Prospecting Plan for Expireds

Use this plan as a basis for prospecting for expireds. Add other successful strategies you have tried as you learn more about what is most effective in your market.

Locate Expireds
You should spend 30 minutes each morning, as early as possible, printing out a list of expired listings from the MLS.

• Focus on expired properties in your market area or that you feel have a strong market appeal because of price or features.
• Keep track of how long properties that you consider particularly salable have been on the market. If you learn that a listing is about to expire, offer a referral fee to the listing salesperson to let you negotiate a new listing with the seller prior to expiration. This gives you the inside track.

What other lead sources for expireds have you found helpful?

Develop a Tracking System
You often will need several weeks of contact before you can convert an expired to a listing. Once they've had a bad experience with another real estate practitioner, expireds may not be immediately receptive to a real estate practitioner. You will need to demonstrate to them why you’re different than their prior salesperson.

Your tracking system should include:

• Name, address, and phone number of expired
• Information on the property from the MLS, including previous list price, and, if possible, days on the market.
• Date that the listing expired and previous salesperson.
• Date, time, medium of every contact, and response with an expired, in chronological order—for example, phone call at 9 a.m. on 9/14, offered free comparable market analysis. If you do mailings or e-mails to expireds, be sure to include those contacts in your tracking system.

Other tracking information you’ve found valuable:

Develop a Solicitation Schedule
Although expireds are usually sold on working with a real estate salesperson, a bad experience with their previous real estate associate may make them distrustful of your promises. Keep this in mind, and focus your solicitation on providing consultative services that emphasize your past successes.

Week One
On the day the listing expires
Mail, or better yet drop off, a marketing package. If possible, do something to make your marketing package stand out from the many others an expired is likely to receive. Options include, sending it in a colorful or oversized envelope, adding a special delivery or personal/confidential stamp, or hanging it on the door in a plastic bag preprinted with you name and a drawing of a house.

Later that week
Mailings: Send a follow-up letter or postcard if you don’t get an appointment. Again, provide a supportive message, such as “Sometimes, even a great home doesn’t sell right away.” Also include a statistic noting what percentage of your listings sell in 90 days or less.

What other techniques have you used for making initial contact?

Week Two
Recheck the MLS to be sure that the home was not re-listed. Also drive by the house and look for a sign. Be alert to the possibility that a frustrated expired might become a FSBO.

Mail another marketing letter, emphasizing your success rate in selling listings in 90 days or less. Include information on any recent sales near the expired’s home, to subtly reinforce the going price range for the area.

Other techniques for maintaining contact:

Week Three

Recheck the MLS to be sure that the home has not re-listed.

Phone calls: Follow up to ensure that expired has received your service package. Use this opportunity to ask if you can come over and see the house so that you can keep your buyer clients informed of everything available in the neighborhood. Low-traffic times at open houses are a good time to make expired follow-up calls, suggests author Danielle Kennedy.

Buyer interest: If you have an appropriate customer, call expireds and ask if they would be willing for you to show the house to a buyer.

Other techniques for getting your foot in the door:

Week Four
Recheck the MLS to be sure that the home has not re-listed. Drive by and check for a yard sign.

Listing presentation: If you’ve gotten an appointment and the mood is right, present a prepared listing agreement during your visit for signature. As an alternative, promise the expireds that you will complete a marketing plan of the property within 48 hours for their review. Present the plan, then ask for the listing.

Final letter: If you’ve been unable to get an appointment, send a final letter asking expireds if their interest in selling their property has waned. Enclose a personal marketing brochure and suggest that they keep it for future reference if they later decide to list again.

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ALTA Residential Title Policy

ALTA RESIDENTIAL POLICY

The ALTA Residential Policy is an owner’s policy insuring owners of 1-4 family residential lots or condominium units. In addition to the basic coverage provided by the CLTA policy, the ALTA residential policy protects the insured against losses caused by:

Mechanic Liens (labor and material liens) arising out of work done on the property which the insured did not agree to or agree to pay for
Major encroachments – The insured is protected against forced removal of an existing structure (other than a boundary wall or fence) because it extends onto adjoining land or onto an easement
Unrecorded interest arising from off record leases, contracts or option
Zoning Compliance (as long as property in question and zoning are both residential) CC&Rs compliance
Most title companies will insure a seller carry back deed of trust under an ALTA residential policy by endorsement (an addendum to a title policy with a small additional cost). This is the only type of deed of trust that may be insured under this policy.

Cold Calling Success

Top 10 Tips For Cold Calling Success

At some point or other every sales person has to cold call. Whether it’s ringing totally new
clients, chasing leads, gaining referrals, networking or following up on a conference card handed
in it’s not something that many salespeople are that comfortable with.

