---

 

  

Entries close 18 December, 2008 and winners will be chosen at Kirsty’s discretion. Winners notified by 20 December, 2008.       

 

 

---

 

Some more about the 1,001 Tips program

 

Kirsty has joined forces with some of the biggest names in real estate worldwide to put together this 1,001 tips to improve, re-energise and re-style your real estate career guide.

 

Covering all areas of real estate this program will be a huge asset to new agents, however those who have been in the industry for years will still find heaps of ideas to improve their careers.

 

Each week a new section of the guide will be delivered to your email inbox allowing you to work through it then and there, or save it for time when you want to address: Your Open Homes, Systemization, Dealing with Investors or any of the other categories.

 

As well as tips from Kirsty this program features - Dirk Zeller, David Knox, John McGrath, Pat Mesiti, John Shackleton, Ron White, Rich Levin, Darryl Davis, Richard Robbins, Colin Dick, Malcom Riley, Amber Werchon and many more.

 

---

 

 

What is www.reallysold.com?

 

reallysold.com makes writing copy for your real estate advertisements - either sales or property management - really easy! No longer will you need to sit and wrack your brain waiting for inspiration.

We give you the inspiration and save you the perspiration by creating your headings, providing you catch phrases and enhancing the words you already use. Take the tour to see how easy it can be!

Kirsty Dunphey is one of Australia’s most publicised young entrepreneurs and is the founder of www.reallysold.com - the ultimate tool to help real estate agents write amazing advertisements. The youngest ever winner of the Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year award, Kirsty started her first business at 15, her own real estate agency at 21, was a self-made millionaire at 23 and a self-made multi-millionaire at 25. For more information on Kirsty or either of her books – Advance to Go, Collect $1 Million and Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can, or to sign up to her weekly newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

Kirsty has joined forces with some of the biggest names in real estate worldwide to put together this 1,001 tips to improve, re-energise and re-style your real estate career guide.

Covering all areas of real estate this program will be a huge asset to new agents, however those who have been in the industry for years will still find heaps of ideas to improve their careers.

Here are just 6 tips from our 1,001!

New Agents

Each week when you view the new homes listed by your company – go through without finding out the listed price and estimate what you think it will sell for. Then once the home sells, grade yourself on how close you were to the sale price. Some agencies even make this into a competition with a monthly prize for the most accurate agent. Kirsty Dunphey

Set a daily time and place for prospecting. Don’t work your prospecting around your day. Instead, work your day around your prospecting. Dirk Zeller

Open Homes

Where are you on an average Friday night – say 7.00pm? At the pub? Home with your family? Having dinner with friends? Where are your clients who have their first open home the next morning. If we think about it we know they’re at home cleaning, panicking and generally stressing out. Alleviate what you can of this by sending them a simple text message or calling them with the message “Hi – I’m looking forward to a great open home tomorrow, see you there at 10.45am”. Kirsty Dunphey

Qualify - Ask quality questions not a quantity of questions! Yes this industry is about building relationships and I can’t stress that enough, but there is a fine line between spending too much time with the wrong people at an open home. Aleisha Peers

Databasing

“When is the best time to set up your database?” Prior to starting in real estate, with the second best time being right now. The earlier you start, the easier the set up is going to be, but if you don’t have a proper comprehensive database the second easiest time is right now and cannot be overlooked if you want to be truly successful. Kirsty Dunphey

To mine your resources effectively you have to put most of your effort toward contacts with the highest referral potential. Contrary to popular opinion, you can’t afford to treat all referral sources with equal attention. Unless you establish priorities, you won’t have the time or energy to devote to those sources who will benefit your business the most. Dirk Zeller

As well as tips from Kirsty this program features - John McGrath, Pat Mesiti, John Schackleton, Glen Coutinho, Peter Kakos, Jillian McGrath, Kirsty Spraggon, Craig Stephens, Amber Werchon, Karen Schmidt, Carly Crutchfield, Pete Williams, Paul Fenech, Candice Gillies, Aleisha Peers, Malcom Riley, Colin Dick, Tekla Kriddle, Katey Lane, Dirk Zeller, Ron White, David Knox, Rich Levin, Darryl Davis, Elizabeth Ward Small & Richard Robbins.

