A familiar ritual at the dining table as a youngster involved being reminded time and time and again to mind my P's and Q's.  What was commonly referred to as Table Manners were a set a rules that adults felt we needed to know to avoid embarrassing them in polite company.  Thank God their persistence helped to ensure that we didn't become little hellions.

Rules of engagement are a necessary part of social interaction as well as business.  As real estate professionals explore the online world, it is often difficult to clearly understand what the rules are because the context changes so quickly.  It was barely a decade ago that the most progressive agents were those who had a website.  Today, a blog is a pre-requisite for the web savvy practitioner.

Therein lies the confusion.  Do the rules really change just because the context does?  Are there some things that will not change regardless of how drastically technological advancements redefine the business landscape?  I would argue that YES, there are foundational issues which will not change inspite of the shifting sands which continually realign various aspects of the real estate industry.

The first foundation is the Code of Ethics, a standard which defines the rules and practise of professional behavior for real estate practitioners. 

The Code of Ethics stands alongside the laws of each State to support the ethical conduct which should define every real estate transaction.  Although the Code of Ethics is modified from time to time to encompass new arenas such as the Internet, it remains the bedrock solid foundation which defines the conduct of the well mannered agent.

As new agents continue to funnel into the business and more experienced practitioners find themselves working in unfamiliar territory, there are some additional qualities which will continue to provide solid guidance for success.   I refer to these as the Three P's of Priority, Perseverance and Patience.

Proper Priorities

Knowing what your priorities should be is the biggest single factor which determines success or failure for many agents.  There are only a few things that actually make money for a successful agent.  These are: listing or selling a home, prospecting for new business, following up on leads and asking for the appointments necessary build relationships and build our business.  Everything else that we do, including attending closings, is a result of the above activities.  When we loose sight of this and spend little time on these basic activities, our business is bound to suffer.

Perseverance

Persevering involves keeping on, in spite of, not because of.  The old saying 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going' is true.  Many agents give up far too quickly.  This is where it can be helpful to talk to other successful people or read their books.  One will quickly discover that everyone has struggled in one fashion or another.  It's a fact of life.  Persevering is a pre-requisite for success because it proves that you are willing to do what it takes to get the prize...your goal of a successful career.

Patience

Patience develops character.  I'm often amused to hear the term 'overnight' success.  To the individual who supposedly achieves this feat, it most often feels like a very long, long, night!  We tend to refer to the achievement as an overnight success because we are unfamiliar with the journey that enabled someone to gain the status that they now enjoy.  Upon closer examination, it is often revealed to have been a far longer more involved process than a cursory glance would suggest.  Patience is what enables what you are doing to mature to the point where it becomes a fruitful endeavor.

A wise man was once quoted as noting that 'there is nothing new under the sun.'  Knowing HOW to do something is as important as having a clear understanding of WHAT one should actually be doing.  Regardless of how quickly technology shifts our business, the solid foundations of a business built on Right Priorities, Perseverance and Patience are the tools that a determined professional will need to cultivate in order to thrive and succeed.

Copyright 2008  Audu Real Estate  All Rights Reserved

Are you tired of having to go out on your weekly real estate agent home tour?  Does the price of gas make this seem like a waste of time and money? If you're like many agents who work out of their homes, these questions are front and center when you're thinking about IF you will join the broker tour in any given week.

Since we have several newer agents in our office, they wanted to have this experience, so we arranged to tour some of our home listings.  It was quite an outing.  

When I started thinking about the potential outside of my traditional perspective, all sorts of new ways of Marketing came to my mind. Here are some other ways to make your Home Tour a viable marketing activity which continues to reap dividends long after you've been out for several hours in your car.

On this tour, I decided to try something new myself and took my camera along.  Take a look at what I did on Facebook. 

Post your Tour Link with tinyurl to Twitter, to tell people in your local area and beyond what you've been up to.

Upload pictures of your tour and places of interest to your LinkedIn profile.  Invite people to ask questions about the places you saw and the homes you have listed.

Share more than just listing jargon...talk about the area, sites of interest and nearby attractions.

Post pictures and/or video to Flickr.com

Post pictures and/or video to Facebook.  Share your album with Friends

Make a YouTube video about the area and the homes you see.  Start a series as the local tour expert in your area.  This can be very effective if you have a speciality such as highlighting a Foreclosure Tour of your local area.

