Residential Real Estate
You"ve been dreaming about getting your kitchen remodel project under way for months - the nice new countertops, the beautiful cabinets, the perfect floor, and the chic appliances. But have you thought about how you"re going to live - or eat - while the project is under construction? You should.
Q. Some of my colleagues have created living trusts, and have strongly encouraged me to do the same. Exactly what is such a trust, and is it worth the effort?
A Q Environmental, Los Angeles, California is announcing new methods for analyzing air for Mold Spores. A Q uses an inexpensive new method. An air filter cassette is used to collect air in a room, the process takes a few minutes, and the sample cassette is then analyzed. The results will show the type of mold, how many mold spores are present in the air and the concentration per cubic meter of air. The levels of hazardous mold can be determined and the health risks associated with the mold.
A well-run, home-based business can be virtually indistinguishable from a larger corporation thanks to technology that performs tasks so efficiently a work-at-home business owner can compete on nearly equal footing.
As thousands of Colorado residents evacuated their homes last week in the
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.
Information technology and dot com-mania encouraged scores of workers to leave their tired old jobs and set up shop at home to create their own "wealth effect".
A trade group of security door manufacturers is reiterating a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) advisory urging property owners to upgrade outdated automatic security gate systems.
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.
The current market appears to meet the demand for all forms of housing for aging Americans -- assisted living, skilled nursing, congregate care and continuing care facilities. But several reports suggest that expected growth spurts could quickly leave the market far short of the housing it will need.
If you"ve looked at your utility bills lately, you"ve probably wondered two things: First, if global warming is so awful, what"s so bad about lower heating bills, less demand for foreign oil, and longer growing seasons?
The economic recession has begun to hammer the home improvement industry, but that"s good news for home owners who are considering home improvements next year.
I"ve just bought a house, and I"ll need to bring a homeowner"s insurance policy to the settlement table.
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.
For some, talk of electronic gadgets and so-called connected homes may be a source of confusion. But for others, the "smart" home -- which integrates everything from home entertainment to security to the home office -- is evolving into a way of life.
After my efforts to fix a clogged bathroom sink drain resulted in five intense hours of repair work, our plumber made my wife promise to call him whenever she saw me holding a wrench within five feet of any household plumbing fixture.
Most people become homeowners the old fashioned way -- they buy one. But many homeowners received their houses through inheritance, a process that brings with it good news (you were in the will) as well as issues purchasers don"t face.
Moving into a new home can be great motivation for turning trash into cash. Whether you call it a garage sale, yard sale, or moving sale, the idea is to finally clean out the garage, basement, closet or attic that"s been harboring all that junk you haven"t used, and maybe haven"t even seen, for years.
A typical family living in a 10-year-old home could save $200 annually by switching to energy efficient appliances, according to a new study conducted on behalf of the Department of Energy.
If you think your home-based personal computer or computer network is invulnerable to "W32/SirCam@MM," "Code Red," and other computer nasties that recently have mounting digital attacks from cyberspace, think again: There is no such thing as perfect computer security.
The blackouts and brown-outs in California during the last year appear to have been a wake-up call for the nation.
Question. My husband and I have lived in our house for many years, but now it"s too big for us. Our daughter and her husband have suggested that we sell them the house, construct an additional room to it, and then we can live in the new addition. We would add approximately 900 square feet to the home, and move into that portion of the house. We like this idea, so that we can be close to our family and especially our grandchildren.
Many of us are working hard just to keep a roof over our heads -- but how good is that roof? With April showers on the way, it might pay you to find out.
Question: I live in a large condominium association. Many of the unit owners here are disturbed by the conduct of our Board of Directors. We are unable to obtain copies of the financial statements. Board meetings are not announced and thus we cannot attend those meetings.
After 1996"s Hurricane Fran got their attention, Carolina Beach, NC residents Daniel Norris and Chiaki Ito spent $14,000 to elevate their home 14 feet and build in other disaster mitigating home improvements.
The single most important skill for a real estate agent is sales ability. No matter where you are in your real estate career, decide right now to master the skills of selling in order to fuel your success.
"The rents are getting so high." Do you wish you had a dollar for every time you heard that complaint? If you did, well ... you"d be able to afford that apartment right now.
