Focus is good but, - 09/30/10 08:31 AM
Don’t get me wrong focus is good, but the question is, focus on what?  If you are focused on the wrong things you will not get anything of substance completed. All of the real estate pundits have varying punch lists of activities to be productive.  We know we have to spend time every day on prospecting, but what is the percentage?  We know we need to be marketing every day, but what and how?  We have to be making presentations, by following our leads and converting them to the presentation step. Those are all income producing activities.
How about when you … (5 comments)

Anguilla, BWI voted “best vacation” - 09/29/10 09:58 AM
This tiny secret island in the Caribbean boasts 30 perfect white sand beaches.  It has long been considered one of the most exclusive and best places in the world to get away.  Celebrities have come to this island to get away for years. Brad and Jen did, when there was a Brad and Jen.  Kevin Bacon often brings his band to play with the locals.  What these celebrities enjoy is that no paparazzi are allowed.  Anguilla has more 5 star restaurants to sample than most other Caribbean islands because eating and enjoying are part of what make Anguilla special.
7 Palms … (2 comments)

By the numbers - 09/28/10 08:18 AM
In business there is real value in statistics and systems.  They allow you to assess how you are doing along that set of criteria you establish.  But if you think following a single system and looking at statistics in one particular way will always show you the right way, you are wrong.  Real Estate is a fluid business that is constantly altered by the people who are transacting business together.  While you can make a case for statistics in determining what the outcome will be, you can’t bank on that.  I have heard all kinds of statistics and tales that are … (4 comments)

Compare-Contrast - 09/27/10 07:19 AM
Comparing is a big part of real estate. We compare and contrast all the time. One house has more yard; another a new kitchen, one lender allows an explanation for an issue; another will not…and so goes the day. Yesterday I had the joy of sitting and talking to two highly successful women and picking their brains. The overarching conversations were about Brand Identity and Market in real estate. We talked “old school” and new techniques to accomplish the same results for less time, or money.
Studying land values and real estate in Texas which has a rich history of land … (2 comments)

Putting yourself on the Injured Reserve list. - 09/24/10 11:49 AM
Have you written off this year and waiting for the economy to be working easier for you?  Have you started just phoning in rather than showing up and practicing?  Your results are a direct result of your actions.  What actions are you taking on a daily basis to get any better.  Are you even doing the work that is in front of you and has to be done, or are you putting that off too. That is what I am talking about being on injured reserve.  You are taking yourself out of the game and not even trying.  That is a … (6 comments)

Who Am I? - 09/23/10 09:12 AM
Many of you know I have moved from one market to another. Dallas is very different place than Boston; but this can be truthfully said of any two cities or towns.  The point is, I was one thing in one market because of the nature of what that market offered, I needn’t follow that exact path in Boston.  I will  assess opportunities now to better determine my direction here in Boston.  There is value in running the numbers and taking a look at the overall market in general. The best times to assess your new farm area is when you are … (6 comments)

Review: Must See Inside, Mario Jannatpour 2 - 09/22/10 08:15 AM
Maria Jannatpour’s audio book Must See Inside is a great listen.  In late August I reviewed the first of the three cd set describing The Shark Principle of Mario’s.  What I like best about this series is that Mario is a guy who has been there and is doing it.  More importantly he is a professional who wants to continue to do it and he is not interested in selling you a consulting package, or have you buy into some series of future coaching materials.  He wants you to benefit from his years of successful sales training in real estate and … (3 comments)

What Happens When We Can't Agree regarding Property We Own Together--A Tale of Two Sisters - 09/21/10 07:37 PM
Elliott Topkins is a wonderful resource and clear head on emotional and convoluted real estate transactions.  He began sharing these stories many months ago and I learn something each time I read one.  He is certainly worth the follow whether you are in MA or not. Thanks Elliott.
Via Elliott S. Topkins Massachusetts Real Estate and Title Atty (Topkins & Bevans-etopkins@topbev.com):
Two sisters bought a vacation home on one of the offshore Massachusetts islands a little more than five years ago. They had a legacy from their grandmother's estate, and they decided to purchase a home which they could enjoy, either together or … (1 comments)

Getting it right - 09/21/10 08:09 AM
Quite often I look to sports for a metaphor for my activities.  Now that football season is upon us and I watched both my favorite teams go down in defeat yesterday,  I have lots of content to draw from this morning.  Yes, the economy is difficult right now and even more so getting someone through the loan process.  The banking industry  in it’s kneejerk reaction to giving away loans to anyone who asked and getting burned, is now making it so difficult to get an approval that they are standing in the way of progress, again.  So what is a Realtor® … (6 comments)