Being able to cold call confidently, professionally and effectively will not only open up more
potential business for you it will also allow you to feel more in control of your own destiny and
much more empowered. Here are my top 10 tips for cold calling success…

1. Plan and prepare your opening statement.

The more individuals I train the more important I think this is. I have made tens of thousands of
calls and listened to far more. Whether cold or indeed warm calling the biggest problem by far is
lack of client engagement. This can be down to several factors but by far the most significant is a
failure to plan and prepare a decent opening statement.

An opening statement needs an introduction, a hook (what’s in it for client) and a bridge to your
questions or your close. Without these it’s impotent. Make sure that the benefits you offer are
a) really benefits and b) relevant to the person you are speaking to and not just you! My top tip
would be to imagine your self in your client’s shoes and then ask, “What will this call potentially
do for my business and why should I care?”

2. Get into the right state of mind and expect success.

Unmotivated people to not make good salespeople. Let’s face it, who would buy off someone
who didn't appear to believe it themselves. When I train teams I am constantly amazed at the
number of salespeople who pick up the phone expecting rejection. It doesn't seem to matter
whether they are making cold calls, customer care calls or follow up calls … only a small
percentage of top performers absolutely expect success.

Attitude and mindset are infectious. Clients know within seconds whether you are congruent
with your message or not. I once did a verbal survey with my clients asking them why they
bought from me in the first place. The overwhelming (and surprise at the time) answer was, “It
felt like the right thing to do!”

Expecting success is a crucial part of your success.

3. Know WHY your need to do this.

On a day to day basis most of us forget WHY we are doing certain things. We find ourselves
cold calling because we have to or because we are told to. If you want to make change in
your cold calling habits then it is going to require some commitment, some focus and some
persistence. The best way of leveraging these attributes from your self is to ask yourself, “Why
is cold calling important to me? What does it do for me? How does it link to my goals and my
dreams?”

When coaching individual sales people on teams I can usually tell who will act and who will not
and it’s usually down to whether the individual has a need or a want or not. Holding your self
to a higher standard is hard if you have no reason to so spend some time and work our why cold
calling is important to you right now.

4. Practice delivery focusing on pace, pitch and tone.

When I listen to sales calls I am frequently shocked by the message within the message. In face
to face sales 55% of the message is non-verbal. On the phone, this element is missing and this
means that the message consists only of the words and how you say them. Whilst the words are
vitally important the way you say them will be directly linked to your success or ultimate failure.

Having listened to thousands of calls I can honestly say that the message behind the message
for most calls is … “I’m bored, tired and putting in the numbers and you’re probably tot say no
anyway!”. Would you buy from someone was saying this to you?

Get someone you trust to listen to your calls and give you feedback on pace, pitch and tone.
What message are you sending out?

5. Plan and prepare relevant questions.

Questions and client interaction are paramount for selling. Most salespeople think that they are
good at questioning. Most are wrong. Planning and preparing good questions is something that
all salespeople should do regularly.

Questions are incredibly important because they focus the mind. This is as true when talking to
others as it is when talking inside your own head! Most of us put the focus in the wrong place
both internally and externally by asking the wrong questions.

Imagine ringing a new client, introducing yourself and giving a few benefits. They’re listening
but they’re not on board yet!! Now imagine asking questions such as, “Does that sound like
something that would be of interest to you?” and “Would you be interested in meeting up then?”

These questions are an absolute waste of time and the resounding answer that you get will be,
“No!”.

Questions need to focus the client’s mind on something that you would like them to think about
such as, “Have you ever had any difficulties…?” or “How do you currently…?”

6. Have your support tools to hand.

Part of being professional is being prepared. When you get on the phone you need your diary,
notes, paper and pens to hand. I cannot count the number of times I have watched a sales
“professional” start to close for a meeting and then realize they don’t have a diary open on the
desk or on the computer. One long pause later… rapport and meeting lost!

Expect success, work out what support tools you need to be successful and make sure that they
are to hand.

7. Divert calls and minimize disruptions.

A recent survey studying working habits suggested that the average worker actually works for
less than 3 hours in an average working day. This seems quite high to me! Most people seem to
find so many extraneous and irrelevant tasks to do that it’s a wonder they ever get anything done.
To be a sales superstar you need to work out what activities bring you success and then set aside
time to do them.

Work out your ratios and then work out how many calls you need to make to achieve your
personal goals. Once you've done that get on and do it. Most salespeople actually spend too
much time “on the phone”… the problem is that they’re not focused enough when they are on
the phone. Try turning off your mobile, diverting all calls and asking not to be disturbed. Get
your self energized and prepared and then make 45 minutes worth of top quality, proactive calls.

