I’m sure I wouldn’t like this guy in real life — he drinks like a fish and his relationship with his wife is hellacious. But this is the best “f*ck you” song ever written, and, as much as I might not like the details, I love, love, love the attitude. “One foot in the grave and one foot on the pedal” — that’s just plain good poetry.
Month: March 2010 (page 3 of 4)
First, an apology. One thousand apologies, in fact. On January 20th I introduced myself and expressed my gratitude to Greg for giving me the opportunity to be an occasional contributor to this forum. I mentioned a photography class for real estate professionals that I teach for brokers in our local market, and that I’d like to focus my involvement here on providing the content of that presentation in small bite-sized posts. I wrote that I would start by questioning the real purpose of real estate photography and why it’s become more important than ever – and then transition to a number of tips and techniques that I believe will help many readers improve their marketing images very easily.
I wrote those words seven weeks ago and haven’t been back since. Although I’m not presumptuous enough to expect that anyone else noticed my absence, I do feel an obligation to tell you that I did. I wanted very much to begin this dialog with Bloodhound readers right away, but frankly, I’ve been shooting and editing seven days most weeks, 12+ hours most days. Our market, like many others I suspect, has become extremely active since the first of the year and the agents I work for are listing everything in sight. Today, inclement weather caused a shoot to be rescheduled and left me with a few hours to return to the conversation I started.
I know I risk losing you at the question mark, but I’ll ask anyway. What is the purpose of real estate photography? What is your objective when you photograph a new listing? What are you trying to accomplish? When I ask this question of agents in my market I usually get the answer you’d expect (with a look that says they think I’m an idiot for asking): “I’m trying to SELL THE HOME. Duh.” Excellent. And the photos will be used to…? Now looking at the exit, “ADVERTISE IT!” Thank you.
Would you agree with this definition of the word advertise found at dictionary dot com? “To announce or praise (a product, service, etc.) in some public medium of communication in Read more
One of the things that I admire about Greg is how thoroughly he makes sure that EVERYTHING he can do is done to market a sellers property. Custom signs, coffee table books, the list goes on and on. When it comes to sellers, he gets his money the old fashioned way, he earns it.
One of the quiet unsung Bloodhound heroes of a broker is Cheryl Johnson. If you want to see someone who puts EFFORT into building the best systems for her agents as an independent broker, she has my vote for the best and the brightest. BOTH best and brightest.
One of the tools that she often uses for this purpose is WordPress mu (multi-user). And she graciously left an explanation of how to use it via GoDaddy here on her blog.
In our brokerage, we have quite a few buyer leads coming in. Our agents WANT to treat them to something special, but they needed the tools to accomplish it. So here’s a little (big actually) DIY project using Cheryl’s post that we are just putting the polish on to help our agents treat buyers the way Greg treats sellers and Cheryl treats agents.
We created an ONLINE WELCOME KIT that allows each agent to have a welcome kit **simply a WP blog with EVERYTHING we can think of that they might need** of their own. Here’s one that we did for Stephanie Mattingly in our office. Bear in mind that we are still making changes so you may see a glitch or two as it gets fine tuned. Contact information all goes to the agent directly. It is simply a great way to give potential buyer clients the information they need, including a “Get Hooked Up” Guide to help them connect the dots once they move and a Services Guide to connect newcomers with local services vendors (and connect our agents to them as well.).
If you do the hosting the way that Cheryl describes in her post, the cost is simply a deluxe shared hosting account at GoDaddy. (a few bucks a month across 110 agents…equals pennies for each Read more
HomeGain recently published a survey of the Top 10 Most Effective Marketing Strategies For Real Estate Agents. There were some surprises in there. (Mostly for me, the apparently sustained use of print and direct mail.)
But then I got to thinking about it… I started examining how many in the real estate community market their wares and it reinforced something that I have been working on.
Last week I got to go to both HomeGain Nation 2010 and the RE/MAX Convention. In both places I got to talk with SUCCESSFUL agents who are thriving in today’s turbulent times. The common thread among them? That their marketing methods were cost efficient in both time and money in a)starting conversations and b) in bringing folks to a position where trust could be built.
