Tag Archives: Real Estate

robots-taking-over-the-world

On The Brink of Existence

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I recently attended the National Association of Realtors Rethink event in Minneapolis. There were many different types of agents there. All generations in our industry. It was very interesting to hear everyone’s opinions on our future.

There was a lot of talk regarding certain generations and how younger generations could change the way we live. The generalization of a certain group of people changing it all is disturbing to me. I have never felt like my generation as a whole has defined who I am.

You could look at my son as an example. Most would say his generation is screwed. They have supposedly been given everything they have ever wanted. I have to disagree. I try to teach my son that money and things are not important. I know there are days that I know he has a hard time understanding why some kids have more toys or games than he does. This is something that every kid has faced in every generation. I know that in my son’s case, what I am teaching him is starting to sink in. This became apparent on his birthday. He received $140 from gifts. He was very excited to spend it. Yet, when we went shopping, he spent $25 on himself and used the rest to buy gifts for his cousins. This gives my so much hope for his future.

One big issue that was brought up was with the way our world is changing now, will we exist in the future. With every piece of information out there for our consumers, why are we needed? Could our industry turn into the next eBay or amazon and people simply being able to add a home to a shopping cart and click order.

It made me think of the plot behind the movie “Terminator”. Is our future doomed by the possibility of Machines taking over? A similar plot is also portrayed in the movie “Wall-e”. Will we over consume to the point to where we need to leave the planet? How could human contact ever be replaced?

I remember a conversation my grandmother saying to me years ago that she would never want to live in the world I live in. This was coming from a woman who lived through war, recession, ect. This statement seemed to live with me my whole life.

Yes, the world is changing. Over the last several years, we are doing more with less. I can’t help but think that this is a good thing. I think about my grandparents and how their life was more about raising a family and not about selfish insecurities and thoughts of appearance. Are we heading back down this road? People are generally making less, doing more with less and they are forced to adjust their lifestyles to deal with the hard times. Yet we still dream of our ideal existence…. Money, fame, success, love, peace and all the SHINY objects we think we need.

So what is the American Dream?  I heard this over and over at the REthink event. I think the typical American dream has changed.  I truly believe that we as a whole have been able to see what our overconsumption and lifestyle choices can do to us. We have adapted and become stronger. We need to get back to the basics of simply “living”.
Nothing else matters anymore.

The Great Debate-Open Houses-Yay or Nay

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So when you get into this business many things are thrown at you, especially being at a young age.  It is ten different social networking sites you must be on, a webpage, a Facebook fan page plus running an ad, blogging and the list goes on.  Then add to that you need a slogan, a mission statement and of course a business plan (which is hard to do when you have nothing to really go on.)  And did I mention all the non-social media marketing you need to do-farming, FSBO’s (I have not had any luck with that), expired listings (haven’t had much luck with that either), post cards, expos, networking events, committees you must join, floor duty and this list goes on as well.  As you can tell there is a lot thrown at you that you are told you must do in order to succeed.  However there is one other marketing and lead tool that I have realized stirs up much debate-Open Houses.  Do they or do they not work?  I have done many open houses in this past year and a half, and while I still want to stay positive and say that they will work I have not had much luck with them.  People do come by and take a look at the listing, but when I follow-up with them it is like they have no idea who I am and what I am talking about or I just never hear from them again.  I have yet to gain a lead that actually goes anywhere from an open house.  But many people reading this will completely disagree with me and say that they have gotten a lot of business from open houses.  And some reading this will say that open houses are just a waste of time.  However, there was one open house I did where this nice, sweet old woman accidentally brought me pot brownies and got me higher than a kite.  But of course I did not get any business from her either.  Brownies where good though.  Some days I think I should go and get her recipe and serve them to my clients who are sticks in the mud and the people who stop by at my open houses.  But back to my point-do open houses really work or not?  And if they do work for some-how do you make them work? I would love to know other people’s opinion on this, because I myself am not at the point where I can answer this question.

