There’s always something to howl about.

Month: January 2009 (page 1 of 4)

Ask the Bloodhounds: “What are your top recommendations for a Realtor just starting out in today’s market?”

An email from Nicole Ford, a newer agent working on the Gulf coast of Texas:

Hi Greg,
 
I’m a new agent (started in July) and have recently started reading the Bloodhound Blog. First, I want to say thank you for providing such an incredible resource. Second, I have a question that I’d like to ask of you and all of the other incredible writers (and readers) on your site: What are your top recommendations for a Realtor just starting out in today’s market? What are the most important things that I can be doing to guarantee my future success?
 
I realize that I have picked a very difficult time to start as a Realtor, but I’m convinced that once I weather this storm and become successful now, I can look forward to a great career in the future. I also believe that a positive outlook (even in the toughest times) can be a tremendous asset.
 
Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice that you share. I look forward to reading (and contributing to!) your blog in the years to come.
 
All the best,
Nicole Ford
 
South Padre Island Realtor
NicoleFord.com

I’m interested in answers to this question from all perspectives. I get the impression that Nicole has things more together than most new agents, but some sincere advice for beginners will be welcomed, I’m sure, by the ninety-and-nine folks who didn’t have the guts Nicole exhibits by asking the question.

So what should a new agent do to keep body and soul together in this market?

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Your Child Is Ugly

My conversation with my client earlier today started off rather pleasant, really.

Our talk was lighthearted – what were the plans for Superbowl Sunday, the latest buzz about work – the winter weather in Chicago and the prospects of warmer weather arriving soon – hopefully.  It wasn’t the reason for my call, but the banter was really my attempt to put off the inevitable.  I needed to have “the talk.”

“Your child is ugly.”

No segway – no transition – I just came out and said it.

“Your child is ugly.”

Again – silence.  I inhaled deeply expecting the click and then the drone of the dial tone, but I could still hear the background noise of the TV on the other end of the line.

“Excuse me?”  my client asked?

“Everyone thinks your child is ugly.  Especially me.”

How many times have you run into an acquaintance – maybe at the mall – where their little infant or toddler was with them in-tow.  You’re introduced to the little one – and perhaps you are taken off guard – a little.  Let’s face it – sometimes some people have ugly kids.  You wouldn’t say anything out loud or to the parents – usually – you’d smile – but in the back of your mind, you think  – “geeshh – that’s one damn ugly kid.”

Okay – I really didn’t tell my client that her child was ugly – but in a round about way, I sorta did.

Last year, at the end of October, I again sorta initiated the talk – it wasn’t as harsh as “your child is ugly” – more like – “your child may not have everything going for him, but at least he has a nice personality”.

I’ve had my client’s listing on the market now for eleven months.  We’d renewed once and reduced the price as well.  Traffic came to an absolute standstill in October – miraculously, I showed it three times this week – but with no feedback.  Just buyers starting their search – they’re testing the market.  But time has finally run out – the listing was about to expire.

Rather than continue the masquerade, I Read more

The Fed Translated…..

Tom here….  Sorry for the delay, but better late than never….. (my comments are in bold)

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent. Nothing new there and no surprises.  Can’t go lower than zero and certainly can’t raise them right now. The Committee continues to anticipate that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for some time. Here again, no big surprises.  I think the surprise is going to be the amount that rates go up once the economy does recover and inflation becomes an issue.   I’ve been talking to a large number of people who want to use a home equity line (at prime or prime minus .5%) to pay off their mortgage.   They would lower their rate down to around 3%, but my recommendation would be to do that only if they can plan on paying the balance off within 1 to 3 years.   My feeling is that any longer term than that will make it too expensive because of the way rates are going to jump up.   For more thoughts on that, see what I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the “W” recovery.

