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Archives (page 49 of 372)

December 28, 2011

Slugging Away. One E-mail Address At A Time

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

I’m on a quest to find 75 San Diego real estate agents.  I need 75 agents, to give me permission, to e-mail them weekly.  I told you about my plan to secure those permissions and I thought I’d update you as I get results.

Bill Lyons agreed to do a joint marketing deal with me but I haven’t taken him up on that yet.  I’ve been scrambling around with year-end stuff, and I took a holiday trip to Arizona, but I’ll do something with Bill next year. For now, I’m focused on the SDAR Officers’ Installation and Dinner as a magnet.

I held a drawing at the Downtown San Diego caravan.  Thirty agents gave me their cards and Debbie Neuman won the tickets.  This works pretty well because while she is a quality agent, with established lending relationships, she’ll sit at my table that night.  This will be a good chance to get to know her and pitch ourselves as her “number two lender” (I’m not proud).    The challenge with the thirty “new” contacts has been securing permission to e-mail them..  I have spoken with ten agents thus far and only five agreed to receive my newsletter.  I do have a drawing scheduled at the La Jolla REBA, next week. and those folks know me better.  I guess if I have 25-30 permissions, by next Friday, I can celebrate the fact that I have achieved one-third of my goal.

That means I’m going to have to grit it out for the final fifty permissions.  I’m going to start the “open house plan” after the first of the year.  The plan is to visit open houses and drop off a “care basket”, filled with snacks.  Agents get hungry at open houses so this is what I’ll give them:

A couple of bottles of water, three bags of snacks, and a couple of oranges (or apples, or bananas).

I’ll assemble them in my newly delivered TANSTAAFL lunch bags.  I ordered these from 4imprint.com and 100 of them cost me less than $300.

I had my name, website, and phone number imprinted on them, along with the word TANSTAAFL.  The Read more

December 28, 2011

You may have wondered, “Why is there bad weather?” The reason? So you can properly appreciate heaven on earth — Phoenix, Arizona.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We just went through our “fall” — a span of about three days when all the deciduous trees in metropolitan Phoenix lose all their leaves all at once.

Why does it happen this way? Because it never gets cold enough for leaf-bearing trees to behave the way they do where you live.

Instead, right about this time of year, the trees start to bud with new leaves, and the buds push the old leaves out of the way.

Witness:

That tree is budding now, and the smell of the flowers is heavenly.

And not to rub your nose in our ubiquitous natural beauty, but this cute little guy lives in a palm tree at a home I have listed for sale:

December 24, 2011

A canticle for Kathleen Sullivan

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story

I got to the hospital after visiting hours, but the nurse led me to the room anyway. “There hasn’t been anyone,” she confided.

I pursed my lips in grim acknowledgment. “That’s why I’m here.”

Inside the room the patient looked like purple death. It was a critical-care room, bright and white and cheerfully clinical. The bed was surrounded by apparatus, with lines and leads and probes and IV tubes running to him. The only unbruised part of him that I could see were his eyes, and his eyes were more deeply wounded than anything.

I’ll tell you his story, but I won’t tell you his name. His name is yours. His name is mine. His name is legion…

I pulled up a chair and got as close to the bed as I could. I wanted to see his eyes. I wanted him to see mine. His jaw was wired and he was breathing though a plastic tube mounted in his throat, which makes for a fairly one-sided conversation.

“I just came from the funeral,” I said. “Biggest one I’ve ever seen. The procession must have been two miles long. Kathleen Sullivan, mother of six, grandmother of two, with two more on the way, loving wife of Brian Sullivan – in the newspaper it’s just something that’s there, like the basketball scores or the stock tables. People die every day. People are born every day. It doesn’t seem to matter very much.”

I shrugged. “I think it does. I’ll tell you a story: About six months ago there was a woman driving down Endicott Avenue. Driving very safely, five miles an hour below the speed limit, doing everything just exactly right. There were some schoolboys riding their bikes on the sidewalk beside her, and, all at once, one of the boys decided to dart out into the street, right in front of her car. She stood on the brake pedal, but it was already too late. Screech, crunch, tragedy. The boy was killed instantly.

“She saw it, of course. His little schoolfriends saw it. Half a block away was the crossing guard, and she had Read more

December 23, 2011

Dawgs on the run: Brian Brady in Phoenix

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Here is Brian Brady, this afternoon in Phoenix:

Brian has family here, which is why he is in town, and he was gracious enough to spend some time with me and Cathleen. We had a chance to catch up, as well as to talk about future BloodhoundBlog Unchained events. We talked about the love of human liberty, too, but I can attest that Brian definitely did not arrive in this vehicle:

December 16, 2011

Reading myself right into welfare via a Kindle Fire. Forgetting whats important.

by

Realtor, Guerilla Technologist

Author website

In almost two years of participating at Bloodhound this will be my first tech and family combined post. Recently, I decided it was time to buy some bling aka the Kindle Fire. What really attracted me to the Kindle Fire was all that it can do coupled with it’s tiny size. Although it’s not an I-Pad 2, the Kindle Fire is still really practical for reading and Android apps which is the two sole purposes I bought it in the first place.

