ALERT: 2008 Isn't Over...Yet!

We still have one quarter left on 2008!

Some trainers are already talking about preparing to build your business in 2009.

WHOA!

We still have 3 months in 2008 - a whole quarter of the year left. Don't write this time off!

This reminds me of the "Holiday Advertising Season". Each year, stores get out their holiday season decorations earlier and earlier. I mean, it's ridiculous.

Count these numbers out loud! Go ahead!

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 - 32 - 33 - 34 - 35 - 36 - 37 - 38 - 39 - 40 - 41 - 42 - 43 - 44 - 45 - 46 - 47 - 48 - 49 - 50 - 51 - 52 - 53 - 54 -55 - 56 - 57 - 58 - 59 - 60 - 61 - 62 - 63 - 64 - 65 - 66 - 67 - 68 - 69 - 70 - 71 - 72 - 73 - 74 - 75 - 76 - 77 - 78 - 79 - 80 - 81 - 82 - 83 - 84 - 85 - 86 - 87 - 88 - 89 - 90

These are the number of days left between now and the end of the year. That is a lot of days to just glide through, have missed opportunities on and to lose them forever. Each day is just as important as the next.

How many listings and sales can you achieve in the next 90 days?

What you do in the next 90 days will affect today's income as well as into 2009.

I know it can be easy to get side-tracked over the next 30 - 60 days in anticipation of the upcoming holidays and parties, but now is when you have to "grind it out" - work harder, smarter and stay focused on your daily business activities.

So, review your business plan and determine what you have to do to stay on track to keep your income flowing. You may traditionally do different activities this time of year, like talk to more family, friends and clients that you like. See what's going on in their lives right now. When they know you care about them, they'll pay more attention to you and give you an opening to talk about your business. You can then tell them about the great buyer's market we're in.

The harder and smarter you work during these last three months of 2008, the better prepared you'll be for 2009. You will have sustained momentum that will keep you way ahead of most other agents in your area.

While other agents slow down, because of the upcoming holidays or the economy or they're just tired, it's time for you to push forward, because there are still people, who need to buy and sell properties in this market.

There's nothing wrong with taking some time off over the holiday season, but make sure when it's time to work you're working. Stay focused on achieving your goals and completing your daily activities.

Make yourself proud on January 1st when you look back to all that you achieved over the previous 90 days...and not have to ask yourself, "If I had only...?"

Go get 'em!

"I Want The Truth!"...Can Sellers Handle It?

It's now officially the "Fall" season and no matter what your market conditions are, it's more important than ever to keep your home sellers updated on what's happening in their local real estate market.

Have you had any listings for 3 to 6 months or longer?

How are you communicating with your sellers?

It was probably easier in the beginning to pick up the phone and call them every week, but as time goes by and their home just sits on the market with no end in sight, here are some ideas to put into action:

• Are you communicating in your seller's preferred method of communication...by phone or e-mail? Are you contacting them each week with an update? Sellers want to know what's happening. Also, share information with them about what's happening in the financial markets and how that's affecting the ability of home buyers to be approved for mortgages.
  
• Set up an e-mail program in your MLS system that can send them information on new listings, new pendings and new solds. If that's not possible, you may do it yourself or out-source it. Let your sellers see what their competition is and see what's selling and for how much. When they review the information for themselves, then they believe it more than if you 'told' them the statistics.
  
• Schedule appointments to view 4 - 5 homes with your sellers that are closest in features, location and price to your seller's home. How do they compare? Do you need to get a price adjustment? Tell your sellers that buyers are looking at more homes now than in the past. They even look at homes on the Internet before ever getting into their car and if your listing doesn't show well online, you won't be getting a phone call for a showing.
  
• Take another close look at your listing (first without your sellers there) and imagine that it's someone else's listing. How would you critique it? Is it tired and full of furniture? Does it need a fresh coat of paint and wallpaper removal? Would it look sharper with updated light fixtures and more? Then have a heart-to-heart with your sellers about what they can do to make their home stand out above their competition.
  
• Ask them..."Do they REALLY need to sell right now?" If the answer is NO, take their home off the market. In my area, we have a 9+ months supply of homes for sale. That's twice the average of a 'balanced' market. With so much for sale, only the most appealing, best-showcased and 'bargains' are selling.

These are a few ideas that can help your seller better understand what they're up against. If they watch the news, they know the media's take on our housing situation, but local market conditions do vary. A person's perception of how things are is their reality. If it causing them to believe things aren't really the way they are, it's your job to show and tell them what's really happening in the market.

Hurricane Ike Strikes The Midwest!

Even though we didn't get any rain in the greater Cincinnati area, the 40 - 60 MPH winds with gusts of over 70+ MPH still did plenty of damage.

Two days after the remnants of Hurricane Ike's winds and over 500,000 homes and businesses are still without power. We were fortunate enough to get power back on in our home last night with one more outage overnight...not sure when it came back on, just glad it did.

Fortunately, the rains didn't come with the wind or in addition to lots of roofing and siding damage and fallen trees throughout the area, you could have added flooded basements to the list.

You don't realize how much electricity plays into every day life. We all take it for granted.