Reflection of being a rookie in real estate

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When this blog says Adventures in Rookie Real Estate, for me that is completely true-I am a real rookie.  I have only been in the business for a little over a year and a half.  My background is in Engineering sales and business development and life insurance.  I went into this thinking how hard can this be.  Well a year and a half later I can answer that question-VERY HARD.  I have never been in a business where you end up working so much for little return.  Yes people, even my husband, see us working from home, having a flexible schedule and think we have it so easy.  I swear I really think my husband thinks when I am working from home I am really sitting on the couch eating bon bons and watching Ellen and Dr Phil.  Well here is some news, from morning until night I am always working on something.  This has to be the hardest job I have had with little payoff.  May be after I have in this business for a while it will get easier, but right now it is not.  My anxiety level over this job can sometimes be through the roof.  It is not just getting clients that can be a problem-it is getting them to buy that can be the problem.  I have lost many deals simply because no matter how much urgency I put into the situation, for one reason or another they want to wait and then it is too late.  You can bring a horse to water, know and convince them that they are thirsty, but you still cannot make them drink.  It can be quite frustrating.  I have some clients I would like to hit them over the head to get the deal done.  So the question is with all this work for the past year and a half with little pay-off really worth it? Do you walk away or do you keep working hoping that change is right around the corner.  It is a gamble.  And being so new I cannot answer that question.  I just know that I feel like I have put so much into this job to make it work that I want to see a pay off and somewhere inside me I really believe I will.  But if you are new like I am or even thinking about going into this business-make no mistake, it is a hard business.  When you are new, there is nothing that is easy about it.  I was asked recently if I regretted getting into real estate.  To be honest, I am not.  I have a strong belief in myself and know that all I am doing will pay off at some point.  I honestly never in a million years this would end up being the hardest job I have ever had.  And the most expensive.  So that is my reflection being a rookie in real estate

First Radio Show Interview

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I received a call from Real Estate Today a couple of weeks ago to be a guest on the show. I was very shocked to get this call and it made me extremely nervous. They were looking to add more YPN’ers to the show and someone apparently mentioned my name to them :)

I felt a lot of pressure to be perfect.  I felt that I needed to represent my fellow YPN’ers well.  I had severe anxiety leading up to it and had even more anxiety when I went to listen to it later. In all, it went ok. I am very critical of myself but felt like I did an ok job.  Feel free to listen here.  Let me know what you think!

2012 Self-Evaluation

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In the early stages of my career, I never took the time to see what was really working for me.  However at the end of 2011, I made the decision to hold myself completely accountable and frankly….kick ass in 2012.

I spent the last couple of weeks of the year self evaluating every detail of what I did in my business.  Obviously, 2011 was a little different due to my little hiatus I took over the year.  But nonetheless, there were some victories and some failures.  I took a step back and learned from them all. This helped my create my plan for 2012.

This is what I decided I have to do in 2012:

1. Blog every day starting today.  Blogging has always been my thing.  I was blogging before blogging was cool. I slacked of within the last year and I had to deal with the consequences. My many blogs have brought me a lot of successes and I am committed to making it a priority.

2. Continue to be active within the local and national associations.  I have found that by being apart of association committee’s has helped me be able to serve my clients better.

3. Get back to the basics.  Yes, social media has worked for me. But it’s not everything. In November and December I really focused on calling my sphere. It has helped my land a new listing coming on the market and 2 pending sales in the last week or so. I guess it really does work. I have also been sending weekly emails to my investor clients. There are so many amazing deals and my emails include the best of the best deals. From the responses I have received from them, I can tell its sparking their interest.

4. Learn something new. I am so over the whole social media stuff.  I get it. I need to focus on finding new ways to grow my business that doesn’t involve updating my Facebook status.

5.  Be Thankful. I’m still here and kicking.  I have a lot of cool people on my side

I can honestly say 2011 ended well and its flowing thru into 2012. This is going to be a great year!  I am going to push myself as hard as I can to make all my goals this year come true. Cheers to 2012!

thankyou

Wow, Thank You!

