A diamond has its brilliance and sparkle because of the facets that have been cut into it.
Add brilliance your real estate business by adding facets to it. A Multi Facetted Marketing Event (MFME) is taking something that you may already be doing on a daily basis within your business, and adding more dimension or facets to it. A facet is added anytime you take your original activity and spin it off allowing you to make more impressions or talk with more people.
This is a concept that I developed some years ago while teaching agents how to effectively market themselves and their listing to the public and I feel that it will allow you to do more business with seemingly less effort.
I realized the power of a MFME the other day when I bought flowers for my wife for our 27th wedding anniversary. I could have just gone down to the store to buy her a bunch of daisies, but, that would have only had 1 real facet, (albeit the most important one....her) more on this later.
The first rule of business…..is to stay in business.
Cut the fat out of your real estate business
As real estate agents, offices and companies struggle to figure out this market it is important to stay focused on what is working and what is not. “Working” means money spent that earns a return in the form of phone calls, appointments, revenue units, or direct business support items. Examples of “not working” would be money spent on; things that feed your ego, post cards bought and put under your desk, educational CDs purchased and never listened to, print advertising that never makes the phone ring.
Spend one day a month working on your business, not in your business. What this means is setting aside one day per month in which you work on the big picture; finances, marketing plans, business plan review and the like. During this time do not engage in working with buyers, sellers or ongoing contracts, don’t answer the phone and if you need to, hold this meeting with yourself outside of the office.
One of the things to look at each month are your expenses. As revenues slow with fewer closings you may be wondering where to cut expenses. This is a good discussion to have with yourself…..in good times as well as in bad. Determine a base line of what you need to support your business and what that base line costs. Consistency is important here. You don’t want to have the lights on when things are good and go dark when things slow down.
Now that I'm with GraphicalData I am having more focused discussions with real estate agents and their brokers about websites. One of the things I've quickly learned is that you can not have a "website" discussion without having a "marketing" discussion.
Too often agents want to jump in and order up a website so they can check that task off some list they have in hand. Later, when the going gets rough financially they jettison the website because it is not meeting their needs.
Before getting the website ask yourself some questions, this may require a bit of introspection: 1) What kind of business do I want to do. Am I focusing on residential resale, commercial, new construction, condos.......etc
2) Write a paragraph describing your perfect buyer
3) Write a paragraph describing your perfect seller (in both cases be specific to type of home, geographic location, qualifications of the buyer or seller)
4) What are your goals for the website? Be realistic here. Come up with a number that you can logically work toward.
5) How much am I willing to spend? This has to be a realistic number that will not change with the market. Too often agents and companies spend lots of money when the market is good and pull it all back when things get tough. The key word here has to be "consistency". Granted, you may invest more as you have more to invest...but you should always have a core marketing effort going on. Note...I use the word "invest" on purpose. Dollars you spend are either to improve your business, have a goal and measurement attached or it is a charity. Too often business people mistake the two.
6) How am I going to track my success?
With this information you will be able to tailor your site to meet the needs of the people you are trying to attract and keep as customers. Don't try to make one site do too much. If you do residential sales and property management you may want to consider two separate websites, otherwise you dilute your message and will make it harder for your site to show up on the first page or two of search engine rankings.
Now that you are sitting down to actually start planning the website looks are important but only go skin deep as the old saying goes. Content is king. I'm running across good, hard working agents who have invested a lot of money into a website that looks good but has no real content. Make sure your website developer can and does provide the IDX feed for your site. Without it you will not be able to provide interactive home searches for your clients, nor will you be able to use many of the tools that make a great site like flyer makers, CMA tools or automatic e-mail notification services.
This is part of the ongoing series "Finding Success in the Basics"
If you are out prospecting and marketing you will be bound to run into someone personally or virtually who has an interest in real estate. This is where your skills and knowledge will come into play.
Being a real estate professional is really all about presentation, presentation of you, your company, the process, buyers choices and sellers choices. The better you are at presenting or, telling the story, the more successful you will be.
When you meet someone for the first time:
How do you look...are you dressed the part? What do you say? Are you ready with a 20 second commercial or sound bite about what you do or offer? Do you have a hand out, take away or brochure? When you hand someone a thing....do you just shove it their way or do you present it?
At open houses:
How do you present the home? What information do you have at the ready? What questions do you ask?
On Floor:
Are you ready to answer a question and immediately follow up the answer with a question of your own? Do you convey confidence in your voice? Be sure to lead them in a direction. If you like what you are hearing you might say, "sounds like the next logical step is for us to get together, is this afternoon good for you or would tomorrow morning be better?" These are not sales techniques rather business tools to help them take the next step to achieving their goals.
