“Get it clean, clean, clean,” said Rinomato. “If your house isn’t clean, it instantly sends up negative thoughts that the home is not well maintained. If your house is spotless, you’re ahead of the game,” she said.

But don’t stop there, advised Rinomato. To increase your chances of making a sale, “stage” the house to make it as attractive as possible. Until recently, “Staging meant pulling out all the stops—setting the dining table with your best china and crystal, arranging flowers, lighting candles,” she said. “Now we take the minimalist approach. Basically, you want to strip the house to its bare essentials, depersonalize it so potential buyers can superimpose themselves and their lifestyle on the house.”

Rinomato offered the following tips for staging a home:

1. Visit model homes and examine shelter magazines for inexpensive decorating ideas. Always keep in mind you are not decorating for yourself but for the general public.

2. Start with the outside. Give the house a fresh coat of paint, add shiny hardware to the front door and plant a few flowers to send a subliminal message the house is loved and well cared for.

3. Declutter every room to make it look larger. Get rid of family pictures, trophies and knickknacks. Closets and drawers should be no more than 30% full.

4. Invest in eco-friendly but bright lights. Open the drapes or remove them completely. “Light, bright rooms give the impression this is a happy place—and everyone wants to move into a happy place,” said Rinomato.

5. Feature only a few pieces of furniture with mainstream appeal. Pull pieces away from walls to make rooms look bigger.

6. Make sure a room’s primary use is obvious. A bedroom should look like a bedroom, not an office, hobby center or gym.

7. Bedrooms and kitchens are difficult to stage because they are in daily use, but make the effort. Clear everything off the counters and nightstands, roll up the rugs and hide the laundry hamper. Buff the cabinets with car wax and clean under the sinks. Invest in pristine white bed linens and towels.

8. Minimize the “pet effect.” Remove food bowls and litter boxes to the utility room. Deodorize thoroughly.

9. Organize the utility room and garage. Hang up the bicycles, roll up the hose. Renting a storage locker is worth the cost if it helps you sell faster and for a higher price.

10. Once your house is staged, invite your friends or Realtor over and walk them through to get an objective opinion.

(c) 2010, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
Foreclosures Take Heavy Toll on Hearts and Minds
Even in Tough Times, 77 Percent of Americans View Homeownership as a Part of Their Own Personal American Dream

Now there’s an easy way to do both.

Text LEADERS to 88500 from your mobile phone to receive instant information on the 2010 conference, scheduled for June 9-10, 2010. You can also visit http://risevent.mccid.com on your phone to view RISMedia’s Leadership Conference mobile-enabled website.

By texting in, you’ll also receive onsite updates while at the conference, and get access to the entire conference schedule, view sponsors and exhibitors and so much more!

This year’s conference, with more than 25 sessions—close to 10 dedicated solely to social media and mobile strategies—is not to be missed! Be on hand as we unveil the results of RISMedia’s Real Estate Social Media Census! Click here to take the survey now!

Register Now at http://events.rismedia.com!

Want More Information? Text LEADERS to 88500 from your mobile phone or visit http://rismedia.com/events/leadership-conference.

Still Have Questions? Contact Stephanie Andre at stephanie@rismedia.com or 203-855-1234 x141.

For more information about mobile real estate systems, please visit www.mobilerealestateid.com.

RISMedia welcomes your comments and questions. Email realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Moderator:
Steve Brown, Special Liaison for Large Firm Relations, NAR

Participants:
Terry Hankner, President Comey & Shepherd REALTORS®, Cincinnati, Ohio
Helen Hanna Casey, President, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Larry Hibler, Broker, RE/MAX Achievers, Phoenix, Arizona

Steve Brown: While sales dropped slightly in December of 2009, the overall rate of existing home sales at the close of the fourth quarter was 15% higher than it was in the year-ago period. The price median rose a bit to post the first year-over-year gain since 2007, as inventory continues to shrink. That is reason for optimism as we move into the spring sales season. But since distressed homes are still accounting for more than a third of all sales nationwide, it is safe to say that recovery is fragile at best—and that until the jobless rate improves, the success rate will be highest for those REALTORS® who excel at managing short sales.

But therein lies the rub. The truth is there is no magic bullet for understanding, much less navigating the muddy waters of the short sale process…although there is now some hope on the horizon thanks to the upcoming Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA) developed by the Treasury Department. Designed to simplify and streamline the use of short sales, the expected benefits of HAFA include: allowing borrowers to receive pre-approved short sale terms before listing the property; requiring borrowers to be fully released from future liability for their first mortgage debt; and the use of standard processes, documents and deadlines in the short sale process. For more details, visit www.REALTOR.org/shortsales and remember that NAR also provides a dynamic Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource Certification (SFR) course to help educate members on this growing issue. More information can be found at www.realtorsfr.org.

Terry Hankner: Well, I don’t think there is any doubt that the problem begins with the lenders, who by and large have never clearly defined the issues or offered any reliable guidelines. What’s worse, their communication, in my opinion, has been lacking—excruciatingly slow and inconsistent.

Helen Hanna Casey: Yes, it’s been tough to even get a call back with any kind of timeliness, and that wears on everybody’s patience, agents, sellers and buyers. We try to get around that by relying on our most experienced agents—REO specialists who have long-time lender contacts and tend to have the best success rate.

Larry Hibler: The good news, at least in Arizona, is that we’re beginning to see some progress with that. Some lenders seem to be finally gearing up. We actually got one approval in seven days last month.

HHC: Amazing! How did that happen?

LH: Well, for one thing, we place a lot of importance on impressing the lender with the buyer’s strength and commitment. We submit only one contract at a time and the buyer has to put down non-refundable earnest money for a period of 60-90 days.

SB: What about seller issues?

HHC: We have high unemployment in Ohio, but I don’t think we had as much subprime lending or zero-down buying going on during the peak, so the problems may not be as dire here as in some areas. But all our agents are well trained in the financial alternatives so they can work with sellers who may be in trouble.

TH: The issues for us are disclosure, disclosure, disclosure, to be sure the sellers understand their options, whether short sale, foreclosure, loan modification or whatever. We use a program we call “Fresh Start,” which we present upfront as a for-profit entity designed to educate the seller, negotiate with the lender and handle any eventual sale of property. It took us two-and-a-half years to come up with the process, but we did do over 100 transactions last year, and our agents are not shy about referring business to this more experienced group.

LH: We’ve had good results using third party negotiators, who handle short sales for a flat fee. I’m comfortable with that from a liability point of view, and it takes responsibility off our agents.

HHC: It also takes the pressure off of having to deal with the banks ourselves. I don’t know whether some banks are just lagging in getting systems in place—like when there is a merger or acquisition—or whether they are deliberately stonewalling. Either way, it is exasperating.

SB: What needs to happen in order to see an improvement?

TH: Basically, the industry needs to do two things: the first is to reduce our risk in negotiating short sales, which is why disclosure is so important. The second is to hold lenders accountable for clarifying and articulating the ground rules. My worst nightmare is that, a year from now, some lender will come back after a seller and say, “we never really let you off the hook.”

HHC: I don’t think that’s going to happen unless there’s been fraud or collusion of some kind, but I do agree that disclosure is paramount, and that sellers would do well to seek legal counsel before they make a decision.

LH: I do think, though, that the banks are beginning to catch up with us and that the process shows signs of improving. I hope so, especially now that there is some stirring in the higher end of the market. Now we need to hope for continued improvement in the economy.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
4 Easy Promotional Strategies to Get Your Name in the Marketplace
Administration Updates Documentation Collection Process and Releases Guidance to Expedite Permanent Modifications

Before exploring that, however, you should know that the study referenced above was conducted by the California Association of Realtors and reported in many newspapers (I’m quoting the Orange County Register, here). “California leads the nation,” we used to say around here, but lately, its in dubious distinctions like this one, it seems. It is possible that in other parts of the country, dissatisfaction is not quite this high.

The study reported on consumer responses to one simple proposition: “Yes, I would use the same agent” over the six-year period from 2004 to 2009. It reports that 79% of respondents said “Yes” in 2004 but only 22% said “Yes” in 2009. Statistics like these do not inspire loyalty campaigns or much hope for referrals, do they?

What happened?
According to the study, 64% of sellers said “the house took too long to sell” and 51% said, “We didn’t get the price we wanted.” Thus, the disaster fomented by Wall Street has been neatly transferred onto the backs of real estate agents. It’s no comfort to realize that while some Wall Street ‘Investment Banker’ is spending his seven-figure bonus on that house on the Vineyard and the newest Bentley, the public’s anger at the financial crisis has trickled down to those not responsible for it.

The very people you are working your butt off for, blame you for their unrealistic expectations and in many cases, agents are enabling that by not setting sellers straight on the new realities of real estate pricing and financing. It is doubtful that the consumer will wake up anytime soon. Anyone with an ARM can no longer afford can blame you. Anyone in a house worth 30% less than what they paid for it can now blame you as being the reason for their dilemma. That’s much easier than blaming their own greed or naiveté, of course, but who ever wants to take personal responsibility anymore? Certainly not consumers, it would appear!

Short-term consequences for real estate companies

Branding takes a hit
The financial crisis that produced the “Hate your real estate agent” trend also has reduced the power of Internet corporate real estate brands. Consumers today are more attracted to individuals than entities: no one cares about being friends with a company and no one thinks a company will treat them as well as a real person will (i.e., a buyer will search for “Wasilla AK Real Estate,” not “International Behemoth Real Estate agent in Wasilla AK”). The Internet shopper resists and resents any effort to make them go through even one unnecessary step to acquire the information they want and that includes being driven through hoops on the Intergalactic Amalgamated Real Estate Behemoth websites. The consumer today is more likely to identify with an individual agent than a corporate leviathan. For the individual agent, this is good.

