?
Question: Could federal aid to homeowners facing foreclosure affect MY home"s value? Even if I"m not delinquent on my mortgage?
The holiday season is the most exciting time of year for your pets.
It hardly bears repeating that Y2K has gotten its share of press and yes,
As we turn our clocks back this fall and bundle up for the arrival of Old
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of an interview with JP Dahdah, Entrust Arizona and Jeremy Hanks and Michael Madsen of RealSource Retirement Services. To listen to, or download the show archive MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com.]
The only time most of us consider the maintenance of our air conditioning
Fess up, folks. We"ve all done it at least once. You"ve placed a paper
The reasons for providing shade outside and inside your home -- whether it
Homeowner association managers are a critical part of the turnover process from developer to elected homeowner board. But the devil is in the details and there are plenty of them to get this process right. Developers, in their role as pre-turnover board president often hire homeowner association management companies to handle HOA business like collecting fees, paying bills, processing maintenance requests, enforcing rules and architectural restrictions. These tasks will continue after turnover so getting the routine down as early as possible is in the best interest of the HOA.
President Clinton declared 11 Oklahoma counties as disaster areas following
CHICAGO -- A few years back, Beverly DeJulio, noticed gallons of sudsy
Foreclosures just won"t go away.
When most people think of lung cancer, they think of people smoking cigarettes. Granted, this is a common way to contract lung cancer. But, do you know what the second leading cause of lung cancer is in the United States? Radon.
According to U.S. Government statistical abstracts, nearly 80 percent of all homes purchased each year are existing homes, most of which require various degrees of renovation and remodeling. Unfortunately, not everyone is qualified or reputable to perform the work.
In some regions of the country, owning a swimming pool is as much a part of owning a home as having a front door. If you fly over states like California and Texas, you"ll spot row after row of tiny back yards, all containing familiar kidney-shaped swimming pools. Whether you live in a geographical region where pools are commonplace -- or you"re considering a pool in a neighborhood where you"re destined to become the most popular house on the street if you do indeed build one -- pools represent a huge investment. The jury"s out on whether, financially speaking, home owners ever get back the returns they spent on their pools; most say they don"t. In fact, according to RE/MAX Realtors Norm and Pat Fisher, swimming pools mean an added market value of between -25 percent and 15 percent, a far cry from garages (75 percent to 100 percent), or interior or exterior paint (70 percent to 300 percent). However, pools can become the deciding factor for potential home buyers, particularly relocators to warm regions of the country.
Ignorance is bliss ... and danger. Children often seem hardwired with an inherent curiosity for all that is hazardous. If you"ve lived in your current home for a length of time and are convinced you"ve covered all your bases when it comes to childproofing, here"s betting you haven"t. And if you"re preparing for a move, it"s easy to overlook hazards around your new home, given all of the excitement and hustle-bustle that you unpack with your belongings.
As we approach the end of February, most of us heave a sigh of relief, glad that the worst of yet another winter is over. But that"s not necessarily so -- for two reasons. The first affects those of us who reside on the East Coast. One word -- Nor"easter -- sends chills up the spines of everyone north of the Mason-Dixon line. The month of March is, in fact, sometimes the worst month of all for East Coast residents. That"s when severe blizzards, known as Nor"easters, are subject to occur at a moment"s notice. That"s not to say that these blizzards can"t wreak havoc earlier than March -- they can, and they do -- but springtime seems to bring them in more frequent numbers, and with more ferocious intensity, generating high winds and snowdrifts that literally shut cities down.
The typical U.S. household spends about $1,300 on its home energy bills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And for many of us who live in regions that experience extremes in weather patterns, $1,300 may be a conservative estimate. During "Enlightening America "98," a recent conference in Dallas held by the Energy Efficient Lighting Association, panelists from the lighting industry and the EPA disclosed the ways in which energy -- particularly light energy -- is being wasted, and what consumers and businesses can do about it. Speakers included Maria Tikoff Vargas, director of EPA"s Green Lights Program and co-director of EPA"s Energy Star Buildings Program; and Jack Briody of the Advance Transformer Company. Their overriding message: Saving energy means saving money. A lot of money. And in a society in which bottom-line profits as well as household expenditures are key, the message should be embraced by the masses. The problem is, it"s not.
