Archive for August, 2008

Will This Post Win The Inman Innovation Award?

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

Google Map Football Field
Actual link to Google Maps

What you are looking at is an actual image from Google maps.  If you want to see what others are saying about it, you can find it on various sites.  Is it innovative?  A little bit, maybe.  But in the end, probably not.  Does a Realtor really need to "be innovative" to succeed?  I don’t think so.  There are more and more "out of the box" ideas that are presented to the real estate industry almost every day.  Loads and loads of "new" stuff that is really just more old stuff.  Most of the agents I talk to about various seminars seem to be looking for something new.  Something different.

Out of the box I don’t believe that we need to get out of the box.  I believe most of us need to get all the way in the box.  One reason?  You can not depart from a location you have never arrived at.  You must get all the way in before you could need to work on "getting out".

Our business is really pretty simple.  Get and keep customers is the main issue.  Lead generation (if it is going to matter) is really lead conversion.  If we are looking at the subject of getting and getting rid of listings, here is a concept to look at:

All "problems" in getting listings are either in getting to the table or at the table.  About 70% of all sellers talk to only one agent prior to making their decision to list with them.  About 15% talk to only two agents prior to deciding.  This data alone clearly suggests that the main problem is not at the table but getting to the table.  Get to the table and you are likely to win.  The various ideas for getting to the table (that actually work) all seem to me to be very "low tech".  Very low tech.  Finding out what is really wanted and needed and then providing just that – that sort of thing.

Unless you have a rather amazing list of names in your Rolodex, it will usually be the number of people you can ask to do business with you that will determine the outcome – and your income.

Will someone please let Inman know I am standing by for my prize?

A World Champion

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

A World Champion

He made history.  In the 112 years the Olympics have taken place, Michael Phelps was the first person to ever win 8 gold medals in a single Olympics.  The crowd went wild when he won the 8th but nothing was more remarkable than his 7th win.  He won that one by one one-hundredth of a second.  To me, it looked like the other guy (he has a name but isn’t it interesting from a marketing perspective how it doesn’t just roll off the tongue?), Milorad Cavic actually won.  1/100th of a second difference took 1st place.  That was the difference between Gold and Silver.  The difference between 1st place and last place wasn’t even that great.   Even the slowest guy is a world-class athlete.  So, just a little bit can make a huge difference.

What I found most fascinating was Michael Phelps’ decision prior to the event to win 8 Gold Medals.  He made no secret of the fact that he wanted to do exactly that.  And that is exactly what he did.  It would have been easy to mock him with, "That’s impossible!" prior to the event.  To most people it would have seemed impossible too – just like the goals and dreams they have for themselves.  Why that is just out of reach.  A pipe dream.  There is an aspect of what he did (his 7th Gold Medal) that to me beautifully illustrates the Power of a Decision. 

When a person really decides on something, really decides and strips off all of the "maybe" – with just that clean simple, exact postulate to do "that", it seems as though the physical universe shifts around as needed so as to be in alignment with that postulate.

In the mind, "maybe" is "yes" and "no" fused together.  It is common for a person to have conflicts with regard to what they hope to accomplish.  All of the counter-intention (thoughts that oppose your goals) that a person carries around causes dispersal: where the person will attempt to go in different directions at the same time.  They "do want" and "don’t want" the same goal at the same time.  Every single unresolved problem a person ever had or has – has a "maybe" (yes and no combined) sitting at the base of that problem.  Get rid of the maybe and you just "solved" the problem. 

What is it you secretly dream about doing?  If you knew you would succeed what great thing would you attempt?

A Talk I Gave to New Agents

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

This was for new John Hall agents and the room was very hot, so I had two big fans going at the same time.  Unfortunately, you can hear the fan noise.  The talk is a bit over 90 minutes total and it has been split into nine parts.  It is in mp3 format and clicking on each of the links will open the file in your computer.

People who have heard me speak many times before said it it was very very good.  Other than the fan noise, I agree with them.

Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part 1

Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part 2

Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part 3

Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part 4

Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part 5

Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part 6

Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part 7

Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part 8

Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part 9

$100,000Agent

The Homeowner Rescue Bill Rescues Fannie and Freddie Investors.

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

Pinch Me - Housing Mess 

The Homeowner Rescue Bill Rescues Fannie and Freddie Investors.  I don’t see any other groups being rescued.

Normally I don’t find it difficult to disagree with President George W. Bush about pretty much everything (save the curvature of the earth and that humans should breathe oxygen).  This time it is different.  Bush had to have been ashamed to have signed it.  Just look at how it is buried on this pageArizona Senator John Kyl was one of the 13 dissenting votes.  Kyl even called a close Realtor friend of mine here in Arizona to explain why he could not vote for it – that it was simply an awful piece of legislation.  It is supposed to help save 400,000 people from going into foreclosure.  If that was really the purpose, considering how much it will cost (800 billion dollars), It would have been a lot cheaper to have a lottery and simply select the 400,000 supposed lucky ones and just buy their home for them.

But that really isn’t the purpose at all.  It is the Fannie Mae –  Freddie Mac Bail Out Bill.  That is why Bush signed it.  He accepted all that other crap so he could do what he had to do to keep Fannie & Freddie afloat.  What I don’t understand is why (in the final form it passed in) the NAR backed it.  Unless we are to assume that anything that gives any Realtor anything is “good” – no matter the cost, this one just makes no sense.

My office already has had sellers who need to do a short sale either take their home off the market or fail to let agents and buyers show their house.  No need.  The government is here to help them.  If foreclosures are estimated to be in the range of 5.5 million between now and the end of 2010 how does “fixing it” for 400,000 solve anything?  And don’t be surprised if there aren’t 400k people (not counting FNMA and FRE stockholders) who get helped at all.  I predict less than half of the estimated 400,000 will have anything other than foreclosure or a short sale occur.

The change that will hurt the Phoenix market the most is the complete elimination of the AmeriDream and Nehemiah programs.  Effective, October 1st – they are gone.  Currently, those seller-funded down payment assistance home sales account for about half of all the homes being sold here.  If it had to go away, now of all times?  Homeowner Rescue Bill, my ass.

Loads of other stuff.  Thanks for nothing, Barney.