By Steve de Laveaga, SVP Sales and Marketing FNT Maricopa
I have heard some really ridiculous statements of late from some media outlets and scholars who I am sure have not sold a home in a very long time about pricing possibly dropping another 20-22% in Maricopa County. The reality is there is NO WAY, pricing will be dropping across the board by anywhere close to that amount.
We at Fidelity Phoenix close approximately 2,000 transactions a month and it is clear we have more buyer activity right now, than we have had in the last 9 months, since the buyer credit went away. Secondly, we have cash investors and financed money investors that right now, are trying to get their money deployed but don't have enough product, so even if inventory increased by 10%, it would be grabbed up so quickly, it would not create a drop in prices. We are seeing again, multiple offers on homes and prices have actually ticked UP each of the last 8 weeks.
To do any true analysis, you really need to go zip code, by zip code, or suburb by suburb, but to say prices could drop another 20% is flat uninformed and wrong. The reality is, if you are IN THE BUSINESS and look at the data, it is clear, the Real Estate market in our state is improving and we are seeing good transactional volume with strong buyer interest, and the first good Media outlet to get on this story, will prove to be the RIGHT one!!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Nuts and Bolts of Short Sales
In Part 5 of our short sale series we go back to the basics with a look at the nuts & bolts of short sales.
Nuts & Bolts:
• When it comes to home-equity lines of credit you need to correctly counsel your client: Short sales disqualify.
• Fooled into thinking that higher-end sales are more difficult? Think again. They are much easier (portfolio deals, no mortgage insurance, etc) and are on the rise – a win-win.
• Hardship letters: Don’t oversell; keep it short and to the point. Think Reader’s Digest.
• 1099’s: Tax season is fast approaching and all short sale and foreclosure clients will be receiving 1099’s. Stress to your client that this DOES NOT mean debt forgiveness. When it comes to negotiating/modifying these – don’t work outside your area of expertise. Do what you do best and pull in an expert.
• A good tool of the trade is to have your client sign an expectation letter up front. Lay out what you expect from them. Include that they will keep current on HOA payments. If they don’t, this becomes a personal debt and opens a whole new can of worms.
• Your best friend in short sales is email. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! You’ll be surprised at what having a good e-paper trail can do for you.
• You may have gotten the run-around trying to find out who owns your clients loan. Your life just became a lot easier thanks to Fannie Mae Loan Lookup and Freddie Mac Loan Lookup.
Armed with an arsenal of info and tools thanks to the valuable input of Wendy Shaw, of The Russell Shaw Group and attorney Mark Windsor of Winsor Law Group, REALTORS are now left with the question: 2011 is going to be a high distressed year – what will you make of it?
Nuts & Bolts:
• When it comes to home-equity lines of credit you need to correctly counsel your client: Short sales disqualify.
• Fooled into thinking that higher-end sales are more difficult? Think again. They are much easier (portfolio deals, no mortgage insurance, etc) and are on the rise – a win-win.
• Hardship letters: Don’t oversell; keep it short and to the point. Think Reader’s Digest.
• 1099’s: Tax season is fast approaching and all short sale and foreclosure clients will be receiving 1099’s. Stress to your client that this DOES NOT mean debt forgiveness. When it comes to negotiating/modifying these – don’t work outside your area of expertise. Do what you do best and pull in an expert.
• A good tool of the trade is to have your client sign an expectation letter up front. Lay out what you expect from them. Include that they will keep current on HOA payments. If they don’t, this becomes a personal debt and opens a whole new can of worms.
• Your best friend in short sales is email. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! You’ll be surprised at what having a good e-paper trail can do for you.
• You may have gotten the run-around trying to find out who owns your clients loan. Your life just became a lot easier thanks to Fannie Mae Loan Lookup and Freddie Mac Loan Lookup.
Armed with an arsenal of info and tools thanks to the valuable input of Wendy Shaw, of The Russell Shaw Group and attorney Mark Windsor of Winsor Law Group, REALTORS are now left with the question: 2011 is going to be a high distressed year – what will you make of it?