Remember when this day used to be called, "August Bank Holiday?" Now, it
From Cape Breton Island to Vancouver Island and from Pelee Island to
"Visualize your success" is something we hear a lot of these days. However, we don"t always know how to make our visualizations powerful enough so that they become a reality. This article gives you powerful tips to do that.
As a business coach for real estate professionals for the last 12 years, I often hear the same question from my clients, "How do I stop procrastinating and do what I need to do to pick up the phone?"
Blanche, just over a year ago you interviewed me regarding the opportunities for real estate agents and brokers to specialize in the area of residential real estate (handling bank owned properties -- REO homes) which has become my 37 year career. While there is no time to lose in trying to get in on this business, I can safely say that it"s not too late. Not a day goes by in the financial press and in regular newspapers that we are not reminded that the "Tsunami of foreclosures" (my title) will likely bring the country to the precipice of a national recession.
Some of the greatest minds in business, sales, education, politics and leadership have expounded the merits of loving what you do for a living. Yet all too often -- somewhere between idyllic childhood dreams and the reality of everyday work -- many people lose their passion. They deny the drive that could lead them to greatness and instead find themselves either chasing the dollar or following the path of least resistance. Don"t let that be you. Not now, not ever.
Over the years, I"ve had the opportunity -- sometimes painful -- of seeing many different agents" marketing campaigns. I"ve seen photocopies of letters that looked like they were typewritten during the Lincoln administration. I"ve seen garish photographs of agents that would scare away Canadian geese. I"ve seen postcards printed with such bad ink that a light rain turns them into a finger-painting.
True story.
Robert Taylor, a Mortgage Broker friend of mine here in Atlanta, made a great point that I think can help your business.
Leading up to the current mortgage meltdown, one of the most common forms of real estate and mortgage fraud being perpetrated was cash back at closing. Unfortunately, even after we have witnessed the fallout from bad loans, cash back at closing continues to be a problem. Many people, even real estate professionals, consider it to be at its very worst a victimless crime. They see nothing wrong with it.
Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in children aged 1 to 4. Drowning deaths involving children younger than 5 in pools and spas is up and the number of emergency room treated pool and spa submersion injuries numbers remains in the thousands every year.
Setting the table for a successful new year means starting early for savvy real estate professionals. While much of the competition falls into cruise control -- simply waiting for the economic shift to suit their style -- top producers turn up the heat to sweep the market share in their absence.
Independent real estate agents are often reluctant to explore the agent team approach. They often mistakenly believe that the best way to serve their clients is to do everything themselves -- answer the phone, develop CMA"s (Comparative Market Analyses), create presentations, meet personally with clients, show homes, and perform all the other tasks required to run a successful real estate business.
We"ve all heard that old bromide, "You can take a horse to water but you can"t make him drink." You can, however, hold his head under water until he is forced to inhale … . That"s what many agents feel like doing with their "buyers." Forcibly hold them down until they buy or die. Good luck. How"s that working for you so far this year?
There"s one thing I feel pretty strongly about with regard to our beloved rookie agents. They don"t know what they"re doing. If they"re fresh out of real estate school, I guarantee that they don"t know any more about selling real estate than, well, than I did when I was fresh out of real estate school! And trust me, that"s not much.
"If you don"t know where you"ve been, you"ll never get where you want to go," my Grandpa Gooder always said. It"s especially true with real estate marketing in today"s market. Using the hindsight of year-end benchmarks is the best way to guarantee success in the coming year.
Do you go through the same slump every year? It begins somewhere in November. Your business slacks and you realize that your income is going to come way down at the very time when you want to be spending and buying. You get sad and then you get scared and before you know it, you"re in a full blown depression. Somehow the thought, "Desperation doesn"t sell" finds a way into your already crowded brain. How can you turn this around, or better yet, nip it in the bud? Here is a way to survive, even thrive this Holiday Season:
As buyers sit on the sidelines in the housing market -- how does the rental market fare? The two markets are more closely related than some may think. Both are strongly affected by local and national economic trends.
