The Deeds for Lease Program Coming Soon to a Slum Near You (Also Coming Soon: the Slum)
Fannie Mae announced today it’s implementation of the Deeds for Lease Program (which name, interestingly, they have trademarked). I cannot begin to count the problems with this latest attempt by the government to sober up an alcoholic nation by supplying enough booze to drown a water hippo.
You can read the press release and imagine the nightmare yourself so I’m not going to recount it here, but I will point out one of the less reported aspects of this program that has the potential to cause a whole lot of those pesky unintended consequences our political leaders are so loathe to anticipate:
… (the borrowers or tenants) lease back the house at a market rate… Borrowers or tenants interested in a lease must be able to document that the new market rental rate is no more than 31% of their gross income.
Interesting wording there at the end. It’s not clear at first glance, but what this means is that if the borrower - who has generally endured a financial hardship to begin with - doesn’t make enough money, they’re still eligible… the rent will just have to drop to below market. Well what could go wrong with a government/landlord artificially lowering rents throughout the nation… That shouldn’t bother anyone who works with real estate investors should it? Anyone here, reading BHB, work with real estate investors? I didn’t think so. Sorry to have brought it up. I’m sure the people who paid $70,000 for $30,000 trailers that are STILL housing people post Katrina know exactly what they’re doing.
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No commentsHomebound hounds: You’re going to have break those chains on your own this year in San Diego
I think it should be obvious by our lack of self-promotion, but we ended up not putting anything together for BloodhoundBlog Unchained in San Diego. I can’t speak for Brian, but I’ve been wall-to-wall with work for months, and I haven’t had time for anything else.
I’ll go through the PayPal records tonight to make sure everyone’s money is refunded.
Meanwhile: If you see any NAR grand poobahs, be sure to kick ‘em in the shins for shifting all your November move-ups into December. Christmas may be good, Thanksgiving not so much…
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1 commentA strategy for the Republican party that can actually win elections
The national Republican party is riven by an insuperable internal contradiction.
Out of one side of their mouths, Republicans wish to portray themselves as tax cutters, red-tape slashers, champions of liberty fearlessly hacking away at the slimy tentacles of the leviathan state. Ignore for the moment that they’re spineless jellyfish when it comes time to cut, slash or hack; this is how they wish to present themselves.
Out of the other side of their mouths, Republicans offer American voters an alternate set of slimy tentacles for the same old leviathan. The state they promise to shrink will simultaneously promote a nebulous family values agenda and forbid abortion. Republicans will simultaneously dismantle the Department of Education and supplant ecosocialist indoctrination with theocratic indoctrination. The leviathan state will lose the power to ban cancer drugs but gain the power to ban rap records.
Things fall apart. The center cannot hold…
Whatever the Republican party seeks to be in the states, in the counties, in the towns, what it cannot be at the national level is the party of both smaller and larger government. It can’t because as a strategy it makes no sense, and it can’t because there is no common ground between the liberty-seeking Republicans and the theocracy-seeking Republicans. Those two wings of the party can only fly apart in the long run.
But: There is a way around this: The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
If the national Republican party were to concentrate solely on shrinking the Federal leviathan to a strict adherence to the Constitution, devolving all of the usurped tentacular powers to the states to do with — or do away with — as they choose, the party could achieve these goals:
- It would actually deliver on a promise, prompting universal amazement.
- It would present to both of its contradictory wings the opportunity to achieve at the state and local levels what they cannot hope to achieve nationally.
- It would result in something much better than campaign finance reform: A Federal government that’s not worth buying because it has nothing to sell.
- It would result in something much better than tax reform: A massive reduction in the Federal tax burden.
- It would give Republicans a lasting national agenda. Moreover, it would protect American voters from the predations of the Democrats even when Republicans are out of power.
I myself am a libertarian, and I suppose it’s important to answer the libertarian objection: Fifty small tyrannies is not preferable to one large one. This is false on a number of grounds.
First, the only devolution of power that can be effected by the Federal government is the devolution of Federal power. Whatever else you might hope to do at other levels of government must be done there.
