Tuesday, July 29, 2008
I Couldn't Have Said It Better
Today I was reading through some articles trying to find some inspiration, when the following totally hit home with me. Agents are having such a tough time right now and here is just a summary of what our daily lives entail;
I found this article on Inman News, written by Kris Berg a local agent with Prudential; Here are the parts that really stood out.....
"What makes otherwise well-adjusted professionals lose it? Well, there are the lender-controlled sales, the short sales and REOs. Whether representing the seller or the buyer in these cases, the process is as much fun as a child birth, but the labor is far more difficult. And if you are lucky enough to survive the delivery, you often end up with a really ugly baby.
Banks are busy, busy folks, we are told. Apparently they are far busier than we are. This is why phone calls are not returned, incoming calls are redirected and misdirected, and entire approval packages are lost, and lost again, and once more with feeling.
This week, a proactive phone call on our part to check the status of a short-sale package awaiting approval (approval, we had been assured, was a mere week out) was met with the news that the entire package had been "destroyed." Why? Because the estimate of proceeds we had prepared, one page out of 50 - and one that had been prepared according to the lender's explicit instructions, was "improperly formatted."
Lacking the clairvoyance to know that their requirements might have changed or even that our first and second and third points of contact might have given us the wrong information, we were back to zero. "Were you going to call and tell us?" we asked. No. It seems they are busy, busy, busy.
Then, there is the 100-house rule. Oh, sure, I have seen the studies professing that, because of the availability of property information on the Internet, the average buyer sees something like 1.37 homes with an agent before making a purchase. This may be true in, oh, a dream sequence or even on a "reality" show, but in the real world (the one in which I live most of the time), the average is closer to the combined weight of the Olsen twins.
Buyers, sensing no urgency whatsoever and better prices tomorrow, start by seeing their 1.37 favorites, cherry-picked from their search site of choice. Where they finish is a different story entirely. And I am speculating here, because we are currently working with enough buyers with unfinished business to populate a small municipality.
We know what our clients want, but our new system of checks and balances has quadrupled our workload, with most of our time spent explaining why the homes they have found online are not a good fit or worse -- to appease their curiosity we are obliged to show homes we know are not right.
On the listing side, we mostly chase our tails. Back in the '90s when I first began my illustrious career as a revered and respected real estate professional, I had a mentor hand me a template business plan. This plan assumed that 70 percent of the listings I would take would actually sell. "Hah!" I thought. "This is not the plan for me. Only losers can't sell their listings!" Today, seven out of 10 sounds like mighty fine odds.
More importantly, it's the pro bono work we are doing along the way that is crushing our budget and our spirits. In the past month alone, we have had to tell three people that they can't afford to sell because of a little debt-versus-value dilemma and several more that they can't sell because of unrealistic expectations. Sometimes, this news can be delivered by phone. Most often, the revelation comes only after a listing appointment involving much preparation, a costly presentation package, and a couple of hours at the kitchen table -- only to learn of a secret second, an unrecorded HELOC or a cash-out "need" that sounds like it is being expressed in pesos."
Wow Kris....I couldn't have said it better!
I found this article on Inman News, written by Kris Berg a local agent with Prudential; Here are the parts that really stood out.....
"What makes otherwise well-adjusted professionals lose it? Well, there are the lender-controlled sales, the short sales and REOs. Whether representing the seller or the buyer in these cases, the process is as much fun as a child birth, but the labor is far more difficult. And if you are lucky enough to survive the delivery, you often end up with a really ugly baby.
Banks are busy, busy folks, we are told. Apparently they are far busier than we are. This is why phone calls are not returned, incoming calls are redirected and misdirected, and entire approval packages are lost, and lost again, and once more with feeling.
This week, a proactive phone call on our part to check the status of a short-sale package awaiting approval (approval, we had been assured, was a mere week out) was met with the news that the entire package had been "destroyed." Why? Because the estimate of proceeds we had prepared, one page out of 50 - and one that had been prepared according to the lender's explicit instructions, was "improperly formatted."
