real estate: Persistence is Powerful: Lessons I’ve Learned from Mati
- 02/19/16 02:05 AM
Persistence is Powerful: Lessons I've Learned from Mati
Her name is Matilyn (I call her Mati or Monkey) and she is one of my daughter's best friends. After years of her spending time in my home and at horse shows together she has become my friend too. In fact, my daughter jokes that when Mati comes to visit, she is really coming to visit me. Mati is one of the most persistent people I have EVER met in my whole entire life and to say she has edged her way into my life and my heart is an understatement.
… (1 comments)
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real estate: Priorities
- 02/11/16 09:02 AM
Priorities
Real estate is a business of managing priorities. I bet if you took a minute and wrote down every possible item that you think you have to do for your business, you would probably have dozens and dozens of "to dos". Everything from entering last month's expenses and this year's taxes to a CMA for a client, making sure you have your CE credits before your next renewal, cleaning your desk, upgrading to Windows 10, getting your car detailed, and picking up your dry cleaning. You probably have lists of people to follow up with, closed buyers that … (1 comments)
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real estate: The Tipping Point
- 01/29/16 01:23 AM
The Tipping Point
Every seller has that moment in time when something happens that pushes them to making a decision to sell. In fact, many sellers don't even know they want to sell until someone informs them of the benefits of selling.
For example, imagine a seller is at home and they retrieve their mail and find a letter from a real estate agent informing them that their neighbors home has sold. The seller is surprised to find out that his neighbor's home sold for $425,000 - he had no idea that homes in his neighborhood were even close … (0 comments)
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real estate: The Dog Ate My Time-Blocking Schedule
- 01/22/16 02:11 AM
The Dog Ate My Time-Blocking Schedule
How are those New Years' business resolutions holding up? Did you start off the year with great intentions to get organized and complete those client care and business-building tasks that you know you need to do to succeed? Have you made progress in this arena or are you having some roadblocks? Or did you start your year with ambitious time-blocking with cleanly-defined lines indicating when you would get to the office, do your weekly marketing, and set up your buyer tours?
The problem with time-blocking is that your business involves people and most … (2 comments)
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real estate: Multi-Generational Homes: Big-Time Demand!
- 01/15/16 03:33 AM
Multi-Generational Homes: Big-Time Demand!
Multi-generational homes are increasing in demand across the country. First I want to explain what a multi-generational home is: It is a home that can have multiple families living under one roof in separate spaces.
A multi-generational home could house a married couple caring for an older parent, a grandparent living with an adult grandchild, or even Baby Boomers living with adult children who have moved back into the home.
The demand for multi-generational homes has risen in the last few years, partially due to the recession and its impact on the nuclear family. Families … (1 comments)
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real estate: New Construction in High Demand
- 01/08/16 01:34 AM
New Construction in High Demand
New construction is a major driver of real estate markets nationwide. Without it inventory levels remain lower than normal and house prices can't help but rise. In order to look forward to what is expected for the spring building market you have to first understand what it takes to build a home.
With the average new home requiring over 20 subcontractors to complete, it is no wonder homes are taking longer to build than normal. If there is also a shortage of one or two of these subcontractors it can delay completion of the … (0 comments)
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real estate: 2016 Buyer Preferences
- 12/11/15 06:23 AM
2016 Buyer Preferences
With each passing year home feature trends shift and change based on buyer demands and lifestyle preferences. Remember when light oak kitchen cabinets were the "in" thing? Today in many areas white kitchen cabinets are the first choice of many buyers and remodelers for its broad appeal. I like to follow the feature trends in housing construction, renovations, and remodeling and am happy to share with you the top 10 trends for 2016:
Traditional on the Outside, Modern on the Inside
Modern decor and interior design is the becoming a very high demand remodel and new home … (1 comments)
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real estate: It's the Most Advantageous Time of the Year
- 11/06/15 02:33 AM
It’s the Most Advantageous Time of the Year
I can feel it in the air... The National Association of REALTORS conference is next week, followed shortly thereafter by Thanksgiving. It's the feeling of brokers looking forward to turning their attention away from their business and towards family and friends. While others may be smelling gingerbread and stuffing made from scratch, I smell opportunity.
No matter if you live in an area that already has snow or you live in an area flooded with snowbirds and the winter months are your busiest time of the year, there is a market … (7 comments)
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real estate: What Makes A Strong Market?
- 10/30/15 04:45 AM
What Makes A Strong Market?
When it comes to HOT or STRONG real estate markets, a simple question often asked is "what makes a market strong?" The obvious answer being DEMAND, of course. While demand absolutely drives people to buy in certain areas there are reasons for that demand and you have to look beyond the current demand to be able to predict whether or not the market will maintain its strength.
There have been areas that have seen sudden meteoric rises in house prices but that rise has ultimately gone away when the initial reason for the housing … (0 comments)
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real estate: I Don't Want It Unless Someone Else Wants It!
- 10/16/15 03:43 AM
I Don't Want It Unless Someone Else Wants It!
There is an interesting phenomenon occurring in the real estate world that has some agents perplexed. Some of their listings are getting multiple offers while others sit gaining nothing more than additional days on the market.
