I heard a good one today. “If my buyer makes a full price offer on your listing the Seller MUST accept it and if not, I can sue them and make them accept it.”

Now folks, have you heard this before? Do you believe it to be true? Well let me clarify, if you haven’t heard this before, you probably will at some time. If you believe it to be true, well, how do I put this nicely? You are dead wrong! I believe this to be one of the biggest misconceptions out there in Realtor world. We are supposed to be professionals and we are supposed to know a little bit about Real Estate and Real Estate laws. This belief is just so wrong and it irks me every time I hear it. “We made a full price offer and your Seller MUST accept it”. Well, all I have to say on this is, sue away. When the Judge quits laughing at you he will probably reprimand your Attorney for filing a frivolous law suit. Then you can explain to your Buyer why he wasted all his money on his Attorney’s fees and on my Seller’s Attorney’s fees.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about this. What say you?

I have had a couple good questions today, from Realtors, that are members of ActiveRain. 

1. 1. How is it that I seem to have Seller after Seller calling me to sell their houses?

1. 2. What do I mean by “I will do everything I can to get your house sold”?

Well, to answer the first question, I have been in Real Estate for 12 years. My “overnight success” is a product of working my ……..off for many years and staying focused on what I wanted to achieve. When I first started in Real Estate my market, Poinciana, Fl had about 1,200 houses and 6,000 people. 12 years later we have 16,500 houses and about 65,000 people. Every day, for 12 years, I have sat down first thing in the morning and mailed out my expired letter to every expired and withdrawn listing in Poinciana. Every time I list or sale a house I send out 400 jumbo “just listed” or “just sold” postcards. I have automated mailers in place that go out every month. Our community, has a HOA monthly paper, that I have had an ad in for 12 years. We also have a local “advertiser” that comes out once a month, that I have advertised in for 10 years. These 2 papers are delivered to every house in my market once a month. I never, ever miss any of these advertising opportunities.

I’ve bought t-shirts for the local little league that say Tutas Towne Realty across the back. I used to have a TV commercial. I keep in touch with everyone in my data base. I used to put magnetic signs on my convertible and cruise the Winn Dixie(our only store at the time) with my top down and just wave and say “hi” to people. It was my own daily parade. On Saturdays I would ride around and visit garage sales and catch FSBOs in their yard. I became a fixture in my community riding around in my green Sebring convertible with my signs. Now “miraculously” Sellers just call me to list their houses. Funny how that works.

Now, to answer the second question. What do I mean by, “I will do everything to get your home sold?” This one is easy. This is an example of how I might answer some questions, along this line, coming from a potential Seller.

• Seller: Broker Bryant, what are you going to do to get my house sold?
• BB: Price
• Seller: Broker Bryant, what kind of advertising do you do?
• BB: Price
• Seller: Broker Bryant, what do you do that is different than the other Realtor we talked to?
• BB: Price
• Seller: Broker Bryant, how did you sell so many houses this year?
• BB: Price
• Seller: Broker Bryant, how come you don’t advertise in the newspaper?
• BB: Price
• Seller: Broker Bryant, what happens if you don’t sell our house in 45 days?
• BB: Price
• Seller: Broker Bryant, how come we see your sold signs everywhere?
• BB: Price
• Seller: Broker Bryant, what do we do if we want to list with you today?
• BB: Cost

So, there you have it folks, my secret marketing plan. Become an “expert” at pricing. I am sure other “Top Producers” will agree with me that pricing is the name of the game. Price, price, price. Nothing will sell a property quicker. Throw in being clean and easy to show and you can take that listing to the bank.

In summary, there are no shortcuts to being successful in Real Estate. Have a plan, write it down and work it. 12 years later you can sit around and answer the phone and decide who you want to work with. Even then, keep working your plan. Become an “expert” in your area on pricing and learn how to get Sellers to agree with you. A “sold” listing takes place at time of listing. If you have done your job properly the actual selling of the house is just a technicality.

Want to be an "overnight success" in Real Esate? Work your ………off!

Let's talk about Seller interviews. Yep, that's right Seller interviews. when I go on a listing appointment, I know in advance that the listing is mine. why? Because I'm great! Well, maybe in my own mind. But seriously, I have the mind set that if they are calling me to list their home, then they have already made up their mind to give me their business. They could be meeting with other realtors as well, but frankly, I am never concerned about that. Cocky? Probably. But I do know from my years of experience that it is very rare that I will not leave with the listing.

