Category Archives: tips

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

Don’t be afraid to network

1 Comment

We all do it !!!  Networking!

Some of us better than others and some of us don’t realize we are doing it every day.

Just having lunch with friends or family is a form of networking. You are getting the word out about what you do and who you are looking for. It always comes up during casual conversation.

Watching the kids at a sporting event is a form of networking. You usually make connections on a personal level with the other individuals who are at the event. Going shopping can be easily an event for networking.

Some of us are connected through social media and that is also a form of networking.

OK…now what we do with all of our connections we have accumulated?

When you speak with active networkers they will most likely throw the Givers Gain tagline at you. It is much more than that and I found a good example in an article I have read on the website “Addicted 2 Success” called “13 ways to unlock the hidden power of your Network to increase your net worth”

  • Assess the barriers that are holding you back
  • Define your core passions and purpose with the Funnel Test
  • Create a mind-set of positive productivity
  • Develop a Give Give Get attitude…..yes givers gain is also part of the mix …..
  • Commit to shaking it up. Get out of your daily routine.
  • Accelerate your connections with technology
  • Cultivate relationships that support your purpose. Keep your core circle of networkers close and your secondary cycle close on hand.
  • Visit power pockets to accelerate networking
  • Hone your connecting skills and learn from hub players
  • Create content, products, or services to share your purpose
  • Develop partnerships to extend your reach
  • Learn to make successful asks.
  • Decide what brings you happiness and success: head, heart, or wallet?

 

Networking is a team sport and Jack Welsh put it best:

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. —Jack Welch

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

What type of Boss are you?

Leave a comment

newspaperHaving been on both sides of the fence during my work career I recently stopped and contemplated about what type of boss I am.

Reading a lot of articles from different sources I came across an article that was posted in the Fox Small Business Center called “10 things great bosses do” and used their list to see where I am standing.

The 10 trades they listed were:

  • Holding yourself accountable
  • Don’t be full of surprises
  • Be prepared to fix things
  • Know and have a feel for your business
  • Get the job done
  • Manage effectively in every direction.
  • Be able to make quick and informed decisions, even when they are not popular
  • Be effective not productive and stay flexible.
  • Live for your job by being engaged, empowered, driven, and self-motivated
  • Make sure you keep your sense of humor, have humility, empathy and learn about your own limitations and fallibility.

 

Looking at this list I can see I still have room for improvement on the other hand I can personally see how far I have come.

 

In matter to grow a business we have to be willing to grow ourselves.

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

Who has your back while you are out?

Leave a comment

SoHands touching a globemetimes there comes a time where you will be out of your office for an extended period of time. Is it maybe for business, pleasure, family or health related reasons.  This goes for anyone who is employed or self-employed alike. Sometime we all just need to take a break.

During the time you are absent especially when you are employed you know that your employer will make sure that your position is covered and when something arises during your absent that it is going to be covered and it will be taken care off.

How about the individuals who are self-employed? You do need a break and you do need to take time off, even when it is for a few days.

Who has your back while you are out?

 

Here are several Ideas and tips to make sure you can take a few days off and hopefully relax for a few days.

 

  • Inform your customers that you will be away and give them a contact person in your absence.
  • Give the contact person full authorization to pull any needed information in a possibility that one of the clients does need anything while you are out.
  • For potential call in’s make sure you have that contact personal name and number available on your voice mail or to the answering service you might using.
  • When you self-employed and you are part of an office like with real estate. Make sure the office knows who to contact while you are out.

Keep in mind, even when you are self-employed you need to have a team around to support you !

 TEAM

T- Together

E- Everyone

A- Achieves

M- More

Inspiration, organizing, planning, tips

Your house needs to be the seductresses to attract buyers

Leave a comment

Many homeowners who are planning on selling a home are focusing on all the fixed and repairs they have to do on the inside and forgetting to keep up with the look and repairs on the outside.

No matter how great your home looks on the inside, when you do not have the inviting seductive outside, a potential buyer might not step foot in your home or might not make an offer due to the lack of appeal on the outside.

You can hire a landscaping company to help you, but you truly don’t have to.

