Technology can't replace Realtor boots on the ground

Virtual tours are no substitute for seeing a property in person

BY ALISHA ALWAY BRAATZ, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012.

Inman News®

Boots image via Shutterstock.

Real Estate has gone the way of technology. What Realtor can function nowadays without their smart phone or iPad? Do you even remember the days before GPS? (I do. And I apologize to everyone who rode in my car.)

But there is one thing that the apps of today cannot replace: your brain. Which begs the question: Are you using your brain while you work, or are you running on autopilot? Are you engaged in your business? It matters.

Take a real estate tour, for example. Every area has one. Whether organized through your local MLS or through your brokerage, a tour of new listings has long been the bread and butter of a Realtor's life.

Attendance has tapered off in many cities, however, as Realtors turn to virtual tours and Google Earth in lieu of actually driving across town to view a property. Realtors who are touring listings are often lured in by drawings, Starbucks coupons, free meals, and lottery scratcher tickets, among other things. Sad, huh? But oh so true.

Don't 'date' the real estate ingrate

How to spot would-be clients you should drop like a hot potato

BY ALISHA ALWAY BRAATZ, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012.

Inman News®

Date image via Shutterstock.

I recently heard a radio host reading a piece on the subject, "Who not to date -- ever." It was so funny, and right on, that I tried to Google it for my husband to read.

Turns out there are millions of results for that search term. I never did find the right one. But after reading through the first 10 or so entries, I concluded that trillions of people the world over hate a nag, a know-it-all, and a money-grubber.

The stereotypes were spot-on, and it got me thinking about our real estate clientele. Because, you have to admit, courting a client is a lot like dating -- minus the butterflies, romance and tequila shots.

We dedicate weekends to these people, buy them steak dinners and have their number on speed dial. We practice making small talk in the rearview mirror on the way to pick them up. We dress to impress. We wash the car. And we never pass gas or burp in front of them (I hope!).

5 ways to achieve top producer's mindset

The SLAM model for real estate success

BY BERNICE ROSS, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012 Inman News®

Vince Lombardi painting by Daniel A. Moore via Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

Editor's note: This is the last in a five-part series. See Part 1,Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Top performers in virtually all industries share one common trait: a positive mindset. You can have the best systems, and understand how to apply leverage and attraction, but it is your mindset that will ultimately make or break your success.

How to attract higher-quality buyer, seller clients

The SLAM model for real estate success

BY BERNICE ROSS, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012 Inman News®

Contemplation image via Shutterstock.

Editor's note: This is Part 4 in a five-part series. See Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Would you like to double your income without doubling your work? Once you have mastered systems and leverage in the SLAM (systems, leverage, attraction, mindset) model, increasing your income shifts to being more heavily influenced by factors outside real estate.

Have you ever noticed that when you plan an extended vacation your business suddenly picks up? The principles of attraction explain why this is the case. Rather than allowing this system to work haphazardly in your business, being intentional about its use can produce amazing results. The six steps described below are the foundation for attracting the real estate business that you have always dreamed of having.

5 Steps to Reconnecting With Past Clients

by Matthew Collis  September 11, 2012

As you may already know, keeping in touch with past clients is an essential ingredient to building referrals and generating repeat business.

Once you’ve helped your client purchase or sell his home, and the transaction is complete, you need to continue the relationship-building process if you want referrals to flow your way and clients to come back to use your services time and again.

Remember, it takes five times the amount of time and money to acquire a new client than to retain an existing one. The business you receive from past clients in the form of referrals and repeat transactions is “low-hanging fruit” compared to the business you get from having to prospect, advertise and cold call.

Consider this: The National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that among sellers, a whopping 85 percent said that they would definitely or probably use their real estate agent again or recommend them to others.

Whether it works or not, QE3 was needed

Commentary: US not in recession, but fiscal cliff, Europe still loom

BY LOU BARNES, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2012 Inman News®

Albert H. Teich / Shutterstock.com

One thing is for sure. Mr. Bernanke's announcement yesterday is the most extraordinary to come out of the Fed since the all-time previous: Paul Volcker on Columbus Day weekend 1979 said the Fed would allow interest rates to rise as high as necessary to defeat inflation.

As today's problems are the polar opposite of 1979, and raising rates had long been the accepted and effective remedy for inflation, and Mr. Volcker's policies succeeded in solving the problem, it is difficult further to compare these two moments.

From yesterday's announcement by the Federal Open Market Committee: "If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Committee will continue its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities, undertake additional asset purchases… until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability."

The committee "expects that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy will remain appropriate for a considerable time after the economy strengthens."

Buyers need your help to close on short sales, REOs

Realtor Notebook

BY TERESA BOARDMAN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2012.

Inman News®

Red tape image via Shutterstock.

