Nov
26
8 Irresistible Reasons Why Pre-Foreclosures Can’t Live Without You
Filed Under Real Estate Listing Tips | Leave a Comment
For a while there–middle of last year to be exact–I was on a foreclosure/pre-foreclusure streak. I gave you a quick and dirty guide to working foreclosures. I pointed out the most common cause of pre-foreclosure failure. Followed up by a very similar guide to the 2 lethal mistakes you can make when working foreclosures.
Now, I’m going to add that list.
Why? Foreclosures haven’t gone away. In fact, there’s no end in sight to the foreclosure nightmare. And don’t forget this: working pre-foreclosures is less about padding your pocket and more about helping another human being. I can’t stress that enough.
So, when approaching pre-foreclosures for the first time use these ideas to prove to them that you are truly their to help can save their home:
- You aren’t out to fleece them. Just the opposite. You want to help them save equity. Credit. Face. And you must mean it. You must have a heart. That means listening liberaly and talking conseratively.
- You can sell their home. Goes without saying, but some people need to be reminded.
- You are a legal expert: You know all the contracts, forms, disclosure statements backwards, frontwards, inside and out. If they did it solo–or worse, not at all–chances are high they’d miss something.
- You are a professional: Like a doctor or lawyer, you’re an expert. You live and breathe this stuff. Ask them how many people would defend themselves in a court of law? Or, how many people feel confident performing surgery on themselves? Tell them this is your bread and butter.
- You are a master of the market. You know the market and can price the homes competitively. Explain to them the importance of pricing right the first time and the danger of over-pricing. The last thing they want to do is waste time.
- You are a expert on financing. You know how to pre-qualify, qualify and point prospects in the right direction for financing. But with those who want to buy pre-foreclosures, in my experience, have normally got the cash. Let them know people with ready money can buy their home.
- You are a specialist: You can handle criticism, objections and demands objectively and professionally…a must when trying to persuade someone to buy a home that is close to foreclosure.
- You are a negotiator. You know how to balance offers, counteroffers and negotiate contingencies that often will drive a FSBO bananas. Offer your batting average for selling homes at full asking price. If you’re good, they’ll think you’re a genius.
- Finally, you are a network. Develop a list of the tasks that must be completed before closing, including all the inspections, insurance, permits. Then explain to them you know all the right people and could have everything arranged in an afternoon. They’ll get the point.
Now remember, working pre-foreclosures is a sensitive issue. But if they’re highly motivated, lightly but persistently hold their feet to the fire for the next couple of weeks, emphasizing the above points. As the frustration builds, their tipping point will get lower and lower. Eventually they’ll accept your offer and thank you for helping them.
So tell me…have you been working pre-foreclosures? Any success? Any tips to help improve this list? I’m looking for ways to make the first encounter a lasting impression.
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
Nov
20
6 Unprofessional Tips to Make Your Real Estate Blog Soar
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Critics. You gotta love ‘em. They’ve got a warning or harsh comment for anything that doesn’t align with their worldview.
Perhaps I should call them naysayers. Or old school diehards. Maybe taskmasters. Gruffy, but lovable.
Whatever name I give them, however, one thing is true: the hair on the back of their neck stands on end at anything that sniffs of unprofessionalism.
Take blogging, for example. A real estate critic–if you can get him on a blog–will write articles on open houses, listings and the market. He sticks to the party line like Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins: “Precision and order/ That’s all I ask.”
He gasps at a misspelling. Shakes his head at grammatical mistakes. And soils his pants at the mention he should consider writing about his daughter’s first day of school.
I have to confess: Todd Carpenter’s great article People Really Do Want You to Tweet About Your Cat inspired this blog post. In particular what he said about his Twitter topics of discussion during Connect 08–namely antics at an after party, who he wanted to go to lunch with and tequila drinking etiquette:
“Unprofessional? Yes. Absolutely unprofessional. That’s the point really.”
So what’s unprofessional behavior got to do with real estate blogging supremacy? Quite a lot. Let me show you how through these 6 tips.
