Hi folks. This post is about finding your MoJo. As most of you know, my market, Poinciana FL has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. I heard it could be as high as 1 in 7 homes. That's about 15%. So needless to say it has been a very difficult year for selling real estate, thus far. BUT......I'm starting to get my MoJo back!!!
About 3 months ago I decided I needed to quit my whining about the market and make changes in my business. Based on what was happening in the market I had 3 areas that I needed to concentrate on:
1. Picking up some REO listings.
2. Working short sale listings.
3. Expanding my Investor base and increasing Buyer activity.
Unfortunately, my attempt to break into the REO business, proved to be an effort in futility. Being a one man office, as I am, this just wasn't going to work out. In my area there are a handful of Brokers that handle REOs and they pretty much have that part of the market tied up.
So, I decided to put all of my efforts into working short sales and picking up Buyers. And you know what? My MoJo has come back. My attitude is much better and business is great. In fact, I have so much business that we are looking to expand!!! We are taking our office virtual and are looking for at least 10 REALTORS® to join Tutas Towne Realty by the end of the year. If you work the Central Florida area and are looking for a change give me a call.
Now let's briefly talk about these short sales. First, they can be very frustrating. The Lenders are getting much better but are still too slow for my liking. BUT....short sales are so much easier to deal with when it comes to working with the Sellers and getting the properties under contract. So that balances out the frustrations in dealing with the Lenders.
One thing I have been doing, that saves a lot of time, is that we do not negotiate the listing price on my short sale listings. What's working for me is to price the properties very close to market value and then reduce by $10,000 every 7-10 days until we hit the sweet spot and the offers start rolling in. Then we just pick the one most likely to close and go under contract.
Another thing that helps is to make contact with the Lender at time of listing. Be nice. Remember they want the same thing you do.....a successful sale at a reasonable price. Be very straight forward with them and ask them right up front how they want you to handle the deal. If you ask....they will tell you. What I'm finding is that the Lenders are leaning more towards simple right now. I'm currently dealing with 6 different Lenders and 3 of them do not even care to see the Seller's financials. They took the information they needed over the phone. I guess they have finally decided that those 100 page short sale packages were just bogging them down.
Anyway, this post is getting too long, so I'm going to stop. My point is to make changes in your business if you must. Get out of your comfort zone and go after the business that is out there. Your market will direct you to where you need to be focusing your efforts. We can't change the market but we can "work" the market we are in. Sometimes you just have to lose your MoJo to be able to find it again. Never give up.
OK that's it for me. I just reread this post and I seem to be rambling today. I must have eaten too many of those darn brownies!!!! What do ya think?
MORE INFO FROM BROKER BRYANT... THE SOURCE FOR POINCIANA REAL ESTATE
Copyright © 2008 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved
;)
Links;)
Archives
Reserved Parking For "The Lovely Wife"...TLW...ROAR!
Blog Boy...
I like it. I thought that whole Rambling thing is part of your Blogging Style.
I mean really...Your Blog is entitled "Broker Bryant's Real Estate Ramblings" :)
TLW...ROAR!