So, I go in prepared to have a new listing. I approach listing appointments as an interview, except I'm not the one being interviewed. I am interviewing them to see if they are someone I want to work with and to see if their motivation fits in with what I am trying to achieve. My goal is to have the house priced properly, clean and with easy access. I want to be able to sell the house in 45 days or less. In this more difficult market the sellers have to be in the "need to sell" category. This means they have a set timeframe they must meet and they are willing to price the home so that it will sell during this period. The way the market is right now, the "right price", could be anywhere from 5%-15% below the most recent sales.

My interview will include the following questions.

• Why are you selling?
• When I list your house today and find a buyer tomorrow, that wants to close in 30 days and take possession, where will you go?
• Will your house be in "showing condition" at all times?
• If I call you tomorrow and tell you a Realtor is coming by in 15 minutes will the house be ready?
• Can you leave with 15 minutes notice so the Realtor and his Buyer can take their time and look at the house?

Then I have to address the things I don't do.

• I don't do open houses.
• I don't run ads in the newspaper.
• I probably will not be the one that brings the Buyer into your house.
• I don't answer my phone after 8 pm.
• No, i'm not cheap.

Then to make their day, I will tell them what I will do.

• I promise to call you constantly.
• I promise to answer my phone, personally, when you call or return your call within 1 hour.
• I promise to do everything I can to get your home sold.

Then, assuming they have given me all the right answers during my interview and they have agreed with my pricing strategy, I will let them list with me.

Now folks, when you are reading this it may sound cold and calculated but it's not. My Seller interview is full of honesty, confidence, knowledge and humor. The point is, do business on your terms. Make sure the relationship between you and your customers/clients is built on understanding and trust. Make sure they know what to expect from you and make sure they know what you expect from them. When I take a listing, my Sellers and I become a team. The only way for us to be successful is if we are all on the same page. The time to determine this is before you agree to take the listing. Sellers love this. They don't care about all your awards and marketing techniques. They care that you are on the same page as them and that you are working towards the same goal, which is, selling their home in the shortest amount of time for the most amount of money.

If any one of these areas is in conflict, then don't be afraid of turning down the listing. There are plenty more properties out there and having a listing with uncooperative Sellers is time consuming, stressful and you will probably not get paid anyway.

So don't be needy. Be picky. chose your business relationships wisely and enjoy the rewards you will reap.

Please, please Mr. Seller list with me. NOT!

Today’s the day!! October 1^st. The 4^th quarter is here. Only 92 more days to make money this year. Man, I like this time of the year and I like it a lot. I have goals to meet and now’s the time to get to work. My goal is to get all 17, of my current listings, pending before Thanksgiving and closed before the end of the year. Will it happen? Why not? There’s time. I have 7 weeks left, that’s a sale every other day. I’ve done that before, I can do it again. After all I don’t show houses, so all I have to do is get Realtors to show my listings and negotiate deals.

So, last week I started hitting up all my Sellers for price reductions. I even had a few call me suggesting it. They know the holidays are closing in and if we don’t sell by Thanksgiving, we could be dead in the water, until the New Year. My Sellers have plans and need to sell, we can’t wait that long. So together we are going to get their homes sold. This is exciting! I love goals and I love pressure!

What are your goals over the next 92 days? Are you winding down or are you gearing up?

Ok, so I did a little Google test today. I’ve been reading about the “long tail”, not quite sure I understand this but how’s this:

I “Googled” and my ActiveRain blog showed up as follows.

• Transaction Brokerage Relationship-came in at #5 out of 7,690,000.
• Transaction Broker Relationship-came in at #10 out of 4,790,000.
• Range Pricing-came in at #s 10,12 and 13 out of 62,500,000.
• Non-Brokerage Relationship-came in at #3 out of 9,001,000.
• Transaction Broker-came in at #10 out of 902,000.
• 45 Day Listing Agreement-came in at #1 and 2 out of 21,100,000.

So, folks, if you need “expert” advise about Real Estate please contact, Broker Bryant. Oh, by the way, you can “Google” that too!

