Tis the Season that the visions of goals dance in our heads, goals of years past, goals of the present, and goals of the future, haunt our minds and chase away our sleep.
If you are currently chasing down the finish line on your goals for the end of the year, Congratulations, keep going, you can do it!!!
If you gave up on your goals months ago, you are far from alone. Would you like to be in the position those above are next year?
If you aren't going to miss your goals, because you never set any for this year, is it because you find them frustrating and a waste of time since you never hit goals you set anyway? Would you like to know that is one of the most common things I hear when I am visiting with agents, no matter what flag flies on their office. It isn't surprising since most people have never been taught how to set goals that will be a driving force for you.
Are written goals important? There was a study done years ago where they studied a freshman class at Harvard finding out how many had clear specific written goals, and in the hallowed halls of the prestigious institution only 3% had done so. When they checked in on them twenty-five years later they learned those 3% held 80% of the total wealth of the class. Coincidence?
What most people do wrong is they just decide out of thin air what they will set as a goal, how many sales, how much money they would make, whatever, then go out and try to reach it. They may even go so far as to break it down to what they need to do a month to reach their yearly goal in dollars or sales. However they have no daily action plan, they have no emotional commitment to it, they are doomed to fail. At some point through the year, normally early, they look up and see how far off they are from their target and decide it was a stupid idea anyway and bail on it. Does this sound familiar?
Let me suggest a change of strategy. Rather than just pulling a number that sounds good out of the air, let's arrive at a number to accomplish something you really want. Let's start with Why and then figure out How. What is your WHY, what do you WANT? Take some time to soul search and figure out something you really want, a family vacation, a cruise, a new house, new car, a Rolex, something for a family member, your church, whatever it is that really moves you. It doesn't matter if anyone else is excited about it, what matters is that you are.
Now, figure out how much that WHY is going to cost over what it takes for you to cover your living expenses for the year comfortably. Let's say your WHY is going to cost you 10,000.00 cash and your standard of living is 70,000.00, now you know you need 80,000.00 this year to reach your WHY. Adjust up or down as needed for your standard of living and your own WHY.
So if you need to make 80k, now we need to figure out how much you make per transaction and your average drop out rate. In other words how many of your contracts last year fell through for whatever reason, let's say it was 10%. Now divide the average per transaction say it is 3,000.00 from the 80k so we get 27 transactions and then multiply by 1.10 to get 30 transactions, or 2.5 a month.
Next step is to start setting activity goals, those are things you have complete control over, unlike the above production goals. To set activity goals we need to look at some of your averages, what is the number of people who you have a face to face appointment that you get on a contract? How many phone calls (this could be texting, IM on Facebook, whatever) do you need to make to get one appointment? Now how many contacts or suspects must you make to get a phone number to call?
Now we know you need to write 30 contracts to get 27 closings, let's say our math said that you wrote a contract with 40% of those who you met for an appointment, (your numbers could be higher or lower,) so you must meet with 75 people to get those 30 to end up with 27.
To get those 75 appointments we have to call people, how many people do you normally have to call to set an appointment? Let's assume 3 for 1 appointment, so now we need to call 225 people to set those appointments. Now, how many people do you have to meet to get contact information to make those calls? Let's assume 3 to get 1 number, these could come from Open Houses, Internet leads, referrals, standing in line with them at a store, where ever you meet people, now we see you need to have conversations with 675 people.
Let's break it down, that means you need to bump into 56 people a month through any source you use, to get 18.75 calls for appointments a month and we should get 6.25 appointments a month giving us 2.5 contracts.
Take that down further, 56 people a month becomes 14 a week or 2.8 a day if you work 5 days a week. Those 18.75 calls per month become 4.6 calls a week, or 1 call a day five days a week.
So to reach your 80,000.00 goal to buy your 10,000.00 WHY you will meet 2.8 new contacts per day somehow, and will call 1 prospect per day five days a week.
If this is brand new to you, my I suggest that you give yourself rewards for hitting your goal every week, if not every day. It doesn't have to be expensive, just something you want. Learn delayed gratification it could be you love one of those fancy Starbucks drinks and you get a few each week, take them away from yourself unless you hit your activity goal the day before, make them a reward. It matters not what it is, just that you want it but won't let yourself have it without earning it.
Everyone should put rewards for each month if you reach your goals that month, maybe a massage, a cigar, who knows, whatever floats your boat. If you focus on the daily activities and reward yourself for achieving them, you will find that this time next year you will be chasing the victory and that big exciting WHY!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
It's Here!!! Realtors Property Resource Is Here!
On November 1st the National Association of Realtors opened their Realtors Property Resource or RPR website for all REALTORS nationwide. Until then you had to be with a local MLS board that had signed on to it to have access to it. You can go to www.narrpr.com to set up your free account. You will needs your NRDS number, if you don't know it, you can go to www.Realtor.org to find yours, or look at your REALTOR magazine address label.
When you get there you will learn that you now have a national database of information for REALTORS only that you can get information on everything from what you could get on your own local MLS, but much more, with ready to print reports that will help you be the true expert when you meet with your clients. As we are all aware our Cheese moved as Realtors, and continues to do so, with all the information our clients can get on their own. If you want to show more value to them, take advantage of this amazing tool that only Realtors can access.
Unfortunately, our own Metropolitan Board of REALTORS has chosen not to participate in RPR.
" The MIBOR Board of Directors has been following the RPR™ discussion for the last three years. The Board has formally discussed whether MIBOR should contributed BLC® listing service data to RPR™. In each discussion the same concerns have arisen; at this point there are concerns about the accuracy of the information and philosophically, the Board has been opposed to releasing data under an arrangement where RPR™ intends to resell the data but not compensate the brokers within the listing services who have provided the data. For those primary reasons, the Board has adopted a “wait and see” approach. We will continue to be part the discussion with RPR™. BLC® listing service participants will have access to RPR™ regardless of whether your data is included. Member feedback on the how useful RPR™ is to your business will be part of the decision making process moving forward. " Dona Keefe, Communication Liaison for MIBOR.
It seems that MIBOR has much the same concerns too many agents hold, that somehow that their only value is the information that they restrict to only be available to come from them. To me, that is locking the barn door after the horse ran away. The information is out there now, our clients are accessing information through Google that we can never take back. If you believe that your only value is your access to information, quit selling yourself short.
Have you ever been upset when a client comes to you with their "Zestimates?" Have you ever complained about the inaccurate information clients are finding? Now is a chance to do something more about it. The RPR is a tool for Realtors by Realtors to open up the entire country at your fingertips so you can be that expert. It will also help to capture more and more accurate information. If you are sitting down to list a house and in RPR it says it is a 3 bdrm 1 ba, and you know it is a 4 bdrm 2 ba, you can change it online right then and get it correct. Think Wikipedia, an encyclopedia of Real Estate information and data that not only scrapes the MLS and government systems to provide you information but you and your fellow Realtors can correct mistakes when you find them.
This system could be truly a silver bullet for some of the challenges that Commercial agents exerience. How does a nationwide database of commercial properties and all the information you need on them at your fingertips sound to you?
NAR came to our office and showed this system to us about two years ago, we have been excited about it ever since. What they did this month was give each and everyone of you a chance to access it, see it, play with it and if you see the potential we do, you can call MIBOR and ask them to let you have access to all it has to offer.
When you get there you will learn that you now have a national database of information for REALTORS only that you can get information on everything from what you could get on your own local MLS, but much more, with ready to print reports that will help you be the true expert when you meet with your clients. As we are all aware our Cheese moved as Realtors, and continues to do so, with all the information our clients can get on their own. If you want to show more value to them, take advantage of this amazing tool that only Realtors can access.
Unfortunately, our own Metropolitan Board of REALTORS has chosen not to participate in RPR.
