It is that time of year where we are either crossing the finish line celebrating our newly reached goals, or stretching desperately to put ourselves over the top, at least we hope that is our current experience. Unfortunately there are those who met their goals but still are unhappy as they compare themselves to others doing more than they. Many, if not most, are trying to be quiet and not have attention on them as their goals long ago ran out of sight of their reach. Now what? What do you do if you are celebrating or hiding? Or just feeling down as you compare you and your business to others?
Most unhappiness comes from comparing ourselves to others, comparing looks, businesses, and lives. We tend to compare our weaknesses to the strengths of those who we admire. This isn't fair to us, or them. Far less likely are we to compare our strengths to the weaknesses of someone else.
We each have different personalities, skills, experiences and more. Each of us has strengths others do not, and weaknesses where others are strong. Learn from those you admire, find ways to follow their examples, but don't beat yourself up because you're aren't like them, or at least not yet. You will always be different, but that doesn't mean less, could be better as you continue to develop your skills.
Learn to be comfortable in your own skin, in your own priorities. Is a mom with young children whose focus is on them, who just wants to supplement the families income enough so she doesn't have to go to work full-time and accomplishes that any less successful than the ones walking across stage at awards events? Not at all, she met her goals, who knows that one on stage might have missed the one they were chasing.
The only comparing that anyone should do is how are you comparing to you, your past, your goals, your wants and desires.
You should focus and build on your strengths , put your efforts into the areas you excel, while trying to work on your weaknesses to improve them. If you need more education get it. If you need more skills work to develop them. However, focus on your strengths.
For those that another year where the goals and ends never met. First off, quit beating yourself up! Identify what stopped you. Was it setting a goal too high for your current skill set and available time commitment? Was it outside circumstances, there are some that no matter how positive you are, do make things more challenging? Were you just not motivated? At least identify it so you can adjust for 2014 and don't find yourself here again next year. Here is a link to an earlier blog on how to set goals that you will actually hit.
http://jimmorganindianarealestate.blogspot.com/2012/12/tis-season-for-goals.html
Also this one addresses why we too often fail when we are seeking our goals.
http://jimmorganindianarealestate.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-problem-is-not-problem-never-has.html
If you are crossing the finish line and are truly experiencing that wondrous mountain top feeling, it is now time to Peek across to your next Peak to set your sights on your next Summit to climb. Robert Schuller book, "Peek to Peak Principle" that speaks of how when we reach the Peak of one of our goals and dreams we must then Peek to the next Peak to climb. Remember that there are no mountains that you go from one Peak to the other Peak without first stepping back down into the valley. So set your vision from the Peak!
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Congratulations You Survived The Real Estate Market Change! Guess What, More Change Is Coming!
If you have been in the Real Estate business since before 2006 and you are still here, congratulations! You have navigated through massive change and survived and hopefully thrived. That is only part of the story though, buckle up your seatbelt, more change is coming. The only thing I can promise you won't change is that things are going to keep changing, and changing faster and faster.
For the last few years I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have heard from REALTORS, "the business just isn't any fun any more." Or "It is just so hard now." However, it had been a while as the market has heated up and agents have been so busy. A couple weeks ago, I was reminded that there are still those who are struggling with that change. Those struggling are stuck in a 2006 business model, and rather than searching for where the cheese has moved, are waiting until someone puts it back where it was. Let me assure you it isn't coming back, it is simply getting ready to move again. There is a real danger in fighting change.
Change is always coming, it simply keeps speeding up. This is what one of my favorite economists Paul Pilzer wrote on the topic. For years the historic age was known by the technology of the age, The Stone Age, the Iron Age, Bronze Age all lasted for generations, you were born, lived, and died under that same age, but as technology has advanced, the speed of change has moved to light speed. We once were taught to "Be the Best" at a given skill to be successful, today, that could be a recipe for disaster if the need for that skill evaporates. Those who are most adaptable to change are the winners in today's and into tomorrow's economy, those who not only adapt, but work to stay in front of it.
Look to history to see the future:
In 1930 there were 30 million American farmers who were barely able to grow enough food for the 123 million Americans at that time. By 1980 there were only 3 million American farmers who were producing so much food that even after feeding the 227 million Americans, and exporting around the world, the government paid them to leave land idle to keep too much surplus from depressing the markets. Most didn't see much because it happened over 50 years and people kept moving off the farm to go to work in the cities, many to car manufacturers. In 1980 there were 250,000 Americans working making carburetors in the Mid-West, by 1985 a new technology was created eliminating almost all of those jobs, the fuel injector system. In 1989 there were 150,000 Americans working in Indiana and Ohio pressing vinyl records and their industry had it's best year in history, then in 1990 they were almost all out of work due to the Compact Disc.
The economy didn't get them-- technology made them obsolete. Those who waited around looking for another job like they had once had suffered greatly, those who saw that their cheese moved and learned a new skill moved on, and maybe on up. For those who remember Richard LeMieux, who spoke at the IAR convention a couple years ago. His business of publishing Criss Cross Directory type of books was taken down by the Internet. He lost his palatial home, his wife, family and ended up living out of a van with his dog Willow. He showed us the dire consequences of refusing to adapt to change can have. Thankfully, he finally was able to reinvent himself by writing "Breakfast at Sally's" a book on his inspirational comeback from homelessness.
The best skill you can learn is to learn to learn. Learn to embrace change rather than fear it. Why do you fear change? What can you do?
In our schools we are taught, not based on the premise of learning new ideas, big picture thinking, (systems thinking) and decision making, but rather on memorizing history, and classifying people's aptitudes based on one mode of learning. This has had quite a profoundly negative effect on our perception of our capacity to learn. So, very much like understanding why we resist change, this step is critical in order to shed negative reinforcement. Indeed, this understanding and therefore unlearning our bad learning habits is the last preparatory step in the adaptability process.
Fear tells you this: "I can't do it." Remember FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real.
Continual self doubt is simply the residue of being negatively reinforced for so long. It's part of being afraid of change. You have been told since you were a child, by teachers, parents, grading systems, and certain marketing institutions that sell products by using negative reinforcement, that you are either good or bad at something, that you have aptitude for certain things but not for others, and that you need things you don't have in order to be whole. People who decided as children that elementary math class didn't come easily often believe as adults that they are simply not good at math.
But you can change, it is all a matter of focus, desire and finding the proper learning method and tools for your disposition. Ultimately you should hold imagination in higher regard than knowledge. That means you trust who you are and let your sense of wonder and curiosity guide you. Think of it as a large empty tool box in your mind. Knowledge is simply material - tools - you gather to fill that box. You can attain whatever knowledge you want. Today there is an unlimited ability to gather information on nearly every topic at your fingertips, you can Google any question, or YouTube anything you want to know.
It is equally important that you associate without others who share this constant quest to learn. That is one of the things I most love about RE/MAX Ability Plus, everyone pushes each other forward simply by the atmosphere of learning, sharing, and growing. Surround yourself where others are constantly growing and changing, they will open your eyes to change needed and inspire you to do so.
Albert Einstein put it this way, "If at first a new idea doesn't seem ridiculous, then there is no hope for it."
For the last few years I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have heard from REALTORS, "the business just isn't any fun any more." Or "It is just so hard now." However, it had been a while as the market has heated up and agents have been so busy. A couple weeks ago, I was reminded that there are still those who are struggling with that change. Those struggling are stuck in a 2006 business model, and rather than searching for where the cheese has moved, are waiting until someone puts it back where it was. Let me assure you it isn't coming back, it is simply getting ready to move again. There is a real danger in fighting change.
Change is always coming, it simply keeps speeding up. This is what one of my favorite economists Paul Pilzer wrote on the topic. For years the historic age was known by the technology of the age, The Stone Age, the Iron Age, Bronze Age all lasted for generations, you were born, lived, and died under that same age, but as technology has advanced, the speed of change has moved to light speed. We once were taught to "Be the Best" at a given skill to be successful, today, that could be a recipe for disaster if the need for that skill evaporates. Those who are most adaptable to change are the winners in today's and into tomorrow's economy, those who not only adapt, but work to stay in front of it.
Look to history to see the future:
In 1930 there were 30 million American farmers who were barely able to grow enough food for the 123 million Americans at that time. By 1980 there were only 3 million American farmers who were producing so much food that even after feeding the 227 million Americans, and exporting around the world, the government paid them to leave land idle to keep too much surplus from depressing the markets. Most didn't see much because it happened over 50 years and people kept moving off the farm to go to work in the cities, many to car manufacturers. In 1980 there were 250,000 Americans working making carburetors in the Mid-West, by 1985 a new technology was created eliminating almost all of those jobs, the fuel injector system. In 1989 there were 150,000 Americans working in Indiana and Ohio pressing vinyl records and their industry had it's best year in history, then in 1990 they were almost all out of work due to the Compact Disc.
