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The word "realtor" describes only one aspect of working in the real estate industry. Professionals who own their companies must have a firm grasp on every element that impacts operations - whether the commodity is land, housing or commercial property. The sections that follow span a broad spectrum of subjects key to growing a healthy business.
By Wendy Helfenbaum
Put your hand up if you can guess where most people start their home search. You win if your answer is "online"—turns out, more than 90% of buyers scroll through hundreds of listings on a mobile device or laptop, clicking only on the ones that grab their attention.
So if you're listing your home for sale, your goal is to make it a "thumb-stopper"—the listing that makes a buyer slow down, take a good look and read about how fabulous it is. The secret is to make sure that the photos showcasing your home are up to the task. Here are nine tips from the pros that will help you set up a picture-perfect house, and snap the best shots possible.
1. Tour Your Own House Like A Buyer
Before grabbing your camera and tripod, walk around your house and imagine how it looks to people who don’t live there, advises Buddy Mountcastle, a real estate photographer in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
“I don’t ever walk into a house with my equipment ready to shoot pictures,” Mountcastle says. “I ask the homeowners for a tour, so I can capture the passion and emotion of the house.”
Assess each room from a variety of angles. Keep in mind you’re not photographing your home; you’re photographing a prospective buyer’s home, adds Mike Small, a Phoenix, AZ, real estate photographer whose website features a "Wall of Shame"—disastrous home photos that probably scared buyers away.
Good photos will reveal every little detail, he says, so it’s important to show off your home’s best features, while minimizing its flaws.
“If you can see it, the camera will also pick it up,” warns Small, who offers a checklist, so homeowners can prepare their property to be camera-ready.
2. Choose The Best Day And Time To Shoot
Yes, photographing your home’s exterior on a partly cloudy day will minimize shadows in your shots. But Small believes a bright blue sky packs a substantially bigger punch, especially if you live in a location where you're trying to sell the weather as well as the home.
When it comes to what time of day to shoot, you might be tempted to shoot exteriors in that sweet spot just as dusk is falling; twilight shoots can highlight your property's stunning landscaping and make the home look bright and inviting. But they're a bit more complicated to get right, because they're dictated by what the sun is doing on that particular day.
“If the sun sets at 6:30, twilight will start about 6:40 and be over in 20 minutes,” Small explains.
So if you're an amateur photographer, it's better to leave twilight shoots to the pros and stick to shooting your home during a more predictable window of time.
“I try to schedule so that the sun is shining in the front of the home, so ideally, I’d shoot east-facing homes in the morning,” says Small.
Pro tip: If you're shooting with a smartphone (although we really, really recommend using a high-quality digital camera) use the high dynamic range (HDR) setting to capture greater detail without having to use additional lights.
3. Make A Clean Sweep Outside
Before snapping a single frame outside, clear away anything that detracts from your curb appeal, Mountcastle suggests.
“This is the ultimate first impression everybody gets about your house,” he says. “You don’t need perfect grass, but you want your yard to look nice and neat, with your bushes and trees trimmed.”
Hide the trash cans, garden hoses, and kids’ toys, and remove cars and bikes from the driveway so they’re not in the photos.
“Clean up after your pets, and pull out any dead things from your garden,” Small adds. “Lots of people have empty flowerpots everywhere; fill them up with something to add some color.”
Set up your patio umbrella and outdoor dining area. Have a pool or a hot tub? Turn on pool lights, water features, and spa bubbles.
4. Undo That ‘Lived-In’ Look
Sure, your busy family lives in the house. But it doesn’t have to look that way in your photos. Excess furniture and knickknacks distract from your home’s features, Small says—plus, they don’t photograph well. So lose the magazine piles, remote controls, framed photos, books, and stray shoes. Clean off the front of your fridge so your images don’t capture every school note, magnet, and shopping list. And keep the toilet lid down!
“I don’t think you can declutter enough. Once you think you’ve decluttered, go back and do it again,” Small says. “You can’t neglect the toiletries on the bathroom counter, the toaster and five appliances on the kitchen counter. You don’t want the message to be, ‘Look at how much stuff this counter holds!’”
5. Don’t Let Home-Staging Tricks Backfire
Yes, home stagers rely on visual tricks to draw in potential buyers and point to a room's best attributes. Think: a large plant near a window with a view, or a cluster of pillar candles next to a gorgeous stone fireplace.
They're smart tactics, to be sure, but some of them are best employed after you shoot photos. You want to help buyers see the entire room in your photos, so avoid setting up obstacles that visually impede your home’s flow, Mountcastle suggests.
“For example, some people put beautiful flower arrangements on a coffee table or a dining room table, and while it may look good, it stops the eye from flowing through to the other side of the room,” he says.
