That’s right, release a buyer from agency to another agent with a smile. What? Did I hear that correctly?
After all, a six month agency contract means you're entitled to work with the client and get paid. So why would you release your client from agency to another agent — and with a smile, no less?
Scenario: My client, who has been looking at homes with my buyer's agent, e-mails me how she would like to be released from contract. Instead of e-mailing her back, I call her immediately. (Good agents always call the client immediately instead of e-mailing whenever there is a concern.)
She tells me she is thinking of looking in a different area and would like a different agent. She wouldn’t admit it or be straightforward but I later figured out she just wanted to have a woman agent show her around. So I agree to release her from contract and I get another agent from a different brokerage to help her. So, she starts working with another agent.
The alternative: The client and her husband end up shopping lenders. The lender they were first talking to doesn’t want to let them out of using them. The lender starts to threaten
them with fees that they will owe the lender if they use another lender. They are now furious with this lender.
The aftermath: The couple is now very loyal to me and despise their lender. Their lender may get today's deal, but I get all the future deals. Why? I freely let the client go and the lender was forcing the client to use him. They have vowed to send everyone they can my way. They are practically out hunting for buyers to send me! They feel so special that the wife's needs of having a woman agent was more important to me than the contract they had signed that they’ve now vowed to send everyone they know to me.
The step you can’t miss: Use the Culture Formula. This vital step in selling real estate has to do with having the right attitude in your daily culture. Entitlement is the enemy. If you feel entitled to a commission, you are on the step to failure. The paradox is if you care more about the people than you do the paycheck, the rewards will come. Nice guys do finish first!
Dave Robison, known as “Utah Dave,” is a broker of Robison & Company Real Estate.
YPN is planning to host some education sessions during the REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Orlando, Nov. 7-10, and we need your input on some of the topic ideas below. Vote in our poll or submit your suggestions in the comment section of this blog.
REALTOR® Magazine's Young Professionals Network Reception won a SILVER for "Best Special Event" in the 2008 Folio FAME Awards. YPN was recognized for its networking event during the 2007 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, which attracted a sold-out crowd of more than 300 young professionals to the Venetian Hotel's Taqueria Canonita restaurant for an evening of networking and mingling.
The Fame awards honor the best magazine events for the year. Other recipients within Folio's "Best Special Event" category included Skirt! Magazine (gold) and O (Oprah) Magazine (bronze).
The YPN event served as a kick off for the YPN Web site and the YPN blog (what you're reading now). Since the Vegas event, membership to YPN has more than doubled. View a slide show of photos.
COMING SOON: YPN's next networking party for young real estate professionals will be held on May 13 in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with NAR's Midyear Meetings. To receive an invitation, be sure to submit a YPN membership profile at www.REALTOR.org/ypn (don't forget to include your e-mail address!). YPN membership is free, and you'll receive exclusive invitations to YPN's upcoming networking events.
This is a list of the top five mistakes I have seen sellers make in the current market. I make a point to go over this list with all of my sellers when they list with me.
Mistake #1: Overpricing
Everyone knows the right price sells a home faster than any other factor. When you list a home at more than 5-10 percent over market value, the price will discourage potential buyers that think they can’t afford to look. Buyers that do see your overpriced listing know they can get more for their money elsewhere.
Mistake #2: Fixer upper/as-is
Today’s market is very competitive and most buyers do not even want to consider a home that needs multiple improvements. Buyers want a home that is neutral, clean, and in move-in condition. Even when a buyer decides he can tackle the fix-ups, they automatically subtract the cost they think it will cost them from the price they’re going to offer. Either way sellers save nothing and likely delay the sale.
Mistake #3: Dark dated colors
The best dollar-for-dollar investment sellers can make is fresh paint. Fresh neutral paint makes a big difference in the feel of the home. Also, carpet is on the way out — replacing it because of condition or color can really help the sale price. If your sellers do not want to spend the money
to re-paint the entire house, have them focus on the kitchen, the master bedroom, and the garage. These areas tend to be inspected first during a showing, and if they aren’t up to par, forget landing a buyer.
Mistake #4: Treating buyers as the enemy
Sellers sometimes forget that when we’re at the negotiation table everyone wants the same thing — the house to sell. Make sure the sellers put down their dukes and come to a negotiation with a positive mind frame. Tell sellers to leave the discussions regarding price, terms, possession, and other conditions up to you. It’s our job to get them the best deal.