Tip 1: Get Personal
If you’ve been exposed to social media at all, you’ve definitely heard this concept: Let your hair hang down. But it’s more than that. It’s about personality. Breaking the mold. Letting your spirit come through.
If you like stallions, mention stallions in your blogs posts. Draw stories and metaphors from your loves and passions. Show people you love something more than real estate. And land. And the economy. And money.
2. Be Vulnerable
Last year I wrote about the heart attacks Jet Blue lawyers probably had when their CEO publically complained about his own company. That’s honesty. That’s vulnerability. And it’s credible.
Why is being credible and vulnerable important? Because of the soft stuff: Your reputation. What people think about you. That stuff compounds, even though we can’t track it. Stockpile whuffie and money will eventually arrive at your doorstep.
Tip 3: Display Passion
I love to see people who are enthusiastic. [Except maybe Anthony Robbins.] You can’t help to get hooked to their drive, their urgency, their energy. Look at Jay Sekulow or the guys at the Motley Fool. Their is no doubt they are alive. And love being alive.
The result? Their enthusiasim has drawn substantial followings.
Decide to be something more than a warm body in the blogosphere. Decide to be life. A light. Do it now.
Tip 4: Make Worry-Free Mistakes
At some point you are going to forget to dot an i or cross a t. Don’t worry. You may upset your English professor. You may drive Jim Cronin away. But like the late copywriter legend Gary Halbert [work safe video] said a long time ago, “You’re going to piss some people off no matter what. Ignore them. They’re not your audience.”
Tip 5: Fail Often
Jeremiah Owyang tells a story about his first presentation he gave for a client when he started working for Forrester Research. The presentation bombed. The client poo-pooed him. And his boss scolded him.
This would drive some people to want to live under their bed with a bottle of vodka and sleeping pills. Not Jeremiah. He failed. But he was okay with that. Why? He got over it and vowed never to do it again.
Moral of the story: Lunge out of your comfort zone. And learn. Growth will naturally follow.
Tip 6: Apologize Profusely
For the longest time I thought that people who apologized were sissies (what about you?). Apologies stank of weakness. Hmf. I thought it was enough I felt really bad on the inside. Problem is, no one can see your heart. Or hear your thoughts. You need to apologize. And loud.
Furthermore, when you do screw up, admitting you wronged someone will build magnificent bridges between you, that person, your base and their base…because your entire little affair will probably be blogged publically.
Nobody likes someone who stiff chins it and never admit he’s going the wrong path or said the wrong thing. So, get in the habit of asking for forgiveness. This is almost as productive and life-changing as the habit of gratefulness.
Conclusion
While this list isn’t exhaustive, I think it definitely sums up what four years of experience in blogging has taught me–sharing personal experiences on how to be a better professional will make you rise to the top.
The cascading formula is simple: Jakob Nielson wants you to write articles. Brian Clark wants you to add value. Todd Carpenter wants you to be personal. And I want you to be unprofessional.
Go on. Soar.
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
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Nov
12
How a Cocky, Obsessive CEO of GE Can Make You a World-Class Blogger
Filed Under Real Estate Blogs | 2 Comments
To say Jack Welch is cocky is a gross understatement. Legend has it that some twelve years after he joined GE, Welch announced at his annual performance review his plan to become CEO.
And that was in fact just what the brazen, young engineer did. In 1981, Welch stepped into the roll of GE’s youngest Chairman and CEO ever.
During the first five years of his tenure, Welch cemented his reputation and eliminated employees ruthlessly, earning the title “Neutron Jack”–the people vanished but the buildings remained. From 1980 to 1985, he cut 112,000 jobs.
What was his hang up? Welch was obsessed with dismantling nine-layers of bureaucracy, cutting inventories, shutting down factories, reducing payrolls and cutting lackluster product lines.
He had a ferocious desire for efficiency. And profit.
Introducing the Most Successful Manager of the 20th Century
Some criticize Welch as mean-spirited and petty. Brutal. Apathetic. Others claim he’s quick to judge. Says he used limited information to size people up. And write them off.