Question: I am finding that one of the most difficult things for me to do during my initial interview with prospective buyers is to ask them how much money they make. It seems kind of tacky to get so personal when you hardly know someone. Isn"t it reasonable to assume people are going to be able to afford what they say they are looking for in a house?
Expanding your real estate Sphere of Influence (SOI) can be a bit like dating, trying to attract the right matches around each corner. Here are ten fun ways how:
I am consistently amazed at the number of real estate professionals that blame the "market" for the fact that they"re not making any money. At GetMyHomesValue.com we"re constantly working to keep our agents focused because, as impossible as it may sound, many leads get ignored by agents.
It occurs to me that running a Sphere of Influence (SOI) business is a lot like dating. I"m thankfully no longer in the dating world, but I remember it well. Trying to figure out where Mr. Right might be hanging out that day. Pondering who among my friends would give me that magic referral to the man who was The One. Trying to find the elusive balance between approachable friendliness ... and aloof hard-to-get-ness. The roller coaster ride of euphoric highs followed by crushing lows.
A few years back when I was teaching "Introduction to Real Estate Consulting" at boards and associations, it was common for agents, brokers, and managers who didn"t understand consulting to dismiss it as "discounting." This type of comment was always amusing to me because, in fact, I developed my consulting model as an anecdote to discounting.
This summer Reuters reported that "U.S. home foreclosures in May jumped 90 percent from a year earlier, reflecting a poor spring housing market and foreshadowing even higher levels later in 2007." And this was only one of dozens of articles I read declaring the current foreclosure crisis and presaging worst times to come.
Great agents are already thinking about business planning for 2008. They are developing their strategies for lead generation, marketing, human resources, and investing. I am involved in many of these strategy meetings from some of the nation"s top agents and have found exciting and wonderful trends are emerging to make the top people in real estate even better in 2008.
For thirty-three years, I have either been selling or training other top agents to sell real estate at a high level. My real estate business has survived numerous market cycles. I have depended upon this twelve step plan to allow me in focusing, regenerating, and surviving differing markets. I hope these truths will help you become profitable and ride out any storms on your horizon.
It"s Capitol Hill"s biggest real estate issue at the moment and it"s either headed for final action in the next three weeks, or it could go down in flames for the year.
As you reflect on your current operation, what do you think is the one thing getting in the way of growth?
If you can recapture a wasted hour here and there and redirect it to a more productive use, you can make great increases in your daily productivity.
An experienced agent can bring not only immediate production potential to your office, but also market share, renewed energy, and potentially more experienced agents.
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of a radio show interview conducted by Peter L. Mosca, host of Income Property Investment Talk dot com, with Michael Anderson, CCIM, founder and co-owner of RealSource who is filling in for Nate Hanks who is the co-owner at RealSource; Bob Turner, Owner, Southern Properties, LLC, and Mindy Williams, President, RentandRetain.com, will explore proven practical ways to hold on to your valuable customer base, win repeat business and maximize assets. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/102809.]
If you are a member of the so-called "Greatest Generation" or an older baby boomer, I have great news for -- you are part of the most affluent group of Americans who have ever lived. The bad news is that everybody knows it, including con artists.
Generally speaking, we expect to encounter truth when we read the newspaper. But turn the page to the advertising pages, and this may not be the case. Especially, sad to say, in the real estate section. There, we know we are more likely to encounter slogans, claims, and implications that are not quite true. Some, we suspect, may even be outright false.
What is the experienced agent looking for when they choose where to work?
Google"sTM search engine is a widely-used tool for locating information or items on the Internet. On any given search, its inherent value equates to a vast set of relevant links for the user to sift through in mere seconds! A new environment termed "Virtual Worlds" has created a similar challenge -- finding a vast range of items in a timely manner.
Did you know that every successful professional has one thing in common? They all possess a strong level of emotional resilience. Were they born with it? No, in most cases they learned it as an ability necessary for survival in business.
"Welcome aboard. Here"s your desk, here"s your phone. Good luck to you."