" The MIBOR Board of Directors has been following the RPR™ discussion for the last three years. The Board has formally discussed whether MIBOR should contributed BLC® listing service data to RPR™. In each discussion the same concerns have arisen; at this point there are concerns about the accuracy of the information and philosophically, the Board has been opposed to releasing data under an arrangement where RPR™ intends to resell the data but not compensate the brokers within the listing services who have provided the data. For those primary reasons, the Board has adopted a “wait and see” approach. We will continue to be part the discussion with RPR™. BLC® listing service participants will have access to RPR™ regardless of whether your data is included. Member feedback on the how useful RPR™ is to your business will be part of the decision making process moving forward. " Dona Keefe, Communication Liaison for MIBOR.
It seems that MIBOR has much the same concerns too many agents hold, that somehow that their only value is the information that they restrict to only be available to come from them. To me, that is locking the barn door after the horse ran away. The information is out there now, our clients are accessing information through Google that we can never take back. If you believe that your only value is your access to information, quit selling yourself short.
Have you ever been upset when a client comes to you with their "Zestimates?" Have you ever complained about the inaccurate information clients are finding? Now is a chance to do something more about it. The RPR is a tool for Realtors by Realtors to open up the entire country at your fingertips so you can be that expert. It will also help to capture more and more accurate information. If you are sitting down to list a house and in RPR it says it is a 3 bdrm 1 ba, and you know it is a 4 bdrm 2 ba, you can change it online right then and get it correct. Think Wikipedia, an encyclopedia of Real Estate information and data that not only scrapes the MLS and government systems to provide you information but you and your fellow Realtors can correct mistakes when you find them.
This system could be truly a silver bullet for some of the challenges that Commercial agents exerience. How does a nationwide database of commercial properties and all the information you need on them at your fingertips sound to you?
NAR came to our office and showed this system to us about two years ago, we have been excited about it ever since. What they did this month was give each and everyone of you a chance to access it, see it, play with it and if you see the potential we do, you can call MIBOR and ask them to let you have access to all it has to offer.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Who Do You Work For? Who Works For You?
Who do you work for?
Who works for you? Who should you be working for? Who should work for you?
Are you working for your broker, or are you working for
yourself and your family? Are you working for your creditors just to get
through each month’s bills, or are you working for your future?
Who is working for you? Are you? Is your broker? Are your
mortgage lender, title rep, home warranty rep, insurance rep working for you?
Are they focusing on how they can make your job easier? Are they focusing on
how they can make you look like a rock star to your clients? If not, why not?
As an independent contractor, you are in business for
yourself, maybe though not by yourself. In our industry it seems that many
believe that they work for their broker, and frankly many brokers feel they
that the agents work for them as well. It seems to be that often in our
industry that the Broker believes that they hire agents to work for them and as
conduits to the agent’s clients to bring those clients into the broker’s firm.
It is amazing how many agents seem to buy into that thought process.
Who should be working for you? How about after you, first
and foremost your Broker should be working for you, aren’t you in fact their
client? If not you should be. Shouldn’t your success be something that they are
striving to help you achieve? Shouldn’t
your relationship be that you are in business for yourself, but not by
yourself? How should that look? The Broker’s corporate culture should be agent centered;
from the Broker down throughout the staff should see you as their client they
serve.
What is amazing is how many are working in situations that
really don’t serve their best interests, and even if they are made aware of it,
decide to stay knowing it isn’t really serving their needs. Why would they do
it? Many people, even who are independent contractors and are in business for
themselves, still see themselves as employees and have employee mentality. They
fear taking a risk, fear losing friends, fear making a change of any kind.
There are a lot of people who prefer staying in a situation that isn’t good for
them just because it is known and comfortable. Are you doing it out of loyalty? Have you
asked would they take care of me if something happened? Will they pay your kid’s
college, or your retirement? If not, why be more loyal to them than you and
your own family’s future?
This is like the story of Jeb and Clem who were sitting on
Clem’s front porch rocking while Clem’s old coonhound kept moaning and
groaning. Finally after listening to this dog for a couple hours, Jeb asked, “What
is wrong with your dog?” Clem said, “He’s
fine, he’s just lying on a nail.” Jeb couldn’t believe it, “Why doesn’t he
move?” Jeb, “It doesn’t hurt enough for him to move, just enough to complain
about it.” Isn’t it amazing how many people are like that old dog?
This is not a new way for people to behave, in the 1850s
Harriett Tubman was risking her life to keep going into the South and leading
runaway slaves into freedom through the Underground Railroad. Of course it wasn’t
underground and there was no railroad involved. It was moving by night walking north
going from safe house to safe house. She carried a gun, but not so much to
defend her and those she was escorting, but to either warn or shoot those who
she was helping to escape who wanted to give up and turn back. She couldn’t
have someone go back that could tell her routes and contacts. There were those
who wanted to return to the “known” of slavery if she would have let them.
Even in the story of Exodus there was a reason that the
Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years. Keep in mind that the desert
wasn’t that big; in fact it could have been walked across in a matter of
several days. However, the Israelites and Moses wandered about for 40 years,
why? It was because the Israelites kept wanting to go back to Egypt and to
slavery where they knew what to expect and were used to it, God decided to not
let any of them with “Slave” mentality into His Promised Land, he waited until
that generation who had allowed slavery to be a mental state to die off before moving
their children into the Land of Milk and Honey.
Hopefully none of us will be like that old dog, or one of
Tubman’s or Moses’ followers who chooses to stay behind in a known lesser life
rather than race for freedom and opportunity.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
If Passion is Possible Why Settle For Less
Have you lost the joy of working your
business? Has it become a job that you simply do to pay the bills? Have you
asked yourself if you still like the business? Have you ever blamed these
thoughts on “how much the business has changed,” or “it just isn’t any fun
anymore?” Could it be because you have forgotten why you came into the business
in the first place? Did you have a burning reason to get into it or did you
just end up in it? Would you like to find your joy again in Real Estate?
The secret ingredient in
any venture in life is passion. Passion is a game changer, if the Dream is Big
enough the facts don't matter. If you have a passion for something, then you
will see magic happen. Not only will you find a way to see your dreams come
true, others will follow. People follow passion. We see so little of it around
us, it is a natural attraction. It draws positive people to you like moths to
flame.
We only are given one chance to live our lives, what are you doing with yours? Are you going through the motions in autopilot where you go to work, go home, go to work, go work, home, work, home without any real punctuation marks to make it something other than a rut? Have you ever driven through a traffic light and then wondered if it was red or not? Does one day run into another in seamless sameness? The only difference between a rut and a grave is the rut doesn’t have to be permanent.
Mark Twain once said, "Most men die at 27, we just bury them at 72."
Henry David Thoreau said, "Most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to their graves with their song still in them."
How sad is that, we know instinctively that those comments are true, don't we?
Why is this? What happens to the dreams inside we bring out of childhood? How do we start going through the motions of our lives and quit actually living them? I think it starts when we decide to start settling for safety and security instead of chasing our dreams. I believe that is why we see so many people taking anti-depressants and encumbered with addictions of all sorts. We are built to dream. God created us with dreams inside and we only function correctly when we are chasing them. God said, "Without a vision, my people perish." The sad thing is when you give up passion for security; you have traded for a mirage.
We only are given one chance to live our lives, what are you doing with yours? Are you going through the motions in autopilot where you go to work, go home, go to work, go work, home, work, home without any real punctuation marks to make it something other than a rut? Have you ever driven through a traffic light and then wondered if it was red or not? Does one day run into another in seamless sameness? The only difference between a rut and a grave is the rut doesn’t have to be permanent.
Mark Twain once said, "Most men die at 27, we just bury them at 72."
Henry David Thoreau said, "Most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to their graves with their song still in them."
How sad is that, we know instinctively that those comments are true, don't we?
