Fort McMurrays Real Estate Blog

Waiter, Please…

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:45:24 -0600

A guest of a resort hotel in a tourist area walked into the dining room where breakfast was being served. Shortly after the guest sat down a waiter arrived to take his order.

"I would like two eggs, over easy, one with the yolk overcooked and rubbery and the other undercooked with the yolk broken and running out on the plate. I would also like some sausage that has been grilled and set out on the plate to get cold, burnt toast that has also grown cold so that it crunches and crumbles into nothing at the first bite, butter that has been in the freezer so that it's impossible to spread, and a pot of coffee that is lukewarm and very weak."

The waiter busily scratched down the guest's order and said, "This is a very complicated order, sir. It might be difficult to deliver it exactly as you have requested."

The guest replied, "But I had that exact breakfast here yesterday!"

Let's Use Less Stuff in Fort McMurray This Holiday Season

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:42:28 -0600

It should come as no surprise that between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, our excessiveness hits an annual high, especially where waste is concerned: We throw out 25 percent more garbage than we do the rest of the year. That's a million extra tons of garbage per week.

So this year consider some of the ideas below provided by The ULS (Use Less Stuff) Report. Your planet will thank you!

•· If every family saved and reused just two feet of ribbon per year, enough ribbon would be saved to tie a bow around the entire planet. When unwrapping gifts, poke two holes in a paper plate and feed the ribbons through so they're easy to find and reuse later.

•· The more than two billion holiday cards sold in the United States each year could fill a football field 10 stories high. If each family cut back by one card (not that The ULS Report advocates "scrooginess"), they'd save 50,000 cubic yards of paper. At least try using recycled paper products, and consider sending e-cards when appropriate.

•· If each of us throws away just one tablespoon of mashed potatoes, it adds 16 million pounds of waste to landfills. If that's unimaginable in your family, think of it this way: One discarded spoonful of cranberry sauce amounts to over 14 million pounds. Make only as much as you need, then store any leftovers in airtight containers and be sure to use them.

•· Reduce the number of bags thrown out by carrying your own, whether you're shopping for gifts or groceries.

The ULS Report has more useful tips on its Web site at http://use-less-stuff.com.

He Never Gave Up

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:35:48 -0600

In 1955 Harland Sanders was 65 years old and virtually broke. Fortunately, he possessed two things: a car, and a recipe for chicken. He took his recipe on the road to sell to restaurants, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Harland "Colonel" Sanders was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, and now KFC restaurants serve more than 12 million customers every day in 109 countries and territories around the world. Colonel Sanders is proof that it's never too late to decide to never give up.

Let's celebrate that it's never too late!

Real Estate HD Web Video Tours has come to Fort McMurray

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:03:28 -0500

I invite you to experience an evolutionary online marketing technology for the Fort McMurray Real Estate Market, streaming HD web video tours. I offer high definition web video tours of your home when you list with me that are stream directly from my personal website www.McMurraysBestHomes.com and including MLS^®.

My web video tours are not only comprised of interior and exterior shots, but also include highlighting features to match feature sheets, a visual from Google Maps of the area, a community tours with landmarks and neighborhood shots.

Why Video?

A real estate web video tour is the next best thing to an open house walk through. Nothing replaces this up close, in person visit, but a web video tour is the ultimate way to promote interest and prompt buyers to make a call to me to schedule a showing of your home.
I show your home to clients who are genuinely interested and serious about viewing your house.
Gives your home a one-up over the current highly competition Fort McMurray Real Estate Market.
93% of home buyers turn first to the Internet to research real estate. Optimize the exposure of your home today with a web video tour!

This is the future of real estate marketing! It is a natural evolutionary phase. Spinning 360 virtual tours will soon be forgotten and photography alone will simply not be enough. Ensure your real estate advertising is top notch and up to date. Let the power of high definition web video tours go to work for you in selling your home in Fort McMurray.

Marketing and Distribution of Video Tours
Here are a few of the social community video websites, similar to YouTube, available to host and stream your home web video tour to the world.

Why Doesn't Your Bank Automatically Offer their Best Rates?

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:10:03 -0500

Did you know that when working with a good mortgage broker, you will always be offered the best rate upfront? Manulife Financial Advisor, Greg MacPherson, says that banks "only reveal the lowest mortgage rate they will give you when you absolutely force them to by coming up with a better competing rate from across the street."

This is the similar to negotiating the price of a souvenir in a third world country marketplace. They always want as much as they can get. You shouldn't have to go through that!

The difference is that banks usually offer retail mortgage rates while brokers always offer wholesale mortgage rates.

Our lenders are offering some extremely low rates right now that are generating a lot of attention. If you are thinking of buying your first home, refinancing your existing home for a lower rate, or buying another property now may be the time to do so.

Did you know that even 1/4% difference in rate on a $300,000 mortgage over 5 years will cost you over $3500 in extra interest? It definitely pays to check with a broker to ensure you are offered the best rate.

If you need help in finding a good broker to help you with your next home purchase visit my website www.McMurraysBestHomes.com and I will give a few names.

Pro-Prospecting

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:02:04 -0500

Often, the market will get tougher for a period of time. Agents will get frustrated because there is not enough inventory. Sometimes, getting new listings is more difficult than ever. We will always go through periods of challenge and adversity. We will all have trials. Even long ago, Confucius said, The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man without trials.

We must accept that adversity and trials are there to strengthen us, our thoughts and mind, and our will and actions; to shock us into improving our skills, so we are better prepared the next time around. That is the role of adversity in our lives its to make us better.

The first thing to do when you encounter adversity (because of not having enough listings or sales) is to increase your frequency and intensity of prospecting. When those challenging market adjustments appear, it may take more contacts to generate the leads we need. It may take more leads to generate the appointments we need. It may even take more appointments to generate the listings we need to drive our business. Tracking our numbers and sales ratios and understanding the market can be the difference between winning and losing. Writer George Shelham said, Winners keep track of the results; losers keep track of the reasons. The results are the daily activities of prospecting: the contacts, leads, appointments, and clients created from them. The losers let the reasons why they dont feel like prospecting take over. We all can think of a million reasons not to prospect. There will be many distractions every day that will take us away from the necessary

There are things we know we need to do daily to achieve success and accomplish our dreams in life. Often, our feelings determine whether we do them or not. Our will and desire has to be strong enough, so we do what we need to do anyway . . . even if we dont feel like it. For example, I feel like eating Rocky Road ice cream daily. I have a weakness for ice cream, especially Rocky Road. If I did what I felt like doing, I would weigh considerably more than I do. I need to discipline myself to control that feeling with the action of abstinence.

We all must control the feeling of not wanting to prospect. Prospecting daily is an act of will, not feeling. If we are determining whether to prospect or not based on feeling, we will not prospect. Granted, daily prospecting isnt easy. It will be difficult, but it will be worth it. When the first part of that statement is coming true, always remember the second part: It will be worth it! The personal satisfaction that we will achieve by conquering our fears and winning the game of production will be unmatched.

Too often, we expect results instantly. We want success without effort. We want victory without defeat. It amazes me how many speakers and trainers are trying to sell Agents on the get rich quick system of success. They promise results from a magic ad campaign, a magic website, or any number of other gimmicks. If we look throughout history, the people who got to the top and stayed there have one thing in common: they continually worked diligently, and all their failures added up to eventual success. These successful people persevered and struggled and mastered the fundamentals to reach the pinnacle of peak performance. I watched a commercial that illustrated this truth well. The individual in the commercial said, Ive missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. Ive lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times Ive been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed! I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." The commercial was for Nike, and the individual was Michael Jordan. We can only avoid failure by playing the game, meeting the challenge, and stepping toward the adversity. We must stare failure down and do the difficult task of prospecting. We need to set aside our thoughts of not feeling like it. If we do that, we will change the outcome of defeat to victory. Start your journey to disciplined success today.

comments by Dirk Zeller of Real Estate Champions in a reccent email.

Go the Distance

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:54:12 -0500

How do you know when a prospect or client is going to waste your time or go the distance? That is something new Agents and some experienced Agents struggle with regularly says Dirk Zeller of Real Estate Champoins in a recent email sent to me. Please read the rest of the email it has some great point that needed to be shared.

Having a step-by-step pre-qualifying process helps dramatically. It will help you evaluate each person the same. When you go in to get your annual physical the doctor doesnt just wing it. The doctor sends you through the same steps as every other patient taking an annual physical. All patients have their blood pressure checked and blood and urine samples tested. The doctors and nurses dont skip a step. Create a step-by-step process to qualify your prospects. There is no substitute for experience. Like anything in life, the more you do something the better you get. Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player of all time because of will and practice. Even though he was cut from his high school team, he focused on improving; his practice habits improved between high school and the NBA.

