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Author: Sean Purcell (page 5 of 11)

Real Estate Renaissance Man

September 22, 2009

Making the Numbers in Real Estate Marketing Add Up

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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In a recent Bloodhound post about Twitter (only Brian Brady could write the third post in just over a week on the same subject and generate so many comments!) there was a comment on marketing numbers that so intrigued me I felt compelled to respond in a post rather than a comment.  It’s been my experience that many of us do not accurately calculate the numbers when it comes to our marketing.  This should really come as no surprise – numbers and especially statistics can be beguiling and even misleading.  But if we’re not tracking and calculating our marketing efforts correctly, we’re just shooting into a dark room hoping we’ll hit the target.

The numbers quoted (or maybe it was just the idea) are credited to Larry Kendall, but they provide an interesting opportunity to work a real world example of marketing in general and Twitter specifically.  For this exercise I am pulling some examples from the actual comment, but just about every one of us has made this type of calculation before.  I follow each with a slightly different view.

I want 50 local people that I can really connect with (on Twitter).  If I have 50 people and they each know 50 people, I have a pool of 2,500 people.  Not quite.  It means you have the potential to reach 2500 people, but it’s unlikely.  For the purpose of calculating marketing numbers… you’re reaching 50.  This is akin to speaking at a seminar filled with 50 people from the neighborhood and assuming you’ve reached all 2500 people in the neighborhood – you haven’t.  If, on the other hand, you send a direct mail piece to all 2500 people in the neighborhood, then we say you’re working from a pool of 2500 potential clients.  Is it realistic to think all 2500 read that mailing?  Of course not.  But our expected conversion numbers take that into account.   The expected conversion numbers are simply based on a pool of 2500.  A pool of 50 will generate no usable statistical model from which to base a marketing campaign.

If the *normal* turnover rate in my local Read more

September 11, 2009

Twittering Twitts of Twittledom

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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tweedledee-tweedledumI have always loved Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.  It is many things, not least of which is a truly amazing exposition on language.  I bring this up because I recently read Brian Brady’s piece entitled Is Social Media Marketing Worth the Effort and quickly imagined myself on a walk with The Walrus and the Carpenter.  Greg Swan commented on Brian’s piece by publishing a video of himself, talking to us about his lack of interest in Social Media Marketing.  I can only describe this as so eerily representative of what one might find on the other side of Mr. Carroll’s looking glass that it’s borderline derivative! For reasons that will be clear in a moment, I felt compelled to jump into the conversation.

‘Contrariwise,’ continued Tweedledee, ‘if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t.  That’s logic.’

That’s logic… You just have to love the confidence of that line.  What’s even more interesting is how well this quote appears to sum up a few of our SMM darlings.  I’m thinking of Twitter here and as a matter of full disclosure: I’ve never used it.  As a matter of fact, I don’t believe I’ve used any Social Media in a way that can be measured for Return on Investment or conversion of prospects into customers.  As a matter of fact, the very idea of measuring return on investment or counting conversions goes a long way in explaining why so few people succeed in our business: they confuse marketing with advertising.  I’m itching to write a piece exploring that malady and will get to it as soon as I can carve out a little extra time.  But meanwhile, we have Twitter.  I know people right here in the Hound who are so old-school when it comes to marketing that they’re actually successful in this business (I’m not directly referring to the Bawldguy here, but if you’re still unsure I will look in his direction and whistle) and yet even HE has a Twitter account!  Go figure…

In Twitter Policies Come to Read more

August 20, 2009

How to Run a Real Estate Business: Finding Wisdom in a Baseball Storm

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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“Last night I went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out.”  (Ba-da-bum-ching.) That’s an oldie but a goodie.  I had a similar experience recently:  I went to a baseball game and a business class broke out.  About an hour north of me is the Padres Single A affiliate, The Storm.  If you’re a fan of baseball and haven’t made it to a minor league game, you really should; they are a blast.  But that’s a different story.  Because I attended the game with a friend from the Padres organization, I was lucky enough to meet the Storm’s President, Dave Oster and we got to talk a little business.

What’s that you say?  What does minor league baseball have to do with real estate?  By now you should know that business is business.  In the end, if you’re an agent, you’re running a business and I suggest we take every opportunity we get to learn from other successful business people.  As a matter of fact, I’m going to come right out and say you learn more from someone running a business different from yours than you’ll ever learn going to another 5000 seat auditorium and listening to some “real estate expert” who hasn’t sold anything but seats for years.  (Sorry… another tangent).

