Real Estate and Beyond Blog

Failure is not an option in real estate as it was not at NASA. My son and I watched the video series named "Failure Is Not An Option." It was a great experience for the both of us. It showed a group of people coming together to get a man on the moon before 1969 to fulfill President Kennedy's vision to have a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Did they have failures at the start? Yes, the Russians had success after success when America and Russia were competing to be the best in space. The American Space Program had many sebacks. Did they give up? No, they came back stronger as ever. Why? They had President Kennedy's vision to fulfill. They kept their eye on the target. They accomplished the vision.

  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 1969

Real estate is a long term game plan. Instant success will not be experienced by everyone. One must work in the trenches for the first two years to really learn this business inside and out. I just want to encourage everyone not to give up in this market. Seek out professional mentoring to become better Realtor. Everything that one needs is right in front of you. All one has to do is ask for it.

The only thing keeping you back is YOU.

I have either trained and/or mentored over 2,000 people in my career. I am always looking for more agents who desire to be better. My door is always open.

7 STEPS TO BECOMING ROCK STAR REALTOR (STEP 5)

PLEASE REVIEW STEP 1 

PLEASE REVIEW STEP 2 

PLEASE REVIEW STEP 3 

PLEASE REVIEW STEP 4

STEP 5: DOING THE DEAL$

Everybody wants to do the deals in order to receive compensation for their hard work. Yes, hard work does pay off.

TOP FIVE REASONS FOR HIRING A REALTOR:

1. Education and Experience-Agents must complete 90 hours of real estate education plus pass the state exam to become licenses. Then, we must take additions 24 real estate credit hours every two years. Furthermore, an agent becomes more experienced in his/her trade as time goes on.
2. Neighborhood Experience-Real estate agents start becoming experts in certain areas of the local real estate market vs an inexperienced person. This could save one thousands when purchasing or make someone thousands when listing the home.
3. Networking-Real estate agents are networking every day with other people. We know a lot of people when it comes to real estate.
4. Paperwork-We handle volumes of paperwork for the client suce as purchase contract, title report, LSR and so on.
5. After Closing-We are still there after the closing when the client has questions. We have become the trusted adviser for the client

 10 WAYS TO BECOME A BETTER REALTOR IN TODAY'S MARKETPLACE:

1. Treat this job as your own business
2. Be persistent-Do not take no for an answer
3. Stay focused and do not listen to the negative people
4. Continue to take classes to learn new things in real estate
5. Create your own Network-become a one stop shop for real estate investing
6. Become a decision maker
7. Obtain a mentor to guide you through the rough waters
8. Develop your niche in your local marketplace
9. Do not procrastinate
10. Be a positive force

HERE ARE MY ABC'S OF REAL ESTATE: ALWAYS BE CLOSING    

• Closing is the last step in buying a home. Unless you are paying cash for the house, you cannot buy without backing from a lender, which comes in the form of a commitment letter. The lender will require that you have a homeowner's insurance policy on the property, so you will need to arrange this before the closing.
• At closing you will be asked how you want to hold the title, which basically refers to ownership. If you alone will own the house, it's sole ownership; joint tenancy applies when two or more people are purchasing, but each holds the right to dispose of his or her share. Tenancy in common applies when the property is owned jointly with an agreement that if one owner dies, the share goes to his or her heirs. Tenancy by entirety is only an option for married couples who will make joint financial decisions and, if one spouse dies, the property is inherited automatically by the survivor.
• he down payment is due at closing and must be provided in the form of a cashier's check. Usually there's already a deposit on the house being held in escrow by the real estate agent; the deposit is produced at closing and included in the down payment.
• Closing costs are an aggregate of itty-bitty administrative fees incurred behind the scenes to process the loan, the appraisal, the title search, and so on. These many individual costs add up, but they are also beyond your control, so it's really a matter of accepting the inevitable early on. When you first apply for a loan, the lender is required by law to give you a Truth-in-Lending estimate of what the closing costs will be.
• Costs payable in connection with the loan alone include points, loan origination fee, assumption fee, application fee, credit report, appraisal fee, home inspection fee, and processing fee. Depending on the loan package you select, you may not have to pay points. Consider that one point is equal to about 1 percent of the loan. This is negotiated when you decide on a lender.
• The main purpose of closing is to review and sign all appropriate documents. While it is essential that you understand everything you sign, it's not feasible to read through the volume of documents put before you on the actual day. Whenever possible, try to get documents you will be signing ahead of time so you can review them. This way, you can get your questions answered before you sign.
• After all signatures are on the dotted lines and the money is transferred to the proper accounts, you are finally the proud owner of a home. Many buyers make the mistake of thinking they can move out of the old and into the new on a very tight schedule. It's far wiser to give yourself a five- to seven-day overlap in case loan closing gets delayed or the seller doesn't meet the deadline. In the long run, paying a little extra rent is not nearly so expensive as holding up moving trucks and camping in hotels. Plus, you'll have that added peace of mind at a very nerve-wracking time.