The experience of working with many prospects and clients helps you develop a sixth sense. The only way to develop that sixth sense is through making mistakes and learning from them. Since a sixth sense is developed by experiences, the number of years you do something has very little to do with it. Lets say that you need to do 100 closings to have a functional and operational sixth sense. You could take 10 years to do those 100 closings or two years. By doing more, you will develop your sixth sense more quickly.

There were transactions and people in my sales career that didnt pass the smell test. There was just something that didnt feel or smell right. Rather than hoping it would all come out in the wash, I would pour bleach on the situation by questioning and digging deeper. The gray stains would be bleached to white, and I would be able to see my next step much clearer.

I had one rule when working with people: It usually gets worse under pressure, not better. The deal that is in escrow that is shaky the first week remains shaky all the way through and usually gets worse. Our solution was to tighten or kill it in the first week. This solution would either remove the escrow or solidify it, so that it would close easier. The prospect that is flaky at the very beginning usually doesnt get any better. Qualify him hard to either get him to commit to you with certainty or remove him from your life and move on. The seller at the listing appointment who will not take your counsel on price is a great example. Does that person get better or worse 30 days down the road? Usually 30 days later he blames you because his home hasnt sold. Actually, his failure to accept your price counsel was the reason.

Develop your sixth sense quickly by creating more opportunities with prospects. The more opportunities you have, the more selective you can be with who becomes a client. Dont neglect to listen to that sixth sense you are developing. Rarely will you be wrong.

Conveying Your Competitive Advantage In Prospect Presentations

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:08:55 -0500

A great coach Dirk Zeller just emailed this information that is so timely.

Lets start with the bottom line first: The whole purpose of a prospect presentation is to establish your competitive advantage. In the least time possible you want to communicate what makes you different from the more than 1.2 million other licensed Realtors in the United States. You want your prospects to see exactly why they should hire you, whats in it for them, and why they should proceed with confidence to sign your listing agreement.

Most agents spend the presentation explaining what they will do for the client rather than focusing on the results the client can expect the agent to deliver. Newspaper ads, website pages, home magazines, dazzling flyers, and a lineup of other marketing items are tactics that, in truth, nearly all agents use in the normal course of business. They are not competitive advantages. In fact, you must assume before a listing presentation that every agent will promise a near-identical marketing plan.

So why will they hire you over the others? Theyll hire you because they see whats in it for them. And whats in it for them is the set of benefits they will receive as a result of your proven competitive position.

Defining your unique competitive position

To differentiate yourself in the field of real estate sales you need to create, define, and consistently convey a competitive position that positively distinguishes you from your competition.

By knowing and exploiting the difference between your products and services and those of your competitors you will attract more prospects, win more clients, grow your market share, increase your revenue, expand your profits, and, eventually, weaken your competitors.

To pinpoint your unique competitive position, answer these questions:

* Are there key statistics that set you apart from your competitors and provide you with a clear point of difference?

* Do any of your Big Three statistics create a unique competitive position?

1. Average list price to sale price

2. Days on the market

3. Listings sold versus listings taken

* What benefits or values do consumers receive only when they deal with you?

* Do you have dominant or strong market share in a geographic region?

* Do you specialize in a particular property type, such as small plexes or a certain style of home?

* Is your market share success tied to a particular price point?

* When representing sellers, do you achieve quantifiably higher sale prices?

* When representing buyers, do you achieve quantifiable savings in sales price, down payment, monthly payment, or interest rate?

Your answers dont need to lead to 20 unique competitive positions. You only need half a dozen reasons why the consumer whether youre presenting to a buyer or a seller should choose over everyone else. Focus only on advantages that will matter to your prospect. Keep in mind the old sales adage: Its easier to sell someone what they want to buy than what you have to sell them.

Proving your excellence: You dont get paid for second place

A Fortune 500 CEO who doesnt increase revenue will watch the stock price plummet. A quarterback who throws for lots of yards but doesnt win games will be benched or traded. A Realtor who doesnt get listings sold or find and secure the right home for buyers will leave the business.

In the real estate world, results are the name of the game. Anyone can make money in a marketplace where everyone wants to buy and sell, but only the excellent agents will thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Fort McMurray's Real Estate Market is on the Move up again.

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:58:14 -0500

There hasn't been a better time to buy in Fort McMurray in the past three years then right now. Since October 2008 we have watched the listing price of single family home drop. The number of sales each month has been in the 30's a compared to the 100's in the past few years. The average price is down about $40,000 over the same period last year, but still up from three years ago. March 2009 will be seen as the turning point in our market, the sales volume has incease to near normal levels for Fort McMurray at just under 100 unit for March.

What has caused this change? Near record low interest rates, oil prices are around the $50 a barrel range. The recent news that Suncor is purchasing PetroCan and the fact that all the major oilsand players are still hiring staff position. Are all signs that Fort McMurray is ready to start leading Canada economy again.

If you have been sitting on the fence waiting for the bottom of the market before you buy, then welcome to the bottom. Things are about to start moving again. Give me Patrick Dardis a call today to find the home of your dreams in Fort McMurray.

Setting And Achieving Prospecting Goals by Dirk Zeller

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:29:56 -0600

In setting prospecting goals, focus on three core areas: the number of contacts you should make each day and week, the number of leads you should develop, and the number of personal appointments you should set.

Start with easily attainable numbers, so you can build up your energy, intensity, focus, and discipline slowly and steadily. You wouldn't decide to run a marathon without working your daily and weekly mileage up over time, and the same premise applies when establishing and meeting your prospecting goals.

A contact is a personal conversation with a decision maker who can make a purchase or sale or who might refer you to someone who could. A contact is not a conversation with the babysitter, a 10-year old neighbor, a friendly teenager, or an answering machine.

When I take on a new coaching client, I almost always start them with a goal of five contacts a day, and I would suggest the same for you. Make a goal of five contacts a day without fail, resulting in the completion of 25 contacts a week. It will take three to four weeks for contact with five prospects a day to become a habit. Once you achieve the goal for three weeks straight without missing a single workday, you can raise your goal to seven or ten.

Leads are contacts that have demonstrated through their dialogues that they possess the basic motivation and desire to make a change in their living arrangements. In prospecting, we assume until we either pre-qualify them ourselves or they secure an appointment with a lender that determines they have the financial capacity to make a purchase.

To advance your business, you should aim to develop at least one lead per day and five leads per week.

An appointment is a face-to-face meeting with prospects, during which you discuss their needs and wants, share how you work, and aim to gain their commitment to work with you in an exclusive relationship to sell their home or find them a home to purchase. An appointment is the launch of the agent-client relationship. It is not a meeting during which you show a property!

Like your lead-generation goal, your appointment goal should be set at a reasonable level: A goal of one appointment a week is a solid start. If you acquire two appointments, terrific, but make sure that you are able to secure at least one.

If about now you are wondering, hmm, five leads and only one appointment a week from all those calls, realize that these are starting goals. It is far better to begin with aims that you can actually achieve rather than ones that overwhelm you from the onset. As you gain consistency and skill in prospecting, both your numbers and your ratios will improve.

Even if you maintained the goals we set and sales ratios of leads and appointments, you would have a good year as a newer or inexperienced Agent. At the end of the year, you would have made 1,250 contacts. You would have created 250 leads. You also would have set and conducted 50 appointments and gotten two weeks off with your family to boot.

Even if only half of the appointments turned into listings or sales, you would have 25 deals in your first year. In most companies, that would make you rookie of the year. You would also earn in excess of $125,000 in gross commission income. I do not know too many people in real estate or in any other profession that make that type of money in their first year.

So set your prospecting goals by focusing in those three core areas: number of contacts made, number of leads established, and number of appointments secured. You will meet your goals if you follow through and be diligent in achieving them.

Know the Purpose of Your Presentation by Dirk Zeller

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:26:19 -0600

A quality listing presentation involves considerable advance planning, careful research and analysis, and highly developed presentation and sales skills. This allows you to derive maximum impact from the minimal time you have to present yourself and your recommendations, close the deal, and obtain signatures on a listing agreement.

Your advance planning takes two forms. First you need to qualify your prospects - determining not only their desires and expectations but also their ability to make the buying or selling decision and complete the purchase transaction.

The other essential ingredient in a listing presentation is a competitive market analysis (CMA) along with a presentation that displays the full complement of your sales skills and abilities and helps you win your prospect's confidence and secure their listing.

