dothanhomesearch.com

By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

I know a few real estate bloggers visit this website on occasion. This post will be of particular interest to you folks, so please read on.

One of the ways we promote our blog is by using blog directories. There are plenty of them out there, and you’ll see several listed in the sidebar below our list of contributors. One of the latest directories is RSSHugger. From first look, this isn’t a typical blog directory. They have a Top 100 list that resets each month, and a Random Blog link for the adventurous blog surfers among us. Both of these are great ways to find new blogs in subjects that interest you.

By writing this little review of their site, we get our blog listed for free. This is a great way to create a back link, which helps for search engine placement. RSSHugger takes a unique approach for a blog directory and is worth giving a try.

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By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

Of course this is the time when we talk about things we want to accomplish as we move forward into a new year. Making resolutions is a tradition, and far be it from me to break from tradition.

For our local Dothan area readers, here are three resolutions that all of the REALTORS at CENTURY 21 Key Realty will be making for the new year. For those real estate agents reading, this may be more of a speech from a soap box than a simple list of things you should do. Take it how you will.

1. Put the client before the commission. Every time. Without exception. Every action we take, every phone call made, every email sent, everything. We need to ask ourselves; does this serve the best interest of my client? What more can be said on this one?

2. Tell the truth. Don’t sugar coat it because you don’t want to lose the listing. Don’t bend it because your tired of showing houses to this buyer. The truth is many sellers shouldn?t to be in the market right now, and that ALL buyers need to be pre-approved BEFORE you start showing property. It is also true that right now IS a great time to buy a home, if you are looking for a primary residence where you will live for a few years. There are too many real estate agents out there that don’t tell the whole story because they are afraid of how it will effect their potential for business. They tell the seller or buyer what they think they want to hear even though it is not in the best interest of the client to do so (see #1 above).

Here are two that I like.

From Sandi Bauman

?I feel they (clients) deserve to understand the full scope of the situation. I of course respect my clients opinion, and ultimately their course of action, even if the client makes decisions contrary to what I am suggesting. My only concern is that they are properly informed prior to doing so.”

From Terry McDonald

?Their goals become my goals. Often, to reach those goals, I need to speak the truth to my buyers or sellers. Sometimes this is easy, other times, less so. Occasionally the truth is unpalatable, or worse. While difficult, my fiduciary relationship to my client requires it.?

In my opinion, this is what every real estate professional should strive for.

3. Figure out which type of real estate blogger you are going to be. (stepping onto soap box) How do you measure success in your blogging efforts? Is it traffic to your site and search engine ranking, or is it visitors converted to clients? No, the two aren?t mutually exclusive. We can achieve both. But when you sit down to write a post, if your main focus is optimizing your words for search engines, then I think you are missing the real point of this thing we call blogging.

From Jonathan Dalton

??that?s really the key the success in this thing we call real estate blogging - providing quality information while being real enough to engage someone you may never meet face to face.?

If you are a real estate blogger reading this post, I highly recommend Jonathan?s entire post. He and other real estate bloggers that have seen success from their blogging efforts (the turning visitors to clients kind), don?t use their blog as an extension of their other advertising, or their static website. It is something different; something unique; something your readers can?t get by looking at a real estate magazine or a newcomers package from the local Chamber of Commerce.

You won’t find Teresa Boardman, Jim Duncan, or Maureen Francis trying to use a keyword in every other sentence, or worrying about creating inbound links to their respective blogs. They carry on conversations with their readers, and in the process have had great search engine results and lead generation. These are the bloggers I want to emulate in 2008, and you should too. (off soap box)

What’s your resolution for 2008? Let me hear something besides losing weight, getting more exercise, or quitting a vice or two!

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By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

As more and more listings hit the market, there are a number of extra things we as listing agents need to do to give our listings a competitive edge. In addition to helping our seller by getting their home sold quicker, the added benefit of doing these things is that they make us more professional and will likely increase our referrals from a happy client.

Here is a list of five inexpensive, or even free, enhancements to our seller service model.

Set a communication schedule

At the time of listing, let the seller know when and how you will contact them with market updates, showing feedback, etc., whether by phone, email, or even in person. One of the top complaints from sellers is that they never hear from their agent. Setting the schedule and letting the seller know at the time of listing lets them  know that they can expect to hear from you on a regular basis.

Email regular market updates

In addition to the regularly scheduled updates mentioned above, email new listings, pending sales, and sold comparables to your seller on a daily basis. The market is in a state of flux, and you will need them to be aware of this information when you approach them for a price reduction or to rehash why they need to work on their curb appeal.