Why is this? What happens to the dreams inside we bring out of childhood? How do we start going through the motions of our lives and quit actually living them? I think it starts when we decide to start settling for safety and security instead of chasing our dreams. I believe that is why we see so many people taking anti-depressants and encumbered with addictions of all sorts. We are built to dream. God created us with dreams inside and we only function correctly when we are chasing them. God said, "Without a vision, my people perish." The sad thing is when you give up passion for security; you have traded for a mirage.
When was the last time
you went “dreaming?” Thinking of “What would I do?” “What would I buy?” “For
whom?” Hall of Fame Football coach, Lou Holtz, credits his career turning
around from being fired and an unemployed high school assistant coach was a
book his wife bought him called “The Magic of Thinking Big” by Dr. David
Schwartz. He read it and wrote down a “Bucket List” of 106 things he wanted to
do, two were to be head coach at Notre Dame and win a National Championship. He
has now done almost all on his list. Your “Why” may not have anything to do
with Real Estate, it could even be leaving a legacy with some charity or cause,
but you might find that you can use Real Estate to fund your Dreams. Once you find
the WHY everything changes, you will add passion to your daily actions.
Life is far too short to live it without a passion in your life. For me, I want to have a passion in everything I do. If it deserves my time and attention, doesn't it deserve my passion? I don't care if it is my marriage, my children, career related, spiritual faith, patriotism, hobbies, whatever, if it is worth your time, it is worth passion. If passion is one of the options, it should be the only acceptable one. I refuse to go through life timid or bored.
A friend and mentor of mine, Rick Setzer, taught a question we should always ask ourselves, especially if we are starting to get stale in our vision. "Are you working your business or are you chasing your dream?" There is magic in the latter.
If you have a true passion, you’re contagious. I once had a wonderful lesson in passion and its effect on others. My wife had read about an orchid nursery in Indianapolis that was one of the largest in America. She wanted to go buy orchids for all the ladies in our family for Christmas. I went with her and we were blessed with this amazing older gentleman as our guide and salesman. He looked like he had just been found on some deserted island, long gray hair and beard, skinny and gaunt, probably in his 70s, but had a twinkle in his eyes that captured you. He was a scientist who had traveled the world's jungles searching for new species of orchids most of his life. This was his collection of over 5,000 species he had found. He taught us all about them with a passion that sucked you into his world, so much so that I ended up raising orchids for the next ten years. I had never had a thought of them before walking in, but his passion was contagious. I will never forget that powerful lesson.
So, are you building your business, or are you chasing your dreams? Are you making a living or are you making a life? It is up to you; it is simply finding your passion and never working another day in your life!
Life is far too short to live it without a passion in your life. For me, I want to have a passion in everything I do. If it deserves my time and attention, doesn't it deserve my passion? I don't care if it is my marriage, my children, career related, spiritual faith, patriotism, hobbies, whatever, if it is worth your time, it is worth passion. If passion is one of the options, it should be the only acceptable one. I refuse to go through life timid or bored.
A friend and mentor of mine, Rick Setzer, taught a question we should always ask ourselves, especially if we are starting to get stale in our vision. "Are you working your business or are you chasing your dream?" There is magic in the latter.
If you have a true passion, you’re contagious. I once had a wonderful lesson in passion and its effect on others. My wife had read about an orchid nursery in Indianapolis that was one of the largest in America. She wanted to go buy orchids for all the ladies in our family for Christmas. I went with her and we were blessed with this amazing older gentleman as our guide and salesman. He looked like he had just been found on some deserted island, long gray hair and beard, skinny and gaunt, probably in his 70s, but had a twinkle in his eyes that captured you. He was a scientist who had traveled the world's jungles searching for new species of orchids most of his life. This was his collection of over 5,000 species he had found. He taught us all about them with a passion that sucked you into his world, so much so that I ended up raising orchids for the next ten years. I had never had a thought of them before walking in, but his passion was contagious. I will never forget that powerful lesson.
So, are you building your business, or are you chasing your dreams? Are you making a living or are you making a life? It is up to you; it is simply finding your passion and never working another day in your life!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Huge Opportunity
There is about to be a historic shift in our markets, a passing of the generational torch of market dominance like never seen before. When the Baby Boomers came onto the scene, they were so large in numbers that the world was truly their oyster. No previous generation so completely dominated the market place for decades for they were 78 million strong. However every year there are less Boomers, and that is a trend that unfortunately for those of us in it, will continue. The torch is soon to be passed to the Millennial Generation who at 84 million will be a massive force on the market for many years to come.
The millennial generation is already driving the housing recovery, and the future is bright with 88% of them saying they want to be home owners. To house them all it is going to require 40 million homes to be built that do not exist today. Someone is going to sell all those homes, why not you?
The challenge facing the market place is that while the driving force in the market is the 18-33 year old Millennials, they do not have many Realtors who come from their generation. We have a Boomer dominated Realtor population. The median age of agents has increased from 51 in 2007 to 56 in 2012 indicating that it is the same people making up the Realtor community. Only 3% of all agents are under 30 years old and another 4% are 30 to 34 years old, another 22% are over 65.
When nearly 50% of the home purchases today are by Millennials and only 7% of Realtors are of their generation, there is an unprecedented career opportunity available today, and way into the future.
Only 6% of all Realtors come in to the industry as their first career; most bring expertise and experience from other fields prior to real estate, the most common being in management, business, and financial professions, followed by sales and retail. The majority of members are women with college educations.
Fourteen percent of Realtors work fewer than 20 hours a week, 30 percent 20-39 hours per week, 41 percent work 40-59 hours and 15 percent work 60 or more per week. Those working 60 hours a week or more earned 80,900.00, and 17% of all agents earned a six-figure income.
Ninety-one percent of Realtors are homeowners. In addition they often invest in real estate and own other homes in addition to their primary residence. 43% own at least one investment property and 16% at least one vacation home, and 10% own at least one commercial property.
Realtors use technology daily, it is a key to their success, they are adapting quickly to the technology that is a part of the everyday culture of the Millennial generation. What a great opportunity for those Millennials who can come into a business where they can set their own hours, determine how much money they want to make and are willing to work for, using technology that is second nature to them, and a huge potential market of their generation pool who they understand the best.
As we find ourselves in an economy that has only produced jobs for 50% of all the college graduates from 2006 through 2012, and a huge need in the market place for them to serve the needs of their own generation as they make their home buying dreams come true.
The millennial generation is already driving the housing recovery, and the future is bright with 88% of them saying they want to be home owners. To house them all it is going to require 40 million homes to be built that do not exist today. Someone is going to sell all those homes, why not you?
The challenge facing the market place is that while the driving force in the market is the 18-33 year old Millennials, they do not have many Realtors who come from their generation. We have a Boomer dominated Realtor population. The median age of agents has increased from 51 in 2007 to 56 in 2012 indicating that it is the same people making up the Realtor community. Only 3% of all agents are under 30 years old and another 4% are 30 to 34 years old, another 22% are over 65.
When nearly 50% of the home purchases today are by Millennials and only 7% of Realtors are of their generation, there is an unprecedented career opportunity available today, and way into the future.
Only 6% of all Realtors come in to the industry as their first career; most bring expertise and experience from other fields prior to real estate, the most common being in management, business, and financial professions, followed by sales and retail. The majority of members are women with college educations.
Fourteen percent of Realtors work fewer than 20 hours a week, 30 percent 20-39 hours per week, 41 percent work 40-59 hours and 15 percent work 60 or more per week. Those working 60 hours a week or more earned 80,900.00, and 17% of all agents earned a six-figure income.
Ninety-one percent of Realtors are homeowners. In addition they often invest in real estate and own other homes in addition to their primary residence. 43% own at least one investment property and 16% at least one vacation home, and 10% own at least one commercial property.
