Tim's Atlanta Real Estate Blog: December 2006

About a month ago I read a post by Jeff Turner about a wide angle digital camera by Kodak.  My wife wanted a digital camera for Christmas so I thought it might be a good opportunity to test it out.

It is very, very nice.  My daughter also got a camera  but it had the normal 35mm equivalent lens instead of the 23mm wide angle lens.  My current camera that I use is a 28mm lens.

I did a quick comparison with all three cameras to show a side by side by side evaluation.  I just snapped the pictures from the same place and uploaded them without any alterations.  I just wanted to test the amount of the room that you can get into the picture.  I'm going to make sure I have a comparison when I go on my next listing call.  I think it makes a huge difference.

 35 mm lens

 28 mm lens

 23 mm lens Kodak 705

 35 mm lens

 28 mm lens

23 mm lens  Kodak 705

If nothing else, finding Jeff Turner's post about this camera is worth the time I spend reading here at Active Rain.

The link I have above takes you to Amazon.com.  But you might want to go directly to the Kodak site also.  Before Christmas they were having a two day sale on the lavender cameras for only $249.  They also threw in a 1 gb storage card.  I don't see the special any more but maybe they'll do it again.

Don't waste time getting traffic to your website until you know whether your website actually is able to convert lookers into prospects.

I have to say that many sites are just cookie cutter template sites that are pretty worthless.  Don't spend money getting people to your site if your site doesn't make a visitor do what you want.

Before you go too far, you need to test and test and test until you have proof that if you get a certain number of visitors to your site, you'll get a certain number of responses.  You need some way to monitor results.  Is it registration for a newsletter, registration for email updates, number of telephone calls received. 

You need to know how many visitors you need to make something happen and then how many sales are the result of that happening.  Then you can figure out how much you can pay to get that many visitors to your site.  It just becomes a big money machine. You pay for so many eyeballs which will turn into X amount of dollars.

The nice thing about internet marketing is that it is easy to test things quickly.  The easiest way to test is with a pay per click campaign on Google or Yahoo. I don't like to pay more than 25 cents per click.  So for $25 you can get 100 visitors to your site.  For $250 you can get 1000 vistitors to your site.  If 1000 visitors come to your site and do absolutely nothing, then stop right there and fix your page before you spend good money getting more traffic.  

The problem that I see is that there usually isn't a clear call to action.  You need to try to make them take a baby step towards your ultimate goal which is to make contact with you.  Don't try to make a sale all at once.  Offer some unique information.  Get them to sign up for listing updates.  Offer to send them comparables for their neighborhood.  At my Atlanta real estate site, all I want them to do is to use my site to search the MLS and hopefully they'll sign up for regular email listing alerts.  I know that a certain number will eventually call me after seeing my pretty face day after day.

Test out different headlines in your pay per click campaigns.  Sometimes one word makes all the difference.  See which headlines make people click through to your site.  Try to work those headlines into the title of your web pages so that when your pages come up in the organic results, people will click through.  You can also test out different landing pages.  Use the same ad but take them to different pages.  See which one converts better.  Try to test changes one at a time.  It's like doing a scientific experiment.  You need to have only one varible at a time.

There is so much to Internet marketing and SEO(search engine optimiztion) that it can get out of hand very quickly.  So my advice is to make sure you have a site that converts before you get into it too much.

I wanted to share a success story I had with a recent buyer.

Many people use my home search tool (IDX) to keep track of homes coming on to the market.  Then they call me when they want to go look at homes in person.  It's my main method for finding new buyer clients and has been working very well.

On a Monday morning I checked my email at 9:00am to find a request to see a home ASAP.  I immediately gave the person a call.  They told me that they had seen this home a few weeks ago when it was "for sale by owner" and they were told at the time that it was under contract.  The owner's fiancee was an agent and said she would call if things fell through.

These buyers saw it come up  on my Atlanta real estate website and wanted me to find out about this home. If it was available they wanted to see it immediately.  I called the agent and she said the previous deal had fallen through and they decided to get it listed on the MLS.  She had just put it in the MLS yesterday and she had it underpriced in order to sell it quickly.  She and the owner were getting married in six weeks and wanted to have it sold by then.

At 9:30 am I called the buyer back and agreed to meet them at the home at 12:30 that same day.  They also wanted to see another home in the same neighborhood. 

