Brian Clancy's Blog

Goody Two Shoes

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:29:13 -0800

In seventh grade, the diocese of Rockville Centre tried a somewhat radical strategy, regrouping the 150 students in each grade at St. Ignatius according to their academic abilities. It would never fly in today's politically correct world where they would be sued for the psychological damage they did to those in the lowest track. Nevermind that it allowed everyone to work at their proper pace and challenged those at the top by creating greater competition. The reason this track system is relevant to me is that it left me somewhat isolated in 7th grade. Up until that point, my mixed class of 50 kids had its fair share of wise guys. But when they separated the wheat from the chaff that year, it made me somewhat of an anomaly, a top student who was also a wiseguy. Most of those in Track 1 had gotten there by a combination of intelligence and the perfect behavior that you associate with good students.

A classic example was Annie Weippert who was the closest thing we had to a Teacher's Pet. She always had her homework done perfectly, raised her hand for every question and in general made me sick. To appreciate the rest of this tale, I need to paint you a picture of the desks we used at St Ignatius, There were 50 desks in five rows of ten. In each row the desks were freestanding and the writing surface of one desk would butt up against the back of the seat portion of the desk in front of you. Got the picture?

Louise Goodman was also somewhat of an exception to the rule in Track 1 with just enough of a rebellious streak to keep things interesting. She was sort of the Nellie Olsen to Annie's Laura Ingalls. On this particular day, Annie was seated in front of Louise and her waist length hair happened to drape over the back of her seat far enough so that Louise was able to slide her desk forward and pin it between the two desks. I watched the scene unfolding and could hardly wait for Sister Mary Warren to ask the class a question. When she did, Annie raised her hand excitedly while simultaneously pushing her head forward. I can still hear her screaming as the hair refused to move and jerked her head back violently. Now if I had been sitting in Louise's seat, I think I would have gotten a month in solitary. But Louise managed to feign a believable level of surprise and I don't think she even got written up. Don't get me started on the double standard the nuns had for the sexes. That's a topic for another blog. Watch for more Annie stories, she was one of my favorite targets. This was one of the funniest incidents that I had no part in, which is probably why I remember it so well. It still makes me laugh.

Championship Season

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:41:26 -0800

It was the spring of 1969 which, for those of you not from the NY area, was destined to be a pretty magical year. I made up my mind to try out for the traveling baseball team at St. Ignatius. I knew I didn't really belong on the team from a talent standpoint, but most of my best friends were on the team so I figured, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." When I showed up at the field that Saturday morning, there were already about a dozen guys there and of those 12 there were only one or two that were down near my end of the talent spectrum. So the first thing I remember doing, was watching the parking lot apprehensively to see how many more kids showed up. The traveling team would only carry 18 players and as luck would have it, that is exactly how many players showed up. If 19 had come that day, I would not be writing this blog.

I made the team, which by the way was loaded with talent, and had one of the best experiences of my life. Our Coach, Harry Casey, was an old school Vince Lombardi/Woody Hayes type, so the practices alone were worth the price of admission. I was a reserve outfielder and I think we practiced harder than anyone. Coach would send us all out as far as we could go and then still hit a fungo fifty feet past us. His catch phrase was, "Get on your horse!" When you heard that you turned your back to home plate and ran as hard as you could because you knew he was about to tee off. I have never in my life seen anyone else hit a ball like that. I don't think I ever caught up to a single one but I remember how much fun it was trying.

As I said, the team was loaded with talent and we wound up winning our league with an undefeated record. We would beat our opponents by such a margin that the scrubs actually got a chance to play. I was 0 for 5 that season but I think that was only because I didn't get enough swings. I think that if Coach Casey had given me a little more playing time I could have been 0 for 15 or 0 for 20. Our championship game that year was played on the same night that Tom Seaver pitched his "almost-Perfect" game. We lost by a run and ironically, it was the only game that I missed. Due to a breakdown in the phone chain, I never got the call about the big game, so while I was watching Seaver on television, the rest of the squad was suffering a gut-wrenching end to the season. It will be 40 years ago this July, but it may as well have been 40 minutes ago. The memories of that special experience are still some of my most treasured. Being part of a winning team is something special, then AND now. THANKS COACH!

