Todd Murphy's (zerocommission) Blog

One of my goals this year is to set aside 10% of my gross income to invest in education and learning.  Some of the areas of education would be real estate specific, and other areas would include various self-improvement areas covering other aspects of life.I think it would be great if Active Rain...

There are thousands of books on self-improvement that mention that fact that there is actually such a thing as "fear of success."  I mean, you hear about fear of failure, fear of heights, fear of public speaking, and other well known fears, but fear of success?  Come on.Have you ever experienced ...

Okay, my digestive system can only take so much BS until I have to vomit.  I've been reading the comments from  aftermath of the 60 minutes story and the word RHETORIC keeps "refluxing" up my throat.The prices of homes have quadrupled over the past fifteen years or so.  However, our industry is s...

I recently completed a forty-five minute conversation with a disturbed client who had been told by one of the "seasoned agents" of our community that the reason his home hadn't sold yet was because I was new and "hadn't paid my dues" to deserve the kind of success of a "seasoned agent."  Oh, and ...

I've had something on my mind for several years now that I just have to get off my chest.  For years, before I became a real estate agent, I wondered why I never crossed paths with many of the real estate agents who had pictures in the local home magazines.  Heaven knows how many realtors are wal...

My personal business is getting to a point that instead of hiring another agent, I'm thinking about hiring an assistant first.My question is how have some of you structured the pay for your assistant?  Are they licensed or not?  If licensed, do you pay them a percentage?  I'm reading a book right...

Is it possible to close a listing on the first call?  I'm trying to decide whether to take a one call approach by having a phone interview before the actual listing appointment.I know an agent that tells prospective sellers that he will consult with them over the phone as long as they have questi...

How is it that you can ask two different agents in the same city the question - "So, how's business," and get two different answers?One agent (always the more successful and prosperous agent) responds, "Incredible, I just had my best month ever."  The other agent says something like, "Well, I'm d...

I'm a full-time real estate agent who teaches at our local university on a very part-time basis.  I wanted to polish my speaking skills and learn from teaching, and it just so happened that our local university wanted to have real life entrepreneurs as adjunct professors.  It has been a real lear...

Funny how relevant things appear when you need them.  A couple of years ago, someone gave me a copy of "The Millionaire Real Estate Agent."  At the time, I was in the title and escrow business and the book didn't have that much meaning to me.  In fact, I thought it was a regurgitation of "feel go...