There might be more information than ever before available to consumers on the Internet, but it won't replace real estate agents anytime soon.
More has been added to our role. Sometimes it feels like we are becoming a source for free labor for banks and government agencies who will not allow buyers or sellers to represent themselves. Sometimes, they make information about special programs available only to real estate agents.
Between Neighborhood Stabilization Program homes, traditional foreclosures and Fannie Mae foreclosures called "HomePath" homes, the homebuying process has changed. When a government agency is the seller, they sometimes use a committee to determine if the buyer is qualified to buy the home.  There are processes and there is paperwork, and sometimes representing one buyer or short-sale seller can feel like a full-time job.
The paperwork can be complicated and the instructions are not always clear. There are agents who are avoiding showing certain homes to their buyers because they don't understand the programs and can't handle the paperwork.

Use analytics to grow your business Data can reveal best strategies

BY TOM FLANAGAN, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012 Inman News®

Gears image via Shutterstock.

When Realtors hear the term analytics, many think of website metrics. But analytics "are everywhere, not just on the Web," says Adam Wiener, Redfin's vice president of analytics and new business.

Utilizing analytics can help improve offline marketing efforts, for example.

"Think about just listed and just sold cards," Wiener says. "Imagine you sent out 100 of these for every listing and it cost you $200 and a bunch of your time. You want to know how many transactions and referrals called you from the postcard to see if it is worth doing. Just use a pen and paper and break down the stages, no fancy tools required."

Wiener was one of several fantastic analytics experts sharing their insights on a panel I had the pleasure of moderating at the Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco entitled, "Analyze This: Developing the Right Digital Analytics Strategy."

Why Millennials don't buy in to mentoring Older generations must demonstrate their mastery

BY GAHLORD DEWALD, FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2012 Inman News®

Monks image via Shutterstock.

Last week I attended the memorial service for one of my early mentors, Dan Carr of the Golgonooza Type Foundry and Letterpress (I sometimes joke that I'm the last of the "printer's devils"). These kinds of things naturally remind me of the wealth of ideas and wisdom passed on to me from those who have gone before and how truly influential one can be.

There are all manner of things I would never have learned or thought about had I not been influenced by Dan at the time I was. Most likely entire aspects of my thinking would be significantly different, and likely poorer.

Earlier this year, at the National Association of Realtors' Midyear meetings, I was invited to participate in the pilot of a scenario planning program NAR put together. During this event, small groups were assembled to play some "what if" around different possible futures.

5 questions every buyer should ask their agent Mood of the Market

BY TARA-NICHOLLE NELSON, MONDAY, JULY 30, 2012 Inman News®

Counting pennies image via Shutterstock.

In this day and age, one can easily get educated about homebuying online, on your couch and in your pajamas -- and while watching "House Hunters International," no less! Yet there are still nuances and insights on the process that are best communicated one to one, from a human professional who has been through this process dozens or hundreds of times. Accordingly, first-time buyers are frequently given the sound advice to vigorously interview agents before hiring them, and lists of interview questions are all over the Web.

That said, in the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers recently released by the National Association of Realtors, 81 percent of first-time buyers said the benefit of having an agent was that the agent helped get them educated about the buying process, and more than half of all buyers said their agent pointed out features or faults of a property that they would not otherwise have noticed.

4 opportunities agents should cash in on Grow your real estate business in 2012

BY BERNICE ROSS, MONDAY, JULY 30, 2012 Inman News®

Sack of money image via Shutterstock.

Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series.

At the recent AFIRE (Awesome Females in Real Estate) conference, Deborah Falcone, real estate director for the Wall Street Journal, shared the Journal's latest research on the key trends currently shaping today's real estate market as well as ways brokers and agents can capitalize on these trends to grow their business.

1. Investors move the market
According to the National Association of Realtors, the number of homes purchased in 2011 by investors jumped 65 percent to 1.2 million. Investors represented 27 percent of all home sales.

Opportunity: Working with investors will continue to be a great source to expand your business whether you are an individual agent or a brokerage. Many Gen Yers are having difficulty finding employment or are so burdened with college loans that they cannot afford to purchase a home. As a result, "Gen Rent" will continue to drive the demand for rental properties and investments.

Internet scams use Re/Max brand Franchisor warns consumers of email account phishing, rental schemes

BY PAUL HAGEY, FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2012 Inman News®

Cybercrime image via Shutterstock.

The Re/Max real estate brand name has been used in at least two recent online scams, one an email account phishing ploy, the other a false rental scheme.

The online scams appear to be part of the larger milieu of Internet fraud, which, according to the FBI, increased 3.4 percent last year in the U.S. and totaled $485.3 million in losses.

The global real estate franchisor, which has more than 90,000 affiliated agents, has issued warnings for both on its website.

A still-active website that "spoofs," or pretends to be a Re/Max website, attempts to obtain victims' email login and password info. The site has no connection to Re/Max, as evidenced by its address: dijitalkataloog.com.