Information received since the Committee met in December suggests that the economy has weakened further. No surprise there. Industrial production, housing starts, and employment have continued to decline steeply, as consumers and businesses have cut back spending. Furthermore, global demand appears to be slowing significantly. Conditions in some financial markets have improved, Really?  Which ones? in part reflecting government efforts to provide liquidity and strengthen financial institutions; If you look at Bank of America and Citi, you can’t tell that the financial institutions are stronger, nevertheless, credit conditions for households and firms remain extremely tight. The Committee anticipates that a gradual recovery in economic activity will begin later this year, but the downside risks to that outlook are significant. Translated – we hope things get better later this year, but we really don’t know, so don’t blame us if it takes longer.

In light Read more

Times Are Tough – But That’s No Reason To Be A Thief

I haven’t had a good rant in a while… and unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to have one right now – so the Reader’s Digest condensed version will have to do.

Most agents who have been in this business a few years or more know when something doesn’t look right. We’ll see something – and although we don’t know the underlying logic… we instinctively know it’s just not right.

This morning, I was perusing some rental properties for a client. As with listings for sale, it’s not uncommon to find some agents who are offering a ridiculously low co-broke. This morning was no different.

This particular agent is offering a 10% co-broke if you show the property. Since many brokerages charge transaction fees – the co-broke on this listing could easily be less than the transaction fee. Kinda gives “co-broke” a whole new meaning.

Now don’t get me wrong – a 10% referral fee for sending the client to a property shown by the listing agent is just fine. But 10% for bringing the tenant and showing the property is a non-starter – I don’t care who’s doing the paperwork.

Just for giggles and grins – I pulled up this agent’s recent history. One sold listing and more than sixty leased listings. Every single one of them offered a measly 10% co-broke… and all but two were leased out by – drum roll please – the listing agent.

[snarky comment] What an unexpected surprise! [/snarky comment]

Of course, both of those co-oped listings rented out for full asking price… while nearly every single one of the double-ended listings involved a rent reduction… sometimes several hundreds of dollars in rent reduction.

Now maybe you think that I’m just whining about some agent who is too greedy to offer a more generous co-broke – that’s fair. Maybe you think that I believe that a co-broke of 25% is more appropriate. I will tend to agree with you on both counts.

But there is an underlying ethical problem here.

When you list a property for lease and offer a ridiculously low co-broke – you are denying your client the best possible chance for Read more

The rest of the real estate industry might be Pinocchio — false in every particular — but nothing prevents you from being genuine

Real estate is the most unbusinesslike business in the history of business.

I don’t want to defend that statement comprehensively, because it’s late and I’m tired, but I can offer some data points.

When we sat down with Greg Tracy, I argued to him that licensing inhibits the kind of competition for reputation that we expect and depend upon when deciding which restaurant to go to, for instance, or which auto mechanic to use. Instead, in real estate, after 90 hours of nonsense classes, we say, “Here’s your license, kid. Get out there and wreck someone’s finances!”

I met with a new buyer client on Wednesday, and we had a wonderful time cataloging all the things Realtors and brokers would do if residential real estate were organized like any other sort of business.

What kinds of things?

If real estate were a real business, Realtors would market the damn product, instead of engaging in two or three acts of rain-dancing and then waiting — for months or even years — for the rain to come.

If real estate were a real business, Realtors and brokers wouldn’t be so transparently mercenary about using, abusing and burning through their clients. One of the huge benefits of real estate weblogging is that Realtors are openly discussing the tricks they deploy to strong-arm their “leads.” In no other business do vendors have such contempt for consumers.

(Incidentally, although I say this all the time, apparently no one believes me: Consumers read industry-focused weblogs. When you admit that you do certain things to “force people to call,” you’re not telling them anything they didn’t already know about the real estate business.)

If real estate were a real business, commissions would be divorced and incentives would be aligned to put the agent and the client on the same side in negotiations. The longer the real estate industry delays in reforming its practices, the greater the opening it offers to vendors offering a better or cheaper alternative to traditional real estate.

