Real Estate Blog

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday that making loans more easily available to real estate investors for bulk purchases of homes would be an important step in resolving the imbalances in the housing and rental markets.

Speaking to home builders at the 2012 National Association of Homebuilders International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fl., Bernanke said that a program to convert foreclosed homes to rentals, while no "silver bullet" for the housing market, has potential. "With home prices falling and rents rising, it could make sense in some markets to turn some of the foreclosed homes into rental properties."

The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently introduced a pilot program to sell pools of foreclosed homes to investors. To qualify however, investors need to show that they have the financial wherewithal to acquire the assets, among other conditions.

That could be a problem, as one investor highlighted to Bernanke in the question and answer session following the speech. Investors say they have considerable trouble obtaining financing from banks if they hold more than four mortgages.

Bernanke acknowledged that the lack of financing could be a hindrance to the program. He said that the reason banks withhold lending for more than four properties dates back to when banks ran into trouble lending to investors.

The Federal Reserve chairman was referring to the savings & loan crisis of the 80s and early 90s when hundreds of savings banks collapsed following losses on commercial real estate and multi-family dwelling investments.

But that policy, he said, in today's context, was "counterproductive."

On the one hand, there was all the excess supply of foreclosed homes in the market. Investors seemed to want to buy them, so it seemed only reasonable to facilitate those purchases he said, to much applause.

Banks continued to be weighed down by foreclosed homes sitting on their balance sheets. For example, Bank of America reported $27.7 billion worth of non-performing loans, leases and foreclosed properties sitting on its balance sheet in the fourth quarter of 2011.

More specifically, Bernanke says that the foreclosure to rental program has real potential, but for it to work, investors needed to be able to acquire properties in bulk.

"Providing financing to these projects is I think an important direction where new financing policies could be helpful," he said.

The central bank chairman spoke at length on Friday on the issues that were crippling the housing market. He had a rather dour outlook for housing in the near term, adding that the "relatively high rate of foreclosures is likely to continue for a while." He said demand for housing was also constrained, especially among young adults, because of high unemployment. "Housing may no longer be viewed as the secure investment it once was thought to be, given uncertainty about future home prices and the economy more generally."

This is definitely not what the investors in the market want or they would be clammering for the product for them to buy on the secondary market.  That just is not out on the buyers bench right now....

The holidays are upon us, and chances are you will be attending, and perhaps hosting, a number of holiday-related business events. Maintaining a balance between having fun and seizing a networking opportunity at these events is critical.
 
How you approach these meetings means the difference between making a lasting and positive first impression that could drive new business, and turning off future and even past or current customers and partners.
 
Here are some simple ways in which you can convey a friendly, polite professionalism while you're networking during holiday events:

• Be punctual. This is not the time to be "fashionably late." Showing up on time to events demonstrates that you are responsible and reliable. Moreover, it communicates that you respect the person who is hosting the event and the people attending it enough to make it a priority.
  
• Don't be afraid to engage. Never be afraid to break the ice. Per standard networking rules, simply walk up, smile, extend your hand, introduce yourself and ask who the other person is. You may not want to immediately go into sales mode, so you'll need to gauge the situation, but if your fellow partygoer asks about who you are and what you do, you've got a perfect opportunity to strike up a new relationship.
  
• A concise introduction will be memorable. Prior to the event, practice a quick "elevator pitch" that lets you very quickly describe what your business is about and the services you offer. That quick description will stick with attendees much better than a drawn-out treatise.
  
• Be friendly, but not overly familiar. Remember, you might be friendly with your clients, but you shouldn't treat them as your best and closest friends. At the end of the day your relationship is still a business relationship. Keep things light and enjoyable, and never breach professionalism.
  
• Relax and enjoy yourself — but don't let your guard all the way down. Holiday parties are a great opportunity to be a bit more informal and share some anecdotes about yourself and your life. Clients and partners might enjoy learning more about who they are doing business with. Just remember you are still ultimately representing your business and you need to maintain a good business relationship.
  