Communicating Your Expectations for the Remodeling Project
A colleague of yours has just accomplished that expensive rite of passage:
Now that we"ve turned back the clocks and have officially settled into
Record high heating oil costs likely will force many home owners to turn to the hearth to supplement their heating needs with hopes of paying less to keep warm this winter.
If you have older horizontal window blinds that haven"t been retrofitted to prevent to dangerous loops, you should replace the blinds or obtain free repair kits to make them safe.
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?
Understandably, homeowners who reside in hurricane-prone regions are preoccupied with creating evacation plans for themselves and their families. After the creation of those plans comes consideration of one"s personal belongings. What may be stored in a safe? If the family has to evacuate, what should go and what should be left behind? Families are wise
Celestial events this month say I"m due to entertain with place settings of expensive linens, fine china, fancy crystal and sterling silver.
Creating a home with brains not only makes your home more efficient now, but also more valuable when it"s time to sell, provided you have the technological aptitude to do the work or are smart enough to know when to call in a pro.
If you"re like many Americans, the threat of having your home burglarized is a mounting concern. And if you can"t afford an alarm system, what other precautions can you take to protect your home?
Relatively speaking, major appliances play a minor role in the home buying process, but they are worth considering.
For many families, the American Dream is complete once the swimming pool is added to the back yard. But what appears to be a national sign of affluence is also one of the greatest killers of children under the age of five. Nationally, after fire deaths, drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death in the home; and in the warm climate states of Florida, Texas, Arizona and California, it"s the leading cause.
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.
"Do you have a list of references?" It"s a question that homeowners have been told to ask every prospective
Have you ever noticed how appliances seem to break down in threes? You wake up one morning to a noxious odor drifting from the kitchen ... where your refrigerator/freezer has died. You"re surveying the damage when you"re suddenly jarred by a loud banging noise coming from outside. It"s your air conditioner announcing to the entire neighborhood that it no longer feels like working. Now that you think about it, it did seem a lot hotter in here. Resigning yourself to the fact that you"re going to kiss your entire savings account goodbye today, you decide to get yourself ready and head to the nearest department store to start shopping for new appliances. So you head to the laundry room to grab some clean clothes. Only you can"t open the laundry room door. There"s something blocking it. Something like your clothes washer, which has boogied across the floor, parking itself in front of the door. You know that dance, don"t you? I think it"s called "I"m on the fritz."
The holidays are over. Surviving Aunt Agatha"s visit, Christmas shopping,
There is a new study out suggesting that high power lines, telephone lines and the like may indeed have an adverse health impact on children, not because of the power in the lines but because of the chemicals on the poles that hold the lines up.
If keeping your home in top condition seems like an impossible dream,
Thanksgiving has passed, thank goodness. You opened up your house to 10
It"s every homeowner"s worst nightmare: You arrive home to discover you"ve been burglarized. Your drawers have been ransacked, and your belongings are scattered about the floor. Your most prized possessions are missing, somewhere between your home and the nearest pawn shop. You feel violated in every sense of the term, and your family"s sense of security will never be regained. Although it"s much, much easier said than done, you do need to make sure that you go through a few necessary safety procedures should this ever happen to you and your family. If you are indeed ever burglarized, it"s likely that your sense of shock will interfere with your ability to make clear decisions. So you should make a plan now and make sure all of your fellow family members are aware of it.
I remember it so well: fire-engine red shag carpeting, covering our home
Remember the first time you struck out on your own and moved into your
When you are interviewing REALTORS® to market your home, you"ll be
The relatively mild fall and projected winter of 1999 and lower heating
If you survived El Niño-spawned floods last year you might not be so lucky with La Niña this year.
Along with overhauling of the Internal Revenue Service, a new law allows more homeowners to be free of federal taxes when they profit from selling their property and it makes the IRS work harder at settling back tax disputes before it seizes their home.
Lead has been in American Paints Since the 1900s
An estimated 900,000 U.S. children have elevated lead levels in their blood, according to the June issue of Pediatrics, a medical journal published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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.
Shortly before their marriage in the mid-1980s, Freeburger and Deitz paid about $90,000 for a home built in the early 1850s in the Western Kentucky town of Henderson on the Ohio River, where they practiced law together.