This whole discussion of "the Bail Out" is very frustrating. Not only do most people not understand it but it is so convoluted that it may never get done? How much will it really cost? Who does it benefit? Will it really help the family who is in hardship?.....all are questions being asked, not answered.
I'm a pretty simple guy...which leads to pretty simple solutions. I get supply and demand...I get the family who purchased a house a few years ago who bought into an ARM product and now can not afford the increased payments. I get most people thought the housing market would go on forever.....
Though I'm typically not in favor of government involvement here is where I think they can help. (I understand the "they" is really "us")
Provide a fixed rate 4.5%, 30 year home loan program. The borrower does have to qualify for it. Allow some leniency for those that are in an ARM situation, give priority to those that are in danger of loosing their homes. Also provide a 5.5% loan for investors who want to buy properties in the county that they live and a 6.5% loan to investors who want to buy homes in areas they do not live.
This will accomplish:
1) Allowing people to stay in their homes, now they can afford the payment.
2) Encourage buyers who have been on the side lines to jump in.
3) Encourage investors to invest in their communities.
4) Reduce inventory which will allow home values to stabilize.
5) Provide banks some stability because they are not getting as many houses back or having to write off bad debt.
Simple, most of us can understand it, we can see who the beneficiaries are.
Are there other issues at hand...certainly, but this is a program that could be easily put into place and would begin to have an effect in weeks and months not years.
This is part of the ongoing series “Finding Success in the Basics”
Since you can’t talk someone into buying or selling a home (Unless you are Tommy Hopkins) the best you can hope for is to be in the right place at the right time. This often makes you feel like you are trying to be everywhere at once.
Prospecting is the basic tool that can make you or break you in this business. In short, it is your ability to go into the world and create business. You might not be real organized, you might not have the best presentation in town, you might not be the most polished…but if you have the ability to bring in large numbers of leads, much can be forgiven, learned or hired out.
I used to tell my daughter that she had to eat some vegetables. She could pick one that was always off limits, she chose broccoli, but she had to eat some. Prospecting is a lot like that. You don’t have to do it all, but you do have to have your recommended daily allowance to succeed in real estate. The good news is prospecting does come in a lot of flavors: MORE>>>>
I was trying to make it be all things to all people. Last week I met with Ozzie and we developed a new plan. Essentially I'm breaking down my one website into two, which in turn will roll out a second blog as well. The goal is to focus the information and tools to a smaller group.
www.FranklyRealEstate.com will focus on home buyers and sellers. It will address questions and concerns a typical home buyer or seller might have in today's real estate market. Search for homes, learn about neighborhoods and schools and pick up a little education about the process along the way. FranklyRealEstate.Blogspot.com will be restructured to pick up the day to day conversations that goes on and refer readers to the website just as you would refer to a reference book.
The new website will be www.MyRealEstateCareerBuilder.com and the new blog will be www.MyRealEstateCareerBlog.com. These will address concerns that real estate practitioners might have. Getting started in real estate, classes to take, technology to use, interesting changes in the market and the like.
Needless to say there is a lot of work ahead to string up my new portion of the net. Fortunately I'm passionate about the topic and eager to share what is happening in our neck of the woods.
Feel free to check out these new sites and learn along with me. I'm setting up the blog first. This gave me a chance to try out a new platform....wordpress. Because I've settled on a specific template I had to have my blog hosted for me, not hosted within wordpress, Active Rain or Blogger. As I go I'll try to share all of the things I learn....Let me bump my shins as I work through this unfamiliar room called wordpress and hosting. I'll give links as well so you can check out the choices I've made.
GraphicalData (designs real estate websites for agents and companies)
It is a good idea to at least annually review your web marketing plan and make the approprate changes to keep you on track to success. It is all about the basics...who are you talking to? What do they want to know about? What is the best way to communictate?
Stay tuned and please feel free to give input. The new sites are rolling out slowly as they get built and I learn the tools.
For those of us who were involved in these changes a few years ago....this comes as a bit of a surprise. It appears that the revisions to WA States real estate license law has now been brought before our state legislators and is now ready for the Governors signature.
Though this was a hot topic 2 or 3 years ago many of us thought this had been stalled and set aside. It is time to start letting our agents know that this is now our future. Like many changes of this nature there will be some who are happy about the change and some....not so much. This has been a long time coming. Our industry has changed a lot since RCW 18.85 was last addressed.
Below are "Just the facts Mam" I'm sure there will be a lot of discussion about how this will affect our industry, our agents and the consumer.
