LivingIdaho

Warm-Fuzzies

Kelly Kitchens (Kelly Kitchens Realty Group) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:14:15 -0700

Today when I ordered my coffee the server filled my mug with boiling water, dumped it and then hand dried it. I used it to warm my hands before I filled it from one of their hotpots. It was a little thing but it gave me a warm-fuzzy. It's the same with those old fashioned milkshakes. They're mixed in those frosty stainless containers and there's always enough leftover for one happy refill. You might call it a cold-fuzzy but the point's the same - it's the little unexpected pleasantnesses that separate the good from the great.

Less is More When It Comes to Database Tools For Real Estate

Kelly Kitchens (Kelly Kitchens Realty Group) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:15:13 -0700

I’ve only been a Realtor® for a few years. Previously I owned an Apple Computer store and so you might think I’m technically inclined. I not. I was too busy running a store to get caught-up in the technology and it’s no different with real estate, or at least it shouldn’t be. The list of technology available to us Realtors® is immense but nothing is so important as a really good database. Without a systematic way to stay in-front of clients and track leads (even during busy times) it’s virtually impossible to keep a pipeline loaded. A good database resolves that problem. Sure when it’s not busy there’s time for prospecting but I’ve found the key to uninterrupted sales is a pipeline that’s continuously replenished on it’s own via a campaign and the engine that runs that campaign is a good database. That’s why when my mentor suggested getting a monthly subscription to the number one Windows database for Realtors I pulled the trigger and anted up the required $50 per month. For me however it proved to be less than functional, because I spent far too much time futzing with the database. The tool itself was getting in the way. I labored on that program for six months before ultimately reverting back to the simple programs that came built-into my Macintosh laptop. There were, of course, limitations to these simplistic programs. Basically I was doing everything manually with my address book, calendar and to-do list. I was staying in-front of people but and I wasn’t tracking anything. I knew there had to be a better way so I began to look for solutions in earnest. That’s when I came across a $49 database program called Bento. It integrates at a system level with all the programs that come on every Macintosh. My built-in programs – the address book, calendar, to-do list and email already have plenty of integrated functionality but they don’t have what’s found in a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) data bate. Bento on the other hand does, and it integrates beautifully with Apple’s built-in programs. If I change one record in Bento, the same record gets changed in my address book transparently and visa versa. And here’s the kicker – these built-in programs also sync with my iPhone. I’m going to add a bonus bite here that goes beyond the point I’m trying to make about databases and yes, I’m aware I might alienate everyone who doesn’t have an iPhone. Nevertheless here it is – I’ve tried (as in owned) every smart phone on the market and compared to the iPhone, they’re all crap and that’s being generous. If you don’t believe me, talk to anyone who owns an iPhone. It’s a life-changing tool. Nothing else even comes close. Best of all, there’s a sweet little Bento application for my iPhone that integrates with it’s sister-database on my laptop. Pretty cool hugh. OK, back to databases. I consider myself a bit technically challenged but Bento couldn’t have been simpler, even for someone like me. All I did was watch a few short (5 minutes total) online tutorials and soon thereafter I’d built my own database. Bento users have a place on the web where they can share templates. I simply downloaded the template, modified it to suit my needs and soon I had everything necessary to take my real estate career to the next level. Best of all I was able to customize the database for the way I do things. Let me give you a for instance. As I begin my day this morning I open Bento and generate a list of everyone I’m suppose to contact for the day. I see I’m suppose to contact Bill Jones about a listing that I’m writing-up next week so I decide to drop him an email. From within Bento I simply click on a button next to Bill’s email address and immediately I’m taken to my Apple Mail. After sending the email I decide I may want to remember what I wrote to Bill so I drag the email to the appropriate field in Bento. This enables me to link back to this email straight from within Bill’s record. I also decide to setup a reminder to call Bill later in the week. Since Bento integrates with my to-do list I simply type a reminder and assign a date to it. Later that week when I’m sitting in Starbucks I look at the to-do list on my iPhone no-less and am reminded to call Bill. I make the call and afterwards type a few quick notes on my iPhone about the conversation. I’ve also created a field in Bento to track these conversations. Next I schedule a follow-up call in Bento that will also show up in my to-do list. So whether I’m using the built-in calendar that came on my Mac or if I’m in Bento, I see the to-do item. Even better, it doesn’t matter if I’m on my laptop or my iPhone because just like my built-in applications, Bento runs on both devices. Do you see how simple life can be? Yes, as far as I’m concerned simplicity trumps feature rich every time. Even if you’re technically inclined, should you really be futzing with a complicated program or might it not be better if you were filling your pipeline? By the way, Bento does have a few limitation but the work-arounds are simple and don’t limit me. Yes in my mind, less is more. That goes for the iPhone and the Macintosh as well. Sadly Bento only runs on the Mac so if you’re a Windows person you’re out of luck. By the way I run both Windows and the Mac Leopard operating system simultaneously on my Mac. Now I have a set of tools that elegantly integrates into my everyday life – personal and business. It’s profound and it’s almost like breathing – you just don’t think about the tools anymore. Everything just happens as a consequence of the way I work and what I’m about. What’s more, it’s yielding dividends in spades.

