Cody's Blog

My Biggest Hurdle!

2007-11-19T00:36:12Z

Being 21 in a business of professionals of all ages (mostly older than me) I found can be a good or bad thing. From the time I started in the business my mentor Brian Manaois has taught me how if I let my age affect me it will and if I decide to not let it affect me it won't.

At first it was hard! I would call someone and already expect that they wouldn't work with me because I was so young. I would perceive what was going to happen before it did. How was I to expect others to have confidence in me if I didn't have any in myself? I did have some experience, being only 18 I had purchased my first 2 rental houses with a partner and learned a ton from those experiences.

Now 3 years later as a young energetic professional in the business I love my age. I have the energy and the freedom to do what ever needs to be done to help my clients. I am being trained in our market as it is now and am learning as fast as I can how to perform in todays high demands. I am constantly looking for ways to use my young age as an advantage.

Being young does have some disadvantages however, my sphere of friends is obviously not buying houses and to most of the older folks, I am just the little boy they saw grow up. I of course look like I don't have any experience, but with confidence that is usually not a problem. Most of my business comes from fresh leads or cold calls who have never met me before.

What are some ways that I can use my age to my advantage? What is the trick for a young guy in this business? Thanks for your advice!

Are Real Estate Agents Viewed As Telemarketers?

2007-11-15T16:15:55Z

I have been cold calling for a while now, not nearly as long as many of you, but I have always wondered how the people I call have viewed my calls.

Often time I get the usual we are not interested line before I even finish my name, which simply means I get to use my favorite word...NEXT. More times than not when the homeowner says "I get calls all day long from people like you", and I say "like who, other real estate agents?", they usually say, well no I can't say I have heard from other real estate agents.

If they give me a chance they usually see that I am not calling to sell them anything, but instead visit about any questions or needs they might have. What kind of response do you get when calling? Do you feel you are viewed as telemarketers?

What if that same agent walks up to your front door with a big smile and introduce himself...is he viewed differently than on the phone?

Thanks for helping me with another one of my many questions!!!

Lease to Own vs. Option to Purchase

2007-11-14T14:40:57Z

With loosing some of our first time home buyer loans, causing fewer people to get qualified, I have been getting more and more calls asking about lease to own and option to purchase.

I have heard from different people that there is a difference between these two and from others that there is not.

Lease to Own: When you put some money down up front that will go towards the down payment and then you may have some of your monthly payment go to the deposit for the purchase of the home. At the end of the lease purchase you have agreed on a specific price. From what I understand, investors are getting away from these because if one of the parties decides to terminate the agreement there is a large dispute as to who gets the earnest money.

Option to purchase: A landlord agrees to give a renter an exclusive option to purchase the property. The option price is usually determined at the outset, but not always, and the agreement states when the purchase should take place ? whether, say, six months, or a year or two down the road. A portion of the rent is used to make the future down payment. At the end of the agreed upon time, if the buyer elects not to purchase the property than the seller can sell the home to anyone else and gets to keep any upfront fees that were paid.

I am still learning what the difference is myself. Is there really a difference? Am I viewing both of these correctly? How do you explain the difference to your clients?

I AM GOING TO WAIT UNTIL THE MARKET IS BETTER

2007-11-14T00:32:52Z

I love this one! They are going to wait until market is better before listing their home...whenever that is!

So here is my story. I just recently had a home owner tell me they wanted to list there home. A day before I am to go over she calls me and tells me that she wants to wait until the market is more favorable for sellers. Now for some reason she called me at 11:34pm and at that time I wasn't addicted to blogging so I was asleep, she might as well have been talking to the wall.

So I call her back the next day because I managed to write down what she said and asked her what inspired her to do this? (this meaning inspire her to wait, not call me at 11:34pm) She said that she had heard all about the homes on the market and wanted to wait until there was less competition in the market.

I asked her what the right market was and her response was obvious "when less people are selling in the spring". lol right!!! I asked her if she would let all of us professionals know when that time would be because know-body knows the perfect time. Even the greatest masterminds of our time don't know that. Too bad too because we could all be billion airs. I told her that all the other home owners who are waiting will be doing the same thing...bla bla

There are many reasons why she should not wait, could you all help me figure out what they are?

Thanks ahead of time!

The best time to prospect?

2007-11-13T00:29:06Z

I am sort of torn up between which is the most productive time to prospect during the day.

I have worked both in the morning and in the evening on prospecting. I find that in the morning I am full of energy and ready to take on the world yet nobody seems to be home most of the time. Do you think they would rather receive a phone call at the start of the day while they are racing around preparing for the day or later on after they have come back from work? Also, what time in the morning do you start calling? I have been calling at 8:00am and have had some people threaten me...haha!

