Steve's Blog

Time Management For The Wired And Time Constrained 2.0 Realtor

Steve Ramirez (Legacy Homes Realty) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:51:14 -0500

The key to time management is to focus more of your time working on key areas that can really make a difference in your life and your real estate business and earn you the income you desire. The reason why you should focus on time management is because it allows you to be more productive and to take control of your business and future.

Before you begin focusing on time management you should focus on exactly what your goals are and what you want to accomplish and by what timeframe you want to achieve those goals. Make sure that you are clear on your goals and can see yourself taking action to achieve it. Now make a list of activities that you think will be able to contribute in you achieving your goal. Second, get a calendar and organize your days to achieve the activities on your list and start implementing it into your daily schedule. Third, commit your self to follow the schedule and to meet and resolve all your daily activities. Don’t stop pursuing your real estate and business goals just make sure that everyday you are pushing yourself closer to what you want to achieve and also get others involved close to you in assisting you in reaching your goals.

Remember that other Real Estate Agents have different goals or strategies to achieve so don’t just follow there daily activities and routine. At your earliest convenience and available time slots start implementing action to resolve your biggest task completed. Remember that every available opportunity will cost you. So if you decide that when you have an hour available of time that you want to go to the dry cleaners across town to save you $1.00 it will cost you more if your goal for your hourly wage is $75-$100 per hour. A tip is just to plan around that trip or have someone else do it for you so you could focus on what is truly important for you and your business. Remember make your goals creative and exciting goals for yourself and something that you will have fun and really feel that you are making a contribution.

Most importantly overcome procrastination and focus on increasing your productivity. Also make sure that you are working with Customers or Client that will allow you to reach your potential. Make sure that you are realistic with your Clients and that you qualify your prospects before taking them on as a Customer or Client and are able to provide them with an excellent Real Estate experience and have them feel confident in your ability to advocate for your Real Estate service for them in the future and be able to refer their friends and family to you.

I hope you enjoyed my tips and as always I want to wish everyone the best of success.

10 Wallet Tips For A More Focused Real Estate Agent

Steve Ramirez (Legacy Homes Realty) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:33:45 -0500

Hello everyone. I am going to provide you with 10 Sales Tips that I carry around in my wallet and hopefully it will assist you in making a difference in your local Real Estate communities. Remember if you stick to the basics and execute you will have tremendous success in any real estate market. I hope it help you all achieve tremendous success. Good luck, stay tough and have fun.

1. Mass marketing doesn’t work. Stop spending countless amount of hours, days, weeks, month or time on unmotivated buyers or sellers or people that are not looking for your expertise or services. Your goal should be to find a and allocate your resource to a niche or a specific group of buyers or sellers or people in your marketplace that you will be willing and able to network with consistently and provide excellent services to them. Make sure you find out what out what those prospects wants, needs, and what emotions are involved in the Real Estate sales process. If you learn all you can about your customers it will motivate them to choose you versus your others.

2. Implement a marketing system in which you have a call to action that will attract the future business and future clients that you are. Make sure your call to action utilizes marketing tactics that will prepare your clients to be ready and knowledgeable about Real Estate. Make sure you address all of your client needs and delivering extraordinary value in exchange for their attention, purchase, and retention.

3. The golden rule in Real Estate sales is that it will come to those who develop the desire to achieve extraordinary goals for themselves and for there client, commit to those extraordinary goals and execute the actions required to create a breakthrough. Be persistent and preserve through the challenges and adversity that usually confronts anyone involved in Real Estate sales.

4. It will be your effort and work ethics that will help you achieve the success you want. Don’t rely on luck in order to achieve the success you deserve. Keep pursuing your goal and execute and you will be triumphant in the long run.

5. Develop the proper mental attitude so you can become a champion in your market. Believe in your own talents and abilities and utilize them as a strength against your competitors.

6. Love your customers and serve their needs to the best of your abilities. Your customers are the foundation of your business and they deserve excellent service.

7. Remember you shape your destiny, or someone will shape them for you. You have the ability everyday to change you life based on your decisions and what you want out of life. You shape your own thought process and produce the precise results you desire by the way you interpret perceive your environment. You have full control of your activities and behaviors.

8. Your largest source of power is your specialized knowledge of your industry. Make sure to keep up-to-date with the change in your marketplace and industry and also implement your knowledge into the Real Estate sales process so that your client can receive the best service available.

9. The action you take is what produces results. The knowledge you acquire is only potential power until you decide to take effective action. Your goal should be to produce results for your clients.

10. Don’t just focus on one sale but focus on developing a relationship with your client. You deserve it and your client deserves it.

