Lawton's Blog

Why Hire An Attorney To Guide Your Real Estate Brokerage?

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:17:17 -0500

There are several reasons to have an attorney throughout the life of your brokerage business. Initially, a lawyer will help decide which entity is best for you. Once a decision is made about choice of entity - from sole proprietorship, limited or general partnership, to LLC or incorporation - a lawyer will complete and file the necessary paperwork to register the entity with the state and the IRS. A tax identification number should be obtained and, if you choose to form a "sub-S" corporation, the filing must occur within a requisite period of time. (Also, some states have an ongoing requirement to periodically re-register with them.) If you choose to buy a franchise, you'll need a lawyer to read and explain the franchise paperwork to you.

Construction and adoption of your entity-governing documents is the next step. If you are going into business by yourself, this process is made easier because you don't have to worry about all the scenarios that can unfold with a partnership. If you are going into business with a partner or partners, the process of creating entity-governing documents becomes much more difficult.

Besides providing language that establishes the tax structure for the entity, the entity-governing documents (known as Partnership Agreements, Membership Agreements or Corporate By-Laws), dictate how the business should run. There should be a voting process to resolve disputes, amend or create new rules for the entity. When you are contemplating the creation of your entity, you should also contemplate several other topics such as: what happens if a partner dies; what happens if a partner wishes to work for a competitor; what happens if a partner wants out of the business; what happens if a partner becomes ill; what happens if a partner wishes to sell his ownership interest to an outsider. These are just a few examples of issues that can arise. By having a clear mutual agreement about how to tackle the problems I just mentioned, partners can prevent headaches from occurring and more importantly, hopefully alleviate a painful, costly "business divorce."

Once the entity is formed and registered and the entity-governing documents are signed, the lawyer's job is just beginning. The next job for your lawyer is to formulate a list of documents required for each of your transactions. The listing side of the transaction has it's own set of unique documents and the buyer's side has another set of unique documents. Some of these documents are required by the state; some of these documents are required by your multiple listing service; and some of these documents will be strongly recommended by your lawyer to reduce legal liability. For example, we have a document that was tailored as a response to an incident that occurred. To paraphrase, it says "sellers should safe-keep all their valuables - like watches, jewelry, and pharmaceuticals - and if they're stolen during an open house or other viewing, the agent is not legally responsible."

As you may know, the practice of real estate is governed or impacted by many laws including, but not limited to, RESPA, State Real Estate Licensing Act, State Sellers Disclosure Act, Real Estate Commission Guidelines, REALTOR(R) Code of Ethics, Uniform Condominium Act, State and Federal Environmental Laws, Local Ordinances, and Multi-List Regulations. There are real estate lawyers out there who have working knowledge of all these rules and how they might effect your business or transaction. If your lawyer is available at a moment's notice to answer a question from you, your agent, or your client, you can prevent problems from occurring. Here are some other reasons to have a lawyer on-call:

Let's not forget contract law! The Agreement of Sale is a legally binding contract. Contract law is a complicated subject. REALTORS(R) are expected to have a firm grasp of contract law so that they can help their customers form contracts to purchase or sell real estate. REALTORS(R) are also expected to draft contracts in a manner that is beneficial to their clients. Finally, REALTORS(R) are supposed to be able to explain to their customers how an Agreement of Sale and/or contingency addendum dictates the transaction. A lawyer should be available at a moment's notice to answer any questions.

Have you ever drafted language for an addendum? If so, you are taking great legal risk. There's probably some occurrence that you haven't thought of. Moreover, sometimes the words you write can have unintended consequences. I recommend against writing your own addenda or contractual clauses without a lawyer's approval. It is possible that your lawyer already has a "forms library" created so that, after a brief conversation with you, she can quickly email a form from her database.

Finally, a lawyer is helpful in resolving disputes. For example, if you have a client who is "under contract" to sell her house and the buyer has stated their intention to breach the contract, there are steps that should be followed and evidence to be gathered in case there is a future lawsuit. Lawyers will advise the sellers what steps to take in order to preserve their legal rights against the buyers and get their property back on the market as quickly as possible. There are innumerable instances when disputes arise between the parties to a contract or their real estate agents. Since lawyers understand the "end game," ie., what happens if the case ends up in court, they can provide incredible advice to the parties in order to reduce or mitigate their damages.

In closing, I've explained why it's important to have a good real estate lawyer on retainer. It is also a good idea to have that lawyer present annual risk-reduction seminars to explain many of the topics I have mentioned in this article.

My policy is "it is far cheaper to utilize a lawyer at the beginning of a problem (or even before a problem arises) than to wait until the problem is full-blown."