• Be ready to follow up. In addition to an ample supply of business cards, have a note pad or cell phone on-hand so that you can take notes regarding follow-up calls or materials that you have promised throughout the night. This will let you continue the conversations you've started and hopefully turn them into bona fide customer relationships.

It's possible to have fun and turn on your "party persona" to a degree when you're attending holiday networking events; just be sure to rein it in a bit and remember, this a business opportunity first and foremost.

An unorganized computer makes it more difficult to find information, and a computer that is cluttered with unnecessary files and email messages can be sluggish. So if you haven’t organized your computer recently and it’s running slower than you’d like (or you’re having trouble finding things), the tips in this article can help you delete or move old files and email and can even help you do a thorough cleanup.

Clear out your old, unnecessary files

So how long should you keep old files on your hard drive? If you haven't used a particular file for several months, you can probably delete it or store it somewhere else.

How can you tell how old a file is? In the folder where the file is stored, rest your mouse pointer over the file name to see when it was last modified. For more information, right-click the file name and choose Properties. You can see when the file was created, last modified, and most recently accessed. If a file is old and hasn't been accessed in more than six months, it might be time to clear it out. If you’re not certain, it’s a good idea to open it just to be sure you won’t need it soon.

You're the best judge to determine which files to keep, but you might want to consider saving these items:

• Tax and legal information

• Project-related files

• Favorite digital images from the year

• Plans you could leverage for future projects

• Important email messages

• Customer information

 Tip: Learn more about how to sort and organize files and folders:


To quickly find files, organize them by the date they were modified.

One more quick and easy way to clear out files is to empty your Recycle Bin. All the files that you have deleted still exist on your computer until you empty your Recycle Bin. To empty the bin, right-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and then click Empty Recycle Bin.

Note: If you’re concerned that, in your efforts to clean up your computer, you might have deleted files that you still need, click Open and then review the files in the bin before you empty it. To get back deleted files that you removed by mistake, select those files, and then click Restore to put them back to their original locations.

Finally, after you have cleaned out your files, learn 9 ways to manage them better. And if your computer is still running more slowly than you would like it to, get these tips for ways to speed up your PC and to optimize your computer for peak performance.

The next step in cleaning up your computer is to copy selected files to another storage medium, such as a writeable CD or DVD or an external hard drive. For your most important files, like project files, key presentations, or large emails, you'll rest a lot easier if you have a backup copy stored safely away from your computer—just in case you lose your computer or it fails. Learn more about options and how to back up your data.

Windows backup features make this step much easier and can help you automate the process. To back up your files, it's ideal to have a CD or DVD burner or an external hard disk drive you can connect to your computer through a USB or FireWire port.

You can also store your backup online (often referred to as the cloud) by, for example, using Windows Live SkyDrive. Learn more about online cloud storage options.

 Tip:  If you're backing up your information to a CD or DVD, be sure to create labels for your CDs that clearly describe their contents. For example, you might title the CD "2010 Archive," or be more specific with something like "2010 Presentations."

Clean out your email

Do you have a system for weeding out and organizing your old email messages? Here are a few easy ideas to tame your email inbox and to help avoid email buildup in the future:

• Create folders where you can store messages by sender, topic, or date.

• Create email rules to file and manage your messages automatically. For example, you can create a rule to send all messages from your manager to a special folder. Learn more about managing email messages with rules.

• Use Mailbox Cleanup to assess, locate, and archive email. In Outlook 2003 and 2007, open the Tools menu and click Mailbox Cleanup; in Outlook 2010, open the File menu and click Options, then Mailbox Cleanup.

• Go through your Sent folder in Outlook, and delete items you no longer need (especially those with large file attachments).

