6 Habits Of Successful Realtors

All successful real estate agents/brokers share many common attributes and this is what makes them successful.  When I teach new Realtors how to get started in real estate brokerage I tell them “Look at other successful agents and follow the habits that make them successful.” Successful agents aren’t better than you are; they just do things that need to be done to get the business. Here is a tip, the things that you don’t like to do: cold call, seek out people whose house has recently expired in the MLS, talk to FSBOs and convert them to listings. They provably don’t like to do either, but that’s what makes them successful.

If you talk to successful Realtors here is what they will say that makes them successful:

HABIT #1: Invest Money in Advertising. You must get your name into the public. “Top-of-mind” mentality is what it takes to get people to call you before the call your competitor. The average agent spends 10% of every commission dollar to new business. On every deal you close, you should place 10% into a marketing account and never touch that money for ANYTHING other marketing yourself.

HABIT #2: Use Multiple Sources for Advertising. Know where to spend your advertising money. Print, web, radio etc. are just a few ways to make you know. It may take some time to determine the best method of advertising for you, your client and your properties.

HABIT #3: Track Your Results of Your Efforts. “Know from where your leads come” is the mantra you should be chanting when you spend your marketing dollar. Knowing where each dollar went and what it produced is more important, if not more than the marketing itself. Spending money that brings ZERO leads is worse than spending no money to get the same ZERO leads.

HABIT #4: Set Clear Sales, Listing and Production Goals. Becoming a success at any area of your life is only determined by you as person and no one else; however, for you to recognize that success you must compare to a preconceived notion of success, i.e. goals. Annual income, total number of properties sold, dollar value to total properties sold, respect by your peers etc. are all commons ways to measure success in the Realtor world.  To make this comparison you must know what your end points are to be. Setting goals is the biggest predictor of success in ANY field, as determined by most all success people you talk too.

HABIT #5: Keep Up with New Technology. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogging, etc are words that didn’t even exist five years ago. As more communication channels emerge, there are more avenues to market your properties and yourself than ever. New technology to get more information, much quicker and with better consistency to your client is being created everyday. Keeping up with what’s current and hot is a tough job, but necessary to make the smart consumer happier and more comfortable with you as a whole. 

HABIT #6: Stand Out from the Crowd. When consumers are asked to asked name a real estate company, over 75% could name at least 3 major companies in there area. However, all consumers stated that they were working with their particular Realtor for some specific reason, either strength in knowledge of the area, “recognize”ability in their market or a leader is a specific “niche” market. In all cases, it was due to that particular agent stood out as being the one to go to. You need to become that “go to” person. Make yourself a celebrity in your field for some reason: knowledge, expertise, dedication, etc.

Those are the key habits-ones with a proven impact in producing a successful Realtor. In challenging times like these, knowing you can adopt simple and proven techniques to succeed is strong and reassuring.

The 7 Mindsets of Mentoring

By successfully using a Mentor to their fullest possibilities, you can set your career path on the fast track to a unlimited income. Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs fail to see the necessary and important role a Mentor plays in the success of your business. A Mentor is someone who will guide through your day-to-day struggles and force you to accomplish the things which you need to complete to build a successful business. However, the biggest and most important role played by your Mentor is the role of an “Accountability Partner.” A Mentor is someone you must stand before and he held accountable for your actions, or lack thereof.  Without an “Accountability Partner” you will be much more likely to give up when you experience challenges along the way.

I will discuss some areas of your business that a good Mentor will help you excel; understanding that these areas are more of a mind sets and requires a belief and dedication to the process to fully comprehend rather than physical activities you can see, touch or accomplish.

The following 7 mindsets will make it obvious as to why you must have a Mentor to be successful.

Mindset #1.     You Need To Follow A Path That Will Lead You To Success.  Starting a business is a very difficult task to do correctly, let alone should you be using a bad business model that provides you with no chance for success at all. You will suffer from information overload from all directions in your life; friends, family, partners, business peers (probably others that are failing as well).  You need to be able to discern the “good” information from the “bad” while maintaining a strong dedication to success. This will be the time for your Mentor to shine through the clouds and “noise” of all others. You want to follow a person that has succeeded, not a person that wants to succeed. This is why you need a successful mentor and why you need to choose this person carefully and wisely.

