Ever feel that way?  Well, everyone does, it's human nature but it is particularly likely if you sell real estate. It shouldn't surprise you when you consider the uneven commission only income stream, wishy-washy buyers, and desperate unrealistic sellers. Now top that off with a spouse who wants you to get a "real job", and it feels like everyone is simply out to annoy you.  It probably isn't true but just knowing that won't help much.  Try this:

Close your eyes and take a long deep breath.  It may or may not help much but it will give you a moment to relax and refocus.  Learn to let it go.  Chances are that the annoyer has moved on to other things, you should too.

It's NOT about you!  It never is.  People act out of their own self-interest and 9 times out of 10 - ignorance.  Consumer focus groups have shown us that about 93% of consumers have no clue what you do to earn your commissions.  That's why you spend hours showing them properties only to find out that their cousin Ethel just got her real estate license and is going to write their offer.  She's a full time hairdresser though and "could you maybe review the paperwork just to be sure it's right?"  Sounds to me like you forgot to educate your prospect.

Don't sweat the small stuff.  One of the biggest stumbling blocks to higher productivity is perfectionism.  A lot of real estate agents keep "getting ready to get ready".  Education is a wonderful thing but if you know it and don't practice it, what's the point?  Some agents actually keep attending classes so they can feel productive without having to actually look for a live prospect.  You don't have to be perfect but you do have to be there!

Lower your expectations.  Yep, you heard me right.  Set those high expectations about yourself but don't be unrealistic about others.  I have found that when I am disappointed in others it is because I expected them to act differently.  It's like being angry at a dog who barks, they're dogs for goodness sake, they bark.  People are just people, they don't live their lives to fulfill your expectations.

Now, watch the video again - you might just be the monkey!

Diane Flannigan is the Director of Career Development for John Hall & Associates.  In her dynamic 'Skill Series' set of real estate agent training classes, she teaches agents how to improve their mindset along with their presentation, counseling, marketing, and negotiation skills.

Benjamin Little, REALTOR® with John Hall & Associates, was interviewed early this week for an article about pets in properties for sale. Ben was able to share situations when pets can be a positive (horses or fish) and when they can be a negative (overly friendly or smelly).

Congratulations on the publicity Ben!

Saturday's Business section had the first article with quotes from John Hall real estate agents; Abe Schwarz, Dru Bloomfield, and Russell Shaw.  Bob Bemis (CEO of ARMLS) was also quoted talking about the median and average price drops.  

The article on Sunday, with the same title, again had quotes from our own; Russell Shaw and Jim Sexton.  Bob Bemis was again quoted, but this time talking about the currently low interest rates.  Darrell Blomberg (Owner/Broker of AzTech Realty) and Gary Swallows (Designated Broker for Swallows & Associates Realty) were also quoted explaining why it might cost more if you wait to buy and how FHA loans are making a come back!  

Thanks to the Republic and ARMLS for the good press!

Take a look before you go driving on the freeways!

UPDATE: This information is also available via the telephone by dialing 5-1-1

5/2 UPDATE: Current Road Closure Information

As of 4/7/08 at 12:24pm IB had partnered with 95 local news websites that show all the listings from REALTOR.com.  NINETY-FIVE!! 

That means when someone in Madison, WI goes to their local news site to search listings - all the listings from REALTOR.com show up.  No wonder REALTOR.com is the number one site in the country for home searches, they have put themselves pratically everywhere.  AND, IB is only one of their partnered sites, I haven't looked into the others. 

To think I was jealous of other real estate companies that "sold" the fact their listings went to over a hundred websites.  I am happy to report, here at John Hall & Associates - ours do too!

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol, which probably doesn't help explain what it is one bit, but what IMAP does is save a bunch of time searching around trying to find an important email.  If you are like me and use Outlook on multiple machines and also a phone to send and receive emails, the standard POP that we use to receive emails is pretty much useless.  Google offers both the IMAP and POP feature for free through it's gmail client, most free email clients charge to let you use POP and I don't know of any other free email client that offers IMAP.

When you use IMAP in Outlook with gmail it copies and sync's all of the folders in your gmail and your Outlook so that you have all of the same folders (gmail calls them 'labels') in all of your email clients.   This means that if you send an email with Outlook it shows up in the sent folders of both Outlook and gmail, the same goes for sending an email with the web based gmail client. You can do this with as many PC's as you have Outlook running on, so now it doesn't matter which machine you send the email, it shows up on all of your email clients.  I use Outlook as an email client because I like the features, but there are other email clients that support IMAP as well.

Now, the really neat part is that some phones allow you to IMAP, I have the iPhone so now I can send and receive email from my phone and the email shows up in gmail and Outlook.  The iPhone set-up is so easy a caveman can do it; go to Settings, add account, press gmail, type in your username and password and the phone will do the rest.