Good morning one and all! I hope you are having a wonderful relaxing Saturday after a hectic money making week. Now wasn’t that pleasant? Maybe I will get some business from it. Maybe I will make a friend and they will want to work with me. Maybe a consumer will find this site, see that I’m a nice guy and give me a call. Maybe it will generate some comments. Do I care? You betcha!

I have read several posts over the last couple of days from folks voicing their opinions on what ActiveRain is or is not for them. Personally, I think they are missing the point. To me ActiveRain IS a social network, a place to have fun, a place to connect with others in my profession, a place to voice my opinion(for better or worse), a place to share my knowledge, a place to learn new things, a place to connect on a personal level with the consumer, a place to share our lives, a place to share in the agony and defeat of our business, a place to increase my web presence and a place to be rewarded for all or hard work(points). ActiveRain, the more it grows, the more it is starting to be a reflection of “true life”. Relationships, cliques and strong opinions are starting to develop. And to me, it is awesome! I hate boring. I hate the status quo. I hate putting on airs. I want excitement, mental stimulation and honesty in my life. ActiveRain is giving me all of that. And it’s a wonderful thing.

In my opinion, in order to get he full benefit of this network you must get into the game, make friends, share your thoughts, post useful information and post fun information. I mean let’s face it, at this point, our audience is other members. Work the audience. In the short time that I have been a member of ActiveRain, I have been interviewed my Inman news, twice, Margaret Rome interviewed me on her radio show in Baltimore, I was on Rory Siems pod cast in California, I have received personal notes, cards and emails from many members thanking me for my input, I have called other members with encouraging words, my mind and thinking process has expanded, I am thinking about writing a book, my interest in my business has been renewed, my discipline has been increased, writing has forced me to concentrate on what I do and how I do it and because of this I have seen a tremendous increase in my business.

So folks, if you are just posting information, for the consumer, and are not participating in the community, you are missing out on a wonderful opportunity. Take the plunge. Forget about points and comments and just do it. Do it to your fullest and points, comments, stars and business will come automatically. All of those are bi-products of a job well done. Wow, sounds like real life again! The only thing we have control over is our own lives and attitudes. Take care of those two things and everything else will naturally flow into your life.

So, ActiveRain, a social club? Yes, and sooooooo much more! What say you?

                                                                  Ok, I have been doing a little research related to my post the other day. It seems the Realtor, involved in these deals, had quite a few of these, in my opinion, fraudulent transactions. My research uncovered the fact that, this Realtor, since January 1 2006 has 7 active listings, 3 closed transactions and, are you ready for this, 74 withdrawn listings! That’s right, 74 withdrawn listings. The majority, of these were new homes purchased to be flipped.

As I had stated in my earlier post, these houses were not worth anywhere near what they were purchased for. Based on the analysis, I did today, these houses, in 2005, brand new, were worth between $195,000 and $205,000. They were being sold at $225,000 and re-listed at $265,000. So, here is what raises a red flag, to me, that mortgage fraud has occurred.

• *These homes were purchase with as little as $5,000 down.
• *A second home investment property almost always requires 10- 20% down.
• *They were purchased on stated income loans.
• *They were purchased by Buyers from out of the area.
• *The builder has subsequently moved on.
• *None of these homes were resold at the promised price of $265,000.

Now, my questions are-What recourse do these Buyers have? Who can they contact about mortgage fraud after the fact? Are the Buyers willing participants or should they be able to rely on the advise of a Realtor? Was the Realtor roped in as well? Should he have known better?

So there you have it. A very ugly situation. I am starting to get calls from quite a few of these Buyers and I want to be able to direct them to someone that may be able to help. If not, they are going to lose 10s of thousands of dollars and ruin their credit as well.

I’m curious to know your opinions.

Please remember, mortgage fraud is a felony. But more importantly, it destroys lives. Help, stamp out mortgage fraud, today!!!!

Got a call from a Realtor today, off one of my signs. Seems he was out showing houses with a Buyer and noticed my “For Sale” sign. Since they were in front of the house he wanted to know if they could have a look. “Well of course” I say. Then he says “My Buyer wants to know if they will negotiate”

Now I guess that’s a fair question. But you know, they hadn’t even seen the house yet and I had not told them the asking price. I guess this Buyer has been reading too much about it being a “Buyer’s Market”. Anyway, I am pleased they wanted to see it, but don’t you think the Realtor should at least show the house, before asking if my Sellers will negotiate? Then he proceeded to tell me how qualified his Buyer is and how the Buyer needs to close quickly. “Can the Sellers close in two weeks?”

