2015 Business Plan

Hello all,

"2015 Business Plan"

It is that time of year to focus on finishing 2014 as strong as we can while preparing to kick some %#@ in 2015. Having a solid business plan is a necessity you can't do without, what is your budget, marketing plan and where will your leads come? Some questions that need to be answered in order to prepare for the new year. This year the office will like to offer it's help in two ways, feel free to pick the one you will be comfortable with.

1- On November 5th Mark will be having a training on business planning in Potomac at 10:30 during his agent round table. He will be covering the basics everyone should know. You can also schedule with Mark to have a one on one to review your business plan for the upcoming year. We are calling this a softer approach to looking at business planning.

2- For those of you who would like to take it a step further I have attached the Tom Ferry business plan work sheet. This will be a harder look at not just your business plan but your overall business. I will be having one on ones with anyone who wants to go down this road, you will need to be honest filling out the sheets and have an open mind.

Get with Mark or I individually to schedule your one on one, the sooner the better.

Enjoy your coffee,

Joe

 

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY: 

 

"You've failed many times, although you may not remember. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn't you? Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat? Heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot. R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on. English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs. Don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try." 

~ Full-page ad published in the Wall Street Journal by United Technologies

 

"I CAN'T" IS DEAD!

 

There's a wonderful story in "Chicken Soup For The Soul" about a 4th grade teacher and a funeral. The teacher had her students fill a sheet of notebook paper with all the things they couldn't do. They wrote furiously for quite a while filling their paper with "I can't do ten push-ups," or "I can't kick the soccer ball past second base," or "I can't get Debbie to like me."

 

The students were then instructed to fold their papers and place them into a shoe-box at the front of the room. The teacher then tucked the box under her arm, and invited the students to follow her out into the playground. There, they each took a turn at the shovel and dug a hole four feet deep. The box was placed in the hole and quickly covered with dirt.

 

The students then held hands while the instructor delivered a eulogy in memory of "I can't." In it, she noted that "I can't" was survived by his brothers and sister, "I can," "I will," and "I'm going to right away."

 

"I can't" is a close relative to most of us, yet maybe with a little extra effort we can finally let him go. It won't be easy since he's been such a close relation, yet maybe by dwelling on his brothers and sister and their importance to us - we can!

 

Remember the unforgettable line from "The Little Engine That Could"? "I think I can - I THINK I can! I THINK I CAN!" Don't forget the last line of our quote for the day. "Worry about the chances you'll miss when you don't even try!"

Anomaly

Hello all,

"Anomaly"

We have been talking about the 2014 Real Estate Market, disappointments, changes and problems it has brought. This will be the last I will be talking about it in my coffee and moving forward we will be focusing on the future and preparing for 2015. Lisa and I have had the pleasure of being coached by Tom Ferry personally (she won a contest) for a couple of sessions in September. What he is hearing from all of the top agents and prognosticators is the 2013 Real Estate Market was an "Anomaly". Not so much that 2014 was so bad but 2013 was a lot better then it should have been which led everyone to believe that 2014 was going to be that much better. So the bottom line is the market is taking a step backwards to 2012 and this market appears to be the new normal for the foreseeable future. Are focus really needs to be how to succeed in this market, not worry about what we can't control and work harder then our  competition.

Speaking of working hard and it is a pet peeve... It is difficult for me to see open house requests go unanswered when some of you are not having the year you were hoping for. Buyers are Gold right now and if you need them you should be doing 2 open houses per month.   

  

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe

 

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"Your imagination is the preview to life's coming attractions." 

~ Albert Einstein

 

YOU'RE THE STAR!

 

Do you believe Orville & Wilbur were first to fly because they had a hammer, nails and a free weekend? Think the television was created by accident? Did Bill Gates just stumble upon the software code that has changed the world? Not a chance!

 

The Wright brothers created the previews of their first flight in the theatre of their minds. Naturally, there were no limitations to their imaginings as they dreamed of flying. Who knows how the dream of television became reality . . . how it was transformed from a mere visualization into vacuum tubes, knobs, and channels?