Knowing the purpose of your presentation

Be crystal-clear on this point. The objective of a listing presentation is to secure a signed listing agreement before the meeting ends. It's not to pave the way for a "be-back" listing, where you plan to return at a later date to handle paperwork and secure final prospect approval. Your purpose is to make your case, close the deal, and get ink on the paper right then and there while you're face-to-face with your prospects. If you don't, I guarantee the odds of securing the listing start to swing away from you.

If you let even a few days or a week slip by, your prospects will have a hard time separating your presentation from other agents who they met in the meantime. And the moment they lose sight of your distinguishing attributes, they'll revert to a commodity mindset by focusing on price and selecting an agent based on who offered the lowest commission or the highest list price.

I've personally made over a thousand listing presentations, and I've coached and listened to the presentations of hundreds of other agents. I am totally convinced that a quality listing presentation can and must result in a signed contract at the presentation.

These are two reasons you need to get the listing signed during the presentation:

The moment you leave the appointment, anything can happen. A buyer could appear out of nowhere, knocking on your prospect's door with a direct offer. An agent who interviewed your prospect a few days ago could be desperate enough to call with an offer to cut their fee by another percent. At Rotary or church or a chamber of commerce meeting, your prospect could meet another agent. Or, after-the-fact, they could begin to confuse you for a different agent whose presentation they didn't like at all. The list of "coulds" goes on and on. The only thing you know for sure is that if you don't get the signed listing at the appointment, you leave it up for grabs and vulnerable.
You need to feel the win. The win in the listing game is when the contract is signed. Don't underestimate the power of that personal victory. Selling involves the risk of rejection. If it didn't, it would be called order taking, and you wouldn't be paid so well because it would be so easy. A listing presentation gives you the chance to go for the win, perfect your close, and attain the victory. Give yourself the satisfaction and adrenaline rush of walking out of the home with a signed contract. Your drive home will be the shortest ever known. If you don't get it signed, it will be the longest few minutes you've ever known.

I have an incredible coaching client who sells homes on Long Island. She is a listing machine in her market area. She takes over 125 listings a year. Yet a while back, when we tracked the numbers she was closing on the night of the appointment, we found her close rate was less than 40%.

This finding got her focused on the uncompensated time she was spending on second meetings with listing prospects. It also made her think about how many listings were lost following the first meeting. A month later, her closing figures had changed dramatically. With a new resolve to get the contract closed on the night of the appointment, she skyrocketed her closing rate to over 70%.

Again, be crystal-clear. Know your objective of your listing presentation. It is to secure a signed listing agreement before you walk out that door. Don't leave your business to chance - take control and watch your closing rate skyrocket!

Acquiring Knowledge about Your Marketplace by Dirk Zeller

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:22:04 -0600

A great Real Estate coach Dirk Zeller of Real Estate Champions sent me this email that I think should be shared.

Think of your marketplace as your playing field, not unlike an athlete views a football field, basketball court, or hockey rink. The better you know every inch of that playing field, the more you can exploit it to your advantage.

Before I became a REALTOR®, in my early twenties, I was a racquetball professional. I played hundreds of tournaments over my sports career, and my best games were always at my home club. There, we had a court with floor-to-ceiling glass on the right side and back wall, making it particularly difficult to see in the back right-hand corner where the two walls of glass converged.

When players came for tournaments at my club, they struggled to pick up the ball in that corner - giving me what you might call a significant home field advantage. I rarely lost a match on that court.

Real estate is like any other competitive endeavor. If you learn all there is to know about your playing field, you'll acquire a competitive advantage that will distance you from the competition and build the basis of your success.

The most challenging aspect of gaining market knowledge is determining what facts to collect and where to find the information you need. Fortunately, a number of readily accessible resources are available to REALTORS®. All you have to do is contact the right people and ask the right questions. The following sections will help you on your data quest.

Your Local Board of REALTORS®

All professional agents belong to REALTOR® associations that compile and make available a wealth of statistical information. The facts you can obtain from your local board include:

The number of agents working in your marketplace. This information helps you understand your competitive arena. It also allows you to track whether your competition has expanded or receded over recent years.

The production of the average agent in terms of units and volume sold. By obtaining this information and comparing it with your own production units and volume, you will be able to contrast your performance against the other agents on your local board. This information will be useful in your effort to calculate your share of the market. It also helps you understand how you stack up against the other agents your prospective customer might be considering.

Experience levels of agents in your field. Most Boards of REALTORS® keep information regarding the percentage of agents recently licensed and those with three, five, and ten years in the business. This information provides you with another factor against which to measure your competitive position.

Meet with the executive director of your local Board of REALTORS® to learn the extent of information that is available to you, how frequently new research is released, and how you can obtain copies for your ongoing review.

Your Local Multiple Listing Service

The Multiple Listing Service, commonly called the MLS, keeps statistics of all the listings and sales in your area that are processed through the MLS.

The MLS does not cover every sale due to the fact that some sales bypass the system. Often, new construction builders, particularly in very robust markets, don't submit their inventory into MLS. Agents also sometimes sell properties themselves or in-house, and those sales are not submitted to MLS. However, the MLS, in most markets, covers more than 95% of all marketplace sales, and it represents the surest indicator of real estate activity in your region.

The MLS can give you key market statistics including:

Days on the market averages
Listing price to sale price ratios
Listings taken versus listings sold ratios
Geographically active markets inside your service area

Nearly all REALTORS® recognize the MLS for its significant role in increasing communication and exposure of real estate properties. Fewer REALTORS® recognize the MLS for its powerful but under-utilized role in reporting trends and performance of agents, companies, and subsets of the marketplace. Access and put this information to work to your advantage.

The National Association of REALTORS®

There are a number of national resources that you can access to obtain a wealth of knowledge and statistical trends. The best is the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), which produces some wonderful studies, reports, and market statistics that most agents never use. The truth is most agents don't even know they are available.

Their monthly "Real Estate Outlook" publication provides a national view of real estate sales: What has happened in terms of sales, days on the market, what people are purchasing, what financing they are using, emerging trends, and predictions for the future. This is a powerful tool in the hands of a successful agent. If you aren't currently receiving and reading it, put it into your information arsenal immediately.

They also conduct annual surveys and studies of home sellers and homebuyers. They delve into why consumers selected particular agents, what services they sought from agents, and what geographic areas, home amenities, and features caused them to buy. This type of knowledge will enable you to provide the highest level of counsel and value to your clients.

NAR also issues reports on second home markets, investment properties, financing options, and many other topics. It's one of the best services that NAR provides, but it's the service that agents use the least. Make yourself an exception and dive into this deep pool of information.

Visit the NAR website at www.REALTOR.org to obtain an overview of the association, to access quick links to useful sites including REALTOR® Magazine Online, and to subscribe to receive e-mail updates on real estate topics and statistics.

Other Sources of Marketplace Information

Consult your broker about company-compiled statistics on regional trends and also on your firm's market share and market penetration. Especially if you work for a regional or national real estate company or franchise, your organization has likely commissioned studies that will be useful to your fact-gathering efforts.

Also, if you live in a state where sellers provide title insurance to buyers, the title companies often conduct market trend reports that allow agents to better understand the marketplace they are working in.

Low-Cost Tips to Get your Home Ready for the Holidays in Fort McMurray

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:41:06 -0600

Low-Cost Tips to Get your Home Ready for the Holidays
It's that time of the year again and even though getting your home ready for the holidays can seem like a chore, it doesn't have to be. Fortunately, it doesn't even have to take up much time or money, either. You can do it in a few easy steps. Just get in the mood to be creative.

Add colour and texture
Simply displaying some richly coloured pillows or throws in any room can give the room a different feel. Choose warm and spicy colors, or maybe something with mirror work to catch the light and add to the glowing effect and sparkle of the holiday season.

Neutrals, metallic and peacock shades are the hot holiday hues of 2008, so don't feel like you have to stick with the traditional red, green and white schemes.

Artwork, throws and mirrors can also add a new splash to the walls.

Spread some warmth
Changing the shades on your lamps to warm coloured ones can make the light appear richer. By lighting candles in holiday scents - ensuring, of course, they're displayed in safe areas away from flammable objects - your room can take on a warm glow.

Revamping or creatively using what you already own can also create lush looks in leaner economic times. For instance, filling a clear glass bowl or vase with ornaments of a single bright colour can make for an eye-catching display.

Another trick that makes for a pleasing display that is kind to the wallet involves bringing in some evergreen cuttings and using ribbon or other household items to dress them up. And you can make old wreaths look new by attaching fake berries, sprigs or pine cones.

You can also refresh your old decorations by dressing them up with paint or glitter.

