Fine balance between pushing a real estate agent and upsetting them

Video 110: I have a buyer who really wants a house. This is a bank owned home that has been on the market for five days. For three days now I have been trying to find out the status, any offers etc. I emailed the real estate agent the day before because the MLS said DO NOT CALL, email. So I did. And did not get a response. Yesterday we went to view the house and I emailed and called, no answer. Today my buyer said I want it let’s go after it, and we decided to put in an offer. There are some special circumstances due to it being a Homepath house and us needing to close by the end of the month I wanted to discuss with the agent. Again a call and email went into the agent with no response. I sent the offer in 3 hours ago and asked for a confirmation… well you get the picture. So where do you draw the line. First I want an answer, I want some form of communication. At the same time I don’t want to upset the agent because my buyers really want this property. Do you call the broker and complain so you get some communications or does that p/o the agent completely and your deal is fried? Thoughts? Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

1) The Ten Day Close: Why Other Lenders Whine About It – This one is getting annoying. We have 2 lenders here in Phoenix who can get loans closed (even in today’s market) in ten days or less. One of them even guarantees it. It is amazing to see other lenders, who work for shops that have a hard time getting a loan closed in 30-45 days, say it is bs. It is NOT bs as I have yet to see them not meet the 10-day close timeframe.

2) My Loan Officer Won’t Provide Me a Good Faith Estimate – When with the federal government stop over-regulating and making things worse. The have tried what, about 10 things in real estate over the last year to help consumers or to help the housing market? And pretty much everyone has been a disaster.

3) Cut foreclosures by slicing real estate fees – The foreclosure crisis is now the fault of the agent who charges too much commission. Al Lewis, excuse my French, but you are moron! The buyer deserves representation in the market and both the buyer and seller deserve full time professionals who can go to bat for them. Are you also out there also wanting to dictate how much a doctor can make for a procedure or how much a columnist receives for a poorly thought out article? There is nothing secret or hidden about our commissions, they are all in our contracts and on the HUD-1s.

4) Outdated Sales Tactics Remain the Norm – Some people (many that is) get caught up in what they have always done and hate change.

5) Don’t Hate Me ‘Cause I’m NAR – Good to see some members of NAR out there interacting with agents and listening to them.

6) Can I submit an offer on a short sale property while I keep looking? – This is a great question that all agents need to answer and one of the reasons on my short sale listings I require a deposit with the accepted offer.

7) Loan Originators: Stop Your Crying…Let’s Love the Good Faith Estimate – How good is Rhonda when it comes to the new GFE? She makes the top 10 list twice for the same subject in the same day. But she has a point here, we can all hate it, but it is here and we need to deal with it.

8) Don’t Get Short With Short Sales – Look Harder – Lesley and I must have been sharing the same brain wave yesterday as I did my blog post on which is a better day short sale or foreclosure. We both come to the same conclusion, if you have a time frame to be in your house then a short sale is not probably your best option, but if you have time to wait big deals can be had.

9) 35 Questions and Suggestions to help you sell your home faster – Some good advice for sellers on what can help their house sell quicker.

10) Knuckleheads beware: Real estate is changing – Is there anyone in the business that really makes you think more than the guys at 1000watt blog? Let me help you, no there is not.

Video 26: I was recently approached by someone who was not happy with their real estate agent and wanted a new buyers agent. What should you do if you want a new real estate agent? If you want to discuss this or tthe Phoenix real estate market you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

Video 19: Real estate agents should not be giving advice to other agents clients. Do you agree? Leave a comment or e-mail me your thoughts Dean Ouellette.

1) Is our industry a bunch of bums? – How should real estate agents dress? This is always an interesting conversation with plenty of good arguments for all sides. So how should we dress?

2) $8000 tax credit: The end is near – Time is running out for the $8000 first-time home buyer tax credit, you need to CLOSE on your house before December 1st, 2009.

3) Are listing agents hurting their clients by hiding addresses? – Redfin always seems to put out good material on interesting subjects. I learned a good amount from this post I had not know.

4) Underwater mortgages may reach 30% – This post reminds me of that RE/MAX commercial running right now that says talk to your local agent because your market may vary.

5) Bizarre real estate practices #873 (and #874) – I think this survey could be taken as good news for some agents. So many agents set the bar so low for what people expect that if you go above and beyond clients will love you for life.

A fellow agent in my office recently asked me to put together something on Twitter and how real estate agents could utilize it. We are Realtors, there is one thing we all love to say when introduced to anything new, “I’m to busy for that.” And while it is true you, like I, may be very busy, it is important to look at what we are doing with our time and is it leading us to where we need to be down the road.