To find out more or to purchase head to www.unleashedknowledge.com/1001tips.html

Kirsty Dunphey is one of Australia’s most publicised young entrepreneurs and is the founder of www.reallysold.com - the ultimate tool to help real estate agents write amazing advertisements. The youngest ever winner of the Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year award, Kirsty started her first business at 15, her own real estate agency at 21, was a self-made millionaire at 23 and a self-made multi-millionaire at 25. For more information on Kirsty or either of her books – Advance to Go, Collect $1 Million and Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can, or to sign up to her weekly newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

A survey of 500 people conducted by real estate copywriting site www.reallysold.com shows mixed results.

36% of people thought real estate agents were “generally trustworthy” with 38% unsure and 25% disagreeing with this statement.

Respondents stated that they would be most likely choose an agent to sell their home who they felt was the most trustworthy followed by one referred by friends and family and then the one they thought cared the most.  Overwhelmingly people said they would not be swayed by the sale price an agent quoted or the commission they charged.

Promising results show that of those surveyed who had dealt with real estate agents, fewer than 8% had never had a good experience. There’s still work to come however with over 40% not ever having had an “exceptional” experience with a real estate agent. Just under 75% of respondents had previously had a bad experience with a real estate agent.

In excess of 88% remembered the name of the last real estate agency they dealt with, but around 10% fewer remembered the name of the person.

In excess of 35% thought that real estate agents had some improving to do in terms of the quality of the text and photography in their advertisements and the quality of an agent’s marketing and advertising is important or very important to 90% of people.

If an agent had a spelling mistake in their advertisement 12% would definitely not hire them while a further 55% would be less inclined to hire them as their agent.

Over 55% of people would call in 3 different agents to give their opinions if they were thinking of selling their property, less than 2% wouldn’t chose to use a real estate agent.

This survey was conducted online with 500 respondents 75% of which are based in Australia. Full survey report available online at: www.reallysold.com/2008survey.pdf 

Survey conducted by www.reallysold.com, the world’s leading online real estate copy creation site. It assists real estate sales and property management agents in writing their property advertisement headings and copy. The entire process is done online in seconds and real estate agents have the ability to sign up for a complimentary 10 day trial of the product.

In many parts of the world including the Australian state of Victoria, where I have two of my rental properties, rental property demand is at a massive high at the time of writing this article.

For people renting residential properties this can mean consistent rent increases for those already in properties and a shortage of properties on the market available to rent.

In this the following three article series I'll address the following topics from my own experience as a tenant, a real estate business owner, a property manager and as a property investor.

1. How to make yourself the most desirable tenant when looking to rent a property
2. How to negotiate the lowest price for your desired rental property
3. How to keep rental increases to a minimum once you're in a rental property

As a renter or tenant, here are some ways you can make yourself more attractive to the property owner or property manager when you're looking for a property:

• If you've rented a property before, always ask to get a reference in writing from your previous landlord or (even better) from the property manager who you rented through. I say that a reference from a property manager is better than one from a private landlord in that it's harder to fake a reference from a legitimate real estate company. The best rental references discuss the condition you kept the property in while you were living there, the condition it was in when you left and your consistency in paying your rent on time. Best of all is the final line where your property manager (hopefully) states that they would love to rent to you at again at any time in the future.

