Cory Brewer
By Cory Brewer
My blog entry for this quarter will not come as news to most of the people reading it, but I think it’s a good reminder nonetheless: Every now and then, the clients and colleagues you work with will tell you one thing, but then do another.
Raise your hand if you’ve heard this one before from another agent: “I’ve got a great offer for you and my clients are really excited about the house.”
This “great offer” may even be full price…only you find out later that the buyer has a horrible credit score and can’t get a loan.
The point I’m trying to make is this: Nearly everyone I’ve talked to lately can feel the market starting to come back. Buyers, sellers, agents, lenders…everyone. It can be easy to get wrapped up in the excitement but I think it’s important, as an agent, to keep your cool and be level-headed while coaching your clients. It’s important to cover all the details of a deal, and a positive, optimistic attitude is key. But I also think it will serve you well to prepare your clients for the worst-case-scenario, because unfortunately sometimes that is exactly what can happen.
Draw on your experience – that is probably a big part of why your clients hired you in the first place. Cover your bases, and do your best to set the proper expectations from the beginning. So when that dream deal actually DOES come together, your clients will be thrilled that they were lucky enough to be working with you…rather than expecting everything to go smoothly only to have to suffer through unforeseen bumps in the road.
The market is coming back. It’s true. But don’t get caught up in the hype. Remember that a deal is not a deal until the ink on the contract is dry.
Cory Brewer is a REALTOR® in the Seattle area and Operations Manager at Windermere Property Management / LGA in Bellevue. Connect with Cory at www.wpmnorthwest.com.
Jared James
By Jared James
Part of my job as a real estate speaker/trainer is to keep up to date on the latest news, fads, tools and technologies that come out so that I can determine if I think they are here to stay and worth covering with REALTORS®, or if they are here today and gone tomorrow and not worth our time (see talking signs as a case in point). Well, I just got off of a webinar I was doing for real estate professionals on creating new leads using both the old school and new school methods to create the maximum number of opportunities in today’s marketplace, and one of the newest methods that I think is worth paying attention to was demonstrated by Dream Town Realty in Chicago who actually decided to leverage the popular coupon site Groupon.com.
They created a Groupon coupon for buyers and sellers in their area, which cost the potential clients $25 up front and required them to used Dream Town Realty to buy or sell, then at closing the Groupon clients would get back $1,000 in cash (as long as their purchase or sale was greater than $150,000 and they closed within the next 12 months).
Amazingly enough, they had 219 people sign up for this attractive offer in only one month. I think we all would agree that we would be OK with being connected with 219 potential clients that are serious enough about buying or selling a house in the short term that they are willing to pay $25 up front for a coupon.
Now Groupon is only available in major cities, but if you are considering using such a tactic as Dream Town Realty you may want to check out Livingsocial.com or the newest site that actually focuses on secondary markets and was created by the popular ActiveRain.com founder, Jon Washburn, called www.dailyticket.com There is even a coupon site created specifically for real estate deals called housetipper.com. Continue reading »
Jason O'Neil
By Jason O’Neil
Are the two at odds with one another? I say yes. I begin each buyer consultation with the simple question: “Do you want a great deal or do you want a great home?” The responses are typical:
“Both! Ha Ha Ha…I mean, can’t we get both?”
“Uhhhhh. Great home?”
“Somewhere between.”
“Great home. Good deal. Is that possible?”
Most home owners forget what they paid for their home the instant after they move their stuff in. And while most of them get a monthly reminder about how much they owe on their home, very few remember the asking price, let alone the prices of the other 10 homes they looked at before they found “The One.” The hang up on the good deal is so over emphasized that I predict it will fade in the next 12 months.
I know that there are naysayers out there, but I am having some serious deja-vu. In 2006, home sellers had the golden tickets. Price? Price had nothing to do with selling a house, heck, if you missed the mark on price the market would quickly appreciate so fast that the market would catch up with the price. Sellers didn’t have to negotiate and buyers were at their mercy. My how the tables have turned. But have they really? I am starting to see the same type of overreaction in buyers. I had a buyer ask the seller to fix the neighbors house during an inspection negotiation!
Sellers are saying enough is enough and our market is normalizing. The great homes sell and sell quickly for close to their asking price…some get multiple offers. The homes that languish on the market are the ones that have been over looked, or been rejected by other buyers and the market as a whole. Do you want a great home or a great deal?
Jason O’Neil is a broker and an owner of McKenzie Real Estate in Indianapolis. Visit his Web site: www.McKenzieListings.com
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