MARYLAND 5-2-22

MARYLAND EDITION

5 SOCIAL MEDIA MISTAKES REAL ESTATE AGENTS

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SUREFIRE METHODS THAT MAKE FOR A

MUST AVOID SMALL YARD?

BIG STATEMENT:

PRODUCTIVE MEETING

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF MICRO OUTDOOR SPACES

EMOTIONAL FLUENCY:

How To Communicate With Clients When Tensions Are High

COVER STORY

Area Specialist

ALEXANDRA DADDURA

MARYLAND EDITION

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ALEXANDRA DADDURA

CONTENTS 4) SMALL YARD? BIG STATEMENT: HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF MICRO OUTDOOR SPACES

19) 3 SUREFIRE METHODS THAT MAKE FOR A PRODUCTIVE MEETING

14) EMOTIONAL FLUENCY: HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH CLIENTS WHEN TENSIONS ARE HIGH

22) 5 SOCIAL MEDIA MISTAKES REAL ESTATE AGENTS MUST AVOID

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Small Yard? Big Statement: How to Make the Most Out of Micro Outdoor Spaces When house-hunters compile their lists of musthave home items, a dreamy backyard space is often near the top. After all, who doesn’t want an outdoor oasis of their very own? From summer barbecues to open space for your dog to frolic— everyone has their own aspirations when it comes to creating the perfect backyard paradise. But as homebuyers seek properties deeper within city limits, and Millennials opt for properties with 4

urban amenities and access, home-connected outdoor spaces are becoming a bit smaller in stature.

Of course, size isn’t everything when it comes to outdoor space. Even balconies, rear patios, and ultra-tiny yards can provide homebuyers with the outdoor reprieve they crave—even on a smaller scale. For a few ideas that can help you envision all the possibilities of a micro outdoor space, read on for inspiration.

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Think vertically.

When space is at a premium, think up instead of out. In other words, make the most of small spaces by capitalizing on your backyard, balcony, or patio’s overhead height. Mood-setting string lights, hanging pocket or wall gardens, floating shelves, and modern overhead hangings can create a sense of privacy and luxury without cluttering the square footage on the ground.

Soothing sounds set the mood.

Upgrade the look of structural components.

Not in love with your patio pavers? Don’t have the sweetest view off your balcony? Whatever your small backyard living space gripe may be, there’s always a solution if you go back to the basics. Consider the structural components of your outdoor space that you aren’t in love with and there’s likely an affordable, eye-pleasing solution. For instance, plenty of home goods Top Agent Magazine

retailers make a variety of punchy or luxe outdoor rugs that can disguise stained or lackluster outdoor flooring. Power-washing is another great solution for old grime and dirt that’s an eyesore. Don’t have a great view? Planting ivy on bare walls, installing adjustable mood lighting, or hanging planters can create a more inviting ambiance.

While there may not be room for a swimming pool or pond in a micro yard or balcony, you can still bring the calming presence of water to your outdoor oasis. Fountains run the gamut in sizing and price, making this amenity an easy acquisition. What’s more, a running fountain not only adds a soothing sound to your space, but it also helps drown out noise from the street or the neighbors—making your space entirely your own and stress-free.

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Don’t compromise on your culinary dreams.

If you love to entertain in outdoor spaces or relish the chance to man the grill—small outdoor spaces don’t have to trip you up. Grill options (both propane and charcoal) come in a range of sizes, many of which can be outfitted securely to balcony posts or be tucked away and out of sight when out of use. Consider nesting tables or those with a removable leaf to adjust your seating and dining options depending on company.

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Another trick? A small, oscillating fan can keep air flow moving in a small space during grill season—and can be easily affixed to walls or posts, as well.

Don’t let yourself or clients be discouraged by spaces with more limited square footage in outdoor areas. Furniture and design trends have already begun shifting toward providing better small-space options, and at the end of the day, a backyard space is all about providing an area for relaxation. With a few well-placed, strategic choices, you can still have it all.

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Area Specialist

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ALEXANDRA DADDURA

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Top Agent Alexandra Daddura with Cummings & Co Realtors helps buyers, sellers and investors throughout the greater Baltimore area.

