Gary Meek, (916) 995-9385 REO and Short Sales's Blog

Preparing for Rain

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:43:43 -0700

Not sure how many have seen the movie, Facing the Giants, but it is fantastic and has a great set of principles. It is Christian based, and is about a coach at a high school, that has always seen the downside of things and it seems to have come true. He is possibly losing hsi job, self respect, having financial difficulties, is not respected by his peers and he and his wife are desperately trying to have their first child.

He has a revalation that things will change, so he changes his attitude and how he looks at and deals with everything. He has a discussion with someone at the school and they talk about "preparing for rain".

There are two farmers that really need it to rain. One sits out and complains that there is no rain and that he will fail because of it. The other farmer, goes out and plows his field, plants his seed and has everything ready for the rain. He prepared for the rain, and therefore when it came, he was ready, ang the fruits of his labor were bountiful.

That is what the coach did. He started working more diligently with his students and the football players. He teaches them about triumph and seeing the glass half full. By the end of the movie, the team is doing great, he has his own self respect and the respect of his colleagues.

I think this is where we need to be in Real Estate. Many say the market is slow, the bueyrs are not out there, the lending is too tough. But I say, prepare for rain, so when it comes, weather it comes in a trickle or an all out downpour for weeks, you will be ready, and the fruits of your labor will be bountiful.

Best wishes to all as you prepare for your ACTIVERAIN.

Do you really even use office space?

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:07:45 -0700

We are all young professionals as the blog says. How many of us actually use an office for a majority of the day.

Aren't we out in the field all day, grabbing a latte with a client, meeting at the home and writing the offer and signing on a tablet PC, or pre-writing the offer at home on the laptopa dn bringing it with us. How about those of us that bring a porable printer with us to print when someone likes the home on the spot.

So if we are not in the office outside of the staff meeting and to pick up a commission check, why do we pay our brokers high splits, and desk fees?

The Swanpooles report and Inman magazine all state that we are moving away from brick and mortar Real Estate to a virtual type of company. If that is the case and you see the writing on the wall, I have got the company for you.

I work for Connect Realty and manage one of the Sacramento CA teams. We are totally virtual and Connect does not operate a local office in Sacramento. What they do is give us freedom to do business as we like. They offer a very nice split 80/20, and $77 per deal for E and O. No other fees per transaction. The only other fee they have is our $29.95/mo tech fee which includes transaction point, Realtor.com showcase listings, free virtual tours and an IDX site that has my information on every page of my personal site, so anyone who finds my site always knows who I am. Add on top of that, virtual training from our corporate site and we have the best technology out there in my opinion

Now here is the best part about Connect. Anyone who refers another agent to Connect gets 5% of that agents commission, paid directly from the company. Not profit sharing, gross commission override.

If you would like to hear more, check out our webinar Saturday morning.

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/869115541

Cash is King, but Cashflow is better

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:44:36 -0700

I am currently working with an investor that is looking long term buy and hold with cash flow.

I am shocked at what we are finding. We just wrote an offer on a duplex that is a bank repo. We have an offer in of $110000, just under asking, 30% down and no closing cost credits. The rents are $800 per side. So we have been looking at the numbers and here is where we are. He has about an 80K loan with a 6% interest rate. His PITI on a 30yr fixed is about $700/mo. Add in a mangement fee and garbage bill, he is still under $1000 month. And his rental income is $1600/mo. I am no rocket scientist but that is a phenominal investment. Take into consideration 75% occupancy rates and he is still positive $200/mo. He wants to buy 3 this year. Real Estate is always a good investment, and GOD is not making any more dirt. Now is the time very everyone to buy.

What do you pay for technology

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:30:54 -0700

Our company is very big and they push technology on us every day. We pay a flat fee every month for our technology. Is this a good deal in your opinion, or are they charging us too much?

We have all of the following technology as part of our package.

Realtor.com Showcase listings

Transaction Point

Virtual Tours

IDX on our personal sites

Drip campaings

and they tell us personalized video mail will be out shortly.

