Sep t embe r/Oc t obe r 2011
THE RESIDENTIAL SPECIALIST
Managing Demanding Clients Fresh Marketing Ideas The Dynamics of Family Businesses
â–
Selling a
S epte m b er / o ct o b er 2 0 1 1
Lifestyle A home is only a part of the sale
Jacque Neef, CRS
THE POWER OF PROFESSIONALISM
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residential The
S pecia li s t
September/October 2011 VOL. 10, NO. 5
20 24 features
20 More Than a Home
By Daniel Rome Levine For many agents, real estate is not about selling a house. It’s about selling a lifestyle.
24 On Demand
By Melanie Padgett Powers The market downturn may have increased client frustrations, but there are ways to handle their needs — and keep your cool.
28 A New Twist
By Regina Ludes Fresh marketing ideas can lure buyers no matter what the climate.
32 Family Style w w w . c r s . c o m
By Mary Ellen Collins Family businesses are common in real estate. CRSs explore the highs and lows of working with family members.
Cover photo by Glenn Oakley
www.crs.com | 1
residential The
S pecia li s t
18 departments 5 President ’s Message 6 Q uick Takes By Frank Serio, CRS
11
New FHA mortgage rules; social media behavior; marketing matters; and more
11 Great Finds 12 Technolo gy Must-have iPad apps
By Dan Tynan Tablet computers
14 Trends
By Mary Dixon Lebeau Investor market update
16 Pi p eline
By Michael Fenner Digital rights
18 Up Close
inside CRS FROM 38 NEWS THE COUNCIL NAR Conference & Expo 2011 Sell-a-bration® 2012 Referral Story Your Home newsletter
l 46 Referra Marketplace 48 Ask a CRS
Advice from the country’s top agents
Nuno Venceslau, CRS RE/MAX Regional Master Minas Gerais, Brazil
36 Good Read
Reviewed by Allan Fallow The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make Them Happen By Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer, with William Bole
2 | September/October 2011
6
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residential The
Coming In The Next Issue ... n
Selling Affordability
Home equity losses might have affected potential buyers’ perceptions of affordability. How can agents convince them to get off the fence? n
Private Lives
Social media is built around sharing, but how much should agents reveal to connect with clients? n
Homes with a History
Stigmatized properties can be difficult to sell. What agents need to know n
Plan B
Business planning can be tough in an uncertain market. A look at strategies for success Would you like to be considered as a source for a future story in The Residential Specialist? Send an email to mfenner@crs.com to be added to our potential source list. To see a list of the topics we’ll be covering, check out the magazine’s 2012 Editorial Calendar online at www.crs.com/File/ PDF/editorial_cal.pdf.
PLUS: Video blogging 101
Specia li s t
EDITOR Michael Fenner Email: mfenner@crs.com Tel: 800.462.8841, ext. 4428 Fax: 312.329.8882 ASSOCIATE EDITOR Regina Ludes Email: rludes@crs.com Tel: 800.462.8841, ext. 4404 Fax: 312.329.8882 2011 COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY PANEL Moderator: Lois Cox, CRS Co-Moderator: Mark Shepherd, CRS 2011 COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY PANEL MEMBERS Rebecca Boomsma, CRS; Gretchen Conley, CRS; Jeff Dowler, CRS; Daisy Edwards, CRS; Treasure Faircloth, CRS; John Goede, CRS; Sandy Kaplan, CRS; Geri Kenyon, CRS; Daniel Kijner, CRS; Colleen McKean, CRS; Rita McNeil, CRS; Nancy Metcalf, CRS; Landa Pennington, CRS; Rae Roeder, CRS; Cynthia Ulsrud, CRS; Beverlee Vidoli, CRS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mary Ellen Collins, Daniel Rome Levine, Gwen Moran OFFICERS: 2011 President Frank Serio, CRS Chief Executive Officer Nina J. Cottrell 2011 President-Elect Mark Minchew, CRS 2011 First Vice President Mary McCall, CRS 2011 Immediate Past President Gregg Fujita, CRS
PUBLICATION MANAGEMENT
Tel: 202.331.7700 Fax: 202.331.2043 Publishing Manager Andrea Gabrick Email: agabrick@tmgcustommedia.com Advertising Manager Kirsten Nagel Email: knagel@tmgcustommedia.com Tel: 202.721.1489 Project Manager Katie Mason Art Director Josh Coleman Production Artist Tommy Dingus The Residential Specialist is published for Certified Residential Specialists, General Members and Subscribers by the Council of Residential Specialists. The magazine’s mission is: To be a superior educational resource for CRS Designees and Members, providing the information and tools they need to be exceptionally successful in selling residential real estate. The Residential Specialist is published bimonthly by the Council of Residential Specialists, 430 North Michigan Ave., Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611-4092. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Change of address? E-mail requests to crshelp@crs.com, call Customer Service at 800.462.8841 or mail to CRS at the above address. The Residential Specialist (USPS-0021-699, ISSN 15397572) is d istributed to members of the Council as part of their membership dues. Non-members may purchase subscriptions for $29.95 per year in the U.S., $44.95 in Canada and $89.95 in other international countries. All articles and paid advertising represent the opinions of the authors and advertisers, not the Council. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Residential Specialist, c/o Council of Residential Specialists, 430 North Michigan Ave., Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611-4092. COPYRIGHT 2011 by the Council of Residential Specialists. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
www.crs.com Ja nua r y/
Feb r ua r y
2011
DENT THE RESI
nts Working With Clieaster Affected by Dis ships Managing Relation With Vendors
IALI IAL SPEC
s Small Brokerage Thrive
ST ■
Building
JANUARY
4 | September/October 2011
/FEBRUAR Y 201
NEW COUNCIL NK SERIO PRESIDENT FRA ION FOR THE
President’s Message | News from Frank Serio, CRS
Gary Landsman
Exceeding Buyers’ Expectations
More real estate is sold by asking the right questions than knowing the right answers.
“Buyers are liars!” or so goes the old saying. It may often seem that buyers lie to us, only to realize we did not ask the right questions in the first place. In my experience, more real estate is sold by asking the right questions than knowing the right answers. As short sales and foreclosures continue to affect the market value of homes, homebuyers have become more cautious. They’ve read the news and talked with their friends, and they wonder if they are making the right decision to buy a property or not. Combine that uncertainty with a preconceived notion buyers may have about how real estate agents work, and it’s easy to understand why many buyers are skittish about going through with a home purchase. It can be stressful for buyers to walk into a real estate office without knowing the agent ahead of time. Perhaps they had a bad experience with another agent previously, which has shaken their confidence. That’s why first impressions are so important: Be professional and caring when meeting with buyers for the first time. Take time to get acquainted with them, and find out their wants and needs. Guide them with the right questions and actively listen to their responses. What emotions are driving their desire or need to purchase a home? These steps are vital as you work toward building a trusting relationship. During all the critical points of the transaction — from choosing a mortgage company and putting an offer on a home to negotiating the best terms and preparing documents for the closing — be available to resolve any last-minute issues so there are no surprises and the home closes in a timely fashion. And be sure to visit after the closing to see how the buyer’s move is progressing and offer assistance. By anticipating what buyers expect from you during each phase of the transaction and then exceeding those expectations, you can help make the buyer’s transition to a new home much smoother and build the foundation for a loyal customer base for years to come. For more insights about working with today’s buyers, check out the nearest CRS Sales Course (CRS 202, www.crs.com/Education/287?cid=rs202) and start creating the foundation for customers for life.
www.crs.com | 5
QuickTakes | Industry headlines, statistics and trends
New FHA Mortgage Rules As of Aug. 1, mortgage loan servicers are required to extend the forbearance period for unemployed homeowners from four months to 12 months under recent changes to Federal Housing Administration rules announced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Under the requirements, servicers who participate in the Making Home Affordable Program must extend the minimum forbearance period to 12 months whenever possible. The goal is to get the mortgage industry to provide more robust assistance to unemployed homeowners
who are struggling in a tough economy. “The current unemployment forbearance programs have mandatory periods that are inadequate for the majority of unemployed borrowers,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan says. “Today, 60 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for more than three months, and 45 percent have been out of work for more than six. Providing the option for a year of forbearance will give struggling homeowners a substantially greater chance of finding employment before they lose their home.”
No Regrets
6 | September/October 2011
John Kwan/Veer
Stuck in a Rut The Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University takes a sobering look at the U.S. housing market in its latest report, State of the Nation’s Housing 2011. Existinghome sales remain depressed, while new-home sales continue to hover near record lows. High vacancies and foreclosures continue to put downward pressure on home prices. The effects of the latest recession and the financial crisis of a few years ago continue to linger, slowing down the muchanticipated recovery. While there are no immediate signs of a broad recovery, that could change if the job market improves and the number of older and younger households continues to grow, the report concludes. That could increase demand for both rental housing and smaller single-family homes.
Ken Seet/Glow Images
Despite the ups and downs of the housing market and the decline in home values, most homeowners, including those who are underwater on their mortgages, don’t regret owning a home. In a recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders, three out of four Americans believe that owning a home is the best long-term investment and is worth the risk of a sometimes-volatile housing market. Approximately 95 percent say they are happy with the decision to own a home. That sentiment is also strong among homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) believe owning a home is worth the risk, and 83 percent say they are happy with their decision to own a home. Four out of five homeowners (80 percent) say they would advise a friend or family member to buy a home, while slightly fewer under water homeowners (78 percent) would do the same. Only 19 percent of homeowners who are underwater believe homeownership is too risky.
ra2 studio/Veer
Facebook and Social Behavior
Inspect for Success
Most homeowners believe a home inspection provides valuable information that helps them avoid home maintenance problems and save money, according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive and the American Society of Home Inspectors. Seven out of 10 homeowners surveyed say the home inspection on their current primary residence helped them avoid potential problems with their home, and almost two-thirds (64 percent) say they saved money in the long run because the inspection uncovered minor issues that could be easily remedied. The survey also finds that nearly 90 percent of homeowners believe home inspections are a necessity, not a luxury. While many homeowners who had an inspection understand the value it provides, many still incorrectly believe that certain components are included in a standard home inspection. For example, septic systems, electrical wiring and plumbing behind drywall, and swimming pools are commonly mistaken as items that are included in an inspection, but they typically are not. Also, 70 percent of homeowners surveyed assume all home inspectors are required to be certified and licensed, which is not necessarily the case.
Low Salary Expectations
Nine out of 10 American workers don’t expect to receive a pay increase until 2012, according to a survey by BIGresearch. While incomes remain flat, fuel prices and the cost of goods have risen, making a dent in Americans’ pocketbooks. To make ends meet, most Americans say they plan to buy just the necessities, drive less or spend less on clothes.
Buy only necessities – 70.5%
Drive less – 63.4%
Spend less on clothing – 58.9%
Comparison shop – 53.1%
Stick to a strict budget – 50%
Buy more store brands/generic products – 49.9% Spend less on groceries – 42% Do nothing – 6.6%
www.crs.com | 7
iqoncept/Veer
Do social networking sites hurt or help relationships? Frequent users of social networking sites, especially Facebook, tend to have higher levels of social well-being, according to the Pew Research Center. Facebook users are more trusting, have more close friends, are more politically engaged and get more support from their friends. Facebook also helps users retain high school ties and revives dormant relationships. For example, the average Facebook user has 229 “friends,” and more than one out of four are high school classmates. However, only 3 percent of Facebook friends are people users have not met in person, and only 7 percent were people they met only once before. “There has been a great deal of speculation about the impact of social networking site use on people’s social lives, and much of it has centered on the possibility that these sites are hurting users’ relationships and pushing them away from participating in the world,” says Keith Hampton, the lead author of the Pew Internet report. “We’ve found the exact opposite — that people who use sites like Facebook actually have more close relationships and are more likely to be involved in civic and political activities.”
QuickTakes | Industry headlines, statistics and trends
Homeownership Rules
Boomers Look Ahead Planning for future housing needs will be one of the biggest issues baby boomers face in the coming years. But while 50 percent of boomers plan to stay in their current home as they age, most do not have a plan for doing so, according to research from The Hartford Financial Services Group and MIT AgeLab. While 77 percent of baby boomers have discussed future housing needs with their spouse or partner, only 29 percent have implemented a plan. The survey of adults ages 46 to 65 finds that being close to family is the primary factor in deciding where to live as they age, followed by the need to feel comfortable in their home and concerns about affordability. And while nearly all respondents say they are aware of ways to alter their home to make it more comfortable as they age, only 26 percent have made those changes.
8 | September/October 2011
A Turning Point? Housing prices either hit bottom in the first quarter of this year, or will by the end of this year, according to a majority of economists, real estate experts, and investment and market strategists surveyed by MacroMarkets. While the experts’ expectations for the housing market reached their lowest point since the panel was assembled a year ago, two-thirds of the members believe the U.S. residential real estate market has reached a turning point. However, the 69 panelists who are forecasting a turnaround beginning in 2011 predict less than 2 percent average annual growth in home prices over the five-year period ending December 2015. “If it were to materialize, such a scenario might be better described as a forecast of price stability rather than a rebound,” says Robert Shiller, MacroMarkets co-founder and chief economist. “A 2-percent-a-year home price increase will not inspire a lot of consumer confidence. Given prevailing inflation expectations, this forecast implies virtually no change in real home values going forward.”
