Beyonca Clark

That is right We are soon to have Martina McBride in our mist in concert at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons MD on July 30th. Just pull up a blanket or a comfy chair and just enjoy the fabulous show that Martina always gives. This is just one of many concerts that we enjoy in Southern Maryland. May 28th we had Larry the Cable Guy, mid July we have Blake Shelton at the infamous St. Leonard Fire House in St. Leonard MD near Lusby and Willie Nelson at the BlueCrab baseball field in Waldorf MD. There are a thousand reasons to move to southern Maryland, but the above reasons definitely take the cake!

Is a huge commitment. It is beyond being an entrepreneur, it is about helping people with the most important decision they can and will make in their lives. In this economy and with the housing market still slowly promising to return to a moducrum normalcy, Agents have to be conscientious of how important and what their job involves. Its not just the marketing, and the showing of the property. It is the communication with both your buyer or seller and even better communication with your prospects on behalf of your client. It is being educated not in one neighborhood or city area, but in a large enough range that you can truly understand the requirements, have access to the proper information from HOA's and builders. Its being internet savvy and a social media guru to market yourself as well as your properties. It is the constant networking, to earn a reputation and to be known so that your customer prospects will seek you out. It is doing such a great job with them once, that when they need an agent again, they reach out to YOU again.

Its dedicating the hours and resources and constantly reinvesting and re-educating yourself in this business. Its making a commitment to stick with it even during trying times like we have just been through and are still drudging through now.

This is a little reminder to me as to why I got into this business and why I intend to stay in it. I hope it is helpful to those new agents who are struggling in the business and struggling with the decision as to what to do with the investment they have made in this business.

It has been a long time since my last directly written blog post. So much has happened, yes I did finally settle my first sale and even attended the housewarming party. I had a couple of rental closes and my office moved from Solomons to Lusby... I have my own cubicle finally, nice shiny new gold Century 21 New Millennium name badge AND YES!!! a Key to the office and MY BUSINESS CARDS are in my hands and ready too go. What other changes since my last post? Well I took a salaried full-time position so have to report everyday to an office, but it is still and sales and get this it is HOTEL SALES MANAGER for a hotel near a naval base... GUESTS who are looking for permanent residence when transferring to Maryland... got my first lead after three weeks of work with a young couple from Tennessee (two young kids and dog and they want a rental property NOT an apartment)...

I had planned to get back into the swing of things in the New Year, but oh good lord, we are talking NEW YEARS DAY!!!! lol Love the real estate business. I haven't any preconceived expectations of 2011, just that I intend to enjoy my careers as well as enjoy my life this year and the only thing that can stop me, is me...and thus far I have been going full speed ahead and having fun, I don't anticipate slowing down not one little bit.

So back to real estate opportunities, I know that I need to set my home office, and branch office and plan a serious work schedule for the part-time real estate business to even be worth further investing in this business. I figured I would dedicate atleast 2 hours in the evening calling leads and touching base with potential business. Then I see that I would need to keep supplies of my business cards on me at all time so that as I am chatting up strangers as I typically do in everyday life, opportunities may arise there and SATURDAYS and SUNDAYS have to be about getting out there and even being at the branch office calling and hoping to grab any leads that may saunter through there. I also think I must accept the occasional request for open house assistance as much as possible because that will be a great source of leads for me as well. MOST importantly constantly blog and social network and spend more time with my mentor again.

Set real estate hours atleast three nights a week from home calling and emailing and set real estate hours on the weekends at the branch office. I am excited and cant wait to work my plan...oh wait I forget it starts today!!!

Well Happy New Year fellow Agents and I wish you to have a successful and prosperous year!!!!!

My first client found a house that is a bank owned forecloure. It requires very little work, but some work still. This is the thing, I have been working with a group of REO realtors in which their process of doings things borders on the unethical and possibly shady. THERE is the listing agent, the agent whose name is on the MRIS listing and then a mystery agent, which I know his name, but do not have a clear understanding as to what his role is on this transaction and then this mystery's agents assistant...which I wonder if she is a licensed agent at all.