Second, tyranny is most onerous where escaping it is most costly. So long as free-thinkers can easily move to New York or California, it doesn’t matter as much what happens in Iowa or Alabama. Moving from the U.S. to New Zealand is a much higher hurdle.
Third, the irrationality of bad laws is most obvious where comparison is easiest. If it turns out that the Iowans scare away their best and brightest with irrational laws, the Iowans will either change their ways or pay the consequences of failing to.
The Framers of the U.S. Constitution anticipated that the states would comprise laboratories of democracy, each seeking to find the best balance between individual rights and collective authority. Devolving political power from the Federal government to the states, and from there to the counties and municipalities, most closely mimics the grand idea expressed in the Declaration of Independence: The consent of the governed.
In effect, I am offering to the national Republican party the choicest cut of the libertarian steak, the insufferable confiscatory Federal nanny-state. What Republicans choose to do on the state and local levels is their business. What they will stop trying to do is to find a common national ground between Connecticut country-clubbers and Texas bible-thumpers. There is none.
Cut Federal agencies one by one, and cut taxes in lockstep. Sell Federal assets to reduce the national debt. Pass Constitutional amendments that clarify the meaning of the Preamble to the Constitution, the Interstate Commerce Clause and other clauses that weasel-wording lawyers have used to feed the leviathan. Repeal the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments to restore to the states their power over the Federal government. Do everything necessary to give us the Federal government provided for in the Constitution, and then start whittling away at that. Ecosocialists and theocrats can impose their views on those who share them. Those of us who don’t can get on with the business of building a civilization.
That is a national Republican agenda that can win. It gives the liberty-seeking Republicans the liberty they seek. It gives the theocracy-seeking Republicans a fighting chance to achieve their goals locally. And it will appeal to many, many Democrats, Independents and Libertarians, each for their own reasons.
This can win. And nothing else will.
Further notice: I wrote this in November of 1998. Nothing has changed since then, alas, and nothing will now, either, I’m afraid.
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11 commentsCongress extends and expands the home-buyer’s tax credit
Under the housing program, people seeking to own a home for the first time in three years would receive an $8,000 tax credit if they sign a contract by April 30 and close on it by June 30. Current homeowners who are buying a new primary residence would be eligible for a $6,500 tax credit starting Dec. 1 if they owned their home for five consecutive years in the previous eight.The timing is more lenient for military families who have been deployed overseas for 90 days or more in 2008 or 2009. They would have until April 30, 2011 to sign a contract.
But the measure limits the purchase price of the home to $800,000. It also imposes income caps so that people who make more than $125,000 annually and couples who make more than $225,000 would not be eligible for a refund. Anyone who collects the tax credit but sells their home within three years of buying it must return the refund.
The program is estimated to cost $10.8 billion.
The passage of the tax credit provision was a huge win for the real estate industry, which has been lobbying aggressively to extend and expand the program. They say the tax credit has helped boost sales and clear out a glut of lower-priced homes, especially foreclosures, and that ending it would be a blow to the housing market’s recovery.
But critics of the program, including some economists, say the program is far too expensive. They say that most people who used it would have bought homes anyway. They attribute the uptick in home sales in recent months more to low prices and record low interest rates.
Questions for the lenders: The tax credit for move-ups doesn’t commence until 12/01/09. What about first-timers? Can they be under contract now, or do they need to wait until after the end of the month.
More: Do I read this right? Can you “move up” after having rented for the last three years?
I hate this, of course. The real estate market can’t shake out if we won’t let it. But as listers of higher-end homes… Thus does the legislature make whores of us all.
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7 commentsFannieRents: “Taxpayers are now going to own all these houses Fannie Mae should have unloaded. It’s going to cost a fortune.”
Can’t pay the mortgage? You still might be able to stay in your home. Government-controlled mortgage company Fannie Mae is going to give borrowers on the verge of foreclosure the option of renting their homes for a year.The change announced Thursday could give a temporary break to thousands of homeowners, but critics question whether it will only add to the mushrooming losses at the company, which has received billions in taxpayer money.
