Gary White FlexIt Realty~Real Estate & Updates, Grand Rapids & West Michigan

We Realtors help so many people and create life changing transactions.  It seems tragic we can not do more for some of the "throw away" people that have by choice or by circumstances moved to the street.

This spring I was taking a walk in a local park by the water.  Sitting on a bench was a lonely dirty middle aged man.  I nodded on my way by....not engaging him or stopping.  My walk is a 3 mile circuit I do a few times a week on a paved bike path.  I had not noticed this gentleman before.  Spring in Michigan still has a chill in the air.  He was still there sitting on top of the picnic table watching the river slowly run by a few feet from him.

This time he looked up and smiled I nodded and said, "hello hows your day"?  He answered back it is getting better....  I stopped and made small talk for a few minutes and then I had to ask...his words didn't seem as though he should be sitting on this bench.  He told me he was a former executive, displaced, family gone, home gone....friends gone too.  We talked a while longer and as I was turning to leave I said heres my card....call me if I you want some help...under the card I also passed him a few dollars for food.  I know...most will just drink it...or that is the perception.  That would be his choice...I didn't offer the money with strings attached.

I helped him get into a program, a bed and over 3 months we became friends.  He went through an alcohol abuse program with flying colors.  It wasn't easy but he completed it.  All at once he was gone as quickly as he came into my life.

This past week just a few days before Thanksgiving he called...he was back!  I had thought something might have happened to him.  He wanted to stop by my home.  He had never seen my home, family or anyone related to me.  He said the wanted to talk just for a few minutes.

I reluctantly gave him my address.  He drove up!  He had a car, he was dressed in a suit....one that fit...he was clean....hair cut, shaved.  I hardly recognized him.  I answered the door, he leaped through and gave me a big hug.  He said most people had treated him like the scum of the earth when he was on the street.  I had taken the time and made a difference.  He was working again in Detroit....for a automotive supply firm.

He handed me some money, the same amount of dollars I had handed him in the park with my business card.  He had tears streaming down his cheeks and said, "there are a lot of us out there...take this money and do it again", thanks for saving my life".

We shook hands and he drove away.  I have not heard from him since.

This is not something I would recommend doing...unless you know more or feel the individual is safe for you to engage.  Some are not and resent the intrusion into their lives.  I just couldn't help myself after our conversation.  The holidays are coming and so many people are less fortunate than us....making a difference by serving food at a shelter or soup kitchen will open your eyes to a new side of life.

I thought the story was worth sharing.  Have a great holiday season and make a difference.

Home owners that have their homes listed or contemplating listing have some real concerns about equity....or should I say disappearing equity.

The key of whether the equity is real is depending on how much is left after the sale.  The equity before a sale is only speculation.  That means if you didn't have it in your hand it was speculation.  Now we can say a year ago you might have gotten more for the same home.  That is probably true....but that was a year ago.  Depending on which poll or researchers you read home prices have fallen 18% in Michigan...while some of the other areas of the country have been stable.  Even more of a market driven issue is evident by areas still showing increases in home values.  Some areas of Texas, California, Washington and pockets within Michigan show growth or neutral changes in sell prices.  That is not typical or the national market.

So should the market changes be a concern....absolutely.  How do people make sure they do not loose more equity?  Sell...and fast.  HOW?  There does not seem to many buyers.  Simple price your home right.  People with homes priced right sell faster...and for a higher price.  So why doesn't everyone do this?  The average seller wants to maintain the perceived equity value...and some of the less skilled Realtors are willing to let sellers chase the myth with a dream that is only a mirage that moves once you arrive.  The mirage of equity looks so good on paper....so push the price up a little...the mirage looks bigger and better.  Then reality hits with a for sale sign that sits out front of the home and the mirage looks far off in the distance and almost disappears with each passing day. 

Career real estate professionals keep a constant vigil monitoring the local and regional market fluctuations.  They look at the sellers they represent as though it was their own property for sale.  Not only do career professionals do this, they inform sellers, even when it is painful news.  The goal is to sell faster and retain that precious equity.  Remember equity has two sides....an up side and a down side.  This means that even if you sell on the down side...you also purchase on the down side.  That means you are likely to pick all the equity you lost on paper when the market comes back.  If you purchase a more expensive home....your gain is even going to be more because of the percentage in change vs value.

