Author: Scott MacDonald

Scott MacDonald http://scottymacsblog.com Scott MacDonald is a real estate investor, real estate broker and owner of RE/MAX Gateway with five office locations to serve Northern Virginia and the DC Metro areas, headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, with additional full-service offices strategically located in Fairfax, Alexandria, Haymarket and Warrenton. Scott specializes in residential real estate. Scott began his career in 1988 with Shannon and Luchs, a regional company, which at the time was the third oldest real estate firm in the country. He left there to work with Prime Properties based out of Fair Lakes in Fairfax, Virginia. It was a company tied to one of the most renowned developers in the area, The Peterson Companies. There, he learned about land development and new home sales and developed his skills as a Broker. In 2001, he embarked on a new course and joined the RE/MAX network as an owner of RE/MAX Gateway. He has built his business on providing excellent customer service, enabling clients to achieve their goals, and thus feel confident in referring others to RE/MAX Gateway. This same level of commitment to his clients has carried over to how he treats his agents and helps them to succeed in today’s ever-changing market. Through Scott’s extensive knowledge and experience, RE/MAX Gateway is able to provide the tools, systems, and training to make the agents thrive under any market conditions. RE/MAX Gateway is an award-winning organization that has grown to four offices and is highly regarded in the industry as a leader in the Northern Virginia real estate market. We are the premier agent and business development real estate company in Northern Virginia. Bringing balance to your Real Estate business to take your life to the next level. Throughout his career, Scott has received numerous accolades, including a nomination for REALTOR of the Year and induction into the RE/MAX Hall of Fame. With over 30 years of experience, Scott is highly regarded for his real estate expertise, as the RE/MAX International Convention Speaker in both 2002 and 2007, a panelist for a National Association of Realtors focus group on RPAC, has served on the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors’ Board of Directors and has been selected as a RE/MAX R4 2014 convention panelist on the how-to of “Maximizing Office Profits.” Most recently, Scott was recognized as one of the 2019 Top Real Estate Newsmakers by RIS Media, and he received the Outstanding Leadership Award from NOVA Real Producers Magazine.

Joe Theisman…the hightlight of the RE/MAX Broker Conference

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Joe What a performance by Joe Theismann – again!  Being a lifelong Washington Redskin fan, I experienced many of Joe’s outstanding performances on the field but at the RE/MAX Broker/Owner meetings in Chicago, he outdid himself with his speaking.  He inspired many of us, surprised many more with his message and his delivery when he spoke about how he overcame a major challenge – a career ending injury – and how we can overcome our challenges in our lives by thinking about the following items.

 

· Be a part of something unique and special

· Think about what you will do to make a difference

· Who is it all about – the answer is – it isn’t you

· Embrace change

· Have a heart to heart with yourself – what do you believe in

· You can’t be a major success until you realize you can’t do it all by yourself

· Don’t accept failure

· Think, what can I do to help the team

· Who is your team

· Do you want to make a difference

· You have to want more for yourself – what will you give of yourself to get you there

· Reposition your attitude, thoughts, etc

· What do you do with a challenge when it is presented to you

· Have a passion

· Do it with enthusiasm

· Ask yourself, how high is your ladder – why does it have a last wrung

· Why do you believe in you

· Give and accept recognition

· Become an excited student – make it your mission to learn something today you didn’t know yesterday – everyday

· Fear is a motivator – what are you afraid of

· Attitude carries you to attain your goals

· To survive, you have to have written goals and post them.  98% of people don’t have written goals

· How will you know where you are going if it’s not written down and visualized

· Give yourself direction

· Life is filled with educational experiences not failures

· Be committed to having the feeling you can get it done

· Have pride in you, your company, your brand, what you do and why, and lastly be the best you – everyday

· Be reliable, accountable, available, be customer service oriented, have the right goals, the right attitude and be motivated

As I mentioned, he was right on with many of his statements and comments.  So, the questions is, what are you going to do about it?  Review the bullet points above, write you answers down on paper, review them and get started in a positive direction and live a more successful life.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

 

Platinum Club….another great meeting!