The economy didn't get them-- technology made them obsolete. Those who waited around looking for another job like they had once had suffered greatly, those who saw that their cheese moved and learned a new skill moved on, and maybe on up. For those who remember Richard LeMieux, who spoke at the IAR convention a couple years ago. His business of publishing Criss Cross Directory type of books was taken down by the Internet. He lost his palatial home, his wife, family and ended up living out of a van with his dog Willow. He showed us the dire consequences of refusing to adapt to change can have. Thankfully, he finally was able to reinvent himself by writing "Breakfast at Sally's" a book on his inspirational comeback from homelessness.
The best skill you can learn is to learn to learn. Learn to embrace change rather than fear it. Why do you fear change? What can you do?
In our schools we are taught, not based on the premise of learning new ideas, big picture thinking, (systems thinking) and decision making, but rather on memorizing history, and classifying people's aptitudes based on one mode of learning. This has had quite a profoundly negative effect on our perception of our capacity to learn. So, very much like understanding why we resist change, this step is critical in order to shed negative reinforcement. Indeed, this understanding and therefore unlearning our bad learning habits is the last preparatory step in the adaptability process.
Fear tells you this: "I can't do it." Remember FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real.
Continual self doubt is simply the residue of being negatively reinforced for so long. It's part of being afraid of change. You have been told since you were a child, by teachers, parents, grading systems, and certain marketing institutions that sell products by using negative reinforcement, that you are either good or bad at something, that you have aptitude for certain things but not for others, and that you need things you don't have in order to be whole. People who decided as children that elementary math class didn't come easily often believe as adults that they are simply not good at math.
But you can change, it is all a matter of focus, desire and finding the proper learning method and tools for your disposition. Ultimately you should hold imagination in higher regard than knowledge. That means you trust who you are and let your sense of wonder and curiosity guide you. Think of it as a large empty tool box in your mind. Knowledge is simply material - tools - you gather to fill that box. You can attain whatever knowledge you want. Today there is an unlimited ability to gather information on nearly every topic at your fingertips, you can Google any question, or YouTube anything you want to know.
It is equally important that you associate without others who share this constant quest to learn. That is one of the things I most love about RE/MAX Ability Plus, everyone pushes each other forward simply by the atmosphere of learning, sharing, and growing. Surround yourself where others are constantly growing and changing, they will open your eyes to change needed and inspire you to do so.
Albert Einstein put it this way, "If at first a new idea doesn't seem ridiculous, then there is no hope for it."
Monday, October 14, 2013
Have You Transitioned?
Okay, I know that you have heard and heard some more that you MUST do the 24 hour Transition Course from Real Estate Sales Associate to Broker before June 30th, 2014 or you will no longer be able to practice Real Estate. Have you done it? My goal here is to get you to do it sooner than later.
Indiana Association or REALTORS gave us some information you might want to consider.
1. There are only four people who are working at the State to process your paperwork, so if you wait until the last minute next June you might have met your requirements but you might not be able to practice until the State catches up.
2. If you have any issues that could slow up your paperwork you should get started now. If you have any outstanding Indiana Tax bills, Child Support payments, or had any other issue like a DUI. The State will likely not issue your license until resolved. You want to get in front of it and if needed to get in front of the Board you can do so.
If you are a "Legacy Broker" someone who has their Broker's License before July 2012, you will still need your normal 16 hours of CE that would have been due by June 2013 that was extended to June 2014, as well as an additional 8 hours of CE by then as well.
If you need your Broker's Transition Course, or your 8 Hour Legacy Broker course you can take them at our RE/MAX Ability Plus portal on www.recp.com.
I just took the 8 hour course Friday and today, it is very easy. I did the first three modules on my laptop and tried to do the fourth on my iPad but found it very cumbersome and went back to the laptop.
The eight hours consist of:
1. Fair Housing: 2 Hours
2. The New Indiana Licensing Law: 2 Hours
3. Factors in Negotiation: 2 Hours
4. Money, Escrows, E&O, and Earnest Money: 2 Hours
Indiana Association or REALTORS gave us some information you might want to consider.
1. There are only four people who are working at the State to process your paperwork, so if you wait until the last minute next June you might have met your requirements but you might not be able to practice until the State catches up.
2. If you have any issues that could slow up your paperwork you should get started now. If you have any outstanding Indiana Tax bills, Child Support payments, or had any other issue like a DUI. The State will likely not issue your license until resolved. You want to get in front of it and if needed to get in front of the Board you can do so.
If you are a "Legacy Broker" someone who has their Broker's License before July 2012, you will still need your normal 16 hours of CE that would have been due by June 2013 that was extended to June 2014, as well as an additional 8 hours of CE by then as well.
If you need your Broker's Transition Course, or your 8 Hour Legacy Broker course you can take them at our RE/MAX Ability Plus portal on www.recp.com.
I just took the 8 hour course Friday and today, it is very easy. I did the first three modules on my laptop and tried to do the fourth on my iPad but found it very cumbersome and went back to the laptop.
The eight hours consist of:
1. Fair Housing: 2 Hours
2. The New Indiana Licensing Law: 2 Hours
3. Factors in Negotiation: 2 Hours
4. Money, Escrows, E&O, and Earnest Money: 2 Hours
Thursday, September 19, 2013
New Flood Insurance Rules October 1st, 2013.
On October 1st the Biggert Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 has big changes affecting Real Estate in Flood Plains. The first thing to learn is that ALL Real Estate is in a flood plain, just some are rated with higher risk than others. For our purposes in Real Estate we use the 100 year flood plain as the standard, it spreads the risk of a flood effecting it at 1% per year, but there is no guarantee it won't happen in back to back years, that is simply the risk pool.
1. What is the Biggert Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012?
2. What does it do?
3. What does this mean to you as a REALTOR and to your clients on buying and selling homes?
What it is an increased attention to flood insurance rates and the elimination of Federal subsidies of flood insurance in flood plains.
What it does, is any property in a 100 year flood plain will starting this year have a 25% per year increase in flood insurance premiums EVERY year until the premiums reflect full risk rates. To assess full risk rates, the property owner will be required to produce to their insurance agent an Elevation Certificate to show the level of risk the property faces. In other words, that 25% rate increase annually will continue forever until that Elevation Certificate is produced. That is what happens to someone who continues to live in or own their home.
If there is a change of ownership, the policy lapses, there is a change in risk, or there is substantial damage or improvements on a building the policy rate will be required to immediately go to full risk premium instead of the 25% per year increase. This will require that Elevation Certificate to be produced at that time. So if you have a client who is selling or buying a home in a 100 year flood plain, it would be advisable to get the Elevation Certificate done so that you don't have the deal blow up in the 11th hour due to cost of flood insurance policy.
Flood Insurance Rates in a High Risk Zone (a zone beginning with the letter A-V) are based on a building's elevation above, at, or below the BFE (Base Flood Elevation).
These costs could prove to be a very big deal, so you want to be prepared for them. For instance under this law, if you have a 250,000.00 one story single family home building only no contents with a standard National Flood Insurance Program deductible in a moderate to high risk zone depending upon where the first level begins in comparison to the Base Flood Elevation or BFE (100 Year Flood).
How do you get your Elevation Certificate?
1. Many municipal governments keep elevation information on file. Talk to local floodplain manager if your properties elevation information is on file. If so, the community floodplain manager is authorized to complete the Elevation Certificate for you.
2. If your information is not on file, you might need to hire a State-licensed surveyor, Architect, or engineer to complete an Elevation Certificate. Depending upon your location and the complexity of the job, the cost of a surveyor can vary from 500.00 to 2,000.00 or more. You might want to shop around to find out what they offer.
3. Once you receive your Elevation Certificate provide one copy to your insurance agent and keep a copy for your records.
This new law can and will be something you will be dealing with, hopefully this blog will help you understand better what you and your clients will need to do.
For more information from an insurance specialist on this topic you can reach out to insurance@abilityplus.com or to their website at http://www.abilityplusins.com/ .
Links you can go to for more information:
National Flood Insurance Program Help Center: 1-800-427-4661.
www.fema.gov/fema/csb.shtm
http://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance-manual (May 13 Full Version)
http://www.nfipiservice.com/Stakeholder/pdf/bulletin/w-10345.pdf (October 2013 Flood Insurance Manual Revisions).
http://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/34620 )October 2013 Specific Rating Guidelines and Actuarial Assumptions.)
1. What is the Biggert Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012?
2. What does it do?
3. What does this mean to you as a REALTOR and to your clients on buying and selling homes?
What it is an increased attention to flood insurance rates and the elimination of Federal subsidies of flood insurance in flood plains.
What it does, is any property in a 100 year flood plain will starting this year have a 25% per year increase in flood insurance premiums EVERY year until the premiums reflect full risk rates. To assess full risk rates, the property owner will be required to produce to their insurance agent an Elevation Certificate to show the level of risk the property faces. In other words, that 25% rate increase annually will continue forever until that Elevation Certificate is produced. That is what happens to someone who continues to live in or own their home.
If there is a change of ownership, the policy lapses, there is a change in risk, or there is substantial damage or improvements on a building the policy rate will be required to immediately go to full risk premium instead of the 25% per year increase. This will require that Elevation Certificate to be produced at that time. So if you have a client who is selling or buying a home in a 100 year flood plain, it would be advisable to get the Elevation Certificate done so that you don't have the deal blow up in the 11th hour due to cost of flood insurance policy.
