There was an agent in my office - Lori. She was in real estate for a while. Doing very well. Drove a nice white Lexus, always dressed sharp. Always nice and friendly.
Lori sold a lot of homes. She always had a bunch of good listings. But I never saw her prospect, chase FSBOs, or hold open houses...
Lori would stroll in around 10, make a few calls, check with her assistant on deals... nice and casual. Then write another listing on the board. Easy-peasy. Time for lunch.
Lori had a secret...
Referrals. That was it. Business coming to her. Nice flow of buyers and sellers. Some from her past clients. Some from her family. Friends. Her gardener. Her car dealer.
A steady stream of commissions.
See, I always thought you had to be in the business for twenty years and know half the town to really play the referral game well.
"Not necessarily." tells me my friend and SOI smarty Jennifer. Jennifer (like Lori) makes a great living from her SOI. And here is the cool part about referrals: She seldom competes with other agents.
It's usually A LOT easier to work with somebody that has been referred to you.
The question is, how do you get good referrals without pestering the heck out of your family, your friends, or your past clients?
Jennifer will tell me on Wednesday at Noon Eastern. And if you join us, she'll tell you, too. Supposedly it's not even that hard - or expensive.
Over the years I've made lots of mistakes with expireds. I lost leads. I lost listings. Tons of them. And the only thing that's worse is to make a video about it ;-)
Those were his exact words. And he wasn't smiling. Neither was I.
I swear I thought I've done everything right. Everything! Great CMA, smooth listing presentation. We were just a bit too high on the price, but not by too much.
The house was decent and fairly clean. I had the lock box on, the sign up, good description in the MLS, several promising showings.... and nothing. Not one offer.
Mr. Zimmer - the seller was getting ancy. I could just tell he began to wonder if he hired the right guy.
What was worse, it was an expired - my specialty. "Look I do this every day. This is my expertise. I can get it done, watch."
My usual cocky attitude was beginning to melt like Frosty in July. Not fun, you know...
Have you been there? A good listing, priced well, shows well, you're sure you got in the bag... and three months later not a single low ball, let alone a decent offer?
I know. It's crazy, this market. You can do everything right and still not get paid. So what do you do?
Well, I can tell you what I did. Not only that, another veteran agent and expert in getting even the hard ones sold will show you her tactics as well.
My friend and author Jennifer Allan - yes the Sell With Soul Jennifer - and I will spend 90 minutes with you and go over all the secrets and tricks to get even the toughest listings sold and get paid:
Four things you must do before a listing appointment
Three factors that make or break every deal
How to build trust with a seller in minutes (and why)
What does "price it right" really mean and how to actually do it
The dangers of overpriced listing
Effective marketing tools to attract more agents and more buyers
The biggest mistake I made with Mr. Zimmer and how I fixed it
...and tons more.
We'll chat on Saturday, May 3, at 8:30 AM Pacific Time. Come join us and learn some cool stuff.
There has been a big brouhaha over a very interesting post by Lissa Uder about one ticked off expired. The seller is angry because **brace yourself** agents called when the listing expired!
My (as always humble) two cents...
I contacted hundreds and hundreds of expireds. Yes, some are irritated, and rightly so. Think about it...
They get excited about putting the house up for sale. They make plans, tell all their family and neighbors, sign the paperwork...and wait...and wait...and wait. And nothing happens for months. And then...
BOOM!! A floodgate of calls! Some agents actually come to the front door. And all - well almost all - saying the same thing "I know why your house didn't sell!" and "I have a buyer for your house!"
Can it be irritating? Well, yes, sure. Remember, you know how this business is and how it all works. But to them, this is all new and VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. However...
Most - MOST - expireds are not be as emotional as the example in Lisa's post. And those few that do get really angry are USUALLY people who get angry a lot... at many things: traffic, weather, life in general. I'm sure you've had at least one wacky client like that.
Those are NOT people you want to work with. Be grateful they identify themselves quickly so you can say "Thank you, good luck, and good bye!" off to the next one.
But remember this... No matter what they say (or why), many will relist their house - sometimes in matter of days. And guess who will get the listing? Agent who gets pass their initial reaction. One who sees it for what it is - disappointment and anger directed at somebody who is not at fault. One who is persistent. One who does his/her job. Simple as that.
Are you a pro? Are you really good at what you do? Can you sell their house? Can you help them? Then you know better than THEY what to do.