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Posting to Your Facebook Business Page While of the Fly
We're proud to introduce Tyler Lein, General Manager and IT Director for RE/MAX Excalibur, as our next guest contributor in our gust blogger series.
Posting to Your Facebook Business Page While of the Fly
My one gripe with FaceBook Business (Fan) pages has been the inability to post from anything other than a computer. Fortunately, this has been addressed and the solutions are relatively good.
There are four ways to post to your business page from a mobile device.
1. email your post to your page
2. visit your business page through your mobile browser and post from there
3. the iPhone app has the capability
4. send your update via text message
To e-mail your post, here is what you need to do. You need to find out the e-mail address for your page. To do so, go to your business page and then click on the Edit Page link at the top right of the screen under “Home” / “Profile” / “Account”. From there, click on “Mobile” on the left side of the page. You will then be shown your page’s e-mail address. Save this information in your address book and any time you want to post an update or a photo to your page (you can’t send video or post website links yet), all you have to do is send the e-mail to the address, and put the information in the subject line. DO NOT put information in the body of the message.
To use your mobile browser, just enter in the url of your page (ie. www.facebook.com/sony) and you can post your information through the web interface. If you don’t have a Vanity URL, here is a link to a post I did a while back explaining how you can get yours, http://tystechblog.com/2009/10/06/facebook-vanity-url/. You can also find more information on Vanity URLs on FaceBook.com at http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=900.
To post via the iPhone app, install the Facebook application and login. Click the “+” sign on the top left corner and then Click “Pages” on bottom right. Select your Page — it is now a favorite on your home dock. Now click your Page’s icon. To post a photo, click the “camera” icon. To post a status update, tap the “What’s on your mind?” field.
Finally, to post via text message, within the Mobile page as reference above, click on the green “Sign Up for SMS” button on the right side of the page and follow the instructions. You will then be given a 5 digit number to send your updates to. At this time you can only send text via this method. So no photos, videos or website links yet.
By being able to post photos on the fly, you can get really creative, like posting a photo of a new listing or smiling clients after a closing. Let your imagination run wild! Just don’t let your business page sit there and rot.
It is important to keep your business pages active in order to generate interest and business. If you can update them while you are on the fly, you are able to stay engaged and top of mind of those following you without having to wait until you get to the office or home. So no excuses, make your business pages come to life!
About Tyler Lein
Tyler Lein is a General Manager and IT Director for RE/MAX Excalibur which has 235 associates and four offices between Scottsdale and Tucson. His blog http://www.tystechblog.com/ covers technology tips, tricks, product and service reviews and recommendations that can be applied to the real estate profession and life in general. The goal is to increase agent productivity through low-cost or no cost tools that are available on the open market with an emphasis on Social Networking services.
Posting to Your Facebook Business Page While of the Fly
My one gripe with FaceBook Business (Fan) pages has been the inability to post from anything other than a computer. Fortunately, this has been addressed and the solutions are relatively good.
There are four ways to post to your business page from a mobile device.
1. email your post to your page
2. visit your business page through your mobile browser and post from there
3. the iPhone app has the capability
4. send your update via text message
To e-mail your post, here is what you need to do. You need to find out the e-mail address for your page. To do so, go to your business page and then click on the Edit Page link at the top right of the screen under “Home” / “Profile” / “Account”. From there, click on “Mobile” on the left side of the page. You will then be shown your page’s e-mail address. Save this information in your address book and any time you want to post an update or a photo to your page (you can’t send video or post website links yet), all you have to do is send the e-mail to the address, and put the information in the subject line. DO NOT put information in the body of the message.
To use your mobile browser, just enter in the url of your page (ie. www.facebook.com/sony) and you can post your information through the web interface. If you don’t have a Vanity URL, here is a link to a post I did a while back explaining how you can get yours, http://tystechblog.com/2009/10/06/facebook-vanity-url/. You can also find more information on Vanity URLs on FaceBook.com at http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=900.
To post via the iPhone app, install the Facebook application and login. Click the “+” sign on the top left corner and then Click “Pages” on bottom right. Select your Page — it is now a favorite on your home dock. Now click your Page’s icon. To post a photo, click the “camera” icon. To post a status update, tap the “What’s on your mind?” field.