 

Mindset #2.     Lack Of Specific Knowledge.  It matters not, the amount of knowledge you have about your area of business, the fact remains that you will always need MORE knowledge to be successful.  If your business model requires constant growth, increasing knowledge accumulation and continuous learning to maintain a competitive advantage, then your survival is all but guaranteed by the use of a Mentor.  Mentors also provide a built-in mechanism to make sure you are not wasting your critical time by exercising actions may actually hurt your business. This process is known as “accountability.”

 

Mindset #3.     Self-Based Learning Models Do NOT Work.  If you are unfamiliar with the subtle factors that go into building a successful business; you will fall short in the knowledge and manner to teach yourself. By becoming a Mentoree you will drastically short your learning curve and speed up the process to financial independence. Your mentor can accelerate your learning curve to assist you in the process of making money faster and sooner.

 

Mindset #4.     Delayed Learning Provide For Delayed Earning.  The slower you are to accept the fact that your success depends upon using a Mentor the sooner you will be able to make a profitable income. Your mentor can make sure you earn while you learn. This concept is very critical to your short term cash management. You also need to see some early success to make sure you know you can do this.

 

Mindset #5.     One Person Does Not A Business Make.  Designing, implementing and executing a business model with only one person is extremely hard and time consuming. Having a Mentor as a sounding board for ideas and potential a mastermind group to assist you in times of question will help you get much needed socialization, area specific knowledge and positive reinforcement. This will also give you some great feedback on your ideas.

 

Mindset #6.     You Can’t Watch Your Own Back.  Without question, you will make mistakes when starting up your business. You will not be able to identify these mistakes early in the process due to the fact that everyone becomes myopic with their own “baby.” You can not identify and correct your mistakes very well and sometimes not at all. Your Mentor will help you identify these mistakes before they significantly drain your business development and bank account.

 

Mindset #7.     You Have To Recover From Your Mistakes.  When your mistakes are identified, you need to take care of them and then work to prevent them from happening again. Due to the accountability mechanism inherent with a Mentor, any mistakes that you make will be caught immediately; furthermore, you must account for this mistakes in a manner that will allow you recognize them for what they are, business killers.  This recognition of mistakes, when caught early enough, will allow for growth rather than death by the shear fact of adjusting your business plan to never do that again. Your mentor can help you see and act on these mistakes before you ingrain bad beliefs and behaviors.

 

Please understand that these mindsets are but a few that I have encountered, both as a Mentoree early in my career and now as a Mentor to others.  I am sure that you will find that are infinitely more reason to use a Mentor in your career.  I would strongly encourage you to seek out a Mentor immediately if you are not currently working with one.

20 Ways To Market Your Property For Sale

As a licensed real estate instructor I often tell my class that real estate is only about 20 – 25% real estate and the rest is marketing, networking and selling yourself and your listings to other people. This comes as quite a shock too many new students as the peer over their books and wonder what planet from which I have come.  “Yes” I nod a second time, knowing everything in the “big book of real estate” means very little if you can’t sell the property, tell anyone about or even get people to know it exists.

 

Therefore, I ALWAYS make sure my students know that marketing properties in a successful manner is the paramount key to becoming a very profitable Realtor. So I decided to sit down and list my favorite 20 ways to market properties “for sale.”  Feel free to steal any of these methods you want, email me with others that may be your favorite. My email is raymond@realestatemonkey.com. Really, feel free to email me, what kind of guy would give his email out if he didn’t expect to get a few answers.

