My motto for the past 3 years has been ‘Life Is Better When You Share.”   I have been blessed in so many ways by my mentors across the country who share their ideas, bountiful energy, optimism and strategies with me.  I have also been blessed with great friends and family who share their time, love, encouragement, resources and “things” with me.
Having “things” is wonderful, but what do we really need to survive?  How can we help each other right now and help our clients acquire the things they need and get rid …

Short and sweet.  HAFA is an acronym for Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives.  It is so important that we know how to advise our clients in this changing market.  With 1 out of every 7 home owners not paying their mortgages and 1/4 of home owners under water in their mortgage situation, we have to be knowledgeable and prepared to advise our clients, friends, family members and, in some cases…ourselves.
Look around your neighborhood. 1 in 7 home owners are not paying their mortgage in your own neighborhood and the banks are halting foreclosures …

A Lethal Listing Presentation
Now let’s take the pieces and put them together into a “lethal” listing presentation. For quick review, what are the pieces? The first piece is knowing your market statistics so that you’re truly the best agent for the job. Becoming the market authority. Then the next piece is knowing the value of the subject property so that you can get the top dollar for your seller client. By knowing how to prepare the ultimate CMA, your …

Buyer opportunities are abundant.  Something as simple as the neighbor’s reflective windows may not seem to be an important detail to consider, but it should be part of the buying decision making process.
Going “green” seems to be causing some problems that were certainly not expected.  When making a home buying decision, we worry about neighborhood stats, schools, environment and safety but never did I think we would have to worry about  the neighbors windows or the reflective windows our buyers would like to install  in their new home.
With all the “Green Mortgage” opportunities and …

Realtors® are not stupid, just slow to adapt to new technologies. Not because they cannot, but rather because in an industry comprised of independent contracts, the majority chooses to use the Frank Sinatra style – “My Way.”
Looking back through time clearly shows most real estate professionals are up to the task of adapting and implementing new technologies successfully. For example in 1973, almost 40 years ago, Electronic Realty Associates, a new real estate franchise at the time, (today known as ERA Real Estate) became one of the fastest growing franchises …

Becoming the market authority is job one (continued).
The next piece of market data I want you to learn is the standard deviation of the average days on market.
DOM Standard Deviation (STDEV). What?! I know what you’re thinking: “Matt Jones has lost his mind!” But, before you dismiss this concept (and me) as crazy, let me point out that it will be an easy statistic to calculate and a powerful advantage for you once you know it. What if you could actually know the odds …

Becoming the market authority is job one (continued).
The final two pieces of market data I want you to learn are the average markdown (also know as the list to sale ratio), and the general market climate. We’ll cover them both in this segment, and once you’ve mastered them, you will be a real market authority and you will stand out when being compared to your fellow agents.
Average Markdown (List to Sale Ratio). Now let’s go back to the statistics that we worked on earlier. …