Whoever Has the Most Listings….Wins!

Show me a Top Producer and I’ll show you a strong Listing Agent.

A listing is a “Primary” piece of business that generates “Secondary” or ancillary business.

From a listing comes, Internet Leads, Sign Leads, Open House opportunities, “Just Listed” Card Leads, “Just Sold” Card Leads, Print Media Leads, etc. At the same time, the Listing promotes the Listing Agents without the Listing Agents having to promote themselves.

When you draft your 2012 business plan or goals, start with how many listings you’ll need to get there. From your listings…the Buyers will come.

After you’ve determined how many listings you’ll need…go get them! I mean, why not get them out of the way and into your inventory as soon as possible.

Contact your Sphere of Influence, Geographical Farms, some of the referring business people you know…call on a few Expireds. Find out who’s thinking of selling or buying in 2012.

The more salable inventory you have going into the Spring Market the more prosperous you will be in 2012.

A Great Time to Buy!

It’s time to change our mantra. For several years now we have been hearing how bad the real estate market is with words like, crash, turbulent, down, struggling, unstable, etc. being heard way too often. The fact is, when it’s a bad time to sell it’s a great time to buy.

Every economic indicator points to a market that is poised to change for better:

The Unemployment Rate in New Hampshire has fallen to 5.7% and Maine continues to outperform the country by almost 2 points.

Consumer Confidence has risen by 11 points in the last quarter and Consumer Expectations is up 9 points.

Consumer spending rose 4.7% in December over December 2010.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 608 points since December 1st.

When you combine this economic data with a 3.87% interest rate it truly is a great time to buy.

As we move throughout our day we can choose one of two messages. Let’s choose the positive. Let’s memorize the stats above and start conveying a message that prompts Buyers to action.

A Market Where Great Fortunes Are Made

In November of 1993, Unemployment peaked at 8.9% and began to drop from there. It took some time, but consumer confidence began to strengthen and the market slowly turned around.

In this time, my friend Bill picked up a few condos at auction in a 300 unit development. A few weeks later, the FDIC approached him to buy a few more. The banks weren’t lending at the complex, so he sought out a couple of wealthy friends to privately finance the condos. A couple of months later, the FDIC called him again and he bought more. Over two or three years this continued. In total, he bought 57 units for an average purchase price of $18,000 a unit. He rented them in the $700 a month range which easily covered his high interest mortgage as well as taxes and condo fees.

There was nothing special about Bill. He had no formal higher education and he was often abrasive. If he possessed one great quality it was an intense desire to succeed…to accumulate wealth.

About five years later, Bill started selling off the units over a three year period. Some of the units sold for $50,000 and many others sold for $90,000. In short, he bought low and sold high. When I asked him why he sold the units he said, “My back was hurting from collecting all the rents in a wheelbarrow.”

The past six weeks have seen a drop in unemployment. Will consumer confidence soon rise a bit? Is this the low? Is the market poised to change? There are really so many great deals out there that carry themselves. If one desire to be wealthy and real estate is the chosen path, I really believe that now is the time to get out there and pick up some extremely undervalued assets.

It’s in a market like this that great fortunes are made.

Don’t Forget the Buyers…

Being a listing agent is the strongest approach to real estate sales: you have a contract, you get the exposure, you determine the rate offered co-brokes, and 50-60% of your Sellers will buy through you as well.

However, we cannot forget the Buyers. Simply put, Buyers make up half of the transactions. Moreover, today’s Buyers are tomorrow’s Sellers.

One thing I’ll never understand is Buyers’ resistance to engaging a Buyer’s Agent. Similar to most Sellers, the Buyer should interview a few agents to find out whom they are comfortable with. After that, it is always in the Buyer’s best interest to engage a great Buyer’s Agent. The first reason is that it rarely costs the Buyer any additional money. The second is that a Buyer’s Agent is there to negotiate the best price, terms, and conditions. Lastly, the Buyer’s Agent assists with due diligence and eases the complicated process of buying a home.

At the same time, I do not understand why Agents will take Buyers out a dozen times without any commitment to loyalty or compensation from them. It just doesn’t make any sense. Time is way too important than to potentially waste.

I think the best approach is to state expectations up front. The Agent should tell the Buyers to consider the first few showings as a sort of job interview. At the same time, the Agent should be able to have stats that show a proven track record of success at Buyer Agency and a few references to back it. However, the Agent should make it very clear that if the Buyer is satisfied after the “interview” process that they will need to proceed to a contract that is beneficial to both parties.

Buying a home, whether it’s the first or fourth, should be an exciting and rewarding process. A great Buyer’s Agent will only enhance the journey.

Choose to have a Great Year!

Barring an unexpected health crisis, having a great year or not having a great year is a choice you need to make. Be deliberate.

Of the successes that I have had in life, none of them came by accident…they all came by choosing to do the footwork…and then doing it. Sometimes the success was immediate and other times the success came right before I was about to give up. However, the results always came.