• If you have a pet be prepared that many investors may not even want to consider you for their property, however written pet references (note multiple if you can!) from previous landlords or property managers will speak highly for your case. Also - if your pet is small or presents well, a photograph attached to your application doesn't hurt.
• In some areas (not Tasmania where the bulk of my rental properties are) you are able to pay a voluntary increased bond or "pet bond" to further guarantee that your pet will provide no long term damage. Offering to do this is a good sign of your intentions to a property owner.
• If you're young sadly at times this can make you as undesirable as a Doberman dog! I know this personally from renting while I was 17 years old at University. To overcome this, attach with your application a few written referees from the most responsible adults you can find (teachers, employers etc). Remember here that putting down your parents or relatives as references doesn't really hold that much sway as they're obviously going to be biased!
• Why do I keep going on about written references? For one, they look good but for two, they save a property manager some of their valuable time. If a property manager has ten applications to check and yours is partly done because of the written references - you can come across as a more appealing tenant to the time poor property manager.
• If you really want a property and believe there is going to be competition or you simply think that the property is good value or will be hard to find again, consider offering $5 a week (or any amount you like) more in rental. This obviously isn't going to be the answer for everyone, but is an option. (More on how to get the rental down in part II!).
• Present well when you inspect a rental property. A property manager or property owner only has limited information to go on when deciding which tenant to chose. One of the things that will be a factor (regardless of whether they admit it or not) will be your presentation and the first impression you make at the inspection.
• Remember that property managers may look to see how well you take care of your car as an indication to see how well you'll take care of the property (NB. McDonalds wrappers all through the car - not a good sign!)
• Ask the person in charge of renting the property if there is anything you can do to make your application more desirable to the property owner. Examples of this may be: length of lease, gardening, presence of pets, supply of references / guarantors etc.
• Where possible I always recommend that if you're unsuccessful at getting a rental property that you ask why. For anti-discrimination reasons you may not find out, but it never hurts to ask the question because it could lead to you being more successful next time.
• When you do apply for a rental property, have everything ready in advance. If the property manager has five applications to check and yours is incomplete it'll go to the bottom of the list! A great idea is to have all the information photocopied and ready to hand over including credit checks, references, photo identification, birth certificate etc.
  

Part 2

In this day and age in many areas it can be difficult but not impossible to negotiate on the rental of a property. In your area there may be a high vacancy rate which puts you as the potential tenant at an advantage.

Here are some ways to negotiate when you rent. This may be to either attempt to save money on the rental price or to maximise your chances of being the number one picked tenant.

• Ask what length of lease the landlord would prefer and then submit your application with that lease length. Asking to see if the landlord wants a long term tenant gives you the advantage of being able to offer a 2 year lease instead of 12 months (if it suits you) which may put you one step ahead of the other applicants who haven't thought of this.
• If gardening is included in the rental amount, offer to do your own gardening and provide (yes, you guessed it) a written reference to say how immaculately you maintained your last garden.
• Being ready to take the property immediately may put you in a position where you can negotiate more easily. To a property investor, any vacancy means a zero percent return, so if you're ready to move in tomorrow - sensational! Consider stating that you will take the property immediately even if you don't need it for a few days to put you in a stronger negotiating position and gives you a little breathing room to move in!
• I once bought a property specifically for one set of tenants because they offered to pay 6 months rent up front. It was a great bargaining chip for them because, as a property investor, it was money straight off my mortgage. This can be used as a negotiation strategy for any tenant (who has the funds at hand) and while you may not pay 6 months rent up front, two identical applications from tenants can be quickly separated if one wants to pay say 12 weeks rent up front instead of 4 weeks.

Part 3

Of course most property investors want to maximise their return on a property, ie: they want to get as much money as they possibly can. However, it's not rocket science to figure out that most of us also want to attract and retain a quality tenant and some investors will sacrifice some of the higher end of their return to do so.

If you're in a property, here's a way to make yourself a more valuable tenant and to try and avoid some of the rent rises:

• Be a long term renter. I know as an investor myself - I'm the most lenient on rental increases to tenants who have been in the properties the longest.
• Be nice to your property manager (they have a lot of sway as to whether an owner renews leases or increases rent and to how much!)
• Keep the home in great condition on rental inspection date. Working in property management through my real estate career I can't believe the condition some tenants leave their properties in on rental inspection date. While I'm certainly no Miss. Neat and Tidy every day at my own house - on those 2 - 4 days a year, make an effort and it won't go unnoticed.
• Be a problem free tenant. Most investors I know will be far more likely to extend a lease to a tenant (and sometimes without a rent increase if the rent is consistently paid on time).
• Don't be a "difficult" tenant. Now this sounds a lot like the above, but a difficult tenant to a property manager can mean a whole swarm of things. Some of my big "no-nos" are as follows:
  • calling up about "emergency" maintenance at 2.00am when it's just a broken cupboard handle (extreme example, but trust me it has happened)
  • making it difficult for trades people to access a property to complete maintenance
  • insisting on being present for routine inspections (yes, we know it's your home, but when a property manager has 20 inspections to do in a morning coordinating each one personally is impossible!)
• Where possible (and appropriate), treat the property like it's your own. Don't get on the phone complaining about every loose washer or blown light bulb. Just let your property manager know on the next routine inspection if you've replaced anything minor like this. (NB. Before even considering attempting anything major, even if it's in an attempt to help, call the property manager or owner first)

