Real Estate Industry Watch

Tax Credit Coming to an End?

Charles — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:55:05 +0000

The First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of 2009 was given new life late last year. President Obama extended the original credit end date until April 30th for purchases and buyers under contract before then have until the end of June to close escrow and claim the credit. The credit has been a success to this point, helping to drive consumers back into the ailing real estate market.

There has been some talk in the media about 2010 being the rebound year for the economy. Home sales in several areas around the country are up and prices have stabilized or increased. However, foreclosures are still a problem in several states coupled with high unemployment. Considering the overall state of the union, I wonder if the government isn’t considering an extension of the credit into the fall.

Interest rates are still very low and there is plenty of surplus housing available. Consumers have been buying but new inventory coming on the market is still a factor.

What do you think?

International Living Reveals Top 10 Best Countries to Live

Brian Kinkade — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:32:08 +0000

The 2010 Quality of Life Index, produced by International Living, ranks and rates 194 countries based on their quality of life. The index looks at nine categories: cost of living, culture and leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety and risk, and climate. For the fifth consecutive year, France tops the list.

The top 10 countries in the 2010 Quality of Life Index and some of the characteristics that contribute to their high ranking are:

France: An unsurpassable quality of life, including the world’s best health care.
Australia: Countrywide access to an active and healthy lifestyle. Urban dwellers enjoy plenty of great culture, excellent food, and a favorable cost of living.
Switzerland: A super-efficient, high-tech society and alpine tourism.
Germany: Theater, art, and classical music concerts. Average employee earnings of €41,509 ($61,433).
New Zealand: Pristine landscapes and absence of high crime rates, abject poverty, pollution, congestion, health issues and cramped city living.
Luxembourg: A financial center and tax haven, and a per capita GDP of $88,000.
United States: Convenience of getting what you want, when you want it.
Belgium: Expat friendly with everything from English-language cinema to international schools.
Canada: High living and health care standards. Vast natural resources, robust financial industry, and innovative manufacturing.
Italy: Grand historic cities, 60 percent of the world’s art treasures, and a WHO-acclaimed national health care system.

Harris Real Estate University – Tim and Julie Harris

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:08:44 +0000

Interviewers note: I really enjoy meeting new people and the fun part of the real estate business is that there are all sorts of fun people to meet. One of the more fun people that I have met has been Tim Harris of Harris Real Estate University. Tim is bigger than life, and far more energetic.

Over the weeks since we first talked, I have grown to appreciate his zest for business and his passion for coaching. In a world of folks who do not walk the talk, Tim and Julie Harris do. Here’s a little information about them along with my interview.

Harris Real Estate University

Founded by: Tim and Julie Harris

Purpose: Educate REALTORS on the best techniques and skills of selling in today’s market.

They now reside in Las Vegas and in Laguna Beach California where they moved from their days as RE/MAX REALTORS in Ohio.

REIW: Hi Tim and Julie, what prompted you and your wife to go from selling real estate into coaching? They are two really different businesses and there had to be a reason behind it.

Tim and Julie Harris: We were speaking at a large, national convention. After we were done presenting, a couple Realtors cornered us, asked if we’d consider coaching them. To be honest, up until that point, we had never considered coaching. We had only written our book, ‘0 to 10 Million In One Year’, and were not really looking to do much more in the real estate education arena. We accepted the challenge of coaching those initial agents and then that grew to a handful, then dozens, then hundreds. Now, over 10 years has passed, and it’s grown into the thousands.

Let’s be clear about this, though. In no way did we set out to become the largest online coaching organization. No one is more surprised than we are!!

REIW: Your coaching company has grown tremendously in the last couple of years, if you can point to one specific thing as a cause for your success what would it be?

Tim and Julie Harris: Well, not so different than the first answer, really. The honest answer is: luck and being in the right place at the right time. We had to learn to do short sales as a necessity when we sold homes in Ohio. When we predicted the market was headed for a nose dive in 2007, we recognized that eventually, short sales would go from the ‘fringe’ of real estate into the mainstream. So back in 2007, we offered a free short sale teleseminar, and at the time that was to mostly KW agents. In retrospect, back then, the #1 question then was, ‘what the heck is a short sale?’. Now everyone knows what a short sale is. If you’re asking how we grew so fast…it was being in the right place at the right time, lots of stupid luck, and the recognition that the market was changing.

Now, in addition the Short Sale class, one of our most popular courses is the REO program, followed by our Agent Technology Program.

REIW: With every success comes a failure or two ( or three or ten!). What was your biggest failure and how are you working to overcome it?

