About Ridgefield's Barrack Hill

What's there to be thankful for in this challenging market!!!???

It was very difficult for me but I was able to come up with a few things after much thought.(kidding-it was easy)

1. In our office we have a Director of First Impressions. She is there to greet the public and a plethora of other responsibilities. This is typical ofr Keller williams Offices. What's not typical is our DOFI (Jura) and the marvelous job that she does. She always has a smile and upbeat attitude which lifts evryone up as they enter the office.

2. We have a team leader(Rick) who goes out of his way to make sure that everyone, who wants to be successful, has all the tools and guidance that Keller Williams and our specific office have to offer.

3. We have an operating partner(Debi) who is the first one in and often the last to leave. She leads by example and is very busy but always has time to help or to answer any questions. she is an excellent sounding board for ideas too.

4. We also have an agent leadership board(ALC) who have a voting say in most of the business decisions made in our office(what other company has this).

5. We have many agents who give classes on everything from obtaining the appointment, to negotiating a win win, to caling on expireds, to mastering short sales to to to to.........they don't get paid to do this other than helping the other agents to be up to date ans successful. (Peggy, Dee, Terry, Andie etc....)

6. We have organized a basketball outing in Hartford to see the Women Uconn Huskies and we have 20 people(so far) who are planning to go(what other office has that kind of participation and commraderie).

7. My daughter had our first grandchild recently(our miracle baby born at 2 pounds) and I can't tell you all the the well wishes and great baby gifts and just plain support that came from this office.

8. The teamwork in this office is something that I had trouble believing. Our culture says that each person gets better by sharing ideas and helping others.

9. Profit share-I am coming up on my three year anniversary and at that time my profit share will be vested. Where else can you get passive income month after month by helping other agents join Keller williams and then help them to be successful. My profit share for the year will be close to 10k and it has grown each and every year.

10. The spirit in this office is amazing. It is a difficult market but you'd never know it by coming into our office. There is an energy, a spirit and activity that you don't find elsewhere.

I'm sorry to be so positive in this challenging market but I have so many things to be thankful for after all. Ps-- our office continues to be profitable each and every month and I am on track to do much better than last year while the office will exceed expectations too. If you are looking for a positive environment, with great ownership and a supportive staff and you are willing to work hard then we have a great company and super office for you.

Short Sale Mastery Series----Proper Pricing Proves Profitable

I have my national CDPE designation and I am a member of the Keller Williams Realty Fairfield County Short Sale Task force. My goal is to educate my peers and the General Public so that more of these Short Sales are successful and no more homeowners lose their homes to foreclosure.

I have been involved with numerous short sales both on the listing and the buyer sides. I also see numerous Short Sale listings from my peers that are constantly back on the market. One of the main problems with the low success rate in Short sales is the Poor Pricing Strategy employed by most Listing Agents. There is some false idea out there that the property should be priced way below market. I have also heard that some agents sacrifice the first offer on a property to "get an idea of what the bank will accept" These strategies are wasting time and are also contributing to the low short Sale Success Rate. What can we do to get these Short Sales approved with a greater success rate? PROPER PRICING STRATEGY!!!

First we need to make one very important assumption. Banks are not going to accept any and all offers and we need to prove to them that our offer is what the market will provide!!! So how do we do this???

1. Do a standard market analysis of the property including an absorbtion rate analysis. You need to factor into your analysis the number of months supply of homes in your subject properties specific price range and then price it accordingly. For instance: A Bethel, Ct. Colonial in the 350-400k price range has a 10 month supply of homes(competition) in this price range. We know that in the past 6 months only 3 homes are selling each month in this price range and that there are 29 +1(your subject property) or 30 homes for sale once the subject property is listed. We need to make sure that our subject property is one of the 3 homes that will sell this month but not at such a low price that it will be rejected by the mortgage holder.

2. Based on the information above we can now develop a Pricing Strategy for this property. We might decide to list this property for $359,997. This would put it at the lower level of its competion and (997 are my lucky numbers and a great marketing strategy in that it makes this property stand out on the MLS).