Flood Insurance Rates in a High Risk Zone (a zone beginning with the letter A-V) are based on a building's elevation above, at, or below the BFE (Base Flood Elevation).
These costs could prove to be a very big deal, so you want to be prepared for them. For instance under this law, if you have a 250,000.00 one story single family home building only no contents with a standard National Flood Insurance Program deductible in a moderate to high risk zone depending upon where the first level begins in comparison to the Base Flood Elevation or BFE (100 Year Flood).
- Built 4' below Base Flood Elevation = 9,500.00/year.
- Built at Base Flood Elevation = 1,410.00/year.
- Built 3' above Base Flood Elevation = 427.00/year.
How do you get your Elevation Certificate?
1. Many municipal governments keep elevation information on file. Talk to local floodplain manager if your properties elevation information is on file. If so, the community floodplain manager is authorized to complete the Elevation Certificate for you.
2. If your information is not on file, you might need to hire a State-licensed surveyor, Architect, or engineer to complete an Elevation Certificate. Depending upon your location and the complexity of the job, the cost of a surveyor can vary from 500.00 to 2,000.00 or more. You might want to shop around to find out what they offer.
3. Once you receive your Elevation Certificate provide one copy to your insurance agent and keep a copy for your records.
This new law can and will be something you will be dealing with, hopefully this blog will help you understand better what you and your clients will need to do.
For more information from an insurance specialist on this topic you can reach out to insurance@abilityplus.com or to their website at http://www.abilityplusins.com/ .
Links you can go to for more information:
National Flood Insurance Program Help Center: 1-800-427-4661.
www.fema.gov/fema/csb.shtm
http://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance-manual (May 13 Full Version)
http://www.nfipiservice.com/Stakeholder/pdf/bulletin/w-10345.pdf (October 2013 Flood Insurance Manual Revisions).
http://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/34620 )October 2013 Specific Rating Guidelines and Actuarial Assumptions.)
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Are You Unstable or Stable In All Your Ways?
Often I find that I gain spiritual insight while reading or listening to motivational or sales training, and just as often find great sales training insight while listening to spiritual training. When I was doing a lot of public speaking, I often found seminars in nearly everything, movies, sporting events, watching people rise to the occasion. However, once I was thunderstruck by the power in James 1:8 "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."
What does that mean? I have heard more than one preacher teach this lesson, unfortunately none really stuck with me, none reached me and got my attention until one day driving down 465 listening to Byrdie Yager speak on this topic. She is a very wise woman, well versed in the scriptures, in business, and in human relationships from years of experience that would be hard to duplicate. When I heard her talk it caused me to do a double take, pull off the next ramp, stop my car and listen over and over again. What she said was "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways," and what that meant to her "You can't hold two diverse and opposing thoughts on any subject at the same time." In other words, you can't as a sales person talk to your clients about how this is the greatest product, home, neighborhood, widget, whatever in the world, and then talk to your co-workers, spouse, friends, bartender, whoever what a dog it is. You can't hold two opinions at the same time. If you try, and many do, then you are double minded, and unstable, and your clients will instinctively know it. They feel it at a subconscious level, it is if they smell it on you.
My belief has long been that sales is nothing but the transference of emotions. I believe a sale is made in every meeting, either they are sold to believe about your product just as you do, or you were sold to believe their reason for not buying just as they do. The first part of that is what we are going to discuss here. Do you want your prospect to believe the same way about your product as you do? Do you? I hope so, if not maybe the next sale you need to make is to you, or find something else to do. Unless you have the emotional disconnect of a con-man, which I hope you don't, what you really believe is what will be the guiding force in each transaction.
The reason this hit me so hard was it was the end of a story that I had told and taught for years, but in my telling it, I missed the most important part. I took a job trying to revive a community that had so many mistakes made in the launch that it was almost like asking Lazarus to come forth. It was a beautiful community called Lake Charlevoix. It had been languishing for 6 years with only 3 sold homes in it, with 7 specs that were 5 years old. Our next door neighbors were morning drive time radio personalities, Bob and Tom on WFBQ, who often would speak of the sun rising over the for sale signs at Lake Charlevoix. I am not sure that I could have survived the first few months of trying to turn it around, if not for all my friends in the building, Real Estate, and mortgage business that would laugh out loud at me when I told them where I was. There is no better motivation than being laughed at! It took a while, but we turned it around to where one day I was called by the sales manager from a custom community on the West side and wanted to meet and discuss marketing ideas for his community. I agreed, but asked how he heard of me. His response blew me away, that both BAGI and MIBOR told him that I was the best at marketing high end communities. I didn't laugh while he was on the phone, but thought if that was true, it might be scary since I was winging it by the seat of my pants. All I really did, was what I always did to turn around communities that were slow, was to "change the attitude." In other words, no one heard anything about my community but great news, I would employ the 3' rule, where anyone who came within 3' of me was going to hear about the "great news" of the new and improved, exciting, successes that either had just happened or were about to in my community! It didn't matter if it was someone who was lost looking for directions, the print shop, the Subway shop, every one of the 1,100 Realtors that I handed out a flier to their desk every week, every builder I tried to convince to come and build in Lake Charlevoix.
What I thought the moral of the story was the story of concentric circles in a pond, when you throw in a pebble and the circles go out, and then bounce back from the shore to where the pebble was thrown. I believed this was the story, I had told so many people that I was the best (that was the marketing campaign, everyone knew nothing else had changed so I sold me in partnership with the community) that it came back to me. I have taught this over and over, how you must put the positive message out everywhere, with everyone and it will come back to you.
When I heard Byrdie, and the double minded man, and realized I missed the point of my own story. It dawned on me, there was someone in everyone of those encounters who heard that positive message, who heard how great it was, it was me. I never heard my voice say anything but edifying, positive things about my community and product. No one on the planet believed in my message as dearly as did I, so when my clients heard it they were able to catch my belief in the transfer of emotions.
If you are not satisfied with your sales, you might consider thinking this idea through. I swear by it for myself. You can do it!
What does that mean? I have heard more than one preacher teach this lesson, unfortunately none really stuck with me, none reached me and got my attention until one day driving down 465 listening to Byrdie Yager speak on this topic. She is a very wise woman, well versed in the scriptures, in business, and in human relationships from years of experience that would be hard to duplicate. When I heard her talk it caused me to do a double take, pull off the next ramp, stop my car and listen over and over again. What she said was "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways," and what that meant to her "You can't hold two diverse and opposing thoughts on any subject at the same time." In other words, you can't as a sales person talk to your clients about how this is the greatest product, home, neighborhood, widget, whatever in the world, and then talk to your co-workers, spouse, friends, bartender, whoever what a dog it is. You can't hold two opinions at the same time. If you try, and many do, then you are double minded, and unstable, and your clients will instinctively know it. They feel it at a subconscious level, it is if they smell it on you.
My belief has long been that sales is nothing but the transference of emotions. I believe a sale is made in every meeting, either they are sold to believe about your product just as you do, or you were sold to believe their reason for not buying just as they do. The first part of that is what we are going to discuss here. Do you want your prospect to believe the same way about your product as you do? Do you? I hope so, if not maybe the next sale you need to make is to you, or find something else to do. Unless you have the emotional disconnect of a con-man, which I hope you don't, what you really believe is what will be the guiding force in each transaction.
The reason this hit me so hard was it was the end of a story that I had told and taught for years, but in my telling it, I missed the most important part. I took a job trying to revive a community that had so many mistakes made in the launch that it was almost like asking Lazarus to come forth. It was a beautiful community called Lake Charlevoix. It had been languishing for 6 years with only 3 sold homes in it, with 7 specs that were 5 years old. Our next door neighbors were morning drive time radio personalities, Bob and Tom on WFBQ, who often would speak of the sun rising over the for sale signs at Lake Charlevoix. I am not sure that I could have survived the first few months of trying to turn it around, if not for all my friends in the building, Real Estate, and mortgage business that would laugh out loud at me when I told them where I was. There is no better motivation than being laughed at! It took a while, but we turned it around to where one day I was called by the sales manager from a custom community on the West side and wanted to meet and discuss marketing ideas for his community. I agreed, but asked how he heard of me. His response blew me away, that both BAGI and MIBOR told him that I was the best at marketing high end communities. I didn't laugh while he was on the phone, but thought if that was true, it might be scary since I was winging it by the seat of my pants. All I really did, was what I always did to turn around communities that were slow, was to "change the attitude." In other words, no one heard anything about my community but great news, I would employ the 3' rule, where anyone who came within 3' of me was going to hear about the "great news" of the new and improved, exciting, successes that either had just happened or were about to in my community! It didn't matter if it was someone who was lost looking for directions, the print shop, the Subway shop, every one of the 1,100 Realtors that I handed out a flier to their desk every week, every builder I tried to convince to come and build in Lake Charlevoix.