Personal response and service have become vital to success
In our business, we see structures in brokerages and corporations that literally make us shake our heads and wonder how those organizations are surviving. One of these is the lackadaisical approach to inquiries from Internet buyers. Believe it or not, over 50% of Internet leads are never responded to in person and believe it or not, 50% of such inquiries are responded to in an average of 54 hours. This has enabled savvy agents to structure their leads and inquiries for their websites to be SMS texted to their powerful phones, where—with a simple touch—the inquirer can be called back in minutes. If you were an Internet buyer, would you wait days for a response that might never come or would you respond favorably to the agent who calls you personally within minutes and asks how they can assist you?

In the next few years, the business will return to a model where personal service is given at a high level and where the agent becomes the source for information. Just dumping people in an IDX or MLS doesn’t cut it anymore, folks—you must do the looking for them. For the hardworking agent, this is good.

More agents will develop the guts to just say ‘No’
When there’s nothing in the pipeline and the opportunity to take a listing for a property that is priced 30% higher than reality now dictates arises, it is very hard to walk away. After all, someone will take the listing, right? Please—let someone else take such listings. That same survey we’ve been referencing also revealed that an incredible 2 out of 3 homeowners originally listed their home with a different agent than the agent who had the listing when it finally sold. Imagine all the blood, sweat, tears and money wasted by agents who take unrealistically priced listings. This nonsense won’t stop until agents remember that a listing gained at an unrealistic price will only result in an unhappy customer, and another statistic for such studies. For the agent who wants to stay sane, this is good.

Long-term consequences
Skill, hard work and mastering technology to bring you prospects will become more important than spending hours blogging, posting listings, tinkering with websites and generally not selling. Technology that simply requires more involvement from the agent will languish – in large measure—because consumers aren’t driving the use of video, the endless hours of social networking, the ubiquitous IDX systems and other colossally unproductive drudges that agents are now told they must embrace; it’s the technology companies driving that.

The consumer wants help choosing a home and getting it financed from a knowledgeable and responsive agent. They want to pay a fair price; they want a deal that will appraise out; they do not want to waste their time on uneconomic transactions. Most of all, if they call or write in on your website, they want an instant and friendly response. In short, they want the service that used to be inherent in a real estate agent and they will continue to gravitate to a minority of agents who give such service. The Internet helps them find those agents, faster. Sometimes agents don’t know that their way has been made obsolete and they inadvertently give poor service. For example:

This week, an agent complained that he wasn’t getting sales for the Internet leads he was receiving. We asked him why he had not attended the free class on how to best follow up those leads. He replied: “I know how to follow up Internet leads! We send an immediate auto responder and put them on an MLS drip email system! I don’t need your @#%#@ training!”

Folks, kill all auto responders. Do not put people on drip email systems. Do not automate anything about the sales process until and unless you have spoken with the prospect and they have asked you to do so. This agent was wasting the fruit of his labors by not contacting people personally and consistently. Today, it’s a merciless marketplace and every one of those uncontacted leads is now speaking to another agent.

That’s just one simple example, but many others exist; repeat after me: “Succeeding today is about personal service, hard work, professional representation, and modest use of effective technology.”

The take-away
The consumer is angry at the agent because his expectations were not met through only partial fault of the agent (accepting listings at unrealistic pricing, perhaps, or not being told that non-conforming loans are not in the cards, perhaps, or perhaps no fault of the agent) when the economy and the financial markets are the real culprit. We’ll not change that perception for a while.

However, you can change that perception in every new prospect you interact with. Try instantly responding to calls and emails for information. Try acting pleasant and welcoming in your initial telephone contact and respond immediately with tangible evidence that you listened to what the prospect wants information about. Give the prospect what they want and learn what they want by listening to them; Under promise and over deliver. Utilize those products that produce inquiries and discard those that don’t. Enthusiastically respond to all inquires: don’t be like the agent moaning about the fact that he ‘wanted multi-million dollar buyers, not half million dollar buyers.’ Be grateful to all inquiries.

It’s not rocket science, but business seldom is: it is, rather, the constant honing and repetition of successful patterns that ultimately become powerful methods to help you succeed.

Mike Parker (mparker@theblackwatercg.com) is a well known authority on the subject of online marketing services for Realtors® and other real estate professionals. If you’d like to learn about how you can have strong Internet prospecting done for you more cheaply and more effectively than you can do it yourself, click here and we’ll be happy to show you at no cost or obligation.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, check out:
Are You an Authorized User on Someone Else’s Credit Card Account?
Existing-Home Sales Down in January 2010 but Higher Than Year Ago

More architects say they’re seeing demand for and inquiries about home-remodeling projects, including kitchen and bath upgrades and home additions. And an increasing percentage of architects say business conditions in the first-time buyer and affordable home market also improved in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with the fourth quarter a year earlier, according to the American Institute of Architects’ Home Design Trends Survey. The survey of 500 residential architecture firms is conducted each quarter.

A net 28% of architects responding to the survey said they’re seeing greater interest among homeowners for kitchen and bath remodels, up from -16% a year ago, and a net 21% said demand for additions and alterations is improving, versus -14% a year ago. The survey figures are computed as the percentage of respondents reporting an improvement in business conditions minus those reporting a decrease.

Meanwhile, a net -4% of the architects surveyed said the market for homes for first-time buyers is improving, up from -65% a year earlier. A net -31% said the market for move-up homes is improving, compared with -71% a year ago.

“It’s still too early to think the residential market has fully recovered, but there are two encouraging signs—overall business conditions are far better than they were a year ago at this time, and we are seeing improvement in those housing sectors that need to lead a broader improvement in the housing market: remodeling and alterations of existing homes, and at the entry-level of the new construction market,” said Kermit Baker, chief economist of the American Institute of Architects.

Baker said homeowners are making improvements thoughtfully, not banking on recouping the entire cost at resale or over-improving with upscale features as they might have several years ago. And projects are typically smaller in scope these days. “The mentality is evolving that bigger isn’t better for my home, from an investment perspective,” Baker said.

As for first-time home buyers, Baker said that conditions are likely improving due to the first-time home buyer tax credit, low mortgage rates and the ability of these first-timers to buy a home without having to sell an existing home first.

For the most part, kitchens are being upgraded with practical improvements and features to make the space more usable. “A lot of the upscale stuff, like double appliances—two dishwashers or two refrigerators—or over-the-top appliances seem to have disappeared,” Baker said.

The five most popular kitchen products and features, according to the survey include:
-Recycling center, a designated place to put cans, papers, etc., which could be in the form of a nook or even part of the lower cabinetry
-Larger pantry space
-Renewable flooring materials
-Renewable countertop materials
-Computer area/recharging stations, dedicated to such tasks as recharging laptops, cell phones and PDAs.

The same desire for practicality and less glitz can be found in the bathroom. People are moving away from steam showers and towel-warming drawers and racks, and instead focusing on features that will help them better control their utility costs, Baker said.

The five most popular bathroom products and features include:
-Water-saving toilets
-Radiant heated floors
-Accessibility/universal design, or features that are adaptable and allow homeowners to age in place
-LED lighting
-Doorless showers.

(c) 2010, MarketWatch.com Inc.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
7 Tips to Motivate Your Sphere of Influence to Refer to You
Crawling Out of the Housing Hole: Realtors Agree Housing Market Is Stabilizing, but Still Troubled

But up close, the picture gets more complicated. Though the home’s exterior is mostly finished, the brick facade is missing in spots. The front steps are temporary, made of plywood. The listing says it’s a short sale—in other words, expected to sell for less than is owed on the mortgage, if the bank approves. “Builder will finish the building if desired, currently sold as is,” the listing says.

Unfinished homes like this one are the most forlorn sign of the real estate market’s nosedive. One notable example is the “New American Home,” a showcase house built every year for the International Builders’ Show. This year’s home, in Las Vegas, was left only 75% done at the time of the show, because the builder lost his financing.

In North Jersey, such homes are rare. More common are the empty lots that builders once expected to fill with apartments, homes, offices and stores. Many of these projects have been shelved as the economy tanked and loan money dried up. But the half-done buildings are the more disturbing symbols of the downturn. “You have an aesthetic issue if the outside’s not done,” said Gary Montroy, the construction official in Mahwah. “If you leave plywood exposed, it will start warping and you end up having to rebuild. If water gets into the house, you’ll have to go back and do it over. “You’ve got neighbors looking at a half-finished property,” he continued. “It becomes a real eyesore. You can issue a summons on the property and take the owner to court. But they’ll say: ‘I have no money.’ ”

Often in these cases, another builder ends up taking over the project. In Edgewater, for example, a luxury riverfront development of 18 town houses and condos, called the Moorings, was begun in early 2007. The units were priced at $1.8 million to $3.9 million. But the housing market was sliding into its worst downturn in decades, and the bank shut off financing during the credit crisis of September 2008, according to builder Anthony Rinaldi. With seven town houses and four condos in place but not complete, construction halted in 2008. The lender began foreclosure proceedings last year on a $15 million loan, and the project was left half-done. Construction may soon start again. Edgewater builder Fred Daibes is representing a group of investors who bought the bank loans on the property; they hope to take possession of it and complete the project, possibly by the end of this year. The group paid about $9 million for two loans—a deep discount—and expects to spend $3.5 million to finish construction. Daibes says the town homes will sell for about $1.1 million, “much, much lower” than Rinaldi had planned. “There’s only one place in Bergen County where you can live on the Hudson River. That’s why we like this project,” said Daibes, who normally builds larger rental buildings.

For his part, Rinaldi blames not only the housing and credit markets for the Moorings’ problems, but also the long process of getting state permits to build on the waterfront. Without that years-long delay, he said, the Moorings would have been done before the economic storm hit.

