There are six key factors why a home will sell or not. Some you have control over, some the client has control over and some you just have to work around.

The first factor, that dictates whether a home will sell or not is Marketing. This one is the Agents responsibility. Review you entire Marketing Plan but first use this script.  “Let’s plan to get together in three or four weeks, if the property isn’t already sold.  At that time, we will go over all of my marketing efforts and evaluate what is and isn’t working.  I will of course, talk to you many times between now and then.  “Would it work for you if the property sold quickly in the first few days or the first few weeks?”

Just in case, that doesn’t happen before I leave today may we set a day and time to have this marketing update meeting in three weeks or so?

The second factor is Condition. This one is the client responsibility. Use this script. There are a couple of things that the client needs to do to get the property in the condition that will get it sold for the highest price. 

            1. Prepare the property for marketing, doing small things that bring the biggest returns. 

            2. Getting the property ready for each showing.

Don’t give this information away free. Use the following script; “If you allow me, after we have completed the paperwork to put your home on the market, I’ll walk through the house again with you and make suggestions as to how to stage your home to be most appealing to buyers.

Whether and what you choose to do to get your property in shape for sale is up to you.  Again, just like on the price you choose, I’ll make suggestions and the final decision as to what you do is always in your hands. 

Do you want me to go through the home with you and make these kinds of suggestions?”

The third factor is Location. Obviously this can’t be changed.  One of the things that you, as an Agent, can do is get specific feedback other Agent’s viewing the home about their prospective buyer’s feedback on the location.

Explain that you will call each Agent twice to get their feedback. If an Agent doesn’t respond after two calls, they end up giving generic and useless feedback.

Explain that you have an excellent relationship with many of the Agents in town. Many are very cooperative and go out of their way to give honest feedback. Follow up with this script:  “By the way, I have developed a specific set of questions to get the best possible information.
Most Agents, when they call each other for feedback just ask each other, what did you or your buyers think of the property?
It is a very generic question and they get an equally generic and usually useless answer. I ask these very pointed questions. How does the location compare with other houses you’ve shown this buyer?

How does the condition compare with other things you’ve shown?
How does the price compare with other properties you have shown?
And, most importantly, will your buyer be making an offer? If not, why not?”

We get very specific, useful, and valuable feedback this way that sometimes can make the difference between a sale or not. (Use an example, like feedback on a small kitchen was solved simply by clearing the counters and removing the leaf from the table).

Can you see how these questions get us the best feedback and may be extremely helpful to us?”

The fourth factor is the Markets. This includes the housing market and is not under either’s control.  Watch for homes coming on the market and for homes that sell in the area that may affect the sale of the property.

Watch the mortgage and financial markets which may affect how easy it is for a buyer to get a mortgage. Also, keep an eye out on the national and local economy. Layoffs, hirings, and even good or bad economic news can affect how many buyers show up and their confidence in making the best offer.

The fifth factor is Access. This is completely the Client’s responsibility.  The easier it is for a buyer to get into the property, the more buyers will see it and the best chance of a sale.

Use the following script; “The first few weeks on the market, the hottest buyers show up, sometimes in the first few days. So, I’d like to ask you for this first three weeks or so that you go out of your way to show the property every time a REALTOR® calls even if you have very short notice.
It is always up to you, I’d just like to ask you to stretch for our first and hopefully only, necessary campaign during the first few weeks. Would that be possible?”

The sixth factor is Price. This is the Client’s choice. Make a pricing recommendation based on what the markets is dictating. Remember, the Client always has control on the price.

Use the following script; “I’ll always give you complete and comprehensive information to make a pricing decision. I’ll interpret this information with you so you can make the best decision on pricing.  If you want my opinion I will be honest with you, the final decision on price is always yours. Are you comfortable with that?”

As Real Estate Agents there is very little training on how to negotiate. 
Ironically, as Real Estate Agents you are constantly involved in negotiations.
You negotiate with buyers over what to offer, counter offers, repairs, and final inspection problems.   
You negotiate with sellers over asking price, price reductions, term of your listing; offers, counter offers and much more. 
You may negotiate with attorneys over their approvals.  You may negotiate with you broker over advertising and commissions. 
This list does go on an on. 
Here are six tips to make negotiating easier in your real estate career.

1. Gain Information - Gain as much information as possible before the negotiation begins. Discover the real issues. Also important to discover the Clients true urgency and motivation.

2. Wrap it up in two turns - Explain that the other party is not an experienced  negotiator and negotiation makes everyone crazy so you work hard to keep everyone focused on the goal  of getting the house bought or sold.  One of the ways to prevent this is to thoroughly prepare them at the initial presentation.

3. Think before you speak - Consider that what you say will be twisted and used to your disadvantage. Expect that everything you say and write will be heard or seen by everyone involved.

4. Don’t Talk - Don’t talk about the parties to anyone at any time.  Have a complete respect of  confidentiality.  You take responsibility for everything that is said during negotiations.
Don’t bring the buyer and seller together. They will invariably say something that will be misinterpreted and offend.

