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I ofter receive calls from brokers wanting a seminar on beefing up the listing presentations.  I always ask them first, "What type of real estate market are you in?  A buyer's market or a seller's market?"  The brokers balk at answering first... and ask why am I asking the question!  The question is vital to agent survival.  In a buyer's market you need BUYERS!  Why?  You'll walk away from the closing table with more money.  A good negotiator will always reap their rewards by taking a full commission, perhaps even an increased commission and a bonus.  Any buyers agent worth their salt will never have to give up any of their commission. 

Unlike the buyer's agent, the listing agent in a "Buyer's Market"  has to deal with a seller that is financially up against it.  The sellers need constant reassuring that all is well.  Constant hand holding! The listing agent is besieged with questions from the anxious sellers..."And how about some open houses, classified ads, real estate magazine ads...etc", and answer a constant stream of questions like "And what have you done to sell my home lately?"  It is the ultimate reality check!  Also, after all your efforts you finally get the home under contract at a price the seller.  They are really not happy with the price you struggled to get them.  They are ungrateful!  Then the last straw!  The other shoe drops... the inspection comes in with some issues.  The seller will look you right in the eye and ask you to come off your commission after all of your efforts!  It's enough to make you want to leave real estate!  Why?  Because you are working the wrong side of the street! 

Common sense in real estate dictates that in a buyer's market work buyers!  If you are in a seller's market - get listings there easy money then!

Jim Crawford

www.AtlantaBestHomes.Com

I don't know what the rest of your markets are going through, but I would love to create a dialogue here.  Do you feel "It's Like a Buyer's Market without Buyers?"  The phones definitely do not ring as much as they used to, but they do ring.  However, when they do ring it is to list a home that hasn't sold.  Or someone is upside down in their finances.  It tends to be a rescue mission of sorts. We are busy right now, but not swept off our feet with work.  Usually this time of the year we are gearing up for the onslaught of the spring market...starting in the early spring - buyers will start planning their home buyer strategies.  That isn't happening on any great scale.  I wish I could utter the phrase that Tony Saprano would tell Carmella, "Not now, it's the busy season!"  But I can not.  It is not the end of the world in real estate, I've been through 88.  It is the beginning of a change in the cycle of business.  It is important to reaffirm it is not ME.  That these are market conditions across the nation.  We are still closing deals, and paying the bills.  I am very grateful to be working in real estate. We have our issues, but it is great to have a career in this business even with all the changes.

A lot of real estate has been diluted in the last few years by many factors.  The biggest reason is the numbers of new agents.  It is like the piece of pie went from 8 slices per pie to 72 slices.  Our individual share has been greatly reduced.

I'd love to hear from around the nation or locally. Is it business as usual?  Is it slower?  Or from the old timers..is this 1988?  I'd love to listen to what your thoughts are.

1. Internet Farming And Prospecting
2. Build A Web Site For Farming
3. Strategizing for Internet Profits In Real Estate 
4. Strategizing for Internet Profit In Real Estate - Part II

Unless you do not care about creating a stream of income that is better than all the other prospecting, sphere of influence leads and the rest. The Internet is ON 24/7/365 GLOBALLY!  Yes position changes all the time, but it takes continuous knowledge to meet the change and stay on top.  But iit is worth it, and it can be done. 

The problem in our industry is most claim knowledge of web positioning, and few actually possess it! Still in real estate we pay them exceptionally well!  Real estate web master build great sites, but few are ever found on a search in the Internet, and they are paid well also!  Many in our Industry talk about pay per click, but no one in real estate talk about "Pay per click fraud!"  Which is exactly what most of pay per click is! And on all of the above, no one ever questions the price of knowledge.  Knowledge is priceless, but in web placement it can be attained freely.

I have long been an advocate of Internet knowledge.  All the information you need to succeed is out there.  Most in real estate try to pay for services and delegate out the work, but you cannot delegate that which you do not understand.

For the Internet savvy consumer it will be easy to dismiss a boasting agent or broker and provide them their own test of web placement.  We forget the Internet is consumer driven. The terms searched will be consumer terms not industry terms or "Real estate" which is a directory term.

Jim Crawford

www.AtlantaBestHomes.Com

How do you deal with really bad attitudes of buyers and sellers?  Life is more than handling a few objections or dealing with the client that constantly has to have thier hand held to more forward or make a decision.  They are OK and just part of the job.  But every so often we get the person that there is no better way to describe them as "Clients from Hell!'  There is no appeasement, no bargaining with them.  They refuse any enlightenment! Reasoning with the person when it is "Obviously all about them!"  How do you do it?  Or is it best to just walk away.  Let's also keep in mind that commissions are good, but sometimes all the money in the world it just isn't worth it!