Finally, to post via text message, within the Mobile page as reference above, click on the green “Sign Up for SMS” button on the right side of the page and follow the instructions. You will then be given a 5 digit number to send your updates to. At this time you can only send text via this method. So no photos, videos or website links yet.
By being able to post photos on the fly, you can get really creative, like posting a photo of a new listing or smiling clients after a closing. Let your imagination run wild! Just don’t let your business page sit there and rot.
It is important to keep your business pages active in order to generate interest and business. If you can update them while you are on the fly, you are able to stay engaged and top of mind of those following you without having to wait until you get to the office or home. So no excuses, make your business pages come to life!
About Tyler Lein
Tyler Lein is a General Manager and IT Director for RE/MAX Excalibur which has 235 associates and four offices between Scottsdale and Tucson. His blog http://www.tystechblog.com/ covers technology tips, tricks, product and service reviews and recommendations that can be applied to the real estate profession and life in general. The goal is to increase agent productivity through low-cost or no cost tools that are available on the open market with an emphasis on Social Networking services.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Market Trend Reports
Fidelity National Title was pleased to welcome, Mike Orr with the Cromford Report (http://www.cromfordreport.com/) to join in the monthly Sales Meeting on Monday February 14th to review 2011 Market Trends. Below are some highlights from his presentation:
· Sales Per Month down due to cancellations
· Demand is slowly outpacing supply
· Downward pricing pressure eased
· Investor demand is key to low end market
· Signs of slight recovery in some areas, mostly 250K-800K
· Prolonged blight in areas with highest population declines (Arizona hit population peak in 1Q 2009 and outmigration started in 2007, significantly effects South and West Valley)
Fidelity National Title is a proud Partner of Mike Orr’s and the Cromford Report. For monthly updated reports, the best data in Arizona go to http://www.fntarizona.com/pages/market-trend-reports-247650?loggedin=yes
· Sales Per Month down due to cancellations
· Demand is slowly outpacing supply
· Downward pricing pressure eased
· Investor demand is key to low end market
· Signs of slight recovery in some areas, mostly 250K-800K
· Prolonged blight in areas with highest population declines (Arizona hit population peak in 1Q 2009 and outmigration started in 2007, significantly effects South and West Valley)
Fidelity National Title is a proud Partner of Mike Orr’s and the Cromford Report. For monthly updated reports, the best data in Arizona go to http://www.fntarizona.com/pages/market-trend-reports-247650?loggedin=yes
Friday, February 18, 2011
Challenges in the Short Sale Process
As with everything, Short Sales will present their share of challenges. In Part Four of our series on short sales, Wendy Shaw, of The Russell Shaw Group along with attorney Mark Windsor of Winsor Law Group addresses some of the most common challenges you’ll face.
Challenges in the Short Sale Process:
Held back by the fear of liability? Don’t be. The fear of being sued is the same as with traditional markets. Do everything in your power up front to mitigate loss. Educate yourself. Read everything and anything you can on short sales. A seminar on short sales? Be there. Be proactive and connect with a good attorney. For a nominal fee, attorneys will conduct an initial consult looking at the big picture, and then lay out your client’s best options. To be successful you must find a GOOD attorney – one who is driven by the client’s best interest.
Bad BPO’s are something everyone who is involved in short sales will face at one time or another. The banks want you to escalate - DO NOT unless absolutely necessary. If you have time on your side, this is the easiest and most effective solution. Even better, avoid them in the first place by blocking access to property. You want to head off the agent so that you can have a dialogue. Realistically you may not be able to literally remove the lock box, but you can put this in the MLS listing which means they have to contact you directly to gain access, thus = dialogue. When you get the dialogue going, remember that empathy and respect go a long way in making things happen. Agents are often underappreciated – don’t do the same.
When it comes to strategic default you want to take a two-pronged approach –front end and backend. Let them know up front it’s going to be a difficult process and they have to commit. Address the fact that there are 3 parties involved – the servicer, the investor and the mortgage insurance company. And of course follow up at the end of the process.