Three levels of Broker:
Designated Broker Managing Broker Broker
New Licensees for Broker: 90 clock hours to sit for the Brokers exam First renewal additional 90 clock hours
Managing Broker: 3 years as a Broker 90 clock hours of instruction (specialized classes) Pass an examination
Designated Broker: Licensed as a Managing Broker Registered by DOL as a Designated Broker Designated Broker may act as such for more than one firm
Renewals: 30 hours for each 2 year renewal 15 hours may be carried over from previous 2 years
Non licensed people may provide referrals to licensees provided their compensation is not contingent upon receipt of compensation of the licensee.
Licensees (all three flavors) must be fingerprinted and have a background check conducted. The Director may institute a schedule by which this information is renewed on a regular basis.
If a Broker is in a position to supervise or exercise control over other Brokers they must be licensed as a Managing Broker.
During the first two years a new Broker must have a “heightened level of supervision” provided by a Managing Broker.
Licensees must now provide a copy of singed documents to their principles “within a reasonable time after signing”. (instead of at the signing of those documents)
A salesperson will now be considered a Broker and must take a transitional course prior to their first renewal after this goes into effect.
Well here we are, almost through the first quarter of 2008. By now many thought we would be through the tough times. I think realization began to set in towards the end of 2007 or certainly by mid February as more and more sub-prime woes spilled out.
So...where are we now? I actually think we are better off this year than last. Even if it is a psychological factor of once you get past the shock you begin to acclimate. Sellers are becoming more realistic about their homes value. Agents are focusing more on sold data. Buyers are asking more questions about their loans and are actually much more informed than I think in the past.
Where we are is not all that bad, at least in this neck of the woods. I'll hear agents indicate it will be another year before we are done with this......do they think someone will through a switch at 12:53 pm on April 18, 2009 and the market will return to what it was 3 years ago??? What we will be seeing is a slow increase in market health. None of us want it to shoot upwards, just a nice slow improvement.
What does improvement look like? 1)Reduced inventory, we currently have 2259 listings on the market in Kitsap County. Getting below 2000 will indicate we are headed in the right direction. I've seen a low of 700 or so. 2) Slight increase in sales. Last week we had 45 homes go into a pending state. This means we currently have 50 weeks of inventory, certainly a buyers market. Both of these items will help to bring down our "days on market" which is currently 98...which is not bad compared to other parts of the country that are well into the triple digits. It will also allow homes to begin a more sustainable value growth. A 3% to 5% increase in your homes value each year is a nice place to be.
I hope this annual letter and calendar find you and yours doing well. Please note that your calendar starts on December 1st so go ahead and start planning next year today.
2007 has been an interesting year in real estate. The good news is the northwest has done very well in these turbulent times (except Tacoma Pierce). Even though we have seen our value increases flatten, our inventory grow and our market times lengthen we are still far better off than many other areas.
Some Stats comparing 2007 to 2004-2006 in Kitsap County (through Nov. 1 2007)
20042005 2006 2007
# of New Listings: 5038 5237 5634 6007
# of transactions: 3823 3871 3406 2836
Avg. Days on Market: 65 58 63 89
Avg. Sale Price $254,809 $307,235 $336,299 $367,730
You have heard a lot of talk about our real estate market. Much of the discussion has been framed by the media in a very negative light. When you add to it new highs for the price of oil, a lot of discussion about subprime lending and a falling stock market there is some room for jittery nerves. Real estate is a very local discussion. Sweeping generalizations of the real estate market cannot do it justice, you have to talk with local Realtors to get the straight scoop about their area.
Some facts about our area that make it a great place to live, buy and own a home. Our economy seems to be stable, unemployment is at 4.2%. Though subprime loans in the US accounted for upwards of 20% of the loans made in 2006, in our area only 8% of them were subprime. Money Magazine has listed Silverdale in their top 100 list of best places to live. We are close to the amenities of a large city without having to live with the drawbacks. The increase of population in Washington state for the foreseeable future will continue to outstrip construction.
As promised in last year’s letter, our market has shifted from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. Though sellers are having to be a bit more patient than years past, and cannot afford to be as aggressive with their pricing, homes are still selling. Buyers are in the best position right now. There is plenty to choose from, sellers are being a bit more negotiable and interest rates continue to stay low.
I believe this trend will hold through the first half of 2008, we should begin to see a shift next summer or early fall. If you are thinking of investing in real estate I would recommend doing so before the end of the first quarter 2008. As this cycle works through, the fed will feel pressure to increase interest rates.
I’ve included with this year’s letter a graph showing how our inventory has grown. Should you have any questions about the graph or other market statistics let me know.
Please have a wonderful holiday season and a safe, healthy and prosperous new year. Should you know of anyone thinking about buying or selling real estate in 2008 please let me know or if you just want a market update please feel free to call or check out one of my web resources. Web Page: www.FranklyRealEstate.com or my Blog: www.FranklyRealEstate.Blogspot.com.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Posted by 
;)
;)