Selling unfinished properties can be a challenge, because buyers worry they can’t complete the work at a reasonable price. The property’s no bargain if the buyer spends more to finish it than it would cost to buy a place that’s move-in ready.

In addition, even if a builder would like to finish these projects, credit is tight. “The question is, who’s going to release the money to build?” asked Fort Lee real estate broker Nelson Chen.

In Glen Rock, N.J., a three-bedroom house sits sheathed in insulation, waiting for siding. It’s listed for sale for $399,000, but the listing notes that it needs to be completed. The photos show that the inside is framed, but has no walls or other finishes. “Bring flashlight, no electricity,” the listing warns real estate agents who might show the property. Wendell Maki, the real estate agent listing the house, says that the home must be sold because of the death of one of the owners. The couple had taken out the mortgage based on two incomes. But when one of them died, the survivor couldn’t carry the loan. Maki estimates finishing the home would run $125,000 to $150,000—for a total cost of around $550,000. He considers that a good deal for new construction in a sought-after town like Glen Rock. But so far, no buyer has taken the bait. Financing is an issue because lenders won’t write conventional loans on unfinished homes, Maki said; any buyer would have to get a special Federal Housing Administration loan.

Working out a deal with a new builder can take time. In Clifton, for example, an age-restricted condo community called Royal Club at Winthrop Court was left half-finished when its builder, Stratland Homes of Westwood, ran into serious financial issues. Almost half of the units had been sold when construction halted in summer 2008. The rest of the complex was left in various states of completion: from a building that was finished on the outside but not inside, to one that was clad in plywood and partly open to the elements, to one that was only a foundation.

But 39 unfinished units are expected to be completed soon. The Pinnacle Cos. bought the debt on those units from their lender, Rutherford-based Boiling Springs Savings Bank, and expects to complete and sell the units over the next year or two, according to Brian Stolar, Pinnacle’s CEO. Stolar predicted that it will be a few years before all the troubled projects left by the housing bust are completed.

(c) 2010, North Jersey Media Group Inc.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

“A professional remodeler knows how to translate a homeowner’s dreams and budget into a beautiful reality,” said Donna Shirey, CGR, CAPS, CGP, president of Shirey Contracting in Issaquah, Wash. and 2010 chairman of NAHB Remodelers. “They have the expertise and skills to satisfy a customer while keeping the budget in check.”

Here are five tips for planning a successful home remodel that you can enjoy for many years to come.

1. Compile a list of home remodeling ideas and draft a budget for the work.
You likely have some projects in mind, such as modernizing the bathroom, renovating the kitchen, replacing windows or repairing the roof. Prioritize your wish list: Maybe you don’t have the budget for your dream remodel, but professional remodelers can maximize your dollars by doing the work in phases, suggesting budget-friendly products and materials and implementing creative design solutions.

2. Look for a professional remodeler to help plan the project.
Start by searching NAHB’s Directory of Professional Remodelers at www.nahb.org/remodel. You’ll get a list of nearby remodelers to contact. Asking friends and neighbors for names of qualified remodelers will also help you find a match for your project.

3. Check the references and background of the remodeler.
After you start speaking with remodelers and find one or two who match your project’s needs, be sure to conduct some background research by checking with the Better Business Bureau, talking to their references and asking if they are a trade association member (such as NAHB Remodelers). Remodelers with these qualities tend to be more reliable, better educated and more likely to stay on top of construction and design trends.

4. Agree on a contract.
Talk over the details of the home remodeling project and begin reviewing the contract. You’ll want to check the remodelers’ insurance coverage, ask about any warranties on their work, know who is responsible for obtaining any building permits and understand the process for making any change orders after the contract is signed. Make sure that you and your remodeler see eye to eye before you sign on the dotted line.

5. Take advantage of the energy efficiency tax credits.
If your remodel includes replacing windows or doors, adding insulation, installing new roofing, upgrading heating or air-conditioning units, updating the water heater or installing energy generating products (such as solar panels, heat pumps or wind turbines) then you can take advantage of federal energy efficiency tax credits through 2010 that will help defray costs and maximize your remodeling budget while reducing home energy bills.

For more information, visit www.nahb.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
Short Sale Buyers Face Difficulty Closing Deals Quickly
A Curse or a Code – Where Do Ethics and Practices Meet?

If you made adjustments and found some stability in 2009, then you’re probably seeing—and can expect—more of the same this year. If you struggled last year, it will likely get harder unless you’re able to adapt to the market as it is. As you continue to power through and find new ways to work in a changed economy, stay aware of these challenges at the forefront and seek out resources that could positively affect your ability to serve your clients.

Short Sales
The U.S. Treasury Department’s new guidelines on short sales, announced in November, include better protection for you and the consumers involved. The policies represent a good step forward, and they’ll prove to be even more so in April when banks are required to have a compliant short sale plan in place to participate in the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program. The rules for participating banks include a 10-day window to accept or reject offers and a $1,000 incentive for each closed short sale. However, the most valuable currency for negotiating short sales will remain a competitive offer and a complete, well-organized short sale document packet for the servicer.

Loan Modifications
Unfortunately, loan modifications are being implemented at an extremely slow pace. The Obama Administration reports that in 2009 only 66,000 loans were permanently modified, a tiny portion of the more than 900,000 submitted for consideration. With 350,000 properties defaulting each month in the U.S., it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep people in their homes and their properties off the already flooded market. And if job growth occurs as promised in 2010, loan modifications may be viewed as a good fit for people who are getting back to work and have enough income to keep current on their mortgage.

Jumbo Loans
In recent months, the nearly dry jumbo loan faucet has been turned on—but only to a slow drip. Until banks open it wider, there’s little chance of making a dent in the roughly 40-month supply of inventory above $729,500. Qualified buyers capable of making a 20% down payment but unable to secure financing are sitting on the sidelines eager to join the game.

Don’t let the hard facts deter you. If anything, they should motivate you to push harder on behalf of your clients and yourself. As the industry continues to tackle these challenges throughout the year, move forward with your eyes wide open. Then you’re more likely to see a full recovery in your business long before the downturn is deemed officially behind us.

Margaret Kelly, CRB, is chief executive officer of RE/MAX International, Inc.

For more information, visit www.remax.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
Understanding the New Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA)
Existing-Home Sales Surge in Most States in Fourth Quarter

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in January 2010, fell 7.6% to 90.4 from an upwardly revised 97.8 in December, but remains 12.3% higher than January 2009 when it was 80.5.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said weather is likely to impact housing data. “January pending sales, though still higher than one year ago, remain much lower than expected given that a large number of potential buyers are eligible for the expanded home buyer tax credit. Moreover, the abnormally severe and prolonged winter weather, which affected large regions of the U.S., hampered shopping activity in February,” he said.

As such, abnormal swings are expected in housing data. “We will see weak near-term sales followed by a likely surge of existing-home sales in April, May and June,” Yun said. “The real question is what happens in the second half of the year. If there is sufficient job creation, housing can become self-sustaining with stable to modestly rising home prices because inventory has been trending downward.”

The PHSI in the Northeast fell 8.7% to 71.3 in January but is 20.5% higher than January 2009. In the Midwest the index dropped 8.9% to 81.2 but is 11.8% above a year ago. Pending home sales in the South slipped 2.1% to an index of 98.1, but the index is 18.0% higher than January 2009. In the West the index dropped 13.2% to 102.9 but is 1.4% above a year ago.

For more information, visit www.realtor.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, don’t miss:
Home Buyers Rush to Take Advantage of Tax Credit Before It’s Gone
Homeowners Rent Out Rooms to Stave off Foreclosure

What is SEO?
Please think of the Internet as a giant filing cabinet and think of each page on a website as a conventional manila file in alphabetical order. Currently, more than eleven billion pages of websites are indexed by search engines. That means that when a shopper types in what she wants to see, the search engine must find the proper file and show it as a choice in a fraction of a second. This can’t happen without proper SEO (search engine optimization), because even a computer has trouble indexing 11 billion different files; as the search engine goes to the “location” file and parses down to whatever is being searched for (homes, condos, real estate, real estate agent, etc.), wherever it is, there will be at least 500 real estate agents in the mix. SEO affects which 10 agents are shown first, and so on, with the goal of putting your site on that first page, where the prospect can choose it. You can see the problem: not only is the Internet one large filing cabinet, just getting to the right location in .3 seconds is a chancy thing—especially if your ‘file’ is misfiled. That’s the function of SEO: to put your site in the proper file where it can be found every time under what you sell—in as many different descriptions of what you sell as possible.

Non-agents are making it harder for agents to get onto that first page
These days, large corporations and portals are trying to elbow individual agents off those first pages. The biggest offenders are lead aggregators, who try to have anyone searching for a home anywhere end up at their central site so they can sell that name to their customers—sell it (in many cases) multiple times. These lead aggregators never brand to you, they brand only their own brand. They all have spent huge amounts getting their aggregator on as many different searches as they can—although they have no offices there. (Please note that proper organic search can still outperform the big entities, enabling an agent to be found on 500 or more search terms on the first pages. While that is a good thing for every agent, it is also a clear indicator that in years to come, getting found will continue to get harder and it will become–even more—the province of professionals).

The consumer, however, usually does not want to talk to a faceless corporation so in most cases, they skip those corporate sites and look for a local individual agent to work with, instead. They’ll click on those agents’ sites and if they like what greets them, maybe they’ll stick around. Of course, without SEO, those agents won’t be able to be found on that first page.