Monkey Business Images/Veer
Nearly three out of four renters (72 percent) say owning a home is a top priority for their future, up from 63 percent a year ago, according to the 2011 National Housing Pulse Survey from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. But more than three-fourths of renters say they would be less likely to buy a home if they were required to put 20 percent down, and 71 percent believe a 20 percent down payment requirement could have a negative impact on the housing market. Some groups of homeowners — including self-described “working-class” homeowners, younger noncollege graduates, African Americans and Hispanics — believe a 20 percent down payment requirement would have prevented them from becoming homeowners. More than eight out of 10 respondents (82 percent) say the top obstacle to homeownership is having enough money for a down payment and closing costs, followed by having confidence in one’s job security.
Marketing Matters Referrals continue to be agents’ preferred method for acquiring new clients, according to an April 2011 survey by HomeGain. Referrals also ranked number one in a similar survey in February 2010. Surprisingly, blogging and social networks appear to be losing favor among real estate professionals. Blogging was ranked 13th in 2011, falling from fifth in 2010, while Facebook and LinkedIn combined were ranked ninth, down from rankings of seventh and eighth separately in 2010.
1. Referrals 2. Leads from broker 3. Events (e.g., open houses) 4. Featured listings 5. Email campaigns 6. Postcards/mailings 7. Craigslist 8. Online lead-generation services
9. Social networking sites (Facebook/LinkedIn/ Twitter) 10. Outdoor advertising 11. Print advertising 12. YouTube 13. Blogging 14. Pay per click 15. Banner ads
Community and lifestyle choices are critical factors in the home-buying process, according to a survey by Meredith Corporation on behalf of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. One in five U.S. homeowners surveyed say they have either moved from their home or would like to move because their neighborhood or community doesn’t fit their lifestyle. Respondents cited ease of commuting by car, access to health services, family-friendly neighborhoods and access to retail shops as the top lifestyle criteria they will use when searching for their next home.
Erasing Mortgage Debt If Americans could choose one debt to eliminate, more than four out of 10 (42 percent) say they would eliminate their mortgage, according to a survey by Harris Interactive on behalf of Dex One Corporation. After mortgage debt, 19 percent of Americans say they would erase credit card debt, followed by student loans (8 percent) and car loans (8 percent). If they no longer had a mortgage payment to make each month, 54 percent of Americans say they would use the money they saved to make home improvements, while 25 percent say they would buy a car.
www.crs.com | 9
Monkey Business Images/Veer
Lifestyle Sells
tools for success Q U A L I T Y
Take your business to the next level with the most powerful tools in the real estate business. Visit www.crsstore.com to access leading-edge software, books, DVDs and marketing tools developed with your business goals in mind. Whether you want to close a transaction, build your referral business, learn more about the needs of buyers and sellers, hire an assistant, protect
your commission or master listing presentations, the CRS Store can provide the tools you need for success. You can be confident in our products’ effectiveness because they have passed a rigorous review conducted by the Council’s Product Review Panel, which consists of a group of seasoned Certified Residential Specialists.
T E S T E D
P R O D U C T S
Once the Panel determines that the product and vendor meet our strict criteria for: • relevance to REALTORS®; • user-friendliness; • use of the most current technology; and • exemplary customer service, the product is then awarded the Council’s Quality Tested Seal.
All merchandise has been developed with your business goals in mind, has been market-tested and received the CRS Quality Tested Seal.
American Dream Passport Create an official connection with buyer clients with the American Dream Passport. This pocket-sized booklet includes a lender checklist, loan payment table and important dates. Special Offer: Purchase the American Dream Passport or the Home Buyer’s Passport and receive additional copies free. Offer expires Oct. 31. Order 25 Passports and get 5 FREE; order 50 and get 10 FREE; order 100 and get 20 FREE Price: Purchase 10 for $39, 25 for $79, 50 for $149 and 100 for $275.
The Business Planning System for the Real Estate Professional In a challenging and competitive market, you’ve got to have a plan. The Business Planning System contains audio CDs and worksheets to guide you through the strategic planning process. CRS Member Special: Purchase The Business Planning System and receive Buyer Objection Busters (a $40 value) free, the bonus audio CD and Your Business Plan: Going Way Past the Numbers to Systematize your Success! Offer expires Oct. 31. Price: $99.95
Kinetic Knowledge Real Estate Blogsites
Create a Great Deal
Create a more visible online brand for your business. Kinetic Knowledge sites can be customized with better search, social media, IDX, mobile and lead capture capabilities. Receive regular updates to core software, technology modifications and new applications to keep your site current and leading-edge.
Negotiating shouldn’t be a battle, but rather a graceful resolution to conflict. Create a Great Deal teaches how to use collaborative negotiations and how to increase your negotiating power. Learn the rules and principles of negotiating to create more and better deals and increase your income.
Special Offer: $150 in FREE Kinetic Knowledge services. Offer expires Oct. 31.
Special Discount: Purchase both Create A Great Deal and Create A Short Sale for $34.11 (a 10 percent discount). Must purchase both items online through the CRS store. Offer expires Oct. 31.
Must purchase item online through the CRS store.
Home ProjectCalc
Power Pack 2
Whether you are an investor, hobbyist or do-it-yourselfer, the Home ProjectCalc calculator can help you design and finish your home improvement projects with greater precision and confidence. It works like a standard math calculator, but its advanced functionality allows you to enter measurements and calculate the costs of materials, such as wallpaper, paint, concrete and tile. Home ProjectCalc can save you time, money and fewer trips to the home improvement store.
Market your business like a pro! Power Pack 2 contains hundreds of sample marketing checklists, scripts and forms from six of the nation’s most successful REALTORS®. The spiralbound book and DVD are loaded with tips and strategies to make your business stand out from the competition. Special Discount: Purchase both Power Pack 1 and Power Pack 2 for $325 and save $23! Offer expires Oct. 31.
Non-Member Price: $24.95 Member Price: $19.96
Go to www.crsstore.com or call 800.462.8841 to place your order. 10 | September/October 2011
Great Finds | Tools of the trade
launch pad While Apple’s iPad isn’t the only tablet on the market, it does seem to be the top choice for many REALTORS®. It can be an agent’s most trusted co-worker — as long as it’s loaded with the right apps. Here are a few that can help you keep your business running smoothly when you’re on the go. All apps are available in the App Store at www.apple.com.
open sesame Ensure a lasting relationship with potential clients from the moment they walk through the door at your next open house with Open Home Pro. This app allows potential clients to sign in digitally with their name, email and other specialized categories on your iPad. At the touch of a button, the application sends out a personalized thank-you message to the entire list, and you can email a copy to yourself. Need more leads? The app lets you post new listings to OpenHomePro.com. A bonus feature: When prices are lowered on one of your listings, anyone who has shown interest is automatically notified.
neighborhood watch Part of selling a home is selling its surroundings, and now there’s an app that provides you with the talking points to do just that. Wikihood reveals your current location’s history, points of interest, nearby attractions, demographic data and even local celebrities. While you’re at the wheel, hand the iPad over to your client to scroll through as you drive — Wikihood acts as a tour guide by quickly highlighting the best of the neighborhood at a glance.
Free
organize chaos Managing client relationships is the key to success — and the key to good client management is organization. The iClient app consolidates all your client information with a password-protected program that you can share easily with colleagues. iClient lets you sort clients by transaction type and keeps a record of properties bought or sold. It also features additional columns for personal notes, such as birthdays and family names.
29.99
Free
helping hand The economy might have kept you from hiring an assistant, but with REALTOR® Assistant you can get access to a different kind of virtual support. The app is programmed with step-by-step tasks for typical real estate transaction workflows — new buyers, pre-listings, listings and marketing — so no detail is forgotten. Just name and select the new project, select the corresponding workflow and then check off benchmarks as they’re completed. Use the app to create personalized workflows or edit those that are already available.
analyze this Want to enhance your Web strategy? Analytics HD can help. Using Google Analytics, the application tracks your website visits and gathers other valuable statistics, such as which Web browsers are most frequently used to access your site (Safari, Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer are some options), how long a visitor spends on the site, and the busiest traffic days or times. Other categories include day-to-day analytics, what city visitors are browsing from and what operating system they’re using.
6.99
Free
www.crs.com | 1 1
Technology | Streamlining your business
keeping tabs Some REALTORS ® are making tablet computers a key part of their day-to-day working lives. By Dan Tynan
One in five U.S. consumers will own a tablet computer by 2014. Source: Harris Interactive
12 | September/October 2011
G
iven the recent hype surrounding the iPad, you’d think the device started some sort of tablet revolution. But REALTORS® like Jim Paulson, CRS, know better. Paulson, broker-owner of Progressive Realty Corporation in Boise, Idaho, has been using tablets on the job since the days when even Steve Jobs thought they were only good for surfing Web pages in the bathroom. His first tablet was a Gateway M275, a 6-pound beast that came with a stylus and a version of Windows XP designed
for pen-based computers. The M275’s 14-inch display swiveled on an axis; turn it one way and it’s a laptop; turn it the other way and it lays flat like a tablet. “I started using the M275 in 2004 specifically for real estate,” Paulson says. “I wanted my clients to be able to sign electronic documents out in the field without having to worry about printing or faxing them back to another agent or my office. It was pretty heavy, but it was worth lugging it around.” A few years later, Paulson graduated to an HP TouchSmart tx2, a similar tablet/laptop convertible with a touchscreen
display that didn’t require a stylus. But when he got an Apple iPad, it was love at first sight. “Once I added a Bluetooth keyboard to my iPad, I pretty much quit using the tx2 entirely,” he says. “You can turn the iPad on and off like a TV, instead of having to wait for it to power up or down. The battery lasts a day or two, so I never have to bring a power cord with me. I think the power cord for my first tablet weighed more than my iPad and keyboard combined.” Tablet computers — including the Android-based Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Xoom, HP’s TouchPad, and the BlackBerry PlayBook, as well as the iPad — are changing how many agents do business. The devices enable them to be even more responsive to clients and the market while reducing their dependence on paper and faxes. But they’re not replacing laptops or desktops entirely. At least, not yet.
At Your Fingertips Aside from checking email on the go and surfing the Web, Paulson uses his iPad to sign documents (“the digital copies look as crisp as the originals,” he says), sketch notes about homes he’s listing, draw rough floor plans, annotate fliers and online listings, take notes in his continuing-education courses, access Supra lock boxes using an iPhone adapter and generally “out-geek” the competition. Ken Jansen, CRS, with Keller Williams in Overland Park, Kan., regularly uses his iPad to access the MLS, county appraiser records, city maps, and data on average sale prices or the percentage of homes that have sold in each area he’s working in. “When people are looking for a home, they expect you to be the local expert,” says Jansen. “You try your hardest, but there are 16,000 to 18,000 houses for sale in Kansas City, and new ones come on and off the market every day. It’s not possible to memorize all that. But in three clicks on my iPad, I can call up all the homes for sale in almost any neighborhood.” Like Paulson, Tim Kinzler, CRS, with Keller Williams Realty in Boca Raton, Fla., has been using tablet PCs for more than
seven years. Now he uses his iPad at least once an hour. “The iPad eliminates the need for legal pads, fax and copy machines, filing cabinets, staples and paper clips, and reams of expensive paper,” he says. “It saves forests. And unlike a laptop, you don’t have to open it up and create a barrier between yourself and the client.”
App It Up Part of the tablet’s appeal is the access it brings to the thousands of downloadable apps, including hundreds of real-estatecentric applications. Ron E. Armstrong, CRS, with Keller Williams Professionals in Asheville, N.C., relies on apps like DaVinci to sketch out floor plans and OpenHomePro to keep track of prospective buyers. “Visitors to open houses can enter their email address into OpenHomePro on the iPad,” he says. “By the time they’ve gotten home, the app has already sent them an email thanking them for coming to the open house.” Art Aviles, CRS, of ANA Realty Consultants in Chula Vista, Calif., is also a big fan of OpenHomePro. “It’s a nice icebreaker,” he says. “When people come to an open house, they often don’t want to sign in. But they love touching the iPad. I say, ‘There’s the iPad. Just fill out that questionnaire.’ They can’t help picking it up.” Aviles also uses Sandicor Mobile MLS, an app that provides listing data for San Diego County, as well as ZipForms and DocuSign apps for writing and signing contracts on the fly. “If you want to write an offer or a counteroffer, you can do it right there on the spot with the client,” he says. “You don’t have to run back to your office; you can do it from virtually anywhere.” Aviles even has his own free app, which clients can download from his blog. Designed by iKenex, it works with Apple OS, Android and BlackBerry devices. When Aviles’ clients log in to the mRealEstate app, they can look up properties in the San Diego area and send questions directly to him.
Flash in the Pan Although the iPad gets a lot of the attention, it also happens to have at least one major drawback: It doesn’t support Adobe Flash, which prevents it from displaying content and video on certain websites. Aviles notes the lack of Flash support means he can’t use his iPad to enter new listings at the Flash-based MLS site (Sandicor), and his Sandicor app won’t let him enter data. He has to use a remote connection to his iMac to access any Flash-based sites. While other tablets, such as Android and HP models, do support Flash, they can be prone to other drawbacks, such as spotty connectivity. “Out in the farther reaches of my county, the wireless service can get pretty slow,” Jansen says. “If I’m trying to download a big document or access the MLS, which is not very mobile-friendly, it can get tedious.” In terms of raw computing power, tablets are significantly more expensive than desktop or laptop PCs — especially when you factor in the cost of high-speed data plans. Wireless carriers don’t offer voice plans for tablets, so you’ll still need to carry a handset. Even with a Bluetooth keyboard, they’re not quite as easy to type on as a laptop or desktop. If you drop one, you can easily end up with a cracked touchscreen, rendering it useless. And while the iPad is great for consuming information, Jansen says it’s not quite as good for creating it. “If I want to write a short blog post or go on Twitter, the iPad is great,” he says. “If I’m writing a document, I like to have a full-sized keyboard and a mouse. When I want to create a Web page, something I do a lot, I use my laptop. You can’t put Adobe Dreamweaver on your iPad.” Despite the drawbacks, Paulson says he can’t envision doing his job without some kind of tablet PC in hand. “It isn’t really feasible to have only one device these days, since each of them still has a purpose,” he says. “But I can’t imagine being without a touchscreen computer again.” Dan Tynan is a writer based in Wilmington, N.C.
