[ALL APPRENTICES AND MENTORS: EDIT THIS POST TO ADD YOUR OWN PERSONAL THOUGHTS, OBSERVATIONS, AND EXPERIENCES DURING THIS PAST WEEKS COMPETITION]

One of the primary benefits of this contest is the helpful & practical information our collective membership can derive/learn from those Teams who are participating in the contest, and apply to their own business practices. Here is another opportunity for our Teams to share their individuals journeys.  

WEEK FOUR

Liz Carter & Josh Lazaro (Week Four Winners): Thanks Rich & Judges for awarding us the win this week.  We totally decided to work harder, smarter, be more creative and to win this week.  You simply can't play small with this great group of Realtors and talented writers/bloggers, you must give 110% to win.  There is a lot of talent here.  I'm behind on posting, and I will get all the last e weeks entries on, and I'll start with this one.  It's just hard when I wanting to focus so much on the challenges to do anything...but I will this week get caught up.  I think we have all produced volumes of work that will help everyone on active rain grow their business or tweak it to make it better.  Evil Josh had his way with me, he called late on Monday just as I was walking in the house and said, "have you been on AR, did you hear?  In this soft sad voice, I told him no WHAT, he said very softly "well we won"!  It's a good thing we were in different states!  All in all we talked more, threw ideas around, e-mailed more, encouraged each other more, affirmed our win together during the week, I would proof something of his, and he would proof and suggest on something of mine, so we finally came together as a true team working in sync with each other this past week for the first time.  That is going to carry us to the end, and the big win.  Lots of lessons for all of us in that paragraph above when you stop and think it through.

Porduction for Liz this past week was 2 listing sold, 1 buyer sale made, 2 listing taken, and 4 closings.  So I didn't make goal there, but I did on active rain :)  Liz Carter, Team Tex-La, Katy, Texas www.lizcarter.com 

Darleen McCullen & Penny Robinson: Penny had an exciting week - with 2 buyer transactions that closed. Her buyers loved her! Also, Penny provided her business card to a contractor who visited her home - and he and his wife decided to hire her as their real estate agent! That goes to show you that talking to everyone about the real estate business works. A mentor once told me that: "A closed mouth equals a closed business." This is so true!

Darleen had an exciting week, also. A few weeks ago, while in a coffee shop, I picked up a listing by wearing my name badge. I listed the property - and within a few hours, my phone was ringing off the hook! I've picked up buyer clients from the listing.  

We really enjoy the challenges - and especially last week's about the VA Loan. As real estate professionals, whether we realize it or not, we really do need to know about the various loan programs that may be available to buyers. We don't have to know everything, but should be able to speak intelligently about the programs if asked.

Debra Brooks & Melissa Grant: I am so glad for you and Josh, Liz. We didn't have time to complete our project the way we had hoped but it's ready enough for "easier completion". I want to say from my heart that what Active Rain is doing for us is amazing. Running our own little Brokerage is so much different from running a larger store! When we opened Brooks Prime Properties we hit the ground running. I've always known it would benefit us to have more "detailed systems" in place. We have the systems...just have never written them down in detail. I believe this is not only going to help Melissa and all our Apprentices but it's helping me the Mentor also!

I am going to feel more confident in hiring an outside agent in knowing all this is in writing and in place. Watch out! We may grow quickly after this is all complete!

Active Rain! You are brilliant. Melissa, you are priceless. Deb you are tired! Go back to work...*smile*

Woo hoo I feel a pop the top coming on ! I am so grateful for these challenges. I am learning so much , incorporating everything into my business and watching it ROCK ! Last week was a tough week for me. I attended a friends funeral, took 2 new listings and have been working with 2 buyers. Not to mention home and 3 children. All in all it has been great being challenged and Deb and I have really stepped up our A game. This week seems to be going a lot smoother for us !         Melissa Grant

Desiree Daniels & Brian Block: 

Hank Perry & Vickie Nagy:

Jessica Horton & Ann Casey:

Kimberly Grant & Elizabeth Ramsey Cooper: Elizabeth and I were looking forward to this week's challenge because we both agreed that we loved first time homebuyers.  Their enthusiasm, excitement, energy, and most of all their willingness to listen!!  We worked to get a presentation together that was good but there was something missing....PERSONALITY.  We just said we liked the enthusiasm and energy of first time homebuyers and then gave them a long list of information for them.  So we reformatted everything so that it would be easy and FUN to read.  It was divided into sections so they could read details on each step of the process as they arrived.  I have to admit this was FUN!!  My hats are off to Elizabeth because I'm not so sure I can be so focused on work in the midst of a wedding.  We had a great time and got the chance to bond while working on this presentation and I must say we are two pretty silly Realtors.  We had fun and completed a pretty good first-time buyer package to add to our arsenal of real estate tricks.

Kimberly IS amazing. She stayed at her office to well past midnight, helping me  tweak our project. BAD GIRL!  We had a blast working on this, being able to add personality to it. We laughed and laughed. When it is our time to exit, I will leave with a new friend and such respect for her, and all of you! 

Margaret Woda & Karen Luke:   Karen had a great first-time buyer package coming into this Challenge, and she was rightfully proud of it.  But she was willing to give my technique a try - i.e., "less is more."  I'm really proud of her for being open-minded because she had to let go of some charts and information pages that had been developed with a huge investment of time for research and formatting.  If we've learned anything from this market, it's a reminder that it doesn't matter how much we know if we don't have any clients - so everything we do for them has to be exactly that:  FOR THEM, not our brokers or ourselves.  If that means addressing their concerns and saving some of our marketing materials for follow-up, then so be it.  I think that was the primary theme for Karen and me this week, as we selected just 5 pages to include in our first-time buyer package.

Midori Miller & Jeannete Neerpat:

Missy Caulk & Kim Wood: This was a challenge for us, we were in the mountains. I have not worked with first time home buyers for a L O N G time, but remember them fondly. So it was a good refresher for me. Kim worked really hard with all my suggestions, and I felt bad for her, when we were socializing and she was putting it all together. I wanted to keep it simple and not overwhelm them. Kim usually meets with the buyers in her office the first time for about an hour and a half. She had a great power- point. I find most first  time home-buyers are hot to trot, so it is important to get them qualified before getting them in the car, going over Disclosure of Agency Relationships and then going out. I am in the midst of a VA loan right now so the Biggest Thing I have learned from this is making sure the Buyer has their Certificate of Eligibility before writing an offer as it can take a long time with VA so backed up. She made her introductory letter personal being from a military family and sent things electronically to get them started.