It seems that the more offers that are received on a property the more offers that continue to trickle in. However, other well-priced listings may be sitting with nothing more than a few semi-interested calls from agents asking if there are offers coming in on the property. When the answer is "no," zero offers … (19 comments)
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real estate: The Expertise Opportunity
- 10/09/15 04:13 AM
The Expertise Opportunity
For this week's Zebra Report, I'd like to start off with a quick exercise. Ready?
Think about the last vendor you were really impressed with. It could be a lender, inspector, or it may not even be someone in the real estate industry. It could be a florist, an interior designer, an accountant or even your insurance representative. Who was it and what was it about that particular interaction that was so memorable?
I will give you a hint. It probably came down to two things - expertise and time.
We love people who have expertise … (1 comments)
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real estate: Personal Self-Discipline And Freedom - A Winning Combination!
- 10/02/15 03:01 AM
Personal Self-Discipline And Freedom - A Winning Combination!
If you closely follow the footsteps of top producing agents, successful business people, and athletes you will soon realize that the one thing they have in common is personal self-discipline. Some will argue that talent is more important while others who have made it just by sheer hard work will tell you it was their personal self-discipline to persevere through the hard times that was their secret to success. I have witnessed both in my journey as a business person myself and as a real estate professional and coach.
I have … (13 comments)
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real estate: The Empty Pipeline Syndrome
- 09/25/15 03:05 AM
The Empty Pipeline Syndrome
We got a call a few weeks from a client who had gone from being on top of the world to having a disaster on her hands in a matter of a morning.
She had a number of deals that she was handling and they were all imploding for different reasons. Not only was she feeling awful for her clients, unable to repair the damage that was unfolding before her eyes, but she was also seeing the commission she had counted on, slipping through her fingers.
What was worse was that she had been focusing … (74 comments)
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real estate: The Fall Catch Up Plan
- 09/18/15 04:37 AM
The Fall Catch Up Plan
Fall is a natural time to reflect back on your year and to give yourself a fresh start so you can finish out the year strong.
With kids going to school and our focus turning away from summer activities, this is a great time to examine your business and determine if you are on track - or if you need to make some adjustments as you head towards the end of the year.
First some evaluation:
1) Are You on Track Financially?
This is the easiest thing to evaluate but the one thing that causes … (2 comments)
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real estate: The Questions Potential Clients Should Be Asking Real Estate Agents
- 09/04/15 07:40 AM
The Questions Potential Clients Should Be Asking Real Estate Agents
Buying or selling a home is one of the most important decisions your clients will ever make in their lives and choosing an agent that will be a strong advocate and educator about the process is critical. All too often, buyers or sellers choose to work with an agent who is a friend, relative, or cousin of their ex-roommate because it is convenient or because there may be perceived loyalty. But all too often, I see these types of relationships implode because the people doing the buying or selling … (0 comments)
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real estate: Don't Panic! Market Fluctuations Are Very Normal
- 08/28/15 01:53 AM
Don't Panic! Market Fluctuations Are Very Normal
I am sure in the past week many of you have had buyers or sellers voice concern over the state of the real estate market in relation to the stock market challenges as many people are sensitive to stock market fluctuations.
While there is no disputing that China is experiencing a market correction which has a ripple effect across the globe (and even as I write this, we are seeing a rebound in our stock market as China's market has improved over the last few days), market fluctuations are not uncommon. This … (1 comments)
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real estate: Interpreting Cues and Clues from Your Clients
- 08/20/15 09:31 AM
Interpreting Cues and Clues from Your Clients
One of the biggest challenges facing salespeople is picking up on the cues from your clients. Whether in a conversation or through their actions, clients give us cues all the time. Your challenge is to interpret these cues as clues to your next move.
We do presentation role-playing work with agents in our Mastery coaching program and our ENCORE group. It is not unusual to be working with an agent doing a presentation and have them miss a cue I have given. Sometimes that cue is avoided intentionally because the agent doesn't … (0 comments)
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real estate: Aging in Place: What You Need to Know
- 08/14/15 05:31 AM
Aging in Place: What You Need to Know
Every year when I do my annual predictions I make a prediction on home renovation activity. It is no secret to anyone who has read these predictions that I have been predicting record high renovation projects to be started and completed in the next five years. The reason for this is very simple, people are making the decision to "age in place."
What this basically means is that many people, specifically Baby Boomers, are taking a good hard look at renovating versus selling and having to buy again. For some it … (3 comments)
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real estate: Big News for Real Estate and the Entire Pacific Northwest
- 07/30/15 10:20 AM
Big News for Real Estate and the Entire Pacific Northwest
I have been talking about the possible alliance of the Port of Seattle and the Port of Tacoma for quite some time. I have watched with eager anticipation of what the two ports would do and ultimately whether or not the alliance would be allowed to happen at all.
I am thrilled and ecstatic to be able to announce that The Federal Maritime Commission has completed its "competitive review and analysis" of the alliance agreement and have voted unanimously to allow the Ports of Tacoma and Seattle to form … (3 comments)
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real estate: The 8 Biggest Communication Mistakes Agents Make with Clients
- 07/24/15 07:57 AM
The 8 Biggest Communication Mistakes Agents Make with Clients
One of my favorite things to do in my real estate training is to work with agents one-on-one to help them see how they communicate with their clients. I will even videotape them. I critique their performance and together we identify flaws in their communication style and we make a plan for improvement.
None of us get trained enough in the art of communication. And very few people have ever had anyone critique their communication style. In a role play setting, I watch how agents display body language and voice tone. … (1 comments)
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