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Today’s Top Story Archive


RISMedia CEO Remembers 9/11

Another beautiful September day and just about everything was ready for our 2001 Real Estate Leadership Conference to be held that week in New York City. With more than 1,250 attendees from all over the United States expected to attend, along with more international guests than ever before, the next two days would be a combination of a lot of work and a lot of fun for all of us at RISMedia …or so we thought.


Expanding Your Business: The Ripple Effect

We have all had the experience of throwing a stone in a pond and watching the waves ripple across the surface in ever expanding, concentric circles. Just as a ripple hits the shoreline, your reputation for the quality and quantity of service you render precedes you in your marketplace. Whether you're aware of it or not, there's an active "word-of-mouth campaign" going on about you in your community. So the real question isn't whether or not people are talking about you, but more importantly, what are they saying?


One Trend That Will Separate Real Estate Winners and Losers

Last month, Steve Murray, president of Real Trends Inc., and Ian Morris, CEO of Market Leader, released a book focused specifically on what the real estate industry will look like over the next five years. The book, Game Plan, takes into account a significant amount of research as well as interviews with many of you about your current business and vision for what’s ahead. Murray and Morris then offer 10 trends that they expect to see come to fruition over the next five years, with a specific “game plan” to help real estate agents, brokers, and franchises succeed.


Retirement Real Estate; the Wrong Way and the Right Way

A lot of people think about buying investment property in places where they want to retire someday. But should you buy the unit you want to retire in? Or should you buy something else that has better investment fundamentals (like positive cash flow) and convert it to your dream retirement home later? Greg Rand (@gsrand), CEO of OwnAmerica (http://ownamerica.com), takes calls from two investors; one who did this wrong and one who has a chance to do it right.


Keep Your Agents—and Yourself—Safe This September and All Year

Your newest agent stops by your office on her way out the door. She’s excited because she just got a phone call from a potential seller and plans to meet him tonight to tour his single-family home. “He said he’d heard good things about me!” she exclaims. “This could be my big break!” As she rushes off, you wonder how the prospect could have heard about your enthusiastic young agent, who has not yet made a sale. Would you let this happen? What safety precautions does your office have in place to check out the unknown seller, where the agent is going and who else will be there?


Marketing Strategies: Are You Sabotaging Your Own Success?

Have you ever felt like you had reached a plateau and could go no higher? If so, you're not alone; many people sabotage their own success. In my work as a real estate business coach for the past 15+ years, I have had many people present a similar question: "Why can't I be more successful? Why do I stop myself? I feel like I am my own worst enemy."


Listen while You Work

An ancient Chinese proverb reminds us; "To listen well, is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well." While everyone can benefit from this sage advice, these words of wisdom are particularly appropriate for professional salespeople. Would you consider yourself a good listener? Perhaps a more important question might be, how would your customers, business associates, friends and family members rate your listening ability? Their feedback just might surprise you, because most people believe they're much better listeners than they truly are.


Rand on Real Estate: Why So Optimistic in This Housing Market?

This week, Greg Rand (@gsrand), CEO of OwnAmerica and host of “Rand on Real Estate” on 770 WABC, answers the main question that some listeners have: “Why is Greg so optimistic about the housing market?” Also a caller from Pennsyvania who is interested in short sales wants to know what are the drawbacks and advantages for a buyer of a short sale?


Dispelling the 20 Percent Downpayment Myth

In my column last month, I discussed a government proposal that could have significant impact on the future of the housing industry: the QRM, or Qualified Residential Mortgage, as part of the Dodd-Frank Act. According to the proposed QRM definition, lenders must hold 5% of the risk of any given residential loan unless it is considered a QRM, which is a loan that has a 20% downpayment and meets other debt-to-income and borrower credit history requirements.


Neighborhood Info in High Demand

When people are looking for a new place to live, they usually want to know some key facts beyond cost and number of rooms: Most notably, they are curious about what is in the neighborhood and what their commute would be like. In fact, over three quarters of home shoppers rate being within a 30-minute commute to work as important, and two thirds of home shoppers rate being within an easy walk to grocery stores and restaurants as a key factor in deciding where to live.


6 Steps to Finding the Global Buyer

Sometimes global opportunity lies where people least realize—not in large, urban markets known for being magnets to multinational organizations and immigrant communities—but in small metro and rural regions. It might not be immediately apparent, but numerous international opportunities may exist in your own market. Taking a closer look at your state and region could reveal a treasure trove of global business. Knowing the right places to dig is the key.


REALTORS® Urge White House to Gather Leaders, Stabilize Housing

To help develop policies that will stabilize the nation's housing market and support an economic recovery, the National Association of REALTORS® urges the White House to host a summit of policy makers, industry leaders and government stake holders focused on revitalizing the nation's housing. "As the leading advocate for housing issues, REALTORS® know that homeownership supports our nation's economy," says NAR President Ron Phipps.


Retention is a Problem That Won’t Go Away

What are the critical factors that contribute to the retention of top producing salespeople? Why are some sales managers able to consistently recruit and retain quality salespeople, while other managers have a revolving door? Excessive personnel turnover is not only unhealthy for the morale of a sales force, but it is also costly in terms of time and money. Perhaps less obvious, but just as detrimental, is the negative impact excessive turnover has on eroding customer confidence and loyalty.


Hot Market Picks: Atlanta and Cleveland

The Fox Business Network is running a new segment called "Where to Invest Now" featuring Greg Rand (@gsrand), CEO of OwnAmerica, as a housing market analyst making his picks of the best real estate markets in America for investors. In this episode Greg picked Atlanta, Georgia and Cleveland, Ohio. Check it out.


What Brand Do You Aspire to Be?

We all know the NAR stats: • 87% of consumers start their search online, yet 48% of Internet leads are not responded to • 90% of consumers would use the same agent again, but only 11% do • Add these, and other equally dismaying stats, to the ability for consumers to access information without our involvement, and then mix in our industry’s reputation for less than stellar professionalism, and you come to an undeniable conclusion: to be successful in the future, you will either have to compete on price or you will have to deliver an incredible consumer experience.


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