Just being on that page is not going to sell houses; more is needed today
Five years ago, if an agent could just get to that first page, success would follow. Today, it’s not enough. These days, it’s all about conversion—from random visitor into lead. Most individual websites do a poor job at converting visitors into leads partially because most websites are simply software templates designed by big software marketers. They sell the same page over and over again in the form of a website subscription and they can’t worry about optimization; standardization is their big concern and that is at odds with customization, which is needed to make the site “stickier,” i.e., to make people stay there and sign in.

Custom sites, on the other hand, have a whole separate set of issues as custom Web builders tend to be more expert in “pretty” than in “effective” and many of them will not “desecrate” their designs in order to implement things vital to success online, like lead capture. Online marketing is not about “pretty.” Forget trying to win that “most beautiful website” award. Try to convert 5% of your unique visitors to sign-ins, instead.

If you don’t have visitors you can’t convert them to sign-ins and without proper SEO, you probably won’t have enough visitors to matter. Even if you do have proper SEO you might not get enough visitors in some cases. You must have a minimum level of traffic; the better and more effective your site is, the less visitors you need and vice-versa. To the extent that your site is more effective, you can do with less traffic—when your site is effective you may find that even 100 visitors monthly produces a steady stream of good leads. Success in online marketing only begins when people register on your site—voluntarily—because they really do want more information.

SEO is getting more complicated and so is succeeding at online marketing
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft know the value of their search engines so they continually make it harder for folks to affect their placement on them. Blogs and social networking are developments to try to get more placement than the search engines algorithms would accord an ordinary site. For a while, that may help with SEO, but the engines are adjusting and will continue to do so.

What agent has the time and/or inclination to try to stay abreast of all these changes? That, dear readers, is why 90% of agents are unhappy with the production from their websites: it’s just too hard to keep on top of all these constantly changing factors for most people to do while trying to list and sell real estate.

SEO is but one part of a balanced approach
You could study SEO for years, only to find out that much of what you learned had been superseded by new developments and algorithms, making what you learned obsolete. You could blog until your fingers bleed and not sell one home online. You could drive yourself around the bend trying—and failing—to succeed online, just like 90% of all agents, until you just give up and admit defeat.

Here’s what you need to do:
-Maintain a good marketing platform with information available to the consumer upon request; get them to tell you what they want and give it to them;
-Make certain that people searching the Web for homes can find your site;
-Build traffic and convert visitors to your site into registrations;
-Learn the proper way to follow up these leads; the timing, the methods and the follow-up techniques.

Do that and the world of buyers will beat a path to your door. If you can’t do that all by yourself, you need to hire an entity or person to do it for you, or you will never get a shot at the 80+% of home sales that begin on the Internet.

Success online is becoming a specialty and you aren’t a specialist in online marketing
You could learn how to do this—but how long would it take and how much would it cost? The right way to evaluate the issue is to decide just what online success would be worth to you, and then decide whether it is worth your effort.

Here’s how you decide:
-How many homes did you sell last year?
-How many homes did you sell last year as a result of your online marketing?
-What was the average commission you made on each of those home sales?
-How many additional units would you need to sell to cover the costs and time necessary to learn how to do this or to hire experts to do it for you? (Hint: It’s less than ONE side in most cases).

The Internet is not going to lose market share
Buyers want to browse the Web and look at homes, but they want a real professional with them when they get down to buying one. That is the fundamental reason that real Internet leads are so valuable; 81% of the time, handled properly, that lead will stay with you all the way to purchasing a home. Life as an agent is so much more satisfying when you always have new people to call on and the Internet can provide those people for you to call on. More than 80% of all residential homes sales start online and that’s not going to decrease. Instead of trying to become a ‘master of the Internet,’ why not just stay a master of real estate sales and consider hiring professionals to do your Internet prospecting for you? Use the Web to prospect; you spend your time selling things to people.

It’s a radical idea to some people. But in reality, it’s the only way to guarantee success in online marketing. Let others worry about algorithms and changing search engine patterns; you hold them accountable to produce buyers for you. What could make more sense?

Mike Parker (mparker@theblackwatercg.com) is a well known authority on the subject of online marketing services for Realtors® and other real estate professionals. If you’d like a actual demonstration right there at your desk about how you can have strong internet prospecting done for you more cheaply and more effectively than you can do it yourself, click here and an actual live demo will be done for you at no cost or obligation—right at your desk.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
Mortgage Backed Securities and the Real Estate Market: Where Do We Go From Here?
Continued High Negative Equity and Home Value Declines Put a Damper on an Encouraging 2009

“We are likely seeing the beginning of the end of the unprecedented wave of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures that started with the subprime defaults in early 2007,” said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, in a written statement.

The delinquency rate for mortgages on one- to four-unit residential properties was a seasonally adjusted 9.47% of all mortgages outstanding in the fourth quarter, down from 9.64% in the third quarter and up from 7.88% in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the MBA’s quarterly delinquency survey.

Delinquencies include mortgages that are at least one payment or more past due but not yet in foreclosure.

Meanwhile, 1.2% of outstanding mortgages entered the foreclosure process in the fourth quarter, down from 1.42% in the third quarter and up from 1.08% in the fourth quarter of 2008. The percentage of mortgages at some point in the foreclosure process at the end of the fourth quarter was 4.58%, up from 4.47% in the third quarter and 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The MBA survey covers about 44.4 million loans on one- to four-unit residential properties, or about 85% of all first-lien residential mortgage loans that are outstanding in the country. No doubt, the foreclosure nightmare isn’t over yet.

The percentages of loans 90 days or more past due and loans in foreclosure process set record highs in the fourth quarter, according to the report. Many of those loans more than 90 days past due are in loan modification programs, and some of them have been seriously delinquent for months waiting for modifications to get finalized.

But the good news is there are fewer problem loans actually entering delinquency—likely a result of fewer layoffs, Brinkmann said. “We normally see a large spike in short-term mortgage delinquencies at the end of the year due to heating bills, Christmas expenditures and other seasonal factors. Not only did we not see that spike but the 30-day delinquencies actually fell by 16 basis points from 3.79% to 3.63%,” he said. He added that the non-seasonally adjusted 30-day delinquency rate has only dropped three times in the past between the third and fourth quarter—”and never by this magnitude.”

Depending on the fate of seriously delinquent mortgages—whether they are cured with modifications or ultimately enter foreclosure—the percentage of mortgages somewhere in the foreclosure process could start to see a gradual decline in the second half of the year, he said during a conference call with reporters.

If normal seasonal patterns hold, there could be a bigger drop in the 30-day delinquency rate in the first quarter of 2010, Brinkmann said. That would be a positive sign for the months and years ahead. “The continued and sizable drop in the 30-day delinquency rate is a concrete sign that the end may be in sight,” he said. “With fewer new loans going bad, the pool of seriously delinquent loans and foreclosures will eventually begin to shrink once the rate at which these problems are resolved exceeds the rate at which new problems come in. “It also gives us growing confidence that the size of the problem now is about as bad as it will get,” he said.

According to the MBA data, Florida was the most problematic state, in terms of delinquencies. Twenty-six percent of Florida mortgages were one payment or more past due at the end of the year, and 20.4% of mortgages in the state were 90 days or more past due or already in the foreclosure process.

(c) 2010, MarketWatch.com Inc.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
Stimulus Saved or Created at Least 1.5 Million Jobs in 2009
Exit Strategies for Real Estate Brokers

For example, one of my clients, Sandra, struggled with a sugar addiction for years. Her business was always in chaos, as she had roller coaster moods that would never allow her to focus on her business. By helping her recognize the addiction and how destructive it was being to her body and mental clarity, she was able to wean off the sugar and take more control of her life. Another client, Jane, never wanted to look at how her addiction to alcohol affected her business. Once she made the decision to limit her alcohol intake, she regained energy and strength and her business took off.

The four levels of “sharpening your saw”:

The physical level - How good are you at getting enough rest, sleep and exercise? Is your diet healthy or do find yourself relying on fast food? What about your water intake? Are you drinking 2-3 quarts a day? Very important: are you allowing yourself to breathe deeply? So many of my clients were in the habit of shallow breathing and depriving themselves of the needed oxygen for energy. How well do you take care of your physical body? The answer to this will determine not only the health of your body but also the health your business and your ability to wisely market yourself.

The mental level - What kind of thoughts do you entertain? Are you focused on what you don’t want or what you do want ? Your thoughts create your reality, so what thoughts are you thinking right now? Whenever you catch yourself in negative self talk, use the STOP Technique. Just say STOP, take a deep breath and change that thought to a more positive one.

The emotional level – Are you doing things that make you happy? Are you around people and activities that bring you joy? So many times in our focus to achieve success, we deprive ourselves of a balanced life. Guess what? You attract the energy that you radiate. So if you want to attract happy, appreciative clients, become happy and appreciative. Before you know it the business you had been struggling to have is now drawn to you like a magnet. Everyone wants to do business with people who are positive and uplifting.

The spiritual level - What are you doing each day and each week to nourish yourself spiritually? Whether you are religious or not, I have never met anyone who didn’t sense that there is a Divine Intelligence that created this universe. And this Divine Intelligence is abundant – just look at the trees and the flowers. The more you are aligned with this essence, the more your have a solid spiritual foundation. Maybe your spiritual nourishment is church, maybe it’s the trees or the ocean. Find that place where you are in a state of awe and wonder and visit there often.

Focus your efforts on continually improving yourself, being kind to yourself and remembering to ask yourself: “What do I want?” Stop complaining and be proactive! Do something that increases your skills, helps your fitness, or brings you joy. Remember that you cannot effectively help your clients and build your business if you can’t take care of yourself first. If you can do that, then there is very little that your sharp saw won’t be able to cut through.