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Trends | Today and tomorrow
slow and steady The investment market remains stable as investors commit to the long haul. By Mary Dixon Lebeau
Source: NAR Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey
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to this new breed of investors may be able to set themselves up for success for years to come.
By the Numbers According to the 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, the market share of investment and vacation properties has remained stable in recent years. In 2010, investment sales accounted for 17 percent of all real estate transactions, while vacation
Influx Productions/Getty Images
Investment-home purchases fell 7.8 percent in 2010 from 2009, while vacation-home sales declined 1.8 percent.
eality check: Despite hopes for an economic rebound, most consumers aren’t feeling it in their paychecks just yet. What’s more, uncertainty in the stock market and elsewhere in the global economy has made many investors skittish about where to put their money. But while the media headlines may be negative, there are ample real estate bargains to be had for shrewd investors. And, if properly handled, these investments can pay off in big ways. Agents who can cater
property sales made up 10 percent. Both numbers remain unchanged from 2009. Nationally, the median price of an investment home was $94,000 in 2010, down 10.5 percent from the $105,000 median price in 2009. But that 27 percent is an upswing from the 21 percent market share reported in 2007 and is just 1 percent below 2005’s high of 28 percent. Although investors remain cautious, many are finding a way to make this market work for them. “We were a little overconfident in 2008,” says Jeff Underwood, CRS, broker-owner of Uncommon Realty in Columbia, Md. “Now things are more tentative. From 2007 through 2009 we didn’t see any great appreciation.”
The Changing Face While the market profile remains the same, the profile of the average investor has changed considerably as property values decline. They’re more experienced. “Most of the beginning investors have dropped out of the market,” says Nancy Horton, CRS, broker/owner of Guardian Realty in Shelbyville, Ind. “Now I’m selling to investors who really understand investment and have large pools of cash to work with. My pool of investors is much smaller, but I’m dealing with the serious, seasoned investor,” she adds. Underwood agrees. “There aren’t many neophyte investors left,” he says. “I’m dealing with the veteran investors, the guys who own houses and have been in the market since the previous peak.” They’re dealing in cash. As Underwood points out, most veteran investors have good cash flow, which allows them to buy property even as banks tighten their requirements for loans and mortgages. NAR data indicates that in recent years, all-cash purchases have become customary in the second-home market. Fifty nine percent of investors paid cash to purchase residential property in 2010, an obvious reflection of the increasingly stringent conditions and the subsequent slower decisions being made by lenders. Underwood understands the pain firsthand. “I have 15 rental homes, but I can’t get a loan anymore,” he says. “I want to
“ No w I’ m s e lling t o inv e s to r s w ho r e a lly un de r s ta nd inv e s t me nt a nd ha v e la r ge po o ls of c a s h t o w o r k w it h. My po o l o f inv e s to r s i s muc h s ma lle r, but I’ m de a ling w it h t he s e r io us , s e a s o ne d inv e s to r. ” — Na ncy H o r to n, C R S
This type of return is possible because rents have increased with the demand. As more people lose their homes — or their ability to secure mortgages — the demand for decent residential rentals swells, which allows the property owners to raise rental prices. Without the “fix and flip” mentality, investors are willing to work on multiple projects at once, Horton says. Neophyte investors often waited for the first property to sell before buying another. “Now, those with cash will buy multiple properties at a single time, if they see a good deal,” she says.
The New Way to Work reserve the cash I have. A lot of banks are looking for 30 to 50 percent down, and the fact that I have so many properties disqualifies me from FNMA (financing from Fannie Mae). They’re charging me commercial rates now,” he says. But for those who are willing to put up the cash, a deed in hand has become more valuable than any Wall Street speculation. “Real estate seems a safer place to put their money than stocks, bonds and mutual funds,” points out Dave Folsom, CRS, GRI, broker associate at Keller Williams Realty DFW in Southlake, Texas. They’re in it for the long haul. Gone are the days of the fix and flip. Today, investors are hiring property managers (or putting on the landlord hat themselves) and holding onto their investments. According to NAR, those who purchase an investment property plan to own that home for a median of 10 years. “The get-rich-quick heyday is over. Now investors are buying to hold. They’re looking ahead to 10 years from now, and all the equity they’ll have,” says Underwood. Of course, the right investor — with a substantial down payment — has the potential to see immediate return on his investment. “The last investor sale I closed was on a $98,500 property,” Folsom recalls. “[The investor] put 10 percent down, then rented the property for $1,250. Even after paying their property management company, they’re banking rental income of $450 a month. Not bad for just under $10,000 cash.”
Selling, of course, means driving investors to your listings. In Folsom’s office, the agents decided to get MAD, by forming a group for investor and potential investor clients, Making A Difference (MAD). “When we started looking at the number of foreclosures and short sales accumulating in our area, we decided to form a group to share information and discuss strategies,” he says. In December 2010, the group of investors, potential investors and 25 agents from the office held their first seminar, based on Gary Keller’s The Millionaire Real Estate Investor. The group has met seven times since then. The seminars usually include a presentation by a professional, such as a real estate attorney or title specialist. The investors can also learn about the office’s latest property listings during these meetings. “All of us have success stories,” says Folsom. “I’ve closed three income properties in the last two months, and I have three in escrow. All of these investors have attended MAD seminars.” When it comes to getting listings sold, Folsom says, “It comes down to meeting the goals of the individual investors, whether it be cash flow, equity building or in some cases anticipated appreciation on a particular property.” A united front, together with individual attention to goals, allows each investor to come out on the winning side, even in a down market. Mary Dixon Lebeau is a freelance writer based in West Deptford, N.J.
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Pipeline | Strategies to grow your business
image matters Many REALTORS ® may be unaware that their reuse of images and content online could put them in violation of copyright law.
REALTORS® who neglect to obtain the necessary permission and licensing to reuse images or text content online put themselves at risk.
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nformation wants to be free. Web content evangelists were fond of reciting that mantra during the heyday of the dot-com boom in the late 1990s. But things that have value also tend to come with a cost. This is also true on the Web. Many REALTORS® may be unaware that they are putting themselves at risk of copyright violation by posting images or text from other sources on their own website or blog without obtaining permission or paying a license fee. Such actions can be costly indeed: Stock photo companies now routinely use computer algorithms to scour the Web to find unlicensed use of their images and demand that violators pay
fees or fines that can be exorbitant (from $1,000 to much more), depending on how the image was used. CRS certified instructor Dale Carlton, CRS, says REALTORS® often think images they find online are free for the taking. But in most cases, “just because they’re free doesn’t mean you have the right to use them … and just because they’re out there and easy to grab, they’re not yours.”
Letter of the Law Copyright law provides broad protection for the creator or owner of a given image, says James Silverberg, director of litigation at The Intellectual Property Group, which represents artists, photographers, designers
Steve McAlister/Getty Images
By Michael Fenner
HOME
YOUR and other creative content creators. “The copyright owner automatically has a limited monopoly over the work, including the exclusive rights to reproduce the work in copies, to distribute the copies, to prepare derivative works which are based upon or incorporate the copyrighted work, to publicly display the work … [etc.],” he says. That means REALTORS® who use images or content without obtaining permission from the rights owner put themselves at risk. “Use of a copyrighted work without permission, including works that happen to appear on the Internet, therefore may entail a copyright infringement claim,” Silverberg says. “The copyright law provides for various types of damages in the event of infringement, including the possible recovery of profits, a reasonable royalty, and in the case of registered works, the recovery of statutory damages and attorneys’ fees.” And while REALTORS® may assume their ignorance of the specifics of copyright law will protect them from culpability, that’s just not the case. As Silverberg puts it: “In short, if you go through the red light, you can be given a ticket, even if you did not know that you had to stop, and even if you did not see the light.”
Get It In Writing So how best to avoid a possible violation? For starters, before posting an image on their website, agents should get permission in writing. Such agreements are typically referred to as releases, assignments or licenses, Silverberg says. When looking for images to use online, he recommends searching stock art websites, such as Stock art.com, or working directly with an artist or photographer with whom you have a licensing agreement. Carlton, who also owns Carlton Realty in Fayetteville, Ark., recommends iStock photo.com, which offers an affordable option for REALTORS® looking to add images to their websites, blogs and marketing materials. The basic images he purchases to use on his website or in presentations cost less than $5 each, he says, although higher-quality images that he uses for print advertising or posters might cost $40 to $50. Carlton advises agents to read all image license agreements carefully to make sure
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A Note About Your Home Newsletter Image Use To CRS Designees and members who post the Your Home newsletter electronically: TMG, the custom publishing company that produces the Your Home newsletter for the Council, has informed CRS of important action that some of our members may need to take regarding improper use of images featured in previous issues of Your Home. (The newsletter appears in this issue on pages 41 and 42 and can be found online at http://bit.ly/qgwZOt.) • Due to photo-rights issues, it is important that members immediately remove all Your Home photos published prior to 2011 from their websites. Members who do not comply are in violation of photo-license agreements and could be held responsible for penalties or fees from the photo-rights owner. • CRS members who post the Your Home newsletter on their websites should take down all newsletters and photos from issues published prior to 2011. Members who have posted images from previous issues of Your Home elsewhere (on a blog, for example) should remove them immediately. Members should also cease using any Your Home photos from prior to 2011 in any other format, including PDF, email or print, and remove any of those images and/or PDF files from their websites. Members who have posted text-only versions of individual Your Home stories do not need to remove them. • From Jan./Feb. 2011 on, members may still post, print or email the electronic version of Your Home as it appears in The Residential Specialist magazine, but only in the unalterable PDF format provided. Images in Your Home must appear in the original PDF format in all uses: Photos may not be altered, removed and used elsewhere, or used out of context. • Members still can reuse, edit or republish the text of Your Home articles any way they like. The text of those articles will be available on the Your Home page of the CRS website. CRS also will continue to provide the standard customizable Word version layout, but it will no longer contain images. Members can customize the newsletter with their own images or with photos or artwork they obtain legally via a reputable service, such as iStockphoto.com. • CRS is working on a long-term solution that will give members easier access and more flexibility to use the Your Home newsletter articles in their communications. Thank you for your attention, and we apologize for the inconvenience this causes any of our members. Sincerely, CRS and TMG
they understand how the contract authorizes them to use a given image. He likens image-use agreements to renting a conference room at a hotel: The hotel owner still controls when you can use the room, the length of time you have access to it, the food you can purchase for event attendees and, of course, the fees. But for REALTORS®, when it comes to using images online or in print, the
watchword is caution. Carlton warns agents that not all online image clearinghouses are necessarily reputable. While the many “use at your own risk” image sites may be easy, convenient and (seemingly) free, he advises, “If you didn’t pay for it, you probably shouldn’t use it.” Michael Fenner is the editor of The Residential Specialist.
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Up Close | Profiles of people to watch
nuno venceslau,
CRS
RE/MAX Regional Master, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Contact: nunovenceslau@ remax.com.br
What critical job skills did you learn in the process of earning your CRS Designation? I found the four course modules of REAP (Real Estate Advanced Practices, which is offered outside the United States) not only interesting, but vital for learning how to succeed and practice business in a more professional manner. I especially liked the Marketing module and the various scripts and strategies we learned to address any client objections. These strategies are essential to closing the deal, and that is exactly where many real estate agents fail or are afraid to face the customer. How did your attendance at Sell-a-bration® help your career? Would you recommend the event to other real estate professionals based outside the United States? After I became a CRS Designee, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to attend Sell-a-bration® in Orlando (in February 2011). It gave me valuable exposure to some of the best professionals our industry has to offer. I was also able to interact with various types of real estate agents from very different markets. In that way, attending the event can bring a lot of value to what you do as a professional, and you can learn from one another as everybody shares the experiences of their day-to-day challenges and successes. At the event I learned some innovative ways to communicate with clients by using
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social media platforms, and I learned about a number of other professional technologies and strategies that help us greatly as we conduct our day-to-day business. How do you think CRS education can improve the professional skills of REALTORS® in your area, and in nations throughout the world? I encourage all real estate professionals to take advantage of CRS education and events — your time and money will certainly be well spent. I have heard some colleagues say that they think the courses or Sell-a-bration® might be too expensive, but I tell them: “OK, then. What is the price of your ignorance?” When I started 14 years ago, I would have loved to have had access to this education and information. If I have made it this far already, I can only imagine where I would be if I had access to this resource 14 years ago! There is one famous maxim [written by George Bernard Shaw and famously paraphrased by Robert F. Kennedy] that inspires me every day and helps me see opportunities where others see threats: “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not.” Business success does not depend on who you are, but rather on the quality of the work you do. So the key to success is to truly believe and trust in yourself and in your potential. Over time I learned to forget the unimportant things and to focus on the positive experiences that give me strength to continue. I have also learned that failure can bring success, if we take the time to learn from it. As Darwin said, “It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that best adapts to change.” As professionals, we need to demonstrate a high degree of adaptability (those who are not adaptable may be lost on the way), an ability to elicit emotions (people may forget what you say, but they never forget how you have made them feel), and an unwavering commitment to maintaining the highest ethical standards.