As the megacity"s colourful Mayor Mel Lastman prepares to announce a Call for
According to research from the federal housing agency Canada Mortgage and
Remember when this day used to be called, "August Bank Holiday?" Now, it
You know the old saying about not being able to have your cake and eat
Even top producing agents have slow days … or weeks or months. Maybe the economy is slow or it"s that time of year. Perhaps you feel as though you have been saddled with some poor prospects or that you are just another victim of the mortgage meltdown. Whatever the cause or the perceived cause of your current slump, it really does not matter -- those things are outside of your control. To dump your slump, you need to concentrate on what you can control. In this article, I offer ten tips to get you back on track.
Let"s get right to it. Here are my Top Ten Lessons for 2008:
Having been a business coach for more that 10 years, I often hear my clients say things like, "Why does this have to be a Struggle?" or "I"m feeling desperate, I need more clients." They try the right marketing approaches, they manage their time and it looks like they are doing everything they can. However most business owners are missing the key ingredient: The Law of Attraction.
The single most accurate forecast tool for housing activity is the "Pending Home Sale Index" compiled by the National Association of Realtors.
Your ability to plan, set goals, and create action plans to accomplish your goals is the mark of someone who is truly successful. This skill to set goals is a life-long endeavor. It is a habit that must be cultivated daily for a lifetime. This single activity will have the greatest impact on your life over any other achievement skill.
Do yourself a favor. Right now, pick up your local newspaper or real estate flyer. Notice anything?
The days of the lonely door-to-door salesman are over, thank goodness, but I often observe salespeople who have placed themselves in a sort of self-imposed exile. By falsely assuming that nobody can do it better than they can (whatever "it" is), they end up working themselves to a frazzle and never achieve the sales success they really deserve. The fact is that you can do more and do it better by harnessing the power of people.
Take a moment to think about the word "marketing." What thoughts come up for you? Do you wish it would go away? Do you start to think of yourself like a salesperson? Do you have self-limiting beliefs, like, "I can"t market myself"? What feelings come up for you, do you get tense, do you get a knot in your stomach, or do your jaws clench?
We are already into the year by three months, and some agents are on track for success while others have tied themselves to the track and are patiently awaiting the arrival of the train … Kill me now!
We invest large amounts of time with buyers. There is nothing more frustrating than spending a lot of time with buyers and than never getting paid for our efforts. The key component to successfully working with buyers is the qualifying process. Qualifying is the lost art of the sales process. Sometimes we get so excited that we have a lead that we fail to determine its value. That is why the process of qualifying is focused on determining the value of leads.
Do you know that 90 percent of Americans break their New Years Resolutions by January 31st? This article tells you why this is so, how you can prevent this from happening, and how you can turn your Resolutions into a Reality.
A challenging fact about condominium owners associations is that the COA creates another layer of rules and regulations on unit owners on top of the city, county and state laws that already govern community developments.
"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.
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.
You know the stat. Everyone knows the stat. These days, 80 percent of consumers begin their search for real estate information online, according to the National Association of Realtors.
One of the not-so-secret secrets to sales success is to build on past success. That is what the 10/10/20 technique is all about, and here is how it works:
Tip 1: Build a strong foundation
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:
Question: I was fortunate to get a couple of listings quickly during my first few months in the business. Unfortunately, neither has sold, and there"s not been a whole lot of action on either one of them. Although I"m learning a lot, I"m beginning to wonder if I took overpriced listings. Any guidance on how to get people to list at realistic prices?
According to just about every source related to the housing and real estate market, times are tough. Things are slow and sales are few and far between. But, if you have to sell your property, or need to buy a new home due to transfer or other reason, you"ll want to find the best Real Estate professional you can. The question is, how do you identify them and where do you look?
As the months continue to fly by, soon we will be celebrating a new year. Real estate has been the topic of more media coverage than we can even begin to discuss and the "poor housing market" has been blamed for all sorts of troubles in the financial world. In the end though, 2007 has been a pretty good year. There are companies and agents across the country having a phenomenal year, sales are up and business is good!
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.
Question: I"ve been in the business about a year. I was shocked and hurt when I noticed on a recent Multiple Listing release that the first couple to whom I sold a home had just listed it with another agent. What"s the best way to get repeat business?
Some of the best bargains in the foreclosure market are actually in the preforeclosure market -- weeks or even months prior to the time when the property ends up on the auction block. The earlier you can locate a distressed property or homeowners facing foreclosure, the less competition you have and the better your chances of ultimately acquiring the property at a great price.