What I thought the moral of the story was the story of concentric circles in a pond, when you throw in a pebble and the circles go out, and then bounce back from the shore to where the pebble was thrown. I believed this was the story, I had told so many people that I was the best (that was the marketing campaign, everyone knew nothing else had changed so I sold me in partnership with the community) that it came back to me. I have taught this over and over, how you must put the positive message out everywhere, with everyone and it will come back to you.
When I heard Byrdie, and the double minded man, and realized I missed the point of my own story. It dawned on me, there was someone in everyone of those encounters who heard that positive message, who heard how great it was, it was me. I never heard my voice say anything but edifying, positive things about my community and product. No one on the planet believed in my message as dearly as did I, so when my clients heard it they were able to catch my belief in the transfer of emotions.
If you are not satisfied with your sales, you might consider thinking this idea through. I swear by it for myself. You can do it!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
If You Help Enough People Get What They Want You Will Always Get What You Want
Would you know anyone who has an aging parent or grandparent living in a small town far away from their kids and grand kids who would like to move closer but it is difficult to find a house for the same money, and they cannot afford to increase their monthly expenses? How about a parent or grandparent who has all their assets tied up in the equity of their home, but has other needs, maybe concerns about upcoming long-term care, or ongoing income over Social Security. Maybe you know someone who would bought and paid cash for a condo and the value dropped, maybe a lot of the condos sold to investors and are being rented, and moving is blocked by not having the money now to buy again after a loss. Or maybe you know someone who is doing well financially living in a big home someplace like Chicago, but the grand kids are here and they want to move close, but also want to have that vacation home they have always dreamed of, but cannot afford cash for both and don't want payments? Maybe it is you that has one of the needs above.
My in-laws were both the first and second questions above. We kept trying to figure out a way to help them move to Indy or Fishers but couldn't make the math work. This caused us to delay until other choices were out of the question, and we had to play catch up and choose between options after the best choices were already off the table each time. If someone would have shown us what I am about to tell you we would have built a statue of them on our front yard. It didn't exist then, but it is here to help all of those people now.
There is a project that I am working on that I believe will accomplish several things, help our agents create an ongoing new source of income, as well as several of our vendor partners, but most importantly greatly enhance and make some lives much more comfortable. This fits our company's Mission Statement of "Inspiring our Agents, Creating Opportunities for our Agents, Supporting their Dreams."
What I am speaking of is a HECM loan, or a Reverse Mortgage Purchase. I know I have just lost you, I am sure that you have heard all kinds of horror stories. However, if America was introduced to electricity by an electric chair no one would have it in their homes. The old Reverse mortgages had problems, as did annuities, heat pumps, and slab foundations, but things change and get better when they work out the bugs. Today's HECM is basically just an FHA loan, that at the end is sold and any equity in the house stays with the owner or their heirs, and if it is upside down it is a non-recourse loan where you simply walk away and nothing touches you.
You can purchase a home with a HECM depending upon your age, 62 is the minimum, and when a couple buys it is the youngest person that has to be 62 and that is the age it is amortized. CAUTION, if a couple wants to do this, ALWAYS have both people on the loan, that protects against one of the few downsides of this loan. If both people are on the loan, and one dies, the other can stay in the house as long as they live, are not in a nursing home for more than a year, or simply want to still live there. If only one is on it and they die, the other has no right to the house, only the equity balance if that is willed to them. The older you are the lower the down payment requirement. For purposes of this figure 50% down for the 62 year old, because that is the highest down payment.
Let's say that couple living in the small town sold their home and netted 60,000.00, they could move to the city where their family is and put down 50,000.00 on a 100,000.00 home, and use the 10,000.00 for moving expenses, maybe some new furniture. They would not have to qualify for a mortgage because they would never have a payment, they might need to prove income sufficient to pay the taxes and basic upkeep. They would never make a payment on the mortgage and the loan would start out at 50,000.00 and increase each month with the added unpaid interest. When they sell the house they would keep the balance of the equity.
How about our friends who need to access that cash for upcoming long-term care? My previous insurance agent, before I changed my policies to my son's company, when I taught him about this he used it with his mom. She was living in a condo that she loved, the payment was 1,500.00/mo which was difficult for her. She sold a small commercial property and had 70,000.00 which she put down on the condo paying about half of it. He then sold her a top of the line insurance policy with a strong long-term care rider that guaranteed her if she ever needed it full-time nursing on site so she would never have to leave the condo. Her monthly costs went from 1,500.00 to 300.00/mo with true peace of mind. Of if income was the issue, maybe she could have bought a guaranteed income annuity.
Even our well to do friends who sold their 500,000.00 house in Chicago and moved down to be near their grand kids and bought a 300,000.00 home in Indy with 150,000.00 down leaving 350,000.00 to pay cash for a home in Florida. As long as they keep the Indy house as primary residence they never have to make a payment.
We are putting something together with insurance, mortgage, REALTORS, financial planners, Senior Specialist attorneys to help guide people into the best opportunities for them. Again, this wasn't available when we needed it for my in-laws. If you have ever dealt with the financial issues that face so many seniors, you can be a tremendous blessing to them and their families with this, as well as create an outstanding additional business line for yourself.
As my wife Jodi, who is an evangelist on this topic having lived through it, says to anyone who crosses her path, "If you don't know what your parents financial situation is because you don't think it is any of your business, you better because it will be."
Be a Blessing to these families, keep in mind 10,000 people turn 65 every day.
My in-laws were both the first and second questions above. We kept trying to figure out a way to help them move to Indy or Fishers but couldn't make the math work. This caused us to delay until other choices were out of the question, and we had to play catch up and choose between options after the best choices were already off the table each time. If someone would have shown us what I am about to tell you we would have built a statue of them on our front yard. It didn't exist then, but it is here to help all of those people now.
There is a project that I am working on that I believe will accomplish several things, help our agents create an ongoing new source of income, as well as several of our vendor partners, but most importantly greatly enhance and make some lives much more comfortable. This fits our company's Mission Statement of "Inspiring our Agents, Creating Opportunities for our Agents, Supporting their Dreams."
What I am speaking of is a HECM loan, or a Reverse Mortgage Purchase. I know I have just lost you, I am sure that you have heard all kinds of horror stories. However, if America was introduced to electricity by an electric chair no one would have it in their homes. The old Reverse mortgages had problems, as did annuities, heat pumps, and slab foundations, but things change and get better when they work out the bugs. Today's HECM is basically just an FHA loan, that at the end is sold and any equity in the house stays with the owner or their heirs, and if it is upside down it is a non-recourse loan where you simply walk away and nothing touches you.
You can purchase a home with a HECM depending upon your age, 62 is the minimum, and when a couple buys it is the youngest person that has to be 62 and that is the age it is amortized. CAUTION, if a couple wants to do this, ALWAYS have both people on the loan, that protects against one of the few downsides of this loan. If both people are on the loan, and one dies, the other can stay in the house as long as they live, are not in a nursing home for more than a year, or simply want to still live there. If only one is on it and they die, the other has no right to the house, only the equity balance if that is willed to them. The older you are the lower the down payment requirement. For purposes of this figure 50% down for the 62 year old, because that is the highest down payment.
Let's say that couple living in the small town sold their home and netted 60,000.00, they could move to the city where their family is and put down 50,000.00 on a 100,000.00 home, and use the 10,000.00 for moving expenses, maybe some new furniture. They would not have to qualify for a mortgage because they would never have a payment, they might need to prove income sufficient to pay the taxes and basic upkeep. They would never make a payment on the mortgage and the loan would start out at 50,000.00 and increase each month with the added unpaid interest. When they sell the house they would keep the balance of the equity.
How about our friends who need to access that cash for upcoming long-term care? My previous insurance agent, before I changed my policies to my son's company, when I taught him about this he used it with his mom. She was living in a condo that she loved, the payment was 1,500.00/mo which was difficult for her. She sold a small commercial property and had 70,000.00 which she put down on the condo paying about half of it. He then sold her a top of the line insurance policy with a strong long-term care rider that guaranteed her if she ever needed it full-time nursing on site so she would never have to leave the condo. Her monthly costs went from 1,500.00 to 300.00/mo with true peace of mind. Of if income was the issue, maybe she could have bought a guaranteed income annuity.
Even our well to do friends who sold their 500,000.00 house in Chicago and moved down to be near their grand kids and bought a 300,000.00 home in Indy with 150,000.00 down leaving 350,000.00 to pay cash for a home in Florida. As long as they keep the Indy house as primary residence they never have to make a payment.
We are putting something together with insurance, mortgage, REALTORS, financial planners, Senior Specialist attorneys to help guide people into the best opportunities for them. Again, this wasn't available when we needed it for my in-laws. If you have ever dealt with the financial issues that face so many seniors, you can be a tremendous blessing to them and their families with this, as well as create an outstanding additional business line for yourself.
As my wife Jodi, who is an evangelist on this topic having lived through it, says to anyone who crosses her path, "If you don't know what your parents financial situation is because you don't think it is any of your business, you better because it will be."
Be a Blessing to these families, keep in mind 10,000 people turn 65 every day.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
How Do You Enjoy A Blistering Hot Market And Keep Your Sanity?