Twitter is one tool many of you have probably heard of, but have little clue what it is. The short answer is Twitter is a micro-blog social networking tool. My goal here is not to teach you the ins and outs of what Twitter is, but why as a real estate agent you should be using it.

Purpose

There are three main purposes I am going to focus on in hopes of convincing you Twitter is a tool you should be using.

1. Presence: Have you ever searched your name on the Internet? What do you find? If you were to meet a potential client in your day-to-day activities and handed them a card what do you think they would do when they get back home? They are going to Google you more often than not. What will they find? Twitter is a tool that can help you control what they find. Not only does Twitter rank well so your actual Twitter account will be found, but Twitter can also be used as a tool to drive people to other sites that control your message as we will discuss more below.
2. Build your sphere: Twitter is a great tool that can be used to build your SOI. This is something we all work on consistently (or should work on). So how does Twitter help you build your sphere? Much like you may spend time in public meeting people and adding people to your sphere, you can do the same on Twitter and probably meet a lot more people in a lot less time.
3. Education: If you want to be a great Realtor you need to stay up on the latest. What does the recent legislation or tax incentive mean to your client? Did you even know about the latest program your community may be running? Twitter is a great tool for keeping up with the latest happenings in our industry with minimal effort. As you engage with other Realtors on Twitter you will constantly be seeing what they are talking about you will be kept in the loop about the latest happenings. Twitter is also a great way to share ideas and ask opinions of other Realtors and get their feedback. Twitter will make you a better real estate agent.

Process

While I could spend hours talking about the process you go about to get up and running on Twitter and how to use it day-to-day, this is going to be the abridged version.

The first thing you need to do when creating your account is fill out your profile and fill it out in full. Take a minute to upload a picture or icon that represents you, this makes it easier for others to remember you when they see your Twitter updates.

Make sure you fill in a link to your blog and please don’t forget to enter your location. There has been more than one occasion where I have looked for a Realtor in another state, gone to my Twitter followers to find one and open a profile of a known Realtor and they do not have their location filled out. How can I send you a referral if I don’t know where you live?

After your profile is completed then start following Realtors who are known as Twitter experts. Watch how they are using Twitter and start interacting with them. Not only does this build connections that could lead to a referral, this also builds friendships in which you can build on not only online, but offline too. These relationships will help in your growth online.

Find local Twitter users to follow. Once you find local users who you have similar interest in start interacting with them on Twitter. When they mention something you may have a similar interest in jump in on the conversation. You are going to find that many of these people get together for local “Tweet Ups.” A Tweet Up is when a group of Twitter users who usually have something in common get together at a local establishment for networking opportunities. This is a great chance to build your sphere.

Some basics on using Twitter to remember. First DO NOT SPAM. Who wants to read “I’m a local real estate agent, send me your referrals.” Not me, not many people. If you interact and engage with people they will come to know you and know you are an agent without you cramming it down their throats.

Interact, don’t dictate when on Twitter. Have you seen all those late-night comics talk about Twitter saying its a bunch of people sitting in front of their computer typing “I’m eating pizza watching Seinfeld.” Does it happen, sure, do those people have much interaction or followers, no.

I would say you should be starting half, maybe even as much as 2/3 of your Twitter updates with the @. What is the “@” in Twitter? If you were to talk to you me, and my name on Twitter is DeanOuellette you would start it out @DeanOuellette (message). That is considered a reply and will only be able to be seen by me, you and people following both of us.

So why should half your Tweets be replies? Because that means you are interacting and talking to people, not just telling people what you are doing. If you have a group of friends that you are out to dinner with you don’t just sit there for 2 hours talking about yourself and shutting them out, you have a conversation. That is how Twitter should be used too.

Payoff

So what is the payoff? Twitter is a great chance to interact with hundreds or thousands of people in a short period of time. In the last year I have added over 2500 followers to my Twitter account. Let’s say in a conservative estimate I only interacted with 20% of them. That means I added 500 people to my sphere in the last year. How many do you add through traditional prospecting? All of a sudden that time investment doesn’t seem so bad.

Twitter can also help other online efforts like your blog. When I write a new post I take 2 minutes and send out an update on Twitter to let people know I updated the blog and what the latest post is about. You will be amazed after your Twitter account grows how much this can help your blog. Not only does it send people to read that post, it also shows people who may not have known you had a blog that you are out there. All this leads to more traffic, more links and improved search results in Google.

Twitter takes time, you are not going to have 1000 people you follow and that follow you overnight and that should not be your goal. Twitter is not about how many followers you have, it is about how many you interact with on a fairly regular basis. It is about a community, a community you build.

There are dozens of other suggestions I could come up with for Twitter, but I am not out to write a book. If you have any suggestions to add to this conversation or any questions please leave a comment or better yet, Tweet me!.