Make it cozy
There's no better time than the present to get started on your holiday cleaning. If you rid your rooms of clutter, especially those catch-all coffee tables and kitchen counters, your home will seem much more inviting.

Piles of junk mail, unfiled bills and magazines not only look messy, but can also interfere with your cleaning efforts. It's much easier, and faster, to dust a clear surface than to clean around three months' worth of the latest decorating magazines and some early Christmas cards.

To eliminate - and prevent - clutter, everything should have a designated space. Magazines, for instance, can be placed in a bin under the coffee table, while children's art can be stored in a chest or accordion-style folder.

And to encourage an even more inviting atmosphere, think about arranging your furniture in conversation groups. You have to move the furniture anyway in order to get rid of those dust bunnies, so why not try arranging them in a fresh, new manner?

A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 07:08:13 -0600

A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne
Creator of The Secret

The greatest thief of human happiness and abundance is ungratefulness. Any lack in our lives - whether in money, health, or relationships - is simply the evidence of a lack of gratitude. If you focus on lack you are not being grateful, and that will bring more lack into your life. Yet the simple state of radiating gratitude summons everything to you.

No matter who you are or where you are, you can change your life with gratitude, but you must feel it with your whole heart and radiate it from every cell. Gratitude is not a mental exercise, and in fact, if you simply use your mind for gratitude it will have little or no power. True gratitude comes from your heart! You must think gratitude through your heart, speak gratitude through your heart, and feel it intensely in your heart.

Then practice gratitude relentlessly. As you practice gratitude you will attract more thoughts and feelings of gratitude. In a short time your entire being will be saturated with it, and you will experience a happiness that is beyond what you can imagine. This is what is ahead for you when you choose gratitude as your way of life. And if you can really live in this highest state of gratitude, you will never have to ask for anything. Everything you want will be given to you before you even ask, because gratitude is the magnetic substance that opens every single door in the Universe.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving in the United States. To celebrate Thanksgiving, I want to share an excerpt with you from The Secret Daily Teachings, which is being released in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia on December 9th. This excerpt presents an easy way to start using gratitude and integrate it into your life by making every Thursday "Thank You Thursday." As you "Thank your way through every Thursday" you will open the most powerful receiving channel within you.

From The Secret Daily Teachings - Thank You Thursday

"Today is Thank You Thursday. Today and every Thursday is your day to say and feel "Thank you" in as many ways as you can.

Write a list of all the people and events you want to give thanks for.

Return thanks today to those who have done things for you.

As you walk say "Thank you" in your mind with each step you take.

As you drive, make each time you stop your cue to say "Thank you."

At various times in the day, think and feel "Thank you" inside you seven times in a row.

Look for every opportunity to say "Thank you" to other people, and say it with so much meaning that the person looks right at you.

Thank your way through every Thursday, and make "Thank you" your predominant thought, feeling, and words of the day.

"Thank you" - two words, inconceivable potential power, and all they need is you to put the power into them by expressing them.

Thank you!"

Excerpt from The Secret Daily Teachings

. . .

May the joy of gratitude be in your heart,

Rhonda Byrne
The Secret... bringing joy to billions

An Ants Philosophy

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:52:50 -0600

A great Real Estate teacher and coach Brett Noel sent me this piece that I just had to share

I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four-part philosophy

Ants never quit. That's a good philosophy. If they're headed somewhere and you try to stop them; they'll look for another way. They'll climb over, they'll climb under, and they'll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a great philosophy, to never quit looking for a way to get where you're supposed to go.

Ants think winter all summer. That's an important perspective. You can't be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants are gathering in their winter food in the middle of summer.

Ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, "This won't last long; we'll soon be out of here." And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they'll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can't wait to get out.

And here's the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the "all-you-possibly-can" philosophy.

CRM Your Salespeople Will Love

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:11:11 -0600

This is a great article by Mike Stevens about CRM

Executive Summary

CRM can bring enormous benefits to corporations, but only if users adopt it. Therefore, winning over sales organizations and obtaining buy-in at all levels are crucial to the success of any CRM initiative. Front-line salespeople are often the major source of resistance. In the past, when they have asked the question, "What's in it for me?" the answer has been, "Not much." The newest solutions from leading software providers such as Oracle change this, with features that let salespeople work the way they want to, reduce their administrative burden and genuinely support personal success in every aspect of the sales process. This white paper provides a brief overview of documented CRM successes to indicate why it's so important, discusses CRM adoption problems in general, then presents a detailed description of the features that directly benefit individual members of the sales force. It also offers some tips to help foster high adoption rates.

CRM: The Adoption Rate Challenge

CRM works. According to Software Magazine, roughly 30 percent of companies that deploy CRM report "significant improvement" in sales organization performance, including shorter sales cycles, increased win rates, fewer order errors and faster rampup to full productivity for new reps.

1 http://www.salesandmarketing.com/m sg/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_cont ent_id=1003589960

2 http://www.crmlandmark.com/saasma rket.htmQuantifiable successes reported by Oracle customers include 3: · 200 percent increase in profits over two years (BT) · 300 percent increase in sales (ViewSonic) · $17 million savings in monthly billing costs (Verizon Wireless) · 25 percent reduction in callhandling times (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) · 32 percent increase in retail checking customers (PNC Bank)

In the past, sales executives who have seen numbers like these and turned to CRM for help achieving them have faced a major hurdle: user adoption. According to an AMR Research study in 2002, 47 percent of companies faced "serious challenges" with user adoption. This year (2007), CSO Insights reports that only about half the companies it surveyed had CRM adoption rates of 75 percent or higher. The unfortunate truth is, 3http://www.oracle.com/applications/cu stomer-relationship-management.htmlorganizations cannot reap the substantial benefits of CRM unless user-adoption rates are high, and this is not always the case.

For sales organizations, an unsuccessful deployment can have a negative effect on sales performance, not to mentionmorale and management credibility. For IT departments, poor adoption rates are a disaster. In a business climate where budgets are tight and resources scarce, unsuccessful initiatives take resources away from other projects, lower the credibility of IT and leave the problem the initiative was supposed to fix unsolved. Therefore, achieving high adoption rates is a critical imperative.

CRM is becoming increasingly popular. In 2001, fewer than 45 percent of companies surveyed by sales consulting firm CSO Insights had deployed CRM in their sales organizations. Now, that figure has reached 66 percent,1 and IDC predicts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31 percent for on-demand CRM from 2004 to 2010.2 There's a good reason for this growth:

The Resistance to CRM

Why does CRM encounter resistance? There are several reasons. The first is that rank-andfile salespeople on the front lines often perceive CRM as a tool that exclusively benefits management. It lets "them" track performance more easily, create forecasts for upper management, while for "us" it only means more paperwork, CRM Your Salespeople Will Love Copyright © 2007 Oracle Corporation and IT Business Edge. All rights reserved. 2 less flexibility and more snooping.

The question, "What's in it for me?" has no satisfactory answer. These criticisms had at least some justification in the past. It can be argued that early CRM was designed primarily with management in mind. There was nothing wrong with its promises of centralizing customer data in one place, integrating previously siloed views of the customer, not to mention more accurate forecasts.

However valuable these capabilities were to an organization as a whole, they were management features with little connection to the everyday realities of selling.

A second issue -- and some would argue the most important -- was the amount of "wasted" time spent meeting the needs of the systems. Early CRM put salespeople in data-entry mode when they wanted to be in sales mode. Every half-hour spent filling out forms was a half-hour not spent in front of a potential customer.

Finally, non-intuitive user interfaces that were hard to learn aggravated all the other problems, and there typically was no integration provided for productivity tools salespeople already used, such as Outlook and Excel.

In the eyes of salespeople, CRM imposed a burden on their most precious resource - time - with no demonstrable benefit. On the practical level, it posed daily problems, and on an emotional level it generated resentment.

Supporting Sales Success

With more than 12 years' experience in CRM, the Oracle team has developed an approach to CRM that addresses all these issues in ways that make life easier for salespeople and specifically foster success throughout the whole sales process.

Lead Generation. Every sale begins with a lead, and if that lead comes from a typical leadgeneration process, such as a direct-mail campaign or a Web banner, it should be carefully qualified before it reaches the salesperson who is supposed to act on it. Failures in this area are so common that many salespeople simply ignore these leads (if they can) or deal with them grudgingly.

In contrast, Siebel CRM On Demand, Oracle's subscription based CRM service, provides leadqualification scripts that assign a numerical value to every lead based on a combination of parameters defined by the sales organization, such as budget size, budget status (approved, pending, etc.), decision timeframe, location and so on. Salespeople need only follow up on leads that meet a predefined threshold score. This reliable, objective lead-qualification system has two important positive effects on salespeople:

· They understand the process for qualifying leads, so they can trust it.

