Category Archives: tips

Are you a Real Estate Entrepreneur or Employee?

March 22, 2012 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

Many times this question goes thought my head when I interview Real Estate Professionals for referrals I give out thought the US. Just because you have a license and have been in business for a long time does not make you the entrepreneur you need to be when going into Real Estate.

Sure there a limitations on what can be done due to licensing, state and federal laws.

When you are looking for a Monday to Friday 9-5 Job with a fixed income, Real Estate is NOT for you and you truly not the entrepreneur you need to be to keep on trucking when times get rough.

When I talk with Real Estate Professionals who I might consider giving referrals too my conversation is casual but with a goal. I am trying to find out if they are just looking for a job or are they entrepreneur I need for them to be.

Things I might look for are:

self-starter
risk taker
out-of-the box thinker
acting on their idea
Sees the need, thinks of an idea to satisfy that need
creative mind
drive to succeed
does not fall into the standard mold
chart their own destiny
optimistic
willing to create opportunities

When you are an individuals who tend to seek security, seek safety or stability over uncertainty and risk. Looking for a study income and consistent job without major changes, you are for certain an employee and holding a real estate license is not for you and you are not for my referrals.

tips

Do you check out the agent before you work with them???

March 21, 2012 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

We all can find a list of questions to ask a listing agent before we make the decision who to use to represent us. All the questions are based on what they have sold, how many, how long it took, marketing time, responds time to questions and what differentiates them from other agents.

Have you ever thought asking your potential agent to give you their license number, their time in real estate and information on any complained filled against them before you even agree to work with them?

You wonder why you should do this???

You do not feel comfortable asking you say???

When listing your home should you not make certain that the person you list the home with is truly license and their license is in good standing or has no other complaint against them like fair housing violation, Professional Conduct violation or Misrepresentation?

When you are driving is a car with your buyers agent, don’t you want to make certain they have a valid drives license or have not a possible drunk driving conviction against them, before you enter their car?

Made your think?

Here is why I am telling you this. I am recruiting Real Estate Agents for referrals I give out to them on a daily bases and during my daily research of potential agents I have ran across already;

A principal Broker that was convicted of several drunk driving charges
A broker that was convicted of theft.
A sales person that made herself out to be the owner of the brokerage firm. You have to be a broker to own a firm.
A broker that did not disclose at the time of the sale of their house that they hold a valid license
Just recently I found a broker who ‘s license was expired but still is listing homes
…and I ran across a general contractor who was selling a home for a friend but he was not licensed as a real estate professional at all.
The cream del a crème for me was the principal broker who had 4 fair housing violations against her within the last 2 years

Do you still think you should not do your personal due diligence before you invite any Real Estate Professional to work with you?

Communication, tips

Voicing an option on line; is all in how you verbalize it

March 20, 2012 Bettina Settles 3 Comments

With most of us being part of many online social networks, or having a personal blog’s it has become very easy to voice an option.

In a recent survey of the top College admission counselors it was announced that the country’s top 500 colleges were using social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace, as part of the admissions process research.

Looking into other fascias of work; many HR departments, and recruiters for any type of employment are more and more looking to the internet about postings an applicant has posted before they make the first initial call for an interview. Employers do look you up & judge you based on what you & your friends discuss & post. Also now many Background Checks Now Include Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites you are subscribing to.

When I am being interviewed by potential clients I ask them to please check out all of the agents, they are interviewing, online postings and make this part of the decision making process when picking an agent to work with.

Many times when you find that when an agent posts derogatory information about a past client (with full name or company information) once, the change is GREAT that they will do it again……

What is your personal BLOG, a message board posting of any kind or social network posting telling them about you?

Sure…post when you have an opinion about something, but it is all in the verbiage and how you say it.

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, Inspiration, tips

Our office does not pay a referral fee!

February 20, 2012 Bettina Settles 2 Comments

Reading my emails I came across a posting from Peggy Chirico called “I Don’t Take Referrals!” and it reminded me of several conversations I had with REALTOR’s that where located in an areas I had a referrals for.

As I called and talked with the Principal Broker, to find out which of her agents to send the referral too, I was surprised to hear her say that her office is not paying a referral fee for referrals. They never have and never will. She informed me that it is not necessary for her office to pay a referral fee; they have enough work coming in to keep them busy.

OK…..I understand….and I moved on to another office in the area, which was happy to pay a referral fee for a listing referral in the area.

In our office we love receiving referrals and we do pay a referral fee to the agent who gives us the referral at the time of closing. I do not see anything wrong with this. When we have a referral for other areas, I am gladly willing to send the referral to a more local agent.

I see a referral given or received a chance to build a relationship for live and a potential for future referrals and that is the true value of a referral.

There are so many men who can figure costs, and so few who can measure values. ~Author Unknown

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