Jim Crawford

I read loads of Internet post of so called real estate professionals that turns out to be more hype than reality.  I  have been on the Internet for over 12 years, and over 85% of our income is directly Internet related, I 've made a lot of observations that directly impact my Internet business, and consult with real estate web developers, programmers etc.  One of the main factors once a website is found on a search query is the load time of the page.  If the page does not load quickly, the buyer move's on.  No sale!  It is a frustration factor.  So no matter what materials are contained in web page, the rule I used to use when dial up predominated the market was a 14 second load time.  Since broadband usage now comprises over 52% of all users, I've raised the bench mark to the audience I would like to reach.  However there are limits.

Many of the speakers, and seminar hosts today focus on the glitz in the business rather than the limitations of the technical realities and limiting factors of selling real estate or actually selling anything on the Internet.  It is interesting how much BS gets a pass.  High five, and attaboys/girls are the norm. But then again these seminar hosts, moderators, and so called "experts" do not sell real estate on the internet,  They sell services, and seminars. Perhaps they can hook you up with a coach for a monthly fee, or have you enrolled in a Internet boot camp, or enroll you in a pay per click plan that will never work!  All for a nominal fee of course.

I was recently looking at a so called # 1 real estate sites of the year,  loaded with Awards, and Accolades to the MAX!  And as I was looking at the site, I realized the load times of the web page was off the charts! I mean this website was so loaded down it might as well be the the anchor for the Titanic!  I am talking about load times of over 280 seconds!!!!  No graphics were optimized,  there were distracting flash plug ins, cookies, script errors that all added to the mix.  Lets come into the real world people!  Why do we give awards to something that does not work.

If you have a real estate website, it is good to run some test once and a while to make sure it will ever work.  Here are some free tools I use to check load times. 

1. http://www.hashemian.com/tools/page-load-timer.htm
2. http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
3. http://www.nuigalway.ie/web/services/tools/pageload_timer/

Jim Crawford

www.AtlantaBestHomes.Com

This blog is a subliminal pet peeve I don't think I've ever seen shared in writing!  Almost everyday... when browsing through the MLS you come across a few listings that you feel like saying dropping to our knees and saying some prayers for the owner because the agent's MLS entries are so bad.  The home will never sell, it is a listing limbo!

Their agent, if they are even worthy of being called "agents" have already given up hope of any sale whatsoever on the property.  Perhaps the listing number is over a year old, there are remnants of a long ago past holiday like the "4^th of July" or photos of Christmas past.  Perhaps the listing photos are lush green in the middle of winter, or when viewing the MLS photos in July you come across photos of a snow covered lawn.  The directions are wrong, and you wonder if the person that entered them were dyslexic. The directions have been encoded with opposites of right and left.  To make matters worse, the home is entered in the wrong city with the wrong map coordinates.  There is a misspelling on the subdivision name, so it can never be found in any normal search with out a decoder ring. And go figure don't you know they could not enter the link for the Tax records.

Just when you think that you've seen it all you read the public remarks.  Open House Sunday October 15 2006  2-5 PM!

I thought this would be an intriguing question to ask to experienced real estate agents and home sellers.. so here goes..."How Many Homes Do You Have to Sell Before You Are an Expert?"  In real estate these days there are so many catchy phrases, slogans, and tag lines that promote the employment of an agents that is marketing his/her abilities or skills are superior to others!  A seller would then employ them as a matter of trust, safety, ability, and can do attitude!  It is quite impressive to say the least.  Words are very powerful in marketing, but deeds are more important!  Slogans such as "Your neighborhood specialist," "Consultant for life," "The Can DO Team!" and others have become trite, and overused!  They have no bearing on ability.  The problem arises for a home seller when they find out that that the agent/ or agents have never sold a single home!  Is that misleading? Was it right to mislead even if the sellers never asked for testimonials, or references from closed sales?

So when can an agent claim that they are experts in a given field?  The answer may lie in what they choose to demonstrate their accomplishments.  It can be easily be accomplished by charting: units sold/units listed, list price/sales price, days on market (DOM), expired listings, withdrawn listings, testimonials, web statistics, web inquiries, and more!  All come to mind as areas that separate your performance and achievement from other real estate agents.   It should not be based upon wants!  Achievement should measure not on what we fantasize about attaining, (best agent to use), but rather a demonstrated ability of closed sales.

An example of this is an agent that is recognized as a neighborhood specialist.  In their neighborhood there are lots of signs for sale with only their name. Residents believe they are the specialists, but reality is different.  They may only sell 30% of what they list, their list price / sales price ratio could be way off other competing agents, and be in the low 90's, and other agents whose signs they never see...because they actually come in list the home right, sell higher and close the deal rather than go on the market for 9 months plus!  So who is the real neighborhood specialist now?