 

What went through Bill Gates' mind prior to his early experiments? Surely his first visions were not of a colorful package entitled "Windows 2000." Nevertheless, his vivid imagination took us all from the concept of "1's" and "0's" to today's monumentally complex world of computer software and internet browsers.

 

What about you? What goes on in your mind's eye while no one is looking? What do you see yourself doing in one, three, or five years? Do you hear a special future beckoning you to create an action thriller from the previews running through your imagination? Is there a stirring inside you that begs to be brought to fruition?

 

Why not grab some popcorn, a soft drink, and settle quietly into your favorite chair to enjoy the previews of your own imagination? Then, with a clear picture fresh in your mind, create the main attraction - your life!

One More

Hello all,

"One More"

So I have been talking about how to handle sellers in a changing inventory market and I have ended in a each with a way to approach your sellers in a different way, "You see Mr. and Mrs. Seller...". Well I have one more, it is my favorite however I need to caution you to only use it at the right time and with sellers you are comfortable with. Friends and Family usually. Ever have a seller who is also buying who thinks their home is worth substantially more then what the market dictates? They also believe they are crafty enough to get a deal on the buy side? You can show them all day long if they lose it on one side they should get a bit of a break on they other but they just don't get it because they think they can get it on both sides. Frustrating but if you are comfortable... "You see Mr. and Mrs. Seller the sun does not shine on your face and your ass at the same time".

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe  

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

"To have a friend, you must first be a friend." 

- Unknown

ARE YOU RELATED?

In the long distant past, all generations of a family lived in the same town, if not just across the road or down the lane. Each member of the family knew all the good - and the bad - about every other member (as well as all the neighbors). They worked together, played, and prayed together.

Today, families are scattered throughout the country. What we call relationships now are often only acquaintances introduced through business situations or chance meetings. They may be casual and based only on a single shared interest, i.e. golf, fitness, children's school activities, etc. These relationships may lack depth and rarely go beyond that single shared interest.

Even with family relations more scattered and unavailable to us on a day-to-day basis, our human side still has a need and desire for deeper relationships. The good news is that they are not only possible but also available to us with just a little effort.

A single common interest through school-aged children may result in having lunch together. The lunch may reveal that both individuals appreciate the arts, with one being an amateur photographer and the other a proficient watercolor artist. Further conversation may find that both are caring for aging parents, have endured similar life challenges, or witnessed brilliant successes.

In short, deep relationships, akin to those shared by families in the past, are still possible. Yes, they must be cultivated. They don't just passively occur as in the daily activities of a family. The result is the same, however, as these relationships can provide a richness to life that is missing in their absence. Try to find some missing relations today!

It's a price war and a beauty contest

Hello all,

"It's a price war and a beauty contest"

Continuing the conversation on handling sellers in a changing market... Let me reiterate that the change is going to be healthy with a good amount of inventory hopefully matching buyer demand over time. However when market shifts from selling everything in 10 days to excess inventory and 30-45 days on market we need to handle our sellers differently. Marketing is great to gain listings and market share but we all know at the end of the day there are three factors that sell a house, price, location and condition. Many sellers are more emotional then logical, telling them it is price, location and condition appeals to the logical side. Sometimes saying the same thing in a different way can hit on the emotional side of things. "You see Mr. and Mrs. Seller in the market we are in it is a price war and a beauty contest, in order to be the next house to come off of the market we need to beat the competition at both".  We did not address the location because, well, you can't move the house but we hit the other two points in a way that hopefully they can relate to emotionally. 

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe 

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"A man will find that as he alters his thoughts toward things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him.... Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.... The divinity that shapes our ends is in ourselves. It is our very self.... All that a man achieves is the direct result of his own thoughts.... A man can only rise, conquer and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak and abject and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts." 

 

~ James Allen, "As A Man Thinketh"

 

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE!

 

It's so simple . . . the advice given in the above quote . . . and so true. Each of us has the power to elevate the value and quality of our life, simply by "lifting up" our thoughts, by placing our hands firmly on the wheel of positive thinking. Earl Nightingale gave an example in one of his taped programs. He said imagine that you are the operator of a huge piece of earth-moving equipment. You are perched in a small cab, hands on the wheel, and have the ability to move vast amounts of earth. Would you take your hands off the wheel and let it run itself into a ditch?