When Dave and I first got to talking, my goal was to ask him about his marketing philosophy.  I am always interested in learning what someone can share on marketing.  It’s been my experience that most people (and agents in particular) do a poor job of it.  Actually, that’s misleading.  The problem most people have is they don’t know the difference between advertising and marketing.  Genuine Chris Johnson wrote a post yesterday (and Jeff Brown is famous for them 🙂 ) wherein they lay out that difference, but I wonder how many people are seeing it.  In any case, that’s another post for another day because Dave gave me a humdinger of an answer.  During the course of our conversation though, he said something you almost never hear, yet it may be the most important concept in running a Read more

July 21, 2009

All is Well… (A Tin Foil Hat Production)

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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Quick check on the current status:

  • Goldman-Sachs reports RECORD earnings during the worst recession this nation has seen since the Great Depression.  Shortly after repaying $10 billion in tax-payer bailouts, Goldman trounced analysts’ estimates and continues to reap billions in profits trading in derivative markets.  (Actually, they trade in unregulated tertiary derivatives – that’s a derivative of a derivative of a derivative of something that actually exists, for those of you keeping score at home).  In the mean time, CIT – a company specializing in loans to small businesses and entrepreneurs – apparently serves no national interest to the Fed and has been told:  “Enough is enough.  No more bailouts”  (No soup for you!)  and is desperately searching for funding while on life support.  In related news, keys members of the Treasury, the Fed, the administration’s key economic advisers and the principles of Goldman-Sachs have all agreed on a new Read more
July 14, 2009

On Mortgages and Moral Compunction

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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What would it take for you to walk away from your mortgage?

Kenneth Harney, in his column Nation’s Housing, reports on an interesting study recently done by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.  This study took a look at homeowner’s attitudes toward mortgage defaults, specifically what’s come to be called “strategic” walkaways or decisions to bail on a mortgage due to purely economic reasons.  The study found that “26% of the record number of home mortgage defaults across the country” were strategic – the homeowner had the ability to pay the mortgage but chose not to because the debt was greater than the asset.  In other words, one in four of the current foreclosures is not due to hardship, but rather a lack of compunction.

My partner and mortgage rate expert, Brian Brady, has for some time now railed against the disappearance of moral compunction with regard to mortgages.  His contention, as I understand it, is that moral compunction was  priced into the model by lenders.  There has historically been a stigma attached to not paying one’s debts, especially one’s home mortgage debt.  This may or may not be true; I am no expert on the history of mortgage defaults in our nation, but it is certainly compelling.  If accurate, the obvious question then becomes: to what degree did moral compunction affect rates and if it is indeed gone, how much higher will rates go?

There is no real mystery to how mortgage rates are priced.  Mathematicians create models of mortgage “behavior” based on the 4 C’s: Capacity, Capital, Collateral and Credit.  Of these four, Credit is really what we’re talking about here.  Your income, your assets and the property’s value are theoretically objective but your credit… well, it’s not really credit that’s being measured here is it?  It’s your Character; your likelihood to honor your debts, although lenders don’t like to say that because it has a snooty, superiority quality.  Make no mistake though, character is most definitely being evaluated during the loan process.   So the question seems to be: How do these Read more

July 10, 2009

Finding Perfection in Real Estate

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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Earlier this week I was watching some old reruns of M*A*S*H.  What a well done series that was; funnier the first few years than it was later, in my opinion, because they got more political.  But the later years did give us a terrific character: Major Charles Emerson Winchester III.  Do you remember this guy?  What a pompous ass he was.  Speaking of pompous asses, why am I spending your valuable time reminiscing about a sitcom?  Good question, but I’ve got an even better answer.

I’m a big believer in being present.  If you’ve read any of my stuff or heard me speak, then you already know this.  As a matter of fact, if you’re anything like the agents I meet out here, you might even be tired of hearing it.  You might find the whole topic a little touchy-feely.  “There goes Sean again.  He might be a debonair, handsome, witty, intelligent, entertaining, man-of-action; but I’m tired of the Zen-happiness thing.  (I took a little license imagining what your thought about me might be;  you might not actually find me debonair…)  So today I’m going to sneak a little happiness in on you using pop culture: M*A*S*H to be specific.

