Here I am, broker and lead of a Denver real estate team here in the heart of the country. We’ve had our share of challenges. However, we continue to invest into our business and persevere and it’s paying off. When others are asking, “How’s business?”, we can truthfully say, “You know it’s great. In fact it’s been better these past several months than during the past few years.”  Sure, it’s not as good as it could be but it is better. I’ve had to make tough but obviously necessary decisions and moves towards achieving the end goal of coming out of this lull on top of our game.

Moving Our Office

I recently moved from a small boutique real estate firm to one of the largest and fastest growing brokerages in Colorado. This move helped to bring down costs while expanding the team’s opportunity. Overnight, I increased team incentives via lower fees, and vastly increased my access to in-house agents, now candidates for my team. Instead of hiring new members from outside my company, then recruiting for my team, now I simply need to put the word out to the office.

Hiring Team Support

With some of the savings on the overhead, I hired my first administrative assistant. I’ve spent many, many hours trying to keep up with the vast amount of work I’ve created for myself and now it was time to share. By lightening my load, I’m better able to focus on the larger opportunities and issues at hand. I’m looking at everything from virtual outsourcing, to engaging consultants, to hiring hourly and even salaried employees. Continue reading this post

HomeGain inducts 27 new real estate agent members into its elite commissions based award clubs for closing home sales; Two HomeGain Members reach Diamond Club status for earning more than $500,000

HomeGain®, announced that it has inducted an additional 27 HomeGain members across 18 states into its commissions based award clubs for its AgentEvaluator® program.

“With today’s announcement, HomeGain continues to provide concrete evidence that our marketing programs produce results for our members. While thousands of real estate professionals are spending inordinate amounts of time and money on social media and social media conferences, many HomeGain members across the country continue to quietly earn commissions through their memberships with HomeGain,” stated Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain.

HomeGain has inducted the following award club members: Continue reading this post

I’ve personally taken the time to register around the country for the sole purpose of having a great email drip campaign to convert leads into appointments and appointments into pay checks. Ironically, I’ve accidentally noticed that many of the websites I have registered on were not calling my personal cell phone, let alone sending me an email of properties or even a thank you for registering.

So I ask the question, “why force registration and not follow up?” My data gathered around the country over a period of about six months has astonished me, and possibly even you. Experience clearly shows the importance following up and having great systems in place in the way to grow your business and dominate as opposed to drowning in today’s market.

I’ll get to the statistics in a moment. First off, I was amazed that this project took me so long. After starting this project, I realized how many people do not force registration. I also realized how many people do not have websites. Sorry, I did not collect data on the number of websites I had to visit in order to register, however the number was at least 2 out of 3 who did not force registration. Continue reading this post

Who Moved The Ends?

It’s a popular line when giving directions. “You go to the end of the block and turn left.” And it’s hard to go wrong. After all, the end is…the end. When you get there you know what to do. Because it’s the end.

Except when they move the ends.

It’s like the proverbial “pot-o-gold” at the end of the rainbow. If you’ve ever tried to find it (and I did as a kid!), then you discover a very disturbing fact. The end of the rainbow keeps moving. The closer you get, the more it moves away. It’s kind of like the current real estate market.

Someone keeps moving the ends.

I just read an interesting post entitled “How do you get back to the basics when the basics have changed?” Great question! And I can totally relate. In our office meeting just yesterday we got into a lively discussion between the techies and the tech-nots. The argument was based around the idea that technology is critical to the markets of the future. The techies were advocating websites, email blitzes, SEO, Facebook, Twitter, internet leads and so on. The tech-nots were out there pounding on doors, holding open houses, networking at local events and advocating face-to-face contact. I sat in the back corner and listened with interest – both sides were advocating their side at the exclusion of the other. Guess what? Continue reading this post

In the age of technology, isn’t it nice to receive a card in the mail? It is much more memorable than receiving an email or a text message. The person who sent it took the time to write the note, put a stamp on it, and put it in the mail. It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling to know someone cares about me that much.

Wouldn’t it be a nice gesture to send a thank you card to a client, business associate, or even a prospective client?

Here are some ideas:

• Thank a fellow Realtor for selling one of your listings.
• Thank a mortgage broker for a job well done.
• Thank a prospect who just signed up for IDX on your website.
• Thank a prospect that took the time to call you.
• Thank a home seller for listing with you.
• Thanks for a referral.
• Thank a potential home buyer after showing them properties.
• Thank a prospect for filling out a CMA form on your website.
• Thank a friend request on Facebook.
• Thank a prospective seller after a listing appointment.
• Thank every open house attendee.

You get the idea. Try to send out 5 cards or notes per day and see what kind of response you get. I think you will be pleased. Soon you will think of more and more fun occasions to send cards.

Every time I meet with a client I ask myself, “Are these people wasting my time?” Good time management and qualifying skills are so important to a successful real estate career. Realtors can get bogged down with time wasting tasks and people. Your production will suffer if your week is filled up with activities or clients who misuse your time and energy.

Here are 5 common “warning signs” from a potential home buyer:

1)      “We would like a tour”

If I hear the word “tour” I cringe.  This is usually someone very early in the buying process or who is a complete waste of time. I’ve noticed that many real homebuyers are willing to drive themselves around.

2)      “I need a steal”

Of course, everyone is looking for a steal and there is nothing wrong with that. Be scared of those buyers who are not willing to purchase at market or appraised value. They are usually only interested in buying a home if they can get it at a wholesale price.  These types of buyers can have you chasing your tail in no time.

3)      “I’m positive that I can get financing”

This one can come back to bite you. Imagine spending 10-20 hours working with a buyer only to find out that they cannot get financing. Many times people who think they can get financing easily don’t want to go through the hassles of a mortgage pre-qualification or pre-approval. If that is the case how motivated of a buyer are they? Continue reading this post