· They don't feel they're wasting time following up on leads, because leads are prequalified.

· Ultimately, they can increase their close ratio, because the percentage of viable deals entering the pipeline is higher.

Background information. Oracle's Siebel CRM On Demand provides contact information, a history of prior interactions, related deals (such as with a different division in the same company) and other Salespeople can obtain all the background information they need on a single screen, instead of having to hunt through multiple enterprise databases. important data that help salespeople refresh their memories or get up-to-speed with a customer they've inherited from someone else.

Sales call preparation. While preparing for sales calls can take hours, CRM On Demand significantly reduces that time. For example, at any stage of the sales process (however that may be defined by the organization), a list of specific resources is available, such as PowerPoint presentations, white papers, success stories and the like. These can be downloaded with a single click. CRM On Demand can even be linked to Google maps to provide singleclick driving directions. (This feature is typical of the end-userfocused enhancements in CRM On Demand. In terms of application design, it's a trivial feature. But for a salesperson hurrying out the door to make a sales call on time, it's a huge benefit.)

Better lead qualification, better background information and better access to sales resources all genuinely help salespeople maximize their time, work more efficiently and close more deals. Rather than feeling at crosspurposes with management, salespeople using CRM On Demand can feel that their goals and the goals of management are aligned.

Keeping Organized

Some salespeople are wellorganized. For others, organization is a challenge. Either way, Siebel CRM On Demand is a support, not a hindrance. It gives salespeople quick access to existing information about accounts, provides convenient ways to collect and add new information, and lets salespeople create and prioritize tasks to help them stay on track during busy days with constant interruptions. Existing information. In most businesses, crucial information about deals and customers - everything from contact phone numbers to invoicing data - is scattered over a variety of corporate database and back-end systems. CRM On Demand presents the primary information salespeople need to work their deals in a clear, single-page format. For leads, to give one example, this includes basic contact information, company background (revenues, number of employees, etc.), associated accounts and information about the lead itself, including its source.

Other relevant data, such as order histories from a back-end financial system, can be made available with a single click. New Information. Obviously, part of a sales rep's job is to collect information, and again, CRM On Demand makes this easy. The input forms are simple, they can be customized to meet individual or group needs, they can be accessed by a variety of endpoint devices (laptops, mobile devices, desktop computers) and the user doesn't even need to be online to access these functions. Tasks. The CRM On Demand home page gives sales reps a quick overview of everything they need to do, including scheduled meetings, tasks (created inside the system either by the rep or automatically) and alerts, which typically are sales department messages and notifications. To help salespeople make decisions on how to spend their time, tasks can be prioritized by due date or by the size of the associated deal.

User-Friendly Flexibility

One of the biggest barriers to adoption of CRM systems is the learning curve. CRM On Demand minimizes the challenges of adopting a new system through a combination of familiarity, customization and online help. This is an important benefit of the system. No matter how many features a CRM application may have to help salespeople work more efficiently and close more sales, these features are useless unless they are easy to discover and use.

Familiarity. CRM On Demand is a Web-based system, so the navigation is virtually second nature to any computer user. The system also can be configured to use the familiar terminology within the organization to describe stages of the sales process or the quality of various sales opportunities. Customization. Screens can be modified at the enterprise or departmental level to add new fields or redesign forms. Even individual users can customize the look of their screens, adding, moving or deleting sections as they desire. For salespeople, the result is a system that bends to the way they work, not vice-versa, and this is powerful support for adoption.

Finally, CRM On Demand eliminates user frustration through a comprehensive, contextsensitive help system, so users can get quick, concise explanations of how a particular feature works and how it can help them.

Integration for Ease of Use

One of the most important ways CRM On Demand supports the way salespeople work is through integration with third-party applications. Many would argue that the most important is Microsoft Outlook, the first application that many people in business open every morning. Due to the Siebel/Outlook integration, users can read their e-mail and, when something related to leads or opportunities appears, transfer information to the Siebel system without leaving Outlook. Moreover, the transfer method is simple dragand- drop, with no typing required. CRM On Demand also can interact with Web-enabled back-office systems that previously might have required a separate log-in. This could provide, for example, a list of all the orders a customer has placed within a given time period.

In addition to integration with software applications, CRM On Demand can also integrate with mobile devices, such as BlackBerry, Palm and Windows CE-based devices, so salespeople on the road can have a choice of access modes. (This flexibility also helps the IT department.)

Best Practices

Coaching

While the "compelling event" concept has merit, there are many other ways to look at the sales process. CRM On Demand is completely flexible so that the most successful sales processes can be cloned.
CRM On Demand offers a unique coaching feature that helps users emulate the best practices of the company's sales stars - or simply follow basic best practices that have proven effective over time. The coaching screens are available at various stages of the process, and provide detailed suggestions on how to move the sales process forward. The screen below, for example, begins with the common premise that sales are motivated by a "compelling event," and explains not only how to determine from a customer what that event might be, but also how to take the process several moresteps forward.

Sales beginners who want and need guidance welcome this feature. But experienced salespeople who are new to the company also can benefit from these features, as they help explain what otherwise might be unfamiliar terminology. In short, it's yet another element that can lead salespeople to view CRM On Demand as a help, not a hindrance, to success.

Indirect Benefits

The features and benefits outlined above are important because they affect salespeople directly, but CRM On Demand provides important indirect benefits as well. The most obvious involves leads.

The system includes a leadmanagement process that, like the lead-evaluation process, operates objectively based on business rules that can ensure fairness, prevent favoritism and eliminate embarrassing mistakes, such as assigning the same lead to two different sales reps.

A coaching feature guides new employees through the sales process with customizable best-practices screens. Less obvious, but arguably more important, are CRM On Demand's analytical capabilities. CRM On Demand is the only subscriptionbased hosted system that offers a built-in data warehouse that can provide insights into historical trends. These insights don't affect salespeople's' day-to-day lives, but they enable a company to make better decisions in marketing, and even with new product development. These decisions ultimately affect salespeople's'pocketbooks. For example, if adjustments to lead-generation activities result in a higher percentage of qualified leads at the front end of the sales process, this ultimately will be reflected in higher sales volumes - and bigger commissions.

The point here is that if the sales organization as a whole is more successful, the company will be more successful, and this success can translate into important personal benefits, such as job security and more attractive compensation packages.

Tips for Success

While CRM On Demand has been designed to encourage highadoption, the process by which the system is implemented can have a significant positive -- or negative - - effect. Here are some suggestions based on years of experience with CRM deployments in a wide range of organizations. Review existing processes. There could not be a better time to review your total sales process than when you are thinking about a new CRM application. In addition to the core process, don't forget about potential integration with other applications, such as Microsoft Outlook or, if you're an Oracle shop, Oracle E Business Suite.

Establishing links with these systems can further streamline the sales process, and any change that speeds up or automates tasks will help garner sales force support.

Sell management. In survey after survey, upper management buy-in is cited as the No. 1 factor in obtaining high adoption rates. This should be no surprise. Senior managers control the important "carrots" and "sticks" that influence adoption by the rank and file. Communicate with key upper-level stake-holders, and point out the benefits that are important to them, such as more accurate forecasting and strong analytical capabilities, including historical data for trendspotting.

In addition to persuasion, consider making executive adoption mandatory, and designate CRM On Demand as the means of running the business on a daily business, such as communicating about sales opportunities and reporting to upper management. Consult directly with salespeople.

In the past, CRM systems have been designed primarily with management's needs in mind, but to foster high adoption rates the needs of front-line salespeople are very important. When you solicit their input about how CRM could help them sell more effectively, you achieve two objectives:

· You receive valuable input on the ways day-to-day aspects of the sales process can be improved (along with a healthy dose of griping, it must be admitted).

· From a psychological point of view, you lay the groundwork for acceptance of the initiative. To build credibility, however, it is important that you have direct contact, as opposed to indirect contact through managers. Minimize data entry. Data entry is a thorn in the side of most salespeople, who view it as a necessary evil at best, with no value to them personally. There are three strategies related to data entry that can help this situation:

· Reduce the data you collect to a minimum. Ask the obvious questions, such as "Do we really need to know this?" and "Is this data actionable?" Fight the tendency to achieve completeness - and be prepared for some political battles.

· Explore importing data from other systems (in real time) to reduce the amount of typing required. CRM On Demand supports this.

· Provide check boxes to answer questions when the input can be pre-defined (such as purchasing time frames). Ensure adequate training. No matter how intuitive an interface may be, users need a certain amount of training. Make sure they get it. Set up a help desk for the first month or so that will accept phone calls as well as e-mail questions. And leverage the variety of training packages offered by CRM vendors like Oracle. Providing immediate relief to frustration will help keep adoption rates high over time.