But one thing can be said about him: he was successful.
During his 20 plus year tenure, GE’s market capitalization rose from $13 billion to $400 billion. Revenues grew from $27 billion to $127 billion. And earnings grew tenfold.
In 2000, Fortune magazine said Jack Welch was “Manager of the Year.”
The Key to Jack Welch’s Success
What was the key to his success? Certainly more than one factor contributed to his success. But if I was to name one singular and solitary reason for his dominance I’d say it’d have to be his philosophy to cut any businesses that GE couldn’t be #1 or #2 in.
This concept was a simple way to make quick, sound judgments. And to remain focused, lean, fast and competitive.
Ideas, projects or business that couldn’t meet this criteria were thrown on the trash heap. Welch was obsessed with keeping GE trim and in fighting shape. Fat nor sloth were welcome.
How can this idea help you in blogging? Easy. Figure out what market you can enter where you are guaranteed to be #1 or #2.
Why This Is So Important
You have to think about this deeply before you tackle a project like a blog. Otherwise you are doomed to fail. You are doomed to fail for three reasons: lack of audience, lack of discipline or lack of motivation.
Almost everyone you know–including yourself–has failed at blogging. When I say fail I mean they have everyone has at least one languishing or dead blog in their history.
If you don’t, I think statistically you will in the next five years.
Part of the reason behind the failure rate behind failed blogs is because know one is listening. Or you’re not very good. Or you simply don’t care.
When you use Welch’s principle this is what it does: it gets you to focus. And it has one other unintended affect. It demands discipline.
Watch blog launches by successful bloggers and you’ll get the sense that not only did they take Welch’s principle in to consideration–but they in fact live or die by it.
I believe that Greg Swann did this when he launched Bloodhound Blog. And the truth probably holds for Real Estate Tomato Blog. These bloggers launched blogs they were fairly confident they could dominate as #1 or #2.
The same is true for Future of Real Estaet Marketing. Before Inman and Joel Burslem launched his blog there was…well, no one. Lots of tech blogs. Political blogs. Cultural blogs. Some social media blogs. Blogs on real estate marketing. But no blogs dedicated to the impact technology is making on real estate–it was the first.
What If I Can’t Always Be the First?
Real Estate Zebra, well, not the case. Even in May 2006 Daniel Rothemal had a monstrous mountain of competition already on the playing field.
But he defined himself pretty narrowly. You can see this in his zebra manifesto. And no doubt he’s worked pretty hard.
Domination demands positioning yourself to win. And hard work.
So. Wanna start a blog? Or resurrect a languishing one? Or overhaul the lackluster yawn-fest you are working so hard on now?
Then decide what you can write about and dominate the #1 or #2 spot. This may mean launching into a field completely new for you. So do your research.
Regardless, you’ll have to study your market. And then plan.
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Nov
5
What Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech Can Teach You About Marketing
Filed Under Real Estate Marketing | Leave a Comment
Do you know who David Axelrod is? He’s Barack Obama’s chief strategist. And he’s the man who Barack owes for winning the election.
Barack made this clear during his acceptance speech last night. He said, “To my chief strategist, David Axelrod–who has been a partner with me every step of the way, to the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics–you made this happen.”
It’s amazing what you learn about real estate marketing from a political campaign. And it’s even more amazing what you can learn from Barack’s acceptance speech. And what it can do for your marketing success. So let’s see what we can learn about real estate marketing from Barack’s acceptance speech.
Consumers Are in Control
I don’t think there was ever any question in Axelrod’s or Obama’s mind about who they needed to win over. Even during his acceptance speech, Barack Obama said “you” more times than we. And during his campaign, that was clear. He surrendered the message, the conversation, to his voters.
In the same way, you need to surrender your message and your conversation to your prospects and clients. How do you do this? Listen and respond by giving your prospects and clients what they asked for. It’s as easy as that.
Brilliant Storyteller
Outside of his excellent skills as an orator, his smooth, seamless delivery, Obama can tell a story. He can weave the hard issues of life into a personal drama that just about everyone can relate to.
