Downtown Portland Real Estate Broker~Herb Hamilton

In my last post I suggested you Get in Get Out or Get out of the Way ! So if you are still reading then you either have decided to stay or are hoping that I have changed my mind. I have Not!

If you do not want to get out then you will need to make some changes. Stop riding on other peoples coat tails! It is time to Get back to the basics of Real Estate. For some of you this may be an entirely new concept. WORK! Frightening as it may sound the Principals of real estate have not changed.

PPLS. The Real Estate agents morning daily acronym. Preview, Prospect, List and Sell. Every thing else is just busy work, or hourly wage work ( another words assistants activities ).

Preview :

Why preview when I do not have any Buyer's? Why preview Homes outside of a price range that I am comfortable working in? The best way to answer these and other questions about previewing property is best described in the following example played out over and over again in every agents day. Your standing in line at the Coffee shop engaging in a little chatter when the subject changes to Real Estate. The person or persons in front of you bring to your attention a house in their neighborhood a neighborhood you are quite familiar with.

You are caught totally flat footed, not knowing the home the price or any of the details. Your opportunity to regain that first impression is gone. Knowledge is king! Preview, preview, preview. You will never know where that conversation could have taken you, to a new listing, sale or referral.

Prospect :

Without Contacts it is hard to have Contracts! If you were suddenly forced out of real estate and had to take a ' Real Job ' what would your expectations be? What would the expectations of your employer be? Both would run down the same line. Don't do the work and you are gone.

So why is it so easy for us to avoid the very activity that creates the opportunity for income, that of prospecting? If we worked an hourly wage and that was the activity being requested we definitely would be doing it!

Prospecting can come in many forms, Active and Passive. Active prospecting is Cold Calling, Door Knocking, Returning Calls and or emails from contacts. Pasive prospecting is advertising, Internet activities such as Twitter or your Web Site etc. etc. etc.

The best plan for Prospecting is to mark it down on your schedule and stick to it. Remember everyone has habits. Most of us have bad habits. Make prospecting a good habit!

List and Sell :

These two activities are interchangeable. By previewing and prospecting you will create opportunities for listings and sales activities. Don't over book. People do like personal attention. Learn to weed out the wheat from the chaff. One of the best ways to do this is to ask your self the following questions.

1) How many transactions would I like to do in a year? ( example 100 )

2) How many people will I talk to in a day, a week, a month, or the year? If you are prospecting it should be Thousands.

3) Then why should you work with the first 100 people you talk to? Be selective qualify qualify qualify! Set high standards and then fill your calender with those appointments.

Here are a couple of ideas for goals. :

Listings : Will list at at least 10% below market with contract terms and higher than average commission.

Sales : Buyers who will pay cash and if they see the right house on the very first showing they will right an offer with no contingencies on the spot.

With out setting some standards you will end up working with everyone who walks through the door. This will definitely put you in the poor house.

In summary remember that real estate is a Positive expierience that grows when nutured properly. Stay away from negative people and negative thoughts. This may require you to move to a new office. Remember this, People follow people not offices.

When it comes to Listings price it right and they will come. Do not pay attention to the neigh-Sayers who claim " Know one is buying even when I drop the price to below market?" Bull. IF they are not buying you are not below market. Every home will sell to some one if the price is right!

So get up and get into the game or get out of the way!

Is your market still stagnant? Or is it you who are the stagnant one? Real estate income is all about contracts. In good times and bad people will move.

What happens more often than not is that we fall prey to our own expectations. In our own neighborhoods, the very ones we are supposed to be the experts in, we are out of sorts. So perhaps the value that the Seller hoped to get is not as high as he thinks he is entitled to. This should not stop you from working.

The best example of this is the new agent who has just come into the market. If they are smart they will shut their ears to all of the stories and comments provided by the older agents around them. STOP DON'T LiSTEN ! It will only bring you down. For the rest of us, look at what these newbies are doing!

Yes they are making money. Why? Simple this is their market reality. They have not been in the crazy times like we have. This is their normal and their normal is the very thing that may be keeping you from making a living.

Maybe there just isn't a big enough market out there for all of us. Perhaps you should consider moving on? So get with it or get out of it!

Click_for_Portland_Flowers_!

This is a new Group. Youtube Tuesday. Add your videos on Tuesday. We can all learn and share with this new medium. Have fin with it. Either with Virtual tour style or with Actual Video's.

I see I need to do a little refresher course myself on loading video's on to AR.

Well you just can't be expected to remember everything now can you?

All summer I have been talking about buying when the market is down. We all want to buy at the bottom and not at the top. Yet we all seem to wait til it is too late. Why is that?

Don't get caught. Rebound signs are all around you. Like this article today http://www.kptv.com/money/20491767/detail.html .

Not only that but if you are a first time Home Buyer and your looking to take advantage of that $8,000 tax credit then there are only 100 days left to choose and close on a property. Check it out ! www.portlandrealproperty.com

Ever wonder what's around you? Wish you could find out what is close by before you buy without all the hassle of driving the neighborhood?

Now don't get me wrong. There is no substitute for the first hand experience of checking out your own neighborhood. But really haven't we all found places in our own back yards so to speak that we didn't even know existed?

Well once again technology comes to the rescue. Come to www.portlandrealproperty.com . In the left hand margin click on " What's Close By " . Enter an address and voila!

Hey lazy bones! Yea you! Would you rather let " Your Next Home find You? " well then check it out. www.househuntportland.com or if you prefer to take a peek at what the Portland market is like at www.portlandflips.com

Be there or be ....