I love it when I really get to talk to my clients, because I conceal nothing from them. We do well by doing good: This is Read more

Kevin Warmath is grievously ill; his family could use your support

Mail from Ryan Ward in Atlanta:

Greg,
 
Not sure how well you know Kevin Warmath. He’s an agent in Alpharetta near me and he came to your Bloodhound event last fall. Two nights ago while with his family, he had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital where they induced a coma. As of a couple of hours ago, they took him off of support. I’m not exactly sure about any details, but, it doesn’t seem positive at all. Kevin was one of your Black Peal Divers contest winners some time back. He will likely be leaving behind a wife and three young daughters. Not sure if it’s something you want to mention on your blog, but, you might, so I thought I’d let you know. Here’s all that I know:
 
CaringBridge
 
MaxSell.net
 
Ryan

As Ryan says, Kevin was one of our Black Pearl Divers last spring. At BloodhoundBlog Unchained in May, we watched him implementing many of the ideas we covered during the conference. Because of his good example, we knew we could expand to a much more hands-on format.

I can’t think of anything to say that’s not stupid and obvious, so I’m better off keeping my thoughts to myself. The first of Ryan’s link will give you a chance to leave a note for Kevin’s family.

 
Further notice: This was forwarded to me by Deryk Harper from Sydney Ray:

Dear Friends,

I have just received an update on Kevin and unfortunately it is not a good one. The doctors have done a cat scan and discovered that Kevin’s brain has swollen and that he is realistically no longer with us. According to the doctors he has no chance of survival at this point. They are going to keep him on a ventilator for 24 hours and take him off first thing in the morning. I am truly sorry to deliver this news via email, but I wanted you all to know.

I for one believe that while we may not always understand his ways our God is great and can move mountains even in the gravest of circumstances. I ask that today you pray for a Read more

Social media marketing: As the Whores of Babble On take over, I’m re-enrolling at the Old Skool House

I’ve changed my mind about this. I mean, I don’t hate twitter, but I do hate what twitter has become.

See, I have this thing about advertising. I think it’s safe to say that my online reading, my television viewing and my radio listening, are driven in large part by the absence of advertising. Funny, because I love advertising and a good ad is a work of art. But here’s the thing, how often do you see a good ad?

If you follow me on twitter you know that one of my favorite television channels is TCM- Turner Classic Movies. Yeah, I like movies, and TCM is commercial free. It’s hours and hours of commercial free television, and I love that.

Pay Per Click would never work with me because I have trained myself not to look at the right column of my online viewing. The ads you put on your blogs? Couldn’t tell you what they are- I refuse to look at them- it’s just a lot of visual noise. Slam too many ads up there, and I’m no longer a reader. Am I alone?

We love social media, but we are getting it all wrong. Social media- a way to connect with a mass of people- has become a giant cesspool of vendorsluts and their ads. There is a huge difference between you and I connecting, and you and I selling and buying. If I buy a magazine off the news stand, I know I’m paying for advertising, but I’m also not trying to create a relationship with the publisher. However, if I stop by your blog, or follow you on twitter, or friend you up on facebook, I, being the nice warm person I am, really would like to get to know you better. I naively make that assumption about you as well. So when you start pimping your blog on twitter, or advertising products, that puts me on guard that you might be more interested in selling something. Is it just me who thinks like this?

Putting ads all over the place? Fine. You don’t have to defend yourself to me. Pimping Read more

This Unchained Seattle Lender Built A Huge Following, By Quoting Rates

Rhonda Porter, of Mortgage Master Service Corp. in Seattle, is speaking at BloodhoundBlog Unchained Seattle, on February 12, 2009.  BloodhoundBlog readers see Rhonda commenting here and Rain City Guide readers know her as the resident mortgage guru.  I know her to be one of the most savvy Loan2.0 practitioners; that’s why I chased her to speak at Unchained Seattle.

I interviewed Rhonda about what she does that WORKS, not what she does that’s cute.  At BloodhoundBlog Unchained we talk about things that are as practical as a jackhammer on a construction site.  When you hear Rhonda, you’ll learn that she ‘s a lunch-pail carrying, hard-hatted foreman, building relationships through her social media efforts.

Listen to my fifteen minute discussion, with Rhonda, here.

If you haven’t reserved your spot for Unchained Seattle, you just might be shut out.  Over 75 people have raised their hands and seats are going quickly.  Contact Scott Cowan if you’d like to see us on February 12.