Challenges in the Short Sale Process:
Held back by the fear of liability? Don’t be. The fear of being sued is the same as with traditional markets. Do everything in your power up front to mitigate loss. Educate yourself. Read everything and anything you can on short sales. A seminar on short sales? Be there. Be proactive and connect with a good attorney. For a nominal fee, attorneys will conduct an initial consult looking at the big picture, and then lay out your client’s best options. To be successful you must find a GOOD attorney – one who is driven by the client’s best interest.
Bad BPO’s are something everyone who is involved in short sales will face at one time or another. The banks want you to escalate - DO NOT unless absolutely necessary. If you have time on your side, this is the easiest and most effective solution. Even better, avoid them in the first place by blocking access to property. You want to head off the agent so that you can have a dialogue. Realistically you may not be able to literally remove the lock box, but you can put this in the MLS listing which means they have to contact you directly to gain access, thus = dialogue. When you get the dialogue going, remember that empathy and respect go a long way in making things happen. Agents are often underappreciated – don’t do the same.
When it comes to strategic default you want to take a two-pronged approach –front end and backend. Let them know up front it’s going to be a difficult process and they have to commit. Address the fact that there are 3 parties involved – the servicer, the investor and the mortgage insurance company. And of course follow up at the end of the process.
Challenges in the Short Sale Process
As with everything, Short Sales will present their share of challenges. In Part Four of our series on short sales, Wendy Shaw, of The Russell Shaw Group along with attorney Mark Windsor of Winsor Law Group addresses some of the most common challenges you’ll face.
Challenges in the Short Sale Process:
Held back by the fear of liability? Don’t be. The fear of being sued is the same as with traditional markets. Do everything in your power up front to mitigate loss. Educate yourself. Read everything and anything you can on short sales. A seminar on short sales? Be there. Be proactive and connect with a good attorney. For a nominal fee, attorneys will conduct an initial consult looking at the big picture, and then lay out your client’s best options. To be successful you must find a GOOD attorney – one who is driven by the client’s best interest.
Bad BPO’s are something everyone who is involved in short sales will face at one time or another. The banks want you to escalate - DO NOT unless absolutely necessary. If you have time on your side, this is the easiest and most effective solution. Even better, avoid them in the first place by blocking access to property. You want to head off the agent so that you can have a dialogue. Realistically you may not be able to literally remove the lock box, but you can put this in the MLS listing which means they have to contact you directly to gain access, thus = dialogue. When you get the dialogue going, remember that empathy and respect go a long way in making things happen. Agents are often underappreciated – don’t do the same.
When it comes to strategic default you want to take a two-pronged approach –front end and backend. Let them know up front it’s going to be a difficult process and they have to commit. Address the fact that there are 3 parties involved – the servicer, the investor and the mortgage insurance company. And of course follow up at the end of the process.
Challenges in the Short Sale Process:
Held back by the fear of liability? Don’t be. The fear of being sued is the same as with traditional markets. Do everything in your power up front to mitigate loss. Educate yourself. Read everything and anything you can on short sales. A seminar on short sales? Be there. Be proactive and connect with a good attorney. For a nominal fee, attorneys will conduct an initial consult looking at the big picture, and then lay out your client’s best options. To be successful you must find a GOOD attorney – one who is driven by the client’s best interest.
Bad BPO’s are something everyone who is involved in short sales will face at one time or another. The banks want you to escalate - DO NOT unless absolutely necessary. If you have time on your side, this is the easiest and most effective solution. Even better, avoid them in the first place by blocking access to property. You want to head off the agent so that you can have a dialogue. Realistically you may not be able to literally remove the lock box, but you can put this in the MLS listing which means they have to contact you directly to gain access, thus = dialogue. When you get the dialogue going, remember that empathy and respect go a long way in making things happen. Agents are often underappreciated – don’t do the same.
