Tag: Jack Bailey

Eight Things You Can Do To Get A Listing Today

Can you get a listing today?  I’m waiting . . . can you?  Let me rephrase the question:  If you were to be hung by the neck until dead at sunset if you didn’t get a listing today, could you get one?  I thought so.  Getting a Listing is something you can DO in real estate.  You can’t force a sale, you can’t force a closing . . . but you can DO a listing.  You can get one.  It is always in your power.

And today, more than ever, a listing is precious.  Inventories are so low right now and prices are inching (and in some cases, racing) upwards.  Multiple offers abound and the person with listings is in the driver’s seat.  But listings are also hard to come by.  Many potential sellers are sitting back, noticing the upcreep in prices and thinking: ‘If I just wait a few months maybe I won’t be so upside down . . . ‘

So, what can you do TODAY to get a listing?  Here are 8 ideas:

1.  Call all of your past clients.  It’s a simple dialogue:  you need their help.  Inventory is drying up, buyers are frantic to find something.  Have they heard of anybody thinking of selling?  I would be surprised if you didn’t uncover at least 1 listing lead for every 20 calls.

2.  Call all of your fence sitting, luke warm potential sellers and heat them up!   They’re not doing themselves any favors by waiting.  The bargains are disappearing rapidly and while they’re waiting for a few percentage points gain in equity, they’re missing opportunities.  Here – use this set of graphics from Help-U-Sell University:

3.  Pull all the expired listings for the LAST 12 MONTHS – that’s right, a full year’s worth – and drop them a note about the improving market, the scarcity of listings and the fact that you can save them money!

4.  Choose one of your buyer clients who is hot to trot but having trouble finding a suitable home.  Working with them, isolate the one or two perfect neighborhoods for them.  Then make a flyer with their photo and some humanizing detail,  saying they’re looking for a home in that neighborhood.  If you’d like to sell, contact Help-U-Sell.  And put your ETM on the back.  Deliver it however you’d like:  snail mail, Excel’s mailbox stuffer program, slide it under the doormat . . . although if you’re trying to beat the hangman at sunset, you’d better stick to doormats.

5.  Follow Kurt Steffien’s lead:  start cultivating probate attorneys.  They are certainly interested in being heroes to their estate clients, and will see your money saving (estate preserving) offer as a way to accomplish that.  In other words:  they get it.  And if you get one and do a good job, it’s not just one listing, it could be many.  For months and years to come.  Really.

6.  Work with Tony to build a landing page on your website to capture contact info on people wanting to know what their house is worth.  Then create a QR Code for it.  Have flyers made with nothing more than the QR Code and the words:  ‘See How Much Your Home Is Worth Today.’  Put them all over the place.

7.  Call every FSBO in the area and ask:  ‘If I were to find a buyer who made an offer that was acceptable to you, would you pay me a commission?’  (I know, I know . . .you guys usually choke when you have to say that word, but in this case it will serve you better than ‘Low Set Fee.’).  The answer will almost always be yes, because they’ve usually made the same deal with every other Realtor in town.  Quickly calculate what, say, 3% is (let’s assume it’s $4,500), and respond: ‘So if I find a buyer who makes an acceptable offer you’ll pay me 3% which is around $4,500 dollars, right?  Let me show you what I can do for you for just $3,950*.  I mean – I’m Help-U-Sell – you get my complete full service program for less than you’d pay some agent just to find you a buyer.  For $3,950*, I’ll help you refine your pricing (if necessary), do all the marketing, get you on dozens of websites, qualify all interested buyers, help you weigh the pros and cons of every offer and calculate your net proceeds, process all the paperwork and handle the details all the way to closing.  How’s that sound?’

(*Or whatever your Set Fee is.  By the way:  Commissions, whether percentage based of set fee, are always negotiable.)

8.  Call Jack Bailey and ask him what you should do.

This is July 5.  The longest day of the year was, what?  A week and a half ago?  So you’ve got a few extra hours of daylight to get it done.  Go on now:  get out there and don’t come home until you have a signed listing agreement in your sweaty little hand.

 

 

Top Producers at the Help-U-Sell Success Summit

Four of our top five Brokers were in attendance at the Summit, Nov 14-16 in Anaheim this year.  I asked Jack Bailey to facilitate a panel discussion around what they’re doing to grow their businesses in this market.  Here are:

  • Patrick Wood – Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties – Chino Hills, CA
  • Richard Cricchio – Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties – Honolulu, HI
  • Karen Detwiler – Help-U-Sell Detwiler Realty – Carlisle, PA
  • John Powell – Help-U-Sell Galleria Realty – Tucson, AZ

Because of time limitations on YouTube, there are four videos here, ranging in length from 12 – 14 minutes.  Sound improves about half way through the first segment, when we miked the group.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

‘Got It Goin’ On!’

The Set Fee Blog has been a little inactive lately. There are a couple of reasons: I disappeared for a couple of days and then our own Help-U-Sell Success Summit is less than a week away. There is so much to do to get ready for the meeting! I want it to be powerful, meaningful, energizing and absolutely worth the investment of days (and dollars) our guys will be making to attend.