With its small town feel, notable architecture, friendly residents and booming restaurant scene, the greater Baltimore area is an exciting place to call home. Helping people settle down here is Alexandra Daddura, a prominent real estate agent with a reputation for excellent service. She got her start in the industry several years ago after purchasing her own home. “I had always been very interested in real estate and after going through the process myself, I knew it was going to be a great fit for my personality. I couldn’t wait to get started helping other people achieve their real estate goals too.” As someone with a very entrepreneurial spirit, working for a corporate company was not allowing her to realize her full potential and she wanted to pursue a 8Copyright Top Agent Magazine

new path. “So I dove into real estate and never looked back.” Today she’s an individual agent with Cummings & Co. Realtors, a brokerage she praises for its innovative and inclusive approach.

“It’s such a forward-thinking company and provides us with everything we need to enhance our client experience. Our Broker, Dave Cummings, is fantastic. He knows every agent personally and goes above and beyond to make sure we always have what we need to serve our clients. I am honored to work for him.”

Able to exceed her clients’ expectations, she rarely needs to advertise her own work, as they love to refer her to their friends and family. They never forget the positive experience Top Agent Magazine

she provided, removing the stress from an often emotionally-charged time. “My ultimate goal is to make the process as smooth as possible,” she explains. “No matter how much I have to do behind the scenes, or how many hoops I have to jump through, I will do whatever it takes so that when we get to the end of it my clients can look back and say it was an enjoyable journey.” As Alexandra tends to every detail, clients can focus Top Agent Magazine

on their next steps. She is patient throughout, never pressuring them to make decisions. When working with buyers, her goal is to provide them with all of the tools and information that they will need to create a compelling offer when they find the perfect home. “In such a fast-paced, competitive market, buyers have no choice but to make decisions very quickly. I can’t imagine having to make a decision about such a massive financial Copyright Top Agent Magazine9

“No matter how much I have to do behind the scenes, or how many hoops I have to jump through, I will do whatever it takes so that when we get to the end of it my clients can look back and say it was an enjoyable journey.” investment in such a short period of time so I always want them to know I am on their side.”

For her sellers, the goal is to spread the word far and wide about their listings. Utilizing the MLS and social media, Alexandra launches her properties on a strategic date and hosts a large open house during the first weekend.

Knowing the area well, she is eager to guide buyers and find the right neighborhood for their needs. One client recently said, “Alexandra is hands down THE BEST! We decided to use Alex as our agent to buy our new home as well as sell our previous one, and we couldn’t be happier with Copyright Top Agent Magazine 10

our decision! She negotiated the best deal for us for our dream house, and managed to get our previous home under contract within a day of being on the market! Alex is helpful, knowledgeable, and always there whenever and wherever you need her. She truly has her clients’ best interest at heart. We couldn’t have gone through this process without her and can’t recommend her enough!”

Alexandra gives back to her community in various ways. Through her brokerage, she participates in fundraisers and drives, like Casey Cares which donates pajamas to terminally ill children, she donates Christmas presents to Top Agent Magazine

local organizations who provide them to those in need, and she also donates a portion of her commissions to local animal shelters. When she’s not working, she’s soaking up every minute with her family, including her husband and their one-year-old daughter.

In the next few years, Alexandra plans to continue growing and mentoring new agents. “There’s so much value to gain by being around people who have been doing this for a while,” she explains.

“I work with a group of incredible, strong female Top Agent Magazine

agents and we have developed our own team organically over the past few years. We believe in sharing our knowledge and experiences generously amongst one another while also focusing on building our own brands independently. We empower one another and we know that there is more power in camaraderie and that we are stronger together.”

In addition to growing the team of agents that she works with, Alexandra plans to expand her personal portfolio of real estate as well. “I want Copyright Top Agent Magazine 11

to use my knowledge of the real estate industry and apply the advice that I give to my clients to my own life and business.” Alexandra knows that the best investment that she can make in her and her family’s future is to acquire property and generate passive income and that is what she plans to continue doing whenever the opportunity presents itself.

It’s an incredibly rewarding career, and she can’t wait to help more people achieve their real estate dreams. “It’s one of the biggest processes a person will go through in their lifetime. Being able to take all those little pieces, put them together and see the end result is an amazing thing. I am just thrilled and honored each and every time someone chooses me to help them.”

For more about Alexandra Daddura, please call 443-619-0987 or email alexandradaddura@gmail.com Copyright Top Agent Magazine 12

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Emotional Fluency:

How to Communicate with Clients When Tensions are High Managing emotions, expectations, and personalities are central to a successful real estate career. After all, this is a business based on relationships and interpersonal communication. Likewise, real estate is built on one of life’s central milestones—homeownership. This means that stress, disappointment, excitement, and competition are inherently 14

involved in the process. As an agent, you take on the real estate world every day, but most of your clients aren’t well-versed in the norms of the industry and are likely riding an emotional roller coaster throughout.