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Another Platinum Club meeting, another short sale discussion meeting, when will the madness end?  My short answer is, when the government steps in and does something GOOD for our industry and gets banks to streamline and systemize the short sale process.

A few observations from today’s meeting include:  the processor makes all the difference in short sales, not the bank; as the foreclosures diminish, REO managers are migrating to Loss Mitigation departments – too early to tell if this will work better or not but us being optimists in this group, believe it will; despite what others say, make calls on your cases everyday – the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  The belief is that short sale departments are small – not big like everyone may think – in one case, one processor is handling 5 cases for one of the agents; everyone in the chain is overworked – negotiator, processor, and listing agent – much of the paperwork is lost in the process; the deals continue to get more difficult and take longer – one agent lost 6 deals in the last month; if the bank knows the property is vacant, it will speed up the foreclosure process;  the short sale part of the business has made agents more suspicious of each other – no MLS updates or incorrect/unauthorized status changes, unprofessional and/or unethical processes are instituted by many agents – they have clients ratify multiple contracts, and releasing contracts & accepting others without bank rejection of first contract is becoming more commonplace are just a few examples of what is taking place in our market;  only about 23% of short sales are making it to closing due to bank rejection, banks asking for notes from mortgagor, and the time it takes to get them to close today that buyers are releasing themselves from the contract.  From the listing side, to get better success, have buyers remove all contingencies prior to submitting the offer – it is easy to do in multiple contract situations and gets buyer buy in – provide title work, your own BPO, and mock HUD 1 with the offer, don’t wait on these procedures.

Additional discussions covered foreclosures.  There isn’t much happening on the foreclosure front.  The promise of the flood of foreclosures coming on the market is continuing to be delayed – bring it on is what we say as our inventory level is down 56% from the same time last year and the most competitive market is in the first time buyer price range where many of the supposed foreclosures will be priced.  We can sell’em if they list’em.  Listing assignments are down 75% from last year.  BPO’s are up – suspect they are for short sales – not for potential bank inventory.  Last year 1 BPO for every 5 listings obtained, this year it is the opposite, 1 listing for every 5 BPO’s.

Many markets are still extremely price sensitive – even when they are priced just a little high.  When priced right, in the right condition and show well – they sell.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!

The numbers are looking good!

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Numbers review – we are up as a company!  Our transactions are up 21% over last year – We have gone from 674 last year to 874 this year.  With 80 agents that is a 10.6 average number of transactions per agent through July!

HERA update – no more closings within 7 days, lock early, get accurate numbers to your lender from your title company – more communication between all parties is paramount – HERA affects any applications taken after July 30th – any questions on HERA?

Advice for getting appraisals to come in at value: meet appraiser at property and provide all comps you believe are important – provide numbers we provide you – show anything else you believe was integral in the sale, i.e. number of contracts, number of showings, days on market, number of competing properties, month’s supply in hood, in the surrounding area and any insight you can gain from listing agents on houses under contract.  Don’t forget to mention condition of recent sales through your previewing efforts-you do preview, don’t you?  Any detail can make all the difference.  Be sure to ask the appraisers familiarity with the neighborhood, trends, prices, etc as many appraisers are coming from great distances.

10 year treasuries are on the rise putting upward pressure on long term rates – primarily mortgage rates – encourage having your clients lock in their rates

New home sales are up dramatically – KHOV 90 sales last 60 days

Existing home sales are up nationally 5 consecutive months of growth, first time since July of 2003 – what happened then?  Our inventory numbers are down and Case Shiller pricing index – 14 of 20 markets are up – first time in 3 years this has happened – if anyone asks – yes we hit the bottom – locally in November – nationally now.  This is also good to share with appraisers gang!

No big wave of foreclosures hitting our market – BPO orders are down

Short sales are taking longer – second trusts are unresponsive for weeks at a time

More arms length transactions are occurring

Gov’t is pushing top 25 loan servicers to have 500,000 trial modifications in place by Nov 1st – only 200,000 have actually been done.  Banks may be forced into doing modifications by enacting a Bankruptcy bill that got defeated earlier this year where banks will be forced by bankruptcy judges to slash balances of people who are delinquent on their mortgages in involuntarily.