Tim and Julie Harris: Growing as fast as we did. We seem to be crashing a server every 90 days or so. We’ve had the usual growth related staffing issues. When you go from hundreds of students to thousands, Customer Service becomes the necessary focus.

REIW:Due to the market conditions, short sales seem to be everywhere. It was not a phrease that anyone even Googled two years ago and now everyone is. What (besides your training should a real estate agent do to take advantage of this?

Tim and Julie Harris: The new Treasury guidelines, without a doubt make short sales the preferred tool in the toolbox that the Obama administration is using to end the foreclosure crisis. What should an agent do now? Accept that the market of the moment (to steal a line from Gary Keller), understand that your real estate seller clients, if you’re in most of the country, are upside down in their homes. Their best option if they have to sell is to do a short sale, vs. having to deal with the foreclosure process. We heard a report just today that 12% of all sales in the US were short sales. This is a staggering number. We expect it to grow to 20 or 30% by the end of this year. Learn the right way to do short sales and learn it immediately. Understand also that this education is a moving target, with the laws and guidelines and practices change daily. Oh yeah…consider earning your HREU, CDPD Distressed Property Designation!

REIW: Many agents complain that short sales are tough (and they are right!) I have atched them struggle with ever changing information and banks not being able to get timely decisions back to them. Do you see this getting resolved soon and what are some steps for agents to take in resolving it?

Tim and Julie Harris: That very question is the essence of why we’re calling 2010 the Year of the Short Sale. In late 2009, the Treasury Dept came out with new guidelines which will transform and streamline the Short Sale process. We choose to be cautiously optimistic about how fast the banks will adapt to these guidelines vs being skeptical. The dramatic changes include: the banks will respond within 10 days, commissions will not be negotiable as long as they are not over 6%. When in full effect, the banks will be pre-approving homes for short sales. They’ll already have collected the documentation, established a list price, and then assign a short sale listing to agents. This will be similar to the current REO process. Consider the fact that the total % of short sales could grow to 20 or 30%, you’re talking about over a million short sales for 2010. That’s a lot of home owners that agents should help and 10s of millions in commission dollars out there for agents to earn.

REIW:Last shot is yours, Tim… looking back on your business and looking forward to the future of real estate coaching, training, and education, where do you see the business in 5 years?

Tim and Julie Harris: 100% web-based, no question about it. When we look at our newest students, they are wired completely different than the agents they’re replacing. They want education and training delivered when they want it and how they want it. Obviously, there will be education in the form of webinars, videos, and whatever might come next. Whatever that form is, if it puts us in a place where we can better serve our students, you can count on us either adapting or innovating to meet their needs.

It’s the Realtors that join us in adapting and innovating to what home owners demand and what home buyers demand who will be the new top producers across the country. From our perspective, it’s been interesting to watch as the agents who quickly adapt to market shifts have displaced agents who have been top producers for years and years. We have students who, in the height of the boom, were struggling to sell 10 or 12 homes per year. Those same agents, after learning to do short sales and sell REOs, are now selling more than 100 homes per year. The ability to adapt and innovate has launched them into top producer status. It’s truly our honor to coach so many agents…we blush at the praise they often bestow upon us. The simple fact is that it’s the AGENTS who are making the difference. Agents who have learned how to be of service, and who have become the ‘Hope for Homeowners’. These agents have seized the opportunity to learn the skills that this market requires. It’s those agents who motivate US every day.

Promising Outlook for Commercial Real Estate Worldwide in 2010

Brian Kinkade — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:13:25 +0000

Worldwide, 2010 looks promising for commercial real estate investment across most markets, and Asia offers the best opportunities, according to the 16th edition of the LaSalle’s Investment Strategy Annual.

The report says that the free fall in values has stopped in nearly all the major markets it follows and the early stages of restored investor confidence have begun.

Markets across the globe are recovering in very different and surprising ways. LaSalle offered the following information about specific markets:

United Kingdom: While capital values will still increase, a sharp rebound in prices means that the best opportunities have passed, the report says.

Continental Europe: France and Germany are set to see most of the investment activity in 2010. Re-pricing in other countries continues at varying speeds and Central Eastern Europe continues to be paralyzed.

United States: Its recovery is slower because the market has yet to reach bottom. Weak economic fundamentals are expected to push vacancies up and prices down until the second half of 2010.

Asia: The area is expected to offer investors the greatest range of opportunities in 2010 as China and India growing rapidly, and economies that have experienced a contraction in economic output reclaim lost ground by 2010.

