January 2010
73 posts
2 tags
“If you don’t set goals, you can’t regret not reaching them.”
– Yogi Berra
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“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. ...”
– Brian Tracy
The Tale of Two Lender Rep's
One never returns calls. Will return emails a week or so later. And wishes for things to get better. Another always returns calls. Responds to emails quickly. Proactively calls on new registrations and submissions. Embraces the current market condition. One wonders why business is so hard. The other has plenty of business. One can’t stand work. The other couldn’t imagine any other...
2 tags
“When you get right down to the root of the meaning of the word...”
– F. W. Nichol
Showing a Track Record When You Have None
By: Walter Sanford, www.waltersanford.com As a real estate agent you are often up against competition in your marketplace that might have a better track record than you do — like the agent who asked the question below. If you know more about the seller than the other agents do before going on the appointment, however, you can direct your presentation away from track record and toward...
“The State of The Union has been boring since the second season. I dunno why NBC...”
A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss
By: Walter Sanford, www.waltersanford.com You are pumping on all eight cylinders, your systems are working, and you’re an expert in time and motion reduction. You can even get your “stone” rolling faster by performing your day-to-day activities with incorporated lead generation. Simple procedures can be added to your listing, marketing, and closing checklists to make...
3 tags
Giving the Gift of a Down Payment
By: Lisa Scherzer, www.smartmoney.com If you’re thinking big for junior’s next gift, whether for holidays, a birthday, or other special occasion — as in down-payment-on-a-home big — there’s good news. Along with the warm and fuzzy feelings parents will get, there’s also a tax advantage. The IRS allows parents to give up to $13,000 annually to their...
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“To be successful, you must decide exactly what you want to accomplish, then...”
– Bunker Hunt
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“For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work,...”
– John Burroughs
Exterior Remodeling Proves Best Bang for Your...
By: Leanne Jernigan, www.realtor.com Despite a slow market and a slight decrease in the resale value of most remodeling projects, Realtors® report that the smartest home improvement investments may also be some of the least expensive. Results from the 2009 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report show that small-scale exterior projects are the most profitable at resale, according to estimates by...
Top Three Social Networking Sites
1. Facebook - 109.7 mm 2. Myspace - 50.9 mm 3. Twitter - 19.1 mm
Unique visitors per month. I was surprised to see Myspace & especially so many people.
This shows that you absolutely must be active on Facebook. People are spending almost 60% of their internet time on Facebook. I’m putting together presentation on setting up a Facebook Fan page. Send me an email if...
2 tags
“Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people...”
– Mark Twain
Developing Your Pricing Philosophy
By: Dirk Zeller, www.realblogging.com Ask a dozen real estate agents to explain their home-pricing philosophy, and you’ll probably hear a dozen different approaches. And if the talk reveals frank responses, you’ll also learn that the most common pricing strategy is no strategy at all. Here’s my advice: Break out of the ranks by establishing and following a specific...
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“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and...”
– Paul J. Meyer
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“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. ...”
– Nolan Bushnell
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If You're Off to Play Poker This Weekend
Know the Rank of Hands and the Odds of Getting those Hands.
Royal Flush 649,739 : 1
Straight Flush 72,192 : 1
4 of a Kind 4,164 : 1
Full House 693 : 1
Flush 508 : 1
Straight 254 : 1
3 of a Kind 56 : 1
Two Pair 20 : 1
One Pair 1.37 : 1
No Joke: Learning Improv Can Help in Any Field
By: Amy Hoak, www.marketwatch.com Lane Rasberry may not be the next Steve Carell, but the same skills that improv comedians typically learn on their rise to stardom helped this research interviewer get better at what he does at work every day. A class at Seattle’s Jet City Improv made Rasberry more aware of how he communicates and helped improve his interviewing skills. In...
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“Dwell not on the past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. ...”
– Eileen Caddy
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FHA - Announces Heads to Roll
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued the mortgagee letter that implements the recently announced plan to suspend any Federal Housing Administration lender’s operations in a whole state or metropolitan area for six months if the company’s default rate in that area is three times the norm. According to that mortgagee letter, HUD will “systematically...
1 tag
Answer to Yesterdays Get Your Brain Going
Over
Overt
Rote
Rove
Tore
Trove
Veto
Vote
1 tag
Get Your Brain Going
Food [Road] Hard
Weep [????] Fall
What word should appear in the brackets?
The Power of Top Producers
By: Darryl Davis, www.retrainingcenter.com One of the greatest joys of our business of real estate is how it grows and changes with the times. The changes are often quite obvious and make an immediate impact, changes which everyone can see and usually enjoy. The lock box is one example that comes to mind. When talk of a lockbox system started, there were lots of concerns. “How could...
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“Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they...”
– Muhammad Ali
Seven Core Values will Attract Clients
By: Larry Easto, www.remonline.com When promoting their services, real estate agents invariably focus on their own skills and abilities. Their advertising is self-promotional, touting how good they are at what they do. This approach is based on the assumption that with enough advertising, sooner or later prospective clients will believe these promotional messages and become clients. ...
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“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you...”
– Warren Buffett
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Get Your Brain Going
How many common words of four letters or more can you make from the letters in the following word? (You many use each letter only once).
VOTER
Sifting Through Reg Z Changes
By: Marsha Williams, www.mortgage-technology.com Lenders need to understand recent legislative and regulatory changes affecting the disclosure process in order to avoid potential delayed closings and loss of originations. The Mortgage Disclosure Information Act expands the requirements for early disclosures. The most notable requirement of MDIA is that, if the annual percentage rate...
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“Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole...”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Debtor's Dilemma: Pay the Mortgage or Walk Away
By: James R. Hagerty and Nick Timiraos, www.online.wsj.com Should I stay or should I go? That is the question more Americans are asking as the housing market continues to drag. In good times, it would have been unthinkable to stop paying the mortgage. But for Derek Figg, a 30-year-old software engineer, it now seems like the best option. Mr. Figg felt trapped in a home he bought two...
4 tags
Breaking Through
By: Tony Robbins, www.tonyrobbins.com One moment is all it takes to change your life forever. One insight. One conversation. One decision. One idea. One step. A breakthrough is a shift in beliefs, perception and standards. It’s something inside you that makes you find a skill or a new way to do something. You break out of your conditioning and the limitations of your...
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“The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The...”
– Alan Ashley-Pitt
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“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength,...”
– Vince Lombardi
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“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”
– Samuel Johnson
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“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where...”
– Henry David Thoreau
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Short Sale Reforms Could Speed Recovery
By: www.realestaterama.com Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new guidelines to the Short Sale process that could speed the housing market recovery, a move that a number of U.S. real estate executives have been promoting in Washington D.C. for the past year. Short Sales, transactions that can occur when a lender accepts the sale of a home at a price below the actual...