Other key indicators to watch – Index of Leading Economic Indicators (interest rate spread, building permits, stock prices, weekly initial claims (inverted), average weekly manufacturing hours, index of supplier deliveries (vendor performance), and manufacturers' new orders for consumer goods and materials*. The negative contributors – beginning with the largest negative contributor – were real money supply*, manufacturers' new orders for nondefense capital goods*, and index of consumer expectations) – rose close to 1 point in June – 3rd straight month it has grown – 1st time index has grown 3 consecutive months since 2004.  The Index of Leading Economic Indicators are closely tied to the housing industry and its recovery.   Obviously we didn’t hear much about these numbers in the news – strange, huh.

New Unemployment claims filed are down 5 straight times indicating worst may be behind us.  The number of Americans filingclaims for jobless benefits fell more than economists predicted, a sign some employers have stopped paring staff as the recession eases.

Applicationsdropped by 38,000 to 550,000 in the week ended Aug. 1, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington, the fifth straight time claims were under 600,000 after being above that level since January. The total number of people collecting unemployment insurance rose.

The bottom line is we are continuing to see great progress in our market – we just need more inventory, rates to remain low, and prices to increase slightly – not significantly and we will continue on our pace of record transactions.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now go sell something!

 

August Market Update

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It’s amazing!  Our market continues to flourish despite the rest of the economy and other market segments in the real estate business.  Year to date, our transactions are up 21% over last year numbers.  Our belief is that we provide our agents with up-to-date, cutting edge, continuous training to keep them current which has helped us excel in today’s perceived “down” market.  In addition to our success, nationally, June’s numbers of existing-home sales rose for the third consecutive month with inventory easing and home prices declining less sharply in June, according to the National Association of Realtors®.  Our belief is that low rates, lower prices, and the $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers are fueling our business.

 

Some of the trends we are closely monitoring are the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act and the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act to educate our clients on how the appraisal and lending process will impact their sale from a valuation and timeframe standpoint.  In addition, we are closely monitoring new loan programs, revisiting underutilized programs such as VHDA, buy downs, and FHA ARMS to find ways to finance our purchasers. And we are continuing to stay up-to-date on short sales and the short sale process.  Our experience has been that the process is taking longer and we are having more difficulty in getting them through the banks.  Nationally, only 23% of short sales are getting to settlement.  Make sure to stay current on these changes and updates to give the right advice.

 

A few additional insights are that new home sales continue to flourish, there are more move up buyers entering our market and when we meet the appraiser we are having fewer value issues.  By providing them with comparable sales and details on those sales (short sale, condition, foreclosure, etc.), information on activity, days on market comparisons, number of contracts received and current market conditions to provide the appraiser at the time of the inspection – we are experiencing fewer problems.  We still are having appraisal issues but by meeting the appraiser at the house, we have experienced more appraisals coming in at value than we previously encountered.

 

By staying on top of industry trends, changes within our industry, and educating yourself and clients, you will gain more loyal clients and receive more referrals.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

 

It’s Time!

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It is time, to take the time, to analyze, reassess and reenergize yourself and your team.  What are you saying to clients?  What are your team members saying to their contacts?  Where is your attitude?  What is your team’s attitude?  Where are you spending your time?  Where are your teammates spending their time?  Is everyone effective?  Are they utilizing their strengths?  Are you maximizing yours?  What needs to be altered to get the results you want or need?  Take the time – today – to answer these questions and develop a plan to adapt to your recent activity and mindset to get to where you want to go.

 

Over the last few weeks, I have been part of CEO groups and involved in an executive networking groups and the atmosphere has been:  Flat is where it’s at – we are doing good but not great – things are better for us than our competition so we are happy.  Complacency is not a good attribute in my opinion.  When I hear this, it makes me wonder what the culture is in the office.  Is the negative news they are hearing creeping into their conversations around the water cooler, in interoffice emails, at staff meetings, etc.  These areas of communication need to be evaluated and adjusted.  If you are the best of the best, there is no excuse.  You need to work harder – on your attitude, your efforts, your communication and the message conveyed.  There are opportunities in every market – good, bad and flat.  Again, what are your people saying, doing, and working on to improve themselves.  We all know the saying. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

 

We don’t want to be flat and happy about it.  We don’t just want to be better than the others in the business, and just flat lining because of the economy and media says the economy is bad.  We want to improve ourselves and not compare ourselves to anyone but ourselves.  We want to be better than we were the year before, and the year before that, and so on.  We need to be better than we were previously.  We need to look at our personal efforts and those around us and ask the tough questions I asked above. 