• If you're sure you no longer need email you've deleted, permanently delete it all from Outlook by manually or automatically emptying the Deleted Items folder. Here’s how to do it in Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, and Outlook 2010.

Organize and clear out your Internet files

If you're like most of us, you do a lot of web searching and your Internet Explorer Favorites folder is bursting at the seams. It could probably use some weeding out and organizing. To organize your Favorites in Internet Explorer, on the Favorites menu, click Organize Favorites.

To access most of the cleanup tasks that you can do in Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options. In the Internet Options dialog box, on the General tab, you have two cleanup options: You can delete the temporary files that websites store on your PC, and you can set up Internet Explorer to save your history for only a specific number of days—or none. These steps can help you to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your computer.

1. In the Browsing history section, click Delete to remove all temporary files, including your browsing history, cookies, saved passwords, and web form information. You can also select the Delete browsing history on exit check box to delete history automatically each time you close Internet Explorer.

2. In the Browsing history section, click Settings. In the History section, you can specify the number of days that Internet Explorer should save the list of sites you’ve visited.

    Manage your list of sites visited in Internet Explorer in the Temporary Internet Files and History Settings dialog box.

1. Establish an online presence. Make your business known on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Word Press, and MySpace. Professionals and younger clients especially will find you on these social networking sites, so make it work for you and your business. Check out what other Realtors have done and mimic the best ones you find out there. Be sure to differentiate between personal sites and professional or business Fan or Referral Pages and Sites.

2. Get blogging. Want to have prospective buyers and sellers coming to your website or calling you? Drive them there by consistently and routinely updating your blog about news in the local real estate market and the home buying marketplace at large. Let them know what you have sold and what has just been listed and how the overall market is faring. Remember BE POSITIVE! Tease them with information that is coming and they will be back time and time again.

3. Give your materials a facelift. Every once in a while, even the best designs need to be freshened up. Just look at major magazines and you will see that they have had their logos and color and font patterns redesigned from time to time. Trends come and go. You want your business to look cutting edge and up on the styles and times. Of course, you do not want to completely alter what is already working for you. Subtle changes in color or font can be impactful, especially if your marketing design is starting to look tired and like old news.

4. Start golfing or playing tennis at the local hot spots. It may sound like a cliché, but golf courses and tennis courts sometimes really are where the best contacts are made when it comes to real estate. Golf and tennis not your games? Try joining the local gym or yoga studio and see who you meet. Any contact is a good contact in a tough real estate market.

5. Be a guest speaker at an industry event or run a workshop for home sellers. You: a lecturer? You bet! You have loads of information and experience to share with prospective home sellers and buyers who are looking for advice now. Seeing your name and business listed in programs as an expert in the field will do worlds of good for your credibility and stature in the real estate community.

6. Create a signature Thank You gift. Want to be recommended time and again by clients who loved working with you? Leave them with a great last impression by giving them an amazing Thank You gift after they've sold or purchased a home with you. Some great ideas: wine and glasses, picnic baskets, a framed photo of their new home. A handwritten note enclosed with some business cards will seal the deal on recommendations to friends and neighbors.

7. Get involved with a fundraiser. Maybe you already have a charity or cause close to your heart, such as breast cancer awareness or heart health. Contact the local chapter tied to this organization and see how you can either start a fundraiser in your niche geographic area or join one that's already ongoing. Potential clients will associate your name with goodwill and you'll be doing something positive and that you can be proud of at the same time.

8. Do not forget that people love prizes! Why not start an incentive or drawing in exchange for potential clients' email addresses. Make the prize really good and they won't mind entering the drawing and supplying you with their contact information. Send the news of the drawing in your mailed neighborhood newsletter and give them a link on your website to enter. It will generate interest and future clients and is great for prospecting.

9. Create Strategic Alliances!  One area that puzzles me is how many people work to be cutting edge only to align themselves with someone who is riding their coat tails. Your transactions will only progress as smoothly and effectively as the slowest and least professional member of the transaction.  I work hard to provide as much benefit to my professional partnerships as I do to my clients and referral partners. 

