I remember a lesson I learned, a long time ago, when I first learned how to ride motocross in the Southern California foothills to keep the cycle pointed straight ahead at all times. My natural reaction was to find the seemingly easiest path through the trail, bobbing and weaving to avoid any large boulders; however surprisingly this was not the correct course of action. Instead, I was advised to keep heading straight, even if a huge boulder lay dead ahead in my path. The bike and its shock absorbers would handle even the largest rocks. A terrific sense of enlightenment and freedom came over me that I remember to this day.

Occasionally, I catch myself in an avoidance mode and suspect there are many others in these tough economic times with the same strategy. Then I get back into the saddle and begin to forge straight ahead despite what the depressing news says, no matter what the source. I tell myself, “These are the days we have to dig our heels in deeper.” They say when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It’s up to us to decide our personally appropriate strategy of fight or flight.

Over the course of the past year, I found myself expanding my view of my team’s market area. This was not only by a geographic territory, but also by niche or specialty. A strategy such as this requires a non-traditional approach to staffing our team. I decided I was no longer after an agent who could simply service an area, now I was after a hybrid. Such a person may be fit to service an area but they must also have special talents. Such talents may include advanced knowledge of luxury home sales, equestrian properties, international sales, new construction, golf properties, commercial, etc, or anything else that makes them stand out from the crowd.

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Mobile apps mean you’re a thumb click away from finding almost anything – even your next home. The other day I read an article about how mobile apps on your Smartphone can be used for buying a home (or just checking out a new neighborhood). These realty apps aren’t new and don‘t seem to be going away, but then I got to thinking: Do I really want a mobile app to choose my next home for me?

Deciding on where (and whether!) to buy a home is lot different than, say, trying to find where the best place in town to eat a hot dog is. Sure, you could use a mobile app to find out about a new neighborhood, but it doesn’t replace actually having a “real” real estate agent to show you around the neighborhood. That’s why new homes are usually sold offline and in person, with an agent who knows the area.

The benefits of a (real) real estate agent outweigh the realty app’s benefits every day of the week. A real estate professional agent can do more for you as a home buyer than an app that says “you are here.” What, you ask? Read on – here I’ve listed 6 benefits of using a real estate agent to help you buy your home:
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The term “short sale” was hardly even heard of 4 years ago.  The name alone is so ironic in that it usually takes 3 months to a year to close.

Most Realtors® won’t even show them as now a days you are lucky if they close at all. They are without a doubt the most frustrating of all sales. Still I guess we will be forced to live with them until someone let’s the lawmakers know that enough is enough.  We need regulations and rules.  Realtors are either getting rich or running for the poor house.

Fannie Mae recently passed a regulation that prohibits banks from negotiating the buyers commission or reducing them. A small but great victory for buyer’s agents who are at the mercy of the listing agent.  Most of the time they offer 2.5% – 3% and state on the MLS that if commissions are reduced they are split 50/50.

Well I guess we have to take the word of the listing agent and their escrow officers on this.

I recently had a listing agent tell me that they reduced the total commission to 3% and I was to settle for 1.5%. She then accidentally forwarded me an email from the bank negotiator, who allowed a 7% total commission.  Talk about dishonesty and greed.  Unfortunately it is very prevalent in this market.  I did manage to get my 3% but with a lot of Broker to Broker combat.

How I long for the old days. Continue reading this post

It’s a typical scenario: you get an email from a couple wanting to see a home. Adrenaline surges as a closing check flits across your mind. You eagerly set up an appointment, drive across town, show the property at the appointed hour then set up another appointment to show them more homes on the weekend.

Friday comes and you get an email with 17 MLS numbers they’d like to see. A small gnawing feeling starts working at corner of your stomach as you realize you need to do some educating. You dive into the list and quickly discover that 14 of them are short sales that can be shown by appointment only. That uncomfortable feeling in your tummy is expanding into a minor digestive disorder as you get ready to start making the calls to set up the appointments.

I could go on with scenarios all too common for too many REALTORS® … ending with the unreturned calls, failure to respond to emails and finally the devastating realization that the clients you’ve been carting around for the past three months have just purchased a home from another agent at an open house.

You’ve just been managed.

From the first moment you come in contact with a prospective client, they have expectations. In many cases, these expectations are not based on reality: they’ve been garnered from conversations with their friends, reading posts on sites like HomeGain, Zillow and Trulia and by watching HGTV. Often, their expectations are way out of alignment with reality. It’s up to you to manage their expectations and direct them forward in a positive manner. You’d think it would be easy, yet statistics state that by the time a buyer gets to you, they’ve already been in contact with numerous other Realtors. How do you get this food chain to stop with you?

Bottom line: if you don’t mange your buyers, they will manage you. Right out of business.

In reality, I’ve discovered that most buyers want to be “managed.” Used in the right context, the word “manage” is a good thing. Continue reading this post

We’ve all heard it; “real estate is local”. I’m not so sure.

I believe that all of the different “local” real estate markets are in fact intertwined with one another. While there is not much value in a national average or median real estate price, there is value in national sales volume, national inventory levels and other national housing statistics.

Think of them as a barometer – a measure by which you can assess your local market. Perhaps your market is selling more homes on average at a higher price point than the national average. Perhaps it’s less. Either way, national market statistics matter. You can use this information as part of a general wellness test of your local market. Not to mention that what actually is happening in other local real estate markets can directly affect what happens in your local market.

We in fact just ran into a scenario where a client of ours could only buy a home at a certain price here because the home he owns in Michigan cannot sell for a reasonable price there. They wanted to spend about $600,000, but, bought for $250,000 until the home in Michigan can sell. This is an example of exactly how these markets are intertwined and why in fact real estate is not all local.

To truly understand your local market, you must stay abreast of and understand more than just your neighborhood, town and city market statistics lest someone else who does understand will be the “local expert” instead of you. Continue reading this post

Yesterday I was perusing online through my cell phone bill. I took note that my two teenagers ages 15 and 17 had sent and received over 10,000 text messages – in December.

The two adults in the home sent and received approximately 400 text messages this month -– mostly between the aforementioned teenaged children. Sometimes it seems like I text them more often than I talk to them.

This got me to wondering about the future of communicating in the real estate industry.

As I write this, I’m looking at an email inbox containing 5,586 messages. Lousy email management skills aside, this is an indication of how often I send and receive emails. As I look into my sent mail folder, I see that I have sent an average of 11.33 emails each day this month. These are emails sent from Continue reading this post