Good luck! - Lawton Stokes

Hello

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:46:13 -0500

Hi Folks: Here are some objectives for you based upon current market conditions:

1) take time every day to recruit;

2) evaluate your ROI on costs and shed your expenses that aren't making you money;

3) consider reducing your office space (virtual offices are so "next millenium.");

4) don't play the SEO game without knowing EXACTLY what you're doing;

5) don't fall prey to franchise salespeople and their empty promises;

6) have a good lawyer on retainer;

7) have a bookkeeper or accountant handle your business and escrow accounts;

8) de-recruit (fire) your non-producting/high legal risk agents;

9) network with your colleagues; and

10) try to have fun doing all of the above (otherwise, you're not an entrepreneur).

You now have my two cents. I welcome your comments/questions.

Best, Lawton Stokes, Pittsburgh, PA

How To Efficiently Surf The Web From One Site

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Sun, 17 May 2009 20:26:17 -0500

Do you know what the symbol pictured above represents? If not, then please continue reading.

If you are like me, you find yourself visiting (more or less) the same websites on a daily basis. This is a time-consuming task. First, I have to remember all the sites I visit. Then I have to remember their url (that's the "web address that starts with "http://www."). Then I have to type it in. (If I'm slightly tech-oriented, I've added all my favorite sites into the "favorites" menu of my browser so I don't have to constantly re-type the url's.

Once the site loads onto my browser, I have to re-familiarize the site and look to places where the site adds new articles. This requires a lot of brain-power and often times makes web surfing prohibitively time/energy consuming. At this stage, some people decide the internet doesn't suit them. Alas, there is a web app called a "rss feed reader" that dramatically simplifies the web surfing process. I'd like to explain how feed readers work and how they can simplify your life.

Before, I start, though, I need to distinguish the term "feed reader" from "feed aggregator." A feed reader is "you facing" because you create it solely for your benefit. An feed aggregator is "them facing" because you create if for the benefit of others. Some examples of "feed aggregators" include The Huffington Post , The Drudge Report and Lawton's shared articles. The site creator has chosen specific articles to post their site because they think visitors will be particularly interested in them. For example, I choose articles for my feed aggregator that I think will interest folks who follow the Pittsburgh real estate market. Now that I've distinguished the terms, I'm going to explain how to create a feed reader.

The first thing you have to do is choose a particular brand of reader. There are many to choose from, including Google Reader, NewsGator. For a comprehensive list of available readers, click here. If you have read my previous emails, you know I'm a Google fan. So it should come as no surprise that I use Google's Reader. In order to start using Google Reader, you have to register with Google to obtain a username and password. Once you log in, creating a reader for yourself is easy.

The next thing you have to do is choose which "feeds" you want to include in your reader. What is a "feed" anyway. A "feed" is the web content (like an article or story) organized chronologically for the purpose of sharing with others. For a more detailed explanation, click here.

In order to use a feed reader, you must be able to perform this simple task: find a site (or from within a particular site - a columnist or column) that you regularly follow and then find the url for the site's feed and paste it into your feed reader. For example, here are the feed indices for espn , cnn and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Each of these pages looks slightly different, but don't get frustrated! Just find the url: on the cnn page, it's found under the "Copy Urls to RSS" column; on the Tribune-Review site, you have to place your mouse over the orange "RSS" button and then right-click and "copy the link location:' and on the ESPN page, you have to place your mouse over the column title or columnist's name and then right-click and "copy the link location." Once you've copied the feed url, next go to your feed reader.

In Google Reader, there is a box at the top of the page entitled "Add A Subscription" Paste your feed url into this box and then click "add" and you will have successfully loaded your first feed url. Once you've completed this task, your Google Reader will immediately start loading the articles.

You should be able to find feed url's for your favorite sites, columns and columnists.

Here are a couple of feed url's that I recommend (just copy and paste them into your reader):

Weather Channel 15090 feed: feed://rss.weather.com/weather/rss/local/15090?cm_ven=LWO&cm_cat=rss&par=LWO_rss

Achieve Realty Blog feed: http://www.achieverealty.net/blog/feed

Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS(R) Blog feed:

http://blog.parealtor.org/_layouts/listfeed.aspx?List=%7B1C13EAF5-B3F9-4919-8897-F43295CC2D52%7D

Bloodhoud Blog: http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?feed=rss2

Best, Lawton

Why Use Gmail?

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:25:16 -0500

It wasn't long ago that REALTORS(R) were confronting the idea of "going online" to communicate with their clients. As their clients increasingly utilized the internet to stay in touch, REALTORS(R) were forced to adapt to the technology. Now, increasingly, consumers are finding new ways to communicate, including texting, tweeting, and chat. However, email remains a vital means by which REALTORS(R) communicate.

