#2 Feels Really Good

Although the flood has “dampened” the week, I participated in an event this morning that took all the clouds away. This morning, the Atlanta Business Chronicle recognized the Rawls Group as the Runner Up for the Best Places To Work in Atlanta.


Having come from a corporate background, after joining Keller Williams in 2004, I quickly realized that I was working for a company that was very different from traditional companies. I was surrounded by associates that really cared about each other. Time and time again, I have been humbled by the level of professionalism, caring, and integrity of the people I work with.

For instance, I am currently participating in the BOLD coaching program. During the first session with Michael Bastian, Michael asked us to write down what a life worth living looks like? This was a powerful question. Michael then dug deeper by asking “why is that important to you?” Michael's probing questions helped me to realize what truly matters to me and as a result I got a little teary-eyed. Later that evening I received an email from another team leader who was sitting in the room. He said “Connie, people that cry concern me. Why were you crying this morning? Everything okay?” That little gesture of concern was so heartfelt and honest. It exemplifies how Keller Williams’ agents really do care about helping others.


I have always struggled with how to tell others how incredible it is to work in the Rawls Group (http://www.rawlsgroup.org/) at Keller Williams Realty. Culture is a “feeling”. It is hard to describe a feeling.


Today, at the Georgia Aquarium, surrounded by some of the best companies in Atlanta, that “feeling” was validated. There is no other award that we could have received that would have meant more to me as a leader in the company.


If you would like to know more about why Keller Williams Atlanta Perimeter is the Best Place to Work in Atlanta, please give me a call for a confidential appointment. It truly is a great place to work (and we have a lot of fun, too)!!!

Focused Action Goal Setting

I have found that our positive attitudes combined with focused action on our goals have been the greatest factors in my success this past year.

Here are some thoughts to share on motivation & goal setting I wanted to pass on...

Step 1: Decide exactly what you want. This immediately moves you into a separate category of people because most people have no idea of what they really want. Clarity is the most important single quality of goal-setting and perhaps the most important single quality of success. Decide exactly what you want in each area of your life. Instead of fuzzy goals like more money, better health and happiness, be specific about exactly how much more money you want to earn in a specific period of time and combine that with exactly what level of health and fitness you desire.

Most people are unconsciously preoccupied with the fear of failure. It is the greatest single obstacle to success in adult life. And the fear of failure can work on you unconsciously by blocking you from setting clear specific goals. Why? Well, if you don't set clear, specific goals, then you can't fail to achieve them. So your subconscious mind is actually protecting you by helping you to avoid failure.

You must resist and overcome this tendency by having the courage to be bold and specific about exactly what you want. This is step number one.

There has never been a better time in all of human history to be alive than today. There are more opportunities for you to accomplish more things, in more different fields, engaging in more different activities, than have ever existed before.

Resolve today to make the coming year the very best year of your life. Resolve today to draw a line under your past and to focus very clearly on your future. Resolve today that you are going to set goals, make plans, take actions and achieve more in the coming year than perhaps you have ever accomplished in any one single year before.

I am teaching a variety of classes this month to help you achieve the focus you need to succeed. I will be teaching a “Balance Workshop” on October 2nd based on Gary Keller’s Quantum Leap class, Managing your Time To Achieve More on October 16th, and a Business Planning Workshop on October 30th. Now is the time to get clear on your goals for 2010. What you do now will determine what your January will be. Don’t delay in planning for your success.

Understanding the Three Markets in the Real Estate World Today

September 2009 Article – Jeri Moran

Understanding the THREE markets in the real estate world today

As we enter the last quarter of the year, it is more important than ever to stay focused and help buyers understand the urgency the three markets out there today. With less than 100 days left for first time homebuyers to benefit from the $8,000 tax credit, there is no time to waste educating our clients after the fact. A thorough buyer consultation is critical and handling all possible objections prior to them coming up will make the difference.

