So, I'm moving...........

We have decided to move from our home of 12 years.  We found great renters, my children are excited, and now, where should we go?

Do I find a bigger house, smaller house, newer house, fixer upper?

Closer to the city, closer to the school, closer to our family activities, futher from the noise?

Find a home to afford, takes pets, good neighborhood, and close to work?

As an agent, my professional life is surrounded by people moving.  Sometimes they want to, and sometimes they dont.  Sometimes they have to, and somtimes they would prefer not to.

I am very glad I am going through this experience, because I haven't moved for many years, and my memory is going to be refreshed, my compassion for my clients will be increased, and I will remember how truely stressful a move can be.

I have been working with clients who continually find listings that aren't listed in the local MLS, (usually on a national realtor website). They give me an address, and even tell me the listing office.  I try to find it in my local MLS and I cannot find it.

Has this happened to you?

My office is located 35 miles outside of a major metropolitan area.  Our local MLS goes 15 miles toward the metropolis, and the metropolis's MLS goes 15 miles toward ours.  That is all said and good until an out of area metropolis agent (or big city agent) accepts a listing in our local MLS area but doesn't list it with the local MLS, but instead lists the house in their own MLS, thus unavailable to the local agents to show and sell to their clients.

When does this become a problem? 

1. When you have to subscribe to two MLS services often joining two boards thus incurring extra expenses.

2. Agents are too far away to "service" their listing properly.  Often not even visiting or putting a sign on the property.

3. Agents dont return calls and you are unfamiliar with the office or other agents in the same office.

4. "Big Banks" think that the big city agents can easily service listings 40 miles away, and dont do research to realize there are 500 agents right in the town that the house is located in.

5.  Clients begin to get negative feelings about the professionalism of agents, who can't find listings, can't get responses from fellow agents, can't get information to be able to view or purchase a home, and can't get codes to open the house for a showing.

6.  AND Two different lockboxes!

Are there solutions?:

1.  Refer listings to agents who are in the house's MLS area and request a referral fee.

2.  Be realistic on the listings you can service, and if you don't want to drive 45 minutes to put a sign on the property, DONT take the listing.

3.  Although emails and phone calls are the norm in this field, nothing replaces the comradere of a small town board and MLS.

4.  California needs to have one MLS service, with the understanding that homes that are further than 25 miles from the board office of membership, an agent must refer out the listing for proper exposure to buyers.

Let's work together as an industry and try to help each other get this housing market available to clients so our reputation and customer service is stellar.

What are your views and experiences?

Okay, I'm revving up my Facebook, social media 'thing' here....and then I see a blog about "group" pages....have you seen that?  What a great idea....

When it applies to real estate, the idea is find areas within your geographic area, that has a specialty.  For example in my area, we have valley, and foothills.  The foothills are known as "outside of Marysville" or the local city.  Not too far away, but far enough to offer a different "style" of living is the foothills.  More land, ranches, farming, horse, cattle, recreation, lakes for boating, fishing, camping, hiking....endless! (and WAY less expensive then the foothills outside of the larger metropolitan area of Sacramento! but similar geographic features and "slower paced" atmospher of locals).

Now I JUST started this, but I am quite excited.  I made two groups or specialty pages, "Yuba Foothills" and "East Marysville".  I have invited friends and BUSINESSES who live, work and play in each of these areas, to connect to each other.  I will offer special features, happenings, and updates.  AND OF COURSE, REAL ESTATE that just got listed in the area, (wink, wink).

 I also just bought a new HD camcorder...I'm going to be adding videos, now called "vlogging" to my blogs and Facebook specialty "group" pages.

Has anyone tried this?  Please share your experiences and success with this, and give me more knowledge on what to add....I am quite excited about this feature. 

Mary

Well, I did it! I finally broke down and started my own Facebook and LinkedIn pages.  It takes a lot of time to set up, but now that I have it going, I think I will be able to make it work.  Here are some "rules" that I thought of, that I need to live by:

1.  Remember it's purpose.  It is easy to start getting really personal on these pages, but I need to keep my content focused.