September 1962

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:16:42 -0800

Two things stand out about the first day of school at St. Ignatius Loyola. First, there was a torrential rain storm that day, not that we got very wet mind you. Most of us were wearing the ridiculous yellow raincoats with pull over hoods that you may have seen in retro-60's movies. As such, we looked like some sort of a Munchkin Army when we were herded off the school buses and marched into Sister Margaret Claire's classroom. We were given basic instructions, taught the Hail Mary and the Star Spangled banner and probably our ABC's (repeat after me, Up to the ceiling, down to the floor...left to the window and right to the door). All of this took place in about the first fifteen minutes, as I recall. Then the fun began.

Sister announced that we were going to the "Lavatory". Now, I assure you, she was the only one in the room who had that word in her vocabulary. Everyone else heard it as "Laboratory" and started to conjure up visions of a monster on a slab with electrodes attached to its head. That was the only kind of a laboratory any of us had ever seen (thanks to Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein). And 8 years later that was still the only kind of laboratory that any of us had ever seen thanks to the negligible emphasis that Catholic schools placed on Science. So we arrived at the Boys Room 5 minutes later and got our next surprise. A few students may have seen a public restroom before but I know I never had. Nor had David Cahill. He was the first to discover the floor length urinals which, coincidentally, were just about the height of a first grader. He promptly stepped inside one, reached over his head and was just about to pull the handle when one of his more worldly classmates advised him that it was not a shower. There but for the grace of God went Clancy.

Welcome

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:21:35 -0800

This blog should bring a smile and maybe an occasional tear to anyone who served time in the Catholic school system. It will be written in somewhat the same jargon that a prisoner might use to describe jail time or a veteran might use to talk about his enlistment, because both these experiences reflect my memories of my 16 years in the system. I hesitate to say only 16 years because the experience molds your entire life, so it is more like a life sentence. While many of the stories I will post may appear critical of the system, please be assured that nothing could be further from the truth. There is no one alive who believes in the merits of Catholic schooling more than me. In fact, I believe that half of America's problems can be traced to the declining enrollment in Catholic schools. Whenever possible I intend to use actual names of classmates, except where it might cause undue embarassment or leave me open to a law suit. I invite anyone reading this to leave a comment or a story. I hope you will enjoy the weekly posting. First post will be January 5, 2009

OBAMANOMICS

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:22:43 -0800

I am going to start blogging every other day. And once a month I am going to make my topic Obamanomics. Since the new regime has not been enthroned yet, all I can comment on, at this point, are their promised policies. Specifically, I would like to talk about the proposed increase in the capital gains tax, which I personally oppose, and how I plan to make it work for me in 2009. Since Obama has made the rich his primary bogeyman, I expect the wealthiest portion of our society to react accordingly and try to protect their assets by cashing in real estate investments prior to the increase.

I will be sending a mailing to my wealthiest clients, real estate investors and those nearing retirement, urging them to act before Congress has a chance to rubberstamp Obama's disastrous tax plan. I expect that many of them will have reached the same conclusion on their own. I think the result will be a mini-glut of high end inventory in the next 6 to 9 months. This should present a lot of opportunities for anyone in a position to trade-up so those will be the buyers that I am targeting in 2009.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am opposed to just about everything that Barak Obama stands for. But he got elected, and the only thing I can do now is try to keep my business moving forward until 2012. So, just as they do in martial arts, I will be using my enemies movements to my advantage

Neophyte

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:41:38 -0700

This blog is in no way intended to be political. The number one phrase that I hear both parties tossing around this year, other than "Change", is experience or rather , the lack of experience. It seemed that the Republicans were going to make hay on this issue until John Mc Cain chose Sarah Palin as VP. Obama's glaring deficiency on his resume was that he had never held any kind of a leadership position or run any sort of enterprise or organization. This problem was somewhat neutralized with Palin's selection, although, in fairness, she is not at the head of the Republican ticket. Some of America's finest future presidents cut their teeth as Vice President, sort of growing into the job. Examples abound on both sides of the political aisle.

