Adam Anderson

First, some background.

I am a full-time Realtor. I am married to a wonderful woman who works full time as a foreclosure consultant - needless to say, she's busy! We have a 4 year old son - he is incredible.

My days usually consist of me raising my 4 year old son and working my full-time Real Estate business. He's very good about me taking phone calls and running with me to appointments. He'll keep himself busy while I'm working at the computer or talking to somebody about real estate. I will find someone to watch him for a listing appointment and the first time I ever meet a buyer. I try to gage a buyer to see if it might be okay to bring my 4 year old along the 2nd or 3rd time we go to look at houses. And if I think they might write up an offer, we'll head back to my office where he is entertained with toys or I'll drop him off at my mother-in-law's house. My broker is pretty understanding and we have a lot of support in my office. I do alot of business in the evenings and on weekends too, so my wife has him then.

Today was one of the craziest days of my life.....and for some funny reason I find myself wanting more of these days!! It's when I'm at my best.

Here's a small recap

5:00 - Gym

7:00 a.m. Pull expired listings on my MLS Hotlist and get letters out and pull phone numbers for Sunday evening calls. Check for price drops in my area and e-mail to buyers that I'm working with. Check craigslist for new FSBO's and re-post my listings. Follow up e-mails to agents who showed my new listing.

9:00 a.m. Closing on a small foreclosure. I had the buyer - an investor that I work with. I had to get my son up (he's a late sleeper) around 8:00, feed him breakfast and make sure he was dressed to go to the closing. My buyer has met him quite a few times and is pretty laid back about me bringing him along. Closing went smooth

10:00 Drop son off at a friend's house so I can go on a listing appointment at 10:15. Listing appointment went OK. It was a commercial deal that I don't have a lot of experience with. I don't know if I'll get the listing or not as they were looking for someone with a lot of commercial experience. I did quite a bit of research before the Listing Appointment (LAP) for short. It was a great experience b/c I learned alot during my research.

11:45 Pick son up at friend's house and stop by house to feed him (and myself) a PB&J Sandwich. Check e-mail and MLS for new listings.

12:15 Leave house to take son to his first day of pre-school.

12:40 Arrive at office to work the floor

2:30 Pick up son at school - He had an awesome day - 18 kids in his class (as opposed to 6 last year)

3:00 Meet a buyer at a house that just came on the market today

3:45 Son's first day of soccer is tomorrow (I'm the coach - first year for both of us) Stop by to pick up his shirt and team socks

4:15 At home - see that a new hot foreclosure listing came on the market while I was gone. E-mailed and texted just about everyone I know. Called Listing Agent to get access to the house so I can show it.

5:00 TT Wife - Told her I ordered pizza and asked if she could pick it up on the way home - No time to cook today!!

5:00 - 6:30 Ate dinner and responded to texts and e-mails about the hot foreclosure listing. Set up with 4 buyers to view property at 7:15

7:15 Show hot foreclosure listing - Hopefully I'll have at least one of them make an offer. While I was there I picked up another buyer who just happened to be driving by.

8:30 Meet buyer from this afternoon to write up offer on house

9:30 Stop by grocery store to pick up supplies for first soccer game. I guess being the coach you have to buy halftime and after game snacks - what gives??

10:15 Home - Respond to e-mails and touch base with soccer parents. Check MLS for new listings. Check craigslist for new FSBO listings today.

11:00 - Movie with the wife - We watched "The Secret" with David Duchovny - watchable....2.75 Stars

1:15 - Here I am - Checking ActiveRain and Blogging. Hoping to pick up my next client!!!!

I love these kind of days!! It's really what keeps me moving. Can't wait until tomorrow. Soccer game at 11:00, wedding and reception at 3:30 and 5:00.....I'm sure I'll receive some calls and texts!!!

Soccer and weddings - 2 more ways to network with more potential buyers and sellers.

Hosted By: Cals Cantina
When: Sunday Aug 31, 2008
at 9:00 PM
Where Cal's Cantina
McKeesport, Pennsylvania|39 15132
United States
Description:
Cals Cantina

Click Here To View Event

As heard on Y108!! www.thekigerband.com www.myspace.com/calscantina

It's always nice to get out once in a while - I do like to have an occassional break and I'll be here this coming Sunday to celebrate Labor Day. Cal's Cantina is a pretty laid back place with good food and great owners - They treat you like family here! It's great to watch the Steeler Games here - not a big crowd and they lay out a free halftime spread every week!!

I have a pretty busy weekend - A few listing appointments. Floor on Saturday and hopefully showing a few houses. Throw in a fantasy football draft and always have to go to a few token parties on Labor Day weekend to see evereybody - It's gonna be run, run, run! That's just the way I like it!!

I had a lady yell at me the other day b/c I wouldn't show her a house w/o a pre-approval or proof of funds. I just calmly stated is that in this day and age this is the way my business is being handled. She started to say she made over $50,000 and had been pre-approved years ago. I basically told her that if she's not willing to spend a few minutes getting pre-qualified, why should I spend the time working with her? She finally agreed to let our mortgage guy call her to get her pre-qualified.

Well, he called me a day later and said that she was very uncooperative and wouldn't give him ANY info...Dead lead!

When a customer starts to get defensive about getting a pre-approval it raises a BIG RED FLAG to me that either they can't get pre-approved or their not that serious. I used to take out a customer to see ONE house, but with the gas prices and the mortgage industry the way it is I've decided to change the way I operate. I've been burned too many times!!

It never ceases to amaze me that when an agent is TRYING to sell a house and he/she puts in the listing - AS IS!! To me, that is a big sign of trouble right off the bat. Even if the seller is not willing to fix anything I let it come up either when the offer is made or when the inspections are being done.

I recently listed an "expired" listing that another agent had listed "As-Is" in the remarks. I told my seller that this is probably why it didn't sell as it seemed to be competitively priced. The place sold in about 2 weeks with my remarks...

You HAVE to sell the GOOD points in a house on the listing NOT the bad.....Let the buyers make their own decisions about whether it's a good buy or not, not your remarks!!

And remember, "One man's junk is another man's Treasure"

I've been blogging on myspace and facebook for years now, but I didn't realize how many "other" websites are out there.

I read an article the other day in a Baltimore newspaper that says "What's becoming clear is that you've got to be there (the online social networking world), or you may be left behind."

It also says that there are fewer than 14,000 members of the "Real Estate Investing" group on myspace.....and there are probably few who live in your own neighborhood......

I keep telling the people in my office that they have to be on these sites and start looking at "other" ways to do business.

Been on quite a few but myspace and facebook and activerain are my favorites so far.

I've gotten quite a few leads from each of these websites and know that I am poised to take on the "Gen-X" buyer and sellers.