Have you ever thought that you might have been reading yourself right into welfare? I wake up in the morning to read for 30 minutes prior to getting out of bed. I read on the toilet! (smile) But using the bathroom now takes longer because I can’t put a book down on the middle of page. I read before and after diner. My social life has decreased and my newly found love aka the Kindle Fire has me consumed.

Brian (The Genius and mortgage mega broker) really wrote a great post about how he needs more agents to close more mortgages. And that article had me thinking about my time management skills which have clearly gone right out the window. Like the title says, I’m reading myself right into welfare. Of course we need time to unwind and so forth, but what I’ve been doing has been habit which I repeat daily. I am a wife whom is a homemaker and two small girls. I often find myself working longer hours just so we have enough padding in the bank. Just went it seems like we have a good pad, something breaks!

I guess this post is more of a spiritual battle with myself. I want to be the best husband, always there for my family even at night instead of showing homes. But dad’s need to work harder than ever right now just to survive and care for their family. I do have a confession. I’ve been reading 10 Read more

December 12, 2011

Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie goes straight — to jail. Meanwhile, he has a new book of short stories out for Christmas.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

William F.X. O’Connell — that’s Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie to you — has been making a game effort to go straight over the past few years. This paid off in abundance this morning, when he finally managed to get himself arrested.

Meanwhile, just yesterday Willie published a collection of his outrageously brutal Christmas stories at Amazon.com. It’s Kindle-only, but every smartphone and tablet computer has a Kindle reader by now.

These are the stories, all of which have been published here in various versions over the years:

The season’s greetings
A dumpster diver’s Christmas
A canticle for Kathleen Sullivan
A future more vivid
A father for Christmas
Merry Christmas, Princess Peach
A Costco family Christmas
How to slay dragons
Courtney at the speed of life

Cathleen and I did the line-edits on the final manuscript, and it was interesting to me to see how well the thing holds together as a collection. Separately, the yarns are almost too brutal, but taken together they have that certain cathartic something that left me feeling cleansed — beat up, to be sure, but better for having endured the punishment.

Anyway, y’all could do a favor or three for our jailbird friend:

  1. Buy the book — or give it as a present. At around 20,000 words, it’s a lazy afternoon or a cross-country flight in length.
  2. Review the book. It would be nice for Willie if you have good things to say about the stories, but it will be better for everyone if you simply tell the truth.
  3. Tell your friends. Here is code you can link from:

Willie has an account at SplendorQuest.com, so we can hide and watch to see what has to say about being a fully-processed citizen of the U.S. at last. In the mean time his presence at Amazon.com puts him all the way into the establishment, like it or don’t.

December 12, 2011

Introducing Hank Miller, Atlanta Realtor and Appraiser

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We’re introducing a new dawg today, one who puts his bite where his bark is, Hank Miller of HoundDogRealEstate.com in Atlanta. Hank is an associate broker, leader of a team of Realtors, as well as an appraiser. Here’s his credo, which I like a lot:

My objective is to call bullshit where I see it and have a little fun doing it.

I also did some housekeeping this morning, trimming a dozen folks from our contributors list. No drama, just pruning folks who aren’t spending much time with us. We’ve never deleted an account, so if your name was ever in our sidebar, you’re always welcome here.

Meanwhile, I love seeing the stuff Brian Brady, Mark Madsen, Jeff Brown and others are doing. I spent a little time last week looking at what other weblogs in the RE.net are up to by now. For all of me, we’re the last stand against the vendorslut mafia. This is a resource to be treasured: BloodhoundBlog is the only place on the internet where real estate professionals can call bullshit — fearlessly and in undeniable detail.

When a Bloodhound howls, the rafters shake. That’s a sound I never tire of hearing…

December 11, 2011

Buyers Are Clueless, And Why I Care

by

Las Vegas Mortgage Blogger

Author website

Buyers are clueless, and I’ll prove it in a minute.

First, let me explain why this conversation matters to you as a new or seasoned real estate blogger.

Does this scenario sound familiar?

Wife:

“It’s 2am, why are you still messing around on that computer?”

Me:

“I’m blogging for dollars, baby.”

Wife:

“That’s what you said last month.”

If you have chosen blogging as your primary business building model, get use to having that conversation for a year or more.

I made the decision to move my real estate and mortgage marketing activities online full-time in late 2006, and haven’t heard the end of it since… both good and bad.