The new “Deed for Lease” program will allow homeowners to transfer title to Fannie Mae and sign a one-year lease, with potential month-to-month extensions after that. It also helps save money because the lender does not need to complete the often lengthy and time-consuming foreclosure process.
The program helps “eliminate some of the uncertainty of foreclosure, keeps families and tenants in their homes during a transitional period, and helps to stabilize neighborhoods and communities,” Jay Ryan, a Fannie Mae vice president, said in a statement.
It also does less harm to the borrower’s credit record.
“It shows that you put your best effort to work out a solution,” said Gabe Del Rio, director of homeownership at Community HousingWorks of San Diego.
However, Mike Himes, director of homeownership services at NeighborWorks Sacramento, said the industry should push harder to modify loans at lower monthly payments. “The preferred option is allowing people to retain ownership,” he said.
Fannie Mae executives said the rental program is designed to help delinquent homeowners who don’t qualify for a loan modification, but still want to stay in their homes.
To qualify, homeowners have to live in the home as the primary residence and prove that they can afford the market rent, which will be established by the management company running the program. Rents are based on current market rates.
The plan is expected to be particularly attractive in places like Phoenix or Orange County, Calif., where homeowners are stuck paying large mortgage bills on properties that are now worth far less than they originally paid. At the same time, rents have been falling in those areas and homeowners may find they are paying far less to live in their home.
In Orange County, for example, the average monthly rent for all apartments was about $1,450 in September, down nearly 8 percent from a year earlier, according to research firm MPF Research. In Phoenix, the average renter paid about $720, also down about 8 percent from last year.
Still, based on a similar program, the effort is likely to attract a relatively small number of homeowners.
In the first nine months of the year, Fannie Mae took ownership of nearly 2,000 properties through a process known as a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. That pales in comparison to the 90,000 foreclosed properties the company repossessed in the period.
Deed-in-lieu works like the new program, allowing homeowners to turn over title to Fannie Mae, but rather than renting, the owners simply walk away.
While Fannie Mae executives say the company’s motives are community-minded, critics say the company is simply gambling that the properties will eventually sell for a higher price. That’s folly, says Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital in Darien, Conn., and a longtime bearish investor.
“Taxpayers are now going to own all these houses that (Fannie Mae) should have unloaded,” he said. “It’s going to cost a fortune.”
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5 commentsWhat could be more important than television?
I had a dental dilemma yesterday, and it’s left me less than useful. I’m working — I wrote a contract earlier this evening — but I’m housebound for now. It gives me time to post, for a change, and this is an important topic that I’ve wanted to take on for quite some time.
The issue?
Television.
I almost never make time for it, and then not regularly, but there are exceptions in my life (facilitated by on-line and on-demand re-runs).
Thus:
1. Glee. Incomparable harmonies. Preciously POMO, but still deliciously rude. Corollary: Baseball sucks. Cut it out.
2. Madmen. Will Donald Draper defenestrate this Sunday?
3. South Park. I have concluded that Leopold Stotch (”Butters”) is the glue that holds the show together.
I would like to have something of moment to say about Entourage, which we always enjoy when we see it, but I’m too cheap to pay for HBO.
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5 commentsVook dead yet? Doesn’t matter. If you want to sell blades, first you have to find stubble that people are willing to pay to have shaved.
This was in my email this morning, spam from LinkedIn.com:
Joel Burslem is no longer Director of Product Development at Vook
Means what, I don’t know. Deck chairs on the Titanic. There is no huge surging mass of sub-literates demanding even easier-reading access to the half-shouted profundities of Gary Vaynerchuk. Love him or hate him, the guys lives and dies in video. He cannot be caged by a page, no matter how stylish or expensive or electronic that page might be. The book is a dead letter, so how could the Vook not be an even-deader letter? You cannot even pretend to believe otherwise unless you are in the pay of Brad Inman.
