Ah, memories of a young lad walking from house to house, looking to make a little pocket change. Fast forward to present day and many neighborhoods are looking shabby and homeowners are up in arms at the appearance of their neighbors houses due to foreclosures and bank owned properties.

A simple solutions. They can just cut the lawn for them (as noone else seems to want to) and make it look presentable. There's only one small issue. They could be cited for trespassing and the liability if they got injured while on that property is one that the banks do not want to incur.

Now, the odds that a bank, maybe located across the country, will know who swooped in and ran their mower over someone's yard are small. But a neighbor does have to know what the risks are.

Homeowner Associations are also experiencing an overall lack of funds due to all of the owners who have not or cannot pay their HOA dues. As a result, the public and common areas have suffered and there are cases where groups of owners have gotten together to mow lawns and plant flowers.

Overall, the pride of ownership is something that many communities want to keep alive!

As a Trainer, I have worked with a multitude of people. Young and old, many cultures and many different backgrounds. The question is, can everyone be trained?

When it comes to technical skills or a computer program, there are usually set ways to perform a task.

When it comes to soft skills such as customer service, it is more of an environment, an organizational environment as well as what is inside of each person to rise to the level they are being asked to.

Are there individuals that can't or won't learn what you are teaching? In my past work, I have seen people that didn't want to conform to the ways of a company and they eventually worked their way out of the organization as they didn't fit in anymore. They found themselves waiting at the station and the train moving on.

When it comes to technical skills, it could be possible that someone just cannot retain the know how needed to operate a machine, a computer program, etc.

I believe that almost everyone can be trained. There are many pieces that have to come together and part of it is that they have to be open to learning.

I went to the car dealership and had some repairs done. As I was getting into the car, the man told me to remember to give them all "10's" on the survey I would receive. He went on to say that a "9" is 80% for them. I drove away wondering if this was the way it was intended to be?

If I read into the situation, my guess is that their survey results are tied to bonuses and maybe even compensation. Why would they build a system like this? Doesn't it take the ability to say what you truly feel out of it? If you regularly visit that dealership and you blast them for bad service, would you get a higher bill next time? Do you dare complain about food in a restaurant and then wonder if they are tampering with your food?

I worked at a Luxury Hotel's Front Desk and the survey's that the guest had to fill out were pre-stamped and addressed to the Corporate Office. This worked well until the guest would drop off their completed survey at the desk. Since they were only sealed in one spot, I witnessed many a people twisting and turning it to see if they could read what was in it.

Come on. Doesn't this taint the whole idea behind a survey? Is this how Nielson does their TV ratings? Is this how JD Powers does theirs? I think not.

My favorite of all time is the single sheet of paper that a customer is to fill out and then place in a locked wooden box in the office. Those boxes are opened and based on if they are good or bad surveys, may never be seen again!

Survey says?

I am counting to 10 before writing this blog. Frustration is a nice word for agents who don't use the tools and systems the way they were intended. In Orlando, our Board came up with a great tool to facilitate the showing of properties. It is called ShowingDesk and it is present on every Broker Synopsis in the MLS. That part is great. The part that isn't is how some agents are using this tool.

I had a buyer over the Labor Day weekend. He and I have been working together for a year and he often calls last minute. We were looking at $600-$800,000 properties and selected only the vacant ones to see as it was a Holiday weekend.

I went into showing desk on the listings and some had the instructions there. "Leave a card, Vacant on Multi-Lock, Lock all doors, etc." Others said to call the Realtor. Ok, most of them were not available all weekend. The one that really got me was where they asked me to select a time from a grid as to when I wanted to show it. It immediately sent me an email telling me it was not confirmed until someone from the office contacted me...vacant property...I received a 2nd email asking me for feedback. I can understand that it is automated. I called the agent several times over the 2 days we were in this neighborhood and no answer. The day after he left, I received another email telling me that my showing was approved. It included a personal note from the agent with the status of the property that was written to me.

All of that information could have been loaded onto the Showing Instructions. An electronic record is kept and ONLY Realtors are able to access it. Alarm Codes, Key Locations, Showing Instructions are all safe and secure. If we could just get Agents trained on how to use the tools, we would all have a much smoother experience.

Are you a Die Hard Realtor? You don't care what the media says. You don't let anything or anyone get in the way of you making it work, by whatever means necessary. OR, are you the type of agent that says, "the market is down, woe is me". Either way, the numbers have not been lying. There is truth to the sales and listings being down. Outside factors that we have seen for the last 2 years have affected all of our pockets.

Many agents have resorted to getting additional work in order to supplement their income. The question is, if you are one that has done this, has it been in or out of Real Estate? Real Estate moonlighting has included Property Management, doing BPO's or working with foreclosures. People who have moonlighted outside of Real Estate have been everything from Bag Boys, CFO's and long Distance Truckers!