The fun doesn’t end after BloodhoundBlog Unchained Seattle!  We jumped on the chance to be a sponsor of Seattle REBarCamp, the next day.  Todd Carpenter describes the ad-hocratic learning experience that is REBarCamp:

RE Bar Camp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees

BloodhoundBlogUnchained is proud to be a sponsor of this effort in the Emerald City.  Greg and I will be there to join in all the fun!

You want to get someone’s attention? Try ‘pardon me’. Even a shoe toss is more civil than spitting in one’s face.

It takes some chutzpah to have such an opinion about things and become as successful as Michael Arrington has with TechCrunch.  Yesterday he posted about how he’s going off the grid, after the abuse from his peers and critics becomes threatening to his family’s safety.

TechCrunch – ‘Some things need to change’

Luckily my tolerance level for verbal abuse has risen proportionately to our growth, so I can handle most of the verbal abuse thrown our way. I can even handle it when my so called friends decide it’s in their best interest to spread negative rumors about us privately. I believe that it has changed me as a person to the point where I generally don’t trust people until they’ve earned it. Before TechCrunch I assumed most people were essentially good, and assumed that an individual was trustworthy until proven otherwise. Today, its exactly the opposite.

But like I said, I draw the line at being spat on. It’s one step away from something far more violent.

Something very few people know: last year over the summer an off balance individual threatened to kill me and my family. He wasn’t very stealthy about it – he called our office number, sent me emails and even posted threats on his blog, so it wasn’t hard to determine who he was. The threats were, in the opinion of security experts we consulted, serious. The individual has a felony record and owns a gun. Police in three states became involved and we hired a personal security team to protect me, my family and TechCrunch employees.

At over $2,000 a day we couldn’t keep paying for security indefinitely. And the police were helpful but couldn’t do much based on the threats until he acted. We had the option of getting a restraining order but that just tells the person exactly where you are (the places they can’t go). So for a week I was literally in hiding with my parents at their home. The TechCrunch office was empty, and the police made regular checks to see if things were ok. One evening they almost arrested one of our Read more

Turning LiquidBlue into steady green: Is it possible to found a new real estate brokerage without going broke?

Cleveland real estate broker John Kalinowski and I have been batting around some ideas of his on how to structure his new brokerage to make it work well for everyone — clients, agents and ownership. Surely I’m not the best person to ask about this, since we are doing everything we can to avoid adding agents. So John decided to throw it out to the Bloodhounds — contributors, commenters and readers — to see if y’all can come up with better ideas.

Here’s John’s epistle to the dawgs:

Hi Greg!

I’m reaching out to you and the Bloodhound community for a little advice as I prepare to take the next step in the fascinating world of real estate brokerage. I left RE/MAX in early December to start Liquid Blue Realty with a secret weapon of sorts, a custom sign sign idea built around your original concept. So far the response has been beyond incredible. It takes a ton of work to create each sign, and they’re not cheap, but the attraction is unlike anything I’ve seen in our area.

Our market is in a state of transition, just like everywhere else, with agents concerned about whether or not their brokers will survive, and struggling with monthly desk fees and transaction charges. Right now I have one other truly excellent agent working with me, along with two part-time admin assistants who have the ability to work full time. I’m ready to start talking to other agents, and I plan on being very selective in who I choose to join our company. Our approach to listing homes is an important part of our business, and providing a reliable, repeatable listing experience to the public is one of my main goals.  No matter who a seller works with at our company, I want to make sure they receive the same attention to listing detail and transaction management as I bring to my clients.

Where I’m stuck is how to best create a compensation plan that makes sense, particularly with all the extra services we intend to provide to our agents.  We will partner with them on their listings, taking Read more

No One On The Corner Has Swagger Like Us: A Game Plan For Twitter, and Comments on the RE.NET.

Twitter is mostly useless.  Mostly.  For Realtors, it quickly descends into an online echo chamber of people telling one another how great they are, and how they’d never cold call…and oddly, how much their business is down, and how many people screwed them out of something.  What a drag.  Realtors, PLEASE.  Support each other, don’t spread the misery.

