We Realtors often bandy about tons of real estate jargon. We talk to our clients and friends about short sales, REO’s, contingency periods, etc. I have come to realize, however, that just because we know what all of this stuff means, not everyone does, so I thought it would be helpful to describe some of the terms we use. Hopefully, this will give you some idea of what we’re talking about as we rattle on and on and your eyes are going bleary! Here goes:

Contingency Periods: We, generally, refer to these when doing our contracts. As an example, we tell you that you will have a 10 day period to “remove your property condition contingency” or 20 days to remove loan and appraisal contingencies. What this really boils down to, is that these are the time frames during which you will have the right to get your deposit back if you cancel the contract. Once you “remove these contingencies,” you are no longer entitled to get your deposit back, unless you can prove some sort of fraud.
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You’ve decided to buy or sell a house so you gather all the players you’re going to need around you. You have your lender, your Realtor ®, escrow officers and any inspectors needed. You’ve gathered them around with the intention of meeting your goal of buying or selling that home. You’re all on the same page so how hard will it be to get along. That depends.

Through the course of your search and purchase there will be loads of information flying around you. Everyone will have an opinion from family, friends, and even the guy that makes your coffee in the morning, on how you should proceed. It is now that you need to stay focused on the professionals on your team. This can be easy when everyone is of like mind but it can be incredibly difficult when strong disagreements erupt between you, the client, and the professionals around you. (more…)

At our office meeting this morning we discussed the fact that a large chain restaurant plans to offer free breakfasts to anyone who comes to their restaurant tomorrow. I won’t be going, because I have been boycotting them for more years than I can remember, after reading (on many occasions and in several locations) that their corporate culture allowed employees to discriminate again African Americans. I’ve never gone back since.

This made me think about how important our public image is and how one wrong move can cost us a customer for life. We need to be extremely conscious all the time about what we say and how we say it, both with our voices our physical gestures, and our written words. A silly joke that someone finds offensive or the way we discuss a neighborhood at an open house…almost anything can have the potential to lose a client or hurt someone’s feelings. (more…)

Just a quick post on a funny note… I have encountered a “runaway” buyer at two of my open houses in South San Francisco, two months apart from each other in two different neighborhoods. The first time I met her; she was so nice and friendly and seemed genuinely interested in the home. She said she liked it so much she wanted her husband to see it (he was waiting in the car). I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but once she went out to the car the husband slammed on the accelerator and took off down the street. I thought it was strange, but in this business nothing fazes me. It was about two months later when I encountered the “runaway” again. (more…)

I went to visit my clients who just bought their first home 2 weeks ago. They had bought new dining set, living room set, and a flat screen TV over the fireplace. They were very happy and their little toddler boy had the greatest time running around the house, climbing over the couch and the dining table. He hugged me so many times and blew kisses at me. I enjoyed watching them. We were so used to meeting several times every week especially since the loan was getting approved and funded, that it was hard to say goodbye.

I’m going to miss not seeing them as often.

I am glad that this young family was able to buy a house in South San Francisco at a great price and an interest rate of below 5%. This house was valued at about $170,000 higher 2.5 years ago. This is a great opportunity for many to purchase properties at today’s market values and interest rates.

There’s one thing that almost all successful real estate agents have done to develop their business in a specific area or market demographic, they “FARM”.

What is farming? Farming is when a Realtor picks a specific area to market. For example if the realtor lives on a certain street in San Bruno, they may choose several streets in that immediate area to target.

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There is a saying that 20% of the people will do 80% of the business in their industry.  Well, in real estate, 90% if the business is done by 10% of the realtors in our area. How do you compete and produce at that level?   Is it that difficult?

I sat with a group of new agents and asked them if they could identify the top 10% producing agents within our company (which took 5 minutes).

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Terry has invited special guest  Jonathan Shaw to comment on new Real Estate trends. Jonathan shares with us a re-post of a very good article by Peyman Aleagha for RISmedia
http://rismedia.com/2009-02-23/social-networking-and-the-new-real-estate-sphere-of-influence/

Social Networking and The New Real Estate Sphere of Influence

Actually, we’re not just talking about “social networks,” but business networking as well. The Internet has made dramatic changes in the way the world shops, locates information, and in how they communicate with each other. Of course, e-mail is the elephant in the room. But, as we become ever more mobile and in a hurry, networking will become a many-faceted activity.