3. Now we need to take a systematic pricing approach that will not only test the market but eventually prove to the bank that the offer that we will generate is market tested and we will be able to back it up with the proof that it was marketed at higher price ranges but will no acceptable results. We will get these price reductions signed by the homeowners, in advance, when we take the listing. The pricing strategy on this sample home might look like this:

7/1/11 $359,997

7/15/11 $349,997

7/30/11 $339,997

8/15/11 $329,997 and we generate an offer on 8/21/11 of $319,997 which we submit to the bank.

We will also provide the bank with the number of days on the market at each price and the number of showings and any offers that we received. This information proves to the bank that the offer that we generate is an "arms length transaction" and that the market didn't generate a higher offer when we had it marketed at the higher price points. We will also provide them with our marketing plan and show them how many web-sites that it was exposed to(over 500 in our case). This strategy also helps when an out of the area appraiser comes in with a value that is higher than our offer. I hope that this information will help you to be successful in keeping more homeowners out of foreclosure and instead become successful short sale stories. Your feedback is appreciated!!!

NEXT TOPIC: Don't we have to submit any and all offers to the bank?

Does this market give you that "out of balance feeling?"

Do you ever find that your life is out of balance? If you spend too much family time then your business suffers while if you spend too much business time your family suffers etc... To me there are four basic categories in my life: Spiritual, Family + Friends, Business and Health and Well Being.

SPIRITUAL

Some people believe that there is a God, some believe in a less formal entity or "Higher Power" (most twelve step program members) and some have trouble with both of these and choose, instead, to believe in nature and the things they can see, feel, hear, smell and taste. The point is: How much time do you spend either in prayer, church or communing with nature each day, week and month? Do you spend any time in meditation or just quiet time with yourself with no interruptions?

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

To me, family is a personal contact sport. How many times a day or week or month do you have some form of contact with EACH MEMBER of your immediate family? Do you spend time with them, not as a group, but one on one? I heard a speaker recently who said that everyone needs at least seven hugs a day. A good place to try this out would be with your immediate family as I don't think that the general public is quite ready for this yet. Do you also make time for friends? If you can't see them personally do you give them a call or send a note periodically? Do you remember them on their birthday?

BUSINESS

Do you experience a lot of highs and lows in your business? Do you have a few closings this month and none the next and does that pattern seem to repeat itself over and over again? Do you have systems in place that work consistently every month whether you are having a good month(closings) or not? Do you have a business plan of so many open houses, so many calls to past clients, so many calls to prospective clients and so many appointments each month? It is more important to have a plan that works for you personally than to follow someone else's. However, any plan is better than no plan at all.

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

This category is probably the most neglected one of all. Do you have some form of exercise at least three times each and every week. I'm not asking you if you are training for a marathon but do you walk, run, ride a bike, play ping pong etc...at least three times a week. Do you go for annual check ups? Do you have your blood pressure checked periodically(A good idea in any sales business I might add)?

IN SUMMARY(or get to the point please)

The key thing is to try to do something from each category each and every day. You might try and keep a record for a week or two just to see whether you are spending too much time in one category vs.. another. The interesting thing about balance is that you'll find that there is very little fanfare when your life is in balance. Nobody comes up to you and pats you on the back or comments about what a good job of balancing your life that you are doing. However, there are definitely some noticeably things that happen when your life is out of balance. You may have even heard of some of these:

A lack of Spiritual involvement leads to fear instead of faith. You lose focus on the present while worrying about the future.

If you neglect your spouse long enough you may learn the word: Divorce.

If you neglect your immediate family you lose time that you can never get back and a relationship that is difficult to repair.

If you neglect your friends you get to say : What friends?

When you lack a plan of consistent contact with your clients you get to hear that they have found a new Realtor.

When you don't have systems that work all the time you get to experience the highs and lows in business that only a manic depressive would enjoy.

Finally, when you neglect your health you get to have emergencies rather than routines and in the extreme you get to have an out of body experience at your own funeral.

JUST A FEW THOUGHTS ON A RAINY DAY!!!

One of my favorite quotes: Jimmy Valvano

"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

Sell Your Ridgefield, CT Home in the Spring?!

Sell your Ridgefield, CT Home in the Spring?! I have been on quite a few Market Analysis lately where potential sellers have been told that it's better to Sell Your Ridgefield, Ct Home in the Spring?! Some thought that they read it in the newspaper(Is there such a thing as a Newspaper these days?), some were actually told by another Realtor(believe it or not)and some just think that Spring has always been the very best time to sell. Let's see if we can put some plusses and minuses down and see where we end up.