At 12:30 pm we see the home, we see the other home, and we come back to the first home to look at it again in detail.  My buyers like it a lot and I tell them I will send them the comps for the neighborhood.

At 1:30 pm I get back to the office and I run the comps for the neighborhood.  It's an area where many homes are being torn down and million dollar homes are being built.  So I have to go through the tax records to find out how much builders are paying for the tear down homes.  There are several recent sales in the $290,000 range.  The home of interest is listed at $279,000 and is in pretty good condition.

At 1:45 pm I send all the information to my buyer and suggest that it's already a good deal but if we act quickly we might be able to get it for less.

At 3:45 pm my buyer calls me back and tells me that they want to buy the home.  We write up an offer for $255,000 and they tell me that they would be willing to go up to $272,000 if they had to.  I tell them that the sellers seem like they want  to get this home out of the way before their wedding so they might be pretty motivated.  I get them to have their lender email a preapproval letter to me and we also put a 24 hour deadline on our offer.  The home had only been on the market for a day and any negotiating strength we had would quickly evaporate as soon as someone else showed some interest.

At 5:00 pm we submit our offer.  The listing agent complains that it is pretty low and that the home is underpriced already.  I agree with her but tell her that my buyers can complete the deal in four weeks and are already approved with a lender.  I ask her to just come back with a counter and I'd see what I could do. 

At 7:30 pm she comes back with a counter of $272,000.  That's the price that my buyer was ready to accept in the beginning.  So they were happy and ready to make a deal.  I told them to hang in there and come back at $262,000.  They agreed and I relayed our counter back to the other agent over the telephone.  Things need to be in writing but I didn't want to waste time and allow another offer to come in and wreck things.

At 8:30 pm the listing agent comes back at $270,000.  She says that that is the best and final offer that they can do.  I talk with my buyers and we decide to take a chance and make another counter.

At 9:30 pm I call the listing agent with our counter of $267,000.  I find that a gap of $3000 or less is usually small enough to get a motivated seller to accept.  I tell them to think about it over night and get back with us first thing in the morning. I remind them of not having to make any more mortgage payments and who knows when they'll receive another offer.

At 8:30 am Tuesday morning the listing agent calls me to tell me they will accept the $267,000.  They make the changes on the contract and initial them and fax it over to me.  I fax the contract to my buyers for their initials and then fax it back to the listing agent.  In less than 24 hours we have a deal.

At 4:00 pm I call the listing agent about the inspection and she tells me that she has received a few more calls about the home.  I feel that we were very lucky to get the offer negotiated before another one came in.  We might have had to pay full price.

Two weeks later we get the appraisal back.  Usually appraisals come in right at the contract price.  This appraisal came in at $283,000.  My buyers had instant equity of $16,000.

My commission was $8210 for a few hours that day and a few more hours spent during the inspection, where we negotiated another $3000 in closing costs in lieu of a few repairs.  Am I over paid?  Some might suggest that if they look at it on an hourly basis.  But I don't think that anyone else would have made that deal come together as quickly as I did.  I give my clients the information they need to move quickly then I help them execute the details in an efficient manner.

I guess I'm getting old. Sometimes it takes me quite a bit of time to figure out what some of the short hand abbreviations mean.  I end up having to stop and do a Google search. 

I finally Googled ROTFL and found out that it means "Rolling on the floor laughing" .  I'm sorry, but that just never occured to me.  So I looked up an online dictionary that has over a hundred abbreviations that are used in forums such as these.  But give me a break.  Check out all of these variations. 

ROFL                 Rolling On Floor Laughing
ROFLAS              Rolling On Floor Laughing And Screaming
ROFLMAO           Roll On Floor Laughing My A** Off
ROTF                 Rolling On The Floor
ROTFL               Rolling On The Floor Laughing
ROTFLMAOTID    Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A** Off Till I Die
ROTFLOL           Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud
ROTFLOLAPMP    Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud And Peeing My Pants
ROTFLTIC          Rolling On The Floor Laughing Till I Cry

There's no way that I'm going to learn all of these.  So please help me out and others just like me.  Take the time to spell it out.

STA!!!(Stop the abbreviations)

We've all seen the shaky video tours produced by an agent who is trying to use the latest technology to showcase his new listing.   To do it right, you need  the right tools.  To do a walk through glide tour you need a camera stabilizer.  These things are truly amazing.  You can actually run while videotaping and still come out with a steady shot.