"It's A Great Time To Buy Real Estate" A Long Island Realtor Responds

Steve Ramirez (Legacy Homes Realty) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:54:53 -0600

Well today I'm going to write about something that has been getting a lot of attention in the blogs, forums and the dinner tables. There has been a lot of recent debate recently about National Association of Realtors campaign "It's A Great Time To Buy Real Estate". Well in my personal opinion, I believe they are right. I believe right now is an excellent time for a first time homebuyer to buy a home. Arrghh, What was that you might be asking. Well I didn't write that but honestly I really believe in that. Based on my local data and statistics of Long Island, NY home prices, we have seen a decrease in prices of homes and we have seen houses with more days on market; which has resulted in overpriced listings coming back to reality with what the buyers or real estate market is requesting. Prices are based on factors such as similar active competing listings and recent sales pending and home sales. Right now there has also been an excellent inventory of houses for your average first time homebuyer to choose from.

For the last couple of years it would have been really hard to purchase a home at these kind of prices and terms. If you have been studying the local real estate market carefully as I have been, you will see that there has been a lot of houses that you can find that are below market value. There is an inventory of bank owned properties, short sale properties, pre-foreclosures properties, motivated sellers, and sellers just wanting to sell at a reasonable price. In addition to that; interest rates are low, real estate has usually been a good long term investment, an FHA backed loan allows you to buy a home with a 3% down payment at a low fixed interest rate.

Well as a buyers representative, I recommend you also hire someone that will also work in your best interest and finding you the best deals on the market, preferably me, and that will also negotiate in your best interest. Real Estate is a long term investment and I don't recommend buying on hype or media frenzy. If you compare and do a realistic analysis of the benefits of renting to buying and feel that you can afford a house for the long term then I think you shouldn't miss out on this opportunity to buy a home. If you choose to believe the hype on the blogs, forums and the dinner tables you might miss out on an excellent opportunity to even see what homes this market has on inventory. I wish all the best of luck and respect everyone's opinion, comments, and feedback. As a Realtor, I don't have a crystal ball that can predict the future or the house prices of our region but I can only recommend that you stick to a smart financial plan.

Re: Reality of Housing - Not Shown Elsewhere By Media

Steve Ramirez (Legacy Homes Realty) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:49:50 -0600

Hello Active Rain,

Just wanted to share something I found online tonight and was wondering what everyone thought about it. Hope you enjoy the read.

http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.21344/browse_thread/thread/ac8d73cf72eacaf

This is what was posted:

The almost unbelievable irresponsibility with debt displayed by
homeowners like today's is so amazing, so far beyond any form of
excusable behavior, that you have to wonder if it is right to forgive
it. If someone borrows hundreds of thousands of dollars against their
home and ends up with a short sale requiring the forgiveness of this
debt, how do you feel about it? Remember America's Debtor Prisons or
Are Short Sales Moral? These questions do not go away. Does a really
extreme case change your opinion about the subject? Let's see...

Asking Price: $1,195,000
Income Requirement: $298,750
Downpayment Needed: $239,000
Purchase Price: $397,000
Purchase Date: 7/20/2001
Address: 9 Soaring Hawk, Irvine, CA 92614

Beds: 4, Baths: 2.5, Sq. Ft.: 2,960
Type: Single Family Residence
MLS#: S517428

So lets walk through the mortgage history of this property and see
just how bad HELOC abuse can get...
7-20-2001 The house was purchased for $397,000 with a first mortgage
of $317,600 and a downpayment of $79,400.
11-07-2001 HELOC for $48,000 taking out over half of downpayment.
8-26-2002 Refinance for $360,000.
11-26-2002 HELOC for $29,000
11-26-2002 HELOC for $71,000
6-18-2003 HELOC for $56,000
6-18-2003 HELOC for $100,000
6-1-2004 Refinance for 517,500 -probably paid off HELOCs at this
point.
10-22-1004 HELOC for 89,900.
4-21-2005 Refinance first mortgage of $624,000
4-21-2005 Refinance second mortgage of $156,000. Total debt of
$780,000 at this point.
9-12-2006 Refinance first mortgage of $948,750.
9-12-2006 Refinance second mortgage of $189,750. Total debt of
$1,138,500. No HELOCs

So there you have it. This homeowner went to the housing ATM 8 times
over a 5 year period and pulled out $820,900. Now they have a property
priced at a WTF asking price hoping they can find some knife catcher
to come pay off their bills. Even if you wanted to buy this house,
would you do it knowing that you were about to pay for $820,900 worth
of consumer spending (They may have spent $200,000 on the renovation,
but please spare me the BS about investment or illness or any of that
crap. Look at the pattern of withdrawals. They spent it, and you know
it.) I suppose the lender can always hope these people stashed some of
this money away somewhere to cover the shortfall at the closing table.
Doesn't seem very likely, does it?

Fed is trying to bail out and help home owners and financial
institutions, for what???