The agenda has been driven by input we got through a couple of surveys, one formal one less formal. Brokers told us they wanted to know more about creative financing. With toughening of the credit markets — yes, I know: rates are wonderfully low, but underwriting standards are very high — we need to think about financing in less conventional ways. That might mean seller financing or private money financing or obscure, little known programs. To enlighten us, I’ve arranged for Patricia Boyd to spend the last part of the first day with us. She is an amazing resource and has been focused on educating REALTORS on matters of finance for 25+ years. A strong consumer advocate, Patricia is a perfect match for our group and I know her information will mean more closed transactions for everyone.

Tuesday’s guest is Nick Taylor from Zillow. While all of the aggregator real estate sites were jockying for position, Zillow quietly rose to the top of the pile and has become the home search platform of choice for consumers. Really: when America wants to look for a new home, she often starts at Zillow.com. I ask myself why? and how? Why did consumers come to choose Zillow and how did they go about engineering that amazing feat? Strangely, I think the answer is in that silly feature all of us REALTOR-types hate, the Z-estimate of value. All of the aggregators offer feature rich home search capabilities that are fairly similar. But early on, Zillow went out on a limb and started estimating the value of properties via algorithm, not pencil-and-paper market analysis. There were distinct limitations to the accuracy of those estimates, and we have had to do lots of clean-up with consumers who relied on that estimate to make decisions, but it did distinguish Zillow from the rest of the pack. Nick is going to talk with us about how we can use this third-party tool to generate leads and more. His career is based on online marketing and prior to Zillow he managed marketing for a large independent brokerage in the mid-west.

Wednesday morning, David Bartels of Home Loan Advocates will share ’12 Things Every Agent Should Know About Short Sales.’ David’s company has a remarkable track record in negotiating and closing short sale transactions and he attributes much of that success to their creative approach to deal structure. The session is designed to give anyone working short sales (ok: that means anyone seriously in real estate) new ideas about how to get these sometimes complicated transactions through.

And those are just the guests. We also have three Star Panels on the schedule. Jack Bailey will be facilitating a discussion with four of our top five Brokers. They’ll be talking about how they’ve managed to thrive in this tough market. There will be lots of good information about organization, focus and, of course, marketing. John Powell is leading a panel of Brokers each doing something incredibly right. We’ll hear from one who started from scratch and built a largely REO business, one who has short sales down so well that he’s processing them for other brokers, and two who started new businesses in the downturn and have quickly become successful. Finally, I’m leading a panel on Marketing for Visibility. I have a small group of brokers who have done an excellent job of keeping their name, logo, face, prominent in the marketplace.

Today I got a look at Robbie’s slides for his tech session and I’m wishing we’d allowed more time. He’s got so much good stuff to share and a couple of really nice ZINGER announcements! As I look back at the last few years, we seem to be trending six months to a year ahead of the rest of the industry when it comes to tech. We quietly get the cool stuff they start talking about months before they start talking. That’s our Robbie — and his session will be very cool.

Ron McCoy will share his vision and plans for Franchise Sales and will showcase lots of the cool stuff we’re doing in that arena. Hey, by the way: did you see our full-page ad in REALTOR Magazine? If not, here’s a copy:

My session will focus on the new reality (the one that most of the industry has yet to acknowledge) and how we can own it. Our theme is ‘Taking Charge of Change’ and that’s exactly what we’re going to continue to do as we move into 2012.

It’s that kind of VISIBILITY we’re going for now, and there is no better example of it than our presence at this week’s NAR Convention, where we will be in force with the biggest booth of any real estate company, with great new print and electronic marketing tools, a big logo-encrusted shuttle bus and a dozen or so enthusiastic Help-U-Sell Brokers running through the exhibit hall scaring the be-jabbers out of the competition! It’s going to be a great time!

It’s Time to Start Marketing Again

I can’t say it any more clearly than that.  And I’m only echoing what Jack Bailey said in his video interview a couple of days ago.

We’re going to have a Spring Selling Season this year, but — thanks to the Tax Credit and a number of other factors — it’s going to come early.  To be in the game you’ve got to have listings and the time to get them is RIGHT NOW!

The new Tax Credit program requires buyers to be under contract to purchase by April 30 and for the transaction to close by June 30.*    If average time on market for a listing in your area is 90 days, then these properties will probably go under contract in January.  That’s just a couple of weeks away. 

Many of us have cut back on nearly everything.  It’s OK:  the tough market of ’08 and ’09 dictated some serious changes.  But since the Fall, the market has been stirring — and it’s not just first timers attracted by the $8,000 Tax Credit that came to an end in November (though they became a much bigger factor than ever before).  Now it seems everybody — even sellers with equity — are starting to dip their toes in the market again, intrigued by the possibility of moving up for less.  It’s time to give the market engine a little gas:  kick it into gear with some marketing.

Certainly, the place to start is with past customers and clients.  They need to know about the new Tax Credit program and you can probably let them know inexpensively:  through phone calls and personal notes. 

