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Great information was shared last night at the Real Estate Information Exchange!

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Real Estate Information Exchange news you can use!

 

· Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac have been ordered to delist from the NYSE because they have been trading below $1 for more than 30 days. The delisting will be effective July 8th .

o   They can still post filings w/ the SEC

o   Investors will be able to buy & trade on the over-the-counter bulletin board (I attached a definition)

o   Trading on the over-the-counter bulletin board will cause the trading volume will drop, prices will deteriorate further, price volatility will increase it will become more difficult to trade a large number of stocks

 

·     Housing starts fall

o   Housing starts in May fell 10% from April (but up 7.8% from this time last year)

o   Building permits are down 5.9% from April (but up 4.4% from this time last year)

o   Builder confidence is dropping due to problems with obtaining financing, faulty appraisals, competition from short sales & foreclosures

 

·      Senate approves extension of Tax Credit Closing Deadline because of backlog of closings due to close by June 30th…homebuyers and lenders now have until September 30th to close on their properties!

 

· Bank of America has converted an additional 16,000 homeowners from trial to permanent loan mods this past month….bringing its total to 70,000!

o   HAMP is B of A’s biggest effort and have completed 71k non-HAMP mods so far this year

o   Total delinquency rate (according to Moody’s) among 2005-2008 subprime loans peaked at 54.4% in Jan. 2010 and since then the rate has began to decline and as of April is 51.5%

o   24% of delinquent borrowers in Feb were current in March

o   Expect that 50-70% of permanent mods will eventually default…wow! Because negative equity is such a significant driver of default (the level will depend heavily on the successful implementation of principal forgiveness)

 

· VA Dept of Health recommends denying 2 applications for a Haymarket Hospital – just so you know what is happening in our area…

 

· RIS Social Media conference…lots of good information, you have to leverage social media in your business… it’s the future. If you would like to learn a few tips, set up a time to meet with me!

 

· Josh Burruss of Potomac Mortgage Group briefed us on what’s happening in the mortgage side of things.  New Disclosures! Undisclosed Debt Disclosures and New Debt Acknowledgement at Closing form.  Credit will be pulled for FHA borrowers 3 days prior to closing and these forms have to be signed confirming that no new debt has been incurred during the time period while we wait for closing.  This can hurt a lot of buyers whose credit scores are one or two points away from being in the poorer credit zones. Stay tuned as things seem to change daily.

Why salespeople are successful!

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I recently wrote an article about why agents fail and thought I should counter that article and mention why salespeople are successful.  Here are a few tips to help you know why agents are successful:

· They are continuously prospecting.  When at their kids games, or at the grocery store and any place in between, they are adding people to their database to increase their chances of receiving a referral.

· They can communicate their value proposition to those they meet.  They know why they are in the business and how to let people know, in an informative way of why they should buy or sell and use them as their agent.

· They know the market, stats, and trends and can repeat them quickly and easily.  People love to speak about real estate and if you can be the information provider, you will become a trusted advisor to them and receive more leads.

· They know why today is a good time to buy or sell and can state 3 examples of why this is the case.  People need to know the “real” reasons why now is a good time to buy or sell a house that is factually based and personal to their situation.

· They further their education above and beyond the minimum standards of continuing education.  Agents who earn designations and can communicate why the designation is important to the client earn more money than agents who do not earn a designation. 

· They are continuously networking with business people, previous clients and other industry professionals.  They join BNI, chambers, or start networking groups of their own to increase their databases and get more opportunities for referrals.

· They have a plan and work their plan.  If you don’t have a business plan, develop one today!  Your business plan will give you the direction you need to be successful and give you a daily plan of action to accomplish your goals.

· They utilize social media as a tool to market themselves and their listings and services.  It is a fact – social media is here to stay.  It is time to embrace this phenomenon and get online.  Blog, get on Facebook, Linkedin, Plaxo and reach out to your database to let them know you are in the business and you are successful in it.

· They communicate the value of working with a Realtor and subscribe to the code of ethics.  They are professional and show it through their actions and interactions with others.