Obviously, be polite and professional; respect their privacy (especially if they are on DNC). But most of all, BE PATIENT. Follow your instinct, do what you feel is best for them, and don't let one or two EXTREME examples ruin all the fun :-)
Believe me, in the expireds game, persistence pays off.
Bottom line...
There is plenty of business in the expireds game. PLENTY! There are PLENTY of nice, friendly sellers desperately looking for a nice, competent agent. And they are easy to find and easy to deal with.
I got it again in the mail yesterday. The usual real estate postcard:
“HEY, Look at me, here is my big mug, I just sold a house!” Whoopty doo!
Another poor schlep plucking down her hard-earned money on a lame direct mail campaign. When will these people learn?
Geo-targeting (direct mail to a specific geographic area for the uninitiated), is one of the LEAST effective direct mail methods.
Yeah, I can just hear you yell at your computer:
“But Borino, I sent some Just Solds out last month, and I got a listing. Ha! So what do you say to that, Mr. Marketing Know It All?”
Listen to me… Don't waste your time with another "JUST LISTED" or "JUST SOLD". Or worse: "I'm your neighborhood specialist". Stop putting your neighbors to sleep, please!
Everybody and their grand-aunt that’s been in real estate since the Great Depression does it, it's way too generic, and it lacks a good marketing HOOK. Here is a better approach…
Step One: Good List You need a good focused list - a specific group of people that have one thing in common. For example:
Expired listings that are over one year old
Vacant For Rent properties
For Sale By Owners selling for more than 60 days
Properties occupied by the same owner more than 20 ears
Multiple non-owner occupied properties owned by single out of state owner
Seniors over 65 living in 4-bedroom homes
...and on and on. You get the idea.
Step Two: A Good Sequence Put together a SEQUENCE OF MESSAGES, letters, or postcards, or even better – a combination of both. And here is the most important part…
In each letter or a postcard speak SPECIFICALLY to your target audience. Here is an example of a postcard message:
*** Selling a house without an agent can save you up to $17,492! Visit this web site for a free report and find out how. www.YourSpecialWebSite.com
***
Now, can you guess which list this piece would go to? Yep, all FSBOs on your list. Then you have a nice simple site explaining the benefits of selling without an agent. Get it? Give your audience information they most likely want. Specific, targeted, and RELEVANT.
Qualified, interested leads hit your site, some will sign up and you can start a follow up mail campaign.
What should you send? Easy. Useful information about the market, the selling process, how to fix a house before selling it, how to qualify a buyer... anything a FSBO should know. But here is the best part…
You don’t mention anything about listing with you – YET. Let them enjoy their short flirt with real estate. You and I know Jessica Simpson has a better chance of winning a Nobel Price for science than an average FSBO actually selling in today’s market.
Take your time and play the role of an adviser – think Robert Duvall in Godfather.
No pressure, no slick selling. You’re there to help. And after a while you become their logical choice to list and sell their property. Just keep in touch until most FSBOs realize it takes A LOT to sell a house and they may be biting off a lot bigger chunk than they can chew... Cancellieri to the rescue. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
Back to our mailings… Follow the same process with all your target marketing lists. Help landlords with rent comparisons, market statistics, or recommend good carpet cleaner.
Send old-timers interesting information on a new Florida retirement community with golf and yoga.
Mail expired listings success story about other expireds that have relisted and sold.
You with me?
Every campaign you execute carries a targeted specific message that is RELEVANT to that particular group.
And the best part is your mailing lists don’t have to be huge or expensive.
Step Three: Repetition It’s ridiculous to believe any one shot mailing is going to uncover everybody interested in your service. Think about your own life. You’ve probably received some offers that you were interested in but you never acted on.
To overcome this, you’ve got to create a plan for multiple contacts. Many marketing experts say it takes up to seven contacts to convert a lead into a client.
Finally, test and adjust. Learn, see what works, fix or discard what doesn’t.
The more you know, the better you get. The better you get, the better your marketing will be… and the more money you will make.
And don’t EVER mail that old boring “JUST SOLD” again. I dare ya. I double-dog-dare ya!
"Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before he invented the light bulb." "Colonel Sanders offered his recipe to 1,000 restaurants before one finally took it."
WOW. Perseverance, you think?
Bull.
God, I can't tell you how many times I've heard that 'inspirational' perseverance nonsense from all the ra-ra trainers, motivational snake oil salesmen, and pump-up coaches.... I'm just sick and tired of this sh... stuff.
So what does that mean, exactly? That you have to stubbornly keep doing something and fail miserably 1,000 times before you finally reach success? NONSENSE!
