Agents will tell you one of the biggest problems they face when trying to write a blog post is in coming up with ideas to blog about. It seems that when a busy, successful agent has time set aside to write a new blog post, trying to think of a topic becomes a nearly impossible task. No topic, no post.

I think I can point some agents to the solution for their blog topic problem and the solution is right under their nose. In the course of a year an agent will write many emails to a buyer or seller that answers questions, provides an explanation, gives direction, suggestion or recommendation, or offers insight or prospective on any number of real estate related subjects. Dust those emails off, remove names and addresses, generalize them and what you have is a brand new spanking blog post.

The topic of your email is very likely something that a majority of buyer or sellers surfing the net would be interested in hearing or finding out about. You did not know it at the time but when you wrote the very professional and detailed email to your past customer, you may have been writing a future blog post.

There you have it; an informative, content rich blog post is just an old email away from happening.

There are a lot of buyers taking advantage of the home buying tax credit, the low mortgage rates and the low prices created by bank owned and short sale listings. As an agent your task is to find these buyers and then make sure that they use you when they purchase their next home.

The fact is there are a lot more real estate agents in any given market than there are home buyers. Being that the competition is so fierce you will want to do all that you can to keep the buyer loyal to you throughout the buyer’s house hunting process. To help accomplish this I would suggest you add the following question to your buyer pre-qualification script.

What day(s) are you free to look at houses?

Knowing the answer to this question is crucial to your success of being the agent that writes the offer for them. Whatever day or days they are going to be free to look at homes or drive by homes or call about homes they find online or in the paper should be the same day or days you are free to look at homes with them or drive by homes with them or be available to take their call about homes they have seen online or in the paper.

Of course with multiple customers and your busy schedule it is not possible to always be available when your buyers are but you will increase your sales production if you strive to be available more often than not. Make sure ask the buyer about their schedule; are they off work during the week? Do they have the entire weekend off? Can they get free on weeknights? Additionally make sure they know that you maintain a schedule that is conducive to helping buyers find and purchase homes so that they never feel like they are “bothering” you.

The floor agent who asks this question up front will close more transactions than the agents who never find out what the buyer’s schedule is.

Keeping an open line of communication with your sellers is important in order to sell their home. Sellers need to know what you know about the market and the competition they are facing for available buyers. This knowledge will help them determine the best pricing and enhancements needed to secure a buyer.

For example it would be useful for the seller to know what the home builders in the area are offering as incentives. Showing your seller the builder’s emails and flyers that you are receiving promoting huge incentives to both potential buyers and real estate agents who bring the builder a buyer will show the seller what they are up against.

Additionally you should provide MLS information to the seller that shows when or if they have “lost a buyer” during the course of their listing. Take a look at the seller’s neighborhood or market area to see if any home in that area has went under contract since you took their listing. This information will be critical to you and your seller. If buyers are buying in that area, what are they buying? How much? How long was the house on the market? If no sales have taken place, then even if the seller’s home is the lowest priced in the neighborhood that low may not be low enough.

Making sure your seller knows what you know will result in a healthy listing inventory and an increase in sales.

In order to grow, improve or kick-start your business you will need to continue to do the things that will increase your business.

Buyers

If you are not working with enough buyers then you should plan on holding several open houses over the next few months. Pick homes that are on busy streets or sought after communities. Agents who have success with open houses walk the neighborhood prior to the open house and personally invite the neighbors to attend.

During the open house successful agents do not act as wallflowers instead they warmly greet each person who walks through the door, engaging them in conversation about the home, or the neighborhood or the real estate market in general. If you are listening you should be able to quickly determine the reason your guest is there and what steps you will need to take to build an agent-customer relationship that will result in future business.

Continue to put yourself in the path of buyers and your business will increase.

Sellers

Having a large, well-managed listing inventory has always translated into success. Expired listings continue to be a leading source of listings.

Listings of your competition that have expired may have never been provided any more information about the current market except that it has “slowed down.” The sellers who really want to sell will appreciate you being truthful. With the competition so fierce, homes need to be priced competitively in order to sale. The best valued home at the best price and in the best condition will result in offers and a sale.

These are just 2 of the steps that an agent who wants to increase their business should take. These steps work for those agents who work them continually.

As a real estate agent we need to understand why we would not want to be involved in a transaction that does not allow for full disclosure of all the terms and conditions that are involved in the sale. 

Take for example short sale transactions, lenders that are allowing customers to be released from the full obligation of their mortgage in order to sell their home, would certainly have the right to know if the customer is receiving any profit as a result of the sale.  In cases where it is a gray area or there is uncertainty, it is often best to error on the side of caution and make sure the proper disclosures have been made to all parties involved including the seller’s lender. 