Ted Turner's take on loosing. - 09/20/10 09:34 AM
A very good friend of mine and noted MA appraiser, Gerry Hailer, shared this with me this morning and I think it is worth a post here because what Ted Turner has said about failure is so important to each and everyone involved in Real Estate every day.
I am currently re-reading Jim Mullen's The Simple Art of Greatness.  I just read something reminicent of your blog from last week that I thought I'd share: "Unfortunately, there is another, less lovely quality that seems to be required of every true entrepreneur:  the ability to endure adversity.  While I cannot speak for entrepreneurs … (5 comments)

A day in Milton, MA 02186 - 09/18/10 12:42 PM
Today I moved my Active Rain blog from Dallas TX over to Milton MA where I live.  Turns out that no one in Milton blogs so I went to the head of the line on that platform in that area.  While these rankings measure only blogging and not real estate success you can’t get too excited about being featured.  My goal here in Milton is the exact same goal I established in Dallas when I landed there on Jan 6, 2010.  I will share with my readers timely and pertinent information about real estate and the real estate industry. Using stories … (6 comments)

Let the Games begin. - 09/17/10 09:56 AM
I arrived back in my home town last night after 8 months building a web presence for a company in Dallas Texas.  I learned so much from the good people of Texas, both the good and the bad.  I learned that real estate is hard work these days, when it wasn’t always this hard.  I learned what worked before, does not come close to working now.  I learned that circling yourself with talented, smart, hard working real estate people is the way to grow.  I also learned it’s opposite, having people who aren’t working hard and aren’t staying up to date … (5 comments)

Miles and Miles - 09/16/10 09:01 AM
How do you choose the right agency for yourself?  What is the process that most people go through to find their second, third or ultimate office from which to work?  How do you approach a new market, or as a new agent into an area, how do you choose that area?  Does it make sense just to look at the statistics?  Where do most of the houses sell?  Where do the houses with the largest price sell?  Where do the top producers work?  On the other side is being practical about your choice of where to farm.  Everyone says to farm … (3 comments)

Success and Failure - 09/14/10 07:39 AM
Successful people have far more failures in their lives than do people who are not successful.  The reason for this is that you have to move through your failures to get to your successes. Successful people know how to put failure in perspective quickly.  It is not big deal to fail, it is however, crucial for you to recognize, understand, learn and grow through the failure.  As Thomas Edison answered when asked how his thousands of failures led to the creation of the light bulb, he remarked that with each new failure he learned what didn’t work as he worked on … (4 comments)

Ignorance is not an excuse - 09/13/10 08:47 AM
In business just like with the law, ignorance is no excuse. It matters little that you have friends who agree with you, best practices in business are defined by business practices and not by friends. Friends in our lives serve lots of purposes and business consultant can be one of those purposes. Everyone needs friends that can help him or her gain a perspective on aspects of their lives that they may not have a clear enough view for them. Let’s be honest about friendship to begin with. People become friends for a variety of reasons, but business acumen is pretty … (29 comments)

Time Blocked Activities - 09/10/10 09:02 AM
Setting specific times to get certain jobs done in my day and week has helped me stay on track. It seems so easy in a day to get lost down some Alice in Wonderland hole instead of sticking to what has been posted in your “to do” list. I know that spending 40% of my time each week farming and prospecting in my area is essential for my pipeline. I know that I need to spend most of my time in “income producing activities” such as meeting with clients and prospects, taking care of my listings and buyers, and loading new … (8 comments)

Singing the Blues - 09/09/10 09:25 AM
Are you a glass half empty kind of person, the one who sees the worst in situations? I doubt it, Realtors® tend to be eternal optimists. That is not to say we don’t see the worst in the situations, but we tend to spin those in our mind so that we can make a little lemonade out of whatever lemons are thrown in our way. A mindset like this helps us help our clients who are not of the same mind. What this demands is an understanding of all the facts, in my opinion.
To understand how to get a house … (6 comments)

Google Instant narrows down the worlds most visable websites to 26 A-Z - 09/08/10 09:07 PM
This is a reblog of a post from USM, I first heard about it from Union Street Media Blog
 
September 8th, 2010 by spencer taylor
With today’s introduction of Google Instant, (the press conference is still going on as I write this,) Google has changed the game. Now when you get to a certain level on the net, you want to optimize for letters, not just words. Good luck with that but here is a list of the sites to beat! I would like to congratulate Facebook on being # 1 for the most competitive letter (F) clocking in at … (10 comments)