On a personal end, if I want to be in better physical shape this year, then I need to choose to eat less and exercise more. Then I need to do it.

Review last year and then decide what would have made it a great year (if it wasn’t). What do you need to do blatantly different? What do you need to tweak a bit?

If you want to make an additional $25,000 in 2012, what specific actions do you need to choose to do? In most markets, that means an additional five sales. That’s less than half a transaction a month.

Choose to list five additional properties…3 or 4 will sell…and you’ll pick up 1 or 2 Buyer sides from the listings. There’s your $25k. Why not choose to list them within the next 8 weeks?

Decide what you want, how you’re going to get there, and most importantly, take action on your plan.

On my end, I’m choosing to have a great year with you.

Get the Contract Signed!

I spoke a bit about it last week…this is the time of year that we hear, “Let’s put the house on after the first…”

Three objections to this are:

“A home never looks warmer than it does at Christmas time…”

“Many nostalgic Buyers are returning to the neighborhood they grew up in. We should at least get a sign up and let them know your home is available.”

“At Christmas time, we find that only the most serious Buyers are out there.”

If the home owner is persistent in delaying, PLEASE get the contract signed!

Try this, “Why don’t we get the paperwork out of the way and we’ll start the marketing for January first?”

It’s happened to all of us. We get the promise of a listing, but a couple of weeks later the homeowner finds out that her niece or family friend has just gotten into the business. The listing is gone and, frankly, we can’t cash “sorries.” Shame on us for not getting the contract signed.

Another thing worth doing this time of year is tracking Expireds that did not come back on the market. Make sure you place more attention on those within your farm area. Mail them a letter saying something like the following:

“If you are thinking of selling your home in the New Year, please call me to find out about how a fresh marketing plan can get your home sold in 2012…”

Just some thoughts as we take the corner into the New Year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmastime.

Toss the Pebble…

A few days after cold-calling at the door of an Expired Listing, I had finally picked up the listing. The few times that I drove the street to their home, I had passed a new construction FSBO that was really bothering me. It was, of course, bothering me because I didn’t have the listing.

Feeling good with the new contract in hand from the Expired, I stopped at the FSBO to introduce myself. The home was framed and the builder was inside hacking away. I admired him greatly as he was literally building the home with one arm as the other was gone at the elbow.

I introduced myself and offered to help him get the home sold. He explained that his wife was a realtor and was feeling sick and that he threw the sign up until she felt better.

He must have respected and appreciated my “politely aggressive” style as he called a few weeks later. Sadly, his wife had cancer and was not getting better. While he and his wife knew dozens of real estate agents personally, it was me whom he called to get his properties sold.

Not only did he own the home he was building, but he also owned the abutting home. In addition, he owned two lots of land: one in a fine subdivision and another in an established neighborhood in Bradford. Two months later, his wife referred a listing to me on the other side of town from one of her past clients. I listed the home and sold the buying side to a family whom I was showing homes to. A few months later, her son called and I sold him one of my listings in the heart of town.

I didn’t realize what was happening at the time, but when I looked back I realized that one introduction at a FSBO had put me in the midst of 6 transactions and 8 sides!

So many of the successes that I have had throughout my career have come when I stepped outside of my comfort zone and went one step further than my competition. It really was not that difficult to get out of my truck and introduce myself.

It’s amazing how ripples can come from one pebble. We just need to have the courage to toss it.

Are You Living the Dream?

As my friend Mary Williams says, “We all come into this business with the dream…”

I have to agree as I have never heard anyone say, “I’m getting into real estate to make a little money as possible.” In my own path, I knew that the only way for me to rise in this life was to have a job with no ceiling on my income and, at the same time, earn an income that was in direct relation to the foot work I was willing to put forth.

For others, real estate sales is a great escape from the potentially mundane life in a cubicle. Still, for others, it’s a field where one can have enough flexibility and freedom to raise their kids and be part of the community. While the dream may vary…we all have it.

Whatever the dream, we need to go back to it…relish in it…and then live it.

Too many agents are sitting around saying how hard the market it is. We need to remember that no matter what the market it is…it is still a market. An enormous amount of real estate is transferring. The question is, “How much of it are you capturing?”

For example, in my hometown, around $267 Million in real estate has sold this year. While the market is sluggish and sometimes turbulent, the fact is it is a $267 Million market here. If you desire to sell $5 million or $10 million a year…you need to find ways to penetrate this market and take your share.

We need to be determined to capture as much of this market as we desire. We need to work our spheres of influence, cultivate our geographic farms, network hard with our inner-sphere, take on a niche that mirrors the market, overcome buyer objections, and manage client expectations. At the same time, we need to perfect a listing presentation to the point that we leave absolutely no question in a seller’s mind who they should list with.

Despite the market, we need to be excellent. And when we choose to be excellent, that forgotten dream will soon reappear.