Wow, I’m pretty excited now. According to the Realtor, this Buyer is extremely qualified and wants a quick close. Exactly what my Sellers are looking for! The house has only been on the market two days and it is vacant, so yeah, they can close quickly.

So I say, “Well, listen that all sounds nice but don’t you think you should show the house first?” “I mean the Buyer hasn’t even seen it yet and you are wanting to negotiate” “By the way, what is your Buyer’s price range”. Now since the Realtor had never asked me the price, I thought I had better bring up this “small point”.

The Realtor says, “He’s qualified up to $200,000, but can close real quick”. Now, my excitement is starting to fade real quick. So I respond, “Uh, you know this house is listed for $249,000, it has over 1900 sq ft and 4 bedrooms and has been rebuilt from the studs up after the hurricanes of ’04. I don’t think you need to waste your time showing it to your Buyer if he only qualifies for $200,00.” “ I could be wrong, but I don’t think my Sellers will accept anything close to $200,000”.

“But they will negotiate?” Now, not being one to blow an offer out of the water, I answer, “Yes, everything is negotiable. Why don’t you go ahead and show the house and if he likes it make an offer and I will present it to the Sellers.”

He says, “Oh, he just said he doesn’t like it, thanks.”

I guess this Realtor and his “Buyer” decided to hop back on their bubble and fly away. Go figure!

How to waste time in Real Estate 101!

What do you do for a living? I am sure we all have been asked that question many times. How do you answer? Normally, I say something like “I’m a Real Estate Broker, I list and sell houses”. And I think that covers it all. But does it really? Is that all I am? “A Real Estate Broker, who list and sells houses." If so, then I must say, I am a sad individual. Real Estate, to me, is so much more than that.

Kristal Kraft wrote a post yesterday, referring to us as “Super heroes”. And you know, I like that. I’m a “Super hero”. Wow, now that’s something I can get my head around. The irony is, that most of the time I am far from being a “Super hero”. I always try to do my best. But my best is not always enough.

As most of you, who have read my posts, know, I talk to my Sellers constantly. I truly like them and I want to be able to help them with the selling of their homes. With this changing market it is getting a little more difficult to sell properties in the timeframe that my Sellers have. I spend a lot of time talking with them and explaining market conditions and I keep letting them know that I am doing my best, so hang in there. I like them. They trust me. Most of my Sellers are what I call “need to sell” Sellers. They are not “testing” the market or hoping some sucker will come along and over pay for their house. My Sellers have their homes priced right and willingly do, whatever I suggest, to help get their homes sold. They trust me.

Let me introduce you to a few of my Sellers:

Charles, his lovely wife and 3 children(they are expecting their 4^th). This family is wonderful. Charles is only 26 years old but is a hardworking man and loving father. They desperately need to move out of their 1200 sq ft 3 bedroom home into a larger home for the children. I want to help. They trust me.

Bernyce and her husband Leroy. They are in their 70’s and really need to downsize and move to Georgia to be nearer their children. Every dime they own is tied up in their house. Poor Leroy works the night shift as a security guard and Bernyce just wants to be able to buy a small place, where Leroy can finally retire. Bernyce worries about Leroy all the time. I love Bernyce and Leroy. They are friends of mine. They are depending on me. I can’t let them down.

Elsa and Prudencio are really nice folks from Puerto Rico. They are also well in their 70’s and don’t like Florida at all. They made a mistake when they moved here and all they want to do, is move back home, where their family lives. Elsa has had her house packed in boxes for 10 months and they just sit at the dining room table, day after day, waiting for a Buyer. This is a new listing for me. I talk to her everyday and try to reassure her that I will get her house sold. Will I? I don’t know. They are very closed to being top heavy and have no other money. I hope I do. I keep them in my prayers.