It’s taken me several years to figure out how to make all of the moving pieces work in a manner that can pay the bills. Equally as challenging, was explaining to friends and family my motivation for the path I’ve chosen.

Many passionate bloggers cringe when they hear the terms “business building” or “lead generation” associated with the selfless act of pouring your heart into a blog post that should be meant to enrich the lives of others.

Unfortunately, financially motivated “Social Media and Relationship Marketing” tones have perverted the way outsiders view our true intentions.

I realize that I’m guilty for perpetuating this common belief that the web was invented so that real estate agents can make money online. Look at any of my past presentations or webinars, and you’ll find “build your business” somewhere in the title or description.

Even though it hasn’t felt right at my core, it’s a simple theme that most non-web related industry professionals can relate to.

It’s just been easier to fall into the trap of justifying my online efforts with an ROI, especially when the non-believers are so eager to offer their unsolicited opinions about how to be successful in business.

Keyword here is Non-Believers.

My friend Rene Rodriguez has been harping on me for years to explain why I care so much about the web.

“Yeah, but why,” he Read more

December 10, 2011

Who else wants some cheap and easy ways, to generate more purchase business from REALTORS?

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

I cleaned up my e-mail database this week and was pretty surprised.  The lion’s share of our business comes from real estate agents.  Many times, I don’t speak with nor hear from an agent for 5-6 months…then…WHAM—I get a loan call.  That call always seems to come within two weeks of one of my email newsletters.  I understand my numbers pretty well:

  • for every California agent, in my database, it results in .6 purchase loans/year
  • over 75% of that business comes from agents, in the database, who open at least 50% of my emails (that comprises just 20% of the total number)

Last year, I cleaned up the data base.  I whittled the number down to 70 agents.  15 of those agents accounted for 32 purchase loans and 55 agents accounted for 11 purchase loans.  If I want to close 72 purchase loans in 2012, I probably need 30 agents, who open at least 50% of my emails.  To add those extra 15 agents, I need to meet and add some 75 NEW agents to the database…pretty quickly.

I broke down the content offered, too:

  • the highest click-through ratio (55%) came from marketing ideas
  • mortgage tips (like how to get a VA offer accepted) generated a 35% click-through
  • mortgage rates reports were largely unread (10% click-through)

Agents want to hear how to get more business and then, how to do business properly.  Agents just don’t care about mortgage rates.  I’ll stop writing those onerous mortgage rates reports (nobody’s reading them and, because their time sensitive, they are more of a short-head).  I will start adding marketing ideas to my blog, then use those blog posts for my email newsletter content.

Here’s what I did last night:

  • I created a new list, of the serial readers, and named it the “top-gun file”.  I’ll add new agents there, check it every 90 days, and move the agents, who are not opening 50% of my emails, to the “general agents” list.
  • I pre-loaded weekly emails, for the “top-gun file”, out to April 15, 2012.  I want to insure consistency
  • The “general agents” file will get a bi-weekly marketing idea.  I pre-loaded that content, out to April Read more
December 10, 2011

Customer Service – Dealing With Lapses

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

I was recently inspired one morning, and it turns out early afternoon as well, by the car dealership that does all my servicing. I wanted to break a 20 year hiatus from camping, so last year I got rid of the roadster. Found a great deal on an ’08 Veracruz, a Hyundai crossover. Think Honda Pilot for size. It’s been better than expected, an understatement. I take it to the neighborhood Hyundai dealership, Drew Hyundai.

Drew’s been around my neck of the woods since Moses’ son died. It’s reputation is solid, even excellent. My experience with their service department has been off the charts positive. Like many, they assign a service rep to each customer. Mine’s Mike, who on his worst day is outstanding. We should all be as good at what we do as he is. Which brings me to this recent anomalous experience.

Showed up for my 11 AM appointment right on time. Only one car in line ahead of me. Must’ve been a bit busy, cuz it was over 20 minutes before Mike got to me. No biggie, as a 20 minute wait happens in that industry when things pile up. No complaint from me. Mike takes care of me, then sends me over to the sign-up window for the shuttle back home.

10 minutes, 20 minutes, no shuttle. Go inside the office to inquire. The very nice woman manning the counter says it should be just a few minutes. It’s now over a half hour since I turned the keys over. No shuttle. Then it arrives. I’m a bit irritated, but if that’s the worst part of my day, it’s all good. The driver says he’s not takin’ passengers, he’s goin’ to the bank. 15 minutes later, a total of over 45 minutes waiting for the ‘courtesy’ shuttle, he returns. Turns out the bank visit was for dealer business, which apparently was more important than takin’ me home.

I walked back over to Mike’s island. Upon seeing me walkin’ up, he said, “You’re freakin’ kiddin’ me, right?” I said, “Mike, they sent the shuttle to do dealership banking. Read more

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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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