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.

Market update from our meeting with Doug Duncan

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In the real estate market there is a learning curve virtually every day.  At RE/MAX Gateway, we do everything we can to keep our agents and our clients updated so they can give the best advice or help our valued clients make the right the decisions when leasing, buying, selling, or investing in real estate.   To that end, we were honored to have Fannie Mae’s Chief Economist, Doug Duncan as our special guest at our quarterly meeting.  We had an open dialogue which covered many topics from foreclosures and short sales to the recent stimulus packages approved through our government. 

Doug spoke about the economy as a whole and noted that the Washington Metropolitan area is rare where a lot of the media statistics and commentary does not apply to this region as it does on the national level. He mentioned that the Case-Shiller Index is not accurate where their data is over weighted with “fringe properties”, not the normal properties we see today in real estate transactions.

In the case of “timing the market”, he said that if you have time to wait for interest rates to go down, then you are a speculator and are only speculating rather than getting in the game of real estate. The question is how many speculators are successful? If your finances are in place, the payment works, the house works…buy the house. There is no reason to wait. Rates are not going to get down past 4%, so this is the time to buy.

The stimulus package provides us with a huge deficit where the government is borrowing from public funds in order to promote consumption with the economy. If people spend more, the economy will be stimulated, but as Doug mentioned, how will these funds be repaid? The answer is threefold: raise taxes, curb government spending, or inflation. Raising taxes never works, the government won’t curb spending, so the only answer that Doug could predict would be inflation in order to reduce the real value of the debts we are accruing.

Homeownership is at 67.5% nationally, that is down from 69.3% (an estimated 1.1 million households) in 2008… a definite sign that home ownership had greatly reduced due to the rise in foreclosures. The government’s plan to reduce or wipe out the mortgage interest deduction option on our taxes returns, according to Doug’s personal opinion, will cause more people to choose lower priced, smaller homes and cause the upper bracket homes to sit on the market longer. It will not affect homeownership rates, but will more than likely cause higher priced homes to sit on the market a little longer while waiting for buyers who do not necessarily need to rely on the mortgage interest deduction.

Lastly, people are saving more. There is no doubt that consumer confidence levels are down at this point in time. Doug noted that in the last quarter of 2008, the savings rate for consumers was 3.6%. That is the highest level of savings since WWII. People are nervous, paying down their debts and saving for what is to come. Therefore, since people are saving their money, instead of spending it, how do we get money back into the economy to stimulate it and make it grow? That was a challenge he posed to us and reminded us that we needed find balance with the spending and saving aspects of the economy as well as take back our buying power from foreign investors, so that we have a more manageable economy.

Again, now remains one of the best times to buy in most of our lifetimes – prices are low, rates are at historic lows, and although inventory levels are down, there are still great homes available for sale.  Contact us today to learn more!

Build a business for life

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As the market shifted, some agents adapted to the change quickly, some were slow to change, and some never will change and will find themselves out of business soon unless their mindset shifts. As we all know, the market will change again and those who have built a business upon sound fundamentals will excel above and beyond others in the market place. Areas to build a solid foundation upon are communication, teamwork, a broad client base, continuous learning and your technical skills.
Communication on all levels is a key area to focus on for your business growth. It is important to speak the language of your buyers and sellers. Do they want to communicate through email, text messages, IM, phone calls or face to face? As technology advances and new communication tools develop, you need to adapt and embrace them to succeed. You need to learn to tweet, as well as utilize YouTube, Facebook, Linkedin, ping.fm and other new emerging communication websites. If you don’t – you may miss opportunities. You also need to find out how often they want to have communications with you. If some want daily contact and you can’t provide it – let them know up front. Setting this expectation up front will reduce stress on all parties. Keep an open dialogue and you will keep you clients and build a business for life.

When referring to teamwork, it is important to remember it is not just your “real estate” team members. You need to be cooperative with other agents, coworkers and vendors to help build your business for life. The negotiating game can become contentious at times, other party can be slow to grasp concepts or don’t listen to what you are saying or perhaps it may be their first transaction or they just may be a premadona. Whatever the situation may be, have patience with them, take the high road and temper your temper. Return phone calls, emails and other communications promptly – even if you don’t have an answer. The longer the timeframe between contacts builds frustration and escalates the situation. Respect the other party and take the time to contact them. When treating others with a condescending attitude, snappy answers or rude responses, people don’t forget and often times spread the word. Your listings will be overlooked and business – in the long run – will suffer. This carries over with coworkers and vendors as well. Build relationships with everyone you encounter don’t destroy them. You never know where your next deal may come from or if you are going to need the help of someone in the future. As discussed in the past – treat others how you want to be treated – not necessarily how they are treating you. Your attitude will take you far in this area. Build a network of team mates in all areas of your business to ensure your success.
A broad client base is a necessity when building a business for life. You must always be on your game as people love to talk about real estate. Business is done on the golf course, at the super market, on ball fields and at schools among many other venues – be ready and so you can build your business. You must also reach out and attend networking events, join associations, and develop a business to business referral base on top of your sphere of influence. Contact them consistently with a positive attitude, a sincere, genuine smile and great information and the business will follow.

Also, let’s not forget about learning. You need to keep up the changes in contracts, regulations set forth by the government, mortgage updates, adjustments in the market, the numbers and you need to develop your skill set for success. Read, attend trainings, speak with industry leaders, go to sales seminars, get a designation – it is that easy – but, you have to do it. The more you learn, the more you earn. As you all know, I am a firm believer in education – take the time to educate yourself so you can educate your clients and they will respond by giving you referrals.
Last but not least, you need to know the processes to show your competence. Know what each step everyone must accomplish in order for the transaction to occur seamlessly. Know what the lender does, the settlement company’s role is, what you must do and so on. The more knowledge you have, the more it shows and the more referrals you will receive. In addition, improve your presentation skills – be able to recite your sales contracts, addendums and listing agreements in layman’s terms with ease to exemplify your knowledge of them. Rehearse them, teach them and make it second nature to explain them and your business for life will prosper.

A business for life doesn’t happen overnight – it takes time, diligent effort and continuous improvement as well as adaptation to changes in the market. Get it? Got it? Good!