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Forecasting The Real Estate Market With Government Shutdown

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Wow, where did September go?  It was a very interesting month – kids went back to school, football season started, the weather has changed, the housing market remained strong and the government shut down for the first time in 17 years.

Forecasting The Real Estate Market With Government Shutdown

It will be interesting to see how the stock market reacts to the government shutdown, what the impact will be on rates, the housing market and how long it lasts.  If it is a quick shut down, we will probably see little reaction in the stock market and as a result, rates and the housing market.  If it is a prolonged shutdown of a few weeks or more, the stock market will have a negative reaction, rates will rise as bond yields decrease and we could see a loss of momentum in the housing sector of the economy.  What will happen to government backed loans in process and how will it affect settlements?  None of these are helpful to our economy since the housing recovery leads the economic recovery as a whole.  At this time, it appears as if this could last longer than just a day or two so let’s get prepared for a rocky economic road the next few weeks.

Let’s talk about the real estate market in September.  We did see a pickup in sales over last year in Northern Virginia.  Inventory increased slightly which gave buyers more choices.  As inventory increased, distressed properties made up a lower percentage of this increase which is great for home owners.  New home sales continue their strong pace of sales.  Interest rates came back down as the government eased off their threat of reducing their purchasing of mortgage backed securities and we still see multiple contracts on properties in certain price points and locations.

All in all, September was a good month for Northern Virginia real estate.  We need this trend to continue, so let’s hope the shutdown gets resolved more quickly than it appears it will.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to call me directly (703) 652-5777

Scott MacDonald

RE/MAX Gateway, LLC

How Fast Will My House Sell? A Look Into The Real Estate Market Roller Coaster Ride

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July turned out to be a roller coaster month for real estate as the long-awaited day of reckoning came: The era of historically low interest rates is over.

How Fast Will My House Sell INTEREST RATES

Additionally, inventory levels continued to increase – we are up nearly double the number of homes for sale since the beginning of the year.  Also, home prices have risen and sales slowed slightly all resulting in a hectic month for residential sales.  Oh yeah, throw in a long holiday weekend so some sellers are a little anxious today about their home sale situation.

So the biggest question is…what was the impact of rising rates?

  • It knocked some buyers out of the home purchasing arena as they could no longer qualify.
  • Some buyers are waiting to see if the rates will come back down so they are on the fence.
  • Higher prices coupled with higher rates have made some people uncomfortable with the elevated payments and don’t want to make a move at this time.

How do we look going forward into August…. Houses will sell!

  • Existing home sales are expected to rise more than 8% for the remainder of the year.  As our prices continue to rise, albeit at slower pace than the rest of the major metropolitan areas as reported by Case-Shiller – home prices in the 20 biggest cities rose 2.4 percent from April to May, with a 2 percent monthly gain in the Washington market. How Fast Will My House Sell
  • Sellers in our area will continue to take advantage of the gain in equity, especially closer into Washington and put their houses up for sale giving us a more balanced market between buyers and sellers.
  • Interest rates will remain stable and we won’t have the drastic increases we experienced over the last two months bringing some of the buyers back into the market.

So overall, I believe we will have a good August, not great, but that is typical for this time of the year.

If you have any additional questions or concerns about your particular situation, feel free to call me (703) 652-5777.

Scott MacDonald

RE/MAX Gateway, LLC

Why you should close on your home before July 1, 2013 Grantor’s Tax Increase

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Big changes are on the forefront for Virginia real estate if you are selling or buying a house.  The state Grantor’s Tax is going from $1.00 per thousand to $2.50 per thousand of the sales price or tax assessed value, whichever is higher on July 1, 2013.  Here is the impact – on a sales price of $500,000 the fee is going to go from $500 to $1,250Grantors Tax Increase to help ease congestion

The tax is typically paid by the seller in a resale scenario and the builder usually passes this fee on to the buyer.  As a result, it has become a nominal cost associated with selling to one of a greater impact and one that will potentially bring attention to people on both sides of the table.  In other states, including Maryland, this tax is absorbed by the seller with first time buyers, is split in most cases but in the end, is a negotiable item between the seller and buyer.  It will be interesting to see if this becomes the case in Virginia.  Our fee is less than Maryland’s but is still is significant enough to take notice and pay attention to what will be the impact as it becomes implemented and the prices increase.