Twitter is mostly useless.  Most Realtors are also mostly  useless, so A would follow  B.  Now, I’ve been on the record saying twitter is mostly useless.  I do it anyway.  This will get mumbling idiots crying, “HypoTwit” as if it was the worst sin I can commit.  Whatever, I’m here to win.  Think whatcho like.  I intend to continue, and I intend to sift through the useless BS and make the most out of Twitter.  I intend to make $25,000 on Twitter in the next 65 days.    Any Realtor could, so could any mortgage broker, or any of us revolting ‘vendors.’

The plan is untested and I know it will work.  Watch:

1.) Add people in my area/field.   For a Realtor® it’ll be people in the area.   A chorus of other Realtors® thinking they are cool does nothing for their AMEX bill, and creates a false sense of efficacy.  Cut through that.

2. Have an auto responder.  http://tweetlater.com is.  I’m genuinely interested in people, so I invite them to send me their best blog post.  I’m going to something better soon, but you get the gist.  (follow me, I’m @genuinechris).

3.  Hat tip to the mighty Brian Brady.  Pick up the phone.  I get 6-9 adds a day.  About 3 are Internet marketing douchebags that offer no value.  About 4-6 are worthwhile people in various stages of Social media development and proficiency.   These are the people I’m going to call. Hi, thanks for adding me on Twitter, is there anything–anything–I can do for you right now?  Think of me when you….

4. Add EVERYONE into Heap.  Connect on LinkedIn/FaceBook (and MySpace, while it still lasts).  Fill in the puzzle, try to get ’em everywhere else, and get some type of  newsletter out.  Call ’em on a regular (six months) Read more

I Prefer Vera Wang

I am not a gay man but I’d play one on television if I thought there was a Golden Globe in it for me.  In fact, my wife insists that her next husband will indeed, be a gay man and I’m cool with that as long as I’m not still around to witness all the fabulous shopping thrown back  in my face.  And  just so you know that this Op-Ed is not coming from a squinted biased eye, I’m hereby going on cyber-record to announce to the entire Blogosphere that our bride’s maid was a male fashion designer, my best man was a lesbian, and we first encountered our bisexual ceremonial minister at a coffee shop in Boystown.  If you don’t believe me,  just ask our poor parents.  And perhaps this is why a certain Jason Wu recently ‘Requested’ my Friendship on Facebook.  (The fact that I even know who the man is serves as the premise for this piece.)

And thus, without doth protesting too much, if you ever met me in person you’d clearly see that I’m not physically fit enough to be gay—or at least, not the sort of gay I’d prefer if druthers were in order. I do know a little bit about fashion, though, and I have to declare that I am totally pissed that Michelle Obama did not wear Maria Pinto at the Inauguration. There, it’s out. I said it.

Allow me to digress.  Maria Pinto is a well known Chicago based fashion designer who studied under Geoffrey Beene.  She is the twin sister of my best friend and managing broker, Joe Pinto,  and a personal friend and designer-of-choice of my wife, Mona. For the past 18 months,  none other than the Michelle Obama, has been  frequenting  the Pinto showroom for complimentary couture and thus, dangling the possibility of  wearing Maria Pinto for The Inauguration.  There were nods and winks but I can say no more.  And since ‘ The Dress ‘  will ultimately hang in the Smithsonian alongside the likes of Jackie Kennedy and First Ladied others…well, needless to say…this was all a pretty big deal Read more

The Agents are the Heroes

How many remember the movie Back to the Future?  I always liked the play on words in that title and I am liking it even more lately.  Why?  Because as agents that is exactly what we are doing:  going back to the future.  I believe the marketing theme for 2009 is going to be “old school.”  Going back to the “old school” ways of marketing… done with the tools of the future:  back to the future.  (Caveat: the future for me has a very Mr. Magoo aspect to it.  I appreciate the high-tech agents among us keeping the laughter down to a mild snicker.)  Chris Johnson understands “old school”, he was bleeding it here and here.  Jeff Brown understands old school – actually, Jeff probably learned this stuff when it was just “school”…

  • Touching your sphere of influence on a consistent basis is “old school” – using emails, webinars and blogging to do it is the future.
  • Tracking your marketing, your prospecting and your ROI from both is “old school” – using powerful software to do so is the future.
  • Picking up the phone and calling past clients or mailing something personal every day is “old school” – knowing there is no substitute for getting belly-to-belly is the future.

