https://activerain.com/blogs/chrispowell Today I just realized something. Real Estate is still a great profession. Two agents in our office recevied multiple offers on their listings in LESS THAN 30 DAYS. How did this happen ? THE PROPERTIES WERE PRICED TO SELL ! Moral of this short story : The name of the game is still to LIST SALEABLE LISTINGS and the BUYERS WILL COME ! en-us https://activerain.com/blogsview/1142973/-liitle-red-writing-good-- Once upon a time there was a place inevery city of every state that had many houses for sale. A lot of the agents in those places were so frustrated because "THERE WERE TOO MANY HOUSES!". Some said "LIFE WOULD BE MUCH BETTER IF WE HAD LESS INVENTORY!"........BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR !......Is life much better now ? Of course not. Those same agents are now saying "THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH HOUSES!". Some now say "LIFE WOULD BE MUCH BETTER IF WE HAD MORE INVENTORY!. The moral of the story is : LEARN HOW TO COACH YOUR CLIENTS ON HOW TO WRITE BETTER OFFERS ! The name of the game is LEVERAGE my friends. Without it, you and your clients will always be complaining about the state of the market. Learn how to bring your clients into the NOW MARKET. If your client is pre-aproved today for $200,000........WHY WOULD YOU SHOW THEM HOMES FOR $175,000 AND ABOVE ? Silly Rabbit...TRICKS ARE FOR KIDS ! You know that you would need a MAJIC TRICK to happen for your clients to even have a chance to get their offer accepted. By repeatedly doing this, YOU GIVE YOUR CLIENT NO LEVERAGE ! Their power lies in their ability to counter in the HIGHEST AND BEST SCENARIO !......How much should they offer?......ENOUGH TO WIN THE BID ! Remember you can only LEAD FROM THE FRONT ! Be the TRUSTED ADVISOR that they hired you to be. This is the time when they need your CONFIDENCE, EXPERTISE, KNOWLEDGE OF THE LOCAL MARKET, and most of all...........YOUR POSITVE INFLUENCE on helping them WIN THE BID !.......In closing remenber :THE FISH STINKS AT THE HEAD ! If your client(s) can't win bids, then YOU CAN'T WIN BIDS!....So either QUIT REAL ESTATE until the market changes or QUIT COMPLAINING and CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE so that you can start to do a *LITTLE RED WRITING GOOD ! *Little Red Writing Good is code for........?-First one to figure it out will be recognized in my next blog ! Christopher Powell, Regional Selection Manager (RE/MAX GOLD) Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:36:18 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/1142973/-liitle-red-writing-good-- https://activerain.com/blogsview/583971/buy-and-bail-could-land-you-in-jail---realtors-beware-- When this interesting market we entered into started happening, I was getting asked the same question over and over by many clients: CAN I BUY A NEW HOUSE QUICKLY AND THEN WALK AWAY FROM MY CURRENT HOME THAT I AM UPSIDE DOWN ON THE LOAN ? You see the scam would be that the owner would "claim" that he/she was planning on renting out the current house after they bought the new one. It seems reasonable right? Well the problem is that the buyer's never had any intention of keeping that house or trying to rent it. Once a client discloses that their intention is to "BUY AND BAIL", you are now an accomplice to FRAUD ! Besides the most basic problem of possibly going to jail, you also put your brokerage in jepeordy of losing their license and reputation as a reputable company. We are all aware of the tough times in this current market, but no one transction is every worth any of us hard working agents losing our license or freedom ! So the next time you are asked that question by a client respond by saying : IF YOU BUY AND BAIL YOU COULD LAND IN JAIL ! Christopher Powell, Regional Selection Manager (RE/MAX GOLD) Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:23:32 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/583971/buy-and-bail-could-land-you-in-jail---realtors-beware-- https://activerain.com/blogsview/513534/the-housing-crisis-is-over-- Yes that's right it's over. If you are working full-time at Real Estate, you see it don't you. Buyer's are coming out to the Open Houses. Multiple Offers are happening quite