· They are results and solution oriented and don’t dwell on the negative situations they encounter.  They look for the educational value or learning experience in each opportunity they face.  Failure is approached as learning experience not a negative one.

· And lastly, they have positive attitudes and attack each day with enthusiasm.  Be an example to others in how you approach situations with optimism and passion and results will follow as they do with other successful people.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Be prepared for what might happen…

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We all know that there was a push to get houses under contract by April 30th and settled by June 30th so guess what could happen?  Settlements may get delayed as stress has been put on the system to get these transactions closing on time.  Is your lender on top of your buyer’s loan application?  Have your purchaser’s submitted all of their paperwork to the lender?  Is your appraisal completed?  Has the appraisal been underwritten?  Have you received your commitment yet?  Today is the time to push everyone in the process to move forward and get your sale ready for closing early – be the squeaky wheel. 

Why do you ask are you urged to take action today?  Well, if your settlement is delayed, your buyer may not receive their tax credit they are entitled to receive.  If the settlement gets delayed, who is responsible for making up the difference?  If you are proactive, on top of your transactions and put pressure on the lender to perform…it won’t be you!  If you wait until the last minute to check on your loan and where your loan is in process…the buyers may look at you for a contribution to their lost opportunity.  Begin to have questions today to discuss the potential of the loan not closing and what your lender is going to do to make it right if it doesn’t happen as scheduled.  If you lay it on the line early, you will get the results your clients are looking to receive – an on time settlement!

Potential solutions could be reducing your buyer’s principal amount.  Buying down the interest rate is another possibility.  Paying closing costs for the buyer is another possibility.  When the responsibility is put on the lender early to perform or pay – they will perform more often than not. 

On the flip side of the transaction – a buyer may decide not to close if they don’t receive the credit and potentially walk away from the transaction.  As a listing agent, track your closings closely – you don’t want to get caught off guard!

Be the professional, be on top of the process and avoid problems that may arise and you will be the trusted advisor that gets referrals for taking care of your client.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

How do you approach failure?

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Failure and how you approach it can lead to more failure or tremendous success.  Are you afraid of failure and as such, rarely risk attempting anything new?  Are you a remedial failure – you fail a few times before you learn something from your experience?  Are you a habitual failure that fails every time you attempt to do something new?  Or do you embrace failure and look for the learning experience each time you do not succeed?

Analyze the last time you failed.  How did it make you feel?  Did you feel upset and distraught?  Did the experience leave you feeling puzzled and curious?  Did the experience make you analyze why you failed and how you could have improved to prevent the same result again? Or did you have an ah ha moment resulting in you knowing exactly what happened and why?  It is critically important to know what happened that lead to your failure and why.  If you tweaked your presentation, asked more questions, spoke with the decision maker, or reworked your numbers would you have won?  Ask for feedback from the client, your peers or mentors to determine how you could improve to gain more achievement.

People who have experienced tremendous failures understand and recognize the importance of what happened so they can grow from the experience and build toward success.  Keep an open mind when you fail – be optimistic that you will find a better way to accomplish your task – learn from you mistake and move on to finding an alternative solution.  Also, build upon the experience of other successful people to learn how they adapted to failure:

Henry Ford Failure Quote:

"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely."

~ Henry Ford

 

Thomas Alva Edison Failure Quotation:

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

~ Thomas Alva Edison

 

Benjamin Disraeli Failure/Success Quote:

"All my successes have been built on my failures."

~ Benjamin Disraeli

 

Sir Winston Churchill Quote on Failures:

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm."

~ Sir Winston Churchill

 

Thomas H. Palmer Quote on Failure:

"IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN. Don't give up too easily; persistence pays off in the end.”      ~Thomas H. Palmer

In addition to this, you must try.  Don’t sit back and wait for something to happen.  Take action, massive action towards your goals and then remember it is imperative that you keep positive, be persistent, move on and concentrate on your next task and don’t lose your enthusiasm to get the results you are looking for out of your efforts.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!