As with most things in my life, I relate this year's presidential election to real estate. When I first got my license, I had to convince people to entrust the sale of their single largest asset to me, a neophyte. This was not unlike the argument that Obama has to make, except that he is asking people to entrust the future of the free world to him. Like I did seven years ago, he has zero experience. But unlike real estate, where you have a support team around you and an office manager to assist you during the learning process, the president is called on to BE the office manager and to assemble the support team. I honestly don't get it. It is not like there weren't highly qualified (in terms of experience) candidates available to Democratic voters during the primaries. For reasons known only to them and God, they chose the candidate with the thinnest resume. Ultimately, I am convinced that this dearth of experience, and not his policies, will be Obama's undoing. Of course it is easy for me to say that now that I have the experience and trumpet it as my number one selling point on listing presentations.

And speaking of real estate and the 2008 election, I liked the fact that so much was made of Mc Cain's owning seven homes. Just wait until the media finds out that Palin owns a dozen igloos.

Hard Times Require A Full Time Realtor

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:19:36 -0700

With the real estate market going through the difficult times that it is right now, I find myself trying harder and harder to distinguish myself from the pack. What is it about me that should make you choose me to sell your home?? Well the first thing that I trumpet to prospective clients is the fact that I am a Full Time realtor. Immediately, I have distanced myself from the majority of the pack. I know I run the risk of drawing fire from part-time agents reading this but please hear me out.

In my hometown of Kings Park, there are currently 120 homes for sale. Last month, the busiest so far this year, only 15 went to contract. I point out these statistics to show that it is not a time when just putting your house on the market will sell it. You need someone committed to marketing your home Full Time. Someone who can accomodate showings and return calls Full Time. If your agent is unavailable for a showing you may not get a second chance and in this market you can't afford to miss any opportunities.

Now, I have a confession to make. I also drive a school bus in the morning to help with the cash flow at home and keep my daughter enrolled at Notre Dame. So how can I call myself a Full Time realtor? Well I also work 40-50 hours a week at RE. I use the criteria of 30 hours. If you dedicate at least 30 hours a week to Real Estate I will count you. However, if your primary reason for getting out of bed in the morning is to style hair, keep the peace or drive a cab then you do not qualify. It drives me crazy to see the local realtors in town pasting their agents pictures all over the Pennysaver when most of them are part timers or newbies. Now I don't have a problem with you maintaining your license and taking care of a few friends and family members but to be passed off to the general public as either experienced or full time is at the least false advertising. Put yourself in the client's shoes. Would you trust your single largest asset to someone for whom real estate was a hobby??

Once I have separated myself from the part timers then I start hammering home my experience, personal qualities and philosophy as the determining reasons to use my services.

I am starting an ad campaign all about the Full Time difference and will let you know if the message hits home with the public.

PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL.. TRIPLE CROWN MUSINGS

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:32:00 -0700

Anyone who read my last blog knows that I was headed to Belmont race track on Saturday to see history. Instead, I witnessed a disgusting display of commercialism. Allow me to explain. I have now seen 16 horses vie for the Triple Crown dating back to 1969 and only 3 have gotten the job done. Big Brown is a very fine horse, but he proved on Saturday that he is not a GREAT horse. The only way you can use his name in the same sentence as Secretariat is to say.."He's no Secretariat". But this blog is about pride and commercialism.