 

As the market has been adjusting, we find ourselves doing more.  We are making more phone calls, attending more networking sessions, speaking with more people about their business as well as ours, spending more money than our competitors to convey our message, participating in more educational events and attending more functions to learn more about others and their businesses. 

 

Our message is positive, we speak about results and refer to numbers to convey our message and we ask how we can help others and their business.  As a result, we are receiving more business.  Focus on your activities, your message, your attitude, and your servant mentality and you will get business.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

 

We’re moving on up!

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It is true!  The housing market is making its comeback.  Last week we reported sales of existing homes rose 3 consecutive months and that new home sales were up in June over 3%.  Well, guess what?  New home sales were up 11% in July!   This is more great news for us to “build” upon moving into the dog days of summer. 

What is the reason for this growth?  There are several factors in my opinion:  low rates, the right price point, multiple offers on existing homes, the tax credit and the market conditions.  As we all know, rates have been low for an extended period of time and according to Ben Bernanke in his economic update, they are going to remain low as a strategy to aid in our economy’s recovery.  Builders, banks and home owners alike have been reducing prices to encourage offers – well, it appears that the sale of the century for housing has worked and buyers are coming out of the woodwork.  As these buyers are making offers on resale properties and losing out to other buyers, the frustration has lead them to new homes – no multiple offers on to be builts!  As the tax credit has aided in getting first time buyers off the fence, it has also spurred activity in the move up market which is resulting in the increase in new home sales as well.  And lastly, the market has been decreasing for over 4 years – June or July of 2005 is when we earmarked the down turn in housing.  Additionally, as we all know, what goes up must come down and vice versa so it was about time for the market to change.  You can’t keep a good thing down.

The housing recovery is critical in so many ways to the general economy’s recovery – let’s keep the momentum moving in a positive direction by spreading the word.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

What do Clients want?

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Clients

In today’s environment, clients are looking for information, communication, service, and results.  It is our job to ask the right questions to determine their expectations so you can meet or exceed them.  Let’s examine each area to help you improve in these areas.

In today’s day and age, the consumer has become more educated on just about every subject that is important to them.  It is information overload if you let it become that way.  If you go to a bookstore you will see virtually every subject covered from knitting to financing to buying or selling houses to how to raise kids and it starts with “insert subject here” for dummies to expert advice from “insert authors name here”.  Additionally, the internet has given more access to more information on nearly every subject as well.  It is your job to help disseminate this information for your clients and provide them with accurate, up-to-date information on our market, financing options, pricing trends, appraisals, and what differentiates our market and their neighborhood from what they are reading about which is typically more National or global in nature .  This information must be factual, logical and understandable so you can have a positive impact on their decision to buy or sell.  Stay current by keeping yourself educated!  Think like a consumer – become an information junkie.  Learn all you can about our business – starting with the contract and what each part means, reading blogs, attending seminars and trainings as well as reading trade publications, and by being active in your Realtor associations.

It is also imperative to know how your clients want to be communicated with on a regular basis.  Technology that is available today allows us more options to communicate with others.  Simple ways are the phone – but which one?   The cell phone, home phone, or work phone.  By email – work or home?  Texting – again, which device?  Face to face meetings are an all time favorite but very time consuming.  Faxing messages, scanning and emailing may work with many clients as well.  The point is, find out how and how often and do it.

Service – say what you are going to do and then do it.  Call, email, text, get feedback, find out the answer, deliver brochures, put up signs, be on time, schedule inspections, whatever it is – just do it!  Provide them service as if they are the only client you have and you will reap the rewards!

Results are the ultimate goal for your client.  Get them their house, sell their house, rent them a house or lease it out.  Quick, efficient, and professional service is what clients demand and should receive.  One of the fastest ways to the top is to determine what your client wants and needs then deliver it.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!

