WOW! What a Week in Real Estate!

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

This is the reaction to all the news media regarding how prices are going down, down, down! There are hundreds of expired listings in our market.

This past week we did the following:

We have a property that is listed for $ 200,000; we got an offer for $35,000! Can you imagine that? And because it was an offer we had to take our time and the sellers’ time to tell him about this low ball offer! Gag me with a spoon!

We have another property that is listed for over 2 million US dollars and we get an offer at $1.4 Million dollars! How embarrassing is that? The seller had more money into the project than the offer was for!

We have a lot that is listed for $120,000 and got an offer of only $65,000 on it!

And last but not least, we are negotiating on a property that the seller is selling for less than what he paid for it and the buyers are still not happy!

That seems to be a typical week here in this market these days. But with the law of attraction we are also attracting great deals and counting our blessings every day that we have action and deals that are closing. Many Real Estate agents in our market are quitting or getting supplemental jobs.

I met a Real Estate Agent working at a home depot design center because she needs the health insurance. I think we are going to see a lot of this. But this makes a Real Estate agent part time and then it is not possible to give great service and really take their real estate business to the next level.

So how is the Real Estate Market in your area? What is your typical week look like?

What are you doing to attract the right clients to you?

My husband owns our Real Estate company and I work as a Realtor and also as a speaker and coach.

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

Less Than Perfect Buyers

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Do you have buyers who have less than perfect credit these days? Not too long ago it was easy to get them loans in the sub prime market. However, because so many sub prime lenders are closing and/ or going bankrupt it is tough to get a loan through for sub prime buyers.

Lenders don’t want foreclosures. Yet right now we are seeing lots of foreclosures here in Florida. In St. Lucie County, Florida foreclosures were up 444% from last year. In Manatee county there were 1, 312 foreclosures just in the month of February. That is a lot of foreclosures for one small county.

What can you do as a Real Estate Agent to help your clients prevent foreclosure? Place your comments here on this blog about how you are helping your buyers to not get into this situation and how you are helping your sellers not go into foreclosure.

If you can have your buyers repair their credit first, it may be in their best interest to rent for a little while more in order to repair their credit and then apply for a prime loan. Put
them in touch with credit repair companies, but not the debt consolidation companies.

For sellers you can help them negotiate with their lender for a short sale if there is no way out of foreclosure for them and the best thing for them to do would be to sell their property before foreclosure happens. Some homeowners can make arrangements with their lenders on payment plans to catch up but you need to make sure they are able to realistically make those payments. There are creative ways to fend off foreclosures. I would like to hear how you as a Real Estate Agent are helping your sellers and other homeowners save their homes from foreclosure.

It is a great feeling when you can help people in this way. To save a home is a wonderful feeling. It is not always about getting a listing or a sale. It is about doing what is in the best interest of the buyer and seller. Establish their trust in you. Get to know them on a personal level and help serve them in their time of need. Remember when you are paying it forward it may not come back to you from where you expect it to. Give without expectation of what you will get in return because it will always come back to you and many times from places and people that had nothing to do with the original service.

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

How is the Real Esate Market where you live?

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

I would love to hear from you in different parts of the country about how your Real Estate Market is doing? Are prices coming down where you work or are they staying the same? It would be great to discuss the different markets.

It would also be great to share what is working in your area as far as how you as a Real Estate Agent are promoting your services in this market. In our Real Estate Board all the agents that jumped in when our market was really hot and thought they were going to get rich quick have been dropping out like flies. Veteran Real Estate agents are glad about that. When that dilution of the industry happens bad apples tend to show up and taint the public opinion about Real Estate Agents.

In our marketplace there is like this stand off going on. The sellers are refusing to drop their prices and the buyers are refusing to pay the sellers’ prices. That means a lot of homes are expiring and there are not a lot of sales going on right at the moment.

I believe in being ethical and honest with my prospects. When I go on a listing appointment I want to know why the seller is selling and where are they moving to.

Because if they can hold on for 4 or more years than they should not sell. On the other hand if they are moving out of the state, getting relocated or have to move because of threat of foreclosure than we need to have an aggressive marketing plan set up for them and they must be realistic about pricing.

My advice is to not take overpriced listings. You are not doing yourself or the seller any service by taking listings that are not going to sell. It makes you look like you do not know what you are doing. It only causes the seller to become angry with you and blame you for their house not selling.

