Top agents share advice with Preview Properties.com agents

Lillian Montalto-Bohlen from Andover, MA, Mary King and Doug Ferguson from the Greater Atlanta area and Paul and Nancy Kennedy from Westchester County, NY recently visited Preview Properties.com in Brighton, MI and shared market survival tips with our group. Although there are differences between markets, here are some thoughts we can all benefit from:

1. Immediate, quick response to inquiries is critical. Buyers and sellers expect you to be available 24/7. One of Lillian Montalto-Bohlen’s ideas – she sets up Webinar conference calls with clients who have moved out of the area.
2. Market knowledge is critical. Doug Ferguson said in the Atlanta market prices are still dropping up to 3% a month. He said “we are liquidators – by dropping the bottom out of the prices we can create bidding wars.” He is embracing short sales and said many short sellers are scared and desparately need our help. Paul and Nancy Kennedy are experimenting with the Flip camera and expect to post videos to http://www.youtube.com/ and other channels on the “best buy of the week” and “what to expect during an inspection.” Lillian Montalto-Bohlen reinforced we “have to know our numbers.” She writes a quarterly column in a glossy magazine to educate readers on short sales and establish expectations for current market.
3. Show up! Some real estate agents check out when the market goes south. Doug Ferguson commented that the “market has really, really changed but we are changing with it.” Mary King said she listens to The Secret CD for an hour a day to insulate her from the negativity that can exist in a distressed market.
4. Accelerate your business plan review. Nancy Kennedy said she has shortened her planning cycles to quarterly instead of annually because of rapid changes in the market.
5. Expand your market. Paul Kennedy suggested we should diversify our buyer community by broadening our geographic area. For example, Nancy Kennedy is taking the address off her business card. Doug Ferguson suggested the days of the “neighborhood specialist” are over. Rich Kownacki of Preview Properties.com said he is “adopting buyers” of his REO listings so when they are ready to sell in a few years he will be top of mind.

   Thanks Lillian, Mary, Doug, Paul and Nancy for sharing your thoughts with us.

Ask the Experts Panel – Friday, March 27 @ 9 a.m.

Preview Properties.com agents will have the unique opportunity to quiz some real estate experts from outside our market this Friday during the weekly scripts & dialogue session:

• Nancy Kennedy from Houlihan Lawrence in New York. Her website is http://www.callnancykennedy.com/.
• Doug Ferguson and Mary King of The King Team/RE/MAX Greater Atlanta. Their website is http://www.kingteam.com/.
• and maybe a few other guests!

No Excuses

Todd Koch reminded us today during the Scripts & Dialogues session that we should make no excuses. Here are his suggestions to help you succeed in that effort:

• Remember to hand out 10 business cards each week. Turn your casual conversations into the topic of real estate.
• Use daily and weekly accountability sheets to stay on track. Need an example? E-mail me at lbohlen@previewproperties.com.
• Every night Todd writes down what he needs to accomplish the following day.
• When he is setting his weekly schedule up, he blocks off personal time first, then prospecting time (which he prefers to do first thing each morning).
• If you think a deal will take weeks, it will. If you think it will happen today, it will!
• Keep your big rewards in mind at all times (we call these our “50s” and “100s” – EX: a big vacation, a new home, etc.).
• Todd suggested trying a different strategy when contacting your sphere of influence: admit that the market stinks, that you really need some work and ask if they know someone who needs to buy or sell real estate. If they do, ask if they could make the first contact – a third party endorsement often improves the conversion rate.
• Go knock on the doors of homeowners whose listings expired eight months ago. They were once motivated to list their property – are they now?
• When you are sitting in a public place and pick up on conversation around you that is real estate based, say “I didn’t mean to overhear your conversation, bla bla bla….could you give me your phone number so I could contact you later?” If they don’t want to give you their number, say that’s OK, give them your card and ask them to call you when they are ready.
• He suggested playing games with prospecting to keep interested in it. For example, Todd shoots for 10 people hanging up on him while he is on the phone prospecting each week. Of course he never hits that!

George Bush Shares Suggestions

Today in our Scripts & Dialogue session, George Bush (Preview Properties.com agent, not the one moving to Dallas next year) shared the following suggestions:

• Now is a good time to telephone past customers and clients to touch base.
• Very few banks financing vacant land – and those that are need about 35% down. He mentioned Chase, Franklin and Greenstone as those that might be willing to do it now.
• Remind people that we do short sales and we have been doing them for quite some time. It is the most positive way to get out of a bad situation and the client can move on with their life sooner. They’ll be able to buy a home sooner than if they went through foreclosure; in fact, almost a year and a half sooner.
• If you haven’t done so recently, call on your active listings if they need a price reduction.
• Ask your clients: “when we get this home sold for you, then what can we do to help you.”
• Communicate with other agents who have foreclosure listings outside of Livingston County. If you can buddy up with another agent, you might be able to reduce trips to one of your listings if they are going out that way anyway.

11/13/08 – News of the Day

Have news to share? Post it here as a comment.

Friday – join me at 9:00 a.m. for 10 marketing tips and I’ll show you one cool tech toy. I understand there may have been a misunderstanding that I was going to give anyone who attended a tech toy…I would love to do that but can’t afford it these days (it’s a $150 tech toy). But I hope you attend anyway. I will also share the trade show literature and little giveaway promotions I picked up with the group.

GEORGE BUSH SHARES IDEAS ON POTENTIAL REAL ESTATE INVESTORS

George Bush hosted the scripts & dialogues today. He suggested there are a lot more investors today than we think there are and the next person you see may be one. For example, he was mowing a lawn at a Countrywide listing and ended up showing and selling the house while he was there. Some thoughts:

· People accepting buyouts from their employers
· Parents who need a home for their grown children
· People removing money from volatile investments – stocks – money markets – etc.
· Farmers interested in disposing of property
· Builders with funds available

George suggested you have ready a list of people who can do necessary repairs for potential buyers, since that can be a roadblock. Also – always have in mind the “best deal” in our market today – the property you would have if you had the money to put down on it. Who else could be interested in it?

Marie Karas from Property Mortgage suggested parents consider parents serving as co-borrowers on FHA loans for children. The children can have a credit score of 500+. You can only have one FHA loan at a time, so parents can’t have an FHA loan already for themselves and can only do this for one child. With 3% down requirements, it doesn’t take much cash to make this work. Another thought was using the Rural Housing loan – Marie worked on one yesterday with a 6% interest rate and 1% down.