I love it.  I love saving money as much as I love making it!  Money is a tool for me.  It allows me to do the things I love to do.  I don't tend to spend without thinking. I've cut back alot this past year.  I work from home and no longer use print ads at all.  Great post!

I trimmed the fat in 2007.  I am not sure where to trim anymore.

You are on the money.  No pun intended.  It sounds like you just made an additional $17,000 in commission this year. 

Great post.....when you do this as I have done a company basis, it really adds up to savings......

very nice post...and this is a situation you should always address in good times or bad...the issue of paying the lowest possible expenses is always worth looking at.

MY home trimmed the fat on Car ins, groceries and newspapers that are free at the library and those magazines are free at the library.

THere are fun things to do that do not cost money.

Saving alot on gas by planning my trips on a daily basis.

NO MORE PRINT ADS OR COLOR MAGS FOR ME!!!!!!!!

I a constantly trimming the fat on my business expenses as well. We will need to keep all we can to make it through this slow market.

Dean, I am in the process of doing the same thing.  And add saying "NO" in there, we get so many calls to spend more money!! 

I just read an article the other day about "it's not what you make, it's what you keep".

I have cut out non-essential lunches and instead brown bag it.

I've cancelled the color mags that I was sending to 50 clients every other month. They were nice, but not many referrals, if any.

I may get rid of a website soon.

Less color copies, I mean do buyers REALLY need a color mls print out when they are going to see the place IN LIVING COLOR? NO! Instead of color brochures, I use 33# glossy presentation paper and print in grayscale. It looks classy and expensive, even though it's not.

ZERO print ads. Not even for open houses. Buyers find everything on the internet, so why spend oodles on newspaper ads?

etc., etc., etc.

On a side note, hope everything is going good in the windy city. There's a starmaker class gloing on in Toledo right now, so I have been sitting in, it's like I never left MSP!

We have gone to all online advertising no more print!  That  alone has created a huge savings! 

I'm sure you will mind paying those extra taxes on the money you will save!

Dean,

My husband and I are both self employed, we have a good income and I am thankful for that.   However, he has had a liver transplant (1996) and our insurance is unreal, over $1700.00 month. I will be so glad when we get 65, we are 61 now, so we can have cheap insurance.  We both drive alot, he is a building contractor, and gas eats us up.  What has saved us throughout the years is we have no house payment.  We have never financed a home over 10 years, paid one off in 5 and the other in 7.  Our home now is free and clear.  I think the best thing anyone can do is get that mortgage paid off, don't worry about the tax deduction, keep paying on that principal.  Your home in money in the bank!

Hey Dean - I'm sure you've already done this, but check your car insurance deductible.  Raise the deductible & that savings could add up over the year!  Hope that helps!

Good job on the savings -- move the savings and buy up some real estate for yourself now!

I think everyone is fine tuning those monthly expenses.  I was shocked at how much you saved on health insurance.  Mime always goes up each year!  Kudos to you.

Dean - am sure we've got more trim to do, but canceling realtor.com expenses that were never productive was the first one.

Great list you put together for us here.

best 

I have definately trimmed the fat on some of the services that were not really giving any return on the investment.  It's more important for me to be able to stay in business through the tougher times than to have all the bells and whistles. 

At home we have cut back on ordering take out - I"ve pulled out the recipe books and cook more healthy meals from scratch.  We eat the leftovers.  <g>  We've actually been losing weight without really trying. 

No more soft drinks either, iced tea is better and less expensive. 

I looked at my budget and realized I spent a ton on eating out.  I have been cooking more, which is much healthier for us and we are saving loads of money!  We still eat out- but not everyday. My broker actually pays for some of our advertising, but other than that I don't do alot of print advertising- TOO EXPENSIVE!!   

Getting a new Honda CRV has done wonders for my budget.  Yes, the vehicle's payment is higher than my previous vehicle's (Jeep Grand Cherokee / $0), but in terms of fuel / maint. / insurance, it is actually cheaper to operate a month...

I've cut up a lot of expenses....starting with excess staff.  That was the hardest thing to do b/c I loved these people.  I've made my office so lean, but I'm making money because of that.