CRM Your Salespeople Will Love Copyright © 2007 Oracle Corporation and IT Business Edge. All rights reserved. 6 Ensure adequate consulting. Sometimes it's best to engage experts. Oracle can provide frontend consulting to make sure the start-up process goes smoothly. Sell the users. Remember, most salespeople view CRM as a management tool. The value of the sales force-friendly benefits outlined in this paper may not always be self-evident to users. Therefore, it's vital to remind them on a regular basis of the ways the system can make their lives easier and help them sell more.

Conclusion

CRM can bring enormous benefits to a sales organization, but only if adoption rates are high. Oracle's Siebel CRM On Demand has been specifically designed to foster high adoption. When it's combined with an appropriate implementation process, sales organizations can feel confident of success.

Oracle

Oracle (NASDAQ GS: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software company. Oracle technology can be found in nearly every industry around the world and in the offices of 98 of the Fortune 100 companies. Oracle's Siebel CRM On Demand delivers the industry's most complete subscription-based solution for sales, marketing, and service, providing organizations of all types and sizes with rapid time to business value. Oracle is the world's leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest independent software company. Visit our Web site at: www.oracle.com/crmondemand.com

IT Business Edge

IT Business Edge delivers the information, analysis and context business technology decision makers need to maximize returns on IT investments and align IT initiatives with business objectives. As a Technology Intelligence Agent, IT Business Edge provides content different from that of a traditional IT publisher, news service or analyst firm. Our editors monitor all these sources - plus many others - for critical IT information that they translate into actionable advice for high-level IT and business managers. Subscribers access our practical content and useful decision-making tools through a rich Website, targeted e-mail newsletters and varied RSS feeds. All these outlets feature our business-focused blogs, exclusive interviews with field experts and industry insiders, plus our database of more than 20,000 abstracts summarizing content from 2,500-plus sources. Visit our Web site at: http://www.itbusinessedge.com

About the Author

Mike Stevens began his career as technical writer in semiconductor manufacturing, and then switched to marketing. At his own Silicon Valley-based agency, he worked with an impressive list of clients, including HP, EMC, Fujitsu, and Microsoft. His primary focus for the last seven years has been enterprise software.

Fort McMurray MLS Market Stats for October 2008

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:37:21 -0600


McMurraysBestHomes.com Fort McMurray Alberta MLS Market Stats
Updated November 4, 2008
October 2008	$ Value of Units Sold for Current Month	# of Units Sold for Current Month	# of New Listings for Current Month	# of Active Listings End of Current Month	$ Average Unit Price for Current Month
RESIDENTIAL
1. Single Family	$43,553,501	63	165	452	$691,325
2. Multi-Family	$9,655,600	21	68	136	$459,790
3. Other/Duplex	$4,598,800	9	24	40	$510,977
4. Mobiles	$45,000	1	3	6	$45,000
5. Mobiles/Own Lot	$6,075,500	14	27	92	$433,964
6. Other (Out of Town)	$530,000	1	18	103	$530,000
TOTAL	$64,458,401	109	305	829	$591,361
NON-RESIDENTIAL
1. Vacant Land/Lots	$400,000	3	28	146	$133,333
2. Commercial	$875,000	1	3	20	$875,000
3. Other	$0	0	8	16	$0
TOTAL	$1,275,000	4	39	182	$318,750
GRAND TOTAL	$65,733,401	113	344	1011	$581,712
Number of Residential Units Sold According To Price Category:
Under $69,999	1	$170,000 - 199,999	0
$70,000 - 119,999	0	$200,000 - 249,999	0
$120,000 - 129,999	0	$250,000 - 299,999	1
$130,000 - 139,999	0	$300,000 - 349,999	3
$140,000 - 149,999	1	$350,000 - 499,999	27
$150,000 - 169,999	0	Over $500,000	77
This information is obtained from independent research of Fort McMurray MLS activity and does not necessarily represent all the activity in the market. We believe the information herein represents an accurate picture of the market although we don't warrant it to be so.

Objections are Opportunities

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:34:00 -0600

A friend Dirk Zeller of RealEstateChampions.com sent me this article that I want to share with my fellow REALTORS

We all want the people we are trying to sell a home to, to just "roll over and buy". Even a neophyte Agent finds it easy to make this type of sale. An unskilled salesperson fears hearing objections, but a great salesperson views objections as opportunities.

When you get an objection from buyers or sellers, make sure that you hear clearly what they are saying. If you interpret the objection wrong, the answer you give, no matter how eloquent, will not be sufficient to overcome their area of concern. Let me give you a few techniques I have used to turn objections into dollars. I pause to make sure I clearly understood, and then repeat what they said or ask them to explain further. This technique will do a few things for me. First, I can confirm what their objection was to ensure I understood it properly. Second, it enables me to be well prepared when I respond. I bought myself a few seconds while my brain prepared my answer. I was able to respond in a powerful, well-planned manner. Third, I avoid the big mistake of trying to answer the objection before the buyer or seller gets the objections completely out of his mouth - as if stopping the buyer or seller from stating the objection completely

Your mental approach to an objection will determine your success or failure. Most Agents dread hearing an objection, but most objections result from one of two situations. One is the seller or buyer has legitimate concerns regarding the property and/or your skills to sell his home. The other occurrence of objections is because your presentation was not good enough. You did not convey the confidence that you are the person for the seller to hire for the sale of his home. You did not make a convincing enough presentation for the buyer to purchase the home you showed him. The clients' desire to work with you is a natural ending to a good presentation. If the presentation is weak, the objections will flow like a river. There are really only about forty possible objections in the selling process of real estate. The question is why haven't you learned them all? If you wrote them all down and practiced them for half an hour a day for the next s

The problem is we do not regularly practice countering objections in real estate. The Dallas Cowboys spend four to six hours a day practicing football. The players and coaches spend a couple more hours a day reviewing film and studying their play books during a two month span in spring training, and then they play four practice games in pre-season to prepare for the real NFL season. Next, the players and coaches spend a few hours a day practicing and watching films, five or six days a week to prepare for one 60-minute game. They will spend forty to fifty more times practicing and preparing for the game than actually playing the game. How skilled in sales would you be if you adopted that regiment? How about if you practiced even one hour a day on your skills at overcoming objections? You would become an unstoppable real estate sales person.

The second observation regarding objections is they truly are an opportunity to get a signed contract. When a buyer or seller gives you an objection, he is presenting you with an opportunity to close. He is basically saying, "I like this, but there is one factor I do not like." The buyer might say, "If the home you are showing me had a larger patio, it would be right for me." All you have to do is get him a larger patio, and you have made a sale. You must put your problem-solver hat on. If you solve his problem, then you get the opportunity to ask him to buy. The client can say, "Yes", or give you another objection. If he gives you another objection, you get another opportunity to solve the problem and ask him to buy. This procedure may continue for a few objections. Do not give up; you are getting closer to a sale. As long as you are able to continue to solve his problem, the client will buy. Remember, you are the problem solver.Too many Agents adopt the position of a deer looking in the headlights when an objection comes their way. These Agents have a negative mental attitude towards objections. They view objections as a big wall between them and the sale - a wall so tall they cannot see a way around, over, under, or through.

Join the ranks of the highly-skilled and highly-paid professional REALTORS®. Change your mental approach to objections. Implement a practice program. All it takes is a daily commitment to practice for at least 30 minutes. Commit today; you will not believe the results 60 days from now.

Focus on Success in Life and Business

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:32:01 -0600

A friend Dirk Zeller of RealEstateChampions.com sent me this article that I want to share with my fellow REALTORS

The ability to focus is crucial to achieving success in any endeavor we try. Why do some Agents work 70 hours per week while others can work 40 hours and get the same results? From personal experience, I know I would not have been able to work a four-day workweek without intense focus. How well do you focus? How well do you stay singly concentrated on the task in front of you?

We counsel our clients to time-block their days in order to learn a deeper focus. This time-blocking allows them to stay focused on one thing at that moment. When Michael Jordan is shooting a free throw, he is singularly focused on the free throw. He is not thinking about the foul, the next play they will run, or the defensive scheme to use against his opponents. He is focusing on the free throw and nothing else.

There are always people and circumstances that will try to take you out of your focus such as your prospects, other Agents, your staff, and your clients. The key is to not be distracted by outside forces. During an NBA game, when the visiting team is shooting a free throw, the crowd has long thin balloons that they wave violently to distract the player. Since the backboard is glass, if the shooter is not focused on the rim he will miss the shot. All he should look at and focus on is the rim.