You’ll be amazed by how much you can achieve in ¾ of an hour!

8. Set clear objectives for your session.

Many salespeople make calls without any objectives or goals. This is a complete waste of time.
You need to plan and prepare for all proactive sales sessions. Pre-determine on your activities and
how you are going to measure them. Set realistic objectives and targets and stick to them. Only
this way will you be able to improve and grow.

9. Don’t put your phone down.

Whether cold or warm calling it’s important that you keep the energy flowing when you are
making proactive calls. It’s too easy to get distracted, start doing something else or take ever
increasing breaks between each call.

One very effective way of achieving shorter break time and therefore more proactive energy is
to not put the telephone down between calls. Not only does this work but you also save on the
psychological energy of having to pick the phone up again every call!! I also recommend that
wearing a headset increases the work rate of nearly all telephone sales people

10. Master your physiology.

Your physiology is the way you use your body… your posture, movement, facial expressions
and breathing. Changing your physiology changes your state. If you were to walk into a room
full of salespeople on the phone you would instantly know if they were “up for it” or not by the
way they were sitting, moving, talking and so on.

Take a moment to think about your physiology now. Think about the best telephone call that
you've ever made… How were you sitting / standing? How did you move? What were your
facial expressions? Voice patterns? How did you hold your head? How was your breathing? Did
you use a headset / handset?

Get your log-book and make a note of your findings. Over the next week I want you to
concentrate on starting all of your telephone sessions from this physiology and maintaining it
throughout. If you find your physiology changing then get yourself straight back into the right
physiology. Remember that doing this in front of the others in the office at 8:30 am in the morning
could feel unnatural… and so will the extra commissions when they roll in but I think you can
cope with that!!!

So that’s it. 10 top tops for being a great cold caller and a better salesperson. If you want to know
more about cold calling or develop any of these strategies in more detail then have a look at my
website…

Home buyer tips

4 Steps to Take When Preparing to Buy a

Home

1. Find out how much home you can afford. Before you do anything else, find out how much
home you can afford. To do this, look online for a quality mortgage calculator (Zillow has one
that works well). Mortgage calculators show you how much home you can afford based on your
income, an average interest rate, and the length of the loan.

You also need to calculate your debt-to-income ratio, which shows the amount of your income
that goes toward paying your debts. The higher your ratio, the less likely you will qualify for a
home loan. Find out if you can get a mortgage before you begin searching for your dream home.
If your debt-to-income ratio is more than 36 percent, you should think about getting out of debt,
or at least reducing your debt immediately.

Your credit score also plays a role in your loan eligibility. If you have a higher credit score, you
will be eligible for better loan rates. If you have a low credit score, on the other hand, you should
first learn how to improve your credit score before you get pre-approved for a loan.

2. Get pre-approved. Take the time to get pre-approved before you begin looking at homes. In
fact, many real estate agents won’t work with you until you have received pre-approval for a
mortgage. Regardless, you should look to get pre-approved anyway. You might find the perfect
home, and then find out the bank denied your loan application. This heartbreaking scenario
wastes your time and your agent’s time, too.

Going through the mortgage-approval process can be a frustrating experience, so be prepared. In
addition to all of the paperwork, you have to answer a lot of very pointed questions about your
income, net worth, and credit worthiness. If you have a 20 percent downpayment, a high credit
score, and a steady job, then you have a better chance of being pre-approved for a loan.

3. Find a real estate agent. Once you’ve improved your credit score and you know how much
home you can afford, you need to find a great real estate agent. Your agent acts as your
representative, provides you with information about market prices, and helps you find a home.
Finding a real estate agent you can trust can take time. Talk to friends, family, and co-workers
for potential referrals, and use your intuition. If you feel uncomfortable with a real estate agent,
keep looking.

4. Take stock of your financial situation, again. By the time you get ready to buy a home, you
may be sick of thinking about money. After following each of these steps, look at your available
income one more time, and review your short- and long-term financial goals. Ask yourself: Do I
really want to invest $100,000 or more into a home? Do I want to stay in this neighborhood, or

state, for the next several years? Or do I want to put that money towards some other dream?

Final thoughts. We’re currently experiencing a buyer’s market. You can find wonderful deals
on homes, and you may qualify for a low interest rate. However, this also means that if you buy
a home in the next year, you may need to stay in it for several years until home prices begin to
significantly appreciate. Review your short and long-term goals carefully to make sure buying a
home is right for you. Follow the steps outlined here, and when the time is right, get ready to buy
your home.

5. Use Nations Title Company for all your title and escrow needs

Nations Title Company Contact Info