I got a call today from an agent who claimed to have an interested buyer in one of my short sale listings. I informed him that all offers, per the instructions of my seller, would only be considered if they were in writing and accompanied by a pre approval letter or proof of funds. He used this as an opportunity to throw a number at me that the bank would never approve- so low that to tie the house under contract at that number would be irresponsible. 

He proposed the idea of having buyer and seller sign a contract, but to keep the house in “active status” on the Multiple Listing Service. “What would stop us from doing that?” he asked. My answer? “Well, aside from the Code of Ethics and the Department of State, not much.” 

He then dropped the name of an MLS official whom he thought would endorse the idea, but as Vice President of the MLS, I knew that he was barking up the wrong tree; the name he dropped was the guy who manages data, not the gentleman who oversees standards and practices. 

I called the Standards and Practices person myself as soon as we hung up and he confirmed that to sign a contract but to not disclose the “contract” status on the MLS-even if the principals agreed- would be a breach of article 12 of the Code of Ethics where we are bound to present a true picture of the facts.

Imagine being a buyer and seeing a house you liked, making an offer, proceeding with inspections and then finding out the owner signed a contract months before and was playing both ends against the middle waiting for a short sale approval. How would you feel?  Furious? Used? Deceived? All of the above?  

Shady business never makes for a sunny life. And if you are dumb enough to propose unethical conduct to someone without knowing who they are, you aren’t long for the business. 

Google is a funny thing. 

If I am logged in certain websites, that content will show up in my google search results. If I am on a different computer, it shows different results. If I google “Westchester Realtor” on my own computer, I am something like the 4th or 5th organic hit. If I go the public libarary and google the same term, I am on page 5. The reason is for another post- the point is that Google will show you the results it thinks you want to see. That’s why Google has managed to become a verb in a few short years in addition to a proper noun. 

Every so often, I see new Active Rain members churn out copious content. 50 posts a month. 300 posts a month. Targeted, hyper local, and specialized. 

Oh, and useless.

Know why? Because it is “members only.” The bloggers haven’t got Rainmaker accounts. The only people who can see their content are other Active Rain Members who are logged in. But that doesn’t stop them from churning out those blog posts, complete with “contact me!” links all over the place. I once emailed a guy and asked him why he made 300 members only posts, because they are invisible to the public. “They aren’t invisible!” he responded. “I am way high on Google!” I wasn’t in the mood to argue- he was in the results because he was logged in.

The last time I checked, a Rainmaker upgrade is under $400 a year if you pay up front. How many of us have blown 5 times that much on a stupid marketing campaign- newpsper-radio-banner ads-lead system- and not gotten any return on the investment? The return on my investment is sick. 

Read this email:

I sold that guy a nice house last year. We remain in touch. He was a serious buyer and he was looking online for help.  

Last Spring I got a call from Craig Rutman. There was a bank owned foreclosure in my town that the asset manager needed a local agent to sell. I listed it and sold it, Craig got a referral fee, and it was all due to this platform. There were other referrals too, but how many of you would like to get an REO? I had one fall in my lap. 

I hired 6 agents last year thanks to my blog. All are with the company and active.

My blog has gotten me on ABC World News, the New York Times, the New York Post, Time Online, AOL, and about half a dozen other prominent outlets. I’ll be in the New York Times again very soon-photos are already taken for the story.

When I attend board meeting for my MLS, I am often approached by staff and colleagues about something I wrote that interested them. The president of the MLS was very complimentary about my post on flat fee MLS.

My blog is my newsletter to past clients. It is a recruiting tool. It is a powerful prospecting and marketing system. It has raised my stature in my community. It has been instrumental in probably 30 or more transactions.  

And all because 95% of my posts are public. I have a Rainmaker account since early 2009. I pay monthly like anybody else and I am putting myself out there, publicly. And I am getting noticed. Yes, I work hard at it, but I get found-agents, referrals, media, new clients, you name it. 

If you are going to work hard at blogging, don’t keep it a secret. You are going to get far more bang for your buck if you broadcast those posts on the public stage. You might get a referral or a good idea here or there if you don’t upgrade, but you are missing the best stage. As far as I’m concerned, if your posts are “members only” you are just singing in the shower. It doesn’t matter how good you are, you get no applause. 

I’ll see you are Raincamp in Atlantic City this April. 

One of the joys of being a broker-owner is helping my newer agents develop their client base. New agents that get a listing or a buyer in their first few weeks typically have a good outlook for success in my experience, even if that listing doesn’t sell or that buyer never closes. One of my agents has a buyer who was referred to him and he’s been asking me how to tackle some of the challenges they pose. A few details:

• They have been looking for a home for over a year. 
• They want to spend close to $1 million.
• Their home email account is “not set up yet.”
• They want my agent to make an offer of almost $200,000 less than asking price on a home
• They do not want to provide an updated pre approval letter
• They do not want to articulate how much of a down payment they’ll make. 

According to the Journal News, the number of foreclosure filings in Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam County is down quite a bit. Westchester is down 50% from October 2010 through January 2011 compared to the same period from 2009 to 2010. The numbers are equally impressive in Rockland (39%) and Putnam (51%). 

