Bill Kennedy - Greenville SC Realtor

I feel that I have wasted nearly half a day today. Oh, sure, I did some work activities... I showed a house to a newly signed buyer, and I did some various computer tasks... but most of the day I cleaned.

My home office is probably like a lot of you reading this - messy. I come home from the other office, toss down my things on the desk, and forget about it. If something doesn't require a DO OR DIE decision or action, it will probably get tossed onto a pile. For a while.

A long while.

So today, I decided enough was enough. I'm finding cleaning to be therapeutic. I found some old leads that didn't pan out. I tossed them in the recycle heap. I found a former listing that turned into a listing-from-REALLY HOT PLACE. It went into the trash (the trash felt better, even though I could have recycled it too!).

A big problem I face is that I hold onto everything. Forever. And then a little longer. I decided to create a new rule of thumb. If I didn't use an item the previous year, and I don't anticipate a need for it within the next year, then I can consider tossing it out.

Well, I have to say consider. That's a big step for someone like me who is just now throwing away his 2005 NAR Member Benefits packet.

One of my favorite bands, the Trans Siberian Orchestra, will be coming back to Greenville South Carolina on their 2008/2009 Winter Tour! They will be performing at the Bilo Center on Sunday, November 23, at 3:00 pm and 7:30 pm.

I have been thrilled by the TSO's musical masterpieces for years, ever since accidentally turning on some sort of weird Christmas special on TV one night. Their Christmas music features meaningful lyrics combined with amazing orchestral compositions.

My favorite TSO album by far is Beethoven's Last Night. The album is a rock-opera, created around the thought that Beethoven was writing a 10th symphony when he passed away. Beethoven is forced to make a difficult choice when faced with the fact that he is to die. Listen to it - you'll love it!

My buyer's agent, Scott, is a friend of the drummer for the TSO. I only hope I can convince him to let me hang out with them!

Teams are formed and teams fall apart, and often real estate teams shift in terms of their personnel. In 2006, I was starting on the upslope of what I felt was going to be a dramatic rise in my team's production. At the time, I had two part time buyer's agents, and an admin assistant. I was generating a ton of buyer leads, so I felt it was time to bring on some full time help.

I hired two full time buyers agents, and my business disintegrated.

Not all of it was because of the hiring of those agents. I had some other issues to deal with, but I will say that none of the issues involved the market (that's what a lot of people will instinctively think as they read this). The bad hires were probably the worst thing in the mix. I spent a lot of time training and working out my systems, a lot of money on new tools and lead generation, and together, in several months, they produced THREE closings. Total. Three.

Now, a year and a half after I consolidated my team down to an admin assistant and one part time buyer's agent, I am back to the point of generating a ton of buyer leads. I've been referring them out to agents in my office, but they aren't getting converted, because I don't have the time to train every referral agent in the methods for my lead followup (the leads aren't quite your average lead, but they are easier to follow up, once you understand the concepts involved).

I'm tired of always referring. It's time to bring a buyer's agent on board... AGAIN.

After reading the first part of the blog, you can probably understand why I am really reluctant to do this. I already have decided that I am going to grow SLOWLY in terms of staff. I'm going to hire only as needed, not just because I see someone who MIGHT be good.

I am trying to figure out if I should hire from within my office, if the talent emerges, or look at agents outside the office. Agents already at our company understand our culture, and I know how they have been trained (I'm in charge of training, so I know who goes to what classes and how they're doing). Outside agents can bring a lot to the table as well. There might be some great talent just waiting for me to find them.

What advice do you have for hiring buyers agents? Did you have problems like I did, or huge successes? Perhaps I want to hear that I'm not the only one out there! *GRIN*

If you've read my blog for long, you know that I'm crazy about Active Rain. I am convinced that this is one of the greatest tools that I have ever decided to utilize, and I'm constantly glad that I jumped into blogging with both feet back in August of 2007.

I have been tweaking my listing presentation lately, and I'm trying to decide how to add my Active Rain association and blog to it.

I can see some obvious benefits for my sellers, in the fact that I have a referral network well over 100,000 people strong. I can also advertise their listings on AR, which gives one more place to expose them to potential buyers.

What other benefits can you think of? Are any of you using AR in your listing presentations? What ideas might you have for me and the rest of the Active Rain community who would like to incorporate our great tool more?

Thanks in advance for your advice and tips!

This safety tip may be one of the simplest for you to implement, but as I drive around at night, I see that many people don't.

Statistics say that houses with lights turned on are much less likely to be burglarized. Those same statistics also say that cars are less likely to be broken in (in the driveways or out front), and outbuildings are less likely to be broken into.

Motion lights are one great item to have on your home. I have a motion light on each corner of my home, so that if anyone approaches, they get illuminated. They are great tools to have to discourage a would-be burglar.

The front porch light is the easiest light to turn on. Motion lights can be fooled if the area of the motion detector can be determined, but keeping the front porch light on at night is a great way to reduce the chance of crime occurring at your residence. The cost is minimal compared to the security it offers.

Don't just do it yourself. Talk to your neighbors too! Light up the whole street at night, and send the criminals elsewhere.