Dr. Maya Bailey, author of Law of Attraction for Real Estate Professionals, integrates 20 years of experience as a psychologist and 12 years as a business coach with her expertise in the Law of Attraction. Get Bailey’s free report, 7 Simple Strategies For More Clients in 90 Days, by visiting www.90DaystoMoreClients.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Contrary to the consumer-focused approach of most real estate companies, Realty Executives’ Owner and Executive Chairman Rich Rector believes that consumers reap the benefits of agents distinguished in their marketplace for productivity, entrepreneurial business approach and expert real estate knowledge.

That is why, early on, Realty Executives drew a distinction between the Executive level of productivity and professionalism versus that of the average licensed agent. “By supporting our Executives’ productivity and success, the consumer then experiences us as the most professional in their marketplace,” says Rector.

Abilities and perseverance were tested during the economic crisis of the past year. Some companies may have put their head in the sand and retreated in the face of such dramatic change. Realty Executives did not.

Rector, along with CEO Glenn Melton, hit the pavement and dedicated a great deal of time in the field to understand the needs of its brokers and agents. The company ramped up its internal communications programs, including social media forums like Facebook, Twitter and Rector’s personal blog (http://richrector.activerain.com/), an aggressive technology initiative has been launched and agent support was adapted to ensure that agents received relevant, efficient and cost-effective training, education and marketing tools. The company also focused on fostering a strong collaborative cultural mindset and cohesion.

Loyal Brand Ambassadors
As a testament to the fact that Realty Executives’ agent commitment is indeed flourishing, 33% percent of brokers and agents have been with the company for more than five years.

Realty Executives Knoxville Broker/Owner Steve Fogarty of Knoxville, Tennessee, has been with Realty Executives for nearly 10 years because he says the company offers his 480 agents the type of continued education that sets them apart as leaders in their market. Fogarty comments that there are many new intricacies in the real estate industry today about which agents must stay informed —from government subsidies to short sale processes.

“The only way our Executives will continue to thrive in their careers is if they adapt with the changing times,” Fogarty says. “Realty Executives makes it their responsibility to ensure they can.”

Realty Executives of St. Louis Broker/Owner Todd Matoushek who has been with the company for seven years, says Realty Executives’ value proposition was its strength during the mortgage meltdown. It helped his company endure the tough market and, through aggressive recruiting efforts, ensured he had a team of focused, productive agents.

“We must invest in our people,” says Melton. “We always strive to be the best at providing authentic content and value for our Executives and brokers.”

From the looks of the company’s franchise growth in 2009, the investment paid off. From January 2009 through January 2010, Realty Executives awarded franchising rights to 52 franchises, welcoming 2,429 agents.

Around the world, new regions have been added to the company’s portfolio, including the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Turkey, Belize and, most recently, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. In the United States, New Jersey and Grand Rapids, Michigan, are the newest regions, and California and the Southern region (Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) experienced the most franchise sales.

Affiliated Brokerages Flock to Stability
The region seeing the greatest growth for Realty Executives this past year has also been one of the hardest hit Sunbelt states—California. The company has added 13 new franchises to their roster since June 2009. Realty Executives California credits the state’s rebounding market and the company’s brand reputation, tools and support for its increased franchise growth.

Realty Executives Pacific Gold, in Solana Beach, California, joined the company from a competitor because it was looking for a brand that had all of the tools, systems and support that would allow them to recruit the top-producing agents in their market, according to Broker/Owner Carolyn Cohen.

Echoing Cohen, Broker/Owner Kevin Payne in the Kentucky and Ohio regions left his previous brand to open a franchise with Realty Executives this past November for the same reason: to attract top-producing agents to expand his 18-agent operation.

This past September, Broker/Owners Gary Howard and Rich Lopez of Realty Executives Select, formerly RE/MAX Select, in Cerritos, California, joined Realty Executives for the tools as well as the overall “family feel” of the company that they say steers away from bureaucratic processes. Realty Executives has found that, as a privately owned company with zero outside debt service, it is very attractive to many prospects because of the company’s internally controlled financial soundness and stability.

“We have no underlying motivation to satisfy Wall Street or achieve an Initial Public Stock Offering (IPO),” states Melton. “We don’t make top-down decisions using externally driven, stringent protocols to guide our management. Rather, we avoid bureaucratic structure, which enables us to capture opportunities, solve problems and achieve results that best serve our Executives.”

According to California Regional Developer Mark Vost, the majority of Realty Executives’ broker/owners in the state are experiencing increased sales volume and agent recruitment. Some have even expanded their operations by purchasing new territories, like Broker/Owner John Lewis of Realty Executives Temecula Valley.

“Setting Realty Executives apart from other real estate franchisors is the fact that it offers true protected territories so I can grow without predatory competition from our own network of Realty Executives,” Lewis comments. “This should be a given, yet few other companies I know of offer it.”

Adds Melton: “The most destructive thing other real estate companies have done is to reduce territories so the inherent value of the investment is diminished or eliminated.”

Other real estate franchise companies, he says, may award a territory and then shrink it to grant additional franchises in the same area. As a result, markets become too saturated and franchises subsequently compete against one another for the same agents and customers.

Realty Executives Elite, Ltd. Broker/Owners Costa Poulopolous and Mary Johnson of London, Ontario, Canada, have been with the company since 2008. Formerly with Century 21, one of the driving forces in their decision to join Realty Executives was also the promise of protected territories. That promise held true as they expanded their office from two Executives to over 50 this past year.

Independent Brokerages Align with Real Estate Ally
Today’s new normal in real estate has also brought a resurgence of independent brokerages that find compelling value in affiliating with a strong international brand. Often, unaffiliated brokerages started solo because they valued the ability to call the shots.

“Realty Executives allows us the freedom to run our business as we see fit,” says New Jersey Regional Developer and Realty Executives Exceptional Realtors Broker/Owner Doug Radford. “Therefore, we get both the best of what we have to offer the best of what Realty Executives has provided since 1965.”

Radford, along with his business partner, Kyle Poskitt, converted their 140-agent, seven-office brokerage to a Realty Executives franchise last August. They opened their eighth office in November and have aggressive plans to expand the franchise throughout New Jersey as part of their dual roles as both brokers and regional developers.

“While most real estate companies and franchises were scaling back, reducing services and closing doors, we had tripled the size of our company,” states Poskitt. “We saw the need for systems and tools along with the economies-of-scale and name recognition of an international brand to support our growth. We had talked with other franchisors and Realty Executives is the only one that didn’t try to change us.”

When Realty Executives was founded in 1965 by the late R. Dale Rector, a Realtor, his mission for the company was to support entrepreneurialism for the productive real estate professional. Today, Dale’s son, Rich Rector, continues the tradition of seeing the business through Realtors’ eyes by maintaining his real estate broker’s license. Rector is highly involved in daily operations to ensure Realty Executives upholds the founding value proposition worldwide.

Last September, an unaffiliated brokerage in Grand Rapids, Michigan, now called Realty Executives Platinum Group, decided it, too, needed a larger reach and stronger reputation that an international brand afforded. Realty Executives Platinum Group Founder and President Craig Van Assen says he receives advanced marketing, education and networking platforms, while also sustaining his current operations, infrastructure and core business values.

Jason Van Assen, vice president and designated broker for Realty Executives Platinum Group, adds that this has been a time of change for Realtors, requiring them to shift their real estate knowledge and practice to meet the dynamic needs of today’s buyers and sellers. And Realty Executives provides the training, coaching, research, tools and resources that this continued adaption requires.

International Franchises Instantly Reputable
Beyond its North American focus, Realty Executives is one of the fastest-growing real estate franchises with nearly 700 brokerage offices and 11,000 sales associates in countries around the world. The company offers a global network for its Executives to tap into and leverage. And that collaborative network is one of the major reasons why they have seen a great deal of international expansion this past year.

Since 2009, Realty Executives awarded franchising rights to 10 countries. These are in addition to the company’s existing international portfolio of the United States, Africa, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Greece, Honduras, Israel, Mexico, Panama, Poland, Romania, and Spain.

“The fastest way to tap into the U.S. market is to affiliate with a U.S. brand,” says Scott Hurlock, vice president of franchise development for Realty Executives International. Primary, second- or third-home buyers from the United States are looking to Central America, for example, to escape to sunny, tropical regions. For that reason, for years now, developers of vacation properties and condominium homes in other countries market to Americans. According to Hurlock, Realty Executives’ network of 11,000 Executives is the fastest and least expensive way to connect these buyers and sellers.

Hurlock adds, “The common thread amongst Western-friendly countries is the stamp of approval offered by the U.S. brand, which is a compelling reason to affiliate. Strong brand recognition will drive consumers because of familiarity and trust in reputation.”

As Founder R. Dale Rector had intended, Realty Executives continues to have a brand reputation built around the principle of fostering the entrepreneurial spirit in the real estate profession.

“Our business model is compelling and stable through every market cycle and this has positioned us well now and for the future,” states Rich Rector. “As we head into the next decade, we look forward to preserving the strength of our purpose and focus, which is to support and empower real estate professionals in their achievement of success.”

For more information, visit www.realtyexecutives.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
Online Marketing: ‘Don’t Use My Name!’
The Avatar Economy

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said there is still some delay between shopping and closing that affected current sales. “Most of the completed deals in January were based on contracts in November and December. People who got into the market after the home buyer tax credit was extended in November have only recently started to offer contracts, so it will take a couple months to close those sales,” he said. “Still, the latest monthly sales decline is not encouraging, and raises concern about the strength of a recovery.”

Total housing inventory at the end of January fell 0.5% to 3.27 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 7.8-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 7.2-month supply in December. Raw unsold inventory is 9.6% below a year ago, and is at the lowest level since March 2006.