It's easy to think that all email options provide roughly the same features, but that couldn't be further from reality. Email services are much different from one another. The competition is so great that email services are evolving and inventing at a breakneck rate just to keep customers. I now use Google email, or "Gmail" as my email client and I strongly recommend Gmail to you for many reasons:

1) users can chat with other gmail users; my administrative staff all have gmail accounts and we chat throughout the day. chatting makes our intra-office communication much more efficient.

2) there are links at the top of the page which can take me to the various other google applications i use frequently. All the google applications have links at the top so you're just one click away from another helpful google app.

3) there is a very easy-to-use filter that enables me to control/limit/categorize incoming emails.

4) gmail has a very effective spam filter. I receive almost no spam in my inbox.

5) I can integrate my gmail account into Microsoft Outlook, which I use to download categorize and store my emals from Gmail.

6) gmail's web client means i can check email from any computer. Of you strictly rely on Outlook, you can only check your email when you're in front of your computer.

7) gmail accounts are free. gmail can afford to do this because they run ads along the right hand sidebar, but the ads aren't prominent - they won't get in your way.

8) gmail users have the ability to quickly search through through their email database to find that (otherwise) elusive email.

9) switching from your current email provider to gmail is easy. For more info, click here.

10) using gmail will give you "tech cred" among your clients, because AOL is "so 1990s."

For more information about Gmail, check out their video demonstration.

Achieve Realty Breaks Into Top 10 on "The List"

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:51:34 -0500

On April 24, 2009, the Pittsburgh Business Times published their list entitled "Largest Pittsburgh-Area Residential Real Estate Firms." This list reflects the performance results for 2008 as reported to the PBT by residential real estate brokers throughout Greater Pittsburgh. Achieve Realty has something to celebrate.

For the first time, in its 5 year history, Achieve Realty has cracked the top 10, rising to number 9 on The List. Last year, Achieve was eleventh. This distinction marks a continuation of an upward trend for Achieve Realty, which has risen up The List steadily over the years.

Kristen Stokes, President of Achieve Realty stated, "the PBT list shows that we have been successful in our mission to recruit and retain top professionals. This is a fantastic opportunity to congratulate our agents and our administrative staff for their hard work and their commitment to excellence."

This year's list reflects the difficult time our region's economy experienced during 2008, especially the fourth quarter. Many firms suffered double-digit decreases in revenue. It is one thing to lose market share, but it is quite another to lose colleagues from the industry. We at Achieve Realty understand that the general malaise in the local real estate industry translates into financial hardship for many real estate licensees and their families.

Therefore, as we celebrate our accomplishment, we also offer hope that the real estate market and the broader economy will flourish in the coming months and years so that we may all prosper.

Why Is George Hackett Mad At Howard Hanna?

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:04:37 -0500

First, you have to read the Post-Gazette article, here. Then come back for my analysis.

There is an old trick they play in politics, justice and business: if you create doubt in people's minds, they just may not buy into an idea. This doubt is created in many ways. Here are a few examples:

Do you remember the Michael Dukakis tank-helmet disaster? His opposition candidate, George H.W. Bush ran campaign ads showing Dukakis looking "out of character" as he rode around in a tank trying to portray himself as strong on defense issues.

Do you remember the OJ Simpson criminal trial? Defense attorney Johnny Cochran coined a phrase we'll remember forever: "if it [the glove] doesn't fit, you must acquit."

More recently, Gatorade has sued Powerade over claims made by Powerade that Gatorade is nutritionally lacking. (See the details of that suit here.) Regardless of whether Powerade's assertion is correct, Gatorade couldn't just sit there and watch Powerade take market share away from them. Instead, Gatorade decided to take the case to the court of public opinion.

In effect Gatorade is saying, "Dear Gatorade drinkers: our drink is not deficient and we're willing to spend the money to sue someone in hopes that you'll believe us. Until a judge actually decides whether Powerade's assertion is correct, Gatorade hopes you will continue drinking our product. Love, Gatorade."

It is readily apparent that Mr. Hackett is not pleased by Howard Hanna's recent "Buyer Advantage Program" that features "worry free home buying." Let's find out why: according to the Post-Gazette article, Mr. Hackett feels that Hanna is trying to deceive Sellers by hiding contractual language that would require them to pay $329 for an insurance policy that would pay for several mortgage payments in case the buyer loses his/her job after the closing.