If something doesn't work, then STOP for crying out loud. Give it a fair - FAIR - shot, yes, but no sense in killing yourself thinking, or worse, hoping things will magically change if you just keep going. I mean, think about...
If you contact 100 expireds and not get one listing out of it, then there is a good chance SOMETHING'S WRONG, bubba.
If you go on 10 listing appointments and walk away with zero listings, then it's time to pause and see what's up.
Don't just stubbornly keep mailing, calling, showing, prospecting, presenting, wasting time, wasting money... If the results are not what you want them to be, you are off course. Common sense, right? You'd think...
And yet look around you: same old boring marketing, bad postcards, dull ads, wrong approach, ineffective presentations, overpriced listings... It's the Sanders/Edison approach of "just keep going and hope hope hope".
The way I see it, Edison was one smart guy, no question, he just sucked at time management. And he had all the time in the world! No urgency. Honestly, if he took this long today at GE he'd be fired by now, light bulb be damned. And Colonel Sanders might have been a decent chicken cook but boy was he horrible at sales and presentations!
Can you afford to be like them? Keep trying and failing for years? I didn't think so... I think you're smarter than that.
So don't make the same mistake. Go for it with gusto, give it your best shot, take time to get things going, that's all good. BUT see where your shots are landing, and ADJUST. Evaluate. Learn. IMPROVE. THEN repeat.
Don't believe for a second that success takes a long time. Or thousand failures. It's all within your reach. You just need to know what works, and what doesn't. Do it the smart way.
When "flagging" expireds to approach, do you recommend NOT including "short sales", or would you recommend calling on those listings as well. Would you suggest moving on to other expired listings that may not have the financial burdens on them?
Your thoughts, please!! Thanks for your time, and your material is great."
Thanks for the nice comment, Jon. I'm glad you like the X-Plus!
Great question. My suggestion: Unless you've done a bunch of them and know exactly how to do it, stay away from short sales and pre-foreclosures. Here is why....
First, short sales take time. A lot of time. Much more time, patience, and effort than a regular sale does. You can list, sell and close 2-3 regular homes before you even get a short sale approved, let alone closed.
Then, you have no guarantee you will ever get paid, even if the short sale is approved.
Also, there are too many variables. You have to deal with the sellers (often distressed and very emotional).
You have to put up with the account managers, REO managers, approval managers, and who-knows what other managers, unrealistic appraisals, unreasonable demands from the lender, mountain of paperwork, and on and on...
And you know what the first demand from the lender usually is? Lower your commission! Hmmm, let me get this straight - it's harder to sell a house these days, it takes a lot more effort, money and time, and they want you to work twice as hard for half the pay?!!
Finally, you won't get much love from the MLS. Many agents will not show a short sale simply because they are aware of potential headaches, low commissions, and long-drawn deals. Their thinking? Most areas are PACKED with good listings, so why bother?
So, as you can see, I don't have much love for short sales. Especially in this market, when you have so many good expireds to choose from.
Makes sense? How about you? Have you had a better experience lately with short sales? Please share...
"I need a sample expired listing letter to send out. I am new and want to make sure that I send out the right letter to the homeowners. Thank you.” wrote a real estate agent from California recently.
I spent two years perfecting my expired listing letter, always looking for just the right words... for that perfect paragraph that would finally make the phone ring with “Come list our house, please!” Re-writing, testing, editing…
But it seldom happened that way. One letter, no matter how good, seldom did the trick. Here is the problem…
When a listing expires, the owners often get 20 to 50 letters within the first week. That is one BIG pile of mail. It doesn't matter how powerful a single letter is, how well written it is, it will get lost in the stack of others. That's the bad news…
The answer is not in ONE letter. One expired listing letter will never do. If you really want to list a bunch of expireds, you must use multiple contacts using multiple methods. Here is what I mean...
Some sellers prefer letters. They open every one, read it carefully, and are influenced by the message. With a letter you can take your time; you have the space to engage them emotionally. You can include quotes, bullets, and stories.
On the other hand, there are sellers who respond better to post cards. They prefer a brief, to-the-point message, and they connect with interesting visual elements.
Some sellers review your resume (or your personal brochure) page by page, and your marketing materials in your expired package.
Then there are homeowners that will closely review your web site. Some will read your emails you send them. Some only connect well over the phone. And some like to meet you in person.
So what is the best, most effective method? It just depends…
Since you can't really know in advance which marketing message will be the most effective one with a particular expired, you need to use a mix of all your real estate marketing tools. You have to do it all, do it well, and do it consistently. For how long? Until you (or somebody else) list the house.