Russell Shaw uses radio. He has a PROVEN system of starting conversations with the leads generated from those advertisements. He knows how to convert those leads into listing clients.
Mitch Ribak knows how to convert buyer leads from the internet traffic generated by HomeGain into conversations and into commissions.
Our source in Louisville? Search engine marketing. Do we have an effective way of converting over 7,000 leads from a status of “not a lead” to a closed commission? We have been working at increasing our closing percentage (so far successfully!) and it boils down to creating conversations. This has been a weak area for us, but I think we are nailing it down now. (And the numbers to date this year back that up.)
The Cluetrain was right. Markets are conversations. Marketing is about generating those conversations. And in my opinion, sales is about CONVERTING off of those conversations.
Why does direct mail still work in the eyes of many as indicated in HomeGain’s survey? Perhaps it is because it brings leads to an agent in a fashion where the agent is familiar with HOW to get them from lead to client. All of the leads from online sources matter not at all if no one becomes a client. There is no reason to search engine market anything if you are not able to turn Read more
I would like to put the REALTOR Raise the Bar (#RTB) debate to rest here and now.
300 what is your profession
Uploaded by RobGreen. –
You see, NAR, we have brought more Bloodhounds.
Teams have proven themselves a potentially profitable strategy in real estate brokerage, as almost every mid-large company has at least one pretty successful team under its roof. I’ve never had buyer agents or specialized listing agents on my team. I use the same philosophy Dad and his buds.
Though they all agreed about the possible income teams offered, many eschewed that approach for a modified MO, still more or less using a team. They preferred the OldSchool blueprint which had the go-to guy at the top, with support staff doing all non-revenue producing labor.
I’m convinced that approach is more conducive to a real estate investment broker than the army of buyer agents approach used in houses. Here’s why.
Caveat: The investment niche about which I’m speaking is residential income, mostly smaller stuff, say 1-4 units, though it would be just as effective with larger properties, as I’ve done before myself. It assumes knowledge of pertinent tax codes, complete understanding of before/after tax cash flow analysis, and the judgment to apply those skill sets in the implementation of the proper strategies dictated by proper analysis. Furthermore, I assume lead generation isn’t an issue. That is, there are enough prospects for a pro to get sufficient at-bats.
Let’s say your market’s median duplex price is $250,000 or so. A 3% side is $7,500. Let’s also assume the average net equity of your ‘low hanging fruit’ is $115,000 give or take. If your analysis shows a tax deferred exchange would markedly improve your client’s position, here’s what might happen. You effect the sale of his duplex, then ID about twice that much in ‘upleg’ property — property into which he trades. (This example uses 20% down payments.) You make 3% per side on those too — another $15,000 or so. One client, essentially one transaction, $22,500.
Compare that to the house team template. Using the same price point, and assuming the buyer agents are generating the sales, (and paid 50% of the commission) the team must do six separate transactions with six different clients to net the team leader the same gross income.
If Read more
One of my favorite recent projects has been AreaAtlantaHomes.Com.
What’s most exciting for me is that the project itself is being cooked up with some ingredients that are really conducive to it evolving into the Broker Market Domination System I talked about here a few months ago:
- The Marketplace is a large Metro Area with lots of interesting geographic niche opportunities and a naturally progressive audience of prospective buyers and sellers.
- A small brokerage not shackled by the unwillingness to abandon an ineffective website it paid big bucks for a few years ago. (Starting fresh with a flexible cms like wordpress is very key here, why any entrepreneur starting a business would opt for something other than wordpress is beyond yours truly)
- A very forward thinking Bloodhound of a Broker/Owner who’s committed both philosophically and financially to providing ultimate value for new agent partners and has the patience to consider and actually execute tasks that may take months or even years to pay off.
Here below is a quick tour of AreaAtlantaHomes.Com in its relative infancy. I hope it’s entertaining and maybe a little clarifying for the folks that thought my little Broker Domination spiel was interesting…
Forgot to mention in the screencast… on that last part about the Agent Technology Package. The idea is to get prospective agents to consent to receive more info on the agent technology package, then drip them with emails designed to further sell the company. Seems that in most cases, brokers take a hit or miss approach to recruiting and few have a longer term, automatic relationship building system like this in place….