I bought a Steadytracker last year.  It works really well.  It was a bit pricey, $179,  but I think it is well worth it.

There are cheaper, $39,  do it yourself versions too.  You can also buy the plans for $14.  I don't know how well the DIY versions work but it might be worth a try. I broke down and bought the fancy version because I thought it would take me a whole day to put one together and I wouldn't be guaranteed that it would work properly.

It also helps if you get a wider angle lens for your video camera.  I never thought they had such a thing for my little Sony videocam but if you Google it you should be able to find one that screws into the front of your camera. 

I've used it to do my own glide tours and it has performed very well.  I like using it to videotape my kids sporting events.  A few times I have videotaped homes for out of state buyers and put them on a website for them to view. 

A small investment in the right tools can make you look like a professional.

Imagine this.  You save a client from foreclosure by negotiating a short sale with the bank.  This means that the bank is willing to take less than the full amount of the mortgage due instead of going through with the costly foreclosure process.  Maybe the bank will settle for $270,000 on a $300,000 loan.  The bank is happy because they net out more than they might by foreclosing, the seller is happy because they avoid a foreclosure on their record and the agent is happy by getting a commission.

Six months later the seller gets a notice from the IRS saying that they owe $10,000 in taxes.  The IRS views the $30,000 in debt forgivness as ordinary income that must be taxed accordingly.  The seller is incredulous. How can one be taxed on money they never received?

This is a topic that I was completely unaware of until just a few month ago. It seems so unfair on the surface and that is why I have been looking for something that says it ain't so. But the more I search, the more I realize that I really need to understand this topic completely before I will feel comfortable advising a distressed homeowner to do a short sale.

If you want to do your own research, I have found that the topic is referred to with slightly different terms. Some say DOI(Discharge of Indebtedness) some say COD(Cancelleation of Debt) or some say Forgiveness of Debt.

Here are the links that I found most useful. If there are any experts out there on this topic, I would really appreciate any additional information.

The first few links are from newspaper type sites. But as you go down, there are a few research type papers discussing the subject in depth. They explain the various court cases that have set the precedents.

This is an article that gives an easy explanation of the problem. http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2006/08/13/debt_relief_may_bring_surprise_tax_bill/

This article makes reference that the $500,000 exclusion for profit on thesale of your personal residence. It says that this exclusion is for any capital gain but does not cancel the DOI income. DOI income is ordinary income and not part of a capital gain.
http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=149388

This is a general article that references some new legislation that they are hoping will help these scenarios.
http://www.njpforeclosures.com/resources/articles/0201sam2.asp

Here's the House Bill that will change the rules. Hopefully it will eventually pass.
http://www.theorator.com/bills109/hr3458.html

Here are the current IRS regulations on this topic
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00000108----000-.html

This is a very reasoned article trying to make sense about this tax. The Cancellation of Debt is discussed starting on page 11.
http://www.nyls.edu/pdfs/Vol49no2p695-716.pdf#search=%22new%20jersey%20cancellation%20of%20debt%20tax%20residential%22

Here's the most detailed report I have found. It's probably more than you will ever want to know but I think it is an exhaustive analysis of the subject worth the time to read.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3843/is_200404/ai_n9364131/pg_1

This article goes over recourse vs. non recourse loans and how the tax consequences are different. I'm not sure if this just pertains to California taxes or to federal taxes.
http://www.wwlaw.com/forecl.htm

Here's another article that mentions insolvency measured according to state law. Not certain whether the definition of insolvency is state based of federally based. Bankruptcy laws are different in different states. I wonder if it's the same for figuring out if you are insolvent.
http://www.bankrate.com/yho/itax/tax_adviser/20040217a1.asp

Another article about calculation insolvency
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/articles/harl/HarlAug01a.htm

This is a good summary on foreclosure in Texas
http://www.tlsc.org/lhot%20pubs/Residential%20Property%20Foreclosure.pdf#search=%22deed%20in%20lieu%20of%20foreclosure%20tax%20consequences%22

My conclusion after reading all of this is that in most cases, people in a preforeclosure situation will be insolvent and will be able to avoid these taxes through the insolvency exclusion. But I would believe that the burden of proof of insolvency will be on the homeowner and not the IRS. Therefore I would think that it would be very important to have the distressed homewoner hire a CPA to document their insolvency at the time of forgivness.