Great post!  Among many smaller items, I am on board with NO newspaper ads, even for open houses.  Their corner on the market is over!  Thanks for sharing.

Hey, everyone -

Thanks for the insightful comments.  We seem to have hit a nerve here - especially on the need to trim expenses, in ANY market, strong or not.

There seems to be a consensus away from print advertising - glad others are realizing the only benefit here is seller pacification, and perhaps an ego trip.  Few, if any, convertible buyers here, and very costly to run.

Larry - the staff issue is hardest, because people are involved.  Many of my help is virtual - "assistance" rather than "assistants," so it is easier to ratchet up or ratchet down help as needed.

Again, thanks for the thoughts!

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

We cut out Realtor.com which was never productive or made us any money, and have cut some other advertising items. we cut out a gym that we barely ever went to. We never did eat out a lot, so that is not there to cut, but we are looking at anything possible to cut.

Great suggestions, and thanks for the link to Mozy.com - looks like a good service.

Great reminder to constantly analyze--and reanalyze--what works, what doesn't and move forward.

all the best,

Audrey 

Great job, yes the reduction in budget will be what will make you a survivor in this market.

I cut out all print color magazine ads and realtor.com, as they were not generating leads. I am no longer going to spend money to "buy" leads if they don't offer guarantees or money back if not satisfied!

Great article. Its all about trimming off the waste! Good Luck and Best Wishes

Dean - I was glad to see you had not eliminated all your web sites. With 80% or more starting on the web you almost have to be there with at least one site and of course active|rain

How much money are you paying your broker?  I joined KW this year and I keep everything after they make a certain amount. Best move ever!

Hey, Kathy -

I agree with you here - best personal sights for lead generation for us are our core Web Center - dean-team.com,and our Blog Center - BlogChicagoHomes.com.  All our listings are syndicated automatically on the big real estate sites - Google Local, Yahoo, Trulia, Zillow, Live Deal, Chicago Tribune.com/homes, and on, and on - not available a few years ago.

This is where the leads come from, and they come PASSIVELY - without a lot of intervention on our part (although we have always done a little SEO and pay-per-click, reduced this year).

I've seen some agents shoot themselves in the foot by cutting the wrong things.  You need to be careful where you cut on the web - AND YOU NEVER WANT TO CUT OUT TRAINING AND COACHING!

Thanks again for the thoughts - call, write, or drop in anytime!

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

Funny I think blogs are the best money saving marketing tip there is.  They far out perform a website when it comes to SEO.  I stopped my print advertising last year when I tracked leads per dollar spent.  Thanks heavens my car is paid for, still in good shape and runs on regular gas.  Now I'm off to show houses to folks who found me on the internet :-)

Cindy -

Indeed, blogs are a great, no-cost way to:  1.  Network, with agents across the country and in Canada - for tips and ideas, and for possible referrals, and 2.  Improve search engine visibility.

It takes work, as we heavy bloggers know - our Team in Chicago writes something every day for BlogChicagoHomes.com, and I post on AR daily as well.  But, well worth the time investment, many times over!

Great thought - wish more agents would take advantage of the benefits of blog posting.

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

Let's see...I've never been a big spender on advertising, so I let it all go to the web. NO PRINT.  I've never been a believer in that at all. It's an astronomical expense for little, untrackable return.

My husband and I are self-employed, and he works mostly from home, so we only use one car(and I hardly ever wash it, so there's more money saved:))  I know, that's bad.  We are fortunate in that my son's school is around the corner, and I work about 2 miles away, so no commuting expense.

I no longer have a land line phone. We hardly ever eat out, but we never really did that anyway. I clip coupons and shop sales, but not to where I'm going to ten different grocery stores a week. Time is money too. I do all my own baking, make my own salad dressings, and pop popcorn for treats now instead of buying expensive and fattening bags of chips - just a few ways that I save on grocery bills. No pop either, just tea and coffee. 

I don't mail out more than the 500 paid mailings per month that I get from my company. I'm saving on color copies. I cut out most of my cable channels. We use energy saving lightbulbs in every fixture in the house, no matter how stupid they look. 

