Category Archives: Team work

I don’t have time for a referral…..

May 23, 2012 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

…was the email answer I received after I emailed and called a business that my client was in need of hiring and I thought I had a good relationship with.

The bottom of the email signature was the following tag line after the business information:

“We are never too busy for your referrals”.

What a contradictory statement in the same email message.

Most of us business people strive for referrals. Referral for us is the best form of compliment another business person can give us. They trusting us and have enough confidence in us to send their personal clients to us. We are working very hard to receive referrals ……

Why would we not have time for another business transaction and to make money and possible have another source of future referral coming in from another potential client?

Keep in mind; you never know who they know and who they possible could refer to you.

Needless to say I referred my clients to another business. I have taken the business that turned down my referral out of my personal “to refer to” list and have replaced them with another business.

Will I keep them informed of what is going on in the area???? Sure…..

Will I send more of my personal clients their way???? …. You tell me…..

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, 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.

commitment, Communication, Team work, tips

Are you truly listening…………..?

February 18, 2012 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

I had several situations this week that made me think…..are we truly listening to the person who is talking with us on the phone or who is talking with you right in front of you?

With our busy life and work we all try to multi task and sometimes we forget to focus on what is important right at this moment.

…..have you ever had the situation that you where talking to a person, maybe at a meeting, and they checked their phone for messages during you conversation with them and not even ten minutes later they asked a question that you had covered with them not even ten minutes ago?

…..or where you ever in a restaurant ordering food and the server wrote down your order but had side conversations while taking your order and as you received your order, it was not correct?

….or have you ever been given a message from an email or phone that someone else took for you while you were out and as you followed up with the message it was not what the messenger told you or assumed it was?

Things like this happen more and more often. We trying to do too many things at once might be the culprit. The more we try to do at once the less we accomplish and create re-work for ourselves and others.

Here some ideas to make certain that the person you are talking with understands and has listed to you.

On the phone:

Ask them open ended questions about what you just presented
Ask the person to paraphrase the information what you just told them
Find out if there are in the car talking with you, when they are, reschedule the conversation to a time when they are not driving or being driven. Cell servicer in some areas is not 100% and important parts of a conversation could be missed
Send an email with all of the discussion points and ask them if there are any more questions about the task at hand and ask an open ended question to make certain it was understood and they have to reply.
When they put you on hold during your phone conversation, reschedule the conversation after they return to your call.

When it is a face to face meeting;

Ask them to please put the phone down
Do not sit behind the desk, use a more casual conversation group

When it was an email message that was taken for you

Ask to have the original email forwarded to you
When something is unclear contact the original sender to clarify

Politeness is the art of choosing among one’s real thoughts. ~Abel Stevens

commitment, Communication, Team work

Communication….here is the ugly side or the lack of it….

February 6, 2012 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

Sitting at my desk on a cold Winter Friday morning, looking at my referrals that were given to individual Professionals that were not acted on and wondering how some of them are still in business in today s market.

I have now called all of these professionals three times this week to find out why personal referrals are not being acted on and I am still waiting for a phone call or email back from any of them.

Where has the courtesy gone? Is it a lost art to answer phone calls and emails in a timely manner? By timely manner I mean within 24 to 48 hours. Just a simple message or email indicating you have received the voice message and you will get back with me.

Every day I run across full email and voice mail boxes and wonder how much business individual professionals are losing due to the lack of follow up and follow through. I also listen on a daily bases to voice messages that where from a week or a month ago. I just had one the other day that was from the 2^nd and as I called the person it was the 27^th. When I run across a full email and voice mail box, most of the time, I removed this individual from my contact list.

Ranted enough! Here are some Ideas to make certain you are not losing out on business: (I use some of them myself)

Hire a virtual assistant.
Delegate and ask for help
Set time everyday to return calls and emails
Set the auto responder when you are not available for a longer period of time. Just change the message later.
Make a work schedule. Will it be perfect? No. Use it as a guide
Make a daily to-do list. Will you be able to complete it all that day? Maybe yes, maybe no…none of us are perfect.

Plan you day and work the plan. Don’t forget time for family, devotion, friends and fun.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. ~John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

commitment, Team work

TEAMWORK…a lost art?

February 5, 2012 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

I am sitting here working away and wondering where the true meaning of TEAMWORK has gone. Most of the phone calls and emails first line is “What is in it for me?”.

Not, what is needed, how can I help, where do you need me or sure, what do I need to do!

There never was an ’i’ in Team and Success is not a Solos Act!

So pondering sitting by the desk wondering where this mind set came from, and not finding the answer, because my mind never has worked that way. Even kids from an early age learns how to use Team Work to get to a common goal

I could not have been able to say it better than

Andrew Carnegie:
Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.
Or
Vincent Lombardi: The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.

I like the one of the lines in Linda S Fitzgerald blog on “It takes……. a village to raise a child!”
Quote: Help each other be accountable to those goals and overcome the unique challenges that impede each woman’s move in the direction of their desired outcomes.

Yes, it takes a village to raise a child to become a mature, self-disciplined adult. And it takes a TEAM of women who know that a sense of COMMUNITY is the way to insure each woman’s arrival at her desired destination.

Let us not wait any longer to come together for our mutual benefit. Let us not let another day go by without seeking others who share a common purpose.