Mr. Hackett apparently thinks that Hanna's buyer agents should be required to verbally notify listing agents that the language is included in the contract.

This is a huge red-herring for the uninitated. You see, real estate law dictates that everything about a contract to convey a house must be in writing. That rule is called the statute of frauds. In a nutshell, the statute of frauds requires that the terms of a contract should be in writing in order to prevent fraud from occurring. (For more explanation, please read here.)

By asserting that Howard Hanna is doing something "sneaky," you've got to accept at least one of three conclusions from Hackett's criticism:

Coldwell Banker agents don't read the contract when an offer is made to their sellers;
Mr. Hackett demands a verbal notice to the listing agent anytime a buyers agent makes any written request to the sellers via the agreement of sale; or
The agreement of sale should be one long, long page - like a scroll - because everything that has consequences that cost $329 or more should be on page one.

Before we analyze Mr. Hackett's conclusions, remember one thing: there is only one place in the body of the PAR agreement of sale to add additional terms: Page 10. Everybody who practices real estate knows that. There's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING SNEAKY about putting additional terms, whatever they might be, however they might be (typed or handwritten) on Page 10.

So let's proceed to the analysis:

1) surely CB agents read the contract thoroughly. That's their job. It's the job of every agent.
2) asking for a verbal notice for contractual language inserted by agents is impractical and would make the contractual negotiation process impossible. By the way, CB buyers agents do not now - as a rule - provide verbal notice to listing agents each time they insert additional contractual language into Page 10.
3) Almost every term of the agreement of sale has a financial consequence greater than $329. Plus scrolls don't fax well. The receiving fax machine has a tendency to cut scrolls into neat 81/2 x 11 sheets.

So why did Mr. Hackett complain to the press about Howard Hanna's sneaky conduct? My guesses:
1) Hackett is fed up with hearing the buzz about Hanna's "Buyer Advantage Program." His only regret is not thinking of the program first. Take heart George: you instituted the Admin fees to consumers before Hoddy did.
2) CB has spent so much money paying Hanna agents to leave Hanna, it would be unthinkable to lose market share to Hanna.
3) Maybe, just maybe, if George goes to the press and complains that Hanna's practices are deceptive, maybe someone will will actually believe him. Heck "someone" even told George that Hanna agents don't know that the language is appearing in their own contracts. (Interview with "someone" at 11pm.)

My advice to George: stay credible: create a gimmicky buyer "bailout" program of your own before Northwood or Prudential beat you to it. Quick, call your marketing department in Jersey!

Social Networking, LinkedIn and Google

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:44:43 -0500

My interests include Pittsburgh, real estate, web tools that make our lives easier, the economy and personal finance.

I’m also fascinated with social networking. If you don’t know what that is, click here for an explanation.

I’m pretty skeptical that social networking, by itself, sells houses, but you’ll never know if you don’t try, right?

One piece of advice about social networking: don’t “go there” unless you don’t have plenty of time on your hands. That’s why I utilize online social networking sparingly.

A great way to dip your toe into the social networking pond is to try LinkedIn. Here’s my LinkedIn profile.

If you’re already on LinkedIn, please make me a connection of yours.

Earlier, I mentioned that I like web tools. Ideally, we spend as little time online as possible. So how can we optimize that experience? For starters, I recommend you go to google and get yourself a google email (gmail) account. From there, you can register and use any of their expansive services. In the future, I’ll discuss my favorite google web applications. But for now, I’ll just refer you to this page.

It is a page that I’ve created just for Pittsburgh REALTORS using “Google Reader.” Here’s my logic behind the page: if you don’t have time or the wherewithal to find articles about issues that impact you and your clients, don’t worry! I went out and found the articles for you. I update the page periodically, so check back often for updates. I’ll direct you to look for (what is now) the second post on the page entitled “What Do I Do Now,” which is a Wall Street Journal article with personal finance tips.

Dolly Nicely Joins Achieve Realty In Pittsburgh, PA

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:08:29 -0500

Achieve Realty, Inc. is proud to announce that Dolly Nicely has joined the firm. A successful professional Realtor with genuine client empathy. That best describes Dolly Nicely and her approach to real estate. “An advocate for my clients”, is Dolly’s self-described style and business model. Her primary goal is to ensure that clients receive exceptional service and a positive experience. She wants clients to know that she is working in their best interest, and will always be thorough and considerate towards that end. Your Agent Your Advocate is her go-to-business strategy and message, and has served her clients well for over ten years.