 

• Multiple Listing Service (MLS) – this is the “Holy Grail” of marketing properties ‘For Sale’ in any city in the United States. All licensed Realtors will use this method; however, the bad thing is some Realtors think this is the “only” method of marketing. They simply place their listings in the MLS and wait for other, much better, Realtors to sell the listing for them.
• Flyer Box – This is a great way for people who have an interest in a property to take some information with them as the drive past your listing. You don’t know how many people call me and ask about a property I have listed and then forget the address, price or street name. By having a box full of flyers will allow that potential Buyer to remember that property and make that important “showing” call to the agent.
• Yard Sign – If the MLS is the “Holy Grail,” then this is a close second for all Realtor marketing. Yes the yard sign can play a very important part in attracting attention to passers-by and thus create more exposure which translates to a Buyer. I am a big advocate of bright colors and simple designs with only one point of contact. Having a website is great, but don’t confuse people as they pass your listing by making them look at two different phone numbers, your email address and a company website. <KISS>
• Radio Advertisements – As a local celebrity and real estate radio-talk show host, I love radio ads for homes.  Most of the time you have a very pin-point audience listening to my show and therefore people in the biz, Investors, Buyers and Sellers alike listening. A dedicated commercial for 1 specific house can be a great to reach thousands, if not tens-of-thousands of people at one shot.
• Television Advertisements – Very similar to the radio ad method as long as the commercial is played during a show that will have a specific demographic watching the show.
• Newspaper Advertisements – Once again the same theory as the two prior, only in a print version of the commercial.  I must admit that newspaper advertising is quickly becoming one of my least favorite methods due to the rising costs and diminishing response I have seen over the last three to five years.
• Direct Mail – This method of marketing is a very good way to target a specific audience of potential Buyers when you are marketing a certain type of house. Example: if you were marketing a “first-time” home buyer type of house, a direct mailer to an apartment complex nearby would be an excellent way of find that one Buyer you want.
• Dedicated Websites – The low cost of website domain names and hosting in today’s world make it a very viable marketing method to buy, build and market an entire website dedicated to only one property. The inherently great thing about real estate is the uniqueness of each physical address which allows for only one virtual web address. Simply put, the domain address that corresponds to the physical address should always be available. Example: if you are marketing 1234 Smith Street Anytown USA, you should almost always be able to get www.1234smithstreet.com as a domain name. The paramount factor with this concept is the fact that virtual addresses have UNLIMITED space to place pictures, maps, local restaurant information, school information, neighborhood information, surveys and much, much more without any added cost.
• Airplane “Puller” – Don’t laugh. This is by far my most efficient method of marketing real estate to date. I have used and airplane “puller” one time and sold the house based upon that ad. 100 percent success rate, I challenge anybody to find a better success rate that that.  Of course, I used this during a very, very large public gathering of people during a local festival that was attended by hundreds of thousands of spectators. You could say it was the biggest spectacle in racing (Hint hint)
• Flyers & “Pull” Tabs – Reverting back to my childhood days of lemonade stands, apartment hunting and used cars for sale; I am reminded that “good ole” flyers work wonders. Placing them on everything that isn’t moving is a cleaver, and cheap, way to get the word out about the house.  Another trick to make the flyer last a little longer is to create “pull” tabs. This is where you place your phone number at the bottom on pre-cut little strips so that someone can just rip your number off versus taking the entire flyer with them. As an added trick, always tear one tab off yourself, this appears that someone else is already interested and you know, people always want what other people want.
• Open House – Boring. But workable. Open houses are one of the oldest and most ingrained ways to market a house. This is one of the first activities that a new agent learns to do outside of the office.
• “Sandwich” Board Advertisements – This is a great comical attention getter that usually works in conjunction with another marketing techniques. Example: when having an open house, use a your favorite or not-so-favorite brother, friend, neighbor to don a “sandwich” board and help point the way to the promised land for those potential Buyers looking for your open house.
• Free Real Estate Websites – In this day and age of technology the world is getting smaller and smaller. Realtors are now noticing the fact that in some cases, houses are being bought by people NOT living in the area: investors, military, job transfers etc. There are numerous real estate websites and “classified” sites that allow real estate ads that can be used to market your property, both free and pay sites as well.
• Direct Emails – The advent of the email address has been one of the best inventions this century and the other edge of the sword says it has also been the worst invention. Instant communication between parties has been a boon to business and people needing a “now” answer; however, this has led to the “spamming” of unwanted advertisements virtually 24/7 to your inbox. Using this mass marketing system combined with the “now” touch allows for Realtors to send hundreds and thousands of communiqué with the push of just one button. I must warn you that too many people may see this type of communication as “spam” and therefore might disregard your email altogether.  That is why I advocate an opt-in method of acquiring email addresses. Whether its via you own website you collect or buying emails from a broker.
• Neighborhood 2×10 Walk – This is one of top methods that always produces one viewing of my listing every time. This is a simple strategy that requires the Realtor to walk the street of his listing and speak directly to the neighbors 5 houses in each direction on both sides of the street.  Most people know at least one person in the process of buying a house and would love to have their friend move close to them and therefore buy your listing
• “Garage” Sale Advertising – This is a sneaky method that has worked for me before but also has produced some irate passers-by. Place a “garage” sale ad in the garage sale section of the local newspaper (usually cheaper than the open house section) and when people stop by to check out the sale, you provide an ad hoc open house or private viewing for them. Seldom do the people stopping by ever buy the house; however, they can become advocates of your house to their friends and family.
• Local Business Partnership – Becoming a partner with a local business that will allow you to advertise in the store in some fashion. A great method is pizza delivery companies will allow (not free of course) you to create a small flyer and they will place that flyer on the pizza box top when they deliver a pizza. Dry cleaners usually have a bulletin board that you can place your flyer (this one is usually free). There are many, many ways to make deals with most every service company in your area. Creativity is the key.
• Newspaper Inserts – Unlike traditional newspaper advertising contained within the newspaper itself, this method is external to the newspaper and is actually a separate flyer that gets wrapped up inside the newspaper when they are delivered to a neighborhood.
• HOA Advertisements – Most home owner associations (HOA) create and distribute a newsletter or flyer to all of their houses in a given area. These people are always looking for small advertisers to help defray the cost of the newsletter and thus the home owners in general. You could even foot the entire bill of a newsletter in exchange for a full page ad on the inside if you so choose.
• Thrift/“Penny Saver” Paper – Like to general populous newspaper, these are print newspaper that are geared to a certain locale of a city. A South/North/West/East side newspaper or neighborhood newspaper often run at much less cost due to their delivery size and therefore have less expensive ad rates to the consumer advertiser.