Realtors use technology daily, it is a key to their success, they are adapting quickly to the technology that is a part of the everyday culture of the Millennial generation. What a great opportunity for those Millennials who can come into a business where they can set their own hours, determine how much money they want to make and are willing to work for, using technology that is second nature to them, and a huge potential market of their generation pool who they understand the best.
As we find ourselves in an economy that has only produced jobs for 50% of all the college graduates from 2006 through 2012, and a huge need in the market place for them to serve the needs of their own generation as they make their home buying dreams come true.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Lead Generation Without Paying.
The Real Estate market is on fire, and I am
sure that your schedule is full working with clients. If not, is that by
choice, or do you need more prospects? If you are swamped, congratulations, but
it is always a good time to take a look at your business to make sure that
continues.
It is always wise to not wait until you're thirsty to dig your well.
Where do you find your prospects? How do they find you?
Agents who are struggling, or are brand new, are often generating leads from no more than one to three different lead generation pools. Mid level producing agents tend to use four to six different lead generation systems, while top producers are likely to use more than ten different lead generation systems. It is critical to have several ponds to fish. How many do you have? Are you interested in learning about more areas to look?
First of all, understand that leads have no value. They only have possibilities, and what has value is an appointment. You should strive to have one appointment every day. Even a lousy appointment is better than none at all. What is an appointment? "A meeting with someone you like who can have a positive impact on your business right now on in the very near future."
Try wearing your Real Estate name tag whenever you're out so that people might ask you "How's the Real Estate market?" Learn an "elevator speech" where you can give your message on "How's the Market" whenever asked. Never say, "great" or "bad" because there is no place to go from there. Say, "How's the market? That depends, are you looking to sell, buy, invest, or lease, as each one is very different.?" Then have some stats memorized on your market. If they are interested in something, book an appointment to go over it.
Most agents are most challenged by a lack of consistent lead generation. On again off again is not going to help you stay consistent with your business or income. There is an excellent book that articulates just how powerful doing the little things can be, and how damaging not doing them can be. Check out Jeff Olson's "The Slight Edge."
Now, let's look at 8 possible lead generation buckets.
1. Broker Provided Website/Lead Generation Tool:
Does your Broker or your Brand give you a website? How are you using it? What are you doing to maximize your SEO to get it found in searches? Does your company have a lead generation system? Most national brands have these features for you at varying costs. The Reology companies, Century 21, ERA, Better Homes and Gardens, Sotheby's, and Coldwell Banker all use the Lead Router system. Keller Williams has brought on a new service called E-Edge. The Brookfield companies, Prudential and Real Living are likely to settle on one system, but for now, I know that Prudential has a lead system that comes through the broker and then allocates to the agents. The cost to the agents for these leads seem to vary, but seem to be similar to a relocation lead.
Obviously, I know the RE/MAX LeadStreet system best. All leads generated from your own listings are given to you, without exception, and you are put into a rotating metric where you are virtually farming up to six zip codes. The average RE/MAX agent has been getting about eight of those rotating leads a month. All leads through LeadStreet have no fees attached.
Be sure that if you are not using your website and lead generation tools to their full advantage, get with your Broker or your IT department to help you do so. The most amazing use of the internal system I have seen was by Sam Ferreri, who has taken this to an art form. You will see he isn't sophisticated in his message but is doing a great job with the tools provided him. The proof is in the pudding, Sam closed more than 200 transactions last year, with 56% coming from new business, with zero dollars of advertising. He builds a new website within his LeadStreet account every morning, all driving traffic back to his LeadStreet site.
http://www.samf.remaxtexas.com/lead-street.aspx
What are you doing to maximize your own? If you don't know how, check with your broker or IT department to help you.
2. Facebook:
You need to have a Facebook strategy, the more "friends" the better, how many eyeballs can you be in front of? Create a way to have a massive connection and how to be a valuable information source by forwarding articles that people can find useful. Be yourself. Whatever you are passionate about, let people know you. Being out of sight is being out of mind. Try adding 100-200 new Facebook friends in the next 90 days. Focus on Friend of Friend marketing. When you post on a friend’s wall you have also posted it on all their friends walls as well.
Stop being a Secret Agent make it clear on your information that you are a Realtor. I find it amazing how often I am on an agent's Facebook page and have no idea if they are in the business or not.
3. Make a List:
Find an old Yellow Pages and have someone ask you "Who do you know that is an Accountant, Bee Keeper, to Zoologist." Just write down the names. Do not prequalify, just put them down.
Past Client and Sphere of Influence:
How many people in your database?
Do you have them categorized?
How many do you call?
How many don't receive calls from you?
How many mailing addresses do you have?
How many emails do you have?
How many friends are on your Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, or other pages?
Is your database organized?
How do you get it organized? How about making five calls a day, asking to make sure you have current numbers, addresses, emails, etc, and then give them a quick market update. As you do, put the information in an Excel or other electronic spreadsheet. There was a mortgage broker who was just put on this system, in two weeks had two new loans paying $3,000.00 each. That breaks down to about $400.00/hour or an extra $156,000.00/year if he continues throughout the year with similar results.
Would that help your business? How about having that updated electronic database to use?
Eight Strategies for generating more repeat or referral business from your Database:
1. Send one or two monthly direct mail pieces. "How's the Market Report"
2. No marketing is more powerful than you making a personal call, see above.
3. How about a Happy Birthday video from Facebook on their wall with you singing Happy Birthday to them. By doing so, every one of their friends will see you and who knows who might ask about that Realtor singing to them. How about texting them Happy Birthday?
4. Email your database with Market Update (max twice a month) Maybe a video blog once a month.
5. Deliver a CMA to your Past Clients and Circle of Influence twice a year. Don't try to do all at once, do a few every week.
6. Host two Client functions a year.
7. When you close a transaction, consider all sides of it. Have flowers delivered to their office, or show up with a basket of goodies on moving day.
8. When you receive a referral, immediately reach out to that person and thank them.
4. Open Houses:
Open Houses work, if you work them. The key is getting people to come.
There are two kinds of people who come to your open houses; they are the nosey neighbor and potential buyers.
Your open house success is determined long before you show up. Be sure to choose wisely which home to hold open, not just what you have listed.
a. Select the right property, homes in bread and butter price range. Select your next weekend's open house on Monday.
b. Email your database of interested buyers a video of home you will hold open.
c. Door knock the neighborhood and give a personal invitation.
d. Have your open house promoted through your company's advertisements, websites, etc.
e. Promote on Craigslist. If you aren't posting every 45 minutes they are gone.
f. Place as many Open House signs as possible. Not just at entrance of community, but in wide grid driving them to it, try 20-30 open house signs per open house.
5. Social Media for Success:
Expand your online presence.
Facebook, Zillow, Twitter, Trulia, Foursquare, Yelp, Linked in, Flickr, Active Rain, Realtor.com, Klout, Google+, etc. Do you have a presence and are you searchable on Google?
1. Decide on a niche.
2. Select key words you want to dominate online, use a long-tail strategy. Google Adwords is very helpful here.
3. Select your blogging medium, do you like to write? Do you prefer video? You can also be a DJ where you push forth other people's information, articles, etc. with your two cents added on.
4. Create content consistently.
5. Create curiosity in the headline.
6. Google recognizes consistent key words being used and clicked which creates "relevancy" which drives you up in the ranks at Google.
What kind of content?
Try to think what your clients might be interested in. How about interviewing local business owners, school principles, politicians?
6. Expired Listings:
What if you determined an area and price range you were interested in marketing and reach out to any expired listings that fit that search. Connect with a service such as RedX to scrape the BLC/MLS to give you the expired listings every day. What if you called just two to three a day?
When you call an expired listing you will find one of three things: a client who has already decided on another Realtor or to relist with their current one, one that wants to take if off the market a while and lick their wounds, or someone who is looking for an agent that can prove a Degree of Separation of what makes them different.