No single closing is worth the long term effects of being involved in a deal that are not ethical or legal.

Don’t have a website? Or do you have a website but the website never results in business? Some agents rely on the company website and see no need in having a website of their own nor do they see the need in spending time and money on their personal website to make it productive. This attitude may result in them missing out on additional customers.

According to the National Association of Realtors ® 2009 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers Florida Report buyers who used the internet indicated that when searching for a home they used agent websites and company websites nearly the same. 46% of all buyers responded that they use a company website in their home search and 45% of all buyers surveyed reported using an agent website.

What are the advantages to a home buyer in using an agent website when searching for a home? Agent sites tend to be more local in nature and include more that just homes for sale. Buyers can find addresses and detailed information on the community including schools, shopping, and government offices. They can receive a wealth of information about buying a home, financing, inspections and related issues dealing with the home buying process. Buyers can receive all of this and also have the ability to search for homes on the agent site.

If the same amounts of buyers are looking to agent sites as a source for home buying information as there are looking at company sites, shouldn’t you be looking at your personal site a little closer too?

If you are not advertising in your local newspaper, you may be missing an opportunity to meet buyers and sellers in your area.  Those who believe that the newspaper’s day has come and gone may want to take a peek at research recently completed by Scarborough Research.  According to the report 171 million U.S adults, read a newspaper during the past week.  The research included those adults who read a newspaper in print or online.

A real estate agent should have a balanced marketing plan that includes all the various forms of advertising media available in their area.  Local newspapers, especially the print version, may not be the prime source of news and information but newspapers still draw eyes and these eyes are potential buyers and sellers.  Advertising a listing in your local paper often provides double exposure, those who pick up the paper from their local newsstand or front porch and those who real the local paper online.

You may want to try running a new listings or weekend open house ad that is prominently displayed in the real estate section of the newspaper.  You should definitely consider enhancing your listings as they appear in the paper’s online version.  If you agree a real estate agents main job is in meeting people, being where 171 million are in one week is not a bad idea.

If you are an agent who thrives on multitasking during the day to get your tasks completed you may be interested in reading what a Stanford University study revealed about multitasking. 

Real estate agents who spend time online Facebooking, Tweeting, searching for property, preparing market analysis and watching a funny YouTube video all at the same time may be surprised to find that according to the survey; “people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information do not pay attention, control their memory or switch from one job to another as well as those who prefer to complete one task at a time…”

Ours is a fast paced business that requires us to have a handle on many different tasks during the course of the day.  Perhaps as the study suggests, we would be better off if we handled these tasks one at a time, giving them our complete attention.

One of the ’secrets’ to real estate sales success is becoming known as the expert Realtor for a certain area, property style, financing, or specialty.  Successful agents are often identified by the buying and selling public for something they do well.  Examples of this are those real estate agents who are known as:

• The new buyer agent.  This agent’s name pops up when someone is looking for an agent who understands the concerns, fears, and anxiety a new home buyer faces and is able to ease the buyers concerns. 
• The condo specialist.  The agent who is referred to as the condo specialist understand the condo lifestyle, the monthly costs involved with owning a condo, the condo associations role, the deed restrictions and they are familiar with the many different amenities and features offered by local condo communities to the buyers benefit.
• The land agent.  The land agent is familiar with zoning, construction requirements, easements, surveys, perk tests, and can direct potential buyers and sellers to the correct authorities to obtain information specific to them.

As an agent you can also become known as the expert for; your neighborhood, HUD homes, short sales, REO property, FHA financing and on and on.  Not building a brand, specialty or niche will result in you only picking up the real estate deal scraps left behind by those who control the majority of the market.

8 annoying things real estate agents say.

1. Telling me how long they have been in the business, especially when the length of time they have been an agent has no bearing on what we are discussing.
2. The real estate market is unbelievable.  Whoever came up with that as a response when asked about the market during tough times should never have anything they say believed again.
3. You need to get your buyer/seller under control.  What would you like me to do, spank them or make then go sit in a corner?
4. Buyers are liars.  No, you are just terrible at qualifying.
5. List to last.  We just experienced record breaking inventory levels and a lot of Realtors did not last.
6. How low will your seller go?  I hope you are asking about their limbo skills.
7. It is ok, we do this all the time.  Uh huh, that makes me feel better.
8. This home won’t last.  I usually read this in MLS comments of a home that has been on the market for 1500 days.