8 Steps To Finding Private Money:

When trying to find private money for your real estate investment deals, no need to look any farther than your next door neighbor. Private money mortgages are clearly a path to dump truck loads of money. Private mortgages are a viable method of financing almost any real estate deal while creating above-average returns for your lender.

The typical mortgage market has changed in the last few years creating an end to “easy-money,” 100% or greater Loan-To-Values (LTVs) and the “if I can fog a mirror I can get a loan” mentality of lending. I am predicting that it will be some time before we see sub-prime loans, no-doc or low-doc loans or “hard-money” being underwritten again.  This forces the Buyer to revert back to more traditional methods of mortgage lending which require much higher credit scores, lower Loan-To-Values (LTVs) ratios thus creating much larger down-payments for both owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied housing.  

So how are you going to finance any real estate deal?  Very few individuals have enough cash or credit to purchase real estate investments. Ultimately it boils down to one simple statement.

Real estate investors need cash to buy houses.  PERIOD

Even if you have a TON of money lying in your bank account to use solely for your real estate investments, given the state of the current economy, the increased down-payments and lower Loan-To-Values (LTVs) ratios you WILL eventually run out of money.  This lack of unlimited capital could be the reason that you miss deals which could place untold riches in your pockets. This may not seem like a big issue at first, of perhaps may appear greedy on the onset of this statement; however, realize that with limited capital you now must prioritize your deals and constantly be asking yourself “Is this the best deal I can find or should I save my limited money for the next deal.” These questions may cause you to miss out on current deals that are good investments or future deals that might be GREAT investments. You need an ever-present, dependable, unlimited, never-diminishing source of new money to buy real estate investments. 

Before you can “cash-in” on this proverbial cow, you must:

1. Develop your private lending program.
2. Establish your reputation as a knowledgeable real estate investor
3. Determine your target market of private lenders
4. Create your presentation(s)
5. Schedule your presentation(s)
6. Make your presentation(s)
7. Close your loans
8. Repeat as needed

This is an excerpt from my book “Finding Private Money for Your Real Estate Investing Deals” If you would like a copy of the full ebook FREE. Email raymond@realestatemonkey.com

The ABCs of Real Estate Investing

Throughout my real estate investing career I have been very successful and have never lost money on any deal…ANY DEAL. I attribute my success to the fact that I look at every aspect of every deal until I find the flaw, when and if I can’t find a flaw that is when I am convinced that the deal is for me. So I decided to write down some of the factors that have been very beneficial to me in my investing career; upon inspection of my bullet points I found a pattern of answers that became very funny.  So funny in fact I wrote this list of….