Half-up Dressing For Realtors - Let's Make a Good Impression

Kelly Kitchens (Kelly Kitchens Realty Group) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:55:08 -0700

While at a seminar for Realtors recently I noticed the generally shabby attire of my counterparts. Of the fifty or so Realtors in attendance, I counted ten who I thought were presentably dressed. I doubt many of us would be in front of clients but still the dress was appalling. Levis, sandals and t-shirts were the standard fare. One Realtor in particular had holey jeans and believe me it wasn’t a fashion statement. I wonder if a group of lenders, lawyers or even title officers would have been similarly dressed – I doubt it. I have a message to my fellow Realtors. The general public already doesn’t have a real good impression of us in many ways, yet like in any profession, a good Realtor (one who’s mastered the art of real estate) is a wondrous thing. We all know those in our industry who’ve reached the minimal level of competence and that’s right where they stay but if you’re not one of those Realtors take a tip from me – dress half-up. Half-up dressing is simply the practice of dressing one-half level higher than rest of the crowd. In other words is the dress is casual don’t dress up to business casual but go half way in-between casual and business casual. We each represent our profession either positively or negatively. Henceforth make the commitment with me to represent it positively in the way you dress.

How Fear Can Keep You From Getting The Home You Deserve

Kelly Kitchens (Kelly Kitchens Realty Group) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:44:44 -0700

In today’s market who doesn’t want a great deal, but when a great deal is staring someone in the face, often fear sets in; The buyer offers too little and someone else gets the deal. Take for instance a young couple who I recently helped by an REO (bank owned foreclosure) home. The bank drastically dropped the price for a quick-sale which created a ton of interest in the property. While showing the home to my clients two other groups arrived out front to view it. I suggested to my clients that if they really wanted the home they should offer $1000 more than the asking price. They did and the bank accepted their offer. During the FHA inspection process however a leak was found in the water heater and it would have to be replaced before my clients’ loan would be approved. In an REO situation, properties sell “as-is” and my buyers couldn’t come to grips with the fact that if they wanted the property they were going to have to replace the water heater on their dime, even before they owned the property. They balked and the husband told me they were ready to walk. I reminded them of all the other properties we’d looked at in this price range and asked if they really wanted to go back there. He still balked. I told him, no problem, we’d resume our property search next week however I hinted that I or my investor might like to purchase the home and I was serious too. I’d take the deal if he wouldn’t. This was a $200K home and in their possession they were holding an accepted offer from the bank for $131K. The next morning he called me and told me the home was ready for inspection. That night when he realized someone else was going to save $70K on his home, he ran down to Lowes, bought the water heater, got into the property somehow and replaced the water heater himself. The home passed inspection and they purchased the home. The fear of losing the good deal became the overriding factor in his mind. Sometimes though the story goes the other way. An investor client of mine purchased a home at auction for an amazingly low price. He wanted to sell his property quickly and was willing to accept $80 per square foot for a home in Shenandoah West – a subdivision where comparable homes were selling for over $100 per square foot. Common practice for buyers in this market is to offer 5-8% less than asking price and they often ask for the seller to cover the closing costs as well. Sellers know this and price their properties accordingly. Our home wasn’t perfect but it was still very nice. Moreover a buyer wouldn’t have to go through all of the mumbo-jumbo of a short sale foreclosure that often takes months to work through and best of all our home was priced below foreclosure prices. Even nasty foreclosure properties were selling for more than $80 per square foot. In order to spur a lot of interest I advised my seller to price the home at the price he was willing to accept. It was such a good deal, I would simply tell prospective purchasers that if they wanted the home, a standard offer at 5% less than asking price wouldn’t fly. We got the effect we wanted. We were getting between five and eight showings per day and offers started to roll in. Internet metrics indicated hundreds of online viewings. Strangely, even after I told Realtors that a common-practice offer wouldn’t fly, the first three offers were just that – 5% below list price with the seller paying for closing costs. Finally a Realtor came along who was looking for a home for herself. She recognized the great price and made an offer that was very close to full price. We withdrew all of our other counter offers and accepted her offer. By and large the other Realtors were astonished we hadn’t accepted their offer and were quite distraught that they lost out. I find it interesting that the buyer who recognized the good buy and how to actually get the property was a Realtor who was negotiating on her own behalf. I also wonder, did the other Realtors just not believe me when I told them it was going to take a full-price offer? Did they not have the gumption to tell their buyers that if they wanted the home, they needed a full-price offer? What did they tell their disappointed buyers? What’s the moral of the story? Simply this – when you see a good deal, go for it. Get it before someone else does. Don’t let fear rule in your mind. Overcome it and use common sense. Then don’t look back. If you’re saving $70K, what difference does another $5K matter. Don’t step over a dollar to pickup a dime.

