It is time to start thinking about getting things ready for another great year in Real Estate.  Usually before the end of the year, I start planning some new things before the spring market and while I am shopping for the holidays, cooking for the holidays, I am still thinking Real Estate and how can my business grow and what can I do to improve.  Every year we have to improve something otherwise we don’t grow.  I try to come up with 5 new ways to advertise this year that I did not do the previous year to attract new prospects.  So this year I thought I would share some ideas with everyone

1.                  If you are trying to prospect short sales, then look up upcoming foreclosure sales in the local paper and send them a note asking if you can help them in any way.  There is always ways to stop a foreclosure, including bankruptcy and sometimes if you just pick up the phone and ask the bank (80% of the time they say yes) so that there is time to sell their home and keep them in the home longer especially through the winter while you sell it.  No one wants to move out in the winter, but banks don’t care if someone is left out in the cold (literally) so we have to care. 

2.                  If you are attempting to get expired listings, then check for them daily, and send the prospect a postcard letting them know that you would like to give their home sale a try.  Most of the time, people just want someone different (even though the previous agent probably did everything they could).

3.                  After the Holidays are over, people are thinking of the new year so it is a good time to send out calendars (have your picture somewhere on the calendar) to some of your favorite neighborhoods then after those are sent out, either by mail or hand deliver, then be seen in the neighborhood, drive around with your sign on your vehicle so people know you exist, waive to people outside, show your face, talk to people, and they may remember that you sent them a calendar and you may get a call.

4.                  Organize your database.  Send out Christmas cards to your old clients and let them know referrals are always the best gift and this is a time of giving.

5.                  Bake some cookies and put them in tins and take them to businesses near your business so they know you are right around the corner.  Drop off some cookies with a list of real estate services you provide including short sales, and let them know you are always looking for referrals and you love staying busy during the Winter.  You never know, they may remember that someone they know needs an Agent.

Well there you have it, 5 new ideas that I came up with pretty quickly.  I am sure that everyone could add to this and we could come up with a great list of ways to improve business to help everyone improve.  We should all be doing well in this business if we put some effort into it.  The more effort the more success we will have. 

I wish everyone much success this year and every year after. 

I RECEIVED ANOTHER CALL FROM SOMEONE WHO HAD HIRED MARILYN SCHEER LAW GROUP IN IRVINE CALIFORNIA, (the caller is and has property in MD) TO COMPLETE THEIR LOAN MODIFICATION. 

HOMEOWNER GAVE THE MARILYN SCHEER LAW GROUP $3500 TO ATTEMPT A LOAN MODIFICATION AND NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE.  ALMOST A YEAR HAS GONE BY.  HOMEOWNER CALLED BANK AND THEY SAID THEY HAVE NEVER HEARD FROM THIS LAW GROUP. 

HOMEOWNER CALLED THE MARILYN SCHEER LAW GROUP AND ASKED FOR HER MONEY BACK AND WAS TOLD THAT SHE FORFEITED HER REFUND BY CONTACTING THE BANK THEMSELVES. 

WHAT??????  ARE YOU KIDDING.   WHAT A TOTAL SCAM THAT IS.

I SENT THIS CALLER DIRECTLY TO HER FBI FIELD OFFICE TO FILE A FORMAL COMPLAINT.  IF OTHERS HAVE HAD ISSUES WITH THIS LAW GROUP, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FBI FIELD OFFICE AND EXPLAIN THE SITUATION TO THEM.  IF NO ONE COMPLAINS, NOTHING GETS FIXED.

I HAVE HAD AT LEAST 10 CALLS FROM PEOPLE THAT HAD GIVEN MONEY UP TO $5000 TO THIS FIRM AND HAD NOTHING ACCOMPLISHED.

THERE ARE TONS AND TONS OF BAD REVIEWS ON THE INTERNET PERTAINING TO THIS FIRM.  PLEASE CHECK THE COMPANY OUT BEFORE GIVING LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY.

AND IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, THEN IT IS. 

ANNOUNCEMENT

Since I decided to get my Broker's license, I decided it was time to go on my own.  My new Brokerage is called:

I am really excited to finally be doing this as this has been long overdue.

I finally passed the Virginia Brokers exam.  It is the next step in my real estate career.  I have been procrastinating for a couple of years in doing this and now I can say I finally accomplished this goal.  Feels really good to have completed this. It was definitely not an easy test and had to study really hard but it all paid off.  All that studying, classes, pre-tests, it was all worth it.