 

The ABCs of Real Estate Investing

 

Act – Now

Be – A Mentor

Create – A Team of competent professionals

Drive – to what you do best

Educate – Yourself

Force – Change, as change is growth

Give – it all

Have – Fun, otherwise it isn’t worth doing

Improve – Daily

Just – Do It

Keep – learning

Laugh – Often

Motivate – other to succeed

Negotiate – with fire

Organize – your skills

Pass – on any deal you don’t like, don’t understand or don’t believe in

Qualify – everything including even what I tell you

Respect – what real estate can bring you

Stay – focused on your goals

Take – Chances, sometimes they pay off

Understand – what you really want

Verify – all the numbers yourself

Want – What You Need, Not Need What You Want

Xamine – the deal closely (Ok you caught me on this one LOL)

Yearn – for more education

Zero – in on your life goals

Up in the sky…it’s a bird…it’s a plane…its Super Realtor.

“Able to leap tall building is a single bound, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, Up in the sky…it’s a bird…it’s a plane…its Superman.” Well not literally, but you can be the real estate equivalent of Superman by taking to heart these 5 key concepts. If you want your career to soar to new heights and outpace your competition by a mile, then I suggest you implement these 5 key concepts NOW! As you know, the paramount issue to surviving as a Realtor is being the first name that anyone thinks about, mentions or recommends when talking about real estate. The key is very simple…you need to be that name. The task on the other hand, is a bit more problematic. If you want to stay ahead of the curve and your competition, I believe there are five key concepts that you must excel and conquer to become the “Super Realtor.”

1) Be visible. Becoming visible is a function of the amount of exposure to your client base. Making yourself a common name is crucial to any advertising campaign, look at any national brand of anything and you’ll understand what I mean. Every action you do, should in some part be designed to increase your exposure to your clients, whether it is volunteering for a local charity, writing an article in your local newsletter, or just plain advertising your company in the newspaper. Increasing your exposure to create a “top-of-mind” awareness in your clients’ mind is the paramount concept to becoming a Super Realtor.

2) Be educated. Being able to both understand your market and talk about your market is very important when speaking with your client. Knowing the important issues that face your client, like days-on-market, average selling price, requirements for lenders, etc. will benefit you by gaining your clients’ trust and respect. There are many specialized designations within the real estate world, and obtaining higher education you are able to benefit your clients and dominate your market.

3) Be the expert. Prove your mastery of your market by writing about it, speaking about it and teaching about it. Writing an article for a local newspaper, company flyer or newsletter is an excellent way to prove your knowledge and instill confidence in your clients. Supplement other people’s articles with podcasts, videocasts and webinars about related topics. Blog about your industry, produce podcasts, videocasts, interviews, predictions, solutions, reports, ebooks. Teaching has amazing benefits: it solidifies your knowledge of a topic and gives you instant credibility as “the expert” in your field. If you don’t have the opportunity to teach, then consider answering questions on sites like Linked Answers or Yahoo Questions.

4) Be Focused. Concentrating in just one area of the real estate market is one of the best ways to move to the head of the class. Choosing a niche market to excel can be beneficial in many ways. By narrowing down your market and concentrating in one area it is much easier to be visible, get educated and become the expert.

5) Be persistent. It’s easy to be good when the market is easy, but hard to be good when the market is hard. So says most every Realtor you and I know. Going the extra mile to remain constant and diligent in the tough market is key to surviving. However, the bright side is that once the “market” turns again, you are better suited to make even bigger strides in your domination of the local market.

Blogging the “water” of your business life

I was talking to a colleague of mine the other day and we were discussing the topic of blogging on my site, or your site for that matter.  I have always considered blogging like eating ice cream… you do it when urge strikes you and not something you should do on a daily basis.  However, during the conversation we touched on the subject of frequency and he mentioned that he blogged EVERYDAY.  Quickly I thought “was this guy crazy or what?”