The court system offers no shortages of material for this column. Working together with the more than 200,000 members of California"s State Bar, California appellate courts supply a steady stream of decisions related to the sale, ownership, and use of real estate. Even more accommodating than the courts, though, is the state legislature. There is no end to the ideas put forward in both houses that would have an impact on the real estate business and real estate ownership.
In my last article the focus was around your job: Marketing real estate services to agents -- presenting a compelling reason for them to join your firm.
Sure, market conditions have shifted in many parts of the country.
As a sophisticated real estate investor I spend hundreds of hours analyzing markets to determine if it is a hot market for our investors, almost as much time as I study the actual properties. Invariably my analysis leads me away from my own real estate market; in fact, the market we choose may be thousands of miles from our office.
I ask the question, "What is your Brand?" Although the answer may sound simple to some, most of us don"t think of ourselves as having a personal brand. However, a "Brand" is what separates us from our competitors and communicates to the market place our value and expertise -- and those with a personal brand generally attain higher levels of success in the real estate industry than those without.
More and more real estate clients are turning to the Internet for house hunting. Your prospects are doing their research online, and you can capture their interest by clearly highlighting the information they"re looking for on your home page.
It has been several years since the last "land grab" for great real estate domains. This means some real opportunities, whether you missed out on buying any awesome domain names, or feel you bought too many during the frenzy. Either way here are some very clever ways you can turn your current situation into profit.
If you"re like most agents, you go into listing and buyer"s presentation well prepared with market info and at least some ideas on what you think your potential client needs.
While many novice real estate investors readily call a roofer when a roof is leaking, or a contractor to renovate a bath or kitchen, they often view real estate agents as superfluous overhead.
Some people can"t tell a lie, others can"t tell the truth and unfortunately, most people can"t tell the difference. Can you tell when someone is pulling the wool over your eyes? Whether you"re an attorney selecting a jury, a manager interviewing a new agent or a salesperson making a presentation, your ability to quickly and accurately discern the truth greatly enhances your effectiveness. Fortunately, having the ability to sort fact from fiction is an important communication skill that can be learned.
Dontwanner (don"t want her) is a term I often use to describe distressed properties -- houses and other real estate that the owners don"t want so much that they"re willing to do anything to get rid of it, including deeply discounting it. Real estate investors can score big profits on dontwanners by recycling what the owners consider burdensome trash into cash.
After a showing, you"ll receive an abundance of feedback (hopefully!). Much of this information can come from the buyers agent. Here is some common feedback and what it means.
"I don"t think I"ll ever be able to buy a house. My credit is terrible."
There"s no magic to substantially increasing not only the number of Internet leads you capture and manage, but those you actually close. But it can be as simple as paying close attention to the pitfalls -- and opportunities -- assigned to each number below.
Do you recall Garrett Morris" Saturday Night Live character Chico Escuela? His famous line was, "Baseball has been very, very good to me." Let me borrow from that sentiment to say, "Blogging has been very, very good to me!" My own experiences with blogging testify to the positive effect it can have in marketing and growing a real estate business.
Products sell faster and for more money when they are properly showcased, or as those of us in the real estate business like to call it, "staged."
Everyone uses search engines. They are so common that many internet users make them their default homepage.
In the world of time management there are things said to us that we accept as truth and we act accordingly. The problem is sometimes they are not truths. They are lies and as we believe them, they waste our time.
When you"ve been in the commercial real estate brokerage business long enough, you can almost count on changing companies one or more times throughout your career.
We all want an office in which the phone rings continually with offers of referral business. Does having this type of office sound like a dream? Though it requires diligent work with clients, it doesn"t need to be such a farfetched reality. There are a few key steps to creating a great referral business.
Question: My husband and I are trying to buy a foreclosure fixer upper. The house we found is in a great neighborhood for $129,000. Similar houses in the area sell for $170,000 to $180,000. There"s one catch: The owners lost the house during renovations. The previous owners removed all flooring and one of the walls is not finished.
Brokers, are you spending too much time spent managing and not enough time recruiting?
Sellers need to think like buyers. At least they need to do so when market conditions are normal, when there are more homes for sale than there are buyers competing for them, and when inventory is counted in months of supply rather than weeks or days. Moreover, the need for sellers to think like buyers doesn"t simply apply to presentation, curb appeal, and getting rid of the clutter. It also and especially applies to pricing.
