buying, education, planning, tips

Are your investments paying you or do you pay for them?

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I have many investment properties coming over my desk where the investor has gotten themselves into trouble. Many times when I speak with the investor I find out that they blame their property troubles on tenants who don’t pay the rent or the constant upkeep of the buildings.

When looking at their financing situation I can see that 100% of their investments have been bought, while times where good, and secured with some type of 100% financing.  Nothing out of pocket….

They truly don’t own their investment 100%, they still own the right to make the payment to an investor who gave them the money to invest into their investment!

So who is the true investor?

The one who signed the paperwork to buy the investment or the one who gave the money that is secured by a property and who might not lose much when foreclosing on the other guy’s investment?

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.

Communication, Team work

Are you truly being represented by your real estate agent?

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Over the last few months I quietly and without the knowledge of the listings agents had a test running and the result truly has not surprised me. I did not do this by myself.I had a lot of help

In total about 20,000 listing agents where contacted in different areas of the country and all of them had, per their MLS, had an active listing. There was no differential made between Franchise agents or non-franchise agents. When they had an active listing in their MLS they were contacted.

Contact attempt was made via email through their listing or calls to the phone number listed on their listing. Different messages and questions were asked about the house or requests for a showing appointment was made.

Phone:

Communicated back within 48 hours : 0 .5%

Communicated back within 1 week : 2%

Communicated back within 2 weeks: 3%

Never communicated: 79.5%

Phone was busy or voice mail box full or not existing: 4%

Phone was disconnected: 2%

Email:

Communicated back within 48 hours: 0.8%

Communicated back within 1 week: 5%

Communicated back within 2 week: 8%

Never communicated: 80%

Email bounced back as no longer existing or inbox full: 15%

 

This was just a small test with a small number of listings but it is still very scary when looking at them numbers in average.

Communication, education, Team work, tips

Do you know who your customers are?

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When I ask this questions I normally receive the same answer.

A lot of the business owners will tell me that their clients are the once who given them the jobs that keeps a company in money.

Who are your customers?

Now truly think about this one more time in a broader sense and spectrum.

Businesses have direct customers, consumers and the most forgotten once, Internal customers.

The consumers are the once who are using the product and services that are offered. This holds true for any type of company. Wholesaler or distributors.

The direct customer are the once who are directly buy or subscribe to your service’s and make the decision to may invest in your services or your company.

The internal consumer is the one that is mostly overlooked. They are the once who make the wheels run and make it happen for the external consumers. Sure it does take a management team to run everything on the inside but when we loose sight and don’t pay attention to all of the consumers, external and internal we might run into a “Herby” and might loose good external but also internal consumers.

When you have not looked at your total consumers structure, internal and external, and examined how all of them are interacting and connecting you should some time to do so. It might take you a lot longer than you thought and be honest.

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Are you ready for a disaster?

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We all seen the news and looked at the pictures of storms that hit in various areas of the country.

 

All of the thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families who are affected and please donate your time or money to help the once who are affected. In many cases it might take months even years to get everything back on track.

 

Have you ever thought of what your personal or family game plan will be in a disaster?

A disaster can not only be a weather related item. Think off computer failure, medical, electrical fire, arson, death without a will…… just to name a few.

 

I am not sure if you’re like some of us…..not prepared and most likely not ready for a major event like a tornado, hurricane, electrical outage, computer failure….. Personally I thought I was prepared and ready for a major event and now when I look around my house and office, and truly think about it, I am not.

 

There are bits and pieces missing and should be taken care of soon or hopefully before a disaster hit.

 

Let’s use this as a reminder not only to help the once who truly do need our help during their time in need but also look around and truly check if you are ready for a disaster yourself.

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.