Obviously, it’s time to really put some energy into your FSBO and Expired campaigns.  Again, this does not have to be expensive.

The place to spend a little money is in targeted marketing.  Start by breaking your marketplace down to the smallest geographical areas you can — usually that’s Carrier Routes, and you can use Melissa Data to get the numbers.  Look at each small segment:  where is the turnover the greatest?  Go one step further:  which Carrier Routes include homes appropriate for first time buyers?  Listings in these areas may produce two parties motivated by the Tax Credit:  the first time buyer and the move up seller. 

Now choose an approach.  Like Jack Bailey, I’m a believer in post cards.  They are relatively inexpensive and deliver the message even when they are not carefully read.  If you choose this method, don’t shoot your entire budget on the first mailing.  Hold some funds in reserve so that you can go back to the same households with another mailing in 3 – 4 weeks and another after that. 

And remember:  you can do target marketing even without spending money on marketing pieces.  You can spend time and energy instead.  You can pick up the phone and make targeted calls — ordinary brokers call them ‘cold calls’ — into the areas where you want your listings to be.  Trust me:  the first one you make will be the hardest and by the time you complete call number 3 it will be easy. 

And, oh by the way:  if the phone is not exactly your thing, there’s nothing wrong with going door to door handing out a flyer with information about the Tax Credit on one side and information about you on the other! 

Bottom line:  this is not the December to take off and be reflective.  I know:  that’s what we real estate folk usually do.  This year, let’s leave that up to our competitors.  This year, let’s get busy like never before.  Let’s get our signs out in the marketplace so we’re ready for the big kick-off in January.  This is going to be the Super Bowl of real estate.

*Qualified members of the military, foreign service and intelligence communities receive a one year extension on the April/June deadlines.  Go HERE to learn more. 

whitehouse

Listingbook

I ran into this company about a year ago and was blown away but what they are doing.  I’m going to urge you to find out if your MLS has it and if it does, jump on it . . . with both feet!

Listingbook enables you to give real time MLS access to your buyers and sellers so that they can search the most accurate and up-to-date information available in the local market.  The only way they get access is through the account you give them and they’re reminded of that fact every time they log in. 

When your customer uses Listingbook, you get a report of everything they do:  how many houses they viewed, which ones they liked, which they eliminated and so on.  As such, it acts as an early warning system.  Say you give the Brown’s an account and watch them use it casually for a few weeks.  Then, one Monday, you log in and discover they looked at 29 houses they day before!  Guess what?!  It’s time to pick up the phone! 

Listingbook_logo_boxedYou know, we’re bombarded with stats about how many home buyers use the Internet in their search.  The general consensus is that the figure is about 85%.  Of course, that’s why we all need to be shifting as much of our marketing as possible to the Internet:  that’s where the buyers are.  But the other side of that coin is that the Internet buyer tends to spend much more time looking before they’re ready to buy, some estimate five or six months or even more. 

What happens in most offices is that an Internet lead comes in, the buyer is in their first month of nosing about and the agent either a) decides they’re not serious because they don’t plan to buy next weekend or b) pesters them to the point that they change their email address and cell phone number! 

Listingbook is a high-value item you can offer these buyers that lets them do the research they want to do while keeping you connected to their process.  It’s like this:  prior to Listingbook, we’d send our Internet buyers to an IDX feed or REALTOR.com or Trulia or any number of websites.  It’s like we handed them the keys to the car, stood at the end of the driveway and waved as they drove away.  With Listingbook, you still give them keys to the car (and it’s a Cadillac), but you get to ride along in the back seat! 

There are also great benefits for your sellers (most of whom are buyers, too).  Sellers get a report every day about activity in their specific neighborhood:  price changes, sales, expirations and so on.  It’s not unusual for Listingbook sellers to call their agents to initiate price reductions based on the information they receive. 

I’ve barely scratched the surface here and I know many of you are thinking, ‘But I’ve already got all that through my MLS.’  Trust me:  you don’t.  I’ve convinced a hand full of people to really get involved with Listingbook and they all report greater success converting, hanging onto and closing leads.  They also report very happy clients.  If you need further validation, ask Jack Bailey.  He’s the broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Greensboro and has been a Listingbook user since they started 8 years ago in his city.  He swears by it. 

Here’s my advice:

  1. Call your MLS a 

    nd ask if they have it.  If not, tell them they need it. 

  2. If they do have it, go get the training as soon as possible
  3. Don’t be casual about the training.  This tool takes a little work to master, but it’s well worth the effort.
  4. Use the 1-800 help number.  I’ve heard over and over that the Listingbook help desk folks will take whatever time is necessary to get you up and running.
  5. DON”T TELL YOUR COMPETITORS!  Really.  Most are ignoring Listingbook because they think they already have it.  Here’s your chance to get a leg-up on everyone else in your marketplace! 

MLS

 

 

10/21/09 – Oh:  here is the drop-down list of MLSs from the Listingbook website.  If yours is not listed, I’d still check.

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