There is no surprise that countless numbers of classes have come out on creating buyer urgency, scripts to talk to buyers all addressing the fact that when inventory increases, we are showing more and more homes and buyers are reluctant to make a decision. With the local and national media creating a doomsday perception of the market, buyers are over confident and want “a deal.” However, because there are three markets, many are loosing out on the “best” homes that sell the fastest, because they are the “best” homes.

The following is a dialogue that I encourage you to have with your perspective buyers prior to going out to see homes.

“Mr. and Mrs. Buyer, I am so excited to work with you to find the home you are going to buy. Before we go out and look at homes, I’d like to spend a few minutes and share with you the different segments of our current market. Would that be ok? The average number of homes a buyers looks at in today’s market is eight. We’ve found that if you look at too many homes, you’ll start combining the kitchen in one, the backyard of another and create a home that doesn’t exist. What you’ll find out there is three markets, the foreclosure market, the short sale/distressed market and the residential re-sale market (which is broken in to two sub markets). In the foreclosure market, banks have created what is called a sellers market. What that means is they put properties on the market at a price that is under market value to create multiple offers and garner over list price. (At this time show some examples). The second market is short sales. Are you familiar with what this is? (Explain if they say no). When purchasing one of these homes, we must be prepared to wait 3, 6 and even up to a year before being able to close on the home. Finally, there is the resale market. In this market there are two categories. There are the homes that are selling in under 30 days and getting approximately 96% of their asking price and then there are the homes that have chased the market and sell in over 120 days for sometimes as little as 73% of their original asking price. It is my job, together with you, to determine with type of home we are looking at. If we find the under 30 day home, will you be prepared?”

Keep your clients focused and move them towards what they really want…to BUY a home!

Happy hunting!

High school teammates carry on

High school teammates carry on

Recently, I watched a video on ESPN about two teenagers on a Cleveland wrestling team. The story is an impactful illustration of what it means to be a good friend and what can happen when you have someone who supports you in your dreams. (You can watch the video by clicking on the link at the bottom of this email). Now, probably more than ever, we need to have friends, both personally and professionally, who encourage and push us to reach our hopes and dreams.

This morning I woke up to the following email from my Operating Partner, Shaun Rawls. It is comforting to know that I have leadership and friendships within my professional life that will push me to achieve at the highest level – and pick me up when I fall.
If you are falling short of the goals you have set for yourself and feel that you need someone to encourage and support you, please give me a call. It would be my pleasure to “give you a lift”!

Letter from Shaun Rawls:



I recently attended a workshop for the Master Faculty of Keller Williams. One of the highlights of the session was a presentation by an Improvisational Comedian who shared many important insights into the world of communication, and something – in particular – had a massive impact on me and the way I view our team. It was the phrase, “I got your back” that was so meaningful to me.

While “I got your back” isn’t necessarily proper from a grammatical point of view, its meaning is entirely “proper.” You see, as the comedian explained it, saying “I got your back” is a ritual phrase that’s spoken amongst improvisational comedians immediately before taking the stage for a show. It’s improv’s version of “Break a leg.”

The reason these comedians say “I got your back” is because you can’t do improv alone, and it’s a signal that reminds each performer that they have no excuse but to test the limits of their talent and skill by being daring and taking risks because their partners will not allow them to fail or fall or falter. In other words, “I got your back” means, “I am a safety net for you that will be here to protect you, so don’t be afraid to give it all you’ve got.”

When I heard the reasoning behind this awesome little phrase, I was captivated by what it could mean to our business, our community, our culture. My vision for what we mean to each other became ever clearer and my hopes became higher.

What if you slaughtered every fear you had with action taken in spite of that fear? Action taken due to the confidence that being surrounded by a team of people who care enough about you to never let you fall could provide. What if? What if you knew you could not fail or fall or falter because your team won’t let you? Even better, what if YOU were the one to say “I got your back,” and you were the one who was committing to saving your team members in the event of mistakes. Which has more meaning to you? Being saved by someone who has your back, or saving someone else by having theirs? In the truest definition of a team – or partnership – both are equally important.

Whether you are a member of The Rawls Group of Keller Williams market centers in Atlanta or a member of the Greater Than Ever New York Region, know that “I got your back.” And accept the responsibility of being a part of this amazing community of people by saying to everyone in our company, “I got your back,” too.