I guess the biggest question that homesellers ask us is "What is the best time to put a home on the market?"  The anwser may be different in each case, but the response should be made on fact raher than making up an answer.  It has been our expereince that most people think like others.  The timing for selling a home or relocating is to come on the market in early spring to coincide with the children getting out of school, and the purchase of their new home and closing is to be before school starts. I call this the Lemming mentality!  Everyone does the same thing, but believes they will have better results than their neighbors. But this is not the case all the time.

More often than not earlier in the year there is less inventory so prices tend to be higher if buyers have fewer product to look at.  There may be a good strategy to placve a home on the market in late January or early February.  In springtime, I notice that sellers expectations are always higher, so is their pricing!  So when listing a home in the spring it is important to price a home strategiaclly.  Highest price homes in a normal market will sit longer and eventually sell for less.  

Late summer listings, will price lower and stay on the market longer.  They've missed the boat unless they get in under the wire for school starts, and their isn't a lot of inventory left to compete with.  Fall tends to be a harder time to sell with the longest days on market.  Face it, homeowners do not want to sell with Thanksgiving coming on and the holidays!

I find the number one thing that makes a real estate website successful is that it has to be found easily on the search engines with consumer terms.  I prefer to use terms like "Atlanta Homes For Sale!" rather than "Atlanta Real Estate." I am more concerned that a consumer find our site by looking for Atlanta SAT Scores on a Google search and showing up on page 1.  Not industry terms.  If a site cannot be found by the consumer there are dire cosequenses for the agent! It is like not having a real estate website at all, and that is like the athiest at a funeral...all dressed up with no place to go.  In other words, if a site cannot be found, it has no value.  A website needs to be found on page 1 of any consumer query.  If not, it does not offer service to the seller trying to sell, or the buyer looking to buy a home. We have to ask ourselves will the consumer use generic terms like "real estate?"  Or will they use terms that relate to a local market as in using the names of various subdivisions?  If the consumer finds a real estate website, likes what he /she finds but is turned off by filling out forms?  Or will a cumbersome IDX search ruin the consumer experience?  Success on the Internet is really a strategy.  Success on the cannot be purchased it is a thought out event.  Since I activley buy and sell real estae, and mostly from the Internet, I have to constantly revise Internet marketing ideas.

1. Strategizing for Internet Profits In Real Estate
2. Strategizing for Internet Profit In Real Estate - Part II

Jim Crawford

It doesn't take any skill whatsoever to give away business for little or no fee.  In fact there is no skill at all in running a business like that.  Discounts, rebates, do-it-yourself realty companies catering to For Sale By Owners / FSBOS...are the buzz word!  Since real estate right now is having a moment of reckoning in many markets, perspective is needed to take it all in so we can develope survival strategies.  Some agents that believe menu pricing, low fees will make them survivors.  I'd don't.  The markets have changed.  Agents that believe otherwise still believe they are in a market that existed a few years ago, and are about to meet the same fate as the dinosaurs! They've failed to learn the most important thing about real estate...Discounting will not pay the bills!

Discounting services / fees, and offering major rebates does not earn you enough to pay board fees, or provide enough money to top off a tank of gas, or enough to pay for your next open house ad!  Face it. we are in a market that most agents have never seen!  I am not talking commission here, I am referring soley to common sense.  We are in markets where we are accumulating of lots of inventory, there are not as many buyers, we have higher interest rates, days on market are increasing, so are our marketing costs!  The longer it takes to sell a home, the more costs are involved!

If you or someone you loved were ill, and someone were to recommend a Doctor for that illiness, you would employ their services without asking price whatsoever.  Why?  Because they were a specialist, and you received a recommendation that they were recognized as professional, and have demonstrated specialized skills! So why would you look further? It is not a time to look for rebates, cash back, E-Z terms, it is about hiring the best! 

With sellers possibly looking at major equity losses in the current market, it make sense to hire that professional that can deliver not only results, but the best possible results!  I believe that is the market we are in right now.  Some may think it is the end of the world, while others that can demonstrate they offer real solutions will not only survive, but to the contrary will do very, very well for themselves.  That is why they call real estate a profession! 

The person that does it for nothing or almost nothing - sells the point that there is no skill involved and that all you need to do is list your property in the MLS.  This is PASSIVE MARKETING.  Those that employ a strategy, skill, a custom marketing plan are involved in the process of ACTIVE MARKETING.

I've written several articles for http://www.realtytimes.com/ that share some insights:

1. Back to Basics: Common Sense Real Estate 101
2. Changing Times in Real Estate - Location, Location, and Location?
3. Awareness: The Challenge Of Changing Real Estate Markets
4. Increase Your Bottom Line By Adding Value

Jim Crawford
REMAX Greater Atlanta
1585 Holcomb Bridge Road
Roswell, GA 30076
1-888-992-5546 Toll Free
770-238-0122 Office
770-475-0286 Direct