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I published a post on Tuesday about a pretty personal situation.  I was sweating bullets right before I published it.  I had concerns about how people may perceive it.

The next morning, I found several messages from people.  I couldn’t believe it! The pouring in of support was amazing.  I had a hard time holding back the tears.  I felt very humbled.  I would have never expected a bunch of agents being so supportive.

So thank you to all of you that sent me comments.  It’s great to know that so many agents could sympathize. It’s hard to explain how much it meant to me.  I just wanted to express my gratitude to all of you!  Thank you so much!

Got doped on Pot Brownies by a 75 year old little woman

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So doing an open house last week in the nice small neighborhood near the beach and with a nice neighborhood private pool.  Perfect location, great home and the neighbors just seem so sweet. Everyone came by to meet me and speak to me.  This dear, LITTLE, older woman who was in her mid to late 70’s comes over with a plate of brownies for me.  I had seen her at the pool with her grandchildren earlier and she told me that she just hated thinking of real estate agents at open houses getting hungry.  So I am thinking what is the harm; I have seen her with her grandchildren; and the brownies looked to die for.  And yes I was hungry.  So while talking to her and showing her the house I eat 4 of them, then she gives me 2 more to take to my husband and well I ate those too.  Small problem, eating them was the last thing I remember and according to my husband came home stoned off my rear end.  He was worried and called his uncle who is a doctor and his uncle confirmed that I was stoned and those must have been hash brownies I ate.  The only thing I can think is that she could have something like glaucoma and puts the pot in brownies and then having her grandchildren staying with her for the week made a regular batch, but brought me the wrong ones.  She had grandchildren, so I doubt she was feeding them pot and she was so sweet I don’t think she would really try to poison me nor if she knew they had pot in them would have let me eat so many.  So yes another crazy story-I got doped at an open house.  I am glad I didn’t get pulled over because how would I explain my behavior to a cop.  Especially since I don’t remember getting home and kept swearing to my husband that nothing could be wrong with me.  They were REALLY good brownies, pot aside.  I work with some strange customers and seem to end up with the craziest stories.  I really thought I had seen it all in sales with an engineering firm and in life insurance.  However, I have been told that the craziness just doesn’t ever stop coming.  Pot brownies are a new one in my office, but crazy stories are part of the job. Lesson Learned, I will just know in the future to NEVER take food from someone no matter how old and sweet they seem.

Leadership is about sharing

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I look at fellow agents sometimes.  I see how successful they are.  Yet I don’t understand why some of them are true leaders. 

To me leadership is about they wealth of information you provide to the public.  Why not share valuable tools to help improve your industry at large.  This is not something that simply applies to real estate, it business in general.

I take a lot of pride in trying to help others when I can.  If someone asks me a question, I answer them. I would rather have better, more knowledgable agents in our industry. It will in turn help my deals run more smoothly. 

So don’t be selfish and share your experiences with others around you!

Peace!