Real Estate from the Hospital Bed - Serious Like a Heart Attack.

Kelly Kitchens (Kelly Kitchens Realty Group) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:00:32 -0700

If you’ve tried to reach me in the past several days, you’ve found I’m unavailable except via email. No I haven’t had a heart attack but for the first time in my life I have had a health issue. It’s my lungs. The docs don’t know the cause yet and I’m the reason for my stay here at St. Lukes is to get a biopsy in order to figure that out. I’m writing this blog from my hospital bed. I wouldn’t say I haven’t skipped a beat while here in the hospital but since we Realtors® do a large portion of our work in front of a keyboard and there’s wireless here at St. Lukes, I’ve been able focus on some of the more interesting aspects of my career. And because I can’t run out and show a bunch of properties or talk much on the phone I haven’t been dogged by the tyranny of the urgent. I’ve been able to focus on what I want rather than on urgent tasks which all of the sudden don’t seem so urgent. It’s helped me consider what’s really important not only in my life but in my career and I’ve enjoyed real estate more from my bed than from my desk. The busyness of life often keeps us from self-analysis but I think we each need regular times of reassessment. For me it’s been forced because of my health issues but enjoyable nonetheless. I’ve had time to think and to consider if my actions really fall in line with what I’ve said I want my life to be about. I articulated my purpose statement years ago and it goes like this: "I will embrace Life, delve into Its beauty, know Its Creator and impart It to others. I will live a life of gratefulness, purpose, passion and creativity. By God’s grace my life will make a difference and have eternal significance." I think I may have forgotten however that to impart life, I must first have something to impart. Henceforth I intend to remember and focus more on the aspects of my purpose statement that will bring about more life in me so that I’ll have more of it to give to others. Specifically I will attempt to be more purposeful about my life and reject the tyranny of the urgent.

Who IS Really To Blame For The Mortgage Crisis

Kelly Kitchens (Kelly Kitchens Realty Group) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:45:19 -0800