I know there is an old school of thought out there among some Real Estate Agents to take the listing at the higher price and then come back in 30 days and tell the sellers to drop their price. I think this is unethical and deceiving. If sellers believe you at first and then you come back to drop the price you have just betrayed their trust in you. Remember that trust is the reason people do business with you.

Now, if the seller is adamant about overpricing to begin with, you can have them sign a letter stating that this is their idea and that they agree ahead of time to drop the price within a certain time frame if they are not getting any showings at their perceived price. Of course, prior to doing that I would caution them about the downfalls of starting off with a high price and how much money they stand to lose rather than gain by using this strategy. Show them the proof! Documentation beats conversation!

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

I heard a Big BAM!

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

And then our power went out! Yesterday at 12 noon the power on our street went out here in South Florida. There was no storm, no hurricane, no winds that could give us a power outage. I heard the transformer blow out with a loud BAM. And if made me wonder, “ WOW! Is Florida Power and Light really ready for the next big storm?”

I spent the next 30 minutes shutting down our computers and electronics in our office. I was thankful that we have battery back up power surges. That gives me a good 20 minutes to run around and shut down our systems.

For all you Real Estate agents; I would strongly suggest that if you do not have battery back up systems that you go out and invest in them today. No matter where you live a power outage can happen and you need time to shut down your computer safely so you do no lose your data.

It makes you think about getting ready for hurricane season which is coming upon us again. It is better to be prepared in advance before the problem happens. If you live in a hurricane area now is the time to prepare and get your supplies in order. Real Estate agents can send out a postcard to their database reminding their contacts to get prepared and add some tips to the mailer.

We went out to eat last night since we had no power. We did not want to go through the headache and hassle of setting up the generator. When we got back we started looking for our flashlights. Of course during the year since last hurricane season the kids played with the flashlights. We went to get the flashlights and most of them were not where they were supposed to be. Well, that makes you think some more about being prepared. So guess what is on my list to do in May? Get the batteries, flashlights, first aid kits, and food supplies all in order! What is on your list to get ready and be prepared?

We did not get our power back until 9:30 p.m. last night. So I was not able to post in my blog yesterday. I usually write my posts and upload them around 2 p.m. daily during the week. I don’t usually write in my blog on weekends because that is family time for us.

We are very blessed to live such a great life! A Real Estate agent’s life does not have to be chaotic and stressful. You can learn the skills needed to reduce your stress levels and organize your real estate career in such a way that you control your business and therefore your business does not control you.

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

The Golden Rule Of Sales For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

“ Internalize the ‘Golden Rule’ of sales that says, “ All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.” – Bob Burg

This golden rule of sales is the most important rule you should remember as you are setting your goals of listings and sales as a Real Estate Agent and what you want to achieve this year in your Real Estate business. Each time you interact with another person you have a choice to build on that relationship or not. In order to build on your relationships you must understand the value of trust.

My absolute favorite book on this subject is , “ How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. This is a book you should have around you at all times. Memorize the principles Dale teaches in this powerful book. This should be a book that all Real Estate Agents must read before they take their state exam for a Real Estate license! Check out my other favorite books to read in my profile.

How do you get someone to like you and trust you?

One of the easiest ways to do this is to listen and ask lots of questions.

The more questions you ask sincerely wishing to understand your prospect the more that person will feel like you really care about them and what is important to them.

Another very easy thing you can do every day is when you are talking to people make it a habit to use their name at least 3 times in each conversation. A great tip in remembering someone’s name that I have used is that when they first say their name to me I repeat it back right away thereby inbedding their name in my memory so I won’t forget it! When you talk to people; use their name a lot. The most important word in any language is a person’s own name! This will help people to like you. Unless you are some jerk this will work very well in establishing a good relationship built on know, like and trust.

If you are a jerk than you can change that too!

“Here’s the rock, paper, scissors game of selling:

Relationship is more powerful than price.

Relationship is more powerful than delivery.

Relationship is more powerful than quality.

Relationship is more powerful than service.” – Jeffrey Gitomer

That is why you see those Real Estate Agents who give no delivery, service or quality still keep their uncles’ listings! And you wonder, ‘Gosh’, what is going on here? I work so hard, efficiently, give great service and quality. But you see, in this situation, you must build the relationship. In a great relationship your shortcomings are forgiven easily or even altogether overlooked. That is not to say that you should not provide good delivery, quality, price and service; it just means that you must first build the relationship!

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

For Real Estate Agents

Protect Your Right To Your Business, Coaching for Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Protect Your Right To Your Business!