Back to Major Charles Emerson Winchester III; as much of a buffoon as he was, the writers also gave him some of the most interesting lines.  I’m thinking of two in particular.  During one of his character’s early episodes, by way of explaining himself to the other doctors, he says, “I do one thing at a time, I do it very well, then I move on.”  That’s a great line isn’t it?  “I do one thing at a time…” sounds like someone who is present.  Someone who is focused on what he’s doing right then and there.  So far, so good.  “I do it very well…”  Hmmm, a little ego coming in here;  not so much about being present as it is being recognized by others for his accomplishments.  “Then I move on.”  OK, so now we see that he’s not really present at all.  He’s thinking about the next thing, but before Read more

June 20, 2009

The Problem With Agents: They’re Not Selfish Enough

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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I talk to a lot of real estate agents and if there is one universal problem I see, it’s this: you are not selfish enough – not nearly selfish enough.  I’ll explain that in a minute.  First, let me ask:  how many reading this took auto-shop in high school?  I’m guessing maybe half.  Of those that took auto-shop, how many actually work on their own cars?  Right.  You don’t take it so you can grow up and work on your car.  You take it so when your car breaks down you have a clue what might be wrong with it.  You want to know if the repair shop is taking care of you or just taking you for a ride.  The importance of wide-ranging knowledge is even greater for agents.  The real estate business is a difficult one in the best of times and it’s always time consuming.  It encompasses so many different areas, you may not need auto-shop (although I recommend it),  but you do need Mortgage-shop, Title-shop, Escrow-shop, Sign-shop, Web Site-shop, Appraisal-shop, Home Inspection-shop, Staging-shop and on and on.  Obviously you can’t be an expert in all these areas, but just like auto class, you should know enough to make sure you – and your clients – are being taken care of rather than just taken for a ride.  Beyond that the most important thing you can do is surround yourself with a team that excels in these areas.  Herein lies the problem for which I titled this post:  real estate agents are not nearly selfish enough… with their time.

I’m going to share one perspective on how big an impact this can have on your bottom line.  Last Wednesday I was involved with three different events affecting over $1.7 million of real estate transactions.  For the math challenged, that’s $51,000 in real estate commissions.  I’m writing this from a lender perspective because that’s what I am, but it’s all about the agents.

  • Early on Wednesday we funded a VA purchase loan for a little over $700,000.   Not remarkable in and of itself;  Read more
June 12, 2009

This Post Has Nothing To Do With Real Estate

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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Not long ago I listened to an inspirational speaker discuss ways to make our lives less stressful and more enjoyable.  At one point he told this story:

In the wild, a big lion sprints toward an antelope who’s quietly feeding.  After a short chase – if the antelope hasn’t been caught – the lion slows down and eventually stops to rest.  Interestingly enough, the antelope often stops only a short distance away and begins to feed again.  The lion doesn’t bore his friends with excuses or puff his chest out and tell the antelope to “wait till next time;”  nor does the antelope, flush with righteous indignation, cry out: “What’s your problem, you (censored)!”  They both live in the present and by doing so find great peace.

I get the “message” in the story and maybe it’s just me; but I’ve never felt all that comfortable with animal metaphors.  Here’s another story; this one’s about stress and enjoyment too, but without the potential of being eaten:

Last Saturday I attended two Little League play-off games on the same day: one for each of my sons.  During the first game, I watched my older son’s team from the stands.  The other team was employing a delaying tactic and one of the fathers from our side made a condescending remark.  A coach from the other team heard the remark and replied in a less than congenial way.  The dad followed that up with an unmistakable insult to the opposing coach and before long we had ‘tough guy’ looks going back and forth.  (I swear, you can’t make this stuff up!)  The dad in our stands (mis)spent the next two hours of the game talking about what he was going to say next and what he should have said already and telling anyone who would listen what he thought of this coach.  He simply could not let go.

Later that same day I’m coaching my younger son’s team.  When you’re in the dugout with the boys you get a chance to listen in on their conversations and they can be quite mean.  It’s not uncommon to hear a Read more

May 22, 2009

The Secret to Success (part 372)

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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Want to know the secret to becoming a wildly successful, top producing, charismatic, healthy and attractive real estate agent?  Want to feel ten pounds lighter and ten years younger?  Want the whole thing in one easy to swallow pill?  Me too.

I know all of us want to make money – some more than others.  But our ultimate goals: security for our family, a peaceful sense of happiness, a worry free future – they are much more than just money, aren’t they?

Earlier this week I was driving my two boys to school.  The older one piped up and asked what day it was.  “Wednesday” I replied.  He was ecstatic with that answer; bouncing on the back seat and just as excited as a nine year old can be on his way to school.  I asked him what made Wednesdays so special.  “On Wednesday we have PE,” he explained.  “That’s like an extra recess!  And on some days we play ‘anything-goes.’  Those are the best days ever!”