But: None of that matters. The Vook is instructive because it teaches us a host of interesting lessons about how to fail in business. Big names. Big funding. Design budget. Attractive product that works. Fancy offices filled with bigfoot corporate types. Even Aeron chairs, I’ll bet. What could go wrong?
Only this: There is no market for the product.
Remember that “find a need and fulfill it” bit from Business 101?
Can you name even one person who has confided to you, “You know, I’d probably read more if books were more like television?”
“I’d sure like to read more books, but the books I want to read are interrupted at intervals by bad actors enacting bad scripts.”
“What I want from books requires a sub-woofer!”
That’s a disaster from day one, and I have been ridiculing the Vook since first I heard about it. But even now, I can see an actual use for this technology: How-To books: How to build a rocking chair in 24 easy steps or The Kama Sutra for Klutzes. Those could sell, because they answer a need that can be served by both text and video. Even then, though, they’d be better as web sites — easier to control, easier to revise, etc.
But let’s go back to the Vook’s original marketing problem and try to solve it in a better way.
Brad Inman is a choke-point dinosaur. His goal was to come up with a “blade” dispenser — a relatively cheap razor that could be used to sell higher-profit “blades” over and over again. Gillette’s razors, Kodak’s cameras and Amazon’s Kindle device are all examples of this very-common business model. Because he has worked his whole life in publishing — selling vast quantities of a publication no one reads — he naturally gravitated to publishing for his new venture. He has a background in video, also, and video — unlike paper — is not easy to produce, reproduce, exhibit or copy. If anything could make a book into a “blade,” it would be video.
Except that books themselves are dying as an information transmission medium, dedicated devices you have to schlep around are an anathema and no one is crying out in desperate need for badly-animated comic books starring Gary Vaynerchuk.
I had two words for this idiot product when it was announced: Market research.
The Vook is just a dumb idea, but the base idea — a dedicated device that people are willing to pay added-value fees to gain access to — that may not be completely off the wall. Or maybe the place for an idea like that is on the wall.
Look at this:

That’s a beautiful photograph. So it this one:

Those are just two news photos I found today on-line. There are hundreds more, just as striking, taken every day. And there are millions of other very striking photos that have been taken over the decades. And thousands of drawings, illustrations and paintings.
High definition video monitors are the perfect picture frames, and we are soon headed for the day of video fabrics that will work like wall-paper — and eventually like garments.
We are on the cusp of an age when the quantity of available video screens will be massively increased — and every one of them is going to need programming.
For now, a dedicated device could connect a big Aquous-like monitor to a net-based service that fed images to that huge screen.
This is programmable art as decor.
You already have big picture frames all over the place.
You already have a small USB-fed picture frame on your disk, filled with eight gigs of family photos.
A device like this combines the two: Huge, striking graphic images that change at intervals — an evanescent art far better than you can afford to purchase in atoms, but yours for pennies a day when sold to you as electrons.
You’re already paying for decor. All we’re doing is turning decor into “blades” — something you purchase continuously, rather than only when you change homes.
That’s a business.
Your mood is programmable — on the fly. The intervals, the arcs of the color wheel, the tone and tenor of the images themselves — all controllable by you.
This is something people would pay for. This is something I would pay for, and I hate everything.
And remember, the quantity of available video surfaces in our lives is about to explode. There are a lot of business opportunities in here, but there are a lot of Web 2.0-like options, too. What a DeeJay does is more than just records, and what an Image- or Video-Jockey does can be far more than mere images.
This could be huge…
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3 commentsVoters discover a cure for Obamania?
I actually feel kind of bad for the should-have-known-better folks who voted for Obama. It was obvious to me last fall that he was a false-flag candidate, a stone liberal masquerading as a centrist. And I understand that, for true stone liberals, he’s actually been somewhat of a disappointment. But for people who can do math, their misplaced faith in Obama has to sting twice, once for having been so dreadfully wrong, and once again because snarky assholes like me just won’t let it slide.