10. Sponsor an event. Could be anything from a local school picnic, to a 5K race, to a graduation. Getting your name tied to local events where members of the community are sure to be will show that you, too, are a part of the community and care about helping out and making a positive impact. When the time comes to choose a Realtor, why wouldn't they pick you?

When I am working with referral partners or loan officers in my mortgage business, the first question I ask them is, "What's stopping you from being more productive?" The answers that keep coming up are pretty much the same from everyone.

In this blog, we will take a look at these beliefs one by one, and see how you can turn them around.

1. There's too much information coming at me too fast

Belief: My email is overwhelming me. I can't keep up with it.

Reality: The volume of email isn't the issue. How you process and organize the volume is the issue. Learning how to better manage your email by using McGhee Productivity Solutions' "Four D's for Decision Making" will transform this belief.

Each year we receive more and more data that we can access from an increasing number of locations on a growing array of devices. If you are not careful, the quantity of data starts to drive you instead of the other way around.

2. I have to keep everything

Belief: Being organized blocks my creativity, and there's nothing spontaneous about it.

Reality: Organization actually fosters and supports creativity and spontaneity. You may find your creativity being disrupted by the non-stop flood of reminders spinning around your head, such as:

• Call Kevin for his birthday.

• Review the P&L spreadsheet.

• Review PowerPoint slide deck.

• Decide on a Valentine's Day present.

Imagine if you could clear your mind of all these lists and transfer them to Microsoft Outlook. You can do this by creating an Outlook task for each item. Those items then appear in Tasks.

To create a task:

• In Outlook 2010

• In Outlook 2007

• In Outlook 2003

Storing your tasks in Outlook will create space for new ideas and creative thinking. Being disorganized can also stifle your creativity. Imagine you're an artist and decide to paint the Colorado autumn colors in Aspen. You drive for three and a half hours from Denver to Aspen to find the perfect spot. When you arrive, you realize you've forgotten to pack your paint brushes. That can make being creative really hard! Preparation does support your creativity.

A booked calendar leaves no time to be spontaneous, which can be frustrating. However, if you pre-plan, you can block out large chunks of time with no organized events, and you’ll have more freedom to do something on the spur of the moment.

To get control of all the "stuff" in your life, I recommend you set up a system for storing reference information, turning action information into tasks and scheduling tasks on your calendar. After you've set up your reference system, you'll find that it supports your creativity and spontaneity. The best result is that you can close your system, knowing that everything is taken care of so you can relax and let go!

4. There's not enough time in the day!

Belief: I just don't have the time to do all the things I want.

Reality: Time is not the issue. The issue is deciding what you can do given the time you have.

As you know, managing your time with Olympian skill doesn't create more hours in the day. We all have the same 24 hours, so the issue isn't managing time—it's managing what you can do with the time you have. You can't do everything, but you can do anything, as long as it fits into your calendar.

If you keep your to-do lists in multiple locations—in email, on a calendar, on paper, in an Excel spreadsheet, a list in your head, and notepad paper—you might want to consider centralizing and prioritizing this list in Outlook. Start by creating tasks, as described in step 3. When you create a task, you can set reminders, make it recurring, track its status, and more, so you always know what to do when. Then organize your tasks in the task list so you are at your most productive. Tasks also appear in the To-Do Bar in Outlook, together with other Outlook items, such as email messages or contacts, that have been flagged for follow-up. The To-Do Bar appears in all views of Outlook.

5. It takes too much time to become productive

Belief: I don't have the time to set up a system. I've got too much to do.

Reality: You can save one to two hours a day by using a system to manage your information, so the return on the investment is significant.

Here are some interesting statistics. On average, people we work with spend two to three hours a day working in email and 60 minutes a day finding and filing information. After setting up a system to manage their information, they spend one to two hours a day working in email and 10 minutes a day finding and filing information. That's a savings of nearly two hours a day, or almost 12 weeks a year!