Gaining Ground - 09/08/10 10:03 AM
One of the aspects of real estate I find most fascinating is that no day is the same. None of them are just like the one you just had. Each day has new challenges and opportunities. I have heard it said that real estate is a simple business, it is not easy but it is simple. This simple truth is profound for me. So how do you know if you are gaining ground, other than the financial measurement of closed sales? For me the answer is also simple. Gaining ground is all about learning more, sharing more and doing more. Learning … (4 comments)

Billy Parker-MCE Providers of North Texas - 09/07/10 09:11 AM
You can’t just sit in one of Billy’s ethics classes at MCE-Providers of North Texas. You are challenged, you are prodded, you ask questions and have questions asked of you. It is full real estate contact. When the class is over Billy’s goal is for you to have useful and legal information at your fingertips and feel confident. “Attitude is everything,’ Billy explains, and he goes on to share the importance of setting the bar high so that all your transactions are ethical, legal and completed on time, every time. Take a couple of minutes and audit his description of his … (1 comments)

Billy Parker-MCE Providers of North Texas - 09/04/10 03:50 PM
You can’t just sit in one of Billy’s ethics classes at MCE-Providers of North Texas.  You are challenged, you are prodded, you ask questions and have questions asked of you.  It is full real estate contact.  When the class is over Billy’s goal is for you to have useful and legal information at your fingertips and feel confident.
“Attitude is everything,’ Billy explains, and he goes on to share the importance of setting the bar high so that all your transactions are ethical, legal and completed on time, every time. Take a couple of minutes and audit his description of his … (1 comments)

Buying A Foreclosure Home, From The Home Inspectors Perspective - 09/03/10 04:13 PM
David is a consumate professional and these words of caution are more words to be headed for anyone looking at property as a home, or an investment.  Unless you have a trusted group of rehab partners, you can get in deep very quickly and the road out is rough and long with a foreclosure that needs work.  Buy right is always the best choice and buying right may mean buying something in good shape with not too much, or any, fixing to do.  Thanks for your post David
Via David Selman (Selman Home Inspections):
Buying A Foreclosure Home, From The Home Inspectors Perspective
… (0 comments)

2508 Waterloo Lane, Mesquite, TX 75181 New Pricing - 09/03/10 10:55 AM

Buyers Dream? What are buyers dreaming about these days.  They have the lowest interest rates we are likely to see in our children's life time, sothat isn't the issue.  There is slow movement from the bottom of the market upwards in prices, nothing big, but still not skewing downward as it has been for so long, so very long. So that shouldn't be in issue.  Underwriters and appraisers are still having issues adjusting to the new prices and the new reality of lending. Guidelines are increasing pressure on lenders and slowing the process down, but slowing it down and grinding … (5 comments)

Fresh Beginnings - 09/03/10 09:15 AM
I have always loved September. It is a month of beginnings. All those years we started out all bright and shiny, through all those schools moving through the beginning days of that academic year  with hope and trepidation. As a professional, September is a time when actively marketing and promoting your personal brand is a must. This is a month when people are open and fresh. Remember they are just off vacations and lazier, more relaxed days. The freshness helps the openness to new ideas. It is a time when your message has more of a chance. When it is not … (2 comments)

Tic, tock - 09/02/10 09:50 AM
The time from the first day of school to the Christmas break seemed like an eternity to me when I was young. We had 2 semesters to go through, Thanksgiving and both football and then basketball season. Now it all seems a blur of reaching yearly goals and closing lingering deals. It is official, there are now just 4 months left in this year to achieve the goals you have set for yourself at the beginning of the year. I am new to real estate this year and set some pretty lofty goals. I came into a new market, one that … (4 comments)

Along the way we meet - 09/01/10 09:38 AM
As social beings, even you who aren’t so social, we run into people along the way.  Some are helpful, some are not, some will take advantage and some will lend a hand, some are friends and some just say they are, that is life.  What you want, to be successful, is have people around you who are great role models.  People with credibility proven by their actions.  You want friends and colleagues who are more willing to lend a hand and share an idea.  People who have been there and are willing to give you the map.  When you find people … (3 comments)

 
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Larry Lawfer, Realtor®, I.R.E.S. CLHMS

Keller Williams

Wellesley, MA

More about me…

Keller Williams

Address: 680 High Street, Westwood, MA, 02090

Office Phone: (617) 774-8292

Cell Phone: (617) 690-3919

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What would you do today, if you knew you could not fail? What actions would you take, what would you share and how would you treat the people around you. Storyteller Marketing in Real Estate by Larry Lawfer will explore the real estate industry in MA and beyond through the eyes of the community it's people and stories.


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