But here’s the good news, from my point of view: Last night’s results may have the immediate impact of putting the brakes on all this tax-and-spend stupidity. The larger stupidities will endure, of course, but we just might have gotten ourselves shut of the home-buyer’s tax-credit last night. Surely this is an event worth celebrating.
This is Instanpundit.com’s Glenn Reynolds in today’s New York Post:
But [Obama] was right the first time about not being ready for the Oval Office. As president, he seems confused and a bit distant on the issues, leaving the details to congressional Democrats and an ever-growing number of “czars” while he golfs and launches attacks at Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
With the economy tanking (unemployment is much worse after Obama’s deficit-swelling stimulus than Obama’s advisers predicted it would be with no stimulus at all), with the promised post-partisanship dissolving into witch-hunts against hostile media and the promised post-racial America devolving into the awkwardly staged “beer summit,” with the “necessary war” in Afghanistan the subject of endless dithering and the promised “smart diplomacy” materializing as a series of awkward missteps by Hillary Clinton, the froth has become a lot less frothy.
Republicans, who were prepared to give Obama the benefit of the doubt a year ago, now can’t stand him. Independents who voted for him are deserting in droves. And Democrats don’t seem that happy either.
The good news for Obama is that he doesn’t have to run for re-election for three more years, so he still has a chance to get his feet under him. But for Congress members facing elections in a year — including but not limited to the famous “blue-dog” Democrats — the lesson of this week is that Obama can’t save their seats if the public is unhappy (and, equally, that Obama probably can’t hurt them much, either). So what Obama wants is nice, but it’s what the voters in their districts want that will control.
That makes Obama’s health-care “reform” package look iffy and his other big plans for remaking America look even iffier. With the hope having faded, enthusiasm for change seems much diminished. From a mythic figure, Obama has shrunk to an ordinary politician — and, so far, not an obviously deft one. It’ll be politics as usual from now on, and we can thank Obama, at least, for making politics-as-usual seem not so bad after all …
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1 commentCIT + FED = BK
A few months back, as part of a Tin Foil Hat Production, I mentioned CIT’s desperate need for funds and the Fed’s decision not to bail them out. Why is this noteworthy? After all, I don’t believe the Fed should bail anybody out. I cheer wildly to see Ford record surprising profits while competing against the Frankenstein creation that is GM, just as I quietly root for GM’s justified demise. But here we are, with CIT declaring bankruptcy and the hypocrisy is just too much. Apparently, a company focused on financing small business (70% of the entire factoring business!) is not worth a bail out from the administration that claims to look for ways to spur Small Business. Color me cynical, but I think CIT’s main problem was a lack of Goldman-Sach’s alumni on its board…
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14 comments“The net effect of government intrusions in the real estate market is to create a standing wave of foreclosures amid steadily-declining home values”
This from my Arizona Republic real estate column:
As I write this, the entire real estate industry is on tenterhooks, waiting to see if the $8,000 first-time home-buyers tax credit is going to be extended.
It’s not really a tax credit, it’s a taxpayer-funded subsidy, a “gift” extracted by force from everyone who does not buy a house under the program. The money taken from taxpayers — either now or later by deficit spending — is money that cannot be spent or invested elsewhere.
And it’s not as though this were a zero-sum game. The actual marginal sales — the home sales that would not have happened without the subsidy — may have cost taxpayers from $40,000 to $75,000 each. And as huge as those numbers are, they ignore the interest cost of the borrowed money, the opportunity costs of mal-investment and the compound interest value of those opportunity costs.
Government action cannot create wealth. At best, it moves wealth around. At worst, government destroys wealth by taking it away from the very people who have new ideas and new technologies to invest in.
But as bad as this tax credit is, it’s only temporary. Someday it will end. The mortgage interest tax deduction — which almost no home-owners actually get — is forever. The government dominance of the secondary mortgage market — FannieMae, FreddieMac, GinnieMae, etc. — is forever.