Here"s a concept. At the outset of a listing the seller and the agent ought to agree to review the listing"s progress, and to consider reducing the price and/or making other changes, within a fairly short period of time -- perhaps a month.
If Assembly Bill 2100 (Laird) successfully works its way through the California legislative process, both current and prospective owners of common interest development units will have cause to be grateful.
This article is intended to provide you with the direction and the tools you"ll need to build a financially rewarding and personally fulfilling referral business. And, do not be misled by those diehard sales-dinos, you can get a referral today.
Testimonials are one of the best ways for you to communicate your value to your prospects. A third party endorsement always carries more weight than you tooting your own horn. I find many agents pass up opportunities to build their testimonial pool.
This article is for you if you have ever had someone have to ask you what something says that you wrote.
Using search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN continues to be one of the most important ways to attract real estate prospects.
For most people the notion of home is determined by how they perceive the place. In many situations the home is simply an investment for financial gain or use to ensure a child"s academic success -- hence the potential economic growth or quality of the school system in a neighborhood is of greatest concern.
It is said that if things aren"t changing and evolving, they are dying. Some of us embrace change with enthusiastic expectation of the opportunities waiting in the unknown. Others cower at the mere mention of an "out-of-the-box" adventure.
Tips from the 20th new rule of online marketing
Understandably, many of us in the real estate industry love the end of the year. The holidays are quickly approaching, and with them cold weather and hearts warmed by the company of friends and loved ones.
When you"ve been in our industry for a long time, you see some wild things happen that can completely take you by surprise. And some of these things can then become part of your repertoire of stories that you tell other people many years down the road, too.
A growing number of crooks who steal your identity don"t swipe your personal information to pilfer from your financial accounts.
Tips from the 11th new rule of online marketing:
I field the same question quite often when I am out in the field. "Rich, we recruit well, but we are losing agents at a high rate. Why is that?"
Of the choices listed below, which skill do you think is the most important to be a successful real estate agent?
"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from the old ones." -- John Keynes
All real estate markets fluctuate, real estate expert Jim Ross says, and it"s his company"s job to identify segments of the country, and specific developments within those markets, that are prime to increase in value in the next few years.
Phil recently obtained a listing on a $20,000,000.00 property, and he"s seeing a lot of action on it from well known real estate developers.
The real estate business can be brutal on the emotions. Most of us, at one time or another, have had to deal with the emotional toll of losing a client. It hurts to have a person you know you did a super job for in the past, who you"ve kept in contact with and seemingly done all the right things to create a client for life, make a move without you. Do you take it to heart and get depressed, or perhaps downright angry? Or, do you use it as an opportunity to take a hard look at your business and see what can be learned?
Do you second-guess yourself when you get an offer that it won"t be accepted? Sometimes you"re right and sometimes you"re wrong. Here are some ways you can avoid adding to the seller"s negative reaction.
It"s official!
It"s been a wonderful, spectacular ride for both real estate agents and investors these past years. Depending on where you"re located, you"ve probably experienced a solid improvement in your real estate market for the past five to ten years, as compared with what it was like for the five or so years before this great run began. But at the same time you may find yourself asking, "How long will this continue for?" Some things happening in the marketplace give pause.
We"ve all heard it. It"s on the news, in the papers and everywhere you turn – Americans are overweight, and the situation has reached epic proportions. More and more of our children are overweight, and the cost of obesity related medical expenses is on the rise.
To create more business, it is not as important that you take lots of actions but that you have identified the right actions to take. To position yourself to thrive in 2005, here are three powerful distinctions. Make some shifts in these areas and see results!
If you"re an agent who"s been in the business for awhile you understand the value in continually finding solid new prospects to work with. And if you"re relatively new in the business, finding new prospects probably occupies a fair amount of your time right now.
Women especially find it more of a challenge to take care of "self" first. We are heroic at making sure kids have lunches, and husbands have found lost keys and briefcases. Even the cat"s needs are met with food and water before we rush out the door. But who takes care of the care giver? Many of us jump in the car, rushing to our first appointment already out of control, .the first step in a long day of denying ourselves those little extras like breakfast and a few minutes of critical centering to start the next life adventure.
