Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Secret On Squidoo, Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

The Secret On Squidoo!

My coaching is based on applying the law of attraction into your business as a Real Estate agent.

I use many of the principle you will find in the hit DVD movie, The Secret.

What you think about you bring about.

What you focus on expands.

In this market of real estate right now you must be focused on the outcome you wish to receive in order to survive.

You also have to distance yourself from all the naysayers, dreamstealers and the negative Nellies that are very abundant right now because they are not making any money in this market.

I started a great Squidoo lens for you at:

http://www.Squidoo.com/TeachersOfTheSecret

Here is a lot of information about applying the law of attraction in your life which includes your business. Go back often to see new content as I update the lens.

If you go to your toolbar in your Internet Explorer 7. you can click on the orange square which is called an RSS feed. This way you can know whenever a new post is placed on my blog or new content is placed on my lens. This saves you time because you won’t have to keep coming back to check for new content.

There is also a Free Talking E-Book that you can get from my Squidoo lens with interviews in audio and pdf formats from the Teachers of the Secret.

This is a great book for you to listen and to read through. I listen to it over and over again so that I can internalize the information and apply it into my life and business.

When the market gets like this agents will either sink or swim.

Many agents are leaving the market to get other jobs and changing careers.

It is your choice whether you sink or swim.

The press is not giving us any slack either. Every morning people are waking up to headlines and news stories about how bad the market it, the prices are dropping, sellers are not budging, buyers are fence sitting , yada, yada! The press is not your friend right now!

Figure out a way to put a spin on all of this bad press.

In my market the truth is that homes are still selling, people are still buying and loans are still closing. Those are facts.

Perhaps for you all you need is that gentle push that a business coach can offer you to help you through this uncertain market.

Please email me if you are interested in finding out if coaching is right for you.


You can also email me at Katerinag(at)bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina

Please replace the (at) with the at sign, @. That is done above just so I do not get so much spam. Thanks.

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Monday, June 25, 2007

Commitment From Your Sellers, Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Commitment Is Crucial To The Deal.

  • Do you have listings that just sit and do not sell?
  • Does the seller make it hard for you to show their home?
  • Is the seller making excuses?
  • Does your seller insist of having yesterday’s price today?
  • Is your seller playing games with you?

If your seller is being unreasonable than it may be time to let him/her go.

You also have a mortgage payment that needs to be made, you also have bills to pay. Each hour you spend with unreasonable sellers and buyers is another hour wasted.

Time is the one thing you can not get back. Once it is spent, that’s it, it’s gone!

To be successful as a Real Estate Agent in today’s market you must first learn how to say “NO”.

Next, you must learn to turn down unreasonable clients, buyers and sellers.

They are a waste of your time. You are not being productive when you are spending your time working for them.

Do not operate your business from a perspective of lack. There are plenty of listings out there for you. You can be selective. After all ,you do need to get to the closing table!

You want sellers that are willing to make a commitment to the deal.

Make sure the seller is aware of the market and is willing to play ball on this field.

Here are some great questions you can ask the seller to see if they are committed:

“Why are you selling?”

“ How much did you pay for your property?”

“ How much do you own on your mortgage?”

And

“ When do you need to move by?”

If the seller hesitates to answer any of these questions than he/she is most likely not motivated to sell and is going to play games.

I love this quote, “Some Will, Some Won’t, So What, Next!”

You can email me at Katerinag(at)bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina

When emailing me put the at symbol where I have the (at) word. I just did this because I learned that is how you can avoid spam. I have been getting a lot of spam because I post my email address in my posts.

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Monday, June 18, 2007

Tax Reform On It's Way In Florida.

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Tax Reform Is On It’s Way In Florida

Thank you to all the Real Estate Agents who called, emailed or wrote to their state legislatures and congressmen and women about Property Tax Reform in Florida.

In just a couple of days in their special session the House and the Senate came to an agreement and now most of what they agreed upon will be taken to the voters in the January 2008 Primary Election.

Now is the time for the big fight to start for the cities to keep money they do not want to lose! They will use all kinds of scare tactics especially the ones of losing police and fire services to get the voters to turn down the amendments that will save the homeowners money on their property tax bills.

So you as a Real Estate agent can make a difference in your community which will build you credibility by getting educated on this subject and then getting your opinion out to your farm areas, your prospects, your clients and your neighborhood.