It was not unusual for me to list a house that had expired a year, even two years prior. Most agents give up after a few mailings. My secret was consistent and effective follow up.
Perfect expired listing letter is a myth, but if you are persistent, stay in touch, keep sending well written expired listing letters, postcards, and updates – anything that's interesting to the sellers, it will pay of handsomely.
-------------------------------------------------
For a complete set of expired listing letters, postcards, and marketing, visit www.ExpiredPlus.com
The trouble with most letters (and not just to expireds) is they sound too stuffy, too professional, too much like a loud and cheap radio commercial. You may be better off writing it yourself rather than recycling what has been said and trashed thousands of times. But it’s not an easy task to come up with a fresh letter that would get seller’s attention and persuade them to call you.
Here is a method that has helped me come up with some good marketing writing. I use a small Sony digital recorder, but a mike and a computer would do just fine. First I come up with a list of seller’s questions. Here is an example:
What are three things most home owners are interested in when they are considering to sell?
What are the tree biggest problems most sellers face?
How can I solve those problems?
How can I provide them with the information/answers?
If I were to sell my house, what would I look for?
What makes me a unique and different agent?
Why should home owners list their home with me?
What can I do to make their goals a reality?
Why should they believe me?
I think about the questions a bit, maybe jot down an idea or two on how to answer them. Then I turn on the recorder and simply answer the questions as if I had a pleasant conversation with a nice home owner on the porch of the house.
Next, I listen to the recording and write down ideas and thoughts that stand out; first in just a skeleton outline, then in a letter form. Then I take a break, get a cup of tea, and let it go for a while.
As they say - There is no great writing, only great rewriting. I go over the first draft, rework it, polish some ideas, discard others, change and edit the piece. It helps me to read it out loud, or have somebody else read it back to me (my wife Monique helps me with each marketing piece I create, bless her patient soul). Does the letter flow? Does it make sense? Is it interesting? Is it compelling?
Many times I end up with material for more than one letter. Try this method and you’ll discover that your expired letter is better than 99% of the recycled “professional” sales letters out there, that expireds get all the time and trash right after “Dear Homeowner, I know why your home hasn’t sold”.
One final tip: I spell check, grammar-check, and proof read it several times. Even the best writing will get crushed by typos.
Seal, sign, send off… done.
Do you have a writing tip that has worked for you? Share your ideas.
The first month of the year is behind us. Where are you on your 2007 goals? Life flows and things change, that's inevitable. If you're not exactly where you had planned to be, there is plenty of time to correct the course. You have the time and opportunity to make this your best year ever! Here is how: Review Your Goals First, take a good look at your goals. Do they really fire you up? How passionate are you about reaching them? What is the magnetic WHY behind each desire? Can you see yourself reaching each of them? Some dreams and goals still make you smile when you visualize them. They make all your efforts worth while - those are the keepers. Hold on to those and remind yourself daily of them. Others simply don't have the charge; put those on your "Future" list or let them go.
Blocks Next, find out what is in your way. What is blocking your journey? Ask yourself: "Why can't I be... do... or have...?" "What is preventing me from reaching...? " "What is in my way?" New Plan Finally, come up with a new action plan. Review what you've learned so far, what worked well, and what didn't. Then edit your original plan, or create a new one from scratch. How will your overcome the blocks you have identified? What can you do differently to make this year a great success?
My question to you: How can you make this your best year ever? Share some ideas if you'd like.
Borino - Expired Plus
There was an agent in my office - Lori. She was in real estate for a while. Doing very well. Drove a nice white Lexus, always dressed sharp. Always nice and friendly.
There has been a big brouhaha over a very 
I got it again in the mail yesterday. The usual real estate postcard:
Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before he invented the light bulb."
When "flagging" expireds to approach, do you recommend NOT including
"I need a sample expired listing letter to send out. I am new and want to make sure that I send out the right letter to the homeowners. Thank you.” wrote a real estate agent from California recently.
The trouble with most letters (and not just to expireds) is they sound too stuffy, too professional, too much like a loud and cheap radio commercial. You may be better off writing it yourself rather than recycling what has been said and trashed thousands of times. But it’s not an easy task to come up with a fresh letter that would get seller’s attention and persuade them to call you. 
The first month of the year is behind us. Where are you on your 2007 goals? Life flows and things change, that's inevitable. If you're not exactly where you had planned to be, there is plenty of time to correct the course. You have the time and opportunity to make this your best year ever! Here is how: 
;)
;)