Pedro Canelas
CRS Designee since: 2010
Why did you decide to pursue CRS real estate education and obtain your CRS Designation? I have 24 years of business experience, including 14 years in the property market. But even with all this experience, I am always looking for new courses where I can learn ways to perform better and boost my professionalism. When I learned that I had the opportunity to attend CRS training and obtain the Designation, I decided to pursue it. And indeed, I had the privilege of being the first in the RE/MAX network in Portugal to obtain the CRS Designation. The training and the CRS Designation teach best practices in real estate, which is so important to our industry.
“Business success does not depend on who you are, but rather on the quality of the work you do.�
Nuno Venceslau, CRS
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More Than By Daniel Rome Levine
a Home LEFT: Steven Keylon/Getty Images; RIGHT: Daly and Newton/Getty Images
For many agents, real estate is not about selling a house. It’s about selling a lifestyle.
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n a rural state like Idaho, where many people are accustomed to living in wide-open spaces, persuading someone to move to a city center could be a tough sell. Not for Jacque Neef, CRS, in Boise. Her brokerage, Homeland Realty, markets a 43-unit, six-story downtown condo building in the state capital called The Jefferson. Neef ’s strategy: Don’t market the condos; market the lifestyle they represent. “Typically, it is a drastic change for our buyers to move downtown,” she says. “I have to market the advantages of the downtown-living lifestyle in order to overcome buyers objecting that the home size is smaller than what they are used to.” www.crs.com | 2 1
When Neef was recently contacted by a widow in her 60s who was ready to leave her home in a small town 30 miles outside Boise, one of the first things Neef did after giving her a tour of the building was hand her coupons for a nearby coffee shop and a restaurant next door to The Jefferson. “This helps reinforce just how accessible and convenient day-to-day activities, such as having lunch with a friend, are here,” says Neef. “It’s all about stressing the walkability factor.”
Neef also directed the woman to video testimonials her agency had produced in which residents of The Jefferson talk about all the reasons they love living downtown. In one short video, a camera follows a woman as she leaves her condo, and shows her shopping at a nearby farmers market. “We have links to that video on our website, Facebook page, YouTube and everywhere else we can,” Neef says. Two weeks after first meeting her client from the small town, Neef helped Jacque Neef, CRS
her close on a 1,200-square-foot, twobedroom, two-bath unit for $425,000. One day soon after, Neef was putting up open-house signs outside The Jefferson when she heard a voice from above calling her name. It was the woman standing on her balcony. “I love it here,” she shouted out enthusiastically. Like Neef, many CRSs around the country are selling more than just homes. They are selling a lifestyle. Whether it is a planned community, a resort area, or a beachfront or high-end condo development, knowing how to effectively market the lifestyle that comes with a property can increase sales and enhance an agent’s reputation. In Lincoln, Neb., Jayne Debus, CRS, emphasizes environmental awareness and sustainability, combined with a healthy, balanced lifestyle when she markets homes at Fallbrook, a planned community of 200 homes five minutes from downtown. Debus, with Nebco Realty Group, the community’s developer, stresses to clients the environmental and health benefits of living in Fallbrook. Its small-town feel and easy walking access to stores, restaurants, a fitness center, medical offices and a school not only make it a pleasant, convenient place to live, but also enable residents to live healthier lives while benefiting the planet. “We want to get people back into a healthy mode,” says Debus, who lives in the community herself, “so instead of wasting money on gasoline and harming the environment, people here can walk to work or wherever they are going.” She also points out to clients that Fallbrook was built using only environmentally friendly materials. For example, all homes have cement board siding instead of vinyl, aluminum or metal, and make ample use of bricks. The community’s sustainable lifestyle is also on display at a weekly farmers market, which runs May through October, in the town center where only natural products originating in Nebraska are
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Glenn Oakley
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sold. Debus has a booth set up at the market and says it has been an effective marketing tool and a nice way to introduce people to the community. “It’s been a big draw,” she says.
Walk the Talk, Live the Life Actually living the lifestyle you are selling, as Debus does at Fallbrook, is key to setting yourself apart from competitors, says Peter Cagnassola, CRS, owner of Bedminster Hills Realty in Pluckemin, N.J. For more than 20 years, Cagnassola and his family have lived in The Hills, a planned community of 5,000 homes 35 miles west of Manhattan in New Jersey horse country. It is also where Cagnassola does nearly all his business. “To have any level of success in selling a lifestyle, you have to be part of that community and lifestyle yourself,” he says. “You can’t sell it if you’re not living it.” Cagnassola proudly tells clients that he, his wife and two children have grown up together in The Hills. “We started in a condo, then went to a townhouse and now we’re in a single-family home,” he says. Clients also view him as more of an authority on the community than they might other agents, because he lives there and has firsthand knowledge of the lifestyle. It’s one thing, he says, for an agent to talk to prospective clients who are golfers about The Hills’ course; it’s quite another when Cagnassola tells them he plays the course regularly and can explain to them how easy and convenient it is and provide inside information about how it plays.
“To have any level of success in selling a lifestyle, you have to be part of that community and lifestyle yourself. You can’t sell it if you’re not living it.” Being a resident means he also has a passkey that lets him in to all The Hills’ common areas. “Other agents don’t have access to these places because they don’t live here,” Cagnassola says, “but I can take my clients right in. That’s a huge advantage.” One major reason Cagnassola has been so successful at selling The Hills’ lifestyle — he has 2,200 sales in his 28 years selling there and more than $200 million in closed sales the past five years — is that he takes the time to get to know his buyers and the exact lifestyle they are seeking. At a large planned community such as The Hills, with its abundance of activities and amenities, from 18 tennis courts and seven swimming pools to a golf course and two retail centers, it’s important, he says, to figure out what your buyers want and not try to simply impress them by showing them everything. “Not everybody wants to be made to feel like you’ve got to be doing 100 things,” he says.
Sell Mate
1 Live the lifestyle you are selling. 2 Ask questions to determine your clients’ exact needs and the lifestyle they are seeking.
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F ocus your marketing to their specific needs and interests. Don’t overwhelm them. emonstrate to clients the lifestyle you are promoting. For example, don’t just D tell them about the close proximity of shopping and restaurants to homes in a planned community; walk with them to these places. Give out coupons to local establishments.
“There is no one-size-fits-all approach to selling a lifestyle,” says Cagnassola. “You’ve got to gain an understanding of your buyer’s specific needs and then tailor your presentation around those needs.”
Looking Ahead In the beach paradise of Sarasota, Fla., Nicki Conway, CRS, of RE/MAX Alliance Group, knows the importance of asking her buyers the right questions to accurately determine the lifestyle they are seeking. Many of her buyer clients, she says, are people within 10 years of retiring and are acting now to take advantage of what they believe is the bottom of the local housing market. Most tell Conway they plan to use their new property as a vacation home until they retire there. But Conway understands that the lifestyle someone wants now, when they are on vacation, may be completely different from what they might want when they are ready to retire in a decade, so she probes her clients to get them to think carefully about how their lifestyle choices may change. “How do you live your everyday life now, and how do you envision living your everyday life five or 10 years from now?” she asks them. “It’s critical to separate the emotions a buyer has of how they vacation as opposed to the lifestyle they will want when they retire here,” she says. “I think it’s important to make them think about this.” When working with couples, she always tries to ask them these questions separately in order to ensure she can find a community that they would both truly enjoy. “Many times I get two completely different answers,” she says. Taking the time to understand your clients’ needs is important in any real estate transaction, but especially so when REALTORS® are selling a lifestyle. Asking the right questions to ensure a good fit will result not only in their clients’ long-term happiness, but also in the agents’ long-term success. Daniel Rome Levine is a writer based in Wilmette, Ill., and is a frequent contributor to The Residential Specialist.
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By Melanie Padgett Powers 24 | September/October 2011
On The market downturn may have increased client frustrations, but there are ways to handle their needs — and keep your cool.
Michele Chiles-Hickman, CRS, ABR, with Prudential New Jersey Properties in Montclair, N.J., knew she had a demanding client when the text messages just kept on coming. “I have probably a total of 220 texts back and forth with her, and about 100 of those were in a week and a half,” she says. But Chiles-Hickman didn’t mind the constant questions from her nervous potential buyer. It was when the 20-something first-time buyer’s mother got involved that the relationship began to fracture. “Her mother would actually come from an hour away and start riding around looking for houses and calling me,” Chiles-Hickman says. “One day she called me five or six times while her daughter was at work.” This was after Chiles-Hickman had told them that she was sending them information
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Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Glow Images
Demand
Cheat Sheet
on every available home her client could afford. “I told them, ‘If you’re riding around and you see a sign, it’s under contract or it’s out of your price range.’ ” One day, when a seller got stuck in traffic and couldn’t show his house, ChilesHickman’s client and her mother camped outside the home, waiting for the homeowner. After the daughter left, the mother decided to keep trying to see the house. “The mother called the number on the sign and spoke to the listing agent as if I had not been feeding them information for the last five hours,” Chiles-Hickman says. “The next day I said, ‘I just can’t do it anymore. I think you would be better served by somebody that has a little more time than me.’ ” REALTORS® agree that the downturn in the economy and the housing market has increased client frustration and demands. That often can result in complaints that their agent isn’t keeping them informed or trying hard enough to sell or find a house. They might quote endless “tips” they found online or want to know every detail about every showing. But no matter what REALTORS® encounter, they can learn how to handle difficult clients — or, if necessary, how to recognize when it’s time to move on.
Frustration & Fractured Nerves There are three types of difficult clients, according to Gwen Van der Zyppe, CRS, ABR, with Rhodes, Van Note & Company REALTORS® in Montclair, N.J. “Nervous nellies” are needy people who require constant reassurance, she explains. “The know-it-alls” don’t want to hear what the agent has to say, because they think they know everything about buying or selling a home from the Internet or their friends. And then there are the “fact checkers,” who will listen to an agent’s advice, but need to verify everything the REALTOR® says with other experts, such as roofers, plumbers or mortgage bankers. “It’s not that they don’t believe you, but they have to go out and validate it,” Van der Zyppe says. “And then they come back and tell you what you already told them a week ago.” Sellers want more feedback about why their house isn’t selling, and buyers want to find the “biggest steal in the world” because they’ve heard it’s a buyer’s market, says Jae Kim, CRS, ABR, SFR, owner/broker of EXIT Real Estate Solutions, Columbia, S.C. If sellers list their home for the right price and have made sure the condition is excellent, it’s just a matter of time before it sells, Kim says. But if they haven’t, Kim takes every opportunity to remind them
Got a difficult client on your hands? Check out the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS’® top five tips for dealing with demanding clients. 1. Be Prepared. Plan ahead of time how you will respond to unrealistic demands or diffuse a situation. 2. Keep Your Cool. Don’t give in to your emotions. Pause to give yourself a minute to respond and speak slowly. 3. Always Be Professional. Don’t argue. Focus special attention on showing competence at every turn. 4. Listen to the Client. Try to understand the reasoning behind client demands and offer a solution. 5. Analyze the Situation. Try to figure out what caused the client’s behavior, so you’ll know how to prevent or respond to it next time.
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that these are the basic requirements to get a successful sale. He tells his buyers looking for that “steal” that they need to be ready on a moment’s notice to place an offer. And if their timeline is tight, they need to be flexible when it comes to price, location and condition. “If we’re not helping them get to where they want to go, they’re going to be even more frustrated, especially in a market like this,” Kim says. “Trust me, there are a lot more frustrated people today than there were back in 2006.” Van der Zyppe agrees. One of her nervous clients calls her at 7:30 in the morning and sends emails at 3 a.m. But she’s not the only one. “They’re all nervous wrecks right now because of the way the market is in our area,” Van der Zyppe says.
Cut Off at the Pass Kim says it is possible for agents to head off some demands before they emerge. “It’s our job to educate them to make sure they don’t have those frustrations; a lot of times they’re going to come across as a lot more difficult because they’re frustrated — from a lack of information,” he says. Kim uses relevant data to give a broad overview of the market, then narrows in on the area where the clients are buying or selling. “Having a better understanding of what’s selling, not selling and coming to market gives them an idea of how to approach the market,” he says. “Sometimes six months of comparable sales do not have any value on the market today if actives are listed at a 20 percent discount.” Being professional at all times is often the best way to handle demands, Kim says. “Give them times to accept for appointments, require everything in writing, and be very open with your feedback to them,” he says. “You are a professional. Most of the time, I see that agents are ‘handled’ by their clients because their clients don’t see them as a professional or a resource.” He encourages agents to consider how client demands would appear in other professions: “Imagine calling a dentist and telling him you want to see him after 6 p.m. Then, tell him you won’t provide proof of
insurance and you don’t have any proof of funds for making any payments. Demand the dentist take your calls any day, any time during the week. Email and text the dentist with the expectation of an immediate response.” Bob Herd, CRS, CRB, an associate broker and sales manager at West USA Realty in Surprise, Ariz., tries to get a clear picture of a potential client’s demands by discussing their expectations as a buyer or seller up front. “Ask a few key questions and then be quiet,” Herd says. He usually starts by asking buyers to describe the type of home they’d like to own, giving as much detail as possible, and to describe their house-hunting experience so far. He asks all clients, “What are your expectations of me?” “Once they start to talk, they will really lay it out there for you. It’ll give you a snapshot of who they are,” he says. Always tell clients the truth, and don’t be afraid to cut them loose if you are unable to agree, Herd says. If a seller argues with Herd over the listing price, he keeps referring to the comparables and explains that the market dictates the price. If they continue to disagree, Herd tells them: “I’m going to have to respectfully decline to take your listing because my reputation is one of the biggest assets I have and that I can give to a seller.” He explains that he garners a lot of showings because other agents know his properties are well-priced. “If I take your listing overpriced, suddenly my reputation suffers, and all of the other sellers I work with suffer for that, and I can’t just let that happen,” he explains. Herd’s tactic usually surprises clients, who often agree to take a step back and talk over their concerns with him.