You can post your comments on your blog and your website.

Send everyone on your list an email about getting out to vote and what the amendments say and why you think that the property tax reforms need to be voted in to law.

This is a great opportunity for you to build relationships, network and get into your farms with a benefit to offer. Let me know how you are doing with this.

Post your ideas on how you can get the word out!

You can me at Katerinag@bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Be A Servant First, Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Be A Servant First

As a Real Estate Agent your objective is to be a servant first. Put the needs of your client first. Let them know by your actions that you are happy to serve them. This is what you get paid to do.

You get paid in direct proportion to how well you serve your clients. Finding out what their needs are and then filling those needs will result in higher pay and more referrals for you.

Zig Ziglar said, “If you help enough people get what they want you will always get what you want.” That is one of my favorite quotes ever. It is reality. It is truth. Apply this to your business and watch your business grow.

When you are focused on the sale, on how much you need the sale, on how you need to pay your bills, how much you ‘need’ this person to list their house with you, and other self thoughts this is projected onto the other person and actually makes them move away from you. I know I wrote about this subject in a previous post but this is so important it bears repeating.

I know from experience so much about this. When I was going through a really ugly divorce Real Estate income was my only source of income and it was tough times because all my focus was on the next court hearing and a mean custody battle over my children. It was really a bad time in my life. But I was also so happy to get out of an abusive and nightmare of a marriage. Still, I had to depend only on me to take care of 5 children physically, emotionally and financially.

When I was working with buyers and sellers inside of my head and heart I was begging for them to buy a house from me or list their house with me. And then I wondered why each deal was a fiasco or the home inspection went bad or the seller and buyer could not come to terms on a price and the deal would die. One thing after another happened that was negative. I did manage to just get by however the results were less than desirable. This is after I had been working in Real Estate for 15 years and I could not understand why this was happening to me. Even on the deals that did close, the sellers and buyers ending up complaining about one thing or another. Not a good way to get referrals and testimonials!

It would take years before I would discover what really happened during that time in my business.

I started dating my present husband and my business started to take off again. I was happy, less stressed and more focused on my clients.

I began to implement Zig Ziglar’s quote again in my business and we started attracting good clients, listings that sold quickly and for top dollar, good buyers who closed on their transactions. We began attracting developers and investors and the luxury home market.

For 15 years I owned and ran Tae Kwon Do schools. In that marketplace you really had to show genuine love and concern for the needs of your students or else they would go elsewhere. We had some of the highest retention rates in the country due to the fact that we put our students before ourselves and we served our students and their parents who were paying their tuition payments.

Real Estate Agents can very well use this principle to multiply their results in their businesses.

In November of 2006; when our Real Estate Market here became quite slow here, I met a a Realtor who happened to have more business than she could handle. She had a great attitude. While Real Estate Agents all around here starting dropping out of the business like flies she was looking for people to refer business to.

I asked her what she was doing that was different. She said the only thing that was different is that she had watched a DVD movie called ‘The Secret’.

Well, of course I went home that day, went online and ordered the DVD of The Secret.

My husband and I watched it each night for 30 nights in a row. Each time we watched we learned something we had not heard the other times. It really has changed our lives…

Stay tuned….


Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Monday, June 11, 2007

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Our spring is gone! Where did it go? We enjoyed the most gorgeous and coolest spring all the way through the end of May. Now we are in June and here in Florida that means the hot and humid weather is back.

While in most places in the country people go outdoors in the summer it is the other way around here in Florida. We go outdoors in the fall, winter and spring! Summer is for indoors and air conditioning!

In spite of the heat coming on, I woke up this morning thinking how blessed I am to live on this beautiful blue planet, in this wonderful country of America. I love America. Each morning I count my blessings and think about what I am grateful for that day. It makes it a great way to start my day. Being in focus of your gratitude will bring richer blessings still. God is good to me and my family.

I enjoy the blessing of listening the birds chirping as I start each new day. What a miracle that is in and of itself! Just take a moment right now to ponder all your very many blessings. Savor the moment of gratitude. Carry it with you throughout your day.

My coaching practice is a huge blessing in my life. Helping others to see their greatness and facilitating my clients to reach beyond their perceived limits is so emotionally charging. I am so blessed with the gift of being able to help others.

