All posts by Bettina Settles

My clients appreciate my compassion, empathetic nature when dealing with them and their transaction but more than willing to educate in a simple way to make a complex transaction understood. Being accessible and cooperative when it comes to dealing with clients and cooperative agents has earned me high praises from both. They have learned that I am dedicated, honest, and knowledgeable and can become very persuasive when it comes when working a transaction for my clients.

Communication, tips

……..emails with Tiger tails…..

March 19, 2012 Bettina Settles 2 Comments

In today’s times we are all connected to the internet at least 80% of the time through phones of all kinds, laptop, notebooks or the desk top.

Many of us are sending out emails, blogs, newsletters, and twitter sharing info between us left and right. I think it is great…

I am with all of you right in the middle of this great communication age. I have noticed one huge downfall many of the recipients of any message are facing and this could be a great deal buster when you are in business of making money.

Bounce backs

I love to call theses ……..emails with Tiger tails…..

How many of you will receive a call from your clients, customers, or vendors letting you know that your inbox is full?

How many of your receive a call from your clients, customers, or vendors letting you know that you are not receiving emails due to prolong inactivity of your account?

……..most likely not very many of you! The scary part is when you do receive a call, how many of the clients, vendors, or customers have moved on to another service person not knowing whether or not you are still in business.

This happens a lot when you have one of the FREE email accounts. I have addressed the FREE email accounts in one of my past blogs “Is your email address as professional as you are?”. Many these accounts have very limited storage space and will fill up very quickly when you are not deleting past messages.

Here are some quick and simple tips to make certain you are keeping your inbox clean:

When you forward your email make certain that all of your attached email accounts are kept clean, up–to-date and active.
Respond and act on the email within a reasonable time and then just delete it.
When you need to keep the email, print it to file as a pdf or print out a hard copy.

Communication, tips

Is your email address as professional as you are?

March 18, 2012 Bettina Settles 49 Comments

You are one of the many Professionals in this country competing for the business of a few. You have spent days or weeks to create your logo. You have pondered many hours over your stationary. You took a long time to create your business cards layout.

Now how much total time did you spend as you picked your e-mail address?

As a Professional, we are relying on our email to keep us informed, such as in front of potential clients with the Blogs’ we are sending out, and to help us market ourselves and services.

Our email is our doorway to the world and one of our main sources of contact to our clients, customers, vendors and others we communicate with on a daily basis.

In many cases a FREE email provider is used to set-up the email account with names that really never should be used as a professional communication tool. The email address is describing something that is not even is part of the business that is being advertised in the Blog or other communications.

When you use any of the FREE email providers, who are you advertising for, since their name is also in the address?

It is just like the car/truck Dealership sticker on the cars/trucks….how much is the dealership paying the car owner to have their advertising on the car?

There are so many great, very reasonable priced web hosts out on the internet, which you can register a professional website for very little money that will offer you email services with your new websites address.

Communication, Short sale, Team work, tips

Could you sometimes disclose information you should not disclose?

March 17, 2012 Bettina Settles 1 Comment

Be honest with yourself.

When we as Real Estate Agents work with home sellers we need to disclose, by State and Federal Law, certain information about our sellers. How many times have you gone a step above and disclosed more then you really should?

Then have you ever thought of who you give any of this information to?

I don’t mean to outside agents that are showing the home and bring offers. This ruling includes to your internal staff as well. Did you realize that when you disclose any vital information, that you are not suppose to disclose, to an internal party that is part of your office but not part of any contract, like an administrative assistant or during a office meeting, you might be in violation of the federal disclosure rulings (privacy law)?

This is especially true when you are dealing with a lot of short sale or pre-foreclosure properties. Mortgage companies are not very keen on revealing information to a third party who has not been given an authorization to discuss the homeowners’ information and there is a reason for that.

Let me ask you just one question;

When you would be in the homeowners shoes, and you entrusted your personal information to someone you thought can help you. Would you want them to discuss your information with every person in the office including personal who might be your neighbor or a friend of a friend?

Think about it…..

Short sale, Team work, tips

What the heck is a HAFA and what has it to do with a Short Sale?

March 16, 2012 Bettina Settles 4 Comments

HAFA Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives is a program that offers the seller, their mortgage servicers, and their investors an incentive to complete the short sale of a home.

The HAFA option is available to

Owners who cannot qualify for a loan Modification under the HAMP program
Owners who did not successfully complete their trial period during the loan modification
Missed a payment during the loan modification trial period
The owner who is asking for a short sale rather than a loan modification

Before you can qualify for the HAFA program you still need to meet the HAMP guidelines. Your current monthly expenses to income ratio needs to be more then 31%, the maximum mortgage amount for 1 unit can not be more then $729,750, and the loan needs to have an origination date on or before January 1^st 2009.