If clients tell you they had a bad experience with another agent, Herd recommends you ask for details and explain the different way you work. “Be up front, talk to them, don’t be afraid to lose them,” Herd says. “Losing” a client can often be the best decision. “Sometimes the best business is the business you don’t take,” Kim says. “A bad client can drain you of time, energy and money.” Chiles-Hickman had never considered walking away from a demanding client until she heard a speaker discuss the idea at a real estate convention in 2009. She came home and stopped working with two people.
One, a buyer, was looking for a house with his girlfriend. Chiles-Hickman showed the couple dozens of homes. They were always positive, often pointing out features they liked, but they never made a move. ChilesHickman realized the buyer was never going to decide on a house and was wasting her time. “I got a call two weeks later from his girlfriend saying, ‘By the way, I let him go, too, because he can’t make a commitment.’ So I knew it was the right thing to do.” Melanie Padgett Powers is a writer and editor in Washington, D.C.
Perhaps the best strategy for working successfully with demanding clients is for REALTORS® to be proactive by asking their clients about their behavior and their concerns. Herd will say something like, “You seem to be under some stress; tell me what’s bothering you,” or “You seem to be tense and unhappy; what’s on your mind?”
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Glow Images
Observe and Report
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A
NEW Twist 28 | September/October 2011
By Regina Ludes
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n 1998, long before blogs, online video and social media became the popular marketing tools they are today, real estate agents relied on low-tech means to create interest in a property. At that time, the San Diego housing market, like many areas of the country, was depressed. Lisa Kent McNulty, CRS, with Independence Realty, was hired by a builder to sell 12 refurbished two-bedroom units, each listed for $200,000, in a gated condominium complex in Point Loma, Calif. A single mom who was relatively new to the real estate business, McNulty had limited funds for marketing. But after observing her teenage daughter interact with visitors at an open house she hosted, she was inspired to try something different to generate traffic to the property. “I was one of the few agents who did open houses on Saturday. Most only did them on Sunday,” explains McNulty. “My daughter would be at the open house with me, and people loved talking to her. It dawned on me that I could use her and her friends to draw attention to the property. I had seen guys on the street holding signs to advertise a new restaurant opening, but the signs were tacky and I wanted to do something classier,” she says. So McNulty had 20 T-shirts made up at a local shop in the same peach-and-white color scheme as the property’s marketing materials with the imprint, “Condos from $199,999.” Then she recruited her daughter and her friends to stand at the corners of the busy intersection near the complex dressed in the brightly colored shirts, each holding white and peach balloons. The eye-catching spectacle succeeded in drawing 60 to 100 people each weekend to the complex, and within a year, all 12 units were sold.
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Andrew Paterson/Getty Images
Fresh marketing ideas can lure buyers no matter what the climate.
The most surprising aspect of the T-shirt promotion was the lasting impression it left on people in the community, recalls McNulty. “Everybody loves kids and balloons. It was a simple visual cue, and those kids got their families, neighbors and people involved. Even the girls’ families stopped by and I got to know them better. To this day, people in Point Loma say to me, ‘Aren’t you the person who sold those condos with your daughter?’ ” she says. In a tough economy, real estate agents may be hard-pressed to find ways to sell their listings quickly. In this era of tight budgets, traditional marketing methods such as radio, TV, print ads and direct mail can be costly, so savvy agents are learning to tap into their own creative resources to make their listings stand out from the crowd. While these nontraditional approaches may require more time, energy and imagination, agents say the extra effort pays off in getting their listings sold.
Candid Camera Jennifer Pollock, CRS, has always loved working with video. While many real estate agents frequently use the medium for property and neighborhood tours, Pollock takes it a step further and uses it to promote open houses, which she posts to her website (www.ExtraExtraHomes.com), neighborhood blog (www.Denvering.com), Facebook pages and YouTube channel. “In the video, I encourage people to attend to win raffle prizes, meet a great lender and see the home before it gets sold. Afterwards, I shoot a second video featuring the raffle winners as they receive their prize, and I post that online, too,” Pollock says. “You don’t have to put yourself in the video. You can put the homeowner in 30 | September/October 2011
front of the house to promote their own open house…if they want to,” Pollock suggests, adding that she has never done that herself but may give it a try. The idea of using video to promote open houses came about organically, she says. “I jumped on video nearly three years ago, and I’m always looking for a new twist. I started to think, what more can I do to promote these open houses for my listings?” Pollock’s videos are part of a larger multifaceted effort to promote the open houses for every new listing. She had stopped doing open houses when the local market slumped, but after attending a Keller Williams workshop about hosting and marketing open houses, Pollock decided to give them another try. “Before, I had [only] been putting a sign in the yard and showing up. That just didn’t work. I realized I had to advertise it more heavily ahead of time, getting the word out online on my Facebook pages and putting lots of signs in the neighborhood,” says Pollock, who puts up 17 signs in the area. “It’s a waste of time to post one sign. It’s not going to attract enough people driving by.” Why 17 signs? “Any open house 101 class will suggest using 5 to 10 or even a dozen depending on the neighborhood. My thought is that if the rest of the pack has 10 to 12, then my client deserves 15 or more. [Using] 17 is my way of beating the pack,” Pollack explains. Pollock prepares for the event one week in advance, and she has a system in place for getting everything done. She
spends Friday afternoon knocking on doors of 200 homes in the area to hand out fliers and invite neighbors to stop by. She also advertises the open house online and to other agents via the local MLS website, as well as on the Keller Williams system, which pushes out the info to a host of real estate listing websites. During the open house, a local lender is on hand to answer questions, and Pollock invites attendees to enter a raffle for an iTunes gift card and browse listings on her Apple iPad. Her vehicle, which is wrapped with an advertisement for her business, is parked in the driveway. “I point out to my sellers that their home is marketed 24 hours a day via the QR code on my wrapped vehicle, so a quick scan on a smartphone will direct people to my website, where the seller’s home is promoted on the home page,” says Pollock. This multifaceted approach has helped boost traffic to the open houses, typically drawing 15 to 60 people. So far in 2011, Pollock says she has closed on five transactions involving clients she met at these events. “All this online and offline marketing helps to sell my listings in an average of 27 days,” she says.
Getting Noticed Online Amid the glut of online real estate listings, many agents may find it difficult to get their own properties noticed by potential buyers who are searching online. But Ashley Richardson, CRS, with Long and Foster Real Estate in Baltimore, says plenty of online tools can help them drive more traffic to their listings.
Search sites like Realtor.com and Zillow offer agents the ability to buy preferred-placement ads by ZIP code, a feature more agents should take advantage of, says Richardson. This allows agents to get a more prominent placement for their listings and to target buyers who are searching for homes in a specific ZIP code. For the past eight years, Richardson has been promoting properties in two Baltimore ZIP codes in the Featured Homes section on Realtor.com. Each ZIP code purchase is limited to four agents, she says. When someone searches for homes in the 21212 ZIP code, for example, one of Richardson’s listings
appears in the Featured Homes section at the top of the page, and another one appears in a similar section at the bottom. When someone selects Richardson’s Featured Home listing, they are taken to the property’s detail page, where they will find her contact information and the rest of her listings. “It’s another way to get more hits, which turns into more views and more exposure for my listings,” says Richardson. “Featured Homes is a great tool because Realtor.com is a widely recognized search portal and so many people are familiar with it.” A similar ZIP code program on Zillow called Premier Agent also boosts
Marketing on a Budget Some of the most successful marketing tools agents can use today to promote themselves are older techniques with a new spin, such as housewarming parties, says CRS certified instructor Chuck Bode, CRS, who teaches the Referral Course (CRS 210). “Agents are getting one or two sales out of every housewarming party,” he says. “It can be a theme, such as a sushi bar or a potluck. The important point is that it gives the buyer a chance to show off their new home to all their friends, and agents can be present to introduce themselves,” he says. Client parties and picnics are other ways agents can market themselves without a lot of expense, adds Bode. “Invite 25 past clients who brought you business in the past year, or take one client to breakfast each day. If each one of those 25 people provides a lead to a new client, and if half of those new contacts buy a home with you, that’s more business than the average agent is getting today, which is eight [transaction sides per year], according to the latest NAR statistics,” Bode says. These social events are popular today because agents realize that, even with all the new technologies available, it’s still important to stay in touch with clients, especially after they’ve purchased a home, says Bode. “In a time of tight budgets, agents are looking for more bang for their buck. One of the best low-cost ways to market your business is to go back and see the people. For example, if you haven’t seen one of your clients in a while, stop by for a visit or send them a note to see how they are doing,” Bode says. “This is still a word-of-mouth and people business. Follow-up and follow-through are keys to maintaining good relationships with clients, no matter what marketing tools you use.”
Richardson’s exposure for her listings, so whenever someone searches for homes in the 21212 ZIP code, the listings appear higher up on the page. She is also one of two agents featured in the Buyer’s Agent listing for that area, and the listing links directly to her profile page on Zillow. Since registering for the Premier Agent program in May 2011 at a cost of $3,500 for six months, Richardson says she has received nearly two dozen inquiries from potential buyers and sellers within the first two months alone, and she sold one of her listings to a buyer who saw it on Zillow. “Premier Agent brands me to my listings, so anyone with questions can contact me directly. It also captures listings by ZIP code,” says Richardson. “It’s a great selling tool to share with sellers because they know that the agent they hired is the one answering all the inquiries about their home.” Whether it’s taking advantage of the latest tools on real estate search sites or breathing new life into an old idea like an open house, agents are finding creative ways to sell a home. All it takes is a little imagination. Regina Ludes is associate editor of The Residential Specialist.
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Family businesses are common in real estate. CRSs explore the highs and lows of working with family members.
Maria Toutoudaki/Getty Images
“S
ometimes doors are closed and voices get raised, but 10 minutes later we can go have lunch like nothing happened,” says George Wonica, CRS, GRI, describing what it’s like to work with his parents and two siblings in their Staten Island, N.Y.-based company, Wonica Realtors & Appraisers, Inc. “We’re all passionate, and passion is a good thing.” Wonica says he received no pressure to join the family business, which his parents launched in 1971. He got his real estate license at 18 so he could work at the company part-time while going to college and deciding on a career. But he soon learned how much he enjoyed real estate and ultimately chose to stick with it and with the family business. Twenty years later, he’s still with them.
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“I’ve gotten letters about going to other companies, and I’ll threaten to go, but my dad and I just laugh. … He’s so wellrespected in the business that his competitors call and ask him for advice. He’s seen it all and done it all, and I’ve always got him as a resource.” Every real estate pro in a family business has likely heard people say, “I can’t imagine working with my parent/spouse/sibling!” Nevertheless, family-run businesses are common in the real estate industry, and although it’s probably not ideal for everyone, CRSs who work with parents, siblings and spouses agree that the arrangement’s unique opportunities can be worth the occasional challenges.
The Generation Gap For family members who work together, the biggest conflict may be generational. “When I was first in the business, cell phones weren’t prevalent, and I decided to get a beeper,” Wonica says. “My dad said, ‘What do you want a beeper for? There’s no reason you need a beeper.’ I said it was important to be able to get to a phone
when people were trying to reach you. I got one, and two weeks after he saw how useful it was, he had a beeper, too. In some instances we have a debate, and sometimes an idea just has to marinate with him for a while.” This approach to working with his dad evolved with experience. Every family is different, however, and many agents who work with family members have discovered that it took time before they settled on a workplace dynamic that worked best. Diane Honeycutt, CRS, of Allen Tate Realtors in Concord, N.C., has worked with her mother, Betty “Bet” Honeycutt, CRS, for 22 years. When Bet got her real estate license, she asked Diane to do it along with her to help her with the math involved. “I said I would, but I was sure I was never going to do real estate,” Diane says. After they got their licenses, Bet worked as a single agent and Diane worked in contest direction and public relations for a national baton-twirling organization. Thirteen years later, Diane wanted a career change and started working at the company where her mother worked. Within six months, she
realized the advantages of teaming up, and says, “I asked Bet if she’d like to form a partnership. She had been in business a long time before me, and that helped to jump start me because of all the connections she already had. The Honeycutt name was well-known, and we were able to take the business to the next level. And, it gave me a mentor.” They now manage a team of 12, and although Bet, 80, is still showing houses and closing deals, she has faced some technology challenges. “It used to be that you looked up listings in an MLS book, and when computers came and the MLS went online, Bet had to depend on other people to pull listings for her,” Diane says. “If no one else was there, she was stranded. Three or four years ago, she was still asking our assistant to send emails for her. We said, ‘You have to learn the computer,’ and she did,” with the help of Diane and several other team members. “Once you get her there, she jumps right in and likes it. She’s even on Facebook now.”