I do this not only because times are hard, but because I'm somewhat frugal anyway. Plus, this is all to counteract the debt I've already run up by trying to remain self-employed! Aargh...

BTW, here in the Pacific Northwest, our multiple does not automatically upload listings to Realtor.com.  I use a site called RMLSlite and upload my listings for $5 each. They're not featured, but I have heard that the featured listings don't get much of a return anyway.  

My Mercedes Cost me $9.00 per mile to drive (Lease, Gas, Insurance) YIKES!! When the lease is up I am going to purchase a BMW Mini Cooper since I only drive around 25 miles per week.

Did my wife call you and tell you to place this blog? We are in the process of eliminating in every area we can. Thanks for the suggestions.

You know the expression money saved is money earned? My husband's affluent grandmother would have reminded you about the tax bill the $17,000 would have generated if you had to earn it above and beyond your expenses to put it into savings.

Leasing a car is costly. I don't understand it. Is it because you feel you need to have a certain sort of car. $555/month to borrow something and have nothing to show for it! WOW! I bought my car for $1,200 from someone who was going to donate it and insurance is so cheap when there is no payment and it is owned outright. 

I always keep expenses to a minimum. No Talking House, no leads programs, no expensive website hosting/SEO/Pay Per Click stuff, no monthly advertising fees, no mailers, no farming, no doorhangers, no virtual tour services, no subcriptions to the number of real estate service companies out there, no sending useless ads to be thrown in the garbage, no payments to realtor.com for advertising. I want to make money, not give it away to the miriad of companies out there.

This reminds me of the old phrase "The more you make, the more you spend."  For those of you in need of a good free real estate web site, check out my site at www.dallaschambers.com.  I subscribe to the premium version, but they do have a free version.  It is totally customizable, comes with your own free domanin name an has aweome features worth every penny.  You can sign up for your free site at www.alamode.com. 

Joseph -

Thanks for your comments - I'm not a big fan of leasing, but my accountant is far more clever than I am when it comes to tax deductions, and he feels this is a better option for me than outright purchase, unless I buy a very inexpensive car.

You inspire me with your frugality - I need to trim EVEN MORE!

The key here - trim those items that are merely frivolous - and don't make money for you!

Again, thanks for your comment!

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

Dean, your very lucky to save on Health insurance cost. I would love too but our health condition will not allow us to change.

I can tell you put a lot of thought and effort into this post, and it's very, very helpful.  THANK YOU!  Jerry and I, too, just signed up with Visual Tour and love it!  Love paying one flat and predictable fee to help with budgeting, and just like the look and the personal control of it better anyway.

Thanks again for the pointers.

p.s.

Who is GTL health insurance?  We have Blue Cross right now and hate being with them because of cost, and even though we never go to the doctor and health has not changed (except for being one day older each day!) they upped our premium about 20%.  Hoping GTL is in Kentucky!

Wow....that's a lot of money a month and a year. You did an excellent job! I have done so as well. I went back and looked, if it didn't work, I got rid of it!

I probably delete my Homes & Land ad which will save me $347 per month.  Otherwise I keep adding minute web products that cost between 10-20 a month and have a higher return.  Oh but the seller's like the glossy ads and the Homes & Land brand.  What to do, what to do!

Got a toyota yaris dooes get milage and saves me over $200 a month in gas

http://www.appraiserking.com/windermere-real-estate-appraiser-appraisal-florida

Great insight! Luxury or Waste? Depends on how we look at it. Wish I had something to add to your list. Yes I know Mark Tesolin!

I cut back on the bells and whistles on my cell phone and got that from $145 down to $69 a month, threatened to switch cable/high speed to another company and cut that bill in half, dropped my NetBiz advertising for Google placement ($75), and built my own website for just $110 a year, as oposed to the $36 a month I was paying, and I'm still looking to trim more fat.

My big trim was closing my office, and joining KW as an agaent. Enough with the high overhead!  Great post.

Thinking it and seeing it written down gives it an entirely new feel.  The savings amount is obvious and substantial.

That was a BIG butcher knife you used thre. Trimming fat is always a good thing. I bookmarked your post. Some valuable information..