Using the WEB as a NET

Automatic feed to these sites!

Personal websites are a good thing.  I have one myself.  I bought it/started the site when a developer dumped me for another agent BECAUSE of a personal website.  Or rather, my lack of one. The reasoning was that Mr. So and So REALTOR had a 'far reaching website'.

Now, in all fairness, I didn't actually have his development listed yet.  He was responding to some agressive materials I sent him trying to solicit his future business. He LIKED that.  The call came within days after he had extended his listing.  He was soooo sorry he hadn't called me sooner.  Assured me the development and listing would be mine when the current list ran out again.  I was ecstatic!  We talked about it 3 times over the following months.

I sent Mr. So and So Developer the note while enrolled in a program called TOP GUN Academy. We were given tools and assignments to help us aggressively grow our business and improve our skills.  We met weekly - divided into teams with 'team leaders'.  I was so PROUD of my accomplishment, we all rejoiced in my pro-active activities and the positive results (I had been a REALTOR about 6 mos)!  Can you imagine!

Some time later Mr. So and So team leader mentioned he ran into Mr. So and So Developer in the post office.  How lovely, I felt a chill wind begin to blow.  Trust your instincts.

The week the listing expired - Mr. So and So team leader informed me the developer would be listing with him. Mr. So and So Developer felt he needed that special 'web' exposure that his PERSONAL website offered.  I won't go into the details, matters not a whit.  I decided in exactly 5 minutes that pile of  poo would NEVER be used again.  I called the very same website developer and started one of my own.

It was easily countered if I had been given the chance.  Truth is, a personal website has one goal.  And it is summed up in the word PERSONAL.  It is not about the seller - it is for the REALTOR.  Promoting the REALTOR and attracting buyers to the REALTOR.   Capture the buyers and sell them a property,  ANY property.

Additional download feed-newspapers

You see that Listing Network visual at the top left side of the BLOG?  Those are the sites automatically fed by our office, on ALL of our listings - one of the sites alone feeds further to 130 newspapers!  See how that works?  I know and understand the tools my company offers, I USE them and track the results myself. Mr. So and So Developer had no clue about that.  I was not offered the opportunity to share that info.

No worries, they made an excellent team. It only took 2 years to sell at 1/2 the original list price - with somewhere around 22 inspection item repairs on a new construction.  What did I really lose?  Nothing.  I gained a whole lotta wisdom. In this business as in most other areas of the world verbal means nothing.  The measure of a man is not in 'his word' in business, learn it.  KNOW IT!

I have gotten over all that - it was almost 5 years ago (well, maybe not quite over it) that would be foolish.   Mr. So and So Developer, Mr. So and So REALTOR with the inclusion of Mr. So and So Builder are teaming up to add some additional properties to the development!

I know, like I know, like I know, that I WILL sell one of those properties.

Fortunately for my future buyers - I know and understand the 'team' that will be sitting on the other side of those negotiations.

God doesn't like ugly.

Just call Tina didn't mean YOU!

Real estate is not a service industry.

So many try to make it into one.  Granted we ARE expected to deliver service.  We do enjoy helping people when we can, but there is a GOAL in place with that.  It's business. We are working or growing our business.     You will find real estate identified as a business or industry on most pull-downs for surveys etc.  

As you may have read last week I was the duty agent for 1/2 a day or so.  Now that is a complex role, task, assignment whatever you want to call it.  Answering calls about listings, financing, buying and selling is what we do, with a GOAL in mind!  To identify people who are buying or selling - or thinking about buying or selling real estate.   We like talking about real estate, not always with future clients, often it's just with friends, family or colleagues.  It's all good.

I had someone call in asking about commercial properties (remember?) the two that couldn't be found in MLS.   She was a fast talker, knew what she was looking for - very specific.  Gave me her cell, direct line and email address.   I took all of that, it was a contact - no biggie.  It might, might not lead to something.  I did some small work - figured I'd ask around and if it produced - fine.  I wouldn't kill myself on it - if the listings were available I would call her back.  From there we would go to financing and time lines etc.

Well HELLO!  She actually called back later that afternoon.  Did you find anything? - (no sorry).  She threw some other maybes at me - do you have anything like so and so...time for me to look a bit deeper for something that will fit.  I asked her, are you a REALTOR? Oh noooooo, she is not a REALTOR!!  She is a consultant for a developer.  She is finding commercial property for a developer.  uh huh.   I am thinking perhaps she is a wife or girlfriend?  Deliberately vague as to what she is actually doing.