Acknowledging this, how do you steer the ship when emotions and tensions are running high?

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For starters, it’s not always intuitive. Just like you add tools to your arsenal when it comes to marketing, social media, or lead generation, you also have to add emotional tools to your repertoire. Here are a few ways to diffuse tense situations and keep clients on an even keel—even during the ups and downs of the transactional process.

Create realistic expectations from the outset and reinforce them as you go As a seasoned agent, some aspects of the industry may seem run of the mill to you, but may come as a shock to your clients. That’s

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why communicating expectations from the beginning can help create reasonable touchpoints in the minds of your clients. In addition to talking through the steps of the transactional process with your clients, consider writing out a checklist or compiling a buyer’s guide that can serve as a resource for them throughout. Think of it like a security blanket, but one that’s built by facts, figures, and anecdotal experience. If you paint a clear picture of what to expect, clients are less likely to be taken by the surprise and react impulsively as a result. What’s more, reinforce next steps, expectations, and possible outcomes as you go. If your client is left to wonder or guess at what’s ahead or

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what will happen, they will either envision the worst-case scenario and panic, or they’ll misjudge the next step and be disappointed or left anxious as a result. Minimize surprises by communicating regularly, clearly, and with all options on the table.

When unveiling a problem, come to clients with potential solutions in hand Any agent worth his or her salt knows that bumps in the road are likely to occur along the way. You can’t promise a transaction free of stress or unforeseen issues, but you can minimize the ensuing stress by preparing you client in advance for any potential problems, and by addressing any problems

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clearly and with solutions already in hand.

Clients are likely to become agitated if a problem arises and they can’t understand why or what it means. That’s why slowing it down, talking it through, and offering potential avenues for recourse can quell fears and remind clients why they chose you to facilitate the transactional process. This means you’ll have to vigilant, proactive, and on the ball. Of course, it’s much easier to be an agent when everything is going great and flowing naturally. It’s when things take an unexpected or negative turn that true talent is really tested. Accordingly, show your clients that you are confident and in control by remaining adaptable, communicative, and clear in your problem-solving approach.

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Never underestimate the power of listening As an agent, you are probably well-versed in putting out fires and sourcing solutions. Sometimes, however, clients are really looking to you as a confidante and a listening ear. You’d be surprised how much nervousness you can resolve by simply offering a listening ear and offering reassurance. Sometimes it’s not about providing a band-aid or a practical solution; oftentimes, it’s all about listening. Clients need to feel like they’re being heard, even if you’ve heard it all before. By listening to their fears, acknowledging their perspective, and reiterating their goals—you display your empathy and understanding, which is often just what a client Top Agent Magazine

needs to feel better. In other words, you don’t have to break out the graphs and data each time a client airs his or her insecurity. First, slow down, listen, and interact on a personal level. You may stop an emotional upheaval in its tracks simply by putting your listening cap on.

Not all clients are alike. Some will require a little more hand-holding than others, but it’s your job to put yourself in their perspective, recognize the milestone at hand, and managing the personalities you’re working with. The next time you feel frustrated by a client’s unpredictable emotional energy, keep these insights in mind as you diffuse the situation, steer them to a place of comfort, and fortify your interpersonal skillset in the process.

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3 Surefire Methods that Make for a Productive Meeting Sometimes a business meeting can achieve exactly what it sets out to do: communicate, assess actions, set goals, or otherwise. Other times, meetings can feel like a drain on your time and energy, and only advance your agenda in marginal ways. While meetings are an integral form of communication in the professional world, how can you ensure that they are both productive and worthwhile?

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The truth is, it takes intentioned planning to make a meeting a success. A well-curated meeting makes partners and employees feel unified as a team, excited about what’s to come, and motivated to achieve a collective goal. With that in mind, consider a few approaches below to maximize your next meeting and ensure that all parties involved leave with a renewed sense of direction and inspiration.

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1. Create a detailed agenda in advance Oftentimes meetings are scheduled with a loose goal in mind—to hash out the terms of a contract or to strategize a new marketing campaign, for example. To ensure your meeting is productive, time-efficient, and achieves its end, create a detailed agenda in advance. This means breaking down your overarching goal into pieces and outlining what’s required to complete each component. You might also consider making time blocks for each respective component, so there is a clear structure and hierarchy in place. Not only does this ensure that time is used wisely and evenly, but it also creates order and momentum for the greater task at hand. What’s more, you’ll want to distribute this detailed agenda in advance of your meeting, so that all attendees will be familiar with the format and delineated goals of your gathering. This will set a professional tone, while keeping team members and conversation on task.