The change goes into effect on July 1st so you will want to plan accordingly.  This year July 1st falls on a Monday so in order to avoid paying the tax, we are encouraging our clients to close by the 26th of June.  This will ensure the property gets recorded at the courthouse prior to the Friday rush that many title companies are expecting and save your money.

Many of you may recall that back in January of 2008, this tax went up 5 times so the same scenario listed above would have resulted in a $2,500 tax on the sale of properties in Virginia.  Therefore, this increase is not as significant.  In March of that year the Supreme Court of Virginia repealed the tax stating a transportation authority NVTA did not have the right to levy taxes.

The additional fees today are also put in place to cover costs associated with transportation initiatives and road improvements in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads in an effort to ease the congestion in these regions.  As such, this tax is only applicable to these regions.  Let’s see some results, please.

Are you the 20%?

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Have fun and make a difference! That was the premise of the speech I heard today from Doug Smith, compliments of Leslie Wish, McLean Mortgage Group.  If you’re not having fun at your job, then why are you doing it?  That was his lead into discussing the Paredo Principle and how we, as Realtors, fit into the rule.

The Paredo Principle is the rule of 80/20.  Twenty percent of the Realtors are doing 80% of the work. The 20% are defined as professionally persistent and instinctively insistent. We’ve heard it all before, but asked us what was the difference between those that are in the 20%? What are the 20% of Realtors doing that the 80% Realtors aren’t doing? And once you figure out what those tasks are, how can you do more of them to make your days more productive?

Doug has put those differences into his 5 C’s for Success and differentiation from the rest of the pack. These are the things that the 80% lack and the 20% excel at…

1. Confidence: How do you answer the question “how’s the market?” What do you do when you walk into a room of people you don’t know? Confidence is an ability that many of us lack, simply because we are afraid of making mistakes and looking bad. Instead of saying that the market is great and that the numbers are this and that, say “It’s remarkable, I’ve never seen anything like it!”

2. Contacts: The opposite of contact is reluctance. Reluctance can be to pick up the phone and make that call. The more contacts you have in your sphere, the more contracts you will write. So who’s in your contact zone? Business partners, family, friends, transaction partners such as home inspectors, etc. Don’t be afraid to tell your friends and family that they have a friend in real estate. Many agents think they shouldn’t reach out to their friends in case the transaction goes bad and results in losing that friendship. That all goes back to a lack of confidence.

3. Control: Control of your business, your time, your career, your clients. Agents who have a plan, a written plan, have more control over their business. Those that take it a step further by having a plan each day, a to-do list; have even more control over their business.  Agents who control or “drive” the conversation when speaking with clients, maintain more control of the transaction and get the job done! Doug spoke about Sales Speak. Here’s an example of Sales Speak presented by those in the 80% and those in the 20%…

80%: Did you think you might want to see a few houses this weekend?

20%: Let’s go see 3 or 4 houses this weekend. What day is better for you, Saturday or Sunday?

Or

80%: So, you like the house? Ok, great, do you think that maybe you might want to make an offer on it?

20%: What do you think? You like it, great. Let’s make an offer.

The difference in the two shows that the 20% agent is steering the client to move forward with the transaction because that’s what they hired the agent for. They didn’t hire the agent to make their own decisions. They hired him/her to help them make the best decision based upon the needs/requirements they expressed to the agent for their new home. Think about that next time you are on the phone with a client. You might just find out that all this time you’ve been using speech associated with the 80% and it might be time for a change.

4. Consistency: Extraordinary people are not truly extraordinary; they just do it with ridiculous consistency! Those who are consistent see more results than those that do things from time to time. Doug mentioned 3 things you can do daily to generate 13-15 sales per year and add 1,440 contacts to your database per year and those are (1) handing out 1 business card a day, (2) use some form of correspondence 2 times per day either through email or snail mail, and (3) make 3 calls per day to anyone…past clients, lender, agent, friend, etc. The more you do things consistently, the more it becomes a habit and you will find yourself doing them instinctively while receiving more business.

5. Courage: Courage hides behind the things we fear the most. Courage is acting in the presence of fear.  In cases such as these, we need to change our focus, take responsibility for ourselves and expect more of ourselves. We can do it and should remind ourselves everyday either through affirmations or changing your focus and mindset. It takes courage to do a lot of things, but once you start to do those things the easier they will become.