We all have a few rims that we need to focus on every day such as prospecting, lead follow-up, listing appointments, showing property, and writing and negotiating contracts. By focusing intently on these rims daily, you will achieve massive success in real estate sales.

We are all focusing on something at every moment. For example, right now you are focusing on this article. How often are we focusing on the wrong thing? The key is to be focusing on the right thing. If you carry a lighted flashlight that is focused up instead of down at your feet, what would be the odds that you would trip in the dark? The odds, I say, would be fairly good. The flashlight is pointing at something; it just might not be pointing at the right thing.

The most successful people focus on the process, not the product. The product is a natural outcome of doing the process well. The process repeated daily truly separates the producers from the non-producers. The process needs to be broken down to what they need to do each and every day to get the product they desire.

The process in real estate is very simple. It is:

Generate new leads daily
Follow-up on the leads you have daily
Ask all leads for an appointment daily
Qualify all leads and appointments daily
Practice your appointment skills daily (i.e. buyer interview, listing appointment, scripts and dialogues, and objection handling)
Go on appointments daily
Ask your appointments to do business with you

If you focus on this process and incorporate it into your daily routine, the product of commission earned, sales made, listings taken, and financial independence for your family will be assured.

Creating Daily Success in Real Estate

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:30:17 -0600

A friend Dirk Zeller of RealEstateChampions.com sent me this article that I want to share with my fellow REALTORS.

Creating Daily Success in Real Estate

The journey to a successful life should be enjoyed. True success comes from accomplishing the daily activities that will lead you to your ultimate goals in life. Failing or neglecting to accomplish the daily disciplines will lead you down the path of lost opportunities and lost income.

If the penalty for not accomplishing your daily activities or disciplines was implemented or assessed today, we would look at neglecting them differently. The truth is the penalty for neglect is more visible in the future than it is today. The person who eats fried foods does not pay the penalty at 35, he pays at 55. The person who fails to save 10% of his income for retirement is not penalized at 40, but at 60.

If we were zapped today from neglecting the daily disciplines rather than in the future, our daily disciplines would change. We have to make the neglect more painful than the activity. There are three disciplines that must be done daily in real estate for success; working on growth, administration, and working ON your business. Let's look at each individual area comprehensively.

Growth

Growth is the part of the business that brings in the revenue for your business. The more time you spend of your day in growth, the more income you will make. Most Agents work on growth activities at the last minute, when they are running short on funds. The problem is that is too late. To have a steady business income you need a steady approach to growth.

Growth is the prospecting that you do daily. It is the listing appointments that you have for the day. It is the lead follow-up that you are doing on the people who want to buy or sell. It is the meeting with your lender to work on your competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Growth is the critical part to any business. Without growth a business will fail. I know a lot of Agents who are highly skilled in growth and poorly skilled in administration and working on their business, who earn large amounts of money. I know of very few successful Agents who are not highly skilled at growth. You can have huge deficiencies in administration and working on your business but still win the game. You cannot be deficient in growth and win.

Administration

These are the activities that complete the income stream:

Processing the listing so Agents can find it in the MLS
Processing the sold property through escrow
Communicating with your clients on a regular basis
Directing your staff and monitoring their progress

These activities, done well, will enable you to turn clients into fans who will look for new business for you. You will need one to two hours daily for administration. If you create a good system and have a highly trained and skilled staff, your time spent in this area will be reduced. In the perfect system, administration gets done well, but the Agent spends little of his personal time on it.

On your business

This is the time that most people neglect. This working on your business really separates long-term success and growth from just running faster on the treadmill of life. Long-term financial success lies in this section of your day. The ability to earn more profit is also located here.

We are all really employees of our own little real estate business. We are the ones who bring in the business and make the system go. The more time we plan, read, strategize, practice, role-play, and implement our ideas, the more ownership we gain. Becoming the owner of your real estate business only happens through diligent work on your business. Instead of being the employee who works to draw a salary and pay the bills, why not become the one who orchestrates the company? Be the one who has something to sell when he wants to try something else and/or retire.

What do you think your business would look like in 90 days or even six months if you were to implement the below daily routine?

Growth: 3 hours
Administration: 1 to 2 hours
Business: 1 hour

Time block these activities into your daily routine. You will be amazed at the results you will achieve, even in one week. Do not allow the distractions to overtake you and your new daily focus. Do not neglect to do the things that will lead you to success. Do them daily without fail.

The Market has changed in Fort McMurray!!!

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:58:35 -0600

We have gone from listing and selling within a week or two, to actually having some inventory for the Buyers to look at. For the last six months the number of listing has grown. The largest increase in the number of homes has come in the month of October with over 181 new listings. The Average price for a family home in Fort McMurray, Alberta has remain stable at $650,000 through most of the summer and fall.

Timberlea Fort McMurray remain the hottest Real Estate area in Fort McMurray with over 825 listings to date this year and sales of 512 units. Timberlea is the fastest growing new area in the city. Timberlea has a mix of starter and move up homes ranging in price from $520,000 to $1.5 Million. Timberlea also has a great mix of multi-family units ranging in price from $400,000 to $650,000.

For complete up to date market information in the Fort McMurray area please visit www.mcmurraysbesthomes.com or call Patrick Dardis at 780 215 7355

Just Listed in Fort McMurray

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:38:18 -0600

If you are tried of city life then this beautiful home located in the historic Waterways is a must see. Two homes for the price for one. The upstairs suite has been gorgeously renovated with natural wood trim and comes with extra large family room and master suite. The laminate flooring is commercial quality through the main floor. The basement is a spacious 2 bedroom suite, plus a den, mother-in-law suite complete with kitchen, laundry and wood burning fireplace. Most of the appliances are near new. The roof has just been replaced. There is parking for 4 in the back plus an oversized single garage. New RPR and all permits for renovations. This home is Talking House. Visit www.mcmurraysbesthomes.com for complete details and viewing call Patrick Dardis at 780 215 7355

7208 Bulyea Ave

The Credit Crunch & Your Mortgage

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:47:29 -0500

A friend Gary Tagg sent me this report.

With the election now in the past, the big news headlines are all about the economy. Terms such as "credit crunch" have been coined to try and describe what the international financial sector has been experiencing.

We thought we would spend a few minutes and go over how this credit crunch has affected the mortgage markets.

1. Existing Adjustable Rate Mortgages

If you are fortunate enough to be in a floating interest rate mortgage, you have probably noticed your payments decrease over the past several months. You will also notice in November that your payments will have gone down again.

Prime, which your mortgage rate is floating against has gone from 6.25% all the way down to 4.0%. For many of our clients, that means an interest rate less than 3.5% on your mortgage. These current rates are likely to stay low (or even up to 0.75% lower still) until 2010.

The Bank of Canada released a statement on Tuesday indicating that we are still likely to see a few more rate cuts saying "some further monetary stimulus will likely be required" and has indicated that inflation in 2009 will be close to 0.60%, much lower than the ideal 2.0%.

2. New Adjustable Rate Mortgages (and Home Equity Lines of Credit)

While we used to offer rates as low as Prime LESS 0.90% on Adjustable Rate Mortgages, those rates have slowing edged their way up. In the last 4 weeks, we have seen two trends with this type of mortgage offering:

1. Rates have gone from being LESS than Prime to being MORE than Prime. Today, our lowest Adjustable Rate Mortgage is at Prime PLUS 0.75%.

2. Some lenders have stopped offering floating rate products altogether. For a few days even CIBC stopped offering them, but brought them back (albeit at a much higher rate) a few days later.

3. Fixed Rate Mortgages

We have recently seen rates on Fixed Rate Mortgages go up, but they haven't yet increased beyond levels we have seen in the last year. If you are currently in a Fixed Rate Mortgage, you can rest assured that your payments will not change until your mortgage comes up for renewal.

4. Mortgage Renewals

If your mortgage is coming up for renewal, there are many factors to consider. Please give us a call at 1-877-241-8934 or visit http://www.albertahomemortgages.com before signing any renewal papers!

Once you know that you are ready to purchase a home in Fort McMurray, please visit www.McMurraysBestHomes.com or call Patrick Dardis of Royal LePage True North Realty at 780 715-1382

Home Maintenance Checklist for Fall and Winter

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:37:30 -0500

Home Maintenance Checklist for Fall and Winter in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

As the winter season approaches and the air become crisp, it's time to start thinking about preparing your house for the season. The winter season means spending more time indoors, hence roofs need to shed rain and snow, windows and doors need to reject the cold, and the heating system needs to keep rooms comfortable. If any of these components don't hold up, you might be faced with scrambling around in the wet, cold and dark to fix them.