2. Reserve off-topics ideas and comments for later Too many meetings are derailed when an off-topic question or comment is made and hijacks the attentions of attendees. While it’s natural that outlying issues may arise when all team members are gathered, you can ward off distractions by creating a so-called holding area for off-topic talking points. This holding area will serve as the receptacle for any off-topic or lower priority addendum, and you can create a chunk of time towards the end of your meeting to readdress those 20

points separately. Once you’ve achieved the highest priority goals of your meeting, you can then return to the items in your holding area. Note: be sure to familiarize your staff with this approach so that the expectation is already in place and interruptions won’t distract from your meeting’s true intent.

3. Conclude every meeting with a brief summary and action items The very last thing you should do before concluding your meeting is to reemphasize the main takeaways of your gathering and outline a specific list of action items. Again, successful meetings are clear and give attendees a sense of direction. That’s why reiterating action items—or next steps in need of completion—to each respective employee is an essential component of a productive meeting. Likewise, summarizing main takeaways unifies a team’s understanding of what’s important and why the meeting was called in the first place. Ending on a concrete yet proactive note helps launch team members toward the next event in their day and gives them a sense of confidence as they tackle their duties.

Meetings don’t have to be a formality or a bore. When planned and executed with incisiveness, they can inspire your talent roster and streamline productivity in your office.

Especially in the world of real estate, ensuring everyone is on the same page and doing their jobs effectively is key to success and longevity. Put a little planning into your next meeting, and you’ll save yourself valuable time and energy as you move forward.

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SOCIAL MEDIA MISTAKES

Real Estate Agents Must Avoid There is perhaps no greater marketing tool for agents these days than having a large presence on social media, but there is more to social media marketing than just opening an account and gaining followers. A lot of agents forget the social part of social media. It’s all about engagement, but it needs to be the right kind of engagement. This can often be the first impression potential clients or industry peers have of you, so make it count. There is no second chance to make a first impression, and that is especially true for real estate agents. Here’s just a few things you want to avoid.

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1 Using it to Vent

Social Media is a great place to complain and commiserate about things, but save that for your personal page. A real estate transaction is already a stressful ordeal, the last thing anyone wants is someone who seems like they’ll bring a negative energy to the process. Even worse?

Bad mouthing other Realtors® or listings. You’re selling yourself and your skills, so don’t sell anything that shows you in a bad light. Much like marketing a property, everything you put out should be professional and inviting.

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Lack of Consistent Branding

Yes, social media is about social engagement, but it’s also about creating brand recognition. While you don’t want it to be purely promotional, you are running a business, so create a consistent branding across all social media platforms. If you can afford a professional graphic designer to help you out with this, that’s great. But at the very least, have the same profile pic, cover image and highly visible contact information, across the board. And don’t forget to share links to your other accounts, some people prefer different social media applications.

3Not Posting Enough

It’s good to create a schedule of how many times you’ll be posting per day and to pick times when you might have the most engagement.

Don’t over do it, but three posts a day at the right time, tends to be a good goal. There are numerous tools on Facebook, for example, that

can let you see when interactions are the highest.

Stick to your schedule and adjust accordingly.

It’s also important to not just post your listings.

Be a resource for people who follow your page.

Post community events, or other informative articles that are relevant to home ownership.

Be a page they want to follow even when they aren’t buying or selling a property. They’ll remember you when the time comes.

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Not interacting With Your Followers

It’s called social media for a reason. The more you engage with your followers, the more they see you as a real person, and not just a marketing tool. Not only do you get to know your past clients and potential clients, on Facebook, engagement actually will make your posts seen by more people. So it’s a win/win.

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Not Sharing or Linking to Others

It might not seem like a good idea to not promote the blogs, pages or listings of other people, but it’s not only an excellent way to build goodwill, it will also increase your own presence when they reciprocate. So make a point to share posts and links for local businesses and even the blogs of your peers, if it’s a post that offers valuable insight into an expertise you don’t have. That will encourage them to share your posts and even your listings, which will increase your potential buyer pool. This is another incentive to create your own blog. Unique informative content is always of value, and more likely to be shared than promotional links.

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