When it comes to strategic default you want to take a two-pronged approach –front end and backend. Let them know up front it’s going to be a difficult process and they have to commit. Address the fact that there are 3 parties involved – the servicer, the investor and the mortgage insurance company. And of course follow up at the end of the process.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Important Notes and Highlights from Short Sale Mastermind Group
By Jennifer Weller, Marketing Representative Fidelity National Title
Notes from our Short Sale Mastermind with Tina Tamboer-Glatfelter with The Cromford Report
-Feb 2nd, 2011 Phoenix was 4th from the top in Job Growth
-Phoenix’s unemployment rates are below national averages
Pending Listings:
-Every year since 2001, January is the lowest month in pending listings
-January is the best time to list your house for sale due to more offers being written between January and July
-“Buyer Season” for Sellers: Jan-May
-“Off Season” for Buyer’s: come June you may get more seller concessions due to less buyers purchasing in summer months
Buyers and Inventory
-2002-2010 Canadian Buyers, since 2006 it has risen every year
-April 2010 we hit a peak of just over 25% of out of state buyers (including California and Canadians)
-Shadow Inventory: often is released about every 3 months, i.e. January, March…etc, banks stagger their losses
-400-800K priced homes that are Short Sales have had a great chance of closing compared to lower price points, many have just one lender, specifically North Scottsdale
-Focus on 200-400K price points or 400-800K price points if you are a Realtor and focusing on Short Sales
-High percentage of bank owned properties=Seller’s market, due to high demand, 2009 many areas were a seller’s market in phoenix due to REO
Fidelity’s Cromford Reports
Contract Ratio: anything above 40 is a hot market (high demand), below 20 is cold (low demand) 30+ is Balanced (supply vs. demand)
Marketing:
1. Use and e-Newsletter to send to your sphere
2. Post Teaser stats on your Facebook Fan Page status to create discussion or comments
3. Support or challenge media new coverage on the real estate market in your blog
4. Send to your active sellers every month
5. Use it on your website as bait to entice consumers to submit their e-mail addresses
6. Copy it to the back of your listing flyers
7. Use it in your listing presentation to compare your seller’s area to other in activity and distressed levels and show how their home competes
Important information from Thompson Law Firm:
MARS (mortgage assistance relief services)
Without a financial license, you are no longer allowed legally to obtain any fees up front for negotiating a short sale. If a complaint is filed against an agent, the fine is $10,000 A DAY!!!
All the more reason to utilize an attorney to protect you.
Notes from our Short Sale Mastermind with Tina Tamboer-Glatfelter with The Cromford Report
-Feb 2nd, 2011 Phoenix was 4th from the top in Job Growth
-Phoenix’s unemployment rates are below national averages
Pending Listings:
-Every year since 2001, January is the lowest month in pending listings
-January is the best time to list your house for sale due to more offers being written between January and July
-“Buyer Season” for Sellers: Jan-May
-“Off Season” for Buyer’s: come June you may get more seller concessions due to less buyers purchasing in summer months
Buyers and Inventory
-2002-2010 Canadian Buyers, since 2006 it has risen every year
-April 2010 we hit a peak of just over 25% of out of state buyers (including California and Canadians)
-Shadow Inventory: often is released about every 3 months, i.e. January, March…etc, banks stagger their losses
-400-800K priced homes that are Short Sales have had a great chance of closing compared to lower price points, many have just one lender, specifically North Scottsdale
-Focus on 200-400K price points or 400-800K price points if you are a Realtor and focusing on Short Sales
-High percentage of bank owned properties=Seller’s market, due to high demand, 2009 many areas were a seller’s market in phoenix due to REO
Fidelity’s Cromford Reports
Contract Ratio: anything above 40 is a hot market (high demand), below 20 is cold (low demand) 30+ is Balanced (supply vs. demand)
Marketing:
1. Use and e-Newsletter to send to your sphere
2. Post Teaser stats on your Facebook Fan Page status to create discussion or comments
3. Support or challenge media new coverage on the real estate market in your blog
4. Send to your active sellers every month
5. Use it on your website as bait to entice consumers to submit their e-mail addresses
6. Copy it to the back of your listing flyers
7. Use it in your listing presentation to compare your seller’s area to other in activity and distressed levels and show how their home competes
Important information from Thompson Law Firm:
MARS (mortgage assistance relief services)
Without a financial license, you are no longer allowed legally to obtain any fees up front for negotiating a short sale. If a complaint is filed against an agent, the fine is $10,000 A DAY!!!
