Tanya attended an insightful seminar today to help prepare brokers for when the market rebounds.  You can see her notes and the wonderful speaker’s tips below.

Real Estate Business Planning for the Market Rebound

• The average time a person owns a home increased from 7 years to 12 years. If you’re a real estate agent, don’t count on repeat business. Focus on creating a referral base from your past customers. Remind them on what you do and ask if they know of anyone that wants to buy or sell.
• Networking at events, parties, seminars is a big part of generating business. People like to work with people they know.
  
• Call your customers through Slydial to leave a message without it ringing so you can let them know your thinking of them.
• Ask the below FORD questions to get to know people better and have things to connect with them about later on:
  • F- Family
  • O- Occupation: what do they do for a living?
  • R- Recreation: what do the do for fun?
  • D -Dreams: what are their dreams?
• Upside down? Don’t panic, ride it out, it’ll change. If it’s a rental, keep it (if it’s not costing you money).
• You can be considered a first time home buyer after three years from a foreclosure.
• It’s a challenge to get good appraisals in an upswing. Help by showing them the availability, or lack of, similar homes. Send the appraisers comps you know of to help him get the right price.
• If you take the lock box off the door, the appraiser will have to call you to get in and you can meet and talk to him. Give him a packet of info that includes: updates that have been done especially on things that are hard to see like upgraded wiring or green features, nearby comparable home info, etc. Write notes on the comps like “this one has terrible carpet” etc. include a copy of the purchase contract for the property being appraised.
• Give them insight you have to the property that they won’t have. If the value isn’t there at least you know you’ve done all you can to help it appraise correctly.
• How to handle unrealistic asking prices:Show them other properties in their price range so they can see from a buyers’ standpoint what their home is competing with.
• Think about who your market is and how you can be in front of them every 10 days with marketing, networking or personal contact. 
• Think about who you want to be your customer and about that groups’ repetitive patterns: where do they go regularly, advertise there.
  • Grocery stores
  • Kids’ ball practice -sponsor them and have banners and shirts with your company logo
  • Sponsor schools
  • Lowes – bring a box of pens or note pads to leave etc.
• Contact management systems some are free. Google free contact management software
• Use what is free or cheap: telephone, social media, person to person, telephone, and send thank you notes for referrals.
• Use Hootsuite for mass social media updating. But remember you don’t get as good of SEO as posting it individually and changing it slightly.
• Buying investment property can be a good way to provide sustainable income.
• Some people like to buy and hold for retirement income.  Others like to buy, fix, and sale for capital gains. It’s best if they can fill both requirements.
• Rebuild your credit through: Paying utility bills on time, secure a credit card, and having a good rental payment history
• 11 questions to ask before investing:
  • 1- What is your time horizon or holding period? Long term or flip? What do you need to do to it for that term?
  • 2- What is your tolerance for risk? If you stress about money easily or if you are uncomfortable with the fact that there will be repairs and upgrades needed, this may not be for you.
  • 3- What is your available cash? Your going to need money. There’s no 100% financing. You need usually 20% down. Do you need to fix it up? How much will it cost? Can you cover the mortgage for (approximately 4 months to be safe) until it rents?
  • 4- What is your ability to fund catastrophe deductibles? With insurance you have to be able to pay the deductible if a catastrophe happens. Neighbor’s tree falling on your home is your problem and your expense. Make sure you get landlord insurance so you can get loss of rent paid if something does happen.
  • 5-  What are local market conditions? Are big businesses going out of business? Or is it booming? Government lay off can kill a local market if that’s the primary employer.
  • 6- What are national market conditions?
  • 7- What is your exit strategy if things go wrong?
  • 8- How dependable is your primary source of income?
  • 9- What are the mortgage terms going in and the time of exit?
  • 10- What is your ability to mange the asset or pay for professional management?
  • 11- Is this the best use of your time and money? Compare to passive income like stocks and bonds. You can refinance after a few years and get your equity out and buy another property.

Read seminar packet by clicking here.