I feel pretty confident that the $500,000 exclusion of profit on personal residence has nothing to do with forgiveness of debt income. This is in conflict with what I've heard some "expert" explain. I'd like to know for certain which is correct.

I'd like to know whether there are state rules that define insolvency and are they different from what the IRS defines as being insolvent? One big thing would be how they treat retirement funds when calculating insolvency. I know some states protect your retirement accounts during a bankruptcy. I could see situations where someone could have a hardship and work out a short sale but have a large amount in a 401K. Would this 401K be included as assets in determining their insolvency?

Recourse vs. non-recourse loans seems to be handled differently, at least in California. I'd like to know for certain how it is in Georgia. If there are differences, then you would have to make sure whether the mortagage was an original purchase mortgage or whether it was a refinance where they got cash out. It sounds like original purchase mortgages are usually non-recourse loans and refinanced mortgages are usually recourse loans.

If anyone comes across the answers to any of this, I'd love to hear from you.

Many are afraid of taking a stand and having people disagree with them.  It's always much easier to just compromise and have everyone be your friend.

I came across a poem in my reading this morning that I thought was right on.  I wanted to share it with you.

You have no enemies, you say?
Alas, my friend, the boast is poor;
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes! If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done.
You've hit no traitor on the hip,
You've dashed no cup from perjured lip,
You've never turned the wrong to right,
You've been a coward in the fight.
- Charles MacKay (1814-1889)

Here's to creating more enemies in 2007 by fighting the good fight.

We are all renters.  You only get the use of a piece of property if you continue to send in your rent payments, a.k.a. property taxes, every year.

Think about it.  You can win the lottery and for $100,000,0000 dollars and buy your dream property. But you won't be able to hold on to it too long unless you can pay the property taxes every year.  Do you have a million dollars per year to pay the taxes?  If not, it goes back to the government so they can rent it out to someone else who can pay the rent.

Some how that just doesn't seem right to me.  It never really crossed my mind until I looked up what some multi million dollar home owners pay in property taxes.  It doesn't seem fair to me.  They use the same services as me but get penalized for being able to own an expensive home. 

I guess the government has to squeeze the money out of the people who have it.  Shouldn't there be a cap?

We decided to drive from Atlanta to Pennsylvania this year instead of flying.  We thought we might make a stop in DC or Baltimore or maybe Philadelphia.  We headed out on Thursday and were planning to stop in Washington and visit a few museums on Friday.

We were 30 miles south of Washington at 11am on Friday when the traffic came to a crawl.  We wondered if it was some accident ahead or if they had a lunchtime rush hour.  The traffic never got better.  We plugged along and finally got to the Baltimore Beltway at 5:00pm.  It only took another hour to then get to our hotel on the north side of Baltimore.  What should have taken two hours turned into seven hours.

I thought Atlanta traffic was bad but this was really incredible.  So much for site seeing. 

We are on the road again and almost to our destination.  I'm writing this on my laptop as we speed on down the highway.  I get a kick out of this wireless Internet.  It amazes me how what I'm writing here as  we're zipping along can then be uploaded immediately to the internet and someone on the other side of the world can read these words.  Truely amazing.

I've been studying up on short sales thinking that it might be a nice market niche without much competition.  Up until a year ago I had never heard much about them.  But they seem to be coming up more and more as banks are willing to make a deal instead of taking a home back in foreclosure.

For those of you who haven't heard of the term, it is pretty simple.  A bank is sometimes willing to take less than the total payoff of the mortgage and call it even.  In the last few years there has been a lot of 100% financing being done and now some markets are experiencing a drop in home values.  So now more and more people owe more than their home is worth.

A good book I read on the subject is "Make Money in Short Sale Foreclosures".  It's more about buying them as an investor.  For going after the listing, Margot Murphey offers some courses on the subject.  I haven't taken them so I don't know if they are worth it.

It sounds like a lot of work but it seems like there is little competition.  Also, it's a nice win/win/win.  

1. You help the bank avoid the time and expense of foreclosing on another home. 
2. You help the owner avoid foreclosure.
3. You help a buyer pick up a good deal.

Do any Realtors out there have experience doing these deals?  Any insight from any lenders?  With the increasing foreclosure rate are banks more willing to do short sales?

When I first got in the business, a friend of mine hired me to sell his home.  I was so excited because it was going to give me the opportunity to showcase my new skills which would result in many future referrals. 