Another tip: Ditch the rugs and runners—you'll expose your floors and create the illusion of more space.
6. Let In The Light
Got great views? Highlight them in your images. Wash your windows, and leave curtains and blinds open so natural light can flow through. (If you've got heavy drapes, go a step further: Take them down and replace with sheer linen curtains—or just leave your windows bare.)
Small advises homeowners to turn on lamps and lights—inside and out—but to turn off ceiling fans.
“Make sure all your lights work,” Mountcastle suggests. “If only two out of three light bulbs work, that will show in the photographs, and it sends the wrong message—that something doesn’t work."
7. Shoot From The Right Spot
You want to showcase as much of every room as possible. But that doesn't mean lots of close-up photos of every corner (or any corner, for that matter). Instead, aim to include three walls in your image, to give each room depth. Often, that means shooting from the doorway or a corner, Small says.
“You have to take into consideration furniture placement, location of windows, other doorways, and the amenities you want to highlight,” he explains. "Portray that room as expansive, roomy, airy, and inviting, not closed and narrow.”
8. Avoid Odd Angles
Everyone knows that the key to taking a good selfie is to shoot from above (goodbye, double chin!) But the rules are different when it comes to getting your home's good side: In real estate, Mountcastle says, you want to keep your camera at about chest height and shoot straight on (no fish eye, no aerial shots, etc.).
“The goal is to show the home as it is. Low or high angles can distort and misrepresent things,” he says. “Shooting down or up minimizes the room's size and appeal."
9. Don’t Count On Editing To Improve Your Photos
The key to a clean-looking photo is a clean house.
“There’s a huge misconception about Photoshop—it’s an amazing tool, but it’s not a magic wand,” Small cautions. “Yes, you can Photoshop out weeds and maybe some dangling cords, but to do more takes a lot of work.”
Bottom line: Buyers scan house photos very quickly, so make yours stand out.
“If they’re blurry or dark, or it’s a very messy house, they’re not going to want to look further,” Small says. “Photos of a house that’s been cleaned and decluttered attracts attention, and gets buyers to slow down enough to say, ‘Is this one that I want to go see in person?’”
Source: Realtor.com, September 27, 2017 (https://www.realtor.com/advice/sell/real-estate-listing-photos-tips/)
By Zoe Eisenberg
The most successful real estate agents likely have one thing in common: they practice their scripts. In the latest installment of RISMedia’s ACE Webinar Series, “Scripts: New Ways to Handle Old Objections,” sponsored by Quicken Loans, several industry experts weighed in on how real estate pros can better tackle their scripts from practice to execution.
The webinar featured industry experts Mark Seiden, founder and CEO of the Mark Seiden Real Estate Team; and Tom Dempsey, divisional vice president of National Sales for Quicken Loans; with moderation by Terri Murphy, coach with Workman Success Systems, founder of MurphyOnRealEstate.com and president of Terri Murphy Communications.
“Strong communication is the key to making transactions work,” said Murphy. And in real estate, strong communication boils back to strong conversational intelligence, especially when it comes to executing scripts.
Below are a handful of concepts to better make use of your scripts.
Have confidence, but never lie. “It’s not what you know, but how you present it,” said Seiden. This means moving forward with confidence and never faking it. When you attempt to fake something you don’t know, people will sniff this out, and they will lose their trust in you.
“If you have a lot of confidence and you don’t know something, but you tell them ‘I don’t know, but I will find out,’ people will love you more and they will respect you more, because you said I don’t know with confidence,” explained Seiden. Then, when you follow up with your found information, the client will trust you even more.
Listen. When it comes to scripts, according to Murphy, “It’s not about memorizing; it’s about listening.” Listen to what your client is saying, so you know what script to turn to and so you can build a strong rapport.
This also includes matching your conversation style to who you’re speaking to, said Seiden. Is your client focused more on statistics? They like numbers and facts. Are they talking more about their emotional tie to their future home? They’re sentimental. Listen and respond accordingly. “The script will only get you so far,” said Murphy. “You have to listen and pay attention so you know how to respond.”
Seiden echoed this sentiment, reminding agents to ask questions. “If you present in a way that’s a lecture, it’s the agent’s opinion. If you can change that lecture into a question, it’s now the client’s opinion.”
Know the why. The most important part of the script process is determining buyer motivation. You need to understand the why before you can respond to the what. Are your buyers just curious, or are they determined to buy a home tomorrow? Ask questions so you understand how to move forward. “It’s important to create an emotional response within the buyers,” said Seiden. “The biggest challenge with real estate agents is they keep diving into the what—what can you spend, what can you buy. But you should refocus to the why. It’s not about the what, which equals commission, but the why, which builds a bond.”
Practice. Most good agents practice their scripts. They practice with their team. They practice with their friends. They practice with strangers in elevators. You should, too.
