Christopher Hart

First off, you need to define what exactly "Success" means to you in order to define and differentiate. Every person has their own definition of "Success." For some, it's a monetary goal, for some it's a social stature, for some it's a positioning goal in life... The common denomenator here is that for each, there needs to be a clearly defined goal in order to attempt to achieve "Success." In my opinion, those that don't CLEARLY define what "success" means to them are destined for failure and "chasing their tails" until they go ahead and clearly define what "success" means. Now, I can ramble on (like I usually do) about the necessary steps to take once you clearly define "success," but that is not the purpose of this blog!

In my opinion, here in the Myrtle Beach real estate market, the simplest differentation between "Successful" real estate agents and those (we'll call them) "Not-so-Succesful," is getting off your/their butts and doing something about achieving your success. This to me, is the biggest factor as to whether or not someone achieves their "Success"...and that's TAKING ACTION! One CANNOT achieve their "Success" without taking action. Without getting into all the steps and details, one can go through all the steps to prepare their path TO "Success," but unless they accomplish the final step of TAKING ACTION...Once again, you will be "chasing your tail" and destin yourself for "Failure."

So, for those of you looking to "break out of that funk," looking to get started in Myrtle Beach Real Estate, looking to take your Myrtle Beach Real Estate business to the next level, or just trying to figure it out, the important keys to achieving your success (in whatever you do) is to IDENTIFY what "Success" means to you, DEVELOP your Plan, & then TAKE ACTION!

Now, THE SECRET...When TAKING ACTION...you MUST implement your "Plan" with great dedication for a period of time without interruption. Now, your period of time is contingent on your plan and timeline (i.e. How soon you want to achieve your success, how long you think it might take you, etc.)

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope what I have provided you will assist you in taking your business to the nexxt level!~

Good Luck & God Bless~

"The HART of Real Estate"

Specializing in: Myrtle Beach Real Estate, Homes for Sale in Myrtle Beach, Long Term Rentals in Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach Annual Rentals

So we have al these real estate agents running round talking about how "The Market is bad...no one is buying anything...Poor Me!"

I learned a long time ago from my father who had coached me into this profession that "Don't listen to what others are saying and DEFINATELY don't do what they do!" "Be different and Be a Leader...Not a follower!"

Thos words of my father hav never made more sense then they have TODAY! Reason being is if I listened to the majority of Myrtle Beach's Real Estate agents, I would tink that the world is coming to an end, not a single home has/is selling in Myrtle Beach, nor will anything sell in the near future!

One things I always do is analyze numbers. I analyze what's selling, what price points, what areas, etc. and what I have found is that there are definately enough homes in the Myrtle Beach area selling. I see it personally with the transactions that my team is doing and what other agents are doing out there. Here's the BUT... The BUT is, it's te Golden 90/10 or 80/20 (whichever you believe in). In this case, 80-90% of the homes being sold in the Myrtle Beach real estate market are being sold by 10-20% of Myrtle Beach real estate agents. So, I continue to analyze HOW & WHY?

Here's the simple answer...The others have either given up by now or don't know what they are doing. If you are a Myrtle Beach real estate agent and you don't believe me...research MLS! If you are not an agent...I'll prove it to you personally. Both through the MLS statistics and my cell phone log from this weekend alone.

Here's the SECRET! PRICE YOUR PROPERTY COMPETITIVELY! Not what the seller WANTS...Not what something sold for a year or more ago, not what YOU WANT the house to sell for.

Here's an example. I took a listing of a friend who HAD to sell but NEEDED to get as much out of it as possible as they were trying to get ahead of a possible complicated financial problem. WELL...their "potential financial problem" came sooner than expected. We dropped the price to a very competitive price and made it a "GOOD DEAL" (Read my Blog on a "GOOD DEAL"). I emailed the price out to my entire database (consisting of about 5,000 people) and within a day, my phone was ringing non-stop with people looking to make appointments to see it. That was Thursday evening. By the time the weekend came, we had 3-4 viewing appts scheduled from Fri-Sun afternoon. After the viewings, the offers couldn't come in fast enough. So I sit here Sun evening asking myself..."Is the market really that bad?" NO!

What's BAD? Either the agent, th price, the house, or a compilation of Three! People, Buyers are out there...If I'm receiving multiple CASH offers of over $150K, I have to ask myself, "How BAD is our Market?" ...Not so Bad? "Why aren't more Myrtle Beach real estate agents selling more properties?" The only thing I can think of is that they are not pricing the properties correctly and if they are...they definately aren't getting the information out to the masses! Too many people make selling real estate sound too difficult or too bad...

Remember what "VALUE" of a home means. It's what Buyers are willing to pay in TODAY's market!...Not a yr ago, not what the Sellers want, not what the agent thinks its worth...It's what Buyer's are willing to pay.

So, if your home or a listing has not sold...It's not because there aren't any Buyers out there...They just aren't willing to buy it at the price you have it listed for~!

Good Luck~

'Tis the Season for more than just Holiday decorating, eating, gift buying, giving, etc...

'Tis the Season for the ones who have money, ability to buy, & want to invest. Why? Because in the grand scheme of the banking world, Banks have to start looking at DUMPING their non-performing assets/portfolios before years (2008) end.

What are non-performing assets/portfolio's? These are the loans that lenders/banks made on real estate that are not performing for them. In laymen's terms...these are the loans that are either in default, foreclosed on, or handed back to the bank via a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure!

Wat does this mean to the bank and to US INVESTORS? Well, in this "Grand Scheme" of the banking world, banks/lending institutions receive monies to lend in a similar manner to receiving a "budget." Explaining it as simple as possible, banks/lending institutions receive the amount of money each year as they lend...and in quality performing loans= Loans in which borrowers are actually paying on.