Fire safety has become a hot button item for governments in Alberta and Ontario this year, as both provinces move to strengthen their fire codes. But not everyone is happy with the proposed regulations, as home builders fear they will add to the cost of housing while not actually improving the safety of new homes.
One of my clients shared a great quote with me the other day. "Lack of preparation on your part doesn"t create an emergency for me."
Are you interested in creating your ideal income this year? Are you tired of waiting for things to get better? Are you feeling like you have so much more potential than you are currently using?
Real estate as an industry has always been driven by innovation, technology and the implementation of cutting edge tools. In the last 25 years the real estate industry, as a result of embracing these technology (faxes, computers, cell phones, wireless), has evolved into a new era of productivity and efficiency. But fasten your seat belts! There"s a new kid in town. Real estate blogging is the hottest new multifaceted productivity tools to ever hit our real estate business. If used effectively it is cost effective, a marketing tool for our own image, and a great fluid tool for our clients.
In working with branch managers over the years I have discovered one commonality: a feeling of discomfort or weakness in coaching agents. New agents are typically easy to coach. Teach them the contracts, schedule them an open house, and have them work their sphere of influence amongst other rather simple activities to get them up and running. But bring on the top-producer and you could experience a shut-down.
Realtors across the country are hurting. Housing markets are in a downward spiral. Homeowners are flocking to FSBO websites to list their own homes. Internet lead generation services are heating up the competition. And many agents are offering cut-rate commissions to survive the cutthroat market.
[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.]
This is where the rubber really hits the pavement. You have laid a great foundation starting with your prospecting strategies, interview strategies, but you didn"t get them on the first interview. How do you continue the attraction process so that at some point in time your prospect will eventually join?
The internet can be a remarkable marketing tool, especially since the majority of buyers begin their searches online. Despite this -- many agents don"t take the time to build relationships -- and powerful emails -- with potential clients!
"Welcome aboard. Here"s your desk, here"s your phone. Good luck to you."
Do you ever wonder how search engines decide who gets to be #1? You"re not alone; search engine optimization is a thriving industry. You should know as much as you can about how to boost your site"s ranking before you hire a search engine expert.
Not too long ago all members of The National Association of Realtors were required to complete a course in ethics. At the time I was skeptical. Since 1978 I have been routinely shocked and appalled by the conduct of many in my profession and I"m a little slap-happy from repeatedly turning the other cheek.
About ten years ago, I was working with a minority couple to help them find a home -- a pair of young professionals, both of whom had solid incomes. They were excellent, highly qualified buyers, whom any seller should have felt fortunate to find.
The first rule in a real estate brokerage business is GET LISTINGS! As many other speakers before me have said, "List to last!" As you remember job one, it is important to understand that you can control more listing sides than you can control buyer sides. It is faster and less expensive to obtain a commission from a listing than it is from a buyer. Buyers just take more personal hand holding than listings. Obtaining a listing is the least expensive and most effective way to find a buyer. Listings promoted geographically by signs, word of mouth, and worldwide through the internet put you in front of more buyers.
One of the most popular movies circulating around in everyone"s living room these days is The Secret. Everyone in every profession is watching this movie and wondering, "Can the Law of Attraction really work for me?"
For at least the past decade the National Association of Realtors has been trying to figure out how to handle the online distribution of homes listed by member brokers. Several Internet brokerages claimed that early NAR rules placed them at a competitive disadvantage, claims NAR denied and claims now put to rest with a proposed settlement between NAR and the Justice Department.
Congratulations! Your digital masterpiece has just been completed -- a brand new "killer" website and it is beautiful! You carefully thought it through and hired the right people to make sure your site sees major traffic. You can almost taste the flood of new leads, sounds good doesn"t it?
Many refund delays, time-consuming correspondence and audits are triggered by taxpayer carelessness. Here are some IRS reminders about items to check in advance of filing your return, along with some steps to take afterward.
In the face of record number foreclosures, one of the residual points of concern is when condo owners dues begin to suffer. When a condominium goes into foreclosure, more than likely the dues for that unit have not been paid for months – long before the property went into foreclosure.
