Marvin de la Vega

I was reading Krista Fuchs' blog about her re-entry into the pool and although she felt humbled, I saw it as very motivational. I too at one time was a much better athlete than I am now. Of course we can be our own worst critics, but 2 kids, a handful of short sales, a handful of buyers, a bad (or good, depending on who you ask) market and finding one's voice via blogging can keep one busy enough.

I used to run quite a bit, trained on a bicycle with friends that trained for triathlons but never competed myself, surfed, bodysurfed (and not just little stuff but Hawaii Five-O opening scene stuff) and weight trained in the gym for many years. As adulthood progresses, time is less available.

Unless you make the conscious effort like Krista last week and I did last November, some things might not change. I commend her for her effort since it's tough to start anything from ground zero, at least for me it is. I had a similar episode on a treadmill the week before Thanksgiving. I walked for 10 minutes and ran 1.5 miles at a 10:15 pace, then walked for another 10 minutes. I NEARLY PUKED, FOLKS! You see the last time I ran before that was the last physical agility test with my old Navy squadron before I chose to join the inactive reserves, back in October '06, about 2 years worth of inactivity. The most I had done since then was maybe surf once a month in the off season and three times a month during spring, summer and fall. But there was no cross-training to improve my stamina or keep my paddling/sprinting muscles in tune.

Since Thanksgiving I'm up to a solid 5 miles per day, 4 times per week at a pace of 9:34 per mile, non-stop not including a walking warm up or cool down and the kicker, haven't felt the need to toss my cookies since my third or fourth run. It took 3 months to get back to this level. Okay so I'm not blazing fast but heck, slow and steady wins the race, right? Now I'm not training to compete but I feel better than I have in years plus I'm 10 lbs lighter than a few months ago, clothes fit better and my wife digs me...

So whether it's running, swimming, blogging, prospecting, showing more homes, or going on more listing presentations, the answer to the opening question of "how do you eat an elephant?" is, one bite at a time. For those of you doin' it, kudos, keep going. For those thinking about it, get goin'!

Cheers,

Marvin

Here's a good story...

My client (an AR referral) and I just wrote the winning offer on a coastal condo, 4 blocks from the sand (and a great surf spot), 2 days on the market, multiple offers on an REO. Of course the power wasn't on during our first look so I assumed we'd ask the listing agent for a little help in turning it on before our inspection this weekend. His response was, "Bro, this bank has me running ragged with 75 listings and I've called SD Gas & Electric, they told me they turned it on to the building but would not go inside the unit. I don't think the power is on inside the unit yet. They did give me an 8 hour time block for me to wait for them there tomorrow, but I can't do it, you'll have to".

Bro? I'll have to? 8 hours? No way, it's his job! At first I was a little put out for about 2 seconds. Then I realized heck, this guy just doesn't have any time in his day, why fight? 75 listings? Man I'm happy for the fella! So I sent him an email, "No problem, I'll drive up there tomorrow to see if I can find the power source (whilst avoiding being fried), I'll call the neighboring listing agent and the HOA/property manager first for some advice. Then I'll call the power company in the morning to find out where we are in the day's schedule. No worries, mate!"

Next day, before I jumped in my car the listing agent called and said "Bro, I got your email and felt bad. I got my partner to free up some time and go up there (it's 40 minutes away from both our offices). I got it handled bud, but I really appreciated your 'can do' attitude." After I assured him we're in this together, looking for a happy ending for our clients, we high-fived over the phone like two surfers victorious after great surf.

I didn't mention I was going to bring my board for the waiting period. Gotta be efficient with my time, right? What do you expect, it's California...

As part of my weekly exercise routine I make it a point to get in the water and surf once a week. Business sometimes takes priority and I don't get out as often as I wish, but I do manage to get out there often enough to clear the mind and put my muscles to work. The one thing that happens without fail while every single time I'm sitting there waiting for the next set or paddling for position I can't help but think of my love for surfing and the analogy it brings to mind in my real estate business.

So, for a primer on surfing technique and strategies for success, learn to surf whilst thinking of it as selling a house...

Often the first step is literally making the time to get down to the beach in the first place. I mean, what am I thinking? I've got a new transaction coordinator soon to become a licensed agent counting on me for details of each deal. I can't answer my phone in the water, yet. There are so many other things more important than my entertainment and health right? So I've written a 3 hour board meeting into Tuesday's schedule with another agent friend and we're committed to catch as many waves as we can given time constraints, equipment advantages, range of experience, the swell size/direction and skill. Starting to see the beginning of the analogy yet?