I just read the report from Pat Vredevoogd Combs, 2007 president of the National Association of Realtors® that was just released on the Realtor.Org news page. As Real Estate Agents we all need to be involved with the fight against Banking getting into the Real Estate business of Brokering. They have already gotten involved in selling securities and insurance. Consumers’ rights need to be protected and that is not going to happen with banks taking over the real estate business. Feel free to post your comments regarding banks going into real estate brokerage from the point of view of a real estate agent.

The biggest problem I see is that when the federal government takes over any area of business regulation you they bog everyone down with tons of red tape paperwork and busy work that is of no importance to the related business.

If banks push themselves into Real Estate brokerage the way they have with insurance and securities you as a broker would have to get an SEC license to operate your Real Estate company. We would be governed by the feds through the securities exchange commission and the states would lose their licensing powers and enforcement powers.

It is the states’ job to protect its’ consumers and that right will be taken away with this new Supreme Court ruling just made. Please read the entire article online at Realtor.org.

This is a matter of serious consequences both for you as a Real Estate agent and your clients, your buyers and sellers! Now, at first glance, the consumer is not going to realize the implications of this ruling. It is up to you to get educated on this and pass the information along to consumers. The consumer is going to be thinking, great, maybe they won’t have to pay brokerage fees to a Real Estate agent, not understanding the full implications and how much in the end they really be paying. Is the bank after the best interest of their customers? I don’t think so!

However, I as a Real Estate agent look out for my buyers and sellers. I make sure they get the best price for their properties. I make sure my buyers get the best price for the house they want. I make sure that the home inspection is done, that all disclosures regarding the property are made, that the mortgage company is charging the right fees, that the title company is charging the correct amounts and I also alert our buyers and sellers what parts of these charges are negotiable and may be able to be deleted, thus, saving them all money. Now, you tell me, what bank is going to do that?

The bank is going to do the title, the mortgage, the insurance and the real estate transaction! One stop shopping that is not in the best interest of the customer!

Get a hold of your state Senators and Congressmen and women and let them know your concerns. This should not be taken lightly. As NAR® President is quoted as saying today, “Any persons or organizations that are concerned with state statutes and regulations, and the ability of the federal government to preempt these state regulations, should find today’s opinion disconcerting.”

For Further Information regarding this topic:

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

CCoaching For Real Estate Agents

What do you do with the Stinkers? For Real Estate Agents

Coaching For Real Estate Agents

What do you do with your stinkers? For Real Estate Agents

Do you feel intimidated or fearful that you won’t get the listing if you tell your client their house stinks like dog pee and no one is going to buy a house that stinks like dog pee? What about the house that has clutter all over the living room and there is no place to even sit down? Are you honest with your sellers and tell them the truth or do you sugar coat the truth and then end up with a horrid listing that is never going to sell in the condition that it is in?

I have been using home staging techniques to get our sellers’ homes in top condition without a lot of outlay of money upfront. I met with a home stager, Victoria, to find out more of her secrets on how she gets a home staged for optimum appeal. The seller can do very simple things like packing up all the clutter and getting rid of old and torn furniture.

Vacant homes can even be filled with rented furniture. Now for Real Estate Agents who do not have time for all this extra work on top of what all we are already doing finding a home stager you can build a relationship with and that home stager can help you sell you listings for top dollar.

This is an overview that Victoria with Staging by Victoria sent to me to help you understand a little more about home staging and how this will benefit us Real Estate Agents:

Staging is the process of preparing any home for sale regardless of price or location. Home buyers are influenced by your home’s layout, furnishings or lack of furnishings, and accessories. Buyers only know what they see, not the way it is going to be. Your home needs to be inviting. The longer a buyer is in your home the more time they have to imagine themselves living there. But clutter, poorly arranged furniture and personal items can reduce your home’s appeal and have buyers running to see the next house.

Staging is not remodeling and is a minimal investment that can have huge payoffs. Statistics show that staged homes sell faster and for more money. The house that looks the best sells first. So beat out your competition by increasing your home’s appeal, stage it.

For Real Estate agents working in a tighter market this may help to sell your listings. The tighter the market the harder it is to sell the ugly and smelly houses! When the market is hot people buy anything they can get their hands on, like a feeding frenzy. But now the real estate market is tougher to deal with and the houses are sitting on the market longer and most of all the houses that are in tip top shape are going to sell before the smelly ones!

For Further Information regarding this topic:

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

CCoaching For Real Estate Agents