 

Your mind, and hence your thoughts, mirror that steering wheel. Through positive thoughts, you guide your life in a direction that produces positive actions, resulting in positive re-actions from others. Refusing to keep your hands on the wheel will quickly deliver you into life's ditches.

 

Life today is complex. It brings with it many opportunities for negative thinking. They range from the personal early morning "Hurry up, we're going to be late!" to the mid-day business crisis of "The deal isn't going to close!" Another quote goes like this: "Think you can, think you can't, either way you're right!" Again, it's your choice, isn't it?

 

The next time you feel frustration and doubt creeping into your vocabulary, think of a time when you felt really good about a similar situation . . . then replace the negative thought with a positive statement. As another wise individual once said, "Our lives are what our thoughts make of it." 

Absorption Rates

Hello all,

"Absorption Rates"

To continue the conversation of a changing inventory market using absorption rates to help explain the state of the market can be a useful tool with your sellers. To calculate absorption rates in an area you need to go back 12 months and get the total closed sales, you then divide that number by 12 to get the closed sales per month. Next find the number of active listings and divide that by the number of sales per month to find the number of months worth of inventory there is in that area. Here are two examples:

Area = 20874 Zip Code (Macro) Number of closed sales past 12 months = 768. 768 divided by 12 = 64 which is the closed sales per month. Number of active listings in 20874 is 254, 254 divided by 64 = 3.9 which is the number of months the market would take to absorb all of the properties if nothing else came on the market. 

Area= Churchill Town Sector which is a subdivision in 20874 (Micro) Number of closed sales past 12 months = 131. 131 divided by 12 = 11 which is the closed sales per month. Number of active listings = 47, 47 divided by 11 = 4.2 months worth of inventory.

Where this becomes useful with your sellers is the dialogue you can create with it. "You see Mr. & Mrs. Seller with the data we just went through in Churchill Town Sector there will be 11 sales in the next 30 days, to be one of those properties to sell we need to be in the top 11 based on condition and price". So if you have a listing that is overpriced or not in the best condition you can show them what they need to do and where they need to be to sell based on the competition. If you need further help with this on a particular property don't hesitate to ask.

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe  

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"A man will find that as he alters his thoughts toward things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him.... Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.... The divinity that shapes our ends is in ourselves. It is our very self.... All that a man achieves is the direct result of his own thoughts.... A man can only rise, conquer and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak and abject and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts." 

 

~ James Allen, "As A Man Thinketh"

 

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE!

 

It's so simple . . . the advice given in the above quote . . . and so true. Each of us has the power to elevate the value and quality of our life, simply by "lifting up" our thoughts, by placing our hands firmly on the wheel of positive thinking. Earl Nightingale gave an example in one of his taped programs. He said imagine that you are the operator of a huge piece of earth-moving equipment. You are perched in a small cab, hands on the wheel, and have the ability to move vast amounts of earth. Would you take your hands off the wheel and let it run itself into a ditch?

 

Your mind, and hence your thoughts, mirror that steering wheel. Through positive thoughts, you guide your life in a direction that produces positive actions, resulting in positive re-actions from others. Refusing to keep your hands on the wheel will quickly deliver you into life's ditches.

 

Life today is complex. It brings with it many opportunities for negative thinking. They range from the personal early morning "Hurry up, we're going to be late!" to the mid-day business crisis of "The deal isn't going to close!" Another quote goes like this: "Think you can, think you can't, either way you're right!" Again, it's your choice, isn't it?

 

The next time you feel frustration and doubt creeping into your vocabulary, think of a time when you felt really good about a similar situation . . . then replace the negative thought with a positive statement. As another wise individual once said, "Our lives are what our thoughts make of it."