Mistake #5: Delayed offer response
One of the most important mistakes sellers make is delaying their response to an offer. Be clear when explaining to your sellers that when buyers make an offer they are, right then, in the mood to buy. We all know how fast a mood can change and you don’t want to lose a sale because your seller stalled the reply.
Travis Broadwater is a real estate practitioner with Kennen & Kennen REALTORS® in West Virginia and strives to use the latest technology and marketing tools to serve his clients.
The market in St. Louis, like much of the country, has slowed and is a “buyer’s market.” Because of this slowdown I’ve concentrated on working with buyers in order to generate commissions. Many of these buyers are mistakenly under the impression that they are entitled to massive discounts because they are bombarded by doom and gloom real estate reports in the media. Some may ask what’s the harm in asking for an extremely low price on a home?
There are two major downfalls to this practice. One is it can make an agent look unreasonable and unprofessional in the eyes of the other agent. Two, the client can lose out on a great deal.
Many agents in this market are slashing asking prices to very attractive rates. I’ve had clients ask for an additional 20 percent to 30 percent off of prices that are already 10 percent to 20 percent below market. Also, in some case the client wants to offer these types of reduced prices on properties that are newly listed or reduced.
So what can an agent do? I think the best way to handle it is to educate the client about
comps as well as days on the market so you can explain why they may not get the property. If the buyer still wants to lowball an offer, I don’t push the issue, I submit the contract as they ask.
If the selling agent says something about the offer being ridiculous, I simply say that buyers expect a lot and this is where the buyer wanted to be on the price. I’m careful not to tip my clients hand, by saying anything that would suggest they will pay more.
Honestly, sometimes I get frustrated with a clients offer. I wouldn’t like it if it was my listing. But in the end, the client decides the asking price, not me. Most agents realize this is the case.
None of my buyers have been granted a price I considered exorbitantly low. Several properties that had lowball offers quickly sold to other buyer’s. After this happens I explain to my client that I work hard to find them a good value and they may want to consider offering higher prices when properties are a good value listed.
Typically, once they lose a property or two to higher offers, they begin to come down to earth on their offers.
Howard McAuliffe is a licensed agent for Premier Realty Exclusive in St. Louis and is pursuing a master’s degree in Urban Planning and Real Estate Development at St. Louis University.
Fraud Charges Brought Against 2007 '30 Under 30' Broker
Broker-owner Eve Mazzarella, selected as one of REALTOR magazine’s “30 under 30” 2007 class, was indicted with her husband, Steven Grimm, on mortgage fraud charges last week. The Las Vegas couple is accused of orchestrating hundreds of sham real estate deals through a mortgage fraud scheme that involved inflated house values and straw buyers, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada. To read reaction from REALTOR magazine’s editor in chief, visit Speaking of Real Estate, REALTOR magazine's editor's blog.
That is a question that has been plaguing me for quite some time. I have been trying to find a way to screen my leads so that I end up with great clients. Recently I have been bombarded with clients who want me to make the decisions for them. I know it is our job to educate and inform our clients to make a good decision. However, I feel that it is not our job to pick and choose the home they should buy.
For example, I have had clients who besides asking you for mortgage lenders and inspectors, ask for your advice on what you think of the home and if you like it. I always respond the same way: “In the end you are the one(s) who will be living in the home.”
But I follow up by asking them questions about the specific qualities of the home to help them make their decision. If they have more likes than dislikes about the home, I ask them if they could live with the things they dislike. If they can’t, I tell them that we have plenty more homes to look at and choose from.
Besides the indecisive clients, there are the clients who are “sitting on the fence.” These are
buyers who have found homes they like but are reluctant to make a decision about the home because of concerns over the market. Usually the home is aggressively priced and has other interested parties. When the buyers do finally decide to make an offer, they find that the home has already had multiple offers, or has already had an offer accepted. Then they wonder why they did not get the home!
I do not have a magic answer for them, but I do tell them that if they find a home they want, they will have to act faster than the last time.
At this point, some of these buyers feel that they will never find a home they want. And as their agent, I cannot help but feel bad for them, I also feel as though I somehow failed them in their pursuit for a home. I know that it’s not my fault — I did my part; I helped them find a home they wanted.