From the first time I attended the Belmont Stakes in 1969 until last year, the grandstand admission was always $2. It might be the Sport of Kings, but it was the thousands of paupers that the track needed to keep the game afloat. And admission was priced accordingly. This year, however, the geniuses at the New York State Racing Association decided to raise the general admission by 400 % to $10 and the parking by 100% from $5 to $10. This must have been their way of thanking us for sweating in 90 degree heat and waiting in line for bathrooms that were barely functional, This commercialism relates to RE for me because I have seen agents charge higher commisiion rates for affluent areas that they think can afford it, I don't get it. An hour of your time is an hour of your time. Why charge someone more for it than someone else?? I had many opportunities to do that when I was in the moving business and never succumbed. What you should worry about is being fair with all your clients and treating them all equally. Your reward will be a steady stream of referrals.

Now for the pride part. For the past three weeks, NY readers have had to suffer the most obnoxious trainer on earth, Rick Dutrow who assured us that nothing in the world could keep Big Brown from making history. I think one of his ancestors must have been the guy who said, "not even God could sink the Titanic". Dutrow and his self-absorbed client, owner Mike Iavarrone, were such cocky PIA's that I really think half the hundred thousand people in attendance were rooting against the horse. I think we can all identify with Dutrow to some extent. I have had several occasions when I really thought I would never lose another listing presentation and that I would always find each client their dream home. Then just as I hit the crest of the wave, I could see in front of me the inevitable crash. But in hindsight, the crash was not inevitable and was actually quite avoidable. The problem was that when I was on a roll, I got away from my basics and thought I didn't have to work as hard. As a result, my lead stream dried up and the phone stopped ringing until I got hungry again. I am always reminded of the USC-Texas NCAA championship gane a few years ago. All Pete Carroll had to do was punt the ball on fourth and short yardage near midfiled with less than 2 minutes to go and the championship was just about assured. Instead, he went for it on 4th down because he felt his back could NOT be stopped. They didn't get the first down, gavve Texas great field position and got beat.

The lesson I tried to take away from the crashes, was that I need to stick to my basics. If I do, the rest will take care of itself. And by and large, that applies to all areas of life. The onkly thing that I try to be PROUD of in real estate is a satisfied customer. Oh by the way, I have 25 losing $1 tickets on Big Brown for the first 25 people to e-mail me. Keep it in your wallet and use it as a reminder not to get PROUD.

TRIPLE CROWN FOR BIG BROWN??

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:26:37 -0700

This post should be of more interest to NYers but I think the moral of the story is relevant to any realtor reading this. As anyone with a pulse knows, Big Brown our local Long Island horse will be trying to earn his place in the history books this Saturday. I personally don't think he will get it done. In 1969 when I was 13, my dad took me to my very first horse race..the Belmont Stakes. That year, Majestic Prince had already won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and was heavily favored for the Belmont Stakes. But then Arts and Letters won the race and very few people ever heard of Majestic Prince again. In the ensuing 39 years 14 other horses have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown and only three of them: Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed managed to finish the job and win the Belmont Stakes. I was at the race track on all of those occasions. Aside from witnessing sports history, what did I learn from this? How does it relate to Real Estate??

What I think it taught me was that you can be the absolute best at what you do for the first two thirds of the contest but if you don't see it through to victory and drop the ball down the stretch, no one will remember that you were good at the beginning. In real estate terms, you may sign a great listing, market the house perfectly and find a solid buyer but if you slack off after that and don't stay on top of the details all the way to closing you run the risk of the deal falling apart and no one, especially your client, caring that you started off great. Of the 15 horses that I've seen try for the Triple Crown, only three finished the task. Not many of us could survivie if we only succeeded once in every five tries. However, the three that did succeed, will malways be remembered for their greatness just as your satisfied clients will always remember and refer you.