Doug ended the session with a great quote by Mary Kay-Ash, “Most people truly have no idea what they are capable of. It’s so much more than we think.” This rings true with the 20%. They have the 5 C’s, they have more sales, they know more people, they make more phone calls, and they work more hours than those in the 80%. Implementing the 5 C’s in your life will help you move (if you’re there) in to the 20%. Based upon the number of agents in the United States (965,000) and the projected number of transactions that will take place this year (4,400,000), agents in the 20% will average 18-19 sales this year. Wouldn’t you like to be in that top 20% of all Realtors in the United States? Stick to the 5 C’s and best of luck!  Now go sell something!

The Power of 5

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When it comes to social media, remember the power of 5…

1. Become a member of 5 social networks. Don’t worry about being a member of them all! Concentrate on the basics, twitter, facebook, linkedin, youtube, and a blog. Keep it simple, link them together for more efficiency and be active on them.

2.  Post 5 times per day on any of your social media sites.  Valuable content can be found in newspapers, friend’s posts, blog feeds, etc. Find something to post just 5 times a day. Use a program like hootsuite to schedule your posts. 10 mins in the morning and you’re done with your posts throughout the day.

3. Read 5 articles or blogs a day. Getting into the habit of reading will give you the knowledge you need to speak with others about the market, post on sites about it and might even inspire a blog post. You know you can post articles that you read on your blog…write a brief comment about it and link it back to the article’s source…it can be that easy.

4. Upload 5 videos per week. These videos can be ones that you take personally or videos that you “favorite” on youtube. Subscribe to video channels, simply click on the favorite button if you like a video and it will appear on your channel. Share it with Facebook and you’re done! Videos should be quick and informative, so interview your sellers, your buyers, your fellow agents, etc. Get creative and post it!

5. Post 5 blogs a month. Blogging can be intimidating where you think it takes a long time to put it together.  It doesn’t have to be a long article. It could be a quick 2 paragraph post discussing something you heard today.  Don’t stress yourself by feeling that you have to write a very meaningful and motivational piece. Simply write in your own voice…your readers will appreciate that.  They want to hear from you and are interested in what you have to say. So let them hear it!

Do they really like you?

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Likability is one of the critical areas for success in sales and in life.  As the saying goes, people do business with those that they know, like and trust. So the question becomes, how do you get people to like you? 

The first step is to become approachable – smile, make eye contact, extend a handshake first and introduce yourself first.

Listen more than you speak – people love the sound of their voice and to voice their opinions.  Listen, don’t interrupt and be respectful of others opinions.

Much like the sound of their voice, they love to hear their name.  Use their name – it not only will make them happy but it will reinforce and help you remember who they are when you see them later.  Remember and acknowledge dates that are important to them – birthdays, anniversaries, and birthdates of their children are just a few!

Deliver on what you promise and be true to your word.  Your reputation takes years to build and you do it one day at a time one interaction at a time.  Remember, each encounter is extremely important to the other person you are meeting with – make it count for them!

Become solution oriented for others.  Help them solve what issues they are encountering and it will endear them to you.

Be humble – don’t brag, put down or show a huge ego.  Let your actions speak for you not your words.

Respect others and be empathetic.  Don’t talk down to people or ignore their needs or wants.  You don’t always have to agree but take the time to understand where they are coming from in with their point of view.

Be happy, positive and upbeat.  Optimism goes a long way to having people like you.  Negativity, snapping at people, complaining and putting others down is ways to drive people away from you.

Act professionally in your appearance, your demeanor,  your actions and remember to be polite – it will go a long way to adding to your likability.

Be honest and show integrity.  When people lie, exaggerate or stretch the truth, people will see through this over time and you will lose credibility and in turn, it will hurt your likability factor.

Be inspirational, motivational and last but not least have a great sense of humor.  Be able to laugh and do it often.  People like to be around people who are fun.

These are just a few thoughts to help you get further in life faster.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something! 

An Xplosive amount of information!!!!!

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We recently went to the Xplodethis Conference – a quick hitting, action packed, content rich event that offered the latest in real estate technology and some of the best speakers in the industry.  Here are the notes that will be helpful to you and your business!

