Building a Referral Network

When I started Real Estate, I promised myself that I wasn't going to treat my clients like they were just a one night stand.... I had to call them back days, weeks, months, years after they'd buy from me.

I was showing properties this morning in Gilbert AZ and drove by the very first house I ever sold and well I had to call my very first client to see how he was doing. Turns out his brother is looking to buy a house and had I not called him he would've forgot to refer his brother to me. Hey it's only fair, if I forget about my clients why should they remember me?

I have now set time aside to do something to stay in touch with my clients, whether it's email, phone, or even txt messaging. I actually created a MySpace specifically for my business for anyone to stay in touch with me.

By the way, I'm accepting friends for a limited time so feel free to check it out at:

http://www.myspace.com/newgenerationrealestate

Quote of the Day

"Obstacles are those frightful
things you see when you take
your eyes off your goal"

- Henry Ford

"I Want to Make Sure You Didn't Misunderstand me..... Because You're About to Miss Out On Something Huge...."

I recently did a little experiment on my way of thinking. The results were extremely surprising and I want to share it with you.

I woke up one day and I sat around thinking to myself "If the US economy collapses, are we going to die?"...... I mean look around, when the Fed started cutting rates back in 2007 we knew our cost of living was going to go up. Gas prices soared, $100 worth of groceries now costs 3 times as much, people are losing jobs, home prices keep declining and our inventory is still pretty high. Now we've got Fears of Merrill Lynch going up for sale, Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and on and on.

Well, I'll confess that back in December I was terrified and I started looking for a job to supplement my Real Estate Business just in case something bad happened. 

How a change in attitude can make a difference. 

Before I accepted any job offers, I closed a transaction that kept me on my feet, and then another one, and then another one. A couple of weeks ago, I felt scared once again but this time, I had no financial worries yet I felt scared about the economy.

I don't know how all markets are but in Gilbert AZ, we have been sellin well over 350 homes a month. The average is about 260 to 280. We are selling as many homes as we were back in 2004 when the market was hot. So the business is out there, yet I was scared as were many people.

There's an old adage among stock trader's, "If you don't know who you are, the market is a very expensive place to find out"....

I spent a day reading news about the economy and the housing market. I came accross a couple conspiracy theories of how the international banks are taking over America and much more negativity. Later that evening, I wrote down my state of mind and I found myself not wanting to go on. I didn't want to keep spending money on marketing if the world is coming to an end. Simply I wanted to quit.

The very next day (I woke up tired and didn't want to do anything) I did the exact opposite and did nothing but listen to motivational tapes and books. I went over all the material I had from Anthony Robbis, Michael Gerber, Robert Kyosaki and many more. I wrote down how I felt at the end of the day and I did not even want to go to sleep. I realized that all along, I've had a great lifestyle and I have more business than I can handle. I mean just between yesterday and today I got 5 leads. I wake up at 5:30 every morning and stay up until 11:00. I enjoy what I do and "I'll tell you - We are in one of the greatest Real Estate Markets ever"

The secret?

You must remain positive and avoid any negativity. If all you do is listen to negative things you'll feel down and it's harder to keep going. If you remain positive then the world is full of Opportunities
If I ever start feeling down I watch these videos and many more, but I'll share a couple of my favorites...

Enjoy!

Gilbert AZ Housing Market

How's the Real Estate Business?
Attention has been shifted to the elections as it should since the housing market is going to greatly depend on it. Yet this question is still one of the top ones I hear.

Simple answer: Bad

Bad because we still have quite a bit of inventory to clear and because prices are BACK TO NORMAL. It's only bad because if you owned a home before 2003-2004 and you didn't sell in 2005 you missed out on the opportunity to sell at a high price - one you won't see for another 10 or 15 years.

Whether price increases or goes down, if the volume of transactions decreases then trade is not being facilitated.

Our worst month was January. We have had a higher than the average number of homes being sold each month since March. If that keeps up, then 2009 should be our correction year. Well below are graphs to show what prices are doing in Gilbert AZ and sorrounding areas

Here are the numbers for the month of August.

We have 2001 active listings (our all time high was 2500+ in November of 2007) There were 358 homes sold and we currently have 370 pending home sales (avg is about 260) The average home in Gilbert sold for $265,000.

If you'd like to see what a specific neighborhood is doing let me know and I'll be glad to post something about it. Much like these cities are acting slightly different, neighborhoods within a city are different (some retain better value than others)