This got me to thinking about emergency preparedness for my family, my home and my business.

For this tip, I want to mention some strategies that can help keep your business afloat in the short-term:

• Make sure that you consistently back up everything on your computer.
• Use a software program like Top Producer, that's web-based, so that you have access to your files and client data anywhere you go online.
• Contact your active sellers and see what immediate needs they have that you can handle for them. If you have vacant listings, you need to visit them ASAP to make sure they're OK.
• Contact your buyer prospects, depending on the severity of the community damage, and let them know what's happening. Some listings have been damaged, so before showing homes again, make sure the showings you schedule aren't damaged homes.
• Always have some cash stashed away in a "tin can". Many times banks and ATMs can be shut down without electricity and there may be no way to get money.
• In a more severe setting, where Mother Nature has destroyed a lot of homes, know that the displaced people will need temporary or long-term rental properties until they get back on their feet.
• Build an Emergency Fund equivalent to 3 - 6 months of living and business expenses, so that if you have a major destruction of property in your area, you'll be able to survive, because the bills will keep coming in the mail.

These are just a few of the things that you need to think about and plan for ahead of a major storm or other natural catastraphe. May you never need to experience one, but follow the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared!

Are You Lost in a Sea of Agents?

I recently read about an agent, who had run into 'bad luck' lately with prospects.

He was showing home after home to several, different prospects, but no one was buying. They would look at 20 - 30 homes and then disappear. Some would buy a home from a different agent.

It got me thinking.

Whenever you have a problem, is it because you aren't using a system in your business or is a component of your system not working properly?

In this case, the agent didn't have a system.

Here is what I would recommend:

It's very important to devise a system for your buyer prospects before you spend countless hours and dollars on them.

Are they motivated to buy now?

Are they pre-approved by a reputable lender?

You need to schedule a consultation with them before you head out to show them properties. Sit down with them, preferably at your office, and review the home buying process with them. Find out their needs and what concerns they have about the process. Then share with them how you work and the benefits they'll gain by hiring you to be their agent.

Then make sure that they have been pre-approved for a mortgage that they understand and will be comfortable with its terms. If you don't have a preferred mortgage consultant that you've worked with over time and can recommend, make sure you talk with the lender they've selected and find out the details about the mortgage they are recommending to the buyer. When possible, ask for a Good Faith Estimate or a breakdown of closing costs and fees associated with the mortgage.

Then set the buyer up to receive new listings by e-mail. Make sure they closely review each listing before making an appointment to view it. Many times there are things about a property that will disqualify it in their mind or they miss reading about a certain feature of the property that would have eliminated it from consideration in the first place.

Always ask continuously about which features and amenities they'd 'like to have' versus 'what they must have' versus what they'd 'never accept', i.e. in-ground pool.

Constantly pre-qualify prospects. Their wants and needs can change during the process.

You should be interviewing them as much as them deciding on you. It's really all about your mindset. People will use up your most precious resource: time. Don't let them do that if they don't meet your standards to work with. Don't put yourself in a position that you've worked with them for so long that you can't afford to lose them. They will sense that.

It's better to work with fewer, highly-qualified buyer, who know what your expectations are and appreciate your real estate expertise than to waste time and gas money driving looky-loos all over town.

When you meet with someone one-on-one and they see that you're a professional, who really cares about serving their real estate needs, you'll have a much better chance of helping them find a new home.

In today's market, whether you're working with buyers or sellers, it's all about quality clients, not quantity.

So, don't become a "commodity" among real estate agents, where consumers think that we're all alike. We're not. Constantly improve your skills by practice, education and just going out and doing it.

Are Consumers Afraid Of You?

How much business are you losing, because people are afraid to talk with you?

When consumers call you from your for sale sign, attend one of your open houses, or come from a client referral, how do you handle those situations? What percentage of the time are you able to convert those prospects into closed transactions?

I believe many people still look at real estate agents as slick, pushy, or high-pressure salespeople. They try to avoid us as much as possible. They call for property information and then are ready to hang up. The Internet is a great, safe haven for consumers, because they can stay anonymous until they're ready to act.

What you need to do is change the public's perception of you.

I always tell people that I'm here to help them - consult and advise them through the process. I'm not a typical salesperson. I don't care which property they buy, but when we find the right one for them, they'll know it. My purpose is to be their advocate through the negotiating of an offer and inspection issues, if any, and to do my best to make sure that they understand which type of mortgage is best for their situation.

I don't want my clients to fall for a bad home or bad loan.

I want people to feel at ease when they talk with me. If they have their guard up, it's a lot harder to help them. If they've a bad experience with an agent in the past, get them to share it with you and show them how you're different.

A great strategy to use in getting a consumer to want to work with you is to have a consultation. Meet where they are most comfortable...at their home, at Starbucks, at your office. Share your business philosophies with them. Take them through the home buying or selling process. Update them on what's happening in the current real estate market.

No matter what type of market it is, there's always myths out there that you need to inform the consumer about. Find out about their family...where they grew up...what's happening in their life...what amenitites are important to them. Focus on getting to know them. You've obviously heard "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care".