And here’s the real kick in the head, given all we’ve been through in the real estate market over the last eight years: The National Association of Realtors reports that 59% of all new home loans this year were underwritten by the Federal Housing Authority, the Veterans Administration or the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
What this means is that a huge number of homes will have been sold this year with down-payments ranging from 3.5% to -5%. Six out of ten new mortgages are essentially nothing-down loans.
The U.S. government wants to buy your vote by making home-ownership easy. But the net effect of government intrusions in the real estate market is to create a standing wave of foreclosures amid steadily-declining home values.
Steal this book: I’ve written over 200 of these real estate columns. They are consistently one of the most popular features on our blogs. Many of them are dated and/or entirely Phoenixocentric. But many others are timeless and generic. If you want to use any of my columns on your weblog or web site, feel free. Three rules: Don’t change my text, credit me as the author and give me a link back to http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/ with appropriate anchor text. Something like this, perhaps:
<a href="http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/" target="_blank"> Phoenix Realtor Greg Swann</a> suggested I share this with you:
Am I link-baiting? You bet. The quid pro quo is free content for your site that pulls eyeballs and excites interest.
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6 commentsBusiness as Politics? No way.
I don’t know where I am on the political spectrum. I don’t think it’s particularly important. But I know that if I took Robert Worthington’s approach to my business, I would be out of a job. People come to me with problems. I try to help them resolve their problems within the set of rules. They pay me. End of story.
What I think about those rules when I lay my head down at night is quite distinct from how I earn a living.
Whether you’re a lawyer or a real estate agent, a lender or a widget maker, you add value to the world by solving other people’s problems: keeping them out of jail, finding them a home, helping them finance a purchase, or selling them some widgets.
How you conduct your business - how you treat people and honor your commitments - matters.
What you think about whether they take a tax credit, or borrowed from 2003-2006 at Fed subsidized mortgage rates, or have benefited for decades from the mortgage interest rate deduction does not matter.
And if you’re so concerned about an $8,000 tax credit that you’d turn away customers, I think, quite frankly, your priorities are confused. There are some deep injustices in the world, and in this country. An $8,000 giveaway, however stupid or smart a policy that may be, is not one of them.

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5 commentsYou Can’t Drink Yourself Sober…..
Technorati Tags: First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, Government Bailout

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No commentsWith help like this…
Robert Worthington is right. Do you want to know how right he is? According to Goldman Sachs, who ought to know about government intervention, the feds interventions into the housing have pushed home prices 5% higher on a national average than they would have been otherwise, Goldman Sachs estimates in a report released late Friday.
The government over the past year has slowed the pace of foreclosures through moratoria and the drive to modify mortgage terms to keep more borrowers in their homes. It also has pumped up demand for housing by giving tax credits to many first-time home buyers and by driving down mortgage interest rates. As a result, home prices in some areas have risen in recent months, particularly for homes that appeal to investors and first-time buyers. Bidding wars for the more attractive bank-owned homes have become common.
But these artificial props won’t last forever and may have created a false bottom in the market. “The risk of renewed home-price declines remains significant,” Goldman economist Alec Phillips writes in the report, “and our working assumption is a further 5% to 10% decline by mid-2010.” - WSJ
If they’re right, rather than a healthy market heading into 2011, what do you think we might actually have? We could be looking at falling home prices, rising interest rates and a government whose currency is faltering. Does it sound like a double dip? Will you be happy that the functions of the market were tampered with once you realize the misery has been extended, for years? Remember to say thanks to the NAR, thanks to the NAHB, thanks to the Feds and most of all, thanks to us realtors who supported the larceny. But, at least you may have universal access to a health care waiting list.
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16 commentsPost-Opt Best Practices: Internet Marketing Meets
Really quickly. A lot of us have various opt in methods. Free books, blog comments, FB adds.
What are we doing with that noise? Hello. Call them.
Objection #1 “But I Can’t Find A Numba”
OKAY, fine. You can’t find a number. Sergey and Eric made this little website, it’s a good starting point. So is linkedIn. So is Twitter. Search your lists. Search everything you do, and yeah, you can “find a numba.”
It’s not hard.