often. Inventory is shrinking. Prices are starting to stabilize. All we have to do is to sit back and let the money start rolling in, right? No silly, you have to work harder than you have ever worked before to close a transaction. Why? It's a different ballgame out there. Banks now control two-thirds of our market. REO's and Short Sales are dependent upon many different banks, who have many different rules, who have many different time lines (all long),who have many different departments, who have many different addendums, who have many different houses, who have many different agents listing them. The crisis is now in understanding the structure,how to get through to the "asset manger" or "negotiator", what fax number to send the documents to so that the actual person that needs to get it does. The crisis now is dealing with a whole society of bankers who know very litte about Real Estate and yet they own so much of it.The crisis is in hoping that the when the transction closes, you will receive your paycheck in a timely manner (one to two weeks). This may sound like I am am venting. Actually I am just "facting". "It is what it is": Exciting, Challenging, Demanding, Thought-Provoking, Detailed-Oriented, structured, and   FULL-TIME. That being said, this is not for the weak, worried,whining, wobbly,  wondering, or PART-TIME.  Those were the good old days ! Christopher Powell, Regional Selection Manager (RE/MAX GOLD) Fri, 16 May 2008 18:50:31 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/513534/the-housing-crisis-is-over-- https://activerain.com/blogsview/302277/how-to-find-more-qualified-buyers-and-sellrs-- I have done a lot of field research on this topic and after quite extensive research I have come up with a conclusion:DO A LOT OF OPEN HOUSES ! This is exactly what most of us don't want to hear and that is the main reason to go "against the grain" so to speak. This is a "roll your sleeves up" and go to work kind of market.  Gone are the days of just saying "I AM A REALTOR" and people flock to you as if you are a messiah. Open Houses advertise to the public that you are : OPEN FOR BUSINESS ! Do them mostly during the week. Why you might ask, because you are asking why, that's why. Most Realtors (your competition) won't and will never grasp this concept and you will always be competing with very few agents in your area. This is the quickest way to accomplish two things : "Individuality" and "Building a database of "A" clients. Clients will be amazed that you are "outside of the box" as compared to other Realtors, therefore they are more likely to remember you as someone who is "DIFFERENT" AND "HARDWORKING". Also only serious clients take the time during the week to stop by an Open House. These weekday clients are only stopping by for one of or all three reasons : 1)TO BUY 2) TO SELL 3) TO FIND AN AGENT. They are not just "STOPPING BY" or "JUST LOOKING", which is what we get a lot of at weekend Open Houses. What constitutes a "Good Open House": ONE QUALIFIED LEAD ! Think about it, if you did 3 Open houses a week and added 12 Qualified Leads per month and 144 Qualified Leads per year, wouldn't that be pretty good production. What is a Qualified Lead ? It is when you can "SET THE APPOINTMENT" or"BREAK BREAD". YOU MUST MEET CLIENTS IN THE COMFORT OF THEIR HOME IF YOU WANT CLOSED ESCROWS, LOYAL CLIENTS, AND LOTS OF REFERRALS ! That's my rant for today. Christopher Powell, Regional Selection Manager (RE/MAX GOLD) Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:29:52 -0800 https://activerain.com/blogsview/302277/how-to-find-more-qualified-buyers-and-sellrs-- https://activerain.com/blogsview/296357/how-to-get-your-listing-in-escrow-in-30-days-- Today I just realized something. Real Estate is still a great profession. Two agents in our office recevied multiple offers on their listings in LESS THAN 30 DAYS. How did this happen ? THE PROPERTIES WERE PRICED TO SELL ! Moral of this short story : The name of the game is still to LIST SALEABLE LISTINGS and the BUYERS WILL COME ! Christopher Powell, Regional Selection Manager (RE/MAX GOLD) Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:33:48 -0800 https://activerain.com/blogsview/296357/how-to-get-your-listing-in-escrow-in-30-days--