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My Consistent Pursuit

~ Life & Real Estate

My Consistent Pursuit

Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Response Equals Respect

21 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Random Thoughts, Real Estate Career Advice

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I’m angry and getting more so every second.

Tick, tick, tick….you haven’t responded. Am I not important to you? I know you saw it, heard it, looked at it, considered it, but you still haven’t responded.

This particular scenario occurs all over the world, every second of the day. As we get more ‘tech-savvy’ it seems less and less people are finding it necessary to respond in a timely manner, if at all. In the real estate business, response time can mean the difference between landing customers or handing them on a silver platter to your competition.

Why is it such a big deal? Let’s move into your personal life for a minute. When texting, emailing or calling your spouse/significant other/kids, what kind of response time do you expect from them? How do you feel when they respond a half hour later? How about if they don’t respond at all? It can make you feel insignificant, even disrespected. Let’s see what Merriam-Webster has to say about respect:

RESPECT

: a feeling of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, etc.

: a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way

When a customer submits a request to connect with you, how do you want them to feel? If you respond in seconds, they’re going to feel very important—even if it’s a quick response like this “Thanks so much for your interest in xxx property. I’m out with buyers at the moment, but should be able to connect with you at 2pm. Will that work?” When we take our time responding, customers will feel insignificant or even disrespected. I don’t know about you, but when I’m shopping for something, I expect to receive good customer service and timely communication.

I know, I know, it’s difficult to respond to everyone when you’re running around like crazy in this business. There’s 101 ways to automate, but personalize, your response to interested parties. You can even pull the Leigh Brown quick video response out of your bag of tricks. Have it pre-recorded and loaded somewhere and send it right over to the potential customer while you’re out in the field.

Show respect to those that want to connect with you and receive respect in return. Response and response time are critical.

“Yes, you’re important to me.”

Invasive or Innovative?

10 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Random Thoughts, Real Estate Career Advice

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I’ve spent the last few days in San Francisco at the National Association of Realtors Conference. This is where the top of the top come to share their knowledge regarding everything from staying motivated to emerging trends.

Last year, I had trouble finding the emerging trends. I came home with some great tips and new connections, but not much in the way of ‘new’.

I’m happy to report this year was the opposite. I connected with fewer people, but gained real insight as to where we are heading, not only as an industry, but as a society.

Several words and terms floated throughout my interaction in classes (esp. Errol Samuelson and Todd Carpenter)  and with start up companies (Zurple) including: inbound leads, interactive marketing, predictive marketing and big data. Since I only stop at my friend’s and companies I haven’t heard of booths in the expo, I may be a little lopsided on my view, but it seemed all of them were woven with a common thread.

Big brother is watching (and has been longer than any of us realize).

We have come to a point where data is available in massive quantities and there are companies poised to show us all how it can be a benefit in our businesses and daily lives. While there are those that won’t like it because it’s all too invasive, there are many others that will be using it to their advantage.

I’m a Android and ‘all things Google‘ fan so I already have a comfort level with this technology. When Google analyzes my calendar along with traffic on the route and notifies me that I need to leave a little earlier than normal with an alarm. .. I’m not mad. The fact that it knows I’m out and about exploring San Francisco, then makes recommendations right on my phone…I’m still not mad. 🙂 I do enjoy convenience, but I wonder at what point does it stop being a cool convenience and become invasive to me?

It certainly will be interesting to watch companies emerge and consumers react. It was fun getting to see it all firsthand here at the NAR Conference.

Thanks for the hospitality San Francisco. I’ll be back.

Pier 14

Pier 14

Outside the Box (…catbox)

08 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Random Thoughts

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About six months ago, we decided to add a rambunctious blue heeler to our family. Just like a crawling toddler, he gets into anything and everything that seems fun. One of his favorite things to do is play in the cat litter.

Blue Heeler

Blue Heeler

I know, GROSS!!!

Like any good mommy, I dealt with this habit with patience for a while because he’s ‘just a puppy’. However, there’s only so much nasty cat litter a person can handle cleaning.

After a few temper tantrums, I decided I needed to find a final solution that didn’t involve giving away any of our beloved animals. I needed to literally think outside the box for this stubborn puppy. Could we build a shelf? Put the catbox in another room with a kitty door? Get a different box with an alarm?

