Coinciding Settlements are the Worst - 01/24/07 09:30 AM
As a seller of a property a Coinciding Settlements Contingency is worse than a Sale of Home Contingency in a couple of ways.  You must be aware of these differences when explaining the contingency with your seller or you could be in for a very bad experience.  Here are the items that make the Coinciding Settlements Contingency good for the buyer but bad for the seller.
No Kick-Out Clause - A seller has no opportunity to have another contract bump the current contract like you can with a sale of home contingency.  (Keep in mind I, this is the contract in the D.C. … (0 comments)

Know Thy Seller - 01/24/07 08:42 AM
In the last three years I have gone on over 500 listing appointments in and around Loudoun County, Virginia.  In that three year period I spent my time focused on things like knowing the marketplace, perfecting my listing presentation and generating listing leads.  I also learned early on that it was important to quickly determine the personality type of a seller in order to cater a presentation to the person.  I used the DISC profile system.  It had 4 personality types and ideally a listing presentation should be tailored to each personality type.  Problem is, this is not always easy to … (0 comments)

A Crash Course in the Economics of Real Estate - 01/18/07 03:28 PM
How is the market?  What is the market doing?  What will the market be like in 6 months?  Is the market going to keep going down? These are just some of the questions we get asked every day by our clients, our prospects, friends and acquaintances. 
It is a question we need to be able to answer without hesitation and with conviction because the answer to this question if done correctly can lead to higher close rates and more business.  So how do we figure out what is happening in the market?  Being that we are just one little agent in a sea of thousands in our markets, … (13 comments)

What is the Future of Blogging and the Real Estate Agent? - 01/17/07 11:04 AM
A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about the Top 50 Teams and their contributions to the blogosphere.  A new list of the Top 25 Power Teams according to RISMedia and Real Estate Magazine.  These 25 teams were selected because of, amoung other things, their "innovative marketing and management skills".  Several of the team made both lists but their are a lot of teams that were not on LORE Magazine list. 
When asked by RISMedia what contributed to the success of their teams only one agent made any mention of technology, no one mentioned anything regarding the internet or blogging.  Direct … (2 comments)

One Additional Sale per Quarter - Guaranteed - 01/15/07 07:49 PM
To all the agents out there who want to do more business this year, I have a GUARANTEED way for you to do it.  It will work if you do mostly listings and it works if you just work buyers.  PREVIEW your market.  If you spend one 3 or 4 hour block each week previewing houses for sale in your area you will close at least one listing lead or one buyer lead per quarter.  You could probably close even more if you previewed more.  There are 4 reasons why this works.
Previewing gives you confidence.  When you know your inventory, it … (5 comments)

42956 Ohara Ct., Ashburn Virginia - 01/14/07 08:45 AM
Beautiful 4 BR, 3.5 BA colonial on cul-de-sac Lot with privacy and mature trees.  You can check out the pictures of the views and the interior at the CC Sells website.
  Best Features:
  1. New Hardwood Flooring Throughout Main Level
  2. Kitchen wiht New Granite Countertops and Stainless Steel Appliances
3. Home Theatre System Including 106" High Definition Projection TV with 7.1 Channel Surround Sound (Valued at $20,000) Conveys
Not so Good Features:
1. 1 Car Garage
2. Corner Lot
If you have been through this property and have any comments we would greatly appreciate your feedback.
http://realdiablog.typepad.com/blogback/2007/01/42956_ohara_ct_.html
… (0 comments)

Activity Strong in Loudoun County - 01/14/07 08:40 AM
Real estate sales were very good during the month of December.  The question is would that strength carry over to the new year.  The answer is yes.  In the first 10 days of the year, both buyer activity and seller activity has been very brisk.  Although this is readily apparent in the actually contracts ratified or listings activated, it is apparent in the activity that is a precursor to sales and listings.
In our office the number of buyer leads and buyer search activity has increased 75% in the last 10 days.  We are seeing a spike in the number of people … (0 comments)

You are How You Rate!! - 01/12/07 08:22 AM
The guys at AR have designed the posts we publish to be rated by the bloggers on AR.  I really like this feature for a number of reasons, both as a reader and a writer.  And when used in conjunction with the other cool features on AR, it can be useful in making the posts we read and write more relevant.  But if we don't use it correctly or don't use it at all, I think we will be missing out on an opportunity to strengthen the site.  Here is how I use it to analyze other posts and analyze the … (13 comments)

Who Cares if You are a Realtor? Nobody it seems! - 01/10/07 06:43 AM
In the last ten days I have performed an unofficial poll regarding Realtors.  I polled two sets of people, real estate agents who are Realtors and people who know I sell real estate but are not in the real estate business.  I asked one question of each set of people.  The realtors were asked "How many times has a client or potential client, who knew you were in the real estate business, asked if you were a Realtor?".
About a dozen agents from my office as well as a couple of agents I am transacting business with now were posed this question.  … (91 comments)

Tag - I'm It - 2007 Goals - 01/09/07 06:52 PM
I was tagged this morning for a list a my 2007 Goals.  I will try and make this short and sweet.  I limit it to 3 Real Estate related Goals and 1 Personal Goal.   Thanks Danilo.
1.  My goal this year for real estate transactions is 60 sides.  Mostly listings because that is my specialty but I want to add a small number of buy side transactions this year.  I will say 12 is my buy side goal.
2.  Blog consistently throughout the entire year.  I have 4 different blogs that reach 4 different audiences.  My goal is to keep these blogs full of … (3 comments)

Zillow Responds to Active Rain Blog - 01/04/07 03:40 PM
I want to write a follow up to a post I wrote last month regarding the new Listing service Zillow rolled out in December.  I wrote about what I saw as a serious flaw in the posting of listings to Zillow.  It seemed as if Zillow was using credit card verification to verify Listings as belonging to a particular agent.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they did that.
But give credit to David G. over at Zillow for reading my posts on Active Rain and on my personal blog and responding to the posts and the comments that followed.  … (3 comments)

Top 50 Real Estate Teams Don't Blog - 01/04/07 08:17 AM
Back in November, Lore Magazine published the list of what it determined was the top 50 Agents and Teams by Volume and Transactions for 2005.  I'm sure there is a reason for taking 11 months to compile the data (perhaps they don't use computers), but that is for another post.  The question that came to my mind was how prevelant was blogging in the marketing plans of the top performers.  I took some time yesterday to run through the list of the top teams by volume and do a little investigating.
I first looked for the websites of each of the teams.  … (36 comments)

 

Tony Arko

Ashburn, VA

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