We are enjoying one of the hottest Real Estate markets in decades, the pent up demand, low interest rates, and still affordable pricing is creating a perfect storm of activity. It makes for a very exciting time indeed. However, it also comes with a price.
It is clear that many agents are truly feeling the stress that comes with physical fatigue, and the emotional drain of the ongoing roller coaster of feelings that you must help your clients ride through. Then it compounds with a sense of guilt for feeling stressed, grouchy, and maybe even a bit resentful of all that is pulling on you each day, especially coming from the toughest market we had seen in our lifetimes and knowing we should be happy and grateful. When I am speaking with agents from any and all firms I am hearing tell tale signs of the above, also from the tone of several agents posts on Facebook you can hear it as well.
Does this sound at all familiar to you?
It is all very understandable after all, even Super Agents are also human, they have lives outside of Real Estate, families, and other obligations that also pull at them competing for their time, and their emotions. During a Real Estate transaction we often see people at their best and worst, excited, fearful, happy, sad, giddy, angry, optimistic, depressed and that might all be before breakfast. They may love you one minute and are screaming at you the next as they are pulled to and fro with their emotions raw as they embark on selling and or buying, moving, and dealing with the stress that puts on their lives.
This requires you to be their consultant, coach, friend, trusted advisor, counselor, mom and/or dad, cheerleader, and sometimes shrink. You will be the one who maybe several times a day is their emotional battery charger. Compound that with a blistering hot market multiplying the amount of people going through all these emotions daily for you to recharge. It is going to take a toll on you if you don't take care and make the time to recharge your own emotional batteries.
Okay, so everything I have said so far you already know, what should you do about it? How do you improve it? Or at least improve how it touches your life, and the life of your family?
It reminds me of the story of Lumbermen. It seems that the logging crew hired this young, strong, big athletic young man to be a logger. He looked like a Greek god had stepped off Mount Olympus to cut trees, and had the confidence and swagger to match. His first day, he asked his foreman who was the best lumberjack on the crew and was pointed out an middle aged man half the size of this new kid. He knew he would be number one at day's end after seeing the competition. However, at the end of the first day he cut down 18 trees, the older logger cut down 20. He figured that he was just learning, and by tomorrow he would blow by the older guy. All day long he worked as hard as he could and was dragging back to the bunk where he found out that the old guy did 20 trees and he had dropped to 15. He was furious, and decided that tomorrow he would give it all he had and pass this old dude. The next day he worked like he had never worked, he worked through lunch and all his breaks, he gave it everything he had and could barely walk back to the bunk where he learned that he had cut 12 trees and his nemesis had cut 20. He just couldn't believe it and screamed at the old logger, "How do you do it? I am giving everything I have, I am working as hard as I can, taking no breaks, working through lunch, and every time I look over at you you're sitting under a tree resting, how can this be true? Then the older logger asked him, "Did you ever notice what I was doing while sitting under the trees? I was sharpening my saw."
What are you doing to sharpen your saw? What are your doing to recharge your emotional batteries so that you can keep giving to your clients without coming up empty yourself? Too many of us live our lives like a smart phone with all the apps running draining our energy dry.
You must recharge those emotional batteries. Listen to positive CD's, DVD's, and videos. Get the TED app for your phone, iPad, or get TED.com for your computer to listen to positive input while you are doing paperwork, that is the type of multitasking that will pay the most dividends. I know you are likely saying you don't have time, I would suggest you don't have time not to. Read positive books, put them in your bathroom if you must. If you read 15 minutes a day you will finish an average book in a month. Look for authors like Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, Dennis Waitley, Zig Ziglar, Charlie Tremendous Jones, and many more. These are old names but their work stands the test of time.
Understand that you cannot load a wagon from an empty wagon, and you cannot keep giving emotional support to those clients who need support from you, as well as your family and loved ones, if you allow your own emotional tank to run dry. Most agents will not heed any of this advice, most agents will say "that motivation stuff doesn't work, I am self-motivated." Most agents don't last long in the business. Most only seek motivation when their businesses are slow, if then. Most agents push aside all their marketing and follow up on their database when things are busy and then are surprised when the market tightens and they have no pipeline.
That is why Zig Ziglar gave us all this advice.
"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily."
Try it you might find you will really like it.
It is clear that many agents are truly feeling the stress that comes with physical fatigue, and the emotional drain of the ongoing roller coaster of feelings that you must help your clients ride through. Then it compounds with a sense of guilt for feeling stressed, grouchy, and maybe even a bit resentful of all that is pulling on you each day, especially coming from the toughest market we had seen in our lifetimes and knowing we should be happy and grateful. When I am speaking with agents from any and all firms I am hearing tell tale signs of the above, also from the tone of several agents posts on Facebook you can hear it as well.
Does this sound at all familiar to you?
It is all very understandable after all, even Super Agents are also human, they have lives outside of Real Estate, families, and other obligations that also pull at them competing for their time, and their emotions. During a Real Estate transaction we often see people at their best and worst, excited, fearful, happy, sad, giddy, angry, optimistic, depressed and that might all be before breakfast. They may love you one minute and are screaming at you the next as they are pulled to and fro with their emotions raw as they embark on selling and or buying, moving, and dealing with the stress that puts on their lives.
This requires you to be their consultant, coach, friend, trusted advisor, counselor, mom and/or dad, cheerleader, and sometimes shrink. You will be the one who maybe several times a day is their emotional battery charger. Compound that with a blistering hot market multiplying the amount of people going through all these emotions daily for you to recharge. It is going to take a toll on you if you don't take care and make the time to recharge your own emotional batteries.
Okay, so everything I have said so far you already know, what should you do about it? How do you improve it? Or at least improve how it touches your life, and the life of your family?
It reminds me of the story of Lumbermen. It seems that the logging crew hired this young, strong, big athletic young man to be a logger. He looked like a Greek god had stepped off Mount Olympus to cut trees, and had the confidence and swagger to match. His first day, he asked his foreman who was the best lumberjack on the crew and was pointed out an middle aged man half the size of this new kid. He knew he would be number one at day's end after seeing the competition. However, at the end of the first day he cut down 18 trees, the older logger cut down 20. He figured that he was just learning, and by tomorrow he would blow by the older guy. All day long he worked as hard as he could and was dragging back to the bunk where he found out that the old guy did 20 trees and he had dropped to 15. He was furious, and decided that tomorrow he would give it all he had and pass this old dude. The next day he worked like he had never worked, he worked through lunch and all his breaks, he gave it everything he had and could barely walk back to the bunk where he learned that he had cut 12 trees and his nemesis had cut 20. He just couldn't believe it and screamed at the old logger, "How do you do it? I am giving everything I have, I am working as hard as I can, taking no breaks, working through lunch, and every time I look over at you you're sitting under a tree resting, how can this be true? Then the older logger asked him, "Did you ever notice what I was doing while sitting under the trees? I was sharpening my saw."
What are you doing to sharpen your saw? What are your doing to recharge your emotional batteries so that you can keep giving to your clients without coming up empty yourself? Too many of us live our lives like a smart phone with all the apps running draining our energy dry.
You must recharge those emotional batteries. Listen to positive CD's, DVD's, and videos. Get the TED app for your phone, iPad, or get TED.com for your computer to listen to positive input while you are doing paperwork, that is the type of multitasking that will pay the most dividends. I know you are likely saying you don't have time, I would suggest you don't have time not to. Read positive books, put them in your bathroom if you must. If you read 15 minutes a day you will finish an average book in a month. Look for authors like Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, Dennis Waitley, Zig Ziglar, Charlie Tremendous Jones, and many more. These are old names but their work stands the test of time.
Understand that you cannot load a wagon from an empty wagon, and you cannot keep giving emotional support to those clients who need support from you, as well as your family and loved ones, if you allow your own emotional tank to run dry. Most agents will not heed any of this advice, most agents will say "that motivation stuff doesn't work, I am self-motivated." Most agents don't last long in the business. Most only seek motivation when their businesses are slow, if then. Most agents push aside all their marketing and follow up on their database when things are busy and then are surprised when the market tightens and they have no pipeline.
That is why Zig Ziglar gave us all this advice.
"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily."
Don't be most agents, it only takes that little extra to go from ordinary to extraordinary!
Try it you might find you will really like it.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Change: Love it? Hate it? Motivated by it? Paralyzed by it? Get Used to it.
Change.... Love it? Hate it? Inspired by it? Paralyzed by it? Terrified? Motivated? What is your reaction to change in your life? The one thing that is a virtual guarantee is that Change is going to be a constant in your life, and that of everyone you know.
Our company at RE/MAX Ability Plus is going through many changes, it seems like daily. That is to be expected when you are growing like we are from 32 agents in 1 office doing about 100 million in business in 2008 to 130 agents in 6 offices on track for more than 400 - 500 million this year. REAL Trends 500 Magazine ranks us as the 37th fastest growing company by percentage of volume in America. Our biggest CHANGE currently is a Dream coming true, we are moving our Carmel office from one that has housed RE/MAX Ability Plus for the last ten years. It has been home to many of the areas top agents, but we are moving to a Brand New office in Carmel's Arts and Design District in the beautiful Indiana Design Center, the first Real Estate company ever housed in a Design Center in America. This new office is a physical presence of the Dreams we have been dreaming for years.