Will NAR govern .Realtor sites with a heavy hand? | Group's history enforcing trademark raises free speech concerns

BY INMAN NEWS, TUESDAY, JULY 10, 2012 Inman News®

Speech bubble image via Shutterstock.

By DAVID W. MYERS

That the National Association of Realtors would spend more than $500,000 in the hopes of obtaining the right to create and manage a trio of new top-level domains -- .Realtor, .realestate and .homes -- might seem like a sure-fire, "no-brainer" investment.

"Realtors are already the most trusted, valued sources for real estate-related information, and we believe that the .Realtor domain would extend that trust online," NAR said last month in announcing that it had applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to create and manage several new alternatives to the ".com" top-level domain commonly employed by businesses today.

Euro breakup wouldn't spell disaster | Commentary: Fed will be free to take necessary measures

BY LOU BARNES, FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2012 Inman News®

Greek warrior image via Shutterstock.

Now we wait. Greek election results will begin trickling in Sunday afternoon and who-knows-what explosion at the opening of Asian markets Sunday night. More likely: a few more frozen days to digest the results, and any number of empty cans kicked into nearby walls. Top Real Estate in Rockford Illinois.

The biggest event next week will be the Wednesday conclusion of the Fed's meeting. The stock market this week began to trade up on bad news (a small rise in unemployment claims, a dinky drop in industrial production) on the assumption that bad news would mean QE3 from the Fed, which must be good news for stocks no matter how ugly the reality might be.

Mortgage rates in uncharted territory | Despite record low rates, demand for purchase loans down from last year

BY INMAN NEWS  Inman News®

Bottomless pit image via Shutterstock.

Mortgage rates continued their descent into uncharted territory this week as investors seeking a safe haven from the European debt crisis snatched up bonds backed by mortgages, and the Federal Reserve continued programs intended to keep a lid on long-term interest rates.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.67 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 7, down from 3.75 percent last week and 4.49 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its Primary Mortage Market Survey. That's a new record low in Freddie Mac records dating to 1971.

Embrace the lesson of Europe's disaster Commentary: US must be competitive in the world, or be Europe

BY LOU BARNES, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012 Inman News®

Catastrophe image via Shutterstock.

Tough day. The details will be media-inescapable; work on context instead.

U.S. job data for May were poor, and April's revised so. However, jobs are growing, incomes are rising (a paltry 0.2 percent monthly, but rising), and the National Association of Purchasing Managers' service index for May arrived at 53.5, a little off from April's 10-month high but a healthy distance above 50 breakeven.

Think twice before rejecting request for an extension In today's market, sellers may be wise to compromise with buyers

BY DIAN HYMER, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012  Inman News®

Infinite time image via Shutterstock.

In some cases, your past experience will help you make a good decision about what to do in a current home-sale transaction. But if you rely only on past real estate experience to make decisions about selling a home today, you could end up with an unsatisfactory result.

The old rules, such as they were, don't always work for the current home-sale market. For example, more purchase contracts specify that time is of the essence. In other words, contingencies will be met on time.

Listing syndication is not a moral issue Decisions should be based on business model, not emotions

BY GAHLORD DEWALD, WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2012 Inman News®

Sermon image via Shutterstock.

I was meeting with a friend of mine who works in real estate. Our conversation, as so many real estate conversations do, drifted into the whole issue of listing syndication.

You know the drill: Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, MLS listings on competitors' sites, and so on.

You also know the various arguments that take place around these practices. It's good for consumers. It's bad for consumers. It's good for brokers. It's bad for brokers. It's good for agents. It's bad for agents. And so on.

Show new homes, and you'll sell more resales New-home prospects buy resales, and resale buyers buy new homes

BY DAVID FLETCHER, WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2012 Inman News®

New home image via Shutterstock.

General agents need to show new homes, because they will sell more resales and get more listings if they do.

About 95 percent of agents don't believe this. The other 5 percent believe it, and, because they do, they are closing sales they may have otherwise lost.

Realtor Lorraine Kuney of Re/Max Executive Realty Kuney-Todaro team in Franklin, Mass., believes it. In fact, her team is so sold on working with new-home prospects that they market directly to them. Why?

Tax mistake? Don't panic, amend! Real Estate Tax Talk

BY STEPHEN FISHMAN, FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2012 Inman News®

Correction image via Shutterstock.

You just filed your tax return a few weeks ago, but now you realize you made a mistake. What should you do?

Don't panic. You can always amend your return if you have to. But first, make sure you have to. You need not amend your return if you discover that you made a simple math error. These will be corrected by the IRS computers, and you'll be notified of the change by mail.

However, you should seriously consider amending your return if you paid substantially more tax than you had to -- for example, because you forgot to claim a deduction you were entitled to. If you made a mistake in your favor, failed to report income, or took deductions that you were not entitled to take, amending your return may avoid all or some fines, interest, and penalties if you're later audited by the IRS. (Top Real Estate in Rockford Illinois)