I am convinced that in addition to behaving nice and professionally, we can help all of us to behave boldly, daringly and extremely by offering one another the assurance of the phrase, “I got your back.”

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Thank You Teri Frye

Teri:

I just want to thank you for the time you took today to spend with my team as our guest for our Inside the Agent’s House Series. I had several people come up to me after the interview and tell me how much what you said resonated with them. The common theme was that they could relate to your style and it felt like a comfortable way for them to approach their own business. One ALC member said to me, “I like how she doesn’t get caught up in all that detailed stuff. What she is focused on is the right stuff…she’s previewing properties and knows the market and provides great service with integrity.” I think that sums up the impact you had on the team….you just touched about 40 lives today! I owe you one…thanks for sharing your valuable time and knowledge with us today! Hope I see you at Mega Camp!

Brenda Richterkessing
Team Leader Managing Broker

Interesting Stats About Housing Market

Interesting report compiled from responses from 500,000 real estate agent responses.

http://www.campbellsurveys.com/AgentSummaryReports/AgentSurveyReportSummary-June2009.pdf

Little long but some good ditties of info:

Partial Summary of Statistics and Facts

Key statistics and facts from the survey results include:

• The market for home purchases can be divided into segments of 26% for
damaged REO, 23% for move-in ready REO, 14% for short sales, and 36% for
non-distressed properties.

• Forty-three percent of homebuyers are first-time homebuyers, 29% are current
homeowners, and another 29% are investors.

• First-time homebuyers account for the majority of move-in ready REO sales while
investors account for the majority of damaged REO sales.

• Current homeowners concentrate their home purchases on non-distressed
properties and buy comparatively less damaged REO.

• Real estate agents expect appraisal issues to be the No. 1 reason for
cancellations of signed Purchase and Sales agreements over the coming
summer months.

• Only 31% of non-REO home sale listings are unforced or optional; other major
reasons for listings include financial stress (including short sales), long distance
relocation, and divorce or estate sales.

• Homeowners are choosing to not list homes primarily because of “Falling prices”,
followed by “Competition with distressed properties”.

• For first-time homebuyers, “Government incentives to buy (tax credits, mortgage
deduction)” is the No.1 motivation to buy.

• For current homeowners buying homes, “Retirement relocation” and “job
relocation” are the No.1 and No. 2 motivations to buy, respectively.

• “Sale of residence” is the No. 1 impediment to current homeowners seeking to
buy another home.

• “Downpayment for mortgage” is the No. 1 impediment to first-time homebuyers
seeking to buy a home, followed by “Slow answers on short sale offers.”

• Seventy-six percent of first-time homebuyers accept a mortgage
recommendation of the real estate agent, 68% of current homeowners accept a
recommendation, and 53% of investors accept a recommendation.

• On average, mortgage servicers take 9.5 weeks to provide a “yes” or “no”
response to an offer to buy a short sale property.

• According to real estate agent respondents, “Mandated one-week response time
on short sales offers” is the No. 1 rated action that the government could take to
increase home sales and stabilize prices.

• According to real estate agent respondents, “Provide consistent one-week ‘yes’
or ‘no’ response to offers” is the No. 1 rated action that the mortgage servicers
could take to increase short sales.

• According to real estate agent respondents, “Provide consistent one-week ‘yes’
or ‘no’ response to offers” is the No. 2 rated action that the asset managers could
take to sell REO properties with lower overall losses; the No. 1 rated action is
“Turn on utilities for inspections.”

Superstars…

Well, it’s August, and we’re almost halfway through the third quarter of 2009. Having completed all of our presentations of the 2nd quarter statistics last week, Jeri and I want to make sure that you have a clear grasp and understanding of what’s happening in the market and what it means for our buyers and sellers.