Take a moment and consider the time you spend:

• Finding and filing information.

• Writing a to-do list and then rewriting it a week later on another list, and then another.

• Opening email, reading the message, closing the email and then coming back to the same email to read it again tomorrow.

• Going to the store and realizing you don’t know the model of the hardware you need to pick up.

These are just a few examples of how we waste time by not having an Integrated Management System to help us remember what, where, and when. Take the time to set up your system. You are worth it, and you cannot afford not to make the most of ALL your time.

6 or 7 Ways to Ensure Your e-Mail Gets Read

If you are like a lot of us, you get so much e-mail every day that you might spend as little as 15 seconds scanning a message to determine how it applies to you. Now, imagine that other people are reading your e-mail the same way. If they can not quickly identify the purpose of your message, they will probably delete it or leave it in the In-box for "later"— if later ever comes.

In this article, I give you 6  or 7 tips to ensure that your e-mail messages are read and get the attention they deserve.

1. Make the purpose of the message clear

When recipients receive your e-mail message, they should be able to see at a quick glance how the message relates to them and why it is important. They may be looking at a preview of your message in Microsoft Office Outlook or on a Windows Mobile-based device, such as a smartphone or personal digital assistant (PDA). Or they may see only Subject lines in their Inbox. If your Subject line is confusing and irrelevant, your e-mail will surely get deleted in a hurry. Here are some examples of what can be included in Subject lines to make sure the reader opens your mail:

• A standard subject heading such as "Action Requested," "Response Requested," "FYI," or "Read Only," depending on the action indicated in the body of the message.

• The meaningful objective or supporting project that the message relates to, for example, "FY '05 budget forecasting."

• The required action if applicable, for example, "Consolidate departmental budget spreadsheets."

• The due date if applicable, for example, "Due by July 7."

An example of an effective Subject line is "Action Requested—Consolidate all department spreadsheets for FY '06 budget and return to me by June 15th."

2. Tell recipients what action you want them to take

Be completely clear about the actions you want the recipients to take. Be specific and put all the material that is related to an action in one place. To get even faster responses, talk in terms of how the action relates to the recipient's objectives, and always give due dates. It's also important to clarify what type of action you want the recipient to take. There are basically four types of actions you could request. If you make this level of detail clear, the recipient will be most likely to read the e-mail and take the action right away. The four actions include:

• Action: The recipient needs to perform an action. For example, "Provide a proposal for a 5% reduction in Travel & Entertainment expense."

• Respond: The recipient needs to respond to your message with specific information. For example, "Let me know if you can attend the staff meeting at 9:00 A.M. on Friday."

• Read only: The recipient needs to read your message to make sure they understand something. No response is necessary. For example, "Please read the attached sales plan before our next staff meeting on August 12th."

• FYI only: The recipient should file your message for future reference. No response is necessary. In fact, even reading the message is optional. For example, "Enclosed for your records are your completed expense reports."

3. Provide the proper data and documents

Make sure you give recipients all of the information they need to complete an action or respond successfully to your request. Your co-workers shouldn't have to come back to you asking for information, whether it is a supporting document or a link to a file on a shared web site. You can include supporting information in the body of the message, in an attached file, or in an attached e-mail. In Hotmail, you can use the Quick Add feature, which lets you search for and insert content such as images, video, restaurant details, maps, and movie times into your e-mail messages, without ever leaving Hotmail. In addition, if you want recipients to fill out a form, it's a good idea to attach a sample copy of the form that shows how it should be filled out.

4. Send the message only to relevant recipients

Target your message to the appropriate audience. Only people who have to complete an action on the subject line should receive your message. Be thoughtful and respectful when you enter names on the To line. People observe your thoughtfulness and the results are more effective. Here are two simple questions to help you filter the To line recipients:

• Does this e-mail relate to the recipient's objectives?