I am wondering what you do to help nudge your clients in the right direction? What do you do to screen your potential clients? Is there a set of questions you ask them? Do you have your clients sign a Buyers Broker Agreement? Any feedback you can give me will be invaluable.
Ulises Romo is a REALTOR® for PRO-formance Realty Concepts in Phoenix.
My Thoughts on the Road to Recovery for the Housing Market
What came first … the chicken or the egg? This age-old conundrum can be applied to the current housing market. According to the “experts,” the housing market should turn around by sometime in 2009 but could possibly turn around sometime in 2008.
Here’s my take on the market:
So what is it going to take for the housing market to start its recovery? The Fed has been aggressively cutting rates, but the impact has been minimal on the housing market. Since mortgage rates are not directly tied to rate cuts, it’s understandable that these rate cuts would not do much to bring a faster recovery to the housing market.
What about the economic stimulus plan? Won’t raising the limits on FHA loans and jumbo loans help spur a housing market recovery? It might, but, in my opinion, it is only a partial solution. The problem is that financial incentives are only helpful if they are actually taken
advantage of, and not just available to home buyers.
The housing market will only recover once those that are sitting on the fence make a decision to buy a home. With a few exceptions, the housing market is fueled by the first-time home buyer because they are the first link in the chain (so to speak).
On Long Island, as well as other markets across the country, there is a bottleneck being caused by home buyers who must first sell their home before making a purchase. When the housing market was rising, this process was started by first-time home buyers buying starter homes. The sellers of starter homes were then able to upgrade, and so on and so forth.
Media reports of doom and gloom in the housing market have kept many qualified home buyers on the sidelines as they try to time the bottom of the market. In essence, the media is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. As they report that the housing market is falling, potential home buyers are taking a “wait-and-see” approach, which only serves to keep the bottleneck intact.
Human nature is also playing a part in the delayed recovery. Most home owners think that their current home should be sold for top dollar. However, when they become home buyers, they balk at “unreasonable” home owners who are trying to get top dollar for their homes. Essentially, some of the most anxious buyers are also some of the least motivated sellers.
The bottom line is that the housing market recovery will happen when buyers and sellers set realistic expectations and find common ground. Only then will the media report that it’s OK to “jump back in the pool.”
Adam Waldman, e-Pro, SRES, is a Long Island REALTOR® with RE/MAX Best. He’s known as “The L.I. Relo Guy,” specializing in relocation.
So, I went to a seminar where they told me 70 percent of the people in our business were emotional, 30 percent logical. What they didn't tell me was just how emotional.
As a manager I get a lot of emotion thrown my way. Sometimes the agent is angry, or frustrated, or feeling the desperation of our current reality. It is not even unusual for me to want to come home and cry myself to sleep from the sheer exhaustion of it.
But then there is the flip side. There is the exhilaration you feel after watching a rookie
settle their first deal. Or the satisfaction you have seeing an agent exceed what they perceived as their professional potential.
I love my job. And even though there are times I feel like I am in a Sally Field movie, I wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, that’s why I’m not an accountant.
For those who are good writers, without a doubt, "blogging" is a great tool to connect with consumers and peers — and it seems to be growing more popular every year.
But if you're not a strong writer and have a tougher time at translating what's in your mind into words, "Vlogging" or video blogging may be the answer, especially with YouTube being so popular.
I would welcome comments and suggestions from any real estate practitioner who actually "Vlogs" or knows of a practitioner who does "Vlogging." Share your "Vlog" link with us!
Does it generate leads for your business? How much time do you devote to "Vlogging?" What topics do you vlog about? How often?
Dina Takai, GRI, ABR®, SRES, CIPS, TRC, is a broker associate with Park Bench Realty in Arlington Heights, Ill.
When I first moved to the mountains in Crestline, Calif., and hung my license, my broker told me a few of the ins and outs of living and working in such a small community. Basically, a lot of the older and long time resident-agents of our town liked things to stay the same, were nearly adverse to change, and, overall, it’s usually much slower than real estate down the hill. In other words, some may not take well to younger agents who cut into their business.
I just recently turned 30, and I definitely was not prepared for finding out I was the youngest real estate practitioner in my market!
My first escrow was with an agent who very rarely answered her cell phone. A few other mountain deals under my belt and I found out other agents didn’t even HAVE cell phones. They had their home phones and office numbers. Some agents were unreachable until the next business day or the next time they happened to come into the office.