Some hints: a lot of people are in the 90 and 9 in your fb list.
A lot of people are in linkedin.
A lot of people are attached to someone else.
Objection 2: But, Daddy, They’ll HAAAAAAAAAATE me.
Twice, maybe. Twice I’ve called people and gotten some sort of jerk face. Offense that I’d dare call them. I call about 15 people a day. 75 a week. I have had a bunch of people I got no interest in, that’s for sure. I have a bunch of people that I can’t stand…another given. And a bunch of people that want the free stuff. No sweat.
More often, I call people, decide that they are morons and don’t pursue anything. With them. I call, they’re not interesting….to me. See, calling about 75 people a week gives me options. I don’t need to chase every imbecile or get anxious about stuff.
…I don’t have any Boiler Room Jedi Mind Tricks. I don’t even currently have a script. I’m not that good…I step up to the plate and take my hacks. And that’s enough to make me a living that has been six figures 9 out of 10 years 2006, friends was the bad, bad year I know you all were laughing, but I was rocked hard by the IRS, my own ego, and a bunch of rental properties that were imbecilic.
Objection 3: I shouldn’t have to sell. I’m such a great blogger that they should come to me.
Okay fine. Look, they did. They came, saw and commented. They gave you love, they gave you some confidence. Now pick up the phone, and close the deal. They are BEGGING to give you their money. Go grab it. They voted yes, checked that box.
You need to call and CARE ABOUT THEM. Give ‘em some value, sell to help, do the best you can. Nobody’s perfect. Not one soul. The Nazarene gave us all some grace because nobody’s perfect. Look, I like people that I pick. I picked my wife, I picked most of my best clients. Hunting people down gives you options. Finding and serving the best people you know how to serve…is the surest path to riches.
Now, I’ve done some dumb stuff, I’ve had well intentioned process screw ups, and this year I was too slow to react and have a good customer service pattern. Fixed that now, mostly.
Objection #4: But I hate Cold Calling!
Dude, stop. This is not cold calling. You’ve served helped and added value. This is nothing like cold calling. At all. This is followup. You introduce yourself, politely, assume nothing, and call to connect and to help. Don’t be attached to the outcome. You’re following up.
Hell, they might have been to embarrassed to call about their question and you’ll be helping them…doing them a favor.
Just don’t be attached to an outcome, be there to help not to make a sale, and focus on them, not you. Amazin’ what happens if you do this.
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7 commentsPlease do NOT extend the $8,000 tax credit
If you are on the far left, there is no need to read any further, for what I am going to say, is from a capitalist “conservative” mindset (which only means to left wingers that…I must be a hate monger for not wanting to extend the first time home buyer tax credit to those poor innocent people who can’t afford a home in the first place).
To extend the tax credit is simply going to increase the national debt load beyond what taxpayers can already afford to pay, yet weakening the economy even deeper. Simply put I’m sick and tired of Realtor’s wanting the extension of the tax credit because it only benefits a few parties to a transaction instead of bettering the country. We need to look at the big picture. The fact is the tax credit must end at some point in time; that is a fact! Realtors need to put their own personal interest aside and do what is best for this country, not themselves! Extending the FREE money tax credit will only increase the pain of debt until the US dollar is worthless. So the FACT is…Americans must be willing the do the tough thing!
What is the tough thing you might ask? well, for me, I have refused to work with buyers looking for the tax credit!!! YES, you heard me correctly. I know that if I am against the tax credit, then I must ACT as I believe. I BELIEVE the government should not be handing out any of my money “tax payer money” to try and stimulate an economy that is FALSELY INFLATED in the first place.
How about this for a thought. How about Americans need to live their WAGE so no tax credit is needed! Here is my thought for the day. WHAT IF, your home cost 125k instead of 300k? what if you drove cars 10 years old with no car payments? Could YOUR WIFE be a stay at home mother for her CHILDREN if this were the case? Would the 10% unemployment rate drop to near zero if Americans lived their wage so mom could stay at home if she chose to with her babies!
Your thoughts?
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