The Atlanta real estate market is in a very interesting place. “Things” are generally improving, numerically. Although there’s no guarantee that they will continue to do so, these improvements should be a real wake-up call for buyers who continue to wait for prices to continue to decline. As we move forward, the very best deals of the economic downturn are probably going to be seen through the rear view mirror. The “fact of the market” is that inventory is decreasing, prices are rising and the good properties that come on the market at the right price are selling faster than we’ve seen in a long, long time. In fact, the statistics show that in 39 FMLS Areas in Metro Atlanta, there is less than 11 months of inventory on the market, the median sales price is $162,000 and the median Days On Market (“DOM”) for properties that sell without a price reduction is 24 days (Compared to 252 days on market for properties that have to reduce their price before they sell!). For quite some time now, buyers have had the luxury of not having to fight for, or compete for, homes for sale. Those days are gone, or at least they are fading fast. It’s almost as if there is a “Seller’s Market” for great homes at a great price while there is a “Buyer’s Market” for average to below average homes on the market.

For Sellers, it’s critical that they realize that these improvements in the market in no way give them a green light to be cocky or overly confident. There is a fine line between a good listing and a great one, and a tremendous difference in the results that are realized for each. One of the “Aha’s” that I have had for sellers is this: Seller’s that “don’t have to sell” are disadvantaged in this market. The HUD-1’s are going to the sellers that have to sell, not to the sellers who don’t. In fact, if a seller doesn’t “have to sell,” then they should know that they have an immediate and obvious handicap in the selling process. Those sellers that do have to sell can and will do whatever it takes to sell their homes, and thus have an “advantage” over most other sellers. In this market, Sellers that DO have to sell DO sell, and sellers that DON’T have to sell DON’T.

One of the most important things that I see going wrong for listings in this market is that sellers and agents are spending too much time focusing on determining what a home is worth, rather than determining the listing price that will most certainly generate offers from buyers in the market place. Appraisers determine the value of a home. Real estate professionals determine what the sticker price needs to be in order attract offers that can begin a dialogue of successful negotiations that will result in a successful closing. Price is king in this market. Remember: “The right price overcomes any objection.” If you’re not the best listing at the best price in the market, then you won’t get offers. In 20 years in this business, I’ve never shown property to a buyer who said, “Let’s make an offer on the third best house that we saw today.” Never.

The other issue that is plaguing our market is ineffective price reductions. Simply put, if you reduce the price of a home to a price that doesn’t put the home in front of a new pool of buyers, then such a reduction is typically a waste of time. We have to remember what price ranges we put into the computer when we search for homes, and when we need to make a reduction to re-position the home on the market we must introduce it to the buyers who are searching for homes in the next lowest price point.

These are interesting times. The investment that we have made, and continue to make, in the most comprehensive and relevant statistics in the real estate industry is done so that you have every opportunity to be the absolute best real estate agent a person can hire. Your ability to share information with them that virtually no one else has is a gift that we hope you make the most of. Statistics and scripts can make your career in any market because they give you the wisdom you need to tackle the toughest of clients or the toughest of markets.

I encourage you to make the time to come to the quarterly stats presentations every time Jeri and I do them. While the stats are great by themselves, hearing some of the scripts and insights that are provided in these sessions could make all of the difference to you when you present them to your clients.

Recently, Gary Keller said, “It’s not whether or not the market is getting better; it’s whether or not YOU are getting better.” All of us should take that to heart and consider it a personal challenge to meet the demands of the day and improve our businesses and our lives.

We have so many resources to help you get better. There’s never been a better time to sharpen our saws. These are, indeed, interesting times. They are interesting mostly because of how they are shaping us and what they are helping us to become as professionals.

I am so honored to be a part of Keller Williams Realty, and I’m even more honored that you are building your career here, at The Rawls Group of Keller Williams Market Centers. Together, we are focused on building our business in a learning based, productivity specific environment that insures that we provide the very best service in the real estate industry.

Win, win…or no deal.
Integrity…do the right thing.
Customers…always come first.
Creativity…ideas before results.
Communication…seek first to understand.
Commitment…in all things.
Trust…begins with honesty.
Teamwork…Together Everyone Achieves More.
Success…results through people.

Your #1 Fan…

SHAUN