“Activity should be picking up strongly in late spring as buyers take advantage of the tax credit, which is critical to absorb distressed properties reaching the market and to continually chip away at inventory,” Yun said. “With a downtrend in the number of homes on the market, especially in the lower price ranges, values are beginning to firm but with great variance around the country.”

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $164,700 in January, unchanged from a year earlier. Distressed homes, which accounted for 38% of sales last month, continue to downwardly distort the median price because they typically are discounted in comparison with traditional homes in the same area.

A parallel NAR practitioner survey shows first-time buyers purchased 40% of homes in January, down from 43% in December. Investors accounted for 17% of transactions in January, up from 15% in December; the remaining sales were to repeat buyers. The survey also shows that buyer traffic increased 9.4% in January.

NAR President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Ariz., said buying a home in the current environment has become more challenging. “First-time buyers and others who need a mortgage are increasingly losing out to all-cash investors for the best bargains in many areas, particularly for foreclosed homes where cash is king,” she said. “Inventory conditions vary by price range, and of course there are major differences depending on location. Realtors are the best buyer resource for strategies on winning bids in increasingly competitive markets,” Golder said. “The bidding for more desirable homes will only accelerate between now and the April 30 contract deadline to qualify for a tax credit of up to $8,000.”

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage edged up to 5.03% in January from 4.93% in December; the rate was 5.05% in January 2009.

Single-family home sales fell 6.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.43 million in January from a level of 4.76 million in December, but are 8.6% above the 4.08 million pace in January 2009. The median existing single-family home price was $163,600 in January, down 0.4% from a year ago.

Existing condominium and co-op sales dropped 8.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 620,000 in January from 675,000 in December, but are 38.1% above the 449,000-unit level a year ago. The median existing condo price was $172,400 in January, which is 1.4 % higher than January 2009.

Northeast
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast fell 10.9% to an annual pace of 820,000 in January but are 22.4% above a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $245,300, a gain of 8.8% from January 2009.

Midwest
Existing-home sales in the Midwest declined 6.9% in January to a level of 1.08 million but are 8.0% higher than January 2009. The median price in the Midwest was $130,300, which is 1.0% below a year ago.

South
In the South, existing-home sales dropped 7.4% to an annual pace of 1.87 million in January but are 12.0% above a year ago. The median price in the South was $140,200, down 2.0% from January 2009.

West
Existing-home sales in the West declined 5.2% to an annual rate of 1.28 million in January but are 7.6% higher than January 2009. The median price in the West was $203,400, down 5.8% from a year ago.

For more information, visit www.realtor.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:

Foreclosures Take Heavy Toll on Hearts and Minds
Even in Tough Times, 77 Percent of Americans View Homeownership as a Part of Their Own Personal American Dream

That’s part of the reason so many methods of trying to succeed online are out there: everyone is looking for the ‘Silver Bullet’: the one thing that will make them successful.

You remember Silver Bullets (before they referred to Coors beer cans), don’t you? In ancient days, silver bullets were believed to be the only effective way to kill werewolves and witches. More recently, the Lone Ranger (a mythical ex-Texas Ranger who rode the range righting wrongs and dispensing justice with his faithful sidekick, Tonto) used silver bullets as his calling cards, using them as a symbol for justice done. Although witches and werewolves are making a comeback in the movies, no one seems to have actually encountered one of late and the demand is also down for an ex-ranger and his loyal companion who ride around the West righting wrongs. There are over one million agents who would like to crack the Internet, however, and it appears that a Silver Bullet might be just what they need.

Today, anything referenced as a Silver Bullet possesses near-magical qualities that allow the user to overpower difficult problems. Efficient air conditioning, for example, was the “silver bullet’ to developing the humid climes of Florida into one of our most populous states. Penicillin was the ‘silver bullet’ that finally allowed physicians to conquer dreaded bacterial infections. And so on. The term has been adopted into a general metaphor, where “silver bullet” refers to any straightforward solution perceived to have extreme effectiveness. The phrase typically appears with an expectation that some new technology or practice will easily cure a major prevailing problem. Thus, the problem would be that most agents can’t seem to make the Internet produce for them, and the technology (“the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area” and “a capability given by the practical application of knowledge”) has not improved much in five or more years, until now.

This Silver Bullet delivers buyers to agents

It finally appears that the Silver Bullet has been invented that enables almost any agent* to generate real leads and sales from online buyers without breaking the budget. Consider these examples:

1. An agent in Windsor, Ontario, acquired the technology in December 2009. In January 2010, the technology brought the agent $1.4 million in residential house sales in a market where the average home price is $150,000—so far. The technology has also brought the agent 57 quality leads from only 600 total visitors to his website, so far.

2. An agent in Hilton Head, SC sold a condo to the very first lead the technology brought her—29 days after she acquired the new technology. She also has received 55 additional quality leads that she is continuing to work with, so far.

3. An agent in Wasilla, AK, acquired the technology in August of 2009. The technology has delivered over 120 quality leads to him from which multiple sales have closed. He states that his investment has already been returned 10 times or more, so far.

4. An agent in Etobicoke, ON, is negotiating a $600,000 sale two weeks after acquiring the technology.

5. The technology produced a request from an elderly couple who live in a two-story home in an exclusive neighborhood to a Southern California agent: the couple finds stairs increasingly difficult. They love where they live, however, so they asked the agent to sell their $1.2 million home for them and find them one of same value in a one-story in the same neighborhood. The elderly couple was attracted by the agent’s simple message: “Tell me what you want.” They wanted to sell and they wanted to buy.

These are but a few of hundreds of examples we could list.

Clearly, something unusual is going on when agents from anywhere can start receiving high quality leads and making sales from Internet buyers almost immediately simply by switching this technology on.

Since this technology became available about six months ago after a four month beta test period, hundreds of agents have adopted it and—far more often than not—their results mirror those above. There are exceptions, of course.

Technology can’t make up for poor sales follow-up or an inability to engage clients and develop relationships with them. (Occasionally, the leads don’t come as often as they should. At least if that happens, a client will get their money back, pro-rata!) More than 80% of those who use the technology succeed right out of the box, however.

*Who will accept proper training and follow practices taught in that training.

This Silver Bullet hits the target without you having to be a ‘crack shot’

Here’s just a few of the ways this technology makes online success possible for any agent—regardless of technical skill level:

• The technology requires no work by the agent to implement—everything is done for them; it does require work by the agent to sell to the customers that the technology delivers to the agents.

• The technology combines a super-streamlined and branded personal website with the best in organic and intelligent paid search and limited content that out performs any traditional website in terms of converting visitors to registrations; resulting in an average 8 out of every 100 visitors to such sites signing in and asking for more information from the agent; all inclusive and with no extra cost options or charges; all professionally managed by the host for you exclusively at a fixed cost. The agent has no further tasks to perform after choosing the color and specialties they want to attack and providing a photo of themselves and a copy of their logo; the agent simply must follow up on the leads. This technology is provided on a limited distribution basis. That is, each marketplace may only support a finite number of agents and the money-back guarantee means that the vendor cannot exceed the natural ability of the market to satisfy a proper amount of clients. A small town—or two small towns— may only support one such site with demographics determining the scalable density allowable in any city or town. (The proprietary knowledge of the vendor regulates against over- selling territories or specialties).

• The technology starts bringing real leads to the agent within weeks; real people signing in with their name, phone and/or email address are contacting you about receiving further information about something they saw on your personal site. Over time, the agent is guaranteed 100+ such leads at minimum. (These are not the lead aggregator type of lead, where someone applied for a mortgage, checked a home’s value, or filled out a form somewhere and where they may have no interest in real estate. These are real leads from real people who have looked at your personal site and want more information).

In sum, the technology represents turn-key Internet prospecting, effective anywhere for any market, at a fixed price and with a money back guarantee. Nothing like this has been offered before now.

The future of online marketing for real estate professionals

There’s no argument that the Internet is a large part of the future for real estate professionals; with 80+% of home sales beginning there today, it’s clear that for the buyer, the Internet is the future. They are never going back to having no information available to them and having to go into an office to look at an MLS book.

In the final analysis, it is that truth which explains the success of these Professionally Managed Lead Sites that embody the technology referred to throughout this article: the public wants help choosing their home and they want it from a knowledgeable professional. They do not want to be left to themselves trying to finalize what they are dreaming of buying. They’ll go so far as to go online and look at homes to narrow things down, but when it comes to the next step, they want a real estate professional on their side. That’s why this technology is so right for these times: it re-establishes the agent as the source of information and convinces the Internet visitor to ask the agent for exactly what they want.

That is where all this is going: use technology to find the area of interest and use the agent to bring the sale home. The agent returns to being the authority source and uses the tools available to them to give the client what they want. Technology is making that future happen today for several hundred agents who have embraced this technology, early. It will take a few years to determine whether this trend is permanent or fleeting, but for the foreseeable future, those embracing the technology are doing far better than others at finding online buyers. This Silver Bullet may go the way of the Lone Ranger and Tonto, but today, it’s dominating online prospecting. Cue up “the William Tell Overture “and make hay while the sun shines.

Mike Parker (mparker@theblackwatercg.com) is a well known authority on the subject of online marketing services for Realtors® and other real estate professionals. If you’d like a demonstration of this powerful new technology known as a professionally managed lead site that is managed exclusively for you, click here and we’ll be happy to provide it for you at no cost or obligation.

RISMedia welcomes your comments and questions. Email realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

As communication mediums such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google buzz and a myriad of other ways to communicate with friends, connections and followers continue to grow in usage and popularity, real estate companies and professionals are in significant need of information on how to manage and maximize the social networking landscape.