I focus on helping Real Estate Agents but I have clients from all walks of life.

My business in Real Estate Sales and Coaching is mostly done through referrals.

The best compliment that I can receive is for a satisfied client to recommend me to one of their friends. Thanks to all of you who have given me referrals.

You can email me at Katerinag@bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina


Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Friday, June 8, 2007

Online Marketing For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Online Marketing For Real Estate Agents

One of my online colleagues, Jinger Jarret made a comment to me that Real Estate Agents lack behind in making use of good online marketing.

This is an understatement. With Real Estate being one of the most searched keywords in all the major search engines and with over 80% of all buyers starting their home search online it is amazing to see how few Real Estate Agents are making the most of this unlimited stream of income.

I have some tips throughout my blog to help you in this area.

If you would like to see how a direct response website looks like you can visit our website at;

http://www.NestorGasset.com

This is our main home page. You will see our listings on the right with featured listings there. We have affiliate pages for home loans and house staging. The most important feature is the newsletter and the opt in forms on all the direct response pages.

We are very well known in our area so therefore we have my husband’s name as our domain name but for advertising to people who do not know us we use other domain names that we own. For instance when we market sellers we use the domain name;

http://www.27-Home-Seller-Tips.com

This of course is for people who do not know us yet. The prospect who does not know us does not care about our name or who we are at first. It is all about what is in it for them. So we have domain names that have benefits to the prospect in them.

Now there are things that I like and I don’t like about our site. I am constantly working on improving our site and starting new sites with new themes and keyword related pages.

There also may be free websites that your MLS or Realtor Board offers. Check into all of those. Every little bit that you do will help in the long run.

Remember getting results from your online marketing takes longer than offline marketing and you need to develop patience for it, but let me tell you it is so worth the wait.

What you will see happening in the future is that you will get your leads online and transform those leads into clients resulting in much less time spent in getting leads than from the traditional methods. Online marketing does not replace your offline marketing. It is just an additional form of developing income.

We will talk more about what all goes into your online marketing programs and strategies in future posts on this blog.

There is a lot more to it than just putting up a website.

You can email me at Katerinag@bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Voice Mail Tips For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Voice Mail Tips For Real Estate Agents

Do you know what your voice mail sounds like?

As a Real Estate Agent I hope you have a great professional voice mail message.

Is your message boring and meaningless or is it exciting and compelling?

Call your voice mail and listen to the tone of your message, the message itself and the content of your message.

What is the goal of your voice message? It should be to have the caller want to leave you a message.

Do not say; “Your call is important to me” . That sounds so condescending to me. If your call was so important to you why aren’t you answering the phone personally when I call you?

Some other things you should not say in your message are things like, “I am not at my desk right now.” Or “I’m sorry I missed Your Call.” These statements are overused and are a waste of your precious few seconds to get your message across.

Avoid using the same boring statements that everyone else says on their messages.


Make yourself stand out in the voice mail crowd.

I suggest to my coaching clients to always have a big smile on their face when they are recording their message. For some people standing in looking into a mirror helps them to use their best voice.

Write down what you are going to say so that you can follow your script. That will help you avoid using “uhm” and “ah”, etc.

Remember that you can re-record over and over again until you get it right so don’t worry about it when you goof up.

I always leave my email address on my voice mail and my website address. I also leave my tagline to get them to my website.

At the end of the message I like to say, “Make it a great day.” You can leave another call to action at the end of your message, make it memorable.

People always compliment me on my voice mail messages but more importantly they leave a message or email me.

You can email me at Katerinag@bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina

Coaching For Real Estate Agent




Wednesday, June 6, 2007

3 Biggest Mistakes Real Estate Agents Make

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

3 Biggest Mistakes Real Estate Agents Make

We finally started to get some rain. It started with Tropical Storm Barry and has continued. The drought has put a large strain on South Florida’s water system. So we are very thankful that it is raining.

The rain made me think of that old adage Realtors use to explain our business. It is either feast of famine in our business.

But it does not have to be that way.

The first mistake I think many Real Estate Agents make is that when they get a house sold they spend the next month doing all the things that need to get done to make sure the closing happens and lose sight of going on to the next deal.

You need to work on the contract that is closing as well as marketing for new listings.