 

We then proceeded to talk about the advantages of blogging to support your business.  He convinced me that blogging on a regular basis has many advantages and needs to be seen more like water for your business than ice cream.  You need to provide a platform to provide a life source of continual supply of prospects to your business and what better way than a virtually free advertisement about you and your business. Through education of your blog, your customers and readers can understand your business model, strengths and services you can provide them.  Coupled with the pervasiveness of the internet, business-based blogging has evolved into a vital, if not crucial, portion of your business market plan.

 

So I decide to think of as many advantages to business-based blogging as I could. I am sure that I have missed a large portion of the advantages to blogging and encourage you, the reader, to find more each day.

 

Advantages of Blogging

 

• Blogs boost online branding; they create an awareness of your service or product for numerous readers and clients alike.  Top-of-mind consciousness is the paramount issues for business providing a service or product.  Readers who continually read your blogs will retain your name and maintain your business.
• Blogs have the potential to develop stronger relationships with your clients. Blogs provide a medium for longer explanations of your service or products and thus paint a better “picture” of you as a business
• Blogs provide an excellent way of sharing information and knowledge. Your clients can become more informed about you, your business, its service or products and therefore make a more informed decision.
• Blogs allow you to interact with your customers. Blogs offer you the option of enabling a “comments” field where readers can give you feedback; you will have at your disposal an effective and inexpensive way to get to know your clients thoughts, needs or desires better.
• Blogs build up the profile of the author as an expert in their field. The business, and you in turn, we be sought after as the expert in that field.  This will give you instant creditability to you clients and future clients as well.
• Blogs create an environment where not only you, but the entire crowd of clients and readers can share ideas and opinions about your service or product; thus creating a platform where your clients and readers can learn from each other as well. Commenting on other people’s blog can be as important as writing your own.
• Blogs provide a great tool for media, marketing and PR. The cost of blogging is virtually zero compared to more traditional forms of communication.

 

So as you see the benefits of blogging are immense and provide you a large return of your time and money far greater than any other method of marketing. 

 

 

That’s why Blogging is the water of your business life…at least as I, the Real Estate Monkey, see it.

Why your doctor should kiss you

Ok I know the title of this blog just screams to you what I am going to talk about, but damn it, it’s my blog if you want to write about a surprise ending then get your own damn space. Today was a very frustrating day, at least from the consumer point of view.  I had a doctor’s appointment at 1pm and was advised to be there early “…you need to fill out some paper work,”  which loosely translates to we have useless piles of paper for you to color on to keep you busy while the doctor runs twenty minutes late.

 

OK…OK… to the point…so after waiting for twenty minutes I decide to be a conscientious consumer and I return to the desk with the lady wearing the Sponge Bob scrubs and pony tail and stare her straight in the eyes and say “how much is today’s visit going to cost?”

 

Suddenly I realized I just asked her to unlock DaVinci’s code, explain the inner workings of the atom bomb or converse in Farsi while running uphill, what was I thinking… asking such an impossible question, MY BAD.  Seriously, lady come on, why the deer in the headlight look?  I thought it was a very simple question. “How much will it cost to see the doctor?” So she did what any highly-trained-effective-take-charge kind of leader would do, she ask me to have a seat and wait while she would ask someone.  “Ask someone” “Ask someone” Are you friggin kidding me, “ask someone.” Isn’t there a chart for these little minor inconveniences of billing your patients, I guess I can see how that chart could get easily overlooked.

 

So I sat and waited…and waited, finally my name was called to see the doctor with no answer to my very simple question. Finally after a fifteen minute conversation with the doctor I was escorted to another doctor in another part of the building.  Again I made the fatal error of asking the dreaded question. Come on people even McDonalds has a chart hanging from the ceiling telling me what I going to pay for a Big Mac, fries and large coke. Why not my doctor?  How about a menu like a restaurant, that way I can pick my appetizer of rudeness, main course of the doctor running late and a desert of no real answer from the doctor.  Never mind the upsize. Hell, even Sears runs ads in the paper so that you see what they’re going to bill you, even before you enter the building. Now that’s service.

