Category: Realty Reality (page 13 of 16)

by Cathleen Collins

Realtor, Staging Consultant

Author website

I had a buyer in my car the other day. A nice, interesting, serious lady whom I’ve been emailing back and forth, and talking to for the past many months. But this was the first time we had met face to face. I thought we had built a truly congenial rapport over the summer. She was a referral. She is a dog-lover. Sadly, her mother had died during the past year after having spent some time in hospice. A lot of common ground and mutual respect. She was ready, willing and able to buy a house and I wanted to help her buy her ideal house for a price that’s right for her.

This should be easy. In this market there are ten homes for every buyer. We like each other. And I had an armful of worthy listings and a tank full of gas. So I was admittedly surprised when hours into our house-hunt I started to sense hesitancy from my client in response to some of my questions: basic questions like, “How much cash do you have to put into this transaction?”; “Have you thought about the earnest money?”; “Your loan officer said he can close within two weeks, how quickly are you planning on moving?”. I was surprised to find myself having to explain that I will be better able represent her if she’s forthright with me.

Later that evening I described the situation to Greg, my mentor, broker, husband, etc. He suggested that I still don’t see myself as a salesperson. I’m still operating in the project manager mode of my previous livelihood — facilitating the outcome rather than influencing it. But even though I don’t see myself as a salesperson, my clients all do. And along with that perception comes all the baggage that clients bring from having had a bad experience with a salesperson, or having heard of someone else’s bad experience, or having seen a movie like Glengarry Glen Ross, which portrays slimy salespeople.

Greg’s solution? Address the problem head-on. Go beyond where I had gone, which was to justify my need to know: Acknowledge that I’m Read more

by Russell Shaw

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

Just ran across this in letters to the editor section of the Aug 13 issue of BusinessWeek. Wanted to pass it along.

___

Approving A Loan The Careless Way

“Why Fannie and Freddie are fidgety” (News & Insights, July 30) talks about “low-documentation loans.” It would be interesting to know how many “fake-documentation loans” have been made.

David L. Hagan
Pismo Beach, Calif.

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

Author website

When I want the news I can use, I head straight for the San Diego Union Tribune. From yesterday’s Currents section, in an article addressing the health benefits of swimming as exercise, they gave us this bit of sage advice:

Who is swimming not good for?

Swimming is not a good activity for someone who doesn’t know how to swim.

I think this should be an ongoing feature series. “Piloting a jetliner is not a good activity for someone who doesn’t know how to fly”, “Skydiving is not a good activity for someone who doesn’t have access to a parachute”, and “Attending a Barry Manilow concert is not a good activity for someone who…” – Well, that last one is just plain wrong.

Do you know what else is just plain wrong? Attempting to grow a successful business is not a good activity for someone who lacks the ability or willingness to think like an entrepreneur, to constantly evolve, to continually strive for excellence and to establish their brand as superior to that of the competition.

I suggest that rather than the Broker’s new-hire training beginning and ending with lessons in the fine art of bulk-mailing, working your sphere, passing out pumpkins on Halloween and flags on the 4th of July, and sitting open houses, the first lesson should be a boot camp on business basics.

New agents, and even the veteran hangers-on who are feeling stalled and challenged, would do well to start thinking like the self-employed business owner they are. Once licensed, it is not your divine right to make a living in real estate. It is not preordained that, once assigned a cubicle and a business card, you will enjoy untold riches or even eat. There are tens of thousands just like you. Only when you reach the point where they are NOT just like you and your customer knows it will you realize any consistent success.

Keep Inventing

The minute your product is finished, so are you.

Years ago, I had one of the first “car phones”. In those days, it was cutting edge, truly a thing of envy. It was hard-mounted to my dash, had the little curly Read more

by Jeff Brown

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

On a warm San Diego day in mid-June of 1969 I drove home from my last day of high school. About 60 days later I turned 18. Around 30 days after that I was jumping up and down in front of our mailbox, holding the notice from the California Department of Real Estate informing me I’d passed the salesman’s license test. A few weeks later I was proudly putting a knot in my tie, bright and early Saturday morning, the 18th of October. I had a full head of blonde hair, and was shaving more days of the week than not. 🙂 I was minutes away from driving to the office for the first time ever.

I was still living at home, and going to college full time. 1969 was a recession year, but I didn’t know it. I went full time in February 1974 — the beginning of the ’74-75 recession, and was married a month later. Seems I had great timing from day one. 🙂 Times were tough. San Diego hadn’t had their first real price run-up yet. Interest rates, to the best of my memory were generally in the mid-7’s to 8%.

I remember like it was yesterday, sitting in the office of H & R Block, sometime before the income tax filing deadline, (Big time, wasn’t I?) and the woman doing our taxes looked up at me, my wife looking on, and said, “Mr. Brown, you’d have been better off not having worked last year.” Ouch. To her everlasting credit, my wife looked her in the eye and asked why she was working part time, at night. Was it possibly because her husband wasn’t cuttin’ it? We’ve not been married for a decade now, but we still chuckle about that night. Even with the kidney shot to my ego that night, it was way cool to know she had my back.

1975 wasn’t much of an improvement, as I made more money, but only because I was getting the hang of things. We were still mired in the recession. I remember one guy in my farm area Read more