Personal I have found that when after leaving town for a while and coming back was the time for a new set of eyes to look at a home. Did you like what you see or did you have the sinking feeling looking at your home after being gone for a while? Did you fall again in love with your great looking home or did you have the blah feeling because your home looked just like all the others on the block.

The greatest indicator that your home needs a bit more curb appeal is when you give directions to friends and family member based on a balloon tied to the mailbox or having to put a sign in the yard for them to be able to find you.

Some of the fixes can be as simple as adding different landscaping to a yard or changing the paint of the front door and either loosing or updating the current shutters.

Here are some examples:

           house 2 before       house 2 after                          house 1before      house 1 after

buying, commitment, education, planning, Team work, tips

Which is better? Mortgage Pre-Approval or Pre-Qualification letter?

Leave a comment

office_desk

 

This is a question I am constantly asked by buyer and sellers alike and when it comes the time to make an offer on a home I always suggested to my buyers to have a pre-approval letter ready and not a pre-qualification letter before we even start looking at a home.

 

There are some key differences between a pre-approval and a pre-qualification.

Pre-qualification is most of the time done over the phone or online by answering simple questions about the income and credit rating of the potential borrower. Many times the lender will not ask for any qualifying documentations of income and spending.

The pre-qualification is a determination on whether the prospective loan applicant would likely qualify for credit under a lender’s programs and standards, or a determination on the amount of credit the prospective applicant would likely qualify for.

Usually a lender will give a determination of pre-qualification usually with in less than 48 hours

On the other hand the pre-approval can take a little longer and it is more complete.

Lender will ask at the time of application for the last 2 years income tax returns, bank statements, W2’s, etc. You also will be asked about employment and you will have to agree to have a credit report ran. Pending on your personal income, willingness and ability to have a down payment and past credit history it could take up to 4 weeks for you to receive an answer. When approved the lender is willing to give borrower a mortgage commitment letter because the loan has already been submitted to underwriting and they are only waiting for you to find your dream home.

Difference between Pre-Approval and Pre-Qualification:

Pre-approval

Conditional approval given within 48 hours (average)

Borrower needs to issue following items after an offer on a home is accepted:

•             W2’s
•             2 Years Tax return
•             Bank Statement
•             Employment verification
•             Pay stubs
•             Additional documentation if needed maybe due to name change, self-employment etc.

Home possible needs to pass following inspections:

•             Home inspection
•             Acceptable title insurance binder
•             Certification of clear termite inspections
•             Other inspection based on area

Pre-qualification

Conditional approval given within 4 weeks (average)

Borrower needs to issue following items after an offer on a home is accepted:

•             No change in the applicant’s financial condition or creditworthiness prior to closing.

Home possible needs to pass following inspections:

•             Home inspection
•             Acceptable title insurance binder
•             Certification of clear termite inspections
•             Other inspection based on area or lender

education, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work, tips

Control what you can control

Leave a comment

An article about 9 things that will trash your home value from Mandi Woodruff came across my desk. Some of the things they listed where loud neighbors, foreclosure in the neighborhood and hoarders. This made me think, not only about the housing market but also about running a business.

What could be the things that will trash your business?

My first thought goes immediately towards the total loss of information and documentation due to a natural disaster like fire, flood, or storm. Or possible more manmade disasters like power outage, back-up failure, you name it.

There is also the possible personal accident or medical emergency that could keep you from tending to your business when you don’t have plan B in place.

Some other internal business wreckers for some business could be the improper disposal of chemicals or cleaners or employees who are not quite as honest  and maybe taking a switch here , a gallon of paint there or eating an unauthorized free meal here or giving their friends a free lunch there.

The other thing that comes to mind is not keeping up with changes or keeping up with continues education and changes in technology or becoming just plain complacent and set in the personal way of doing things.

Some of the things we can control in in some way but there will be some things we have absolute no control over and we just need to take the bull by the horn and deal with them or ignore them when appropriate.

commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, planning, tips

Are women businesses less credit worthy?

Leave a comment

I don’t think so but it appears we are losing some ground.