LaSalle summarizes that investors in commercial real estate should be cautiously optimistic about the outlook in 2010. However, as a late cycle participant in the general economic recovery, real estate will behave differently from other asset classes.

Century 21 franchisor in China going public?

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:04:07 +0000

It was reported today on Blogging Stocks that the company with the exclusive franchise rights to the Century 21 brand in China, IFM, has started to fill out the needed paperwork to proceed with an IPO.

So far, IFM has the largest network of real estate offices in China, with more than 1,000 locations across 34 major cities. There are roughly 14,900 agents and staff, which manage 4.7 million property listings. With its heft, IFM is ranked #3 in terms of real estate volume in China.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are reportedly the lead underwriters on the IPO.

Art Bartlett Co-founder of Century21 dies after long illness

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:14:19 +0000

According to a press release this morning, Century 21 co-founder Art Bartlett has passed away after a long illness at the age of 76.

“Art was a legend whose actions helped to write the very history of real estate and franchising,” says Century 21 Real Estate LLC President and CEO Tom Kunz. Bartlett created the concept of regional franchising and has been deemed the “father of conversion franchising” — converting existing small businesses into franchises.

“His vision, combined with his dynamic charisma and determination have positively touched the lives of generations of real estate brokers, agents and the millions of people for whom they help find homes globally,” adds Kunz.

Keller Williams Family Reunion 2010 Agenda

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:53:13 +0000

Keller Williams has announced the Agenda for their Family Reunion scheduled for February 20th through 24th in New Orleans, LA. While not all of the details on speakers are clear yet, they have an Agenda page on their website here that is to be updated as details are finalized.

The event is expected to draw thousands to New Orleans and provide much economic stimulus to the area. Convention Fees are currently $499.

REMAX Convention 2010 Orlando

admin — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:44:57 +0000

RE/MAX International has set the schedule for their Convention 2010 in Orlando Florida. Details of the convention were provided here.

While the economy in general is expected to slow the convention and travel business overall quite significantly, the REMAX Convention is expected to be a good draw among RE/MAX associates worldwide. Aside from workshops on every real estate business subject imaginable, attendees are also scheduled to hear from Dave Liniger, co-founder of RE/MAX and the convention is scheduled to be headlined by Mary Matalin and James Carville.

Are email drips equal in RIO to snail mail drips?

Robert Worthington — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:18:18 +0000

When I established Worthington Realty about 1.5 years ago, I wanted to always be experimenting with what I could do to convert leads to closed sales. So I set out to have the best email drip campaigns as well as the best snail mail campaigns. I have had much more success from a snail mail campaign than I have had from an email drip campaign. I often question myself with what I am doing right, and what I am doing wrong!?!

The snail mail has a thick stock cotton style envelope. Inside is a high definition business card, high definition tri-fold resume & a typed letter about me on one side & how I can help on the other side. I feel the presentation even though I’m not in person and doing this by snail mail is so powerful that customers call; about 2 out of 100 mailers to be exact. Generally speaking, I usually list and sell the property. I ask myself the question, what if I implemented a follow up snail mail campaign after the initial mailing? I will report back with my results in a future post. Can I close more snail mail sales as opposed to just one mailer, why not 3 or 4 snail mailers, especially on quality listings?

The email drips seem to have less response than a snail mail campaign. Surely I have closed leads off of my website and then referred from those sales. BUT, my conversion rate is far less than 2% like the snail mail.

My take is simply this. Email drips do work, but are easily forgettable to consumers. Snail mails are more expensive but since the consumers are physically touching quality materials, they are not easily forgettable as apposed to emails. Your thoughts? So much for my quest to go paperless…

Boost Your Business with Foreign Buyers

Brian Kinkade — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:19:14 +0000

This is a good time for real estate professionals to expand their clientele with international buyers. Among the factors favorable for marketing to foreign buyers are:

International buyers bought 154,000 homes and condos during the 12-month period ending in May, and they continue to be attracted to the weak dollar.
The U.S. dollar has weakened significantly since June, dropping 9 to 11 percent against such foreign currencies as the Japanese yen, European euro and Canadian dollar.
Both the U.S. economy and the U.S. housing market are showing signs of stabilizing.
Nearly 46 percent of international home buyers paid cash for homes purchased.
The median price that foreign home buyers paid for a home was nearly $80,000 more than the U.S. national median price.

Among International buyers, those from Brazil, Canada, France and the Netherlands have paid mostly cash for second homes. Those purchases, MSNBC.com reported, ranged from $6 million to $15 million in condo buildings.