Broken Records

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At times I feel like a broken record – our market is different, we aren’t impacted like the rest of the country, we are seeing houses sell, etc.  Well, it looks like other areas are beginning to experience what we are experiencing here in Northern Virginia.  In a recent article on MSNBC it has been reported that existing home sales are up 3 months in a row – check it out here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32104105/ns/business-real_estate/from/ET – thanks for sharing Kendall Bennett.  I am not sure if they are experience the number of multiple contract situations we are facing in the lower and upper price ranges like we are, but we will find out.  However, I am sure they are having challenges with HVCC as it is a nationwide problem and they will experience the same problems we will have with H.E.R.A. as well – thanks Mindy Littleton.  Please be sure to review the H.E.R.A. rules to give our clients the right advice with timing on closings with the new rules being implemented July 30. 

 

In addition to the great news on existing home sales, new home starts were revised and reported to be up 3.6% in June over May 2009 numbers to an annualized rate of 562,000 – check it out even though it is a negative in regards to numbers “anticipated” last year: http://www.census.gov/const/newresconst.pdf. It is our hopes – even though hope isn’t a strategy – that with more good news like this, the media will start to report “our story” of success! 

 

The advice for the day is to continue staying positive, find the good in each situation and keep the ball moving down field and you will get the results you are looking to achieve.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

 

Now, go sell something!

New Legislation- H.E.R.A.

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Home

Just when you thought you knew the business and what is happening in the business, a new regulation gets implemented that very few agents are aware of and that will impact our business.  The Housing and Economic Recovery Act (H.E.R.A.) requires that lenders provide the borrower with a Truth-in-Lending statement (nothing new) and that the borrower has 3 days to review it and no fees (other than credit report) can be collected from the borrower until the review period is over.  Assuming the lender sends this out immediately, 3 days are allowed for mail and 3 days are allowed for review, then the lender can receive payment for the appraisal.  Under the HVCC – appraisals can’t be ordered until payment for the appraisal is received – hooray! This is up to a 7 day delay in ordering appraisals up front. So be sure to make a special note of this scenario. 

 

The next potential delay that can occur is closer to settlement.  If the Truth-in-Lending form changes by more than an 1/8 tolerance of accuracy (used to be a ¼) a new Truth-in-Lending form needs to be reissued and, once again, the buyer needs 3 days to review after receiving it by mail, 3 days later for a potential additional 7 day delay.  It is necessary to get your purchasers locked in early to avoid any delays or penalties for delays in closing.  Also, you must do your due diligence to ensure the buyers of your listings are locked in well in advance of settlement.  This scenario is very likely to happen on short sales and when we have delays in foreclosure settlements as a result of title problems.

If you have any additional questions about this OVER legislation of our industry, contact your lender. 

 

Another area of concern is the sales price changes – increase price to cover closing costs – decrease price as a result of home inspection items – changing settlement dates – and even more…stay on top of your transactions so you don’t get crushed by them!  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Social Media

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Fb Li Twitter

As many of you have read and are experiencing.  Social Media is a growing part of our industry.  As I mentioned to Bryan Felder yesterday, it is a spoke in your marketing wheel and it definitely needs to be there but should not overwhelm you.  Many people spend an inordinate amount of time with Social Media so you need to be cautioned on how much time and resources you are spending on this part of your business.  You need  to have exposure on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and post blogs at a minimum to get your real estate business to Web 2.0. 

 

We are trying to keep you abreast of what to do in our efforts to keep you informed in this arena.  Our wonderful Great Falls Office Coordinator, Kendall Bennett, is teaching Social Media classes on a monthly basis and is available to speak with you about what she has learned, what she is experiencing and what her thoughts are on this latest real estate tool.  Here is a quiz she sent me yesterday – see how you do. http://www.realtor.org/RMOQuiz2.nsf/SocialNetworking?OpenForm.

 

Here is another article I came across that we need to pass to keep our business moving along in a positive direction. http://www.inman.com/news/2009/07/21/bill-would-extend-higher-loan-limits.  Spread the word!  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

 

Now, go sell something!