Slow & steady we move along…

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The real estate market is moving steadily along today but with reservation.  As corporations continue to move into our area and the state attracts businesses all over the Commonwealth, we were ranked #7 in the most transient states in the country – pretty impressive for those of us selling houses!  In order to be successful, you have to find the buyers and sellers so get out there and get busy looking – they won’t come to you, you have to go to them!

In addition to this, existing home sales increased 7.6% in April.  This was expected as the home buyer tax credit was set to expire but let’s keep a close eye on this in the coming months and see if the sales momentum continues.  We should be in good shape and should continue to outpace the rest of the country as we continue to create jobs, have affordable housing prices, and interest rates remain low.

Not only did existing home sales increase but so did new home sales!  New home sales rose 14.8% in April – the highest performance in two years!  Be wary however as the pace of new home permits dropped 10.7% in April as well.  We can expect this number to drop next month as a result of fewer permits being issued couple with low builder inventory.

Mortgage interest rates also continue to be a driving force in continued sales.  This week it was reported interest rates are at their lowest level since December as the instability in financial markets overseas have lowered borrowing costs.  If rates continue to stay low, buyers will understand the fundamentals for ownership are strong and will continue buy homes.

Another key to the market continuing to blossom this spring is consumer confidence.  As the economy continues to improve and we ease out of the recession, consumers believe their personal situation is improving and as a result, they are spending again.  As we know, consumers drive the recovery in their “perception” of their situation and not necessarily, reality.

Now, let’s talk about the reservation part of the blog.  Although refinance applications remain strong – they have increased 3 consecutive weeks – purchase applications have continued to decrease and have done so four consecutive weeks.  As a result, purchase applications have dropped to their lowest levels since 1997.  Keep a close eye on this number as it indicates future settlements on home purchases.

Next, is the double dip in home prices that Dave Stevens mentioned at our year end meeting in December.  Two price indices – the dreaded S&P Case-Shiller and the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported housing price decreases in the first quarter.  As we have mentioned, the under $400,000 market and the $800,000 – $1,000,000 market continue to be strong but the inventory priced between $400,000 – $800,000 are still trying to find the bottom and that is where a majority of our houses are priced today.  Couple this with the fact that mortgage delinquency rates have hit 10% – a record.  If these homes go into foreclosure and don’t end up as a HAP sale or a short sale, prices could continue to slide.

Lastly, another monkey wrench that could be thrown into the equation that could affect getting home loans is if Fannie Mae implements the right to pull credit up until the day of closing.  It can have a significant impact on a purchaser’s ability to close on their loan if their credit score goes down by just one point.  As we know, it is monkey see monkey do in the lending arena so others may implement this same strategy to limit the number of defaults in the future.  Stay tuned for further details.

So, what do you do?  Work!  As previously mentioned – people are buying and selling houses here in Northern Virginia – get out there and network.  Create urgency – rates won’t stay this low forever, prices will increase and if you can afford the home today, buy it.  Be a professional Realtor and set yourself apart from others in the industry and you will survive in any market.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Why do sales people fail?

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Why do sales people fail, survive or thrive is a question I hear more often in the one-on-ones conducted with sales people in our office lately.  In real estate there are several factors that make up the answer.  The top producers in the business take each one of these tips to heart and work them to the best of their ability day in and day out consistently which helps them attain high levels of productivity and success.  Let’s review what is important to take you to the next level and what you need to avoid to become a sales failure:

Ø  The number one issue is lead generation.  They don’t do enough prospecting, networking or whatever it takes to get in front of people looking to buy or sell your product.  Without someone to sell to, there will be no income generated.  All of the knowledge in the world is useless if you have no one to communicate it to.  Get busy getting clients. 

Ø  Next is they can’t communicate their value proposition clearly enough to their client or potential clients.  Develop an elevator speech to build your value proposition around to becoming a success.

Ø  Also, they don’t know the inventory or preview homes which prevent them from keeping their finger on the pulse of the market and being able to communicate with someone a good deal when asked.

Ø  Additionally, they don’t have systems in place for success.  It is critical to have systems for prospecting, following up, following through, handling internet leads, or getting a sale to settlement.  If systems are in place, they are antiquated.  Get busy streamlining your systems to make yourself more efficient.