Since 1999 Dolly has worked hard to establish her business and build her brand in the industry. She has achieved acclaim from clients and peers. Dolly holds designations as an Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) and a Real Estate CyberSpecialist (RECS). She was a member of the Re/Max 100% Club and Co-Founder and Past President of the BNI Network Connections Chapter. Her primary focus is Residential and Relocation Sales and Marketing, including Residential Investment Property, in northern Allegheny and southern Butler county.

Prior to real estate Dolly worked in health care as a RN/BSN. For over twenty years, a “challenging but very satisfying career”, is how Dolly described the experience. “Working with people in stressful situations can be tough, but your job is to help them move ahead and succeed.” When it was time to change direction, the move to Real Estate allowed her to retain that satisfaction from working with people. And that same desire and capability to help people meet their challenges and move forward, has proven the difference in her success.

Dolly says it is very important to make informed decisions for her business and on behalf of her clients. Clients can be assured they will benefit from her advocacy and support through all phases of any transaction, and she will provide education to make informed decisions to ensure a positive outcome. Kristen Stokes, President of Achieve Realty, stated, “Dolly perfectly fits the Achieve mold. She has the pragmatism that can only be gained by many years of experience and hundreds of closed transactions. And, her time-tested systems make her successful during good economies and bad ones.”

A Pittsburgh native and north hills resident for over thirty years, Dolly and her husband Mark Nicely, a Civil Engineer, live in Hampton. She is a proud Marine Corps mom with two adult sons, Matthew and Eric, two grandchildren, a third due in May 2009, and a beagle named Buster. Dolly supports many local organizations, and is particularly active with Children’s Miracle Network.

She enjoys her home inside and out, with interests in perennial gardening, interior decorating, and antiques. She loves to cook, shop, and play with her dog.

Connect with Dolly by phone or online. For Real Estate Nicely Done call her at 412-496-9725, or email dollynicely@verizon.net. You can also visit her on the web at www.agentnicelydone.com.

Where Are Interest Rates Going?

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:26:47 -0600

For starters, follow the Yield on the 10 Year Treasury Bond For more details, click here here here or here.

Follow the market at the Wall Street Journal's Market Center - no subscription required.

Lawyers and Residential Real Estate Transactions: What Happened?

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:54:54 -0600

At a recent seminar for real estate attorneys, I heard a colleague lament the fact that Pennsylvania attorneys have been nudged out of the residential real estate transaction. Gone are the days when lawyers are a essential cog in the deal. For the foreseeable future, they're not coming back, either.

Somehow, the Pennsylvania legal community did not do enough to protect attorneys. The practice of law without a license is forbidden in Pennsylvania, but real estate licensees do so every day. How? By writing real estate contracts. A licensee may respond by saying, "we don't write contracts per se; we just fill in the blanks." To respond: there's a way to fill in the blanks that may benefit a buyer more than a seller, and vice-versa. To give an agent the discretion to fill out the contract equates to allowing them to practice law. This is detrimental to consumers. (Foreshadowing: watch for my future article about why Robert Shapiro did no one a favor by creating "Legal Zoom")

I have been involved in the transactional residential real estate business for over 15 years. I have co-owned a title insurance agency the entire time. For the last 8.5 years, I have owned two different real estate brokerages. Throughout my experience, I have witnessed first-hand the problems associated with real estate licensees writing contracts. The majority of the real estate sales force in Southwestern Pennsylvania is horribly incapable. It's not their fault; instead, it is the fault of their brokers who have failed to train them adequately. I have been training REALTORS(R) and lawyers on the agreement for a long time. It is a tedious, arduous process. It's no fun. I have no doubt that agents at other companies do not receive a remotely comparable level of Agreement of Sale training. During the course of my training, I state, "I consider it my duty to make you as capable of handling this transaction as any attorney." That's a lofty goal, but it's also impossible. You can't substitute for three years of law school and passing the bar exam. The only group of licensees who are somewhat qualified are those who have written contracts innumerable times and therefore have learned from experience. God helped their customers who served as their guinnea pigs over the years.

Once upon a time, the transaction was governed by attorneys, who used diverse forms, custom written, to memorialize the various terms and conditions of a residential real estate transactions. Over the years, the local REALTORS(R) association RAMP (Greater Pittsburgh's board of REALTORS(R)) in conjunction with Pittsburgh lawyers, created a form for an Agreement of Sale. Attorneys and REALTORS(R) alike used the form. This created greater simplicity for the process, making it possible to write or analyze the contract in a matter of minutes versus hours. It also made lawyers an expendable part of the transaction. In the mid-90's, RAMP adopted the form promulgated by the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS(R). Over time, it became far less common for lawyers to write sale contracts.