When you have been turned down for the HAMP modification you have 30 days to ask to be part of the HAFA program. (You can sell your home at a later time as a short sale but you will not be part of the HAFA program).

The Servicer then will send, to the Seller, a Request of Short Sale approval (Alternative RASS) that the seller has to fill out and sign. The Alternative RASS has to be returned to the sellers servicer with in 14 days of the date of the . The Alternative RASS will give the homeowner an initial 120 days to sell their home. In some cases the servicer might extend the time to sell up to 12 months.

When there is an offer on the house, keep in mind, you as the seller have every right to counter the offer. Not every written offer needs to be sent to your mortgage servicer but all offers need to be presented to you, the seller. You do not have to settle for a low ball offer, just counter it. There will be more buyers…..

When you, your listing agent, the buyer agent, and your buyer come to a full agreement that this offer is the best offer you can put together, be certain that all parties that need to sign the purchase agreement have done so.

Before your Listing agent sends the offer to your servicer make certain that you have given your Agent all of the paperwork that is needed for a full short sale package and that the full short sale package is being delivered to your servicer. When something is missing, use a plain piece of paper and write on the top what this paper represents in your package, then sign and date it. This will serve as a letter of explanation on why this specific item is missing.

Make certain on your end that all “T” are crossed and all “I” are dotted.

Do not leave anything out….or don’t go for…”well let’s just send only this offer to the servicer and see what sticks”

The servicer only can give you an answer on your offer and plead your case to their investors, when they have a complete short sale package. Keep in mind that you have 3 days from the final date of agreement to send your offer with the complete short sale package to the servicer.

In the HAFA program, and only in the HAFA program, the Servicer has 10 days after they have received the offer from you to give you an approval, counter offer, or denial on the offer. If they deny the offer they need to give you a statement explaining why there was a denial and sometimes it is something that can be turned into an approval with a simple explanation either from you or your listing agent.

commitment, Short sale, Team work, tips

What is the HAMP Program and why my agent does not know about it?

March 15, 2012 Bettina Settles 2 Comments

HAMP – Home Affordable Modification program is a loan modification program designed to reduce eligible, delinquent and at-risk borrowers’ monthly mortgage payments. Why some Real Estate Agents and Broker are not aware of this program I do not know. I have my thoughts but I will keep them for myself.

HAMP possible can lower your monthly mortgage payment up to 31 percent of your verified monthly gross (pre-tax) income, which usually provides savings of hundreds of dollars per month.

You may be eligible for HAMP if you meet all of the following criteria:

•You occupy the house as your primary residence.

• You obtained your mortgage on or before January 1, 2009.

• You have a mortgage payment that is more than 31 percent of your monthly gross (pre-tax) income.

• You owe up to $729,750 on your home.

• You have a financial hardship and are either delinquent or in danger of falling behind.

• You’re not unemployed

• You have sufficient, documented income to support the modified payment.

• You must not have been convicted within the last 10 years of felony larceny, theft, fraud or forgery, money laundering or tax evasion, in connection with a mortgage or real estate transaction.

To apply for HAMP, you need to complete and provide the following to your Mortgage Servicer

•Request for Mortgage Assistance (RMA)

•IRS Form 4506T-EZ or 4506-T

•Verification of Income

If your mortgage is owned, insured, or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA or USDA, ask your mortgage servicer which solutions might be best suited to your situation. Each one has it’s own guidelines and rules.

When you not qualify for a HAMP you might qualify for the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) Program.

commitment, Communication, planning

Do you recognize a prospect ….when you see one?

March 14, 2012 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

This is a loaded question…I know, but I just had to finally put it on paper.

When you are given a possible contact name and number of a person that is interested in what you have to offer do you truly follow up with this person?

Be honest ………..

Every time …most of the time ….or occasionally?

Experience has taught me that about:

95% of the receptions are very eager to talk to the person.

55% take time to make the first initial contact over the phone or email with in 24 hours

30% will talk to the person during a one on one meeting only once

6% will close the deal

1% will keep of following up with the referral, prospect

The rest will just fall through the crack and never will be farmed or followed up on even after the first initial contact. Talking with one of my investor Friends who uses his FSBO approach to weed out unproductive Agents has confirmed what I already know.

By now the 80/20 rule no longer exists…it is more like 10/90 or 5/95 at best.