“There has to be some standards of practice,” said Murphy. “You have to put in the time to get the results.”
Seiden’s team does role-playing over the phone two times every single week at a scheduled time. And don’t say you’re too busy to practice. Schedule the time and make it happen. “The busiest people on the planet are those who are most rigid with their time,” said Seiden, who says his team schedules everything from when they practice scripts to when they respond to emails and texts and when they eat lunch.
Always be on. So you’ve practiced your scripts, you know your material, but when you show up to meet with the client, you don’t really feel up to putting on the full show. This is never acceptable, according to Seiden.
“You are no different than an actor on Broadway,” he said. “If someone paid good money to come see a show, you need to give it to them. Any specific client you’re talking to is expecting you to be on. When you’re a real estate agent, you need to know your scripts, you have to be on Broadway, you have to be enthusiastic every time you’re with a client. They don’t care if you’re having a bad day.”
Source: RIS Media, September 6, 2017
(http://rismedia.com/2017/09/11/tips-practicing-better-real-estate-scripts/)
By Jim Brown
When I started as a home inspector 35 years ago, I shadowed an older colleague who would put a marble on the floor of every home he inspected. If the marble rolled even slightly in one direction, he would state in the inspection report that the home was sinking and a structural engineer needed to test its foundation. This method, of course, isn’t a reliable way to uncover serious foundational problems. The only thing it proves is that the house is settling—which is hardly unusual.
I’ve seen dozens of home sales fall apart because of these types of exaggerations, so I understand why real estate professionals are sometimes skeptical about home inspectors. Many agents dropped my colleague because they didn’t trust him to provide accurate information to their clients. I’ve even turned off agents who thought I embellished my findings in inspection reports. They said I was too quick to list insignificant items such as misaligned doors on kitchen cabinets, needlessly alarming buyers. But I’ve worked with my share of unscrupulous agents, too.
When I speak at real estate offices across northern Georgia, I often encounter animosity from agents who view inspections as a roadblock to the home sale. It often feels like home inspectors and agents are on opposing teams, but the truth is we need each other. We rely on each other’s expertise to give consumers a quality homebuying experience, so why don’t we trust each other more? We’ve each done something wrong once or twice to make an inspection go less smoothly than it could have. I’m willing to admit my faults. Are you?
When I was a new inspector, I initially misunderstood my role in the real estate transaction. Eventually, an agent I worked with helped me see my purpose more clearly. In my previous work as a building inspector for the city of Snellville, Ga., I evaluated property against strict building codes. When I transitioned to home inspections, I used the same “pass or fail” mentality to judge the condition of a house. The agent reminded me that wasn’t the objective of a home inspection. She helped me refocus on delivering the pertinent facts to her clients so they could make an informed decision for themselves. Once I gained this perspective, I helped organize classes including this concept for fellow members of my local chapter of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors.
Agents have also tried to pressure me inappropriately. Some insisted I exclude legitimate problems with a home on my inspection reports to keep from blowing a deal. A conscientious inspector won’t compromise the inspection at the expense of the buyer’s best interest. (That’s often how home inspectors get sued.)
One time, I inspected a deck that was fastened to a home using outdated materials. Decks fall off houses if not attached properly, so I needed to report the issue. The agent I was working with insisted I remove it from my report because other homes in the neighborhood had the same issue. After I refused to comply, I never heard from that agent again. And if he had called, I wouldn’t have performed another inspection for him.
Trust is a two-way street that both inspectors and agents must be willing to travel. You need to trust that I, as a home inspector, won’t unnecessarily undermine the sale. I need you to trust my knowledge and have confidence that I am reporting issues your buyers need to know in order to make an educated buying decision—even if, sometimes, it makes them think twice about the purchase. If our relationship breaks down over lack of trust, it’s your clients who will ultimately lose.
Source: Realtor Magazine, July 2017
By Marc D. Gould
One of the most frustrating aspects of this year’s housing recovery is that solid demand from buyers has encountered stubbornly low inventory levels in many U.S. and Canadian markets, especially for starter homes. It’s a situation that requires both patience and creative solutions.
As a managing broker, your buyer’s reps may be tossing up their hands and asking, “What can I do?” To be sure, when the supply of homes is inadequate, buyers’ options are limited.
On the other hand, this may be an excellent time for your agents to explore options that aren’t on the buyer’s radar. At a minimum, buyer-clients will feel better about working with someone who keeps the dialogue going and remains interested in proposing potential solutions, including:
Admittedly, these solutions may be less than ideal for many buyers. Until the inventory situation improves, they’re examples of ways to put a positive spin on a challenging situation. After all, as the saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
Marc D. Gould is vice president, Business Specialties, for NAR and executive director of REBAC. A wholly-owned subsidiary of NAR, The Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council (REBAC) is the world’s largest association of real estate professionals focusing specifically on representing the real estate buyer. With more than 30,000 active members, REBAC awards the Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®) designation to REALTORS® who work directly with buyer-clients.