Have you heard of Private Transfer Fees? A private transfer fee is a fee that is required to be paid each time a property is sold at closing. The transfer fee is attached to the property as a covenant that can run for a period, often 20 or 100 years.
The fees are being used for a variety of purposes. In some cases, they have been used to satisfy demands from environmental groups. Developers have also used them, by securitizing them up front, to help pay mitigation costs and up-front infrastructure costs on new developments. Supposedly even private home owners might be able to add a 1% transfer fee to their homes with revenues serving as future household income.
The NAR, American Land Title Association and the NAHB are all looking at ways to prohibit or limit private transfer fees. While that tends to make me like the idea of transfer fees on its own, I really don’t see issues with them. Admittedly, I develop properties from time to time. Yes, I am frustrated with impact fees, mitigation and infrastructure fees that have climbed to the stratosphere in my little part of the world. This approach could really help to create some affordable homes that people might actually buy.
Freehold Capital Partners is active in the reconveyance fee financing arena working with developers to structure financing for infrastructure improvements.
Essentially, the concept is based on the premise that improvements which enhance real property are in the immediate and long-term public interest; and a system enabling present owners of private property to better and more fairly apportion present costs and profits amongst multiple future beneficial owners increases economic efficiency.
Traditionally, initial buyers shoulder 100% of the burden of amenities, infrastructure and other improvements, which creates a high barrier to entry into the development. By utilizing this funding tool, developers can now more fairly apportion expenses incurred for permanent improvements among successive owners of the property who will be enjoying the amenities and improvements for years to come. (A familiar example would be bonds issued to finance new schools, where the bonds are paid off over time by Read more
Al’s got a post up about the latest effort to get us out the housing mess. The feds are rolling out HAFA, set to take effect April 5, which will solve all of our problems! by giving financial incentives! for borrowers, servicers, and investors!
In exchange, creditors must release borrowers from any deficiency liability on the 1st mortgage, must protect the Realtors fees, and must comply with standardized processes meant to speed up the short sale process.
Here’s my take, and I’m saying this as someone who is not at all trying to line my pocket because I’m a fledgling Raleigh bankruptcy lawyer. Honest!
This should’ve been run through the Bankruptcy process. Certain other debts can be crammed down in the Chapter 13 consumer bankruptcy process, meaning that the total amount owed on the loan can’t exceed the market value at the time of the bankruptcy. For people under water, this would’ve basically meant that the loan amount would’ve been adjusted down to the value of the house at the time they went through bankruptcy.
That would’ve brought mortgages in line with the way other kinds of secured debts are treated in the Bankruptcy Code, and it would’ve permitted an individualized look at each case (by bankruptcy lawyers, trustees, and judges) in a process that works reasonably well.
As it is, whole new administrations have been set up to handle these jury-rigged and ultimately flawed approaches to fixing a problem will require a little more than $1,500 to the borrower, $1,000 to the servicer, and $1,000 to the investor (HAFA guidelines) to fix.
I’m greedy! I’m an extremist! I am conservative! I am a capitalist! Haha. I love money! 2010 marks the years (not Karl Marx silly) I mean marks the calendar for the 2010 to become the listing king. Between website registrations, referrals, & and windfall expired letters I set out to fundamentally transform Worthington Realty from small hometown broker, to completely dominating the local market. Below I will share the expired program statistics I am using that has fundamentally transformed Worthington Realty from nay to yay; or should I say mediocure to maybe Russell Shaw like (in the next hundred years).
So here are the expired numbers!
I have sent out 92 mailings
I have received 8 call back
I have listed 5 priced to sell quickly
I have 1 closing in the pipeline from expireds
92 mailings / 8 call backs = 11.5% Wow! I mail out 100 and 11.5 will call back! Sweet!
8 call backs / 5 listings = 62.5% of call back I am listing. 1 listing I turned down because of price, 1 listing I didn’t make the cut, and 1 call back canceled the listing appointment plans to keep for home for now.