The second mistake is forgetting about your clients after closing. This is by far the most common mistake I see happening in my Real Estate Agent coaching program.

Most Real Estate Agents send a thank you card, give a closing gift and then go on to finding the next customer.

Do you ask for a referral and a testimony right there at the closing when most clients are the happiest with your services? That is the time to really get your next customer without spending a ton of money advertising for the next customer.

Keep in contact once a month for at least 2 years. See my post about building relationships that I posted yesterday.

The third mistake that I see most Real Estate Agents make is that they spend a lot of money on programs, books, audios, trainings without working on themselves first.

All of that motivational stuff only works for a few days after the event and then people return to what they are used to doing, back to habits.

Motivation wears off because it comes from the outside. The only self development that works is that which comes from the inside. Work more on yourself than you do on your business and you will attract the people that will help your business to grow.

If you are looking for someone to keep you on the right path, whatever path that it is you choose to take, think about enlisting in the services of a coach.

You can email me at Katerinag@bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate You can also email me at Katerinag@bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Are Referrals In Your Real Estate Business?

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Are Referrals In Your Business?

The NAR just came out with a report that says that 93% of the business being done in Real Estate is being done by only 7% of the Real Estate Agents.

That is pretty shocking taking into consideration that there are over a million members in the NAR.

So much for the 80/20 rule!

As a consultant and coach, I ask you;

Are you in the 7%?

Do you want to be in the 7%?

What type of marketing is the 7% doing that other agents are not doing?

Well, it is networking.

Most of the business these Real Estate Agents get is from referrals.

That should not surprise you.

When buyers and sellers are asked how they chose their Real Estate Agent between 70-80% of them responded that they knew their Real Estate Agent or one was referred to them by someone they knew.

People do business with those they know, like and trust. Pure and simple.

Yes, you can get to build relationships through door knocking and cold calling but that is definitely taking the most difficult approach. I do not like to door knock or cold call. And I find that we as people will find a reason not to do the things we don’t like to do. So then excuses take form and we get stagnant and do not produce thus placing us in that 93% of the Real Estate Agents not getting the results they had hoped to achieve.

So are you doing business by aiming at the wrong target?

Networking is the way to go in boosting your business and creating the loyal following up clients who will refer to those they know need your services.

Target your sphere of influence. That is the key to effective marketing.

Real Estate Agents I coach start out by telling me that they don’t know anyone, that they don’t have a sphere of influence.

If you are in that situation I can show you how you DO have a sphere of influence and no matter how small it is I will teach how you can make that small influence become a large influence very quickly.

The key to building your referral market is by building relationships and then maintaining those relationships over a lifetime.

How do you develop a relationship?

*Stay in touch on a consistent basis through a variety of mediums.

*Give something of value each time you communicate.

* Nurture your relationship.

* Call them on their birthday to wish them a happy birthday.

* Monthly contact is just right.

* Go beyond the regular real estate info and assist with day to day needs.

* Ask what you can do to help them.

* Give important tips in a postcard like reminding them to change their clock back.

You can also email me at Katerinag@bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina

Coaching For Real Estate Agents


Monday, June 4, 2007

Online Marketing Tips For Real Estate Agents

Online Marketing Tips For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents


Online Marketing takes some time but it will pay off for you in the long run.

Real Estate Agents tend to work on things that will bring them money right now.

We get into this mode of getting the listing, selling the listing, getting the listing, selling the listing and so on.

You must, as a Real Estate Agent do some work each day towards your future financial security and building your business with income that will come to you in the future.

That is why ‘farming’ is the best method for long term results. Most Real Estate Agents do not have the patience to farm an area. So if you stick it out, planting those seeds and watering them you will benefit for the time you put into it. Your rewards will be financial as well as creating loyal clients who will refer you over and over again. While other agents give it up, you will reap your rewards!

There are many different types of ‘farms’:

  • Geo farms
  • Social farms
  • Niche farms
  • Professional group farms
  • Online Farms

Today, we will go over online farms.

Having a website presence online today for any Real Estate Agent is a ‘must do, must have’.

However, just putting up any old template site is not going to work anymore.

You need to do some homework.

When we first went on line back in 1998, we made a lot of mistakes. We fell prey to all the different bells and whistles different vendors were selling. A lot of the tools, software and products we bought went on our shelves and were never used or did not fit our market.