A lease is a contract granting a tenant use or occupation of a landlord"s property for a specified period of time in exchange for a specified amount of rent. Leases are used in both residential and commercial property situations. When a tenant enters into a commercial lease (hereinafter referred to as "lease"), the tenant must be completely aware that the lease might be the most important economic obligation he will have. The terms of the tenant"s lease might, in the end, be the determining factor for success or failure of the business.
The more I coach and train Agents, the more I realize the biggest battle Agents have is on the battlefield of time. Maximizing the dollars we earn per hour separates the extremely successful from the frustrated. There are many Agents across the country who are merely trading more time for more money, spending more and more time with people other than their family. If you are one of those agents, make sure you do the steps outlined in this article. This article was written for you!
A Texas homeowner filed a class-action lawsuit against KB Home, Countrywide Financial and LandSafe Appraisal Services, claiming the three conspired to rig housing prices in Texas and Colorado, costing home purchasers millions of dollars and pushing homeowners into dangerous loans.
The phone is one of the most powerful tools in your sales arsenal. Once properly trained on the most effective phone sales "protocol," your closing ratio will skyrocket. However, if you attempt to use a similar approach online, you will likely only succeed in driving the Internet Empowered Consumer (IEC) away from you. Here"s why and what to do about it.
One of the advantages of specializing in a neighborhood niche is that such an agent knows everything that"s going on and most everyone who lives there. She"s an active participant in the community, its events, and its goals. She impacts her community by helping to develop new construction or preserve historical homes. She serves on commerce and community boards to help attract jobs and economic development. She"s intimately familiar with the homes that have sold and scrutinizes the homes that are currently on the market. She knows the history of the neighborhood"s homes and its residents. In many cases, she has sold the same home more than once.
As the heavenly real estate market that we have experienced over the last five years comes back down to earth, many agents have forgotten -- or never learned -- the importance of educating consumers so that their expectations are realistic. Back in the early "90s when home prices had been flat for five years, agents knew that if they took a listing without having a serious conversation about how to price a home in a buyer"s market, that listing was at best a waste of time and money, and at its worst a way to create an unhappy client who blamed you for their overpriced home not selling when the listing expired.
Recent law changes include valuable breaks for a wide range of small businesses. What follows are the highlights of several good-news provisions.
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.
1031 exchanges involve property you hold for investment, not your personal residence. So why write an article about doing a 1031 exchange on your personal residence? Everyone knows that your personal residence does not qualify for a 1031 exchange! Or does it?
Everyone uses search engines. They are so common that many internet users make them their default homepage.
In this age of internet business, one can never have too many cyber tips.
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.
It is difficult to imagine any organization or team that wouldn"t have a focus on trying to attract the most talented people to fill positions. And while there is a good deal of lip service paid to the value of talent, most organizations really want people who conform to a predetermined model.
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.
Your effectiveness with FSBOs can radically increase if you use the "DISC" method of determining the dominant behavioral style of the seller so you can adapt your approach accordingly.
It can happen in any market, and it still happens now and then in the one we are in. A property that is especially "hot" becomes available. Maybe it is simply a matter of price. Maybe it is location, or some special feature -- physical, historical, or otherwise. Whatever it is, many people want the property, and sometimes at whatever the price. In short, it is the kind of property listing that produces a bit of a frenzy.
Market expert Vickie Healey says the heart of Carolina is, according to some, recession proof, but is nonetheless experiencing a buyers" market.
In successfully accomplishing the first four steps of selling, most of my efforts were directly or indirectly geared toward succeeding at the fifth and most important step: getting paid. Contrary to what most people naively assume, the object of the game is not to close deals. The object is to walk away with chips in your hand.
As a new agent coming into the field, you usually face an uphill battle when it comes to getting a listing. You"ve got lots of competition who"s been doing this much longer than you have, and it"s usually pretty difficult to get someone to trust you with the sale of their home.
In a previous article I mentioned how one of the biggest challenges I see facing today"s Realtor is the vast number of ways they can communicate, or market themselves to prospective clients. You have the internet, newspapers, billboards, classified ads and good old fashioned direct mail, just to name a few.
I receive a lot of emails and phone calls regarding the practice of flipping. No wonder, it sounds almost too good to be true. There are a gaggle of real estate gurus clogging the late night airwaves with their gibberish and get rich quick schemes.