I just wanted to share my happiness and excitement with everyone here at Active Rain.  Thanks for all the tips and advice everyone gave me on my previous post when I was studying.  Everyone here is always so helpful and great at sharing all of their knowledge.

The short sale process has improved tremendously over the past year with Bank of America (my opinion).  There are still a lot of people that don't understand that this is an option for them even if they have 2 mortgages with Bank of America. 

I have successfully completed short sales with 1st and 2nd mortgages with Bank of America with over $200K loss on some of them.  If you need understanding of a short sale or just need to weigh in on your options on whether or not to do a short sale with Bank of America, there is a lot of help out there and they will all give you reasons to sell your home in a short sale instead of letting your home foreclose.

I think this is one of the best times to consider a short sale with Bank of America. I have been working with negotators that are competent and understanding and able to hold on to the file without losing anything from it (even though it is all electronic now). 

One of the worst things a person can do when they are in financial distress is procrastinate.

I have started studying for my Brokers License since I feel it is the next step in my career.  I really enjoy real estate and find it very satisfying. I have been procrastinating this move for about a year and decided that it is time for me to get moving on this.

I am told that this is very difficult to do, but I will stay positive and study hard. I am not such a great student so I will have to study extra hard.

If you have any tips or advice to help me, it would be greatly appreciated.

A few weeks ago, I received a call from someone who has found me through someone who I have helped in the past, asking me for advice on their ongoing short sale.  They just had some questions, even though they have an agent working for them, but they called me because I have experience in bankruptcy and they are thinking that  they may be heading in that direction and asking me for an appointment at the law firm I work at.  I found through this conversation that their listing agent has not been doing everything they can with the negotiations.  Apparently (through the sellers contacting the bank themselves) there is still missing documents, etc. and time is running out.  So I decided to call the agent and let them know that their sellers contacted me and tell them what I found out so they can get the documents in, not asking for anything in return, or trying to steal a client,  just doing a good deed and trying to help someone from a foreclosure situation.    Left messages.  No call back.  I finally called the Broker to let him know what is going on and he will step in.  It is disturbing when something like this happens and they take on something that they are not putting the time to handle.  The worst thing is when the sellers told me that their agent has not returned their call either.   Some time went by and I was at the attorneys office, and there they were meeting with the attorneys because their house was going to auction the next day.  Nothing ever got resolved and all of this could have been prevented. 

I have been given so many reasons why someone should short sale their home.  Let me give you some of the reasons:

1.  My house is upside down, I can afford the payment, I just don't want to pay it.

2.  My neighbor sold his house as a short sale, I should be able to also.

3.  I am angry with my mortgage company, I want to just short sale the house.

4.  I am tired of working, do you think I could short sale my house like everyone else.

5.  I just want to short sale to my brother and then I will still live here and save $150K and no one has to know.

6.  Why can't I short sale my house because I make $250K a year and my payment is only $1500.  It is still underwater and I shouldn't have to pay for it. I will make them take their house back. 

These are only a few reasons that people give me that want to short sale their home.  Sometimes the reasons are just not good enough.  To short sale your home you must be in financial distress and there are guidelines to follow for qualifying for a short sale. 

I someone needs assistance in deciding if they qualify for a short sale, please contact me.

I get a phone call yesterday and it was someone interested in viewing my listing.  I asked him if he had an agent, he said "No, and I don't want one, because I can get a better deal if I don't have an agent".

WOW!!! How wrong was he.  It is so important for buyers to be represented by a Professional Real Estate Agent during one of the largest purchases of their lives. 

I encouraged him to hire an agent because of the things that can happen when he is not protected and I told him most likely the Listing agent is not going to cut down their commission because he is representing both sides since there is probably a listing agreement that specifies the commission amount and the only one that could lose anything is HIM.  Of course he did not say much after that, so we will see if I end up with a potential buyer or someone else may gain because of my conversation with him or he will possibly ends up getting a bad deal and taken advantage of. 

I will check on him a few days as a follow up.

http://www.stellabarbour.com/Default.asp

I always said March is the time to get organized, start farming some neighborhoods with some fresh postcards, re-look at my business cards (see if the picture still looks like me), come up with a spring market schedule, decide on what advertising I want to do this season and plan to sell more homes than last spring.  You have to set your goals and write them down in order to accomplish them.  If you don't write them down and look at them every day, you will not achieve what you are hoping.  It is all about planning. I hope everyone achieves their spring season real estate goals this year.

I wish everyone great success!!!!