Even exciting change can make people feel uncomfortable, but sometimes feeling a bit uncomfortable is the very best thing for you. For years when I have been coaching people I challenge them to change things, even if it is the route the drive to work, maybe the parking space, something, mix it up get your brain reengaged. Far too many people are in such a rut they find themselves driving to and from work the same way, the same time, every day. Have you ever driven through a traffic light and then wondered if it was green or not? We often get up the same time every day, do the same routine, drive to work, drive home, over and over and over until we have become mindless in our actions. The only difference between a rut and a grave is that the ends are not closed. Jump out.
One of the most impressive athletic feats I have ever seen during my life was when Tiger Woods, who was the best golfer in the World, decided that to get better he had to completely relearn his swing he had been using all his life, and he did. He could have messed his old swing up and never learned the new one as well, but he took the risk to get better to push through a barrier his old swing had created. Whatever you think of Woods, that was courageous.
In our own company I am thrilled to witness some of our top agents challenging themselves in that same way as did Woods. They hit the biggest year of their long celebrated careers last year, but now have looked from the peak of the mountain they had climbed across to peek at the top of yet a higher goal and are dissecting their business to make changes to double their business once again. It is inspiring to watch and it is clear that those goals will be accomplished.
You must understand, CHANGE is going to come, you can choose to embrace it, become an agent of that change, or you can resist and be buried by it. With the advances of technology change is coming faster every day, we need to learn not to just keep up, but to jump ahead. The technology of the day used to dictate the very economic age they came to be known as, the Stone Age, Iron Age, Agrarian Age, Industrial Age, Technology Age. They used to move so slowly most people were born, lived their lives and died in the same economic age. That is no longer the case, adding to the stress many people feel.
For instance, in 1930 there were about 30 million American farmers, barely producing enough food to feed the 100 million Americans, by 1980 there were only 3 million American Farmers producing so much food that they were feeding the World and were being paid by the government to not produce on much of their land. What happened to those 27 million farmers? Many retired or died, their kids were forced to move to the city to find jobs, but since it happened over a 50 year time frame it made little disturbance until the last few years when we saw things like "Farm Aid" trying to help the ones who couldn't pay the banks.
Many of those first generation off the farm went to work in the Midwest working in the auto industry, in fact in 1980 there were 250,000 people making carburetors in Indiana and Michigan, however by 1985 almost all had lost their jobs because their skills were not compatible to building the Fuel Injector Systems that overnight had replaced the carburetors. Many of those displaced people found work in the vinyl record industry in Indiana and Ohio alone more than 150,000 people were working making records in 1990, the next year they were gone, as RCA and Sony had revolutionized the industry with Compact Discs.
The old idea was to learn a skill and be the very best at it for job security. Today, the best is to learn to learn how to adjust and change as change keeps coming. Those who are most adaptable are the winners in this new world.
At our company, I truly love the culture. It is all about change, all the time. It is about pushing the envelope to find where the newest sweet spot is every day. In other words, If It Ain't Broke Break It, surely there is a better way. Good is always the greatest enemy Great can ever have.
So Change!
Our company at RE/MAX Ability Plus is going through many changes, it seems like daily. That is to be expected when you are growing like we are from 32 agents in 1 office doing about 100 million in business in 2008 to 130 agents in 6 offices on track for more than 400 - 500 million this year. REAL Trends 500 Magazine ranks us as the 37th fastest growing company by percentage of volume in America. Our biggest CHANGE currently is a Dream coming true, we are moving our Carmel office from one that has housed RE/MAX Ability Plus for the last ten years. It has been home to many of the areas top agents, but we are moving to a Brand New office in Carmel's Arts and Design District in the beautiful Indiana Design Center, the first Real Estate company ever housed in a Design Center in America. This new office is a physical presence of the Dreams we have been dreaming for years.
Even exciting change can make people feel uncomfortable, but sometimes feeling a bit uncomfortable is the very best thing for you. For years when I have been coaching people I challenge them to change things, even if it is the route the drive to work, maybe the parking space, something, mix it up get your brain reengaged. Far too many people are in such a rut they find themselves driving to and from work the same way, the same time, every day. Have you ever driven through a traffic light and then wondered if it was green or not? We often get up the same time every day, do the same routine, drive to work, drive home, over and over and over until we have become mindless in our actions. The only difference between a rut and a grave is that the ends are not closed. Jump out.
One of the most impressive athletic feats I have ever seen during my life was when Tiger Woods, who was the best golfer in the World, decided that to get better he had to completely relearn his swing he had been using all his life, and he did. He could have messed his old swing up and never learned the new one as well, but he took the risk to get better to push through a barrier his old swing had created. Whatever you think of Woods, that was courageous.
In our own company I am thrilled to witness some of our top agents challenging themselves in that same way as did Woods. They hit the biggest year of their long celebrated careers last year, but now have looked from the peak of the mountain they had climbed across to peek at the top of yet a higher goal and are dissecting their business to make changes to double their business once again. It is inspiring to watch and it is clear that those goals will be accomplished.
You must understand, CHANGE is going to come, you can choose to embrace it, become an agent of that change, or you can resist and be buried by it. With the advances of technology change is coming faster every day, we need to learn not to just keep up, but to jump ahead. The technology of the day used to dictate the very economic age they came to be known as, the Stone Age, Iron Age, Agrarian Age, Industrial Age, Technology Age. They used to move so slowly most people were born, lived their lives and died in the same economic age. That is no longer the case, adding to the stress many people feel.
For instance, in 1930 there were about 30 million American farmers, barely producing enough food to feed the 100 million Americans, by 1980 there were only 3 million American Farmers producing so much food that they were feeding the World and were being paid by the government to not produce on much of their land. What happened to those 27 million farmers? Many retired or died, their kids were forced to move to the city to find jobs, but since it happened over a 50 year time frame it made little disturbance until the last few years when we saw things like "Farm Aid" trying to help the ones who couldn't pay the banks.
Many of those first generation off the farm went to work in the Midwest working in the auto industry, in fact in 1980 there were 250,000 people making carburetors in Indiana and Michigan, however by 1985 almost all had lost their jobs because their skills were not compatible to building the Fuel Injector Systems that overnight had replaced the carburetors. Many of those displaced people found work in the vinyl record industry in Indiana and Ohio alone more than 150,000 people were working making records in 1990, the next year they were gone, as RCA and Sony had revolutionized the industry with Compact Discs.
The old idea was to learn a skill and be the very best at it for job security. Today, the best is to learn to learn how to adjust and change as change keeps coming. Those who are most adaptable are the winners in this new world.
At our company, I truly love the culture. It is all about change, all the time. It is about pushing the envelope to find where the newest sweet spot is every day. In other words, If It Ain't Broke Break It, surely there is a better way. Good is always the greatest enemy Great can ever have.
So Change!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The Problem Is Not The Problem, Never Has Been, and Never Will Be.
When it comes to not reaching your goals the problem is not the problem, never has been, and never will be. What do I mean? What I mean is that we like to find something, or someone, to blame when we miss our goals. Often we choose not to set goals because too often we have been disappointed by not reaching them in past attempts. So, those "obstacles" we want to believe are our "problems" that keep us from reaching our objectives. Are they really the problem or are they excuses? Or is there something else that is the true "problem" that we have never before identified, to they seem to be the problem?
The truth is that those things can't possibly be the true problem. If they were there would never be anyone who has accomplished similar goals with similar situations. We may say "I'm too young, or too old, too educated, or not educated enough, too this or too that." It might be "If I had more money, more supportive parents, a better spouse, better health", you name it there are at least as many excuses as there are people. So if others have accomplished such goals and dreams with such obstacles, how can those obstacles actually be "the problem?"
It was explained to me in this way in a, let's say we're sitting at a diner and we take a salt shaker and a sugar dispenser and separate them with a napkin holder, (think old school stuff.) Now say you are the salt shaker and your dream or goal is the sugar dispenser but you are too short to see it over the napkin holder, if you can't see it, how can you focus on it? What I am saying is that your dream isn't big enough to keep you focused on it. You need to find something that moves you, something that excites you, and makes your passion come alive. What you need is a big enough dream or goal to be able to "see" it over the obstacles. Your focus needs to be on that dream, and not on the obstacles or problems. They are always going to be there, but what you focus on, you will get more of. If the dream is big enough, the facts simply don't matter.
Consider this, if you are standing at one end of an auditorium full of tables, chairs, and other obstacles, and your goal was a flag at the other end, and all the lights are out, but there is a spot shining on the flag. If you just keep focused on that flag and walk toward it you will run into tables, and chairs, step on conference attendees, maybe even fall down. However, if you never take your eyes off that flag you know that you will reach it. How many times have you heard of stories of people climbing mountains who came just short of the peak, or swimmers swimming the English Channel, because they "couldn't go on" when fog set in? They lost sight of their goal or dream and couldn't go further.