Ø  They don’t seek out coaching or accountability.  It is so important to ask for guidance, help, and direction so you can grow you business.  Taking counsel from your self can only get you so far.  You need to have someone with experience to bounce ideas off, help hold you accountable and give you advice to get you to the next level.

Ø  Salespeople who fail don’t further their education.  They don’t complete their continuing education, attend trainings or seminars, or obtain designations which are an integral part of success.  On the job training will only get you so far in this business.  Remember, when you stop learning you stop earning.

Ø  Because of the aforementioned items, they have difficulty understanding market trends.  Is it a buyer’s or seller’s market and why is so important.  They don’t know their own numbers, their company’s numbers, numbers relating to the marketplace, their competition’s numbers, etc. so it makes it difficult to give the right advice when buying or selling a home.

Ø  They fail to have proper database management.  Who is good, who needs to be deleted and most importantly, who to add to their sphere is paramount to success.

Ø  The communication level and message sent to their clients, sphere, and other agents will help ensure success.  How frequently, what is communicated, and when is it communicated sets top producing agents apart from the rest of the crowd.

Ø  Practice, practice, practice.  Either they don’t have or don’t rehearse scripts.  Get a partner and rehearse over coming common objections, listing presentations, buyer presentations, etc.  Video these meetings and critique your performance.  If you haven’t done homework how will you graduate to the next level?

Ø  They don’t have a business plan.  If you don’t have a plan, how will you know what your priorities are for your day?  How will you know what you want to accomplish?  The importance of a business plan cannot be overlooked and must be taken from your head and put on paper.

Ø  The right attitude is so important and top producers have the proper attitude.  Have a can do, positive attitude each and every day.  We all have set backs in life but it is how you approach and respond to these situations that set you apart from others in the field. 

Ø  Salespeople who fail lack taking responsibility for themselves and their actions.  It is the market, interest rates and loan programs, their clients just don’t get it, the weather, or so many more.  Take responsibility for your lack of productivity by implementing the right strategies previously mentioned in this blog.

Ø  They don’t manage their time well.  They put out fires consistently, don’t prioritize their activities and the day passes them by too often.  You must work each day to be intentional in your efforts.  Use your time wisely.  Block out time to get your most important things done without interruption.  Everyone has the same amount of time every day, it is how you use it that separates the good from the great.

You can see why it is easy to fail, there are so many areas of relevance and importance.  They are all intertwined and relate to each other on many levels.  If you take the time to analyze what you are doing in each area and improve daily in them, you will take your career to new heights.  Challenge yourself to improve and the results will follow.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Make an Impact!

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The question arises often.  How do you make an impact in life, on others, or in your business?  There are several components to having an impact on others – be an excellent listener, be charitable with your time, efforts and knowledge, and create inspiration in others to achieve more for themselves.  To impact others, you must lead an intentional life and leave a lasting impression upon them that encourages them to change themselves, positively.  Let’s look at the makeup of the word impact.

Intelligence.  Gain as much information and knowledge in your chosen field as you possibly can.  Read books, newsletters, solicit information from others, attend seminars, trainings, and just get involved.  The more you know, the more you grow and the more you can contribute to others to help others them succeed.  Through gaining intelligence and sharing your knowledge with others are the first steps to having an impact on others.

Motivation and inspiration are key to all aspects of a life worth living.  You must be motivated to achieve more for yourself and push yourself.  Have the desire to want more and the discipline to achieve more so when others see you in action, your determination and results motivate them to want to succeed.  Do the right things and say the right things and you will have an impact.

Positive attitudes are contagious.  Your outlook on each day, what you say and how you say it leave a lasting impression on others so make it positive.  By finding opportunities with challenging situations, communicating the “learning” experience in mistakes, conveying an optimistic outlook on the future, and having an upbeat attitude are ways to share your positive attitude.  Impact others by sharing your smile and positive attitude throughout each day.

Actions speak louder than words.  You must walk the talk.  Be generous, volunteer your time to charities, show up early, stay late and work, and share your experiences with others.  Have a plan, follow the plan, be held accountable to stick with your plan and results will happen.  This is what will impact others.  When you put your money where your mouth is, people will take notice and respond.