Okay. Really. All of that was too much trouble.

And then…it came to me. I turned the catbox around. There’s now a narrow passageway for the cat to shimmy through and the entry to the box faces the wall. By increasing the level of difficulty for the puppy, we simply got him to ignore the box altogether.

How many things are we dealing with on a regular basis that could be fixed by thinking outside the box? Take another look—-I bet there’s an easier solution than you think.

**Special thanks to Mother’s Brewery for letting our puppy take part in Oktoberfest in the Ozarks. He didn’t really drink the beer—calm down people.

Enthralled

18 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Random Thoughts, Real Estate Career Advice

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I was reading a quote from Sam Parker about how we not only need to enthrall, but we also need to disenthrall. Here’s the quote:

“disenthrall: to liberate from

enthrall: to captivate the fascinated attention of

I find it interesting that we need to do both … disenthrall ourselves from the clichés of our experience and what we’ve always done, while allowing ourselves to be enthralled with the challenges and opportunities we face.”

 
When you’ve been in a career for 13+ years, it’s easy to get sucked into believing the way you’ve always done things is the right way time and time again. I’ve had the pleasure of guiding a few new, very energetic agents lately, and their fresh look at the real estate industry has been inspiring. And exhausting. I love how they question everything and want to know why something can’t be done the way they want to do it. Sometimes I’ve had a true answer, other times I just laugh and say, ‘well, you should go ahead and try that’. I’m having to disenthrall just as Sam Parker mentioned. The old way, the old experiences aren’t going to be washed away. It is nice, however, to be able to set them aside and let the new waves of ideas come through. Trust me, you’ll be surprised at what happens when you begin to open your mind and say yes a little more often. Stop being scared about new things, new situations and new experiences and allow yourself to grow.
 
To be enthralled by new challenges is a reason to get up in the morning and look forward to the day ahead. 
 
Are you allowing yourself to do so?

Rejection is Good for the Soul

23 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Random Thoughts, Real Estate Career Advice

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Is it?

Rejection sucks.

Really, is there anything worse than realizing you’re not good enough?

Yes. Letting it go to waste.

In any industry, rejection can occur on a regular basis. If you’re of the mindset to let rejection happen and just move on to the next—are you really any different than a telemarketer? If your income is dependent on people accepting you (your service), you could be doing yourself more harm than good by just moving onto the next customer.

Rejection can be devastating. Sometimes it’s the size of the sale. Other times, it’s about the PEOPLE who rejected YOU. Let it be devastating. Let the full effect of what happened wash over you. Be mad. Hit a pillow. Embrace it for a bit before you let it go. There’s two reasons you need to feel this pain. The first is that you need to feel the pain in order to give it importance in your life.  The other reason is that you need to feel it before you can move beyond it. Continue reading →

Don’t Base REALTOR Selection on Home Price!

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Home Seller Advice, Random Thoughts

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I know I was going to write about your home being on the market next, but an agent reminded me of this common misconception today and I had to share.

You interview 3 agents:

Agent 1 says your home is worth $219,000

Agent 2 says your home is worth $220,000

Agent 3 says your home is worth $250,000

Please DO NOT choose the real estate agent that tells you the highest price. Look at the facts…if two out of three agents think your home will sell around $220,000…that’s probably the best idea of market price. They’ve done their homework and they’ve probably showed you their homework…the other one probably did a quick glance at a couple of active properties before running out the door to meet you. It’s perfectly fine to like and choose Agent 3, but please, don’t price your home at the higher price. You have two great price opinions from other agents in your market area—-use the realistic number and get that house SOLD!!

Gas Prices & Real Estate

21 Thursday Apr 2011

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Moving, Random Thoughts

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I’ve noticed a trend in the real estate market over the past 10 years in relation to gas prices.

It really makes sense that when gas prices skyrocket, the rural areas of the city take quite a hit on prices and number of showings and as a counter to that, the urban areas see much more activity—-especially if it’s a walkable city. The market starts reacting at about $3.50/gallon.

It’s also important to keep in mind that the actual real estate agents take a hit as well. How many houses do you look at before you decide on one?? Sometimes about 30 homes all over town. That’s a LOT of fuel. The lesson here is that each buyer and agent should meet before touring homes to try and really narrow down their needs and expectations. This will save everyone, not just gas money, but time as well.

