There are tons of media reports out there reporting on the real estate market in varying shades of mostly gray. You can’t log on to Inman News or Trulia and miss that it’s a little gloomy out there.

In fact, there are so many yard sale signs popping up on Zillow you almost can’t see the “homes for the ‘for sale’ signs”.

To their credit, Realtors® are adept at staying focused and getting the job done.

In fact, just the other day I heard from one of my long-time customers, Anthony Marguleas of Amalfi Estates in Los Angeles. Anthony deliberately surrounds himself with positive people and told me, “Business has been busy here and I just have to hustle a lot more. I am working to surround myself with positive people.”

That got me to thinking. Continue reading this post

As a real estate agent, and in my every day life, I believe it is human nature to feel comfortable with someone you are similar to.

You can build a greater connection by finding things in common and this can help to build confidence and trust.

Traits you need in order to be a successful sales person and/or Realtor®. But first you have to gain someone’s confidence to build that special rapport.

In order to do this, you have to understand people and their personality styles. There are 4 major personality styles and I have found this model works very well. Continue reading this post

Yes – contrary to what the media is saying, now is a great time to buy a house.

People who tried to buy a home in the last couple of years often found it to be very difficult. There frequently were multiple buyers interested in the same property forcing buyers to pay over full price.

Also, homebuyers had little leverage to negotiate repairs after a home inspection because if one homebuyer didn’t want to accept the home as is, there would be several others who gladly would.

Well, now the pendulum has swung and the homebuyers have the power.

Prices have come down and buyers can still negotiate even lower prices. Also, sellers have to meet buyers repairs demands or risk losing the buyer and having the home sit on the market a long time until another buyer comes along.

Additionally, interest rates have fallen a bit, which helps make homes even more affordable. Continue reading this post

“Real estate compensation structures are wrought with problems, which could be effectively eliminated if the MLS-mandated offer of compensation were done away with.

Agent compensation is set by office policies that support a specific company’s fee philosophy and income. But the system doesn’t take into account how it affects consumers’ opinion of value received or how it can clash with other companies’ compensation policies.

These policies also contribute to uneducated agents blacklisting certain properties—either intentionally or unintentionally.

One major contributing factor to the compensation problem is that a buyer’s agent is paid according to the selling agent’s office policy. This totally disregards the buy-side agent’s office policy on compensation, the buyer’s contract with his agent and the seller’s best interests, which are to remove any barriers that may keep potential buyers from seeing their home.

One problematic result of the mandatory unilateral offer of compensation is the belief that the seller and his agent are the ones paying for the buyer agent’s fee. In reality, both the seller and buyer agents’ fees come from the negotiated sale price, and are deducted from the proceeds Continue reading this post