It was a huge challenge because the home backed up to 285, the Atlanta beltway.  The noise was incredible.  A normal person could not handle more than a few minutes on the back patio before going crazy from the noise.  My friend also couldn't be convinced that he was insisting on a price that was probably 10% higher than what it was worth.

I did all sorts of things to sell that home.  I even sponsored our volleyball team and had our t-shirts feature pictures of his home on the back.  After  nine months, he finally reduced the price to a reasonable level and we got someone to make us a pretty good offer.  I was so excited.  The home had been vacant for most of those nine months and my friend was tired of making two house payments. 

The home was only 3 years old so we didn't have any concerns about the inspection coming out OK.  I was planning on stopping by at the end of the inspection just to check in and make sure there weren't any surprises.  As I pulled up to the house I noticed that the garage door and front door were open and the inspector and the potential buyer were sopping up water that seems to be every where. 

The inspector had filled up the big whirlpool tub in the upstairs master bathroom in order to test out the jets.  When he went to drain the tub, all the water some how backed up and out of the first floor powder room toilet.  All of the laminated hardwood floors were soaked and curling up at the edges. 

I almost started to cry.  The buyer's wife had just showed up with their two little kids.  What a nightmare.  The one person out of hundreds who didn't mind the outrageous traffic noise was going to be gone.  Who would buy this home now?

Fortunately, the buyers weren't too upset and we were able to work out the deal.  Apparently there was a partial blockage of the main sewer line that never would be noticed unless you emptied a full tub of water.  My friend said that they had never used the tub, only showers,  so it never was noticed. 

So do yourself a favor before listing your next home.  Insist on taking a bubble bath in their tub before putting their home on the market.  It will make for a clean transaction.

Wanted to share with you a typical  experience that gives you an idea how I pick up a majority of my buyers.  It probably won't sound that good to many but it has been working pretty well for me.

8:05 AM  I check my email and I see someone has sent me a request to see a home either at 9AM or after 2PM today.  The person failed to leave a telephone number. (Even though I promote the fact that I will never make an unsolicited call or email to them some people still don't leave their telephone number.)

8:07 AM I Email the person back and tell them I will be available after 3PM today and to please call me so I can set up an appointment.  I tell him I am very familiar with the neighborhood and have showed buyers that same floor plan.

3:30 PM  I receive a telephone call from the prospective buyer.  He says he has been driving around the area all day scoping out neighborhoods and will be available until 6:00 PM .  I dread the thought of fighting traffic at that time but I say that I could show it at 5:30 today but I'd have to check with the seller first.  I ask a few questions like "Are you working with a buyer's agent yet?" and "Why are you looking to move?" and "How many homes have you seen so far?".  He tells me he's been driving around looking at homes on the outside, but hasn't seen the inside of one yet.  He has talked to several agents on the phone and will be selecting an agent to work with in the near future.  I tell him I'm not the listing agent so I could show him the home as a buyer's agent.  He's a little confused by that because he thought he had written my name down from the sign in front of the house.  I tell him that he probably has been using my website's home search tool which allows him total access to the entire MLS.  He agrees that that is what happened.  He says that he is not ready to sign any buyer agency agreement yet.  I tell him that I'd show him the home without having to sign anything.  I look at it as an opportunity to meet him and see if I can be of service to him.  If not, I've lost a bit of time but I've seen another home.  He likes that idea and agrees to meet me at 5:30. 

3:45 PM  I call the listing agent who then calls the owner to see if 5:30 will work.  Listing agent calls me back and I call prospective buyer back and tell him it's all set up.

 3:50 PM  I print out the tax records for this home and print out all the comps in the neighborhood.  I also print out the listing sheets for about 20 homes in the general area that he is interested in. 

4:00 PM I leave the office with what I think is enough time even if I get stuck in traffic.  Without traffic it should take 25 minutes.   If I'm early, I have my tablet computer with wireless internet so I can use that time reading or writing on Active Rain. 

4:15 PM  Traffic is terrible. At this rate it might take until 6:00.

4:30 PM Must take alternative back roads or I will be late. (I make a mental note of the time and traffic conditions in order to share the experience with future clients)

5:00 PM Traffic stinks all over the place. (Make more mental notes on how bad traffic is in various areas)

5:20 PM Finally arrive at the house.  I see owners leaving their home and driving off.

5:25 PM I ring door bell just in case and then use key in lock box to enter.  Most lights are off so I begin turning on lights. 

