My fellow colleagues...if you love history, romance, and adventure...BROKEN LIFE...A Fight for Forever is for you! So, I really got tired of doing shortsales, my kids were complaining, I was being a grouch, soooo.... I wrote a historical romance while I redefined my real estate goals and my life.
I refused to work with sellers who demanded money from a shortsale and buyers who wanted the house at my expense. I took a chance and picked up listings that made sense.
So Listen. Please take a few moments to check out my literary work at www.mereally.com. Mind you, the website is still under construction, and a few kinks have to be worked out, but I was bursting with too much excitement to withhold the good news! With that being said, you can view the first two chapters of my WONDERFUL writing--RIGHT NOW--by keying in www.mereally.com or click the book cover. I promise you wont be disappointed.
Anyway, I hope you will support my endeavor...and please spread the word to your e-mail partners, your book club members, your friends and family and colleagues, won't you? Pretty please!!!!
p.s. When you order the e-book and the paperback copy, I will personally autograph your book if it's one of the first 500. Also, when you make a purchase, you will be entered into a gift-drawing for a trip to Paris, a car or cash. Details of the drawing are found at the end of the book.
I hope you enjoy it.
I missed you guys, I know my down time will be your entertainment. You all are the greatest people on earth and we have been through every financial storm out there and we know how to adjust. Hope to hear from you.
So what have I been doing? I just finished my first book. "Broken Life - A Fight For Forever" It is in print now and should hit the streets in about six weeks. (Shameless plug!!)
I am so proud of out industry. You know for a while I thought that only the crooks would be left to ruin the lives of the most vunerable people doing this time of crisis. Well I see a few of us honest people have stuck in this games of dog and cat.
Last week I sat across that table from my seller who was selling his home as a short sale; while we sat there the buyer's agent demanded 3% commission although the MLS said commission was subject to third party approval and told me she either gets the 3% or she would tell her client to walk. My client's wife had a baby the day before and I thought they had been through enough.
The buyer's agent told me to suck it up. That broke my heart. Every short sale I have worked on has had its share of trouble but "Suck it Up" just plain hurt.
I took it like a pro, no friend to my client and took the cut. Why should my client suffer for someone else's total disregard to the whole third party approval clause. Sucks huh!!
I am over it almost. I, like so many agents count on at least getting half of what the banks offer. I now have no choice but to think of putting on 2.5% buyers agent commission on all of my short sale listings. Breaks my heart but fair is fair. And this time I felt cheated.
After finally getting an approved short sale, now we have found out that the area the house is located has been labeled a "declining market" and the buyers now need not 5% down but 10%. They have the 5% and have no other seasoned sources.
Available to the top bidder. 19 pre-forclosures, most are brand new homes, never lived in, some by the water, some near the mountains and a few in between. Email me today and I will send you a list of pre-foreclosures in any area you desire within Maryland and Virginia. Want to conduct your own search go to http://www.vangiewilliams.com and go to the tab "Search for Yourself" and create your own search and even get daily or weekly updates. Properties priced from the low $100's to $900's.
Are you facing foreclosure, visit http://www.vangiewilliams.com and go to Foreclosure Avoidance for complete instructions on how to save your home or sell your home before your credit is ruined.
I am well experienced in foreclosure prevention and I work hard for my clients. I have negotiated not only on the side of the sellers, but for buyers as well.
If you need immediate assistance with selling your home before it goes into foreclosure call Vangie Williams today 1-866-573-9194. Real Estate with Personality.
SAVE YOUR CREDIT - AVOID FORECLOSURE
Don't Run From It, Don't Ignore The Letters, Don't Just Let It Be!
I have been asked a lot, WHY DON'T YOU FORM A TEAM. LIFE WOULD BE A BREEZE. A breeze yes but at whose expense ?
I know lot of agents with teams. And I have always wondered how is each team member compensated fairly? Well this morning I was awaken by a phone call from an agent on a very prominent team in Maryland and she was complaining that she has done open houses for members on her team and she couldn't understand why she didn't get so much as a thank you but worst not a penny for participating in the group.