We had a website with Realtor.com, Know Your Neighborhood, Advanced Access, Re/Max sites and a few others. We spent literally thousands of dollars on these websites each year and we never got a buyer or seller from all of that!

So naturally we became disillusioned with online marketing and we dumped all of our sites and went back to our direct mail campaigns and personal networking which has always done very well for us.

Now, we are back online again. What changed this time around?

Well, this time I said that I was going to make sure that I understood what I was doing. That began a project of research before building our web sites. Learning how to rank in the search engines was another area that I felt I had to understand before making online decisions regarding how much money and where we are going to be spending it.

Each night for about 3 hours before I went to sleep I studied online marketing from internet resource, books, tapes, etc. When I felt like I had a handle on the knowledge we started to implement the strategies. Lo and behold, it works! And we are no longer throwing arrows in the darks.

One of the websites that I recommend you visit that has lots and lots of Free information on building your business online is Jinger Jarrett’s web site:

http://www.askjingernow.com

Make sure you visit her blog and learn all you can a little at a time to help you make the important decisions of how to market yourself online.

You can also email me at Katerinag@bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Friday, June 1, 2007

Short Sales- Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents- Short Sales


Real Estate Agents need to understand what a short sale is and how to help their seller’s with the process.

In today’s market you are most likely finding sellers who owe more money on their mortgages and home equity loans than what they could get for their house.

It would give you as a Real Estate Agent in your marketplace an edge over agents who do not know how to assist in a short sale. This could be a great niche for you!

Do you know what a short sale is?

When the net proceeds from a sale of a property are less than the mortgage, taxes, real estate commissions and other closing costs and the seller can not or will not come up with the difference you have a short sale.

Just like when people buy cars for zero down and need to trade that car in they find themselves upside down, meaning they owe more on the loan for their car than what the trade in value is.

This same thing happens in the housing market. You may have a seller who is going into foreclosure, a seller who is transferred due to work or someone is getting divorced. These are all reasons that the short sale may be forced to happen.

You can check with a title company even before you take the listing and ask them to do a preliminary HUD closing settlement statement so you can have the numbers correct. The title company can also run a check for you about how much they owe.

Sometimes when you ask the seller he or she will give you the amount for their first mortgage but not for their equity lines. I always ask them for all the loans that may be tied to the house.

Have the sellers write a letter to all his/her lenders giving them permission to talk to you. They will not talk to you unless they have express permission from the seller.

Once you get an offer on the property contact the lender’s loss mitigation department. Do not talk to the people at customer service. They are not trained in this area and they will not approve any offer unless they are collecting all the past due payments, etc.

Gather up the seller’s W-2 forms, a letter of explanation if the seller is unemployed, bank statements, two years of tax returns, and other financial documents relating to income, asset and debt obligations.

You should have the seller write up a hardship letter explaining why he/ she is in this situation and why it is impossible for the seller to pay off the loan in full. Most lenders will require true hardship. If the lender sees the seller has stocks and other assets it is likely the short sale will not be approved.

One thing to be especially aware of is what did the seller say when he got the loan initially. For instance, if the seller obtained a stated income loan stating his assets, it may be a trigger for mortgage fraud if he no longer has those assets, unless he can prove the loss somehow. Just be aware of this.

Most lenders use a formula of what losses they are willing to incur. It is suggested that this figure may vary from 8 % to almost 20% .

It is important for the buyers to understand that the lenders will not give away properties.

It takes two weeks to sixty days to get an approval from the lender to do a short sale.

It is very important for the buyer to understand this process and that this may take time.

Please make sure that if you are the Seller’s Real Estate Agent that you put a clause in the contract stating that the seller does not have to close on the property with this buyer if the lender does not approve the short sale. Otherwise, the seller would still be liable to close and come up with money for the difference.

Doing short sales can be very time consuming. However, it may be a good niche for you since not many Real Estate Agents have the patience to do them nor the knowledge.

E-mail me at Katerinag@bellsouth.net for coaching and consulting information for Real Estate Agents. I am a Realtor and a Business, Career, Health and Personal Coach, Real Estate Business Consultant, trainer and speaker. Yours In Real Estate, Katerina

Coaching For Real Estate Agents