So stop chasing the mirage only to be disappointed......achieve your sale and find your dream home while the market is in your favor.  Think of the people that just purchased.  A home like theirs in the same neighborhood is probably selling for thousands less than when they purchased....it will come back.  They only lose if they sell.

I hope this gave you an insight into the reality and mirage factor of equity.  Call a career professional when you really want the current market facts.

Gary White, Associate Broker, serving Grand Rapids and West Michigan www.MovingGR.com  My website has over 30 Free down-loadable buyer and seller documents to help you.

Real Estate has so many little trap doors just waiting for you to fall into.  Some trap doors can be side stepped by just watching where you walk.  Other trap doors are concealed better so they are hard to detect....and pretty soon you are free falling without anyone to catch you.

I hadn't seen this trap door for years....I remembered it....because the first time I had seen it I was on guard for almost anything.  I was walking cautiously.  This time it was a surprise....but I still didn't fall in.

Prospects will offer all kinds of reason why they are selling....financial or up-sizing or down-sizing, work, retirement, maintenance...almost any reason and we hear it as Realtors.  The parent has passed and now the kids are left with the sale of their home.  Investments...going to go in a different direction.  The trap doors are as endless as the reasons for selling themselves.

Yesterday a prospect whom I had met and spent some time with at an open house....called.  I was happy to get the call because we had discussed the purchase of one of my listings.  Thanks not why he was calling....he wants to sell immediately...all his properties, FIVE!  No I was thinking like you.....I hit the jackpot again!  Four new listings last week five more this week!  Well, the trap doors.....

I set the appointment....we discussed, evaluate and consider the list price....below what he paid for the home.  I noticed one thing when I did my research....his name had not been recorded as owner!  I ask the question....I noticed your name is not recorded as owner...who is ______?  Oh that's my sister.  OK we have to have your sister sign the listing......she's mad at me and she won't sign....she wants me out!  OK, but she has to sign the listing IF the house is to be sold by me or any Realtor.  What about these other properties? 

We continue with the other four listings....they all have something.  But,  this is a big "BUT" like SNL.  The other properties are in his name.....he has strange financing....nothing conventional.  Doesn't matter....I'll check into issues and we should be able to list the other properties....

I call the sister to discuss the listing where her brother lives....she is NASTY.  Her emotions are raw and she is ready to defend her position.  Hey Lady.....it's your property according to the deed....would you like to sell it?  YES, whatever....get him out!  I informed her that I was not her brothers representative on that property....she would be my client and I would be keeping her informed as to the transaction process.  "Really".....she says.  In a sinister voice that would chill you to the bone....knowing the next words are....."I will find my own Realtor, thank you click"!  Instead....she says, "you mean when I sign the listing to get the SOB out....you actually keep me informed to the progress of the sale"?  Thats right.  "Be here tomorrow at two...tell me how this works and bring a sign"!

Again being nice, not getting involved....listening and most of all not falling into that trap door....helped me get a real listing....I write the other 4 tomorrow as well.  Another trap door would have been taking sides...I didn't I am selling their properties.  I am the professional they needed to co-ordinate the sales.  I have proof of ownership so the signs go up.  All are priced below current market which should cause immediate traffic.  They should end up happy without speaking to each other....over family issues....but if I make these smooth transaction maybe they will find a way to mend their fences too.

People that sell their own properties have to be more careful....they do not have the training to see the many versions of trap doors legal and otherwise.

The key is to understand where and how to handle trap doors....

How do you handle trap doors?

Follow-up....I met...we discussed.....she signed and she was all smiles when I left....she is in control!  Of her brother that is!  The Yard Sign went in the yard at 2:58 this afternoon.  11/19/08....  One of the elements of helping was being honest...presenting the facts and having the answers to her questions.  She was very nice once she knew I wasn't in a judgemental mode...and was going to do what was needed.  Thanks for all your comments and any you might add.

It is surprising to me...what agents will and won't do for money.  Of course this depends on the agent...and the situation.

Some agents won't show homes if the commission is below a certain percentage.  They say it isn't worth the effort.  Others sell foreclosures and get half the same commission....put in more time and effort and say that's just the business.

Some agents won't drive 30 miles others that is all in a days work.  Some agents as a business us their business fee as a lisitng draw....other have a higher fee and use that as a draw too!  So perception of what agents will and won't do is in the minds eye of the agent.