92 mailings / 1 closing in the pipeline = 1.08% are closings Average closing say $4k – $8k on the listing side.
92 mailings / 5 listings = 18.4 letters to get a listing.
My data is only 92 mailings that I have selectively sent expired letters to. My initial mailing costs $1.52. If no phone call, I then send out a post card every week for 12 weeks. If still no phone call I leave it alone. Each post card is $0.55 Most leads call within the first 4 – 6 weeks. I have no idea why I am sending all the way out to week 12 (smirk)
I will update with more statistics in June, 2010 which will better quantify the data.
Do you currently have an expired program?
What are you thoughts on what works and what doesn’t?
Thank you taking time to read this capitalist post! Big Expired Program; Windfall profits!
Mr. Obama’s latest program for the foreclosure crisis attempts to stabilize the market in a different way than his previous attempts. Before, the feds tried to keep people in their homes by negotiating reduced payments through loan modifications. Few people were able to use the programs and of those that did the rate of default recidivism was 50% within six months. The “new” approach is to help those in trouble get out of their homes by streamlining the short sale process and adding requirements that will force banks to accept many more short sales. Basically, the feds will pay owners to sell at a loss and give them a little cash in the process.
Starting April 5th, hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers will be encouraged to sell their homes through this process. Since the basic laws of economics still apply, that flood of inventory at fire sale prices will create heavy downward pressure on other homes in their markets. Prices should fall.
That’s just one problem with this approach. The Home Buyer’s Tax Credit was already a magnet for fraudulent filings. The government mandated short sale process could be even worse.
Short sales are “tailor-made for fraud,” said Mr. Lawler, a former executive at the mortgage finance company Fannie Mae.
Last year, short sales started to increase, although they remain relatively uncommon. Fannie Mae said preforeclosure deals on loans in its portfolio more than tripled in 2009, to 36,968. But real estate agents say many lenders still seem to disapprove of short sales.
Under the new federal program, a lender will use real estate agents to determine the value of a home and thus the minimum to accept. This figure will not be shared with the owner, but if an offer comes in that is equal to or higher than this amount, the lender must take it. – MSN
With the high regard that the public holds for real estate agents, they should be a pinnacle of integrity when it comes to setting values for lenders. Or, could that be a problem? I’ve found that real estate agents offer different values, at times in spite of the Read more
Jubilance is Not Arrogance
“Why are you so happy I say.”
“Cause I get to be me.” I say.
“How are you” they say. “Never better,” is my invariable answer.
…
When I’m at a Starbucks, or shopping for clothing, I’m happy. I’m happy because I’m doing somethin’ I want to be doing. I’m happy and cheery, and delighted to be alive. I’m loud and I can’t help it. I engage people in a life of play. A frolicking time.
I’ve always done this.
I have my surly moments, I have my moral failures, and I have times where I’m not yet congruent with my ideal self. But generally—I’m happy.
And people notice that happiness.
And a few people try to bring me down a notch, down to wherever it is that they wallow.
Through every trial, I’ve been happy. Because I know that the future is bright. If not for everyone, certainly for me and my son and my wife and my daughter. I’m not giddy, and I’m not Pollyanna. I’m happy because I believe in the abilities (the inalienable essence, endowed by my Creator). I don’t hold onto a bad mood longer than a couple of minutes, ever. My temper does not have the hold on me it did and eventually it won’t even be a part of my existence. Because happy is winning.
I’m happy. And the world rejects that anomoaly, and I’m OK with it. I used to wag my finger, but all I can do is lean and loaf and rejoice in the fact that I have that spark of the divine that allows me to feel and know that the road ahead is good.
When someone says, “You don’t need any more caffeine.” I say, “why is it an anomaly to be anything but joyful—how do you think we’re meant to be?”
We’re meant to be happy. Happy is at nobody’s expense, but look what happens when you’re happy. You’ll infect many people with delight. There will always be a few people that are designed to inflict misery. These are the men that call Greg Swann arrogant, and these are the people that have quashed the spark of Read more
A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story
“Imagine yourself larger,” said His Radiance.
Stopped me in my tracks.