We place an offer with the listing agent, checked on the offer two days later, by phone only to be told that she really doesn't handle the paperwork and that HER assistant is reviewing it now and will call me if she has any questions... Then, I get my first contact with Mystery agent who raises a question of the correct seller being indicated on the offer. We used the seller that was indicated on the bank records, who isn't the same bank as the listing mentioned. I responded to his email and waited for a response, which was we inputted the bank that was indicated on the tax documents and if he needed us to re-do or could he make the change on his end...NO response. THEN I called both cellphone and office line asking the same question...two days laters and several calls and emails, he replied with he would make the change. Five days later I contacted Listing Agent again to find out if the offer has been forwarded to the Bank, she again refers to her Assistant and she will have her contact me. NO attempt to answer the question. I then emailed Mystery Agent with same question and was told the offer has been placed with the bank and awaiting response. Two days later, I receive an email from the Mystery Agent, telling me that the bank name is wrong on the offer and saying the bank refused the Offer because of electronic signature and that I needed to re-do offer and get live signatures.

This is when it got weird, we had already addressed the bank name and he had said he would make the change. FHA accepts electronic signature, so didn't make sense that the bank would decline an offer with an electronic signature, since they don't receive the offer...they just receive the terms offered. I contacted Listing Agent again...and again she would not allow me to speak, she just explained that the ASSISTANT has been out of town for a week and a half and that any communications we have received from Mystery Agent in the past should be ignored...BECAUSE he doesn't know what HE is doing and to respond to the current EMAIL, because that is really from the ASSISTANT. And each time I tried to communicate my concern with her she would cut me off, saying speak to the Assistant she knows what is going on... Well then I email the assistant and call her on Mystery Agents office line asking her to contact me that her email confused me. SHE does not. THEN expressed via email where my confusion is and that my concern is that they never placed the offer with the bank. She told me the offer was placed and was removed from pending status, so therefore rejected and it was because of the incorrect bank name as well as electronic signature.

I then took my concern to my WONDER MENTOR!!! And she made a few phone calls, because none of this sounded kosher either. She requested the refusal notification, there wasn't one and she wanted to know specifically what was indicated to determine the offer was declined, she re-stated her assumption. She told the ASSISTANT that she needs to speak with the A/M to find out before submit and make our buyers re-sign offer (especially since one was in a totally different state on vacation and the other was here). She agreed.

She came back 1 hour later, providing an counter-offer with the bank, asking the same amount the product was advertised for...NOT on MRIS ($6000 less), but on a foreclosure site. I googled the address and sure enough I found this foreclosure site and the listing and it was $6000 less and it indicated the Mystery Agent as the listing contact for that property with cell# etc...and it also indicated it was posted THREE days after they received our offer.

Sounding SHADY yet????

There is more to the story, so stay tuned....

In my sales career, one of the things that I do to keep myself up on the goings on within my industry, is to receive google alerts and subscribe to various online publications. I clicked on a link within a google alert called "The Anatomy of a Realtor". The author regaled his readers with his opinion as to the credibility, expertise and actual purpose of a real estate agent and in his most EXPERIENCED opinion an agent is not needed. IN fact, he went so far as to CLAIM that he surveyed a 100 real estate agents and NOT one of them could tell him what do they provide a customer by way of a task or skill that the customer themselves could NOT do.

He then proceeded to outline how he handled one particular transaction of a property that he was interested in purchasing. From searching for it online, researching the tax records, communicating with the bank directly THAT owns the property and with email and faxing, had the whole transaction completed in 9 days and saved 6% commission.

When he was called out by myself and other experienced real estate agents, he back pedaled and claimed that they and myself were of the few that provide far more than the majority... I believed he gave a ratio of 5% active & quality service agents to the remaining who are glorified door openers.

Isn't it amazing how people reduce a profession that put's so much energy and it's own resources to assist people with their most important purchase/investment to "GLORIFIED DOOR OPENERS". He gave many quotes from the NAR, that a majority of realtors don't stay in the business beyond their first year and that majority of realtors do not invest in nor develop creative avenues of marketing and education.

It just seemed to me his whole article/blog was strong in the direction of irresponsible and thoroughly uneducated, and for the most important ANNOYING to say the least. What are some of your thoughts?