5:26 PM  Older man in kitchen scares the hell out of me.  I tell him who I am but he stares at me like he doesn't understand a word that I am saying.  I try again and he finally says something to me in French.

5:27 PM My prospective buyer shows up and I have to explain the situation.  Buyer questions whether I had actually called ahead.  

5:30 PM  Old man still does not understand and doesn't look like he wants us looking around the house.

5:31 PM  I call the listing agent but only get his message machine.

5:35 PM  We finally try a primitive attempt at sign language and the old man smiles and begins to show us around.

5:50 PM  Buyer asks about other homes in the neighborhood and about comps in neighborhood.  I tell him I just happen to have printed them out before I left.  Buyer asks about size of home.  I show him the tax records that I just happened to bring with me.

5:55 PM  Buyer asks me if we can go to a nearby coffee shop and talk about his situation.   I invite him into my mobile office(my huge Sequoia SUV with high speed wireless internet access).

6:00 PM  Buyer tells me his situation.  He has a home to sell before he buys.  Do I offer any specials for that situation?  I say I just love working with a move up buyer like him and always shave 1% off of the listing commission for people who buy with me. 

6:05 PM  Buyer gets phone call from other agent who he called for information.

6:08 PM Buyer gets another call from another agent who he called for information.

6:10 PM  We talk about his home.  He tells me he will be out of town for the first week of January so that would be a great time to have it on the market.

6:15 PM  He questions me about what I do to market his home.  I go over the usual and point out the power of my website.  He brings up the point of how he found me by doing a Google search.

6:18 PM I tell him I will follow up by sending him the comps for his neighborhood and he says he will talk it over with his wife. He thanks me for making this happen on such short notice.  I thank him for noticing.

7:05 PM I finally make it home for the day.

 He's buying a $400,000 home and is selling a $300,000 home.  Do the math and you'll see that you don't need to do that many to make a good living.  I don't have to cold call or convince someone to do anything they are not comfortable with.  I just show them how helpful I can be.  If we don't connect, I still have been able to experience how bad traffic is at certain times in certain areas and I will have seen one more home.  I will have studied the comps for another neighborhood and have had another opportunity to practice my presentation.  It's a no lose situation for me :)  It's not for everyone but it works for me.

I am so excited that I can't stand it. I feel like Steve Martin in "The Jerk" when he sees his name in the telephone book.  "I'm a somebody" he exclaims as he dances around in circles.

I just started a blog, The Atlanta Report, two weeks ago, he same time I began posting here.  I took a few minutes to write a few paragraghs about Zillow and put it on my blog.  It was maybe my fifth post there.

This morning I did a Google search for the title of the post to see if it was indexed in Google.  I saw a snippet of it on a Technorati page. I went to that page and saw a snippet of my post but it was being quoted on some other site.  I clicked through to that page and found that my post on my two week old The Atlanta Report was quoted and it made me sound like some sort of expert.  Being new to blogging I had never heard of this site, BiggerPockets.com,  but it looks fairly important.  I had heard that things like this happen but I was surprised that my humble opinion would be quoted by anyone.

I almost feel as excited as when Google thought my site was worthy enough to put me at the 256th position for a five word search term.  I couldn't believe it.  Out of millions of choices  I was number 256.  I couldn't wait for the phones to start ringing off the hook :)

I attended a presentation put on by a new real estate company that has offices in Atlanta and California.  The thing that caught my attention was that a real estate agent could remain with their current company and offer mortgage origination services from them.  It's an extra stream of revenue for the agent. Also, when home sales slow down an agent can get a piece of the refi business.

It sounds like an interesting concept. Another tool in the tool box.  They provide training and have processors who do the paperwork. You are actually an employee of their company.

I really like to focus on what I do best and really don't want to get involved in a whole new business.  But sometimes I end up teaching my clients about loans anyway so it's tempting to just go ahead and get total control of the whole situation. 

The company is Team Mortgage Lending. Does anyone know much about this company or has had any experience with them?  Are any loan officers concerned about this?

I would highly recommend all Realtors and loan officers to join a BNI group. They have chapters all over the world.  You meet every week for a meeting that has a structured agenda. There is only one person allowed from each business category. 

Besides the referrals that one gets, I find it invaluable as a testing ground for various marketing ideas.  Every week you get to give a quick 60 second  infomercial and once in a while you get to give a 10 minute presentation.  So along with improving your speaking skills, it forces you to craft your message into a brief amount of time.  You get to test market various messages to an audience who is going to be very similar to your general market.  Many times I then work some things into headlines of article I write.