MRIS – 12,000 agents have not done a transaction in the last year, 13,000 have done fewer than 3 transactions – basically 40% of agents don’t do the business!  If real estate is your business, technology is your platform – you have to get on the technology bandwagon to be successful!

Mobile is where it’s at for the consumer AND agents – have data on demand in your hand!  We are still in a people business – technology only helps you communicate.  In the next 3-5 years, more searches will be done a mobile device than PC. 

Study of consumers:

  1. Last 10 years – #1 complaint is not enough or lack of communication
  2. This year – consumers feel they are MORE educated about the product than the agent

Top 5 uses of tablets

36 new tablets will be released this year in this market – top 2 – Ipad2 and Motorola Xoom

  1. Data on demand
  2. Real estate searches – Realtor.com has high res. photos
  3. Planning calendars/Contacts
  4. Presentations – shows content and value
  5. Video capability

Top 9 Apps

  1. Realtor.com – can draw a circle around where your clients want to live
  2. ReaddleDocs/PDF Expert –iPad – opens PDF files
  3. Sign my pad – iPad – signature application
  4. Karl Jeacie’s Mortgage calculator
  5. Evernote – voice audio now
  6. Dropbox
  7. Cam card
  8. Cam scanner
  9. Hootsuite – manages all posts to social media

Today’s consumer is multi-media, multi-taskers – find people who would not normally find you

  • Watch TV while surfing the we
  • Surf magazines and scan QR codes
  • On phone and laptop at same time
  • 85% of people find your website other than direct search
  • Your marketing shouldn’t cost you money, it should make you money
  • Check out Agents of Change

Let people know you are Realtor – direct FB, Twitter, Linkedin to your blog where you talk about real estate and incorporate 365 things to do in your area

Use video – neighborhood videos, personal videos of clients about neighborhoods, schools, etc.

Use location – 4square and learn how people are looking to find locations

Use Twitter – use as an educational tool to do your job better – research think tanks, follow experts, get information and share and use in your business.  Find answers for people

Blog – neighborhoods, business, and valuable content so you receive leads!!!  Work your butt off as it is not a magic pill be consistent, be persistent and don’t quit – don’t be afraid to have an opinion – find a unique place and unique vision.

Google –

  • Google.com/Picasa – group resizing, renaming, add to Google maps, collage, add to Facebook, post to Youtube movies
  • Google.com/Voice – transcribes voicemail, sends text message and you can call back
  • Google.com/Latitude – lets you see where someone is at all times with their permissions
  • Google.com/Sync –allows you to sync all mobile devices at one time to calendars
  • Goog.gl – URL shortened – similar to tiny URL – creates Analytics and QR codes automatically
  • Google.com Maps – you can send maps to their GPS or as an email look at Matt’s video on how to use this feature www.
  • Google.com/PowerMeter – monitors the power usage at your home but needs to be compliant with power companies
  • Google.com/Add URL – use for adding every post you put on internet
  • Google.com/Alerts – monitors information on what you want to follow and helps you monitor your online reputation – yourself, your listings & share with your clients, your company, your competition
  • Add where your listing is located – Vienna, Fairfax County, VA – in MRIS to get better mojo in Google
  • Google.com/Places – add your business address and you can get analytics from it as well

14% of people trust what you say about 91% believe what others say about you – peer recommendations are so important today – go to rate-an-agent on Google and see what happens.

Sites where agents can be rated – you are being rated so you better check out what people are saying about you

  • Homethinking
  • Incredibleagents
  • Ratemyagent
  • Mountainofagents

Need to have a plan to ask to recommend you – please go to www.blah/blah/blah.com and ask to recommend you there…Don’t take my word for it – see what others say!

Solution

  1. Compete.com – search to see which site is best
  2. Facefied.com – aggregates all of your reviews so you can put a badge on your email, website, etc. and have people look at and review you

People want sold data from your website

302 million people are considered mobile users – more texts are sent than phone calls being made

Mobile web is growing 8 times faster than traditional web did 10 years ago.  Incorporate mobile into your listing presentation and speak about your solution to this for your clients.  Lower bounce rates and higher capture rates with mobile website.

Video optimization – video=leads=$ – video houses, your profile, and testimonials.  It’s not about what you think – it’s about what they Google!  Become a local provider of content that national companies don’t have the capability to provide.