I started wondering: when was the last time any of us scheduled an extra recess?  Hell, when was the last time any of us scheduled a regular recess?  Can you remember the last time you found yourself enjoying a game of ‘anything-goes?’  May I suggest that when you finish reading this article you go directly to your calendar and schedule yourself an extra recess.  I’m not talking about some quiet time where you can get caught up on your paperwork!  I’m talking about a long lunch or a long walk.  Maybe going down to the beach or the park and bringing a picnic.  How about meeting your husband or wife at a hotel near their work for a romantic afternoon?

Schedule yourself an extra recess; preferably involving a little ‘anything-goes.’  I guarantee it will do wonders for your business.  You might even have “the best day ever.“

May 7, 2009

Stress Tests and Wells Fargo: A Tin Foil Hat Production

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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Today the Fed releases the results of the banking industry “stress test.”  You remember this test right?  The Fed created a scenario of economic failure well beyond what is already the worst economic downturn in seventy years.  They then evaluate the banks’ ability to withstand this Armageddon against the Fed’s own made-up base line.  (Let’s not cloud the issue with the idea that the economy is already turning around.)  They then tell the banks which failed the made-up test to take some very not made up actions: increase assets.  How?  Well, that’s the easy part: you can raise private funds (a very tough hill to climb in this credit market), you can accept more TARP funds (that many of them didn’t want in the first place) along with the business stifling, government mandates that go with them, or… you can simply convert the government’s preferred stock into common stock (thus increasing the government’s control of the bank – sometimes to a majority stake).

Interesting results: Bank of America needs roughly 35 billion dollars (despite the $45 billion dollars already given them by the Fed in exchange for preferred stock).  Isn’t this the same bank that took over Countrywide at the Fed’s behest and backing?  It seems that by following the Fed’s request, Bank of America is now more likely to be owned by the Fed.  But let’s leave that bit of conundrum alone.  Let’s take a look at Wells Fargo – by far the strongest of the major banks.  Let me ask you: which was the only major bank to have their results leaked way back on Monday?  Wells Fargo.  Which was the first major bank to ask to return the TARP funds they were forced to accept?  Wells Fargo.  Which is the only major bank not on life support?  Wells Fargo.  When the Fed tested the various banks’ liabilities, which is the only major bank with a portfolio that does not contain 100% financing, option arms and teaser rates?  Wells Fargo.

I don’t know what the Fed’s intent was because I’m not in the group creating the long term plans of this Read more

May 4, 2009

The Heart of Unchained

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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Three days later and my head’s still not right.  Have you ever returned home from a few days away and felt like you needed another vacation in order to recover from your vacation?  You might say the Unchained Conference was like that… but you’d be off by a factor of 10.  Unchained was roughly 32 hours of fast-paced information downloaded without filter or pause in a two and a half day schedule.  Vacation?  I need an I.V. drip.

You might also think, based on what I just wrote, it would be difficult to name the #1 highlight of the entire three days.  But you’d be wrong again. (You’re really not very good at this game. 🙂 )  There were hundreds of moments to choose from and I’m gonna list a few, but there was a definite highlight – an apogee if you will.  It was during that moment I realized I was experiencing everything it means when we say the bloodhound way.

In the kick-off class of the conference, yours truly was the instructor and I didn’t know what to expect.  The feel of this conference – the expectation – was very high-tech.  Yet I’m using terms like “old school” marketing and making a point of saying that all the shiny gizmos and gadgets handed out over the next three days  were just so much dust gatherers without a framework rooted in old fashioned sales and marketing.  To say I was a little anxious about kicking off an online conference with my offline message is like saying the Christians felt a little concerned about entering the lion’s den wearing nothing but butter-flavored bikinis.  I’ve never been so glad to be wrong.  Highlight of the class: we had two attendees benefit from the scenius of the group and nail down their niche, then go online to PURCHASE THEIR DOMAIN NAME AND LAUNCH THEMSELVES right there in class.  God bless people of action.

Once the moments began to roll, they just never let up for three days:

April 13, 2009

Facebook Advice… Straight From the Buck’s Mouth

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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One of the interesting things about reading cutting edge, real estate thinkers here and elsewhere is how, every now and then, we miss the forest for all the trees.  I think you know what I’m saying: someone will post about a new technology or share an idea or reveal a new twist or just plain inspire and the conversation will take off.  Pretty soon, an ol’ balloon-popper like Jeff Brown will wander by and yell through the ivory-framed window: “Hey!  Skinned any cats lately?”  Then he’ll pick up his pelt bag and head down to the bank.