Naomi and Luis. Also elderly people who just want to downsize. Someone sold them on a reverse mortgage a few years ago and their equity is slowly getting eaten up. They’ve been trying to sell for about a year with several other Realtors. The house is way to big for them and Naomi has health problems and struggles to stay on top of things. Leroy can hardly walk and it was taking him a week just to mow the grass. By the time he finished, it was time to be mowed again. So I hired my lawn service to take care of that for him. We talk everyday. Naomi is real smart and I really enjoy talking with her. I learn something everyday. Together we are going to get their home sold.

Mr. Morales I have known for years. I sold his house about 4 years ago and put him in a larger home, since his grown daughter and son-in-law live with him. He is a disabled Vietnam Vet. The daughter helps to take care of him. Driving 100 miles to the VA Hospital is getting difficult to do with his health failing and gas prices going up, so we are trying to move him closer to the hospital. His house is not selling. He has done everything I asked, even so far as tiling the entire house to get rid of the worn carpeting. He trust me explicitly. And I must get his home sold.

So folks, there you have it, real people and real situations. So what do you do for a living? “My name is Broker Bryant and I strive to help people.” Super hero? I don’t think so.

I wrote a post a while back explaining “Range Pricing” and how it works. There are still many Realtors who don’t understand this technique and are hesitant to use it. But that’s ok, it is definitely not for everyone and quite frankly, if more Realtors used it, I probably would not have the same success with it, that I do. I have found over the years, that most Realtors do not want to think out of the box and are happy to stick with the status quo. This is actually one of the reasons why successful people do not mind sharing their “trade secrets”. The truth is, only a small amount of Realtors will take a good idea and run with it, anyway.

When “The Lovely Wife” and I opened up Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. we knew we were going to have to do things differently in order to compete with the “big boys”. Not only was it just the two of us, working from our home, but we chose a very small and difficult market to work in. At the time, Poinciana, Fl. only had about 6,000 people and was way out in the boonies. Not very many Realtors or Buyers were even willing to take the drive out there to look at properties. But that was ok, too. We didn’t have much competition and there was enough business to keep us busy.

We started by marketing to Realtors. Since we knew we didn’t want to work with Buyers, we had to find ways to get Realtors to make the drive. Se we were very active in the local Board of Realtors and spent a lot of time networking and making friends with other Realtors. Our slogan at the time was “Come on down to Tutas Towne, your Realtor friendly Realtors”. This was on all out marketing pieces and in all our MLS listing comments, MLS books of course, for those that haven’t been around that long. Our strategy worked, as Realtors started showing our listings and wanted to work with us.

We never thought of other Realtors as our competition, we always thought of them as our customers. This was an excellent strategy. I don’t think any other Realtors had this mind set, back then, so it really helped us to stand out in the crowd.

To add to this, we did things differently with our Sellers as well. One being “Talking Houses.” We were the only ones in our area that used “Talking Houses” and secondly, we were the only ones to use “Range Pricing.” These two things gave us the edge we needed when competing for listings. We could offer Sellers something different. We were thinking out of the box and it worked.

Now, ten years later, I (since “The Lovely Wife” has retired) still think out of the box. I still want Realtors to show and sell my listings. They are still my customers. My goal is, and always has been, to make their job as easy as I can. If they have a choice of similar homes to show, I want them to chose my listings first, knowing they will be treated fairly and compensated well for showing and selling my listings. This is why I participate in forums and why I blog. I want to help Realtors. Knowledgeable Realtors are easier to work with.

I don’t use “Talking Houses” any more, not quite sure why, but just moved on I guess. So, I  gave them all to Jonathan Greene, to hopefully help him in his business. I hope he uses them and I hope they help.

Now “Range Pricing” is still my ace in the hole. When I take a listing, I only have two initial goals, get Buyers through the front door and encourage them to make an offer. I have found no better technique to achieve this than “Range Pricing”. Now that the market has slowed, there is no better time, than now, to get out of the box and give it a try. I can assure you, that if this technique is used properly, your listings will get showings and Buyers will make offers. Now I don’t know about your market, but in mine, that is the whole point.

So folks, if you have listings that aren’t getting showings, try it. What have you go to lose? Maybe, just maybe, you’ll get showings. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll get an offer. Maybe your Seller will accept it. Maybe you will get paid. Or maybe, like most Realtors, you’ll just continue on with the status quo. Status quo? ActiveRain? I think not.