Let me tell you a story of a friend of mine who changed my life forever. Paul Ramsey and I were in a MLM business together in early 80's. Paul had worked his entire life in a factory, but had a dream to own his own business. He was having modest success, but something happened to galvanize his dream into his very being. Paul was diagnosed with a very rapid spreading terminal cancer. He then decided that not only would he fight it, but he would fight to build his business to a level that would take care of his family after he was gone. This was not an easy goal to reach, night after night his wife Peg would drive them to another meeting where they would share the dream with another couple, or group of people. Many nights Paul would be so sick from chemo that he had to lay in the back of the car, holding his head out the window to vomit so she could keep driving to meet their time deadlines. Once they arrived he would clean up in a gas station, the go in and get in front of those living rooms full of people and speak for an hour or so, meet and greet after, help people set their goals and work with them. He would encourage them through their own obstacles that they thought were stopping them, without scolding them with what he had to consider as trivial problems. Then back into the car, Peg behind the wheel, as he collapsed in back once again.
There is a night and image in my mind that will never leave me. It was the night at a convention where Paul and Peg were recognized at the level that he set as his goal. When Paul came up to speak. I can still see how his skin was nearly the same color as was his gray suit and wig that hung on his skeletal body. I was standing next to his oncologist who had to see this speech himself, he too fell in love with Paul's passion and drive. The doctor stood there with tears streaming down his face, as they were on mine, and told me that there was really no way that Paul should be standing there. He told me that Paul had too little muscle left to stand, walk, or even hold his head up, but seemed to be doing so out of his steely will. Paul reached his dream, his goal, he spoke to all of us lucky enough to know him that night. Who could ever make an excuse after knowing and watching a man like Paul fight through something most of us, thank God, could never fully understand? Paul went to be with the Lord before the weekend ended. I miss him, but he will forever be with me, speaking from that stage.
Once again saw a clear reminder at Dave Liniger, Co-Founder or RE/MAX, has had to fight for his life and to once again walk on his own after near fatal MRSA infection. He was in a coma hanging onto life for more than four months last year, and when I saw him walk onto a stage in Denver for the first time on January 30th, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. You can read about Dave's amazing comeback story and with your purchase support The Wounded Warriors, Komen for the Cure, and The Children's Miracle Network where all the proceeds will go.
https://www.remax.net/public-news/Pages/MyNextStepOffersLessonsToAnyoneFacingDifficulties.aspx
Remember, The Problem isn't the Problem. The Problem is that you are focusing on the obstacles not the dream. Focus on your Dreams!
Friday, March 15, 2013
The Dodd-Frank Bill And C.F.P.B. For REALTORS.
“The CFPB is the
driving force behind almost all policy decisions a lender makes today. Far and
away the fastest growing division of the company, we are spending more on
interpreting and implementing the guidelines in this massive document. For my
REALTOR partners, I would want them to know that we have much stricter
guidelines for disclosures to the borrower, many of which are automated and
seldom make sense, so our client tends to get forms emailed to them before we
get a chance to thoroughly review them ourselves. Every lender lives in fear of being found in
violation, as the penalties are huge and meant to be financially devastating.” Cathy Warga - Movement Mortgage.
On July 21st
2010 the 848 page Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
became law. As of July 2012 only 30% of the rules and regulations are complete,
but they have already expanded to 8,843 pages of law, so every page of the law
has created ten pages of regulations so far. This has created the single
largest government agency in the history of mankind in the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau or C.F.P.B. and every business transaction large or small
that has an element of credit will be touched by regulations found on the 1,099
pages of the C.F.P.B.
The stated purpose of the Dodd-Frank Act and the C.F.P.B.
was to make markets safer for consumers, to conduct rule-making, supervision,
and enforcement. To restrict unfair, deceptive or abusive practices, to take
consumer complaints, monitor financial markets, and enforce laws that outlaw
discrimination and other unfair treatment.
For our purposes, let’s look at how it will affect home
mortgages in the coming months. A great
deal of it will be in place late this summer, and more the following January.
Most of all it is going to make the cost of a loan to increase to the consumer
and strip them of options that we have long enjoyed.
“As you and I both know regulation in the mortgage lending
industry has gone from being very lenient to becoming overly regulated by the
Federal government over the last decade.”
Todd Hollingsworth – Midwest Bankers
“Right
now the new QM, CFPB has had little to do with impact on the consumer/Realtor.
Most of the rules are yet to come. The biggest thing I think we will be seeing
will be the new HUD (which comment just recently ended). Even though the
comment period just ended, I think there will be minor changes to the proposed
HUD. Most of the changes are around verbiage and the way terms of explained to
the consumer. Today, you have total of payments or "cost of credit"
if you keep the loan open for the entire period. With the new HUD, you will see
a new topic called TIP or Total Interest Paid. This will be calculated to show
the consumer if you keep the loan open for the entire period and pay $x
interest on a $x loan your TIP is X% (example - $100K loan, $60K interest = 60%
TIP).” Mark Etchison – Stonegate Mortgage.
A new rule issued 1/10/2013 defines “Qualified Mortgages”
and these rules will be in effect on 1/10/2014. A qualified mortgage would have
a maximum of 43% DTI and will be fully documented, there will be no balloon, no
interest only, no longer than 30 years, and the maximum lender fees are 3%.
This will limit option due to costs of rebuttable presumption litigation is
expected to be between 70,000.00 and 100,000.00 per case on any non-qualified
loan. A lender has the legal responsibility to know what a borrower is expected
to earn through the life of the loan, there is some uncertainty as to what that
means, or how they are to look into the future.
“The Qualified Mortgage rule is out now, and basically gives
a waiver to agency eligible deals like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, USDA,
etc, but only for a limited time – something like seven years for the waiver
& then it can be fought over again at a later date (life everything else
these days). Since the government is in complete control of the agencies, they
DO have the ability to tweak the automated systems at their leisure, which
could completely change which borrower profiles will meet the “waiver-eligible”
programs. Personally, I find that a bit scary.”
Jae Tolliver- University
Mortgage
A type of non-qualified mortgage would be what is called a “High
Cost Mortgage.” The rules for them were issued 7/9/12 and took effect 1/10/13.
The lender must notify borrower in advance with terms and fees identified.
Borrowers MUST receive home ownership counseling. Any pre-payment penalties or
late charges over 4% are banned. As of 1/18/13 and taking effect on 1/18/14 the
borrowers MUST receive a copy of the appraisal 3 days before closing. To
address the investor flipping a house a second appraisal is required if home is
sold within 180 days and a sales price is at least 10% higher. The second
appraisal has to be done at no cost to the buyer.
“Basically, more loans are going to fall into a “high cost” category
– which will make them harder to obtain, since doing high cost loans is a
little on the dicey side for a lender. There are exceptions for smaller loan
amounts, which is good – because otherwise it would result in Red-Lining.” Jae
Tolliver
There will be a brand
new Disclosure Form to replace the HUD form; it will be five pages long. When a
borrower applies for a mortgage the lender MUST get them the loan estimate
delivered within three days of application.
There will be no point in trying to do a quick closing
within 30 days any longer, there won’t be
any times where you will be surprised on the closing day that” it is in
fact going to close today after all.” The buyer MUST have the closing documents
in their hands three days before closing. If any numbers change on the Buyer’s
side, there needs to be a new Disclosure issued and the clock starts over on
the three days. Those days are Monday –Saturday and not counting Sundays or
Federal Holidays.
So bottom-line was summed up nicely by Todd Hollingsworth of
Midwest Bankers.
“Dodd- Frank Act:
Pros-
·
Standardized Compensation
·
Required lenders to become more precise and accurate
on their overall fees because of the 10% max tolerance.
Cons-
·
Eliminated the flexibility of the lender to accommodate
the consumer with their closing costs, pre-paids, etc. at closing table.
·
Made compensation for all loan types the same
when in reality all loans do not take the same amount of time or effort. This
was punitive for low-income, self-employed, or credit challenged clients.
·
All clients with small loan amounts are being
discriminated against.
·
Ultimately increased overall rates and costs to
consumer.
·
Borrowers with excellent credit are being
offered higher rates and fees.
·
Increased oversight and regulation has caused
road-blocks and delays for the consumer.
CFPB:
Pros-
·
Establishes a consumer advocate bureau to bring calmness
to the public that the Federal government was addressing any lack of oversight.
Cons:
·
Market had already responded and addressed the
matters that the CFPB set out to do.
·
8 required steps for mortgage qualification.
·
Implementation affordability standards at 43%
DTI unless approved by FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie, Freddie, creating a misunderstanding
in the market place.
·
Redundant oversight.
FHA:
Pros-
·
Will encourage early payoff for FHA loans.
·
Helps keep rates low on FHA loans because of the
long-term insurance guaranteeing banks.
Cons-
·
Will worsen the overall quality of loans in FHA
guarantee pool by driving higher credit borrowers away.
·
Borrowers will have MI for life of the loan.”