Assuming it will be approved by the Governor, a new bill in the California legislature will change the educational requirements for all real estate licensees within the state. Assembly Bill 223 (McLeod), sponsored by the California Association of Realtors (CAR), provides that risk management shall be a subject covered as part of the existing continuing education requirements for real estate license renewal.
Kenny Rogers reminded us in his classic song that you need to "know when to hold "em, know when to fold "em." In running a successful real estate practice, translate this to knowing what is a true opportunity to produce and what is a distraction.
One Canadian economist declared that Canada"s "housing market boom is officially over," while another said, "After many false calls, there is now convincing evidence that Canada"s housing market has come off the boil." But two recent reports say that while the market is no longer sustaining its record-breaking pace of the last several years, it is still healthy.
There was a time not so long ago (relatively speaking) that a bunch of well-educated agents got together in Philadelphia and created a "little" document called The Declaration of Independence. Oddly enough, as history would have it, even those gentlemen with lofty principles managed to give their collective thumbs up to the value of education, labor and the accumulation of honestly earned wealth.
"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from the old ones." -- John Keynes
Maybe it"s a bubble, maybe it isn"t; but, meanwhile, Realtors have plenty to deal with trying to guide their clients through the special problems that can arise in a market still characterized by competing buyers, multiple offers, and bids over the listing price.
Asking people for referrals seems like a simple, easy thing for agents to do. But if this is the case why do so many agents fail to do so? Part of the reason may be they simply forget to ask for referrals, or they may feel discomfort in asking people for referrals.
The three reasons that people get into real estate are Money, Freedom and ILHILP (I Love Houses and I Love People). But there are other reasons.
In real estate, asking generally involves two key factors: using in-person verbal messages and asking for concrete results -- for the job, referrals, testimonials, feedback, etc.
Don"t celebrate an end to the housing slump just yet, but the leading-edge San Francisco Bay Area is looking pretty good this spring.
What can the rhythm and flow of a pendulum teach us about balance and personal growth? Everything in life happens in accordance with a certain rhythm. This rhythm is a constant movement between two opposites. In and out, up and down, back and forth, positive and negative, excess and deficiency, high and low, order and chaos, ignorance and understanding.
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.
How you utilize language in your presentations to your clients and prospects plays a big role in determining how successful you will be in your real estate business. With this in mind there"s a simple yet major mistake that many agents are making when trying to get their clients and prospects to take action and move forward in different situations.
Today it"s in vogue to talk about having a buyer"s agent. It seems everyone who is anyone has one, two or even three! Yet behind closed doors agents keep asking me: "Greg, how can I make my buyer"s agent work? I thought a buyer"s agent would save me time and make me money, but they have turned into a giant headache that"s keeping me up at night. I am too embarrassed to tell anyone it"s not working for me, when all those other agents keep talking about how great life is with their buyer"s agent."
In coaching Realtors, I"ve found that most of them understand the importance of consistent and active prospecting. They know what they need to do, but they just don"t do it (or don"t do it enough). Many promise themselves they"ll get down to prospecting tomorrow, next week, next month or next quarter. They may even go after it for an hour, a day, or two.
There is no doubt that the day a person decides they want to move is the best day to list their home. One time of year is no better than another for a motivated seller.
Have you ever awakened to read a quote from a fellow Realtor in the morning paper? Have you ever watched another Realtor being interviewed on TV? And in either case did you ask yourself the question "Why wasn"t that me?" Well, next time it will be, as long as you learn the secrets to getting free publicity.
Residential real estate is an emotional experience for most buyers and sellers, for them it is usually the largest financial transaction they will ever be in involved in. And, in their eyes, you’re responsible, whether you are or not and whether you want to be or not.
Business is good now for many, thanks to the grease provided by low interest rates and the lack of other viable investment opportunities, but many hot housing markets are beginning to cool off, suggesting the party may soon be over.
How often do you move away from the "result" of the day and evaluate your "process" for the day? Is there a line outside your office all day long? Are you exhausted? Are you leading by empowerment with a constant focus on growth? Are you the designated "problem solver"? Are you micro-managing? Maybe a little bit of all of the above? Maybe you don’t know, because you jump on the treadmill when you walk in the office and jump off the treadmill when the day is done.
Charles was confused. He was trying to buy a four-plex, but just did not understand the real estate jargon.
When an owner asks you if you"ll reduce your commission, don"t be so quick to agree.