7. Distressed Properties:
How do you reach out to those who are in distress? Where do you find them?
How about posting information on a short sale you sold on Facebook and mention "another successful short sale" and ask if anyone knows of someone who might need help, please email me privately.
Reach out to your Past Client and Sphere to let them know you are an expert in dealing in Distressed properties, if in fact you are. If not, check into getting training and a C.D.P.E designation.
You can search Notice of Defaults, or you can target communities built a few years ago at the top of the market that you know are upside down and market to them.
8. FISBOs:
Who are the FISBO's?
Ex-Realtors, Do it Yourselfers, They think selling it will be easy, A financial situation where they don't think they can afford to pay an agent, or had a bad experience with a previous agent.
What can you offer them?
Access to larger buyer pool, great knowledge of the market and how to sell, ability to negotiate.
How to reach them? How about knocking on their door? Phone calls? Mail?
There are many ways to build your resources of leads. You don't need to do them all, but you want several to feed you as the market fluctuates. What are you willing to do? Create a game plan.
There is no wrong way to meet a new client. Just get out there, and quit being a secret agent.
It is always wise to not wait until you're thirsty to dig your well.
Where do you find your prospects? How do they find you?
Agents who are struggling, or are brand new, are often generating leads from no more than one to three different lead generation pools. Mid level producing agents tend to use four to six different lead generation systems, while top producers are likely to use more than ten different lead generation systems. It is critical to have several ponds to fish. How many do you have? Are you interested in learning about more areas to look?
First of all, understand that leads have no value. They only have possibilities, and what has value is an appointment. You should strive to have one appointment every day. Even a lousy appointment is better than none at all. What is an appointment? "A meeting with someone you like who can have a positive impact on your business right now on in the very near future."
Try wearing your Real Estate name tag whenever you're out so that people might ask you "How's the Real Estate market?" Learn an "elevator speech" where you can give your message on "How's the Market" whenever asked. Never say, "great" or "bad" because there is no place to go from there. Say, "How's the market? That depends, are you looking to sell, buy, invest, or lease, as each one is very different.?" Then have some stats memorized on your market. If they are interested in something, book an appointment to go over it.
Most agents are most challenged by a lack of consistent lead generation. On again off again is not going to help you stay consistent with your business or income. There is an excellent book that articulates just how powerful doing the little things can be, and how damaging not doing them can be. Check out Jeff Olson's "The Slight Edge."
Now, let's look at 8 possible lead generation buckets.
1. Broker Provided Website/Lead Generation Tool:
Does your Broker or your Brand give you a website? How are you using it? What are you doing to maximize your SEO to get it found in searches? Does your company have a lead generation system? Most national brands have these features for you at varying costs. The Reology companies, Century 21, ERA, Better Homes and Gardens, Sotheby's, and Coldwell Banker all use the Lead Router system. Keller Williams has brought on a new service called E-Edge. The Brookfield companies, Prudential and Real Living are likely to settle on one system, but for now, I know that Prudential has a lead system that comes through the broker and then allocates to the agents. The cost to the agents for these leads seem to vary, but seem to be similar to a relocation lead.
Obviously, I know the RE/MAX LeadStreet system best. All leads generated from your own listings are given to you, without exception, and you are put into a rotating metric where you are virtually farming up to six zip codes. The average RE/MAX agent has been getting about eight of those rotating leads a month. All leads through LeadStreet have no fees attached.
Be sure that if you are not using your website and lead generation tools to their full advantage, get with your Broker or your IT department to help you do so. The most amazing use of the internal system I have seen was by Sam Ferreri, who has taken this to an art form. You will see he isn't sophisticated in his message but is doing a great job with the tools provided him. The proof is in the pudding, Sam closed more than 200 transactions last year, with 56% coming from new business, with zero dollars of advertising. He builds a new website within his LeadStreet account every morning, all driving traffic back to his LeadStreet site.
http://www.samf.remaxtexas.com/lead-street.aspx
What are you doing to maximize your own? If you don't know how, check with your broker or IT department to help you.
2. Facebook:
You need to have a Facebook strategy, the more "friends" the better, how many eyeballs can you be in front of? Create a way to have a massive connection and how to be a valuable information source by forwarding articles that people can find useful. Be yourself. Whatever you are passionate about, let people know you. Being out of sight is being out of mind. Try adding 100-200 new Facebook friends in the next 90 days. Focus on Friend of Friend marketing. When you post on a friend’s wall you have also posted it on all their friends walls as well.
Stop being a Secret Agent make it clear on your information that you are a Realtor. I find it amazing how often I am on an agent's Facebook page and have no idea if they are in the business or not.
3. Make a List:
Find an old Yellow Pages and have someone ask you "Who do you know that is an Accountant, Bee Keeper, to Zoologist." Just write down the names. Do not prequalify, just put them down.
Past Client and Sphere of Influence:
How many people in your database?
Do you have them categorized?
How many do you call?
How many don't receive calls from you?
How many mailing addresses do you have?
How many emails do you have?
How many friends are on your Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, or other pages?
Is your database organized?
How do you get it organized? How about making five calls a day, asking to make sure you have current numbers, addresses, emails, etc, and then give them a quick market update. As you do, put the information in an Excel or other electronic spreadsheet. There was a mortgage broker who was just put on this system, in two weeks had two new loans paying $3,000.00 each. That breaks down to about $400.00/hour or an extra $156,000.00/year if he continues throughout the year with similar results.
Would that help your business? How about having that updated electronic database to use?
Eight Strategies for generating more repeat or referral business from your Database:
1. Send one or two monthly direct mail pieces. "How's the Market Report"
2. No marketing is more powerful than you making a personal call, see above.
3. How about a Happy Birthday video from Facebook on their wall with you singing Happy Birthday to them. By doing so, every one of their friends will see you and who knows who might ask about that Realtor singing to them. How about texting them Happy Birthday?
4. Email your database with Market Update (max twice a month) Maybe a video blog once a month.
5. Deliver a CMA to your Past Clients and Circle of Influence twice a year. Don't try to do all at once, do a few every week.
6. Host two Client functions a year.
7. When you close a transaction, consider all sides of it. Have flowers delivered to their office, or show up with a basket of goodies on moving day.
8. When you receive a referral, immediately reach out to that person and thank them.
4. Open Houses:
Open Houses work, if you work them. The key is getting people to come.
There are two kinds of people who come to your open houses; they are the nosey neighbor and potential buyers.
Your open house success is determined long before you show up. Be sure to choose wisely which home to hold open, not just what you have listed.
a. Select the right property, homes in bread and butter price range. Select your next weekend's open house on Monday.
b. Email your database of interested buyers a video of home you will hold open.
c. Door knock the neighborhood and give a personal invitation.
d. Have your open house promoted through your company's advertisements, websites, etc.
e. Promote on Craigslist. If you aren't posting every 45 minutes they are gone.
f. Place as many Open House signs as possible. Not just at entrance of community, but in wide grid driving them to it, try 20-30 open house signs per open house.
5. Social Media for Success:
Expand your online presence.
Facebook, Zillow, Twitter, Trulia, Foursquare, Yelp, Linked in, Flickr, Active Rain, Realtor.com, Klout, Google+, etc. Do you have a presence and are you searchable on Google?
1. Decide on a niche.
2. Select key words you want to dominate online, use a long-tail strategy. Google Adwords is very helpful here.
3. Select your blogging medium, do you like to write? Do you prefer video? You can also be a DJ where you push forth other people's information, articles, etc. with your two cents added on.
4. Create content consistently.
5. Create curiosity in the headline.
6. Google recognizes consistent key words being used and clicked which creates "relevancy" which drives you up in the ranks at Google.
What kind of content?
Try to think what your clients might be interested in. How about interviewing local business owners, school principles, politicians?