She then went on to tell me that the team leader has paid all of her fees and dues for the past two years and she can't leave the team unless she repays close to $4000. Now she is a buyers agent only on this team, she has given her listings to the team leader with the understanding that she was to get a referral fee for doing so.
Ready for this the referral is as follows. The team leader told her she would get a 50% referral fee from her. Well not exactly, what the team leader meant was the she would get 50% of her 30% referral fee.
Not only that she can't leave the team for 18 months without a $2500 penalty.
Now the team leader is a top producer because of the listings are in her name first and a team member's. The listing team members are usually her relatives or close friends.
I told my friend to get a lawyer and speak with her broker. She told me that he agrees with the team leader's concept. HUH? ISN'T SLAVERY ILLEGAL?!!!!!
See why I work alone. I have assistants but they are hourly and not agents. And the agents I work with are agents I am mentoring for 10% of their first three transactions and beyond that we referred clients to each other with a standard 25-30% referral fee depending on the listing. Now that's a team concept.
When I post directionals, its an opportunity to sell me to the owner of that corner.
I usually knock on the door to ask can I use their corner for the directional. I also ask the owner can I send them my newsletter as a thank you for allowing me to borrowing their space in front of their property for a few days. If they say yes to the newsletter... YEAHHHH but even if they say they really don't want the newletter, I surprise them with a gift card for $25 to a local store, pizza shop, or movie rental store with my card and a thank you card for using their corner.
I have gotten several clients and referrals from this and you know, they owners usually end up asking for my newsletter anyway.
I have a client's home in short sale, the property has been put in land trust for the purposes of the sale since the client has tremendous debt, and now my client's cousin who owns a corporation wants to buy the home at the short sale price throug the corporation.
The cousin has never bought a property under the corporation and has asked the following questions.
1. What is the rule regarding renting the property back to the current sellers at the lower value?
2. How should the contract be written, he is using only his corporation credit and does not want his personal credit pulled for the new loan?
3. Does he have to personally quarantee this loan?
We went pass today (during daylight, call us chicken later) and the house was freezing. I checked the thermostat and I thought it was nuts, It said 68 degrees. My two agent friends laughed and said that maybe the house was going through menopause and we all laughed for minutes. I still felt like I was being watched, really bad feeling.
I left the other two agents in the house and walked the outside just asking GOD to bless the house and I that feeling never left me. I could hear men laughing but being that we were three women on an adventure, definately didn't jive. So I knocked on the window to get the attention of my two nutty friends who convinced me to do this crazy mess to only hear doors slam. Next thing i heard were screams and the two nuts (my friends) running out of the house saying, the doors to the closets slammed shut and they heard men laughing.
SO GHOSTS GOT JOKES!!! I have a good one on them. I have called a few friends who are spiritialist they will be there Saturday Morning at 3:00 to talk business. I will keep you guys updated.
By the way... One of the agents swore that one of the ghosts was wearing a dirty shirt and confederate army pants. But she has convinced herself that she forced the thought into existence. THE SAGA CONTINUES...
*****ONE QUESTION... DOES A BUYERS AGENT HAVE THE RIGHT TO PUBLICIZE A HAUNTED HOUSE OR ARE WE BY BEING AN AGENT HELD TO THE SAME STANDARD OF PRIVACY AS THE LISTING AGENT?*****
Last evening some clients ask me to show them a few houses in Central Virginia near the Civil War Battlefields(need I say more). Of course I will, well here we go.
So I walked in quickly as my husband, and the couple walked around the house. Room to room I ran, this house is gorgeous, it smells great (like fresh strawberries), and it felt so cozy. But I felt like I was being watched. The was a newly constructed super colonial with all the bells and whistles. Just as I got over the being watched, every walked in and I kid you not... THE FRONT DOOR SLAMMED AND THE GAS FIREPLACE LIT. Wow!!!!!!