Most of what is written in this three part series is common sense. For new renters and those looking to capitalise upon their renting experience I hope you've found one or two tips to help you on your way! Good luck with your renting experience.

Kirsty Dunphey is one of Australia's most publicised young entrepreneurs and is the founder of www.reallysold.com - the ultimate tool to help real estate agents write amazing advertisements. The youngest ever winner of the Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year award, Kirsty started her first business at 15, her own real estate agency at 21, was a self-made millionaire at 23 and a self-made multi-millionaire at 25. For more information on Kirsty or either of her books - Advance to Go, Collect $1 Million and Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can, or to sign up to her weekly newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

I once went online to view the ad for one of my vacant rental properties. After reading the advertisement three or four times I realised something quite stunning. After no less than 12 years experience working in real estate, owning my own real estate businesses, selling and renting real estate and having had investment properties for over 8 years… I didn't understand half of what was being said on my own advertisement! My property manager had crammed in more LUG, BIR, WIR and XYZ's than you could fit jelly beans in the Grand Canyon! I immediately thought, if I can't understand this - what hope does the average consumer?

Real estate advertising mistake number 1. Over use of abbreviations on the internet! This isn't print advertising and space is not sold per word - live it up and really sell your properties, for sale or rent - please!

To follow is an excerpt from a Barbara (aka real estate giant from NYC, author of my favourite business book of 2006 - If you don't have big breasts, put ribbons on your pigtails) Corcoran article.

The most misleading words in real estate (and what they really mean)

1. Cozy (too small)

2. Charming (too old)

3. Original condition (appliances are 50 years old)

4. Needs TLC (it's a dump)

5. Conveniently located (noisy)

6. Desirable neighborhood (this little house has been way overpriced because the neighborhood has some snob appeal)

7. Efficient kitchen (too small to fit two adults)

8. One-car garage (you can drive your Chevy in, but can't get out)

9. Peek at the park/river/mountains (if you angle your mirror just so)

10. Useable land (no trees)

11. Beachfront steal (no hurricane insurance available at any price)

12. Country living (too far from anywhere to drive to work)

13. Must see inside (outside is ugly)

14. Unique (hard to sell)

15. Just available (previous owner just died on the premises, hope you don't mind)

(read the full article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20215090/)

Real estate advertising mistake number 2. Over use of over used words!

Just 5 minutes ago I did a search for properties for sale in my home suburb with these less than staggering results as the headings for properties:

So Close to Town

Peaceful and private location

Affordable 4 bedroom home

Investment opportunity

And some with the fabulously creative heading of just the suburb!!!

C'mon real estate agents - let's provide a bit more value for money in terms of the advertisements we provide! Using www.reallysold.com (the ultimate online tool for creating real estate advertisements - which I created to help real estate agents avoid advertising mistakes) what about these substitutes:

A hop, skip and a jump to… well… everything!

Been saving for a rainy day? It's pouring right here, right now!

Is this how Donald Trump got started?

To each his own… bathroom that is!

A winner for a beginner…

Real estate advertising mistake number 3. Using headings that a four year old could have written! According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in the United States, the headline is the most important thing in writing a successful ad - use this one chance to really make the most of your advertisement.

Kirsty Dunphey is one of Australia's most publicised young entrepreneurs and is the founder of www.reallysold.com - the ultimate tool to help real estate agents write amazing advertisements. The youngest ever winner of the Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year award, Kirsty started her first business at 15, her own real estate agency at 21, was a self-made millionaire at 23 and a self-made multi-millionaire at 25. For more information on Kirsty or either of her books - Advance to Go, Collect $1 Million and Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can, or to sign up to her weekly newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

What's easier: marketing, advertising or cold calling to get a new client or having a new client call you directly? Most people would intuitively and correctly say - having the client call directly. What could be more simple than having the business walk right up to you and say "take me!".