According to Allan Dalton, Co-Founder and President of RISMedia’s Top 5 in Real Estate Network® and author of the upcoming book, Leveraging Your Social Media Links Converting Friends, Fans, Followers and Users into Buyers and Sellers, social networking/media offers real estate companies and professionals an unmatched opportunity to become relevant with today’s savvy, technology-oriented real estate consumers.

“The social media phenomenon will only continue to grow, both in terms of usage and in the manner in which individual businesses will strategically refine social media potential for their own purpose,” explains Dalton. “The question is, how can real estate professionals best utilize social media and social networking to become and remain relevant, and thereby, increase revenue? The goal of the 2010 Dalton/Hundley Real Estate Social Media Census(sm) is to analyze how real estate companies, agents, teams, and IT and marketing divisions are effectively leveraging social media in order to build profitable relationships with new and past clients and better serve the informational needs of niche markets and newly formed online communities.

Joining Dalton, both in the creation of the 2010 Real Estate Social Media Census as well as materially contributing to Leveraging Your Social Media Links, is Steve Hundley, CEO of 1parkplace, a renowned creator of technology and social media solutions for the real estate industry.

“Allan and I are on a crusade,” says Hundley. “We and our respective organizations are committed to uncovering the best solutions and systems for leveraging social media and social networking by launching this very first-of-its-kind census. Whether you are a social networking neophyte or junkie, a relatively new to real estate brokerage, or successful and seasoned veteran, we value and want to hear your perspective. Please visit www.SocialMediaCensus.org and in just 15 minutes you can make a huge contribution to your career and the industry.”

All participants in the Census will receive a complete report and statistics valued at $495 at no cost to you.

“It became abundantly clear to me several years ago as CEO of Realtor.com, that our industry must provide real estate-relevant content to consumers that transcends merely offering property listing data accompanied by company and agent contact information,” says Dalton. “Social media provides real estate companies and professionals with the unique opportunity to distinguish themselves not just on the basis of market share, but also on ‘information share’ to a virtually limitless audience in order to rise to the status of ‘thought leader.’”

“The 2010 Dalton/Hundley Real Estate Social Media Census (sm) is part of our larger commitment to serve the industry,” says John Featherston, Chairman of RISMedia This year, RISMedia’s Annual Leadership Conference – “The Real Estate Social Media Summit” – will feature more than 80 leading practitioners and expert speakers on the subject of social media and emerging technologies with a special emphasis on blogging and mobile technology. For more information on the Summit, taking place on June 9 and 10 in Rye, New York, or to register, please visit please http://rismedia.com/events/leadership-conference/

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Don’t miss these top headlines on RISMedia.com:
4 Easy Promotional Strategies to Get Your Name in the Marketplace
Administration Updates Documentation Collection Process and Releases Guidance to Expedite Permanent Modifications

For more information on the conference, or to register to attend, click here.

Featherston announced that Dalton and Hundley have spent the past several months, along with the RISMedia and the 1parkplace developmental teams, creating what will be branded as “The Real Estate Social Marketing System(SM).” “This much-needed system,” Featherston stated, “will merge only the more strategic purposeful and real estate-relevant functions of existing social networking and social media resources available to real estate companies, agents and networks.”

“The level of frustration that has been expressed by thousands upon thousands of interviewed real estate professionals regarding the chasm that exists between their time spent engaged in social networking training, education, classes, and in social networking activity itself, compared to any significant and measurable ROI is startling,” said Dalton, a former 20-year president and owner of a 32-office real estate company. “Our research has provided irrefutable evidence that the preponderance of real estate professionals who claim to be significantly involved in the conventional practice of social networking and social media and who have built an enviable aggregation or community of” so-called” or liberally defined friends, fans, followers and users are struggling to attribute much, if any, additional income for what has become a pressing time-management issue to some and almost an addiction to others.”

Dalton, former CEO of Realtor.com, also shares that many real estate professionals report that they are experiencing conflicted feelings, or an approach-avoidance conflict, regarding how some consumers might be viewing their online activity within certain communities as representing a real-estate-related form of trolling. Given how most consumers already enjoy relationships with at least several real estate professionals leads one to wonder if social networking and social media, if not elevated to real estate social marketing, does not, in a sense, represent “chasing a solution to a consumer problem that really doesn’t exist.” Dalton specifically suggested that “mere social networking, meaning connecting friends, fans, communities and even tribes, although a much more efficient way to promulgate oneself and one’s brand, without a strategic purpose or providing valuable content, is like inviting 100 people to your home for dinner and not feeding them.”

“Real estate professionals are far too hardworking, knowledgeable and skillful to miss out on how these great qualities can be best reflected through a more strategic online marketing strategy,” he said.

Therefore, according to RISMedia and 1parkplace, the Real Estate Social Marketing System(SM) needed to be developed in order to properly integrate the best of social networking and social media as a more forthright, clear, consumer-acceptable and strategic use so that real estate professionals can better serve the needs of the real estate marketplace.

1parkplace CEO, Steve Hundley, who is responsible for much of the technological integration of this new, robust solution, suggests that a major paradigm shift is necessary—one where forward-thinking real estate professionals recognize that yesterday’s approach of personal promotion and contact management must give way to what he has coined as “content management.”

“The difference between contact management and content management, when one considers how consumers want content more than being contacted, is similar to how social networking/social media is different from real estate social marketing,” Hundley asserted.

Featherston summarized this major company announcement by offering, “In my 30 years as CEO and publisher of a real-estate-based media company, I am thrilled that what we in publishing refer to as ‘the new age of citizen journalism,’ or the ‘democratization of information’ is now empowering consumer-centric real estate companies and agents to go beyond making superficial networking contacts and elevate these potentially invaluable online relationships with exciting real estate content. That said, information or content alone does not spell success, nor does networking as a stand-alone. Real estate success is achieved when the two converge for the purposes of strategic real estate social marketing.”

Featherston added, “We look forward to enabling all real estate professionals who want to strategically insert themselves through the targeted use of actionable real estate content and who are interested in measuring their online ROI and SEO to join us at our industry-altering social media summit, where they will be most welcome.”

For more information on this year’s Leadership Conference—Real Estate Social Media Summit, click here.

RISMedia welcomes your comments and questions. Email realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

The third-straight drop in sales on a month-to-month basis was unexpected. “The housing market remains very, very distressed,” wrote Dan Greenhaus, chief economist for Miller Tabak & Co.

“There may have been some weather-related issues playing havoc with the sales data but clearly, these results are extremely unnerving,” wrote Jennifer Lee, an economist for BMO Capital Markets. “There is nothing positive to glean from this report.”

U.S. stock markets fell after release of the report, which coincided with release of congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the economy remains fragile and needs low interest rates for an extended period of time.

Data on sales for December 2009 were revised higher to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 348,000, up from 342,000 previously reported.

Sales of new homes are down 6.1% compared with January 2009’s 329,000 units, which was the previous record low. The number of homes for sale rose 0.4% to 234,000 in January. At the January sales pace, it would take 9.1 months to sell that inventory, up from 8.0 months in December and the highest monthly supply since May.

Government statisticians have low confidence in the monthly report, which is subject to large revisions, and large sampling and other statistical errors. In most months, the government isn’t sure whether sales rose or fell. The standard error in January for instance, was plus or minus 14%. The government says it can take up to five months to establish a statistically significant trend in sales. Over the last five months, sales have been on a 362,000 seasonally adjusted annual pace, down from 382,000 in the five-month interval through December.

Sales had risen fairly steadily in the first half of 2009 before plateauing last fall. Seasonally adjusted sales have now fallen three months in a row.

With mortgage rates still very low and prices down, most analysts had concluded that the recent decline in sales was due to the impending expiration of the first-time home buyers’ credit in November.

As it happened, Congress extended the tax credit through June and expanded it to include repeat buyers. But the tax credit didn’t help sales in January. Sales of new homes are recorded once a sales contract is signed, not at closing. Some homes are sold before ground is broken on construction.

Details
Home builders had been slashing their inventory of unsold homes for more than a year to a 38-year low before January’s 1,000 increase. The number of homes for sale that are under construction fell to a record low of 100,000.

Builders have cut back on production of new homes, but they still face headwinds from unsold existing-homes as foreclosures continue to mount up. If a home isn’t sold before it’s finished, it’s taking a record 14.2 months to sell it after completion—a reflection of the mismatch between more expensively priced homes in the inventory and lower-priced homes that have been selling.

The median sales price of a new home sold in January was $203,500, down 2.4% compared with a year earlier. Cheaper homes were selling better than expensive ones: 47% of sales were for less than $200,000, up from 43% in December. Meanwhile, 38% of sales were for $200,000 to $400,000, down from 41% in December.

Sales were down in three of four regions: down 35% in the Northeast, down 12% in the West and down 10% in the South. January’s sales were up 2% in the Midwest, the government’s data showed.

(c) 2010, MarketWatch.com Inc.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, don’t miss:
5 Great Strategies to Keep Your Website in Tip-Top Shape – Part 2
U.S. Home Value Losses Stabilize in 2009; Homeowners Lose Nearly $500 Billion in Value

The answer, according to Bill Ferguson, author of the new book Keepers of the Castle: Real Estate Executives on Leadership and Management, is actually quite simple. Only leadership—strong, balanced, and experienced leadership at the executive level—will pull the industry through to the next upcycle.

To rebuild America’s largest industry, today’s leaders must avoid the mistakes that led to the real estate market’s recent struggles. Here are some of the most damaging:

Mistake #1: Letting your ego get the best of you.
Pre-Real Estate Bubble: Television shows and films exaggerate and embroider the stock character of the real estate mogul—the bold opportunist with a glamorous but sometimes fatal mix of arrogance, intolerance and unchecked ego. Unfortunately, egos of this nature were all too real at some organizations. As the bubble inflated, some executives—many supported by outrageous salaries and bonuses—made closed-door deals and involved their companies in fuzzy financial deals whose potentially huge payoffs were saddled with huge risks that eventually harmed many of their companies.