I called an office to get the fax number for an offer and was told to put it in the run, since their broker had to have all originals for EVERY document in the escrow. Huh? I can’t just fax this offer over to get it going? Sure, but it wasn’t viable until they had the originals.
I was absolutely flabbergasted, for lack of any better word, that any brokerage nowadays would require original signatures on documents when faxed documents and electronic signatures are the norm. In this day and age where speed and timely response can be everything to a deal, we
were back to the days of snail mail, which I learned when we purchased our home up here. Any changes and counters/offers/amendments had to be sent to the seller in the Ventura area by mail and then sent back.
I have a Blackberry. I have a service that is very fast and reliable in the mountains. Sure, there are a couple of spots where I’ll drop a call because of the trees, but I am always able to be in contact. I can retrieve and respond to e-mails on the fly, and text messages are the norm now.
I encourage my clients, no matter their age, to e-mail or text if they’re comfortable with it because sometimes texts come through whereas the call will go straight to voicemail.
I still enjoy a personal touch as well, with phone calls and appointments, but so many clients need information and responses immediately so it’s a must to stay connected electronically.
Being the youngest practitioner in my market has been somewhat of a hindrance by virtue of the fact that working with older agents is on a slower pace. It has helped because of my Internet marketing and since I'm usually the first practitioner to respond to my Internet buyers when I am contacted. I also tend to be more willing to spend time with young home buyers than older agents, who I suppose may feel that young home buyers are too difficult to get qualified. But I’m up for the challenge, and even if they can’t purchase now, I hope they'll remember that I spent the time with them to help attain homeownership when others would not, and that’s worth its weight in gold.
Amy Steele is a full-time REALTOR® with Bibby Realty in Crestline, Calif.
YPN rocked Vegas back at the 2007 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in November, and others have taken notice. The Young Professionals Network Reception has been named as a finalist for “Best Special Event” in the 2008 FAME Awards, which honors the best magazine events. The two other finalists named in the category are “O You!” for O (Oprah) Magazine and “Skirt! 1 Year Anniversary” for Skirt! Magazine. The winners will be named on March 19 in New York City.
Stay tuned because if you thought Vegas was fun, we plan to make an even bigger splash in Orlando at the 2008 REALTORS® Conference & Expo. If you haven’t already be sure to sign up to become a YPN member, so you don’t miss out on getting an exclusive invitation to that and all future YPN events.
YPN now has a group page on Facebook. You'll be able to find links to recent blog entries, event photos, and have another way to connect with other young real estate professionals. Be sure to check us out!
Get connected with young real estate professionals from across the country. Our YPN bloggers give you the latest buzz on technology, marketing, prospecting, YPN news, and more. Read more >
That’s right, release a buyer from agency to another agent with a smile. What? Did I hear that correctly? 
This is a list of the top five mistakes I have seen sellers make in the current market. I make a point to go over this list with all of my sellers when they list with me. 
The market in St. Louis, like much of the country, has slowed and is a “buyer’s market.” Because of this slowdown I’ve concentrated on working with buyers in order to generate commissions. Many of these buyers are mistakenly under the impression that they are entitled to massive discounts because they are bombarded by doom and gloom real estate reports in the media. Some may ask what’s the harm in asking for an extremely low price on a home? 
That is a question that has been plaguing me for quite some time. I have been trying to find a way to screen my leads so that I end up with great clients. Recently I have been bombarded with clients who want me to make the decisions for them. I know it is our job to educate and inform our clients to make a good decision. However, I feel that it is not our job to pick and choose the home they should buy.
What came first … the chicken or the egg? This age-old conundrum can be applied to the current housing market. According to the “experts,” the housing market should turn around by sometime in 2009 but could possibly turn around sometime in 2008. 
So, I went to a seminar where they told me 70 percent of the people in our business were emotional, 30 percent logical. What they didn't tell me was just how emotional.
For those who are good writers, without a doubt, "blogging" is a great tool to connect with consumers and peers — and it seems to be growing more popular every year.
When I first moved to the mountains in Crestline, Calif., and hung my license, my broker told me a few of the ins and outs of living and working in such a small community. Basically, a lot of the older and long time resident-agents of our town liked things to stay the same, were nearly adverse to change, and, overall, it’s usually much slower than real estate down the hill. In other words, some may not take well to younger agents who cut into their business.
YPN rocked Vegas back at the 2007 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in November, and others have taken notice. The 
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