Universal SERPs Results – 84% Informational – 18% Navigational – 8% Buy from me sell with me – do “how to” videos.  Do “Town Tours” – restaurants, schools, politicians, shopping centers, new homes, etc. and tag them properly.

Most Googled term is “how to” – how to move, how to fix a plumbing issue, how to anything and

Clients want to see video 6 times to 1 over text.

84% of rankings on Google come from Youtube videos

Keep it short – under 2 minutes, use fluid head tripods – no Blair Witch production, make it slow when panning & tilting, don’t zoom in and out, always be in focus, have external microphones, lighting – use white balance/Iris, Rule of thirds – be off to one side or the other but not in the middle.  Rotate male and female voice overs if you are going to do voice overs.  Talk about benefits and features not the layout because they can see it in the video.  Always use studio lighting to hide shadows.  Make videos about what the consumer wants!!!

RPR is for Realtors only and provides tons of content for our clients – gotta see to believe!

Tips for a better website

  • Quick to load is important
  • Don’t want to have to scroll side to side to see all of the content
  • Upper right should be content information – your contact information is preferred here with a form to contact you
  • Don’t use stock photos on your site
  • Use video or professional photographer
  • Work for the client not the commission – don’t use these things (don’t use honest, integrity, etc.)
  • Don’t use featured listings
  • No one cares what you look like – photos of you shouldn’t highlight site
  • Website shouldn’t be built to appease sellers it is used to get new clients
  • Consumer wants to search – giant section and easy to find
  • Valuation models on site too
  • How’s the market?
  • Hyper local information on site.
  • Use Madlib example on your forms
  • Tribusgroup.com/shredder – thanks Eric

QR code on brochure box flyers should drop you into your mobile website

  • Have a personal website
  • Actively market your website
  • Get mobile
  • QR codes on fliers
  • Get social on your website

Use tools that work best for you – video, digital signatures, and mobile devices are extremely critical today for Realtors to use and understand – don’t forget to USE YOUR OWN BRAIN

iPad is a great tool for agents to learn AND use effectively

Marketing and prospecting in real estate – how we receive information today is different than in the past but people still want to be reached out and touched.

If you are a knucklehead in the office you are probably worse on line

Every form of marketing reaches a specific audience – know who you are trying to reach and why.

AVM’s are strictly a baseline and are still not quite there.  Let’s you know if you are in the ballpark but remember they have a huge margin of error.  Set expectations of everyone in the process that there is a margin of error.

Use RBIntel to help support your offer or make a better one!  The stats go back 5 years…

If I were starting today – where would I begin to build an online presence?

  • Make it easy to search for homes
  • Create community landing pages
  • IFrame search into your listing page
  • Need lead capture – don’t have outside links on your site
  • Get local – talk about the community
  • Create content want to share
  • Publish more
  • Measure your results
  • Do a self-audit of your website

Social Media is relational not transactional

  • Provide real time breaking news in their city
  • Things to do/events
  • Every deal in driving radius of their house
  • Automate your updates – maintenance free
  • Social commerce – groupon/living social $25 for $1,000 cash back at closing when buying or selling a house with RE/MAX Gateway
  • Social discovery – drives social commerce
  • Airbnb is the Groupon of 2011 and will create real estate liquidity – your room for rent, your basement for rent, etc.
  • Become a media star through automated messages
  • Become indispensible resource to your clients

Track your customers, leads, contacts through CRM

Leads are:

  • Bogus
  • Suspects
  • Or real prospects

CARMA – Client Acquisition Relational Management Acquisition

Initially set up as a forecasting tool for Fortune 500 companies to project earnings

Understand CRM

  • What
  • Why
  • And, then how

A good CRM system integrates MLS data and transaction data

Intangibles of success in real estate

  • Likability – can you control it?  Yes!
  • Be intentional about your actions – if your actions depended upon someone liking you or not and this determined whether or not you were able to feed your kids do you believe you control your actions
  • Perception is reality.  There is a perception of you in the marketplace and you can’t control it – craft your message you want others to believe and get the perception to the public.

Reason for success of top 100 companies

  • Speed of implementation of systems
  • Take action

CRM is a strategy for managing a company’s interactions and engagements with customers, prospects and clients.

Today we are dealing with Social CRM – advocacy, experience, service support, marketing, PR, sales on a relational basis.