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This past Friday, we had a Tech Day for Prudential San Bruno agents.  This great workshop, thanks to the efforts of Michael Monozon and Mark Hasha, focused on the ever-growing phenomenon of online social media networking.  Our main speakers were the dynamic duo of Reggie & Nicole Nicolay, who are quite influential on the internet through their blogging and articles on sites, such as cyberhomesblog.com and mytechopinion.com. The main topics were Facebook and Twitter, which are two of the fastest growing social networking sites.  Reggie & Nicole shared tips on how to set up accounts, make an impact by remembering birthdays, set up business pages, and much more.  They also introduced some great applications, such as iLike for uploading music onto Facebook and www.budurl.com for shortening and tracking links.      (more…)

I recently entered escrow on an REO property (Foreclosure) representing the buyers. With any escrow you enter you want to make sure you have your ducks in a row, but when it comes to REO transactions make sure you read the fine print. Some include passive contingencies which mean that if you don’t pull contingencies in writing on the said date written in the contract, they will pull them for you. This runs the risk of potentially forfeiting your client’s good faith deposit, if for some reason you have to end up canceling the transaction.

I met these specific clients at an open house, so they already had been pre-approved with a loan agent. I typically like to work with a loan agent or mortgage broker I have worked with in the past because communication is the key element to closing a transaction successfully.  This is especially true when writing on an REO property. There are too many potential problems you may run into and you don’t want to be in the middle of a transaction with someone who is not properly communicating. Although you may want to hear “no problem, I can close the loan in the 30 days and underwriting shouldn’t be a problem”. You need to hear, “this property appears to need a lot of work and we may have some issues with approving it through our underwriting guidelines”.  The truth does sometimes hurt, but it will hurt a lot more when your clients lose their good faith deposit!     (more…)

 You have come to the right source –
here is a list from our new agents to you…

• Stay focused
• Time blocking – time management is key
• Shift (organize)
• Work smart
• Adapt to the market
• Revisit your business plan
• Stress – learn to handle your stress and don’t take things personally
• Learn to disqualify your buyers
• Follow your start up plan
• Listen to the people with experience – don’t let your self get in your way and don’t be afraid to try new things
• Pick one thing and do it, if it does not work figure out WHY
• When prospecting, keep a positive attitude
• This is an emotional business – don’t let your emotion take all of your energy
• Don’t be a commodity

Recently, it seems that all the buyers have come out of the wood work….
We have been inundated with large groups at our open houses and receiving large amount of “sign calls” and inquires on our websites…
But the one thing that has not changed is fear…Depending on where the property is and the price range that it is in, there is a different strategy on how to make an offer. I think the public understands that the interest rates are great, and inventory has lessened, and buyers are hearing about multiple offers; but there is something that is preventing them to make a move. My advise; work with your agent…let them help you understand… ask a lot of questions.

Just this week, I have encountered buyers who I met a few weeks ago, they saw this home in their price range, and have their financing in order, but they needed time to “think about it”.  When they came back to reconsider the home, it was gone (in escrow with multiple offers).  Had they written a couple of weeks ago it could have been theirs.

Don’t lose your opportunity. There are several ways to protect yourself from competition and allow you to participate in obtaining home with your price and terms.

Recently, many people in our office have been learning more and more about social networking sites, such as twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed…you get the idea.  One of the questions I hear often is, “How is twitter going to help me get more business?  What good does it do to let people know what I had for breakfast?”  The basic answer for this is that this is just another way to make more contacts, put ourselves in front of more people, and hopefully become known as the “real estate experts” in our area.  But another question comes to mind: “How do my clients benefit from the fact that I’m on twitter and other such sites?”  Here are some reasons why it might be beneficial to you to have an agent actively engaged in social networking on-line:

1) You can get to know more about an agent before you decide whether or not to work with him or her.  When buying or selling your home, it only makes sense that you should feel comfortable with the person who will be helping you with one of the most important steps in your life, especially as they will probably need to know more about your finances and living situation than some of your own family members. (more…)

Over the years, one of the big controversies in the real estate world has been where we should work…what territories should we cover? Should we stick only to the areas near our office or home or should we branch out and sell properties in other areas? After all, our real estate license is for the entire State of California.

When my office was in Pacifica, there were many agents who would, literally, refer out any listings or sales that weren’t on the Coast. They wouldn’t “go over the hill.” I know that this is true for many agents in other areas, as well. Personally, I have always been of the mindset that “have license, will travel.” I have sold homes in Fremont, Hayward, Oakland, Sunnyvale and San Jose and several other communities that I can’t think of at the moment. Sometimes, when a home search for a buyer takes longer than anticipated or, (Heaven forbid!) they don’t buy at all, I have regretted making that decision. But, overall, I feel that it has helped to keep my career interesting, because I am always having to research new neighborhoods and learn about areas that were previously unfamiliar to me. (more…)