“Imagine yourself larger. You are everything you’ve ever hoped to be, but you’re afraid to let yourself be it. Free your mind. Imagine yourself larger.”
I imagined myself warier. Hanging around in a college town you’ll pay if you let your guard down. Things are not always what they seem, after all, and that’s the point. The bohemian enclave on the left bank of every university in America is a little Accidental Disneyland where distraction is the main attraction. So even as I approached His Radiance, I backed off mentally.
He was not a pretty man, particularly, but something inside him was beautiful and subtly seductive and, I thought, very, very dangerous. He was Hispanic, and he held himself like a king. He was wearing a radiant white linen suit in the hot summer sun, and the contrast of the bright white against his brown skin was stunning. His sleek black hair was swept straight back from his forehead and his teeth were straight and white and perfect.
In truth, he made me think that this might be what god would look like, if any god of any religion had ever managed to grow beyond the age of three. I called myself an idiot for thinking that, but I thought it anyway.
“Imagine yourself whole. Rid yourself of every drain on your energy. Purge yourself of doubt and fear. Stretch yourself to reach the completion of your life’s destiny.”
He was standing in a little cobbled alleyway between a New Age bookstore and a fern bar, and I wasn’t sure whose wares he’d been sampling.
“Imagine yourself glorious. You are an immense soaring bird, and the Earth is your toy, not your tether.”
And you can only spit so much before you hit your own shoe: I wasn’t buying a word of it, and yet I sat down on a bench to hear His Radiance out.
“We are not here to crawl. We are not here to grovel. We are not here to plead and suffer and mourn.”
“Yeah? What we here for then, stick?” The Gangster Read more
[Teri mentioned this old post (from June 2007) to me on Friday, and I’m revisiting the third act because it’s pertinent to some new business I want to take up tomorrow or Monday. –GSS]
Extracted from BloodhoundBlog post #1590:
This came in as a comment last night.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be[Teri mentioned this old post (from June 2007) to me on Friday, and I’m revisiting the third act because it’s pertinent to some new business I want to take up tomorrow or Monday. –GSS]
Extracted from BloodhoundBlog post #1590:This came in as a comment last night.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be competitive and wanting to win, but, reading your posts the last few weeks, you ego is a little bit too big at times. Yes, you are a heck of a writer and you have one heck of a blog and you have assembled a heck of a team of contributors, but your ego is getting a bit cocky.
This is ad hominem, so it violates our comments policy, but I’m not averse to discussing the issue it raises in a general way.
[….]
A Bloodhound’s virtues are genetic accidents, but that doesn’t make them less than perfectly admirable, whether evidenced in the dog or anthropomorphized and expressed in thoroughly conscious human behavior. Brought up right, a Bloodhound is a natural alpha, regal and indomitable. The dog will move with a lanky, un-self-conscious arrogance that is simply heart-breakingly beautiful to look upon: This what a thriving organism looks like.
I am steadfastly, philosophically opposed to the idea of humility. I think it is one of many evil ideas foisted off on us by malefactors who love us best at our absolute worst. To say to me, “You’re arrogant,” or, “you have a big ego,” is no reproach. On the one hand, it is a statement of obvious fact. But on the other, it puts me on my guard against you. A healthy, normal human being moves and acts and thinks and speaks with the lanky arrogance of a healthy, normal Bloodhound. When people don’t behave that way, I want to know why. When Read more
I attended Homegain Nation early this week. It was a fantastic time, giving me the opportunity to meet many great people I’ve known online for years. I decided to run a little experiment and bring my Ubuntu laptop, while leaving my windoze machine at home. So…Ubuntu performed extremely well, but MLS vendors performed very poorly. I was not able to get the following web apps to work properly on ubuntu:
- MLXChange (obviously)
- Docusign
- Zipformonline
- QuickbooksOnline
I planned to use VNC to access MLXChange from my windoze desktop I keep running (which does crash, and I then call Ali to restart so that I can access it,) but I was pretty shocked that the other 3 vendors aren’t truly cross browser compatible. So, for now, Ubuntu is my great “around town” OS, but it looks like I’ll have to use my windoze machine on road trips (until I get a mac.)