Category Archives: planning

buying, education, planning, tips

Are you ready for the next waive?

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The real estate market has so slightly is showing signs of a turn around and it might be a good time to think again of investing in real estate. Actually there is no bad time when it comes to investing in real estate. It just might in a different area or different product.

With any type of investing you yourself need to be ready for the opportunity and you need to be able to jump on the opportunity when it knocks and presents it self’s.

Many investors are not ready for the opportunity and counting on loans and other forms of secondary financing to be able to close and finalize the deal.

Nothing wrong with this type of financing, just keep in mind that you should get paid. Now, will it be you 100% of the time or do you need to share a percentage of your potential personal income with another party?

commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work

Hello REALTORS…where are you…

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….came to mind as I was looking for REALTORS in a certain area of the US.

 

It has been interesting to say the least.

 

I am one of the people who does not give up that easy when it comes to finding someone for areas but what is with the potential client who will give up after a while or a few tries.

 

Just for giggles I did a small study of the area I am looking to hire an agent in for investment properties and found out some interesting stats.

 

  • 60% of the active practicing real estate agents in this area are part of the Local and National Association of REALOTRS
  • The local Association has no website.
  • 70% of the REALTORS Brokerage firms have a website
  • less than 3% of the local REALTORS are members of the local Chamber of Commerce or otherwise active in their community.
  • 1% of the REALTORS in this area have a web address in their own name and 99% of them have their website redirected to the company website who they work for and do not have their own website.
  • 95% of the websites do not have a clear to identify office location/address without having to click on several links to find the info
  • 80% of the REALTORS in this area do not have a company email they advertise the free email providers like AOL, GOOGLE, MSN…..
  • 1% of them will return phone calls and emails.

 

This is just a few things I found.

 

I am not a marketing person but common scene tells me when I am a Real Estate Entrepreneur I need to been one thought and through and my future clients need to find me on the web.

 

Here are some basic tips;

 

  • Have an email address with your own web address or with the company you work for. Don’t advertise google, aol or the others free services unless they pay you.
  • Have a website and a place on the web in your own name and don’t redirect it to the company you work for. Just have a link to them.
  • Return all phone calls and emails within less than 48 hours
  • Get active and involved within your community through the Chamber of Commerce and not only through your local church, find another non for profit you can volunteer for.
  • When you are not a REALTOR make sure you have a website and it can be found quickly and easily
  • Make social media and blogging part of your routine.
planning, Short sale, Team work, tips

Don’t take short cuts….it will cost you at the end…..

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came to mind as I talked to an individual who complained about their short sale transaction.

 

Asking a few probing questions I uncovered what the reason could be for not having a smooth short sale transaction.

 

Here are some quick tips and questions to ask that could help you out in a short sale:

 

What type loan is on the house? Conventional or insured

Has a loan modification been attempted? Yes/no

Was a written short sale approval given? Yes/no

Is the homeowner cooperating? Yes/No

Is the homeowner employed or self employed?

Do you have a CURRENT:

  • Tax return
  • Bank Statement (2 months contiguous)
  • Pay stubs or other proof of ALL reported income (2 months contiguous)
  • Filled out financial form, signed and dated and all income information confirmed or back up with written proof.
  • Hardship letter (not older than 30 days)
  • Filled out RMA form. Signed, dated and all information can be confirmed and is backed up in writing.

 

I am sure you noticed that I have not listed anything that has to do with a short sale contract.

 

Point is…when a short sale approval was not given at the time you list a home, why would you want to waist your time by looking at offers when you don’t even know what the mortgage servicer will agree to.

 

You will speed up the selling process by starting first with the short sale approval process prior to listing the home and NOT while the home is listed.

commitment, Communication, organizing, planning, Team work, tips

I have the REO training but why do I not receive REO listings?

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This question is asked every day, or posted online.

I am working with orders from servicers and agents thought out the country every day and I can see why REO servicers do not call on certain agents or brokerage firms.