Involves technology to create the best type of CRM

  1. Organize
  2. Automate
  3. Synchronize business practices

Success marketing – putting your plan on paper

How many lead sources do you need to be intentional and direct about growing your business – 4 to 6 – these include but are not limited to your sphere, niche market, online, networking, farming, etc.  Put them in groups and market to them differently.

What data should you collect – personal profiles, demographics, and conversations.  Why?  To build the relationship!

What do you send to whom and when.  Think about this seriously.

Stop drip campaigns and create or start a two way conversation.  Send valuable content, have a call to action, and the human interaction is critical.

Communicate to connect with people, don’t talk at them!

E+R=O

E=Events in your life

R=Response to those events

O=Outcomes

  • Events happen to everyone
  • It’s not the events that cause you to be or feel the way you do, it’s your choice of response
  • There are always at least two responses to every event

How do we learn how to react?  Parents influence is the number one way they respond.

Nobody makes do you anything – you choose your response.  An example is “he made me so mad” – he didn’t make you mad, you chose to be mad.

Everyone has an emotional checking account – think, is there a different way to respond to events?  Our account is full at the beginning of the day and the events we encounter make us write checks for each one we have.  Think before you write you check and don’t write a $5 check for a $.50 event.   

Don’t let self-help turn into shelf help – use what you learn!

Wrap-up – get yourself a mobile device.  By 2012, more people will use mobile devices instead of personal computers.  We are in a “freeware” environment but it will become “payware”.  Data is king – provide the right tools to get the right information out clients.

In today’s ever changing real estate market, you need to stay ahead of the curve.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!

What have people been asking about the market lately?

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There a few topics being reported by the media recently and we have been asked about as real estate professionals as well.  One is “is there going to be a double dip in housing prices?” another is “has your market hit bottom and how can you tell?”, “where are the foreclosures?” and “what do you see is happening in the market?”

Let’s answer these one at a time.  First, is there going to be a double dip in housing prices?  The answer is yes and no.  It depends upon where you live.  If your area continues to lose jobs, houses continue to languish on the market, foreclosed properties and short sales dominate your housing sale’s landscape, yes your market has a very good chance of seeing a double dip in housing prices because, unfortunately, these are all recipes for housing price declines.  As a nation, we have seen the overall housing prices drop 33% from their highs which is even worse than the depression era when housing prices decreased 31%.  Conversely, if you have job growth, brisk housing sales, and the housing market is not riddled with distressed properties, you will see stable to increasing prices.  It is a simple formula – jobs equal a strong housing market, no jobs equals a lousy housing market and consequently price declines.

The next one is, “has your market hit bottom and how can you tell?”  This one can be answered very much like the first one.  Are jobs coming back or have layoffs stopped?  Are people moving back into your area?  Are sale signs turning to sold signs?  How are the inventory levels on houses for sale?  With this question, be sure to take careful consideration of whether the houses were removed from the market or actually sold.  How are the days on the market?  What is the month supply of houses?  If these areas mentioned are flat or decreasing, you have seen the bottom or are getting close to it.  You are almost there if you are not already.

The last one is more difficult to answer, “Where are the foreclosures?”  We have been told on numerous occasions that banks are sitting on inventory waiting to release them on the market but fail to do so because they don’t want to take the losses on their books all at one time.   We have heard stories of the foreclosure process taking in excess of 400 days in certain states and evictions in others taking up to 900 days.  There are in excess of 6.5 million people 30 days late or more on their mortgages.  We don’t know how many will cure, how many will default or even specifically where they are but it has been reported that a majority of them are in the sand states.  The sand states make up Nevada, Arizona, California, and Florida.

Most everyone you hear from in the media, speak with or read about all concur that we need the housing market to come back so the economy can recover fully.  It seems to be a growing consensus amongst our Realtors that the media needs to help grow consumer confidence in the housing market and get the economy back on track.  In one of my upcoming blogs, we will discuss mortgage reform and its impact on the housing recovery.

It is time to understand the housing market so you can intelligently discuss this with clients, acquaintances, and others you meet.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!              

Our donation dollars at work!

