Patricia Aulson, REALTOR Portsmouth NH Homes-Hampton NH Homes

BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2010 all home inspectors in the state of New Hampshire will have to hold a license in order to inspect homes.

Makes sense to me how about you? For a long time now this hasn't been the case here in the "Live Free or Die State of NH." Anyone could go through a home and inspect it without holding a license. As a Realtor I would always recommend those home inspectors who were licensed to my buyers. I would give them three names and let them decide who they wanted.

When I'm looking for a doctor, lawyer, or Realtor I always look for those who are licensed. It says to me that they are educated first off and they have to live by the rules. It also tells me that they care enough to go to school/classes to become licensed. They have put in the time and the effort. Wouldn't you want a "licensed home inspector checking out your house?"

Is this the case where you live and work? Curious......

My tip for dealing with difficult customers: Practice the Golden Rule and put yourself in the other person’s position. Always treat the customer right ..as you want to be treated.

Keep meetings productive... Keep to the list of homes you've set up showings for. Don't deviate, stick to the list.

Be sure to show Byers your listings... If you have a listing that falls into the price range that your prospective buyers are looking for make sure you include it on the list of homes to view.

My best marketing techniques... Everything I do drives traffic to my website. Whether I use print advertising, billboards or TV, we direct everyone to our website because that is where the action is.

How to keep consumers educated about today’s buying opportunities? I spend time talking/educating buyers/sellers I am working with and try to give them articles, statistics and data they need to navigate through the buying or selling process in today's market.

Stay upbeat and optimistic... I treat each new appointment with an optimistic point of view. This may be the "one" that will buy a home today so always be smiling and helpful...no matter what the story is.

Hope this post helps you confront the general public in today's real estate market! www.patricia4realestate.com EM: sold@patricia4realestate.com Seacoast NH Homes

My tip for dealing with difficult customers: Practice the Golden Rule and put yourself in the other person’s position. Always treat the customer right ..as you want to be treated.

Keep meetings productive... Keep to the list of homes you've set up showings for. Don't deviate, stick to the list.

Be sure to show Byers your listings... If you have a listing that falls into the price range that your prospective buyers are looking for make sure you include it on the list of homes to view.

My best marketing techniques... Everything I do drives traffic to my website. Whether I use print advertising, billboards or TV, we direct everyone to our website because that is where the action is.

How to keep consumers educated about today’s buying opportunities? I spend time talking/educating buyers/sellers I am working with and try to give them articles, statistics and data they need to navigate through the buying or selling process in today's market.

Stay upbeat and optimistic... I treat each new appointment with an optimistic point of view. This may be the "one" that will buy a home today so always be smiling and helpful...no matter what the story is.

Hope this post helps you confront the general public in today's real estate market!

Why Are You Pricing Your HOME Like Clothing at the Mall?

Why Are You Pricing Your Home Like Clothing at the Mall?

Sellers who really want to sell their property NOW so that they can move on, are more involved with analyzing their price point than ever before. It seems that most sellers want to price their property with something that ends in '99'--$599,000 or $599,900, etc. Here's what I ask them:

"You're about to move to Raleigh and your Realtor® has set up a search for you through his/her MLS. Can you tell me what your price parameters are for that search? When you're searching online at night for homes in the Raleigh (or destination city of choice), what price points do you use in your own search?"

They'll say, "We're moving up a bit so, we enter $600,000 - $700,000."

"What if you were searching from $600,000 to $700,000 here in Charlotte? You would completely MISS this home in your search! Had you priced it at an even $600,000, you would capture buyers from both the $500,000 - $600,000 AND the $600,000 - $700,000 ranges. Setting the price at $599,000, will cause you to lose an entire group of buyers for your home!"

They look at me for a minute and my analytical-minded clients have an ah-ha moment! Then, they competely agree with me!

Try it, it WORKS! I recently listed a townhome in a complex that had 23 townhomes on the market when we listed. We priced the property at an "even" price and we were under contract in 10 days--last one on the market, first one off! If you searched MLS for the even number, either way (least price or highest price) you would catch this listing! When you look at the others, every one of them were 'off-beat' numbers and were missed by 1/2 of their prospective buyers.

Stop pricing your homes as though they were sale-price clothing at the mall! Use those 'round' numbers and see how it works for you. You'll instantly expand your pool of buyers!

Your sellers will love you!

Search the MLS @ www.patricia4realestate.com

Contact Patricia @ (603)944-1465-Seacoast NH

If customer service, loyalty and retention our some of your goals in business, what are you doing to insure the satisfaction of your clients and past clients.

In a recent visit to a major sporting goods store I had an issue being able to purchase a hunting license the day before the season started because their machine was down(found out later it was out of license paper). Approximately one month earlier I had a similar issue with the same store. As I walked out disgusted I picked up my BlackBerry and promptly left.

About 3 hours later while preparing for my morning hunt I received an @reply on Twitter and guess who? The chief marketing officer & evp e-commerce from the store searched and read my tweet. He asked about the problem, we had a short conversation (140 characters or less) and then informed me I would be contacted by someone at corporate. The next day I was contacted via email by the Director of Customer Relations who informed me that the problem had been corrected as well the store manager and regional manager had been informed of my unhappiness. She then did something unexpected. She asked for my address so she could send me a gift certificate in an effort to rebuild a relationship with me. Three days later I received a $50 gift card in the mail.

No matter what business your in I'm sure you've heard that bad news travels way faster then good news. I'm not suggesting you can BUY your customers happiness but the efforts made by this company as well as apologies and follow through certainly impressed me as a business owner. I know there are customers and issues that I've avoided and hoped they would just go away. If I had immediately confronted and defused the issue would I have retained a customer or a person friendship?

My managing broker has always told me to swallow my big frogs first and the rest of the day would go so much easier. It couldn't be more true. So next time you have a difficult or uncomfortable issue to address just comfront it, be HONEST and do your best to get to the heart of the problem.

I will be spending my gift certificate today towards some new hunting boots and due to the store's follow through (not the $50) I will continue to shop there.

Stop by my website and check out the MLS anytime @ www.patricia4realestate.com "Expericence isn't expensive...it's Pricless!"