2.  Schedule time. Twice a week to start to add to blogs, update Facebook and other social media sites.

3. Advertise more than just a "listing" or "just sold" properties.

4.  Be specific and succinct in my comments/postings so readers dont get "lost" in the words.

5.  75% of buyers search the internet first...they want to find you....so help them..........

Any rules that you live by that can keep me encouraged?

One of the best listings I had the honor of listing is Sycamore Ranch RV Park, located in beautiful Browns Valley, California along the Yuba River.  It closed last month and is now ready for you, the public, to enjoy.

Located 12 miles east of Marysville along HWY 20, Sycamore Ranch is now owned and operated by Yuba County.  Day use is free (so far) and overnight camping is $20/night.  The park gives direct access to Yuba River for fishing (be sure to obtain a license), kayaking, swimming and hiking.  It has restroom facilities that were recently remodeled and a park manager on site. 

This park is also close to other Yuba County gems like Collins Lake, Bullards Bar and Englebright Lake.  Other activities include boating, gold panning, hiking, picnicing, the list goes on and on.

Here is a link to visit Yuba County website for more info tp://www.co.yuba.ca.us/departments/Community%20Development/Public%20Works/PARKS/Sycamore%20Ranch.aspx

Enjoy! Mary

PS I am trying to insert pictures in this blog, and am having no luck...any suggestions...I would LOVE to post pictures of this beautiful campground!

As I read many post, Realtors talk of the difficult decision to continue working in real estate full time, go to part time to "get a real job" or quit altogether.  I fortunately am not in a dire strait to make a drastic decision, but I have been weighted down with the disappointing real estate market, high unemployment rate, and depressed economy.  Everytime you hear of a possible recovery (on some minute level), another story disappoints and drains again.

Are you in need of REALTOR CPR?  A vitamin boost from a fruity swirly drink house?  A straight shot of a coffee nut? What will it take for you to pull yourself up by the boot straps and continue your trek?

I found mine in a friend.  Yes, a simple phone call to someone I trusted, who is experiencing success, but more important took a risk in these difficult times to expand his business and venture out....where did he get his second wind from?  Probably from a friend....

Friends like no other, can listen, give advice, help you analyze, see things in a different light, support with ideas that you may not have thought of, find resources, or just be there to take another phone call, or respond to your email.  They give you positive energy, spark enthusiasm, inspire creativity, and give you the desire to succeed.

Where do you find your friends?....a spouse, a relative, a co-worker, even a client. Some times it is a person that you didn't go looking for, but yet they found you...

Have you found your second wind?  Has someone helped you continue on your trek?  Can you now see that things will get better?  I do...........  

Share with me, my AR friends, of people who have inspired you, and you may possibly inspire someone reading this post, so they will get their second wind!

I recently had a call from a seller who had been advised by his lending company to short sale his house. He had gone through all the paperwork to do a loan modification, but it wasn't approved, hence the advice.

In comes me, a Realtor trying to help this man, he feels he has nowhere else to go, but to follow the advice of the lenders.  We begin marketing his house at market value but receive no offers. 

 I advise him to lower the price below market, but close enough we can still prove it is a good price for the home and the condition.  He approves, and within a few days, we receive an offer for OVER the asking price.  I send it in, I have had a positive relationship with the negotiator thus far, and send in comps to back up the offer.

A week later, I receive an email stating the offer was denied, and seller is advised NOW to keep the house.  The seller has gone through 10K trying to make up the difference.  He cant keep up...

WHY DID THEY REFUSE?????????                  AHHH...........Now the catch...  

The house was gifted to him by his grandmother, he took a refinance loan to remodel the house because it was in disrepair and barely livable, so he put on a new roof, updated the kitchen, painted, new carpet, etc.  When the market was good, he bought another home, and put his grandmothers home up for rent.  Rent was good then....  Rent is not good now.

Now he is forced into foreclosure, because the lending company is still going to make him pay the difference between what the house sells for and what he still owes....over 100K. 

Will he be forced into bankruptcy now? Do you know the laws in your state? 

I lost a listing, he lost a house, the bank lost money... a lose/lose!!!!! 

Here is some advice that you can take to your bank:

 Sellers, be sure to talk to your lending institutions, find out what the terms are if you short sales, and the ramifications for your future!!!