Consequently, members of the local bar association have become marginalized. There are very few lawyers left who are familiar with current agreement of sale form. I presented a continuing legal educational seminar to my local legal colleagues a few years ago and I was disheartened by the level of interest (as judged by the number of questions and by the number of sleepers). This waning interest reflects the attitude the most attorneys have: we aren't invited to sit at the table anymore. Besides standardization of the contract form, there is another reason for lawyer marginalization.

In Pittsburgh, there has been a tremendous consolidation among real estate firms. Now, four firms control over 80% of the residential real estate market. Control of the market and the multi-list is in the hands of less than a half-dozen people. None of them value the participation of lawyers in the transaction. REALTORS(R) are never encouraged to recommend that their customers obtain their own legal counsel. The reason for this has to do with control and with changing laws.

Until the 1990s, real estate brokers were not permitted to own or financially affiliate with "ancillary services," ie. title insurance, homeowners insurance, mortgage services and more. As competition among brokers grew, commission rates decreased causing broker profit levels to decrease. In order to combat the trend, brokers lobbied successfully to change the law so that they can own their own ancillary businesses. Once brokers owned their ancillary businesses, it became crucial for the brokers to maintain control of the transaction.

If brokers recommend that another professional help in the transaction, the brokers may lose the ability to control who the borrower utilizes for all their ancillary services. A brokers' worst nightmare is to have a lawyer help a consumer shop mortgage interest rates or evaluate title insurance agents based upon their reputation, quality of ownership (lawyer-owned vs. lay-person-owned). By allowing the lawyer to participate, the broker may lose business.

As a result of the evolution of a standardized form and the brokers' successful effort to own their own ancillary businesses, lawyers have been pushed out of most residential real estate transactions. Do you think that excluding attorneys from the process is good for the consumer? Do you think that the "steering" of consumers toward ancillary businesses is good for the consumer? Do you think consolidation of real estate brokerages is good for the consumer?

Next, ask yourself the same questions and replace the word "consumer" with "REALTOR(R)."

Firsts and Lasts

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:54:16 -0600

First Real Estate Brokerage In Pittsburgh to place web address on sign panel
First (and still only) Real Estate Brokerage in Pittsburgh With Web Log (Blog)
First High Commission Concept Company in Pittsburgh that charges agents no fee
First Real Estate Brokerage In Pittsburgh that doesn't hire new agents
First Real Estate Brokerage In Pittsburgh to syndicate its listings.
First Real Estate Brokerage In Pittsburgh to post all of its listings on Craigslist.
Last (or next to last) Real Estate Brokerage In Pittsburgh that doesn't charge consumers an administrative fee.

If your company has accomplished a first or last, I encourage you to share this accomplishment by commenting.

Does Brand Matter?

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:46:40 -0600

Recently, RE/MAX International ran a print ad called, "Brand Matters." The phrase "Brand matters" appears three times throughout the sparsely worded centerfold ad of the October Real Estate Professional Magazine. Apparently, the ad is trying to sell the idea that "brand matters." After I read the phrase for the third time, I thought, "does brand really matter?"

RE/MAX is a great franchise. (I used to be a franchisee.) There are other great franchises, too. Coldwell Banker, Prudential, Keller Williams and Century 21 are some examples.

Pittsburgh has a few other brands that aren't franchises, including Howard Hanna Real Estate, Northwood Realty and Achieve Realty (my company).

These are all great brands.

However, none of these brands sell real estate. Not one. Do you know who sells real estate? Real estate licensees do. That's it. Nobody else.

Consumers don't drive down the street and say, "there's a Howard Hanna listing - it must be special!" Consumers don't care about the brand name on the sign.

If you ask a typical real estate licensee where their business comes from, they'll answer, "it comes from my sphere of influence ie. family, friends, repeat customers, word-of-mouth customers." They never say, "I got a customer who saw the RE/MAX Long Drive Championship and called RE/MAX International who referred the caller to me."

My point is that the only brand that matters is [insert your name here].

Let me give you another example: in the Northern Pittsburgh suburbs, where I concentrate, you can name the top agents without using their last names and everybody knows who they are: Kevin, Linda, Carol, Arlene, Judi. In my neighborhood, the name is "Mary Ann." THAT'S branding!!!

The typical consumer knows these names and recognizes them as a brand that is separate and distinct from their brokers' brands. In other words, as a friend of mine - who is the CFO of a large Cranberry-based company - recently asked me, "who does Kevin work for?" My response was, "EXACTLY!"

The interesting thing is that RE/MAX International essentially taxes their agents to promote their brand nationally and internationally. RE/MAX Agents must pay a monthly amount to support the National Ad Fund. This is not a voluntary contribution. Their ad suggests that this involuntary contribution is the "one reason" why their agents are "so much more successful than others in the industry

RE/MAX International believes that RE/MAX agents benefit by virtue of the national and international branding. I disagree.