All the more reason to utilize an attorney to protect you.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Guest Blogger Series - Can They Find You?
We asked some of our key clients, contacts, stakeholders and industry experts to contribute to FNT Title Talk as guest bloggers. We are proud to introduce Nick Bastian as our first contributor.
Can They Find You?
I recently attended a sales pitch / real estate seminar where one of the topics was on-line marketing. Of course, you really can’t attend one of these seminars without hearing someone say that social media is where all of the cool kids want to play. Without a doubt, the real estate industry has changed quite a bit in just the past few years. We are constantly told that approximately 90% of home searches begin online. If people are searching online, we darn sure better be there, right?
Maybe the internet isn’t your thing. You have a great sphere of influence, keep in contact with them and follow up better than the average agent. Awesome. The question is this. Do the people in your sphere use the internet to find information?
Having believed in the power of being found on the internet for quite some time, I have enjoyed many of the debate-able issues that come with it. For instance, many hard core search engine professionals will tell you not to use your name as your web site address. After all, what consumer will know to look for you when beginning their home search or when looking to sell a property? They say, get a good domain name with key words in the address. ie; HomesInMyFavoriteCity dot com. While many of the good domains are taken, you can still probably pick a niche and serve it well to rank in the search engines. However, if you own YourName.com, you can still have success marketing online.
What’s all of this got to do with you? Why might a real estate agent want their name to be able to be found on the internet? I recently heard a good analogy, it went something like this:
Let’s say you are thinking of selling your home. Since everyone in America knows approximately 9.3 ( just a guess ) real estate agents, you are sure to be able to find at least three candidates to interview. In the past, you might interview multiple agents and then choose the one who best fits your needs. The problem was, you had to say “no” to the agents that didn’t get the job. What if that person is a friend or relative? Awkward, right? Today, you might take a list of three or four agents and go online to see how your prospective new agent works or markets properties online. Basically, you can choose an agent based on what kind of information you find from the all-mighty Google.
So… Have you ever done it? Have you ever Googled yourself? Maybe you should! Hopefully, you will be able to find yourself and you will be happy with what is listed. Obviously, you will want prospective clients to see you as an expert in your field. Maybe you are a great negotiator, a great marketer, a great asset to your clients. Can anyone tell that from your presence on the internet? Let’s say the answer is no. Now what? Is that the end of the world? Probably not.
What are a few simple things you can do?
Most agents have a web site. Some are good, some are not so good. Finding your website should be easy. I’m a believer in owning your own content. Your web site or blog should be the center of your online world, the place where all other profiles point back to.
Once you have your web site properly optimized for whatever it is you want to be found for, add yourself to popular and well ranking sites like your Google profile, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and more. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on these, the set up is easy. I guess that will be another blog post for another day.
But this stuff is not hard, I promise.
About the author: Nick Bastian sells real estate in Tempe and works with Realty Executives. In his “spare time”, Nick writes a fun and informative blog about things happening along the Phoenix light rail line.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Time and Cost Effective Answer to Your Marketing Needs - FNT Online Print Shop
If you’re like most people, your plate is MORE than full and you could benefit from shortcuts that streamline some of the time-consuming and often mundane, but never-the-less important facets of your life and/or job…
Well hold onto your SuperAgent capes, folks, and step into the wonderful world of Fidelity National Title’s Online Print Shop to answer your marketing needs in a snap! Or at least in a lot less time (and less $$$ ~ hooray!!) than one would usually spend!
The Fidelity National Title’s Online Print Shop offers stunning flyers, jumbo and quarter postcards, door hangers, business cards and mail merge letters - with 3,500 custom templates to choose from. Just sit back, enjoy your late night popcorn or morning latte, and as quickly as it takes you to choose your template, upload your photos, and add your text, you’ve just created a masterpiece of marketing! Addressing and mailing are also available.
Contact your Fidelity Sales Representative for more information or go to www.fntarizona.com and click Realtor Zone. Are you already in the know about and using this fabulous time saver?! If so let us know how the Print Shop has helped your business.