By handling these important yet reasonably easy tasks now, you can avoid considerable grief later.

Outdoor Preparation

Check the roof for cracked or missing shingles, bald spots on shingles, missing or damaged flashing, and other conditions that might allow leaks. Replace any roof shingles that are missing or damaged. Seal minor cracks or tears with roofing cement.
Check the gutters. If they are clogged with leaves and debris, clean them. Gutters prevent basement and foundation flooding and water damage to siding, windows, and doors.
Check the siding for cracks or damage and seal any leaky spots with clear caulking compound.
Windows and doors. Make sure they are properly sealed with weather stripping and replace any damaged parts. Weather stripping prevents drafts and winter heat loss.
Trim trees and bushes away from the house.
Cover air conditioner and barbecue to prevent winter damage.
Store lawn and patio furniture in a shed or basement. If space is limited, weather-resistant covers can protect outdoor furnishings.
Close your pool before leaves start to fall, and night-time temperatures begin to drop and you risk an algae bloom.
Drain and shut off outdoor water faucets and remove and store garden hoses.
Store kids toys indoors or in an outdoor shed to prevent rusting and fading.
Check and repair exterior lighting before daylight fades.
Scrape peeling paint and apply touch up paint to your siding, trim and fences, and apply waterproofing sealer to your deck if necessary.
Examine driveways and walkways for cracks. Larger cracks should be sealed to keep out water.

Lawn and Garden

Prepare planting beds when the soil is relatively dry. By adding soil and mulch to your beds, you'll be a step ahead for spring planting.
Plant spring blooming bulbs and perennials.
Protect roses, saplings and small trees by sheltering them with a burlap screen.
Pull weeds to reduce the number of seedlings next spring.
Mow grass short for the final cut of the year by reducing the cutting height gradually to 3.5 cm (from 7.4 cm) until the grass stops growing.
Check ground grading around the house. All surfaces next to the walls should be sloped to shed water away from the house. This is most important on warm winter days, as melting snow runs quickly across the surface of frozen ground. If the grading is incorrect, water will potentially flow into the house, causing basement leakage. Now is the time to use a shovel to re-slope the grass, or call a paving contractor to correct a negatively sloped walkway or driveway.

Indoor Preparation

Bring container plants inside and make sure they are free of pests. Doing so may enable plants to survive the season and bloom again in spring.
Caulk around window and door casings to keep out air and water. If your house has wood siding with window frames that stand out from the siding, caulk the top and sides of the frame. Don't caulk under the sill as this space should be left open to allow moisture inside the wall to escape. If your house is brick or stone, with window frames that are set into the finish material, caulk all four edges of each frame where the brick mould meets the masonry.
Clean or replace Furnace filters as needed. Check and clean dryer vent, air conditioner, stove hood and room fans. Keep heating and cooling vents clean and free from furniture and draperies.
Ensure that all smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers are in good working order. Replace batteries as needed, or at least twice each year.
Have your heating system checked by a licensed heating/air-conditioning professional. Most furnace manufacturers recommend annual inspections.
Have your chimney(s) inspected by a chimney service and, if necessary, cleaned. Cleaning is generally recommended at least once a year for an active fireplace.
Store plenty of salt or rock salt, snow shovels, and any other items you will need during the winter.
Examine the basement floor and walls for cracks or leaks; seal as needed.

If you plan to reside elsewhere during the winter months, you may want to partially shutdown your home. In addition to the tips above, consider the following:

Leave the temperature at its lowest setting, usually between 5 to 7 degrees Celsius or install a low-heat thermostat to maintain the air temperature at approximately 5 degrees Celsius
Turn off and drain the water heater; leave a reminder to refill before restarting.
Keep the electricity on so lights will continue to function (put lights on timers).
Unplug the microwave, clothes dryer, televisions and other appliances not in use.
To avoid large repair bills and the hassle associated with breakdowns, take the time now to develop an action plan for the coming months. You'll feel secure in your warm home or while you're away from home.

A Fort McMurray winter can be hard on a house, following the easy steps above will help preserve your investment and prevent any unnecessary chores or repairs that might be difficult to do during winter.

For all your Real Estate needs in Fort McMurray, please visit www.McMurraysBestHomes.com or call Patrick Dardis of Royal LePage True North Realty at 780-715-1382

Dealing with Indoor Mould

Patrick (Pat) Dardis (Royal LePage True North Realty) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:17:25 -0500

What is mould?

Mould is microscopic fungi, a group of organisms which also includes mushrooms and yeasts. Fungi is highly adapted to grow and reproduce rapidly, producing spores and mycelia in the process.

You encounter mould every day. Foods spoil because of mould. Leaves decay and pieces of wood lying on the ground rot due to mould. That fuzzy black growth on wet window sills is mould. Paper or fabrics stored in a damp place get a musty smell that is due to the action of mould.

Mould, however, can be useful to people. The drug penicillin is obtained from a specific type of mould. Some foods and beverages are made by the actions of mould. Good mould is selected and grown in a controlled fashion.

Mould is undesirable when it grows where we don't want it to, such as in our homes. Over 270 species of mould have been identified as living in Canadian homes. Mould that grows inside may be different from mould found outside.

What makes mould grow?

Mould needs moisture and nutrients to grow. High moisture levels can be the result of water coming in from outside, through the floor, walls or roof; or from plumbing leaks; or moisture produced by the people living in the house through daily activities like bathing, washing clothes or cooking. Water enters the home when there is a weakness or failure in the structure. Moisture accumulates within a house when there is not enough ventilation to expel that moisture.

Different kinds of mould grow on different materials. Certain kinds of mould like an extremely wet environment. Other kinds of mould may be growing even if no water can be seen. Dampness inside the material can be enough to allow the mould to grow.

What are the health effects of exposure to mould?

In addition to often ruining surfaces and materials upon which it is present, certain strains of mould can also be quite damaging to our health. Indoor mould has been implicated in causing cold symptoms, headaches, difficulty breathing, skin irritation, allergic reactions and aggravated asthma symptoms. Pregnant women, infants, the elderly and those with respiratory problems or weakened immune systems are more susceptible to mould.

How do I know if I have mould?

Mould may be any colour: black, white, red, orange, yellow, blue or violet. Dab a drop of household bleach onto a suspected spot. If the stain loses its colour or disappears, it may be mould. If there is no change, it probably isn't mould. Sometimes mould is hidden and cannot be seen. A musty or earthy smell often indicates the presence of mould. Even when you don't notice a smell, wet spots, dampness or evidence of a water leak are indications of moisture problems and that mould may follow.

White salt marks forming on concrete might indicate that excessive moisture is moving through the foundation. Get your weeping tiles checked by a professional.

How can I prevent mould?

Keep it out. Although mould usually develops due to the conditions outlined above, it can also be brought into the home on furnishings, potted plants, stored clothing and bedding material that we might bring in from outside. It's important that you check that items are mould-free before bringing them into your home.

Keep it clean. Old-fashioned housekeeping is the first line of defence against mould. There are no strict guidelines for how often to give your home a good scrub, but people who are more sensitive to allergens should clean more often, perhaps on a weekly basis, while others might be able to go two weeks between rigorous cleaning.

Keep it dry. You should keep humidity levels low in your home. Give your home as much ventilation as you can comfortably achieve. Opening windows when cooking or when taking a bath or shower helps to reduce the amount of moisture in the air and you should keep on top of any areas that are prone to condensation. Wipe down kitchen work surfaces regularly and clear up any spills or stagnant pools of water. If some materials cannot be completely dried (eg., drywall or insulation), you should replace them.

Keep it uncluttered. Don't store boxes up against concrete walls or floors. This could lead to moisture getting into the boxes and creating a haven for mould while damaging your goods.

How do I deal with mould and moisture?

Keep an eye out for leaks by identifying small pools of water, any discolouration or wet spots. Fridges, freezers, air conditioners and leaky washing machines are all easy targets and either a visible mould patch or a musty smell is usually the giveaway.

There are various products on the market that will help, such as fungicidal products. Wipe down affected areas with a fungicidal product that carries a Health and Safety Executive "approval number". Dry-clean mildewed clothes and shampoo mouldy carpets. Where possible, remove lining paper and wallpaper where you suspect mould growth, treat the plaster and then paint or paper the area again. After treating mould-affected areas, redecorate using a good-quality fungicidal paint.

If you have problems controlling mould or a family member suffers from respiratory or other health problems that appear to be aggravated inside the home, seek a professional by contacting your local Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CHMC). The CMHC can provide you with a list of individuals who have completed the CMHC Residential Indoor Air Quality Investigator program.