In my opinion, if agents spend money promoting anything other than themselves as a brand, they're wasting their money.

Referral Gifts

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:41:13 -0600

Can a realtor give a gift for the referral of a buyer or seller?

"The short answer is that NO PERSON shall give or receive a thing of value for the referral of settlement service business. Therefore, a realtor may not give gifts to an individual when a relative or friend is referred to a realtor.

Am I permitted to give a gift to my customer at the closing?

One can assume that a 'thing of value' cannot be given to induce a customer to place business under RESPA and state laws.

Of course, professional courtesy items such as marketing trinkets (pens, pads, coffee mugs, etc.) will be distinguished from more blatant abuses (sporting event tickets, trips, etc.).

Online Photo Editing Made Easy

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:35:12 -0600

With Picnik you can quickly edit all your online photos from one place. It's the easiest way on the Web to fix underexposed photos, remove red-eye, or apply effects to your photos.

What Real Estate Blogs Do You Subscribe To?

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:56:37 -0600

Here's my list:

Real Estate

Economy From Real Estate Perspective

Mortgage

Title Insurance

And then, there's the Achieve Realty Pageflake for Pittsburgh REALTORS(R)

Now, go get a feedreader!

What am I missing?

Top 10 News Items From 2008 For REALTORS(R)

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:52:02 -0600

Not in any order . . .

Realogy’s financial issues.
LandAmerica (parent to Commonwealth Land Title and Lawyers Title Insurance Co) declares bankruptcy.
Collapse of Fannie and Freddie. More here.
IndyMac fails.
Countrywide collapses and Bank of America buys it.
Foreclosure mitigation fails.
Wachovia collapses and is sold to Wells Fargo.
$7 billion bailout mess.
ERA Pacesetter (Nashville) closes.
Howard Hanna buys another Cleveland firm.
(Bonus Item) Morgage rates hit historic lows.

Am I missing anything?

PNC Bank: It’s Easy To Be Philanthropic When We Get Taxpayer Dollars With No Strings Att’d

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:42:36 -0600

Check out this article from the Tribune-Review.

Now remember, PNC took $7billion from TARP. National City’s price tag was $5.6billion. That leaves $1.4billion laying around burning a hole in PNC’s pocket.

Here’s an idea: throw some money at National City’s charitiable causes. A magnanimous idea, if it weren’t OUR money.

PNC: Congrats on taking being the first to use the TARP money to buy another bank. You’ve become a leader in one of the most crooked scams in our country’s history.

Banks Refuse To Account For Bailout Money

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:33:11 -0600

click here for Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Article

First, PNC announced they were using bailout money to buy National City. Now, Parkvale Bank and S&T Bank are taking bailout money, too.

These banks are not passing through the bailout money to businesses or consumers. They’re using the bailout money to buy other banks and thereby increase their “footprint.” How does that stimulate the econoomy? And now they’re using the bailout money to help automakers. This is absurd!

Here’s a great article on the misuse of the bailout money. Congressmen get angry about the misuse, but are they really going to do anything about it?

Sales Associates Bill of Rights

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:45:03 -0600

Commission split for experienced agents should be nowhere near 50/50.
Broker should not charge an excessive referral fee for leads.
Agents should not be forced to steer clients to ancillary mortgage/title/insurance companies.
Agents should be allowed to put their names and cell phone numbers on their sign panels.
Brokers should be prohibited from paying agents a lump sum of cash in exchange for an “employment contract.”
Fee schedules should be fixed for one year (that’s why they call it a “guarantee”).
Agents should not have to compete with their broker/owner.
MLS should allow IDX on agent websites.
MLS should prohibit brokers who do not have a listing agent “on the ground” serving customers locally.
MLS should actively and regularly inform it’s members of the “state of the market.”
MLS should be controlled by agents, not brokers.
Administrative or other transaction fees should be banned.
Agents should be free to take listings with them when they leave a brokerage and go to another brokerage.

Am I missing anything?