Source: RISMedia, August 1, 2017
(http://rismedia.com/2017/08/01/creative-ways-work-around-inventory-problem/)
By Christina Poletto
Certain paint colors can lift your spirits, make a room seem larger or smaller, and even … much to the chagrin of homeowners or real-estate agents … drag out the sale of a property.
These days, you can't go wrong with shades of white and off white, according to Jody Finglas of Finglas Painting in Ossining, N.Y.
“What was very in vogue 10 years ago, like faux and decorative painting, funky wallpapers and dark accent walls, has changed," he said. "Now it’s all about less is more. We’re seeing a lot of requests for lighter, brighter colors."
Add color with furniture and accessories, Finglas said. They can be switched out easily depending on your mood or the season.
“Before we start any project, we get paint samples of what it is that our clients might want," he said. "A white kitchen can mean 40 different colors, so we work hard to find exactly what will work for a project.”
For those thinking of selling, the appeal of light, brighter spaces can enrich the feel of a home, Finglas said. Consider it a clean palette for a buyer.
"White is the foundation that anchors the home," said Friley Saucier, a broker associate with Sotheby's International Realty in Naples, Fla. "This is absolutely what is most requested when I'm working with home buyers."
But not all white paints are created equal, Finglas said.
Interior designer Dwayne Bergmann of Dwayne Bergmann Interiors in Fort Myers, Fla., suggests bringing home paint swatches to tape to a wall, just as you would with any other color.
"Whites can have a more blueish hue or more of a brown or even pinkish hue depending on the exact lighting," he said. "Even a pure white is going to look different."
Add contrast to a room with finishes such as semi-gloss paint on wood treatments and matte paint on walls.
Don't forget a fresh coat of paint on the outside, too, Finglas said.
“It doesn’t have to be a huge restoration project," he said. "In general, a fresh coat of paint on a house can work wonders.”
Source: USA Today, July 12, 2017
(https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2017/07/12/white-paint-trend/471761001/)
By Peter J. Reilly
If you’re like most people who have ever shopped online, then you are very familiar with online endorsements or reviews. We’ve all done it. We go to a site like Amazon, search for the item we’re looking for, find it and immediately jump down to see what the reviews are, completely skipping over the product description in the process.
When it comes to making a decision, reviews and endorsements go a long way towards helping people decide. Choosing a real estate agent to help represent their home or assist them with finding that perfect home is no different.
Like it or not, you are being judged based on your online reviews, whether good or bad or if you have them or don’t.
Below are three tricks to getting more endorsements online:
Trick No. 1 – Belong to as Many Communities as Possible
This is simultaneously the easiest and most cumbersome step to the process. Joining as many sites as possible with reviews or endorsements is the first necessary step to building your online credibility. While there are an overwhelming number of different sites that you can use, to get yourself started, you should stick to the main ones. Zillow.com, Homes.com, realtor.com® and Trulia.com are four major search sites for real estate. Be sure to sign up with accounts on all of them with a completed profile, including your picture. Having a positive rating with no personal image will not help, as people tend to shy away from “silhouette” profiles. If this is all new to you and feels somewhat difficult, then start with one site and add the others over time. The more places people can find positive reviews about you, the better.
Trick No. 2 – Make the Review Feedback/Endorsement Part of Your Closing
Have you brought your car in for service lately? Notice how they spend more time asking you to give them a perfect 10 on the upcoming survey than actually telling you what they did to your car. There’s a reason for this. They make receiving a positive survey such a big deal that you almost feel guilty if you, A, don’t fill it out and, B, don’t give them perfect 10s. This strategy also helps to keep them providing the best possible service.
As a real estate professional, this should be built into your business. When working with clients, be sure to give them the best experience possible, and when the time comes to close on their transaction, be sure to express the importance of referrals, reviews and endorsements. Ask that they kindly take the time to fill out something for you on the site, or sites, that you belong to.
Trick No. 3 – Prewrite the Review for Them
The easier something is for someone to do, the more likely they are to do it. If you want someone to say something positive or specific about you, then prewrite the endorsement and ask your client if it would be ok to use that quote. If you feel that’s too restrictive, then consider a multiple-choice approach. Write down 3-5 different positive lines and ask the clients which best apply to their experience with you.
If you provided top tier service and built a good rapport with your clients, then they will likely have no issue supporting you online. The easier you make it for them, the more likely they are to do it.
Source: RIS Media, June 4, 2017
(http://rismedia.com/2017/06/04/tricks-getting-positive-endorsements/)