I attended an all day mediation training yesterday through the Greater Las Vegas Board of Realtors and thought I would share what I felt to be just one of the tidbits of extraodinary information that we learned.

     Carolyn D'Agosta, the instructor is a nationally reconized mediator as well as being a Broker/Owner.  Her credentials are quite impressive and she facilitated a tough crowd of attorneys, 10+ years experienced mediators, and a few neophytes like myself.

     Although I can't condense 8 hours of information into a blog, I would like to share some of her top 10 techniques for breaking impasse:  

1. Break the issue down into smaller parts, isolating the most difficult issues and reserving these for later.

2. Go on to other issues, or take a break and ask the parties to think about the various alternatives presented.

3. Review the parties priotities and common interests.

4. Look for possible trade-offs or exchange of services.

5. Encourage the parties to recognize and acknowledge each other's points of view.

6. Tell the parties you are stuck and ask for their ideas.

7. Ask the parties to indicate what would change or happen if they reached a solution.

8. Test for emotional investment in a given position or demand by asking what it would take to get the parties to surrender it.

9. Compliment the parties on reaching earlier points of agreement and encourage them to reach a complete agreement and put this dispute behind them.

10. Ask more questions about the problem, feelings, priorities, alternative solutions, flexibility, hidden agendas, compromises, anger, etc., or return to agenda setting.

Good mediation skills can be used in all walks of life, family, personal relationships, workplace, and clients. Just remember to maintain neutrality (okay here's where the Zen part comes in) and an attitude of non-judgment.    

I'm sorry but I just have to say that all of this negative energy about our Las Vegas Real Estate market just makes me smile......it's the same reaction that I see in my yoga students. There are those who come out of my class perspiring and saying whew, that was a tough class, their muscles ache, complaining that it wasn't what they expected, etc. (These are my beginning yoga students) and then there are those who come out with a look of bliss and tell me how much they enjoyed the challenge.

Why the difference-same class, same teacher but totally different experiences. I see the same thing in real estate, agents who are taking advantage of the market and making more money than they did last year. Because when the market changed, they changed their marketing! Without exception those agents got out of their comfort zone and started doing something different.

So operating on the honor system here fellow blog reader, I will share with you a creative marketing idea if you will share just one with your fellow bloggers-post it in the comment section and earn a karmic credit!

My marketing tip is find your local business development organization and find out what new companies are moving to town. Then take out an ad in their company newletter for your relocation services.  

Okay, now your turn.

I attended a short sale seminar on August 9 in which Hank Lopez, Countrywide Mortgages' Assistant Vice President of Home Retention spoke of their short sale recommended proceedure for real estate agents.

The following is the documentation that Countrywide would like to see from the seller with each short sale request:

• Explanation of the hardship
• One month income verification
• One month bank statement

Real Estate Information:

• Purchase agreement

• Estimated Net sheet

• Listing agreement 

Countrywide will then do an anlysis of the following:

1. The customers ability to participate in the loss.

2. Purchase price.

3. Current value of the home from a Countrywide Appraisal.

4. Ultimate gain or loss compared to the REO process.

Average short sale process takes about 60 days from the time the offer is received. 

TIPS:

Send in comparables and MLX history to justify purchase price.

More than likely even if it's only one week before foreclosure sale, Countrywide will stop foreclosure to look at a short sale offer if it makes sense on the HUD or Net Sheet.

Countrywide will pay up to 6% real estate commission if there are 2 agents involved.

Hope this helps because I think we're going to see a lot more of these with so many of the variables readjusting soon.

Look for my A,B,C's,of the Foreclosure Process on my next blog.

How important would it be to be able to convert more lead call into appointments?

Well if the average transaction commission is approximately $10,000 and if you could convert just one more lead call a month into an appointment, and if  50% of those appointments bought or sold a home, that would be an additional $60,000 in commissions a year.

Nothing to sneeze at in my book.  So the question that I know your asking is "How can I do that?" And my answer to you is "have a plan".   I am amazed with the number of agents that I talk to (and trust me I talk to a lot) that take lead calls as if it were their Aunt Shirley from Sioux Falls calling.  And by that I mean that there is no preparation or plan in place before they say hello. Most agents are under the false impression that they can just wing it, but I am going to suggest that in this buyers market you are going to have to have a specific plan in place and sharpen your skills to a fine edge to place yourself above the competition.