Play to Everyone’s Strengths Allowing everyone to do what they do best
When Working With Family Members … • Define roles according to everyone’s strengths. • Respect differences in style and approach. • Deal with disagreements when they happen — don’t let things fester. • Avoid letting personal issues affect professional decisions. • Set boundaries between work and personal life, and adhere to them. • Remember that you all want the same thing: a successful business. 34 | September/October 2011
sounds like a simple recipe for success, but the process can be challenging, according to Norma Flaskerud, CRS, of RE/MAX CC Connection in Walnut Creek, Calif. Norma and her husband, Don, became REALTORS® around the same time. After working in the same office for three months, Norma moved to a different office because they couldn’t adjust to each other’s work styles. “We were starting to work together a little more, and we were feeling the conflict because of our different personalities,” Norma says. “We criticized each other’s weaknesses.” A recession-related drop in income during the mid-’90s prompted Norma to return to her job as an insurance adjuster, but by 2000, Don was urging her to come back to real estate. “My condition was, I’ll come back, but let’s get a coach,” Norma says. “We needed an independent third party to help us synchronize our strengths, so we had weekly conversations with a real estate business coach for about a year.” They also went to therapy and worked through issues to figure out how to best work together. They learned how to build on their strengths, and in 2001, they formed a real estate team. The counseling and coaching seems to have paid off, as they’ve been the top-selling REALTORS® in their community for 14 years. “Don prefers to be out and about, running errands, handing out newsletters and going on inspections. Seventy percent of our business comes as a direct result of our quarterly newsletter, and Don walks for hours a day for three weeks to distribute it door-to-door to 5,000 homes. If it were up to me, I would mail them, because that’s what the mailman is for! But in a few neighborhoods we once mailed to, we got no calls. I do not have the resilience or focus Don has in that regard, so his willingness to walk door to door is a huge part of our success. “I set up websites and other technology tools and maintain email. My affinity for technology and writing, and my ability to sit at a computer for hours, means our emails and business get handled. Don says
over and over that if it were not for me doing what I do, he would have to hire someone as he would not, could not, do it.”
Balance and Perspective Working with family members can make it difficult to separate business life from personal life, but agents who have worked through the challenges say it’s critical to set boundaries. “We all know what’s going on within the family, so it’s easy to step in and cover for each other if one of us has something to do with our kids,” Wonica says. “But we try very hard to separate business and pleasure, and not to let work be a dominant topic of conversation at family events. Sometimes one of us sees that starting to happen and we’ll just step out of the conversation and do something else. Sometimes one of us or our spouses will interject that ‘Are we here to talk about the office?’ comment. I think you have to figure out how you want to draw a line between work and personal life, and stick to your guns and make sure you follow through.” The Flaskeruds work at home, and Norma draws parameters by declaring work talk off-limits in the bedroom, the kitchen and at the dining table. And when problems arise in their designated workspace, the couple knows how to defuse them. “Ninety percent of the time, it’s very comfortable. Ten percent of the time there are conflicts, and it gets crazy,” Norma says. “You
do have disagreements, but you realize what triggered it and move through it. You don’t dig in your heels and become adversarial. We love and respect each other, and we’ve definitely reached a higher level of success as a team than we did as single agents.” Diane Honeycutt has an impressively conflict-free relationship with her mother. They concentrate on the listing end of their business, with Diane focusing on big-picture planning and technology, and Bet serving as a mentor and resource to the team. “I joke that Bet and I haven’t killed each other in 22 years, but we really don’t have issues. We never have. We trust each other and have the same values, morals and ethics. We agree on what we need, where we want to go and how to get there. The little things aren’t worth arguing about. And on the big things, our philosophies and goals are the same. If you are going to work with a family member, you have to define your roles, build to your strengths and not let emotion cloud your judgment.” Getting along in a family business is really no different from getting along in a family. Patience, tolerance and respect will take you far. Add a sense of humor, a thick skin and a well-honed ability to play well with others, and you’ll be ahead of the game. Mary Ellen Collins is a writer based in St. Petersburg, Fla., and is a frequent contributor to The Residential Specialist.
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Good Read | Resources in print
where’s the big idea? Breakaway ideas come to those who succeed in breaking free of the notion that the best thinking takes place in isolation. Reviewed by Allan Fallow
The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make Them Happen by Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer, with William Bole 177 pages, $25.95
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The Idea Hunter is a quick read in which two business-school educators set the bar sky-high. But on their way to making a somewhat grandiloquent pronouncement — “[T]he best Idea Hunters understand that intellectual curiosity is not irrelevant to business success” — Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer pause to reassure the reader that “brilliance is optional” when it comes to finding the best ideas and making them happen. “Idea work is highly learnable,” they write. “That doesn’t mean learning to become a creative genius, because … high-value ideas are not necessarily created. More often than not, they’re already out there, waiting to be spotted and then shaped into an innovation.” But the book is no blueprint for an ivory tower. Rather, Boynton and Fischer have real-world professionals — everyone from hotel staffers to commissioned salespeople — firmly in mind. In our current information economy, as they point out, “ideas matter now more than ever.” Indeed — whether you’re a teacher, an engineer, a consultant or a REALTOR® — in almost every modern calling, workers “get ahead not just by working hard but by thinking hard.” Toward that end, the authors urge us to become “idea professionals.” The payoff? Today’s top performers “compete and collaborate more effectively when they know how to find and handle ideas.” Although the business cases presented by Boynton and Fischer tend to be derivative and thin (How many times must we be told that the iPod’s click wheel was adapted from Hewlett Packard’s circa-1983
Workstation 9836?), the authors do a nice job of packaging their main points via a conveniently apt acronym: “I.D.E.A.” I. Be interested, not just interesting. “Curiosity” is the watchword of the authors’ first principle for becoming a more systematic idea hunter. By cultivating a deliberate yet natural interest in “the world out there” — which can also be thought of as “an abiding interest in any and all matters that could improve the job you’re doing” — you can train your mind to embrace surprises. And that talent comes in handy, according to Boynton and Fischer, because “when we are curious, we are less likely to take something for granted.” As proof, they cite the documented curiosity of several industry visionaries. Henry Ford, for example, was not above sifting through the wreckage of a French car smashed to pieces during a Palm Beach race in 1905; his wonderment over one fragment, a lightweight valve-strip stem, led to the inclusion of vanadium steel in Ford assembly lines. Charles Birdseye built a frozen-food empire from his curiosity about Canadian fur traders’ habit of burying freshly caught fish and duck in the snow. And a young Warren Buffett learned to divine the “intrinsic value” of various companies by poring over files archived at the New York offices of Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. The point of trotting out all these examples, the authors explain, is to persuade us of the primacy of keeping an open mind. But with more urgent workaday
tasks frequently demanding our attention, keeping that open mind requires a threepart commitment to: • take an active interest in others’ work; • share your thoughts with co-workers; and • solicit ideas — “lots of them” — from your colleagues in return. D. Diversify your idea hunt. Familiarity and insularity may be the two biggest enemies of originality, the authors observe in their ode to developing diverse sources of new and/or repurposed ideas. “Those who want to find exceptional ideas,” they exhort us, must “travel down a variety of paths.” And who can predict where these paths might lead? For Boston Beer Company founder Jim Koch, for example, they led to a barstool in Boston’s Faneuil Hall, and a stranger’s admission that the Heineken in his hand tasted “skunky.” For Thomas Edison, the footways to unexpected ideas often led through the works of Shakespeare (the Wizard of Menlo Park admired the Bard of Avon’s “analogical thinking”). And for us civilians, finding our next inspired notion may require stepping outside those narrow circles of acquaintances in which we can become too cozily ensconced: “Repeated studies have shown that the longer a project team stays together without significant changes in its composition, the less likely it is to come up with ideas that lead to innovation.” E. Exercise your idea muscles. “Chance favors the prepared mind,” said Louis Pasteur. If you figure he should know, you’re halfway to accepting the third I-D-E-A principle, in which Boynton and Fischer advise us to set aside some time each day for mental workouts. Better yet, fold these “cognitive calisthenics” into your everyday routine by trying a few of the brain exercises below: 1. Put yourself in the “line of fire” of new ideas, perhaps via a book group known for its lively discussions; 2. In a meeting or informal conversation, try asking a question with the aim of finding a new idea. (This shouldn’t entail extra work, the authors remark; after all,
“Repeated studies have shown that the longer a project team stays together without significant changes in its composition, the less likely it is to come up with ideas that lead to innovation.” “you’re already in the meeting.” And if you know you’ll run into a certain person at an upcoming event, why not try formulating in advance a good question to ask them at the time?) 3. Because ideas occur to “those who are in the habit of looking for ideas,” train yourself to be a more deliberate observer. Take note of your own customer experiences, for example, then write them down as they occur. 4. Actively involve your clients in your own idea-collection process. Are there three new things you could learn about your customers this week? 5. Cultivate new contacts by seeking out people beyond your usual circle of friends and colleagues, or outside your habitual area of expertise. A. Stay agile in your idea hunt. A good idea does not spring to life fully formed. Instead it often emerges “inauspiciously,” first appearing as what the authors term a weak signal (“a fragment here, a suggestion there”). For this reason, they write, it’s crucial to stay nimble enough to create, and surround yourself with, a robust stream of ideas-in-progress: The goal of the Hunt is not necessarily to get a great idea, all at once. The objective is to set an idea in motion, letting it stretch, ripen, morph, or otherwise develop in collision and combination with other ideas. That’s how an idea becomes great. Whether you have a good idea, a bad idea, or maybe an odd notion
that’s hard to assess at first, success will depend heavily on whether it’s put into a flow of other ideas. No doubt we’re all nodding our heads over these noble goals, but how do you put them into action in the course of a harried workday? Boynton and Fischer have broken that down for us, too. You might, for example, solicit ideas from your company’s “misfits and malcontents.” That was the strategy employed by Pixar director Brad Bird when he set about recruiting staffers for The Incredibles, a film that demanded three times the number of sets as Finding Nemo. Bird asked Pixar execs to assign him the company’s disaffected artists because he knew they had “another way of doing things that nobody’s listening to. … We gave the ‘black sheep’ a chance to prove their theories, and changed the way a number of things are done here.” This “take a weirdo to lunch” approach (a Tom Peters mantra) may suffice to initiate an idea flow, but even the best idea must be practical enough to match the culture in which you are trying to hatch it. “An idea that requires too much change in an organization,” write Boynton and Fischer, “may not gain acceptance. It’s hard to sell more than one revolution at a time.” Does this mean idea hunters (and gatherers, come to think of it) must capitulate entirely to the forces of inertia? Not at all: “Just try to structure your idea so that it requires no more change [within a company] than is absolutely necessary.” In a book abounding with this much biz counsel, the one bit of advice that may be the sweetest music to REALTORS’® ears concerns the gift of gab: “It would be hard to identify even one great Idea Hunter who was not in the habit of cultivating great conversations.” Indeed, this thought neatly drives home a book-long motif: Far from being the solitary pursuit of a genius, idea finding should be thought of, and practiced, as a full-contact team sport. Allan Fallow is a magazine writer and book editor in Alexandria, Va. You can follow him on Twitter @TheFallow.
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Sell-a-bration® 2012
Referral Story
Course Listings
p. 39
p. 40
p. 43
inside CRS N E W S
F R O M
T H E
C O U N C I L
A
naheim, Calif., may be the home of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, but for four days in November, it will be inhabited by more than 18,000 REALTORS® for the 2011 REALTORS® Conference & Expo, Nov. 11 – 14. This year’s theme, “Seize the Day,” is reflected in the conference programs and education sessions, which are designed to help REALTORS® make the most of market conditions and
38 | September/October 2011
gain a competitive advantage. CRS Designees who attend the conference will walk away with practical tips and strategies to help them close more deals and increase business opportunities. Agents can choose from among more than 100 education sessions to find solutions to their toughest business challenges. The Entrepreneurial Excellence Series features top entrepreneurs as they share their life lessons and perspectives
on opportunity and success. In a session on Friday, Nov. 11, William Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company magazine and author of Practically Radical, will share how the real estate industry, agencies and individual REALTORS® can spot opportunities the competition has missed and where to look for new ideas. Also featured is Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, who will lead two sessions on Sunday, Nov. 13, discussing success principles and how to implement them in your life. In his industry address, NAR 2011 President Ron Phipps, CRS, will recognize the accomplishments of the 2011 REALTORS® of the Year and Good Neighbor Award winners on Saturday, Nov. 12. Then Michael Eisner, former chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, will share his insights into what it takes to run a major company that must always grow and innovate. Early risers can participate in the Inspirational Service at 7:30 a.m. Sunday to hear former football player Aaron Thomas tell his story of forgiveness and compassion in the face of a personal tragedy. Legendary R&B singer Diana Ross will perform many of the songs of the Supremes and her solo hits in the REALTORS® Celebrity Concert on Sunday, Nov. 13. Back by popular demand, the pre-concert REALTORS® Got Talent show will showcase the talents of five REALTORS® from around the country.
Superstock/Glow Images
REALTORS® Seize the Day in Anaheim
More than 400 exhibitors will showcase their products and services at the REALTORS® Expo. New this year, check out the technology camps, which are short, interactive, experience-level-based presentations that demonstrate how to use popular technologies more effectively. Explore global opportunities at the International 2nd Home and Resort Pavilion featuring worldwide properties. And develop referrals and find business opportunities at the International Networking Center. This year when you register for the full conference, you’ll have complete access to more than 100 hours of recorded education sessions after the event. Be sure to register for a full conference pass to take advantage of this opportunity. For details about the complete conference schedule, go to www. REALTOR.org/Conference. CRS members can register at bit.ly/pfVJIe.