Does this mean we are out of the woods? Hardly. The reason for the decline is the Robo-signing Scandal, which has caused a judge to order banks to show proof of attorney review of all foreclosure documents. That is a daunting task in light of the still-enormously -high mortgages that are behind, underwater, or both. Banks are just taking longer to file lis pendens against people who are not paying. In January of 2008, 243 lis pendens were filed. That number this past January was only 133. The banks are just being more careful. 

The number of actual foreclosures in Westchester is down to a trickle. This past January, only 6 full judgments were filed -in other words, only 6 people had their homes taken back. In 2008, that number was 83. Again, not because everyone is paying their bill like magic; the lenders are just having to be far more deliberate. 

If anything, this means that we’ll continue to see short sales as an everyday thing, the shadow inventory will still be waiting in the wings, and loan modifications will continue to clog the housing courts. 

It is a fact that every male broker/owner has a little Lee Iacocca or Ross Perot in him. He wants to be the despot, the alpha male, and the quarterback who gets no back talk in the huddle. And, by and large, team members comply with that little illusion. My agents hang on my every word, my one w-2 employee is a model worker and instruction follower, and clients know that I am a hand-wringing control freak, which is to their benefit. 

Then, of course, we get to the brains behind the bravado, my partner in the LLC, the chief financial  officer, and administrative godess- the mother of my children. A guy visting from Norway would pick my wife out in about 5 minutes, not because of the long glances, hand holding, or the affection. He’d know my wife because of her complete lack of fear and her amusement at my delusions of grandeur. Vice President of the MLS? HA! You couldn’t be head janitor of your own home. You beat out Joe Bigshot for a listing? That’s nice- help Luke with his homework. Your photo was on the front page of the Business Journal? Good thing they never saw your desk. 

It isn’t all about keeping me grounded as much as it is carte blanche to express an opinion. For example, as I will do a few times a week, I called Ann from my car today with an urgent edict that I couldn’t handle myself and needed her to do. It was a simple enough task, but being that chick in the office who has biblical knowledge of the boss, she didn’t just say “YASSIR!” and do it, she questioned if there weren’t a better way to go about it. 

Which of course, kills me just a little, as I gaze upward and mouth “why” to no one in particuar. There are times that I engage her in a discussion, but there are also times that I just utter some variation of can you PLEASE JUST DO IT and we’ll discuss the permutations when I am not occupied slaying dragons? I don’t advise that one too often. 

Working with one’s spouse is a challenge, and while I can vouch for the male view I am sure the fairer sex has a mountain to climb with our testosterone-driven foibles as well. Too much time apart is no match for being locked in the pressue cooker together 24/7. Shifting gears and just being us after hours (if there is a such a thing), is hard sometimes. But the real problem is most likely my inner tyrant, who resists the challenge of an intellectual equal offering a counter point when she sees the need. There are probably 1000 other husbands in married teams who see their own big challenge, but that one is mine. However, I wouldn’t be where I am without the big talker backer, and while I might get annoyed at all the checks and balances, she keeps us balanced and that keeps the checks coming in. 

“Please just listen to me and do what I say” is one of the more ironic terms the past couple of years, because as much as I think or say it, I should take my own advice. 

This is the walking tour I filmed today while the New York Times photographer took pictures.  This is not glitzy, but it does give answers and a good feel for the home. After the tour was uploaded, I printed fact sheets that included a QR code linking to the walking tour for people that drive by. 

I believe that video will be taking a more prominent role in the sale of real estate going forward, and that walking tours like this are more desirable than virtual tours. There is nothing “virtual” about this. You are seeing the home from my eyes. Overall, it takes less than 15 minutes to take the video, upload it, and print brochures up with the QR code to the video that people can access as soon as they pull their car over and scan the code. This is more than a talking house, this is a walk through the house and puts people inside the door without ever leaving their car or calling an agent. 

I have another far longer video showing the “behind the scenes.” I’ll upload that another time when I post about my experience with the reporter, the interview, and the photo session. I hope that the NY Times exposure will help sell the listing! 

I was contacted by a reporter from the New York Times this past week who is working on a story on how technology is being utlized by real estate professionals. I guess I did OK in the interview, because she called back and asked if they could take some photos of me in action with my “mobile office” creating marketing at the client’s kitchen table. This is just the inspiration I needed to break in a new tool, a mobile printer, and the brief video below outlines my plan.

The intention is to do better than a pedestrian “for sale” sign. Instead of just writing a phone number down, I want people to able to take a walking tour of the home on their mobile device right there at the curbside without getting out of their car.

As a dry run, I created a QR code for the video and embedded it below. It should take your device right to the YouTube video.  should be able to accomplish everything tomorrow in about 15 minutes. No pressure- after all, it is only the NY Times! 

I held a listing open this past Sunday and it went quite well. One interesting scenario I never dealt with before was the issue of putting open house signs on the street corners nearby the property, because we were still so buried under snow that the edge of the road was pushed out several feel. You couldn’t find soft ground, and this kind of sign doesn’t work on asphalt. 

So I stuck it in the snow. 

And it stuck! For 2 hours, it was as if it were in the earth. 

Hurry up spring, enough of this dirty snow cone I’ve been living in the past 2 months.