The END of the REO cycle | The END of LISTINGS

By Lee Honish - Reprinted here with permission... Read Lee's BIO

It has become apparent to everyone that in MANY markets there seems to be a lack of listings.  This isn't by accident and it's mostly based on separate occurrences.

The END of the REO cycle | The END of LISTINGS

Well sort of…

Properties will be once again liquidated by Freddie and Fannie AFTER we have a new president. It was made clear every quarter by Freddie and Fannie Representatives that this day would arrive. That if agents wanted any kind of success that needed to start working on short sales and to diversify their portfolios for new streams of listings.

With the economy "sort of” showing signs of improvement, Freddie and Fannie have almost completely halted all REO liquidations. Further the numbers that Freddie and Fannie have submitted for numbers do not even remotely match the core logic figures.

To say it's all a political charade would be an understatement…

Let's face reality, by halting the liquidations of REO sales it FREEZES the decline in valuation of properties and makes it into a "seller's” market and in theory should increase the value of property or at the very least plateau the value.

Once the new president is elected REO liquidations will once again occur…

OR WORSE, our government will go into the business of being permanent landlords?

In any case do not expect NEW REO's to hit the market till after the current election, the strategy is obvious since Freddie and Fannie reps have warned of this day for close to two years.

The END of the REO cycle | The END of LISTINGS

This is strictly based on 3 things:

1. You are a fool if you sell an equity based property in this market
2. Banks are handing our loan modifications to homeowners like it's crack cocaine, thus halting or slowing down the need for short sales
3. Banks are offering cash for deed in lieu of foreclosure and cutting out agents in the short sale listing cycle

The sad reality in both cases is that for an agent to be successful, the ONLY real solution is to approach a homeowner before they hit the NOTICE OF DEFAULT wall and are approached by banks, agents, and asset management companies.

Obtaining a TRUE pre-nod 61 day delinquency list and becoming a REAL advocate to a homeowner and advising them of all of their options is the current (and foreseeably the future) the ONLY way to get a new listing base and funnel of new clients until the market makes its next market turn.

If the focus by the agent is on GETTING A LISTING or GETTING PAID…

Ultimately the agent will not get what they are after!

Start with being an advocate and knowing the options for a homeowner and focus on outreach daily, first on a community level and expand to the city level, and if all goes well, move on the county level AND you will be the one with all the listings.

lee.honish@yahoo.com
www.honish.com
Lee Honish
858-663-2537

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If you cannot afford my program, please let me know how I can help you... there is always a way to make it work!
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The 4 Disciplines of a Seller-Based Business

Do you know how often homeowners move in their community?

According to the National Association of REALTORS, U.S. homeowners become sellers and move once about every 8 years. And a whopping 71 percent of all U.S. sellers remain in the same state in which they purchase their next home.

Early in your real estate career, you may have found that buyers buy more often than sellers sell. But there’s a fundamental difference between finding buyers and finding sellers.

Buyers come to you when you do things to put yourself in their path – most often at open houses, when they visit your Website to look at homes, because they visit your listings, or even because they called when you were handling floor calls at your office.

Sellers, on the hand, tend to be more elusive. You must proactively work to find them. It takes focus, market knowledge, script practice and proactive communication campaigns.

But it’s all worth it! Well-priced listings are a magnet for buyers, buyer agents, and potential sellers in the neighborhood as well. Here are the 4 disciplines of  seller-based business:

PREPARE FOR SELLERS

Choose your area of real estate specialization. It might be a geographic area (part of town or certain subdivisions), a property type or a demographic group.

Do your market research. How much inventory is there, and is it rising or falling; how much is selling and how quickly; how are homes getting sold (price reductions, staging, investors, cash buyers.)

Talk like a seller-focused professional. Know your basic market data which might include the number of listings on the market (inventory) and average market time (days on market) that sellers are interested in knowing and practice your scripts for purposeful delivery when you’re in the moment.

Know where to find sellers. As you review MLS data, pay attention to segments of the market where the most sales are happening. Is it in a certain geographic area(s) or perhaps you look within a certain price range.