I did a bit of research, emailed her some details on a potential opportunity, 'Would this work...'?  Oh yes, it might at that! (I did not send her the property address or MLS #)  She was responding nicely, just so appreciative.   Would I have some time so she and I get together and preview it on Monday, go over things so she could tell her developer about it?

hmmm...

Time to really nail this one down.   Lets try this again... are you a real estate agent?

Dead silence.  For two days.

First thing Monday morning she emails 'I am not a REALTOR, but I am working the developer as a client'.   Who is the listing agent so I can call him?  

I see.

Google the words real estate consultant.  They sure look like licensed real estate agents to me.  

So, I checked.  She is not licensed in the state of SC.  But she is consulting/offering advice as to the purchase of commercial property to a someone she calls CLIENT.  Someone actually hired her?

I GET IT NOW (see below) ...she is #1  Consulting a REALTOR and then advising her developer client (how silly of me).  I wonder how SHE gets paid?

con·sult

 [kuh n-suhlt; kon-suhlt, kuh n-suhlt]verb (used with object)

1.

to seek advice or information from; ask guidance from: Consult your lawyer before signing the contract.

2.

to refer to for information: Consult your dictionary for the spelling of the word.

3.

to have regard for (a person's interest, convenience, etc.) in making plans.

4.

Obsolete . to meditate, plan, or contrive.

verb (used without object)

5.

to consider or deliberate; take counsel; confer (usually followed by with  ): He consulted with hisdoctor.

6.

to give professional or expert advice; serve as consultant.

Healthy eating in Orangeburg!

I'm Italian.  I like my Italian food, and a REAL Italian restaurant (not a chain).  Family owned, where you know the whole crew by name.  Who their parents are, where they live. All of that.  And they know YOU!

Graziano's was THE place to eat in Lisbon, Maine.   I could walk there from my house, get a take out pizza.  Everyone knew everyone else.  We went to school with one another. The kind of place you still think about 23 years after moving away.  The first place on the list to eat when you go back to visit.

Luckily we have just such a place here in town, House of Pizza.  It is technically a GREEK restaurant but they do serve Italian food too. Locally owned.   My children went to school with their children, we talk about where they are and what they are doing, and their friends.I believe I have eaten there at least once a week since I moved here 23 years ago.  That's a whole lotta PIZZA!  I recommend this place to all my relocation buyers.

My sweet server knows what I order. (lousy photo of her - I took it with my phone)  It is an ongoing joke - silly but it makes me happy, I love her for it.  They have a great menu but I am a creature of habit and rarely change up my selection.  Large pepperoni pizza, fries for an appetizer (fried hard), water. Unless I am there earlier in the day then I might go out on a limb and order coffee to keep me going through the afternoon.  We have been known to have a glass of wine now and again too on very special occasions.

Not long ago I learned the restaurant had been SOLD!  I was devastated and a little ticked off.  It would never be the same.  Where would I go on Wednesday for a long meal with my bestie before Bible class?  Where would we be comfortable lingering over our meal, checking our lessons, catch up on the drama of our days?

My office is across the street - I watched the changes come within DAYS!  The addition of some kind of sun room thingy.  I refused to go check it out.

My curiosity got the better of me and  I broke down and we went back this week.
There were obvious structural changes, had there been changes in staff as well? Supposedly the menu was the same but what about the the TASTE?

The first question in the door was - 'Would you like to be seated in the SUN ROOM?'  Well sure, why not?  We were the only ones out there.  Check it out...a fireplace, with a fire.   My daughter and I as per usual were discussing the menu, what we MIGHT have, when our server arrived and asked 'Pepperoni pizza?'  She was STILL HERE!

My dear friend was being very good.  Following up on that New Years thing and all.   A salad for her, Romaine lettuce only if you please.  I told her there was NO WAY I was having a salad.  I had eaten one already for lunch.   She pointed out it was probably best not to combine two salads a day with SLIM QUICK!  Now that's a friend!  Always looking out for your best interest.  She asked for a take out box as soon as her plate arrived, she was taking 1/2 home for lunch tomorrow!  Good girl.