For Instance...If ABC Bank receives $100 million in funds specific for lending for real estate in a given year and at the end of that same year they have $75 million in performing loans and $15 million in non-performing/defaulted loans, & $10 million in non-loans, the bank will only receive the amount in which is circulated in the economy in a "performing/good status." So, basically, ABC will most likely only receive $75 million in funds for lending in the next or upcoming fiscal year.

So what does this mean to the INVESTOR? Now is the time that banks will "most likely" be the most willing to take the more sizeable loss when it comes to homes that are FOR SALE via SHORT SALE or BANK REO's (Foreclosed homes). Why? Because they would rather take the loss to recover monies in which they can re-lend to a quality buyer and be able to categorize them as a performing loan for future funding requirements.

So 'Tis the Season for Buying Short Sales and Bank REO's. Let's get our buyers & investors informed on NOW's THE TIME...DON'T MISS THE BOAT!

How many times have we all heard this? '06 & early '07 this seemed to be all we heard. We all know that in THAT market, the "GOOD DEALS" were gone before you were able to go & preview it for your client. Today's market we have more "GOOD DEALS" than we have "INVESTORS" asking for them.I quickly learned a lesson with this that I must share because as of late, I have heard (people with real estate licenses) discussng this topic and why "those" people have disappeared.

THE "TRUE INVESTOR" vs. "THE WANNA BE" INVESTOR!~

The "TRUE INVESTOR"

Here's my breakdown...The people going around asking agents the "If you come across a good deal...call me" were not INVESTORS (hence the reason why I put them in quotes in the previous paragraph). I say they are not investors because "True Investos" know their criteria versus the "Wanna Be" Investors who are in search of that "GOOD DEAL!" When I say that the true investor knows their criteria, they know what it is they are looking for and what defines a "GOOD DEAL" to them. Here's what I mean... Your true investor will seek the services of an agent and tell them..."If you come across a deal with XY&Z criteria, give me a call and I will analyze it." You see, this investor knows what he/she wants. They know that should the properties fit their criteria...it's a GOOD DEAL! They won't ask you to go preview it...they will want to lock it up as quicky as possible and let the professional home inspector inspect the property for defaults. Their due diligence is in the numbers...not in he physical emotion of the property.

The "WANNA BE" Investor

The "Wanna Be" wants you to define WHAT makes it a "GOOD DEAL," Then they need to discuss it with their partner, wife, husband, etc. They mull over it for a couple of days, ask people who are unintelligent to real estate investing & then FINALLY make their decision to go ahead with it and ask you to go ahead and preview it. If you are lucky enought to have the property still ACTIVE and not under contract already, then they want to gosee it for themselves, talk to mor people...BLAH BLAH BLAH.

If you see where I am going with this...These are the traits of each. The True Investor knows what they want and want the deal, so they ACT QUICK! THe Wanna Be investor has no clue what they want, want someone to talk them out of the deal, or hope that by the time they make their decision to go forward with the deal, it's already off of the market. The Wanna Be is your "TIME WASTER!" If you like your time wasted, there are plenty of these buyers out there...

If you yearn to make good money in real estate, build quality clientele for the long term...STAY AWAY from the people that ask you "If you come across a GOOD DEAL...call me!" Trust me, it will be the smartest move you'll ever do in your career!~

Happy Hunting Good Luck out there~

Property Management, Tenants, Rentals...all words that I have found people and investors dread thinking about and no one wants to deal with in the business of real estate & real estate investing. Why is that I ask?

Well, from what I have seen in the business, property management is a scare for most investors because they don't know how to do it! The problem is the mentality....Most investors think that managing tenants is getting a tenant in their property, hope for the best, and not care as long as they are paying their rent (if you are lucky~). In the Property Management business, we call this the "SET & FORGET" mentality. These are the people that wind up on YouTube under Property Management/Landlording disasters. If you don't know what I mean, search property management on YouTube and see how many videos pop up as "bad situations" as opposed to ones that are "good situations"?

So what's the answer you ask? My first thought would be to hire a Professional Property Management company. One that has EXPERIENCE, a STAFF, STANDARDS, TENANT CRITERIA, a TRACK RECORD, and a SIZEABLE PORTFOLIO. The reason why I say this is because there are too many Real Estate agents these days looking to supplement the lack of income by pretending they know how to manage properties when in reality all they are is someone that can help you find a tenant, that doesn't get screened, and is NOT MANAGED! If that is what you are looking for then GREAT...They're cheap and you'll wind up as someone on YouTube. The best of this situation is that you will have saved "some money" upfront and you'll be famous by being on YouTube!

If you are looking to have your investment taken care of, then hire the property management company. Weigh what the cost for the year is out of what they charge and then analyze that with what it would cost you to do minor repairs like replace all the carpet and repaint the entire home. You'll notice it is a sizeable difference weighing in the favor of the property management company!

Other options available to inexperienced investors...GET EXPERIENCED! Classes & Books are good to begin your journey in managing property, but this field & profession is best learned from EXPERIENCE! So it doesn't cost you too much heartache and $$$ and eventually get you discouraged in investing in real estate, I suggest that you hire the Property Management company for your investment, get actively involved in what they do (i.e. ask a lot of questions, pay attention to what they do, make sure they keep you updated as to EVERYTHING that is going on) and just watch and learn.

True Investors know the value of a good property management company and property manager. When you find one, HOLD ONTO THEM. They are few and far between. They know the ropes, have the experience, and typically are thick skinned enough to battle the tenants on their Eeveryone in their family dying during the term of their tenancy (reasons why they can't pay their rent on time).

If you have questions about property management, just ask...I have been in the biz for approximately 18 years now and just when I think I've seen or heard it all...It happens!

Thanks for reading...Hope you learned something!