The cost of being a REALTOR has increased year over year and the rising gas prices just make it that much harder to ‘afford’ the business. This also causes a decline in the number of people wanting to come into the business as a new agent. We always need new agents because of the turnover rate in the business. So, if it’s something you’ve always been interested in, I highly enourage you to start taking the steps to become licensed. This is a rare time for new agents to have almost more opportunity than they have in the past. It used to be that everyone (and their brother) had their license. Since that isn’t true anymore—-that means less competition for the new agent.

Buy Owner.com Sells for $1M

10 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Home Buyer Advice, Home Seller Advice, Random Thoughts

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MIAMI — The real estate website BuyOwner.com has sold for $1 million.

The Daily Business Review reported Tuesday that Utah entrepreneur Jonathan Holbrook bought the site. It was once billed as the nation’s largest for-sale-by-owner operation.

Holbrook told the paper he intends to close the sale Wednesday. The proceeds will be split among the company’s creditors.

The Florida company’s revenue has declined sharply since 2008, from more than $28 million to less than $250,000 last July.

Since July, the company has generated about $588,000 in revenue but after expenses netted only $56,000.

Holbrook said he will hire additional employees, including sales and customer service agents for the Deerfield Beach, Fla., headquarters and the Chicago office.

Why did they lose so much revenue? There’s probably quite a few reasons for this. One of the main reasons, I believe, is that as transactions have gotten more difficult and home prices have dropped further than most sellers want to acknowledge, the general public has been forced to turn to the experts to help guide them through the process of selling their home. Also, with most markets still having a high number of foreclosure listings, banks don’t usually sell FSBO, they list the home with a REALTOR.

The Heart of a Giver

03 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Random Thoughts

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Some people are just born with it and some develop it over time.

Either way, you can always tell when someone has the heart of a giver.

They’ll give you food even when they haven’t had enough themselves.

They’ll give you their clothes long before they’ve worn them out.

What they’re capable of doing, they do without complaint.

When they can’t help, they search till they find someone who can.

They work tirelessly to do good deeds and their days are made up of what I like to call Random Acts of Kindness

And what is it that the Giver seeks in return?

Really….nothing.

You see, in the true heart of a giver, the rewards are within.

Just knowing they’ve done something to help is enough.

A simple smile and a thank you can send them over the moon.

We all know who they are…have you smiled and thanked a giver today?

What to do, Right Now

03 Monday Jan 2011

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Home Seller Advice, Moving, Random Thoughts

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We’ve talked quite a bit about putting your home on the market after the holidays or in the spring. Are you ready?

The new year is upon us and it’s time to get yourself geared towards a successful sale. Is there anything you can be doing right now to get ready?

Well, sure!

If you have a friend in the real estate business, or a real estate agent you know and trust that you’re going to be using to market your home; now is a good time to have them over for some coffee or dinner.

Call them up and tell them about your plans. Let them know your timeline and give them some time to do a little research on your neighborhood. When you have them over, ask their advice on the improvements they think you need to make in order to make your home sell faster. Is it just new paint or does your home need a complete overhaul?

This will give you and them a chance to really know what your goals are. It could be that you don’t have the time, money or desire to make any improvements—-there’s a market for as-is homes as well. Don’t be afraid to have this discussion. It could be that a few simple improvements could net you quite a bit more—-or it could be that the improvements you need to make will cost way more than you had planned.

Either way, having this information early is the best plan.

Call a REALTOR today!!

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JoannaGWilliams

JoannaGWilliams

Joanna jumped into the real estate business in 2000 and never looked back. A glance through her resume would have anyone confused because she’s actually never left the company with which she started. Change in the market and changes in ownership and locations have filled her 13 years in the real estate world. Change is a scary word for some, but Joanna has embraced it with courage and made the decision to not only survive, but to thrive. To break it down Prudential Snook was sold to Prudential Carter-Duffey in 2006, which was sold to Prudential Kansas City in 2009, which then rebranded themselves with a new franchise (Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate) in late 2012. Her personal motto is ‘Consistent Pursuit of Improvement’, which is clear in her dedication to her company, people and local real estate association.

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