Time. I've got three hours to open and close this session. This could represent an escrow period, the amount of time my buyer has to commit to a purchase vs. just becoming a renter to watch the market fall further into decline (or so he/she thinks). Or how about the amount of time or number of houses it takes to get a buyer under contract? I've got a 20 minute drive, wrestle with my wetsuit and booties, get the board on/off the car, paddle out, chat with the locals, find the right peak...

Equipment advantages. I've been riding longboards (over 8'6") my entire surfing career. Longboards in small to medium surf give me a fair advantage; I can sit outside further than most. Certain board shapes paddle easier than others so in 5-7 strokes I can be up before the next guy with a smaller board on the inside and still have the right of way. My boards are engineered for fast turns so they are light and narrow in the right places, thick and wide in others, depending on maneuvering. Think of your website, blog content, marketing material, branding, SEO, tags, adwords, metatags, business cards, social networking pages, mailers, flyers, etc. Are they the right tools for the right job? Are they helping you find more clients? Close more home sales?

Range of experience. I've surfed tiny windblown slop and I've surfed that Hawaii Five-O opening scene wave in Hawaii and Fiji. I'd like to think I'm good at what I do in small or 10 foot surf, enough to get the heart pumping and go home with a big goofy grin. I've put in my time in the lineup; amongst overly aggressive ectomorphs that believe every wave is theirs, amongst the quiet types that you wouldn't think they are good at all but rip like Laird Hamilton, amongst the old guys, little girls and everyone in between. I've surfed Guam, Hawaii, the Arabian Gulf (not so good but I did it) the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and Pacific all in 30 of my 44 years on earth. Aside from the dozens of single family homes I've sold single bedroom condos, $1.2M golf course homes (small for many of you), vacant land, multiple units (2,3 and 4). I've helped sellers and buyers close on short sales many times as well as purchase bank owned homes. I've been to the foreclosure auction with investors at the county courthouse. I've presented offers directly to some of the biggest fish in the listing agent pond and even had some ask to present their offers to me (flattering but I'm just another blowfish)...experience helps in catching waves of both the water and stick built variety.

Swell size and direction. Being a former Naval Aviator I paid close attention to the countless hours of meteorology training in ground school. This not only helped my flying career but actually made me a better surfer. I was able to watch weather patterns based on seasonal weather changes. I understood how surface winds translated into wave energy, how one drop of water pushed by big storm winds in New Zealand hitting another drop, and another...made for some of the best summer surf in Southern California. I watched the storms track west from New Zealand, south from the northern Pacific Ocean and hurricanes track north from southern Mexico. I've watched the inventory in my zip code grow, watched market time lengthen, the absorption rate, the decline of prices and interest rates rise and fall like tides. I've even counted the number of surfers in the water at the predicted peak of the swell just like I watched the number of agents in my area at the peak of the market - both numbers subsided.

Skill. I don't often "ride the nose" a maneuver only good for style points in competition. I don't need to look good, just need to stay at the most critical part of the wave while still moving laterally across the wave and forward as well. In case I need to maneuver or carve some turns I stay in the most stable part of the board - the middle to slightly aft of halfway toward the tail. On occasion I'll "hit the lip" and throw a rooster tail-like spray, maybe a floater if positioned right. It's even more rare when I can "pull into the green room", "hide behind the green curtain" or "get tubed". All of these maneuvers require skill based on repeated practice, watching other surfers/surf videos, experimentation and sometimes, luck. I do make it a point to go to a contracts class annually at the local Board, read your blogs to hear your experiences, chat with my manager/broker and listen to audio recordings of scripts/dialogues/sales strategies or a good motivational book. Often I'll have a long chat with agents calling on my listings asking what their short sale experience has been lately, which banks are quick to approve sales or which REO listing mills are easier to work with. I'll even ask my favorite loan officers what loan program and interest rate changes have been occurring lately. All of this input transmits directly to the verbiage I give to my clients and the contracts I put together for them. Like surfing, I stay open to learning more about my profession. The only difference is both my clients and I benefit from my skill.

So you see, like some waiting periods between commission checks, surfing can be productive between waves. Now if I can get someone to pay me to surf...on second thought, never mind. I love surfing as much as I love putting my mind to work for my clients. I get paid in a different way for surfing.

P.S. That's a picture of my daughter Gabrielle on her very first wave ever, without me on the board with her.

In San Diego I'm seeing low interest rates, 20% down payments, multiple offers, overbids (above already low prices of course) and a slight thinning of the inventory. Is it me or is anyone else out there seeing the same thing? Just curious.

Md

Here's a follow up to Foreclosure - A Red Hot Deal?