• Is the recipient responsible for the action in the Subject line?

5. Use the CC line wisely

It's tempting to put loads of people on the CC line to cover your bases, but doing so is one of the fastest ways to create an unproductive environment. Here are some things to consider when using the CC line:

• No action or response should be expected of individuals on the CC line. The recipient needs to only read or file the message.

• Only those individuals whose meaningful objectives are affected by the e-mail should be included on the message. If you are not sure that the information is related to a co-worker's objectives, check with that person to see if they want to receive your e-mail on that topic.

6. Ask "final questions" before you click Send

The final thing you want to do is check your work to be sure you are supporting meaningful actions. Sending clear, well-defined messages can reduce the volume of e-mail you send and receive, encouraging correct action, saving time, and limiting e-mail trails. Make sure you ask the following questions before you send the message:

• Have I clarified purpose and actions?

• Have I included supporting documents and written a clear Subject line?

• Did I write the message clearly enough so that it does not come back to me with questions?

• Am I sending the message to the correct recipients?

• Have I run the spelling checker and edited the message for grammar and jargon?

Bonus: Do Not Send Junk e-Mail

One of the quickest ways to get onto your recipients' "delete radar" is to overwhelm them with meaningless e-mail. Responding to e-mail with "I got your e-mail, thanks," or sending out lots of irrelevant data that you think they might want to know about is a quick way to create a track record of sending unproductive mail.

To summarize, it is incredibly easy to create an unproductive culture using e-mail. Follow these guidelines and you can be sure you and your team are able to keep focused on meaningful objectives and don't create e-mail overload.

If you have been thinking of selling your investment house or your home, you should make sure that you take full advantage of home staging trends. There are several advantages to home staging trends, which we will take a look at below.

• One of the best things about staged homes is that they sell in less time.

This is great news for sellers, as these types of homes will sell really fast. In most cases, you will not have to worry about your home staying on the market for a long period of time. Research has shown that staged homes sell nearly 40% faster than other homes on the market.

• Staged homes also sell for more money.

Homes that have sat on the market for a long period of time will normally get lower offers due to the fact that home buyers will begin to think there is something wrong with the home. Staged homes on the other hand, do not sit on the market for long at all. Once they are listed, they pretty much draw attention to themselves - resulting in a fast sale.

• A staged exterior will also draw viewers.

 When home buyers first arrive at a home that is up for sale, they instantly make up their mind whether they should get out and look around, or drive off. If the yard is staged with flowers and the yard is manicured and properly taken care of, chances are that buyers will want to see more. If you entice your buyers by showing them how nice the home is outside, they will surely want to know what the home is like on the inside as well.

• Once a buyer has stepped inside of the home, he will know within a matter of seconds whether or not he likes the home.

To get the buyer’s attention, you will need to stage your home to the buyer’s liking. You do not want the buyer to feel rushed or get the wrong impression, which is why you should always set the stage and entice the buyer to take his time and get a good look at the home.

• Staging the living rooms and kitchens will also help to sell the home.

 Buyers love living rooms, which is why you should always make sure that the living room is the center piece of your home, and decorate it accordingly. Kitchens on the other hand, is where you should really go all out, decorating with fruit and such. You should always make sure that everything is in place as well. Buyers love to see homes that are ready to move into - and not ready to be worked on.

• Staged homes will also attract more real estate agents and get more advertising as well.

 If a real estate agent loves your home, he will want to show it off. If you stage your home, chances are that real estate agents will eat it up. When they do, they will advertise your home more than others, just to get you some deserved attention. This way, you can benefit from a lot of exposure at absolutely no extra cost.

There is no other way to say this but "Staged Houses Sell!" They attract more buyers, more real estate agents, and they give people the feeling of home. When you go out of your way to make the buyer feel that your home is his dream home, he will know and he will buy.