This is a little more of a personal post than a real estate lesson… but hopefully, it will remind you why you’re doing what you’re doing and to put things into perspective from time to time. I woke up today and was just hit with one annoyance after another… Nothing major, just one of those days where every little thing adds up and by the end of the day, you’re just plain annoyed… Nothing you do can shake you out of the mood. Have you ever had one of those days?  

Well, after attending our HOA meeting for one of our townhomes, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat a local restaurant. We just had a couple of quick appetizers and a beer and then decided to stop by the ice cream shop on the way out. The ice cream store was just across the street, so we headed on over.  As we walked out the door and crossed the street, we noticed this little girl walking on the sidewalk, kind of wandering up and down the street as if her parents were sitting outside at one of the little cafes maybe having a drink or some dinner. But, the little girl didn’t have a shirt on and her shoes were on the wrong feet, so it caused us to pay a little extra attention.  

We smiled at the little girl thinking that someone from the first table we walked by would claim her. Then, a small group of people at another table further down – maybe 20 steps – asked if she was ours. Nobody was claiming this little girl, who couldn’t have been more than 2 1/2 years old.

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Recently, Brandon and I were elected to chair the marketing committee at Keller Williams. The company model doesn’t include a marketing “budget” for the office. Marketing is the sole responsibility of the agents within the office to orchestrate and execute.

Despite that, agents all agree when they sign on to have $50 taken out of every closing to pay for office marketing. A decent model when listings are selling. However… when the market comes to a screeching halt and sales dip, the marketing budget dips too! We were running an ad that cost nearly $5000/month largely paid for by individual agents that wanted their listings showcased in color in the Sunday classified section once/month.So… here’s what happened! We got “elected” to the committee at the end of January. The first meeting we were able to pull together was the first week of March. In the interim, prior to having our first meeting and even recruiting our committee, we immediately slashed the ad! The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results! This is absolutely true when it comes to marketing! (more…)

Check out the article I got today from the Realtor association… Keep your eye out for some articles on the effects of the press on the real estate market!

WASHINGTON – March 12, 2007 – Anyone selling a home in the past year has likely suffered through some pretty stormy markets, but economists say a break in the clouds may be on the way.

That’s because since the highly anticipated “real estate bubble” began deflating in mid-2005, has been losing air for the past year and a half and may finally be out of air. And while some markets suffered through some deep slumps, forecasters are now predicting the worst may be over.

“It appears we are getting very close to bottom,” says David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

Lereah is one of several economists who agree that sales data show the national existing home sales market is on the verge of regaining ground.
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I can remember back years ago when I was getting started in real estate with my first business partner and long time friend. We heard the warnings. We read all the horror stories of partnerships gone bad. And then… we decided that we were different and our situation was “different”.

You see, we’d been friends for years before, had started several different businesses together and had lived and worked closely for the past 5 years. So all those bad things that happen to other partnerships surely wouldn’t happen to us.

Plus, we were going to make sure we did things right! We were going to set up a business entity. After going back and forth from attorney to CPA; LLC to S corp, we eventually settled on the S Corp. It was cheaper and since we couldn’t find any conclusive reason not to, we dove in and were now 50/50 partners in our own business.

A few years later after our adventure began, we found ourselves in litigation and in an ugly battle! So, why did things take such a turn for the worse?
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Here’s an interesting story. I called Indymac, the lender for my home loan. I chose a pay option arm for a few reasons. I understand the loan and use it from an investment perspective under the advise of my CPA and two. But… at any rate, I called to ask what my options were at this point with a about 18 months left on the prepay. I told them I’d like to consider refinancing the loan with them and asked if they would they be willing to work with me on the prepayment penalty. As I suspected, their answer was an emphatic, “No”.

I did the numbers and it simply doesn’t make sense. BUT… what about homeowners that can’t afford the payments when they adjust? They have two choices: 1 - pay 3 or 4 times what they’ve been paying for the last few years; 2. Default on their mortgage and go into foreclosure. Sometimes the loans adjust in the middle of a prepayment penalty. So, what options does a homeowner have when faced with this situation?

This is the most frustrating thing, in my opinion. You’ve got homeowners that listened to their mortgage broker or loan officer, have paid faithfully by the terms they understood (there was a lot of misinformation about these neg-am loans), and then lose their homes because the lenders won’t budge. I realize the banks are in it to make money - and prepayment penalties help that - but don’t you think they’re going to lose a whole lot more when all these loans default? (more…)

There are essentially 6 “options” that sellers facing foreclosure have. To be an effective marketer, you need to know what options people have at each phase and how you can help them - and profit at the same time all along the way.

Here are the 6 options to solving their situation:

1. Borrow money from a friend or relative to catch up payments…

2. Work out a payment plan with the bank…

3. Refinance…

4. Sell through a Realtor…

5. Sell to an investor… (more…)