Impossible Clients

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Ever have those clients who are either all over the board on what they are looking for or so specific you just want to sell them land and let them build a house? Well I have two clients who fall into this category.  One has no clue what he wants.  He says he knows what he wants, but he doesn’t. He wants a house between 200k-500k, somewhere in our market (which is huge) but doesn’t matter what city, doesn’t matter how many bedrooms or bathrooms or whether it has a garage or not, or even the square footage of the house.  Really has no specifics at all.  In our market we have over 2,000 homes that are in his price range.  And on the other hand I have a client who wants a condo on a golf course, with one bedroom facing the golf course, a patio or deck, three bedrooms, at least 2 ½ baths, a pool in the complex near the condo, a good size kitchen with breakfast bar, hard wood floors and if all possible a wet bar.  And can come with a golf package.  Both say they are motivated to buy now, but their actions do not say so.  So they have me running around searching places and calling places to see if they offer golf packages to owners, and I know in the back of my head that they are not really motivated buyers.  But they keep wanting me to search here and there, all while wasting my time when I could be spending even more time with clients I know are going to buy.  So what exactly do you do with clients like these?  You want to just dump them on the door of another agency, but you can’t do that.  Yet you cannot waste all your time on people like this.  Especially when one is so up in the air that he can’t make a decision on anything you show him from the MLS or even come close to narrowing down his search.  All he says is he will know the house when he sees it.  The other is so specific it is impossible to find him something that meets all his needs.  Did I mention he even wants the kitchen cabinets a certain color and the master bathroom to have a jetted tub and stand up shower?  That is the impossible find.  Especially when he wants it to come with a golf package.  I would love to strangle both.  And of course both call or email me at least once a day to check on progress.  I am very good with follow up and keeping my clients informed on what I am doing for them.  But I normally do not check in every day when I have nothing to report.  So on one hand they seem like eager buyers, but truly eager buyers are not this up in the air or this narrow in specifics.  I have noticed that the more eager ones have an idea of what they want, but they are willing to not get exactly everything they want and realize that if they want hardwood floors, then they will install them if their dream house does not come with them.  This gentleman doesn’t want to do any work on the condo.  He wants it to come exactly as he has stated.  Impossible clients, nightmare clients-you can’t really afford to kick them to the curb, but you can’t also work too hard for them since you have a stack of better clients you need to be working with.  Somehow I always get the nightmare clients or situations.  Beginners lack of luck.  All I can do is try my best, not work too hard on them but n0t forget about them either. They may buy at some point, just not anytime soon. I have better clients to deal with who will be buying soon, so I can’t waste all my time with people won’t be buying anytime soon.  Even if they seem eager, they are not.  Unfortunately I have been down this road before, so I have learned the hard way who is really eager and who just says they are eager and have you running around in circles for them.

What do you do when leads dry up-problem-I have no clue

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So what do you do when your leads dry up? Interesting question, small problem here-I have no answer to it.  My leads are dragging their feet or aren’t calling me back (which having been in sales before is nothing new to me). And of course no new leads are coming in.  So how do you bring in more leads?  How do you fill up the funnel?  In life insurance it was who you knew and who they knew.  Your base came from referrals, and I did really well with that. I went out and networked and made things happen. But it is just not the same system in real estate.  You can explain and convince someone of the benefits of life insurance, especially whole life, and how essential it is and how it can be part of your overall portfolio.  But you can’t convince everyone you know or meet to buy or sell their home.  And most of the people I know are a) in North Carolina and do not know anyone who have real estate needs in South Carolina or b) like where they are and do not want to move nor do they know anyone who does.  So what now?  I am the type of person who wants to get out there and make things happen, but exactly how do you do that in real estate?  I wish someone would explain that to me.  My trying to work FSBO’s is getting me nowhere, holding open houses isn’t working, running ads isn’t working and it takes time working a target market.  So what do I do?  I spent all this time in school learning the terms and math for real estate but what about practicing real estate? I do plenty of floor duty, but people are not calling in.  So where do I get more leads?  I have mentioned in other posts about all the networking I do, but as it stands today no new activity is coming in.  Which for me is extremely frustrating.  I try everything, I do everything, but my leads are dead or dying, and I am not sure how to revive them.  I like where I work, I like the people and it is a good agency, however I am not finding a lot of help when it comes to this question.  I know other agents have had leads dry up.  It happens in sales, so it must have happened to them before.  But they are just not helpful on helping me figuring out how to get the leads I have moving and gain new ones.  I have asked the question on a LinkedIn group I am with and most say to work with my sphere of influence.  That is not going to work in my case, so what else can I do?  No matter how hard I stare at the phone wanting it to ring, it is not going to just magically ring.  I would love it if I could make it.  I guess this is just part of the down part of real estate. I guess I just have to keep doing what I am doing and hope that things turn around.  That is really all I can do.  I wish I could go out there and make things happen faster, but I am not sure where to begin on doing that.  I am new, so I am still learning.  May be in 6 more months I will have an answer to this question, but right now I don’t.