The Market As We Know It.

Today's real estate market as we know it is certainly a unique one.  Mortgage rates are at all time lows, there are floods of people that would like to buy, but cannot, money is tight, and the inventory is fluctuating almost every week.  How are you suppose to run your business?  Why isn't your market like the one you hear about on the news?  Real estate is an extremely market specific, and segmented industry.  Two cities are not alike.  The people within those cities are different too, with different incomes, different values, and different beliefs.  Therefore, what one hears about in the news, many times, is inaccurate to the whole.  

The market will never be the same.  The need to be different and adaptable is ever increasing.  If you are sitting idle, then the boat has already taken off, and is not stopping.  Do not worry what your competitors are doing, but focus on your business model, focus on your SOI, and focus on your customers.  Focus is the key.  Drown out the media noise, and let's go to work!

Scott Kueny.

Professional Organizations: To Join or Not to Join.

Professional organizations are a wonderful thing.  In my opinion, they are a great platform to remain informed and meet your peers.  Not everyone views professional networks the same though.  Some view an organization as a business opportunity to meet customers, others an opportunity to learn and stay abreast to industry news and updates, and others for the pure social aspect of the group setting.  Which one are you?

A balance must be in place, and a goal must be in mind when deciding to sign up for an organization.  What does the organization mean to you? How are you going to be leveraging the organization?  The key is to remember, like most, you get the results from the amount of efforts that you put forth.  Get involved, be purposeful, and lead with your heart.

How Far Will You Go?

Part of rebuilding New Orleans caused residents often to be challenged with the task of tracing home titles back potentially hundreds of years. With a community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have been passed along through generations of family, sometimes making it quite difficult to establish ownership. Here's a great letter an attorney wrote to the FHA on behalf of a client: You have to love this lawyer....... A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply. (Actual reply from FHA): "Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin." Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows: (Actual response): "Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application.

I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France, in 1803 the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella.
The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus's expedition...Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana. God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our loan?"

The loan was immediately approved!

Easier Said Than Done.

How many times have you been in conversation with a prospective customer; the conversation goes well and then you go your separate ways? What, you didn't ask for the order?  You know very well that you needed to ask, you are in sales after all.  You have been to all of the training's, you have read all of the books, you know the scripts, you've practiced the techniques, but for what ever reason you do not ask!  How can this be?

I chalk up the lapse of action to ask for the order as a mental stop that needs to be broken, and broken fast.  I once heard  a negotiation technique that I felt was interesting in multiple ways.  Bare with me as I make sense of this.  The technique was as follows:

To set the technique up, you are a NEW real estate investor, you have just found a property that you like, and you wish to make an offer.  The question now is where do you start, and how can you get yourself to make that first step?  Here is what was recommended...Make an absurdly low-ball offer.  Why?  The reasoning behind this is to get the conversation started.  This low offer not only shocks the other party, but helps release the fear that was built up within the NEW investor, and does not put the investor in a dangerous position, but merely helps break the ice. 

Another example was shared the other day on the radio.  All attendees were in a training beginners' class to learn how to juggle.  The instructor stands up in front of the room and instructs the attendees to hold all of their balls in their hands.  He then orders all of the students to drop all of the balls onto the floor.  What is the point of this?  The purpose of dropping the balls was to help release the tension that every single student had of dropping the balls.  The instructor wanted to get that anxiety out up front, and followed this lesson up by saying, "There, now there is only room for improvement." 

I think too often then not, fear and anxiety, for failure holds us back from attaining our true potential.  Sometimes you need to just confront the fear up front, and make the first move to get the ball rolling.  Trust that your knowledge, your personality, and your experineces will take care of the rest.  Take that first step, make your first move, and just pay attention to the reaction, it will give you hints on where to go from there.  Just get started. The worst thing that will happen is your prospective client says no, and there is only up from there.

- Scott

Valuing Your Social Capital

Social media is certainly here to stay.  In fact, if you are not involved with social media in some way shape or form, then you have just fallen behind elementary school children. Nowadays, kids far younger then my counter parts and colleagues, have mobile devices in their hands and are advancing into the mobile realm. They are posting videos, blogs, tweets, posts, and so much more that it is incredible.  With so much activity occurring within the social sphere, it has become extremely important to monitor social activities.

Monitoring social activities is important to ensure that your "social cred" is intact and accurate.  I just came across multiple companies that provide monitoring and analysis of influential socialites:

• Peek You
• Traackr
• MBlast
• PeerIndex
• Kred

All of these sites are geared to the identifying, and tracking, of social activity.  Can you see the need for these companies?  Can you see how the demand for such services has given rise to these companies?  Businesses have made it a point to monitor social media sites to scan for both positive and negative customer experiences.  Consumer opinions can escalate both positively and negatively on a viral scale given the right circumstances.  As a service provider, it is in our interests to respond promptly to this feedback and take action immediately.  Technology waits for no one, and with opinions at the fingertips of consumers, waiting at a seconds notice to flood social media channels, attention must be paid to social media. 

How would you rate your social cred? Better yet, what are your consumers saying about your social activity?  Are you even getting any social activity?

- Scott

The Obstacles We Create

I am in the business of sales.  I sell a unique product, what makes my product unique is not so much the product itself, but the way that it is sold.  I sell to Realtors, Mortgage, and Escrow professionals, but they are not the end users of my product..their customers are.  I try to sell in order for those professionals to recommend my product to their clients.  The more clients that they [professionals] have, the more potential sales that I could have.  Therefore, as in most sales positions, I am taking the position of a profit partner.  What is a profit partner?  As I define it, it is someone who helps drive business in some way, shape, or form in a manner of good faith that will result in an increase in sales.  I strive to add value through my connections to other professionals, tools that could instill efficiency, knowledge, and by acting as a bouncing board for ideas.

When taking the position of a profit partner, it is important to realize the importance of your time, energy, and expertise.  You must realize when your advice, tools, and other resources are not being utilized.  Sometimes the greatest obstacles are those created by your partners themselves.  Some obstacles cannot be helped, and overcome.  Cut your losses, move on, and spend your time with those that see value in your offering/s.  Only then can you succeed, and thrive.  We must note that the obstacles facing our customers are very much the same obstacles that we ourselves create and face on a daily basis. Use this fact as the platform resolve possible hurdles.