Luxury real estate (homes valued at $1 million or more in most markets) is a highly competitive industry, but brokers who understand two simple principles will always have an edge.
The 15-year FRM this week averaged 5.55 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.60 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 6.06 percent.
Most myths are fairly short lived. Some, though, just refuse to die. Take, for example, the one that makes the rounds every filing season about how to lessen the likelihood of an audit.
There"s an old saying with which most advertising hands are familiar: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. I just don"t know which half."
Here are ten other things you can do when you are first starting your real estate career to be more successful:
If you"ve been in our business for awhile now you probably have a good number of clients you"ve already closed transactions with. But one of the problems in our industry is the nature of our business doesn"t normally require ongoing contact with our clients after we"ve closed transactions with them. Attorneys, CPAs, and insurance agents all have ongoing relationships with their clients throughout the year. But as a real estate agent, once you"ve closed a transaction with a client, it"s easy to get out of relationship with the client unless you proactively do something to avoid this.
With all the stimulus packages being floated out there at costs of up to $5,000 per tax payer (per program), the question comes begging about the Homebuyer Tax Credit.
A newly licensed Realtor has joined a nationally known brokerage and wonders how he can gain experience as an assistant or apprentice for a while.
While focusing our energies on "the big picture" and achieving the more noticeable tasks, we sometimes forget the small things that can make a big difference to clients. At the close of a sale or a referral, a special occasion or at holiday time, gift giving is a great way to show clients that you appreciate their loyalty.
Blue is the hue of sadness and rue.
A long-established section in the federal tax code, section 1031, allows real estate investors to sell property that has been held for investment purposes and defer capital gains and depreciation recapture taxes if they acquire “like-kind” property of equal or greater value and reinvest all of their equity.
Homes built in the mid-century, late 1940s through the sixties, are among the largest number of resale homes available in the country. In fact, between 1948 and 1968 about 75 percent of the homes built in the U.S. were ranch-style, low-slung, horizontal-lined single-story or split-level homes. Today, homes built in the 1950s and 1970s constitute the largest inventory of resale homes available by age, according to the U.S. Census.
For the first few months of 2008 the best news in real estate has concerned mortgages. With interest levels bobbing around 6 percent for 30-year fixed-rate loans, those who want to buy or refinance at this time will find interest rates not terribly far-removed from the historic lows seen in 2003.
One secret that high achievers all share is that they follow models. No matter what area of life they’ve excelled in – sports, business, science, the humanities – this principle holds true.
Ever feel like you’re on a treadmill that just won’t stop? Like you’re running around at work, but not getting as far as you want? I know how you feel.
Exactly how do you pronounce the word Realtor?
Most agents in our industry work without partners. But there may come a time when you find yourself thinking, "Could I produce better results if I worked along with a partner instead of continuing to work alone?"
Just when you think things are flowing smoothly in your real estate career, personal or family matters come up. Others are requesting your help and your time more than usual, you"re having problems with your mate or family members and you feel burnt out because you"ve worked so hard to get to this great place in your career, and now you must work harder.
What"s a "cold" lead versus someone who was referred to you? One"s easier to develop.
I am always amazed at the number of agents who are constantly complaining about what they have to give to their broker. They tell me their broker is not really earning their part of the commission. The funny thing is, it"s the agents who seem to be on the highest splits who complain the most about not getting enough value from their brokers.
Ruthless, aggressive, calculating, fierce … Attila the Hun earned the moniker, "Scourge of God."
The Federal Housing Administration shook up Washington"s mortgage and real estate leaders last week by announcing that it"s shifting its entire production line to risk-based pricing -- starting this summer.
This column is dedicated to the thousands of people across America now taking required courses to get their real estate license and those who have passed the state license exam but have not yet placed their license. Here is what I know about you. About 93 percent of you are coming to real estate from another field, according to the National Association of Realtors 2001 Member Survey, and 86 percent of you come from professions other than full-time sales.