CRS Inaugural Dinner and Awards The Council’s inaugural celebration and awards dinner will be held Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Hyatt Orange County in Anaheim, Calif., during the NAR Conference & Expo. The event will feature the installation of the Council’s 2012 officers: 2012 President Mark Minchew, CRS, of RE/MAX Austin Associates, in Austin, Texas; President-Elect Mary McCall, CRS, of RE/MAX ACR Elite Group in Tampa, Fla.; and First Vice President Ron Canning, CRS, of Comey and Shepherd REALTORS® in Cincinnati. Doors open at 7 p.m.; tickets are $80 per person, or sponsors can purchase a table of 10 for $1,000 (includes two dinner/drink tickets). Other sponsorship opportunities are available for the evening’s festivities. For details about sponsorships, please contact CRS Meetings Director Tavi Toso at 800.462.8841, ext. 4420 or ttoso@ crs.com. Visit www.crs.com/Events/799 for more details.
Sell-a-bration® 2012 Heats Up Arizona
K
ick off the New Year on a high note with an education-filled midwinter getaway to Phoenix and attend the Council of Residential Specialists’ Sell-a-bration® 2012 at the Arizona Grand Resort, Jan. 19 – 21, 2012. The annual educational event draws hundreds of top real estate professionals of all levels of experience from across the country and around the world who gather to learn strategies and techniques from industry leaders and each other. The skills they discover and the relationships they build will help attendees improve their productivity, grow their referral business and increase their chances for success. And once again, agents can earn eight elective credits toward the CRS Designation by attending Sell-abration® 2012. “Sell-a-bration® has certainly helped to grow my business by making me a much more thorough agent and taught me how to deal with many different types of buyers and sellers. CRS in general has been a great teaching tool for technology,” says Donna Pudenz, CRS, with Mid Iowa Real Estate in Carroll, Iowa. Sell-a-bration® 2012 kicks off Jan. 19 with a series of interactive, topicdriven and solution-focused workshops; keynote presentations and educational sessions take place on Jan. 20 and 21. The event’s sessions will run the gamut from topics such as lead generation;
client education; FSBOs; mobile marketing; Facebook advertising; search engine optimization; cloud computing; negotiation; and much more. Most important, the three-day event gives agents the knowledge and skills they need to resolve everyday real estate challenges. “Sell-a-bration® has given me the tools, techniques, energy and confidence I need to make this the best year of my career … even in a ‘down’ market,” says Mike Jorgensen, CRS, with Edina Realty Duluth in Duluth, Minn. W.M. Briggs Jr., CRS, with McEnearney Associates in Arlington, Va., concurs. “Attending Sell-abration® reminds me that there are a significant number of CRS members making a conscious effort to improve yearly, which might be the biggest differentiator between CRS and nonCRS agents,” he says. For more information about Sella-bration® 2012 and to register, visit www.sellabration.com or call customer service at 800.462.8841.
Bring a Buddy and Save If you plan to attend Sell-a-bration® 2012, you can double your fun and savings by inviting a friend to share the experience with you. When you sign up with a buddy for Sell-abration® before Oct. 27, 2011, you both receive a $100 discount off the regular solo registration rate of $620. This offer cannot be combined with any other offers or discounts. For details about this offer and to register, please visit www.sellabration.com.
www.crs.com | 3 9
inside CRS Personalize, Reproduce and Mail This Newsletter to Your Clients
New From CRS: The Proven Path Podcast
C
RS is now producing free educational podcasts that can deliver key industry knowledge right to your computer or MP3 player. Check out the new Proven Path Podcasts at the Sell-a-bration® 2012 website at www.sellabration.com. Each episode features top-producing CRS agents who share their strategies and best practices for building business and working more productively in today’s challenging climate. To hear the podcasts, simply download the MP3 file to your computer or mobile device. If you have any questions or suggested topics for upcoming podcasts, send an email to solutions@crs.com.
Referral Story: A Community of Referrals
W
hen Geri Kenyon, CRS, received a referral in March 2010 from Vivian Lurie, CRS, with Oakhurst Realty in Seminole, Fla., little did she know it would lead to bigger and better things. “Vivian found me in the CRS Referral Directory and called me with a referral for a friend whose mother had passed away. The brother and sister wanted to sell the mother’s home quickly and move on,” recalls Kenyon, who is with Kenyon Real Estate in Bradenton, Fla. The two-bedroom home in the upscale golf course community of Palm Aire Geri Kenyon, CRS in Sarasota sold in 30 days. “I believe I priced it right for the market,” Kenyon says. Several months later, the brother and sister contacted Kenyon to help a friend of their mother’s who lived in the same golf course community. The client’s home was listed in January 2011 and closed in June 2011 with a buyer referred by Steve Babbitt, CRS, with RE/MAX Realty Group in Rochester, N.Y., whom Kenyon met through her involvement with CRS. Kenyon is currently working on a third listing with yet another neighbor from the Palm Aire community, referred to her by the second home seller. Kenyon attributes her success with referrals to the effort she puts into networking. “I attend all the conferences, conventions and Sell-a-bration®, and I try to meet as many people as possible. I also treat clients special,” she says. And as Kenyon discovered, quality service can turn one client into a stream of referrals.
Edit
Leave YOUR HOME as is, or personalize the newsletter by adding your photo, logo, address and phone number to the mailing panel.* You can also substitute any article in the newsletter with one of your own. Edit the newsletter electronically by downloading the Microsoft Word version at www.crs.com/ magazine/your_home_newsletter.shtml.
PLEASE NOTE: The images featured in the YOUR HOME newsletter may only be used within the PDF version of the newsletter. These images may not be reproduced or republished elsewhere outside of this newsletter format. CRS members are free to re-use the text of the articles contained in the newsletter, however.
Reproduce
Do it yourself with your office copier, or take the newsletter or electronic file (in addition to your photograph and any information you want inserted) to a printer who can prepare and reproduce the newsletter for you.
Distribute
Mail. If you photocopy YOUR HOME or use it “as is,” please note that it is designed to be folded in a Z fold with the words YOUR HOME facing out on one side and the mailing panel facing out on the other side. Postal regulations require that Z folds have three closures (tabs or tape) — one on top in the center and two on the bottom. For your convenience, we have placed asterisks (*) where the closures should be. Be sure to check with your local mailer or post office to make sure you have prepared your mailings properly. Electronic File. Attach the customized newsletter file to an email to your clients or create a Web link to the file on your website. Consult your webmaster or technician to make sure the file is prepared correctly for these purposes, since these basic instructions will vary by person and system. * This newsletter is for the exclusive use of CRS members.
40 | September/October 2011
For a complete step-by-step guide to personalizing and reproducing the YOUR HOME newsletter, visit www.crs.com/ magazine/your_home_newsletter.shtml.
HOME *
YOUR T i p s
a n d
T r e n d s
t o
h e l p
m a x i m i z e
Root Cause
T
rees and shrubs add visual appeal to any homeowner’s lawn or backyard — but only when they’re in tip-top shape. Better Homes & Gardens and HGTV offer some key maintenance tips.
Pruning To keep plants lush and healthy, prune dead branches or leaves regularly. If a plant is already infected with a disease or pests, pruning can help prevent spreading and extend the plant’s life. Experts suggest dipping your pruning shears in bleach or rubbing alcohol in between cuts to further kill disease or pests. When you prune depends on what kind of tree or shrub you have. The basic rule of thumb is to prune plants when they are not in bloom or are on the verge of blooming. For example, shade trees are best pruned in late fall, winter or early spring, when they’re typically leafless. And keep in mind that while light pruning is OK to do on your own, it’s best to hire a professional if larger branches need to be cut.
Watering Just planted a tree? If the tree is in its first two years, water it more frequently, since the tree is expending energy to grow. Experts suggest 30 seconds with a steady stream of water from an ordinary garden hose. You can also add mulching to your regular routine to try and retain moisture. One note of caution: Be careful not to water trees as frequently as the grass. Too much watering can cause the tree roots to grow too close to the surface, which means that the water is actually suffocating the roots.
h o m e
b u y i n g
a n d
s ep t em ber
2011 s e l l i n g
Garage Makeover
I
t might seem like your garage is only good for cars and outof-season junk, but consider your garage an extra room. With just a little bit of creativity and effort, it can become a fully functional part of your home. Just as many basements or attics are finished, complete with heating, air conditioning and wiring, garages can be as well. Whether you’ve got an extra houseguest or a surprise live-in relative, the garage can be the perfect spot to host visitors and give everyone a little extra privacy. Invest in decorations, furniture and even carpet to keep the garage looking habitable, even when not in use. The garage is also the perfect place for entertainment. Incorporate fun add-ons such as a pool table, ping-pong table or even foosball. Having people over to watch the big game? Convert your garage into the ultimate football haven with big-screen TVs and a built-in bar in the corner. Last, consider using your garage as a workroom or a photography or woodworking studio. The garage also can serve as a home gym, if there’s not enough room in the main home to store treadmills or a weight bench.
Pest Control The most important thing you can do to maintain a pest-free environment is to check your plants thoroughly for insects and oddities — such as black spots on the leaves or holes in the wood — on a regular basis. Anything amiss could mean the plant has been infested with pests. Experts suggest periodically blasting leaves with a hose to shake off any clinging pests.
fast fact »
»»»»
You can burn nearly 200 calories by raking leaves for an hour.
B R O U G H T T O Y O U B Y Y O U R A G E N T, A M E M B E R O F T H E C O U N C I L O F R E S I D E N T I A L S P E C I A L I S T S
No Leaks
A
ccording to the Environmental Protection Agency, water from household leaks can add up to 10,000 gallons of water every year — enough to fill a backyard swimming pool. If your faucet has sprung a leak, H2ouse. org encourages you to keep these tips in mind. Most faucet leaks are caused by worn washers within the faucet. Replacing the washer is fairly simple: Cut off the water supply to the problem faucet, disassemble it and replace the washer with a new one. If you’re unsure of what type of washer to buy, bring it into the hardware store so you can compare it to similar models or ask a sales associate for assistance. Still leaking? The prob-
lem may be in the underground pipes, in which case it’s best to call a plumber. If you’re replacing tubing under a sink, be sure to replace the shutoff valve as well. Most likely, these valves haven’t been touched in years, so it’s best to get a new one when it’s being used. If you wind up going the do-ityourself route, take photos or sketch and record the order of disassembly. Many homeowners skip this vital step, which leads to even more problems down the road with faulty equipment. The most important rule? If you feel you can’t handle it, call in an expert. Going in blind to fix leaks can wind up costing you if something goes awry.
Say Yes to CRS
referr ve
s! al
I Lo
Buying or selling a home can seem like an overwhelming task. But the right REALTOR® can make the process easier — and more profitable. A Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), with years of experience and success, will help you make smart decisions in a fast-paced, complex and competitive market. To receive the CRS Designation, REALTORS® must demonstrate outstanding professional achievements — including high-volume sales — and pursue advanced training in areas such as finance, marketing and technology. They must also maintain membership in the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and abide by its Code of Ethics. Work with a REALTOR® who belongs among the top 4 percent in the nation. Contact a CRS today.
*
Do you know someone who is thinking about buying or selling a home?
DID YOU KNOW?
One out of five Americans prefer apple pie, followed by pumpkin and pecan.
Please mention my name.
This newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be substituted for legal or financial advice. If you are currently working with another real estate agent or broker, it is not a solicitation for business.
*
inside CRS » » » » » » »
S E A R C H C O U R S E O F F E R I N G S B Y C I T Y A N D S TAT E AT W W W. C R S . C O M
CRS Classroom Courses CRS classroom courses earn either eight credits (for 100-level, one-day courses) or 16 credits (for 200-level, two-day courses) toward the CRS Designation. CRS Courses listed below are from Sept. 15, 2011, to Dec. 15, 2011. For more up-to-date listings, visit www.crs.com/education/173. CRS 103 — Maximize Your Potential … Personally and Professionally OCT. 18 PLEASANTON, CALIF. Northern California CRS Chapter 800.277.6003 Instructor: Jackie Leavenworth, CRS
OCT. 20 ORLANDO, FLA.
SEPT. 28 GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. Michigan CRS Chapter 248.877.2337 Instructor: Robert Morris, CRS, CRB
SEPT. 20 – 21 CLARKSVILLE, TENN. Clarksville Association of REALTORS® 931.552.3567 Instructor: Robert Morris, CRS, CRB
NOV. 3 HOUSTON Houston Association of REALTORS® 713.629.1900, ext. 6 Instructor: LeRoy Houser, CRS
SEPT. 26 – 27 WALTHAM, MASS.
CRS 112 — Guiding the Buyer in the Distressed Property Market SEPT. 29 DOWNERS GROVE, ILL. Main Street Organization of REALTORS 630.324.8427 Instructor: LeRoy Houser, CRS
®
OCT. 11 OKLAHOMA CITY CRS 111 — Short Sales and Foreclosures: Protecting Your Clients’ Interests
CRS 200 — Business Planning and Marketing
Florida CRS Chapter 407.513.7268 Instructor: Robert Morris, CRS, CRB
Oklahoma CRS Chapter 405.354.6233 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS, CRB
Massachusetts CRS Chapter 800.725.6272 Instructor: Chuck Bode, CRS
SEPT. 26 – 27 LEMOYNE, PA. Pennsylvania REALTORS® Institute 717.561.1303 Instructor: LeRoy Houser, CRS
OCT. 11 – 12 ANNAPOLIS, MD. Maryland/DC CRS Chapter 410.575.5053 Instructor: Robert Morris, CRS, CRB
OCT. 13 – 14 CLIVE, IOWA Iowa Association of REALTORS® 800.532.1515 Instructor: Ed Hatch, CRS, CRB
www.crs.com | 4 3
inside CRS OCT. 25 – 26 ORLANDO, FLA.