Take 106 year old Ann Nixon Cooper. Her story arced over a century with a generous amount of pain, hardship, misery and progress to finally see the day when she could not only vote–but vote for a black man. Over 60 years ago, this was impossible for two reasons–she was a woman and black.
Like a legend, that story will attach it’s self to the Obama presidency. And spread. Because it’s a story we believe. And it’s a story we respond to. Create a believable story and people will follow you.
Created the Common Enemy
Obama knew the problems that plagued America. And not only the country, but the government. Whether he’s right or not, that’s another story. But he defined the problem in such a way that people responded. And responded in droves.
In his speech, Obama cataloged petty, immature, partisan politics, selfish, greed-driven markets and utter ignorance of the widespread suffering on Main street as the poisons that ruined our country.
In other words, he created an enemy. A common opponent apathetic, fatigued people could rally around. People rally quickly when threatened. Think Pearl Harbor. 9/11.
Find the enemy in your own market demonizing people…and communicate a plan how you plan to exorcise it to the people who are demonized and you’ll win big fans, rock star like status.
Used Social Media Wisely and Liberally
On Obama’s website, you could easily sign up for every single social media site Barack was on: Facebook, Twitter. You name it.
While he didn’t use social media directly in his acceptance speech, he did, I believe, use what he, Axelrod and their team learned from what voters were telling them via the social media sites.
How do I know? The sole purpose of social media is relationship. Connection. Listening. And responding.
It’s impossible not to learn anything about how people are feeling about your market, city or state when you listen to them. And social media allows you to talk to an impressive swath of people at all times of the day.
Think about it: This is cheap market research.
Free tools you can use to find potent stories, discover the problems that plague them and give the consumers the control that will ultimately make you a person they can trust. And a person they want to work with.
Your Turn
How do you plan to give consumers control? How do you plan to use social media? Do you have any brilliant stories you share in your marketing? Do you have a common enemy in your market?
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
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Nov
4
It’s hard enough to get a referral after a successful sale. Expired–forget it.
To make matters worse, the economy’s tanked and it’s an election year. (Is the election almost over?) So, selling a home can seem near impossible at times. And wrenching a referral out of it like pulling teeth.
And it doesn’t matter if you are a rookie or seasoned veteran. Some homes just won’t move and never produce a referral. Even if you use critical strategies like these.
But here’s the real kicker: if your signs stays up a long time in somebody’s yard, or someone else’s sign replaces yours, the neighbors will feel you did not do your job, and they won’t quite trust you. Even if it wasn’t your fault the home didn’t move.
And like the seven natural laws of real estate prospecting, this is just a natural law in real estate, too: Homes that are on the market longer than 60 days are earmarked as problem homes.
However, a home that stays on the market too long gets a bad rap, but unfortunately, so do you. It can turn into a referral nightmare.
It gets even worse if your picture is on the sign in the yard. And if you have two such homes at once, it could get really ugly for you.
So, the idea is to spot a potential problem home during the listing presentation. (There’s good reason you don’t want to win every listing presentation.)
What you want to know is if the home is something you want to add to your inventory. Or not. Here are the 13 questions you should ask yourself before taking a listing:
1. Is this a home you would not object to buying yourself?
2. Does the home show well?
3. If not what can be done to improve the salability (and is the seller ready to take those steps)?
4. Are the sellers’ expectations and timeframe reasonable?
5. Are the sellers motivated?
6. Is there a sense of urgency?
7. Is there a need to sell? (More space? Relocation?)
8. What are the positives of the home?
9. What are the negatives of the home?
10. Are there any structural issues that need to be addressed?
11. Will the sellers address the negatives prior to listing the home?
12. Will the sellers agree to price the home in-line with the neighborhood comps?
13. Will the sellers list with you, at your commission rate and terms?
If the answers to the above questions are mostly “No,” then why bother taking the listing? You are just setting yourself up for acquiring a bad reputation.
To do so will ensure an unhappy relationship with unreasonable demands until the term of the listing expires. And a dismal career to boot.
You don’t want a dismal career, do you?
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
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