Uncategorized

Spring cleaning not for the inside

March 13, 2012 Bettina Settles 5 Comments

Getting the exterior of the home ready for the rest of the season is as important as the interior cleaning.

Heating and Air conditioning:

When you had not had your air conditioner checked and serviced in a while, now is the time to call the Heating and Air condition company. Now they have time, as soon the first day of hot and humid days hit, they will be busy.

You also should look at your furnace filter and if needed replace it.

Roof and Gutter

Just take a minute to cleanout the gutter and downspouts and the reaming leave that might hang around on the roof. Nothing worsts them a Spring or Summer rain and your gutters are not draining.

While you are looking at the gutters, you might also look for loose areas that need re

Exterior siding

Now is also time to think of possible cleaning the exteriors vinyl siding. Especially on the North side of the home, you can find that the siding is getting dirtier then the rest of the house.

You can get in many home stores siding cleaner you can use with a long handled brush and a water house.

Wooden Decks

Wooden decks do take a beading over the winter. When there are located close to trees the leave will discolor the deck flooring. Clean off the leaves and other debris that has collected on the deck over the winter. You can find very nice deck cleaners at your local Hardware Store. Just follow the products instructions.

Now would be also a great time to re-seal or re-stain the deck.

Drive ways and walk ways

Take a quick peek at your drive way and the walk way the goes to your home. See if there are any cracks or possible areas where someone can trip and fall.

When you have drive way cracks, you can get a sealer that is specific for your type of drive. When you have gravel, just get the rake out one warm weekend and start even out the gravel, or have new gravel delivered.

There are many other things you can do. This is just to get you started….

….happy cleaning and be safe.

commitment, Communication, planning

Building relationship and Follow-Up

March 12, 2012 Bettina Settles 10 Comments

I have been quite for a while and world watch out. …….I am recharged.

……so you subscribed to a lead generating program and they are sending you homeowners to contact.

You make your first initial contact, left your info, and you wait….and wait ….and wait…

….I hate to tell you; just with one visit most of the owners will not call you. On the average it takes up to 5 personal visits before an owner will either open the door or call you back.

One of my great friends and Real Estate investors has made it a sport in weeding out the “fly-by-night Real Estate Agents” (his words not mine). He advertises his properties as FSBO when he is looking for an agent to sell his home in states other than mine. He does not call any agent back unless he has heard from the agent in some form or fashion at least 5 or more times.

He gave me the following percentages from tracking the Agent’s activity over the last 10 years:

40% of the agents will not call or contact him for a second time

30% will contact him at least twice

20% will contact him at least 3 times and give up

9% will contact him 4 times and give up and

1% of the original agents who contacted him will contact him 5 or more times

He told me that it did not matter how the market was doing. When the market was good, bad, or ugly the average numbers were the same.

Sobering numbers? ….I think so.

commitment, Communication, Team work

“You can not always control circumstances, but you can control your own thoughts.”

February 22, 2012 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

This quote from Charles Popplestown came to mind as I received a very long email from a possible Real Estate recruit, that in detail explained to me why she hates doing certain tasks in her current function and why she thinks she will not doing them later.

Do you know who your customers are and where do they come from?

It is easy for all of us to complain about this or that, him or her. It is so much harder to look at the problem and offer a solution and when a company is recruiting, that is exactly what they are looking for.

Most of the time when a company is hiring they are faced with an opportunity that has not been solved and they are now looking for the solution externally.

In our business we strive for referrals and for the referral business. Before we receive the referral business we have to earn it. Referrals and the referral business do not come without hard work, dedication, and offering of solutions to our current customers and clients.

This does not only hold true in the world of our business, this is true for all types of jobs and employment.

Be the solution to an issue and don’t become the issue and when you have an issue offer a solution.

commitment, Communication, organizing, planning, Team work

Can your client count on you?

February 21, 2012 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

…..how many times have you told your client that you will have something to them by a certain date and you did not deliver?

…..how many times did you promise to call back by a certain date and you did not make the call?

……how often did you set time for a F2F meeting and you where late, even for 5 minutes?

…… how often did you miss a deadline, even less than a day?

…..how often do you read your emails only to be told that no one can email you because your inbox is full and no longer can accept emails?

….how often do you miss listening and clearing your phone voice mails only to be told that on one can leave a message because your voice mail box tells the caller your voice mail box is full and no longer can accept messages?

Sounds familiar?…..No……are you sure?

None of us are perfect……..a few will accept the opportunity that is given to them, tell on themselves and strive to make changes and adjustments.

Where to start?

….recognize you overextended yourself and notify early. Don’t have it called out on you

….don’t make excuses. Own up to it.