What has been your experience with cold calling?

Blogs that bring you business!

2007-11-13T00:10:54Z

I am very new to the blogging world. Can you post blogs on Active Rain that are designed to bring in questions, advice or anything from possible customers? How is it done?

Also, I cannot seem to figure out the whole picture deal. I see blogs all the time that have multiple pictures. For some reason I am only able to upload one picture. Is there a secret to uploading pictures or do I just need to go back to college and learn how to use a computer?

Thanks for your help?

Learning how to write a blog!

2007-11-12T17:54:34Z

I have been a part of Active Rain now for 3 days and I love it. I have learned so much and am very new to writing blogs. I want to be able to add to this great network in every way I can.

What are some great tips for learning how to write blogs where people comment and subscribe?

How do I explain this to a seller?

2007-11-12T15:22:42Z

A while back I went on a listing presentation where the home needed some TLC. Paint was needed as well as carpet and landscaping. He explained he wanted to know what he could sell it for now with the repairs needed and what he could sell it for after the repairs were made.

His thought was this: I will start with the price of the fixed up perfect homes in my neighborhood and then just start deducting the cost of repairs from the price.

We explained to him that deducting the price of the repairs is not enough because you have to take into consideration the time spent for the new buyers to do the work and so on, otherwise why wouldn't the buyers just go over and buy the same home that already has the work done. You have to make it worth their while.

If you all could share with me your method and tips on pricing a home that needs repair it would be much appreciated! Thanks!!!

Get your buyers to commit to you!

2007-11-12T11:39:40Z

I cannot stress enough the importance of getting your buyers to commit to dealing with you exclusively.

Being in the business a year and a few months, I learn this the hard way. Just recently I was working with a couple who seemed like very nice people and they were. They would call me all day long with their questions and desires for homes and commented regularly on they thankfulness for my help. Inside I felt that I could trust them and didn't know how to get them to commit without saying I didn't trust them. I should have had them sign the form anyway.

After working with the couple for 2 long months, driving them all over showing them properties and sharing information, as well as helping them to work through some credit issues and not giving up on them like many other agents had, I got an EMAIL saying, "Thanks but we bought a house with another agent, could you send us our pre-approval letter"?

I have had this happen with even good friends, where they use your services because it was obvious we knew what we were doing and then go and buy the home with their sister who needs the business.

We read so much on these blogs about the choice we have after each of these experiences. Are we going to let it pull us down or are we going to learn from it? Well I chose to learn from it!

My question to all you experts out there is: What are some good methods and ways of saying to your buyers that they will need to commit to deal with you exclusively?

No Excuses, Just Ask!

2007-11-12T00:38:00Z

I have read so much here on Active Rain about thinking and acting outside of the box and how we need be so careful that we do not assume or perceive what others are thinking.

I got to learn this lesson first hand and fortunately it worked out great for me. I was showing a home to a buyer one sunny day a while back. We had just gone into the home and he was looking around when a van drove into the driveway and a man got out of the car and went up and grabbed a flier out of the box.

The annoying voice inside me said they were just lookers and would not want me to go bug them besides I had my buyer here with me and I couldn't leave him. Of course, as this excuse was settling in my buyer took a breath from his questions and asked to use the bathroom just as the man was getting back into his van.

I ran out there and asked if they were looking to purchase a home. Turns out they were unhappy with their current agent and I ended up selling them a home a few days later.

The lesson I learned in this experience was that it doesn't hurt to ask. At worse this family could have told me no. I am sure that I have missed out on many opportunities because I made up reasons why not to ask.

I cannot expect to get business if I am not willing to ask for it!

A young professional getting married...I need some GOOD tips!!!

2007-11-11T17:58:35Z

While being young and new the real estate profession can offer different kinds of challenges, but the challenge or should I say, new adventure I am preparing for now is getting married. I have been told from many people to just hold off on the marriage until I am more financially stable, until I am better prepared, until I am older, bla bla bla.

My fiance and I have decided to get married anyway and look forward to the ups and downs that will come to us. I have talked to other highly professional people in the business who have stressed the importance of communication and finding that proper balance between work and family. You all know better than I the life of an agent, can you offer me some good tips for starting out in the business as well as adding a family into it?

What are some ideas and balances that you have found useful in your lives to keep your family happy while still being able to work very hard for your clients? What else can I do to prepare myself?

Thanks ahead of time for your advice and tips!