She ate what remained on her plate like the pro-active healthy thing she is.  What I did not document however, was the pizza she ate after the salad.   BUT, that IS what all of the weight loss pros say to do. Drink a ton of water or something good for you like the salad BEFORE you start on the stuff you really want to eat so you don't over do.  Personally, I start with the fries.

They are open for Sunday brunch now too!  I am thinking to swing by before worship.  Time for a new 'routine'.

Here I sit, broken hearted...

Can you finish that line?

I spent many Saturdays 'downtown' in Barre, Vermont  with my mother as a child.  At the laundromat, Green Mountain Diner and inevitably making a pit stop at the 'Pay a Dime' restroom in Fishmans Dime Store.  We'd go in together - and she would spout out 'here I sit, broken hearted, paid a dime and only farted'!  I would laugh every time like I had never heard it before.

Don't pretend this offends your sensibilities.  With all the garbage  on FACEBOOK, youtube, television, on and on and on.  A fart is NOTHING.  And frankly - that about sums up how many REALTORS feel on any given day. Here I sit... It has played through my mind many times and I know if my mother were alive today to listen to my rants at the end of the day she would laugh and recite it again!

Wednesdays are my longest day.  I wake up pretty early, usually between 5-5:30 a.m.   DO NOT imagine that I am ready to face anyone personally, but I am drinking coffee in bed, checking the web and stuff. Social media is fine at 5 a.m. - being sociable is another thing entirely. I am focusing on business in one form or another, it's always with you.

At 8:48 a.m.  I sit at the office...waiting on a  buyer to call (since 8:00) to go over the offer he wants to write.  We already have spent 3 hours 
discussing said paperwork over a week ago.  He needed to go home overnight and think about it.  Of course I understood.  He knows I have to leave to meet another client at 9:00.  Is he going to write, will it be today, next week, ever?  Minutes are ticking, I have to go meet with the seller, get back to meet my BIC (broker-in-charge) at 10:20 for a conference on how things are going.

The seller for the 9:00 appt asked me to call at 8:50 a.m. before I head to  meet him at the property in case he forgets.  We played phone tag for a week to establish that connection so I am a bit apprehensive.    He ANSWERS!!!   'Is it that time already' (oh no) he asks. Yes, I tell him.  'Are we good to meet?'  He says he is fine and as I grab my keys guess who calls?

Former said buyer has only a few questions, I stop and go over them with him.  He will call later when he gets in town so we can get the 'paperwork' done.    Off I go.

Lovely meeting at 9 with super nice elderly gentleman who may or may not list.  It depends on what the market indicates he can expect for the property.  I take my info - shake his hand and off I go.  I'll call back and we will go over the market analysis next week - see what can or cannot be done.

At precisely 10:20 I meet with my broker to discuss my activity.  Yes, I have been showing houses.  Yes, they can probably buy.  No, they haven't done anything.  I said this, they said that.  Good stuff, just nothing on PAPER!  Nothing on PAPER means no $$$$.  We discuss strategy and make encouraging noises.  All in all - not bad.

Mandatory call time.  The agent on duty handles incoming calls and questions.   I get an exciting call on one of my listings.  Oh yes, I WILL show my own listings -  regardless.  If nothing else - I owe it to my seller to get in front of all potential buyers, get feedback at the very least.  See if they CAN put something on PAPER.   It's a cool house - great showing! As we talk and walk they are all over the house.  Financing, what can and can't be done. Sounds sooooo good!  Then he writes down his email address and I recognize the name. They have been around looking and looking for years.  To rent.  Can't buy squat.  Won't buy squat.  I say nothing.  I will go back and email the additional info they asked for, it's really warm (almost 80) but something may have frozen over somewhere.  It could happen.

I don't believe I have mentioned the referral I am chasing, the seller I called earlier for our weekly update (the one that I was hoping to write an offer on-thankfully I never mentioned it to her), a commercial agent from out of town is driving around, wants info on 2 properties she saw with signs (for her clients).  I can't find them in MLS.  I'll email her later too.  It goes on and on.

The phone could ring at any time.  WHO KNOWS WHAT CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES will present themselves.  I am not so enthused by the end of the day.

By 5:00 p.m. I hope not to be sitting here broken hearted ...I still haven't heard from the buyer who was going to bring in the paperwork.