Based upon the current information, real estate agencies and agents need to comply with the National Do Not Call Registry. Under these federal rules, it’s easy to make a mistake if you are not prepared. The fines associated with violations range up to $11,000 per occurrence. Not everyone is on the do not call list, but you can avoid the sting of these fines with knowledge and understanding of how these laws function.
It would be great if new agents knew what old-timers do - that there isn"t a silver bullet for success. The survivors and industry veterans in our business realize that it isn’t one fancy piece of software, fancy marketing materials, scripts, new technologies, or Websites that catapult careers to a new level.
The mortgage credit crunch has spilled over into land acquisition, land development and home construction (AD&C) lending, increasing the challenges faced by builders in the current housing downturn, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Sellers can be rough stuff. Unless you are lucky enough to get one as a referral from a satisfied former client (not the ones you pay 35 percent of your income to get) you are most likely going to be approaching a seller as a stranger and having to prove to them why you are the right agent to help them sell their home.
One of the biggest mistakes that real estate agents make is becoming reactive instead of proactive while working in their day-to-day real estate businesses. While you may have the best of intentions of doing what will have you stay focused and producing outstanding results, so many things cry out to you every single day in your business trying to take you off track from producing the income and results that you know you deserve.
Over the years all of us have accumulated an enormous amount of stuff -- some of it is near and dear to our heart and the rest, well, we might classify it as just cumbersome stuff. But somehow when we downsize from, say, a 3,600 square foot home to a 1,700 square foot home, as one reader who telephoned me is doing, figuring out what to take and what to leave behind can be a painful process.
Real estate is a fast-paced, data-intensive business. And in today’s economic environment, Realtors are looking for ways to improve all facets of their business in order to stay competitive and gain more share of the market.
In the words of Nike: JUST DO IT! Sounds so simple and yet, I bet you have found yourself putting off doing the very thing you think you should be doing to be more successful. We all do it sometimes. One of the most common reasons people hire me as a coach is because they know they’ll take more action when they are accountable to someone else. They usually think their procrastination is a matter of lack of self-discipline. If you procrastinate about everything, self discipline might be the problem, but, more likely, you are selective in the things that you put off.
It’s very difficult to make prospecting calls that sound natural and relaxed if you are listening to a voice in your head that tells you that these people don’t want to be interrupted by you and that you are being a nuisance. I mean, why even bother…. You, like me, probably have a voice in your head that whispers messages like this to you constantly. As I work with my coaching clients, I find the awareness of these internal messages and the ability to shift from reactionary to being “at choice” is often the most impactful work we do.
The categories of free in real estate are legendary: free property showings, free open houses, free broker opens with “free” lunches and the list goes on and on. While we may have trained consumers to expect free, not all trust it.
The categories of free in real estate are legendary: free property showings, free open houses, free broker opens with “free” lunches, and the list goes on and on.
According to the 2002 National Association of Realtors 2002 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, there were 6.2 million single family homes sold in 2001, an increase of 69 percent over a ten-year period, bringing home ownership to an all-time high. Eighty-seven percent of those homes purchased were single-family homes. A whopping 45 percent of those homebuyers were renters, and two percent of those purchased the home they were renting.
This year, the Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers has added exciting new courses to its lineup of educational offerings for brokers, managers and salespersons. Ending 2002 with a course offering in Dallas in December, the new courses promise to offer attendees the latest issues in risk management and generational marketing.
One of your most daunting tasks as a successful real estate agent
According to a recent Gallup survey, credit cards have become the
After listening to top Realtors talk about their recent successes, I noticed a common theme with all of them. They believe in marketing themselves and doing it consistently. Let me share with you some of their views.
Many companies view seniors as a bunch of old geezers sitting
In the light of recent armed robberies of Realtors sitting open houses in the Dallas area, as well as post-home-viewing burglaries committed by criminals posing as buyers, the Greater Dallas Association of Realtors offers general safety and open house tips to Realtors.
An Anchorage judge has laid the gavel down on the head of a dual agent who failed to properly disclose her client and causing him to overpay for his home. Yet statistics across the country show that other agents are doing the same thing. Why aren"t some double-dip agents providing proper disclosures?