Betty Brenner

I am a firm believer in old fashioned "Broker's Open Houses." You know the kind, where lunch is served and there is a drawing for a nice prize or 2. I like to take the evening beforehand and prepare lasagna, or enchiladas. Having them ready to pop in the oven the next morning makes it easy.

Who wants to go to lunch and have tiny cold sandwiches? I want a baked potato or a good salad or a meal and I assume that everyone else feels the same. Knowing that most real estate agents take a few minutes for lunch inviting them to come and preview one of my listings and take a few minutes over a good lunch to talk and catch up with other real estate agents is fun.

I encourage real estate agents who are out showing to drop in and show my listing and feed their prospective buyers lunch on me. It's a win~win situation. The seller's home gets shown, agents get a preview and lunch and I get to visit with old friends and make new ones.

With the price of gas buyers are driving keyboards and not cars to find their next home. Today maximizing your web presence is the key to capturing sales.

In the not so distant past home buyers wanted lists of addresses to cruise by. When gasoline prices reached $2,50 per gallon this method of home exploration came to a screeching halt. Today those searching for homes turn on their computers and start typing. Prospective buyers view hundreds and even thousands of homes via the internet, enjoying virtual tours of available properties from the privacy of their own homes and workplaces.

The days of professional agents utilizing local papers & magazines as exclusive sales tools when marketing real estate have faded into the sunset. Buyers living out of town or even out of state used to drive in or fly in for a few days and check things out. Not anymore, in 2008 they position themselves comfortably in front of their computer screens. They grab a granola bar, a bottle of water, prop up their feet, tilt the seat back and they're off in another town, another state, or even another land. With just one click they're checking out a bathroom in Vermont, a kitchen in Houston, a master bedroom spa in Venezuela.

Some say success isn't easy in today's market. Success isn't harder today, it is just different from yesterday. Times change, just as sands shift in the desert, so salespeople must learn to shift when the market swings. Today's swings are technical in nature. We no longer need carbon paper. We can click a button and send copies around the world instantly. In the present market buyers don't have to come to the salesperson with the keys to see the houses, the houses instantly materialize before their eyes. Contracts can be scanned and e-mailed and many homes are purchased without the buyers ever stepping foot inside the door.

Today successful real estate agents must master the craft of website design. Websites must be laid out skillfully. They must not only catch the eye, but hold the attention of the viewer. They cannot be to busy, yet they must contain vital, interesting,pertinent information. Many web designers suggest that visitors should sign in to receive full access. In real estate sales you would think that this would afford the agent valuable leads from serious lookers. This is not necessarily true. There is so much available on the internet today that often serious buyers sail right on by the guest book sign-ins to the next site, not wishing to be called by a salesperson. Instead they want to look and then call the salesperson of their choice.

Key words and tags are of vital importance. When establishing sites to advertise on they are your drawing cards. Agents must learn to think like the audience they are addressing and use words that potential viewers might type into their searches, If advertising a ranch examples of tags might be: country, horses, acreage, and sunsets.

Before setting up your site spend several hours on several different days browsing for yourself. See which sites appeal to you and use these sites as a model for your personal design. The broader your market reaches out, the higher your chance of success. Be brave! Be bold! Learn to spin way beyond your own backyard, Happy webbing!

During these trying times, our industry has watched giants close their doors. We have witnessed first hand a federal government bailout, yet Keller Williams has continued to turn a profit. During the first days of October, one of the Owasso, Oklahoma agents experienced some trying times on a personal level. Her daughter underwent several major life threatening procedures and survived. Last count she was hiking up and down the hospital halls as if nothing had ever happened. At the office, the Keller Williams' agents had a spirit day to raise funds for this family. Items were brought in and auctioned off. There were multiple tables of scrumptous homemade goodies from pineapple-cherry cream pie to hot tamales sold at a silent auction. Lunch was served and the funds raised went to promote the occassion. The industry turned out and contributed. One of the agent's daughters was so touched that she remarked, "Mom, where do you work? Is this a church?"

Gary Keller built his company with God first, family second and work in the position that it should hold. Keller Williams is continuing to profit because of this ethic. At Keller, agents are set up on a profit sharing program. It is actually possible to make more than 100% working for Keller. Because of the Keller organizational structure success is eminent. Most companies are set up with PROFIT 1st, 2nd and 3rd. As a nation, we need to remember where we came from. In the beginning .............man created profit? NO! Find your book and start in Genesis and build on those principles and profit will continue even in a down market.

October 2008 offers up a new home mortgage plan in northeastern Oklahoma called the "REI". This is a combo loan. The 2nd mortgage comes behind a conventional 95% or 97% loan or an FHA loan. The 1st mortgage has to be a fixed rate loan. The term of the 2nd mortgage is 20 years, fixed rate. The 2nd mortgage must be a minimum of 5% to a maximum of 7% of the sales price depending on the type of the 1st mortgage. Although there are 2 mortgages they are combined into 1 payment for the borrower. Depending on the type of the 1st mortgage the seller may still make up to a maximum of 6% in seller concessions. There are no 1st time buyer restrictions. There are maximum income limits, but these are based on the income of the actual borrower and not on the income of the entire family. The annual income limit in Tulsa, Rogers, Creek, Osage & Wagoner counties for an FHA combo is $62,905 and for a conventional combo is $76,580 as of this posting.

Unlike 100% plus programs offered in the past this is a good loan. The rates are fixed. No adjustment ahead to harm the borrower. The down payment and in some instances part of the closing costs are actually financed and not paid by the seller. This loan does not need the sales price to be altered to achieve 100% financing, so should the buyer need to sell within the 1st few years after purchase they should not experience the appraisal problems caused by false sales price inflation with some of the programs which are no longer available.

Chelsea Oklahoma is the best place on earth to be at Halloween. Chelsea is a small friendly town on "Route 66″. Everyone pretty much knows each other. The community spirit is unbeatable. On Halloween most of the shopowners on mainstreet set up trick or treat stands outside their shops and residents bring sacks of candy and lounge chairs and tables and set up all along both sides of the street. By the time the trick or treaters start making their rounds there will be no space left between folks giving out goodies. There will be cars and trucks pulled up with their trunks and beds decorated and filled with treats. There are always 1 or 2 shops that go all out and decorate with witches and caldrons and give away spider shaped cookies, pretzel skeletons, marshmallow ghosts and ghoolish homemade sweets. Every child is welcome and they come decorated as everything from aliens to princesses. It is a blast and goes on for hours. The police and fireman set up in the middle of the street. So here is the whole town gathered together in the spirit of giving and laughing and sharing. If you've nothing to do this Halloween put on your best costume and take a spin down Route 66 to Chelsea Oklahoma where you can eat a spider, drink some cider and not be an outsider. You'll feel right at home.