New agents are critical to your plan delivering profitability, mortgage capture and finally, the injection of energy into your environment. Right now everyone wants to get into the business so why the need for focus around new agents? Simple, if you don’t have a plan in place today while agents are knocking down your door to get into the business you won’t execute when the time comes to go out and find new agents. Don’t let your behavior be a product of the market. Let your results be a product of your actions.
If you’re an agent working in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts or elsewhere in New England, you don’t need to read any further…..unless you believe that what can happen in one state can happen in another…..Those of us working in New England are still working in a robust market. However, what about our peers working in places such as Dallas where currently the market has shifted and sellers are not willing to reduce prices, while buyers are not willing to pay even last year’s prices.
All markets have unrealistic sellers, especially seller"s markets, where they may be overconfident that their homes will sell for more premiums with little or no marketing or staging.
In many parts of the country, the market is a very strong one and agents are bemoaning the lack of available listings. At the same time, statistics show us that the numbers of homes being sold is actually up from last year. Record numbers of buyers, fueled by affordability with low interest rates, are depleting the inventory as fast as it gets listed. But the truth is there are as many, if not more, listings coming on the market each month. As you no doubt know…….perception is everything.
One of the greatest factors that will determine your level of success in your real estate business is your level of motivation to make it all happen.
Statistics were recently published indicating that the number of NAR-licensed real estate professionals is over one million. These figures make me reflect on how much the business has changed in the last five to 10 years. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that you could have your license, help a few friends or take a couple referrals, and you could have yourself a nice little business.
In my life, I’ve made it a practice to study the lives of successful people. I clip articles, read biographies, and watch documentaries of their lives. All the while, I ask the question: What separates those who achieve excellence from the rest? As often as not, the answer I find is simply this – history is made by those who don’t quit.
Lack of value is the primary reason an agent flies out the door. With little or no value all they know to ask for is money, that"s all they perceive in the relationship.
If you"ve ever had to take over tidying a home to get it ready for a showing or an open house, you already know how challenging it is for sellers to get a home ready for sale and keep it that way.
Have you ever met a dumb millionaire? I have, and it"s irritating.
When you"re making a listing presentation there always comes that moment when it"s time to discuss how long your listing agreement will be valid for. What you must know here is that the way you present this subject to the owners often completely sets the tone for how long of a listing they will be willing to give you.
You"ve no doubt experienced the super-effectiveness that happens when you are getting ready to go on vacation. Somehow, that day before vacation becomes one of your most productive of the year. You know what has to be done, you have tightly time-framed your tasks and you are in action until all is finished.
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.
When tax time rolls around, most filers receive refunds. Just because you receive one, does not mean your return passed muster with the IRS and you can forget about an audit. All it means is that IRS computers have checked arithmetic and other basic items.
What"s a "cold" lead versus someone who was referred to you? One"s easier to develop.
And the second largest single-family price jump was in Peoria, Illinois -- which rose 10.4 percent to $119,000.
Pop quiz! Have you ever forgotten the name of someone you"ve already met?
Most of us discover leverage on the playground when we wonder at our ability to lift a parent, sibling or friend into the air with the help of a seesaw. What a powerful concept: Using something outside ourselves to accomplish more than we could alone. The truth is – even though we drive cars we didn’t build and wear clothes we didn’t sew – most of us are unaware of how leveraged we are and overlook opportunities to consciously apply leverage in other areas of our life. In my experience, this is especially true in the business of real estate sales.
The midway point of any game is the perfect time to see if your strategies and implementation are working. This year is now half-way over. Are you half-way (or more) to your goals for the year?
The Pareto Principle says 20 percent of your actions create 80 percent of your results. And, of course the corollary to this is that 80 percent of you activities are producing only 20 percent of your results.
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.
First published in 1987, Your Successful Real Estate Career, by Dr. Kenneth W. Edwards, has become one of the most popular books for new agents in the literary market. A new, updated version of the classic how-to for real estate professionals, has just been released in a spiffy fourth edition paperback, featuring all new sections on using technology.
Current census data states that the population within the United States is increasing by one person every eleven seconds. Most of these people are finding their homes somewhere along the Sun Belt, which means that those states are experiencing the majority of this population growth. Many of us who reside in these areas have all ready witnessed suburban sprawl encroach and then envelope the once utopian rural lifestyle.