Then again the public looks and says....I am confused.  Why wouldn't they be confused?  It isn't easy for agents to figure out programs and policies and they work in the business.  So why do we think the public should be any better at understanding business models, representation or what agents will and won't do?

Our personal marketing and image presented to the public is who we are.  We talk about website traffic...how long we have to capture a visitor, yet we never consider how long it takes to capture a reader or print ads or cable.  If you are in a magazine what makes your ad standout more than the next agents....bolder print?  Sometimes photos, or jingles make us standout. 

My contention is your reputation....who you are is what makes YOU stand out.  Some agents stake out a territory and become the expert....even the neighborhood expert.  Other agents are like the wind they blow in and out never leaving a trace that they were there.

Agents have all kinds of reasons for what they will and won't do in customer representation.  They define prospects in advance, they identify regions, territories, blocks, neighborhoods and ONLY concentrate on that area.  Agents further define clients and prospects as buyers, sellers or investors (residential or commercial) to identify who they are to the public.  So representation, territory, overheads, marketing are all things that agents will and won't do.  Some say magazines are a waste of money....others say newspapers, others say the internet.

One thing you can count on agents all have an opinions....including me.  That is why I am always surprised when I hear you guys are all the same!  We may try to reach the same goal for clients, sell or buy but we are hardly the same.  We go in such different directions to reach the same goal...it truely is like daylight and dark with shades of grey in between.

People seeking professional representation have to determine before they sign a representation agreement what is their goal.  Then they have to interview agents to see how and why the agents can achieve their goal. 

Don't put yourself or your client behind the eightball with empty promises or offering services you know you are not going to deliver on.  Your clients want a happy ending....and long term so do you...  Changing your representation from what you normally do only hurts you and your clients.

Have you defined your representation to the point that you know what you will and won't do for clients?

It is hard to imagine that it is estimated between 50 and 100 million people participate in blogs all over the world.  We are just seeing it's advantages in real estate.  Customers can offer immediate feedback on our blog sites concerning properties.  They can share collectively how they want to be served by comments to blog sites.  Marketing people analyze the comments...extrapolate trends and offer new solutions to consumer demands.

The likes of Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Google, Disney Channel, General Motors, Ford even national real estate companies all have blog sites for consumers.  Fortune 500 companies are sinking millions into blogs.  Not the blog itself but changes in products, designs are being modified based on consumer feedback from blogs.  I have included a blog site on my website.  Now I am starting to use it in a new format.  I want client and prospect Feedback direct...what do my clients and prospects want from a real estate website.  Some of the comments are very interesting.  This information will allow me to adjust my site to offer more services and information that the real estate consumer wants.  Thus increasing traffic to my site and therefore more potential clients.  Will it work?  Time will tell but the issue is feedback and making changes to meet consumer wants and needs.

Are you plugged into your prospect and client needs?

What can a blog do?                                      

• It can extend branding either your name, company name or both.
• Create positive experiences for your customers...creating more traffic to your blog and website.
• Provide real feedback on you and your company....allowing you to make identifiable changes.
• Allows you a new avenue of doing business and gathering new clients at a much lower cost.
• Simplifies management tasks since your blogs and websites are linked.
• Impact the bottom line.....positively....always nice.

Blogs are redefining our business.  Blogs are creating public relations opportunities easier and faster.  Blogs offer prospect and client communications similar to emails only on a mass interactive perspective.

Who says you just have to have one blog?  I am setting up multiple blogs based on real estate market segments.  That means a buyers blog, a sellers blog an investor blog and even a foreclosure blog.  This allows more specific feedback and therefore a more concentrated opportunity to make website changes that will create more traffic to my website.  This additionally allows me to have clients and prospects segregated.  Another benefit....each blog links to a page on my website specifically targeted to that prospects informational needs.

I can identify changes needed by market segment.  The reduces my time to make the change and pinpoints areas that need changes faster.

How are you using your blog to improve your website traffic?

We all know that technology is moving at leaps and bounds.  Just look at AR and the addition of POD casts, links, advertising....comunication and contacts are seconds away.

Last night....I was preparing my marketing program for my newest listing, my phone and computer within seconds of each other beep.

