Gratitude Rocks

Recently as a way to close up 2010 and prepare for 2011 I took the advice from an article I read in Realtor Magazine and conducted a systematic polishing and organizing effort for my business. I cleaned out my database, analyzed the year's accomplishments and made plans for the next. One of the steps included in the guide was to acknowledge the people who helped make your year a good one.
I got started thinking about all of the people who helped me overcome challenges, achieve goals, and make all aspects of my life, both business and personal, generally terrific. I sent thank yous to clients, family members, my boss, the cleaning lady, my pastor, my kids' teachers, the babysitter, my workout buddy...the list goes on and on.  It cost me about $.45 per thank you, and was worth every penny. Judging by the responses I got you'd have thought I'd been sending out $100 bills. People really appreciated the acknowledgment, and I felt great to have surprised them with such a pleasant thought. I don't know or care what impact this has on my business, but I know that I will do it again.

Get Ready for a Jump in Inventory (Quantity and Quality!)

Recently Bank of America and GMAC resumed foreclosure proceedings on 100's of thousands of properties it had suspended earlier in the year. There are many implications of this move, but what the overall market will notice most is a fresh influx of new listings at bargain prices. Since the recession we've been seeing plenty of discounted properties, but mostly in the mid- to low-range. Something we haven't seen quite as much of yet is discounted luxury properties. The higher-end folks have done a decent job of keeping up appearances for the past 18 months, but for some this is the end of the line.

This is good news for buyers, not so good news for sellers. If you're already on the market, make sure you're priced competitively. This may mean putting the house at a price that is a lot lower than you had hoped to sell for. If that's too much for you to swallow, do some math. Our area (Cape Cod) is heading into a period of rational growth (as opposed to the recent irrational decline, which was preceded by irrational growth), so if you use a rate of 3-5%, figure out how long it will take until the FMV of your home matches your desired sale price. Is it worth the wait? If so, then pull your house off the market immediately and take good care of it for the next few years until you can market it again. If you're not willing or able to wait that long, get a reputable Realtor, find out what the real, live market value of your house is in today's market, and price it right there or slightly lower, and cut your losses.

If you are considering putting your house on the market in this atmosphere, you must be realistic. Look at the very recent (as in 1-3 months) comparable sales in your area (short sales count!), look at your competition, and make sure you are a couple of percentage points less expensive than your lowest-priced competition. If this process leads you to a price that breaks your heart (or your bank), get back into your head and do the math I talked about above. And consider the consequences of over-pricing your house--languishing on the market and suffering 'death by a thousand price cuts'.

We are definitely on the road to recovery, but there are still some tough times ahead for sellers. Those who will fare the best will price their houses with the market and prepare their homes for the stiff competition that is just getting stiffer.

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-B of A and GMAC to Resume Foreclosures

Recovery Remodeling - Fine Homebuilding Article

Recovery Remodeling - Fine Homebuilding Article

Many people are starting to feel a loosening of the financial grip they have been under for the past couple of years, and are contemplating some long put off projects around the house. This article does a great job helping you decide which things to do and when, according to whether you plan to stay in the house or sell it in the near future.

Take Your Best Shot Now

Everyone knows that selling a house is all about conveying a compelling image to your customers, most importantly through visual means. Good pictures, and plenty of them, bring in more buyers. It's amazing how many people underestimate this fact. We've all seen listings with  dark, out of focus, and crooked pictures, or worse--NO pictures.
But there is one variable even the best photographer can't remedy--frosty, desolate landscapes in the dead of winter. Nobody buys a house on Cape Cod thinking about how much they'll enjoy a long, dark New England winter. The image buyers are seeking is full of sunshine, sand, flowers and life.
If you are even considering putting your house on the market in the next year, get out now (May and June) and start taking pictures of your exterior. Chances are your lawn is still spring green, the leaves on the trees are healthy and robust, mulch is still fresh, and flowers and shrubs are blooming. If you have hydrangeas (a classic Cape Cod summer flower) shoot the house in July when they are in bloom. Shoot the pool now, while it's open and blue.
Next to July, January is the busiest shopping month for Cape Cod real estate. It also happens to be the grayest. But with bright, summery images in your listing, you can list your house in the dead of winter and set yourself apart from all of the other properties by capturing the attention of the summer-minded buyers.

Yee Haw!

In an effort to spark things up a little in the dead of winter, our broker Kim organized a couple of first quarter sales contests. The first was a Listings Contest and the second was an overall Activity Contest (buyer contracts, listings, continuing ed, open houses, closings, etc.). When she first announced them I was the first to balk. To even qualify for the listings contest you had to get at least 5 listings. No way! And for the activity contest, the big points were in closings and new listing and buyer contracts. I had no really good prospects and was feeling a little discouraged. But Kim had faith in us all, so I just got busy.
WELL...to my own great surprise and delight, not only did I qualify for the contests, I WON both of them! In 3 months I signed up 8 new listings, 3 new buyers and even closed one of the new listings (another one is currently under agreement). What's really cool is EVERYONE in the office jacked up their production during this time. The energy here is electric. If we were able to create something so amazing out of what at the time appeared to be nothing...I can't WAIT to see what we do next!

The Secret of Success

I've started 2010 with a bang; business is better than ever before, and I'm ecstatic. The crazy thing now is people are asking me what the secret is. It wasn't that long ago when I was tracking down top producers, clamoring for the same answers.
I remember calling Sandy Magner up out of the blue. She didn't know me from Adam, but I knew she was one of the most successful agents in the area. Sandy is a great conversationalist. She can sit down for hours in a row and make dozens of cold calls. She also holds open houses like they're going out of style.
Next I asked Donna Gemborys, the queen of Eastham real estate. She sends out thousands of pieces of direct mail annually and has a paid assistant who manages the tedious aspects of the job.
Did they reveal the 'secret' to me? Well, I'm not sure. I'll call up the occasional homeowner if I know I can sell their house, and I do my open houses, but honestly I often sub them out to other agents in my office. And I send out postcards with every new listing and closing, and I'm even starting to 'farm' a couple of neighborhoods. If you were to ask me what I do that brings me the most business I would probably talk about my online presence and my person-to-person connections. But would that be my advice to you?
It's true; if you are phone prospecting for an hour a day, doing 2 open houses every weekend, cranking out a monthly mailing, hiring an assistant, hob-nobbing and blogging your brains out, it will be hard to fail. But I don't know anyone who does all that all the time. Not Sandy, not Donna, and certainly not me.
So then what's the damn secret??
It's actually not that mysterious. It's a lot less sexy than you might hope.
The 'secret' to success as I see it is: find the things that you are good at, that you like to do. And then do them--really DO them, with passion, persistence and vision. When something works, do it even harder. And for pete's sake, when something stops working, STOP DOING IT. Don't judge yourself by someone else's yardstick; chances are you're better than them anyway. Keep raising your own bar.
And blog. Definitely blog.

Spring is Sprung

Last week I saw my first crocuses of Spring 2010-- a big swath of them on 6A in Brewster. A few days later I read in the paper that the right whales are back in Cape Cod. Then last night--my favorite spring sign of all--I heard the peepers in the pond across the street! Woo hoo! I've got forsythia branches forcing in the dining room. Next up: start watching for seagulls over the herring run.