Your ultimate aim of course is to establish rapport. I've heard this for 20 years from all of the Real Estate masters and easier said than done, right?  How do you build rapport?  To begin to build that foundation of rapport I'm sure you will agree, you first have to be genuine and confident. Okay, back to the original question, how do you project that? By having a plan, and knowing what to say. Would you feel more confident in knowing exactly what you need to say?  

I'm going to assume the answer to that is a resounding ....yes, so let's move on to the "plan" part. That means that you are aware that taking lead calls are an important part of your business and you are going to be well prepared before you even answer the phone.  I would recommend that you put together your own personal lead book divided into 3 sections.

      Section One      

 The first section is going to be a printout of all your listings. If you're so new that you don't have listings yet but are doing an open house, then a print out of all of the available homes for sale in the area (remember in decending price order) or the homes that are in your farm where you've distributed flyer's, etc.  If your taking "floor calls" always ask the caller if you can call them back within 5 minutes with the information on the subject property-go to the computer and print all available homes in descending price. Because when they ask you what the home is listed for and you say $650,000 (and follow with, "is this the price range you were looking at"?) and they tell you it's too much,  you will be able to talk about 3 or 4 other homes. You're also establishing a degree of trust with the caller when you call back when you say you will, placing you above about 60% of the agents out there.

    Section Two

The next section will comprised of blank client interview sheets. Tailor these to suit your needs but make sure you have more than just the basic name and telephone number. This is where you increase your SOI,  so get as much information as possible.

Section Three

The third section is your day-timer. If you're setting appointments, you'll need to be organized so always write them down in your day-timer.  I like the pages with the "To Do" on the side where I can write in calls to make. 

You can add to this by customizing with sections you feel are important, it's your lead book so make it work for you. 

Okay so now your have the props ready, whats next? This is the honing your skills and practice part. Write down the 10 most commonly asked questions that you get on lead calls. If you can't think of 10, try working with another agent and see if you both can come up with 10.  Then write a script to answer these questions that is comfortable for you. 

Example: " What is the price of the home?"  Oh, no problem, let me look that up for you, tell me were you just driving around looking at homes or do you live in the neighborhood?

 And then be silent.

When they have answered, then give the price and the accompanying question, "is this the range you were looking for"?  Continue with the question-answer cycle until you feel it's appropriate to close for the appointment. Why do most agents not get the appointment-because they don't ask for it! 

If you'd rather use prewritten scripts, one of the best in my book for scripts is Mike Ferry, you can contact him at the following address http://kathrynbovard.wordpress.com///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Gavin/My%20Documents/Real%20Estate%20Operations%20Manual/support@realestate-byreferral.com
or write me and I will send you the top ten that I teach. And remember.......

PRACTICE, PRACTICE,  PRACTICE

I'm a little jaded when it comes to finding the answer to lifes dilemmas  on kitchy kitchenware, t-shirts, baseball caps and other assorted and sundry items. In fact even though I try to stay out of judgment about people who proclaim with a bumper sticker their personal philosophy on the car that they drive, I still give them a wide berth on the road.  

However as usual, and being one of the more wondrous things in life, the universe has shown me once again how wrong I can be. I was in a coffee cafe the other day and saw on a coffee mug a little bit of zen philosophy that stopped me dead in my tracks.  

I'll have to give you my best paraphrasing;

Peace isn't about being in a calm, quiet, serene environment, peace is about remaining calm and serene in a in a choatic  environment.

It just so happened that last week was one of the more chaotic weeks that I have had in a long time and the mug was just the serendipitious slap in the head that I needed. I stopped blaming the environment, i.e., work, family, etc for creating all of my headaches and focused on my own inner calm. I was able to then figure out what was really causing the issue that I wasn't effectively handling and do something about it.

Now not that I'm advocating coffee cup dharma, in fact if you feel that you are inspired by reading these type of positive affirmations, then at least contribute to those endeavors that walk the talk, in other words,  they are not  just about crass commercialism. A few of my personal favorites are amnesty international,  free tibet, and the human rights campaign, they all have cool inspirational stuff that you can buy and the best part is that the $$$ goes for a good cause.

Namaste.