Keep Your Cell Phone Number, No Need to Port

As a happily hyper-busy real estate professional, one of my biggest challenges is keeping up with voice mail messages during a typical work day.  On the other hand, when I am “off duty” I like to be present and attentive to my friends and family and purposefully do not answer calls.  Sometimes this is a problem.  What I needed was a more efficient monitoring system to keep up with urgent messages and separate them from non-urgent messages.   I found Google Voice and a dedicated email address on my Blackberry to be an ideal solution, here are the benefits of setting this system up for yourself:

• Voice mails are transcribed to text so you can quickly read them anytime you can’t or don’t want to answer
• The recorded messages are available to listen on your phone or the internet at any time in any order
• A phone log is automatically generated of all your messages to save or plug into CRM later
• You can “return calls” via SMS or email rather than calling back if appropriate
• No need to log-in to voice mail or take notes about the messages (or worry about losing your notes)

Following is “before and after” voice mail story and an easy to set-up system that allowed me to respond more efficiently to clients and customers and also enjoy free time without the stress that I might missing something critical.

My Problem with Voice Mail

Here’s a typical scenario that used to happen to me all the time, which I refer to as Voice Mail Hell:  I have a two hour meeting in the morning with an investor group.  Because I need to focus completely on the meeting, I have my phone set to silent.  But the phone lights up every 15 minutes and people are leaving voice mail messages.

At the end of the meeting I have seven new voice messages to listen to and then return calls.  The first message I take down notes in my handy voice mail log sheet, but the second is urgent, so I hang-up to return the call right away.  There are still five messages left in my voice mail box.

After I finish the urgent call, I dial in again to the voice mail system.  I get three more messages written down and the phone rings.  It is an important client calling.  Again, I drop the voice mail system to take the call.  During my twenty minute client conversation, two more calls come in and more messages stack up.  You get the picture.

How did I cope?  I have always been pretty diligent about updating my contacts, so when people call who are in my database, I can see their name on caller ID.  This is helpful because I can just call them right back without listening to all the voice mails.  But I also get a lot of calls from numbers that are not in my contacts, some of which may be urgent calls.   In order to get to those messages, I have to troll through the voice mails in the order they came in.  I am a pretty committed Blackberry fan, but do envy iPhone users who can skip over and listen to voice mails in any order.  Even so, I think this system is better yet…

Google Voice Mail Transcription, Free!

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Scouts – Dealers – Rehabbers – Landlords

I have a few key methods of qualifying real estate investors to determine whether or not I want to work with them.  This has little to do with the amount of experience they have, and less to do with the amount of money they have then you may think.  These are both important factors in determining how I will work with an investor.  But the critical factor in whether to work with them is based in their commitment and integrity.

During my first interview or call with a new referral, I ask the standard questions about their experience, available capital and credit score.  More importantly, however, are the questions about their goals and intentions.  The way certain questions are answered, including was is NOT said, usually gives me a good indication about whether I can establish a mutually beneficial relationship.  With practice, you can learn these evaluation skills to qualify investors, and only work with those who will be good clients.

The first step in this learning process is to understand the Types of Residential Real Estate Investors.  This will allow you to differentiate between clients, customers and vendors as you grow your business through networking and marketing.  All investors will fall into one or more of the following categories.  Less experienced investors generally require more time, but more experienced investors will require more skill and knowledge to earn their business.  As always, the relationship must be a “win-win.”  Continue reading…

Capitalize on an Underserved $300 Billion Market

As the nation continues to take its proverbial medicine for the spoils of Wall Street’s residential real estate backed securities fiasco, Realtors are suffering massive drops in transactions and income. If you are working the traditional residential market, you’re likely facing pretty grim volume now, and for the near future.  How about this for a change?

Stop Sucking Wind

• STOP wasting your time working evenings and weekends with “liar buyers” who drag you to see hundreds of houses and never make a decision.
• STOP listing over-priced properties that never sell or taking on Short Sales that require hundreds of hours of negotiations.
• STOP begging your friends and family for their real estate transactions and ruining relationships over business.
• STOP expensive and time consuming prospecting and holding lonely Open Houses.
• STOP working with clients that are barely qualified for loans and hoping the deals close to get paid.

Yes, you really can STOP all this nonsense by learning a few new skills and making a simple change in the type of client you work with.  In a down market, residential real estate investors are very active buyers (and sellers too).

Investors are desperately seeking good real estate agents who specialize in investments.

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In the current financial environment, residential real estate investing continues to be a viable business, but the business has changed dramatically.  There are more challenges and deals require different credentials and strategies compared to recent years of loose lending standards and appreciating prices.  Private investment placement managers and established cash buyers are squeezing out the “mom and pop” investors because of lack of funding.  Continue reading…