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Our Visit to Children's Hospital 
There are times in your life when you feel fortunate and humbled at the same time.  Our visit to The National Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC was one of those occasions.  We are fortunate that our children are healthy and not undergoing treatments that many of the children at the hospital have to endure.  We are fortunate to have experienced the hospital as visitors and not as parents or friends of a patient staying at the hospital.  As a result of our contributions to the Children’s Miracle Network we were able to have a VIP tour of the hospital.  It is an amazing facility that provides unbelievable care to children for any reason regardless if they have insurance or not. 

What immediately struck me was the kindness of the staff from the valet parker to our tour guide Milton to our liaison, Kimberly Lane.  They all truly appear to love their job.  Next was the color scheme and design features of the floors we visited.  The design feature input was made by the families and children who had to have a stay at the hospital.  Bright colors, balloons, and vibrantly colored floors and walls highlighted each floor and gave the appearance of no other hospital. 

The art room is another aspect that helped bring a new appreciation of what the children who stay at the hospital have to endure make this facility a special one.  The children can do art projects  to help them escape their current situation and help aid them in their healing process.  In addition to the art room are the playrooms they make available to the children so they can seek solace and “get away” from the hospital staff in a fun environment.

The hospital rooms offer as much privacy as possible and are designed with three separate sections – medical, patient and family areas.  They are designed to make the stay more comfortable for all involved.  There are also separate “family” areas as well as laundry facilities available so parents can remain close to their children while allowing them to get some time out of the hospital room.

The wall of encouragement is what had the biggest impact on me.  The wall features photos of former patients that told their story, what impacted them most about their stay at the hospital, what the current patients can do stay positive and lastly, who is their inspiration and why.  It was a very moving experience to read how these children coped with their conditions and made their stay a success to help the others become success stories as well.

All in all, it was a great experience and one that I am proud to be a part of by contributing a portion of each sale to CMN and encouraging our agents to do the same.  We highly encourage doing all that you can by helping support us in this cause – one visit to the hospital will get you hooked.  As discussed at our Quarterly Meeting in December, all of our Chili Cook-off donations will go to support CMN as well.  As we expand offices, we will be doing soup cook-offs, barbeque cook-offs and other cooking competitions to support this cause so please let us know your thoughts on how we can make these events even better and well attended.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something – so you can make a contribution!

You’ve got to do more to get more!

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Sales is a tough job, no doubt about it, especially today in real estate.  You hear, read and talk about with others that in the real estate business, it is a numbers game.  If you want more results, you have to do more activities, talk with more people, hold more open houses, make more calls, and basically, just do more to get more business.  While this is true, it is only partially true. 

You need to have quality contacts to truly have an impact on your bottom line.  You need to provide value to those you speak with and earn the business or else your bottom line won’t change.  You must engage others buy asking about them, their families, their business, etc. and take an interest in them before you talk about you – basic relationship building. 

In addition, it is not just enough to say you are in real estate and business is unbelievable, you need to have an “elevator speech” about the services you provide, the information you share, and how you are different than others in the business.  If you don’t, why would your business increase?  Holding more open houses, knocking on doors, calling more FSBO’s or expired listings won’t get it done – you need to build relationships.  You need to add value to those you speak with to earn their trust and in turn, you will get the opportunity to grow your business through referrals. 

You need to know what is impacting our business and how that is impacting both buyers and sellers today.  Yes, today because the real estate market changes virtually daily.  How are property values and why is now a good time to buy and conversely, why it is a good time to sell.  How do the low rates effect payments at loan amounts of $250,000, $300,000 or $500,000 and what is the difference if rates go up 1%?  What are house values in your neighborhood, your town, and county for all categories of houses – condos, townhouses, and single family homes?  How many properties are for sale?  What are the month’s supply of houses and what does this mean?  Is it a buyer’s or seller’s market?   What price ranges are hot, who is buying in those price ranges and why?  How is the rental market locally?  How are their prices?  What is their month’s supply?  If you had the answers to these questions, do you believe you would be perceived as an expert by those you encountered and hence, obtain more business? 

You have to know the real estate business, the numbers and the trends.  Where is the market headed and why?  Give your opinion and be able to back it up with facts.  Watch videos, read blogs, read newsletters, network with others in our industry and absorb what they are saying and develop your conversation strategy based upon what you have learned to earn more business.

As previously mentioned, you need to increase your activities but you also need to improve the quality of your conversations.  You need to become an expert in the business.  If you only increase your activities or only gain knowledge and don’t share it with others, you won’t have the same business building results if you do them in concert with each other.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!