Question: I"m interested in investing in Austin real estate. However, I live in another state and do not have time to take care of rent. Are there any agencies that can take care of finding tenants?
Broker John Veneziano emphasizes something when interviewing FSBOs that most brokers shy away from - that homeowners" personal safety is more important than what they can save on commissions. And he wonders why more agents don"t tell prospects that.
Are you the recipient of lots of referral business? Usually, this is crème de la crème when it comes to profitable business with nice people. For most agents, when they think about generating referrals, they think, “Who do I know that I can get to send business to me?” The masters at this, often, have a radically different approach. It’s also a much more attractive and fun approach.
There"s a marketplace truism that seldom changes - once you start discounting you can almost never go back. Just ask Best Buy when the last time was that they sold a computer that wasn"t financed in-house at zero percent for a year. And what about the automobile industry? Pundits predict that low interest rates on cars will last several years, mainly because manufacturers fear that consumers will give the cold shoulder to new car purchases otherwise. And real estate pundits are arguing that as soon as mortgage interest rates rise, the country will see a real estate bubble burst as buyers wait for favorable interest rates to return.
Are you one of the people out there sounding more like a disgruntled or disappointed seller or buyer than an agent? Well, you are if you find yourself saying any of the following:
Approximately 95 percent of Realtors use cellphones, spending about $100 monthly or more, say sources at the NAR and its REALTOR VIP partner, A T & T Wireless. But that doesn"t mean Realtors are happy about the service they get. Like other consumers who recently complained to Consumer Reports, Realtors may be experiencing higher monthly bills than they would like, due to confusion over calling plans, high penalties for ending subscriptions, dropped calls, and other reasons.
Predicting the next hot market in real estate is a talent worth its weight in gold for both the real estate sales person as well as the land mogul. Many seasoned veterans, and even some novices, might be able to predict when and where these markets will appear. However, for most, short of consulting a crystal ball, predicting when and where the next hot market will appear can be somewhat daunting. But with the right arsenal of tools, the ability to predict future hot markets can seem more scientific than an enigma. These tools are concepts found in marketing, city planning, and a theory referred to as concentric rings.
Five, four, three, two, one…Happy New Year! It’s hugs and kisses all around and then comes the obligatory resolutions. Lose weight, keep better track of your finances, exercise, drink less, drink more, prospect more, write a business plan…it’s all a matter of perspective.
No one is perfect, especially real estate reporters, and it is getting harder for these deadline-driven folks to turn out original, compelling news stories all the time. News has become a business of sound bites, and less of creative writing. The current sad state of advertising has put many reporters on the street, so the ones remaining in their jobs often have expanded beats. That means tighter deadlines, and possibly fewer resources to meet them. Inexperience or doing the job that two or three people used to do is going to result in errors sooner or later, no matter how professional the reporters are.
When I began coaching agents years ago something that I greatly
The last thing you want in a home is a built-in value deflator.
One of your most daunting tasks as a successful real estate agent
The hit movie "Almost Famous," has been out on video for a while; it has a lot of amusing scenes in it, but there"s one scene that can show the real estate industry an important lesson. That"s the power of demonstrating what you can do instead of wasting time defending what you are worth.
In the "good old days," when most of us thought of mold in our homes we thought of the gunk growing in that jar in the back of the refrigerator. Today we worry about mold growing in the walls, or attic, or under the floor.
Many factors, separately and in combination with others, will build walls to block productivity. While most people intuitively and instinctively want to be productive, they may have trouble getting over the following blocks to productivity.
To save on expensive signage, most real estate agents in Dallas are denoting open houses by putting pink flags in sellers" yards. But red flags are waving as four agents have been robbed at gunpoint while sitting alone at recent opens. Will Dallas agents wave the white flag on doing open houses at all?
Traditional real estate practices are alive and well in the small town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where sellers are still regarded as more important assets to brokers than buyers.
HUD just changed its condominium rules again, and there"s both good news and sobering news for investors and developers tucked away in the revisions.
As a new Realtor, one of the first tasks you are told to do by your manager is to contact your sphere of influence and tell everyone in it that you are now a real estate professional and would like their business and referrals.
You’ve earned a buyer’s trust and helped him find the right house. You’re ready to write up the offer. Before putting pen to paper, however, the buyer turns to you and says he’d like his parents to see the house first.