Do a Real Estate Show on your tour and then export it all over the place.  It will also index on google for all the addresses you mention.

And then of course...blog about it!

These are just a few simple suggestions on how you can take an activity like real estate touring which seems to be loosing steam and reinvigorate it with fresh perspective and imagination. 

This type of thinking not only creates ample promotion opportunities, but is a way to create true Value to your clients in the successful marketing of their home in ways that can be effective beyond the traditional norms of showcasing an area and listing.  Today's homebuyer is shopping in a million different places.  Are you engaging your buyer where they're looking?

Pictures of homes from Audu Real Estate Home Listing Tour of June 23, 2008

Copyright 2008  Audu Real Estate  All Rights Reserved

I was in my office some time back when a call came in. The caller was frantic! As the words tumbled out, I slowly began to decipher what was being said. The voice on the other end was panicked as they described a most bizarre situation. These were my dear clients. We had successfully helped them to purchase this lovely home several months prior. They had happily settled down in their new home...and now this!

The drama had started with a knock on the front door. When they opened the door, a grandfatherly looking man dressed in a nice suit introduced himself. He indicated that he had just seen a notification that their house had just been foreclosed. He was wondering if they aware of this? He indicated he had dropped by to let them know about some options for folks in their situation. Talk about jaw dropping surprise!

The story from this gentleman was eerie. For one thing, he knew that they had recently closed on the home and that there had been some liens on the home. In this particular situation, there had been a divorce which had left some loose ends hanging which had to be cleared prior to closing. As the buyers agent, we had ordered and checked the title-work to make sure that everything was clear prior to closing. However, there were enough significant details conveyed to me in the conversation with my distraught clients, that I too began to wonder if I had missed something.

Fortunately, he had left his card. I immediately alerted the listing agent and then initiated an urgent call into the title company. The title company verified that there were no outstanding liens at the time of closing. My next contact was to the county clerks office and they also had no indication of any foreclosure filing. You know who my final call was to...Mr. Santa Claus himself. You can rest assured that I was NOT to wish him a Merry Christmas!

Scams within the context of real estate transactions are increasingly common. Last year, the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors added a link on its website to allow anyone to report suspicions of mortgage fraud. It was a very necessary response to try to combat the increase in loan fraud. But the assault against customers has not been limited to just loan fraud. In the Grand Rapids area, we have had a number of reported cases in which individuals have been promised assistance with saving their homes from an imminent foreclosure, only to find out that they had been scammed hundreds or thousand of dollars and eventually lost their homes.

Yesterday, I received a call from a gentleman in another state who had found my blog post/series on short sales and foreclosures on line. He indicated that he wanted to know if I had heard about a certain company. Apparently, they had missed a payment or two and his wife in her acute distress, had contacted a company which promised that they would save their home from foreclosure. As long as they paid them $1,200 of which $600 was due that night! Whoa!

This gentleman had a nagging sense that something was not quite right. That gut level intuition is one of the most powerful sources of protection when dealing with a scam artist in real estate or any other area. Many scam artists are able to prey on people when they are most vulnerable because there is a tendency to grasp for any shred of hope in a desperate situation. It is most critical during these times to put the brakes on ALL hasty decisions.

The reality is this...It is not a Quick, Easy or Simple Process to Loose Your Home. AND...there are a number of options and solutions which you can explore in a reasonable manner so you can make an informed decision about what makes the most sense and is best for you.

Here are a few suggestions that might find helpful:

1. Avoid making hasty decisions when in a crisis. Recognize that your judgement might be impaired.

2. If something feels not quite right...Wait, Ask more questions, Verify

3. Report suspicious activities or proposals to the appropriate authorities

4. If someone offers to save you from a foreclosure and asks you for money to do it...DON'T instead..

5. Contact a Licensed Professional with knowledge about the process of foreclosures and short sales and requests a FREE Consultation to help you determine the best route for you to pursue.

And now to finish the story about Mr. Santa Claus. When I confronted him about his duplicity, he instantly retreated. He indicated that he must have made a mistake and got the wrong address. He was so sorry to have caused any distress & asked me to apologize to my clients. He had been given this list and was just trying to do his job. I told him that the only thing he was sorry about was that he had been caught and that he would be reported to the authorities. The line went dead...The only information on the card was a company name and an out of state telephone number.

Copyright 2008 Audu Real Estate All Rights Reserved