Clarity of purpose is critical to your success.  What do you want to do and why?  Seek to understand and be understood.  When you are focused, have direction and purpose in life, the side effect will be having an impact on others.  Know what you want to achieve in life then set out to accomplish it – clarity is critical.

Teach others through what you see, do, and hear.  It helps clarify your purpose.  Communicate what the right thing to do in each situation from what you have learned.  A life spent educating and helping others will leave a lasting impression that will impact them in many ways.

To live a life with purpose, direction, and intention you will automatically impact others, positively. Inspire others to be great, do the right thing, and you will leave a legacy for others to follow.  Right now, it is your responsibility to just do it.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

To Add or Not to Add…that is the Question

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In a recent conversation with one of our buyers, I was asked, “Why didn’t we add in a response time to our offer”?  This is a curious question many of us have been faced with when helping buyers and sellers make the right decisions when buying or selling homes.  The clause should be implemented or not depending upon the scenario you are faced with when writing an offer. 

Here is what needs to be considered prior to adding it to your offer: 

1.  The first area to consider is the communication level between you and the listing agent or selling agent.  Are the lines of communication open and responsive, or is it difficult to track the agent down to get an answer to the most basic question.  Does the “other” agent have a reputation of being quick to respond and get answers to you quickly or is there a lack of communication and responsiveness.  If it is the latter, then in these situations, add the clause.

2.  The length of time the house has been on the market… has it been on for a long time without any offers or has it received a lot of interest?  The shorter the time frame and the greater the interest, then more than likely you should implement the clause.  For a home that sits on the market for a longer time with little interest, then I would typically not implement the clause.

3.  The strength of the offer presented.  Is the offer close to list price or at list price with all the terms that the seller is willing to accept?  Or, is the offer low, with multiple contingencies? Are your buyers willing to be “flexible” on their terms in order to buy the home and come to an agreement with the sellers?  If the case relates to the first scenario, then definitely add the clause.

4.  Are the buyers from out of town and on a tight time frame that requires a quick response?  If yes, then add the clause.

5.  What is the tone do you want to set with regards to the negotiations?  Do you want to set an urgent tone and one of little flexibility or do you want the lines of communication to be open and flexible and willing to come to an agreement?  If yours relates to the first scenario, then again, add the clause.

6.  Are your clients truly interested in the house or are they trying to get a deal? And have the attitude of “if they get it, they get it, if they don’t, they will move on”?  If this is the case, then you would definitely want to add the clause.

Finally, each contract has its own particular situation, as does each buyer and Realtor involved in the transaction, so carefully consider what you are encountering prior to adding a “respond by clause” to your offer.  It isn’t always in the client’s best interest to add – “sellers/buyers to respond within 24, 48, or 72 hours or the contract is null and void”.  Ask questions, analyze the parties involved and what is the right decision to get your clients the sale!  Get it?  Got it? Good!

What are your priorities?

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You must have priorities in your daily routines if you want to achieve ultimate success.  The question is, how do you determine your priorities?  There are several pieces to the puzzle you need to analyze to help you prioritize your activities.  Let’s break it down.

Planning – you must have a plan of action to set out and accomplish goals.  Without a plan, you have no direction and therefore, you won’t know what a priority is and what isn’t.  Start by developing, writing down and reviewing your goals, so you know where to start with your activities.

Responsibility – you know you must take responsibility for your actions.  Think about what is the right thing to do at any given time, what the results will be and why you have to “Just do it” to help you develop a pattern of success.  By taking responsibility for you and your actions you will gain the confidence necessary to set your priorities.

Intuitive – you must have a gut feeling that helps direct you as well.  You have to know to do the right thing to get your objectives accomplished.  You need to understand what is the highest and best use of your time and be the most effective and efficient you can be at a given time.

Organize – you must have organization in your life to help determine what your priorities are and what needs to be accomplished.  If your schedule, desk or life is disorganized, you won’t even know where to begin as everything seems so overwhelming.  Organize yourself and your life and your priorities will become clearer to you.