So here I sit, with my face swollen from poison oak.  It wasn't my fault, I didn't know a weed-waking neighbor sprayed the oils onto my trees and bushes that I was trimming in my own backyard.  Well, doesn't matter how, it just is...which comes to my comparison of poison oak and real estate....

1.  Once you got the itch....it's hard to shake...Even as I have one eye swollen, I am checking my calls, making calls and checking the latest on the MLS

2.  Your face gets red and swollen....ever felt this way when dealing with short sales or other transactions?

3.  Everyone has advice on how to get rid of your problem...and some of the remedies are scarier than the ill.  My advice, is worth what you paid...nothing...so do what is right for you (and your clients), and it usually will work.

4.  You can find people on the internet, who are experiencing the same thing you are...so you don't feel alone...sometimes there are pictures too!

5.  It takes weeks to recover...as it takes weeks to make a sale....talk about something that doesn't come easy. The shot helps, the pills help, but the best cure is time, and remember real estate, it takes time.

So if you have ever been afflicted with poison oak (or ivy or sumac) and know what I am going through, jot down a comparison you can think of...and let me know...it will cheer me up...

Thanks, Mary

I recently decided to begin exploring the world of expireds.  Of course here on AR, there is so much advice for this amazing lead option.  I do understand the "No Call Laws", and wanted to respect the wishes of those who desire not to be called at home with unsolicited phone calls.  I now make it a morning ritual to view all expireds in my service area, find the owner's names, and address a letter to them personally.

What have I learned:

1.  By the advice of several agents on AR, writing a letter with the "what's in it for me" view, definitely threw out my "old letter".  I completely re-did my letter.

2.  I sent off my business card, with my carefully crafted letter, now I sit and wait?  But what next?

Do I send follow up correspondance?  How soon after?  How often, for how long?

...dare I make a phone call?

I would love some advice, for all who are successul at this avenue.

I have been a Realtor now for about a year.  I was a teacher with a teacher's schedule for 14 years (lots of vacation time).  My husband, still a teacher, set up a few short getaways this summer.  I have great support in my office, if anything came up, I was "kept up to date".  My clients were always able to get intouch with me, I had my cell, and would check my email nearly every night.

After the summer was done, we begin thinking about next summer, and a 3-4 week trip Back East sounds great.  But how do I schedule it?  Who will cover all my clients, escrows, etc?  Should I plan no closings for a month? How do I make my clients wait for their home, until I get back from my "laughing place"?

I begin asking other agents in my office, how do you vacation?  Take "a week here, and a week there".  But they admitted that during that 'week', they are always attached to techno-touch (email, voicemail, etc.).  My question:  Do you ever just go on vacation for a week, and turn off your "reach out and bug me" devices?  How do you keep up with your business, without a "lull" 4 weeks later and no scheduled closings?

A year ago, I contacted a Realtor I ran into 8 years earlier at a vet's office.  As we talked about the new field I was getting into, she told me of agents she had known who put their business before their families and ended up in divorces, out of reach teens, and even a family suicide.  She begged me, with my two young children, to always put the family first.

Three things I have come to realize in my short year as an agent:

1.  Real estate is like teaching: there is always something else that has to get done.  My solution:  Set a time that I go to bed, leave the office, not schedule as many showings in a day, take a weekend off and not do an open house.  Go home early to have dinner with my family. 

2.  The only thing I will really miss when it is gone, is the one thing that I think will wait around for me forever.  They don't, children grow up and leave, and spouses?  My Solution:  With a flexible schedule, set up a ritual of dropping the children off or picking them up from school, work for several hours in their classroom, be at home to help with homework at least several times a week, take a sport/hobby up with your child, so you have some things in common and can communicate.

3.  When taking time off, you are always needed the most.  My solution:  Come to the realization that that ISN'T true.  It is just the time that you are most aware of not being able to meet the needs of your clients and are more sensitive to their contacting you.  It's okay to let your clients know you will be gone for a week, two weeks, and have a second agent's name and number ready to "cover" anything that may "pop-up".  And then, don't answer the phone, just let it go to voice mail, and return only true emergencies.

I am lucky, as real estate is not my sole income, so I can afford some flexibility.  I think about others who don't have my luxury.  How do you take time off from you business?  DO YOU?