I saw this last week on a great post by Mark Green, who wrote a piece called Please Get Out of My Face(book) that touched on some good rules of thumb for the best use of social media tools like Facebook.  There were some pretty interesting comments and the conversation expanded on some of the ideas in Mark’s post.  Then, a couple days after the comments ended, a new comment went up.  It was late and it was overlooked and it reminded me how often we resemble less a cat skinner and more Elmer Fudd in the cartoon where he’s so busy getting ready to go deer hunting – talking about how great it’s going to be with Porky Pig and sharing his newest, shiniest gizmo – that he doesn’t notice the 12 point buck meander right past the cabin.

Laura Evans wrote the comment.  For purposes of full disclosure: I’ve known Laura in the real world for some time.  Here’s her comment (I’ve edited for length & the emphasis is mine):

Mark makes some great points about how to use Social Networking tools.  I’m not in the Facebook game for marketing purposes, purely social for me.  However if I were, I think my strategy for this powerful tool would be slightly different.

First, I would establish a goal.  In your world, I presume it would be to build your sphere of influence to sell.  So, if the majority of your FB “friends” are in your industry (isn’t LinkedIn a better tool for Read more

April 10, 2009

Sen. Schumer’s “…merry bosom swells with the paean of the bells…”

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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What a blessing we have in Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY).  Last year he single-handedly protected us from having to spend one more day in a world where IndyMac Bank was a viable institution.  Now he’s there for us again.  Did you know that traditional values were gone?  I didn’t.  Here I was walking around and thinking that hard work, honor, respect and responsibility were still in vogue –  I could have made a real ass of myself!  Thank you Sen. Schumer, once again you’ve taken that bullet for me…

April 10, 2009

How India Made Me a Better Agent

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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The following is a true story.  The names were not changed and only the mistakes were innocent.

Not too many years ago I took a month off and traveled to India (for those new to the real estate profession, there was actually a time one could take a long vacation and still be successful).  India was not so much a destination of choice as it was obligation:  I was married at the time and my wife’s family is from there.  In any case, I found myself in India.

It is common for foreigners traveling in India to become sick the first week (the malady even has a name: New Delhi belly).  When I began feeling better I wanted to go for a run.  From the tenth floor window of our hotel room I looked down upon a large, undeveloped space bounded on all sides by city streets – roughly the equivalent of a city block.  I guesstimated a lap to be just short of a half mile and headed down to get in an hour’s worth of exercise.  Seemed simple enough from the tenth floor.  Strange thing though: once on the ground the loop was not nearly as obvious and that third left turn just never appeared.  I was quickly lost:

Lesson 1: No matter how great or simple or brilliant your marketing plan, things can and will go wrong.

I decided that I would keep going, counting on the innate, natural sense of direction all males possess… (I’ll pause for a moment while the women stop laughing).  Two and half hours later I decided I was really lost.  Nothing looked familiar and I was no longer even in town.  It was also at this point that I stopped and took a good hard look at my situation: “I am lost, I don’t speak the language, I don’t have any ID with me and I’m not carrying any money.  Hmmm, this is not good.”  I decided to enlist some help; I was pretty much all-in after running for over two hours and imagined everyone back at the hotel worried sick.  Plus, there was the ‘spectacle’.  Read more

April 8, 2009

IF (…for the real estate crowd)

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Real Estate Renaissance Man

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A little Hump-Day fun.  (Apologies to Rudyard Kipling.)

If you can keep your deal when all about you
Are losing theirs and talking of failure to you;
If you can trust your client when all clients doubt you,
And understand their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired of writing offers,
Or, being lied to, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being rejected, don’t deal in scoffers,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream of clients – and not make clients your master;
If you can think of volume – and not make volume your aim;
If you can meet with REO agents and short sale specialists
And take pride in what you do just the same;
If you can bear to hear the comps you’ve spoken
Twisted by appraisers to make agents fools,
Or watch the escrow you gave your all to broken,
And start again with new marketing tools.

If you can save 10% of all your winnings
And run through a prospecting plan,
And gain nothing, and start again at your beginnings
And never make complaint or show you ran;
If you can force your assistant and lender and staging pro
To serve your turn after they want to be gone,
And so hold on to that open escrow
With nothing but the Will to say: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with banks and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Brokers – nor lose the common touch;
If neither real estate coaches nor time vampires can hurt you;
If all clients count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ of marketing done;
Yours is the farm and all the transactions in it,
And – which is more – this profession will be fun!

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Inventing Real Estate 2.0

Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

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