As We Rise from the Rubble: “Egocentric leaders who blur the lines between personal and corporate interests or who are intolerant of the perspectives of others should not be welcomed at today’s real estate companies,” says Ferguson. “High-performing CEOs recognize that gaining the confidence and loyalty of all employees is one of their most important objectives—they need to show a firm command of issues and develop a strategy that works. These CEOs understand that time spent creating a high-profile public persona can often be distracting and counterproductive.”

Mistake #2: Allowing intra-organization competition to hurt the company.
Pre-Real Estate Bubble: Too many organizations (homebuilders, mortgage finance firms, etc.) paid their people to originate volume, not to underwrite risk!

As We Rise from the Rubble: “Many real estate businesses revolve around investment transactions or sales forces,” says Ferguson. “The individuals on these teams are typically provided incentives for production volume, and the more successful organizations orient these employees as coworkers and collaborators rather than competitors. Bottom line: Company performance targets need to take priority over individual achievement.”

Mistake #3: Forgetting the proper risk balance.
Pre-Real Estate Bubble: If anything kept the real estate bubble inflated it was unfettered risk. Homeowners took on mortgages they couldn’t afford. Lenders loaned the money to them. And investors traded in financial inventions—like credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities—that many of them didn’t fully understand, while CEOs allowed their organizations to trade these risky investments.

As We Rise from the Rubble: “Success is all about taking calculated risks and winning a lot more than one loses,” says Ferguson. “Everyone in an organization needs to take risks in order for a company to grow and remain competitive. But leaders who rise to the top and stay there, consistently make the right decisions in weighing risk. Standout leaders have an inner compass—the ability to set the right course instinctively based on intelligence, experience and innate good judgment. They also create environments where people can learn, take risks, grow from successes as well as mistakes, ultimately benefiting their business.”

Mistake #4: Pretending to have all the answers.
Pre-Real Estate Bubble: “Know-it-all” CEOs—control freaks whose communication style edges toward dogmatic rigidity—can drive organizational opposition underground and grind businesses to a halt.

As We Rise from the Rubble: “For a CEO, acknowledging not having all the answers is an essential component of leading by example and rallying the team,” says Ferguson. “It can transform weakness into strength. When you communicate a sense of vulnerability, you connect with people. It helps build a winning, low-ego, ‘we’re all in this together’ culture, embodying a team orientation over a ‘me’ orientation.”

Mistake #5: Allowing lax management to become a business strategy.
Pre-Real Estate Bubble: Most CEOs grew up as entrepreneurial deal makers. Their impatience, drive to do it themselves, and insensitivity to those around them didn’t allow them to fail! However, true leadership requires a different recipe.

As We Rise from the Rubble: “Effective leaders realize they must complement their tried-and-true, kick-the-bricks instincts with MBA skills, financial proficiency and a managerial temperament,” says Ferguson. “In fact, institutionalizing entrepreneurship has become the paradigm for real estate leadership in today’s globalizing economy. The challenge of doing so requires companies to install effective management platforms that can nurture and preserve entrepreneurial vision and avoid the chokehold of bureaucracy.”

Mistake #6: Avoiding change.
Pre-Real Estate Bubble: For a short time in the early 2000s boom, some prominent industry players made the argument that inexpensive capital had removed cyclicality from the real estate business. The ensuing credit crisis obliterated that notion. Even wizened leaders have been reminded to resist complacency and anticipate the risk of cyclical change as investors have been crushed across the board.

As We Rise from the Rubble: “To profit from new strategies in the shifting real estate landscape, change needs to be well considered and implemented expeditiously throughout ever more complex and sophisticated organizations,” says Ferguson. “Under any circumstances, the playing field constantly changes. Interest rate fluctuations, economic tides, consumer confidence levels and demographic shifts ripple through the marketplace, requiring constant attention and analysis even during the most prosperous times. Complacency can kill any business—you can’t take anything for granted. High-performing companies can never rest on their laurels.”

Mistake #7: Going global the wrong way.
Pre-Real Estate Bubble: Rampant corruption and lack of transparency can hamper or short-circuit forays into developing markets. Risk is magnified exponentially, and local management needs to be given discretion but with the appropriate risk management oversights.

As We Rise from the Rubble: “The march toward business globalization means that real estate company management teams must be oriented toward developing global strategies and seeking lines of business overseas,” says Ferguson. “Effective teams must be able to operate across borders with an understanding of how to maneuver around cultural and national differences. Nurturing partnerships and relationships with experienced local players in growth economies around the world will become more essential to enable company expansion.”

Mistake #8: Hiring prima donnas.
Pre-Real Estate Bubble: Deal makers, more interested in their own success, versus prioritizing the client’s and/or company’s needs, have stymied the growth of successful real estate firms.

As We Rise from the Rubble: “Winning management teams discourage ‘rock star’ hires—executives who use company platforms to launch personal success rather than fostering company achievement through working with others to build platforms,” says Ferguson. “Managing and leading well in a large organization means surrounding oneself with good people.

Mistake #9: Avoiding responsibility.
Pre-Real Estate Bubble: The aftermath of the bubble burst is littered with CEOs and executives at big time companies, who made decisions that were truly detrimental to their organizations’ health but who in the post-bubble rubble look around and say, “Who me?” when others try to assess responsibility.

As We Rise from the Rubble: By taking responsibility for mistakes, leaders underscore the importance of accountability throughout the organization and help establish a strong value system for people to support each other, as well as encouraging collaboration.

About the Author
William J. Ferguson serves as chairman and CEO of Ferguson Partners Ltd. and as the co-chairman and co-CEO of FPL Advisory Group.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For more top headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure to see:
Stimulus Saved or Created at Least 1.5 Million Jobs in 2009
Privacy Trumps All – A Day in the Life of the Agent-Celebrity Client Relationship

“We ended up with a strong 2009 and we’re ready for an uptick in our business overall this year,” says Stark, CEO and owner of the seven-office, 1,100-agent firm. “We’re looking for a positive year overall.”

Continuing on a positive path means finding a way to excel within current market conditions, which, for Prudential Americana, means cultivating a strong expertise in short sales.

Short sales have had a “huge” impact on the Las Vegas market, says Stark. Statistics from GLVAR (the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors) put short sales at 19% of all residential solds, month to date (at press time). However, at Prudential Americana Group, as well as the overall marketplace, approximately 68% of pending sales are short sales.

According to Stark, Prudential Americana has been able to maximize short sale business by being the “value player” in the market, providing honest consultation and professional guidance to clients.

“The days where a consumer could buy anything, and do anything and everything would work out fine are gone,” he explains. “Today’s consumer really needs good, quality information. We need to go in and say to distressed homeowners, ‘Look, before you make any decision, let’s sit down and organize your thoughts and see what your goals are.’ Consumers need to work with seasoned professionals, be it a real estate sales executive, attorney or CPA. We recommend our clients review their entire situation prior to moving forward. We enjoy being the ‘value player’ in the marketplace. Consumers have learned very quickly in this market environment that all real estate agents are not created equal.”

Part of being that value player involves advising clients on the importance of home warranties, explaining the benefits and the value the home warranty provides, especially in short sale situations. HSA Home Warranty is Prudential Americana’s largest home warranty provider. “We have worked with HSA Home Warranty for more than 18 years and they do a tremendous job servicing and protecting our clients,” Stark says.

“Short sales are different than foreclosures because you still have someone living in the house and the goal is to have the house in the best shape for the new purchaser,” says Stark.

Securing a home warranty for a potential short sale property helps ensure that the home is protected during the listing period. Sellers can use the warranty to take care of problems that may arise before the buyer moves in.

“When you have a homeowner who realizes that this is not going to be their house forever, they often adopt more of a renter’s mentality,” Stark explains. “They’re not going to put $3,000 into a new air conditioner if they’re not going to live there much longer. A home warranty offers both seller and buyer protection in short sales. It minimizes risk for the seller because the more money they can sell the house for and offer the bank, the less pressure the bank will put on the homeowner. So we tell short sale clients, ‘even though we know you’re not going to be here, let’s work to minimize your losses.’ We want to create every opportunity for our clients to be in a category where a bank can decide to forgo any deficiency.”

HSA home warranties are just part of the larger system Prudential Americana has created to handle short sales. Developing a system is critical for providing sellers with the best opportunity to get their home sold while encouraging the bank to release them from as much of the liability as possible. Prudential Americana’s comprehensive system also includes a recommendation that homeowners consult with an attorney before pursuing a short sale or other course of action to ensure the client is taking the best course of action.

While some of Stark’s agents have chosen to pursue short sale courses, he doesn’t leave anything to chance. Prudential Americana offers in-house training for all agents. “To be blunt, we’re forcing classes regardless of any outside certification an agent may receive. We want our agents to be trained,” he says.

Company-wide training is critical because there is a lot of education to be done among the home buying and selling public when it comes to short sales. According to Stark, many homeowners in a distressed situation feel bad or embarrassed, but it’s important for them to realize they are not alone.

“For some people, a short sale may not be the best option for them. For some, it might be best to let the home go to foreclosure; for others, a loan modification might be the answer. This is another reason why we strongly advise clients to not only talk to us, but to an accountant and attorney as well. We don’t want their emotions to get in the way of making the best decision.”

For more information, visit www.americanagrp.com. For more information on HSA Home Warranty, visit www.onlinehsa.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Don’t miss these headlines on RISMedia.com:
4 Tips to Improve Your Odds for Short Sale Success
Communicating with Your Prospects – When Is the Best Time to Send Marketing Emails to Your Database?