Catching up on reading news clippings I have collected and I ran across another eye opening article about a study from Biz2Credit posted in the Bloomberg Business Week. Biz2Creidt analyzed 14,000 loams and found out that women-owned companies were 15 percent to 20 percent less likely to be approved for small business loans within the first 6 months of 2012.

They put some of the blame on the type of business a woman is planning on opening. Most of the women part of the loans they looked at where planning on opening a retail location, which normally does not have a lot of ROI and higher expenses.

Did you know that U.S. government contracts to women- owned small businesses dropped for the second consecutive year, declining at a faster rate than awards to their male counterparts?

Sure there is less contractual work to give out and the competition has increased and the government never focused very strongly on women owned businesses. It does not help that the government has a 5% cap on work given to women and minority businesses.

I am hearing the cap will be raised but I am not sure if the hiring manager will get the message to the same time.

Several things we can do as women:

  • Before you open any business, do your homework.
  • When you want to be rewarded a government contract. Educated yourself and take offered training that is for free or low cost in many cases.
Communication, education, planning, Team work, tips

New interactive course to teach you to achieve your financial and homeownership goals from Freddie Mac.

Leave a comment

This great new online self-guided interactive course from Freddie Mac is for everybody who is considering buying their home or who is already a homeowner. Goal of the tool is to teach new buyers on how to achieve their goal and current homeowners on how to avoid foreclosure.

The This great new self-guided interactive online training course by Freddie Mac is called CreditSmart® Consumer Online Training and has 12 separate training modules. Each module is about 20-30 minutes long.

You will learn:

  • Understand the importance of building credit to secure your financial future.
  • Gain insight into how lenders assess your eligibility for a mortgage loan.
  • Recognize the warning signs of predatory lending and scams.
  • Learn the steps to successful homeownership.
  • Safeguard your home and your finances against life’s unexpected challenges.
  • Learn what to do if you ever have difficulty making your mortgage payments.
Communication, education, tips

Cybercriminals are using our connectivity

1 Comment

Just had an article coming into my inbox that moved my senses! Businesses Are Losing The Right To Ask For Customer ZIP Codes by Dominic Green.

How many times where you asked at the checkout lanes for either our zip codes or phone number at the end of the transaction and how many times did we just raddle the information out without thinking?

Several states like California and now the Massachusetts make it a federal privacy violation to collect shopper’s personal information like the phone number or a zip code.

This now leads me to the question how we keep any information, personal and private, under lock and key. Most of us deal with our and our clients personal information on our lap tops, tables and smart phones on a daily bases. How we secure this information is becoming more and more important in this age of connectivity.

Most of the Cybercriminals are using our connectivity to gain our trust and phish for our and our client’s information through twat is called social engineering. In many cases you are contacted via email and given a deal that sounds too good to be true or you are asked to donate after a disaster. Another could be from “your financial institution” threatening the closure of your account. The lottery constantly tells us we have one a certain amount of money and we have to click on link ABC to claim it. These are a few I can think of right now but I know there are more.

When you not sure that the email you have received is a true or a phishing email Microsoft has a great article on how to spot the fake. When you are still not sure if it is a true email you might call the person to find out if they have send you this message, don’t click on the link inside the email and just delete it when you still not sure.

I did this just last week and we found out that this personas smart phone was hacked.

Communication, education, Inspiration, planning, tips

It is only how you look at things

Leave a comment

Finished up the mandatory CE for my licenses and I am so ready to leave the room. Not because I am done. NO I truly enjoined my time for additional information, education and networking. I am so ready to leave the negative crowd behind me who was part of the audience for the last few days.

I am constantly asking myself “when you don’t like to learn, why  are you calling yourself self-employed? They reminded me of a blog I had posted in March of last year called Are you a Real Estate Entrepreneur or Employee?  and an agent I have talked with who was not aware of the new changes within the field of real estate.

Some of the “old timers” and “new comers” into the field who tell me that nothing new can be taught to them. All this ran through my mind as I read a blog post Mark G. called “No Time for Improvement? Bah! Make Time for Improvement!”

What is the old saying: When you stop learning you need to move on or out of the business.

…and anyone who tells me they don’t have time just keep in mind:

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” – H. Jackson Brown