Discuss possible buyer financing options

In our market, there are a lot of FHA buyers and they typically ask the seller for closing costs, a home warranty, and many times pre-paids. Covering your market nuances with the seller at the time of listing softens the blow and hopefully makes them more receptive when that offer does come in.

Take better pictures

My hope is that someday this one will go without saying, but unfortunately, we aren’t there yet. Every survey or poll of buyers that use the Internet to search for homes tells us that pictures are the most important information they look for. You just can’t have too many pictures of a property. Max out your MLS photo allotment and upload as many pictures are you are allowed to every website where you post listings. And above all, take good quality pictures of relevant features.

Verify Internet links and send to seller

Find the listing on each and every website where it is advertised, copy the link, and email it to the seller. Doing so shows them that you not only advertise their property all over the Internet, but you are on top of the content.

Doing all of the above will certainly improve your standing in the eye of the seller, and under promising and over delivering will earn you rave reviews and repeat referral business for years to come.

Have something to add? Leave us a comment below.

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By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

This post will be somewhat of a rant, so proceed at your own risk. Although it is not really my cup of tea to admonish people for not doing what they say they will do (I simply choose not to do business with them), I hope anyone reading this will understand that to be successful in business, you have to follow through and do what you say you are going to do. Doesn’t that sound simple? I choose to do business with people that take their business seriously and follow through with their promises. I am fairly certain that is how folks that I have done worked for in the past (home buyers and sellers) perceive me.

First, a bit of background. I had a business situation recently where I had two separate?projects to be performed in?our office, and decided to contact contractors I either knew personally or had used in the past for each project. The nature of each project is unimportant, but the cost of each would run anywhere from several hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars. The point of this entire post is to highlight the differences in how each of these contractors chose to handle the potential business I was sending their way.

On the first project, I called and left a message with a contractor that I have used in the past. He called me back within two hours. Unfortunately for us, he was already committed on the night I needed, so he could not do the job. He apologized and asked that i give him another chance next time. I thanked him for calling me back and told him I would. He apologized again, and I thanked him again and moved on to another contractor. This guy called me the next day to recommend a competitor of his since he was unable to help me. Do you think I would hesitate to use this person in the future? Certainly not.

The second project was the more expensive of the two. I called a “friend” who happens to own a business in this field. This is?someone that I have known for many years, and I was to know if he was interested in looking at the project. Again, this is someone who has done some work for us in the past. I called mid afternoon, got his answering service, and left a message. He called me back the next morning, however I missed the call due to a meeting.?We played phone tag until late that afternoon, when we finally spoke?about the project. After a few minutes discussing what I was looking for, he said he would come by the office the following morning to take a look. That was two weeks ago. He never showed. He hasn’t called back. I certainly am not calling him.

I warned you in the beginning this was a bit of a rant, but it annoys me to no end when business people don’t do what they say they are going to do. If you can’t do something, or if you are not interested in the job, just say so. People will have a lot more respect for you when you just say “I can’t do it” or “I’m sorry, I just don’t have the time”. I have turned down home sellers in the past when I didn’t think I could help them, but I told them that I wasn’t the person to list their house. I have chosen not to work with home buyers for different reasons, but I let them know why. If someone takes the time to recognize me and ask me if I can help them, I will show them the courtesy of at least acknowledging that fact. If I can’t help them, I will thank them and move on. Is that really too much to ask?

Business people measure success in different ways. To me, success is having happy clients, a good reputation in the community, and a profitable business. What’s your definition?

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By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

This post is a response to a post by Greg Swann over on BloodHoundBlog?that was a response to a comment I left on another post.?Due to readability issues, I thought I would post?my latest response?on?this website instead of leaving a comment to his post. Another benefit…I’ll get some traffic as Greg attempts to pummel me into submission!

So, point by point in Greg’s latest post, here goes.

Charles?>> Changing the real estate business in the grassroots effort you suggest would be a slow process as well.

Greg > I know you?re not joking with me, but are you aware of how quickly the real estate industry is changing right now? None of this is happening through the NAR cartel.

I am keenly aware of how much and how fast the real estate industry is changing. Don’t believe me? Ask some of my competition around Dothan to name the brokerage company that takes the lead on adapting new technology and strategies.?I agree with you that NAR is not leading this change.

Charles?>> it would literally take thousands or ten of thousands of people to make it happen.

