RE/MAX International Convention - Day 3

Another beautiful day in Las Vegas -- mostly spent inside attending the 2008 RE/MAX International Convention, but I did get in my morning walk and still made the General Session starting at 8:30. Ok, I was there at 8:40. I've listened to NPR's Marketplace (the previous day's edition) each of the past two mornings while doing this city walk. I don't normally listen to my IPOD while walking in the forest at home in beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona, but here it is a perfect way to pass the walking time. It's a good way to know what the public is hearing about the real estate market and economic news in general.

Even arriving 10 minutes late, I caught the gist of Mr. Buckingham's motivating speech, which was: Make the most of your life and your career by working on your STRENGTHS, not your weaknesses. First, define your strengths specifically. Not "I'm good with people," but "I'm good at meeting new people and persuading them to close on a sale;" or, "I'm good at expanding existing relationships to persuade my friends and sphere of influence to buy or sell with me." Second, do what's fun for you because that is what you will do best. Warren Buffet admitted "Philanthropy is not fun for me" as he gave the vast majority of his fortune to the Gates Foundation. He just didn't think it would be fun to establish and run his own; he'd rather make another deal.

Then, we heard from Brian Buffini, running through his usual basics of how to build one's business. He has a great "new" idea for down markets, but I'm not supposed to give it away until he and RE/MAX release their Ultimate Agent training program in June. But if you want a preview, visit the Service Providers page of my website. Buffini will sell you a software plug-in to your website that will do the same thing. Also, Buffini provided the insight that a database should not be a "mailing list" but a "list of relationships."

In the afternoon, I attended, briefly, a session on how to succeed in small markets. Not too interesting, so I left and went to the marketplace to buy my year's supply of folders at a discounted price. Then, I attended an excellent session by Carter Murdoch, now of Bank of America, about economic trends. He had some excellent charts; unfortunately they were not handed out. However, I think you can get many of them from the National Association of Realtors^® website, under "Research." The ones that you won't get there are the dismal charts about the price of oil and the value of the dollar - neither of which is THAT MUCH affected by the crash of the housing market, but which now are going to have a bigger impact than the housing market has had on the economy, on consumer confidence, and (hopefully, my commentary here) the November election. Oh, yes, and then there is the continuing problem of Americans' failure to save, also known as the "credit crunch" issue.

Coincidentally, at the end of the session, I received a call from a woman who had purchased a home in 2003 that is now worth $150,000 more than she paid for it. Only problem is that she took out a home equity loan when it was worth $175,000 more than she paid for it. Oh well, I'm learning about short sales, too! I'll meet with her Tuesday and see if we can make sense of listing the home and saving her credit from a foreclosure by doing a short sale.

The inspiration of the day was the Susan G. Komen luncheon to support one of the major RE/MAX causes - finding a cure for breast cancer. I almost didn't sign up for this because it was billed as a "fashion show." And, did it make sense to sign up for two rubber-chicken lunches in a row? (I went to the "Networking Lunch" yesterday.) But, I had signed up for the Walk for the Cure tomorrow a.m. (better get to bed soon!), so I went to this event. It was great to see women who had fought and survived this awful disease and to see the generosity of RE/MAX affiliates who attended this lunch. (A flag made from the original RE/MAX balloon was auctioned off for $20,000!)

Oh, and I won $30 at the blackjack table tonight! More fun tomorrow. . . .

While I'm away having all this fun, if you want to send a referral to Flagstaff, my team of great Flagstaff real estate agents in working hard back home.