Well hold onto your SuperAgent capes, folks, and step into the wonderful world of Fidelity National Title’s Online Print Shop to answer your marketing needs in a snap! Or at least in a lot less time (and less $$$ ~ hooray!!) than one would usually spend!
The Fidelity National Title’s Online Print Shop offers stunning flyers, jumbo and quarter postcards, door hangers, business cards and mail merge letters - with 3,500 custom templates to choose from. Just sit back, enjoy your late night popcorn or morning latte, and as quickly as it takes you to choose your template, upload your photos, and add your text, you’ve just created a masterpiece of marketing! Addressing and mailing are also available.
Contact your Fidelity Sales Representative for more information or go to www.fntarizona.com and click Realtor Zone. Are you already in the know about and using this fabulous time saver?! If so let us know how the Print Shop has helped your business.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
How Do I Market Short Sales?
In Week Three of our Short Sale Series, we take a look at the question that plagues many REALTORS: How do I market short sales? Wendy Shaw of The Russell Shaw Group gives some firsthand advice.
Marketing Short Sales:
Looking for a secret recipe for marketing success? You’re out of luck. Think back to what you did to bring in traditional sellers. Do the same! You can choose to market, prospect or a combination of both. What does this mean? Marketing means getting your name out there and drawing the sellers to you. Prospecting is reaching out to the customer. Shaw recommends a platform where you employ marketing backed by prospecting for the best results. Marketing tools she has personally found to be effective -
• Short sale seminars: For sellers to even show up shows a level of commitment. Take advantage of this to feel out the possibility for a relationship, the level of commitment and then educate.
• Education: It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to educate your client. A shockingly high number of those who foreclose have not even spoken to an agent. Sellers don’t know their options. They don’t know what programs are available. This is where REALTORS come into play. REO agents MUST diversify their marketing efforts as it was discussed at the December Fannie and Freddie Panel at REOMAC that 50% of consumers default without ever talking to mortgage servicer. And about 60% of homeowners get foreclosed without even talking to REALTOR”.
• Educate, educate, educate!
Marketing Short Sales:
Looking for a secret recipe for marketing success? You’re out of luck. Think back to what you did to bring in traditional sellers. Do the same! You can choose to market, prospect or a combination of both. What does this mean? Marketing means getting your name out there and drawing the sellers to you. Prospecting is reaching out to the customer. Shaw recommends a platform where you employ marketing backed by prospecting for the best results. Marketing tools she has personally found to be effective -
• Short sale seminars: For sellers to even show up shows a level of commitment. Take advantage of this to feel out the possibility for a relationship, the level of commitment and then educate.
• Education: It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to educate your client. A shockingly high number of those who foreclose have not even spoken to an agent. Sellers don’t know their options. They don’t know what programs are available. This is where REALTORS come into play. REO agents MUST diversify their marketing efforts as it was discussed at the December Fannie and Freddie Panel at REOMAC that 50% of consumers default without ever talking to mortgage servicer. And about 60% of homeowners get foreclosed without even talking to REALTOR”.
• Educate, educate, educate!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Are Short Sales For You? Contract Philosphy
In Part Two of our five-part Short Sale Series presented by Wendy Shaw, of The Russell Shaw Group, we take a look at contracts and identifying your contract philosophy.
Contract Philosophy:
When it comes to contracts, you can take three different approaches. You can choose to 1) Submit the first offer you receive and place additional offers in the queue, 2) Take the highest/best offer, 3) Require non refundable earnest money. You must decide the level of commitment you require to identify your contract philosophy– do you want to be married to your client (i.e. earnest money) or do both you and the seller agree to see other people (i.e. first offer submitted)?
Contract Philosophy:
When it comes to contracts, you can take three different approaches. You can choose to 1) Submit the first offer you receive and place additional offers in the queue, 2) Take the highest/best offer, 3) Require non refundable earnest money. You must decide the level of commitment you require to identify your contract philosophy– do you want to be married to your client (i.e. earnest money) or do both you and the seller agree to see other people (i.e. first offer submitted)?
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