6. Expired Listings:
What if you determined an area and price range you were interested in marketing and reach out to any expired listings that fit that search. Connect with a service such as RedX to scrape the BLC/MLS to give you the expired listings every day. What if you called just two to three a day?
When you call an expired listing you will find one of three things: a client who has already decided on another Realtor or to relist with their current one, one that wants to take if off the market a while and lick their wounds, or someone who is looking for an agent that can prove a Degree of Separation of what makes them different.
7. Distressed Properties:
How do you reach out to those who are in distress? Where do you find them?
How about posting information on a short sale you sold on Facebook and mention "another successful short sale" and ask if anyone knows of someone who might need help, please email me privately.
Reach out to your Past Client and Sphere to let them know you are an expert in dealing in Distressed properties, if in fact you are. If not, check into getting training and a C.D.P.E designation.
You can search Notice of Defaults, or you can target communities built a few years ago at the top of the market that you know are upside down and market to them.
8. FISBOs:
Who are the FISBO's?
Ex-Realtors, Do it Yourselfers, They think selling it will be easy, A financial situation where they don't think they can afford to pay an agent, or had a bad experience with a previous agent.
What can you offer them?
Access to larger buyer pool, great knowledge of the market and how to sell, ability to negotiate.
How to reach them? How about knocking on their door? Phone calls? Mail?
There are many ways to build your resources of leads. You don't need to do them all, but you want several to feed you as the market fluctuates. What are you willing to do? Create a game plan.
There is no wrong way to meet a new client. Just get out there, and quit being a secret agent.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Toughest Times For Real Estate
During the last four years many of us have seen something we had never seen before, the prices of real estate falling. Many are now concerned about how safe it is to put your money into property, we tend to look at small windows of time and not the long term view of values. Our emotions rule over our logic. I thought we would take a look at a more historic look at home values to get a clue of what we might expect.
What does the curve for U.S Housing Price Index look like since 1900?
As you can see the price of homes was nearly a flat line from 1900 until after W.W.II when G.I.s came marching home. Then was once again rather stable until they doubled in just a four year time from from 1977 to 1980. That kicked off a ongoing growth curve with only a tiny blip during the recession of 1991 until 2008. History tells us we may be seeing a massive inflation curve coming toward us once again even more so than in the late 70s.
What happened that caused the price increases back then? From 1977 for two years the Federal government went on a deficit spending binge where the Federal Reserve printed (monetized) 13% more money to cover it. That 13% influx of new money into the system (velocitized) caused inflation to jump 12%, then Fed Chairman Paul Volcker raised interest rates to 21% to pull money out of the market place. Even with the weak economy the inflation doubled the pricing of the average home from around 25,000.00 to over 50,000.00. I would suggest that we are positioned for another ride on the inflation train coming soon. From January of 2009 to January of 2010 the deficit spending required the Federal Reserve to print not 13% more money, but 120% more. I have no idea what that will mean, but would consider inflation a good bet, wouldn't you?
Of course the past is no guarantee of the future, but it does provide a clue. Will putting your money into real estate be a gold mine? Who knows. But how does real estate stack up to gold? Let's look at the two from 1980 until 2011.
Gold up 95.5% since 1980 until 2011, it has gained another 30% as of today as insecurity in the market and nonstop advertising is driving more investors into gold.
The housing price index since 1980 through 2011 shows a 252% increase. However what happens when you adjust both gold and real estate for inflation?
Since 1980 gold actually lost value once adjusted for inflation and once again the oldest investment vehicle, real estate performed. Who knows what the future holds, but the past gives us a map to follow.
What does the curve for U.S Housing Price Index look like since 1900?
As you can see the price of homes was nearly a flat line from 1900 until after W.W.II when G.I.s came marching home. Then was once again rather stable until they doubled in just a four year time from from 1977 to 1980. That kicked off a ongoing growth curve with only a tiny blip during the recession of 1991 until 2008. History tells us we may be seeing a massive inflation curve coming toward us once again even more so than in the late 70s.
What happened that caused the price increases back then? From 1977 for two years the Federal government went on a deficit spending binge where the Federal Reserve printed (monetized) 13% more money to cover it. That 13% influx of new money into the system (velocitized) caused inflation to jump 12%, then Fed Chairman Paul Volcker raised interest rates to 21% to pull money out of the market place. Even with the weak economy the inflation doubled the pricing of the average home from around 25,000.00 to over 50,000.00. I would suggest that we are positioned for another ride on the inflation train coming soon. From January of 2009 to January of 2010 the deficit spending required the Federal Reserve to print not 13% more money, but 120% more. I have no idea what that will mean, but would consider inflation a good bet, wouldn't you?
Of course the past is no guarantee of the future, but it does provide a clue. Will putting your money into real estate be a gold mine? Who knows. But how does real estate stack up to gold? Let's look at the two from 1980 until 2011.
Gold up 95.5% since 1980 until 2011, it has gained another 30% as of today as insecurity in the market and nonstop advertising is driving more investors into gold.
The housing price index since 1980 through 2011 shows a 252% increase. However what happens when you adjust both gold and real estate for inflation?
Since 1980 gold actually lost value once adjusted for inflation and once again the oldest investment vehicle, real estate performed. Who knows what the future holds, but the past gives us a map to follow.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Real Estate Is Going Global
Real Estate has always been the ultimate in a local business, but those boundaries are ever expanding. The International Division of the National Association of Realtors gave us these statistics to alert us to an emerging market. Between April 2010 and March 2011, there were 82 billion of residential international sales amounting to 7% of the total U.S. residential market. This is an increase of 16 billion from the previous year's volume of 66 billion.
"Increasingly, more and more Realtors are working with international clients who want to buy property in the U.S." Ron Phipps NAR President 2011.
International sales were split evenly between non-resident foreigners and recent immigrants, with immigrant buyers who have been in the U.S. less than two years, accounting for half of the U.S. foreign buyers with 41 billion. International buyers of U.S. residential real estate came from 70 countries. The top five, Canada, China, Mexico, U.K., and India accounted for 53% of all transactions from March 2010 to March 2011. Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas accounted for 58% of all transactions with international buyers. Proximity to the home country, convenience of air transportation, climate, and location were the most important considerations to international buyers.
When we look outward we learn that China is poised to possibly become the world's largest economy this decade and India's middle class is already larger than the entire U.S. population. The important conversation today is how to unlock the growing global middle class around the world, and what it means to us. Many are predicting that within 10 years more people in the world will be middle class than poor for the first time. This increase is associated with a significant geographical shift of wealth from developed to emerging nations and economic activity that will rearrange many key future decisions.
This growing middle class in these emerging nations will buy more, want more, travel more, and create a new layer of homeowners. Working in this arena will require a different skill set and knowledge. In Real Estate it is becoming even more tricky to navigate through the huge layers of complexity in language, culture, local lifestyle, currency, measuring scales, financial and mortgage criteria, tax regulations and more.
How is the Real Estate community reaching out to all of these incoming buyers?
Realtor.com, the largest online destination for the U.S. real estate listings, expanded its worldwide reach with the launch of their international website Realtor.com/international featuring listings from Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Croatia, and Spain. It is well positioned to become the dominate choice for buyers in many countries around the globe. By the end of 2011 the site already featured over 700,000 international listings from 11 countries. Add this to the 3.7 million listings in the U.S. and it is clear that Realtor.com is going to be huge website.
Realtor.com is capable of allowing anyone to shop online globally. You don't need to understand the global market or even the language of any given country. Listings not only have the local price you can convert to one of 20 currencies and review in one of 11 languages. By August 2011 Realtor.com/international was already tracking over 800,000 visitors outside the U.S. from a total of 10 -13 million unique monthly visitors.