LEAD GENERATE FOR SELLERS

Accepting the proven premise that seller listings generate your biggest, most-leveraged business opportunity – the question is how best to find them. Focus on these four major sources:

1. Your database, especially your Mets.
2. Business-to-business leads
3. Open Houses
4. Farming
5. For Sale by Owners
6. Expired Listings

COMMUNICATE SYSTEMATICALLY

Essential to high-quality professional service is systematic communication. Here are some ways to make that happen with sellers from any group:

Use a Lead Sheet

A lead sheet is a very valuable simple tool. Make it a practice to have one and use it whenever you are having detailed conversation with a prospective seller – it’ll not only help you with you interviewing skills but it’s a HUGE time-saver.

Continue reading ‘The 4 Disciplines of a Seller-Based Business’

Accountability - Can You Dig It?? -or- Why You Need a Coach

Why do most independent business people struggle with inconsistent income and unreliable results?  Simple, their bosses are incredibly bad.  They lack the will to truly hold their employees accountable.  So, you say that you don't have a boss or employees... that you're an independent contractor and you own your business?  Great!  I say, take a look in the mirror.  Seriously.  Do this with me here...  Ready?

If you are looking in the mirror, you are looking at a boss who is terrible at holding people accountable AND you are looking at your single worst employee.  Seriously.  Would you hire yourself?  That guy/girl never shows up for work on time.  They are incredibly inconsistent in their lead generation tasks.  Their follow-up is hit and miss.  They are usually putting off tasks and projects that they should have accomplished by now and their time management sucks.

Does that sound brutal?  Is any of this uncomfortable?  If it is... GOOD!  Discomfort causes change.  Gene Rivers with Keller Williams Realty told me recently that accountability (true accountability) works because no one wants to feel loss of integrity.  In other words, when you commit to something, when you promise someone that you will do something and then you don't follow through, you let that person down.  Inside yourself you feel  it!  You are ashamed and you feel a great loss of integrity.  Even if that person tries to tell you that they don't mind or that it's alright, it doesn't matter.  You both know that you failed to deliver on a commitment.

The trouble with most of us is that the person we let down most often is ourselves.  How many times have you said to yourself, "I'm going to start working out.  Tomorrow I will get up early and get a run in before work."  Or, "I'm going to lead generate every day from 8am to 11am."  Then maybe it happens once or twice.  But after a few times you will stop and revert back to your old habits.  Most of us will readily let ourselves down when we would never drop the ball on a commitment that we made to someone else.  I'm here to tell you that this is a major injustice on a cosmic scale.  It is at least as bad and perhaps worse than letting someone else down.  Gene Rivers was right!  No one wants to feel loss of integrity.  But the most invasive and destructive infection is the loss of integrity with ourselves.  It results in negative thoughts, feelings, and self-talk.  Things like;

•  "I just can't find the time."
• "This business is so up and down that I never know what's coming next."
• "Maybe I'm not cut out for this."
• "I need to get a 'real job' so I can pay my bills"
• "The market is no good."
• "I'm not good enough."
• I can't get in shape.  I'm just "big boned".

You can probably think of more.

So use the fact that it's human nature to be ok with letting ourselves down but to be uncomfortable with letting others down.  Get a coach or at the very least, an accountability partner.  Sign a written accountability agreement with consequences for non-performance.  Maybe you have to wash your coach's car in the parking lot if you don't deliver on a commitment.

What you'll find is that you probably will not ever have to wash your coach's car.  Your natural built-in aversion to letting someone besides yourself down will help keep you on the straight and narrow path.  And if you're implementing the right things, your business, your performance, your demeanor, your attitude, and your life with soar!

No limits babies!!

6 Easy Steps to Get What You Want!

What you give grows... What you keep inside shrinks. So...

• If you want money, give money.
• If you want happiness, make someone else happy.
• If you want support, lift someone else up.
• If you want knowledge, teach.
• If you want to be touched, touch someone else.
• If you want real love, love someone else unconditionally.

Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy (kinda).

7 Techniques to Close for the Appointment

You’ve captured. You’ve connected. Now it’s time to close for the appointment. Now what?

Remember that in your role as a consultant working with buyers, your job is to help your customers find the home of their dreams, make a great investment, or find the home of their dreams and make a great investment! By setting up a meeting with them, you are taking them one step closer to realizing their dreams.

Closing a buyer is not a an event, it’s a process. As soon as you begin to convert a lead, you may find that you have opportunities to close sooner rather than later. Go for it! Use trial closes and try to close early and often. Or think of closing at payoff time. This is where you recoup your investment in lead generation and take the first step towards helping your buyer find the best home for them while earning your well-deserved income.

Before we look at some of the most effective and practical techniques for closing, remember that whatever the techniques may be named, or whatever strategies are employed, they can all be boiled down to one key approach – asking for the appointment. It’s obvious and yet sometimes overlooked. Gary Keller, author ofSHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times says it well: “The right approach to close for a meeting is the only approach – just ask.”

Keep that in mind as you study the following techniques. Whatever tactic you try, ultimately it’s all about simply asking to meet.

Seven Real Estate Closing Techniques

1. Show the Benefits

In general, people are more likely to go along with something you suggest if you explain the benefit to them. For example, prospects are more likely to agree to come to your office for a consultation when they understand that doing so could allow them to preview a lot of properties and ultimately save time in their home search process. Brad Korn likes to use this script, If spending thirty minutes with me could save you hours of time and thousands of dollars in your home search, would that be of benefit to you?

2. Take Back Close

This technique puts a tempting offer in front of the buyer—such as access to pocket listings or bank-owned properties—but then subtly creates a fear that they may not be able to get it. You can say, I’ve enjoyed talking with you. To be honest, I don’t know whether I can be of help to you or not, but I’d be honored if we could meet to find out.

3. The Negative-Positive Close

This is another way of backing into the appointment a bit, compared with more aggressive stances. You might wrap up by saying, Would you be offended if I asked if we could meet to go over all this in a little more detail?

4. Give Them What They Are Looking For

Remember that it is unlikely a buyer calling on a house will end up scheduling an appointment to see that particular property, much less buying it. It is your job to quickly pique their interest by giving them what they are looking for—information on interesting, comparable properties. Tony Carnesi, on the Kiker Team in Denver, Colorado, says their agents keep a book with the top eight listings around each of their other listings. When a call comes in, they can ask what the buyer is looking for, offer valuable information, and set an appointment for a buyer’s consultation in order to show them a comprehensive selection of properties to meet their needs.

5. Trial Closes

Trial closes are questions you use to test the waters—you genuinely want to find out whether or not you and the client are in agreement. The answer might not be yes, but if it isn’t a yes, you need to return to the issue until it is. Trial closes can be very transparent; for example, during the initial contact, you might say, “We’ve visited for a while today, let me stop and ask you a few questions to see where we are.” Also called a minor close, a trial close often seeks a smaller decision from the customer before the final commitment. Not, Are you ready to come in and meet with me, but Can you see how receiving a list of all the new homes on the market in your price range would help you in your home search? Trial closes are tests of your growing alignment with your customers. The answers you get will indicate how close you are to the fi nal close—and remember, that big win can come at any time.

6. Assumptive Closes

When you are asking a caller to do something, never ask in a way that allows the person to say “NO.” Give alternate choices, either of which is fine with you. The alternate choice approach makes an assumption that the other person will do one of the two things you suggest. By taking command and asking, “Which works better for you, Thursday at 3 or Friday at 2?” you assume the close and prevent them from saying no.

7. Tie-Downs

Tie-downs are phrases that ask for confirmation. Expressions like, Wouldn’t that be great? or forming questions with can’t you? isn’t it? and wouldn’t you? ask foragreement and get your customer into a pattern of saying yes. For example, youcould say, “We’ll save hours of time on your home search if we meet in the officefirst. Saving time is important to you, isn’t it?”