 

So after a combined time of almost 55 minutes talking to two different doctors and seeing a parade of Sponge Bob, Scooby Doo and Hello Kitty scrubs walk past my examination room without a word, I am escorted to the checkout office.  There I am met with an equally intellectual woman sporting her favorite cartoon character on her scrubs as well; my God it looked like Walt Disney blew up all over those nurses.

 

She peers at me over her glasses and asks for my insurance cards, at which time I explain I am paying cash and have been trying for over an hour now to figure the cost of today’s Disney on parade.  She sighs and says “Oh a cash discount is in order, that’ll be $296.00”

 

I am sorry, “I thought you said $296.00 dollars.” “Yes and that’s with the discount Mr. Modglin” My jaw hit the floor, $300 for an hour to talk to a modern day medicine man. I know it cost a lot of money to go to med school, but damn is he trying to make it all up on me? I asked with a huge smile on my face “…from where did that price come from?” She pointed to ‘the chart’ and said “right here, see the doctor’s notes it says $355.”  So you don’t know that to be true I asked her. Yes she smiled again and said “see the doctor said so, that’s why.”  Well Perry Mason how do you argue against the crafty “because I said so” defense.

 

As I left the doctor’s office I felt violated, not in a medical sense but in a consumer sense. Nowhere could ANYBODY tell me the price of that visit, no billboard, no menu no written advertisements not even an eye chart. The doctor was the only one there that could tell his billing department how much it costs, thank God he was there to fill in that blank area of billing. I turned back to the receptionist, Miss Sponge Bob, and asked if I could have a kiss, a hug, a dinner date at least buy me a drink; because if I spend $300 in an hour I expect a little something in return.  That’s why your doctor should kiss you when you go to visit him …at least with the Real Estate Monkey

Cigars and Friends

I have heard the down side to smoking and I agree with it, lung cancer, stinky clothes, reduced physical activity, blah, blah, blah and more blah. But what about the upside to smoking {cigars} that is?  I have recently acquired the habit of smoking cigars when I’m relaxing after a hard day’s work and I have a found a terrific upside, THE PEOPLE. 

There is a fantastic world of people from all races, religions, colors and creeds all drawn together by one simple denominator, cigars.  When I smoke my cigar in the local cigar store there are dozens of people that congregate to talk, discuss, lie and just plain gossip about what they know and how they know it and from whom they found out about it.  Listening to these stories and adding my own as well has become quite a habit that I want, nay …need on a daily basis.

What size engine does a Ford Mustang have? Who threw the last “no-hitter” in baseball? What did President Obama REALLY mean when he said…., all of these topics and more can be learned by simply smoking cigars.  Knowledge abounds and it is there for the taking.  “…and how does smoking a cigar bring you this wisdom, you ask?”  Simple sitting in the middle of the cigar store and NOT smoking just would look dumb.

The best part is that everybody has a role and a forte in which they excel and based upon the current clientele at the particular moment dictates the host of topics that are discussed.  For instance, when you see Dave, cars it is. George means politics and Brent is all about the sports and football. I myself am good for real estate and investing and of course the current climate of the economy as it pertains to real estate.  Stick to your strengths so to speak.  I am always plugging, my radio show on freedom 95.9 FM on Saturday’s at noon; however, when you see Gary…. you just cringe.  Nobody knows what Gary is going to talk about, not even Gary.  He can hardly wait to hear what he’s going to say next.  So in short I learn something every time I go smoke a cigar and hangout with the smartest people I know.  Whether its the size of the engine in a Ford Mustang, Peyton Mannings favorite cereal or Barack Obama’s zip code as a child, I learn SOMETHING every time I go.

So, the next time someone bad mouths smoking just tell them that a persons IQ is drastically increased when they smoke a cigar, at least if they do it with the Real Estate Monkey

My 2009 Real Estate Predictions

The Real Estate Monkey’s 2009 Real Estate Predictions

After almost a decade in the business I have seen many things, but nothing like what is in store for the 2009 real estate market.  It’s not uncommon for a listener of my radio show or a reader of my blogs to accuse us of being optimistic of the investment real estate market. You see, they think that because I make a living off of deals that I have to be optimistic but the truth is NOW really is the time to make money.  2009 will be a great year.