And WE are the future.  Those of us still here.  Our profession lost a lot of people last year.  Our profession needed to…  Many of us suffered just to make it this far and some of us are suffering still  (although some flourished… think about that).  But the point is, we are here.  We stuck it out because this “real estate thing” isn’t something we do on the side or because it’s easy money.  We are her because this is our profession.  We now reap all the opportunities of 2009… AND the responsibilities.  It is our charge to bring integrity and passion to everything we do.  You, all of you, are the heroes and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  You help people find their way, now more so than ever before, through a giant minefield of potentially devastating mistakes on their way to buying or Read more

David Bartels Redefines Mortgage Originators as “Borrower Advocates”

I had fun today because  I got to hang out with a bunch of mortgage salespeople.  I drove up the 5 to Irvine, epicenter of the sub-prime mortgage industry, to see the High Performance Strategies Seminar, hosted by David Bartels and Greg Frost.  David Bartels is an executive with Loan MagicGreg Frost is America’s first billion dollar originator.  The cool part about their accomplishments  is that they do the right thing.  Both are highly-principled salespeople who hustle.

David impressed me with his definition of our job as a “borrower’s advocate”.  He suggested that we would do well to align ourselves squarely with the borrowers.  While he never suggested that our lender partners are the enemies, his message was quite clear.  Originators need to help borrowers FIRST.  Banks are so puckered today that borrowers need a guide to help them interpret loan offerings, argue their case for approval, and secure the best terms possible.  When mortgage brokers fully embrace that concept, we will have earned the public’s trust.  Here’s David on Mortgage Sales Blog:

For some reason, originators get offended when a potential client wants to know detailed information about the terms of their new loan prior to completing a full application.

The mortgage rate question is a buying sign, not a shopping sign.

They ask about rates because all of the advertising in the news and media leads borrowers to believe that mortgage rates are a consistent means of measuring one broker or banker over another.

In reality, most borrowers have more important criteria for selecting a loan officer to do business with, like whether or not they can trust you.

The rate question is basically a qualifier. They’re not shopping rates, they are shopping you. It gives the borrower some insight into you level of transparency and ability to communicate on their terms.

How you answer the rate question will ultimately determine your success or failure at earning a borrower’s business.

Think about it, if a potential client is willing to speak with you about rates, then they are obviously interested in opening a dialogue about how your mortgage options will impact their financial goals.

What would Read more

Active Rain + Trulia = ?

Before everyone goes off on me here, let me state CLEARLY that I have no confirmed knowledge of the two joining forces. No marriage license, no paparazzi photo of one proposing to the other. No formal announcement arriving in the mail. So is there a wedding? Shacking up?

Who knows…only the two people involved.

I have no “scoop” here…but enquiring minds want to know. 😉

Jon Karlen reported some interesting happenings here. That was a while ago. So AR is looking to pick up MLS feeds.

Then a thread popped up a couple of days ago at Real Estate Webmasters here.

Read the links in there on Active Rain as well. You will see what’s making people think that at a BARE minimum, there’s some reason to believe that something is going on.

From my vantage point, I can see benefits to both entities if they were to tie the knot, shack up, or form some kind of alliance, either publicly or just a backseat (so to speak) sort of thing. From their point of view it would be great. They are certainly each primping themselves for the date described in the REW post.

From a REALTORS vantage point, and from those who have written content for months and years on AR or Trulia, would this be a good thing? My guess is the REALTOR community would say a resounding NO. From an Search Engine perspective, I’d agree. Big time.

Two questions. To AR & T execs: Are you in talks? To REALTORS: Does it matter to you?

I have far more questions than answers, and I think it will be interesting to see it play out…

More (if) as this develops.