It has absolutely nothing to do with who they like and who is the most popular or bestselling Agent in the area. It has all to do with timely communication, knowledge about your listing inventory and their current status, and timely completion of task timelines given by the REO servicers to the agents or their brokerage firms.

Many REO servicers already have a clear idea about an individual agent and brokerage firm before they even call on them to list their REO portfolio.

Many of the agents are completing BPO’s, are part of Homeowner outreach programs or other services for third party companies.

Guess what???  All the orders the agents are working on coming from the servicers who also have REO’s to give to agents.

When you are late and not meeting the timelines on the orders that you were  give, or not communicating with the third party companies, it is communicated to the servicers with the agents name and brokerage information when an order is submitted to that servicer.

With that a picture of the work and communication habit of each and every agent is created. This info can be accessed and viewed by a servicer who might is looking for an REO listing agent.

Bottom line is……

…be on time

..Communicate timely

…do this on a consistent base, every day…no matter what. No amount of REO training will give you a listing when that is not done.

Communication, education, planning, Short sale, Team work, tips

Are you losing business…..

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….and you might not even realize you do….

 

In today’s market personal and business continues education and fulfillment is much easier than it was in the past.

 

With many companies having many of their educational material, free or for pay, online available it is truly heartbreaking when I see and talk with prospects for a position and they have not a clue what is going on the field they have chosen to practice in.

 

Today phone call was a great example of this again.

 

I had contacted a very well know business person I need for a task in an area he considers himself an expert in this field (at least what his website said). During the conversation I found out that he was not aware of” recent” changes in his field that happened in 2009 and today is 2012.

 

What I did not tell him during this conversation was that I have several referrals for him in his area of “expertise” but due to him not willing to keep up with his personal and business continues education in his chosen filed I am moving on to the next potential business in the area.

Communication, planning, Team work, tips

Assumptions we all make them…..

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The little action of assuming something sometimes gets us in trouble, gives us the wrong feeling of confidence or the total wrong impression about a situation we do not have the full information on.

 

Just the other day I was sitting in awe, listening in on an assumption someone made about a situation that they were not privy to or given the full information on but still made their personal opinion known to everybody in the room.

 

Immediately my thought turned to myself and wondered how many times I made an assumption about a situation without being privy too or given the full information on. Or had not researched or talked with both parties who might be part of the situation and could give me the needed information for me to be able to form an informed option to make a decision on the situation.

 

I found myself doing just this in my mind the other day. Just yesterday I had received a call about a situation and I immediately was upset about what has happened without having the other person’s story. I stepped back, put my personal opinion aside and talked with the other person that was involved in the situation. To my horror I found out that there was a missing training piece that was not covert and might not been found out about unless this situation occurred.

 

We pulled both parties together and together we took their situation and wrote a training piece about this and used their situation as an example and added talking points and tips on how to avoid being in the same situation.

 

My thought…you never know what you are missing until you ask and when you ask you might find that you have missing pieces in your training or communication you have never thought off.

commitment, planning, Team work

Potential client follow-up… or not…..

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I ran across several situations that triggered me to do a little research on how businesses follow-up on their potential and current clients.

 

I was amazed by the numbers I found, and a bit confused on what I am looking at.

 

Here is a quick case study;

  • 100% of the referrals where given to business.
  • 14% of the businesses immediately took the referral and out of the 14% only
  • 1/3 of the businesses attempted to contact their referrals within the first 24 hours.

 

This was again a sobering reminder that only a few businesses do the majority work.

 

Now I have posted the question to myself. What does it take to increase the 14% to a much larger number?

 

  • Looking for new businesses to give referrals too?
  • Just not to give referrals out at all?

 

Not giving out referrals ….that be silly……this would totally goes against the personal service we as business owners offer to our clients. I guess there is no other option than removing all of the businesses out of the rolodex who are not following through and replace them with business that will.

commitment, Communication, planning

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

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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.

commitment, Communication, planning

Building relationship and Follow-Up

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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, organizing, planning, Team work

Can your client count on you?

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…..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.