That means when my phone beeps someone has downloaded a file from my website.  I have different beeps, tones and sounds for different happenings.  I feel like a bad Broadway musical at times.  When clients call my phone plays the....William Tell Overture.  When family calls....it't the theme from the "Executive" and it goes on....and so shall we.  On my computer the beep means I have a new email message.  Being engaged to the technical wonders available is what I feel I have to be, to take advantage of all those dollars I spend in marketing.  I want to capture new clients...sellers and buyers.  Representing both to me is a better service than representing one solely.  That is a personal philosophy and I do not condemn or any agent for being a specialist.  I just choose to serve the whole real estate market.  Moving along.

So to take advantage of my marketing dollarsI have all these electronic methods of tracking results and capturing leads...hopefully hot leads.  I have a full scale website that seems to work rather well.  I am still adjusting pages and making changes and it gets better and attracts more users with each update and change.

I forward phone calls, emails etc to my phone....one of those Treo's.  Some like em others hate em....it works for me.  Back to the beeps!  I check the phone....a text message from my website....somebody downloaded a buyers report....I have an email address and a phone number.  I check my email....yup....and the email is confirming the text message....a buyer prospect downloaded a report and searched some of my listings.

I check the clock, it's not to late....I call to make sure the prospect found the information needed.  The voice answers...I introduce myself....and ask if I could be of any additional assistance....shocked the voice says who is this?  I again introduce myself....the voice says, "OH man....I am on your website right now"!  I never expected a call that quick...you already emailed me....(my auto-responder emailed the prospect automatically) saying I check my emails regularly throughout the day during business hours and would get back to them by the end of the business day or next day at latest.  If they need me sooner call my cell number.  She read my auto-responder reply....word for word....I'm thinking it works!

The prospect is going to view one of my listings this weekend.  Quickly responding to consumer needs meets both your seller needs and the buyers goals.  This is one of those "win-win" methods of doing business.

The prospect was shocked, surprised and blow-away all at the same time.  "I have never had a Realtor respond so quickly", was her statement....  Technology is allowing us to capture, define and serve our clients and prospect faster and better than ever before.

Has your technology met your Buyers and Seller face to face?

Today I met the nicest young buyers.....so I thought.

I gave them a tour of my listing...asking key questions as we viewed the property.  They were really nice and very young....but already established in their careers.  I had fun with them and we chatted about financing options.

They seemed to be more interested in my marketing methods....I said they work....you came....just then another couple came and I told them I would be right back after greeting the new prospects.

I started the new prospects on their tour and excused myself and went back to the young buyers.  I asked how they found out about the open house....they said it was hard to miss...in the paper, cable TV, multiple Internet sites the MLS, your website with virtual tour....how many places do you have this listing....my response....as many as it takes to sell it!  I have it listed on two MLS directories, I have it listed on 24 websites and my personal website, regional magazine, cable you know just the usual that I do.

They then said where they lived.  They are going to sell and would like it if I came over and discussed listing their home.

I was being interviewed for a listing...we made an appointment.  They excused themselves and I went to the next prospect.

It was interesting that they asked about the Internet skills....and they were very surprised I used so many options in my marketing program...today it is all about exposure....it always has been.  Once I found out their real reason for stopping by my open house....they received my personal brochure...a bit of my listing presentation to secure the appointment.  They have talked to 6 agents!  I am the first appointment.  The reason I got the appointment....I understood what they wanted and could take their language concerning the Internet.

Sure I have the ePRO and yes I have the RECS and yes....I have a marketing degree and yes I have....but if I had not listened, not spoke in their language, I would have been agent 7 instead of Agent 007!     How many times have you been interviewed at open houses for listings?

Gary White, serving Grand Rapids and the West Michigan markets.

We can learn a lot from our seniors.  We can learn the value of longevity.  Most have lived in the same home for decades.  Most had long term employment....not something this generation or even in the last decade can say.  Most want to die at home....it's their goal...their comfort zone and they feel...their right.     When health issues make it impossible to continue....they have a very difficult choice.  As Realtor's it is so easy for us....we list, we sell, we close.....they on the other hand are making a final major life decision!  Many have already stopped driving...or are going to be forced to in the near future.  Their independence is slowing and begrudgingly being taken away.  The transition to dependence is facing them straight on.

When seniors decide to sell....they usually owe very little in the way of a mortgage.  House-hold items that we think of as replaceable or insignificant are treasures....these items have been with them for decades....and they work just fine, thank you!  You will have to be very careful in being respectful, people know when you are inwardly laughing.  My personality is, I am a nostalgia buff anyway...so I am always amazed and curious about the treasures people save.  Yesterday I saw an 8 track deck.....yes and it was playing a tune I hadn't heard in decades.  I had to ask that it be turned down so we could converse...smiling down went the volume....they forget.