I chuckled and said welcome home and the wife asked the question of the night, "Is this house haunted?" I told her with a straight face, "Naw... I think a little spirited, maybe". We both laughed. Suddenly all of the the lights blinked off and on, and I swear we both stopped in our tracks. I personally thought about running like the wind but my professionalism kicked in and I tried to continue the tour.
As I took them upstairs, the climate became ice cold. As we went back down it warmed up. We went into the kitchen and one of the burners lit up. My mind was in full motion. I told the client, maybe the house is rigged as a smart home! The husband was like, "THAT'S IT!!" But one problem nothing in the literature indicated such technology. So, I called the listing agent, who basically said he never went there alone after getting lockout of the house while getting ready for an open house. He told me he had unlocked the door, and propped the front door with a table, so that he could see as anyone approached. He told me that it was impossible for door to have slammed shut. So he called the sellers and asked if they could come over and open the door, they told him, "NO WAY!!!" He explained again, and they told them never again will they step foot on that land, that they live in the house only 2 days and vacated to a hotel on the 3rd. That the movers moving in, had furniture move right in front of them and doors lock while they were moving in their belongings. Their dog was freaked out to the point that he would follow them, looking around as I he was being followed. The final straw was when the wife was dressing, and exited the closet and saw two shadows in the hall outside of the master bedroom. NOW REMEMBER, I AM STILL IN THE HOUSE LISTENING TO THIS, ALONE IN THE KITCHEN!! And we had had more than we could handle happen already.
Just as I said, I don't want to hear anymore, we all heard a man's voice yell, "NO!!" and we saw two shadows literally walked across the great room. My clients laughed and the husband said in a quiet voice, "Let's leave now, I have a very bad feeling about this house!". We knew it was definitely time to leave.
My husband asked me did I hear anything. Not one thing. Just as I was literally running through this huge house turning off lights, the wife let our an ear piercing scream and said leave the lights, I don't want to be here when it gets dark. She said something touched here. I didn't need to be told twice. But, well you know the rules. Lights out when done. My husband, her husband and I turned off all the lights in record time. And when we got to the door, the fireplace relit and we decided to run to the car.
My clients said they were going to call the local paper. The listing agent said he has had it with the house, the sellers are relatives, 3% beginning buyer agent coop and a sizable selling bonus. He has had only 6 showings in almost two years and 5 of the 6 left without turning out the lights or locking the door.
What would you suggest, the listing agent said he would gladly give up the listing? I feel so sorry for the owners, it took them two years to build the house, they lived in it to 2 days and its been on the market for over a year and they have been paying the mortgage the entire time because they are building another home to replace this one. They had the land blessed before breaking ground on the new house. But, I would have thought that the builder had experienced similar occurrences? Would you take the listing?
By the way, the listing agent is a fellow Rainer!! And he wants (needs) suggestions on this as well. So be gentle. Neither one of us are crazy and the house is gorgeous!!
What does it mean to you to be a Realtor? How should we go into 2008 to be a successful field?
To me it means, honestly, loyalty and friendship. It means knowing that my clients appreciate what I have accomplished for them and that I did it with pride. It means driving down the road and seeing a property that made a family happy, especially during the holidays. It means seeing dreams fulfilled and the smiles at the settlement table.
To make it more successful, I think that we should drown ourselves in education, not just continuing education, but the knowledge of real estate, lending, the laws, financial management, communication and even in some cases pyschology. We need to understand that we have the power to change our industry from the negatives being spoken to the positives that lead to wealth, not just money, but happiness. We need to get rid of the greedy cut throat type agents and understand that there is enough business to make each and everyone of us successful.
Happy New Year Everyone. I wish you a happy, successful, and safe 2008.
What does it take to be a great agent? If you have a choice between earning a high commission or helping a family fulfill their dreams, which would you choose -- line your wallet or make your heart happy?
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
;)
Links;)
Archives