Everyone one I know including myself is cutting back both in business and personal budgets to overcome this dip in the economy. There is nothing wrong on reevaluating the budget here and there to save money. I am glad that people are going back to basics. I know many people that were using their house as an ATM machine. That was wrong. Here are my personal tips on money management

1. Overall Snapshot of my Financial Picture right now
2. Obtain a second quote on all of my insurances from insurance broker
3. Do not count on that bonus this year
4. Take better control of ones money
5. No more impluse buying
6. Pay cash no credit whenever possible
7. Obtain a copy of ones credit report to check for mistakes
8. Put money away for retirement
9. Purchase rental house for retirement
10. Put away money for college costs

Finally, this post is dedicated to everyone working hard to make it in this business. Real estate is a contact sport. That means a Realtor has to communicate with people at all time from initial stages to closing the deal. One must assume the close at all times and do everything possible to overcome all obstacles to close the deal. Then, one will be successful in real estate.  

7 STEPS TO BECOMING ROCK STAR REALTOR (STEP 3)

PLEASE REVIEW STEP 1 

PLEASE REVIEW STEP 2 

 MUST HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB

STEP 3: USING THE RIGHT TOOLS IN REAL ESTATE

Congratulations! You have just signed up with your new real estate team. That is a big accomplishment. The next two years of your life will be full of ups and downs. However, you will not have to experience those challenges alone since one has a team behind them. Plus, there will be many success stories over this time period. We are ready to discuss STEP 3: USING THE RIGHT TOOLS IN REAL ESTATE

A master carpenter has multiple tools to get the job completed. So, the Realtor must have just as many tools as time passes on. Here are some immediate tools that one needs to have to enter the real estate business on a daily basis

• Pens and Pencils
• HP12C calculator to figure out mortgage payments for clients
• Laptop computer
• Remote access card
• PDA phone
• Remote printer
• High resolution camera
• Tape measure
• Basic tools such as screwdriver, hammer, wrench, and pliars
• Flashlight
• Lighter
• Lockbox key
• Automobile
• Business cards

CAN WE DO IT? YES, WE CAN!

The tools listed above are for daily activity in the real estate business. One will continue to invest in other tools as one continues to obtain experience over the years. However, these tools are necessary for someone just entering real estate. Feel free to add to the list for future discussion.

Now, let's list technical tools for someone just entering the real estate market:

• Purchase their own domain name
• Email address to match their domain name
• Web site-keep it simple at the beginning
• Sign up for online social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and others dealing with real estate
• Blog- ActiveRain
• Back up files on external hard drive
• PDA Phone-BLACKBERRY
• Videocam for video

Education is very important to a new agent as one enters real estate for the first time. The first two years of my real estate career was in a classroom to learn as much as possible from other people. I was a sponge always needing more water. However, one must balance between generating business and education. Also, I would highly recommend to obtain on Realtor designation in the first two years of one's real estate career. I would highly suggest one of the following designations:

• E-Pro-Learn more about becoming a pro on the Internet
• ABR-Accredited Buyer Representative
• SRES-Seniors Real Estate Specialist
• CRS-Certified Residential Specialist

Finally, this post is to give first time agents a brief overview of the tools needed to make it in real estate. Again, one will contiually pick specific tools that works best for them. A great resource to learn more about the real estate industry would be to join ActiveRain. It will give you a great place to learn more about real estate and to connect with other professionals around America. Sign Up Today by emailing harry@deliateam.com.

 MAKE IT FUN!

I am seeing many more new Realtors come into the market. Why? Home sales are up and many people think that selling real estate is easy. Right? We all have our stories when it comes to this question. I have been in this busy for the last seven years and counting. I must be doing something right if I am still in the game. That is what people tell me when they hire me as their Realtor. However, I did not get to my level of expertise over night. It has taken mentors, mistakes, time, money and educational courses to obtain my expertise in real estate investing. Some people want what I have and not pay for the information. Wrong! We all have to pay our dues.

I am always here to serve. Currently, I am mentoring three new agents in my brokerage. Why? I would rather train a new agent because I can train them the right way the first time. I spent fourteen years in Corporate America.

TOP 5 MISTAKES MADE BY NEW REALTORS

1. NO MENTOR-New agents focus on the money and not the experience needed in this industry. They are attracted to the 100% commission structure. However, they do not obtain the training needed to survive in this market.
2. NO PLAN-One must focus in real estate or it can be very overwhelming at times. Many new agents do not have a business nor marketing plan in place. This is a huge mistake on their part. They walk around with no plan. This makes one very frustrated and angry.
3. BUDGET-New agents have no budget in place so money goes very fast in the beginning. I had to budget my time and money when I first started real estate or I would go bust.
4. MAXIMIZE PRODUCTIVITY-New agents waste a lot of time because of no game plan in place. They do not spend their time or money wisely. FOCUS IS A MUST.
5. INTERNET EXPOSURE-New agents must start their Internet exposure day one. There are many inexpensive ways to obtain Internet exposure such as ActiveRain and other social sites. New agents must spend money on obtaining their own web site along with their personalized E-mail address to start branding themselves.

CONCLUSION:

I hope this post helps many of you entering real estate as a profession. I would advise one to obtain a great mentor to weather the storms in real estate. Real estate is a great profession for many people. Is it for you? Please share your experiences with us and your thoughts on this subject.