OCT. 12 – 13 GRAND FORKS, N.D.
NOV. 17 PALM DESERT, CALIF.
Florida CRS Chapter 407.695.6544 Instructor: Robert Morris, CRS, CRB
Grand Forks Area Association of REALTORS® 701.775.4231 Instructor: Pat Zaby, CRS, CCIM
Southern California CRS Chapter 949.766.2901 Instructor: Michael Selvaggio, CRS, CCIM
CRS 201 — Listing Course
CRS 206 — Technology Course
Ninja Selling Business Systems
SEPT. 19 – 20 TULSA, OKLA.
OCT. 4 – 5 CHARLESTON, S.C.
Greater Tulsa Association of REALTORS® 918.663.7500 Instructor: Jackie Leavenworth, CRS
South Carolina CRS Chapter 803.772.5206 Instructor: Mark Porter, CRS
OCT. 26 – 27 MADISON, WIS.
NOV. 28 – 29 NEWPORT, R.I.
Wisconsin REALTORS Association 608.241.2047 Instructor: Gee Dunsten, CRS
Newport County Board of REALTORS 401.849.5936 Instructor: Mark Porter, CRS
®
NOV. 1 – 2 HOUSTON Houston Association of REALTORS® 713.629.1900, ext. 370 Instructor: LeRoy Houser, CRS
OCT. 18 WORCESTER, MASS. Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® 781.839.5513 Instructor: Michael Selvaggio, CRS, CCIM
OCT. 26 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. ®
CRS 210 — Referral Course SEPT. 20 – 21 NASSAU, BAHAMAS
CRS 202 — Sales Course
Bahamas CRS Chapter 242.356.4578 Instructor: Gee Dunsten, CRS
SEPT. 28 – 29 VANCOUVER, WASH.
SEPT. 21 – 22 SANDY, UTAH
Washington CRS Chapter 866.556.5277 Instructor: Jackie Leavenworth, CRS
Utah CRS Chapter 801.205.3535 Instructor: Tina Daniel, CRS
OCT. 1 – 2 MARTINSBURG, W.V.
SEPT. 29 – 30 ALBUQUERQUE
West Virginia CRS Chapter 304.677.9080 Instructor: Gee Dunsten, CRS
New Mexico CRS Chapter 505.712.1340 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS, CRB
OCT. 6 – 7 WICHITA, KAN.
OCT. 6 – 7 LOS CABOS, MEXICO
Wichita Area Association of REALTORS® 316.263.3167 Instructor: Richard Sands, CRS
Vacation Classes 866.279.6273 Tina Daniel, CRS
NOV. 1 – 2 MOREHEAD CITY, N.C.
OCT. 12 – 13 ROCKVILLE, MD.
Carteret County Association of REALTORS® 252.247.2323 Instructor: Chuck Bode, CRS
Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS® 301.590.8787 Instructor: Gee Dunsten, CRS
CRS 204 — Wealth Building Course OCT. 4 – 5 PLANO, TEXAS Collin County Association of REALTORS® 975.265.4222 Instructor: Pat Zaby, CRS, CCIM
OCT. 17 – 18 MARS, PA. Pennsylvania REALTORS® Institute 717.561.1303 Instructor: Pat Zaby, CRS, CCIM
DEC. 5 – 6 ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. Triple Play REALTOR® Convention 888.818.4922 Instructor: Dale Carlton, CRS
CRS 205 — Financing and Tax Course SEPT. 20 – 21 PORTLAND, MAINE Maine CRS Chapter 207.622.1234 Instructor: Dale Carlton, CRS
44 | September/October 2011
OCT. 20 – 21 RICHMOND, VA. Central Virginia CRS Chapter 804.422.5000 Instructor: Frank Serio, CRS, CRB
OCT. 26 – 27 BELLEVUE, WASH. Washington CRS Chapter 866.556.5277 Instructor: Tina Daniel, CRS
CRS Elective Courses Each elective course is one day and earns eight units of credit toward the CRS Designation. Ninja Selling
OCT. 24 PIERRE, S.D. South Dakota Association of REALTORS® 605.224.0554 Instructor: Michael Selvaggio, CRS, CCIM
NOV. 14 COSTA MESA, CALIF. Southern California CRS Chapter 949.766.2901 Instructor: Michael Selvaggio, CRS, CCIM
REALTORS® Association of the Sioux Empire 605.334.4752 Instructor: Michael Selvaggio, CRS, CCIM Outlook E-Marketing Strategies
OCT. 13 ROBERTSDALE, ALA. Alabama CRS Chapter 800.446.3808 Instructor: Mark Porter, CRS Positioning Properties to Compete in the Market
OCT. 13 TALLAHASSEE, FLA Tallahassee Board of REALTORS® 850.224.7713 Instructor: Martha Webb Rich Buyer, Rich Seller – Part 1: Positioning and Branding Yourself as a Luxury Home Expert
SEPT. 29 MIDLOTHIAN, VA. Keller Williams Realty 214.485.3000 Instructor: Laurie Moore-Moore
NOV. 3 PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. Keller Williams Realty SW 214.485.3000 Instructor: Laurie Moore-Moore Rich Buyer, Rich Seller – Part 2: A Luxury Marketing Idea Blitz
SEPT. 30 MIDLOTHIAN, VA. Keller Williams Realty 214.485.3000 Instructor: Laurie Moore-Moore
NOV. 4 PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. Keller Williams Realty SW 214.485.3000 Instructor: Laurie Moore-Moore The New Negotiating Edge … A 5-Step Behavioral Strategy
SEPT. 16 MALVERN, PA. Suburban West REALTORS® 866.495.7972 Instructor: Ed Hatch, CRS, CRB NOTE: Instructors listed on all courses are subject to change.
CRS REFERRAL MARKETPLACE
C East Coast
Claire Bisignano Chesnoff
N.Y.S. Licensed Real Estate Broker, ABR, AHWD, ASP, BCREP, CHLMS, CRS, GREEN, GRI, SRES
Board Certified Real Estate Professional DIRECT: 917-974-2239 OFFICE: 718-524-4424 FAX: 718-524-8538
EMAIL: claire@claireproperties.com
Serving the Real Estate needs of Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York www.claireproperties.com
Your referral source for the greater
ABR, CRS, SRES, GRI, CDPE
Pittsburgh
area
Serving Northern Virginia and the Dulles Tech corridor
Offices in Ashburn, Leesburg and Sterling Re/Max Select Properties, Inc.
703-999-6535 lisacromwell@remax.net www.LisaCromwell.com
I help clients make the Wright move Nancy Wright, ABR, CRS, GRI
RE/MAX Realty Brokers 5608 Wilkins Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 OFS: 412-521-1000 x170 CELL: 412-508-0040 nancywright@remax.net
SO U T H
SOUTH FLORIDA Greater Ft Lauderdale & the Palm Beaches
Ray Singhal
2010 CRS Agent of the Year
(954) 770-8083 SinghalFlorida.com Ray@SinghalFlorida.com Wieder Realty, Inc. Pompano Beach, FL
CRS, GRI, CDPE, ABR, SRES, SFR, CSSP, E-Pro, PhD
SO U T H W E ST
AUSTIN, TEXAS Kent Redding BROKER, GRI, CRS, ABR
The Kent Redding Group Prudential Texas Realty 512.306.1001 800.647.4711 kent@callkent.com www.CallKent.com “Unmatched REPRESENTATION and NEGOTIATION”
Plano, TX Mike Brodie, Keller Williams
Realty-Broker/Owner; ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI, e-PRO, CLHMS
3600 Preston Rd., Ste. 100 Plano, TX 75093 Office: 972-599-7000 Cell: 214-808-4900 Email: Mike@mikebrodie.com Web: www.mikebrodie.com Fax: 972-599-1163
Serving: Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Plano, Dallas, Richardson Counties: Collin, Dallas, Denton Transnational Referral Certification Specializing in: Buyer Brokerage, Luxury Homes Sales, Residential Sales/Brokerage, Golf Course Communities Realtor since 1973
we s t c o a s t Covering Palm Springs Area of California Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, La Quinta, Cathedral City, Desert Hot Spring, Indio, Coachella, Bermuda Dunes and Thermal
Mike Duncan CRS, CRB, FSP, CDPE, GRI, CEO / Broker California License #01276361 51370 Avenida Bermudas Suite 6 La Quinta, Ca 92253 760-564-5678 760-831-0484 Cell mike@DuncanGroupRE.com www.DuncanGroupRE.com www.PalmSpringsReoForeclosures.com Over 400 closed properties
46 | September/October 2011
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TEMECULA – MURRIETA RIVERSIDE & ORANGE COUNTIES “Everyone Likes Sara Lee!” SARA LEE PAULL CRS, SRES,e-PRO
Broker Associate (#00547900) Cell: 951-970-5211 Direct: 951-461-4611 saralee@saraleepaull.com saraleepaull@verizon.net www.saraleepaull.com
Real Estate
H AWA I I
September/ October 2011 Guide to Advertisers
HAWAII
Duke Kimhan
(Principal Broker) (R) CRS, ABR, CRB, GRI, SRES, CDPE
Condo.Com 808-277-4677-Cell 808-447-5816-Office 808-675-5916-Fax 1888 Kalakaua Ave, Ste. #312 Honolulu, HI 96815 Making Business a Pleasure!
Dell www.dell.com/epp
Please visit my Website @
www.dukekimhan.com
Canada
Best Image 43 www.number1expert.com/crs
BUILD REFERRALS
Pillar to Post cover 2 www.pillartopost.com Stewart Title www.stewart.com
to your region from more than
36,000 CRS Designees and members with an ad in the Referral Marketplace. Limited Space Available First Come, First Served Ask us about multi-issue discounts
3
cover 4
Call Kirsten Nagel at 202.721.1489 to advertise.
Just call Kirsten Nagel at 202.721.1489 RESOURCES • September/October 2011
residential The
Specia li s t
More Than a Home Peter Cagnassola, CRS, Bedminster Hills Realty, Inc., office@thehillsnj.com Nicki Conway, CRS, RE/MAX Alliance Group, nickiconway@gmail.com Jayne Debus, CRS, Nebco Realty Group, jayned@nebcorealtygroup.com Jacque Neef, CRS, Homeland Realty, info@ PropertyInBoise.com
On Demand Michele Chiles-Hickman, CRS, Prudential New Jersey Properties, michele. chileshickman@prudentialnewjersey.com
Bob Herd, CRS, West USA Realty, bherd@ westusa.com Jae Kim, CRS, EXIT Real Estate Solutions, jae@exitcolumbiasc.com
Ashley Richardson, CRS, Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc., Ashley.richardson@ longandfoster.com
Gwyn Van der Zyppe, CRS, Rhodes, Van Note & Company, realgwen@gmail.com
Family Style
A New Twist
Norma Flaskerud, RE/MAX CC Connection, donandnorma@gmail.com
Lisa Kent McNulty, CRS, Independence Realty, lisakentmcnulty@cox.net Jennifer Pollock, CRS, Keller Williams Realty, Jennifer@JenniferDenver.com
Diane Honeycutt, CRS, Allen Tate REALTORS®, diane.honeycutt@atcmail.com
George Wonica, CRS, Wonica REALTORS® & Appraisers, Inc., gswonica@ wonicarealtors.com
w w w. c r s . c o m
www.crs.com | 4 7
Ask a CRS | Advice from the country’s top Certified Residential Specialists
price is right Q U ESTIO N : I am having trouble getting sellers to price their home to sell in the current market. I have tried everything I know to get them to reduce the price, including showing comps, articles, etc. Any suggestions? IN OUR EXPERIEN C E . . . “Keep these timeless and important points in mind. By over-pricing, it’s hard to get salespeople excited, hard to get good buyers, hard to get offers, hard to get financing.” Richard Pilla, CRS United Sales Associates Realty Suffern, N.Y.
rjp@usarealtyhomes.com
“We track our local market via MLS searches, which take 10 minutes each week. We show clients what property was selling for this time last year and what it is selling currently per square foot in specific neighborhoods. We also show the average list price vs. list price of pending sales. In most price ranges, our pending property is listed at a lower price than the average list price. Then it is up to the seller to decide if they want to list the property and if we want to take the listing.”
“Have you tried escorting your sellers to homes in the neighborhood that are currently available (through open houses, etc.)? Sometimes, seeing is believing. I have used this approach on occasion when I have not been able to reason logically with the seller.” Judy Black, CRS Coldwell Banker Folsom, Calif.
judy@judyblack.com
Dave Christoff, CRS Hallmark Properties Woodburn, Ore.
davec@hpihomes.com
»»»»»
Please submit real estate questions for “Ask a CRS” to Mike Fenner at mfenner@crs.com.
48 | September/October 2011
Stewart Online™ is like having your own personal Stewart Title office that’s always open (which is great for those late night transaction cravings).
Only Stewart has Stewart Online, which offers instant, online access to your files – another reason why we’re the right choice for you. Work with Stewart Title Company and you’ll be invited into your transaction through Stewart Online, powered by SureClose®. It’s like having your own title office that’s always ready to give you: • 24-hour access to files and transaction updates • The ability to review documents at your convenience • The capability to easily communicate with transaction parties Get the FREE Stewart Online app for Apple® devices, and more information, at stewart.com/crs/24, or contact your local Stewart Title office.
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