Monroeville, PA

Why listings rule all!

It’s been a while since my last update on the New Agent guide so I decided to get to the heart of the matter. If you want to survive in this business, you NEED listings! Use the strategies I had outlined in the previous editions of this guide to market for Seller Listings, make sure you ask for buyer referrals too, but put your focus on listings.
Here are the reasons why Listings Rule All… and there’s not much to it. Nearly any positive aspect of a seller listing can be summed up under these 2 reasons.

1. Sellers = Buyers

2. 30 Sales or 6 Sales?

Sellers = Buyers

So what does that mean anyway? Well, if you effectively market a listing, you should be able to pick up at least one serious buyer. For a hot, well-priced well-presented property, you could pick up several buyers. I’ve heard some agents say that an agent should be able to pick up at least 2 buyers from 1 listing. One thing is for sure though, to be an effective and full-time agent, you NEED listings and you NEED to effectively market your listings. The next step is learning to convert your buyer leads into buyers closed, but that’s for another episode.

30 Sales or 6 Sales?

Well, what’ll it be? Would you rather have 30 Sales at a time or 6 sales at a time? I choose 30. I have heard different stories regarding these numbers as well but experience tells me that 30 and 6 are about right.
Seller listings allow an agent to leverage his/her time more effectively. It is possible for one single person to effectively market up to 30 listings at a time before needing the help of an assistant. Listings require a good bit of time to get into the computer and circulating on the net, but after that, you don’t usually have to update them for 30 days or more. And most of the work after that is answering phone calls, and making phone calls.
On the other hand, it has been said that a single agent would have difficulty handling more than 6 serious buyers at a time… I fully agree with this. From personal experience, I was dealing with 6 serious buyers at one time and several other soon-to-be-buyers, and was so consumed with the physical aspect of the buying process that I was unable to pull in even 1 listing that month. I did put 8 transactions under contract though including listings sold which was nice, but if listings equal buyers, then my business was effectively thrown back due to my inability to focus on listing generation.

So what’s the plan?

Go get yourself 30 listings and practice your buyer lead conversion, then try to hold on to your sanity until you can afford to hire an assistant lol.

Dustin Nulf
Keller Williams Realty
cell: 412-496-8811
www.dustinnulf.com
dustinnulf@kw.com
***If you're an agent who is focused on long term gains and interested in keeping 100% of your commission, give me a call or shoot me an email because I want to talk to you! ***

Can you feel the winds blowing? The Perfect Real Estate Storm is coming

Prices are Low - Sellers have had to drop their prices over the last year, making the time right for buyers.

Interest Rates are Low - Matter of fact, they can't be much lower and most experts agree that as the economy shows signs of life, the rates will start to creep up.

The Tax Credit was Expanded - $8,000 for first-timers, $6,500 for those that owned for at least 3 of the last 5 years, for homes under contract between now and April 30th and closed by July 30th.

Pent Up Demand - All those buyers who have been waiting for the economy to improve to buy their next home (or first home) are getting ready to jump in.

What Should You Do?

If you are a buyer: It's time to get moving. This isn't an "everyone's buying and prices are high" kind of thing - this is the real deal - Buy Low Now, Sell High Later!

If you are a seller: It's time to spruce up, dust off, get serious, make sure you are priced competitively and get ready to pack. This is your best chance to sell this year.

If you are thinking about selling: You need to get listed NOW. The rush has already begun, you can't afford to miss it.

Now is the best time to buy and sell in the Pittsburgh area. Call Christa Ross from RE/MAX Select Realty, at 724-933-6300 x214 (office) or 724-779-1437 (direct) or email to christaross@remax.net. Visit my website at www.selecthomefinder.com/christaross

I have just purchased and renovated a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house in the Forest Hills area of Pittsburgh, PA. If you or anyone you know may be interested in renting it. Please let me know. Send an email stating interest to ddnst4@yahoo.com and I will send a link for pics and a phone number to contact me. Rent is $650/month and includes sewage, water and trash removal.

Also has a 2 bedroom appt, and a 1 bedroom appt. available for $450 and $350 per month respectively.

Thanks,

Dustin D. Nulf

As I have mentioned before, I do alot of marketing to expired listings. One thing that I've noticed when getting the information for these properties is the extreme lack of attention given to the multi-list postings by the Seller's Agent. I've recently been talking to a couple who have had their home for sale for a year and it has now expired. The home is priced at around 150k, which is the average sale price around here. The multi-list entry had no picture for the entire year. This normally wouldn't cause too much of a stir in me because it is a common find, but I then realized two things; #1 - this is a common occurance from many companies (especially discount brokers), #2 - this wasn't a discount broker

So to all you sellers out there, I ask you this: Do you really know what your agent will do for you? Did you shop around, ask questions and witness at least 3 listin presentations? Did you ask your potential agents to show you examples of how they would be advertising your home? If you haven't, then be prepared to watch your house sit on the market for a year without a picture of it even being put in the most important location it can be.... the Multi-list.

Thanks for listening to my rant. Take care and have a safe and happy Holiday!

So, I heard this on NPR 2 days in a row and tried to post something about it 2 days ago... evidently blog posts don't work correctly when completed over a phone... so here it is again.

National Public Radio just stated that home sales are up a good bit over last year at this time and I would just like to ask you all:

Have you noticed this at all? Got some stories for us?

and;

Does anyone have any statistics on this? (I'm a numbers guy, I like statistics)

Please comment away.

Thanks,

Dustin