Greg > Shazam! Here we are. BloodhoundBlog is just a part of the changes taking place, but we talk to tens of thousands of unique souls every month.

Let me rephrase. It will take the mobilization of thousands to make it happen. People reading about it is one thing. Those people acting on it is quite another. Not saying it can’t be done, but?it ain?t?there yet.

Charles?>> We already have a powerful trade organization in place, so getting a few hundred people involved would be easier, in my humble opinion.

Greg > You?ve already talked about how it was virtually impossible for you to make an obviously necessary change. The NAR exists to milk agents, consumers and the taxpayers, in that order. It will not even try to do anything else until it is much too late to make any difference.

It was impossible for four plus years. Then, the right people in the right positions of leadership rallied the troops and got it done.

Charles >> While your thoughts are noble, and I agree on several points, until leadership in REALTOR associations on the local and state level want to move into the 21st century, it just isn?t going to happen.

Greg > It?s not going to happen.

If NAR and the state and local associations are to change, it will be because enough people who want change become involved, move up in leadership, and build the forces necessary to make change. If leadership continues to be the ‘old school’ agents who have been doing things their way for decades, then NAR on down will become ineffective and will fade away.

Charles >> Folks such as yourself getting involved will be required.

Greg > First, people like me will never get involved with the NAR. I personally am deeply philosophically opposed to what I consider to be the criminal objectives of the NAR, but even someone less philosophically fastidious is going to achieve far better results by improving his own mind, rather than wasting vast amounts of time trying to herd mental dinosaurs toward a future they despise and think they can avoid.

I don’t know how to respond to that, other than to say I?am disappointed in your stance. Are you a member of your local association and NAR? If so, why?

Greg > I started this meta-debate because I think that both occupational licensing and the NAR cartel are doing a poor job of protecting consumers from stupid and/or inexperienced and/or larcenous practitioners

I completely and heartily agree with you?that occupational licensing does not protect the consumer. It is entirely too easy to get a real estate license. It?takes 25 times the pre-license education in the State of Alabama to get a cosmetology license versus a real estate license. There’s some bulletin board material for you. It is easy to see that there is too much incentive on the part of NAR not to support raising the standards of entry into the real estate industry. Ultimately however, it is the responsibility of the broker, not NAR, to protect consumers from inept practitioners.

Greg > But even ignoring the criminal objectives of the NAR cartel, I can?t think of a thing it does that it should be doing, nor can I think of anything it does as well as even a mediocre business would do it.

In my eyes, NAR is a trade organization that exists to support its members and promote issues that are important in their members business. In this context, NAR has done a good job.

I want to give you a couple of examples of something good that the Alabama Association of REALTORS has done for my business. First, AAR pushed a bill in the Alabama Legislature this past spring that keeps me from having to buy a business license in every municipality?where my company?or my agents list or sell property. The savings to me as a company amounts to about $1,000 per year. The savings to my agents is somewhat less. In other areas of Alabama,?many brokers are now saving thousands of dollars every year. Subsequently, some municipalities have tried to charge a permit fee for yard signs to recoup some of their loss since this law went into effect. AAR has lead the fight to defeat these efforts.

In recent years, there have been attempts by the Alabama Legislature to enact a tax on real estate commissions in the State of Alabama. Again, AAR has lead the charge to defeat these efforts, saving me and my agents from having to give up even more of our income. I don’t know what the exact dollar amount is that AAR has saved me since I joined in 1999, but I do know that in both of these instances, I could not have procured the same result by myself. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that NAR, AAR, or any other state or local association is the best it can be and doing everything it can and should be doing, but as trade associations go, they get a thumbs up from me just for the amount of money saved through their efforts. And that is not to mention efforts in other areas, such as property insurance reform on?the beautiful Alabama?Gulf Coast or Landlord-Tenant relationships,?that I am certain we will see benefits coming.

That’s all I have. I respect your ideas and your stance, as I?hope you will respect mine. As the saying goes, we’ll have to agree to disagree. At the end of the day, I think our goals are pretty much the same. In our office, we work everyday on ways to out work our competition and deliver exceptional service to our clients and the public. I have no control over what NAR or my competition is doing, and it doesn?t really matter anyway. If they refuse to change, that will mean more business for my company. At this moment in time, I am getting enough benefits from NAR to justify the cost, and yet I?realize that I shouldn’t rely on them to build my business for me. It is up to me to do that.

My condolences to you and your wife on the loss of her father.

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