Due to the shift in the market over the last six to twelve months, a recession in the housing market has been born.  The time is perfect for the true real estate investor to step to the forefront.  “Light” has its “dark,” “up” has its “down” and “hard-times” for some has its “great-times” for others and now my friends is the GREAT TIME for us.

Here are my predictions for the real estate market in 2009.

·         No appreciation in the market – the market in the past year or so has been erratic, at best, with foreclosure becoming the problem du jour throughout the United States.  Due to the vast number of foreclosures and spiraling downward values of most homes has created a market with little to no appreciation in values.  This trend of constant value with no appreciation will continue throughout the majority of 2009 and into early 2010. You may see some values start to creep back into the market near the middle of 2010.
 

·         Mortgage rates will be driven higher – Because mortgage rates are influenced by mortgage bonds and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), not fed rates, I predict interest rates will continue to rise throughout 2009 and finish the year between 7 – 8 percent.  On the bright side I don’t believe we will ever see the rates of the Reaganomic years again.

    

·        A “Seller’s market” will appear  – Due to limited “real” inventory of homes from Sellers who can actually sell their homes, coupled with driven-down values by foreclosures, short sales and bank-owned properties, more Buyers will find themselves climbing over each other to get to the attractive listings throughout 2009. It will NOT be unusual for sellers to receive multiple offers for these properties.   In early to mid 2010 the “multiple offers” situation will drive up the prices of the properties, thus carrying other homes values along as well. The stiff competition will cause frustration and confusion among buyers who will find themselves going head-to-head with investors. The need for financing by a buyer will be out-shadowed by the cash Buyer and lose every time. This means it will be more important than ever for home buyers to hire an excellent Realtor like Raymond Modglin
 

·       Banks will get “tricky” – In an effort to drive up housing prices, banks will slowly introduce their REO inventory to the market at prices at market or near-market values throughout all of 2009, Under greater pressure to cut losses and increase revenue, banks will be forced to find ways to recoup their losses and regain consumer trust. Although state and federal charters prohibit banks from renting out bank-owned homes, banks will find a way to work around this prohibition.  By transferring title from bank-owned homes into holding companies, banks may find a loophole that will allow them to rent out homes instead of putting them on the market. This maneuver will let banks receive income while waiting for the market to turnaround.  However, there is a silver lining to this crafty maneuver, property management companies as well as construction (rehab) companies will be hired to manage and repair these properties for higher rental returns.

      

·        Loan modification will drastically decrease – Banks are in business to make money and it always much easier and less expensive to foreclose than attempt to modify a loan when you take into account a foreclosure is always successful whereas only a few loan modifications will be successful.  Furthermore, if a bank must rewrite a loan, they will prefer to write those loans to new borrowers who meet newer more rigid standards than modify a loan with somebody that historically has had problems.  As a result, the number of foreclosures will continue to rise throughout 2009 while loan modifications will wane early on in the year.

           

·        The rental market will expand – Due to the mounting number of homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure, the tenant market will continue to swell throughout 2009 and into early 2010.  There will be fewer rental homes available than the demand will dictate, which will put upward pressure on rental rates. Sellers who are unwilling to take a hit on their sales prices will put their homes on the market as rentals, but that won’t provide enough inventory to fulfill demand.  Overall, it’s a good time to be landlord

          

·         Uncle Sam will kill tax incentives – Many Sellers who hope to sell in 2009 may get hit with an unexpected change in the I.R.S. Tax Code Section 121. The law has been exempting the first $500,000 of capital gains, for married couples, and the first $250,000 of capital gains, for single people, since 1997.   In order to fill the governments coffers, I predict one method would be to change the home sale tax exclusion in 2009, disallowing the “free money” that up to now sellers have been able to pull out upon the sale of their homes. 

These predictions are all my opinion and may, or may not, come to fruition; however, one thing is very true, real estate agents will be leaving the business as times are becoming tougher and tougher.  The industry will weed itself of lackluster and inexperienced real estate agents as well as mortgage brokers, title representatives and bankers. This process of “thinning the heard” will produce better choices for all Sellers and Buyers and hopefully restore balance to the consumer.