I was reading the post below regarding a copycat website by Tammy Anderson-Owens this morning and it triggered something in me that has been a hot button of mine for a while now and I have been preaching to my agents about it constantly with little or no change.

"A very interesting thing has happened and I shared it with my office today thinking they would get a kick out of it.  We were talking about blogging and A/R and were going over the benefits of blogging driving web traffic up.  We were looking at my homepage and I started telling them the story of another local agent that has copied my website verbage word for word." 

I can't believe that a realtor would think they would not get caught doing something like that. They must be trying to get into the search engines like the original probably is. What a hard worker!!!!!!! NOT!!!!!

In this day and age, Realtors need to be doing the basics everyday better than anyone else. It seems as though most of them got into the business over the past 6-8 years when the market was exploding and none of them were ever taught how to prospect or run a business. Now that easy street is gone, they are heading back to corporate America.  

I have an agent that has a team and he did at least 10 deals per month for the better part of 3 years and he has not kept in touch with one of his past clients. Recently one of them contacted him and they sold and bought a new home from him. It yielded almost $50,000.00 in Gross Commission and he STILL WON'T start mailing or calling his past clients. How much more motivation do you need to realize that there is a gold mine there. I already offered to put them all in my database and pay him a referral, and he won't even allow that!?!?!?!?!? The following is a list of minimums I think agents should have in order to maintain a strong business.

Develop a business plan(I bet no more than 5-10% of agents have a business plan)
Start timeblocking(If you don't do this, try it!!!! It WILL change your business. I promise!!!!!)
Keep in touch with your past clients(They already know you, like you and trust you)
Prospect, Prospect, Prospect(You need this if you don't have any of the above)
Get a website
Start Blogging(This will enable you to meet others in the industry and network)
Network(Chamber, Toastmasters, CRS, BNI)
Attend your company's International Convention(Learn about new tools and systems.)
Attend NAR, WCR, CRB(You need to stay ahead of your competition by getting tools and info first.) 

Just my thoughts,

Does anyone have a passion for doing short sales? OH MY GOD!!!!! It is unbelievable who is in charge of millions of dollars in assets at these banks. I just called the bank, Aurora Home loan services and the gal on the other line said that we need to order a BPO. An exterior BPO was done in January because the locks were changed and no one knew the combo so they were unable to do an interior. After a month of trying to find out whos lockbox was on the home, I had it re-keyed. A new interior was just done 10 days ago and after my first offer was pulled, we now submitted a  new offer. Now the lady tells me today that they need to do another interior BPO, because they don't have one on file. It was just done last week!!!!! My god!!!!! These things need to be referred out to people in the state correction workout dept!!! This is so frustrating and these people making $12.00/hour are losing faxes and don't know anything about the short sale process. 

Open houses are something that many realtor's dread. Many realtor's don't want to work on the weekends especially in the summer when they can be golfing, boating etc.....You southerners will have to forgive me as you can boat and golf year round. We all know that an open house will typically not bring in a buyer. I saw a stat that said about 3% of homes are sold because of an open house. More than likely those buyers would have looked at that house from the MLS anyways. This spring has been a hot bed of success for open houses. I have had a lot of unrepresented buyers roaming around my opens. This is great!!! If you are not doing opens, you may want to consider doing them. This has been a great winter and Spring in my market so far. By having open house, tht doesn't mean you are going to be picking up clients. You need to work them a little. By the time someone walks out the door, I know when they can buy, if they have a house to sell, if they are working with anyone and I usually get all of their contact info and permission to email them listings. That is the key!!!! Open houses are a tool to pick up buyer and there couldn't be a better buyers market than right now. 

Do you have tuesday morning meetings at your office? Are they valuable to you? It seems like they are for the newer more inexperienced agent and it is a rah rah session for the top producing agents in the office, which half the time are not even in the office. We started doing meetings once a month and when we do one, we talk about the # of listings, showings etc as an office, but never about the same top producer. Maybe that gets the newbies all jacked up and inspired, but I don't know what it does to the middle of the road who actually are the ones making the brokerage money. We also talk about current events and what is going on in the marketplace and we also bring marketing ideas and more things to save money or make money. It is very good information and we also serve a hot breakfast. Let me know what you do for your meetings.

When your client buys a home for 200K that was sold 2 years ago for 250K and is assessed at 240K are they calling the tax assessor out. Most governing authorities are taxing your home on the "market value". In my market, a home's tax assessed value was usually about10-20% less than what it would sell for. In todays market, homes are selling for 10-20% less than what the tax assessed value. Which means to me and my clients that the governmental authority needs to come out and adjust your assessed value because how can they assess you on a value that is more than what you actually paid(real market value). Every new homeowner should be doing this. It could reduce their taxes by 10-20%. Good luck!!!!!! 

The big buzz these days is Search Engine Optimization(SEO). With everything gearing towards the internet with real estate these days, everyone is trying to get more web traffic. Without paying per click or anything like that, what is it that you are doing with your website that you feel is very important?

What is with the majority of agents and title companies that are working with banks on the REO side???? I know it just isn't me!!! These clowns sit around and throw the properties on the MLS and sit back. When you call, they don't answer and when you submit your Purchase Agreement along with others, they don't call back or give you an update. I can't wait for the REO's to dry up and watch you crappie flop all over the place when you actually have to work to get business. If you are too busy to respond to offers etc, you should have an assistant. and Heaven forbid you have to rush or give the bank a little poke to get them going. I promise you they won't fire you if you are doing a diligent job. These title companies that are working for the banks say they are offering a great deal to close with their company and after closing a few, my title company would have been cheaper every time. Don't fall into that trap!!!! These guys have no work ethic!!!! Anyone else feeling my pain???

I was in San Diego this past week for a Realty Executives Convention. While I was there, I visited another franchise in the San Diego area. When speaking with the borker/owner there, she said that bank owned REO home and short sales made up 57% of their real estate market!!!!!! That floored me. In the Minneapolis market, we have roughly 8.5 homes for every 1 buyer. I think we are around 35-45% REO homes and short sales. What is going on in your region? www.auctusrealty.com

 I am looking to do a first time home buyers seminar in my office and I am windering where to get started. I have a few outlines and I have a 50-60 person conference room in my office which is great for seminars. I am also considering doing a foreclosure seminar as well for real estate investors. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. You can view my web site at www.auctusrealty.com