5. Stay focused on the goal - Don’t let interruptions, the other party’s emotions, emotional outbursts, personalities, personal attacks, or  anything else distract you from the issues and the concessions in the negotiation. 
Do not respond emotionally unless you have carefully calculated that it will be to your Client’s advantage.  

6. Prepare your Client for the negotiations at your initial presentations, listing presentation and Buyer presentation.  This is the most important rule of all and why I saved it until last. The more you prepare your Clients for the negotiation early on when they are most at ease, the easier and more successful your negotiations are going to be at every stage. 

And lastly reinforce and prepare your client again at the time of writing the offer.

If you follow these simple rules every time you will not only have shorter and easier negotiations you will gain loyal clients therefore gaining more referrals. So during your next negotiation keep these and mind.

I was at a meeting the other day and overheard two agents speaking: “This whole social media stuff is stupid. Why should I learn how to share my personal life online, when I can just pick up the phone to call someone?” You’ve probably either heard these comments or said them yourself.

So why should you pay attention to Social Media Marketing? For the same reason that you should have paid attention to the Internet when it first came out, or to websites when they were first developed. I think that I can explain why you should be paying attention to Social Media Marketing in two words: viral exposure. Name any other non-electronic marketing medium, and you have a limited audience, or exposure. In fact the larger the audience you market to, the more you typically pay.

Not so with Social Media Marketing. If you can put together a clever and/or controversial ad or comment, whether you use YouTube, Facebook or other social media, your message can go viral. To put it another way, it will explode to other people in your network or outside your network . . . with NO extra cost. For an idea on how you can get started with Social Media Marketing, take a look at this short “pocket presentation”:

You can motivate Buyers.  You can influence their motivation and sense of urgency. 

1. Conduct a face to face Buyer Presentation.  Have you ever been in the mall with no intention of purchasing anything?  Then you walk by a clothing store and see the perfect shirt (or whatever piece of clothing). You go in try it on and purchase it.  Of course, we all have.  That is what can happen with a Buyer Presentation.  The Agent can give the details as to why it is smart to buy now.  Explain the tax deductibility of interest and property taxes, explain the buying process, answer all the questions even the ones they don’t yet know to ask remove any fear and replace it with confidence.  This initiates buying momentum. 

2. Ask questions during the Buyer Presentation that lead the Buyers to connect more closely with their own motivation.
Why are you considering / planning to make this move?
 Where are you planning to go?
 When would be the ideal time frame in which to make the move?
 Who is going to be involved in the move, others in your family?
 What’s most important to you as you look forward to making this move?
   As these questions are asked, listen carefully.  Let the Buyers finish their answers.  Probe further to get more expansive answers. 

3. Take the Buyers out to see one or two homes.  You will discover whether their sense of urgency rises.  You can sometimes jump start their urgency.  This will seldom happen without the Buyer Presentation mentioned above.  It often happens with that Buyer Presentation.  

4. Once they are showing enthusiasm at seeing homes, stay in touch by phone daily. Don’t just send Listings via email. This keeps their momentum moving.  I remember a Buyer once said to me, “Rich, it seems like one day I was talking to you on the phone and we woke up in our new home.  I don’t know how you did it.  Please don’t get me wrong, I’m so glad you did.”

5. Continue by phone, as you take Buyers to see homes, blog, e-mail and in every way communicate the fact that now is a great time to buy.  Interest rates are at an all time low and there is good inventory; plus all the other benefits of owning rather then renting. This information alone could create urgency. 

Rich Levin is a Real Estate coach and trainer whose focus is teaching Agents to understand and control their business. Through that understanding Agents achieve satisfying, successful careers and lives.   For more information on Rich’s work; go to www.BestCoachingOnEarth.com.   Rich is President of Rich Levin’s Success Corps Inc.  Contact him at 585-244-2700 or rich@richlevin.com.

I’ll bet if I give you a date, you can tell me where you were. The date is July 16th 1969. The event is the Apollo 11 liftoff to the moon. No single event other than the walk on the moon has drawn such attention.

From almost less than half a century, technology has taken us from first flight to rocket ships to the moon. And while this has all been quite extraordinary, it may seem that technology has been supplanted by other areas of importance.

If you wonder if technology is still important, look down at your new smartphone or ipad computer. Both have more technology that the triple-redundant computer power placed into the Apollo 11 and later Apollo missions. Lest you think that I wax strong to the “good old days”, these are the “good old days”.

Have you ever been in such an exciting time? Think of what technologies you now have at your fingertips. Phones that can not only call anyone wirelessly anywhere around the world, but see them as well. Play movies and follow your every move via GPS. Calculate mortgage payments and get approximate housing prices on any neighborhood . . . anywhere in the country. Do barcode scanning to get the nutritional values and grocery store information not to mention take photos. And so far I’ve not even left the advantages of the features of the ordinary smartphone device.

If you want to keep up with your sales, you need to keep up with technology. If you need a little more inspiration, take a look at this video. If you’re proud of your country it will bring tears to your eyes.