The next vital steps when a potential client calls you directly should be:

1. Ask how they found out about you. Many times these people will have been referred by someone to you. The referrer could be a previous happy client, a friend, a family member or simply someone in your sphere.

2. Acknowledge the referral. I don't particularly care how you do this, just make sure you do it and do it immediately! If someone has taken the time to favourably speak about you to someone then the least you can do is pick up the phone and say thank you. Perhaps you might send a thank you card. If the referral warrants it - maybe a small token of your appreciation like a gift.

Take real estate agents for example, a referral of a client to them can mean thousands of dollars. Don't be the person who doesn't bother to find out where the referral came from. Even worse, don't be the person who knows but does not acknowledge it.

The call you should always try and avoid is the one where a referrer has to ask you if you received their referral. It's insulting to the person who referred the client that you haven't thanked them and it's no way to ensure they'll continue speaking in such glowing terms about you!

Reproduced from Kirsty Dunphey's weekly email - subscribe by heading to www.kirstydunphey.com

Customer surveys are a fabulous way to do research on a highly specified portion of the market and a way to improve your future service to customers and clients. To follow are some of the questions and details I highly recommend you consider including on your next survey.

1. Contact details. Ask for email address so that you can add them to your email database and confirm mailing and phone so that you know you're up to date for the future. Also ask for permission to email to them in the future.

2. Rate 1 - 10. I like to ask clients to rate their overall experience on a 1-10 scale (10 being the best experience they could imagine). This allows for more flexibility and honesty - anything other than a 10 you know you could have done better - now you just need to find out how. You can also ask them to rate certain other aspects (such as your website, marketing, office, administration, individual salesperson etc) with this same method which allows you to ask a lot of questions in a way that isn't very time consuming to the person filling in the survey.

3. Method of attraction. If you aren't already aware of the reason the customer first came to use your services, these surveys are a great spot to find out how your clients found out about you. This gives you an opportunity to either thank the person who referred them or find out what method of your marketing is working best (ie great shop front, smiling staff, excellent advertisements etc.)

4. Marketing / testimonial statement. Always ask your clients for a statement or testimonial about your service and ask for permission on the survey to use any of their comments and their name for future marketing purposes

5. Improvements required. Ask what you did right - but also ask what could have been better (it's as important to get this information.) Consider phrasing the question: Describe three ways we could have looked after you better, or list three things we could have improved upon. By asking for three things - you often get more than by not specifying a number. (Don't forget you can use this technique with finding out what they liked as well.)

6. Memorable moments. Consider a question such as: "What was the most memorable part of dealing with XYZ company?" A customer can be satisfied or happy but they won't rave about you to their friends and family unless you are memorable in some way.

7. Recommendations. I personally like to ask if they would recommend your services to friends / family and then to leave a spot on the survey asking the client to leave details should they know anyone else who could use your services. (You may even want to consider mentioning some sort of a reward if they do successfully refer business or providing a special introductory offer for friends / family of this client.)

8. Future service. Don't lose out on potential business staring you in the face by forgetting to ask them if there's any way you can be of further service now or in the future.

9. Follow up. If you're going to ask the questions on this survey - be prepared to get some negative responses that's a part of life, but ALWAYS let the people who fill in your surveys know what you're going to do to either fix the issue, or ensure it doesn't happen again in the future. Always follow up surveys with a thank you for a completed survey in some way (email, phone call, card etc)

10. Look wide. Surveys aren't just for the clients who have done business with you. Consider surveying potential clients, your current suppliers or clients you've pitched to but who have decided to go elsewhere as well.

Happy surveying!

Copyright/Reprint Info - The contents of this article written by Kirsty may be copied, reproduced, or freely distributed for all nonprofit purposes without the consent of the author as long as the author's name and contact information are included. Example: Reproduced with permission from the Kirsty Dunphey weekly email. To subscribe to Kirsty Dunphey's weekly email, go to www.kirstydunphey.com