“FHA – Wow! Making it very unattractive for any borrower,
really making it a program now for only lower credit scores and little down
payment buyers. This is a dramatic shift from just a few years ago. PMI is now
more affordable and much easier to obtain than in the worst of the downturn.
For my Realtor Partners – credit score is everything! If we can get buyers up
to say 700 or higher, PMI will be lower than FHA. There is a conventional
program that only requires 3% down.”
Cathy Warga – Movement Mortgage.
“No law will ever ‘fix’ the bad intentions, and we’ve had
enough law on the books to prosecute bad guys for years. There’s just not been
enforcement. When you do see prosecution these days, you see a lot of ‘wire
fraud’ charges, since wiring funds was involved in whatever scheme has been
exposed. That law has been there for years and years, so why the need for
thousands of pages of new legislation." Jae Tolliver –
University Mortgage
Ultimately, it is going to just make the loan process longer and more difficult. The best thing to do is to prepare your clients expectations that it will be a process but if they work with you, as a professional everything will be just fine. Now a tip for you as a REALTOR. Be sure to work with professionals in lending and title as never before because C.F.P.B. has an agenda as a regulatory police force, and if they find a case where they feel a consumer is wronged, they will come after everyone in the chain, lender, title, and Realtor. Make sure your partners are following the guidelines.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Rule of 95%
As a Real Estate professional, you are in business for yourself, you might think you work for your Broker, they might think you work for them, however neither is really true. You are in business for yourself, you are the CEO, CFO, and President of your own business, or at least you should be. However, most of us are trapped in the 95 percent thinking, not the thinking of that business owner who should be facing us in the mirror. To change, you must first understand what it means.
One of the wisest men I have ever known told
me the Rule of 95%, upon hearing it I knew that I had heard something quite
profound. This gentleman is someone who raised himself from a school teacher
living in a mobile home to a businessman whose enterprise does nearly a billion
a year in business. It makes sense listening to those who have the fruit of
success on their tree. Another one of his sayings is that "A man with an
experience is never at the mercy of a man with a theory."
The Rule of 95%
The Social Security System several years ago did a study to determine the statistical financial results of people at 65 years old. What they found:
At 65:
1 was rich
4 were self sufficient.
5 were still working.
36 were dead.
54 were dead broke living off friends, family, and/or government.
That isn't too motivating at the surface. However, the question is how to reach at least the top 5%. Do you believe that those 95% intended to be dead or dead broke? Of course they didn't plan to fail. We have all heard the saying that they didn't plan to fail, they failed to plan. However there is more to it than that. It takes more than planning, but proper planning.
If the above is correct, and it is, that means that at least 95% of everything you have learned you have learned from someone in the 95% bracket, isn't that true? If you learned what you know from those who ended up in the 95% where would you likely to end up? Again, the 95% would be likely wouldn't it? Those who taught you, your family, your teachers, and professors, they were not trying to harm you, they just taught you what they knew, and that was 95% thinking.
Wouldn't it make sense if you wanted to end up in the top 1% you would need to learn to think like a 1%er? Because you don't know what you don't know, and that is why you don't have. If you knew what you don't know, you would have what you don't have, and to know and not to do is really not to know.
How do you learn to think like a 1%er? Listen to them? Pick their brains? There are many who have written their story into books, read them. Learn not just how they did something, but even more important, why they did something. What you want to learn is how they think.
Once Aristotle Onassis was asked by a reporter what he would do if he lost all of his great wealth. His reply was if he were poor, he would live as cheaply as possible, do whatever jobs he could get to make enough money to buy a fine suit of clothes, and at least once a month have lunch at he most expensive restaurant in town where the wealthiest businessmen ate lunch. He said that the ideas that fell from their conversations like crumbs from their tables would be all he would need to start another business empire. In other words, listen to and learn from those who you would like to emulate. If they are speaking somewhere, go, take notes, if you can get a chance to meet them afterward to ask questions, do. If you can get them on CD or DVD do, and wear it out. You won't get all of the information out of it in less than five playings, because as you listen it will cause you to think and you will be distracted and miss portions. If you can get with them for lunch, buy them lunch, so you can pick their brains.
If you want to be a 1%er you must think like a 1%er. Are you in Mastermind groups with the top agents in your firm? Are you taking them to lunch, spending time with your Broker? Is your Broker, or were they top producing agents themselves? If not, find those who have the fruit on the tree of success and learn to THINK as they do, not just how but why they do what they do. Your life will change forever.
The Social Security System several years ago did a study to determine the statistical financial results of people at 65 years old. What they found:
At 65:
1 was rich
4 were self sufficient.
5 were still working.
36 were dead.
54 were dead broke living off friends, family, and/or government.
That isn't too motivating at the surface. However, the question is how to reach at least the top 5%. Do you believe that those 95% intended to be dead or dead broke? Of course they didn't plan to fail. We have all heard the saying that they didn't plan to fail, they failed to plan. However there is more to it than that. It takes more than planning, but proper planning.
If the above is correct, and it is, that means that at least 95% of everything you have learned you have learned from someone in the 95% bracket, isn't that true? If you learned what you know from those who ended up in the 95% where would you likely to end up? Again, the 95% would be likely wouldn't it? Those who taught you, your family, your teachers, and professors, they were not trying to harm you, they just taught you what they knew, and that was 95% thinking.
Wouldn't it make sense if you wanted to end up in the top 1% you would need to learn to think like a 1%er? Because you don't know what you don't know, and that is why you don't have. If you knew what you don't know, you would have what you don't have, and to know and not to do is really not to know.
How do you learn to think like a 1%er? Listen to them? Pick their brains? There are many who have written their story into books, read them. Learn not just how they did something, but even more important, why they did something. What you want to learn is how they think.
Once Aristotle Onassis was asked by a reporter what he would do if he lost all of his great wealth. His reply was if he were poor, he would live as cheaply as possible, do whatever jobs he could get to make enough money to buy a fine suit of clothes, and at least once a month have lunch at he most expensive restaurant in town where the wealthiest businessmen ate lunch. He said that the ideas that fell from their conversations like crumbs from their tables would be all he would need to start another business empire. In other words, listen to and learn from those who you would like to emulate. If they are speaking somewhere, go, take notes, if you can get a chance to meet them afterward to ask questions, do. If you can get them on CD or DVD do, and wear it out. You won't get all of the information out of it in less than five playings, because as you listen it will cause you to think and you will be distracted and miss portions. If you can get with them for lunch, buy them lunch, so you can pick their brains.
If you want to be a 1%er you must think like a 1%er. Are you in Mastermind groups with the top agents in your firm? Are you taking them to lunch, spending time with your Broker? Is your Broker, or were they top producing agents themselves? If not, find those who have the fruit on the tree of success and learn to THINK as they do, not just how but why they do what they do. Your life will change forever.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The Cost Of Leadership
In our world today we see so many so called leaders in business and politics who are all about themselves, their own benefits, their own rewards, their own egos. It makes it hard for people to understand that what they are showing is the antithesis of leadership. True leadership is built on sacrifice.
Sacrifice is a constant in leadership. It is an ongoing process, not a one-time payment. Many times the cost of moving forward in leadership is often financial, there is usually a temporary step back in income when you take on a new challenge of leadership. If you do your job right the finances will come, never hesitate to make a sacrifice when you know the step is right.
Leaders who want to rise have to do more than take an occasional cut in pay. They have to give up their rights. When you become a leader, you lose the right to think only for yourself. Dexter Yager says "If you have a decision to make, you can never go wrong choosing the option that is best for your people over what is best for you personally." For every person, the nature of the sacrifice may be different. For example, Lee Iaccoca's sacrifice came late in his career to save Chrysler. Former South African president F. W. de Klerk, who worked to dismantle apartheid in his country sacrificing his own career. The circumstances change from person to person, but the principle doesn't. Leadership means sacrifice.
Leaders give up to go up. That is true of every leader regardless of profession. Talk to any leader, and you will find that he has made repeated sacrifices. Usually the higher that leader has climbed, the greater the sacrifices he or she has made. Effective leaders sacrifice much that is good to dedicate themselves to what is best. Robert Palmer said in and interview, "In my model of management, there is very little wiggle room. If you want a management job, they you have to accept the responsibility and accountability that goes with it." He is really talking not about management but the cost of leadership.
If leaders have to give up to go up, then they have to give up even more to stay up. Have you ever considered how infrequently teams have back-to-back champion seasons? The reason is simple: If a leader can take a team to the championship game and win it, he often assumes he can duplicate the results the next year without making changes. He becomes reluctant to make additional sacrifices in the off-season. But what gets a team to the top isn't what keeps it there. The only way to stay up is give up even more. Leadership success requires continual change, improvement, and sacrifice. "For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Sacrifice is the rule of leadership, yet nothing is more rewarding that leadership. Helping others follow a vision, helping them realize more than they ever could have dreamed of without your leadership is priceless. Of course leadership is rewarding financially in the end, it isn't what you get out of it, it is about who you become.
It's too bad so many of our leaders in name or title only have it all backwards.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)