Currently we have the LOWEST INTEREST RATES IN HISTORY. Interest rates have an inverse relationship with price. That means that THE LOWER THE INTEREST RATE THE HIGHER THE MARKET PRICE FOR HOMES. We also know the the Government is artificially holding interests rates down in an effort to stimulate the housing market and therefore the economy. Who knows what the elections will bring and WHO KNOWS WHAT EFFECT THE ELECTIONS WILL HAVE ON THE INTEREST RATES AND THEREFORE THE ECONOMY.

Another factor to consider is the supply of houses on the market in your specific price range. Currently there are alot of houses in every price range and therefore competition is fierce. However, we also have SOMETHING CALLED THE SHADOW INVENTORY which is made up of all the homes that have been foreclosed on but the banks have not taken possession yet. When they do these DISTRESSED PROPERTIES WILL BRING INCREASED DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON PRICES AS THEY WILL BE VALUE PRICED AND IN GREAT SUPPLY. In the Spring we will still have all of these factors plus THE SEASONAL EFFECT OF SPRING HOMES HITTING THE MARKET. THE BENINSON ASSOCIATES offer our clients an ABSORPTION RATE ANALYSIS that will tell you what YOUR COMPETITION IS IN YOUR SPECIFIC PRICE RANGE. With this information you can make an INTELLIGENT DECISION ON WETHER TO SELL YOUR HOUSE NOW OR NOT.

There is also something called THE CURRENT DEPRECIATION RATE. The housing market can do one of three things at any one time. It can appreciate which means that the price of homes is going up as time goes on. It can remain neutral which means that the price of a given home will be the same at any time during the year. Or it can do what it is doing now which is Depreciate. We are CURRENTLY DEPRECIATING AT A RATE OF ONE HALF OF ONE PERCENT PER MONTH. This means that THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME IS GOING DOWN AS EACH AND EVERY MONTH GOES BY.

YOU ALSO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RECOUP YOUR PERCIEVED LOSS ON SALE IF YOU ARE MOVING TO AN AREA OF THE COUNTRY THAT HAS BEEN HARDER HIT THAN THE NORTHEAST. In Florida, Arizona or Las Vegas, for instance you can buy homes for pennies on the dollar and the cost of living is lower as well.

So if you hear that you should Sell your Ridgefield, Ct Home in the Spring?! please tell them that you have a few ideas that just might change their minds. Also, if you happen to hear this from another Realtor please run away from them as fast as you can and call The Beninson Associates right away.

The Five Reasons Your Ridgefield, CT Home Didn't Sell---It's never a good feeling when your house has been listed for 90 to 180 days and it expires without being sold. You wonder where you went wrong. The problem is that most of the time there is nobody to turn to who will give you honest answers. UNTIL NOW THAT IS...............................

Basically there are only FIVE REASONS WHY YOUR HOME DIDN'T SELL.......

LOCATION---We can't change the location but we certainly discuss how this will affect the marketability of your home. We will come up with a marketing strategy that will MAXIMIZE YOUR LOCATION.

CONDITION---YOU NEVER GET A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION. The Beninson Associates offer all of our clients a complementary home staging consultation to make sure that your home is fit to sell.

PRICE---We offer an absorption rate analysis for your home. How many homes are currently for sale in YOUR SPECIFIC PRICE RANGE? How many homes have sold each month in your specific price range on the average? How do these factors affect YOUR SPECIFIC PRICING STRATEGY?

COMMISSION---What is the commission that your competition is CURRENTLY OFFERING? Do you have a COMMISSION STRATEGY that is competitive?

MARKETING---Since over 80% of buyers today begin their home search on the Internet how extensive is your MARKETING STRATEGY? Is there a virtual tour of your home? Do you have a minimum of 16 pictures on Realtor.com? Can your home be found on more than 350 web-sites and search engines?\

I'm sorry that your Ridgefield, CT home didn't sell but, my team, The Beninson Associates, can answer all of your questions and............

WE WILL GET IT SOLD THIS TIME!!!