My first real estate company always said that it was impossible to do Real Estate on a part time basis but as the market has changed, we all have to do whatever it takes to survive. If someone has the drive and time management skills, they can juggle both very well!

As a new agent, part of my training included learning how to do a CMA. This, without a doubt, was the most difficult part of the business for me as nobody had a fool proof way to do it. They said, you add a little here and subtract a little there and then you come up with a selling price.

I was brand new and had a friend who already had their house on the market. I asked him if I could come and present to him as i needed the practice. I spent time putting the presentation together as well as working through a CMA. After presenting all of my marketing, it was time to get to the numbers. I went through them and told him definitively that his house should be listed for $129,000. He looked at me, a bit puzzled, and told me that his house was on the market for $199,000. Apparently I had not put a sold date on the system and was getting sales that were 6 years old. Embarrassed was the word of the day.

As you get more experience in this business, you learn more tricks which include finding out if the seller has a number in mind, pulling actives, pendings and solds for the last 6 months and adjusting for special features that the comparable homes do not have.

In the end, hopefully you and the sellers can come to a consensus but even in our current short sale and foreclosure environment, sellers are not always willing to take your professional advice.

Technology. We love it at times and we hate it other times. It works for us and against us. The pro technology people, of which I consider myself, try to convey to others how it saves time, money and eases the way in which we do business. The "Old School" people will tell you that we are moving too quickly and that "back in the day", things were easier, less hectic. We had more time with our families.

Let's talk about cell phones. As Realtors, we really can't live without them. I called an agent this morning and she answered her phone. I told her what I was calling about and she asked if she could call me back as she was at a doctor's appointment. Granted, she may have been in the waiting room but I did think, why are you answering your phone if you can't speak? The ideal situation would be to have 2 voicemail messages. Switch to number 2 which says I am on an appointment and will call you back once I am done.

The flip side of this issue are those who are not available at all by phone. They are either too busy or too unwilling to answer your phone. "I return calls from 2:10-2:20pm daily." I know, many time management seminars have said that this is the way for you to best manage your time but in the real world, it makes you seem uninterested and too busy to speak with anyone!

It would be nice to find a happy medium. Personally, I never shut off my phone. There are those rare cases when the phone rings at 1:30am or 7:00 am but as a whole, my customers and agents know that they will get me or a return call shortly after calling.

Sometimes another agent can really add undue stress to a deal. They say that perception is reality. If you perceive something to be true, whether it is or isn't doesn't matter as that is your perception!

I had a deal recently where the other agent was not into working with her people. She made all kinds of excuses why she didn't normally work in this area of the market and how long the drive was and how little money she would make on the deal...blah, blah, blah. She also said how she couldn't stand to take these people out and show them more property as her patience level was wearing thin. Even on the phone, she said he repeated himself over and over and she couldn't take it. What I should have said was, "at the beep, please leave a message!"

She set up this whole flurry of negative energy all surrounding these customers. Today, I got to meet them face to face...without her present. We hit it off right away. We talked about travel, other countries and every question they had was answered right away.

At the end of our meeting, they were not only happy but also asked for me to inquire about a property for sale in the same complex they were renting in. You just never know.

This blog was entitled, "go ask your mother" because often our kids will work each parent to get the answer they are looking for. This customer was not the issue. It was the agent and frankly, I want a divorce!

Just was watching an episode of "Flip This House" on the A&E network. When they pulled back the carpet, they discovered a huge crack in the slab that went all the way through. Next thing you know they are bringing out a team to dig holes, put in hydralics and concrete tubes and level this house back together again. It was amazing to watch but it also makes you wonder, from a real estate perspective, if this is disclosed to a new buyer?

We know, because it has been drilled into our heads, disclose, disclose, disclose. When in doubt, disclose it but does this really happen all of the time?

If someone wants to put their house on the market and there is an issue, we tell them to fix it before we list it because after an inspection, we will need to get a licensed professional to make the repair. Some homeowners don't understand this. If items are repaired before we list the property and if the owner doesn't disclose, then they are theonly ones to ever know the truth!

I passed a big banner on a steakhouse today that said, "Voted Best Burger, $5.99" and I wondered, who said? I also wonder who is checking these facts? this is not a poltical campaign where you have people researching and fact checking everything that is said or written...it's a steakhouse!

This started me thinking, why couldn't I, as a Realtor put out an ad stating that I am the Number 1 Realtor in the land? It was voted on by an Independent Council (mom, dad and sis). Who is gonna check it anyway?

There was a cute ad with a Realtor and her dog and the caption said that she was the best, voted on by an independent Lab!

If you look closely, you may see some statements out there that may be hard to prove or disprove. Anything you have seen lately?