Lacking the clairvoyance to know that their requirements might have changed or even that our first and second and third points of contact might have given us the wrong information, we were back to zero. "Were you going to call and tell us?" we asked. No. It seems they are busy, busy, busy.
Then, there is the 100-house rule. Oh, sure, I have seen the studies professing that, because of the availability of property information on the Internet, the average buyer sees something like 1.37 homes with an agent before making a purchase. This may be true in, oh, a dream sequence or even on a "reality" show, but in the real world (the one in which I live most of the time), the average is closer to the combined weight of the Olsen twins.
Buyers, sensing no urgency whatsoever and better prices tomorrow, start by seeing their 1.37 favorites, cherry-picked from their search site of choice. Where they finish is a different story entirely. And I am speculating here, because we are currently working with enough buyers with unfinished business to populate a small municipality.
We know what our clients want, but our new system of checks and balances has quadrupled our workload, with most of our time spent explaining why the homes they have found online are not a good fit or worse -- to appease their curiosity we are obliged to show homes we know are not right.
On the listing side, we mostly chase our tails. Back in the '90s when I first began my illustrious career as a revered and respected real estate professional, I had a mentor hand me a template business plan. This plan assumed that 70 percent of the listings I would take would actually sell. "Hah!" I thought. "This is not the plan for me. Only losers can't sell their listings!" Today, seven out of 10 sounds like mighty fine odds.
More importantly, it's the pro bono work we are doing along the way that is crushing our budget and our spirits. In the past month alone, we have had to tell three people that they can't afford to sell because of a little debt-versus-value dilemma and several more that they can't sell because of unrealistic expectations. Sometimes, this news can be delivered by phone. Most often, the revelation comes only after a listing appointment involving much preparation, a costly presentation package, and a couple of hours at the kitchen table -- only to learn of a secret second, an unrecorded HELOC or a cash-out "need" that sounds like it is being expressed in pesos."
Wow Kris....I couldn't have said it better!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Finally Something to Blog About
Today, I saw a positive spin in the media. Sure it was a group of Realtors who published the reports, but so many mornings I open the industry news to negative headlines, reporting negative numbers. Finally the words "SURVEY INDICATES BROKERS ARE SEEING AN EASING OF ADVERSE MARKET CONDITIONS" And "HOUSING STARTS IN CALIFORNIA INCREASE 9.2 PERCENT IN JUNE" jump out of the headlines at me!
Sure It may be the only positive thing said in the story, but for me its just the glimmer of hope I need just to stay sane.
I have people, some of the people I call friends, trying to sign me up for get-rich-quick schemes weekly! I've heard all about the Acai Berry and the $37 bottles of juice that promise to give you more natural energy and healing power than any other plant in nature - by 300 times, And...its only $39 to start your own company today! I've sat through the presentation about the protection Pre-paid legal services provide, and baffled the presenter with what it doesn't provide (for me anyways.) Some of these friends have even fallen victim to the old "Start a travel website and make money in your spare time." Bolognia!
These are people I care about- but they all seem to think that "I am the crazy one" for being in this market. Not only Being in it, but starting out in it. That I am crazy for staying in a business where I don't have a reliable stream of income. Maybe I am, or maybe the Acai Berries are getting to me?
Sure It may be the only positive thing said in the story, but for me its just the glimmer of hope I need just to stay sane.
I have people, some of the people I call friends, trying to sign me up for get-rich-quick schemes weekly! I've heard all about the Acai Berry and the $37 bottles of juice that promise to give you more natural energy and healing power than any other plant in nature - by 300 times, And...its only $39 to start your own company today! I've sat through the presentation about the protection Pre-paid legal services provide, and baffled the presenter with what it doesn't provide (for me anyways.) Some of these friends have even fallen victim to the old "Start a travel website and make money in your spare time." Bolognia!
These are people I care about- but they all seem to think that "I am the crazy one" for being in this market. Not only Being in it, but starting out in it. That I am crazy for staying in a business where I don't have a reliable stream of income. Maybe I am, or maybe the Acai Berries are getting to me?
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