For the fourth time I'm reading Fiat Money Inflation in France. This book details the fall of France in the 1800s due to it's failed monetary policies which were caused when they abandonded gold backed currency. I am struck by the similarity of what was being said by the pundits of their day and what is being said by our modern-day pundits. Their crisis was blamed on all the same culprits of today - mostly greedy investors and lenders. Greed in general as a motivating factor is often blamed but in reality people make decisions they perceive to be in their self-interest. It's only in retrospect the blame-placers come along and it's always the greed of others that they finger. Our current Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson blames bad lending practices. This seems like a plausible explanation but how could that be? Lenders are regulated to the Nth degree. Currently there are 317 regulations they must comply with and loan recipients had to fall within strict Fannie Mae or HUD guidelines. While subprime loans and fraud play a role, they are not the main culprits. Lenders use risk-assessment to evaluate the credit worthiness of their applicants but even subprime and stated income applicants received loans based upon the liberal policies of the federal government. It was the government whose policies led to an abundance of money to loan out and lenders were only too happy to comply. Why? Because they perceived it was in their best self-interest. Through various mechanisms the Fed can contract or expand the money supply. This is the history of fiat money (created out of thin air). The money supply is always expanded. So it was the lending practices dictated by our federal government predicated on ever-higher housing prices that created our crises. Given the abundance of money, this expectation was not unrealistic. We enabled the Fed to artificially control the supply of money long ago when we abandoned currency backed by gold. Once politicians understand they can spend more than they bring in simply by expanding the money supply, the supply of money will inevitably increase. It increases both to pay for the things they've promised and to create an artificial stimulus to make it seem like our economy is vibrant and growing. In reality though there is a displacement of wealth. This displacement travels from people who in previous generations embraced the art of thrift to those who now speculate. That is exactly what has been happening in real estate for many years. It's very simple. If you have a $1000 in a bank account and the Fed suddenly increases the money supply by 26% (which is what they did between 2001-2005) then effectively the purchasing power of your $1000 went to $740. Yet had you decided to speculate and invest your $1000 in something with a limited and unchanging supply (real estate for example) it's likely your $1000 would have at least remained on par with the increase in money supply and thus increase in value to $1260. Correctly, you often hear that real estate is a good hedge against inflation. So why did the real estate bubble pop? It has to do with the word "correction". Our continuing expansion of the money supply has created a nation of speculators - speculators in the stock market and real estate. People correctly ascertained that saving is foolhardy. It's in their best interest to put their money where it will be leveraged and exceed the rate of inflation. Sooner or later though there's got to be a correction. Real estate prices increased at twice the inflation rate for 10 years prior to our current problems. Banks made loans based upon the assumption that real estate prices would continue to increase. Homebuyers properly assessing the situation have begun to realize they are making payments on properties now valued far below the mortgages they owe on them. The agreement homeowners have with their banks is that the bank can have the house back should they stop making the payments and this was a rational response to the decline in the value of homes. When investors who purchased mortgage backed securities started to realize that the collateral of the homes which backed their securities was no longer enough to cover their investment, another crises ensued - the mortgage backed security crises and the insurance companies that back these securities. There has been a ripple effect that has affected the stock market and consumer confidence. What does all this mean to the average homeowner? We're in the midst of a correction. Understand this and you can position yourself to weather the storm and even take advantage of the circumstances. The actions you take will depend upon your personal circumstances and real estate can play a major role in becoming financially free. Excluding a total collapse of the market, I believe home prices have leveled off. There's never been a better time to buy a home. Interest rates are still very low and you can find bargains galore. Though we have considerably more home inventory now than three years ago, the number of transactions is greater than three years ago. People continue to need housing and they are taking advantage of the bargains in the market place. If you're a seller that means you may have to take less for your home than you had anticipated. If however you're also a buyer, one who is upgrading, the hit you'll take on your existing home will be more than compensated for by the savings you'll realize in the purchase of a new home. For example, if the market value on your $250K home has dropped by 10%, you'll sell it for $25K less than a few years ago. Here's the key though. If you're buying a new $400K home at a 10% discount, you're saving $40K. That means you're still better off by $15K. What is the overall arching lesson to be learned then? First off, people act in their own rational self-interest and that's perfectly OK, as long as their actions aren't coercive. This is exactly what buyers, investors and lenders have been doing since the beginning of time. Secondly we must be astute observers of the signs of the times and as much as possible position ourselves to benefit from an uncertain market. The fact that we ever gave government the power to artificially manipulate the supply of money is a curse upon us. We have, in fact, placed our trust on the government above our trust in the free market. It's as if we could somehow thwart the law of gravity and expect it to obey us. The result is the arbitrary and unjust displacement of wealth. By any other name this practice is called stealing. It's coercive, evil, penalizes thrift, rewards speculation and is simply wrong, wrong, wrong. The blame for our current economic crises then must be squarely placed upon the shoulders of government and even more upon us for placing our trust in the workings of men rather than the (God-ordained) free-market.