Achieve Realty Launches Career Center

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:37:45 -0600

Wexford, PA, Every year brings new challenges to real estate agents, and staying ahead of the curve is critically important to agents who desire to meet those challenges. To help its’ sales professionals reach even greater results, Achieve Realty, Inc. announced the launch of a comprehensive online career center exclusively for its agents.”In order to recruit and retain high-quality agents in this fast-changing market, broker/owners need to differentiate themselves and one way we’ve chosen to do so is to offer first-class online training for our agents,” says Kristen Stokes, President of Achieve Realty, Inc. “The real estate industry is changing fast and this change is creating lots of opportunities. Our continued success depends upon how we take advantage of those opportunities.”The Career Center includes the following educational and training services for agents:

Individual web-based business planning tool for each agent with weekly marketing to-do lists and accountability tracking;
Over 100 hours of skills-based classes covering such topics as experienced agent training; negotiating, prospecting, farming, team strategy and internet marketing;
The largest online real estate mentoring library of money-making strategies delivered by over 200 of the industry’s top producers;
Access to online licensing and continuing education (CE) classes;
Online Access to a wide range of real estate designations classes such as ABR, ASR, CNS and AHS;
Special reports covering such topics as customer acquisition, profitability, bundled services, business planning and technology;
Additional resources including: daily industry news, blogs from industry experts, online dictionary and career newsletters; and
New online courses and content added every week.

This project has been in the works for many months with the industry leader in career development services, RealtyU, a California company. “We are excited to work with a company as progressive as Achieve Realty, “says Bill Shue, President of RealtyU. “This company has made the commitment to invest in the future of its agents and to create the best trained agents in its market.”

Check Out Floorplanner

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:31:39 -0600

Are you buying a new home, doing a room make-over, or moving into a new office? Then an easy way to map out your floor plan and your ideas might come in handy.Floorplanner is the easiest way to create and share interactive floorplans. Using a simple set of drawing tools you can make a floor plan within minutes and arrange your furniture anyway you want. You can save your designs and print or share them with your family, friends or co-workers. Floorplanner is easy to use and works just in your browser with no extra software or plugins that you need to install.

How To Choose A REALTOR(R) in Pittsburgh, PA

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:15:03 -0600

In making your decision to work with an agent in Pittsburgh, PA, there are certain questions you should ask when evaluating a potential agent. The first question you should ask is whether the agent is a REALTOR(R). You should then ask the following questions:

Does the agent have an active real estate license in good standing? To find out this information, click here.
Does the agent belong to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS)? Multiple Listing Services are cooperative information networks of REALTORS(R) that provide descriptions of most of the houses for sale in a particular region.
Is real estate their full-time career?
What real estate designations does the agent hold?
Which party is he or she representing - the buyer or the seller? This discussion is supposed to occur early on, at “first serious contact” with you. The agent should discuss Pennsylvania's particular definitions of agency, so you know where you stand.
In exchange for your commitment, how will the agent help you accomplish your goals, show you homes that meet your requirements and provide you with a list of properties he or she is showing you?

What Is An Administrative Fee?

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:51:22 -0600

The “Administrative Fee” (aka Brokerage Fee, Technology Fee, ABC Fee) is a flat dollar fee that real estate brokers charge to buyers and sellers above and beyond the real estate commission. The charge ranges from $100 to $395.
This fee has been implemented only during the last several years but already, consumers and real estate sales associates have become complacent with it. If consumers refuse to pay it, many brokers collect the fee from the sales associate.

Many brokers instruct their agents to explain why this fee is charged. Here's one explanation: "The Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission has increased the time period for which brokers must store their files. We, therefore, must pass this increased cost along to the consumer." This explanation is false. The Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission has not increased the time period for which brokers must store their files.

Here's another explanation: "The fee is to pass on the cost our broker has had to endure by implementing expensive technology." This is also a bogus claim.

The law that applies to this fee is called RESPA (the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act). Generally, RESPA requires that all fees charged at closings must be reasonably related to the value of the service provided. Therefore, if the broker is not actually providing services above and beyond what they were previously providing, they can't charge the fee.

The class action bar has taken note of the fee and a lawsuit has been filed in Federal Court in Alabama to challenge the Administrative Fee. Read more about the lawsuit and NAR's perspective in this Washington Post article.

For an even more comprehensive analysis of the fee, click here for ALTA's view.

Achieve Realty does NOT charge an “Administrative fee.” This results in an immediate, obvious savings for buyers and sellers

Introducing Lawton Stokes

Achieve Realty, Inc. — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:02:20 -0600

This site is designed to be a reference for people interested in real estate in greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My name is Lawton Stokes and I am a real estate attorney working in Wexford, Pennsylvania, which is a suburb 20 miles North of downtown Pittsburgh. My wife Kristen Stokes and I own a real estate brokerage called Achieve Realty and a title insurance agency called Allegheny Settlement Company. We are also partners in the law firm Antol & Stokes, P.C. I welcome any questions or concerns you may have about real estate transactions in greater Pittsburgh. Thanks for visiting this site!