Inventory

Hello all,

"Inventory"

In this business it is very important to follow the micro trends to see if they become macro issues. Inventory has been on the rise and it is now becoming enough of an issue that we may need to adjust our approach to some things. Click on the link below for a complete market update, inventory is up for the last eleven months and we are 30% higher then we were at this time last year. This is not the end of the world and in the long run probably healthy. However it will affect how we handle our sellers, days on market, pace of showings... In the next couple of Mondays I will be revisiting some of the strategies we used back in 2007'ish when inventory was through the roof.

 

http://www.rbintel.com/marketwatch-videos

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace - and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock."  

 

~ From the movie "The Third Man" (1949) 

 

THE CUCKOO BIRD OF HAPPINESS! 

 

This passage makes you ponder where our inspiration and our motivation come from. How many great movements came out of times of peace? Not to knock happiness, but complacency tends to breed laziness, unless we keep ourselves aware of the issues that might truly affect us. 

 

We're all familiar with the concept of the "starving artist" - rationalized for ages now by saying one must suffer for one's art. Of course, this isn't necessarily true. Plenty of beautiful art and literature has been produced by "happy" people. But isn't it interesting that the most controversial, thought-provoking, and powerful works do in fact come out of suffering and a desire to educate others about suffering, cruelty, and wrong-doing? 

 

It seems that people really get motivated by what angers them - when we're happy and complacent, we tend not to get involved in troubling issues. Apathy often arises when we feel that we simply have no say in the result, when we feel disempowered or our vote doesn't really count. But very often our apathy is the result of the fact that overall, we feel pretty good about our situation and feel that we don't necessarily need to get involved - we're happy with the way things are, so let them be and let other people worry about the issues that affect them. 

 

It's our problems - and how we handle them - that help us to grow as individuals. Those challenges in our lives force us to find solutions, solutions that sometimes mean changing ourselves in some way, or changing how we interact with others. Too much "smooth sailing" can leave you asleep at the rudder! Try to see your problems and challenges as opportunities to produce something great or effect a change for the better. 

 

If you're fortunate enough to say, "I am truly happy with all things as they are in my life," then don't become complacent. Find yourself a cause that you believe in and become involved in its promotion. Your life and the lives of those around you will become better for it!

DLLR

Hello all,

"DLLR"

I touched on this at the sales meeting on Friday. The DLLR has come out with a new regulation that Real Estate Agents must provide access to the license information of anyone they refer to the public. It falls into the "it is what it is" category and that is all I will say in writing. To help you with this the office has come up with a cheat sheet for all of our affiliates. See the link below. 

 Affiliate Cheat Sheet

This will be in the Wednesday Memo the next couple of weeks, we will put it in Wolfconnect and keep it updated for you. I suggest that you keep this in a place you can find and also come up with something for anyone else you refer, contractors...

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe 

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it - but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor." 

 

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

STUCK IN PORT?

 

Imagine the Pearl Harbor attack of 1941 going unanswered . . . Many of our ships found at anchor by attacking planes went down, never to leave the harbor again. Imagine the economy floundering with interest rates at 12%, and learning that the head of "the fed" has taken a six-month, non-working vacation to Tahiti. Imagine how you would have felt on September 12, 2001 if our president had appeared on TV to tell us how sorry he was about the attacks without announcing action to protect us in the future.

 

We expect our nation's leaders to act in times of crisis, don't we? But - what do we expect of ourselves when a family crisis arises, our sales flounder, or we notice the numbers on our scale beginning to creep upward to uncomfortable levels? Do we set sail, or lie at anchor hoping "someone" will do "something?"

 

Babe Ruth sailed against the wind more often than with it. He is remembered for his home runs - 714 of them - yet he struck out 1,330 times in his career. Best of all, he set sail and got out of the harbor (took his bat to the plate) 8,399 times. Had he stayed safely in the dugout, he could have avoided all those strikeouts.

 

So - what about you? Having difficulty setting sail lately? Perhaps it's time to give your engine a little maintenance, or take out a needle and thread to repair torn sails. You may also want to pull out your map to redefine the direction you'll be taking in coming months.

 

If you've been spending too much time at the "Captain's Table" and not enough time on the bridge with the wheel in your hand, perhaps some planning now will send you full speed ahead out of the harbor and with some exotic port of call in sight. Bon Voyage!