Graphic designers do a great job with colors, layout, design, etc.  Graphic designers’ expertise is not marketing.  The focus of their training is not marketing.  So, be careful company’s ten to call their graphic design departments, marketing departments.  Unfortunately, the talented graphic designers are not in a position to provide accurate advice on what design, layout etc, will best generate leads.  Yet, Agents ask and the graphic designers often love to provide advice on marketing.  After all they love their designs.  So it is easy for them get very excited about the anticipated impact of their designs.  But they are never in a position to find out whether their designs work. 
Bottom line, do not ask your graphic designer for marketing advice unless they want to tie their fees into the results you get from it.

Questions always come up whether farming works.  Is it worth it?  If so, how do I make it work for me?
Farming, done right works; and it doesn’t take six months or longer for it to work, if you do it correctly.  When you farm, send relevant neighborhood data, houses sold over the past year, along with your commitment to the neighborhood and you get results immediately.  Follow up with postcards, mailings, web messages, blogs, podcasts and other media with relevant sales and listing information along with your honest analysis of how it impacts the property values.  Unfortunately, telling people how to decorate and get rid of their grubs does not send a powerful message that you can get their house sold for the most money.  When you send relevant information results come immediately.  Farm in this way consistently and results will also come continuously.

Computers wear out.  Tools wear out.  Even the land wears out.  So do you. 
Saturdays have been my day off for over thirty years.  As an Agent actively selling Real Estate there were two exceptions.  Signatures were exceptions.  If someone is going to sign a listing or purchase contract - get it signed.  Don’t be afraid to ask if they are planning to sign the paperwork or just want to see the house one more time, if they are not going to sign something and you are confident you will not lose the business, then schedule it for another day.  Out of town Buyers are the other exception.  If I then worked on a Saturday, I would take another day or take the next entire weekend off.

At first you will cheat and make an appointment until you realize that just one little appointment throws the whole day off and you end up focusing on that appointment instead of your personal time.

Many times I had another Agent show my Buyer some homes and paid them for it so I could take my day off.  To really be able to relax I coach my Clients to have another Agent or an Assistant check in on their voicemail two or three times on schedule and reach out to the Agent on critical issues, of which there are few. 

Oh, I am writing this on a Saturday.  The fact is I don’t blog on Saturdays either but as I walked by my home office door I felt compelled to share this with you.

“Rules are made to be questioned.”  And “Trust your own judgment.”  Put these two together and you become comfortable making your own rules around taking a day off and trust your own judgment as to how to manage it. 
Enjoy!

A recent Client who was keeping Rich Levin Planning Charts religiously all of a sudden stopped and focused on day to day issues.  Despite her declining production, my best efforts couldn’t get her to make keeping the numbers a priority. 

So I asked, “What is it going to take… how can I convince you that not keeping your numbers, being ignorant of your numbers is the cause for your struggling.  It is why you didn’t catch the decline before it hit your wallet.  We would have identified the source of the decline and then we would have put strategies and tactics in place to stop it.  We would have found opportunities to be one of the Agents in your marketplace that is growing through a slowing market.”

I can say all this with confidence because many of my clients have increased their production throughout these slow times by managing their business based on the intelligence and insight that they get from knowing their numbers.
When she got back to it she said to me, “Rich, that is the most important thing I did this year to regain control of my business.” 
It is extremely powerful to manage your business by goals broken down to monthly sales and listings; and weekly appointments measured in a way that gives you actionable information about your business.  She is right this is the most important thing you can do for your business. 

REALTOR Magazine recently published this article indicating owning a home is still the best investment for the future. It did acknowledge some areas of the country are still experiencing negative equity but even in those areas, people that have owned their homes for 10, 20, or 30 years still have respectable equity in their homes. As quoted in the article “The data clearly show that homeownership remains the biggest store of wealth for the typical household even when markets are buffeted by some admittedly very rocky years”

So take this information and share it with your buyers and sellers. Be the voice of optimism. Go out and share the positive attributes of homeownership.

 

 

Positive news about the Real Estate market continues make headlines.  All this year even before the tax credit was announced have been reporting to us that business in improving.  In many areas there are multiple offers.  One Client in Tampa, who is generating a huge number of leads from his web marketing said he is getting less than one out of five offers accepted because he is in multiple offer situations on virtually every transaction.  Despite that he is selling a record number of homes every month.  If your area is not experiencing the new boom yet, with a few exceptions that are being hit with large unemployment, it won’t be long now.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090602/ap_on_bi_ge/us_economy

I want some opinions if possible, what is a hot topic or something you would like to see me either write about or do a tele-seminar on? All suggestions welcome.

How balanced is your life?  I did this exercise again.  You know, the one where you look at the categories of your life, Spiritual, Family, Mental, Health, Wealth/Financial, Career etc.  And then you plot them on a wheel. 

And see if your wheel is round enough to actually roll.  My wheel was pretty round. That pleased me.   I asked Chava to do the same and our numbers matched up almost exactly.  That was very satisfying as well. 

I like to smile.  When I walk through the airport, the mall, at synagogue, everywhere, I like to make eye contact and smile.  I like to acknowledge people.  It fills me up and I hope it adds a little to their life.  Being in balance makes my smile more sincere and giving versus more forced and receiving; although, receiving is a good thing too.

Talking to a Seller about pricing, here’s the language.  After explaining that there is more competition and therefore most houses are staying on the market longer; and after you have gone over your market analysis showing them the days on market and sale price statistics from this year versus last year or the year before including and the details on the homes that are currently on the market competing with theirs; after you perceive that they understand those things, you say,

“So, you have a choice, you can price the house to test the market or you can price the house to sell in thirty days, which in this market might still take longer than that.  The real question is this, ‘if you were still here in the house a year from now would that be ok with you?  Or do you want to be moved on long before then." 

It’s sort of like the Real Estate version of Deal or No Deal?  Price it to test the market and take a chance or price it to sell quickly and take what you can get for it.  Deal or no deal.

Like any “technique” you need to be comfortable and rehearse this before you put it into practice.  In many markets around the country, it is the right message.

 

The other day I was one of the first people to hear and spread the news of the proposed use of the $8,000 tax credit as down payment money. There has been much talk and speculation and now it does appear that the government is rethinking this strategy. It was pulled because it appeared to violate a federal law that became effective October 1, 2008. Below are a few links about this. I will stay on top of this issue and keep you posted.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206293,00.html
http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/letters/mortgagee/ (notice letter is no longer on this site)