If you are interested in trying this you can go to www.gmail.com and set up a free account with them.  Once you set-up an account go to Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP, enable IMAP.  There are very good instructions on how to setup your email clients in that area when you click on 'Configuration Instructions'.  Another nice feature is that you can have gmail retrieve your email from most email hosting companies so that you have one central email rather than have multiple email addresses to setup in Outlook.  I have 6 email addresses that gmail goes out and retrieves, it makes life a lot easier and you have over 6gb of storage so space won't be an issue.  Doing this will slow Outlook down a bit because of the sync process, but otherwise it runs well.

I know this doesn't sound like it should be on a real estate blog, but I feel being able to send and receive email while previewing homes (or at happy hour) is as important as having a cell phone.

Is it better to rent or buy? 

Well, that depends on lots!  But a few of the variables this graph takes into consideration are...

          ◊  What's the cost of the home?

          ◊  How much are you paying for rent?

          ◊  Are homes in the area appreciating or depreciating?  

          ◊  How long do you plan on staying put?

          ◊  Are rents going up or down?

          ◊  What's the interest rate on your mortgage?

          ◊  How much is your down payment?  

          ◊  How much are the property taxes?

Pass this along to your buyers that are having trouble answering this question for themselves!  

And then the just for fun site...

•  Are you a right-brain or left-brain thinker? - watch out for all the sponsors!

Thanks D. Patrick for bringing it to our attention!

"We are still bumping along the bottom, but the Valley's housing market is starting to gain some traction," said Jim Sexton, president of Phoenix-based real-estate firm John Hall & Associates. "Sellers are getting more motivated. Prices are coming down, and there's a lot of activity from first-time home buyers again."

Well, just in case click the picture for his bio!

We are happy to announce that Sam Wercinski - Commissioner of the Arizona Department of Real Estate - is now a contributor to our blog!  His first post is immediately following...

Well done Dru, congratulations on the recent press! 

Have you heard any of the buzz about Twitter? I've had friends talk about it, and I finally jumped in. It's just one more aspect of Web 2.0 that becoming part of our everyday world.

This video explains what Twitter is, simply.

Was there anyone who seriously thought they could buy a house in Phoenix for about 150k and the price would just continue to climb until it was worth a couple of million dollars? Was the plan to sell it then and retire? Were the prices supposed to continue inflating past the point where any normal person could even afford to buy one? Out of control inflation isn’t “good” for any area, certainly not for the people who live and work there. So now we are experiencing a market correction – getting back to where we should have been all along. Are we experiencing a recession? What exactly is a recession? What if we are in one? Will houses still sell? We may or may not “be in one” right now.  (“Recession” doesn’t have just one definition) Houses are not only selling, but business has already picked WAY up. Correct.  I don’t want to pretend to completely understand why – but our pending business has already rebounded. People are listing houses and people are buying houses – all over town. The buzz from mortgage companies is the same. Terrible 4th quarter but their January – February business is already heading north. Don’t worry; you might be able to read about this in the Republic in a short 5 to 6 months.

Does this mean that the market will soon return to “normal”? No. There is way too much current inventory for that to happen anytime soon. But even in December, the worst month of the worst quarter of the “really bad year” there were about 6,000 closings (about half new builds and half resales).

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There are a few other things worth mentioning too. First and foremost, if you know anybody who has an adjustable rate loan (of any kind) who plans on staying in their current home for the next few years – please pass this along to them: REFINANCE INTO A FIXED RATE LOAN NOW. Banks prefer to make adjustable rate loans, as it shifts the risk of inflation away from them, so when rates go up they can pass along the increase to the borrower. Long term rates are under 6% and that is a bargain. It is a certain bet that long term rates will not stay at this low level indefinitely.

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Last and this probably should have been first: the new Chompies Deli at Paradise Valley Mall is finally open. I stopped in on the first Saturday they were open and at 1:30 PM it was an hour wait to get a table. I got a seat at the bar right away. The sandwich – as usual – was fantastic. I’m pretty sure there is no recession going on there!

Russell

Our golf commitee is hard at work planning for the John Hall & Associates Golf Classic for MDA.  This year we are playing at the exclusive FireRock Country Club in Fountain Hills.  We have room for 124 golfers.  Just in case you are interested in participating on May 12th here is an entry form. 

Of course in our attempt to raise lots of money for MDA we are asking for interested sponsors to step forward.  There are lots of different levels to choose from or you can also donate a gift to be given away as a prize.

We are proud to say that over the life of the tournament John Hall & Associates has been able to donate over $700,000!  Our goal this year is to add $45,000 to that.  See you there! 

 

As of December 20th, a new bill was passed that relieves many home sellers of this tax.  The home has to have been sold between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2009.  If you have any questions about a specific transaction - CONSULT A TAX ADVISOR!  

Read the summarized details of the bill.