The largest brokerage portal was launched in late 2011 www.Global.remax.com by RE/MAX LLC. This is considered to be the very first integrated global website by a residential real estate company. As most countries do not have MLS operations, and brokerage companies do not have partnership agreements with data providers worldwide, the launch of RE/MAX's international site www.global.remax.com is quite a substantial achievement.
At the time of the www.global.remax.com launch the site contained 300,000 listings from Brazil, France, Italy, India, Portugal, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S. with more than 70 countries and territories around the world. The site allows buyers to search for properties in 30 languages, translate currencies and find the latest international real estate news. Every RE/MAX listing will be available to anyone in those more than 70 countries to search in their own languages and currencies.
If you are planning to stay in the Real Estate business you should diligently prepare now to begin serving a multicultural base of clients, no matter where you live in the U.S.
"Increasingly, more and more Realtors are working with international clients who want to buy property in the U.S." Ron Phipps NAR President 2011.
International sales were split evenly between non-resident foreigners and recent immigrants, with immigrant buyers who have been in the U.S. less than two years, accounting for half of the U.S. foreign buyers with 41 billion. International buyers of U.S. residential real estate came from 70 countries. The top five, Canada, China, Mexico, U.K., and India accounted for 53% of all transactions from March 2010 to March 2011. Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas accounted for 58% of all transactions with international buyers. Proximity to the home country, convenience of air transportation, climate, and location were the most important considerations to international buyers.
When we look outward we learn that China is poised to possibly become the world's largest economy this decade and India's middle class is already larger than the entire U.S. population. The important conversation today is how to unlock the growing global middle class around the world, and what it means to us. Many are predicting that within 10 years more people in the world will be middle class than poor for the first time. This increase is associated with a significant geographical shift of wealth from developed to emerging nations and economic activity that will rearrange many key future decisions.
This growing middle class in these emerging nations will buy more, want more, travel more, and create a new layer of homeowners. Working in this arena will require a different skill set and knowledge. In Real Estate it is becoming even more tricky to navigate through the huge layers of complexity in language, culture, local lifestyle, currency, measuring scales, financial and mortgage criteria, tax regulations and more.
How is the Real Estate community reaching out to all of these incoming buyers?
Realtor.com, the largest online destination for the U.S. real estate listings, expanded its worldwide reach with the launch of their international website Realtor.com/international featuring listings from Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Croatia, and Spain. It is well positioned to become the dominate choice for buyers in many countries around the globe. By the end of 2011 the site already featured over 700,000 international listings from 11 countries. Add this to the 3.7 million listings in the U.S. and it is clear that Realtor.com is going to be huge website.
Realtor.com is capable of allowing anyone to shop online globally. You don't need to understand the global market or even the language of any given country. Listings not only have the local price you can convert to one of 20 currencies and review in one of 11 languages. By August 2011 Realtor.com/international was already tracking over 800,000 visitors outside the U.S. from a total of 10 -13 million unique monthly visitors.
The largest brokerage portal was launched in late 2011 www.Global.remax.com by RE/MAX LLC. This is considered to be the very first integrated global website by a residential real estate company. As most countries do not have MLS operations, and brokerage companies do not have partnership agreements with data providers worldwide, the launch of RE/MAX's international site www.global.remax.com is quite a substantial achievement.
At the time of the www.global.remax.com launch the site contained 300,000 listings from Brazil, France, Italy, India, Portugal, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S. with more than 70 countries and territories around the world. The site allows buyers to search for properties in 30 languages, translate currencies and find the latest international real estate news. Every RE/MAX listing will be available to anyone in those more than 70 countries to search in their own languages and currencies.
If you are planning to stay in the Real Estate business you should diligently prepare now to begin serving a multicultural base of clients, no matter where you live in the U.S.
Monday, April 9, 2012
New Indiana Real Estate License Law
Indiana Real Estate licensing will change to a singular license state July 2014. After passing the Indiana Senate 48-2 on January 31st, Senate Bill 275 went to the Indiana House where it passed 94-0 on February 21st and was signed into law by Governor Daniels on March 19th.
I was able to interview Kathy Harbaugh, VP of Professional Development for Indiana Association of Realtors. She has been very helpful trying to unwind the details of this change.
There will no longer be Sales Person licenses in Indiana after July 2014, all active agents will be Brokers. The idea is that the consumer doesn't distinguish the difference between a Sales Person and a Broker. The other goal was to enhance the education requirements for licensing and for Continued Education to improve the level of expertise and professionalism in our industry.
How will affect you? If you are a Sales Person you will have from June 2012 to July 2014 to take a Broker's Transition course and pass the test to become a Broker. This course is currently not available, however, the Commission is not looking to make it so difficult that a Sales Person wouldn't pass it. The test will be given in a class when completed by the schools. It is a 24 hour course and will count toward your CE from 7/1/12 to 6/30/14. Kathy told me that there are plans to have these available online, on demand as well. You will be getting your Broker's license with this, so it will still need to process of applying for a Broker's license and paying the 64.25 fee. If you do not complete the transition course and test your license will be considered expired.
Until July of 2014 you will still have the normal 16 hours of Continuing Education requirements you are accustomed to. Those with Sales Person licenses must complete them by June 30th, 2012, current Brokers will need to complete them by June 30th, 2013. However, current Brokers will have to add 8 more hours of CE between July 2013 and July of 2014. All licenses change from the current two year licensing cycle to a three year cycle starting July 2014 with 12 hours of Continued Education per year.
There will only be two different designations of licenses, Brokers and Managing Brokers who will have to complete 4 of their 12 hours of their Continued Education in a Managing Broker course. All Principal Brokers will automatically become Managing Brokers July 2014. There seems to still be some questions in the interpretation of the law on current Broker Managers if they automatically grandfather or not. Kathy Harbaugh believes that they will be required to take the Managing Broker class.
Until July of 2014 all the rules stay the same. Sales Person classes will continue with the standard 54 hour course and the IAR will offer a bundle with the 24 hour transition courses to get the new agent up to the 2014 requirements. After July of 2014 to earn a license there will be a 90 hour pre-licensing class and then after licensed they will be required to take 30 hours of post licensing education during the first two years.
For those whose license is in referral, they will stay in referral and will automatically become brokers. However, they will not be allowed to become active until they have completed the 24 hour transition course.
For your information, there are currently around 9,800 active salesperson licensee's today in Indiana, with another 8,500 in referral.
I was able to interview Kathy Harbaugh, VP of Professional Development for Indiana Association of Realtors. She has been very helpful trying to unwind the details of this change.
There will no longer be Sales Person licenses in Indiana after July 2014, all active agents will be Brokers. The idea is that the consumer doesn't distinguish the difference between a Sales Person and a Broker. The other goal was to enhance the education requirements for licensing and for Continued Education to improve the level of expertise and professionalism in our industry.
How will affect you? If you are a Sales Person you will have from June 2012 to July 2014 to take a Broker's Transition course and pass the test to become a Broker. This course is currently not available, however, the Commission is not looking to make it so difficult that a Sales Person wouldn't pass it. The test will be given in a class when completed by the schools. It is a 24 hour course and will count toward your CE from 7/1/12 to 6/30/14. Kathy told me that there are plans to have these available online, on demand as well. You will be getting your Broker's license with this, so it will still need to process of applying for a Broker's license and paying the 64.25 fee. If you do not complete the transition course and test your license will be considered expired.
Until July of 2014 you will still have the normal 16 hours of Continuing Education requirements you are accustomed to. Those with Sales Person licenses must complete them by June 30th, 2012, current Brokers will need to complete them by June 30th, 2013. However, current Brokers will have to add 8 more hours of CE between July 2013 and July of 2014. All licenses change from the current two year licensing cycle to a three year cycle starting July 2014 with 12 hours of Continued Education per year.