They know their lives are going to change...they knew when they called you.  How do you get the listing?  Seniors act emotions and feelings more than modern day sellers.  They are typically very honest....only they don't understand the process....they are not Googling, they usually don't have computers...some don't bother with a newspaper....except the ones they have stacked in the garage!  They don't understand staging, cleaning closets and the truth is they probably can't do it anyway.  They just don't have the energy and would be insulted if you asked.  It take patience to deal with the elderly...they have to understand you...like you....know you are honest.

    I try to find the closest family member and have them sit in on the meeting, if possible.  Sometimes this is viewed as another reduction of Independence...and they resent it.  So you'll have to be very careful when you ask if they would like a family member to be present.  I enjoy dealing with seniors....I also find they are very loyal and their friends know you almost immediately.  They talk to friends everyday...the phone may be their only outside world.  They make friends with bank tellers, grocery clerks, waitresses, fast food employees.  They develop a routine and stick to it.  Washing on Monday...cleaning on Wednesday, lunch a Russ's on Friday.

Many seniors do not understand legal issues or contracts.  Some may have living trusts, others nothing.  So you also must be very aware of how to seek out legal help when necessary.

If you understand how to deal with seniors your income and enjoyment can go way up.  I call these clients every week.  I get cookies!  I also get the pleasure of knowing them...sometimes better than their families.  One of my clients had streaming tears the day her home sold.  She knew your life was changing...and not for the better, in her eyes.  Her children forced her to move in with them.  I still call.....she loves the grand kids and has resolved the bedroom she has is adequate.....and always asks how's my house?  She lived in the same place for 40 years.  The new owners have painted and make significant interior changes...but the outside is just a difference color and it is always going to be her house.

How do you handle your senior sellers?

Every once in a while we have a new client pop-up from nowhere and has all these dreams and aspirations.....they talk the talk.....but can they walk the walk?

I recently had a young man that had attended an investment seminar.  He bought some books too!  Then lucky for me he sent out 20 emails to various Realtors based on his perception of experience and market knowledge.

I use an auto-responder method for my emails....which automatically responds that I am out of the office or with a client and will contract them shortly.  Technology is great....I have an email forwarded to my cell phone....notifying me of the contact with the prospects and shows me their message which may include the contact information. 

This prospect offered his cell number.  I contacted him within 20 minute of his email contact.  He was pleasantly surprised.  I was the first agent to respond.  A few of the other agents contacted the prospect the next day and the majority contacted him within a week and others never returned any messages or made any contact.

  When clients think there is a money tree, sometimes reality strikes like lightning. 

We made an appointment, I signed him....after hearing of his knowledge and the book reading he had done and all the preparation of Internet shopping for properties.....I told him, "you need my help"!  He wanted a zero down purchase....and thought a million dollar property would be fine.  OK then, how will you PAY for the property?  The lender will want to be paid back....his response, "the property will pay the mortgage".  Boy did my young prospect have a lot to learn.  I then took him to a lender.....for the financing to be worked out in advance.  Thanks but I can not waste a bunch of time on a non-buyer.  The lender called.....he can buy a $250,000 property....not a million but still worth pursuing.  I did the research on available investment properties and reviewed them with the client....now a client...not prospect.

What he had told the lender and what the lender told me turned out not to be true.  He didn't have any money...he had not lined up investors, he hadn't talked to his co-signer and no he couldn't purchase a $250,000 dollar property.  So.....I sat him down....time for a reality check.  I talked to his co-signer and then we hit reality....I helped him purchase a foreclosed single family.....with his co-signer at zero down and a gift for closing costs.  I also secured from the seller (bank) some closing costs with a price reduction and had the bank also step up and pay a special assessment of $3500.00.  I did earn something and learned something from this transaction.  I am good at screening, I always get a lender involve up front BEFORE showings....I want to know my client can actually purchase.  But investor....NO.  Did his seminars and books help him.....NO.  What they did do was give him false hopes...empty promises and a big let down.  I felt he was lucky to find a professional that could lead him through the process and help him secure a property at all!  He had some major credit imperfections to be cleared up as well.

Have you had any investors that couldn't?