The second way that I think the Triple Crown is analagous to Real Estate is that each race is different and requires different strengths from its participants. The Kentucky Derby invariably draws the largest field of the three races. Contestants must be able to deal with a lot of competition and uncertainty. The Preakness, the shortest of the three races requires a horse that can stay in contention the entire way. There is not much chance to make up ground if you fall behind early. And the Belmont Stakes, "the Test of Champions" requires a horse that can go a mile and a half. This is my favorite of the three because there are different ways to run the race. Some win by getting out to an early lead and maintaining the lead for the duration. Others sit back off the pace and save their energy for the stretch drive. This race is a classic case of their being more than one way to skin a cat.

So how does this relate to Real Estate?? Well I think that all realtors have different combinations of skills. Some excel at listing properties while others are better at showing homes to buyers. However, the Triple Crown realtors are good at the entire job. That is what I strive for. I don't just want to be a listing agent or a selling agent. I am trying to constantly learn new skills and practices that can improve each part of my game. I do not profess to be a real estate Secretariat by any means, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't reach for the gold ring. And unlike the horses I mentioned above, we get a second chance. If we fail, we can do better on the next transaction and make people forget about our failures.

Oh and just for the record, I like Denis of Cork, but that may just be the Irishman in me.

Have a great tomorrow.

800 Phone Branding

Brian Clancy (Century 21 Family Realty) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:13:40 -0700

This is my first blog, so please allow me to introduce myself. I have been a practicing realtor for nearly seven years. Prior to that I owned and operated a small moving company on Long Island (Corporate Cowboy Trucking) for 14 years. Before that I worked for three of LI's defense contractors in a number of different financial positions. In subsequent blogs you will get the rest of my life story but tonight I am here to talk about 800 phone service and how it can help you Brand your business.

When I got started in the moving business in 1989 one of the first things I did was inquire about 800 service. At the time, local 800 service had just been introduced so there were only three 3 digit exchanges that were available on a trial basis.two of them were 696 and 698. I remember writing the letters beneath each number to see what we might be able to spell with the phone number that might be relevant to my business. I was ecstatic when I realized that 698 could be used to spell 800 MY TRUCK. Then I was devastated when I called and someone already had that number. Back to the drawing board. Moments later I realized that 696 could be used to spell 800 MY MOVER. (it also spells 800 NY MOVER). The rest was history. I advertised that number in Pennysavers week after week for nearly five years until everyone in my local community seemed to know it. Then I realized that 80+ % of my business was coming from referrals or repeat customers who had committed the number to memory. So in 2001, when I fell 40 feet out of a tree in my backyard and broke my back and was forced to sell the business, the number one asset that I had to sell was the right to that phone number. Without a dollar of advertising it was generating nearly $150K a year in business.

So when I got into Real Estate the first thing I did was get back onto the toll free highway. By this time, 800 numbers had long since been exhausted, so I settled for 866. I knew I wanted an affirmation so CLANCY CAN was a natural. Now in case you don't believe in fate, think of the most famous Clancy of them all (at least until I blow past Trump on the real estate charts). I am, of course, speaking of author Tom Clancy. Now take a look at your phone keypad and you will notice that the 866 which I was forced to take spells out TOM. So when people tell me that they can never remember whether the prefix is 800, 866, 877 etc., I only have to tell them to remember Tom Clancy. I have only recently begun to extensively market this phone number, so the jury is still out on it, but I am confident that in a few years' time it will be just as successful as 800 MY MOVER.

Now the best part for you cost conscious realtors, toll free service only costs pennies a day. My provider, Qwest, charges only about $10 a month for the service plus a minimal per minute cost. Many people do not realize how inexpensive toll free service is. They mistakenly assume that it is only for the big players. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it si one of the most cost effective advertising tools available to a small business person. I would be curious to hear from any readers who might have similar 800 success stories. Also, as long as you are not competing in my market, I would be happy tpo help anyone with suggestions for a catchy phone number. Thanks for reading and have a good tomorrow. Oh yeah, before I forget, "The answer to all your real estate questions is 866 CLANCY CAN"