There will only be two different designations of licenses, Brokers and Managing Brokers who will have to complete 4 of their 12 hours of their Continued Education in a Managing Broker course. All Principal Brokers will automatically become Managing Brokers July 2014. There seems to still be some questions in the interpretation of the law on current Broker Managers if they automatically grandfather or not. Kathy Harbaugh believes that they will be required to take the Managing Broker class.
Until July of 2014 all the rules stay the same. Sales Person classes will continue with the standard 54 hour course and the IAR will offer a bundle with the 24 hour transition courses to get the new agent up to the 2014 requirements. After July of 2014 to earn a license there will be a 90 hour pre-licensing class and then after licensed they will be required to take 30 hours of post licensing education during the first two years.
For those whose license is in referral, they will stay in referral and will automatically become brokers. However, they will not be allowed to become active until they have completed the 24 hour transition course.
For your information, there are currently around 9,800 active salesperson licensee's today in Indiana, with another 8,500 in referral.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Catch The Wave Of Home Buyers!
When you are learning to surf one of the first things you will be taught is that you have to start paddling as fast as you can before you see or feel the wave. This doesn't make sense to us naturally, but the wave is building down deep and if you wait to see it or feel it to start paddling it will roll right underneath you and leave you stranded hoping to catch the next one.
Let me tell you, the wave is coming, can you feel it yet? What wave am I talking about? The wave the next Real Estate explosion, are your ready to catch it? What is it? Where will it come from?
It is called the Millennials, Gen Y, or the Echoboomers, they are the driving force of the new excitement we are all feeling in the Real Estate market. Who are they? How do we communicate with them?
First of all let's look at the good news there are eighty-four million of them, even more than the seventy-eight million Baby Boomers who have driven our economy for decades. Now even better news, traditionally there are five million young adults age 18-33 living at home with their parents, however this recent economy has forced twenty-nine million to stay or move back home. Just a clue, the kids aren't happy about it, and neither are the parents. A key figure in economics is the number of household formations are created per year. From 2002 to 2007 there were an average of 1.3 million households formed per year, starting in 09 we have dropped to around 350,000 households formed per year.
Think of it this way, there is a massive cork in the top of the bottle and it is about to blow. Just to satisfy the housing needs of this juggernaut of new buyers coming to the market will require 40 million more homes than we currently have available.
Let's take a look at who they are, and what makes them tick. They were born somewhere between 1977 and 1933. They are now between 19 and 35 years old. The average first time home buyer today is 31. In 2011 of all FHA loans 77% were first time buyers!
The Millennials are the first "Glocal" generation, they think globally and locally. They were raised in dual income homes, were children of divorces and day cares. They are the first generation that "everyone got a trophy." They are connected, protected, and well-educated. Multi-tasking was their survival mechanism, they have been over-scheduled from a young age.
They have always had voice mail, but hate to use it. Good luck getting them to listen to your message. They do not leave messages for each other, they look at the number of the missed call, if they know it to be a friend they call back, or simply text. They sleep with their cell phone, it is their extension of being. They are the Facebook generation, if you want to communicate with them, you will do so with texting or IM on Facebook. They also do not read emails, too slow for them. This is the most tech savvy generation in history, consider this, they will spend more than 1/3 of their lives (23 years) on the Internet.
This is one of the most diverse of all American generations, 37% are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. They are the largest 2nd generation immigration group in history, one in five has at least one immigrant parent.
In the next five years, as they start to move into management positions, salary and consumer confidence increases, there will be literally TRILLIONS more dollars spent every year in the U.S. alone.
When you want to communicate with them it won't be emails and it won't be by calling them on the phone, it will be texting and IM on Facebook. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but at least ask how they prefer to communicate and then honor it.
They will want to purchase starter property, they like the idea of being closer to town, they like to be able to walk to activities, think college campus when you are scouting properties. Their parents have been very involved in all of their activities and will be very involved in their home purchase as well. Maybe contributing toward the down payment as well. Be prepared to work with multiple generations throughout the process.
Who do they get their information? They are going to Google you, your company, and what you tell them. They will ask their Social media connections to give their opinions as well. The Millennials have grown up Googleling every homework assignment, they text classmates to find out what they found, doing so is part of the DNA. So don't be offended if they don't take you at face value but research what you tell them. It might be a great idea to have a Google Alert programmed for your name and your company to know what they might find. Don't be surprised if they Tweet or Facebook about the home, or even you while you are meeting. This can be great if they like and endorse you.
So here they come, the Millennials are coming of age and want a home of their own. Interest rates are at historic lows, homes prices are On Sale, here comes that wave. Are you ready? Paddle Now!!!
Let me tell you, the wave is coming, can you feel it yet? What wave am I talking about? The wave the next Real Estate explosion, are your ready to catch it? What is it? Where will it come from?
It is called the Millennials, Gen Y, or the Echoboomers, they are the driving force of the new excitement we are all feeling in the Real Estate market. Who are they? How do we communicate with them?
First of all let's look at the good news there are eighty-four million of them, even more than the seventy-eight million Baby Boomers who have driven our economy for decades. Now even better news, traditionally there are five million young adults age 18-33 living at home with their parents, however this recent economy has forced twenty-nine million to stay or move back home. Just a clue, the kids aren't happy about it, and neither are the parents. A key figure in economics is the number of household formations are created per year. From 2002 to 2007 there were an average of 1.3 million households formed per year, starting in 09 we have dropped to around 350,000 households formed per year.
Think of it this way, there is a massive cork in the top of the bottle and it is about to blow. Just to satisfy the housing needs of this juggernaut of new buyers coming to the market will require 40 million more homes than we currently have available.
Let's take a look at who they are, and what makes them tick. They were born somewhere between 1977 and 1933. They are now between 19 and 35 years old. The average first time home buyer today is 31. In 2011 of all FHA loans 77% were first time buyers!
The Millennials are the first "Glocal" generation, they think globally and locally. They were raised in dual income homes, were children of divorces and day cares. They are the first generation that "everyone got a trophy." They are connected, protected, and well-educated. Multi-tasking was their survival mechanism, they have been over-scheduled from a young age.
They have always had voice mail, but hate to use it. Good luck getting them to listen to your message. They do not leave messages for each other, they look at the number of the missed call, if they know it to be a friend they call back, or simply text. They sleep with their cell phone, it is their extension of being. They are the Facebook generation, if you want to communicate with them, you will do so with texting or IM on Facebook. They also do not read emails, too slow for them. This is the most tech savvy generation in history, consider this, they will spend more than 1/3 of their lives (23 years) on the Internet.
This is one of the most diverse of all American generations, 37% are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. They are the largest 2nd generation immigration group in history, one in five has at least one immigrant parent.
In the next five years, as they start to move into management positions, salary and consumer confidence increases, there will be literally TRILLIONS more dollars spent every year in the U.S. alone.
When you want to communicate with them it won't be emails and it won't be by calling them on the phone, it will be texting and IM on Facebook. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but at least ask how they prefer to communicate and then honor it.
They will want to purchase starter property, they like the idea of being closer to town, they like to be able to walk to activities, think college campus when you are scouting properties. Their parents have been very involved in all of their activities and will be very involved in their home purchase as well. Maybe contributing toward the down payment as well. Be prepared to work with multiple generations throughout the process.
Who do they get their information? They are going to Google you, your company, and what you tell them. They will ask their Social media connections to give their opinions as well. The Millennials have grown up Googleling every homework assignment, they text classmates to find out what they found, doing so is part of the DNA. So don't be offended if they don't take you at face value but research what you tell them. It might be a great idea to have a Google Alert programmed for your name and your company to know what they might find. Don't be surprised if they Tweet or Facebook about the home, or even you while you are meeting. This can be great if they like and endorse you.
So here they come, the Millennials are coming of age and want a home of their own. Interest rates are at historic lows, homes prices are On Sale, here comes that wave. Are you ready? Paddle Now!!!
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