Responsive – when you have organization and clarity in your goals, plans of action, and life, you can be more responsive to what you encounter versus being reactive to situations and what may occur during your day.  To respond is positive to react is negative – be positive, it can only help you.

Initiative – you must take the first steps and have the desire and initiative to want to accomplish great things in your life to build a legacy.  Start with to do lists, have tasks you want to accomplish and by when, cross them off and add more or revise depending upon your results or the market.  The idea here is to start and take the initiative to be successful.  You are responsible for you – no one can give you initiative – you have to want it.

Training – you must train yourself to put this into your routine.  It isn’t easy and it takes discipline to accomplish this.  Train and teach yourself to do what needs to be done to get this accomplished.  By training yourself on these disciplines, they will become habits that will lead you down the path of success.

Insight – by learning more, getting educated, and communicating with other successful people, you will gain insight to know and understand what the right thing to do is at any given time.  Insight will give you clarity and purpose on what to do next and why.

Excellence – by striving to achieve excellence in all areas of your life you will have better direction and purpose which will also help you develop your priorities.

Start – today, don’t delay.  Get it done.  Make setting priorities a priority.  You have to start sometime – why not today, right now?

Now that your puzzle is complete, take the time to think what is important to you and why and what must happen to get you to where you want to go in life.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Life after the government support for real estate

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Well, all the hype over the government’s propping up of the real estate market is over and where do we stand?  It may be too early to tell as it has only been one week but in speaking with lenders, title companies, home inspectors and  – oh yeah – Realtors too, the market continues to hum along.  Contracts are being written and accepted.  What appears to remain hot are the lower price ranges (those below $400,000) and the upper price ranges ($800,000-$1,000,000 in some areas) so it appears to be business as usual – so far – for these sellers. 

The sellers we are concerned about are the ones priced between $400,000 and $800,000 as it seems in many areas these housing prices haven’t found their bottom of the market yet.  Going forward it will be critically important to pay particular attention to this segment of the market as we are starting to see the beginning stages of the foreclosures being released into the market.   More BPO’s (Broker Price Opinions) are being requested, Bank of America has hired a third party vendor to help with their release of foreclosures and Notice of Trustee sales are flooding the papers.  And from what we notice, they are going to fall into the $400,000-$800,000 price ranges – not the lower end as we saw in 2008.  From all indications, we are looking at an alarming number of foreclosures hitting our market prior to the third quarter of this year – not as many as we saw in 2008 but close to those levels.  This will have a definite impact on prices.

As far as rates are concerned, mortgage interest rates hit a 6 week low this week suggesting that private investors have filled in for the government in their purchasing of mortgage backed securities.  In addition, there have been several reports stating that the government will continue to keep the Federal Funds rate at or near 0-.25% which should continue to encourage investors to buy these securities and keep rates low for home owners through the end of the year which is good news for housing.

How will the end of the home buyer tax credit impact the market?  In a recent survey of first time buyers conducted by SunTrust, they found that only 10% of these buyers purchased their homes because of the home buyer tax credit.  Low interest rates, affordable house prices, desire to own versus rent were the main reasons why decided to purchase over any other.  A good deal is a good deal.  If the market shows signs of slowing, let’s keep an eye on seller and builder incentives to lure buyers into their properties – right now, we don’t see any but only time will tell.  For now, we don’t believe our market will be severely impacted by this incentive ending.

Another bright spot in our market that will help us continue to sell houses is the “new and improved” short sale process through HAMP to HAFA.  These programs will help qualified sellers have the ability to get approval on short sales much more quickly than in previous years.  This streamlined process will not only help sellers avoid foreclosure but also help buyers get into homes and protect neighborhood values.  We are anticipating this to be a tremendous asset in selling houses going forward.

All things being considered, now is a great time to be a buyer or seller in the Northern Virginia Market.  It is important to stay on top of the trends that affect real estate, watch inventory levels and the type of inventory coming on the market, and lastly, track the number of buyers in the market place to help buyers and sellers make the right decisions when considering real estate.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!