For all of this we pay $29.95/mo. Or we can pay $299 for the year. Is this a good deal in anyone's opinion?

I am not huge into technology, I use most of the services, and the fee is minimal, but is it a good deal?

Chasing Elephants

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:35:40 -0700

I have been selling REO's for the last 2 years and continue to have people reach out to me. They are either trying to land a bulk deal of 25 Million and resell it all or want to know if I can put them in direct contact to the bank. Of coarse I have done some research on these so-called deals and have even had a few of my REO properties get sold in a bulk deal while I was listing them. Does anyone really know of any serious buyers out there, or for that matter does anyone know of a real seller that would unload a bunch of listings for pennies on the dollar. Or I am just chasing an elephant? We sold over 100 REO's last year and it was hard enough work. I do not want to be chasing down these deals if the average Realtor cannot even play with the institutional sellers.

What technology do you use everyday to market yourself?

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:59:52 -0700

Really what technology do you use everyday?

I was going down the list of what I use, it is amazing.

My webiste www.connect2gary.com (provided by my company for free)

Craigslist, to advertise myself, my properties and my services.

virtual tours on all of my properties (provided by my company for free)

IDX on my webiste (provided by my company for free)

Email drip campaigns (provided by my company for free)

Realtor.com showcase listings on all my properties (provided by my company for free) This is probably my favorite one, with the amount of listings I have, I get about 3-5 calls or emails a week because with showcase listings, the calls come directly to my phone, not the office.

Transaction point (provided by my company for free)

On line virtual training (provided by my company for free)

Video Mail, not Youtube or some link inbedded in the email, Just me right there in the email (provided by my company for free)

activerain.com the most amazing opportunity for us as agents to share with one another information, strategies and business practices that work.

Isn't technology the best.

For this is the day the lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:44:47 -0700

I am not writing this because it is Sunday. It is because this is my outlook everyday, and I wanted to blog on it today before I go to church.

I have been watching TV more and more lately, not because I am bored, but because I really never watch it, well except for my favorite shows House, American Idol and The Ultimate Fighting Championship. I watch the news or CNN and all I hear is doom and gloom. I hear how everybody is losing their home, and people are out of work. I hear the media spin everyday, because I am in this industry. But I have some really good stats for everyone to hear.

Less than 5% of people across the country are loosing their homes or are in default.

Approx 30% of homes owned in the US are free and clear.

We have all got to see the bright side of things. If the glass is half full, then we have so much to look forward to.

Like the quote says, "this is the day" It is the only one you can be sure of. make the best out of it.

Rejoice in it. Take your kids outside and run through the puddles, call and old friend or someone you have not spoken with in some time. You will be so glad you did.

Blessings to all.

I just sold a home for $6500. Who would have ever thought

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:05:58 -0700

Is that even possible? To buy a home for $6500 in CA. True it needed work, and it is in Oak Park, but $6500, who would have ever thought you could buy a home in CA, Sacramento no less for under $10K.

We actually just about to close another one for $9K. This is the time, investors get out there and buy, buy, buy.

How do you know who's blogging?

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:14:33 -0700

I am still new to this whole thing and am still nto really sure where my blog goes, and who sees it and how the whole rating scale works. That being said, how do you know who you are reading? How do you know who you are listening to? Are we listening to someone talk about whatever they want? Are we following a blog because we like the author and their perspective? Are we looking for a professional opinion on our market and ideas on what might work for us? What if the person giving the advice is not truly the best person to give that advise? What if that person should have been a journalist, and is using this as a media to be social and talk about whatever? Please someone help me to understand thsi whole crazy thing called blogging.

The reason I am asking all this is because I have looked up some of the names that are ranked so high and are considered gurus per the blogging community, yet, their stats as real estate agents are only average or just above. I am not perfect in any way, and am just average myself. But heres the thing, I have the dream of being above average, and I want to learn from the best. So in the end my main questions is this...

How do we really understand who we are learning from?