I used to fear getting up and speaking but now I can't wait to see how creative I can be.

Most agents advise clients about pricing their home under certain key price points in order to have their home show up on searches that agents or buyers might do.

We've all seen the $199,999 pricing which is supposed to make it sound like it's a lot less than $200,000.  But by pricing it a dollar less than $200,000 you are taking it off the radar screen for the people searching for homes from $200,000 to $225,000.

By pricing it right at $200,000 you are exposing it to people searching below and above that pricing point.  Do you think that it matters much?  Is it OK to maybe list it in the computer for $200,000 but then price it on a flyer at $199,999 to get the benefit of both strategies?

Have you ever  driven through a neighborhood and seen one agent with most of the homes for sale? Your first thought might be that they must know a lot about the neighborhood. You might think it would be a good thing to deal directly with that agent if you decide to buy a home there. 

If you want to get a good deal, stop! Think about it for a second. Why would they want to negotiate a great deal for you?  It's just going to bring down the prices in the neighborhood and make their other homes for sale look overpriced.  And what if the agent lives in the neighborhood?  Who wants prices in their neighborhood to go down?  A listing agent  wants to develop a reputation for being able to get top dollar for homes in the neighborhood. I've heard sellers grumble about their neighbors who sold for too little and the agent who let them.

Always consider the motivations of everyone involved in a transaction. You need to align yourself with someone who benefits when you get a good deal.

A buyer's agent who cares about their long term business  wants you to get the best deal possible.  Why?  When you go to buy a bigger home in 5 years wouldn't you call the agent who helped you get a great deal on your current home?  It's just that simple.

Tim Maitski
Atlanta real estate
Atlanta real estate agent

I've been experimenting with video and wanted to see what you all thought of a video I put together where I show people the little things I do when we go shopping for a home.

I've been very reluctant to use it yet.  It's a bit long winded and I think I come across as a bit boring. But I'm willing to put it out there for you all to comment on. I try to sprinkle in some humor here and there.

Broker Bryant posting a picture of himself in a diaper has given me courage to go ahead and put this video out.

http://tiny-link.com/vl.asp?h=7503576750RHKQRM&l=

Some real estate transactions remind me of the movie Pulp Fiction.   Think of the two main characters as two of your clients who were tough guys who thought they knew everything.  They always seem to luck out and avoid some terrible situations.

Remember when they pick up this teenage kid and they are driving along in their nice white interior car?  John Travolta turns around and starts having a friendly conversation with the kid.  He has his gun pointing at him in a careless way while he's trying to make nice with him. All of a sudden the car hits a bump and the gun accidentally goes off.  Blood and gore all over the place!  These "tough guys" begin freaking out not knowing how to get out of this sticky situation without getting noticed by the police.  Does that sound familiar to anyone?  The transaction is going along nice and smoothly and out of no where something happens and you have a mess. 

Or maybe a friend tries to do it themselves and the deal blows up on them.  Then they give you a call asking for your advice.

 In a panic, they call their boss. The boss  refers them to a "fixxer".  Winston Wolfe is the cool, calm guy who has all the connections and knows exactly what has to be done.  He doesn't get his hands dirty. As he sips his tea he directs them on exactly what they must do to correct the situation. He has the respect of his clients who become very coachable at this time.  His attitude is simple, if you want results, you do exactly as I say.

 A few calls are made, the guys do exactly as he says, and they are able to get out of the mess.  The guys are much more humble and now they want to change the way they do business from now on.

Most of the time a transaction goes really smoothly. Some people might question the need to even have a real estate agent at all.  But it's always nice to have a "fixxer" along for the ride in case you hit a bump and things get messy.  How valuable is it to have a fixxer on your side every step of the way?  Priceless?

Probably most of you  already offer this to your buyers but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

When I'm taking out buyers, I always try to take along my small soft pack cooler that has a few bottles of water and coke.  I throw in a few of those soft freezer ice packs and my drinks stay nice and cool even in the middle of summer.

It seems to make a nice initial impression with new clients.  If I remember, I'll try to find out what drink they prefer ahead of time so I can have it stocked in my little cooler.

On hot days, they really appreciate a nice cold drink.

 Tim Maitski
Atlanta real estate
Atlanta Realtor